Dave Does History: Recent Episodes
Dave Does History
On February 22, 1770, eleven year old Christopher Seider was killed in the streets of Boston. He is generally considered by historians to be the first person to die in the American Revolution.
The British Taxes imposed in 1767 under the Townsend Acts led a firestorm of Colonial protests, particularly - and to no one's surprise - in Boston. The Colonials had boycotted British imports since the implementation of the Acts, but it mean that Boston (and other) merchants were struggling to make any profit at all selling American made goods of rougher and lesser quality. In early 1770, one Boston merchant, Theophilus Lille, announced - very publically - that he had had enough and was breaking the boycott and would sell British goods. The resulting riot ended with the death of Seider, who would draw his final breath in the surgery of Dr. Joseph Warren.
Two weeks later, snowballs hurled by angry Colonials would lead to shots being fire and the next five Americans will fall in the Revolution.
Dr. Joseph Warren, seeing that much more was now at stake than a mere political disagreement, would become a vocal advocate for the ideas of the growing American Revolution.
And he would become one of the first of the fallen...
The enigma machine was supposed to be Nazi Germany’s unbreakable code machine. It’s network carried the bulk of the German secret communications from the 1920’s through the end of WWII in May of 1945. The machines carried by German Naval units, including U-Boats, were a complex gizmo of gears and wheels and keys, that required the correct plug in board to produce the encrypted messages that controlled the communications of the German Wolfpacks and other military units. The German military believed that the Enigma code was utterly unbreakable.
During the course of the war, two Nazi U-boats were captured with their Enigma machines intact. First by the British in May of 1941, provided the allies with the information that would come to be known as “Ultra.” This intelligence, derived from reading Enigma messages, helped the Allies turn the tide of the Battle of the Atlantic (it is also the source of the controversial film, U-571).
By June of 1944, the Germans had updated their codes with newer machines and better codes, which while penetrated, were becoming more secure again. On June 4, 1944, Task Group 22.3, led by Captain Daniel Gallery of the USN, detected a German U-boat off the Cape Verde Islands.
The U-505 was not a “lucky boat” in the strictest of sense, although until this day she had always managed to survive the predicaments in which found herself. This day… would change history…
We have this… myth… in our heads. It’s born from a combination of Manifest Destiny and the desire to see ourselves in a certain light, but the truth is that the Constitution of the United States was highly radical, highly controversial and absolutely not universally proclaimed as the best way of governing ourselves in 1787.
Not only were there vicious and lengthy diatribes in newspapers and town meetings, even the conventions called in twelve of the States were divided and contentious. But one State in particular, held itself so against the Constitution and its ratification, that when a group of citizens gathered at a BBQ to celebrate the ratification of the Constitution by a neighboring State, it called out a brigade of militia troops to stop the celebration. At. Gun. Point.
The story of tiny Rhode Island’s road to ratification is both amusing and at the same time, a little unnerving. It’s not something that we today like to think about and we never talk about it. The idea that the smallest State in the Union could cause so much havoc and debate is a matter of history. One that we have, for the most part, forgotten.
Among the memories I have from my time in New London, CT, at US Navy Submarine School, is a few moments on a bright but very cold January afternoon, listening to an audio tape. The problem with such memories is that I remember the sounds more than I recall the technical details. We were told that this was a highly classified recording of the direct loss of USS Scorpion on May 22, 1968.
For all I know, it was a tape of a powered screwdriver spinning. I was very young and easily influenced, and the instructors were trying to impress upon us the dangers involved with what we were training to do. In the subsequent years, I have come to believe that no such tape actually existed, but on that day, it was a sobering reminder that the ocean – and everything in it (including the Soviets) was trying to kill me.
The year 1968 was a very bad year for submarines. The Soviets, the French, the Israelis and the United States all lost boats in those months. The French and Israeli boats would not be found for many years, and in both cases would be seen as accidents. Bu to this day, the Soviet K-129 and the American Scorpion are believed by many to have been pawns in the greater spy game that started with John Walker stealing the US operational codes, the North Koreans stealing the USS Pueblo to get the decoding machines and the alleged attempt by rogue units in the KGB to start a nuclear war between the United States and Communist China.
That tape we heard, was supposedly the end of the third act of that complex and frightening story…
NOTE: At no point in this discussion will CLASSIFIED materials be discussed. All information discussed is sourced to public domain material and all opinions are those of the host ONLY. The United States Navy has not reviewed or approved any materials discussed in this program and will not comment on the contents of this program. The program host acknowledges that he was exposed to some level of CLASSIFIED materials regarding the events discussed in this program, but that at no point will he discuss any materials which he knows to be CLASSIFIED. All opinions are his alone, and all materials are sourced from publicly available information found in open sources.
Around three in the morning on May 13, 1862, the lookouts aboard a Union Naval vessel blockading Charleston Harbor was surprised to see a vessel bearing down upon his ship. Sounding the alarm, the gun ports were opened and all was brought to preparation to open fire. It was then that the lookout noticed that the ship approaching wasn’t coming on too fast and flying from it’s mast appeared to be a white… bed sheet?
When the vessel came up to the Union ship, it was clear that it intended to surrender. What became clear at that moment was the incredible man piloting the vessel was not your average Confederate looking to get away. It was a black man – in fact an escaped slave – who had escaped, along with his entire crew, their families and this valuable vessel.
And that was really only the beginning of the story…
Transcripts are provided as a courtesy and not official, nor guaranteed to be accurate
Transcript of the show
Perhaps the most prescient act of the framers of the US Constitution was the establishment of an amendment process by which the document could be modified. Not in some instant, light and transient way, but with involvement of the peoples representatives, the States and the people themselves. It’s not easy to do, and, in fact, it should not be. As George Washington himself once said, any amendment can only be performed by an “authentic and explicit act” of the American people.
Twenty-seven times the constitution has been amended*. There remain countless other attempts which failed to pass Congress. Six further times amendments were proposed and passed by not ratified by the requisite number of States. Each and every time Congress gathers there are proposals and calls for amendments, most of which are little more than attention gimmicks, bound to go nowhere except a few interviews on media and garner campaign funding.
Why is it so difficult to get an amendment passed and ratified? Well… first off all, it should be difficult. We do not, by definition, change our government for “light and transient” reasons. Moreover, the incredible amount of “buy in” that has to be gained to pass an amendment requires that the amendment protect majoritarian rights.
Then there are questions about who exactly can and even should propose amendments. Does the Court have any role in the matter? Are there any examples of all of this coming together in a concrete example of the system working as proposed?
Funny you should ask, as ton this day, May 7, 1992, that the 27th – and as of today the last – amendment to the Constitution was ratified. The surprising part is that it was among the first amendments ever proposed…
Today, we embark on a journey back to the dawn of the American experiment. Our spotlight shines on the first presidential term of George Washington, a time when the nation’s destiny hung in the balance. On April 30, 1789, amidst the grandeur of Federal Hall in New York City, Washington stepped onto a second-floor balcony to take the oath of office. His inaugural address, delivered with humility and vision, set the tone for a young republic grappling with its identity, its Constitution, and the promise of liberty. Join us as we explore the echoes of that historic moment—the birth of a presidency, the forging of a nation, and the enduring legacy of George Washington’s words…
On April 24, 1183bce (as determined by Eratosthenes the Beta), the City of Troy fell to the Greeks after nine years of devastating siege and bloody war. Few people today realize how many of our cultural values have been inculcated into us by the events of that day. The defeated Trojans would wander west and finally resettle in another city, this time one with seven hills. The Greeks would soon find trouble enough because of the moral compromises they had made to achieve their victory.
Nine years of war, and all over… what, exactly? What if what we are told were the reasons – the necessary and moral imperatives for the war – were not only untrue, but little more than propaganda?
And what lessons are there for us today, more than three thousand years later, as we gaze on the beach where the Trojan Horse waited that fateful morning….
The ocean is a dangerous place. I have always said to you that the ocean is always trying to kill you. And if you let your guard down, even for a second, it will.
This week in 1900, the US Navy began its experience in challenging some of those dangers, as the USS Holland SS-1 was commissioned as the first submarine in the US Navy. It’s why we celebrate numerous Submarine Balls this week – to recall that legacy and what it established. The Holland was simply an amazing boat, with innovations and technological leaps that are still in use today.
But April also reminds us that going to sea in a submarine is a dangerous business. Holland’s legacy would be seen as the US Navy’s newest submarine began a test dive on the morning of April 11, 1963. She would never surface.
In recent years, we’ve seen other incidents and frightening close calls. And the truth is that it will happen – someday – that anther boat will not surface. But we’ve been going into the depths since 1900. This week we celebrate the US Navy Submarine Service… 124 years old this year… and we perpetuate the memory of our shipmates who gave their lives in the performance of their duties while serving their country; that their dedication, deeds and supreme sacrifice will be a constant source of motivation to even greater accomplishments…
On the evening of April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson stood before an excited Congress and Gallery, and asked that the nation declare war on Imperial Germany. In a strange way, this was the penultimate Wilson moment. He would ask – already knowing the answer – the nation to follow his leadership into a war to make the world safe for democracy.
We are told that he had spent the night before in a small office of the east Wing, pouring out his soul to a friend who also happened to be a newspaper reporter. He was terrified for the nation, that he believed that he war would destroy the United States as a free nation. That the Constitution would be shredded to pieces and the very freedoms on which it had been founded and stood would be erased.
Standing before Congress, and the nation, he showed no signs of such concerns or fears. To thunderous applause and joyous acclaim, he would tell the Congress that “We are the champions of the rights of mankind.” The nation would rally behind his words and would go “over there.” There would be some resistance, but in the end, it was his vision and his call for action that sent things forward. Or… was it his vision?
In any case, almost half a million American would never come home.
LINKS
What Price Glory (1926 – Full Film)
What Price Glory (1957 Full Film)
Phillip Dru: Administrator(Full book)
What if… we had a President who disagreed with Congress on everything? And when I say, “everything,” I mean… “everything?” What if the Congress passed a law that was so important to the national development of our society that it was deemed in many places, and a “new birth of freedom,” and the President, vetoed it? What would the reaction be? If this were to happen, how would it change the course of the nation? What would be the result of a direct conflict between the power and authority of the executive and the power of Congress to make law?
And… if this were to ever happen, what could Congress do to make sure that the President couldn’t even try to do it again?
This week on Dave Does History on Bill Mick Live, we’re going to take a look into one of the most controversial acts of the Reconstruction era: President Andrew Johnson’s veto of the 1866 Civil Rights Act.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, the United States found itself at a crossroads, grappling with the challenges of reintegrating the Southern states and defining the status of freed slaves. It was a time of bold ideas, fierce debates, and monumental legislation that aimed to redefine the fabric of American society.
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 emerged as a cornerstone, promising to grant African Americans the rights of citizenship denied to them for centuries. However, it faced opposition from an unexpected quarter: the President of the United States. Andrew Johnson, who ascended to the presidency after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, vetoed the Act, setting the stage for a historic clash with Congress.
Why did Johnson veto this groundbreaking legislation? What were the implications of his actions, both immediate and long-term? And how did Congress respond? In this episode we will explore these questions and more, shedding light on a tumultuous period in American history that continues to resonate today.
Many people say that they “hate” Daylight Savings Time. Is that actually the case? Or is what they actually hate the twice a year fiddling with digital clocks in their cars?
So it was that on March 19, 1918, the United States enacted the Standard Time Act, much of which remains on our law books today. But, was it just a war measure designed to held beat the Huns? Or was it a vast conspiracy by US Farmers to… to… to… well… to do something that would benefit their business at the expense of your sleep? Did it actually help anything in 1974 when the energy crises hit? Did it actually “save” anything? Did it help to win the war? And why exactly do people blame Benjamin Franklin for this?
Let’s stop getting our history from Nicholas Cage flicks and see if we can figure out why Daylight Savings Time is still a thing…
One of the least discussed and acknowledged periods in US History got its start on March 11, 1880, with the birth of the man, Harry L. Laughlin, who would be among the driving figures in the eugenics movement in the United States. The ideas for which he would advocate included sterilization and would not actually end until well into the 1970s. It all sounds good on the surface – to improve humans through genetics.
Today we tend to think of these ideas as the stuff of Nazi history and dystopian science fiction. The hard realization though is that these ideas – that we can eliminate undesirable genetic traits from the gene pool, like many ideas, was a European invention that was snagged onto and improved upon by American idealists. And if you thought that it would be stopped by high minded ideals found in the Constitution, you will be surprised to learn that the Supreme court not only supported and upheld these ideas, but once quipped that “three generations of imbeciles is enough…“
On February 27, 1951, the United States ratified the 22nd Amendment, a pivotal moment in American constitutional history that imposed term limits on the presidency. This landmark amendment was the culmination of decades of debate over the concentration of power in the executive branch and reflected the nation’s evolving attitudes toward leadership and democracy.
The genesis of the 22nd Amendment can be traced to the unprecedented four-term presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), who served from 1933 until his death in 1945. Before FDR, no president had sought more than two terms, adhering to the precedent set by George Washington. Roosevelt’s tenure, spanning the Great Depression and World War II, challenged this tradition, raising concerns about the potential for excessive executive power.
Proponents argued that term limits were necessary to prevent any single individual from accumulating too much power, which could endanger the republic. They saw term limits as a safeguard against the emergence of a dictator and a means to ensure fresh leadership and ideas.
Opponents contended that term limits infringed upon the democratic rights of the people to choose their leader. They argued that effective leaders should not be arbitrarily restricted, especially in times of crisis. Critics also viewed the push for term limits as a partisan reaction to the Democratic Party’s dominance under Roosevelt.
The movement for presidential term limits gained momentum after Roosevelt’s death. The Republican-controlled 80th Congress introduced the amendment in 1947, and it passed with bipartisan support, reflecting widespread agreement on the need to formalize the two-term tradition.
The proposal was then sent to the states for ratification, requiring the approval of three-fourths (38 out of 50) states. The ratification process was relatively swift, reflecting broad public support for the amendment. It was completed on February 27, 1951, when Minnesota became the 36th state to ratify it, signaling a consensus across the political spectrum.
The immediate effect of the 22nd Amendment was to limit presidents to two terms in office, a significant change that has shaped the presidency since. It has prevented any single individual from holding the office for more than eight years, ensuring regular turnovers in leadership and preventing the long-term accumulation of power.
There have been occasional calls to repeal the 22nd Amendment, especially by supporters of popular presidents nearing the end of their second terms. However, such efforts have never gained significant traction in Congress or among the states, largely because the principle of limiting presidential tenure has become deeply ingrained in American political culture.
The 22nd Amendment’s legacy is profound, reinforcing the principles of democratic rotation and checks on power that are central to the American political system. By institutionalizing term limits, the amendment has contributed to the stability and predictability of American governance, ensuring that no president can become a permanent fixture in the White House.
The ratification of the 22nd Amendment marked a critical juncture in the evolution of American democracy. By addressing the concerns about executive power that arose from FDR’s long presidency, the amendment has played a crucial role in maintaining the balance of power among the branches of government and preserving the democratic principle that no leader is indispensable.
Welcome to “Dave Does History,” on Bill Mick Live, this week we have a journey through the annals of history to the heart of the American Civil War, focusing on one of its lesser-known yet pivotal figures, General Joseph Finegan, and the defining moment of his military career: the Battle of Olustee. We will delve into the life of General Finegan, from his early days to his strategic triumph in Florida’s largest battle, exploring the intricacies of his leadership, the fierce combat of Olustee, and the lasting legacy of this historical episode. Join us as we uncover the stories of bravery, strategy, and survival that marked this critical point in American history, shedding light on the man behind the valor and the battle that shaped the fate of Florida during the Civil War.
Yesterday was the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. Today on Bill Mick Live, Dave takes a very brief overview look at the life and legacy of one of the great Presidents of the United States. from his days in the Illinois Legislature to the US Congress, to the stump debating Stephen A. Douglas.
His election as the first republican Party candidate for President would lead to the split of the nation and the devastation of the American Civil War. His assassination would insure that much of the anger that divided the country would continue, even to today.
Today, we turn back the pages to the era of revolutions and explore the life of a man whose pen ignited the flame of liberty across continents. Thomas Paine, a name synonymous with the struggle for freedom and democratic ideals, was more than just a writer; he was a visionary whose words laid the groundwork for modern democracies. From the humble beginnings in England to the battlefields of the American Revolution, and onto the radical politics of the French Revolution, Paine’s journey is a testament to the power of ideas. So, sit back as we unfold the story of this influential figure, whose legacy continues to inspire the quest for liberty and justice around the world. This is “The Life of Paine.”
In 1916, the United States Supreme Court delivered a landmark decision in the Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co. case, a ruling that profoundly shaped the legal landscape of federal income taxation in America. This case, brought forth by Frank Brushaber, a shareholder in the Union Pacific Railroad Company, challenged the constitutionality of the recently enacted federal income tax imposed by the 1913 Revenue Act. The significance of the Brushaber case lies not only in its direct impact on tax law but also in its broader implications for federal authority and the scope of the 16th Amendment. Today we talk about constitutional and legal arguments, the historical context surrounding the case, and the enduring influence of the Supreme Court’s decision on the American fiscal system.
On January 17, 1920, the United States embarked on a bold and unprecedented social experiment with the enactment of Prohibition via the Volstead Act. This act, named after Congressman Andrew Volstead, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who managed the legislation, was designed to enforce the 18th Amendment, effectively outlawing the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors.
Prohibition was not merely a legislative act but a national movement, born out of a growing temperance campaign that had gained considerable momentum in the early 20th century. It marked a significant shift in American social policy, reflecting deep societal divisions and sparking debates around morality, individual rights, and the role of government. The Volstead Act was a cornerstone in this transformative era, heralding a decade that would be marked by drastic changes in the American way of life, law enforcement, and the rise of illicit activities that challenged its very purpose.
There is perhaps, no single American Founding Father who has as much influence on your life today as does Alexander Hamilton. Born in obscurity, risen to glory, and fallen tragically, Hamilton’s story is one of relentless ambition, immense intellect, and enduring legacy. From the Caribbean isles to the heights of American politics, his life was a whirlwind of controversy, innovation, and drama. Join us as we delve into the life of the man who laid the financial foundations of a new nation, sparred in the fierce arena of early American politics, and left an indelible mark on the fabric of our nation.
Born on December 18, 1913, David M. Jones’s journey from a young dreamer to a revered military figure is a tale of bravery, innovation, and unwavering dedication. Today, we delve into the multifaceted life of this remarkable individual, from his early years and pivotal role in the daring Doolittle Raid, through his harrowing experiences in World War II to his post-war service as a test pilot and his invaluable contributions to NASA. Join us as we unfold the chapters of the life of Major General David M. Jones’s, celebrating the legacy of a man who not only witnessed history but helped shape it.
The Documentary Video:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
In September 1787, after months of deliberation, the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia presented a new Constitution to the states for ratification. Pennsylvania, hosting the convention, was poised to play a critical role in the unfolding drama. The state was a microcosm of the broader national debate, encapsulating the tension between the desire for a strong central government and the fear of losing individual and state rights.
The Federalists in Pennsylvania, led by figures like James Wilson and Gouverneur Morris, were ardent supporters of a strong central government. They believed that the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation necessitated a new constitution to provide stability and unity. Their strategy was marked by a sense of urgency; they moved quickly to call a state convention to ratify the Constitution. This rapid mobilization was partly a tactical move to outpace the Anti-Federalists, who were scrambling to articulate their opposition.
The Anti-Federalists in Pennsylvania, though vocal, were caught off-guard by the Federalists’ speed. They raised concerns about the lack of a Bill of Rights and the potential for governmental overreach. However, their efforts to slow down the process and garner more support were outmaneuvered by the Federalists’ swift action.
Pennsylvania’s decision to quickly ratify the Constitution, by a vote of 46 to 23 in December 1787, was significant for several reasons. Firstly, it positioned Pennsylvania as the second state to ratify, following Delaware, sending a strong message of support for the new Constitution. This early endorsement from a large and influential state added momentum to the ratification process nationally.
Moreover, Pennsylvania’s rapid ratification effectively minimized the impact of Anti-Federalist arguments within the state. The speed of the process did not allow Anti-Federalists sufficient time to rally opposition. This outcome in Pennsylvania was a strategic blow to the Anti-Federalist cause, as it undermined their efforts to present a united front against ratification.
However, the expedited ratification process in Pennsylvania was not without its criticisms. Some historians argue that the rush to ratify undermined the democratic process, depriving citizens of the time needed to fully consider the implications of the new Constitution. The debate over this rushed process highlighted the tension between the urgency felt by Federalists to rectify the weaknesses of the Confederation and the caution urged by Anti-Federalists wary of potential governmental overreach.
Pennsylvania’s swift ratification of the United States Constitution in 1787 was a tactical victory for Federalists and a significant moment in the broader narrative of American constitutional history. It underscored the complexities of the ratification process and the strategic maneuvering that played a crucial role in shaping the early political landscape of the United States. The events in Pennsylvania not only reflected the national debate over federalism but also influenced the trajectory of the ratification process across the country.
For the anniversary of the Peal Harbor attack, Dave made an appearance on the Florida Round Table show with Bill Mick to talk about the USS Utah, a Florida Class Battleship, lost in the attack…
On the morning of December 7, 1941, lying at berth F-11 on the west side of Ford Island, the USS Utah BB-31, a Florida Class battleship that had been disarmed and was now used as a training ship, awoke to the sound of the attack. In the first moments of the attack, she was somehow mistaken for either an Aircraft Carrier or a fully operational Battleship. In the opening moments of the attack, six torpedoes were fired at her, with two striking the ship.
At the end of the day, sixty-four officers and men were entombed on the wreck.
Unlike her other sisters in the harbor, Utah was all but forgotten. Her location on the far side of a very secure Naval Base, without access to a memorial built over her relegated her to an afterthought of the attack.
Today, her wreck rests quietly on the shore of Ford Island, with a small a memorial to the six officers and fifty-eight men who were lost with the ship in the first moments of the Pacific War, and who remain, eternally on duty…
Born on December 5, 1782, Martin Van Buren was the first American President who had been born a citizen of the United States. That said, his first language was NOT English! He would go on to start a major political party and was long noted for his spectacular ability to conduct politics, leading to one of his nicknames, “The Little Magician.”
Long distrustful of the banks, he found a home in the Jackson Administration and was nominated as Vice President for Jackson’s second term. He would then be handpicked by Jackson to be his replacement. The problem is that much of being President depends on… well… luck and timing. And the one thing that Van Buren did not have was timing. easily elected to succeed Jackson, he was hit with the brunt of the fallout from the Jacksonian policies and his own Administrations issues.
In the only occurrence in US History, Van Buren was re-nominated by his party, but without a pick for Vice President. He would not be re-elected, As the national debates unfolded, he waited quietly and hoped for a draft movement to return him to the White House. On the major issues of the day, he stayed mostly silent, except on the single issue of the annexation of Texas. Like many democrat politicians, it was his position on the extension of slavery (via Texas) that would ultimately end his political career.
The lesson is that doing the right thing is always the right thing, even when it costs a man his dream of the Presidency…
Sixty years ago this week, President Lyndon Johnson announced the formation of the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of John Kennedy. The Nation was deep in shock and needed some reassurance.
One year and eight hundred and eighty-eight pages later, the commission announced its findings. Those can be boiled down to this: Lee Harvey Oswald fired the Magic Bullet that killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connelly.
Sure, there’s a whole bunch of other stuff, including some commonsense recommendations about Presidential security going forward. But for the past sixty years, there has been almost no single page of the report that hasn’t found its detractors somewhere.
And it all seemingly comes back to that single, magical bullet that somehow defied logic and physics and did it all…. or… did it?
Cue the Black helicopter…
Over the course of eight days, beginning on the 25th of Kislev (this year, the evening of December 7th), Jews around the world will light the Hanukkiah, or Hanukkah Menorah. Each night, a new candle is added, until the light from the Menorah is brilliant and fills the home with its life and luster.
Almost twenty-two hundred years ago, the Jews sought to rededicate the Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple had been intentionally desecrated by Antiochus IV when he ordered a pig to be sacrificed on the altar and a statue of Zeus to be set up in the Holy of Holies. His was only the latest attempt to eradicate the Jews from the face of the Earth. It would not be the last.
Nor would it be the last night that Jews around the world gathered around the menorah to remember the reasons that we light those lights…
In the annals of American history, few figures have stirred as much controversy and debate as Senator Joseph McCarthy. Known for his relentless pursuit of alleged communists within the United States government during the early 1950s, McCarthy’s actions and the era named after him, “McCarthyism,” have become synonymous with witch hunts and unfounded accusations. But who was Joseph McCarthy beyond the headlines and history books?
And was his crusade really as it is portrayed? Or was it just a whole lot of hot air? Or… was it… something else entirely?
On November 7, 1916, the nation did something it had not done since 1832: it reelected an incumbent Democrat Party President to a second term. Woodrow Wilson, who ran his campaign on the slogan, “He kept us out of the war,” pulled out one of the closest elections in US history, albeit without the controversy and rancor of other close races.
The biggest issue of the campaign had been the US position on the war in Europe. Charles Hughes, the GOP nominee, called for greater mobilization and preparedness, while Wilson’s campaign claimed that a Hughes win would automatically mean war with both Germany AND Mexico. By the by, Wilson had already sent US troops to intervene in the Mexican Revolution.
Hughes had gone to bed the night of the election convinced that he had won. In fact, even the Kingdom of Serbia’s official newspaper had announced that Wilson had lost. But it wasn’t to be, as the later voting states rolled into the Wilson column. For Hughes, it wasn’t clear that he had lost, so he decided to sleep in the following morning.
The confusion would lead to one of the most famous political zingers in the history of the country.
A few short months after the election, after strongly carrying the heavily German Midwest, Wilson called for the US to declare war on Germany.
Narrator: Wilson did not, in fact, keep the US out of the Great War…
On October 31, 1864, Nevada became the 36th State to join the Union (I just got that BB-36 was USS Nevada!). While most States that joined the Union did so with certain conditions that varied with the era in which they were admitted, most of them had similar conditions, vis-à-vis republican governments and the banning of slavery and so forth.
Nevada on the other hand, was unusual in that its first attempt at a Constitution had been rejected by Congress. It was over a taxation issue, and given the circumstance in the Territory, Congress wasn’t about to allow any hanky-panky with tax revenues. But it was another condition that cause the biggest conundrum, even today. As we have seen in the last decade, many conservatives, who in 1864 pushed for the condition, now find themselves with almost no understanding of why – by law – 85% of Nevada is and will always be owned by the Federal government.
On the surface, the answer makes sense. When you dig deeper, it’s more than common sense, it’s downright… wise…
On December 7, 1941, the bombs rained down on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Of the eight Battleships present that day, seven were put out of action. Two of those, Oklahoma, and Arizona, permanently.
The other six Battleships were essentially obsolete. In fact, the very reason that the Battleships were in Pearl Harbor that day was because they were useless to accomplish the task the Navy needed done that week. But they were still fully manned and fully operational when Japan attacked. That said… the Navy saw value in the old ships, and decided to raise, repair and refit them to the standards of modern Battleships.
In those roles, these six ships would serve through the rest of the Pacific War. One of them, the USS Nevada, found herself pounding the German defenses on D-Day and throughout the Normandy campaign.
When General MacArthur landed with his troops in the Philippine Islands on October 20, 1944, the Imperial Japanese Navy had no choice but to respond. Virtually the entire fleet sailed to the Philippines to face off with the US Navy in a do or die struggle. Over the course of the next five days, four major naval engagements would take place.
While the most famous of these battles involved the US Navy’s TAFFY 3 and its incredible stand, it was to the south that the Japanese were attempting to make that fight even more lopsided. But the Southern Force of the Japanese Fleet was headed straight into the teeth of Read Admiral Jesse Oldendorf’s battle line of six US battleships.
Five of those battleships were raised from the mud and muck of Pearl Harbor. And on this night, led by USS West Virginia, … they would have their revenge…
On the night of October 14/15, 1781, a combined force of American and French forces stormed two British forts, known as redoubts, that held the right side of the British lines at Yorktown. Behind those forts waited seven thousand or so British troops and their German mercenaries.
Leading the assault on Redoubt 10 was Colonel Alexander Hamilton. He had been personally selected by George Washington to lead what he hoped would be the final attack of the battle. He had also selected crack Rhode Island troops to carry the assault. They had been chosen for a specific reason and they were more than ready to inflict defeat on the hated British.
When the attack was over, Washington knew, as did General Cornwallis, that the Yorktown campaign was over. The were only two questions now. First, would this end British war on America?
The second question was much more telling. The answer would haunt America for the next four score years and four years…
“What is the vice presidency? The Constitution dictates only two duties: casting the deciding vote if the Senate is deadlocked and replacing the president if he dies or is impeached. Apart from waiting for those two things to happen, you made the rest up and were duly forgotten by history. The exception being Aaron Burr, who shot someone, decisively lowering the bar for the rest of us.” ― Austin Grossman
“If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.” – Dan Quayle
“Freedom of speech is useless without freedom of thought.” – Spiro Agnew
“One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice-president, and that one word is ‘to be prepared’.” ― Dan Quayle
“Remember, no one decides who they’re going to vote for based on the vice president. I mean that literally.” ― Joe Biden
In 1968, Richard Nixon selected as his running mate the Governor of Maryland, Spiro T. Agnew. He was known for being a very tough “Law & order” Governor, who had little love for the civil rights chaos sweeping the nation. He fully expected – because Nixon had said so – to be the most active and involved Vice President in the history of the United States.
In some ways, he was. But for the most part, he did what most Vice Presidents do, got up every morning and asked how was the President? Day, after day.
As the President’s relationship with the press deteriorated, he was sent out as the attack dog for the Administration. In speeches and in press conferences, he became the face of the Nixon Administration’s adversarial relationship with the media, the public and anybody who didn’t think that the President was doing a good job at literally anything.
And then came the day when he was accused of corruption and of accepting a bribe. All his expectations and hopes for continued service to the nation evaporated into mist. President Nixon, already deeply embroiled in his own accusations, sent his representatives to tell Agnew to “go quietly.” On October 10, 1973, he resigned as Vice President. But he would never forgive those who he believed had ruined his career.
In the aftermath the nation got reminder of why a Vice President is a dual sided coin. It is both completely unnecessary and yet, at the same time, a critical piece of the political infrastructure.
In the early days of the Pacific War, the Japanese empire seized Wake Island from the United States. It was an epic battle, despite the inevitable outcome. An outnumbered and unsupported Marine garrison held out far longer than anyone imagined that they would. Upon seizing the island, the Japanese removed the Marines, but kept ninety-eight civilian workers, who were forced into slave labor to build defensive infrastructure on the island.
In October of 1943, a air attack from the USS Lexington, in which future US President George HW Bush got his first combat experience, convinced the local Japanese commander than an invasion was immanent.
It wasn’t. But he still made a decision that reverberates today…
This week in 1789, the 1st US Congress approved the first twelve amendments to the Constitution. These twelve amendments were the response to Anti-Federalist position that the Constitution MUST have a Bill of rights. To that end, these twelve amendments listed the specific rights which were to be placed outside of government interference.
Further, they would serve to limit the ability of the Government to reduce the representation of the people in their house, and insure that none of the people elected to congress would be able to manipulate the compensation to benefit themselves unduly.
Well… that was what was supposed to happen…
In the debates over the ratification of the US Constitution, the Anti-Federalists often resorted to predictions of the worst case of the future. The understood human nature better than the Federalists did, but they lacked the ability to hope that the American people would rise above that nature.
George Washington had strongly supported ratification, but by this day in 1796, he was exhausted. Not just by war, but by the Presidency not being quite what he had hoped or expected it to be. As he said farewell to the nation, he was seeing the Anti-Federalist warnings beginning to come to fruition. He himself would not become one of them, but his warning to the nation would be along so many of the same lines of thinking.
As we take a few moments today to consider the Farewell Address of Washington, we must ask those same questions of ourselves.
It’s one of those “myths” of history, that on September 12, 1962, then President John F. Kennedy stood in Rice Stadium in Houston and announced to a stunned and surprised nation and world that the United States was committing itself to putting a man on the moon – and returning him safely – before the end of the decade. The speech is stirring and it was certainly one of Kennedy’s most noted.
What it was not, was any kind of surprise at all.
More than a year before, Kennedy had told a wildly cheering Congress that the moon was the goal, and they in turn were more than happy to fund it. What hadn’t happened after that announcement was the wild across the board support for the goal for which he had hoped. In fact, many newspapers ran articles explaining why the moon simply wasn’t a realistic goal, some going so far as to “prove” that it was, in fact, impossible.
The genius of Kennedy’s 1962 speech was that he knew all the naysayers would be listening, along with the folks who simply wanted to hear something inspirational of uplifting, given the troubling times in which they lived.
In one of the greatest moment of oratory, JFK delivered on the challenge to challenge America. And this time, the naysayers would have to come up with a different response…
Note: The entire speech by John F Kennedy is added to the end of the podcast…
I am a Cold Warrior. I grew up in the heat of it, and for the final decade of it, I was directly involved. It was intense. It was personal, and it left me with a profound sense of accomplishment. But unlike the shelling of Ft. Sumter (1861), or the invasion of Serbia (1914) or the Poland (1939), the actual beginning of the Cold War is a bit more… nebulous.
One could argue that the roots of the Cold War was in the politics and stresses of the pre-war years and the inevitable ideological struggle between communism and the liberal western democracies. But when did it actual… you know… start?
Igor Gouzenko in 1946
Public Domain
What if the whole thing started with a crying baby?
In September of 1945, a young Soviet embassy staffer walked in to the office of the Ottawa Journal, carrying a briefcase. He asked to see the editor of the paper, he hesitated and chose not to reveal his reason for the visit. Later that day, his resolved steeled, he returned, but was told that Editor was not in the office.
The disappointed and nervous young man left and went home. But the next day, his request for Canadian Citizenship would be the catalyst for the next forty-six years of the Cold War…
The 14th amendments Section 3 prohibition against permanently holding office has NEVER been invoked successfully. Even when it was tried the first time, it ended when Congress took action to change it.
Then, in 1918, with World War I raging, a man from Wisconsin found himself charged under the 1917 Espionage Act of saying things that the government said were sedition. He was arrested, tried and convicted.
And then he won a seat in Congress. Twice.
Congress, invoking the 14th Section 3, told him that he couldn’t be seated. Two year later, he won again. And served another three terms in Congress.
Now, in 2023, a Florida barrister has filed a Federal complaint against Donald Trump claiming that under the 14th Amendment he (Trump) is “not eligible to run” for President. Hold on there, hombre… that is NOT what the Amendment says…
Who’s ready for the Presidential Campaign Debate Season? Whoo-hoo!!!!
Seriously, I long ago quit watching them because – and I say this with love – they are pointless. Nothing of any substance has been discussed at a debate since 1960, and it gets worse every cycle. Today we are literally watching them not to learn anything of value, but in the hope that – like NASCAR – there will be a giant implosion on the stage that ends with a Jerry Springer-esque fight. Including the chairs being thrown and noses being broken.
Now that I would most certainly watch.
That said, and putting my own ideas for how to improve the debates aside for the moment, there once was a time when debates in this country meant something. When opponents actually had positions on the issues that completely differed from one another. A time when politicians were actually addressing the issues, not trying get rich at the expense of the nation.
And the greatest of all these debates began on August 21, 1958 in Ottawa, IL…
In the days following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was confusion and uncertainty in the upper echelons of the Imperial Japanese government. Most of the leadership had deferred the final decision to the Emperor, who told them to “Bear the unbearable.”
During the few days of waiting for the Japanese decision, the United States had paused its B-29 led bombing campaign. There rumors were rampant. Time after time the surrender was said to be imminent, but then faded away to be followed by yet another rumor.
As it became clear that Japan had not been – as yet – convinced to lay down her arms, General Spaatz decided that what was needed was a 1000 Bomber raid. This had been the norm in the later stages of the war against Germany, but it had not – as yet – happened in the Pacific Theater. The sheer size of the Pacific Theater and the distances involved had made it impractical. A lack of B-29s had made unachievable.
Until today, August 14, 1945.
As the B-29s began to roll off of the Island of Tinian on the morning and throughout the entire day of August 14, 1945 (never totaling 1000) the aim was simply to bomb whatever targets might be left. At the Palace in Tokyo, the Emperor began to record a special message, announcing to his people the surrender. As the Bombers arrived overhead, the taping was topped and the record was hidden in a closet.
Safely stowed there it would not be found when a last violent attempt was made to stop the surrender. The B-29s dropped their lethal loads, killing ever more Japanese civilians. In anger over the impeding surrender and the B-29 raids, Japanese militants seized American POWs and began to behead them.
The last few moments of the war would be every bit as bloody and violent as the first.
By now you know that either Barbie or Oppenheimer, or possibly both, are the greatest movies ever created in the history film. Already people are talking about follow up films to tell what are known as “origin stories,” but frankly I couldn’t care less about the back-story of Barbie or Ken, or even for that matter Robert Oppenheimer.
That said, there would never have been a film on Oppenheimer if two men, joined by other scientists, hadn’t written letters to President Franklin Roosevelt. One of those letters was delivered to him this week (August 2) in 1939. It was that letter that alarmed Roosevelt and the US Government so much, that a crash program, which would be led by Oppenheimer, began to go critical…
I am often bemused by so many wannabe tough people proclaiming on social media that they are here to “punch Nazi’s in the face!”
More than once I have wondered if they would even recognize a actual Nazi if they were to see one in person? My own experience tells me that they would not, because in today’s world, the attitude is that “Everyone I don’t like is literally Hitler!“
That said, there was a day in 1935 (July 25th) when a group of men decided to… well.. punch Nazi’s in the face. Their actions on this day in New York City, and the outcome of the subsequent trial, were so offensive to Adolf Hitler and his merry men, that it forced the German regime to change it’s own laws.
And for the first time in history, but certainly not the last, actual Nazi’s were punched in their actual faces…
Everybody knows that guy.
You know.. the one who has to keep asking weird questions or making absurd pronouncements when the meeting is wrapping up and everybody wants to leave. It’s almost like they are utterly oblivious and definitely not reading the room.
It terms of the Constitutional convention, that guy is named George Mason. And while the Convention has a scheduled eleven day break, starting as soon as the day ends, he wants to bring up a bunch of obtuse points. Right Now…
In the context of “the United States,” what exactly is a “State?”
Today, it seems obvious to us, but remember that in 1776 there were “States” that shared their governor. At least one of the “States” technically wasn’t a State at all, but rather a dubiously area of leased lands, that while it had its own legislative body, it was only because the State that “owned” the land didn’t like the people who lived there and didn’t want them voting in their elections and legislature. In June of 1776, the leased lands fixed that by declaring their Independence, three weeks before the entire nation did the same thing.
At any rate, the whole question of new States would vex the nation from the very beginning. By the middle of July in 1787, there were two distinct schools of thought about the concept of adding new States to the Union. They can be briefly summarized as follows:
One side said, “DO NOT add new States.”
The other side said… “DO add new States.”
And while many of the Philadelphia convention delegates leaned into the second thought, there were others who acted to make certain that the second way of thinking would prevail…
A few weeks ago, I asked the question, exactly which Framers’ values and principles should we “be getting back to?”
As the Convention lurched into the sixth week, and the heat in Philadelphia grew hotter, the delegates were – at least verbally – at each others throats. while the myth of unity still held in the media and even in sermons, the truth was that the convention was literally held together byt he strength of a “single human hair.”
Madison thought he had an answer, and Washington fumed over “States Rights Demagogues.” Benjamin Franklin famously suggested that each session start with prayer. But it would be up to two relatively unknown delegates to change the course of history…
There came a time when the political system was unable to deal with the pressures brought on it by the political differences which divided the nation. By April of an election year, there were men who had decided that the moderate course which had guided the nation for four score and four years was no longer acceptable to them.
In the arena of politics, calculations were made, votes were counted, and positions were staked out. The people of the country were not willing to believe that the extremist on either side were really willing to carry out their threats. Their leaders knew this, but when power is at stake, the will of the people is one of the last true considerations…
As the summer begins to warm the streets of Philadelphia, the temperatures inside the State House begin to rise. While most believe that the convention delegates are “united,” the truth is much, much darker. The “small” States are horrified at the Virginia Plans implications. They see it as nothing less than their compete and utter annihilation.
In fact, the ONLY unity among the delegates, is a willingness to allow for a delay in approving the Virginia Plan so as to hear and debate other plans. There are two such plans are now on the table.
South Carolina’s plan is being openly ignored by pretty much everyone, while Patterson of New Jersey proposes the only realistic counter to the Virginians. While the New Jersey plan would save the Union and keep the smaller States happy, it has a major legal problem.
As the debate intensifies, the anger and animosity explodes into pointed and frank exclamations. As Gouverneur Morris slaps Washington on the back in joy over winning an apparent debate point (against Hamilton), Elbridge Gerry will write, “unless a system of government is adopted by Compact, Force, I expect will plant the standard…”
One of the things that I have wanted to do for some time is a complete revision of the Convention Episodes of Constitution Thursday. This summer, except for the three weeks I will be gone, Dave Does History gives me the chance to do just that. For the next few months we will take a weekly look at the things that happened in the Philadelphia in the Summer of 1787. This will not be a word for word repeat of the original Convention episodes, but with a new audience it will give us a chance to once again consider the struggle that lead to our Constitution…
This week in 1787 is the designated time for delegate appointed by each State – except one – to arrive in Philadelphia to begin the process of revising the Articles of Confederation. In the previous year, at a conference in Annapolis, it was finally recognized that the government of the United States was just not functional in a meaningful way. This Philadelphia Conference was meant to try and fix some of the glaringly obvious issues that were causing more and more problems.
Of note, the weather in Philadelphia, and all up and down the mid-Atlantic seaboard, was a mess. The delegates had been scheduled to arrive beginning on May 13th, but few had actually managed to navigate the morass of mud and torrent filled rivers to get there.
But those who had arrived, almost entirely Virginians, were determined to make good use of the time while they awaited the rest of the Delegates…
Once upon a time, NYC was the leader in American dislike for the British. What you gotta understand is that Great Britain and the US were almost thinking about going to war against each other… again. The whole “Fifty-four Forty or Fight” thing, among other disputes. This time though, it wasn’t the national governments that stopped it.
Still, it the common opinion in America to dislike all things British. Including actors. Which was weird, because at one point Americans in NYC, an American actor starting trying to out-act a British Actor performing in Shakespearian play.
Follow me here… two actors… one British, one American… were competing at performing Shakespeare. Specifically, Macbeth. Americans were encouraged to boo and hiss at the British actors while cheering the American ones.
And… on May 10, 1849 this competition, driven by class and national rivalry, got… well… like NYC… out of hand…
For what seems to be basically an American drinking festival, Cinco de Mayo has become “a lightening rod for controversy*.”
A few years ago in California, white students began wearing American Flag t-shirts to school on the day. Of course, this was met with outrage, because… that’s what high school students have learned is the “proper” response to a perceived insult.
When t-shirts aren’t the issue, so-called “cultural appropriation” becomes the rally cry. How dare Americans celebrate a Mexican holiday? Drinking cerveza and eating burritos! Outrage!!!!
Of course, the bigger problem is that none of these reactions are based on even a cursory understanding of history. If it were, we could all united together and do what Norte Americanos have done since the mid 1600’s – Blame the French!
*My all time favorite phrase used every week by the Modesto Bee writers to describe to various happenings around the County
Admiral Irosuku Yamamoto, the leader of the Imperial Japanese Navy, was reputed to have once said that he personally would dictate the peace terms to the United States in the Oval Office. As the mastermind behind the the attack on Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto was seen as the evil genius behind the successes of the Japanese Navy up through the end of the Guadalcanal Campaign in early 1943.
Now, in a desperate attempt to shore up Japanese morale after the defeat on Guadalcanal, Yamamoto elected to make a tour of the front lines around Bougainville Island.
What he hadn’t figured out, even after the shattered sword of the the Battle of Midway, was that the United States had long ago cracked the Japanese codes they used to communicate. The US Military knew that the Admiral was coming to Bougainville.
At just after 0725 on the morning of April 18, 1943, eighteen of the 339th Squadron of US Army Air Corps P-38 Lightning’s began to lift off from Guadalcanal, carrying extra fuel tanks. Two planes immediately turned back.
Just over two hours later, two groups of airplanes met over the green island of Bougainville.
Today, April 11, is the anniversary of the founding of the US Navy’s Submarine Fleet! for one hundred and twenty-three years, US Navy Submariners have carried on the traditions and training of the worlds finest underwater warriors. When the Battleships were stuck in the mud of Pearl Harbor, the Submarines carried the attack to the Empire of Japan. when Missiles piled up on Cuba, US Submarines made it clear to the Soviets, “You Shall not pass!” It’s not well known, but the first shots taken at Saddam – both times – were launched from US Navy Submarines.
For all the glory and all the accomplishments, there is still, great pain.
Yesterday, April 10, 1963, The countries newest and most technologically advance nuclear submarine, vanished will all hands off the coast of New England. One hundred and twenty nine souls went to the depths that day, and now, sixty years later, we still do not know what actually happened.
Believe me, there are theories galore.
But the only thing we know for absolute 100% certainty, is that we have no idea what happened.
In 44bce, the world was stunned on the Ides of March as a group of Roman Senators mercilessly attacked and murdered the sitting roman Dictator, Julius Cæsar.
Over the next two thousand years, the story achieved legendary status in literature, theater and film. We watch as Elizabeth Taylor weeps over his death. Shakespeare brings us Marc Anthony’s rhetorical masterpiece, “Friends! Romans, Country men! Lend me your ears!” Even HBO gets into the act, with a sympathetic portrayal of Cæsar that received applause and praise worthy of Marc Anthony.
For the men who founded a new country in 1776, history was different than Hollywood and Shakespeare. They had been raised on the writings of Cato, steeped in the concepts of liberty and freedom. To a man, they saw Cæsar as he actually was, as Brutus and Cassius saw him – a usurper of tradition and, more importantly, the absolute law of the Republic of Rome.
The fact that Cæsar was beloved, even by his opponents, did not undo the fact that he was trying to put the crown of Rome on his own head. And no Roman republican could accept that.
America would choose to follow in the footsteps not of Cæsar, but in the ideas and actions of those who killed him. It was more than just the defeat of a King who ruled them, but an understanding that, like Brutus, they loved liberty more than they loved being Englishmen…
Some Technical Notes from today’s episode: (1) Dave has had zero sleep. He was up all night for a family activity. (2) The WMMB computer failed, necessitating the show be done by telephone rather than the normal method via computer. (3) Bill and Dave decided to leave their off air discussions on the podcast version. This is unusual but the conversations were germane to the subject (which is unusual) and might be of benefit to the listener.
On the night of March7/8, 1968, a loud and very unexpected sound reverberated through Central part of the Pacific Ocean. Officially, the sound originated 1500 nautical miles northwest of Oahu, exactly on the 180th Meridian (the International Date Line).
Depending on who you choose to believe, the United States intelligence community knew almost instantly what the sound was. And within a few days, a major operation was launched centered around the USS Halibut SSN-587, the most technologically advanced spy submarine in the world, which was sent look at the source of the sound.
Today, we know what she found, and we have even seen some of the photographs. But that was literally just the beginning of the story.
Richard Nixon was passionate about achieving détente. And, as events would play out, he knew what the US had found in the wreck that was found at the site of the sound, the Soviet Ballistic Missile Submarine K-129. And he was determined to use that information, and more, to achieve that mission…
I read “Red Star Rogue” for the first time back in 2006. In 2011, I was able to interview the author, Ken Sewell on Afternoons Live. There are a number of books as to the loss of K-129, but a couple of things are clear – we will NEVER know the full story.
But consider… for just a moment… the possibility (some would say probability) that on a quiet March night, a Soviet Ballistic Missile Submarine was hijacked by radical elements of the Soviet government for the express intention of attacking the United States…
Last week President Joe Biden was asked about his read of China’s intention vis-à-vis Russian and Ukraine. He said that he did not see” China helping Russia with weapons and/or ammunition. This was, of course, after his Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken said that China was planning to do exactly that. And China, said that they were not considering it.
Then for good measure Blinken threatened to have McDonalds leave China.
It hardly seems like it, but it was just over half a century ago that the Vulcan proverb was born: Only Nixon could go to China. Which he did, after more than a year of secret meetings with Kissinger and his Chinese counterparts.
Fifty-one years ago, Nixon and Zhou Enlai signed a document know as the Shanghai Communiqué. And for the past fifty-one years, it has guided American foreign policy towards the Peoples Republic of China…
On February 21, 1945, the newly upgraded aircraft carrier USS Saratoga was supporting the landings on Iwo Jima. The night before she was detached with a small escort to bomb Japanese forces on Chichi Jima. The next day is overcast with very low cloud cover.
Out of the low clouds screamed six Japanese planes, who manage to hit the Sara’s forward end, causing heavy damage and killing one hundred and twenty-three of her sailors. Another one hundred and ninety-two are injured.
Sara will survive the attack, but she will never serve in combat again. She is converted into a training Carrier, and then into a transport for operation Magic Carpet at the end of the war. She was then determined to be obsolete and surplus.
On 25 July, 1946 she was sunk during Test Baker of Operation crossroads, the first large scale test of the atomic bombs effects against naval vessels.
Of those one-hundred and twenty three men killed on February 21, 1945, sixty-four could not be recovered and were sealed in the ship as she traveled back to Bremerton for repairs. There, they are removed, but cannot be identified. They are interred in one of the saddest and yet most honored places in the Pacific Northwest, Ivy Green Cemetery.
Look, nothing happens in a vacuum.
Whether it’s a Papal Bull that results in the eradication of cats that seems to lead to millions of human deaths, or a grain shortage in the middle of a violent revolution that leads to a Economist and Reverend watching what is going on and coming up with what will become one of the most impactful theories in human history…
The first American Civil War was every bit as vicious and hate-filled as the second. And… like the second, it eventually resulted in amending the US Constitutional to try and make things better.
It all started when the state of Georgia decided that it wasn’t going to pay the guy who sold their militia supplies during the war.
It led to an intense debate during ratification over the concept of State Sovereignty, then went before the US Supreme Court, where the court… got it “wrong.”
On February 7, 1794, We the People of the United States made that absolutely clear.
Or… did we?
In January of 1944, the Allies thought that they had found a way to crack the Gustav Line south of Rome. The bloody battles in Italy had the Allies stalled and desperate to move around the entrenched Nazi forces. From December of 1943 to June of 1944, almost 100,000 allied soldiers were casualties. Most of them, from two assaults intended to break the Gustav Line.
On January 22nd, the Allies launched “Operation Shingle” as a part of the attempt to break out from the beachheads at Anzio. US Ranger Battalions headed to Cisterna as a a part of the overall assault force. What they did not know was that Army Intelligence had misread things, and the lightly held outposts that they expected were already abandoned. Instead, standing in the way was the German 715th Parachute Infantry and the powerful Herman Göring Division.
Under strength and undertrained with numerous replacement troops, the Rangers soon found themselves surrounded and in full on combat with the best troops the Nazi’s had to send….
I Survived the Battle of Cisterna: The Story of PFC James Palmer
Some months back a caller asked me what I thought was the “worst” Constitutional Amendment. He postulated that it was the 17th, which moved the election of US Senators from the State Legislature to the popular vote of a given State.
Look, from a purely strict constructionist viewpoint – which by the by – NOBODY holds – every amendment from the progressive era has been “devastating.” Some more than others, but all of them destructive to the original ideas of a strictly separated Federal and State system.
That said, I have always believed that the 16th Amendment was the really destructive amendment. NOT because it established an income tax. What most people do not understand is that an income tax was always on the table. What the 16th Amendment did was remove the most effective deterrent to the income tax…. apportionment… and with the tearing down of that barrier, the door was opened for the Federal Government to subsume the States with, you guessed it, money…
Before the middle of the 19th century, the most famous American in the world was Benjamin Franklin. He was – as most people know – a scientist, an inventor, a printer, a writer, a socialite, a diplomat, a fashion icon and a humorist.
Today we celebrate his birthday, with some of the things that you might not know about the man who some call “the First American…”
In many ways, the United States always resembled republican Rome. By the last half of the first century bce, the republic was teetering on the edge. Corrupt politics, mounting debt to fund foreign wars, societal breakdowns that left long held traditional values in disrespect and disregard left the every day Roman wondering if the world had gone completely mad?
As we look around our nation today, the parallels must be striking. The question is what happens next? Do we recover our republican form of government and manage to solve the innumerable problems that mushroom into full blown crises? If so… given how chaotic things seem today,
Or… is there some leader out there who is determined to cross the Rubicon?
George Santos is the most infamous man in America today. In case you’ve been under a rock, he was just elected to Congress, but… it turns out that HE LIED ON HIS CV! In more than two centuries of congressional candidates running to serve the nation out of a sense of duty and honor, this has NEVEREVER, happened before!
Right?
It’s a cold snowy day up here in the Pacific Northwest. Grab a cup of coffee and let’s spend it talking history!
Some months ago we had a caller to BML complaining that “only three or four guys actually did anything” with regard to the Revolution and the Constitution. It’s a common misconception, but why we think that way is a bigger question. Is it simply ignorance, or is it something… else?
There is almost a Biblical tendency to ignore the history that we either weren’t taught or just don’t care about. There is also the issue of whether or not it is actually being suppressed on purpose?
Consider this… in 1778 The United states were desperate to gain an alliance with France. For most people, it was Ben Franklin and his amazing wit and wily negotiating, along with the victory at Saratoga, that finally secured that alliance. As usual, there is much more tot he story, and even a spat – between Americans – that almost derailed the whole thing.
At the end of the day, history is about people who make choices (free will?) that cause effects and outcomes.
Just like the future…
NOTE: iHeart had computer issues this morning, forcing the show to be done via telephone with the attendant reduced audio quality.
One week after the assassination of President Kennedy, now President Lyndon Johnson issued an Executive Order which announced the formation of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. It would carry the nickname “the Warren Commission,” and it would become the national focal point for national distrust of government reports.
Given that the entire purpose of the commission was to prevent speculation of a conspiracy in the killing of President Kennedy, history would seem to have judged it a complete and utter failure.
But… was it…?
November 22nd, 1963, was a seminal day in American history. Every American alive that day can tell you about their own experience of it, and even those born long after can – and do – discuss and debate it.
For myself, November 22nd represented a trajectory change in my own future and passions. The day led directly to my own career behind a microphone, which continues to this day. for others it represents a moment of beginning to form opinions about how and why things work the way that they do behind the monolithic walls of a bureaucratic government that seems more interested in our acquiescence than our scrutiny of this event.
What we might not understand, however, is that what we are doing is debating and discussing history as it was meant to be done…
Constitution Thursday - West "By Gawd" Virginia
Back in August when we left the story, the US Navy had just suffered its worst ever blue water defeat. More than a thousand Allied sailors were dead. Four Heavy Cruisers had been lost, with a fifth disabled. The Navy, along with the American public, had been stunned by the loss, less than a year after the disaster at Pearl Harbor.
Just three months later, on the night of November 13/14, 1942, the Navy once again was shocked when a Japanese submarine torpedoed one of the heavily damaged survivors of yet another pitched night battle off of Guadalcanal, the USS Juneau. Of her crew of six hundred and seventy-three men,. a mere ten survived after spending eight days afloat on life rafts and flotsam. Americans mourned as five of the dead turned out to be the five Sullivan Brothers of Waterloo, Iowa. They were serving together and remain one of the two cases that led the US Military to adopt a policy of not allowing siblings to serve together in war time.
On the evening of November 14, 1942, it would have been easy to be demoralized. The Marines on Guadalcanal were hanging on by a thread. The nightly bombardment by the Japanese Heavy Cruisers and now Battleships was taking a heavy toll. The Navy seemed powerless to stop it and now it had suffered yet another tragic defeat.
As the clock approached midnight on November 14, 1942, another Japanese navy force, led by the battleship Kirishima, headed into Iron Bottom Sound to pound the Marines on Guadalcanal into submission. This time, unknown to the Japanese, came to the fight the last desperate defense the Navy had to offer.
This time, USS Washington was coming…
Happy Election Day! Although it is a midterm election, which are every bit as important as the Presidential Elections, we’re going to take a look at the Top 5 Most Heated Presidential Elections in the history of our country…
One November 1, 1765, the Stamp Act, passed by Parliament and given assent by King George III, took effect in Colonial America. For most Americans of that day, it was an intolerable action that violated the basic principle of “No taxation without representation.”
Americans really weren’t as upset by the tax as they were about the the control over it. They were being compelled by Britain to pay for a war – in the mind of most Americans – for which they had already paid in numerous ways.
In Britain, the tax was seen as being implemented in the “easiest and least objectionable way,” which was, of course, a big part of the problem. It seemed that Parliament had more or less forgotten why there were colonies in America to begin with. It wasn’t because British loved anglophiles had braved the stormy Atlantic ocean to show their love and devotion to the Crown.
For all of that though… there is actually a even bigger issue with the Stamp Act Tax and it was one that would be repeated by Americans themselves in later years. All of those “papers” that required the Stamp to be affixed included newspapers and broadsides as well as pamphlets. If those did not have the stamp attached, they were impounded and destroyed by the Colonial Royal Governments.
Anybody else see a problem with that?
At 2:30am on October 25, 1944, USS Tang, one of the highest scoring US Submarines in the war, launched the final torpedo of her patrol. After attacking a convoy all through the previous evening, she was hoping to finish off one last ship before turning for home with a broom lashed to her periscopes.
The real horror of war is how many things can go wrong. usually with deadly consequences. As that last torpedo sped away from Tang, it held in its circuits and parts, flaws that had not yet been overcome, even as it had been rushed into production. As it cleared the tube of the vaunted Balao Class submarine, things instantly began to go wrong. The crew, led by one of the greatest submarine commanders ever, knew what to do and leapt into instant action.
Would it be enough to save their ship from the threat of a rogue weapon?
If you ask one hundred Americans, who is the best American citizen of ALL time? I’ve never done that, but my guess is the overwhelming answer would be George Washington. There is an almost worshipful quality that we take towards him, perhaps with some justification, as we have painted his deification onto the ceiling of our Capitol Dome.
We have a corporate memory of him that fits both our need for the hero and our understanding of who we are as a people – perhaps flawed by strong. Here’s the question though, do we honestly believe that everybody who lived back then just loved and adored General Washington? Was there not… say… one, perhaps two people who found him odious or even overbearing? James Madison is known to have disliked the Generals “coarse language” at times, but really, is there nothing worse thought of him, at all?
The obvious answer is that of course there were those who not only disliked Washington, but worse, didn’t trust him. So why have we ignored them and their versions of our history?
It’s eerily similar to O’Brien holding up four fingers and asking Winston smith, “How many fingers do you see?” The answer is five…
The weirdest thing about the current hatred of Columbus Day is that there shouldn’t even be a “Columbus Day.” What do I mean?
He was an absolute boss when it came to being the Admiral of the Sea. He did something that hadn’t been done and he did it over and again. He brought glory and honor to his nation and his Monarch.
But… and I cannot stress this enough… he would have no idea what we are talking about when we say, “Columbus Day…” And he would have absolutely HATED why it was created in 1892, on the 400th anniversary of his first voyage…
You have often heard Bill Mick complain about GOP Republicans who give fire and brimstone conservatism speeches while running for office, and then turn into “do-nothings” once in office. He is, of course, not alone, nor is he wrong to express such sentiments.
But is it anything actually new when it comes to specifically the GOP? Today we fear today the slide into progressive socialism as a result of the GOPs failure to keep its principles and its word.
There was once a time when the GOP stood firm for those idea and principles. Until the election of a man who, along with his party, decided that in the interest of going along to get along, their party would allow the undoing of all that had been bought – in blood and in sacrifice.
Among the founders of the nation stand many from Boston. For all the firebrands, the one who seemed more determined than any other to win American liberty was Sam Adams.
No… he was not a brewer. Yes, he did make malt – one of the main ingredients in beer, but he left the brewing to those who would honor his name later as they created their beverage in Boston.
Sam Adams was a skilled speaker and publicist. He used the newspapers and broadsides of the day to enflame passions and encourage action against British taxes. even the last royal Governor of Massachusetts would later say that no other man was as effective in promoting the American position against the Crown.
Later he would serve as a representative in the Continental Congress, where he would sign the Declaration of Independence.
After the war, he would serve as Governor of Massachusetts, but things did not go so well for the old firebrand. Ultimately events would lead to the Philadelphia Convention, of which Sam Adams wanted no part. “I smell a rat,” he famously said of the Convention.
As a leading Anti-Federalist he believed with passion that the proposed Constitution was a bad idea and would usurp not just the States, but the very liberties of the people for which he had worked so hard.
When the State began to debate the ratification, Sam Adams found himself elected to the State Convention…
So… what exactly IS history?
It’s an important question, perhaps even more so than “Why study history?” Like so many thing, if we do not understand WHAT we are studying, how can we have any realistic idea of HOW to interpret it?
Let’s take a look at two recent events, a Supreme Court case, the firing of a high school football coach in Bremerton, WA. And the biggest “news story” in the country right now, the Martha’s Vineyard immigrants.
Each of these stories have their slants depending on which side you choose to follow. If you’re just an average person, how do you have any idea what is true, what is meaningful or what really matters?
If we can understand WHAT is history, then we can ask two further questions, who chooses what gets recorded as history? And Can we ever get the truth, the whole truth and nothing buy the truth?
We have – today – an almost scriptural reverence for the founding document of the United States government, the Constitution. To listen to most conservatives speak of the Framers is almost like going to church. They were, it seems, infallible. In fact, at least one painting in our own Capitol building portrays one Framer as being apotheosized.
But this week in 1787, the true feelings were more than a bit different. As the Convention was reached its final days, some of the rancor was in danger of boiling over into loud arguments.
On the final day, the President of the Convention at last broke his long silence and allowed for one last discussion to be decided. Even that was less about magnanimity and more about political opportunity.
As the final act, the oldest man at the convention, Benjamin Franklin rose to speak. He had planned to have his remarks read by others. But this moment was far too important for surrogates.
This was a moment to witness the rising sun…
It has been long established that the President has plenary powers when it comes to the foreign affairs of the nation. Wide latitude and power has been generally understood to be within the purview of the executive, as the Constitution is less than precise as to who exactly does what – other than advising and consenting on treaties.
Like many things though, that was not always the case. For much of our history it was presumed – by the Presidents and the Courts – that Congress was supreme. Rare was the President who would act on foreign affairs without at least some input from Congress.
But ninety years ago tomorrow, war started between Bolivia and Paraguay. While pretty much nobody outside of three South American countries knows much about (or cares about) this silly little war, the impact it had on the foreign affairs policy of the United States would be substantial and have reverberations right down to today…
In the summer of 1922, the Republican Party was in deep trouble. Tradition holds that all Presidents see their party lose seats in Congress during the mid-terms, but the Administration was facing the loss of seats to it’s OWN party! While the Republicans had trended to become more conservative, there was a significant segment of the party leaning full on into the progressive movement of the era. These progressive Republicans, led by Senator Robert Lafollette were gaining ground fast. All they – and the Democrats – really needed to take Congress was a scandal. And few Presidents in history were better equipped to give the nation a scandal than Warren G. Harding…
The Rabbis tell us that some of the most important parts of the scriptures are the stories that we do not like. The tales of failures and embarrassing happenings that don’t seem to fit the overall narrative of a loving G-d reaching out to his people. The stories of death and murder and assault and war and strife that often leave us wondering, “Why is this here?”
At the end of the day, there are – more often than not – important lessons in these chapters that if we are willing to put in the effort, will prove instructive.
We have this idea that the American Revolutionary war was a series of great events that usually saw the Continentals getting the best of the British or the Hessians or the spies sent to find out our plans. We love to read and hear about the magnificent and inspiring victories and the mighty leaders who stood resolutely against tyranny.
Those are the takes we enjoy and from which we take our motivation.
But on this day in 1780, one of the darkest events of the entire war took place on the field in Camden, SC.
By the time the sun rose over Guadalcanal on August 9, 1942, the US Navy was just beginning to come to terms with the tragedy that had occurred in the dark night before. Many Naval Historians consider the action of the night of August 8-9, 1942 to be the worst defeat ever suffered by the US Navy, including Pearl Harbor.
Just two days before the Marines had landed on the island and seized the airstrip which the Japanese had begun to build there. Just nine months after the war began, it was a bold move, made with confidence and élan. But now, that confidence was gone. destroyed at the point of Long Lance torpedoes fired by Japanese cruisers that had gone virtually undetected. Five Allied heavy cruisers were sunk or heavily damaged and more than a 1000 sailors had perished.
Shock and dismay flooded through the Navy and its Commanders. The Marines ashore understood that nothing was going to be easy now. What had seemed to be an easy victory the day before, was now in serious doubt.
But as the sun rose over the South Pacific that terrible morning, virtually no one realized the error that had been made. And despite the loss of five heavy cruisers and a thousand men, it hadn’t been the US Navy that made it…
On August 2, 1776, the members of the Second Continental Congress gathered to finish what they had begun back in July. Now, each of the men was called forward, one at a time, to affix his name to the final version of the document which had already electrified the world. On what should have been a joyous day, the full weight of what was happening was hitting home.
Benjamin Harrison of Virginia, joked with Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts that when the King hung them, Harrison would die quickly because of his weight, while Gerry would dangle and dance “for hours” because he was so small. For a moment, the joke broke the unexpected gloom of the morning.
There was one man who did not sign that day. He had already signed back on July 4th. As the President of the 2nd Continental Congress, John Hancock had the honor of speaking on behalf of the new nation and had put his flourished signature on the document before any one else. When the members of Congress had seen his giant “John Hancock,” the comment had been made that the British would be able to read it without spectacles. Hancock himself was reported to have said, “There! I guess King George will be able to read that!”
John Hancock is a man like so many of our founders. He is renown for the legend, but flawed in his little known real life. He will leave Congress under a cloud of suspicion over his financial responsibilities to Harvard University. Like so many Founders, he will attempt to lead a military campaign in the war which will end in a disaster. Later he will be the first elected Governor in Massachusetts, but is forced to resign for “health reasons,” as once again, questions about his management of things are raised. This time with life and death consequences.
But in 1787 he is re-elected to the governorship of his state.
And it is then that the legend of John Hancock will at last live up to the legend of his signature on the Declaration of Independence…
My least favorite phrase is: “Everybody knows…” I have been known to hang up on callers who sprinkle their diatribe with that idiotic phrase.
First off, NOT “everybody knows.” If “everybody knew,” then there would no conflicts, no happiness, no conversation, no science, no exploration and no need to learn anything… well… new.
Or, in my case, something old. Which might be new to you. Because NOT “everybody knows.”
We think of our country today as “more divided than ever.” I mean, “everybody knows” that, right? Putting aside for the moment, the US Civil War, is this a time when we are the “most divided ever?”
On July 26, 1788, a small but miracle took place in Albany, NY.
Today, we just assume that everything was perfect and united and that “everybody knows” it happened. But it was just by a scant three votes, that New York voted to ratify the new constitution. Today, “everybody knows” that our government, of, by and for the people was easy to establish because it makes sense and it served our liberty best.
But believe me when I tell you this: what “everybody knows” is wrong…
It’s a common idea today that “we don’t trust the media.”
There’s almost a mantra that this is a relatively new thing, and that no matter what side of the political fence you happen to be ion, the “media” is automatically presumed to be fully serving as a water carrying propaganda arm of the other side.
In recent days, we have seen another story that reignites this debate. Just three days after the Dobbs ruling by the Supreme Court, the Indiana Star reported that women were coming from Ohio for “reproductive care.”
Among the patients referred to the Indiana clinic was a 10 year old incest victim.
Or… was there?
In the early weeks of 1776, Independence fever was fanned by the publication of the most influential and best selling book ever published in America. Thomas Paine had arrived in the Colonies about a year earlier with a letter of introduction from Ben Franklin and immediately and set out to continue his legacy of failure at everything he tried.
Until he took the ideas of the enlightenment and put pen to pap and produced a book that soon had every person in the colonies discussing a single idea: Independence.
That fever led villages, towns, counties all over the colonies declaring their Independence from the King. And it led the Continental congress to act, and on July 4, 1776, they would issue the Declaration that was – and still is – heard around the world. They founded a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated tot he proposition that all men are created equal… an idea to which the men who wrote those words knew they weren’t living.
But they also believed in the future, Americans would find a way to preserve and expand those ideas...
A few months ago we and a caller who was of the opinion that “only a few” guys actually “did anything” at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. The idea is one that many people might have, simply because they just don’t know anything about anybody except the few names that bubble to the top of the historical bottle. But if you uncork that bottle, you get a wonderful bouquet of ideas and of people that you have never heard anything about before.
Sitting in that room in Philadelphia was a man who was one of the calming and guiding hands on the tiller. When the “four masters” gathered as the committee of style*, it was this man, William Samuel Johnson, who chaired the committee that would oversee the final draft of the Constitution.
He was a man who had come late to the American Revolution. In fact, he had once been arrested by the Patriots for communicating with the enemy. Once American Independence was declared, he was fully on board with his new country. It shouldn’t have been a surprise. He came from a legacy of inventing new ways of doing things.
In fact, you could make the argument that it was his father who actually invented America…
*Gouverneur Morris, James Madison, Rufus King and Alexander Hamilton
Links:
America Begins: How Samuel Johnson Created America (JAR)Life and Correspondence of Samuel Johnson, D.D.Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Yesterday was Flag day, and I carried out my standard activities for the day, which includes watching the film, “The Sand Pebbles.”
I first saw the film as a senior in high school. I remain convinced that it was shown to our English class specifically because I was known to be joining the Navy and the teacher thought that I would enjoy it. For the record, I didn’t “enjoy it.” I loved it. It is in my top favorite films, and, as I said, it is a Flag Day tradition for me.
This week, as I watched the film – long ago memorized – I came to a strange realization. If my beloved English teacher (of blessed memory) showed 16 or 17 year old me this film in school today, all hell would break lose…
On June 14, 1937, the state of Pennsylvania did something that to date, no other state has decided to do. In declaring June 14th a state holiday, Pennsylvania was making a statement that – in our times – has proved to be controversial and perhaps even quaint.
But the whole thing stated long before there was a Colin Kapernick or even a State of Pennsylvania. It stated a few days after the battles of Lexington and Concord, in the halls of the Pennsylvania State House.
There the second Continental Congress took its seat, and began to guide the nation through two of the most remarkable years in all of human history…
In the late 1930’s, the Iowa Hawkeyes had endured years of being a perennial doormat of a football team. But in 1937, a new student-athlete enrolled at the school, and quickly became the heart and soul of a rapidly improving team. By 1939, the Iowa Hawkeyes were the #3 team in the country, finishing 6-1-1, upsetting Notre Dame. Their starting halfback easily won the Heisman Trophy, and proceeded to give one of the most remarkable acceptance speeches in the history of the award.
The player would go on to decline to play professional sports – despite wildly rich offers to do so – and many people were convinced that his destiny lay in pubic service to the nation. Many who knew him believed that the twenty-one year old law student was the nations great hope for the Presidency in a few short years. His commitment to the nation, to his faith and his school was inspiring, and no one was surprised when he left school to enlist in the Navy. It was assumed that he would be every bit as committed to his service there as he had been for Iowa’s sports teams.
And he was…
In November of 2013, the nation was “more divided than we have ever been before!” The issue at hand was healthcare, and specifically the lawsuit that was headed to the District Court over Obamacare.
Odd as it seems today, at the time it was NOT at all clear what any Court would rule on the matter. And on the DC Circuit, where the case was headed, there were three seats open. The Senate had been unable to confirm President Obama’s three nominees as the democrats could not overcome the cloture rule to end debate. This left the DC Circuit court in an odd position of being almost equally split between GOP appointed Judges and Democrat appointed Judges which really put the matter up in the air.
At just this moment, onto the stage of history walked Harry Reid, the senate Majority Leader, who announced that there would be a change tot he rules, and the cloture rule was being “nuked” – at least as far as these three nominees went.
Oh… there was great wailing and gnashing of teeth on the right, while the left rejoiced and proclaimed eternal victories yet to come because of this brave and bold move by the Majority Leader.
Less than half a decade later, there was another round of weeping and gnashing of teeth. This time, things were reversed and there was much condemnation of those who decided to nuke the rules.
What happens if Harry Reid doesn’t invoke the nuclear option? What happens if Edmund G Ross decided to listen to threats made against him and not vote his conscience on May 16, 1868?
Who?
You know… Edmund G Ross, Major, USV, 11th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry… and Senator from the great State of Kansas… That Edmund G. Ross…
In April of 1917 the US Government had a problem. It had just declared war on Imperial Germany, less than six months after re-electing President Wilson who’s entire campaign theme was “He Kept Us Out of the War…”
The problem wasn’t the political flip-flop, but rather the fact that roughly a third of all American Citizens were either immigrants from or descended from immigrants from… you guessed it… Imperial Germany. Those American Citizens, including one who lived in Hollywood, were not convinced that this “War to Save Democracy” was anything other than a war to destroy their homelands and cultures.
The President pondered what to do about the fact that support among the citizenry for this war was tepid, at best. He needed to whip up a war fighting spirit and furor that would carry Americans across the sea, to stand in Paris, and say those words, “Lafayette, nous…
Dave Bowman joins Bill Mick to close out our Tuesday with our weekly trip through the Wayback Machine as we get his unique perspectives on history.
Today…just what makes history and who are the players?
April 19, 1775 was the day that the American Revolution ended.
I know that sounds odd, since it was the day that he British tried to seize the Colonial military stores at Concord, and the shot heard ’round the world was fired. But the reality is that was the moment when the American Revolution ended and the war which was its consequence began…
Bill Mick and Dave get together for Dave does History on WMMB to talk about what makes a good President. How did we even decide to have a President in the first place, and what were some of the difficulties to overcome in the process?
*Live Tuesdays 8am (EDT) on WMMB Melbourne, FL
Dave joins BILL MICK to talk about Project Candor, which seems like a great idea… until you scratch the surface of it and discover that what it really did was justify a vast expansion of the not just the military-industrial complex, but another complex that we see almost every day in our news.
If Ike saw it coming and tried to warn us, why didn’t we listen to him?
Because there is no such thing as “open government…”
Bill Mick and Dave continue their discussion of the Presidency of Dwight D Eisenhower… If there had been no war in Korea, would there have been a President Eisenhower? Are there lessons for today from that sequence of events?
It’s “Dave Does History” on Bill Mick Live. This week, at the request of a listener, we take a look at Dwight D. Eisenhower. We’ll start our journey with how Ike even ended up being on the ballot in the first place, which will surprise you since he never actually told anybody he was running, let alone for which Party!
What does bird guano have to do with Anonymous bringing down the Russian Internet? That’s what Dave joins Bill Mick to talk about!