TRUMAN

Let me just get this out of the way: President Harry Truman was the biggest piece of shit that ever lived.

He suffered from an inferiority complex his entire life: he was diagnosed with "flat eyeballs," short and weak, he was bullied.  His mother repeatedly "comforted" him after getting his ass kicked by telling him, "that you were meant to be a girl anyways." (1)

You mean to tell me that the United States dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan because the President wanted to prove his manhood? Yes, that is exactly what I am trying to say!

Truman is briefed on The Manhattan Project 13 days after his April inauguration.  World War II was winding down: Japan was near surrender but they assumed that the "unconditional surrender" Truman called for would completely destroy the imperial system and their beloved Emperor.  

He received word that the first atomic bomb had successfully exploded over the New Mexico desert while attending the Potsdam Conference.  Truman wanted to speed up the end of war believing that he had found the ticket in the atomic bomb although a majority of U.S. military commanders, including General Dwight Eisenhower, opposed its use.  

Truman reflects in his journals at Potsdam: "The target will be a purely military one." (3) However, an astounding 200,000 civilians were burned to death while only 3,200 Japanese troops were killed. After learning about the destruction on Hiroshima, Truman exclaimed, "This was the greatest thing in history." (4) 

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?

Courtesy of You Tube 

If you've never seen this pathetic-yet-historic video of Truman announcing the use of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, please take a couple minutes to notice his robotic voice combined with language about how murder with this new weapon is such a wonderful, scientific marvel. 

Courtesy of You Tube 

The Byrds " I Come and Stand at Every Door" 

(1) Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, The Untold History of the United States (New York: Gallery Books, 2012) pg. 141

(2) Ibid., 146

(3) Robert Griffith and Paula Baker. Major Problems in American History Since 1945. (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007) pg. 39

(4) Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, The Untold History of the United States (New York: Gallery Books, 2012) pg. 171

Political Party Realignment: Wallace, Goldwater and LBJ

An unprecedented major political party realignment occurred in 1964, so subtle and so intimidating that the shift developed as a nearly invisible force; a force so powerful that the public did not even recognize that it was driven by race.  

When the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed through Congress in July, a majority of Republicans fittingly voted for the act as the Democratic party had historically held supremacy in the Deep South. When Presidential candidate for the Republican party, Barry Goldwater publicly came out against the bill as a “usurpation of states’ rights,” and an abrupt ideological changeover of the Democratic and Republican  parties began. (1)  Alabama Governor George Wallace had already laid the groundwork for this type of rhetoric at his 1963 gubernatorial acceptance speech: the lowly yet unforgettable “segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” speech given from “The Cradle of the Confederacy” to argue the state’s independence over federal regulations.(2)

Ronald Reagan, then spokesperson for General Electric, issued a televised speech on October 27, 1964 as a dismissal of President Johnson’s “Great Society” reforms and on behalf of Goldwater’s political campaign.  He asked the public "if we still know the freedoms intended for us by the Founding Fathers." (3) Again, the seeds of conservatism are spread.  Four years later, George Wallace carry's out a Presidential campaign against Nixon but essential they are running on the same platform.  By this time, a complete philosophical political party conversion has occurred, never to go back from where it came.     

Courtesy of You Tube

An excerpt from the "A Time for Choosing" Speech from October 24, 1964

(1) Taylor Branch. The King Years (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013) pg. 90

(2) Madison Underwood. "Read George Wallace's full 1963 inauguration speech," Alabama Media Group, January 14, 2013. http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/01/read_george_wallaces_full_1963.html

(3) Robert Griffith and Paula Baker. Major Problems in American History since 1945, (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007), pgs. 213-218.

Women's Movement

The1964 Civil Rights Act ended public segregation and discrimination based on race, color, religion or nation origin but a title regarding sexual discrimination in the workplace was introduced on the House floor at the last minute of debate in February of ’64 but undoubtably backfired on Rep. Howard Smith of Virginia.  He lead his argument on the back’s of Nebraskan spinsters crying foul via world wars killing off their supply of eligible bachelor’s (1). With resolute support, Katherine St. George of New York announced to Congress:

 “We do not want special privilege... We outlive you. We nag you to death...I believe that we can hold our own. We are entitled to this little crumb of equality.”

Other Southern politicians claimed that this addition to the bill could actually discriminate white females over black. And many Southern politicians actually believed the nonsense that they were spewing.  President Johnson was against it as a measure of precaution, he believed that only identical bills in the House and Senate would ensure passage.  

The year before, Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique; the women’s equality movement began to rise.  At the 1968 Miss American Pageant was actively protested; bras, lipstick and high-heels were burned on the Atlantic City boardwalk. (2) The Equal Right Amendment was passed by two-thirds of the House and Senate in 1972 but failed to receive the require votes state-by-state for passage.(3)  

Courtesy of Google Images 

The women’s movement of the 1970’s has clever connections to major political party realignment of the 1960's: For the next time, George Wallace, Barry Goldwater and LBJ face off at the 1964 Democratic National Convention at The Atlantic City Cow Palace. 

(1) Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire (New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 1998) pg. 212 or 232.
(2) John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988), pg. 302.
(3) Robert Griffith and Paula Baker. Major Problems in American History Since 1945 (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007), pgs. 280-323. 

Sexual Revolution of the 1970's

Paradox surrounded the flourishing Sexual Revolution of the 1970’s; women were gaining equality while economic and social forces took shape: Playboy magazine, pornography, suburban wife-swapping and group sex. Political conservatism and Nixon were in while a simultaneous feminist backlash was brewing. (1) 

Did feminism become commercialized? Was pornography exploiting or advancing the cause of feminists everywhere? Theaters showing pornographic movies were a common site unlike today.   Pornography stores and theaters are commonly hidden off lonesome highways or disguised as a “video” stores in more metropolitan areas. 

President Johnson appointed a commission to study the effects of pornography in the late 1960's but the Report on Commission on Obscenity and Pornography was released in 1970 during Nixon's presidency. It stated that there was no corroborating evidence tying pornography to social detriment. (2)  The President blatantly rejected the report's findings and declared on October 24, 1970 in an official statement that "smut" would face national regulations. (3) 

Courtesy of You Tube 

This tape from 1972 is a discussion between Chief Justice Burger and Nixon regarding the pending Miller v. California obscenity case. Listen from roughly 1:55 to 3:21.  Nixon talks like a such a righteous dickhead throughout. Nonetheless the porn industry should have picked up on his line, "My box is as clean as it can be" and used it in some fashion.

Courtesy of You Tube 

The Who: "Pictures of Lily" 
Just take a guess about the subject matter

(1) John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988), pgs. 301-360. 

(2) No Writer Attributed, "Nixon's Rejection of Porno Report Draws Criticism," The Harvard Crimson, October 26, 1970, http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1970/10/26/nixons-rejection-of-porno-report-draws/#

(3) John Woolley and Gerard Peters, "Richard Nixon, President of the United States, 381 -Statement about the Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography," The American Presidency Project, October 24, 1970, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=2759

The Origins of U.S. Global Domination

The United States Military didn't always have such an dominantly menacing global presence combined with tremendous influence on global affairs.  Following five months of hearings on the “Communist menace in Hollywood,” Congress consequently passed The National SecurityAct in July 1947 to create an even greater and ominous military establishment in the United States.  The act created the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Central Intelligence Agency, among many others. (1) 

The Cold War was beginning to take shape; U.S. diplomat George Keenan’s “Long Telegram” and Soviet Ambassador Nikolai Novikov “Report of 1946” also directly influenced the National Security Act as a harbinger of The Cold War, and later in the 1947 Truman Doctrine. (2)  Kennan’s telegram introduced the policy of containment to combat Russian aggression by which the National Security Act implemented through its multiple layers of defense. Novikov’s report describes the changing global landscape of United States military domination. The following year President Truman presented his doctrine in front of Congress and pledged to pursue economic and military sanctions against any country abiding by communist ideology; these aggressive policies endured and the Cold War lasted for over 40 years.          

 

Courtesy of You Tube

George Kennan Quotes: His legacy remains ever present. 

Courtesy of You Tube 

Midnight Oil: US Forces video 

US forces give the nod 

It's a setback for your country 

Bombs and trenches all in rows 

Bombs and threats still ask for more 

Divided world the CIA 

Who controls the issue 

You leave us with no time to talk 

You can write your own assessment (3)

(1) Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, The Untold History of the United States (New York: Gallery Books 2012), 212.

(2) Robert Griffith and Paula Baker, ed, Major Problems in American History Since 1945 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007), 
36-49).

(3) AZ Lyrics Website, Midnight Oil Lyrics "US Forces, "http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/midnightoil/usforces.htm