World War I

Eight Presidents Who Had A Major Role In The Military

Ronald 2 Comments

Many of our Presidents, about two thirds, have served in the armed forces of the United States, but eight were involved in particularly notable roles in the military that stand the test of time.

These are:

George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

Ulysses S. Grant during the Indian Wars, Mexican War, and Civil War.

Theodore Roosevelt during the Spanish American War.

Harry Truman during World War I.

Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II.

John F. Kennedy during World War II.

Jimmy Carter in the early Cold War years.

George H. W. Bush during World War II.

Other Presidents served of course, and Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, and Zachary Taylor were generals; Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison and William McKinley served in the Civil War; and Hayes and Franklin Pierce (in the Mexican War) and Kennedy were wounded. But these eight listed above particularly stand out in their military service of all of the Presidents who served!

Hostile Relationship Of Former Presidents With Incumbent Presidents

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The question of the relationship of former Presidents with incumbent Presidents is an interesting one, with usually the former Presidents avoiding open criticism of their successors, even if they are of a different political persuasions, and did not support the nomination or election of their successors.

There are only a few cases of open criticism and attack, including:

John Quincy Adams highly critical of Andrew Jackson, and returning to Washington, DC as a Congressman to “keep watch” over his policies and actions. Adams was also a sharp critic of the slavery and expansionist policies of John Tyler and James K. Polk.

Martin Van Buren being a major critic of the expansionist policies of John Tyler and James K. Polk in the 1840s, and of the slavery policies of Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan in the 1850s.

John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan all critical of the policies of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

Grover Cleveland being a sharp critic of Benjamin Harrison, who he had lost to, and then ran against again and defeated in 1892, and then opposed William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt on the issue of imperialism and expansion.

Theodore Roosevelt very critical of his successor William Howard Taft, who he ran against on the Progressive Party line in 1912, and then against Woodrow Wilson’s policies toward World War I, after losing to him in 1912. Also, TR was resentful that Wilson “stole” some of his progressive ideas, and enacted them as President in his first term.

Herbert Hoover harshly critical of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s policies during the Great Depression and World War II.

Harry Truman very critical of Richard Nixon for years before he became President, and never really making peace even when Nixon gave the Truman library the piano in the White House that Truman had played. Also, Truman was critical of Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the two men only resolved their differences at the funeral of John F. Kennedy in 1963.

Jimmy Carter very critical of the policies of his successor, Ronald Reagan, and at times, of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

Otherwise, the tendency has been to sit on the sidelines and avoid open criticism of one’s successors to the Oval Office!

A Century Ago Today, An Assassination Led To World War I, Which Still Reverberates Today!

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Precisely one hundred years ago today, a political assassination led to the outbreak of World War I, which still reverberates today in so many ways!

The Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, along with his wife, were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Black Hand terrorist organization, which was out to prevent Habsburg influence over Bosnia, which was allied by ethnicity to Serbia nationalists, and had friendship and support with Czarist Russia.

The series of events that followed over the next five weeks led to general continental war in Europe, lasting more than four years, when most thought the war would be won by their side within months. Instead, we saw trench warfare, barbed wire separating the warring sides, and use of poison gas, with almost no progress toward victory on the “Western Front”, and total disaster for Czarist Russia in Eastern Europe against Germany and Austria-Hungary. It became known as the “Great War,” but it was only great in the massive loss of life of millions of people, and the upending of the traditional empires of European nations in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

World War I led to the following:

The rise of the Soviet Union and Communism, and the later Cold War, with the downfall and murder of the last Czar of Russia.

The end of the German Empire, but then the rise of Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler within 14 years of the end of the war, and the eventual outbreak of a more disastrous war, World War II.

The rise of Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini within four years of the end of the war.

The end of the Austro Hungarian Empire, and the rise of separate nations based on nationality in Eastern Europe.

The end of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and the creation by Great Britain and France of artificial boundaries for the Arab peoples of the Middle East, leading to more disarray and conflict on a constant basis, and now unraveling after a century.

The decline and fall of the British Empire, French Empire, and other European empires in Africa and Asia over two generations, creating instability in both Africa and Asia, and the creation of new nations on both continents.

The rise of the United States as the greatest military power after World War II until the late 1960s, when the Vietnam War, followed by the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War, undermined and weakened the supremacy of the American nation.

The world and America will be commemorating the events of World War I over the next four and a half years, and a worthwhile tourist site would be the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, which the author has visited, and highly recommends to anyone wanting to understand the reality and the impact of this war, which transformed the world in so many ways!

The Neocons: Despicable Hypocrites!

Ronald 3 Comments

The Neoncons, those conservatives and Republicans who drew us into the Iraq War on false intelligence, are at it again, advocating further intervention in a hopeless war, in a nation which should, and likely, will be, soon, three nations instead of one, as the concept of Iraq created by Great Britain and France after World War I, has been a total failure, accelerated by the US intervention in 2003!

The nerve and gall of the neocons–mostly “Chicken Hawks” who never served in the military–to advocate return to Iraq, and to blame the mess there on Barack Obama, rather than George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, is beyond belief!

To see Paul Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol, Kark Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz, and so many other hypocrites, all liars and deceivers, advocate the same failed policies, is enough to make one vomit!

To see John McCain and Lindsey Graham call for more military intervention, despite their military service, is also hard to conceptualize, and makes one happy McCain was not elected President in 2008!

Somehow, particularly annoying, is Bill Kristol, publisher of the Weekly Standard, with that classic smirk on his face, calling for more intervention everywhere, despite the fact that everything he has ever stated and advocated, has proven to be totally wrong! One would love to meet Kristol, and put him on the defensive, and really, wipe that smirk off his cocky, arrogant face!

These people listed above are so outrageous and obnoxious, it makes one wish to send them to Iraq to the front lines to fight the battle they are so dedicated to, as long as they and others around them do not have to serve, with the only exception in this regard being the son of John McCain, who has followed in the distinct tradition of his dad, although his dad is so wrong headed right now on this matter!

Joe Biden View Of Iraq Correct: Three States, Not One!

Ronald 4 Comments

Vice President Joe Biden, as a US Senator and Presidential candidate in 2008, projected that the best future for Iraq was for the three warring, contending groups to become separate states, as the Iraq created by the British and French after World War I was unsustainable.

Biden was ridiculed and attacked for his statement and view, but it now looks more than ever, with sectarian violence among the Shiite and Sunni Muslims, along with the national ambitions of the Kurdish people in the Northern part of Iraq, that the best hope might well be a three state solution.

The only problem now is that extremist terrorist groups in Iraq and neighboring Syria, where a civil war has raged for more than three years, endangers not only such a scenario, but also the whole Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Israel, as well as American interests.

Since the Shiite and Sunni branches of Islam have been at war for more than a thousand years in the Middle East, the best that can be hoped for is such a three state solution, with the hope that the extremism and terrorism can be contained and lessened.

This is all the outgrowth of the unnecessary, unwise, inexcusable war initiated by the George W. Bush–Dick Cheney–Donald Rumsfeld administration on Saddam Hussein, who despite his horrible regime, was not a direct threat to the United States.

Now the Biden idea, with a quelling of the terrorism aspect, is the best hope for the future, so let us salute Joe Biden for, once again, more than one realizes, being perceptive in foreign policy.

We could do far worse than Joe Biden as our potential 45th President of the United States, as the man has great knowledge, vision, and perceptions that make sense in foreign policy!

The Endless Payments For Wars Since The Civil War To The Present, And The Long Term Future!

Ronald 7 Comments

It is so easy for leaders of governments to send their military forces into war, not fully realizing that the long range economic effect goes on way beyond their lifetime and for the next century and more!

Here we are, 149 years after the end of the Civil War, and we are paying a small pension to the daughter of a Civil War veteran who married a young woman in his old age, and the daughter from that marriage is now 84 years old!

While the last World War I veteran died in 2011, there are still 4,038 widows, sons and daughters who get a veterans’ pension or other payments from that war service.

Not many are aware that spouses, parents, and children of deceased veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan received $6.7 billion in 2013, based on financial need, any disabilities, and whether the veteran’s death wsas tied to military service.

And this does not include the costs of the war itself, or the care of the veterans. The final bill for Iraq and Afghanistan is estimated to be $4 trillion to $6 trillion dollars over the next century!

This is a commitment that must be met, but it is something which should sober leaders, and clearly has affected Barack Obama, who is doing his best to avoid future conflict, a mark of a true statesman! For that effort alone, he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize he won prematurely in 2009!

Two Significant Series Debuting On History Channel And CNN This Week

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Two significant documentary series are debuting this week on History Channel and on CNN.

Tonight, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the History Channel has a three part, six hour series on World War I and its effect on the coming of World War II, through a study of major world leaders, including Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Charles De Gaulle, Douglas MacArthur, and George Patton.

On Thursday at 9 PM for an hour for ten weeks, CNN will have a ten hour series on the 1960s, and the effect it had on America with actor-director Tom Hanks involved in the project.

For anyone interested in politics and its effect on history, make it your business to watch and record these two series!

Time Of Remembrance: 150 Years Of Arlington National Cemetery And 70th Anniversary Of D Day

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We are today commemorating two solemn anniversaries: 150 years of Arlington National Cemetery, and 70 years on June 6 of the D Day Invasion at Normandy during World War II! Memorial Day is the proper day to mark these two anniversaries!

Arlington National Cemetery began as a place to honor Civil War veterans, and now honors veterans of all of America’s wars, those killed in battle and those who simply served.

The number of World War II veterans is declining rapidly, with the youngest participants now age 88 and over, with “The Greatest Generation” still honored for their sacrifices every year.

The crisis over the Department of Veterans Affairs is a sad event, since we face a mountain of commitment to all of our veterans over the next century, who have done their part to protect us, and no matter what the cost, our commitment MUST be met, when we send troops to war!

It should sober us to be more careful about military commitments overseas, and only engaged in wars that we have no choice but to participate in, for national security, but NOT for corporate greed or the promotion of oil interests!

And this is also a sobering time, as we soon will reach the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I in Europe this summer! The effects of that war, on the world and on America, still reverberate!

1914 And 2014: Are The Scenarios Similar, Meaning A Potential World War III?

Ronald 11 Comments

A century ago, misjudgements, emotion, nationalism, and extremism led to the outbreak of the First World War, wrongfully called the “Great War,” leading to tens of millions of dead and wounded all over Europe, and causing the demise of empires, and the rise of Communism, Nazism, and Fascism, and the eventual coming of the Second World War.

After the Second World War, the Cold War evolved, and for nearly a half century, tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States created the danger of another world war, which, however, was avoided, despite tremendous crisis after crisis, with the super powers going to the brink, and then stepping back from the precipice.

But now, a quarter century after the Cold War ended, Russia’s move into Crimea, taking sovereign territory away from Ukraine, has created the biggest international crisis since 1989, and to the possibility of a scenario where extremism, nationalism, emotions, misjudgements by leaders, and the actions of a few could lead to the outbreak of a massive war, that would be called World War III!

This is very worrisome, and statesmanship, and commitment to avoid war is essential, or else we could reach a new precipice, that we might not be able to back away from, and would destroy the world we live in!

Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden, And The Espionage Act of 1917!

Ronald 3 Comments

In 1917, after America had entered World War I, President Woodrow Wilson pushed through Congress the infamous Espionage Act, designed to be used against actual spies, but manipulated instead to bring Eugene Debs, the Socialist Party leader and five time Presidential candidate to trial, and to sentence him to federal prison, with Debs only being pardoned in 1921 by President Warren G. Harding, as Wilson refused to consider such a pardon.

That was not a bright moment in our civil liberties history, and Wilson remains condemned for promoting legislation that was abused by him and Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, not only the Espionage Act, but also the Sedition Act of 1918, the first such federal legislation of that name and type since the Sedition Act of 1798 under President John Adams, which was repealed under his successor, Thomas Jefferson! The Sedition Act of 1918 was repealed by Congress in late 1920, but never has that occurred for the Espionage Act!

The Espionage Act should have been repealed, but instead, it was used against Pfc, Bradley Manning, who used his position in the Army to give access to hundreds of thousands of documents about the Iraq and Afghanistan War to Wikileaks, and then, after being arrested, was horribly mistreated, including total isolation and being stripped naked, outrageous conditions he did not, and no one, deserves!

Manning has now been acquitted of “aiding the enemy” under the Espionage Act language, but still faces many years in prison, when to many, he was a “whistle blower”, who should not be prosecuted and convicted for exposing the secret actions of our government and military in both Iraq and Afghanistan, two highly unpopular wars created by the actions of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld!

The same controversy centers around Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency employee, who shocked the nation by exposing many secrets of the NSA and Central Intelligence Agency, and then fled, first to Hong Kong, and then Russia, and is trying to gain asylum in Latin America, if not Russia.

A majority of the American people see him as a “whistle blower” rather than a spy, and so the issue of how to deal with these two individuals, one military, and one civilian, divides the American people!