World War II

Bob Dole Reaches 90: A Senator To Celebrate And To Honor As Republican Model!

Ronald 14 Comments

Former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, who served in the House of Representatives from 1961-1969, the US Senate from 1969-1996, and was the Vice Presidential running mate of Gerald Ford in 1976, and the Presidential nominee of his party in 1996, turned 90 years of age today.

Bob Dole also served as Republican National Chairman during the Watergate era, and was often criticized as too partisan for Richard Nixon, too loyal to the man as a freshman Senator. He also could give as good as he got in partisan wrangles throughout his service in the Senate, which included terms as Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader, and gave Bill Clinton plenty of headaches in his first Presidential term, before running against him for President in 1996.

There were times when Dole’s aggressiveness, outspokenness, and sharp tongue annoyed this author, but yet, there has always been a sense of respect and admiration for his willingness to defend his viewpoints and beliefs without any retreat!

Dole always came across as one, who despite his strong views, could work across the aisle when required, and is shocked at the growing influence of the Tea Party Movement, which has denounced him as a turncoat, a traditional conservative, who they have no problem in criticizing and condemning.

So his own party in the Senate has seen too many who show lack of respect and appreciation of the role he played in the Senate and his party for over 30 years.

Here is a man who could work on nutrition matters with fellow Democratic Senator George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic Presidential nominee, who was vastly different in views, but the two men worked together on a common cause which no Republican today would dare even consider or care about, because that would show concern for the poor among us!

Bob Dole gave up part of his body in World War II, having no use of one arm for the rest of his life, and was not only a war hero, but also has been a hero to all those who believe in decency, compassion, principle, and patriotism!

He and Gerald Ford become the second Presidential campaign team to have reached the age of 90, following George McGovern and Sargent Shriver, who did so earlier. So the losing side in 1972 and 1976 prove that longevity of life is becoming another trend that is very much to be applauded, whether among the political class or in society!

So Happy 90th Birthday, Bob Dole, and many more alongside your wife, former Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina!

40 Years Since The Middle Class Reached Its Peak: The Republican And Conservative Role In Middle Class Decline!

Ronald 4 Comments

Forty years ago, in the year 1973, during the Presidency of Richard Nixon, the middle class, which had been steadily growing since the end of World War II, reached its peak in economic terms.

In the years of Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon, an optimism that the future would be better was fulfilled, and the “American Dream” was a reality for millions of Americans, many of whom emerged from the lower middle class or from poverty.

This was the age of liberalism, a time of expanded government and social programs, whether under Democratic Presidents Truman, Kennedy and Johnson, or Republican Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon.

But a right wing reaction was beginning to emerge, and reached its ultimate success under Ronald Reagan, after sniping at Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, undermining both of them in their attempts to continue the direction that the nation had been engaged in for 28 years.

And despite what seemed like improvement under Bill Clinton in the 1990s, the reality was that conservative ideology even infected him, and while some benefited from the prosperity of the tech revolution of the 1990s, many were left behind by the trend toward making government the evil, rather than the source of much of the prosperity that brought about the middle class advancements.

And once the Republican Party gained the two houses of Congress in 1994 and kept it until 2006, and then regained the House of Representatives, beginning in 2011 until now, the middle class continued its decline, and here we are with hardly any wage increase and asset growth for the middle class, or what used to be the middle class, as we reach the two generations that have passed since the ultimate peak of the middle class.

Leave it to the GOP, and as long as the wealthy do well, they will continue to war on the middle class and turn them against the poor, so as to keep the wealthy in a privileged position, paying lower levels of taxes than they ever did during the years from FDR to Nixon!

So those who see themselves as middle class, and are struggling, need to realize who the real enemy for them is—the Republican Party and conservatism, not the Democratic Party and modern liberalism and progressivism!

Al Qaeda And Other Terrorist Groups Have Won: The Battle For Civil Liberties And Personal Freedoms Has Been Lost!

Ronald 3 Comments

This is a very depressing time in the world, with the battle against terrorism being fought, and the victims of this battle are our civil liberties and personal freedoms!

The author is in Toronto on vacation, and just read this morning of a similar eavesdropping and snooping program being exposed in Canada, as it was revealed in the past few days in the United States that the National Security Agency is engaged in such a program of all phone calls and emails and other electronic communication. And we know the same thing is going on in Great Britain, France, Australia and all other “democracies” in this world, all of which are supposedly “better” than totalitarian or dictatorial regimes, which dominate much of the world.

It is hard NOT to be depressed, and to realize that no matter how many protests we might lodge, none of what is happening will ever change, and there are bound to be innocent victims, as there were in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and in the Cold War Era, but this present war on terrorism will likely NEVER be over, and therefore, all “democratic” governments will come to dominate and monopolize our lives and freedoms!

We are in the era of “1984”, George Orwell’s realistic novel, published in 1948, and in many ways, way beyond that stage of government control and interference in our lives. No matter who is elected President in the United States, or Prime Minister in Great Britain, Canada, or Australia, or President in France, as well as other “democratic nations”, we will never regain what we had, or thought we had, and we will have to be even more concerned when a leader or a political party in any of these nations becomes the government, and is a leader or party which we do not trust, which is inevitable!

So Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have won, and continue to win, no matter how many such individuals or groups we kill or destroy!

I wish to give credit here to one of my critics on this blog, Juan Domingo Peron (the name he uses), for making me reflect and realize that while I may trust Barack Obama, I would be alarmed if George W. Bush had been the one to authorize the NSA eavesdropping, or if in the future, any conservative Republican or Libertarian were to become the leader of our nation, because as he said, nearly half the population at any time does not trust whoever our President is!

A dose of reality set in when I read what Juan said, and while I want to trust Barack Obama and his good intentions, the bureaucracy of national security makes me worry about what is being done, and the reality that someday, maybe sooner or later, a leader will emerge who I will NOT trust!

So we all need to be sober and realistic about our struggle for civil liberties and personal freedoms to be preserved in a world gone mad in the fight against terrorism!

Second Term Presidencies Taken Over By Foreign Crises: Will It Happen Again Now?

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Three American Presidents in the last hundred years have been faced by foreign crises leading to war, and disrupting their domestic intentions for their second term of office. All three hoped to accomplish much more internally, but were distracted and diverted by major wars they could not avoid.

Woodrow Wilson had accomplished the most domestic reform in American history of any President until his time, but then World War I intruded, and his second term was dominated by the war and its aftermath.

Franklin D. Roosevelt had surpassed Woodrow Wilson in domestic accomplishments in his first term with his New Deal, but his second term became one of growing concern over the threat of the Japanese Empire to our territories (Hawaii, Guam, The Philippines) in the Pacific, plus the growing threat of Fascism and Nazism represented by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in Europe—leading to concern of its effect on our traditional European friends if not formal allies, Great Britain and France. Although America would not enter World War II until FDR’s third term, the threat of war was ever present, and divided this nation in a massive way between internationalists and isolationists.

Harry Truman had a much more difficult time domestically, and had to deal with the Cold War with the Soviet Union, but hoped to promote a Fair Deal in his second term, but instead had to deal with the Korean War.

Now, Barack Obama faces the growing threat of real war with two nations who have lunatic leadership, and are capable of provoking major wars, emboldened by their nuclear intentions—Iran and North Korea.

Iran moves ahead on nuclear development, unaffected by the major nations bringing pressure and economic sanctions on them, and still seen as potentially able to threaten the survival of Israel, and cause a major cut off of oil in the Straits of Hormuz. While President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is leaving in June, it is clear that the Ayatollah Khamenei and the extremist Shiite Muslim leadership really dictates policy, and that anything is possible, including war.

North Korea, under its new young (30) leader, Kim Jong Un, has now declared that the truce agreement which ended the Korean War sixty years ago is null and void; has been testing nuclear weapons against international outcry, including China; and has threatened this past week that it might launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack on South Korea and the United States. This all seems bluster, but who can say for sure?

So our need as a nation to face the possibility of war with two international outlaws makes the whole budget issue much more complex, and makes the odds of more domestic reform activities all the harder to accomplish.

Much like Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry Truman, Barack Obama may face being a war President against his will, and his Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will be sorely tested over the next four years in their hope to avoid a war, just as we are trying to exit a war in Afghanistan, after having done just that in Iraq!

More Deaths From Gun Violence 1968-2011 Than All American Wars Combined!

Ronald 12 Comments

From 1968 to 2011, there were close to 1.4 million deaths from gun violence, and this is before the massacres in Aurora, Colorado; Newtown, Connecticut; and elsewhere in the past year.

But when one looks at all deaths from American wars, we discover the total is slightly less than 1.2 million!

With gun violence escalating in recent years, we had over 32,000 deaths in 2011, about equal to the losses in the three year long Korean War from 1950-1953.

From 1999 to 2010, we had about 365,000 gun deaths, almost equal to the 400,000 losses in the four years of World War II.

The years 1981 to 1998 saw 620,000 deaths from guns, about the same as in both sides of the four year Civil War.

With 2,500 to 3,000 deaths per month on the average now, it means in a year we match the totals of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish American War, the Persian Gulf War, the Afghanistan War, and the Iraq War combined!

Anyone looking at these statistics would have to be troubled by the fact that we are the most violent Western nation by far, and yet there are those who believe nothing can or should be done about this tragedy!

“Turning Point” Presidencies: Those With The Greatest Impact!

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With Presidents Day coming up on Monday, this author has, already, made clear which Presidents were transformative in the areas of foreign policy and diplomacy, and in domestic affairs.

Now, it is appropriate to make clear which Presidents have been the true “turning points” in American history, in the sense of changing the dynamics of Presidential leadership.

This author would say that there have been EIGHT Presidents who transformed America by their actions in office. In chronological order, they are:

Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809), who was the first President to transition from opposition leader to one who united the country in his inaugural address, adopted many ideas of the opposition as his views, and doubled the size of the nation, and kept America away from a war with Great Britain.

Andrew Jackson (1829-1837), who added greatly to Presidential power, and was the symbol of the spread of democracy to all white men, rather than just the aristocracy, and became the father of the Democratic Party.

Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865), who saved the Union by fighting the Civil War against the Confederacy, brought about the end of slavery, promoted nationalism over states rights, made the Republican Party the majority party in America, and greatly increased Presidential power

Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), who revived and expanded the Presidential office, promoted government intervention in the economy, advocated for the environment and for labor rights, and became a model for later Presidents of both parties.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945), who helped bring America out of the Great Depression by massive federal government intervention and programs through his New Deal, and took America through another great crisis (World War II), all the time greatly increasing Presidential authority.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969), who greatly expanded federal authority beyond beyond the New Deal through his massive Great Society domestic programs, becoming the image of modern American liberalism at its peak.

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989), who promoted a conservative “Revolution”, reversing the direction of the previous fifty years, and helped to bring about the end of rhe Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union.

Barack Obama (2009-2017), who brought about the greatest domestic reforms, including ObamaCare, since the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson, and moved to change the direction of foreign policy and fight terrorism effectively, with of course, his final record of accomplishments still in process.

These eight Presidents all ushered in a generation or more of their political party’s dominance, with the exception of TR and LBJ, who saw what they represented repudiated or replaced by the opposition party within a short span of time.

And of course, the long range effect of Barack Obama is still questionable, although at the moment, it looks likely that his agenda will be pursued by a stronger Democratic coalition seen as likely to keep the Presidency in 2016 and beyond, with either Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden as the standard bearer and inheritor of the Obama legacy!

Also, notice that these “Turning Point” Presidencies occur within a 16-40 year range from one President to another, with most within a generation of earlier such Presidents by the end of each of these Presidencies!

Troubled Second Terms Of Presidents Common Theme

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Sadly, it is much more likely that a second term in the Presidency will downgrade the historical image of that President, no matter how successful he might have been in the first term.

Below is a list of second term Presidents— including those who succeeded to the Presidency during the term, and then were elected on their own—who faced adversity big time in that last term in the Presidency, indicating the negative developments.

Thomas Jefferson—-The Chesapeake Affair, and the Embargo Act.

James Madison—The War of 1812, and burning of the White House and the US Capitol by the British.

Abraham Lincoln—Assassinated within six weeks of starting second term of office.

Ulysses S. Grant—-Exposure of Credit Mobilier Scandal, and the Panic of 1873.

Grover Cleveland (non consecutive terms)—Panic of 1893, Pullman Strike, Cancer surgery on the President’s jaw in secret.

William McKinley—Assassinated after six months of his second term in office.

Woodrow Wilson—-Controversy over Versailles Treaty and League of Nations, the Red Scare, and the stroke which paralyzed him in his last 18 months in the Presidency.

Franklin D. Roosevelt—-Split in the Democratic Party over the Supreme Court “Packing” plan, attempted “Purge” of Southern Democrats, Recession of 1937-1938, and controversy over isolationism and World War II.

Harry Truman—After finishing the term of FDR, facing the Second Red Scare and the Korean War controversy.

Dwight D. Eisenhower—The Soviet move into space with Sputnik, and the U-2 Spy Plane Incident with the Soviet Union.

Lyndon B. Johnson—The escalation of the Vietnam War, and the invasion of the Dominican Republic, both highly controversial.

Richard Nixon—The Watergate scandal and the move to impeach, and the resignation.

Ronald Reagan—The Iran Contra Scandal

Bill Clinton—The Monica Lewinsky Scandal, and the Impeachment Trial.

George W. Bush—The Hurricane Katrina disaster, and the Great Recession.

Let us hope for better fortunes for Barack Obama in his second and last term!

Reelected Presidents And Foreign Policy

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An interesting trend of reelected American Presidents is their tendency to become deeply involved in foreign policy matters. This is true since the dawn of America as a world leader in the time of Theodore Roosevelt.

The question is whether this is a planned strategy, or a simple reaction to events, or both.

After Theodore Roosevelt won his full term, having succeeded William McKinley after his assassination, TR became involved in aggressive policy making, criticizing Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany over Morocco at the Algeciras Conference of 1906, and taking leadership of relations with Japan.

Woodrow Wilson, after keeping us out of war in Europe, called for our entrance into World War I a month after his second inauguration, and then went to the Versailles Peace Conference after the war, and worked, unsuccessfully, to convince the US Senate to ratify the Versailles Treaty and membership in the League of Nations. He also committed troops, along with Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, to attempt an overthrow of the Soviet Union regime under Nikolai Lenin.

Calvin Coolidge, elected after succeeding Warren G. Harding in 1923, became involved in the promotion of the Kellogg Briand Pact in 1928, an attempt to outlaw war as an instrument of international policy.

Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the nation closer to dealing with the German Nazi, Italian Fascist, and the Imperial Japanese threat before and during the early part of the Second World War, and then took us into the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in his third term, and pushed for an alliance with the British and the Soviet Union during the war, and advocated the formation of the United Nations as the war was ending.

Harry Truman, after succeeding FDR upon his death in 1945, and winning his own election in 1948, helped to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, took America into the Korean War, and gave aid to the French in the Indochinese War.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his second term, engaged in diplomacy with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at Camp David in 1959 and secretly planned to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Lyndon B. Johnson, after succeeding the assassinated John F, Kennedy in 1963, in his full term, escalated American involvement in Vietnam to a full scale war that divided the country, and invaded the Dominican Republic in 1965.

Richard Nixon, after being reelected, became engaged in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, saving the possibility of a Soviet intervention in the Middle East, and also arranged the overthrow of the Chilean President, Salvador Allende.

Ronald Reagan, in his second term, engaged in arms agreements with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev; bombed Libya over its claim of a 200 mile territorial limit; and supported overthrow of dictatorial regimes in Haiti and the Phillippines.

Bill Clinton, in his second term, brought about peace in Northern Ireland; became engaged in war against Serbia over Kosovo; and engaged in counter terrorism actions against Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists.

George W. Bush, in his second term, conducted a “surge” in Iraq, and promoted action against the HIV-AIDS epidemic in Africa.

The question is what Barack Obama will end up doing in the field of foreign policy, and whether he will initiate it, or react to events he cannot control.

The Truth About Presidential Executive Orders From 1893-2013

Ronald 3 Comments

New statistics have emerged regarding the use of Presidential executive orders, now being hotly contested because President Barack Obama is issuing 23 such orders on gun regulation, in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Massacre.

All Presidents from Grover Cleveland’s second term through Obama’s first term are covered in assessing how much these Presidents utilized executive orders. Thanks to New York Magazine for these statistics.

So for conservatives and Republicans, they can be excited to point out that Franklin D. Roosevelt, who they hate, issued, by far, the most executive orders. But of course, FDR presided during the Great Depression and World War II, the greatest crises since the Civil War, and, of course, FDR also served three complete terms and started a fourth before dying in office.

But after FDR, one discovers that Herbert Hoover was a close second in the four years of his term, having to deal with the Great Depression erupting in his first year in office. Of course, some conservatives think of Hoover as a progressive, but that is a major misunderstanding in fact!

Woodrow Wilson comes a close third, and this makes conservatives feel justified that it is Democrats, such as FDR and Wilson, who are the biggest “villains” on executive orders.

But then, how does one explain that below Wilson are Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge, not much behind Wilson, but adored by conservatives? And next is William Howard Taft, considered a conservative when Chief Justice of the Supreme Court a decade after his Presidency. These three Presidents are Republicans, imagine that!

The list continues in order as follows:

Theodore Roosevelt
Harry Truman
Jimmy Carter
John F. Kennedy
Gerald Ford
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard Nixon
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Ronald Reagan
Bill Clinton
George H. W. Bush
William McKinley
George W. Bush
Barack Obama
Grover Cleveland

Hey, wait a minute here! Obama is next to last of these 21 Presidents? How is that possible, after the rhetoric employed by Republicans such as Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky? Could it be that Paul does not know the facts, and does not know history very well? You know the answer!

And executive orders have become quite rare after Truman, so were most utilized by the eight Presidents from TR through Truman.

In other words, Barack Obama has NOT abused the executive orders authority, and has hardly used it, and Republicans TR, Taft, Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover all used it an amazing amount of times!

But do conservatives really care to know the truth? Again, the answer is obvious!

The Moronic Debate Over Presidential “Vacation” Time

Ronald 1 Comment

Here we go again! Another reason to attack President Barack Obama is to claim he is taking “vacation” time, when there are so many issues to deal with.

The facts are that Obama has taken far less vacation time than most Presidents, even though he has issues to deal with on a regular basis that match those of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, without a doubt the third greatest crisis period in American history after the Civil War and the Great Depression and World War II!

Obama has taken a total of 84 days in four years for “vacation”, in his home state of Hawaii.

George W. Bush took 250 days off in his first two and a half years, and spent more time at his home in Crawford, Texas than he often did in the White House.

Ronald Reagan spent an inordinate amount of time at his ranch in California during his eight years.

George H. W. Bush spent a lot of time at his home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

John F. Kennedy spent a lot of time at his home in Hyannisport, Massachusetts, or in Palm Beach, Florida.

Harry Truman spent a lot of time at his home in Independence, Missouri.

Dwight D. Eisenhower spent a lot time playing golf on regular vacations.

Franklin D. Roosevelt spent a lot of time at his Hyde Park, New York home, or in Warm Springs, Georgia during his twelve plus years Presidency.

The same goes for Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton.

But NONE of them got as much attacked for “vacation” time as Obama has suffered, even though he has spent far less time away from the White House!

But the point is that the critics fail to recognize, or choose NOT to recognize, that in reality, the President of the United States is NEVER on “vacation”, as the burdens of the office go with him wherever he is, and communications are always readily available!

Being President is a 24 hour a day, 168 hours a week, 52 weeks a year enterprise!

Meanwhile, the Congress only meets in formal session about 125 days a year, and takes long breaks during the year around holidays. And the conservative talk show hosts who criticize Obama have inordinate amounts of free time when they do not work.

So it is really outrageous that those who have far less responsibility, burdens, and stress, have the gall to attack a President who has worked harder on a regular basis than any President of recent times.

But as always, Obama ignores the ridiculous criticism, and we should all salute him for his recognition of the need to get away from DC and clear his mind, within the limits that is possible!