“Ich Bin Ein Berliner”
Posted by Matt Ortega · June 26, 2008 · Comments (0)
Delivered in West Berlin, Germany, forty five years ago today — “Ich bin ein Berliner,” June 26, 1963.
This Day in History
Posted by Matt Ortega · June 13, 2008 · Comments (0)
The History Channel updates visitors on historic events throughout world history with “This Day in History.” There were a number of notables for June 13:
1966: “Miranda Rights” are established after the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the case Miranda v. Arizona (1966) that requires all suspects be made aware of their rights before interrogation.
1967: Thurgood Marshall is the first African-American nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States. Marshall was confirmed with a 69-11 in the U.S. Senate on August 30, and sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren two days later.
1971: The New York Times published the top-secret Defense Department study of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, the “Pentagon Papers.”
Peace for All Time
Posted by Matt Ortega · June 10, 2008 · Comments (0)
Eight months after the United States and Soviet Union were brought to the brink of nuclear war, President John F. Kennedy spoke about world peace in the Commencement Address at the American University in Washington, D.C. on June 10, 1963.
So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable — and war need not be inevitable. By defining our goal more clearly — by making it seem more manageable and less remote — we can help all peoples to see it, to draw hope from it, and to move irresistibly toward it.
Ted Sorensen’s Counselor
Posted by Matt Ortega · May 15, 2008 · Comments (0)
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Started to read Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History, the book authored by former speechwriter to President John F. Kennedy, Ted Sorensen, thanks to a generous colleague.
The book is a fascinating read — even just a few dozen pages into it.
Sorensen authored some of the most beautifully written speeches delivered by President Kennedy, and even penned an incredible speech for the nominee to accept the nomination of the Democratic Party this summer. It, too, was beautifully written, as was the then-Senator Kennedy’s nomination acceptance speech delivered forty-seven years prior on July 15, 1960 in Los Angeles, California.
Listen:
It turns out that the Nebraska-native Sorensen, who was such a trusted aide and close confidante of the President that he routinely called him his “intellectual blood bank,” recently turned 80 on May 8.
This Day in History
Posted by Matt Ortega · April 30, 2008 · Comments (0)
The History Channel updates visitors on historic events throughout world history with “This Day in History.” There were a number of notables for April 30:
1789: President George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States in New York City and delivered the nation’s first inaugural address.
1803: The land deal between the United States and Napoleonic France known as the “Louisiana Purchase” was concluded. The purchase doubled the size of the U.S. at the cost of $15 million. The Louisiana Territory “comprised most of modern-day United States between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, with the exceptions of Texas, parts of New Mexico, and other pockets of land already controlled by the United States.”
1945: Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin days before Nazi Germany’s formal surrender to Allied forces. Hitler’s Third Reich was proclaimed to last 1,000 years but collapsed after a dozen under Nazi rule.
1948: Organization of American States (OAS) was officially established with the United States and twenty Latin America nations signed on.
1975: South Vietnam surrendered to communist forces.
Bring Them Home — From the South?
Posted by Matt Ortega · April 9, 2008 · Comments (0)
In attempts to justify a prolonged, likely permanent, American encampment inside Iraq, conservatives continue to make silly comparisons.
The most first and most common comparison points to the continued U.S. presence in Germany and Japan following the collapse of the Third Reich and the Japanese empire in the Second World War, or Korea following the three-year war on the peninsula in the early 1950s. Stupid, I know, but that is what they claim. (For why this is a stupid argument, there is plenty of reading on that subject.)
The conservative blog, Red State, unveiled a new and even dumber argument. From their e-mail to supporters:
Clearly McCain was talking about a peace time standing presence … Someone should ask the Democrats if they think we’re still at war with the confederacy, the Germans, and the Japanese given all the standing American armies in the South, Germany, and Japan.
Here is what Bill Scher wasted fifteen seconds of his life writing:
But hey, at least Germany and Japan are like Iraq in that they are other countries.
I can’t believe I am wasting 15 seconds of my life to type this, but having military bases in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina does not constitute a permanent occupation. Does RedState really believe that 140 years after the Civil War, American troops have a “peace time standing presence” in the American south?
There you have it — the “Union” is still occupying the “Confederacy” because, apparently, the “Confederacy” never applied nor were accepted back into the “Union” during Reconstruction.
April 9 marks the 143rd anniversary of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender that effectively ended the Civil War.
Good Night, and Good Luck
Posted by Matt Ortega · March 9, 2008 · Comments (0)
Academy Award nominee David Strathairn portrays legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow in the 2005 film, Good Night, and Good Luck. The clip below is a condensed version of Murrow’s actual response to Senator Joe McCarthy’s (R-Wisconsin) taped rebuttal to the March 9, 1954 episode of See It Now entitled, “A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy.”
Listen to the full audio from Murrow’s response to Senator McCarthy in 1954.