Let's Talk About History

[Gregory Pratt]

I'm a big reader of History, and I'm sure a lot of you are. In the JFK Anniversary thread, I mentioned that I think the "60s" -- from Kennedy to Nixon, which of course extends us into 1974 -- were the most dangerous years in American history from domestic dangers. Not just because a wide range of drug addict leftists were on fire (I would direct you to the Manson Family and Squeaky Fromme who tried to kill Gerald Ford, as well as her other Manson relative who gave it a go, too), and not just because the American public was furious with Presidents who had lied and gotten caught, but because Richard Nixon was forcing corporations and even rich Democrats into funding him with the IRS, because he was sending his thugs to break into buildings and wiretap political opponents (and Kennedy did the same though he used the FBI more than his own private thugs, as best as I know), because Kennedy was a liar with Mafioso connections who was for all intents and purposes the most reckless man to ever set foot in the Oval Office (having sex with former Nazi spies and Soviet spies, Marilyn Monroe and whoever-it-was-that-gave-him-gonorrhea), and because Johnson was incompetent and scheming, too, since many people believe him involved in the Kennedy assassination (myself included).

 

By the way, I brought up George Steinbrenner. Does anyone know that story? Tip O'Neill recounted it in his memoir. Steinbrenner was a Democrat but was then blackmailed by the Nixon IRS into funding Republicans and he never came back. Tip says that that was when he knew that something was terribly wrong. He also recounted a nifty story wherein Nixon was asked a question by the House Democrats about Vietnam and he looked up to the chandellier (which is when Tip figured out that there were wiretaps all over the White House, which there were) and he delivered his response to the Democrats. Tip figures that Nixon was recording everything so that he could, when writing his memoirs, recount everything to make himself look like a hero.

 

If we want to expand it, I believe that the period from 1961-1981 might've been the absolute worst in terms of honesty in the Presidency and competence, too. When a mobster is President then gets followed by a man who used to tree in the office plants and ask you to talk to him while he took a s*** and he gets followed by the American caligula who gets followed by Gerald Ford (who was very much an Insider in the Nixon Administration and who some, myself included, credit with covering up the Kennedy Assasination with what Nixon called the biggest hoax in history (the Warren Commission) -- and, of course, hte Kennedys covered up the assassination, too, as recounted by Tip O'Neill), and he is followed by Jimmy Carter, who might've been the biggest bumbler in history, and you've got one terrible time for government.

 

That's why we have a House of Representatives and a Senate. To keep these guys from being too bad.

See, I hate the Sixties, personally. The hippie radicals (meeting Bernadine Dohrn and grilling her was one of my favorite moments of my life, and I got to grill her for about forty minutes), and the bad Presidents, and the Black Separatists, and the Confederacy's last meaningful stand, terrible time period. (Though I'm glad good came from it.)

 

Recently, at one of my Debate tournaments somebody said we should go back to the peaceful Sixties and I really nailed them during the cross-examination.

 

(I wish I'd have been alive to witness the 1968 Democratic Convention.)

 

Let's see, I adore Harry Truman, and I don't like FDR the man (and I'm glad he died when he did because if he'd have stayed alive he'd have wrecked everything because he was getting senile and besides that, he was convinced that he knew best about Germany and was telling a ton of people about how Germany REALLY needs to get nailed to the cross to teach them a lesson). I love James K. Polk, too. I think the Louisiana Purchase is one of the best things to read about and would probably make a great play (read Jefferson's Great Gamble for damn good details).

 

So, if anyone wants to talk about history -- whatever time period, whatever President or Senator or whatever, go ahead and join me. Feel free to reply to whatever in my post, too. I think it's fun to talk history.

[Heads22]

Rutherfraud B. Hayes, b****es.

[Gregory Pratt]

I'm still mad about that.

[knightni]

I love James K. Polk, too.

 

The Napoleon of the West.

[Gregory Pratt]

The Napoleon of the West.

 

In 1844, the Democrats were split

The three nominees for the presidential candidate

Were Martin Van Buren, a former president and an abolitionist

James Buchanan, a moderate

Louis Cass, a general and expansionist

From Nashville came a dark horse riding up

He was James K. Polk, Napoleon of the Stump

 

Austere, severe, he held few people dear

His oratory filled his foes with fear

The factions soon agreed

He's just the man we need

To bring about victory

Fulfill our manifest destiny

And annex the land the Mexicans command

And when the votes were cast the winner was

Mister James K. Polk, Napoleon of the Stump

 

In four short years he met his every goal

He seized the whole southwest from Mexico

Made sure the tarriffs fell

And made the English sell the Oregon territory

He built an independent treasury

Having done all this he sought no second term

But precious few have mourned the passing of

Mister James K. Polk, our eleventh president

Young Hickory, Napoleon of the Stump