A Farwell to Blogs

I am not an an arrogant person, but when it comes to the study of history I think I know all. Looking at the historical knowledge of the average American, perhaps I have some reason to be confident. However, Socrates once said "The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing." When I started my goal to find 15-20 surprising historical facts over a period of 30 days, I thought it would be hard to find facts that I didn't know. The past 30 days have been very humbling for me. I discovered that finding facts i didn't know was easier than I anticipated.

Once upon a time I had a notion that I could find out "the truth" about history. Despite the fact that this can be like trying to explain Crime and Punishment to a two-year old, I still have this belief. My quest has opened mt eyes and made me want to continue searching for answers. Studying history is like pulling one those trick handkerchiefs which keep going and going. Like the person pulling the magic cloth, I will keep going until I reach the end. If that day never comes then I at least will have had fun trying.

Since my blog is now at an end, I will give a list of famous last words. You can decide their significance:

H. G. Wells: "Go away...I'm all right."

Indira Gahndi: "I don't mind if my life goes in the service of the nation. If I die today every drop of my blood will invigorate the nation."

Louis XIV: "Why are you weeping? Did you imagine that I was immortal?" (Noticing as he lay on his deathbed that his attendants were crying.)

Jesus Christ: Jesus, after a long morning of torture and a 3 hour lasting excruciating crucifixion, He first forgave his Roman enemies from the cross, saying: "Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they do!" Then he granted eternal life to a repentant thief that was crucified beside him, saying, "Today you shall be with me in Paradise" After the Father's Spirit left Him as He died for the sins of the world, he said, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me!" Then He said "It is finished!" and after He had cried out with a loud voice, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"—He gave up the ghost!

The prophet Mohammed: "O Allah! Pardon my sins. Yes, I come."

Buddha: "Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation. Do your best."

Voltaire: A priest was summoned as the French essayist and philosopher lay on his deathbed. The priest asked that Voltaire renounce Satan, to which he responded, "Now, now my dear man, this is no time to make new enemies."

Karl Marx: "Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough!" The German economist, philosopher, and revolutionary responding to his housekeeper when asked if he had any last words

Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary: "Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something."

Winston Churchill's Race Problem

Winston Churchill is one of England's most beloved politicians. As the British leader during World War II, he is credited with inspiring his people with human spirit to resist Nazi Germany.

However, like all icons, there is a flip side of the hero coin. Churchill's flip side is very ironic considering he fought against the Third Reich. Churchill was a terrible racist. Look at these quotes:

I do not admit... that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia... by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race... has come in and taken its place.
Churchill to Palestine Royal Commission, 1937

This movement among the Jews is not new. From the days of Spartacus-Weishaupt to those of Karl Marx, and down to Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kun (Hungary), Rosa Luxembourg (Germany), and Emma Goldman (United States)... this worldwide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilisation and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing.

(India is) a godless land of snobs and bores.
In a letter to his mother, 1896

I do not understand the squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poisonous gas against uncivilised tribes.
Writing as president of the Air Council, 1919

One other unflattering fact about Churchill is his views on eugenics:

The unnatural and increasingly rapid growth of the Feeble-Minded and Insane classes, coupled as it is with a steady restriction among all the thrifty, energetic and superior stocks, constitutes a national and race danger which it is impossible to exaggerate.

This ironic giving Churchill's quote, "History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."

Albert Einstein: Genius and Ladies Man

Everyone is familiar with Albert Einstein. His groundbreaking work in physics has made his name synonymous with intelligence and wisdom.

I would love to explain his scientific breakthroughs in detail, however my feeble mind does not fully comprehend them. For those who want to read about the The Special and General Theory of Relativity be my guest. Maybe you can explain it to me.

One aspect about Albert Einstein which is not familiar to everyone is his rampant infidelity. One usually does not think of phsycists as men who are players, yet:

A series of 1,300 letters written by the physicist were published for the first time
yesterday. They are part of a batch of 3,500 bequeathed to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He was reputed to have been a charmer who bewitched Marilyn Monroe, and had 10 lovers outside of two marriages. These letters, kept by Margot, and released two decades after her death on 8 July 1986 on her instruction, illuminate how Einstein spent little time at home, instead lecturing in Europe and the US, but wrote about his amorous adventures to his family.

In the letters, the professor describes six women whom he romanced and spent time sailing, reading, and attending concerts with, while being married to Elsa. Some of the women identified by Einstein include Estella, Ethel, Toni, and his famous "Russian spy lover", Margarita, while others are referred to simply by their initials, such as M and L.

Now I know why women say "all men are pigs."

Not So Noble Intentions

If you ever talk to anyone about any social or political issues, people will inevitably tell you what they think is wrong with society. After they tell you societies problems, they will inevitably explain to you what should be done to fix these problems. One cliche floating around in America today is the idea that we should return to the intention of the Founding Fathers.

The reasoning behind this argument is that the founders were perfect leaders who formed a flawless system of government that has since been destroyed. I thought it might be interesting to look at some of the Founders' intentions:

Slavery- Every one of the Founders owned slaves. The Constitution originally had a clause which made African Americans three-fifths of a person. Thomas Jefferson had a famous affair with one of his slaves.

Women's Rights- Women could not vote until the passage of the 19Th Amendment in 1920. to return to the Founders intentions we would have to take away that right.

Native Americans- The Founding Fathers were not to fond of the original inhabitants of this continent. Consider these statements:

George Washington-In 1779, George Washington instructed Major General John Sullivan to attack Iroquois people. Washington stated, "lay waste all the settlements around...that the country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed". In the course of the carnage and annihilation of Indian people, Washington also instructed his general not "listen to any overture of peace before the total ruin of their settlements is effected".

In 1783, Washington's anti-Indian sentiments were apparent in his comparisons of Indians with wolves: "Both being beast of prey, tho' they differ in shape", he said. George Washington's policies of extermination were realized in his troops behaviors following a defeat. Troops would skin the bodies of Iroquois "from the hips downward to make boot tops or leggings". Indians who survived the attacks later re-named the nation's first president as "Town Destroyer".

Thomas Jefferson- In 1807, Thomas Jefferson instructed his War Department that, should any Indians resist against America stealing Indian lands, the Indian resistance must be met with "the hatchet". Jefferson continued, "And...if ever we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, " he wrote, "we will never lay it down till that tribe is exterminated, or is driven beyond the Mississippi." Jefferson, the slave owner, continued, "in war, they will kill some of us; we shall destroy all of them".

Oh, the Founders themselves could not agree on certain issues:

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 featured lively, even heated debates among the Founders. Small states were opposed to suggestions made by large states; federalists were opposed to anti-federalists; commercial interests were opposed to competing interests. Issues that bitterly divided the Convention included the method of Congressional representation, slavery, and the proper role and authority of the president. All these issues were resolved by compromise and consensus -- the very democratic principles that many seek to nullify by appealing to the intentions of the Founders.

Considering the acrimonious debate and fluid compromises in the ratification process, it's easy to see the constitution could have easily turned out otherwise. The anti-federalists were actually in the majority, but were stymied by their own conflicts, overconfidence and lack of sure leadership. The most criticized feature of the constitution was the lack of a bill of rights guaranteeing individual freedoms - and the federalists gave the anti-federalists this single compromise in order to win their support.

People may want to consider these facts before suggesting the fallacy of "the intention of the Founding Fathers."

Not in my Backyard: Anti-Semitism of the Allied Powers During World War II

The Holocaust is one of the most tragic events in human history. Between approximately 1939-1945 The German government murdered 6 million Jews and 5 million others in an attempt to create a master race.

What is lesser known about the Holocaust is the fact that the Germans did not immediately start out with the intent to kill Jews. The original plan was to deport them to other countries. One plan was called the Madagascar Plan, which would have expelled all German Jews to the island off the African coast.

The only problem was that no country wanted to accept the Jews of Germany. According to this article I found:

During the 1930s, before Germany launched the "final solution,'' Hitler attempted to deport all Jews. He offered to pay their passage to America. But the United States was more bigoted and segregated in those days, and President Roosevelt feared a political backlash if he accepted the offer. America welcomed celebrities such as Albert Einstein, but few others.

Britain likewise refused to let Germany's Jews move to Palestine. An international conference was held to find sanctuaries for the endangered people, but it produced nothing.

The story of the ship St. Louis tells it all: Hundreds of German Jews thought they had obtained visas to move to Cuba. They booked passage on the St. Louis -- but when they reached Havana, they were forbidden to land. The ship headed for America, but the Coast Guard forced it to stay offshore. Finally, it returned to Europe with its unwanted, doomed passengers.

After the war, when Adolf Eichmann was on trial as a war criminal, he contended that Germany wouldn't have begun its annihilation program in 1940 if other nations had been willing to receive Jews.

Canada also refused to take them in, with an immigration officer famously saying None is Too Many.

This of course does not excuse the German killing of Jews. However, it is interesting to think how many would have survived if Western democracies would have opened their doors.

George Bernard Shaw: Noble Prize Winner and Stalinist

In my last two blogs I have attacked religious icons Martin Luther and Mother Teresa because the actual record of their lives shows they were anything but holier than thou. My first blog showed "saint" Thomas More was a torturer and killer.

The readers of these blogs may have figured out that I am not a fan of religion. However, I am also an open minded person who knows that a lack of belief in god does not necessarily make one good or enlightened. The dictators Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot are obvious examples of that fact.

To show my sense of balance I decided to find surprising facts that show the dark side of a notable atheist. I found a hideous dark side to the famous playwright George Bernard Shaw.

Shaw was an Irishman who wrote many well received plays. For his writing Shaw was award the Noble Prize in Literature. He was also awarded an Oscar for the film version of his play Pygmalion. He is the only person to win both awards.

My interest in Shaw came from quotes from him that I thought were clever. Among them are:

"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one."

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."

"The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed but that he cannot believe anyone else."

On the surface Shaw seems to be a good man with great accomplishments. Under a microscope, however, there is one especially hideous fact about his life; he was a staunch communist and admirer of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

As I already noted, Stalin is proof that atheists can act badly. This is due to the fact that he ruled the Soviet Union for years with an iron fist and killed at least 30 million Russians. Despite this fact, Shaw had nothing but love for the psychopathic ruler.

One way of smearing atheists is to say they are communists. In the case of George Bernard Shaw, applying this label would not be hyperbole.

Martin Luther: Reformer and Anti Semitic Maniac

Since I have attacked two Catholic "saints" in my blogs about Thomas More and Mother Teresa, I will now turn my attention to a Protestant icon: reformer Martin Luther. I am nothing if not an equal opportunity offender.

Martin Luther is famous for his role is the development of Protestantism. In the early 1500's, Luther, along with John Calvin and John Knox formed a new doctrine of Christianity that broke away from The Catholic Church. This is called the Reformation. The different Protestant denominations have different views on various subjects, but they all reject the authority of the pope and believed that salvation came through a person belief in Jesus as the savior and not from good works.

What is less discussed about Luther are his deranged anti Semitic rantings. In 1543, Martin Luther published On the Jews and Their Lies. Here are some samples of Luther's insights:

Therefore be on your guard against the Jews, knowing that wherever they have their synagogues, nothing is found but a den of devils in which sheer self-glory, conceit, lies, blasphemy, and defaming of God and men are practiced most maliciously and veheming his eyes on them.

...but then eject them forever from this country. For, as we have heard, God's anger with them is so intense that gentle mercy will only tend to make them worse and worse, while sharp mercy will reform them but little. Therefore, in any case, away with them!

...they remain our daily murderers and bloodthirsty foes in their hearts. Their prayers and curses furnish evidence of that, as do the many stories which relate their torturing of children and all sorts of crimes for which they have often been burned at the stake or banished.

But what will happen even if we do burn down the Jews' synagogues and forbid them publicly to praise God, to pray, to teach, to utter God's name? They will still keep doing it in secret. If we know that they are doing this in secret, it is the same as if they were doing it publicly. For our knowledge of their secret doings and our toleration of them implies that they are not secret after all and thus our conscience is encumbered with it before God.

It is no wonder that a certain German leader thought of Luther as one of the great reformers.

In case you were curious, Luther also supported the massacre of 100,000 people in the Peasant's War of 1524-1525.

Mother Teresa: The Orge of Calcutta

Mother Teresa was a great woman. She work her entire life to help the poor of the world, and is revered all over the world for her charitable deeds. Who would be tasteless enough to pick on her?

Well, besides me, there is writer Christopher Hitchens. Like myself, Hitchens is a free thinker with no use for any kind of supreme being. When looking for some of his writings online, I stumbled on an article entitled, Mommie Dearest
The pope beatifies Mother Teresa, a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud.

In his article, Hitchens quotes George Orwell's writings on Gandhi. Orwell wrote "that saints should always be presumed guilty until proved innocent." Reading his article, I discovered how truth of that statement.

One aspect of her life that is less than saintly is her absurd conviction of the most draconian Catholic dogma. According to Hitchens, she was opposed to the Second Vatican Council. That Council, among other things, finally stated that Jews were not responsible for the death of Christ and that non Catholic Christians actually had a chance of going to heaven. This seems like reforms any sane person would defend. She also was over the top on the issue of abortion. Now, I'm aware that abortion is a very serious subject. I myself get queasy when having to discuss it. Yet, when receiving her Noble Prize, she gave a speech calling abortion "the greatest destroyer of peace."

Another area of her life that never gets discussed is the company she kept. Hitchens documents her friendliness to the murderous Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti and her defense of Charles Keating. In the 1980's Keating stole tens of millions of dollar from the Lincoln Savings and Loan. He was a heavy donor to Mother Teresa who, therefore, accepted stolen money. This would be excusable if she didn't know where the money came from. However, after he was convicted no one has seen one dime of the money returned to its rightful owners. Apparently saints are immune to audit.

In reading an article bashing Mother Teresa, one is inclined to dismiss it as atheist propaganda. But, I have looked hard and found all of his facts to be accurate. If someone wanted to criticise his writing they would probably ignore the facts and take the " how dare you" approach. Some presumed saints have minor flaws that simply show that they are human beings. In Mother Teresa's case, the saintly image is cover for a bad person who has conned everyone.

Mussolini's Train Schedule

If you are not familiar with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, I'll give you a short introduction.

Born born on July 29Th 1883, Mussolini came to power in 1922 and assumed absolute power in Italy. He was the first fascist leader of the 20th century and other tyrants followed his model.

Among the characteristics of his rule were: a secret police force to torture or kill opposition, massive censorship, suspension of civil liberties, and persecution of Jews.

His foreign policy accomplishments include:

Invading and dropping poison gas on Ethiopia. He then executed tens of thousands of Ethiopians.

Conquering Albania and Libya in an attempt to reestablish the Roman Empire.

Supporting fellow fascist Francisco Franco in his mission to overthrow Spanish democracy in the Spanish Civil War.

Despite this there has always been one myth about his regime; he made the trains run on time. People probably mention this is a semi humorous fashion as a take off of the cliche that everyone has some good in them. "He may be a viscous dictator, but hey, he made the trains run on time!" They may also use it to demonize a politician they hate. " Man that so-and-so is an idiot; at least Mussolini made the trains run on time!"

The only problem with this belief is that it isn't true. The railroad system was repaired from its poor state in World War I before Mussolini came to power. This myth seems to have grown out of propaganda about the efficiency of the Fascist political system.

They say everybody has some good in them, but I can't find any in Il Duce.

The 1950's: Not Happy Days

The 1950's were wonderful. Every family was happy, there was no crime, and all families stayed together in happy bliss. If only we could return to those wonderful times. Well, not exactly. Popular culture paints a false portrait of the 1950's as a morally pure utopia. The image comes mainly from corny T.V. shows, since any honest look at the 50's shows the decade was plagued by a myriad of problems. Some facts about the 50's that may cause some to wig out include:

Crime: In looking for crime statistics on the 50's I found this article. I then checked the original sources and found they were quoted correctly. For those who don't want to read the whole article here are some highlights:

The Colliers 1961 Yearbook (which discusses crime statistics for 1959) noted on page 173: "Crime registered a new all-time high in 1959, some 69% higher than a decade earlier and 128% greater than the rate in 1940."

According to FBI information, the crime rate continues to outpace population growth at a rate of 4 to 1, and serious crime increased 11% over last year’s figures for the first nine months of 1960.

The author of this section, Donald J. Newman, while discussing the numerous murders, forcible rapes, and aggravated assaults recorded in 1959, writes on page 174: “Little wonder our world reputation is as notorious for crime as it is famous for technology.” Interesting that America has a reputation for crime in 1959.

In the 1962 edition (which discussed the statistics from 1960), Newman wrote that the rate of crime increased 13% over 1959 and 24% over 1955. The reported robbery rate had increased 24% since 1955, while burglary increased 29% over the same period. “No crime decreased during this time” (p. 172).

In his article for the 1961 edition of the Colliers Yearbook, Donald Newman observed on p. 179:

"The immediate outlook for crime and delinquency prevention is discouraging. There is every reason to believe that crime rates of all kinds will continue to increase during the sixties and that in many areas major crises of a nature now only dimly perceived will occur... Certain problems such as heroin and morphine addiction have every possibility of reaching epidemic state... Youth gangs show no inclination to lessen, and we have yet to develop generally satisfactory methods of focusing their activities in law-abiding directions." Notice the inclusion of heroin and morphine addiction as socail problems.

Teen Pregnancy: This issue is a serious one and is often used to show how our society has morally collapsed. However, before using it as an example of today's depravity it is interesting to note that teen pregnancy was higher in the 50's than it is today!!

Minorities and Women: In the 50's nonwhites were segregated from whites and subjected to frequent violence. Women were confined to the home to raise children. Next tie you hear someone talking about how great the 50's were, I can guarantee you that person will be a white male.

Freedom: In the 1950s, birth control was a crime in some states. Historic Supreme Court rulings in the 1965 and 1973 finally gave people the right to use contraceptives. Also witch-hunting congressional committees ruined many lives by persecuting people whose political beliefs were considered unorthodox or "un-american" . As far as gays are concerned, they were often imprisoned for being themselves. More about "freedom" in the 50's can be read here.

It seems that people many people forget these facts when talking about the "good old days."

Richard Milhous Nixon: Bleeding Heart

When one mentions the name Richard Nixon one word usually comes to mind: Watergate. On June 17, 1972 Five men were arrested in an attempt to bug Democratic Party Headquarters in the Watergate Complex in Washington D.C. Following massive Congressional investigations and relentless digging by reporters Bob Woodard and Carl Bernstein, it became evident that Nixon had ordered the burglary and attempted to cover it up. Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974 before impeachment proceedings were brought against him. After he left office, Nixon has generally been thought of as terrible president who brought disgrace to the office.

He is also thought of having an aggressive foreign policy because of his bombing of Cambodia and overthrow of the government of Chile.

However, upon looking at his Presidency with a stronger microscope one can find many aspects that would be considered liberal or even progressive. Some examples include the following:

He started Supplemental Security Income program that provides stipends to low-income persons who are either aged (65 or older), blind, or disabled.

He was an environmentalist. During his term he created National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act of 1970, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

He created OSHA, whose purpose was to regulate worker safety.

His policies on minorities and women included supporting the Equal Rights Amendment and adopting the first significant federal affirmative action program in 1970.

On health care, he introduce the Comprehensive Health Insurance Act which would have mandated employers to purchase health insurance for their employees, and in addition provided a federal health plan, similar to Medicaid, that any American could join by paying on a sliding scale based on income. Sound familiar?

Despite being a staunch anti Communist, he actually pulled the U.S. out of Vietnam. He also opened diplomatic relations with China and signed nuclear arms reduction treaties with the Soviet Union.

If it wasn't for Watergate, Nixon would probably be remembered quite different in the pages of history.

The Really Wild West

Popular myths about the American West are found in such entertainment such as: the films Young Guns and Tombstone, along with the T.V. show Deadwood. These shows are about the perception of the West as violent, lawless, and packed with vice. Unlike other popular culture myths, this one is based on truth.

That the Old West was chaotic may not be surprising, but the degree degree of chaos came as news to me. Take a look at these facts:

Deadwood, South Dakota was founded as a mining camp in 1874. In its first year the town averaged one murder per day. 365 murders per year, in a town of 3,000 people is probably the highest murder rate ever recorded for a single city. Another interesting fact about Deadwood: Ninety percent of the female population were prostitutes.

Charles Helm was a gunman and cowboy who was shot and killed by Billie McCauley in Tombstone, Arizona in 1882 after arguing about whether to drive cattle fast or slow.

John Wesley Hardin was one of the worst outlaws of the Old West with 30+ kills to his name. He reportedly shot a man in a hotel for snoring too loud.

Vigilante groups were common in the Old West. In San Francisco one Committee was established in 1851 and revived in 1856 to deal with crime related to the Gold Rush. In those two years the Committee lynched 12 people, kidnapped hundreds of others, and forced several elected officials to resign.

Doc Holiday once played a game of cards with a man named Ed Baily. When Baily thought Holliday was cheating, he attempted to shoot Holiday. Doc stabbed Baily to death before he could get off the shot.

It seems the world has been going to "hell and a handbasket" for over 100 years.

The First War on Terror

After the events of September 11Th, 2001 it was clear that the U.S. would have to commence fighting with certain radical Muslim groups. The country would need to use every military, diplomatic, and intelligence tool to prevent another attack from ever happening.

What may be surprising to Americans is that this was not the first time the country had faced an outside threat from radical Islam. Between the 16Th and 19Th centuries t is estimated that between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by pirates and sold as slaves. Around the year 1800 during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson and when the country was barley formed the U.S. fought one of its forgotten wars: the Barbary Wars.

In the time period before the year 1800 many American ships were captured by the Islamic Barbary Sates. When Thomas Jefferson attempted diplomatic relations with the State's ambassador he replied “it was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Muslim who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

Realizing diplomacy was futile, Jefferson built the U.S. Navy up and sent them to fight the Barbary pirate ships. The first war lasted from 1800 to 1805 . When the Barbary States continued to attack American ships there was a second war in 1815. Reference to these wars can be found in the Marine Corps Hymn with the line "From the Halls of Montezuma,To the Shores of Tripoli; Interesting how history has repeated itself.

The More Than Hundred Years' War

In my search for facts about history I came across a fact that is somewhat trivial but was somewhat surprising to me. The medieval war commonly called The Hundred Years' War lasted from 1337 to 1453 and was fought between England and France.

The war is famous for lasting a long time and by the fact that neither side gained any territory from the decades of bloodshed. Another well known fact about the war is the peasant girl named Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc was famous for having claimed she had vision of God telling her to it was her divine right to guide France to victory. She was then captured and burned at the stake in 1431 by the English.

When you look at the timeline of the war something is strange: the war lasted 116 years. It would be interesting to know who decided that the title the Hundred Years' War had a better ring to it than the Hundred and Sixteen Years' War.

P.S. I am aware this is a silly fact, but it is not a silly as calling war that lasted a 116 years the Hundred Years' War.

Jimmy Carter: Not a Wimp?

Ask any historian to name a president who was below average and many will bring up the name Jimmy Carter.. While Carter was a nice man who in most ways had good character, his presidency was marked by one disaster after another including: the 1979 energy crisis, inflation, and unemployment. Of course, Carter did have some positive accomplishments such as the Panama Canal Treaties, the Camp David Accords , and the creation of the departments of energy and education.

These achievements are also overlooked for two other important tragedies: the Iran hostage crises and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Popular opinion for the reason for these events is that they occurred because the Russians and the Iranians were not afraid of Carter because he was pushover.

When one looks at the facts this assumption is dubious for couple of reasons. One reason the claim of Carter's passivity is suspect is the fact that there was a an attempt to rescue the hostages form Iran by force. This attempt failed because the pilots got caught in a sandstorm and crashed the helicopters that were part of the rescue team. The failure of Carter to be able to get the hostages released was a big embarrassment to the U.S., however the fact that Carter attempted to extract them by a Special Forces mission may come as shock to some who had him pegged as a passive milquetoast.

In the case of Afghanistan, it was Carter who began to funnel money and arms to the Afghans to repel the Russian invaders. We now know the unintended consequences of this policy, but there is no question that it helped lead to the break up of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. There was also no way Jimmy Carter could have foreseen the blow back from his actions.

Its seems these bits of information go unnoticed when the subject of Carter's alleged wimpiness comes up.

Grover Cleveland: Unkown in More Ways Than One

In U.S. history there are many presidents who are not know to the general public. the reasons for this are complex, but my opinion is that they were not presidents during a major war, made no significant accomplishments, or were simply bad politicians. Among these men are John Tyler, James Polk, Millard Fillmore, and Chester A. Arthur.

Today I will tell something shocking about one such forgotten man: Grover Cleveland. I write about him not because he was unsung hero, but because he was involved in a scandal that would surprise even today's jaded Americans.

In 1873, Grover Cleveland met a widow named Maria Halpin. He then allegedly fathered a child out of wedlock. This seems bad enough for the 1800's, but the story is far from over. After the birth of her child, she began to drink heavily, so Cleveland had her committed to a mental hospital. He then placed his alleged illegitimate child in an orphanage.

These facts are sensational enough, but the biggest surprise is still to come.

In 1884 Grover Cleveland ran for the Presidency and this scandal was brought out. Guess what? Cleveland won the election!!! He fathered a child out of wedlock, put the mother in an asylum, and then placed the kid up for adoption, and the public went to the polls and said, "He is the man who should be President." Makes you wonder about his opponent James Blaine.

Americans should think about this when they complain about today's lack of morals and ethics. Cleveland makes a certain President seem like an absolute symbol of virtue.

Dwight Eisenhower: Hippie?

Every American should be familiar with Dwight David Eisenhower . As the Supreme Allied Commander during the Second World War General Eisenhower is a man whose debt can never be repaid. His leadership was vital to the United States victory over Nazi Germany.

He was also a good president. During his presidency he started the Interstate Highway System, fought to against racial discrimination, and help found NASA.

However, upon a closer study of Dwight Eisenhower, I was surprised to hear certain views of his. There are certain stereotypes about military men's views toward war, death, and politics. When one looks at some of the statements made by Eisenhower, they are surprising. Take a look at these quotes:

"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity."

" Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

"In the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy as a prisoner's chains."


Reading these statements tells anyone to avoid making assumptions based on stereotypes. It also is important to remember that if a World War 2 general can realize that war is hell, maybe it's a safe bet that it really is.

Sir Thomas More: Sinner not Saint

In the beginning of my quest to find a shocking facts about history, I thought of a film I saw recently, A Man for All Seasons. The film tells the story of Sir Thomas More, the english catholic statesman who was beheaded by Henry the VIII for refusing to accept the king as the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Sir Thomas also wrote the classic polemic Utopia which gave the world the idea of a perfect society. The film is very well made, and potrays More as man who refuses to back down on his religious conciese, even though he knows the consequences.

Unfortunately, as with so many "historic" films the movie leaves the truth on the cutting room floor. While it is true that Thomas More was killed by Henry the VII for his beliefs, he was also a catholic fanatic who campigned against religious freedom in England. Among other offenses, he prevented Lutherern books from entering England, had people burned at the stake, and placed protestents and other heretics on the torture rack. It seems the film thought these facts would take sympathy away from our martyred friend.

I like historic films. Not because they are arcurate depictions of the past but because they make me do real research and remind me time and time again that people will create false impressions of history if you let them.

By the way, this sadist and killer was made a Saint in 1935. Read into that what you will.