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(Gen. George S. Patton - bore no resemblance to George C. Scott)

With many pundits invoking the spirit of General George S. Patton lately, it would seem they are actually invoking the spirit of George C. Scott, who played the legendary World War 2 General in the movie "Patton" rather than the actual real-life General. And so I ran across a series of broadcasts on the occasion of VE Day from May 8,1945 where General Patton addressed the listening audience to the work his 3rd Army had achieved in declaring victory over Germany.

Gen.George S.Patton: “Now that victory in Europe has been achieved, let us review the Third Army’s part in this epic struggle.”

Not the hellfire and out-of-control zealot as portrayed in fiction, but rather the cool and level-headed professional soldier.

Don't forget that reality and fiction are rarely on speaking terms.

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(Sixty-eight years ago on this day, the world was a different place)

The event is fading from view because the participants are slowly fading away themselves. The world has changed in infinite ways since it was December 7, 1941. War is still the same though - that will never change. How it's waged has changed, but the politics haven't. The enemy has changed, but the armies of refugees and innocent loss of life is the same.

George Putnam (NBC News): “The flame of ruthless war is burning clear around the world tonight, set off by a wanton Japanese surprise attack on American Pacific outposts from Guam to Hawaii and on shipping off the continental coast of these United States.”

And that was then, this day sixty-eight years ago.

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(Alf Landon - in 1941 had a curious solution to our problem in Europe)

After an unsuccessful run for President against FDR in 1936, former Republican Governor from Kansas Alf Landon went back to the oil business and sat on the sidelines, taking up a vast array of positions with regards to our Foreign Policy. He was against isolation but was tacitly for Lend-Lease, but only in the sense that the U.S. should hand a check over and quietly go away - presumably tossing dollar bills at Britain, rather than actual arms and equipment. But if push came to shove, then the U.S. would have to get into the fracas.

Alf Landon: “So far, in our aid to the British we are following, step by step, the pattern of the last World War. First: Materials. Second: Money. Third: Men. I’m willing to take the first two steps, but not the third. (applause). Boldly stated, this brings little disagreement, publicly at least. But the way we do the first and the second is the answer to the third. To many of us are overlooking the inevitable effect of our actions regardless of our intentions. Those who really mean all aid short of war should specifically say; No convoying, No American ships in war zones. (applause) Are we for, or against sending convoys of American ships into the war zone? Or lending any more of our defense equipment, over the protest of Army and Navy officials? This, ladies and gentlemen, is a vital issue. Because the minute an American ship is sunk, the American flag is fired upon, and Americans are killed, we are then in the war as we should be with men. That means we have to underwrite a victory for Great Britain. If we’re not to undertake that, we cannot give a blank check to Great Britain.”

Not exactly a clear-cut position, which probably spoke volumes about his run for the White House in 1936. Nevertheless, he did speak for a large portion of the Republican base just prior to our involvement in World War 2.

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(1947 - People dressed differently back then, even to get a turkey)

Thanksgiving 1947 - two years after the end of World War 2 and a little over 2 years before the beginning of Korea - that mid point in history where the world is at an uneasy calm while pretending to be normal.

Morgan Beatty: “Around the world today, the news reflects a hard discipline upon the people. In London, the Council of Foreign Ministers tries desperately to achieve a basis for peace. But as they worked, these foreign ministers, their government spoke in alien terms, through news events that hardly seem accidental. In France, the Communist controlled Federation of Labor has called out a million and a quarter French workers out of her six million. And not a striking union among them will listen to government proposals to go back to work. The French government has, with dramatic suddenness pointed a finger at Moscow. Not with mere paper charges but by direct action. Nineteen Soviet citizens in France have been deported for taking too active a part in French internal affairs. Today the Soviet government, stung to the quick, demanded that the French government produce the missing nineteen without delay at the Soviet Embassy in Paris. Supposedly that’s quite impossible now, because the nineteen are believed to be in Berlin.”

Thanksgiving sixty-two years ago and the broadcast News Of The World with Morgan Beatty. The world was, for the most part, a different place.

Well, we don't get formal to buy a turkey anyway . . .

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(Claude Pepper - D-Florida - Governor Harold Stassen - R-Minnesota - The relentless jangle of The Bogey Man)

Note: This is a repost from July 2 - with the Healthcare Bill trudging through the Senate, I thought I would put this up as a reminder this thing has a history and it goes way back.

The never ending debate in a National Health plan and another dig in the archives for some perspective. Seems the one thing the debates had in common (the ones I've come up with from 1947, 1949, 1951, 1961) is the fear factor, trotted out almost verbatim by spokespeople for the AMA - all following the dreaded bogey man. It seems this overriding fear was the biggest factor in sinking any useful legislation in health care. And always the fear card is played by the Republicans. This debate features Senator Claude Pepper (D-Florida) and former Governor Harold Stassen (R-Minn.) from the program "American Forum Of The Air" on January 29, 1950.

Harold Stassen: (regarding the British National Healthcare system) “Please tell our friends in America, never, never, never adopt this program.”

It's interesting to note that one of the arguments made against the British system of Health care was the reported "dramatic rise in gravesites" after it was enacted in 1943, eluding to the notion that British National Health care became inept. Trouble was, there was that little thing called World War 2 that seemed to escape the radar and that all this sudden rise in dead people came not from a flawed health system, but rather bullets and shrapnel.

In the argument against a decent National Health care plan - reality doesn't seem to play much of a role.

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(Martin Dies, 1939 - managed to take the lunatic fringe to the lunatic edge)

A few months ago I ran a piece on Martin Dies, and his infamous Dies Committee for Un-American Activities. An earlier incarnation of Joe McCarthy, Dies also managed to slide off the rails with vicious accusations and wild innuendos about people in and around power. Famously fabricating lists of "known communists", many of whom did not exist.

But just before World War 2, paranoia was rife. We were dangling on the precipice of getting involved. The war had already started by the time this address was given on October 27, 1939 and fear of being overtaken by some evil foreign entity was running rampant in the newspapers on the radio and on Capitol Hill.

So Dies took up the crusade, cloaking himself in Americanism and preaching the gospel of fear, whipping people into a state of frenzy.

Martin Dies: “These enemies within our country are not easily exposed, it is most difficult to expose fearlessly and without partisanship the termites who have ceaselessly gnawed at the pillars of this republic, because there are those who would like for us to be partisan when the question is involved. I said in the beginning of this investigation that I was determined it would be conducted without fear and without favor and that I would not hesitate to expose any man, whether he’s a Democrat or he’s a Republican. Whether he’s a New Dealer or an anti-New Dealer. Whether he works in the government or whether he’s working in industry. Only on that basis can I reconcile my attitude with my conscience. If the time has come when in the interest of political expediency and in behest to demands of party leadership I must qualify my conscience, I’ll surrender my commission and go back to private life. At least with my honor unimpaired.”

Clearly, fear and paranoia haven't gone out of fashion. And the practitioners of that fear will probably never go broke perpetuating it. The times change, the situations change, the enemies change. But the fear hate and mistrust, then as now, are all the same.

Comforting, isn't it?

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(Turned upside down read: No Immediate Miracles)

I'm often reminded that, when a crisis erupts and the Republicans are in charge, the solutions often fall into the category of Bonehead Misfires.

True to form, in 1974 when the country was in the midst of inflation, recession, mass unemployment and a crisis of faith (owing to the recent resignation of Richard Nixon and the quickly ending Vietnam War), Gerald Ford announced a new package, complete with slogan and buttons - Whip Inflation Now. Rather than use the dreaded Tax-Word, Ford proposed a "surcharge" on individuals making over $7500 a year and families making over $15,000 a year (remember, this is 1974 when money was a little different and less funny then). The immediate effect was to squeeze the middle class and create more loopholes for those who could most afford it.

Ford envisioned a kind of World War 2 gung-ho attitude on the part of the American people, willing to sacrifice at the drop of a hat. The resulting effect was dramatically less so.

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(Morton Gould - Americana took up the cause of Latin Americana before World War 2)

In all fairness, Aron Copland did create something of stir and an interest in music of Latin America when Serge Koussevitsky introduced his El Salon Mexico to Boston audiences in 1938. It did get American audiences listening to what was going on with music south of our border. I'm sure it also helped that the coincidence of our increased interest in South America as a potential hotbed of Nazi sympathizers and potential government overthrows had a little to do with it as well.

All that said, it didn't hurt that American composers were eyeing the music and rhythms of South America as a fertile field of interesting ideas. One of those composers was Morton Gould who is probably best known now as an "easy listening" composer/arranger, former President of ASCAP and occasional writer of Broadway musicals, rather than a "serious" composer of orchestral music.

But early on he was. And throughout his life he turned in an impressive cataloge of some serious works.

The Latin American Symphonette probably isn't one of them. It's light, tuneful and rhythmic with lots of nods to Latin dance forms, but it's not a trailblazer and the musical world did not fall over itself at first hearing. It was written in 1940 and had its premier in 1941. This recording, the first, was made around 1943 and issued in 1944 by Victor and featured the Rochester Philharmonic conducted by the Spanish Pianist/conductor Jose Iturbi. It has not been reissued, even on lp.

In the coming weeks I'll post some examples of what was really going on in Latin American music at the time. But for now here's something historic and light at the same time.

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(Sen. Paul Douglas D-Ill. - Stuck in the middle of warring factions)

By 1949 Social Security had become hopelessly out of date, with no cost of living increases since before World War 2 and a system that had largely in place since 1935. While a general revamping and updating the system was before Congress, there was also a movement to make Social Security and Pensions private, one which appeared to be favored by management and certainly not favored by labor.

On October 6, 1949, the program America United featured a panel discussion on the Social Security and Pensions funding issue with Senator Paul Douglas (D-Ill), Emerson P. Schmidt of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, James B.Carey of the CIO and Lloyd Halvorsen of The Grange.

Douglas acknowledged that something needed to be done.

Sen. Paul Douglas: “I think the demand for private supplementary pensions has arisen because the public old-age pension and old-age insurance laws give very inadequate sums to aged people. For example; men who have been employed in private industry are only entitled to $26.00 a month, on the average, under the federal Social Security law. And with the additions for a wife the total for a man and wife is only brought to $40.00 a month. This was inadequate in 1935 with the 70% increase in the cost of living which has occurred since then, it is still more inadequate now. And it is this inadequacy of the public system, which in my judgment has forced the unions to demand a larger amount of private insurance.”

But the solutions were anything but unanimous.

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(Mao-tse Tung - mistaken for harmless)

October marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China (October 1, 1949). The China of today bears little resemblance to the China of 1949, or even 1989.

In 1945, just days before the end of World War 2, Russia entered the war against the Japanese and declared a Treaty of Alliance with China. But the China of 1945 was under the control of Chiang-Kai Shek, regarded by some as a Military dictatorship more than a democracy, and the Communists, led by Mao-tse Tung had control of a very small section of Northwestern China. It was initially thought the treaty would bring about a peaceful coexistence between the Nationalist government of Shek and the Communist insurgents of Mao.

Or as the League Of Nations website explains it:

T.V. Soong, Premier of the Nationalist Chinese government, signed a Treaty of Friendship and Alliance with the Soviet government. In exchange for Soviet recognition of the Nationalist Chinese government, the Nationalist Chinese agreed to the independence of Outer Mongolia, gave the Soviets joint 30-year ownership of the Manchurian Railway and the port of Dalian (Darien), and agreed to the conversion of Lushun (Port Arthur) into a Chinese-Soviet naval base. This treaty formalized Nationalist Chinese consent to the Allied concessions granted to the Soviets at the Yalta Conference.

Continue reading »

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(Enrique Fernandez Arbos - helped put Albeniz on the map. Spain went along too)

Composer/Conductor/Violinist conducting his arrangement of a friends composition. Happens all the time, right? Enrique Fernandez Arbos was a talented composer in his own right, but he was also a very talented musician who also held the post of Music Director of the Madrid Symphony from 1904 until 1936.

He's probably best known as the orchestral arranger of a set of piano pieces composed by his friend Isaac Albeniz. An arrangement that has probably done more for Albeniz' career than anything else. And it helped establish Iberia as a staple in the concert hall (at least in the first half of the 20th century).

This 1928 recording, made for Spanish Columbia was part of a series of recordings Arbos made of Spanish composers that helped create an awareness of just how rich the vein of talent was in Spain, rather than always depend on French composers and musicians to take the honors for Spanish themed works. Arbos did a considerable amount to further the cause of Spanish culture to the rest of the world. One that was gaining considerable momentum before Civil War broke out in 1936. Arbos died in 1939. It wouldn't be until well after the end of World War 2 that it would resume. By that time a whole new generation of musicians and composers appeared.

And they probably owe a small debt of gratitude to Enrique Fernandez Arbos for getting the ball rolling.

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(As of September 17, there was no more Poland)

(Apologies for the delay in posts) September 17, 1939 signified the end of Poland as it was a month earlier. The reports from Warsaw were not encouraging and there was plenty of blame to go around.

But at this particular moment, things were not looking up for any satisfactory conclusion to the conflict.

John Gunther (Reporting from London): “This has been a hard day today, a bad day. We’ve seen something very terrible to watch. The death of a free country. The death of a nation. Poland was killed today. In effect, assassinated. For the fourth time in its unhappy history, Poland has been partitioned. . . . .for all intents and purposes the Poland we have known these past 20 years has ceased to be.”

And it would just get worse.

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(Then - as now, only there's an Albatross in the living room)

(Note: This is a repost from July 7th in answer to several inquiries as to just how long this thing has been going on.)

Continuing the history of Public Healthcare, I ran across this panel discussion and Q&A from December 4,1941, featuring Dr. SS. Goldwater, City Hospital commissioner for New York, Margaret Bourke-White, the photographer/social chronicler. Howard Cumley from the Association of Manufacturers, and Eleanor Roosevelt, first Lady.

The panel, from the radio program "America's Town Hall of The Air" centered mostly on the state of health of most Americans. Seems we were a rather flabby bunch in 1941, judging from the large number of rejects from the Draft Board (remember, this is 3 days before Pearl Harbor and the start of our involvement in World War 2). But the subject was also health care for everyone, regardless of ability to pay.

The first half of the program (a little over 30 minutes) is given over to statements by the panel, but the second half is a question and answer period from members of the audience.

Goldwater skirts the issue, not saying if he is for a Universal Healthcare plan or not. Bourke-White is a little more forthcoming (at around 40 minutes):

Question: Do you feel Socialized Medicine would benefit the American public?

Bourke-White: Yes, I feel it would. I know there are many objections, sometimes from private physicians who don't wish to lose their practice. Sometimes from private hospitals who don't wish to lose their clients. But I see no reason why some form, at least from Medical Insurance or Hospitalization Insurance can't be put into effect. And people who can afford to go to their own physician, people who can afford to go to their own hospitals, still can continue to do so. The people who can't possibly afford treatment or perhaps could afford it at one time, can still be taken care of.

Roosevelt is staunchly for some form of Universal Healthcare, but in lieu of the fact that war was literally days away, it was an idea that had to be shelved until it was over.

By then of course, the albatross had grown.

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(Charles Lindbergh - toning down the rants big-time)

By the middle of 1941, it was looking more and more obvious America would be getting involved neck-deep in World War 2, it was only a matter of time. The America First rally's were initially about the "European Business Interests" and varying degrees of anti-Semitic rants. Even Charles Lindbergh, the American Aviation pioneer who a few years earlier was the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a solo airplane flight, had toned down his rhetoric as 1941 ground on, switching from his "Jews in high places" position to "We should have let them have Poland and Russia and maybe they would leave us alone". Big switch - but I can't help but think of the Leopards versus Spots analogy - they don't change them.

Lindbergh: “As you all know, in spite of the opposition of the American people, we have been led step by step to war, until today we are actually engaged in undeclared Navel warfare. How this was accomplished is one of the most amazing and alarming developments in the history of the United States. Those of us who have stood out against war have, from the beginning encountered an insidious opposition. It has been an opposition whose word has not been good from one side of an election to another. It has been an opposition that has made constant use of undercover methods. An opposition that has fought in personalities and smearing campaigns and not on issues. An opposition that has discarded one American tradition after another, while it claims to be upholding the American way of life. If the issue of intervention had been placed openly before our Congress and our people, a decision could have been reached in the traditional American way. But this was not done because the interventionists knew that the American people would not agree to war. Instead of submitting the issue of war to our vote, they said ‘of course, we will not go to war, but couldn’t we aid England and France just by selling them arms if they send their own ships and pay us in cash?’

This America First Rally is from June of 1941. It was never broadcast, so the original runs over 2 hours. I've extracted the main speeches and left them intact. It is, for all intents and purposes, one of the more polite rally's America First staged. In the coming weeks, I'll drag out one of the more impolite ones.

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(Sinking of the SS Athenia - just couldn't wait for the shooting to start)

With Britain's declaration of war less than 24 hours old, Germany already set the stage for upcoming events with the sinking of a British passenger ship, the SS Athenia.

BBC Newsreader: “It is not yet known how many lives were lost when the British liner Athenia was torpedoed today without warning in the Atlantic. The Athenia was bound for Montreal from Glasgow with one thousand four hundred passengers. All, except those killed by the explosion, took to the boats and were picked up by various ships. Four hundred and thirty survivors are reported to be on their way to Galway in the Norwegian steamer Knute Nielsen. They are due to arrive tomorrow. It is officially stated in London that this attack, without warning, was in deliberate disregard of the declaration made voluntarily by Germany when she signed the London Navel Treaty in 1930. Germany then renounced, of her own free will, the right to make use of unrestricted submarine warfare in any future campaign. The rules which Germany then undertook to observe, were clearly laid down that no merchant ship may be sunk without warning, or until the safety of all passengers and crew have been assured. Ships boats are not to be considered in a place of safety, unless they are within half an hours rowing to land under favorable conditions. The Athenia was torpedoed two hundred miles from land.”

Things were abundantly clear this was not going to be a conventional war. Not by a long shot.