Theme and Variations on a Chat with My Dad
Last night I had a chat over the phone with my Dad. It had been awhile since I'd heard from him, and it was good to hear his voice. I was very sad to inform him that the aircraft museum at Willow Run Airport burned to the ground Sunday, along with its one-of-a-kind wooden hangar and all but three planes. It housed vintage aircraft going back to World War I. I have an interest in vintage aircraft, largely thanks to my Dad, who was an aircraft engineer in his younger days. He worked at Aeronca during its "golden age" and contributed to the plans for the first Boeing 747. It was a sad thing for me; I can't imagine what it was like for him.
But then, out of the blue, he asked me the question I didn't want to answer - "who are you going to vote for?"
I sighed deeply and said "John Kerry" and awaited his response.
He said "No Dave! That guy will ruin the country."
God I hate to be on the wrong side of an issue with my Dad. I don't want him to think I don't respect him, but I can't go there with him either.
I'd hoped he wasn't thinking that I wasn't just sucking up to long-held, liberal Democratic values. I've been a registered Democrat 20 years now, but if I felt George Bush was the right guy to be President of the United States I'd "flip flop" anyway. But I only need to look at the price at the pump, or the payroll deduction for my health plan, or the accounts of casualities from Iraq to know that Bush is not the man for me. I'm not that liberal, but I don't like being told that I'm supposed to have more money in my pocket by the President, thanks to his policies, and to know that this is not so, and it hasn't been so for a long time.
That's exactly what sank the first Bush; enough voters felt they were worse off in 1992 than they were in 1988. But he got the idea that he wasn't re-elected becaused he listened to advisors who told him not to go in after Saddam Hussein. His son agreed with that, and "fixed" it. Now he's telling us we MUST re-elect him as we cannot "change horses in mid-stream." Personally I'd hate to think that a chief executive would start a war and keep it going to insure his own electability, but with this President I'm not so sure.
Dad brought that very point up next - "You can't change the chief executive in a time of war."
I've heard that dogma elsewhere, so I decided, like any critical thinker, to look it up. Below is a (probably incomplete) list of the US' various military involvements througout history and their relationship to the President.
Revolutionary War 1775-1783 No President
War of 1812 1812-1815 James Madison
U.S. - Mexico War 1846-1848 James Knox Polk
(note: In a twist of irony, President Polk actually lost the 1848 election to a hero created by the Mexican-American conflict, Zachary Taylor.)
U.S. Civil War 1861-1865 Abraham Lincoln
(Lincoln, as everyone knows, only survived the Civil War by two weeks.)
War of the Plains States 1876-1890 Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison
(Some would say this was not really a "war." I say it was, and nobody won.)
Spanish American War 1898-1899 William McKinley
Haitian Occupation 1915-1934 Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
World War I 1917-1918 Woodrow Wilson
Nicaruaguan Rebellion 1926-1932 Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover
World War II 1941-1945 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman
Korean Conflict 1950-1953 Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower
Vietnam War 1961-1973 John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon
(There is disagreement as to whther this conflict begins in 1961 or 1965. LBJ always insisted that Vietnam was Kennedy's baby, and I agree.)
Nicarauguan Contra War 1982-1990 Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush
Lebanon Intervention 1982-1984 Ronald Reagan
Grenada Invasion 1983 Ronald Reagan
Gulf War 1990-1991 George H.W. Bush
Somalian Intervention 1993 William Clinton
Haitian Intervention 1994 William Clinton
U.S. - Afghan War 2001-present George W. Bush
U.S. - Iraq War 2003-present George W. Bush
A few observations. The single president per war equation is only good for 12 of the 19 conflicts listed - admittedly a majority. But we still prevailed in World War II, where we HAD to change horses because our guy died. I'm not surprised that of this group of conflicts that Ronald Reagan is the most aggressive - with three wars to his credit, more than anyone else.
But - the conflicts which are large, heavy in casualities and involving major troop strength tend to be shorter and concetrated under one President. The smaller, more covert and/or questionable operations tend to drag out longer and wind up engaging the involvement of more presidents. The lingering occupation of Haiti was something that sort of ran itself under a few military officers until FDR decided "alright, we've had enough of this."
But what kind of a war are we having now? Limited, relatively low casualties but not light, lots of opposition from other countries and critics from within. In other words, the type of war which historically exhausts presidents. Nixon ran on the premise that he would end Vietnam, didn't do it, then asked for four more years to do it and almost didn't do it then.
My Dad said "You've already made up your mind and I'm not going to try and change it."
Well, thanks Dad. I can't change it. But I still love you.
A Letter From Argentina
I wasn't aware before this letter that October 14th is International Collector's Day. I like the sentiment and thoughts in this letter, which originally appeared on AMIA-L. Jorge is from Argentina.
Good afternoon:
Today is the International Collector's Day. For that reason I want to express my gratitude and towards a number of people whose friendship I value more than the collections they have preserved. And I want to thank them for leading me to become a collector, a tango collector, myself. I am still young, but I already know that the day I die the stuff I love and value will vanish with me due to the complete disregard from corporations that control those copyrights, probably reading these words, which don't care about their past. Even though I am quite afar from the place I can be more effective, thanks to my friends I recovered an important ammount of recordings and sheet music. But, in the end, it is their friendship and never the collection itself what I really value. Thank you. JORGE FINKIELMAN
Uncle Dave Lewis
udtv@yahoo.com