POPULARITY
Dictatorship Across Borders: Brazil, Chile, and the South American Cold War (UNC Press, 2025) offers a groundbreaking perspective on the 1973 Chilean coup, highlighting Brazil's pivotal role in shaping the political landscape of South America during the Cold War. Shifting the focus from the United States to interregional dynamics, Mila Burns argues that Brazil was instrumental in the overthrow of Salvador Allende and the establishment of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Drawing on original documents, interviews, and newly accessible archives, particularly from the Brazilian Truth Commission, Burns reveals Brazil's covert involvement in the coup, providing weapons, intelligence, and even torturers to anti-Allende forces. She also explores the resistance networks formed by Brazilian exiles in Chile. Burns's impeccable research—combining history, anthropology, and political science—makes Dictatorship across Borders a vital addition to Cold War studies, reshaping how we understand power and resistance in South America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
Dictatorship Across Borders: Brazil, Chile, and the South American Cold War (UNC Press, 2025) offers a groundbreaking perspective on the 1973 Chilean coup, highlighting Brazil's pivotal role in shaping the political landscape of South America during the Cold War. Shifting the focus from the United States to interregional dynamics, Mila Burns argues that Brazil was instrumental in the overthrow of Salvador Allende and the establishment of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Drawing on original documents, interviews, and newly accessible archives, particularly from the Brazilian Truth Commission, Burns reveals Brazil's covert involvement in the coup, providing weapons, intelligence, and even torturers to anti-Allende forces. She also explores the resistance networks formed by Brazilian exiles in Chile. Burns's impeccable research—combining history, anthropology, and political science—makes Dictatorship across Borders a vital addition to Cold War studies, reshaping how we understand power and resistance in South America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Dictatorship Across Borders: Brazil, Chile, and the South American Cold War (UNC Press, 2025) offers a groundbreaking perspective on the 1973 Chilean coup, highlighting Brazil's pivotal role in shaping the political landscape of South America during the Cold War. Shifting the focus from the United States to interregional dynamics, Mila Burns argues that Brazil was instrumental in the overthrow of Salvador Allende and the establishment of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Drawing on original documents, interviews, and newly accessible archives, particularly from the Brazilian Truth Commission, Burns reveals Brazil's covert involvement in the coup, providing weapons, intelligence, and even torturers to anti-Allende forces. She also explores the resistance networks formed by Brazilian exiles in Chile. Burns's impeccable research—combining history, anthropology, and political science—makes Dictatorship across Borders a vital addition to Cold War studies, reshaping how we understand power and resistance in South America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/latin-american-studies
Dictatorship Across Borders: Brazil, Chile, and the South American Cold War (UNC Press, 2025) offers a groundbreaking perspective on the 1973 Chilean coup, highlighting Brazil's pivotal role in shaping the political landscape of South America during the Cold War. Shifting the focus from the United States to interregional dynamics, Mila Burns argues that Brazil was instrumental in the overthrow of Salvador Allende and the establishment of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Drawing on original documents, interviews, and newly accessible archives, particularly from the Brazilian Truth Commission, Burns reveals Brazil's covert involvement in the coup, providing weapons, intelligence, and even torturers to anti-Allende forces. She also explores the resistance networks formed by Brazilian exiles in Chile. Burns's impeccable research—combining history, anthropology, and political science—makes Dictatorship across Borders a vital addition to Cold War studies, reshaping how we understand power and resistance in South America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
Dictatorship Across Borders: Brazil, Chile, and the South American Cold War (UNC Press, 2025) offers a groundbreaking perspective on the 1973 Chilean coup, highlighting Brazil's pivotal role in shaping the political landscape of South America during the Cold War. Shifting the focus from the United States to interregional dynamics, Mila Burns argues that Brazil was instrumental in the overthrow of Salvador Allende and the establishment of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Drawing on original documents, interviews, and newly accessible archives, particularly from the Brazilian Truth Commission, Burns reveals Brazil's covert involvement in the coup, providing weapons, intelligence, and even torturers to anti-Allende forces. She also explores the resistance networks formed by Brazilian exiles in Chile. Burns's impeccable research—combining history, anthropology, and political science—makes Dictatorship across Borders a vital addition to Cold War studies, reshaping how we understand power and resistance in South America.
Dictatorship Across Borders: Brazil, Chile, and the South American Cold War (UNC Press, 2025) offers a groundbreaking perspective on the 1973 Chilean coup, highlighting Brazil's pivotal role in shaping the political landscape of South America during the Cold War. Shifting the focus from the United States to interregional dynamics, Mila Burns argues that Brazil was instrumental in the overthrow of Salvador Allende and the establishment of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Drawing on original documents, interviews, and newly accessible archives, particularly from the Brazilian Truth Commission, Burns reveals Brazil's covert involvement in the coup, providing weapons, intelligence, and even torturers to anti-Allende forces. She also explores the resistance networks formed by Brazilian exiles in Chile. Burns's impeccable research—combining history, anthropology, and political science—makes Dictatorship across Borders a vital addition to Cold War studies, reshaping how we understand power and resistance in South America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day
Today, the guys talk to Christian political commentator Steve Deace about the new Cold War in America that no one else wants to talk about. Our nation is in trouble, and we need to do something about it. First, though, they interview Steve Deace about his new children’s book that he just released—Richie Meets the Rainbow. Don’t be deceived by its title, though, because this book points to the answer that every Christian parent needs to hear as they raise their kids in a nation fractured by a new Cold War. If you want to know how to joyfully live in a nation filled with fighting, then this episode is for you. Also, if you want your kids to thrive in this crazy world as godly men and women, you need to give them a solid, biblical education. This isn’t easy, but you’re not alone. We’ve decided to have our next conference on education so that you can prepare your kids to raise godly families, topple culture giants, and laugh at the darkness. Check out the Fight Laugh Feast Conference for this year at the link below! https://flfnetwork.com
Today, the guys talk to Christian political commentator Steve Deace about the new Cold War in America that no one else wants to talk about. Our nation is in trouble, and we need to do something about it. First, though, they interview Steve Deace about his new children’s book that he just released—Richie Meets the Rainbow. Don’t be deceived by its title, though, because this book points to the answer that every Christian parent needs to hear as they raise their kids in a nation fractured by a new Cold War. If you want to know how to joyfully live in a nation filled with fighting, then this episode is for you. Also, if you want your kids to thrive in this crazy world as godly men and women, you need to give them a solid, biblical education. This isn’t easy, but you’re not alone. We’ve decided to have our next conference on education so that you can prepare your kids to raise godly families, topple culture giants, and laugh at the darkness. Check out the Fight Laugh Feast Conference for this year at the link below! https://flfnetwork.com
Today, the guys talk to Christian political commentator Steve Deace about the new Cold War in America that no one else wants to talk about. Our nation is in trouble, and we need to do something about it. First, though, they interview Steve Deace about his new children’s book that he just released—Richie Meets the Rainbow. Don’t be deceived by its title, though, because this book points to the answer that every Christian parent needs to hear as they raise their kids in a nation fractured by a new Cold War. If you want to know how to joyfully live in a nation filled with fighting, then this episode is for you. Also, if you want your kids to thrive in this crazy world as godly men and women, you need to give them a solid, biblical education. This isn’t easy, but you’re not alone. We’ve decided to have our next conference on education so that you can prepare your kids to raise godly families, topple culture giants, and laugh at the darkness. Check out the Fight Laugh Feast Conference for this year at the link below! https://flfnetwork.com
Kahlila Bandele continues to explore the history of international students on campus. On this episode, Maggie and Kahlila discuss the relationship between Chinese students in the 1950s and American Cold War politics. One of these students was David Wen-Wei Chang, class of 1955. While researching this episode, we learned that Dr. Chang had published an autobiography titled “The Scholar and the Tiger”. We recently added this book to our collection if you would like to read more about Chang's life. Email us your questions, comments, and campus memories at lynxtothepast@rhodes.edu.
On this episode of Our American Stories, the book Witness: A True Story of Soviet Spies in America and the Trial That Captivated the Nation is one of the biggest U.S. bestsellers of the 20th century, yet it is almost unknown among Americans today. Here to tell the story is Greg Forster on behalf of the Acton Institute. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the summer of 1959, Nixon and Khrushchev argued over a washing machine in a backstage kitchen in Moscow, while American Cold War intellectuals gathered in the Poconos to defend Kitsch. Dwight Macdonald, whose theory of mass culture translated too easily into Anti-Americanism, was barred from participating because this was no ordinary mass culture conference; it was an Anti Anti-Americanism operation. Meanwhile, in London, Dwight Macdonald delivered a mass culture lecture of his own called "America, America,” based on the most famous article Encounter magazine never published. Shownotes: Jefferson Pooley wrote about Edward Shils and The Remobilization of the Propaganda and Morale Network. Sophie Scott-Brown wrote about Raphael Samuel and the New Left. Support ToE and get access to the incredible exclusive bonus companion series to Not All Propaganda is Art by subscribing at https://theoryofeverything.supercast.com/, or subscribe directly in Apple Podcasts by hitting “Subscribe” right on the show page. Support ToE and get access to the incredible exclusive bonus companion series to Not All Propaganda is Art by subscribing athttps://theoryofeverything.supercast.com/, or subscribe directly in Apple Podcasts by hitting “Subscribe” right on the show page.
(Bonus) The Truman Doctrine is an American foreign policy that pledges American "support for democracies against authoritarian threats."[1] The doctrine originated with the primary goal of countering the growth of the Soviet bloc during the Cold War. It was announced to Congress by President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947,[2] and further developed on July 4, 1948, when he pledged to oppose the communist rebellions in Greece and Soviet demands from Turkey. More generally, the Truman Doctrine implied American support for other nations threatened by Moscow. It led to the formation of NATO in 1949. Historians often use Truman's speech to Congress on March 12, 1947 to date the start of the Cold War. Truman told Congress that "it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."[4] Truman contended that because totalitarian regimes coerced free peoples, they automatically represented a threat to international peace and the national security of the United States. Truman argued that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid, they would inevitably fall out of the United States sphere of influence and into the communist bloc with grave consequences throughout the region. The Truman Doctrine was informally extended to become the basis of American Cold War policy throughout Europe and around the world.[5] It shifted U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union from a wartime alliance to containment of Soviet expansion, as advocated by diplomat George Kennan. It was distinguished from rollback by implicitly tolerating the previous Soviet takeovers in Eastern Europe.
We discuss two important films that helped revitalize the American Cold War and militarism.
On this episode of Our American Stories, the book Witness: A True Story of Soviet Spies in America and the Trial That Captivated the Nation is one of the biggest U.S. bestsellers of the 20th century, yet it is almost unknown among Americans today. Here to tell the story is Greg Forster on behalf of the Acton Institute. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omny.fm/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, the book Witness: A True Story of Soviet Spies in America and the Trial That Captivated the Nation is one of the biggest U.S. bestsellers of the 20th century, yet it is almost unknown among Americans today. Here to tell the story is Greg Forster on behalf of the Acton Institute. Forster is a Whittaker Chambers expert who has earned a Ph.D. with distinction in political philosophy from Yale University. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week, we bring you an episode from Feet in 2 Worlds and its series Immigrants in a Divided Country, which explores the current political landscape from the perspective of immigrants. In this personal audio essay, writer and audio producer Boen Wang goes looking for answers. He always thought his mom—an immigrant from Mainland China —was brainwashed by the Chinese Communist Party. His mom, on the other hand, thinks he's been brainwashed by the New York Times and CNN. To break the deadlock Boen interviews his mom about the evolution of her political beliefs—which are on the opposite end of the spectrum from his.As he learns more about his family and himself, Boen discovers the surprising history and etymology of the term “brainwashing”—which goes back to the last Chinese empire and is deeply rooted in American Cold War-era anxieties about the rise of communism. In the end, he emerges with a new understanding of the use and misuse of “brainwashing” and shares his thoughts on how people with opposing views can live with their differences.Episode Transcript
{"@context":"http://schema.org/","@id":"https://theanalysis.news/vietnam-blood-bath-to-prove-america-had-balls-christian-appy-on-rai-3-5/#arve-youtube-xxevvurjpma63c0466b758d8997915150","type":"VideoObject","embedURL":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/xXEvVurjpMA?feature=oembed&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&autohide=1&playsinline=0&autoplay=1&enablejsapi=1","name":"Vietnam Blood Bath to Prove America Had "Balls" - Christian Appy on RAI (3/5)","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xXEvVurjpMA/hqdefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2023-01-12T12:41:58+00:00","author":"Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay","description":"This interview was originally published May 29, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Appy says that presidents Kennedy and Johnson pursued the Vietnam war largely to prove the U.S., and themselves personally, had the u201ccourageu201d to wage war. TranscriptListenDonateSubscribeGuestMusic PAUL JAY, SENIOR E"} This interview was originally published May 29, 2015. On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Appy says that presidents Kennedy and Johnson pursued the Vietnam war largely to prove the U.S., and themselves personally, had the “courage” to wage war. .kt-post-loop_d936b9-f5 .kadence-post-image{padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.kt-post-loop_d936b9-f5 .kt-post-grid-wrap{gap:30px 6px;}.kt-post-loop_d936b9-f5 .kt-blocks-post-grid-item{border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;border-top-left-radius:0px;}.kt-post-loop_d936b9-f5 .kt-blocks-post-grid-item .kt-blocks-post-grid-item-inner{padding-top:10px;padding-right:25px;padding-bottom:25px;padding-left:9px;}.kt-post-loop_d936b9-f5 .kt-blocks-post-grid-item header{padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;}.kt-post-loop_d936b9-f5 .kt-blocks-post-grid-item .entry-title{padding-top:5px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:10px;padding-left:0px;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font-size:16px;line-height:17px;}.kt-post-loop_d936b9-f5 .entry-content{padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;}.kt-post-loop_d936b9-f5 .kt-blocks-post-footer{border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;}.kt-post-loop_d936b9-f5 .entry-content:after{height:0px;}.kt-post-loop_d936b9-f5 .kb-filter-item{border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:2px;border-left-width:0px;padding-top:5px;padding-right:8px;padding-bottom:5px;padding-left:8px;margin-top:0px;margin-right:10px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;} Vietnam Blood Bath to Prove America Had “Balls” – Christian Appy on RAI (3/5) “American Does Bad Things for Good Reasons” – Christian Appy on RAI (2/5) “America Does Bad Things for Good Reasons” – Christian Appy on RAI (1/5) Transcript Listen Donate Subscribe Guest Music PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome back to Reality Asserts Itself on The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay. In his book American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and American Identity, Christian Appy writes: the need to demonstrate presidential balls has been an under-acknowledged but enduring staple of American foreign policy. Aggressive masculinity shaped American Cold War policy and still does. Deep-seated ideas about gender and sexuality cannot be dismissed as mere talk–they have explanatory value. U.S. policy in Vietnam was driven by men who were intensely concerned about demonstrating their own and the nation's toughness. As every other justification of the war grew threadbare, it became increasingly important to appear firm. Now joining us in the studio is Christian Appy. Thanks for joining us again. CHRISTIAN G. APPY, AUTHOR, AMERICAN RECKONING: You're welcome. JAY: So one more time, his latest book is American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity. And Christian teaches history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. So this has always seemed to me, this need to develop, portray firmness and strength and so on, you know, it's akin to, like, a loan shark, and it's actually a lot akin to a loan shark, given how much of American commerce is based on lending people money–and I shouldn't say people; lending countries money, and assuming they're going to pay back. And for most loan sharks, you've got to break some knees once in a while to make sure people pay you the exorbitant interest you're trying to collect. Talk about this need to projected toughness, and start with Kennedy in Vietnam. APPY: Well, Kennedy early on in his presidency suffered a couple of real blows to his reputation, most obviously when he supported the–orchestrated the invasion of Cuba in an effort to overthrow Castro at the Bay of Pigs. And it was a debacle, and it failed. Every one of the Cuban exiles that was trained to carry out the operation was either killed or captured. And Kennedy was forced to actually pay ransom to get the prisoners back. So what was to be a secret operation was quickly exposed, and it was felt that he felt it as deeply humiliating. And then later that same year he met for the first time with Khrushchev, and Khrushchev effectively kind of bullied him, and once again Kennedy felt that he had not demonstrated his presidential gravitas and was already beginning to look at foreign-policy interventions. JAY: Can I just add one thing? APPY: Sure. Yeah. JAY: And internally taking tremendous flack from some sections of the military and certainly the whole conservative /pʌndərˈæpɨs/–can't say it, but you know what I mean–about being weak. APPY: Yes. JAY: I mean, why didn't he go in with a full-fledged invasion of Cuba? APPY: Right. That, and he was already beginning to sort of move toward a neutralist solution to the communist insurgency in Laos, so he was beginning to think that maybe Vietnam would be the place to assert American credibility and power. But before that really began to develop, we had the Cuban missile crisis, and this for him was a great boost to his reputation and to his reputation for strength and steely resolve. JAY: Again, really quickly–some of our viewers don't know that what that is. APPY: Yeah. Well, the United States discovered, through U-2 reconnaissance photographs, that the Soviet Union– JAY: That was the spy plane. APPY: –the spy plane–that the Soviet Union was beginning to install medium-range nuclear missiles in Cuba–in response, actually, to the U.S.-backed invasion. They were put there as a kind of deterrent, really defensive, though of course all nuclear weapons are almost by definition dangerous. JAY: And also there were nuclear–United States had weapons in Turkey which were awfully close to Russia. APPY: We had–exactly. And indeed you speak to the exact resolution of the missile crisis. Kennedy made clear on television that it would not be tolerated. Interestingly enough, he couldn't tolerate it because he had made a speech a couple of months earlier saying that if offensive weapons were put on Cuba by the Soviet Union, he would not allow that. And once it happened, he asked some advisers, does this really change the balance of power in the world? And Kennedy said–McNamara said, no–this is Secretary of Defense McNamara. And Kennedy agreed. He said, I wish I had never said that. I wish I had never drawn that line. JAY: Yeah, 'cause what could they do with them? APPY: Yeah. So he had–but now he felt he had to do something. And what he did, thankfully, was to be a little patient and to say no to those of his advisers that immediately wanted to launch airstrikes and take a more aggressive response. They negotiated a settlement. So it really was diplomacy, not bluster or militarism, that solved the crisis. They were willing to say to the Soviets, okay, we will publicly promise never to invade Cuba, and privately we'll agree to remove our missiles from Turkey that are threatening very close to your borders. But the narrative that they wanted to go out to the public was a tougher narrative, that we stared them eyeball to eyeball and the other fellow blinked–that was attributed to–. JAY: Yeah, 'cause America set up all these military ships, Navy ships as a blockade around Cuba. APPY: Yes, the sort of the–yes, the quarantine. And Kennedy even went so far as to suggest that Adlai Stevenson, who was representing us at the United Nations, had wanted to sell us out, had wanted to, quote-unquote, Munich, because he had advised that we remove our missiles from Turkey to solve the crisis. And that's exactly what did solve the crisis. But Kennedy didn't want anybody to know that, so he actually threw Stephenson under the bus as a weakling. Anyway, privately he told people that–Kennedy bragged in private to friends that he had cut off Khrushchev's balls. So that really is deeply embedded in the American foreign policy of the period. And it becomes more important, as I write, as the other justifications for the war are no longer believed even by the policymakers. By 1965 or 1966, I believe, Johnson was not convinced that the war in Vietnam posed any threat to national security. JAY: I want to get to Johnson, but I just want to stay on Kennedy for a minute. APPY: Okay. Sure. JAY: You know, there's a lot of debate about the Kennedy assassination. That's whether or not he was really going to pursue Vietnam or not. What's your take? APPY: Well, I waffle on this issue. As I tell students, it's hard enough as a historian to figure out what actually happens, and nearly impossible to figure out what might've happened if x or y or z had been different. So really these are interesting speculations, but really impossible to nail down. The truth is there's documentary evidence that would support both positions. I mean, those who would like to believe that Kennedy would have pulled us out of Vietnam can cite documents where they're talking about withdrawing 1,000 troops at a time and slowly drawing down our presence. But Kennedy was pretty clear in a lot of that planning that those withdrawals had to be contingent on success. And there was some hope at the time that maybe success was coming, but it needs to be remembered that Kennedy, although he never put more than 16,000 troops into Vietnam, which seems quite a small number when you compare it to the 540,000 that finally ended up there under Johnson, those 16,000 troops had already put into place many brutal practices that would only get expanded. We were–by 1962 we were already using chemical defoliants on South Vietnam. We were using napalm. We were engaged in aerial bombing of South Vietnam, the very land we claimed to be defending. And we were already beginning the forced relocation of people from the rural countryside into what were then called strategic hamlets. JAY: Concentration camps. APPY: Effectively concentration camps. So all of that had begun. And even on the last day of his life, he gave a speech that morning–or maybe it was the night before; I think it was that morning–in which he reaffirmed the necessity of America's standing against communist aggression in South Vietnam. That was to a Texas audience, but he did tick off all the ways in which we had built up the military and were–. JAY: I interviewed Gore Vidal a few times and got to know him fairly well, and he knew Jack Kennedy, President Kennedy, fairly well. I think he was a stepbrother to Jackie Kennedy. And he was quite convinced that Jack–and this goes back to you've got to have balls theme–he was quite convinced that Jack wanted to pursue the war in Vietnam, and to a large extent to prove he could be a wartime president, and maybe that he had the balls to go to war in Vietnam. But as you say, this becomes a much even bigger issue for Johnson. In fact, I'm going to read a quote from your book. APPY: Sure. JAY: By 1966, Assistant Secretary of Defense John McNaughton concluded that avoiding humiliation had moved from 70 percent of America's goal in Vietnam to 100 percent. Quote, the reasons why we went into Vietnam to the present depth are varied, but they are now largely academic. Why we have not withdrawn is by all odds one reason: to preserve our reputation. We have not hung on to save a friend or to deny the communists the added acres and heads. Christian writes, to preserve an image of strength, LBJ systematically escalated the war. Perhaps the most shocking moment in Robert Dallek's biography of Johnson comes when a group of reporters, pressed by LBJ to explain why he continued to wage war in spite of so many difficulties and so much opposition, the president, quote, unzipped his fly, drew out his substantial organ, and declared, quote, this is why. Other key policymakers may not have displayed their genitals, but all the men who sent America to Vietnam felt a deep connection between their own masculinity and national power. Expand a bit. APPY: Well, it's true. I mean, the group of policymakers did not share Johnson's crudity, at least, or his poorer background from the hill countries of Texas–they came from, really, a different class background, many of them very privileged private schools, Ivy League colleges, elite military service, all-men's Metropolitan Club, secret societies. That whole world inbred a kind of code of masculinity that made personal toughness inseparable from the toughness of the state. And so they really did own that idea that it was their mission, kind of a Spartan mission, to uphold American strength, and that anybody who questioned that could not really be part of that team. JAY: It goes back a little bit, I think, to what I was talking about as the loan sharks having to prove–someone has to be the test case, the model of getting their knees broken so everyone else will pay. I mean, it's in prison too. You know, you're not shown–if you show weakness, then someone will take advantage of you. This mentality that if America shows any weakness, then other powers are going to take advantage of that weakness, it seems to be almost at the core of U.S. policy, because it keeps ending in debacle. APPY: Yes. And it needn't be that way. I mean, at this precise time that they're digging their heels in, grounds of toughness, a whole new countercultural and antiwar movement is developing that is challenging this idea of masculinity and rejecting sort of the John Wayne image that they had grown up with, and coming to the conclusion that maybe it's really braver and tougher to express a kind of moral courage that can say, no, this is wrong, and we really need to withdraw. And there were occasionally some people close to power who were starting to say that, and they would immediately get sort of shut out. I mean, they were saying, for example, that, you know, yes, it might be–as George Kennan, one of the great architects of the policy of containment, said when he was called before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to testify–William Fulbright was the chair at the time, and it was widely televised. So George Kennan was asked, what do you think would happen if we withdrew from Vietnam? This is 1966 again. He said, well, honestly, I think it would be a six-month sensation, but it would blow away, it wouldn't really have any fundamental effect on our national security, and it actually, in terms of our international reputation, might improve it. So one of the ironies of this period for me is that Johnson, who was always credited as being the master politician who could read the tea leaves and count every vote, completely miscalculated the direction of the American public, because had he withdrawn early in his presidency, before the massive escalation, I think he might well have been reelected. I think he could have made the case that this really was not in our interest and not so much a sign of weakness but of really pragmatic realism. And another irony: all these guys prided themselves on being hard-headed realists who could see the world with steely eyes and unaffected by sentimentality or namby-pamby moralism, and yet in the face of the evidence that they were receiving on a daily basis, that the war was going poorly, that they had privately very little optimism that they could achieve their objectives–certainly not in any time soon, maybe five, ten, 15 years down the road–those same pragmatists were willing to continue a war they knew they weren't winning, because they didn't want to be seen as weak, didn't want to be the first president to lose a war. JAY: But then doesn't Johnson at the end–near the end of his presidency he does come to the conclusion to try to end it and negotiate in secret a ceasefire that might lead to a final settlement that gets torpedoed by Nixon. APPY: Yeah, he does make some small steps it that direction, though the ceasefire over the bombing in the North, first, it's only above the 20th parallel, and then just days before he leaves office it's all the way down to the 17th parallel, but he never stops the bombing of the South. And one thing that Americans to this day don't quite realize is that our bombing of South Vietnam was far more intense and unconstrained than the bombing of the North. We dropped 4 million tons of bombs on the South, 1 million tons of bombs on the north. That's a lot. But South Vietnam became by far the most bombed country in world history. We were using B-52 bombers that could hold, each one of these planes, 30 tons of bombs. They, of course, had been designed to drop nuclear weapons, but were retooled to be used in Vietnam. But, again, on the South, within 25 miles of Saigon. JAY: But doesn't Johnson–Johnson does negotiate a ceasefire, right, I mean, a full-scale ceasefire that never takes place 'cause Nixon talks the North Vietnamese into withdrawing. APPY: Well, no, he continues the war. What I think maybe you're alluding to is he does initiate peace discussions, the sort of those Paris peace talks, which do slowly begin in the last year of his presidency, though the South Vietnamese president, Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, wanted nothing to do with them. JAY: But this idea of having balls and showing American power, in spite of the war starting to unravel–but there's also economic interest here. I mean, there's a lot of people making a lot of money out of the war. APPY: It's true. Certainly defense contractors are making bushels of money. But one of the interesting things is that over time, by the late '60s, high-level executives are beginning to believe that the war is actually hurting the economy, because it's–. JAY: Or hurting them. APPY: Yeah. Well, they see [crosstalk] JAY: Their section of the economy. APPY: Yeah. And defense industry aside, there's a moment in which the CEO of the Bank of America, no less, goes before Congress and makes the case that the war is bad for business, that corporate profits have actually peaked in '65 just as the massive escalation began and had declined steadily since then and that inflation was ticking up. And so he really is calling for an end to the war. JAY: Yeah, it was an interesting part of your book. You talk about how–'cause unemployment gets so low,– APPY: Right. JAY: –inflation starts to go up, corporate profits start to go down. APPY: Right. JAY: So you have a real division, I guess, within the American elites about those who are still making money out of the war and those who aren't making as much money as they want to be. APPY: Right, or people who are ideologically committed to the war, even if it doesn't necessarily support business. So it is an interesting period. But it does suggest how broad-based opposition to the war was by 1970 and '71. JAY: And for some of our younger viewers or people that forget, let's just remind people this isn't just when someone wants to continue a war because they want to pull their organ out of their pants, they want to prove how tough they are, prove how tough America is, was. Just remind us again how many people suffered and were killed in the war. APPY: Well, now the best estimate for the number of Vietnamese–the Vietnamese say that 3.8 million were killed during the American phase of the war. And former secretary of defense McNamara, before he died, said he has every reason to believe that they were correct. American historians tend to say that it was at least 2 million. Sort of that's the conservative estimate. So we don't actually know the proper figure. But when you include the fact that we were also bombing Laos very heavily and Cambodia, you can add roughly another at least a million and a half to that total. So this is a real bloodbath. And for the United States, certainly more troops were lost than at any time after World War II–more than 58,000. And, of course, hundreds of thousands wounded, and many more who suffered psychological casualties from that experience. One further cost of the war that is not always noted is that after the war ended in 1975, many Vietnamese and Cambodians and Laotians have died from unexploded ordnance. Roughly 2 percent of every American bomb that was dropped, or even artillery shell, doesn't explode. So ten, 20, even 30 years later, a farmer can be plowing his field and hit one of those things and it can go off. Or a child can pick up–they had these really small baseball-size bombs that were called cluster bombs that–they would come inside a large conventional bomb, and then, when they exploded, they would send out these smaller bombs, and inside each one of these small bombs were hundreds of little steel pellets or dart-like–they were called flechettes that would go in every possible direction, designed as the classic antipersonnel weapon that would kill people but not structures and that would burrow into your body and not necessarily kill you but require other people to take care of you or lead to a slow and horrible death. And as I say, a kid could pick up one of these little baseball bombs and it could go off again. So the estimate now is that some 40,000, anyway, Vietnamese have died from that cause since the war, which is extraordinary, and many more wounded. JAY: And when you look at American media and this narrative of American exceptionalism, the real victim of the Vietnam War was America. APPY: Right. JAY: And we're going to get into the America-as-victim narrative in the next segment of our interview with the Christian Appy on Reality Asserts Itself on The Real News Network. Select one or choose any amount to donate whatever you like any amount $5 $15 $25 $50 $100 $500 $1,000 Custom Amount $ Make this donation each month (optional) Donate with Credit Card var gform;gform||(document.addEventListener("gform_main_scripts_loaded",function(){gform.scriptsLoaded=!0}),window.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){gform.domLoaded=!0}),gform={domLoaded:!1,scriptsLoaded:!1,initializeOnLoaded:function(o){gform.domLoaded&&gform.scriptsLoaded?o():!gform.domLoaded&&gform.scriptsLoaded?window.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",o):document.addEventListener("gform_main_scripts_loaded",o)},hooks:{action:{},filter:{}},addAction:function(o,n,r,t){gform.addHook("action",o,n,r,t)},addFilter:function(o,n,r,t){gform.addHook("filter",o,n,r,t)},doAction:function(o){gform.doHook("action",o,arguments)},applyFilters:function(o){return gform.doHook("filter",o,arguments)},removeAction:function(o,n){gform.removeHook("action",o,n)},removeFilter:function(o,n,r){gform.removeHook("filter",o,n,r)},addHook:function(o,n,r,t,i){null==gform.hooks[o][n]&&(gform.hooks[o][n]=[]);var e=gform.hooks[o][n];null==i&&(i=n+"_"+e.length),gform.hooks[o][n].push({tag:i,callable:r,priority:t=null==t?10:t})},doHook:function(n,o,r){var t;if(r=Array.prototype.slice.call(r,1),null!=gform.hooks[n][o]&&((o=gform.hooks[n][o]).sort(function(o,n){return o.priority-n.priority}),o.forEach(function(o){"function"!=typeof(t=o.callable)&&(t=window[t]),"action"==n?t.apply(null,r):r[0]=t.apply(null,r)})),"filter"==n)return r[0]},removeHook:function(o,n,t,i){var r;null!=gform.hooks[o][n]&&(r=(r=gform.hooks[o][n]).filter(function(o,n,r){return!!(null!=i&&i!=o.tag||null!=t&&t!=o.priority)}),gform.hooks[o][n]=r)}}); Never miss another story Subscribe to theAnalysis.news - Newsletter Email(Required) Name(Required) First Last Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); “Christian Gerard Appy is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is widely known as a leading expert on the Vietnam War experience. The most recent of his three books on the subject is American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity.” theAnalysis.news theme music written by Slim Williams for Paul Jay's documentary film “Never-Endum-Referendum“. Never-Endum-Referendum Artist Website Paul Jay's Documentaries
Here is the third and culminating episode in a story that we have been following since season four. The Eighties saw a welding together of American Cold War policies and the struggle for Soviet Jewry in a dramatic fashion. Super power summits, glasnost, the release of Natan Sharansky and the Freedom Sunday march all came together to achieve one purpose - let my people go!
Here is the third and culminating episode in a story that we have been following since season four. The Eighties saw a welding together of American Cold War policies and the struggle for Soviet Jewry in a dramatic fashion. Super power summits, glasnost, the release of Natan Sharansky and the Freedom Sunday march all came together to achieve one purpose - let my people go!
Are we in an American Cold War right here in the USA? Is the change the many hope for and many others fear already upon us? For the last several years, we have seen a shift in how average Americans see themselves, their country, and our place in history. Lt. Joe takes a look at the current generational and thinking split in America and asks...
Are we in an American Cold War right here in the USA? Is the change the many hope for and many others fear already upon us? For the last several years, we have seen a shift in how average Americans see themselves, their country, and our place in history. Lt. Joe takes a look at the current generational and thinking split in America and asks...
Before the Chernobyl explosion, the Three Mile Island accident, or the Fukishami disaster, the American northwestern had a nuclear reactor meltdown that few remember today. On a freezing winter night in 1961, three American service members died in Idaho Falls when the Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One (SL-1, colloquially) exploded, releasing dangerous levels of radiation into the local community. This is the story of SL-1, its gruesome explosion, the stunning response that followed, and the lessons learned thereafter. This is, we assure you, a WILD story. We ask that you listen only to the first 90 seconds and you'll be hooked into this episode. The SL-1 reactor was developed in the late 1950s to power radar systems intended to provide the United States with early warning against a Soviet bomber attack on the homeland. It's story is part of the American Cold War story. It's a story that needs to be told. We tell here, on episode 53 of the 18th Airborne Corps podcast.
We've got a very important issue to talk about this week. Apple wants to look at your private pictures. They've made such a big deal about privacy for years, so what's changed and why can't we trust them anymore? What have you done Tim Apple?The Australian government really hasn't liked supporting the games industry, despite years of lobbying and studies into how great the industry is for the economy. Someone's finally got through to them and we'll be getting changes to tax and visas to help encourage AAA development.Jason Mamoa thinks superheroes are like Greek mythology. Turns out the only reason he's joining the Scorsese comic genre battle is to remind everyone he wants to talk about climate change in his movies. Anyway, we all know his best role will be Duncan Idaho in Dune. It better not get delayed againApple's controversial new child protection features- https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/10/22613225/apple-csam-scanning-messages-child-safety-features-privacy-controversy-explained- https://www.ask-solutions.org/blog/2021/08-11-01?fbclid=IwAR1M731S3OrleR84O6134H-ZWXb5EtBoTY9tyXlIs0TiUXBVFwgHpP8Qmvc- https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-apples-child-protection-features-spark-concern-within-its-own-ranks-2021-08-12/Australian Games Industry gets a Government Injection- https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-08-10-how-australia-is-creating-a-sustainable-video-game-development-ecosystem?Jason Mamoa's take on superhero movies- https://boundingintocomics.com/2021/08/09/aquaman-star-jason-momoa-defends-superhero-movies-as-an-art-form-in-response-martin-scorseses-genre-criticisms/Other topics discussedWorst Cooks in America (an American reality television series that premiered on January 3, 2010, on Food Network. The show takes 12 to 16 contestants (referred to as "recruits") with very poor cooking skills through a culinary boot camp, to earn a cash prize of $25,000 and a Food Network cooking set.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worst_Cooks_in_AmericaFBI–Apple encryption dispute (The FBI–Apple encryption dispute concerns whether and to what extent courts in the United States can compel manufacturers to assist in unlocking cell phones whose data are cryptographically protected. There is much debate over public access to strong encryption. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) wanted Apple to create and electronically sign new software that would enable the FBI to unlock a work-issued iPhone 5C it recovered from one of the shooters who, in a December 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, killed 14 people and injured 22.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI%E2%80%93Apple_encryption_disputeHow Does the YouTube Algorithm Work in 2021? The Complete Guide- https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-the-youtube-algorithm-works/Perceptual hashing (the use of an algorithm that produces a snippet or fingerprint of various forms of multimedia. A perceptual hash is a type of locality-sensitive hash, which is analogous if features of the multimedia are similar.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptual_hashingreCAPTCHA (a CAPTCHA system that enables web hosts to distinguish between human and automated access to websites. The original version asked users to decipher hard to read text or match images. Version 2 also asked users to decipher text or match images if the analysis of cookies and canvas rendering suggested the page was being downloaded automatically. reCAPTCHA is owned by Google.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReCAPTCHAThe Shadow Brokers (a hacker group who first appeared in the summer of 2016. They published several leaks containing hacking tools, including several zero-day exploits, from the "Equation Group" who are widely suspected to be a branch of the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_BrokersElectronic Frontier Foundation (The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet civil liberties.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Frontier_Foundation- https://www.eff.org/WarGames (a 1983 American Cold War science fiction techno-thriller film written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes and directed by John Badham. The film, which stars Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, and Ally Sheedy, follows David Lightman (Broderick), a young hacker who unwittingly accesses a United States military supercomputer programmed to predict and execute nuclear war against the Soviet Union.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGamesHackers (a 1995 American crime film directed by Iain Softley and starring Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Jesse Bradford, Matthew Lillard, Laurence Mason, Renoly Santiago, Lorraine Bracco, and Fisher Stevens. The film follows a group of high school hackers and their involvement in a corporate extortion conspiracy.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers_(film)Shodan (Shodan is the world's first search engine for Internet-connected devices. Discover how Internet intelligence can help you make better decisions.)- https://www.shodan.io/PhotoDNA (PhotoDNA creates a unique digital signature (known as a “hash”) of an image which is then compared against signatures (hashes) of other photos to find copies of the same image. When matched with a database containing hashes of previously identified illegal images, PhotoDNA is an incredible tool to help detect, disrupt and report the distribution of child exploitation material. PhotoDNA is not facial recognition software and cannot be used to identify a person or object in an image. A PhotoDNA hash is not reversible, and therefore cannot be used to recreate an image.)- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/photodnaThe Trauma Floor The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America- https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/25/18229714/cognizant-facebook-content-moderator-interviews-trauma-working-conditions-arizonaMortal Kombat 11 Developer Was Diagnosed with PTSD Due to Graphic Violence- https://segmentnext.com/mortal-kombat-11-developer-ptsd/Facebook will pay $52 million in settlement with moderators who developed PTSD on the job- https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/12/21255870/facebook-content-moderator-settlement-scola-ptsd-mental-healthArtificial neural network (usually simply called neural networks (NNs), are computing systems inspired by the biological neural networks that constitute animal brains. An ANN is based on a collection of connected units or nodes called artificial neurons, which loosely model the neurons in a biological brain.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_neural_networkBob's Burgers – The Snake Song- https://genius.com/Bobs-burgers-the-snake-song-lyrics- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tvhw7jnYi0Financial crisis of 2007–2008 (also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a severe worldwide economic crisis. Prior to the COVID-19 recession in 2020, it was considered by many economists to have been the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80%932008Halfbrick Studios (Australian video game developer based in Brisbane. The company primarily worked on licensed games until 2008. The company released Fruit Ninja (2010) and Jetpack Joyride (2011).)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfbrick_StudiosUntitled Goose Game (a 2019 puzzle stealth game developed by House House and published by Panic. Players control a goose who bothers the inhabitants of an English village. The player must use the goose's abilities to manipulate objects and non-player characters to complete objectives. It was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untitled_Goose_GameFruit Ninja (a video game developed by Halfbrick. It was released April 21, 2010 for iPod Touch and iPhone devices, July 12, 2010 for the iPad, September 17, 2010 for Android OS devices.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_NinjaFiverr (Israeli online marketplace for freelance services. The company provides a platform for freelancers to offer services to customers worldwide.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FiverrActivision Blizzard Lawsuit Alleges Horrific Mistreatment Of Women- https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2021/07/22/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-alleges-horrific-mistreatment-of-women/?sh=56144afb166cYongYea - Scummy Amazon Policy That Steals Employees' Personal Game Projects Dropped After Backlash From Devs- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQtKfutVFTIMotion Picture Production Code (a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Will H. Hays, who was the president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) from 1922 to 1945.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_CodeBreaking Bad (an American neo-Western crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. The show aired on AMC from January 20, 2008, to September 29, 2013, consisting of five seasons for a total of 62 episodes.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_Bad‘Simpsons' Episode Featuring Michael Jackson Kept Off Disney+- https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/simpsons-episode-featuring-michael-jackson-kept-disney-1254609/2012 (a 2009 American science fiction disaster film directed and written by Roland Emmerich. It was produced by Harald Kloser, Mark Gordon, and Larry J. Franco, and written by Kloser and Emmerich. The film stars John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oliver Platt, Thandiwe Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_(film)Geostorm (a 2017 American science fiction disaster film directed, co-written, and co-produced by Dean Devlin (in his feature directorial debut). The film stars Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, and Andy García. It follows a satellite designer who tries to save the world from a storm of epic proportions caused by malfunctioning climate-controlling satellites.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeostormVolcano (a 1997 American disaster film directed by Mick Jackson, and produced by Andrew Z. Davis, Neal H. Moritz and Lauren Shuler Donner. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray, and is inspired by the 1943 formation of the Parícutin volcano in Paricutin, Mexico.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcano_(1997_film)Thanos (a genocidal warlord from Titan, whose own main objective was to bring stability to the universe by wiping out half of all life at every level, as he believed its massive population would inevitably use up the universe's entire supply of resources and condemn this. To complete this goal, Thanos set about hunting down all the Infinity Stones, being confident that the combined power of the Stones would achieve his goal.)- https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/ThanosNo Man's Sky Gameplay Trailer | E3 2014 | PS4- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLtmEjqzg7MAngryJoeShow - No Man's Sky Angry Review- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTTPlqK8AnY&t=1897sInternet Historian - The Engoodening of No Man's Sky- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5BJVO3PDeQ&t=59sAgent Orange (a herbicide and defoliant chemical, one of the "tactical use" Rainbow Herbicides. It is widely known for its use by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand,during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. It is a mixture of equal parts of two herbicides, 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D. In addition to its damaging environmental effects, traces of dioxin (mainly TCDD, the most toxic of its type) found in the mixture have caused major health problems for many individuals who were exposed, and their offspring. )- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_OrangeThe Tramp (also known as The Little Tramp, was British actor, Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character and an icon in world cinema during the era of silent film. The Tramp is also the title of a silent film starring Chaplin, which Chaplin wrote and directed in 1915.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_TrampApple – Think Different Commercial- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oAB83Z1ydEAnti-Monopoly (a board game made by San Francisco State University Professor Ralph Anspach in response to Monopoly. The idea of an anti-monopoly board game dates to 1903 and the original Monopoly created by Lizzie Magie.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-MonopolyAnti-Monopoly, Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group, Inc. court case 1976–1985 (Starting in 1974, Parker Brothers and its then corporate parent, General Mills, attempted to suppress publication of a game called Anti-Monopoly, designed by San Francisco State University economics professor Ralph Anspach and first published the previous year.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Monopoly#Anti-Monopoly.2C_Inc._vs._General_Mills_Fun_Group.2C_Inc._court_case_1976.E2.80.931985The Rageaholic - Begun, The Comic Film Crash Has - A Rant- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlk3-NtOFkkTerror Australis Podcast (TNC podcast)- https://anchor.fm/terror-australis-podcastShout Outs 9th August 2021 – 5th Anniversary of No Man's Sky - https://www.nomanssky.com/2021/08/no-mans-sky-5th-anniversary/No Man's Sky is easily one of the most infamous titles in video game history, thanks to its extremely rocky launch and poor state at release. The game lacked many of its core promised features when it launched, resulting in heavy fan backlash. Within two years of its rollout, the tide started turning in No Man's Sky's favor, thanks in large part to updates that transformed the experience. NEXT counted as the first of such changes, ushering in multiplayer gameplay options that Hello Games teased in the lead up to launch. This particular update also overhauled the graphics and introduced refined base-building mechanics. Hello Games' efforts didn't stop there either; as such, the redemption arc for No Man's Sky has been rather impressive to watch unfold. With the game now celebrating its fifth year anniversary, Hello Games has put out a short video looking back at all of the updates we've seen so far, along with a tease of what's coming next.9th August 2021 – 25th anniversary of Escape from L.A. - https://movieweb.com/escape-from-la-25th-anniversary/Stylized on-screen as John Carpenter's Escape from L.A. A 1996 American post-apocalyptic action film co-written, co-scored, and directed by John Carpenter, co-written and produced by Debra Hill and Kurt Russell, with Russell also starring as Snake Plissken. A sequel to Escape from New York, Escape from L.A. co-stars Steve Buscemi, Stacy Keach, Bruce Campbell, and Pam Grier. The film gained a strong cult following. The film was in development for over 10 years. At one point, a script was commissioned in 1987 and was written by screenwriter Coleman Luck, with Dino De Laurentiis's company producing. Carpenter later described the script as "too light, too campy". In time, Carpenter and Kurt Russell got together to write with their long-time collaborator Debra Hill. Carpenter insists that Russell's persistence allowed the film to be made, since "Snake Plissken was a character he loved and wanted to play again." At the beginning of the film, Kurt Russell wears his costume from the original film, which still fits after fifteen years. The film takes place in 2013.10th August 2021 – 60th Anniversary of Operation Ranch Hand, spraying an estimated 20 million US gallons (76,000 m3) of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong of food and vegetation cover - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ranch_HandOperation Ranch Hand was a U.S. military operation during the Vietnam War, lasting from 1962 until 1971. Largely inspired by the British use of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D (Agent Orange) during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s, it was part of the overall herbicidal warfare program during the war called "Operation Trail Dust". Ranch Hand involved spraying an estimated 20 million U.S. gallons (76,000 m3) of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong of food and vegetation cover. Areas of Laos and Cambodia were also sprayed to a lesser extent. Nearly 20,000 sorties were flown between 1961 and 1971. The herbicides were sprayed by the U.S. Air Force flying C-123s using the call sign "Hades". The planes were fitted with specially developed spray tanks with a capacity of 1,000 U.S. gallons (4 m3) of herbicides. A plane sprayed a swath of land that was 80 meters wide and 16 kilometers (10 mi) long in about 4½ minutes, at a rate of about 3 U.S. gallons per acre (3 m3/km2). Sorties usually consisted of three to five aircraft flying side by side. 95% of the herbicides and defoliants used in the war were sprayed by the U.S. Air Force as part of Operation Ranch Hand. The remaining 5% were sprayed by the U.S. Chemical Corps, other military branches, and the Republic of Vietnam using hand sprayers, spray trucks, helicopters and boats, primarily around U.S. military installations. The use of herbicides in the Vietnam War was controversial from the beginning, particularly for crop destruction. The scientific community began to protest the use of herbicides in Vietnam as early as 1964, when the Federation of American Scientists objected to the use of defoliants. In 1967, seventeen Nobel laureates and 5,000 other scientists signed a petition asking for the immediate end to the use of herbicides in Vietnam. According to the Vietnamese government, the US program exposed approximately 4.8 million Vietnamese people to Agent Orange, resulted in 400,000 deaths due to a range of cancers and other ailments. The Vietnamese population has suffered a range of ailments with three million Vietnamese people suffering health problems, one million birth defects caused directly by exposure to Agent Orange, and 24% of the area of Vietnam being defoliated.12th August 2021 – 40th birthday of the IBM 5150 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer#DebutOn August 12, 1981, Don Esteridge, who was unknown at the time, announced the release of the new personal computer created by his company. The head of development at IBM Entry Level Systems presented the 5150, or IBM PC, a concept that would revolutionize the computer industry forever. The machine was based on open architecture and a substantial market of third-party peripherals, expansion cards and software grew up rapidly to support it. The PC had a substantial influence on the personal computer market. The specifications of the IBM PC became one of the most popular computer design standards in the world, and the only significant competition it faced from a non-compatible platform throughout the 1980s was from the Apple Macintosh product line. The majority of modern personal computers are distant descendants of the IBM PC.Pricing started at $1,565 for a configuration with 16K RAM, Color Graphics Adapter, and no disk drives. The price was designed to compete with comparable machines in the market. For comparison, the Datamaster, announced two weeks earlier as IBM's least expensive computer, cost $10,000. IBM's marketing campaign licensed the likeness of Charlie Chaplin's character "The Little Tramp" for a series of advertisements based on Chaplin's movies, played by Billy Scudder. The PC was IBM's first attempt to sell a computer through retail channels rather than directly to customers. Reception was overwhelmingly positive, with sales estimates from analysts suggesting billions of dollars in sales over the next few years, and the IBM PC immediately became the talk of the entire computing industry. Dealers were overwhelmed with orders, including customers offering pre-payment for machines with no guaranteed delivery date. By the time the machine was shipping, the term "PC" was becoming a household name.Remembrances10th August 2010 - David L. Wolper - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_L._WolperAmerican television and film producer, responsible for shows such as Roots, The Thorn Birds, North and South, L.A. Confidential, and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). He was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 57th Academy Awards in 1985 for his work producing the opening and closing ceremonies of the XXIIIrd Olympiad, Los Angeles 1984 as well as helping to bring the games to L.A. His 1971 film (as executive producer) about the study of insects, The Hellstrom Chronicle, won an Academy Award. On March 13, 1974, one of his crews filming a National Geographic history of Australopithecus at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area was killed when their Sierra Pacific Airlines Corvair 440 slammed into the White Mountains shortly after takeoff from Eastern Sierra Regional Airport in Bishop, California, killing all 35 on board, including 31 Wolper crew members. The filmed segment was recovered in the wreckage and was broadcast in the television series Primal Man. The cause of the crash remains unsolved. In 1988, Wolper was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. For his work on television, he had received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He died from congestive heart disease and complications of Parkinson's disease at the age of 82 in Beverly Hills, California.Famous Birthdays10th August 1889 – Charles Darrow - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_DarrowAmerican who modified the design of Lizzie Magie's original invention The Landlord's Game. He became the first millionaire game designer in history, and although Magie patented her invention she received only $500. Parker Brothers falsely credited Darrow as the original inventor. While Darrow eventually sold his version of Monopoly to Parker Brothers, claiming it to be his own invention, modern historians credit Darrow as just one of the game's final developers. Monopoly is a board game which focuses on the acquisition of fictional real estate titles, with the incorporation of elements of chance. After losing his job at a sales company following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Darrow worked at various odd jobs. Seeing his neighbors and acquaintances play a board game in which the object was to buy and sell property, he decided to publish his own version of the game, with the help of his first son, William, and his wife Esther. Darrow marketed his version of the game under the name Monopoly. In truth, Darrow was just one of many people in the American Midwest and East Coast who had been playing a game of buying and trading property. The game's direct ancestor was The Landlord's Game, created by Elizabeth Magie. The Darrow family initially made their game sets on flexible, round pieces of oilcloth instead of rigid, square carton. Charles drew the designs of the properties with drafting pens, and his son and wife filled in the spaces with colors and made the title deed cards and Chance and Community Chest cards. In 1970, three years after Darrow's death, Atlantic City placed a commemorative plaque in his honor on The Boardwalk, near the corner of Park Place. In 1973 Ralph Anspach, an economics professor at San Francisco State University, produced Anti-Monopoly, a game similar to Monopoly, and for this was sued by Parker Brothers. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Events of Interest10th August 1960 – Dinosaurus! was released - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053768/ On this day in 1960, it was 'Jurassic Park' all over again with the release of Dinosaurus! The feature starred Ward Ramsey and Kristina Hanson, and here's the plot summary: "After undersea explosions near a Caribbean island, prehistoric creatures are unleashed on the unsuspecting population. Freed from his watery tomb, as well, is a very friendly Neanderthal man who proceeds to befriend a local orphan boy. The boy, Neanderthal and irritated dinosaur make for an interesting dramatic climax." The leading role was intended for Steve McQueen, who starred in The Blob two years earlier, also produced by Harris and directed by Yeaworth. McQueen passed on the film to make The Magnificent Seven instead. The dinosaurs were filmed using the technique of stop-motion animation as well as puppets for close-ups. The film promulgates the naïve idea that herbivorous animals (such as the brontosaurus) are not dangerous (a similar claim was made in Spielberg's 'Jurassic Park', 1993). The cape buffalo is one of the most aggressive and dangerous animals in Africa (and only weighs about 5% of what a brontosaurus is estimated to have weighed). Marcel Delgado was given less than half the time originally agreed upon to create the dinosaur models used in the film. The studio initially agreed to give him five to six weeks, as he requested, but two weeks later he was told that they would begin production on Tuesday. When Betty is captured by the neanderthal and taken to his cave, she's wearing a white dress and a pearl necklace. Combined with her red hair, she bears a striking resemblance to Wilma Flintstone, one of the stars of the TV cartoon series "The Flintstones" (1960), which would debut on American television one month after this movies US release (coincidentally, Betty is the name of Wilma's best friend).10th August 1990 – The Magellan space probe reaches Venus. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellan_(spacecraft)#Orbital_encounter_of_Venus On August 10, 1990, the American Magellan probe, named after the explorer Ferdinand Magellan, arrived at its orbit around the planet and started a mission of detailed radar mapping at a frequency of 2.38 GHz. It began the orbital insertion maneuver which placed the spacecraft into a three-hour, nine minute, elliptical orbit that brought the spacecraft 295-kilometers from the surface at about 10 degrees North during the periapsis and out to 7762-kilometers during apoapsis. During each orbit, the space probe captured radar data while the spacecraft was closest to the surface, and then transmit it back to Earth as it moved away from Venus. This maneuver required extensive use of the reaction wheels to rotate the spacecraft as it imaged the surface for 37-minutes and as it pointed toward Earth for two hours. The primary mission intended for the spacecraft to return images of at least 70 percent of the surface during one Venusian day, which lasts 243 Earth days as the planet slowly spins. To avoid overly-redundant data at the highest and lowest latitudes, the Magellan probe alternated between a Northern-swath, a region designated as 90 degrees north latitude to 54 degrees south latitude, and a Southern-swath, designated as 76 degrees north latitude to 68 degrees south latitude. However, due to periapsis being 10 degrees north of the equatorial line, imaging the South Pole region was unlikely. The resulting maps were comparable to visible-light photographs of other planets, and are still the most detailed in existence. Magellan greatly improved scientific understanding of the geology of Venus: the probe found no signs of plate tectonics, but the scarcity of impact craters suggested the surface was relatively young, and there were lava channels thousands of kilometers long.IntroArtist – Goblins from MarsSong Title – Super Mario - Overworld Theme (GFM Trap Remix)Song Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNMe6kF0j0&index=4&list=PLHmTsVREU3Ar1AJWkimkl6Pux3R5PB-QJFollow us onFacebook- Page - https://www.facebook.com/NerdsAmalgamated/- Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/440485136816406/Twitter - https://twitter.com/NAmalgamatedSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6Nux69rftdBeeEXwD8GXrSiTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/top-shelf-nerds/id1347661094Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nerds_amalgamated/Email - Nerds.Amalgamated@gmail.comSupport via Podhero- https://podhero.com/podcast/449127/nerds-amalgamated See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
You've been waiting long enough, folks...here it is - part 2 of our episode on the dang CIA. Have we gone loopy? Have we become conspiracy chuds? Tbh not really. In this episode we try and parse the faff from the not-faff as we uncover the hidden purpose behind American Cold War foreign policy. Turns out it wasn't that great! It was pretty bad, in fact! Reading: Part II, The Devil's Chessboard (2015), David Talbot
What does a new Sino-American cold war mean for Britain? As discussion mounts in Washington DC of a new cold war between China and the United States, I wanted to work out if this was really the case and what it means for Britain. To find out for this week's #BritainDebrief for the Atlantic Council, I spoke to author and China expert James Palmer, deputy editor of Foreign Policy magazine. What future for Asia with Quad geopolitics? What should Britain be doing in the Indo-Pacific? Can Britain stop itself being sucked into a new cold war?
Episode 35: Ike vs Ridgway At the dawn of the Cold War, two titanic figures fought for the heart and soul of American foreign policy. That story is revealed here in stunning new detail. Episode 35 of the 18th Airborne Corps podcasts discovers a philosophical argument at the heart of the early American Cold War national security policy. In the mid-1950s, President Dwight D. Eisenhower clashed with his Army Chief of Staff, Matthew B. Ridgway, over the meaning of the atomic bomb and its implications for the world. The resulting argument speaks to the purpose of a standing Army, the value of seizing and holding terrain, and the enduring nature of war. This is a story with great meaning for us today. Host Joe Buccino and co-host Jeremiah Meaney mine the battle between these two great WWII generals for application for today's global security environment.
Yale history professor John Lewis Gaddis is considered the Dean of Cold War Historians. He’s best known for his 2018 book “On Grand Strategy,” which the Wall Street Journal argued “should be read by every American leader or would-be leader.” He’s also written the definitive biography on George F. Kennan, the architect of the American Cold War strategy. Dr. Gaddis joined the 18th Airborne Corps podcast to talk about the philosophical underpinnings of the Cold War, the vision behind the Iron curtain, and why Ronald Reagan is an underrated president. He also defines and described grand strategy and who army leaders should think about and develop it. This is an important podcast episode for any leader working in national security. Dr. Gaddis offers a lot of wisdom about geopolitics, about the world outside our borders, and about the ideas that shape national security strategy. The XVIII Airborne Corps headquarters releases new episodes of the 18th Airborne Corps podcast every Tuesday and Thursday. The show offers insight and wisdom for Army leaders from history, current events, or future technology.
Anti communism became a defining aspect of American politics during the 1940s and 1950s, not just for the right wing of the Republican Party, but also for the Democrats and the liberal intelligentsia and journalists the traditionally supported the party. They shifted to the right throughout the period, and whilst some decried McCarthy's methods, others began to lend them tacit and then vocal support. Liberals saw communism as antithetical to their beliefs and believed it could and should be resisted, particularly in the emerging battlegrounds of South East Asia. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Episode 11: Elvis's Army In 1958, 23-year-old Elvis Presley, rock star and actor, was among the Nation's most prominent celebrities. That year he was also drafted into an American Army in turmoil. In an era that threatened Soviet-American thermonuclear annihilation, the Pentagon and White House primarily placed the Nation's defense, and its resources, in strategic bombing. Coming out of the ugly, unpopular Korean War, the Army was a faded relic of an antiquated way of conflict. By contrast, the Air Force, with its ability to target Soviet nuclear sites from offshore without putting troops on the ground, was the future. Drafting Elvis, then, represented a marketing opportunity for the U.S. Army: if the rebellious King of Rock and Roll could make Army greens look cool, perhaps the land-based service could get a foothold within American youth culture. On Episode 11, historian Brian McAllister Linn, author of the 2016 book "Elvis's Army: Cold War and the Atomic Battlefield," joins the Doomsday Clock podcast to talk about how the Army set about transforming Elvis from a rebellious teen idol into a clean-cut GI and, by extension, transforming the service itself for atomic warfare. Over the course of the discussion, Brian and host Joe Buccino talk about the Army's attempt at rebranding in the late 1950s and early 1960s and how that effort ultimately failed. This is a particularly timely discussion for our Army today: in the wake of the Fort Hood Independent Review and amidst concerns about white nationalism in the ranks, the Army once again finds itself at an inflection point. There are some critical lessons that leaders today can gleam from the Army Elvis joined. We share those lessons on Episode 11 of the Doomsday Clock Podcast. The Doomsday Clock is the official podcast of the U.S. Army's XVIII Airborne Corps. Stationed on Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the XVIII Airborne houses 92,000 Soldiers across 14 military installations: 40% of the operational Army. With a new episode every Tuesday, the podcast mines American Cold War history for insight and wisdom for leaders today.
THE TRANSPACIFIC MIDDLE Gregory Hargreaves interviews Sunny Xiang about her book project “The Transpacific Middle,” in support of which, Xiang, an assistant professor at Yale University, received an exploratory grant from the Hagley Center for the History of Business, Technology, & Society. In “The Transpacific Middle,” Xiang discusses her research on the culture of the American Cold War in Asia through the lens of ephemeral literature, including fashion magazines, pulp fiction, & advertisements. In so doing, Professor Xiang raises methodological questions about the nature of evidence, investigation, and the archive itself.
In October 1953, Vice President Richard Nixon embarked on a precedent-setting tour of the countries of South and South East Asia. The newly elected republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, reinvented the office of the Vice Presidency by elevating it from a nominal and ceremonial position to one of unprecedented responsibility in US foreign policy. Nixon’s core remit was to reinforce, consolidate and expand where possible, the American Cold War sphere of influence in Asia. As part of this tour the Vice President spent three days in Ceylon, an Indian Ocean island state, recently independent from Great Britain. In 1951 Ceylon became the only non communist Asian state to begin shipping strategic materials to the newly communist China. Nixon’s visit to Ceylon, in order to address this (and other issues) personally, would become something of a blueprint for US diplomatic operations in South Asia.
Stuart Schrader is a Lecturer and Assistant Research Scientist in Sociology at Johns Hopkins University, and the author of Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing. In this conversation, he shares details from the book about the Office of Public Safety, a 1960s American Cold War project that gave U.S. aid to counter-revolutionary police forces around the globe. As Schrader’s work documents, the expansion of domestic police powers in the post-World War II mirrored, and was in fact a critical element of, the larger project of global American empire.
In October 1951, Collier's Magazine gave over an entire weekly issue to imagining a possible war with the Soviet Union and its aftermath. Perhaps in the midst of American Cold War anxiety, this issue seemed less patently insane. But to a modern reader it's hard to fathom how Collier's got more than twenty authors to embark on a project that feels like one part anti-communist propaganda and one part teenage war fantasy. Also this week: a special issue of Penthouse that imagined sex in outer space (while also previewing the launch of OMNI Magazine).
In Innocent Weapons: The Soviet and American Politics of Childhood in the Cold War (University of North Press, 2014), Margaret Peacock analyzes the various ways in which images of children were put to use, in Soviet and American Cold War propaganda. From the Boy Scouts to the Pioneers, ubiquitous images of children portrayed the superiority of communism/capitalism. Where children were used to showcase superiority, equally powerful were images of children as needing protection. In the United States, images of the child helped explain the need for nuclear testing and fallout shelters. From a Soviet point of view, children were likewise to be protected: from the evils of capitalist consumerism, from the rapacious nuclear warmongering of the West. Even as children were used to promote the officially sanctioned view of the American/Soviet state, those same images, Dr. Peacock shows, could be used to subvert that view. Post-Stalin Soviet films criticized the status quo using images of the child to do so. Suspect American mothers hauled in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities managed to subvert the aims of that body by hauling their children right along with them. Utilizing archival and published evidence from a wide variety of Russian and American sources, Dr. Peacock has written an engaging history of the uses to which images of children have been put, in service of a conflict that spanned at least half the last century and whose consequences remain with us. Aaron Weinacht is Professor of History at the University of Montana Western in Dillon, MT. He teaches courses on Russian and Soviet History, World History, and Philosophy of History. His research interests include the sociological theorist Philip Rieff and the influence of Russian nihilism on American libertarianism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In Innocent Weapons: The Soviet and American Politics of Childhood in the Cold War (University of North Press, 2014), Margaret Peacock analyzes the various ways in which images of children were put to use, in Soviet and American Cold War propaganda. From the Boy Scouts to the Pioneers, ubiquitous images of children portrayed the superiority of communism/capitalism. Where children were used to showcase superiority, equally powerful were images of children as needing protection. In the United States, images of the child helped explain the need for nuclear testing and fallout shelters. From a Soviet point of view, children were likewise to be protected: from the evils of capitalist consumerism, from the rapacious nuclear warmongering of the West. Even as children were used to promote the officially sanctioned view of the American/Soviet state, those same images, Dr. Peacock shows, could be used to subvert that view. Post-Stalin Soviet films criticized the status quo using images of the child to do so. Suspect American mothers hauled in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities managed to subvert the aims of that body by hauling their children right along with them. Utilizing archival and published evidence from a wide variety of Russian and American sources, Dr. Peacock has written an engaging history of the uses to which images of children have been put, in service of a conflict that spanned at least half the last century and whose consequences remain with us. Aaron Weinacht is Professor of History at the University of Montana Western in Dillon, MT. He teaches courses on Russian and Soviet History, World History, and Philosophy of History. His research interests include the sociological theorist Philip Rieff and the influence of Russian nihilism on American libertarianism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In Innocent Weapons: The Soviet and American Politics of Childhood in the Cold War (University of North Press, 2014), Margaret Peacock analyzes the various ways in which images of children were put to use, in Soviet and American Cold War propaganda. From the Boy Scouts to the Pioneers, ubiquitous images of children portrayed the superiority of communism/capitalism. Where children were used to showcase superiority, equally powerful were images of children as needing protection. In the United States, images of the child helped explain the need for nuclear testing and fallout shelters. From a Soviet point of view, children were likewise to be protected: from the evils of capitalist consumerism, from the rapacious nuclear warmongering of the West. Even as children were used to promote the officially sanctioned view of the American/Soviet state, those same images, Dr. Peacock shows, could be used to subvert that view. Post-Stalin Soviet films criticized the status quo using images of the child to do so. Suspect American mothers hauled in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities managed to subvert the aims of that body by hauling their children right along with them. Utilizing archival and published evidence from a wide variety of Russian and American sources, Dr. Peacock has written an engaging history of the uses to which images of children have been put, in service of a conflict that spanned at least half the last century and whose consequences remain with us. Aaron Weinacht is Professor of History at the University of Montana Western in Dillon, MT. He teaches courses on Russian and Soviet History, World History, and Philosophy of History. His research interests include the sociological theorist Philip Rieff and the influence of Russian nihilism on American libertarianism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In Innocent Weapons: The Soviet and American Politics of Childhood in the Cold War (University of North Press, 2014), Margaret Peacock analyzes the various ways in which images of children were put to use, in Soviet and American Cold War propaganda. From the Boy Scouts to the Pioneers, ubiquitous images of children portrayed the superiority of communism/capitalism. Where children were used to showcase superiority, equally powerful were images of children as needing protection. In the United States, images of the child helped explain the need for nuclear testing and fallout shelters. From a Soviet point of view, children were likewise to be protected: from the evils of capitalist consumerism, from the rapacious nuclear warmongering of the West. Even as children were used to promote the officially sanctioned view of the American/Soviet state, those same images, Dr. Peacock shows, could be used to subvert that view. Post-Stalin Soviet films criticized the status quo using images of the child to do so. Suspect American mothers hauled in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities managed to subvert the aims of that body by hauling their children right along with them. Utilizing archival and published evidence from a wide variety of Russian and American sources, Dr. Peacock has written an engaging history of the uses to which images of children have been put, in service of a conflict that spanned at least half the last century and whose consequences remain with us. Aaron Weinacht is Professor of History at the University of Montana Western in Dillon, MT. He teaches courses on Russian and Soviet History, World History, and Philosophy of History. His research interests include the sociological theorist Philip Rieff and the influence of Russian nihilism on American libertarianism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In Innocent Weapons: The Soviet and American Politics of Childhood in the Cold War (University of North Press, 2014), Margaret Peacock analyzes the various ways in which images of children were put to use, in Soviet and American Cold War propaganda. From the Boy Scouts to the Pioneers, ubiquitous images of children portrayed the superiority of communism/capitalism. Where children were used to showcase superiority, equally powerful were images of children as needing protection. In the United States, images of the child helped explain the need for nuclear testing and fallout shelters. From a Soviet point of view, children were likewise to be protected: from the evils of capitalist consumerism, from the rapacious nuclear warmongering of the West. Even as children were used to promote the officially sanctioned view of the American/Soviet state, those same images, Dr. Peacock shows, could be used to subvert that view. Post-Stalin Soviet films criticized the status quo using images of the child to do so. Suspect American mothers hauled in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities managed to subvert the aims of that body by hauling their children right along with them. Utilizing archival and published evidence from a wide variety of Russian and American sources, Dr. Peacock has written an engaging history of the uses to which images of children have been put, in service of a conflict that spanned at least half the last century and whose consequences remain with us. Aaron Weinacht is Professor of History at the University of Montana Western in Dillon, MT. He teaches courses on Russian and Soviet History, World History, and Philosophy of History. His research interests include the sociological theorist Philip Rieff and the influence of Russian nihilism on American libertarianism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In Innocent Weapons: The Soviet and American Politics of Childhood in the Cold War (University of North Press, 2014), Margaret Peacock analyzes the various ways in which images of children were put to use, in Soviet and American Cold War propaganda. From the Boy Scouts to the Pioneers, ubiquitous images of children portrayed the superiority of communism/capitalism. Where children were used to showcase superiority, equally powerful were images of children as needing protection. In the United States, images of the child helped explain the need for nuclear testing and fallout shelters. From a Soviet point of view, children were likewise to be protected: from the evils of capitalist consumerism, from the rapacious nuclear warmongering of the West. Even as children were used to promote the officially sanctioned view of the American/Soviet state, those same images, Dr. Peacock shows, could be used to subvert that view. Post-Stalin Soviet films criticized the status quo using images of the child to do so. Suspect American mothers hauled in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities managed to subvert the aims of that body by hauling their children right along with them. Utilizing archival and published evidence from a wide variety of Russian and American sources, Dr. Peacock has written an engaging history of the uses to which images of children have been put, in service of a conflict that spanned at least half the last century and whose consequences remain with us. Aaron Weinacht is Professor of History at the University of Montana Western in Dillon, MT. He teaches courses on Russian and Soviet History, World History, and Philosophy of History. His research interests include the sociological theorist Philip Rieff and the influence of Russian nihilism on American libertarianism.
In Innocent Weapons: The Soviet and American Politics of Childhood in the Cold War (University of North Press, 2014), Margaret Peacock analyzes the various ways in which images of children were put to use, in Soviet and American Cold War propaganda. From the Boy Scouts to the Pioneers, ubiquitous images of children portrayed the superiority of communism/capitalism. Where children were used to showcase superiority, equally powerful were images of children as needing protection. In the United States, images of the child helped explain the need for nuclear testing and fallout shelters. From a Soviet point of view, children were likewise to be protected: from the evils of capitalist consumerism, from the rapacious nuclear warmongering of the West. Even as children were used to promote the officially sanctioned view of the American/Soviet state, those same images, Dr. Peacock shows, could be used to subvert that view. Post-Stalin Soviet films criticized the status quo using images of the child to do so. Suspect American mothers hauled in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities managed to subvert the aims of that body by hauling their children right along with them. Utilizing archival and published evidence from a wide variety of Russian and American sources, Dr. Peacock has written an engaging history of the uses to which images of children have been put, in service of a conflict that spanned at least half the last century and whose consequences remain with us. Aaron Weinacht is Professor of History at the University of Montana Western in Dillon, MT. He teaches courses on Russian and Soviet History, World History, and Philosophy of History. His research interests include the sociological theorist Philip Rieff and the influence of Russian nihilism on American libertarianism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, Zach gets a little freaked out over the number of Communists running around, and what they might be doing to our heads. Frank Sinatra stars in the 1962 classic, Manchurian Candidate. The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American Cold War suspense thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer from a screenplay by George Axelrod based on Richard Condon's 1959 novel. It stars Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Janet Leigh and features Angela Lansbury, Henry Silva, and James Gregory. The central concept of the film is that the son of a prominent right-wing political family has been brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy. The Manchurian Candidate was nationally released on Wednesday, October 24, 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film was well received and gained nominations for two Academy Awards.
This week, Zach gets a little freaked out over the number of Communists running around, and what they might be doing to our heads. Frank Sinatra stars in the 1962 classic, Manchurian Candidate. The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American Cold War suspense thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer from a screenplay by George Axelrod based on Richard Condon's 1959 novel. It stars Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Janet Leigh and features Angela Lansbury, Henry Silva, and James Gregory. The central concept of the film is that the son of a prominent right-wing political family has been brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy. The Manchurian Candidate was nationally released on Wednesday, October 24, 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film was well received and gained nominations for two Academy Awards.