Tag: The Greatest Generation

The Marshall Plan

“The only thing new on this earth is the history you don’t know.” – Harry Truman

The Marshall Plan is famous as an act of extraordinary generosity from America which restored prosperity to a war ravaged Europe.

It was signed into law by President Truman on the 3rd of April 1948.

The plan was conceived and put in place after the damage was done and the situation had been fully assessed.

It worked.

Now we see people in a health crisis calling it a war and spending enormous sums of money to prevent as yet unknown damage and simultaneously ceasing the economic activities which could generate the income to pay for what is being spent.

Does that order of doing things and that way of speaking of things make any sense?

What makes more sense to me as words for reflection by all of us now are these words of George C Marshall himself:

“The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it.”

“A political problem thought of in military terms eventually becomes a military problem.”

The more I reflect on The Greatest Generation, the more I believe this modern world still has a lot to learn.

Lest We Forget

Geoff Fox, 3rd April, 2020, Down Under

 

Woodrow Wilson – Was He A Father Of The Greatest Generation Or Globalist Disaster?

Woodrow Wilson is considered a father of globalism. His own presidency did not end well.

He was elected as America’s 28th president (POTUS 28) in 1912 on a platform called The New Freedom advocating limited government.

In 1916, Wilson won a second term with the campaign slogans, “He kept us out of war.” and “America First”. He swept the South and the West (except Oregon) but lost the Northeast and most of the Midwest.

In the space of five months, by April 2nd 1917, German attacks on American and international shipping lead POTUS 28 to ask Congress to declare war on Germany, saying:

“The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make.”

The declaration passed 373 to 50 in The House and 82 to 6 in The Senate.

In 1919, Wilson spoke words about World War One heroes, which make for an interesting comparison with the following generation’s achievements in World War Two, “The Americans who went to Europe to die are a unique breed…. (They) crossed the seas to a foreign land to fight for a cause which they did not pretend was peculiarly their own, which they knew was the cause of humanity and mankind. These Americans gave the greatest of all gifts, the gift of life and the gift of spirit.”—speech at Suresnes Cemetery, May 30, 1919.

Wilson’s presidency ended with the President himself in poor health (but still hoping for a third term), the treaty of Versailles (making World War Two inevitable), American GDP falling and a constitutional amendment imposing nationwide Prohibition.

Idealism doesn’t always work.

What price freedom?

Geoff Fox, 2nd April, 2020, Down Under

 

Potus 45 and Dan Patrick – Saving The Economy Matters Too

Helping someone in genuine need makes the heart feel good.

But governments cannot fill the place for love with money.

A bankrupt government wont be able to do anything for anyone.

As the 45th president of The United Sates has told America, “Our country wasn’t built to be shut down.”

A big, surviving, private economy will give more jobs, more real livelihoods, than governments can.

In this time when human beings across the world are face to face with our own mortality, a truly courageous and profoundly wise man has spoken up for the nation he loves.

I salute 69-year-old Texas Republican, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick,

for the patriotic example of rugged self reliance he displays when he says:

“Let’s get back to work, let’s get back to living, let’s be smart about it, and those of us who are 70-plus, we’ll take care of ourselves.”

Is this is a resurrection of the spirit of the The Greatest Generation?

With herd immunity, nations survive.

Sacrifice can get us there.

I love Dan Patrick.

Geoff Fox, 24th March, 2020, in a terrified world.

The Philadelphia Story and our changing presumptions of innocence.

“I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.” – Bob Dylan, 1964

On December 26, 78 years ago, during the golden era of The Greatest Generation, a work of art called The Philadelphia Story was released. It told the story of a spirited, independent woman’s awakening to love. In this Katharine Hepburn vehicle, monogamous heterosexuality was seen to meet human need. The film poked fun at marriage and shows its weaknesses but does not reject the institution.

How times have changed in the western world. Marriage is not the place it was.

Heterosexuality as the norm can no longer be assumed or championed.

The story debunked the idea that the Hepburn character Tracy Lord should be treated as a goddess. Her real need was not to be worshiped but to be loved.

Hepburn’s character was shown due to marry an up and coming politician but the night before the wedding she gets very drunk with a writer she admires who is there to report the wedding. They shared two kisses and a late night swim but to some others including her fiancé it appeared like an affair.

When Hepburn said, “I was guilty straight off until I was proven innocent.” Cary Grant, playing her first husband, who still loves her, commented, “Downright un-American if you ask me.”

In the modern world of suffocating political correctness far too many men are now “guilty straight off”.

On the October 2nd, 2018, President Trump described this modern phenomenon by saying: “It’s a very scary situation when you are guilty until proven innocent. My whole life I have heard you are innocent until proven guilty. But now you are guilty until proven innocent. That is a very, very difficult standard.”

As an Aussie fan of America’s great capacity for self-criticism, the anti-male modern climate of fear sounds downright un-American to me.

Geoff Fox, East Java, Christmas Day, 2018