Some humor from days passed.

I’m reading David McCullough’s biography of Truman. After firing MacArthur the shit hits the fan in Washington. To boost spirits at the White House someone pens a mock schedule for welcoming the General back to Washington.

No doubt that there was considerable tension between 'Mac' and Truman but it was a tribute to everybody's adherence to the traditions of government that it ended with MacArthur's "Old Soldier's" speech to the Republican-controlled Congress 8 days after being fired. His warnings in that speech are very dated now, like the cultural references in this WH satire. Still, these warnings did serve a purpose in defining his disagreements and providing a background for opposition to Truman.

What worries me in TODAY's climate is that this common adherence to a cultural tradition is under consistent attack by the Left. The ongoing effort at Balkanization of the voters makes for a reduction in a sense of national unity. At some unknowable point, we will find that "We, the People ..." has been replaced by much more fragmented societal slices with very different goals.

FYI: 10 years later, on May 12, 1962, Five Star U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur (26 January 1880 – 5 April 1964) gave one of the best speeches (IMHO) to his alma mater, USMA / West Point, in what is now called the “Duty, Honor, Country” speech. Imagine a public speech, by anyone, in today's world, that would contain the following paragraph;

The code which those words perpetuate embraces the highest moral laws and will stand the test of any ethics or philosophies ever promulgated for the uplift of mankind. Its requirements are for the things that are right, and its restraints are from the things that are wrong. The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training – sacrifice. In battle and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those divine attributes which his Maker gave when he created man in his own image. No physical courage and no brute instinct can take the place of the Divine help which alone can sustain him. However horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country, is the noblest development of mankind.

Truman started a tradition of No-Win Democrats.

When Truman assumed the Presidency he did not even know the Atom bomb existed, yet he quickly ended the way in Japan, then someone got hold of him and he entered into a war he would not let MacArthur win.

His excuse we only had one bomb and China blah, blah. We could have and did build many bombs.

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