Playing President: My Close Encounters with Nixon, Carter, Bush I, Reagan, and Clinton—and How They Did Not Prepare Me for George W. Bush by Robert Scheer

 

BOOK REVIEW - FIVE STARS

Playing President: My Close Encounters with Nixon, Carter, Bush I, Reagan, and Clinton—and How They Did Not Prepare Me for George W. Bush by Robert Scheer

Well-written, greatly insightful, and very timely. This compendium of historical political leaders that shaped world history is a must read for all.

I loved it!

Excerpts:

Truman, guided by that brilliant lawyer Dean Acheson, was quite aware that by 1940 the world Depression of the early ’30s had returned. The New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt had largely failed. What was to be done? FDR took a crash course in Keynesian economics. As a result, he invested $8 billion into re-arming the United States, in order to hold our own against the Fascist axis of Germany, Japan, Italy. To the astonishment of Roosevelt’s conservative political enemies, the U.S. suddenly had full employment for the work force and a military machine of the first rank with which we were able to defeat Fascism, and just about anyone else who defied us. Truman and friends learned and never forgot an important lesson:

“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one,” and in the time of Jefferson, that group included much of the electorate.

Nixon “did a number of undeniably good things that have been forgotten. He negotiated the first and only strategic arms limitation treaty, the opening to China. He ended the war, ended the draft; the eighteen-year-old vote came under his presidency. He did a lot of good things and they all got swept away by Watergate.”

Nixon’s foreign policy achievements are the focus of the current reappraisal, though some commentators also praise aspects of his domestic policy, especially his establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and his efforts to reform the welfare system.

Ironically, when I had asked Carter during our 1976 Playboy interview what would prevent his leading the U.S. into a Vietnam-type quagmire, he stated that he wouldn’t “lie,” as Lyndon Johnson had. At the time, I thought this was the most truly controversial statement in the interview—not the “lust” quote that was so widely publicized. Johnson’s widow, Lady Bird, felt the same way, and she initially refused to meet with Carter when he landed in Dallas soon after the interview was published. Sadly, Carter went on to commit the same lie of inventing a national security threat—with dire consequences.

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Valiant Ambition (The American Revolution Series) by Nathaniel Philbrick

 

BOOK REVIEW - FIVE STARS

Valiant Ambition (The American Revolution Series) by Nathaniel Philbrick

An eye opening look at the rocky road United States stumbled through on its way to independence. I found this story extraordinary and enlightening, and far more revealing than all of my previous studies had taught me.

The provocative history was not a slam dunk described in history books. This is truly recommended reading.

Excerpts:

Like many American mariners and merchants, Arnold’s early revolutionary beliefs had been nurtured in the smuggling trade. For men like John Hancock in Boston and Arnold in New Haven, finding a way around the stifling economic restrictions imposed by the British government had been not only a financial necessity but an expression of patriotism, a finger in the eye of the British regime. Now that the Continental Congress in Philadelphia had proven to be, if anything, even more dysfunctional and unjust than the ministry in London, Arnold saw nothing disloyal in doing what Americans had always done: profit as best they could from whatever

The city was a shambles. The British had used the State House as a prison, and the floors of its once immaculate rooms were heaped with human waste. The newly returned delegates of the Continental Congress had to meet temporarily in nearby College Hall until the filth could be removed. Other public buildings and “genteel houses” had been used for stables by the British, who cut holes in the floors so that the dung could be shoveled into the cellars. According to the New Hampshire delegate Josiah Bartlett, “The country northward of the city for several miles is one common waste, the houses burnt, the fruit trees and others cut down and carried off, fences carried away, gardens, and orchards destroyed.” Over the course of the next few weeks, thousands of citizens who had spent the winter outside Philadelphia flooded back into the ravaged city. Not unexpectedly, they had little sympathy for anyone who had fraternized with the enemy.

The United States had been created through an act of disloyalty. No matter how eloquently the Declaration of Independence had attempted to justify the American rebellion, a residual guilt hovered over the circumstances of the country’s founding.

By threatening to destroy the newly created republic through, ironically, his own betrayal, Arnold gave this nation of traitors the greatest of gifts: a myth of creation. The American people had come to revere George Washington, but a hero alone was not sufficient to bring them together. Now they had the despised villain Benedict Arnold.

As Arnold had demonstrated, the real enemy was not Great Britain, but those Americans who sought to undercut their fellow citizens’ commitment to one another. Whether it was Joseph Reed’s willingness to promote his state’s interests at the expense of what was best for the country as a whole or Arnold’s decision to sell his loyalty to the highest bidder, the greatest danger to America’s future came from self-serving opportunism masquerading as patriotism.

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Captain George Tappin: A True Story.

 

Captain George Tappin: A True Story is the fourth short story in the series the Doings of Dudley Doolittle.

Though our old and trusted friend George Tappin is long gone he lives on fondly in our memories.

Therefore we will use his real name here and make this story a  tribute to Captain George.

Our first experiences with commercial fishing in Florida: I took George Tappin up on his offer of a day out on his shrimp trawler, Terry. It turned out that George’s wife Mary was scared to death to go out to sea with George because of an incident that occurred when they were coming in the inlet in very heavy seas. George had been going out by himself, which to me seems impossible, but he did do it just the same. The first trip I made with George was a wonderful experience, and I asked if he would mind taking Jane the next time and he agreed. The one thing that happened the first day I was out with George was that one after another his bilge pumps all failed. He rigged another and another until his seventh one didn’t work. He was a real resourceful sailor and instinctively went down to his main engine that was a 6-71 Detroit Diesel and rerouted the engine raw water pickup hose to suck the bilge water and discharge it overboard. That was enough to keep us afloat until we could get back to the dock. I have to state here one of the basic rules of boating; “the water is supposed to be on the outside.”

Jane’s reaction on her first trip out on the Terry with George was that she wished that she hadn’t wasted so many years working at the finance company back in Superior, Wisconsin. She could have been out here upon the ocean instead. There was always plenty of action on the shrimp boat.

One of my jobs on George’s boat was to open the net when it was hauled onboard and hoisted high up in the rigging. To visualize this you must consider that the boat is always in constant motion while it passes through the seas. When the full net is overhead, I would go under it and grab hold of the trip line that would open the bag portion of the net to release the catch. Timing and coordination are crucial because if the net isn’t opened at the precise time, the catch can be released back overboard while the roll of the boat keeps the net perpetually swinging overhead.

The varieties of living things that come out of the net are astounding. Crabs with their pinches poised to shake hands with you, catfish with their dorsal fins ready to stab, sting rays with their tails armed with a jagged venomous spear, electric skates will jolt you, sea turtles just want to snap, but sharks want a piece of flesh. One day when I opened the net, out came a 7-½ foot shark that was flipping around the deck like a bucking bronco but at the same time was vigorously snapping its razor sharp teeth at everything in sight. I instantly got the message and sprung up in the rigging and told George that he had a visitor to take care of. George didn’t bat an eye and came from the wheelhouse with a carpenter’s knife and took a flying tackle on the shark. Next, he slit the shark’s bottom side from one end to the other and spilled the shark’s guts onto the deck. Now the shark got even more aggressive and snatched our fishing net in its razor toothed mouth and began to aggressively thrash. Again I called George and told him of the new problem. This time he came with a hammer and commenced to bash in the shark’s head. Now the shark became docile for a moment and George then fastened a rope to the shark’s tail and hoisted it up into the air using the winch. With the roll of the boat, the shark swung overboard, and George then let the shark down so that he could cut the rope on its tail. The shark was back to thrashing again and when the rope was cut and it hit the water, the other sharks in the vicinity completely tore this shark to shreds in a seconds. After witnessing this chain of events I was convinced that you never wanted to fall overboard from a shrimp boat. For the remainder of this winter season, Jane and I went out fishing with George Tappin two or three times a week. This was some of the best fun we had our entire time in St. Augustine this winter season. We thought of ourselves extremely fortunate to be able to have this life changing opportunity. We even got paid plus as a fringe benefit we had all of the seafood we could eat.

More colorful stories of Captain George Tappin can be found in our books of our life aboard our sailboat Dursmirg. Check the following links.

Sailing Beyond Lake Superior : Travels of Dursmirg

Sailing to St. Augustine: Travels of Dursmirg

Remembering 1954: Marjories Kennen Rawlings and George Tappin

Dying of cancer the last words George spoke to me from his death bed were “John, I would give anything if I could just walk out that door.”

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The Baker Chocolate Company: A Sweet History by Anthony M. Sammarco

 

BOOK REVIEW - FIVE STARS

The Baker Chocolate Company: A Sweet History by Anthony M. Sammarco

Growing up with America, this popular brand was a standard product in homes across the nation. I loved the book’s historical impact with its beginning in precolonial Mexico thousands of years ago and then the popularity that has gone world wide.

The book takes the reader in to the age of corporate take overs and thus is timely.

EXCERPTS:

The exact significance and attributes of Quetzalcoatl varied somewhat between each of these civilizations and throughout history. Quetzalcoatl was often considered the god of the morning star, while his twin brother, Xolotl, was considered the evening star. As the morning star, Quetzalcoatl was known under the title Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, which means literally “the lord of the star of the dawn.” He was known and worshiped as the inventor of books and the lunar calendar, the giver of maize corn to mankind and sometimes as a symbol of death and resurrection. Quetzalcoatl was also the patron of the priests and held the revered title of the Aztec high priest.

Baron Justus von Liebig (1803–1873), noted German chemist who made significant contributions to the analysis of organic compounds and the application of chemistry to biology and agriculture, was quoted in the 1893 edition of Baker Chocolate’s Choice Recipes, stating that chocolate is a perfect food, as wholesome as delicious, a beneficent restorer of exhausted power; but its quality must be good, and it must be carefully prepared. It is highly nourishing and easily digested, and is fitted to repair wasted strength, preserve health, and prolong life. It agrees with dry temperaments and convalescents; with mothers who nurse their children; with those whose occupations oblige them to undergo severe mental strains; with public speakers, and with all those who give to work a portion of the time needed for sleep. It soothes both stomach and brain, and for this reason, as well as for others, it is the best friend of those engaged in literary pursuits.

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A History Lover's Guide to New York City (History & Guide) by Alison Fortier

BOOK REVIEW - FIVE STARS

A History Lover's Guide to New York City (History & Guide) by Alison Fortier

Fun to read, educational and extremely interesting. I loved the well-edited and organized presentation that left me with many happy recollections.

EXCERPTS:

A popular referendum on creating a Greater New York passed in 1894. It took a few more years to realize what this would mean in practical terms. On January 1, 1898, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island became the five boroughs, or administrative units, of one New York City. By a "stroke of a pen," New York's population increased to three million, making it the second-largest city in the world after London.

The last sixty-five years have been mostly good ones for New York City. The exception was a period during the 1970s when the city’s finances failed. Government overspending and the departure of industry and jobs to cheaper areas hurt New York as a place to live and work.

High unemployment and escalating crime, rampant drug use and inadequate public services left garbage piling up on street corners and graffiti on buildings and subway cars. New York City was a difficult place to live. Population numbers declined—not until the 2000 census did the population exceed what it had been in 1950. A citywide power blackout in 1977 symbolized the city’s fate. The future looked dark. At its depths, New York City appealed to the federal government for financial aid to avoid bankruptcy. The administration of President Gerald Ford denied the aid. The New York Daily News paraphrased the president’s position in its famous October 30, 1975 headline: “Ford to City: Drop Dead.” Despite the fact that the Ford administration reversed itself within a few months and offered federal loan guarantees to New York City, Ford narrowly lost the state of New York to Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election. Jimmy Carter went on to the White House to become our thirty-ninth president. Gerald Ford blamed this headline for costing him the election.

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