The Mysteries of History (April 2 Edition)
Wilson Wants War; Anthrax Goofup and Coverup
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana, 1905
1917 — Woodrow Wilson Wants War
public domain image from wikimedia commons
The following is what I wrote about the United States getting directly involved in World War 1 in my book Still Casting Shadows: A Shared Mosaic of U.S. History — Volume 2: 1914-2006:
After two years of remaining neutral, or at least two years of not being directly involved in the fighting, the United States entered The Great War on April 6th. As FDR would later say regarding the second World War while it was first raging—and as LBJ (Lyndon Baines Johnson) would later say about Vietnam—Woodrow Wilson had previously emphatically asserted that America would not sacrifice its young men and women’s lives to the war effort. Wilson had been re-elected in 1916. His campaign slogan was: “He Kept Us Out of the War.” Wilson reportedly entered America into the war reluctantly. Whether reluctant or otherwise, Wilson’s earlier assertion about America not fighting proved a hollow promise. The hatchway had been opened to America’s direct involvement when Germany sunk an American merchant vessel. Germany claimed the vessel was carrying weapons, bound for use against her by Germany’s enemies. America denied this charge. In retrospect, it appears the vessel had indeed been trans porting weapons for use against the Germans. After asking Congress for a declaration of War on Germany, which was met with thunderous applause, Wilson told an aide, “My message today was a message of death for our young men. How strange it seems to applaud that.” Reportedly, Wilson then returned to the Oval Office, laid his head on his desk, and wept. Lest one get the impression from this account that Woodrow Wilson was a compassionate man, a sympathetic figure, it bears mentioning that he imposed racial segregation on the federal bureaucracy and endorsed the rabidly racist (pro-KKK) film “Birth of a Nation.
Wilson, if he can be believed (remember, he was not only a white supremacist but also a politician), was divided about sending American soldiers to war. But Germany had tried to lure Mexico into helping them win the war by opposing America, who had been assisting Germany’s rivals in the “Great War” which had already been raging for almost three years. This got not only Wilson’s dander up and stirred up the Nation’s populace, but also spurred Congress to approve Wilson’s request to declare war against Germany.
The war-aged men weren’t as fervent about fighting Germany as had been hoped, though, so soon the volunteer army was replace by conscription, eventually increasing the number of American soldiers twenty-fold, from 200,000 to four million.
After the war, Wilson promoted, shepherded, and championed the League of Nations, which was meant to promote peace, but miserably and very publicly failed when World War 2 broke out. From the ashes of World War 2 arose, phoenix or bad penny-like, the same-difference-but-similarly-named United Nations.
Questions: Is there any connection between President Wilson and Robert E. Lee? Is there any connection between President Wilson and the sporting goods company? Has the United Nations been successful in preventing warfare? Are they United? What’s in a Name?
1979 — Soviet Anthrax Release and Blame-Shifting
public domain images from wikimedia commons
Sixty-six peopled died, others got very sick, and livestock also died as a result of a release of anthrax from a Soviet bio-weapons plant which, true to their nature and in accord with their usual pattern, the Soviets tried to hush up and then deny responsibility for. The official explanation was that those who suffered did so because they had eaten tainted meat — in other words, they themselves were responsible, or possibly some negligent ranchers or butchers.
Spies the world over were skeptical, though, as they knew that the town affected contained a bio-weapons lab.
Only thirteen years later did they come clean. It turned out that a crucial filter at the plant had not been replaced. For the lack of a nail…
Questions: Why do political entities virtually never admit mistakes until they are forced to? Does this unreliability (telling-the-truth-wise) make them look better or worse in the long run?
Read about “The Secret Lives of Kids” here.
