60 years ago today…

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1968, February: the TET Offensive in Vietnam, Walter Cronkite declares the Vietnam War UNWINNABLE! April: the assassination of Martin Luther King.  May: LBJ declares he is not running for re-election. June: the Assassination of Robert Francis Kennedy, July:  150 Cities are in flames from race rioting! August:  The Soviet Union and three Eastern Block countries invade Czechoslovakia and Freedom President Alexander Dubcek.  November: the election of Richard Milhaus Nixon.  Throughout the year:  The war in Vietnam had killed over 28,000 American Soldiers (16,899 in 1968 alone!) and wounded over 150 thousand since 1965.  The Vietnam War and the Space Industry ramps up the American Economy!   The Paris Peace talks then flounder after the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive.  Muscle cars become all the rage!  Gasoline is 35 cents a gallon! The population of the United States was almost 201 million residents.  A one bedroom apartment was renting for about $125 dollars a month.

C-Span is commemorating 1968 as the 50th Anniversary of an “Exceptional Year” in American History.   The questions that remain are many.  We were in Nuremberg, Germany stationed with the 2nd Armored Cavalry as a Cryptographic Teletype Operator in Headquarters Troop at Regiment Headquarters in August of 1968.  The Russian, East German, Romanian and Bulgarian Tanks (4 Divisions) were gathered on the Czech border facing Germany – firing their weapons occasionally and trying to incite an escalation of activities.  By autobahn, if they broached the border, they could have been in Nuremberg in 45 minutes.  Our troops simply returned fire as was received.  Meanwhile, along that border the Czech border soldiers were bringing us soup and we were giving them coffee.  Meanwhile, our embedded nukes along the border seemed to be the correct deterrent to any invasion by Soviet forces!

In this crazy 2018, we have yet another idiot in charge of our country.  It seems the number of stupid Presidents of the United States far outweigh the number of good ones…..judged by history alone.  They say that six Presidents were involved with the Vietnam War:  Harry S Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford.  We point to the following Presidents:  Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George and Laura Bush, Barack and Michelle Obama and now Donald J. Trump.  Each one has had their proponents.  Each one did one or two things right.  Maybe, that’s all we need….a President that can do one or two things right?  We can say, that if we really wanted to judge our Presidents correctly, we should just statistically find out how many U.S. Soldiers died during their Administrations.  Those killing the least, might be considered successful Presidents.  Those killing the most…..the worst.  We guess we could Google all this….but we leave that to all the Mothers out there on this Mothers Day 2018!

In just a couple of weeks will be celebrating Memorial Day.  This is when we are supposed to offer appreciation for all those that have died in the service of their country.  Today, we should probably  include the number of citizens that have been killed by Big Pharma, Big Agra, Big Chema, Big Medicine, Big Oil and Big Insurance!  As the Hyman Roth said in Godfather II:  “This is the business we have chosen, it’s not personal….just business!”  Again:  Happy Mothers Day America!

 


About Ron & Anna Winship

Independent News Producers/Writers and Directors for Parker-Longbow Productions. Independent Programming which includes a broad variety of Political, Entertainment and Professional Personalities. Cutting Edge - a talk show...is the flagship of over 30 URL websites developed or under development. The Winships have been blogging for the Orange Juice since back when nickels had buffalos on them, and men wore onions attached to their belts, because it was the fashion back then.