The Rise of the Corporate General

Added on by C. Maoxian.

From David Hackworth's appearance on Booknotes in 1989:

"This tragedy that occurred started in 1946 when we took our Officer Corps and started this business of making everybody a diplomat and a warrior which ended up under Maxwell Taylor when he became Chief of Staff. Our Generals became corporate generals rather than the fighting generals of type that won World War II. The Ridgeways and the Pattons and so on."

Hackworth on military decorations:

"... take Admiral Crowe who is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On his jacket it's ablaze with medals. 31 of them. But there's not one for a combat deed. They're all having-been-there awards. You're-a-good-guy award. You-moved-some-paper-across-your-desk-in-a-neat-way award....

Just like when Admiral Crowe perhaps appears in front of Congress, those are his credentials, and those Congressmen don't know they are just having-been-there awards. When he says we need this they believe that he knows what he's talking about from the standpoint of being on a battlefield. So I think that we've kind of put our award system at a cross purpose. Grenada -- there were 7,000 men on that island. They gave 8,000 awards. There were 200 enemy Cuban soldiers or so on that island. And they gave 200 awards for valor. One per enemy soldier. 

... I think we need to go back and clean up our act on awards and just give awards to soldiers. The final line on awards is to me the only award ... that really means something to warriors is the Purple Heart and above that, the Combat Infantry Badge. That means I've been there."

Tweets for April 5, 2016

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Tweets for April 4, 2016

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Bringing Up Boobs

Added on by C. Maoxian.

I ordered several books through inter-library loan about raising boys, not knowing anything about them other than the title. The one pictured below was the first to arrive. On the inside flap of the jacket it reads, "Dr. James Dobson, America's foremost authority on the family [say what? first alarm bell rings], provides a road map for raising healthy sons -- for shaping the next generation of responsible, God-honoring men." [ding ding ding, multiple alarm bells going off]

Flipping to the table of contents, I see chapter nine is titled, "The Origins of Homosexuality." This should be good, I think naughtily. Sure enough, I learn there that the "condition of 'prehomosexuality'" can be "effectively prevented." The author goes on: "Change is possible. Hope is available. And Christ is in the business of healing." 

Sweet Jesus, I'm sending this one straight back from whence it came (the Newfield Public Library).

Disciplined By Deadlines

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Henry Brandon shares his opinion of Jimmy Carter in this 1989 appearance on Booknotes:

"I had a feeling that Carter suffered from an inner insecurity. If you watched him on television there was an expression of anxiety usually in his face. We were ... talking about [what] a leader needs and he needs to project inner self confidence and Carter did not. I think Carter would have made a very good Secretary of State because he was a good negotiator. He proved that in the Camp David negotiations for instance. But I don't think he had the stature for the Presidency."

Authors' Closing Words

Added on by C. Maoxian.

A running collection of closing words from the authors interviewed on Booknotes … this also serves as a record of all the episodes of Booknotes that I have viewed:

  • Zbigniew Brzezinski -- "I enjoyed it. Thank you."

  • Judy Shelton -- "My pleasure. Thank you for having me."

  • Bruce Oudes -- "You're quite welcome."

  • Susan Moeller -- "Thank you, sir."

  • Henry Brandon -- "Thank you for asking me."

  • David Hackworth -- "My pleasure."

  • James Fallows -- "Thank you. It's been a great pleasure."

  • Gregory Fossedal -- "Thanks for having me."

  • Stanley Karnow -- "Thank you, Brian."

  • James MacGregor Burns -- "Thank you."

  • Robert Christopher -- "It was a lot of fun. Thank you."

  • Robert Byrd -- "Thank you very much. Thank you."

  • Nathaniel Branden -- "I really enjoyed this. It was absolutely, from my point of view, wonderful. Very relaxed, very easy, very natural, I don't know how it even sounded to you, but whatever your personal agenda was, I had a very good time."

  • Roger Kennedy -- "Thank you."

  • George Wilson -- "Thank you."

  • Jeanne Simon -- [interview cut off]

  • Gina Kolata — “Thank you.”

  • Clifford Stoll — “Many thanks to you. I appreciate it.”

  • Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar — “Thank you very much.”

  • Jennifer Toth — “Thank you.”

  • Robert Wright — “Thank you.”

  • Ted Yeatman — “Thank you.”

  • Ellen Joan Pollack — “Thank you.”

  • Roy Morris, Jr. — “Thank you for having me.”

  • Peter Charles Hoffer — “Thank you.“

  • Linda Greenlaw — “Thank you.”

  • Jill Jonnes — “Thank you so much for having me.”

  • Simon Worrall — “Thank you, Brian. It was a pleasure. Thanks.”

  • Liz Trotta — “Thank you, Brian.”

  • Malcolm Wilde Brown — “Thank you very much for having me.”

  • Fitzhugh Green — “….“

  • Adam Bellow — “Thank you, Brian.” | 2019 Jan 28

  • Walter Berns — “…” | 2019 Jan 30

  • Carl Cannon — “Thank you.” | 2019 Feb 6

  • Robert Conquest — “…” | 2019 Feb 7

  • Barbara Crossette — “Thank you.” | 2019 Feb 8

  • Midge Decter — “…” | 2019 Feb 13

  • James Abourezk — “…” | 2019 Dec 4

  • Jean H. Baker — “Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here.” | 2019 Dec 4

  • Irving H. Bertlett — “…” | 2019 Dec 4

  • A. Scott Berg — “Thanks for having me here.” | 2019 Dec 9

  • David Aikman — Thank you, Brian. | 2019 Dec 9

  • Liva Baker — Thank you. | 2019 Dec 9

  • Nicholas Basbanes — Thank you, sir. | 2019 Dec 9

  • Jane Alexander — Thank you, Brian. It's been a pleasure. | 2019 Dec 10

  • Neil Baldwin — “Thank you very much.” | 2019 Dec 10

Duty and Destiny

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Here are some of the bits I liked best from Susan Moeller's appearance on Booknotes, discussing her cleverly titled book, "Shooting War: Photography and the American Experience of Combat."  [emphasis mine] 

[Talking about a photo printed in Life Magazine in September 1943]
"MOELLER: The reason it's pivotal is that it was one of the first three photographs that were released of the American dead. So it's the first time in 50 years that Americans saw Americans who had been killed in combat. Up to that 1943 date, censorship for World War II was the same as for World War I. You couldn't show graphic pictures of any kind."
...
"World War II was the war that everyone felt needed to be fought. It was a good war. But the Korean War people had much more ambivalent feelings about -- so the photographs that came back mirrored the ambivalence."
...
[Discussing the controversial photograph of a South Vietnamese general using a revolver to shoot an alleged Viet Cong lieutenant in the head, in the street.]
"MOELLER: Well, it was very controversial for all kinds of reasons. It raised questions about how far photography go. How much should the media show us. But more importantly than the journalistic issues, it raised questions about was this a war that condoned that kind of action. Was that a war that Americans wanted to participate in?
LAMB: I can even remember -- and this is 20 years later -- that it was General Loan.
MOELLER: It was General Loan.
LAMB: I mean, did it have that kind of an impact on all us?
MOELLER: Yes. It really did."

There's video footage of that execution, which I have unfortunately seen, not just still photos. It's probably on YouTube, if you're inclined to search for it.