Head Strong: Dangerous Times Again, As Hatred Flows, Plus Charting The Road To Ruin.
Head Strong: Dangerous times again, as hatred flows
By Michael Smerconish - Inquirer
Inquirer Currents Columnist
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/kennedys
24,400 for The Last Time Right-Wing Hatred Ran Wild Like This a President Was Killed...
A first-of-his-kind president is suspected by some of conspiring with anti-Christians. He is treated inhospitably in classrooms and associated with communism on posters. He is accused of awarding government jobs to radicals.
Sound familiar?
The latest issue of Vanity Fair includes a story entitled "A Clash of Camelots," by Sam Kashner. But it is not set in the present. Kashner's subject is the story behind William Manchester's The Death of a President, the definitive account of John F. Kennedy's assassination.
Manchester, Kashner reports, found that in the third year of the Kennedy presidency, "a kind of fever lay over Dallas country. Mad things happened. Huge billboards screamed 'Impeach Earl Warren.' Jewish stores were smeared with crude swastikas. . . . Radical right polemics were distributed in public schools; Kennedy's name was booed in classrooms; corporate junior executives were required to attend radical seminars."
Kashner continues: "A retired major general ran the American flag upside down, deriding it as 'the Democratic flag.' A wanted poster with JFK's face on it was circulated, announcing 'this man is wanted' for - among other things - 'turning the sovereignty of the U.S. over to communist-controlled United Nations' and appointing 'anti-Christians . . . aliens and known communists' to federal offices. And a full-page advertisement had appeared the day of the assassination in the Dallas Morning News accusing Kennedy of making a secret deal with the Communist Party; when it was shown to the president, he was appalled. He turned to Jacqueline, who was visibly upset and said, 'Oh, you know, we're headed into nut country today.' "
No wonder Kennedy was warned not to make the trip. "Evangelist Billy Graham had attempted to reach Kennedy . . . about his own foreboding. The Dallas mood was no secret," Manchester wrote. U.S. Sen. William Fulbright (D., Ark.) told Kennedy that Dallas was "a very dangerous place. I wouldn't go there. Don't you go."
According to Kashner, Manchester determined that the last words Kennedy heard were those of Nellie Connally, wife of Texas Gov. John Connally. "Delighted by the enthusiastic crowd along the motorcade route, she turned around in her seat and said, 'Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you.' And then the first shot rang out," Kashner wrote.
It's impossible to read this without wondering about the present.
Protesters marched on Washington carrying signs that read "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy," "Impeach the Muslim Marxist," and "We came unarmed . . . this time." A member of Congress shouted down the president and raked in more than $1.5 million in campaign contributions in the days that followed. Cable TV's hottest personality just called the commander-in-chief a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people."
Kashner reminds us that some Dallas schoolchildren booed Kennedy's name in classrooms, and others in a fourth-grade class cheered when told of his assassination. Today, some found it objectionable that the president would speak to children about personal responsibility in a school setting on the grounds of potential indoctrination. A swastika was painted on a sign outside the district office of Georgia Congressman David Scott last month. And don't forget the Obama-as-Joker posters - emblazoned with the word "socialism" - that began popping up this summer.
The vast majority of the president's harsh critics are rightfully concerned about the size of government. But there's also little doubt that some of the vehemence directed at the president is racially motivated. It can't be proven, and it can't be quantified. But logic dictates that if the protests are driven entirely by worries over the expanded reach of government and increased federal deficit, there would have been signs of similar agitation during the Bush administration.
After all, it was Bush who erased a healthy surplus during his eight years in office. And it was the Bush administration that initiated the federal bailout of AIG and others. Indeed, if the protesters are concerned about the government's intrusion upon civil liberties, why were they silent about the Patriot Act?
The climate in which George W. Bush governed was similarly vulgar. He and Vice President Dick Cheney were subjected to ridicule and scorn beyond any pale of reasonableness. Still, somehow this feels different.
No matter how it began, or what motivations may exist, we should all be able to agree that the current political climate is unhealthy, counterproductive, and eerily dangerous. And those critics of any administration, the many reasonable Americans with truly patriotic motivations, can always benefit from a reminder that it takes just one unreasonable actor, incited by some illogical notion that he acts in the name of saving the republic, to truly threaten that state.
The global economy continues to spiral downward, and no one knows when it will bottom out. In the meantime, Vanity Fair has all the juicy details of fortunes lost, egos crushed, and epic plans gone awry.
WEB EXCLUSIVE September 17, 2009
Good Billions After Bad, by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele (October 2009)
As the Bush administration waned, the Treasury shoveled more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in tarp funds into the financial system—without restrictions, accountability, or even common sense. Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele reveal how much of it ended up in the wrong hands, doing the opposite of what was needed.
Henry Paulson’s Longest Night, by Todd S. Purdum (October 2009)
In 2006, Goldman Sachs C.E.O. Henry Paulson reluctantly became Treasury secretary for an unpopular, lame-duck president. In private conversations throughout his term, as crisis followed crisis, Paulson gave Todd S. Purdum the inside track, from the political lunacy and bailout plans to the sleepless nights and flat-out fear, as he battled the greatest economic disruption in 80 years.
The 100 to Blame, by Bruce Feirstein (September 2, 2009)
Time to stop investigating and point the finger. Bruce Feirstein charts the 100 people, companies, institutions, and vices most responsible for the economic mess.
The Man Who Crashed the World, by Michael Lewis (August 2009)
Almost a year after A.I.G.’s collapse, there still has been no clear explanation of what toppled the insurance giant. Michael Lewis decides to ask the people involved—the silent, shell-shocked traders of the A.I.G. Financial Products unit—and finds that the story may have a villain, whose reign of terror brought the company, the U.S. economy, and the global financial system to their knees.
Rich Harvard, Poor Harvard, by Nina Munk (August 2009)
Only a year ago, Harvard had a $36.9 billion endowment, the largest in academia. Now that endowment has imploded, and the university faces the worst financial crisis in its 373-year history. Could the same lethal mix of uncurbed expansion, colossal debt, arrogance, and mismanagement that ravaged Wall Street bring down America’s most famous university?
Pirate of the Caribbean, by Bryan Burrough (July 2009)
With little more than laserlike ambition and a brash Texas charm, Allen Stanford built an $8 billion Caribbean banking empire, exposed in February as perhaps the second-largest Ponzi scheme (after Madoff’s) in history. How did a bankrupt Waco health-club owner vault onto the Forbes Four Hundred, while the S.E.C., the F.B.I., and others mounted investigation after investigation of his shadowy business?
Wall Street’s Toxic Message, by Joseph E. Stiglitz (July 2009)
When the current crisis is over, the reputation of American-style capitalism will have taken a beating—not least because of the gap between what Washington practices and what it preaches. Disillusioned developing nations may well turn their backs on the free market, warns Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz, posing new threats to global stability and U.S. security.
Hello, Madoff! (What the Secretary Saw), by Mark Seal and Eleanor Squillari (June 2009)
For more than two decades, Bernard Madoff’s secretary sat just outside his office. She knew his clients and his feeders, his moods, habits, and indiscretions. She saw both sides of his wife, Ruth. Until December 11, 2008, she trusted him as a generous, caring boss. Now, in an exclusive collaboration with Mark Seal, Eleanor Squillari describes the madness surrounding Madoff’s arrest—meticulously planned, she believes, by him—her role in helping the feds, and the mysteries of the 17th floor, two levels down, where his massive Ponzi scheme was perpetrated.
Madoff’s World, by Mark Seal (April 2009)
Among Bernard Madoff’s many dupes were his closest friends, including two tycoons he loved as surrogate fathers: the late Norman F. Levy—whose girlfriend, supermodel Carmen Dell’Orefice, would lose her life savings—and the prominent philanthropist Carl J. Shapiro. Amid the sobs, screams, and curses in Aspen, Palm Beach, and New York, with victims sharing their stories, the author gets behind Madoff’s affable façade, to reveal his most intimate betrayals.
Over the Hedge, by Bethany McLean (April 2009)
The five hotshots who took Fortress Investment Group public were worth billions at first. Today they look like arrogant showboats, and their story helps explain why hedge funds are imploding by the thousands—and why there’s still a truckload of money to be made.
Wall Street on the Tundra, by Michael Lewis (April 2009)
Iceland’s de facto bankruptcy—its currency (the krona) is kaput, its debt is 850 percent of G.D.P., its people are hoarding food and cash and blowing up their new Range Rovers for the insurance—resulted from a stunning collective madness. What led a tiny fishing nation, population 300,000, to decide, around 2003, to re-invent itself as a global financial power? In Reykjavík, where men are men, and the women seem to have completely given up on them, the author follows the peculiarly Icelandic logic behind the meltdown.
Wall Street’s $18.4 Billion Bonus, by Michael Shnayerson (March 2009)
After getting $125 billion in taxpayer bailouts, the top officers at Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and three other banks agreed to forgo their 2008 bonuses. Now they’re awarding billions to their troops. Can government “claw back” that money?
Fannie Mae’s Last Stand, by Bethany McLean (February 2009)
Many believe the government-backed mortgage giants known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were major culprits in the economic meltdown. But, for decades, Fannie Mae had been under siege from powerful enemies, who resented its privileged status, its hard-driving C.E.O.’s, and its huge profits. Bethany McLean tells of the long, vicious war—involving most of Washington’s top players—that helped propel one of the world’s most successful companies off a cliff.
Capitalist Fools, by Joseph E. Stiglitz (January 2009)
Behind the debate over remaking U.S. financial policy will be a debate over who’s to blame. It’s crucial to get the history right, writes a Nobel-laureate economist, identifying five key mistakes—and one national delusion.
Madoff in Manhattan, by Marie Brenner (January 2009)
Bernard Madoff’s scam was global, but his center of gravity was Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Speaking to longtime residents of the tony enclave, including many who lost millions with Madoff, the author explores the thorny issues of class and religion that the scandal has brought to the surface.
Profiles in Panic, by Michael Shnayerson (January 2009)
With Wall Street hemorrhaging jobs and assets, even many of the wealthiest players are retrenching. Others, like the Lehman Brothers bankers who borrowed against their millions in stock, have lost everything. As the world of the Big Rich collapses, its culture is in shock and its values in question.
Charting the Road to Ruin
The global economy continues to spiral downward, and no one knows when it will bottom out. In the meantime, Vanity Fair has all the juicy details of fortunes lost, egos crushed, and epic plans gone awry.
Good Billions After Bad, by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele (October 2009)
As the Bush administration waned, the Treasury shoveled more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in tarp funds into the financial system—without restrictions, accountability, or even common sense. Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele reveal how much of it ended up in the wrong hands, doing the opposite of what was needed.
Henry Paulson’s Longest Night, by Todd S. Purdum (October 2009)
In 2006, Goldman Sachs C.E.O. Henry Paulson reluctantly became Treasury secretary for an unpopular, lame-duck president. In private conversations throughout his term, as crisis followed crisis, Paulson gave Todd S. Purdum the inside track, from the political lunacy and bailout plans to the sleepless nights and flat-out fear, as he battled the greatest economic disruption in 80 years.
The 100 to Blame, by Bruce Feirstein (September 2, 2009)
Time to stop investigating and point the finger. Bruce Feirstein charts the 100 people, companies, institutions, and vices most responsible for the economic mess.
The Man Who Crashed the World, by Michael Lewis (August 2009)
Almost a year after A.I.G.’s collapse, there still has been no clear explanation of what toppled the insurance giant. Michael Lewis decides to ask the people involved—the silent, shell-shocked traders of the A.I.G. Financial Products unit—and finds that the story may have a villain, whose reign of terror brought the company, the U.S. economy, and the global financial system to their knees.
Rich Harvard, Poor Harvard, by Nina Munk (August 2009)
Only a year ago, Harvard had a $36.9 billion endowment, the largest in academia. Now that endowment has imploded, and the university faces the worst financial crisis in its 373-year history. Could the same lethal mix of uncurbed expansion, colossal debt, arrogance, and mismanagement that ravaged Wall Street bring down America’s most famous university?
Pirate of the Caribbean, by Bryan Burrough (July 2009)
With little more than laserlike ambition and a brash Texas charm, Allen Stanford built an $8 billion Caribbean banking empire, exposed in February as perhaps the second-largest Ponzi scheme (after Madoff’s) in history. How did a bankrupt Waco health-club owner vault onto the Forbes Four Hundred, while the S.E.C., the F.B.I., and others mounted investigation after investigation of his shadowy business?
Wall Street’s Toxic Message, by Joseph E. Stiglitz (July 2009)
When the current crisis is over, the reputation of American-style capitalism will have taken a beating—not least because of the gap between what Washington practices and what it preaches. Disillusioned developing nations may well turn their backs on the free market, warns Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz, posing new threats to global stability and U.S. security.
Hello, Madoff! (What the Secretary Saw), by Mark Seal and Eleanor Squillari (June 2009)
For more than two decades, Bernard Madoff’s secretary sat just outside his office. She knew his clients and his feeders, his moods, habits, and indiscretions. She saw both sides of his wife, Ruth. Until December 11, 2008, she trusted him as a generous, caring boss. Now, in an exclusive collaboration with Mark Seal, Eleanor Squillari describes the madness surrounding Madoff’s arrest—meticulously planned, she believes, by him—her role in helping the feds, and the mysteries of the 17th floor, two levels down, where his massive Ponzi scheme was perpetrated.
Madoff’s World, by Mark Seal (April 2009)
Among Bernard Madoff’s many dupes were his closest friends, including two tycoons he loved as surrogate fathers: the late Norman F. Levy—whose girlfriend, supermodel Carmen Dell’Orefice, would lose her life savings—and the prominent philanthropist Carl J. Shapiro. Amid the sobs, screams, and curses in Aspen, Palm Beach, and New York, with victims sharing their stories, the author gets behind Madoff’s affable façade, to reveal his most intimate betrayals.
Over the Hedge, by Bethany McLean (April 2009)
The five hotshots who took Fortress Investment Group public were worth billions at first. Today they look like arrogant showboats, and their story helps explain why hedge funds are imploding by the thousands—and why there’s still a truckload of money to be made.
Wall Street on the Tundra, by Michael Lewis (April 2009)
Iceland’s de facto bankruptcy—its currency (the krona) is kaput, its debt is 850 percent of G.D.P., its people are hoarding food and cash and blowing up their new Range Rovers for the insurance—resulted from a stunning collective madness. What led a tiny fishing nation, population 300,000, to decide, around 2003, to re-invent itself as a global financial power? In Reykjavík, where men are men, and the women seem to have completely given up on them, the author follows the peculiarly Icelandic logic behind the meltdown.
Wall Street’s $18.4 Billion Bonus, by Michael Shnayerson (March 2009)
After getting $125 billion in taxpayer bailouts, the top officers at Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and three other banks agreed to forgo their 2008 bonuses. Now they’re awarding billions to their troops. Can government “claw back” that money?
Fannie Mae’s Last Stand, by Bethany McLean (February 2009)
Many believe the government-backed mortgage giants known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were major culprits in the economic meltdown. But, for decades, Fannie Mae had been under siege from powerful enemies, who resented its privileged status, its hard-driving C.E.O.’s, and its huge profits. Bethany McLean tells of the long, vicious war—involving most of Washington’s top players—that helped propel one of the world’s most successful companies off a cliff.
Capitalist Fools, by Joseph E. Stiglitz (January 2009)
Behind the debate over remaking U.S. financial policy will be a debate over who’s to blame. It’s crucial to get the history right, writes a Nobel-laureate economist, identifying five key mistakes—and one national delusion.
Madoff in Manhattan, by Marie Brenner (January 2009)
Bernard Madoff’s scam was global, but his center of gravity was Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Speaking to longtime residents of the tony enclave, including many who lost millions with Madoff, the author explores the thorny issues of class and religion that the scandal has brought to the surface.
Profiles in Panic, by Michael Shnayerson (January 2009)
With Wall Street hemorrhaging jobs and assets, even many of the wealthiest players are retrenching. Others, like the Lehman Brothers bankers who borrowed against their millions in stock, have lost everything. As the world of the Big Rich collapses, its culture is in shock and its values in question.
| |
No comments:
Post a Comment