Showing posts with label FDR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FDR. Show all posts

Sunday 9 October 2022

I Need You, Brother.




 



 

" There are Women for whom we can predict few wooers and Men who are likely to have few friends. They have nothing to offer.

But almost anyone can become an Object of Affection; The Ugly, The Stupid, even The Exasperating.

There need be no apparent fitness between those whom it unites.

I have seen it felt for an imbecile not only by his parents but by his brothers. "

 

"She became The Voice for his Inner Needs, his Inner Feelings, and in some ways, that's what she becomes for all of their lives."

 

"She had a Discipline, and a Willpower that was STAGGERING.

She said to me once, "The Only Time in My Life that I cried, in his presence, when he had Polio, was when he called us into The Room, and he showed us :-- 'Look!', he said, 'Look what I can do!'

He was phobic about being caught in A Fire -- Helpless, in A Fire --

He got himself down from The Bed, and he showed them, with great Pride, he slithered on The Floor, using his elbows, to get to The Door --

And with that, Mrs. Roosevelt broke down in tears, and she fled.

And she said that that was The Only Time, she didn't control herself in front of him."

The World is Good (even when People are Not.)


Let me confess something to you, now.
As you have been so — 
honest -- with me.
 
(thinks

No-one -- ever mentions the fact 
that I can't use my legs.
It's never referred to. 
Not by ANYONE.
 
And I used to •think• it was because 
they were embarrassed about it. 

But •now• I think its because 
It's not What They Want to See

Of course, You and I — 
We think They see 
Everything That We Are.
All Our Flaws.
Or Transgressions. Or Failures.

But that is NOT 
What They are Looking to Find, 
when They look to Us. 

And God Help Us if that ever changes. 
Do you imagine the disappointment... 
when They find out 
What We Really Are. 


KING GEORGE VI :
Thank You.
....They didn't want Me as Their King.


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
....I didn’t know they voted for that in England. 





This Great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper
 
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is : Fear Itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified Terror which paralyzes Needed Efforts to convert Retreat into Advance.




President Franklin D. Roosevelt First Inaugural Address

Franklin D. Roosevelt
together with 
Abraham Lincoln 
and John Fitzgerald Kennedy
was perhaps Our Greatest President. 

When he assumed office, 
13 million people in this country were unemployed


They'd lost Hope
and President Roosevelt 
said to these people, 
"The only thing we have to fear is Fear Itself.
 
What did he mean by that? 
James? 
 
I think he was trying to say
"There's nothing really wrong."  You know? 
So "Don't Get So Emotional."
 
Maybe. 
Maybe he was saying that 
The World is Good and 
We Need Only Work Together 
to overcome Our Problems.

I am certain that My Fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels. 
 
This is preeminently the time to Speak The Truth, The Whole Truth, Frankly and Boldly. 
 
Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. 
 
This Great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper
 
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is : Fear Itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified Terror which paralyzes Needed Efforts to convert Retreat into Advance.
 




Tuesday 12 October 2021

Effort



Franklin D. Roosevelt
together with 
Abraham Lincoln 
and John Fitzgerald Kennedy
was perhaps Our Greatest President. 

When he assumed office, 
13 million people in this country were unemployed


They'd lost Hope
and President Roosevelt 
said to these people, 
"The only thing we have to fear is Fear Itself.
 
What did he mean by that? 
James? 
 
I think he was trying to say
"There's nothing really wrong."  You know? 
So "Don't Get So Emotional."
 
Maybe. 
Maybe he was saying that 
The World is Good and 
We Need Only Work Together 
to overcome Our Problems.

I am certain that My Fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels. 
 
This is preeminently the time to Speak The Truth, The Whole Truth, Frankly and Boldly. 
 
Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. 
 
This Great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper
 
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is : Fear Itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified Terror which paralyzes Needed Efforts to convert Retreat into Advance




In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.
In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.
More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.
Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.
True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.
The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.
Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.
Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.

Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources.

Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, State, and local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, and unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities which have a definitely public character. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.
Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order; there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people's money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.
There are the lines of attack. I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the several States.
Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. I favor as a practical policy the putting of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.
The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in all parts of the United States--a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer. It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate way. It is the strongest assurance that the recovery will endure.
In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor--the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others-- the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.
If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger good. This I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of armed strife.
With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.
Action in this image and to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has produced. It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.
It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.
I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.
But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis--broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.
For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.
We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of the national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values; with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stem performance of duty by old and young alike. We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life.
We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.
In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come.

Saturday 10 October 2020

You Can Work Things Out in The Quiet of Your Own Mind


A King Discovers a Father ~ Hyde Park on the Hudson






Finally, Franklin had to instruct The Band to stop playing.
He wished to spend time with The King, on his own. 

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
Let's go to my study. Will be quiet out there. 
Unless you need to —


KING GEORGE VI :
No. No.


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
Would you mind pushing...?

[ A willingly, but little awkwardly, He Does. ]


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
Her Majesty has gone to bed? 


KING GEORGE VI :
She has.
And -- Your Wife? 


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
(smiling) Who knows?
Would you mind, closing The Door. 


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
Cheers.
 
 
KING GEORGE VI :
Cheers.


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
Do you collect stamps? 


KING GEORGE VI :
I did. I have.
I understand you are a serious stamp collector....


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
No, No..!!


KING GEORGE VI :
....perhaps, you would show me some of your stamps. 


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
You can’t POSSIBLY be interested. 


KING GEORGE VI :
But I am --.


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
 Do not -- protest.
 
When I was a Young Man --
-- before My Marriage of course -- 
-- I found, that showing ones stamps 
was a very helpful way to get 
a Young Woman’s attention. 


KING GEORGE VI :
Was it. (?)


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
But I suppose -- if Your Father’s The King...
Who needs stamps? 

(The President chuckles clubbily at his own witty non-joke, observing and noting The Young King's physical reactions to it -- the mention of His Father [King George V] very clearly makes him instantly uncomfortable....)
 
The Queen, is certainly a lovely woman. 


KING GEORGE VI :
Ah...as is The First Lady. 


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
She's a -- Strong -- Person —
Some days, you don't feel like getting out of bed -- 
But then, These Women.... They wont let you do that, will they?


KING GEORGE VI :
(thoughtfully)
No.


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
What do you do -- to be alone?
 
You need to give them 
A Reason NOT to Bother You.
 
You can figure things out in The Quiet of Your Own Mind. 
 
I open up my stamp books, and everyone knows not to bother me.

You were wonderful tonight, Young Man.


KING GEORGE VI :
Wh-What do you mean? 



PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
Just what I said. 
 
You were graceful. 
You were confident. 
You're going to be a Very Fine King.



KING GEORGE VI :
...I don't know what to say. 


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
Your Father would be very proud.


KING GEORGE VI :
I'm not so certain about that.


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
If I were, Your Father — 
I’d be proud.


KING GEORGE VI :
The Queen -- she's... 
She worries so much. 
Its been HARD for her. 


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
Women WORRY.


KING GEORGE VI :
I just stop listening to her sometimes. 
Forget I said that. 


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
(chuckles softly)
Forgotten.



KING GEORGE VI :
(takes out a folded paper)
I-I’ve been asked, to Say some things...
‘Such a war as we now co- co-contemplate --. 
 
The carnage —
 
Think at S-S-S-Spain.
Ch-children -- b-bbombed.
 
Tha-tha-thats what we can expect. 
It will b-b-be horrific.

And yet, we know some of your countrymen wi-wi-wi-sh my country ii- i-i-ill... 
And w-w-want us to fail.
And want me to fail wi-th-thth you...

This GODDAMN st-st-stutter... !!

(a pregnant pause)

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
What Stutter?
 
 
This Goddamn Polio. 


KING GEORGE VI :
Sometimes, I think  — They deserve better than me. 
My -- subjects. 

I’m sorry. I don't know why-why I’m saying this to you.
I’m s-s-supposed to be trying to convince you to help us. 


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
Let me confess something to you, now.
As you have been so — honest -- with me.
 
(thinks

No-one -- ever mentions the fact that I cant use my legs.
Its never referred to. Not by ANYONE.
 
And I used to •think• it was because they were embarrassed about it. 

But •now• I think its because 
It's not What They Want to See

Of course, you and I — We think they see 
Everything That We Are.
All our flaws.
Or transgressions. Or failures.

But that is NOT 
What They are Looking to Find, 
when They look to us. 

And God help us if that ever changes. 
Do you imagine the disappointment... when they find out 
What We Really Are. 


KING GEORGE VI :
Thank You.
They didn't want me as Their King.


PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT :
......I didn’t  know they voted 
for that in England. 
(pause)
I’m thinking -- 
another drink? 


KING GEORGE VI :
Right!


Suddenly only one can sleep that night
Was it The Moon?
How a longed fan


I beg your pardon... Sir.
I mean, Your Highness. Your Majesty...
 
KING GEORGE VI :
Good night.

******


KING GEORGE VI :
You're still awake? 


QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
Mmmmmmm.
 
KING GEORGE VI :
I think I'll go to sleep. It's late.




QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
Why are you smiling? Are you drunk?



KING GEORGE VI :
No.
He's a very funny man.
Has some wonderful jokes. 




QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
Like what?



KING GEORGE VI :
I couldn't tell you. 
They're not meant for women.




QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
They sound very 'funny.' 



KING GEORGE VI :
He liked my stories too. 


QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
What stories?


KING GEORGE VI :
I-I-I told him about The Coronation.
About how they p-p-put the crown wrong way around. 
And then stepping on my robe so I couldn't move.
 
 

QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
You shouldn't have told him that.
We don't make fun of ourselves. 
 
KING GEORGE VI :
That's not True. 
Not here.
 
 

QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
Of course he liked those stories, they make us look like fools
 
KING GEORGE VI :
They make us look like people! 
 
 

QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
Don't be naive, Bertie. 
 
 
KING GEORGE VI :
He made fun of himself too. 
He said at the picnic tomorrow-- 
 
 

QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
Oh god that picnic.
 
KING GEORGE VI :
He said that the Indians --they were Eleanor's ideas. 
"One of my-my-my wife's crazy ideas."
His Mother is furious about it. 
Franklin's just trying to keep it short.
 
 

QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
He talks about his wife like that to you?
I hope you didn't talk about me to him.
 
 
 
 KING GEORGE VI :
I-I-I didn't.
I w-wouldn't do that.
We didn't talk about you. 
I asked him -- without mentioning you -- about these 'hot dogs'? 
 
What's that about?


You want to know what he said? 
He said he doesn't get the fuss...!!
They're just a good thing to eat at a picnic.
There's no 'meaning.' Nothing more..!!
 

QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
You didn't say I was concerned? 


KING GEORGE VI :
No.



QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
I'm not sure I believe you --. 


KING GEORGE VI :
That's not fair.



QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
Three different women tonight asked me if I thought there could ever be an American Queen -- if we'd ever 'allow' it. 


KING GEORGE VI :
That was rude.



QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
Give me a cigarette?
I have smoked all of mine. 


KING GEORGE VI :
That won't help you sleep. 



QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
I know.
Thank you.
Give me lighter? 


KING GEORGE VI :
Light, of course!



QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
I never wanted this life


KING GEORGE VI :
I know.



QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
Its hard....
I'll be fine.
 
 KING GEORGE VI :
If there's a war -- and we know there will be -- he believes America could be persuaded to help.


QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
Did you see some of the people here tonight?
Hear their names?
They're from Italy. Germany.
They're Irish.



KING GEORGE VI :
Their ancestors--


QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
The Queen Mother :
They're Jews.
 
They hate Us, Bertie!!
They want to see Us fall on our face!! 
They want to LAUGH at Us!!


KING GEORGE VI :
I Think You’re Wrong.
I th-th- think we just need to be a little more Confident. 
I'm not sure I can even sleep. 

Finally, he patted me on the knee and said, 
“Young ma-ma-Man, it's time for you to go to bed.”

Like a sort of Father, I suppose —

He said, 
He’s very happy that I am King. 
Good Night.
 
 
 
 


Transcript of King George VI's
Handwritten Notes for a Memorandum on
His Conversations with President Roosevelt
on June10 and 11, 1939


I had two good conversations with the President, besides many opportunities of informal talks on current matters in the car driving with him. He was very frank and friendly, & seemed genuinely glad that I had been able to pay him this visit. He gave me all the information in these notes either in answer to my questions, or he volunteered it.

Mr. Mackenzie King was present at the first conversation at Hyde Park. We talked of the firm & trusted friendship between Canada & the USA. FDR mentioned that he thought it was a waste of money to build a Canadian fleet as he had already laid his plans for the defense of the Pacific Coast of Canada, especially Vancouver Island (Assembling plants for aeroplanes in Canada). On mentioning the Neutrality Act the President gave us hopes that something could be done to make it less difficult for the USA to help us. Cordell lead public opinion on to the right tack. He gave us the following story to illustrate how he was tackling the subject in the Middle West & putting it in a way which they as farmers would understand.

"In the event of a war & say Germany & Italy were to win it, which means that the British Fleet & the French Army had been defeated, which at the moment are our first line of defense, how would you like to lose one of your best customers the United Kingdom? Then again Hitler could say to our great neighbors to the south of Argentine & Brazil 'You cannot sell your beef or your coffee in Europe except through me & Germany. I am the Master of Europe & in return I will send you the article I think you will require in return at my price.'"

I was alone with him for the 2nd conversation. We discussed Europe in a general way. He hoped France & Italy would try & get together.

He was doing his best to get New York to loan money to Roumania. I told him how difficult it was for us to help the Balkans as there was the Mediterranean to convoy things through, & they would want all they had got in a war. I explained to him Roumania's position as to frontiers having 4 to cope with. Because of the air we were only just becoming frontier-conscious ourselves. In the whole of N. America he has none. He was definitely anti Russian. I told him so were we but if we could not have an understanding with her, Germany probably would make one.

He showed me his naval patrols in greater detail about which he is terribly keen. If he saw a U-boat he would sink her at once & wait for the consequences.

If London was bombed USA would come in. Offensive air warfare was better than defensive & he hoped we should do the same on Berlin.

FDR's ideas in case of War

Trinidad Patrol. Base for his fleet at Trinidad to fuel & replenish stores. From this base he can patrol the Atlantic with ships & aeroplanes on a radius of approximately 1000 miles on a sector of latitude of Haiti to latitude of Brazil. This patrol should locate any enemy fleet, which tried to get to S. Am. or the West Indies.

Bermuda Patrol. Base as above. To patrol N. Atlantic from Cape Cod to Florida, with ships & aeroplanes to prevent submarines from attacking convoys.

Brazil. Germans have an air base at Natal Cape St. Roques also a landing ground on the island of Fernando Noronha 200 miles from the coast. Brazil is pretty sure to kick out the Germans. He would then use it himself.

Haiti, Cuba, & West Indies are potential friendly bases.

The idea is that USA should relieve us to these responsibilities, but can it be done without a declaration of war.

Debts. Better not reopen the question. Congress wants repayment in full, which is impossible, & a small bit is of no use, as they will want more later.

Credits. USA will want Nickel from Canada. They will buy our surplus rubber. In return they can send steel sheets which can be cut for aeroplanes wings. Rough castings with bored cylinders to be machined at home. Can be used for aeroplanes or motor boats.

FDR wishes to do .

Trinidad Patrol. Base for his fleet to fuel etc. From there he can patrol with planes 900 to 1000 miles every day on different sector to prevent an enemy fleet from attacking the West Indies.

Bermuda Patrol. Same as above. Aeroplane Patrol up & down coast to spot submarines. Cape Cod to Gulf of Mexico.

If Germany & Italy win a war, they can say to the Argentine, "How can you sell you beef or wheat? The USA does not want it. We will sell it to Europe for you & we will give you what we think you want in return on commission."

Brazil. How can you sell your coffee or wheat? Answer ditto. 
 

Women WORRY.


A King discovers a Father ~ Hyde Park on the Hudson

Tuesday 21 July 2020

LEPERS


Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot. 


So my disguise must be able to strike Terror into their hearts. 

I must be a creature of the night, black, Terrible...


via GIPHY


via GIPHY

"I've seen Horrors, 
Horrors that you've seen. 

But you have no Right 
to call me A Murderer. 

You have a Right to Kill Me. 
You have The Rightto Do That 
But You Have No Right 
to Judge Me. 

Because it's Judgement 
that defeats Us."



The Batman: 
You're garbage who kills for money.

The Joker: 
Don't talk like One of Them. You're NOT
Even if you'd like to be. 

To Them, you're just a freak... like me..!!

They NEED you right now. 
But when They don't....

They’ll cast you out....
Like a Leper!
 









"I’m sure you’ve heard old fossils like me talk about 
Pearl Harbor, Yindel. 

Fact is, we mostly lie about it. 

We make it sound like we all leaped to our feet 
and went after the Axis on The Spot. 

Hell, we were scared. 

Rumors were flying, 
we thought the Japanese had taken California. 

We didn’t even have an army, so there we were, lying in bed pulling the sheets over our heads – 
and there was Roosevelt, on the radio, 
Strong and Sure, 
taking Fear and turning it into 
a Fighting Spirit

Almost overnight, we had Our Army. 
We won The War. 

Since then, Presidents have come and gone, 
each one seeming smaller, weaker… 
The Best of Them like faint echoes of Roosevelt -

A few years back, I was reading a news magazine – 
a lot of people with a lot of evidence 
said that Roosevelt knew Pearl was going to be attacked – 
and that he let it happen. 

Wasn’t proven. 
Things like that never are

I couldn’t stop thinking how horrible that would be… 
and how Pearl was what got us 
off our duffs in time to stop The Axis. 

A lot of Innocent Men died. 
But we won The War. 

It bounced back and forth in my head 
until I realised, 
I couldn’t Judge it. 

It was Too Big. 
He was Too Big…”


The Nazis are The Enemy. 

Wade into Them. 
Spill their blood. 
Shoot them in the belly.

When you put your hand into a bunch of goo that a moment before was Your Best Friend's Face --

You'll Know What to Do.


I worry that My Son might not understand what I've tried to be. 

And if I were to be killed, Willard, I would want someone to go to my home and tell my son everything – everything I did, everything you saw – because there's nothing that I detest more than the stench of lies

And if you understand me, Willard, you will do this for me.


 
Dear Son. 

I'm afraid that both you and your mother will have worried at not hearing from me during the past weeks, but my situation here has become a difficult one. 

I have been  officially accused of Murder by the army. 

The alleged victims were four Vietnamese double agents. 
 
We spent months uncovering then and accumulating evidence. 

When absolute proof was completed, we acted. We acted like soldiers. 
 
The charges are unjustified. 

They are, in fact, and under the circumstances of this conflict, quite completely insane.

In a war, there are many moments  for compassion and tender action. 
 
There are many moments for ruthless action. 

What is often called ruthless, but may, in many circumstances, be only clarity

Seeing clearly what there is to be done, and doing it directly, quickly, awake.

I will trust you tell your mother what you choose about this letter. 

As for the charges against me, I am unconcerned. 
I am beyond their timid, lying morality, and so I am beyond caring. 

You have all my faith. 

Your Loving Father.

Col. Walter E. Kurtz
 









“This negro, in the eyes of many, has been persecuted. Perhaps as an individual he was. But it was his misfortune to be the foremost example of the evil in permitting the intermarriage of whites and blacks.” 
 
— Asst U.S. Attourn. Gen. Harry Parkin 
 
“No brutality, no infamy, no degradation in all the years of Southern slavery, possessed such a villainous character and such atrocious qualities as the provision of the laws of Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and other states which allow the marriage of the negro, Jack Johnson, to a woman of Caucasian strain.
 
Intermarriage between whites and blacks is repulsive and averse to every sentiment of pure American spirit. It is abhorrent and repugnant to the very principles of a pure Saxon government. It is subversive to social peace. It is destructive of moral supremacy, and ultimately this slavery of white women to black beasts will bring this nation to a conflict as fatal and as bloody as ever reddened the soil of Virginia or crimsoned the mountain paths of Pennsylvania… 
 
Let us uproot and exterminate now this debasing, ultrademoralizing, un-American and inhuman leprosy.” 
 
— Congressman Seaborn Roddenberry 
 
“It comes down, then, after all to this Unforgivable Blackness.” 
 
— W.E.B. Du Bois
 




I watched a, snail crawl along The Edge -- of a straight razor. 
That's My Dream. 
That's My Nightmare: Crawling, Slithering, along The Edge, of a straight razor --
and Surviving.




Have you ever considered any real Freedoms? 
Freedoms from the opinion of Others... even the opinions of yourself?






As long as cold beer, hot food, rock 'n' roll, and all the other amenities remain expected norm, our conduct of The War will only gain impotence.





I've seen Horrors, Horrors that you've seen. 
But you have no Right to call me a Murderer. 

You have a Right to Kill Me. 
You have a Right, to Do That - but You have No Right to Judge Me. 

It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what Horror means. 

Horror! Horror has a Face, and you must make A Friend of Horror. 
Horror and Moral Terror are your friends. 
If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. 
They are Truly Enemies.

I remember when I was with Special Forces. 
Seems a thousand centuries ago. 
We went into a camp to inoculate the children. 

We left the camp after we had inoculated the children for polio, and this old man came running after us and he was crying. 
He couldn't see. 
We went back there and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm. 

There they were in a pile: a pile of little arms. 

And I remember I...I...I cried. 
I wept like some grandmother. 
I wanted to tear my teeth out. 
I didn't know what I wanted to do. 
And I want to remember it. 
I never want to forget it. 
I never want to forget. 

And then I realised, like I was shot — like I was shot with a diamond...a diamond bullet right through my forehead. 

And I thought: 
My God, the genius of that. The genius! 

The will to do that: perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. 

And then I realised, They were stronger than We, because They could stand it. 


These were not monsters. 
These were men, trained cadres — these men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who have children, who are filled with love — but they had the strength — the strength! — to do that. 

If I had ten divisions of those men our troubles here would be over very quickly. 
You have to have men who are moral and at the same time who are able to utilise their primordial instincts to kill without feeling, without passion, judgement. 

Without Judgement!

Because it's Judgement that defeats us.

We train Young Men to drop Fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene!





I worry that My Son might not understand what I've tried to be. 

And if I were to be killed, Willard, I would want someone to go to My Home and tell My Son everything – everything I did, everything you saw – because there's nothing that I detest more than the stench of lies. 

And if you understand me, Willard, you will do this for me.





Let me tell you one story here, 
of a Samurai Warrior, a Japanese warrior, 
who had The Duty to avenge 
the murder of his overlord. 

And he actually, after some time, 
found and cornered the man 
who had murdered his overlord. 

And he was about to deal with him 
with his samurai sword, 
when this man in the corner, 
in The Passion of Terror
spat in his face. 

And The Samurai sheathed The Sword 
and walked away. 

WHY Did He Do That?

BILL MOYERS:
Why?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL:
Because, he was made angry, 
and if he had killed that man then
it would have a Personal Act
of another kind of act, 
and That was NOT 
What He Had Come There to Do.