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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gao seng who wrote (300309)	9/25/2002 1:13:36 AM
From: Mr. Whist	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

General Accounting Office Seng: You struck a dagger in my heart by saying that "Flapjack" is "the most ridiculous alias ever." I am deeply wounded, as is my sister, Mrs. Butterworth. Here's more on Harry Truman and the integration of the military. (Did you know that Truman also signed into law in 1948 the Women's Armed Forces Integration Act? Probably not.) nationalhistoryday.org "Despite ... discrimination, African-Americans distinguished themselves in combat, earning numerous citations for bravery. Many of the black veterans came home determined to fight for their civil rights and to end segregation in America. Their struggle bore fruit on July 26, 1948, when President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, calling on the armed forces to provide equal treatment and opportunity for black servicemen. "Historians praise this order as the capstone of Harry Truman’s civil rights program. Whatever his concerns for justice, President Truman had many reasons to integrate the military. African American leaders had threatened to lead a boycott of the armed forces if segregation did not end. Such a boycott could seriously damage military preparedness, since blacks represented 10 percent of the nation’s population. Added to this was the fact that segregation had become a diplomatic liability. As the U.S. engaged in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, racial segregation in American society was a huge embarassment for the country when it tried to appeal to developing nations whose populations were largely non-white. Finally, African-Americans had become an important part of the Democratic coalition, and the president was campaigning for re-election in the summer of 1948, when he called for an end to segregation in the military. "Of all the armed services, the Navy was the most eager to cooperate with the order to integrate, building on its experience during World War II. The Air Force had also already made plans to end segregation at the time of the presidential order. The Marine Corps’ small size made its resistance less noticeable. As the largest service, the Army’s cooperation was vital to the success of Truman’s integration plan, but the Army moved toward integration as slowly as it could."

To: gao seng who wrote (300309)	9/25/2002 2:52:12 AM
From: CYBERKEN	Respond to of 769670

Irony Dept.: Today, Harry Truman would be drummed out of the Democratic Party for being a "right wing extremist". Yet, in his day, he inspired in a hostile Congress the constitutional amendment that eventually got rid of that party's most corrupt elected official of all time: Bill Clinton. Harry was one of only two respectable Democrats to occupy the White House in the post WWII era (the other being Jack Kennedy). The amendment didn't apply to him, but he stepped down in 1952 out of respect for it. The contemporary Democratic party would view him as such a FREAK today. But his record of service and general image in history (among many other things-and unlike FDR-he looked Josif Stalin in the eye and made the Soviet butcher blink first) is one of the reasons that I believe that 200+ year-old party will ultimately shrug off the Marxist/Lennist left, and survive for another century or two. He was wrong about much, but never dishonest with the public, and as sincerely patriotic as any American in history-a perfect example of the "loyal opposition" envisioned (and expected) by the Founders. There isn't a Democrat alive today worthy of serving in the same party as Harry Truman...

To: gao seng who wrote (300309)	9/25/2002 3:10:52 AM
From: CYBERKEN	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

I'd like to be a fly on the wall if Harry Truman could somehow meet James Carville. But it never would have happened when he was alive, because he had far too much self-respect, and respect for the office he held, to ever allow himself to be in the presence of such a tawdry political hack as "Boz Jimbo". Real presidents used to have the party hire someone to swim in the kind of shit that Carville creates every day of his life. William the Bastard, of course, jumped right in there with "Boz Jimbo", and had gulping contests with him...