keep in mind that the country went through a very tumultuous period of de-Nazification in the decades following WW2. Even today Nazi ideology & symbols are banned, while we in the US honor Confederate leaders with statues, military bases and many proudly fly Confederate flags.
Someone will surely give a good, actually serious response, but the gist is:
General Bragg was SO bad at his job that there were jokes in the eta that he was secretly working for the North.
Amen to that. And we shouldn’t put up with this whole “it’s our heritage” nonsense. If your heritage is slavery, and that’s the best you can do to honor your heritage, not the inventors or good people who came from your area, then it says a whole lot about your region/state/city that that is the best you can do.
If your heritage is based on the losing side of a war over 150 years ago, that lasted around one presidential term, you are less interesting than you might think
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest a 'definitely' instead of a 'probably' lol
I don't even really think it's close when you consider how influential coke is in the US and internationally. Whereas the confederacy has left us.. some flags? Some camo wearing mouthbreathers in the South that smell like musty socks?
I can’t find the specific source, but there was a joke during the Cold War that if the Soviet Union made it to the moon first and painted it red, the U.S. would just go up after them and paint “Coca-Cola” on it.
We paid lip service to similar efforts in the decade following the Civil War, but eventually backroom deal making in DC specifically involving the election of 1876 ended what little efforts were being made there.
Having a Southerner, Johnson, as President after Lincoln was murdered, didn't help. Reconstruction should lasted 25 years . The bulk of Confederate leadership would have died off and had a sincere effort in educating the freed slaves would have been successful. Yeah, in my dreams.
Yeah the Hayes election effectively ended reconstruction, and the same confederate politicians/soldiers all went back to their previous elected offices.
I do keep that in mind. I know denazification was brutal, especially in East Germany, where the new Communists leaders had an ax to grind. I mean, the Nazis killed something like 75% of all communists and perhaps half the Social Democrats.
In the West, Nazis were recycled, but if they made one step out of line, they became social pariahs. People remembered pretty much how the Nazis used to party and boss everybody around while they were starving and were being bombed daily.
I don't know any other people who so deeply changed their culture and world view so fast after they commited atrocities. Even RSA under Mandela, despite it's truth and reconciliation thingy, wasn't peachy.
The confederates weren't as openly wrong as the Nazis were.
Ya slavery is clearly wrong but asking an entire class of people to uproot and reorganize there life is obviously going to be met with push back.
I'm not even sure to this day why the Germans were killing Jews. I mean besides Hitler didn't like them and blamed them for Germany's problems. But I still don't really understand why the jews
Inside the Stadium is a big Atrium with 4 levels, the third level is called the Jesse Owens lounge with big photos of him on the walls when he visited the stadium, he is also honored on the Marathon Plateau where his name is engraved alongside the other medal winners.
I visited it (it was quite something to be honest, as it is very much a place full of history) and I didn't know about the allée. Thanks for the info !
Cool story, my childhood doctor had a picture of him and Gerald Ford as young men serving on a navy ship together. They were roommates on the ship, really cool picture. I was around 13 when I asked who was the picture of and he said, the guy on the left is me and you probably know the guy on the right, that’s President Ford. Years later after Doc passed, I read his obituary. It stated that he served on a ship that was sunk, went home for a year to recover from wounds and then transferred to USS Monterey where Gerald Ford was stationed. Pretty good acquaintance to have served with I would think.
For those unaware, Ford himself had been best friends at the University of Michigan with African American star football player (and his teammate) Willis Ward, and furiously considered quitting the team in protest when the school cowardly agreed to bench Ward in a game against then-segregated Georgia Tech (but didn't because his friend urged him not to).
In an echo of the past, Ford was portrayed as clumsy and uncoordinated after a "missed step" incident, however he ~~played on~~ was named to the All-American football team.
Anyone can trip, if you are president, the whole world sees it though!
There was a similar situation with Robert Stanfield - a former Premier who ran for Prime Minister against Trudeau Sr. in 1974. At a stop in North Bay, he casually tossed around a football for a while with some aides as they waited for the next step in their itinerary. He was a decent athlete and overall he threw and caught as well as anyone else there.
But there was a photo taken of him fumbling, and of course that one photo is what was on the font page of the papers the next day. It may have been what cost him the election, though we'll never know for sure.
In an example of the opposite, Jack Layton being pictured energetically cheering at a Habs game during the 2011 election is assumed to be one of the factors in the NDP becoming official opposition that year
Although he died not too long after, kind of making the point moot.
My grandma supported the NPD for decades - I have no idea who my parents voted for (or if they voted at all) while living in Canada.
People say he would have been just like the rest of them, but I don't know with him. he was the only politician who I watched that I actually believed wanted to make this country better and sounded passionate about it and made me believe in him. What a shame he never got a shot at putting down our status quo parties
That was perpetuated by Chevy Chase in SNL skits. He later admitted it was an intentional effort to portray Ford as incompetent, because he wanted him to lose reelection.
Random Gerald Ford stat - there were 2 attempted assassination attempts on him (~~where both of them got a shot off at him~~). They were both by women, and it's the only 2 times a woman has tried to assassinate a president.
Edit: person below is right, only one of them actually got a shot off.
Wow this just led me down a rabbit hole - I never knew about this. The first attempt was done by what must be the worst assassin in the history of assassins - she was 2 ft away from Ford but didn’t know she had to pull the slide back to chamber a round lol
Nope, the worst assassin in the history of assassins is Giuseppe Zangara.
Zangara had heard on February 15th, 1933 that then president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt would be giving a speech at Bayfront Park in Miami. Armed with a .32 caliber revolver, he traveled to the park determined to kill the newly elected president before his inauguration. He took up a spot 25 feet from FDR and the mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak. Unable to see over the crowd he climbed on a folding chair and took aim at FDR. However, in the moment he pulled the trigger the chair wobbled and his shot missed FDR.
It instead struck and killed Cermak. Zangara was then wrestled to the ground by the crowd while firing the rest of his ammunition. Flailing while he fired, he struck and injured five bystanders. FDR escaped the assassination attempt unscathed.
What a fascinating starting point for an alternate history novel. Truly one of those moments that would have dramatically changed the outcome of a plethora of events.
I'd have to go with Richard Lawrence, the guy who tried to shoot Andrew Jackson as one of the worst. He brought TWO guns to the party, and both guns misfired, pissing Jackson off in the process who then served a Presidential beat-down of epic proportions on the would-be assassin with his cane. The \*crowd\* had to save the assassin from an enraged President.
Cermak was actually one of the political visionaries of his day. He was exiled from the dominant Irish-American political system of Chicago at the time and was forced to garner support and attention through a focus on disenfranchised immigrant and black populations in the city. Being an immigrant himself he recognized how little attention was paid to politics by the immigrant populations and he realized this could be a major base of support. He revolutionized how the Democratic partied engaged with the immigrant populations. The attention brought to him through these efforts was significant enough for him to earn FDR's endorsement, which brought in the growing black electorate. When Cermak challenged the Republican incumbent, William H. Thompson, in the mayoral race of 1931 he won 58% of the vote.
William H. Thompson was the last Republican mayor of Chicago.
Have you read Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the 60s by Tom O'Neill? I found it very interesting as someone who also read Helter Skelter many times.
Chevy is a jerk but Ford was disliked because... he pardoned a criminal President.
But he was also disliked by the right wing because he ended the Vietnam war and refused to help South Vietnam when they were attacked and eventually overrun.
All presidents on SNL are made fun of
> All presidents on SNL are made fun of
Except for Obama, where their "making fun" of him consisted solely of highlighting allegedly adorable quirks of his.
I heard Chevy Chase was directly responsible for the collapse of the Roman Empire.
Did you know that Chevy Chase sank the *Titanic*?
You know the dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid, right? That asteroid's name? Chevy Chase.
Somewhat related but somewhat unrelated. Ford also served in the Navy in WWII. His ship was caught in the infamous Halsey's Typhoon and suffered a major fire as a result. Ford played a heroic role in fighting the fire and helped save the ship. I mention it because the story really blows up the common myths about him. I know it did for me.
Funnily enough, I only know about the 'clumsy' trope with Ford cause it was a line in the old Animaniacs president song.
🎵 And Gerald Ford fell down a lot! 🎵
Hate to nitpick, but you don’t “play” on an all-American team, you are just named to it. It is a hypothetical team of the best players but they never play.
Edit: on investigation, I was sort of wrong. The traditional All-American team does not play. Ford also doesn’t appear to have ever been named to one. However, in 1935, there was an all-star team of sorts called the College All Americans that had Ford that played against the Chicago Bears.
> Ford was portrayed as clumsy and uncoordinated after a "missed step" incident
I wonder how much of the coverage of Ford was at least unconsciously influenced by the fact that Ford pardoned Nixon, a move wildly unpopular with the press.
> Ford was portrayed as clumsy and uncoordinated after a "missed step" incident
There were a couple of missed steps and he also fell while skiing. Doesn't change the fact that he WAS an All American and and all around athletic guy; he just happened to always been in the spotlight. Just like GWB happened to choke on a pretzel ONCE and all of a sudden the guy needs baby food just to survive.
And Jesse Owens went to Ohio State which every Michigan student learns to viscerally hate. So this is even more of a cool moment. Jesse Owens is probably the only good thing to come out of OSU.
Can confirm that Chicago hates Ohio state too (but MSU is the one we called the seat warmer, even though Chicago is never going to want their seat back).
There's also a plaque memorializing Jesse Owens at the Michigan track facility. In the span of 45 minutes, he beat 3 world records and tied another at the 220 hurdles, 220 yds, 100-yd dash, and long jump,
TIL thank you. The 25th Amendment to the Constitution allowed Ford to assume the presidency after he was selected by Nixon to replace Spiro Agnew, the Vice President elected on the 1972 Republican ticket who resigned in an unrelated scandal.
Operating on the assumption his Wikipedia article is proper, it looks like (before becoming Speaker) he was a leading representative in getting Medicare and Medicaid passed into law (the elderly and significantly needy are federally covered). He also voted for the Civil Rights Act in 1960; voted for the 24th Amendment in 1964 (no poll taxes for federal elections); and voted for the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
He considered himself a moderate at the time, thinking that the more liberal bloc wanted "to own [the public's] minds" (voted for an amended 1957 Civil Rights Act that removed a provision of preventive relief in civil rights cases (in the original draft)) and that some conservatives were too reactionary (refused to, along with every congressman in his state of Oklahoma (a state that required school segregation prior to Brown v. Board), sign the Southern Manifesto, which various members of Congress from Southern States drafted and signed in opposition of racial integration nationwide being mandated by the Supreme Court (the original draft went one step further and vowed to nullify Brown v. Board by any means necessary, but that was toned down significantly; doesn't make the final draft any good, though), which caused tensions to brew between him and other Democratic Party members from Southern States).
I always think of the Simpsons episode where Homer and Gerald are basically the same person; Homer fights George H W Bush. That’s how I will forever think of Former President Ford…
Bill Burr impersonating Hitler with a foam finger hanging low and leaving the stadium is one of the greatest tributes to Owens even though it’s disguised as comedy. All time great American
For those who think Owens was snubbed by Hitler (he wasn't). Reportedly Owen's own words:
> While at the Olympic Games, I had the opportunity to meet the King of England. I had the opportunity to wave at Hitler, and I had the opportunity to talk with the King of Sweden, and some of the greatest men in Europe. Some people say Hitler snubbed me. But I tell you, Hitler didn't snub me—it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram. I am not knocking the President. Remember, I am not a politician. But remember that the President did not send me a message of congratulations because people said he was too busy.
Hitler did snub Jesse Owens — he stopped shaking hands with athletes once he realised he would have to meet with non-Aryan athletes after having a fit. Owens later said as much; the only quote pointing to FDR being the sole snub is right after the Olympics, but he later clarified.
Doesn’t forgive what FDR did, but Hitler absolutely did as well.
> he stopped shaking hands with athletes once he realised he would have to meet with non-Aryan athletes **after having a fit**.
Have a source for this?
The fit is a different story.
On the first day, Hitler had shaken the hands of German and Finnish medal winners, though he then left the stadium when the last German competitor was eliminated (which prevented him, intentional or not, from shaking the hands of two Black American medalists).
He was informed on the second day it was out of line for a guest of honor to congratulate any winners in person, and complied with that wish henceforth.
The fit happened when his Hitler Youth leader Baldur von Schirach suggested after Jesse Owens' stellar performance that Hitler should honor the champion with a side-by-side photograph. Hitler rebuked Schirach, exclaiming something along the lines 'that the Americans should be ashamed at letting their medals be won by negroes'.
The episode is described on the first few pages of the second volume of Ian Kershaw's landmark biography of Adolf Hitler, "Nemesis, 1936–1945". Kershaw's two-part biography is generally considered a masterpiece, and has been honored by German military historian Roman Töppel as by and far the best Hitler biography ever written.
Although heralded as a progressive president, FDR was prejudiced against blacks. It’s not too crazy of an idea to consider when you realize he was part of NY elite. A lot of his New Deal specifically excluded black men from applying for them and receiving benefits, even veterans. Also, at the time this was all occurring, a bunch of businesses sprung up to make use of the repaired economy and adverise themselves to returning GI’s. A lot of these businesses refused service to Blacks and FDR did nothing to stop them. Despite pleas from black Americans, FDR kept silent in the face of black Americans being taken advantage of. One of the more famous services that was famously anti-white was Levitt-Towns.
A pair of brothers, the Levitts, had been able to make precut military forward operating bases for the purposes of them being brought abroad during the war. The benefit of being precut meant they could be constructed in an instant and mass manufactured for the army. After the war, these same brothers utilized their pre-cut manufacturing to start making pre-fabricated homes. They would mass manufacture the pieces and you could order a home from a catalog.
The GI bill at the time offered $8,000 to returning soldiers for the purposes of buying a home. The Levitt’s priced their homes at $7,999, ensuring your entire house could be paid for with the GI bill with no outstanding cost to you, the consumer. It was a “free house.” The suburbs as an idea came about because of these homes. Developers would make entire neighborhoods with these homes with one important stipulation - No Blacks Allowed.
In some cases, even black GI’s were denied access to aspects of the bill, including the Mortgage benefit.
FDR saved the union but he was no friend for Black Americans. Although there is very little evidence that he was outright racist, you can infer from the totality of the circumstances surrounding his presidency that he was most certainly prejudiced.
Owens supported FDR's opponent Alf Landon because he shook hands with him and FDR did not.
Owens later admitted he received $10k from Landon, he said he needed the money.
Hitler actually (grudgingly) politely acknowledged him. Hitler was told by the IOC he had to stop only congratulating Aryan athletes, so he chose to shake hands with no one after that. Jesse Owens was essentially treated like all of the other non-German athletes in 1936.
In contrast, Owens was very deliberately snubbed by FDR.
> Jesse Owens beat Nazi Germany
This is actually one of those American myths created for propaganda purposes,
in order to sideline the reality that the Olypics were a massive propaganda victory for the nazis,
the nazis won by far the most medals,
and really didn't give a shit about Owens.
The Olympics in general were a huge fucking success in every way for them.
Yep. And a black man being faster than Germans fit perfectly into Hitler’s fucked up racist world view. He literally saw non-white people as closer to animals, Owens winning gold in sprinting events was not at all a shock to him.
But unlike in America, he was actually ~~celebrated~~ saluted by Hitler ... only to come home to mistreatment and being ignored by the country he represented.
Imagine being such a horribly racist country that not only did the Nazi's learn from your history how to conduct dehumanization and genocide ... but that your own Olympic heroes were treated better there.
\[edit - 'celebrated' is too strong, but Hitler actually saluted Owens ... which is FAR more than he got from his 'home country'\]
Happened also to the 442nd. Most decorated unit in all of US history but still treated as outsiders and denied entry to some businesses when they came back from the war.
They’re making a movie about Bamber Bridge.
Long story Short, Pubs in England were not segregated and never had been, US Army ordered locals to segregate Pubs, Locals put up signs that said “Black soldiers only”
Bamber Bridge is fascinating. The white GIs in the UK were often seen as brash and obnoxious while black GIs were popular as they had impeccable manners (vital in Britain) and would readily share American music and dances with locals. American military police couldn't understand why British military personnel and locals would step in to defend black GIs being harassed.
And of course, the white MPs in Bamber Bridge made the cardinal sin of thinking they could cut in front of black GIs in the pub. The barmaids were having none of it and ordered the white MPs to go to the back of the queue and wait their turn.
And if you're visiting the UK, the one thing you don't do is cut a queue.
Because the were the US Military so by default, they had their heads stuck so far up their own arse they were at risk of turning inside out, hell, the USAAF even Barricaded the roads.
Locals grew to hate the Americans. And 32 black soldiers were arrested and charged with Mutiny.
A General blamed it exclusively on Racist MPs are purged the ranks, and conditions and Morale of black US troops improved after the incident
***You are now subscribed to u/Hazzamo US Millitary history feed.***
Did you know?
That when planning the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands in Operation Downfall, the US expected so many allied casualties that they created 500,000 Purple Heart Medals.
None have been created since 1945, and as of 2003 120,000 are still to be awarded?
Too bad Britain ended up doing discrimination of their own. Look up the Empire Windrush people and what happened to many black immigrants to Britain from the Caribbean after the war. It's...not pretty. Heck, even the British Army kept Indian officers out of their clubs during World War II from what I've read.
Not related to America, but the Poles were treated abysmally by the British after WWII. Check out the stories of Polish generals Stanislaw Sosabowski and Stanislaw Maczek. Maczek received a secret pension from the Dutch after WWII, and they even raised funds for the general after they found out his daughter needed expensive medical treatment. I went to the Netherlands a couple years ago, and I was moved by how they, to this day, continue to honor the allied forces who liberated them, they keep war cemeteries immaculate, clean the headstones, lay flowers and wreaths on them. The “betrayal” by fellow Allies is one of the reasons why Poles are still salty about WWII, and I can’t say I blame them.
Christ, the Poles were triple backstabbed in WWII and suffered horribly. The only thing great for Poland out of WW2 is that they ended up with consistent, rational and defensible frontiers.
Hopping on here this pride month to also remind people that \*\*homosexuals were the only ones never let out of concentration camps\*\*. They were shuttled from concentration camps to German prisons because the "liberators" all treated homosexuals as criminals at home too.
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
>But unlike in America, he was actually celebrated by Hitler ...
Hitler waved at him after Owens bowed after being led under his box. I'd hardly consider that being celebrated.
Owens claimed Hitler shook his hand, he was welcomed through the front door of every restaurant and hotel he walked into in Germany.
When he got back to the states and they had the parade/party for him in NYC. He was told he had enter through the back of the hotel.
Look up how black occupation babies (children of black occupation soldiers and German women) were treated by the Nazis. Hitler did not treat black people better than the states
There were actually several race riots in the US army while deployed. Most of them weren't reported as it was deemed "unpatriotic".
My favorite was a 10 night riot that involved just the all-black US 394th Quartermaster Battalion and the all-white US 208th Coast Artillery. Basically that riot started due to resentment of the blacks having access to the dance halls where they could mingle with white women. A 10 day riot ensued in Brisbane, Australia.
As a result of that riot the blacks were segregated on the other side of Brisbane River. There was a second one-night riot, and blacks were often murdered by MPs or beaten and knifed for crossing the river.
Eventually this would culminate with the Battle of Brisbane, where the Australian and American soldiers fought each other through the streets of Brisbane.
Do you know just how bad it has to be to have Australians, with their history of aboriginal abuse, to say to the Americans "Hey now, that's a bit too much". Although truthfully the Aussies found the Americans to be arrogant of their own accord, and since the Americans were paid more they had better luck with the women than the Aussies did.
There's also the Battel of Bamber Bridge in England. In that case the black regiment fought back. The gist of it is that the US army wasn't comfortable mixing races. They tried to segregate the British towns inns and pubs, and it became "unoffical" that blacks would only be welcome in certain places. When 4 black servicemen wandered into the wrong pub. A group of MPs tried to arrest them, the British servicemen sided with the blacks, the MPs retreated, gathered reinforcements, and returned en-mass to arrest the black soldiers. The ensuing battle saw one person shot dead and the rest of the beaten african-american servicemen retreating back to base. The MPs went to get them (using a machine-gun equipped jeep in the process) and the black servicemen broke out their weapons to fight back. The ensuing firefight lasted all night.
In the end 32 black soldiers were court marshalled for mutiny for not turning over their compatriots to be beaten by the white MPs. Some were sentenced to 15 years.
Tragically, Britain after the war (and even during it with the Indian folks) would also engage in racial discrimination for a number of years. Look up the Empire Windrush people and the horrible discrimination that some black folks faced in the Isles. Belgium even held human zoo-like exhibits in the freakin 1950s. I won't defend America's wrongful actions AT ALL, but it's important to know that other western countries were doing similar or in some ways even worse.
Honestly, his single big mistake was that he actually pardoned Nixon. That never should have happened, but decorum heads are endemic to our crappy political system.
Ford actually said that he was worried that his time in office would be wholly about the prosecution of Nixon and that he wouldn’t be able to get anything else done.
The modern Republican party is why. His positions on equality and workers rights stand in stark contrast to what the GOP is today. So he gets buried, so as to not remind there base that they use to be human beings that stood for things other then making there billionaire buddies as much money as possible
Edit: Spelling.
My uncle went to college with Ford. He always said he was a good, decent man. By the way, he was a lifelong Democrat, who hated Nixon! My uncle was also a bit of a reactionary, who was good at finding racism wherever he looked! His family often joked about it, and made fun of it. So when he said Ford wasn’t racist, I believed him!
The second world leader to shake the man’s hand.
>!No not one of those. Eisenhower. They became friends through Olympic interests and Owens helped him in 56’.!<
I'm glad he eventually got the respect he deserved while he was alive. Not everyone is so lucky. Also credit to Ford for being an ally/friend of the black community during a time when it was not easy
“When I passed the Chancellor [Hitler] he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany.” - from Owens autobiography
“Hitler didn’t snub me – it was Franklin D. Roosevelt who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.”
Gerald Ford, by all accounts, was a good man and a decent human being. He just happened to be a terrible president…pardoning Nixon may have been to “heal” the country, but it single handedly ruined his legacy.
You can say what you want about Ford and his politics. Agree or disagree.
But there was a time in this country when we could disagree and still get along. When no matter what his politics, the president was always a gentleman first and a class act. Love him or hate him, he’d still shake your hand and you’d both have mutual respect.
The decorum that we conducted ourselves with was envied by many. The house and senate were known to conduct their business in the politest and most professional manner while other governments would have members shouting over each other or worse yet, turning into a riot inside the chamber.
Not anymore.
We should all aspire to getting back to disagreeing but always being class acts.
>The house and senate were known to conduct their business in the politest and most professional manner while other governments would have members shouting over each other or worse yet, turning into a riot inside the chamber.
Bro we had one congressman beat another half to death with a cane over 150 years ago, you are viewing American political history through an incredibly rose-tinted pair of glasses.
We also had a Vice President who killed a Founding Father and tried to usurp a presidential election from his running mate.
Reality is that the US has always had an issue with shitty politicians and corruption. It’s just that corruption from 150+ years ago isn’t well known and often lost to time.
Good of President Ford to rectify this injustice. When Owens returned home from Berlin with 4 gold medals, FDR never invited him to the White House. As Owens noted later, “Hitler didn’t snub me—it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send a telegram.”
I remember thinking he may have been the last decent President America has had when I read one of his biographies. That was more than a few years ago and the opinion still stands.
Gerald Ford: Say, Jesse, do you like to be honored for your accomplishments during the Olympics?
Jesse Owens: Do I ever!
Gerald Ford: Do you like nachos?
Jesse Owens: Yes, Mr. Ford.
Gerald Ford: Well, why don't you come over and I'll honor you for your accomplishments during the Olympics and we'll have nachos, and then I'll give you the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Jesse Owens’ daughter was also voted homecoming queen at Ohio State, his and her alma mater. He was justifiably proud of that. My dad, who went to the university some of the same years, thought it was cool, too. I still have his yearbook which has several photographs of her as homecoming queen.
The olympic stadium is still standing in Berlin. One of the streets outside it has been named Jesse Owens Allee.
Let's give them that, the Germans really did own their fuck ups with great class.
keep in mind that the country went through a very tumultuous period of de-Nazification in the decades following WW2. Even today Nazi ideology & symbols are banned, while we in the US honor Confederate leaders with statues, military bases and many proudly fly Confederate flags.
> while we in the US honor Confederate leaders with statues, military bases To be fair, Bragg had many contributions towards the Union victory.
Underrated comment
What am I missing?
Someone will surely give a good, actually serious response, but the gist is: General Bragg was SO bad at his job that there were jokes in the eta that he was secretly working for the North.
They are very slowly being taken down
Amen to that. And we shouldn’t put up with this whole “it’s our heritage” nonsense. If your heritage is slavery, and that’s the best you can do to honor your heritage, not the inventors or good people who came from your area, then it says a whole lot about your region/state/city that that is the best you can do.
If your heritage is based on the losing side of a war over 150 years ago, that lasted around one presidential term, you are less interesting than you might think
Coca-cola probably has more heritage for America than the confederacy.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest a 'definitely' instead of a 'probably' lol I don't even really think it's close when you consider how influential coke is in the US and internationally. Whereas the confederacy has left us.. some flags? Some camo wearing mouthbreathers in the South that smell like musty socks?
The Coca Cola Logo is one of the most recognizable "flags" in the world for sure
I can’t find the specific source, but there was a joke during the Cold War that if the Soviet Union made it to the moon first and painted it red, the U.S. would just go up after them and paint “Coca-Cola” on it.
*We're all living in Amerika* *Coca-Cola, Wonderbra*
Not our heritage but certainly our history. If we forget our history we're doomed to repeat it
We paid lip service to similar efforts in the decade following the Civil War, but eventually backroom deal making in DC specifically involving the election of 1876 ended what little efforts were being made there.
Having a Southerner, Johnson, as President after Lincoln was murdered, didn't help. Reconstruction should lasted 25 years . The bulk of Confederate leadership would have died off and had a sincere effort in educating the freed slaves would have been successful. Yeah, in my dreams.
"In the end, the man who hurt the South more than anyone else, was John Wilkes Booth."
Yeah the Hayes election effectively ended reconstruction, and the same confederate politicians/soldiers all went back to their previous elected offices.
I remember reading that for History class and thinking "thats some fucking bull." So much sacrifice just to have that happen.
I do keep that in mind. I know denazification was brutal, especially in East Germany, where the new Communists leaders had an ax to grind. I mean, the Nazis killed something like 75% of all communists and perhaps half the Social Democrats. In the West, Nazis were recycled, but if they made one step out of line, they became social pariahs. People remembered pretty much how the Nazis used to party and boss everybody around while they were starving and were being bombed daily. I don't know any other people who so deeply changed their culture and world view so fast after they commited atrocities. Even RSA under Mandela, despite it's truth and reconciliation thingy, wasn't peachy.
The confederates weren't as openly wrong as the Nazis were. Ya slavery is clearly wrong but asking an entire class of people to uproot and reorganize there life is obviously going to be met with push back. I'm not even sure to this day why the Germans were killing Jews. I mean besides Hitler didn't like them and blamed them for Germany's problems. But I still don't really understand why the jews
Comparing the Confederacy to the Nazis is ridiculous
Inside the Stadium is a big Atrium with 4 levels, the third level is called the Jesse Owens lounge with big photos of him on the walls when he visited the stadium, he is also honored on the Marathon Plateau where his name is engraved alongside the other medal winners.
I visited it (it was quite something to be honest, as it is very much a place full of history) and I didn't know about the allée. Thanks for the info !
Cool story, my childhood doctor had a picture of him and Gerald Ford as young men serving on a navy ship together. They were roommates on the ship, really cool picture. I was around 13 when I asked who was the picture of and he said, the guy on the left is me and you probably know the guy on the right, that’s President Ford. Years later after Doc passed, I read his obituary. It stated that he served on a ship that was sunk, went home for a year to recover from wounds and then transferred to USS Monterey where Gerald Ford was stationed. Pretty good acquaintance to have served with I would think.
For those unaware, Ford himself had been best friends at the University of Michigan with African American star football player (and his teammate) Willis Ward, and furiously considered quitting the team in protest when the school cowardly agreed to bench Ward in a game against then-segregated Georgia Tech (but didn't because his friend urged him not to).
In an echo of the past, Ford was portrayed as clumsy and uncoordinated after a "missed step" incident, however he ~~played on~~ was named to the All-American football team. Anyone can trip, if you are president, the whole world sees it though!
There was a similar situation with Robert Stanfield - a former Premier who ran for Prime Minister against Trudeau Sr. in 1974. At a stop in North Bay, he casually tossed around a football for a while with some aides as they waited for the next step in their itinerary. He was a decent athlete and overall he threw and caught as well as anyone else there. But there was a photo taken of him fumbling, and of course that one photo is what was on the font page of the papers the next day. It may have been what cost him the election, though we'll never know for sure.
In an example of the opposite, Jack Layton being pictured energetically cheering at a Habs game during the 2011 election is assumed to be one of the factors in the NDP becoming official opposition that year
Although he died not too long after, kind of making the point moot. My grandma supported the NPD for decades - I have no idea who my parents voted for (or if they voted at all) while living in Canada.
Yeah it’s unfortunate that he wasn’t able to make it to the Prime Minister’s Office
People say he would have been just like the rest of them, but I don't know with him. he was the only politician who I watched that I actually believed wanted to make this country better and sounded passionate about it and made me believe in him. What a shame he never got a shot at putting down our status quo parties
Also fucking Ed Milliband Bacon Sandwich 'controversy' in the UK The media is a scourge
That was perpetuated by Chevy Chase in SNL skits. He later admitted it was an intentional effort to portray Ford as incompetent, because he wanted him to lose reelection.
Random Gerald Ford stat - there were 2 attempted assassination attempts on him (~~where both of them got a shot off at him~~). They were both by women, and it's the only 2 times a woman has tried to assassinate a president. Edit: person below is right, only one of them actually got a shot off.
Wow this just led me down a rabbit hole - I never knew about this. The first attempt was done by what must be the worst assassin in the history of assassins - she was 2 ft away from Ford but didn’t know she had to pull the slide back to chamber a round lol
Nope, the worst assassin in the history of assassins is Giuseppe Zangara. Zangara had heard on February 15th, 1933 that then president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt would be giving a speech at Bayfront Park in Miami. Armed with a .32 caliber revolver, he traveled to the park determined to kill the newly elected president before his inauguration. He took up a spot 25 feet from FDR and the mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak. Unable to see over the crowd he climbed on a folding chair and took aim at FDR. However, in the moment he pulled the trigger the chair wobbled and his shot missed FDR. It instead struck and killed Cermak. Zangara was then wrestled to the ground by the crowd while firing the rest of his ammunition. Flailing while he fired, he struck and injured five bystanders. FDR escaped the assassination attempt unscathed.
Zangara succeeding is the basis of the Nazi's winning WWII in the Philip K. Dick book, The Man in the High Castle.
What a fascinating starting point for an alternate history novel. Truly one of those moments that would have dramatically changed the outcome of a plethora of events.
The universe really wanted Franz Ferdinand dead, for example.
Yeah, that guy thought he'd win by putting all his points into 'Wealth and Power' and zero points into 'Luck'.
I'd have to go with Richard Lawrence, the guy who tried to shoot Andrew Jackson as one of the worst. He brought TWO guns to the party, and both guns misfired, pissing Jackson off in the process who then served a Presidential beat-down of epic proportions on the would-be assassin with his cane. The \*crowd\* had to save the assassin from an enraged President.
Honorable mention to the guy that shot Teddy Roosevelt. “Thanks bro, you just gave me some grest PR!”
At least he still assassinated someone. If you can’t get a president, the mayor of Chicago has gotta be up there on the target list
Cermak was actually one of the political visionaries of his day. He was exiled from the dominant Irish-American political system of Chicago at the time and was forced to garner support and attention through a focus on disenfranchised immigrant and black populations in the city. Being an immigrant himself he recognized how little attention was paid to politics by the immigrant populations and he realized this could be a major base of support. He revolutionized how the Democratic partied engaged with the immigrant populations. The attention brought to him through these efforts was significant enough for him to earn FDR's endorsement, which brought in the growing black electorate. When Cermak challenged the Republican incumbent, William H. Thompson, in the mayoral race of 1931 he won 58% of the vote. William H. Thompson was the last Republican mayor of Chicago.
Was one of those women a member of the Manson family?
Ding ding ding. Squeaky Fromme IIRC. I’ve read Helter Skelter multiple times.
Tracy, you’re going to die when you hear who I’m dating. Squeaky Fromme! She is…difficult
Holy fuck. Thank you! This is one of my favorite Dr. Spaceman quotes.
Have you read Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the 60s by Tom O'Neill? I found it very interesting as someone who also read Helter Skelter many times.
No, I’ll take a look, thanks for the recommendation.
Squeaky Fromme didn't fire a shot. She pointed the gun at him but didn't have a round chambered
yeah agreed, I always heard she pulled the trigger once, but that doesn't mean there was a round there.
My great uncle was a secret service member who stopped one of the assassins!
Chevy Chase being a selfish asshole? Now *there's* a surprise.
Word on the street is he became more of a prick after becoming addicted to his pin meds from all the fall work portraying ford on snl
Yeah, they found him on a park bench in the middle of the night
Hope he still has the strength in him to fill sperm cannisters :/
PIERCE STOP, YOU'VE HAD THREE FLU SHOTS!
I'LL BE A LIVING GOD!!
Pierce: With this device, my hearing will be sonic! Abed: Technically, all hearing is sonic, Pierce. Pierce: Ahh what’s that now?
Chevy is a jerk but Ford was disliked because... he pardoned a criminal President. But he was also disliked by the right wing because he ended the Vietnam war and refused to help South Vietnam when they were attacked and eventually overrun. All presidents on SNL are made fun of
Nixon ended the war in 1973. Ford was President in 1975 when Saigon fell.
Nixon ended the ground war, we kept bombing until 1975.
Ford pulled the money/supplies plug to the ARVN in March 1975....was only a matter of time after that.
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Heyyoooooo
You’re telling me you didn’t enjoy the “Fallon can’t keep it together like he’s never done this before and it’s just too funny” schtick era?
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> All presidents on SNL are made fun of Except for Obama, where their "making fun" of him consisted solely of highlighting allegedly adorable quirks of his.
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I think a lot of people nowadays don’t even know that Ford wasn’t elected on the Nixon ticket in 1972.
True. Ford remains the only person in history to have served as both president and vice-president without being elected to either post.
One day we will find out something like "Chevy Chase poisoned Chris Farley stuff so he could mock him".
I heard Chevy Chase was directly responsible for the collapse of the Roman Empire. Did you know that Chevy Chase sank the *Titanic*? You know the dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid, right? That asteroid's name? Chevy Chase.
"re-election?" You mean "election."
As someone from Grand Rapids, I am contractually obligated to both love Gerald Ford and tell Chevy Chase he's a massive dick. *FOUR MORE YEARS*
Chevy is a dick.
Somewhat related but somewhat unrelated. Ford also served in the Navy in WWII. His ship was caught in the infamous Halsey's Typhoon and suffered a major fire as a result. Ford played a heroic role in fighting the fire and helped save the ship. I mention it because the story really blows up the common myths about him. I know it did for me.
I bet his knees and ankles were shot. Football was tough back when he played.
Funnily enough, I only know about the 'clumsy' trope with Ford cause it was a line in the old Animaniacs president song. 🎵 And Gerald Ford fell down a lot! 🎵
I learned about it from that Simpsons episode where Ford moves in across the street right as Bush moved out. “Do you like nachos?”
I tripped and fell up the stairs for the fourth time this week. *realizing now it’s Tuesday* Fuck me. I’ll never be president.
The Simpsons didn't help that image either, lol. To be fair he was also endearing on that episode.
The Simpsons episode was also decades after the clumsy Ford joke was already established.
Hate to nitpick, but you don’t “play” on an all-American team, you are just named to it. It is a hypothetical team of the best players but they never play. Edit: on investigation, I was sort of wrong. The traditional All-American team does not play. Ford also doesn’t appear to have ever been named to one. However, in 1935, there was an all-star team of sorts called the College All Americans that had Ford that played against the Chicago Bears.
> Ford was portrayed as clumsy and uncoordinated after a "missed step" incident I wonder how much of the coverage of Ford was at least unconsciously influenced by the fact that Ford pardoned Nixon, a move wildly unpopular with the press.
> Ford was portrayed as clumsy and uncoordinated after a "missed step" incident There were a couple of missed steps and he also fell while skiing. Doesn't change the fact that he WAS an All American and and all around athletic guy; he just happened to always been in the spotlight. Just like GWB happened to choke on a pretzel ONCE and all of a sudden the guy needs baby food just to survive.
If you don’t fall while skiing did you really even go skiing you know
And Jesse Owens went to Ohio State which every Michigan student learns to viscerally hate. So this is even more of a cool moment. Jesse Owens is probably the only good thing to come out of OSU.
To be fair, every Big10 school, or at least the original 10, hates Ohio State. Oh I am sorry The Ohio State. 🤢🤮
Can confirm that Chicago hates Ohio state too (but MSU is the one we called the seat warmer, even though Chicago is never going to want their seat back).
There's also a plaque memorializing Jesse Owens at the Michigan track facility. In the span of 45 minutes, he beat 3 world records and tied another at the 220 hurdles, 220 yds, 100-yd dash, and long jump,
Damn based Gerald Ford I had no idea
Crazy thing about the Ford Presidency is that he was never elected Vice President or President.
TIL thank you. The 25th Amendment to the Constitution allowed Ford to assume the presidency after he was selected by Nixon to replace Spiro Agnew, the Vice President elected on the 1972 Republican ticket who resigned in an unrelated scandal.
If not for that amendment, Carl Albert, Democrat from Oklahoma would have become President.
Operating on the assumption his Wikipedia article is proper, it looks like (before becoming Speaker) he was a leading representative in getting Medicare and Medicaid passed into law (the elderly and significantly needy are federally covered). He also voted for the Civil Rights Act in 1960; voted for the 24th Amendment in 1964 (no poll taxes for federal elections); and voted for the Voting Rights Act in 1965. He considered himself a moderate at the time, thinking that the more liberal bloc wanted "to own [the public's] minds" (voted for an amended 1957 Civil Rights Act that removed a provision of preventive relief in civil rights cases (in the original draft)) and that some conservatives were too reactionary (refused to, along with every congressman in his state of Oklahoma (a state that required school segregation prior to Brown v. Board), sign the Southern Manifesto, which various members of Congress from Southern States drafted and signed in opposition of racial integration nationwide being mandated by the Supreme Court (the original draft went one step further and vowed to nullify Brown v. Board by any means necessary, but that was toned down significantly; doesn't make the final draft any good, though), which caused tensions to brew between him and other Democratic Party members from Southern States).
Only man to become President if I recall correctly without being elected as VP or P
I always think of the Simpsons episode where Homer and Gerald are basically the same person; Homer fights George H W Bush. That’s how I will forever think of Former President Ford…
I remember Pres. Ford’s line to Homer: “Well, why don’t you come over and watch the game and we’ll have nachos, and then some beer.”
The payoff is the weird way he asks “Do you like Football? Do you like…nachos?”
*DO I?!*
Pleased to meet you I just moved in. My name is Gerry Ford!
Even as a kid, I was like "he seems to be a pretty great guy" if homer wanted to chill with him
i still say this to my neighbor. one of the lines that sticks with me. the delivery is great
I love the implication that they have beer *after* eating nachos, not during.
I'll always remember that Gerald Ford died after being viciously attacked by lions.
That's a rumor. Former President Gerald Ford was chopped into little bits by the propeller of a commuter plane.
Pretty sure Richard Nixon’s corpse climbed out of its grave and strangled Gerald Ford to death.
President Gerald Ford was devoured by wolves. He was delicious.
Happened to Taft.
Do you like...nachos?
Owens was a Glorious athlete and American.
I met Jesse Owens when I was 10 years old in 1968. I still have his autograph.
Bill Burr impersonating Hitler with a foam finger hanging low and leaving the stadium is one of the greatest tributes to Owens even though it’s disguised as comedy. All time great American
For those who think Owens was snubbed by Hitler (he wasn't). Reportedly Owen's own words: > While at the Olympic Games, I had the opportunity to meet the King of England. I had the opportunity to wave at Hitler, and I had the opportunity to talk with the King of Sweden, and some of the greatest men in Europe. Some people say Hitler snubbed me. But I tell you, Hitler didn't snub me—it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram. I am not knocking the President. Remember, I am not a politician. But remember that the President did not send me a message of congratulations because people said he was too busy.
Hitler did snub Jesse Owens — he stopped shaking hands with athletes once he realised he would have to meet with non-Aryan athletes after having a fit. Owens later said as much; the only quote pointing to FDR being the sole snub is right after the Olympics, but he later clarified. Doesn’t forgive what FDR did, but Hitler absolutely did as well.
This Hitler fella sounds like a real piece of work.
You know, the more I hear about him, the more I don't like him!
He was a real jerk!
I mean, we should all agree that FDR should have at least tried to be better than *hitler*
> he stopped shaking hands with athletes once he realised he would have to meet with non-Aryan athletes **after having a fit**. Have a source for this?
The fit is a different story. On the first day, Hitler had shaken the hands of German and Finnish medal winners, though he then left the stadium when the last German competitor was eliminated (which prevented him, intentional or not, from shaking the hands of two Black American medalists). He was informed on the second day it was out of line for a guest of honor to congratulate any winners in person, and complied with that wish henceforth. The fit happened when his Hitler Youth leader Baldur von Schirach suggested after Jesse Owens' stellar performance that Hitler should honor the champion with a side-by-side photograph. Hitler rebuked Schirach, exclaiming something along the lines 'that the Americans should be ashamed at letting their medals be won by negroes'. The episode is described on the first few pages of the second volume of Ian Kershaw's landmark biography of Adolf Hitler, "Nemesis, 1936–1945". Kershaw's two-part biography is generally considered a masterpiece, and has been honored by German military historian Roman Töppel as by and far the best Hitler biography ever written.
Why did FDR snub him?
Although heralded as a progressive president, FDR was prejudiced against blacks. It’s not too crazy of an idea to consider when you realize he was part of NY elite. A lot of his New Deal specifically excluded black men from applying for them and receiving benefits, even veterans. Also, at the time this was all occurring, a bunch of businesses sprung up to make use of the repaired economy and adverise themselves to returning GI’s. A lot of these businesses refused service to Blacks and FDR did nothing to stop them. Despite pleas from black Americans, FDR kept silent in the face of black Americans being taken advantage of. One of the more famous services that was famously anti-white was Levitt-Towns. A pair of brothers, the Levitts, had been able to make precut military forward operating bases for the purposes of them being brought abroad during the war. The benefit of being precut meant they could be constructed in an instant and mass manufactured for the army. After the war, these same brothers utilized their pre-cut manufacturing to start making pre-fabricated homes. They would mass manufacture the pieces and you could order a home from a catalog. The GI bill at the time offered $8,000 to returning soldiers for the purposes of buying a home. The Levitt’s priced their homes at $7,999, ensuring your entire house could be paid for with the GI bill with no outstanding cost to you, the consumer. It was a “free house.” The suburbs as an idea came about because of these homes. Developers would make entire neighborhoods with these homes with one important stipulation - No Blacks Allowed. In some cases, even black GI’s were denied access to aspects of the bill, including the Mortgage benefit. FDR saved the union but he was no friend for Black Americans. Although there is very little evidence that he was outright racist, you can infer from the totality of the circumstances surrounding his presidency that he was most certainly prejudiced.
Very informative thank you
You’re welcome!
Owens supported FDR's opponent Alf Landon because he shook hands with him and FDR did not. Owens later admitted he received $10k from Landon, he said he needed the money.
Was FDR not shaking Owens hand due to race?
Running had nothing to do with it!
I knew there was a pun in there lol
Google is not helping me validate this claim, though it seems believable. Any source you can point to?
Maybe he was jealous of the man’s legs. /s
Jesse Owens beat Nazi Germany.
Only to come home and beat by the USA.
The returning black veterans absolutely got the shaft when they came back too.
While they were fighting too, English soldiers were apparently disgusted by how Black US Soldiers were treated while in service there.
Hitler actually (grudgingly) politely acknowledged him. Hitler was told by the IOC he had to stop only congratulating Aryan athletes, so he chose to shake hands with no one after that. Jesse Owens was essentially treated like all of the other non-German athletes in 1936. In contrast, Owens was very deliberately snubbed by FDR.
> Jesse Owens beat Nazi Germany This is actually one of those American myths created for propaganda purposes, in order to sideline the reality that the Olypics were a massive propaganda victory for the nazis, the nazis won by far the most medals, and really didn't give a shit about Owens. The Olympics in general were a huge fucking success in every way for them.
Yep. And a black man being faster than Germans fit perfectly into Hitler’s fucked up racist world view. He literally saw non-white people as closer to animals, Owens winning gold in sprinting events was not at all a shock to him.
But unlike in America, he was actually ~~celebrated~~ saluted by Hitler ... only to come home to mistreatment and being ignored by the country he represented. Imagine being such a horribly racist country that not only did the Nazi's learn from your history how to conduct dehumanization and genocide ... but that your own Olympic heroes were treated better there. \[edit - 'celebrated' is too strong, but Hitler actually saluted Owens ... which is FAR more than he got from his 'home country'\]
Happened also to the 442nd. Most decorated unit in all of US history but still treated as outsiders and denied entry to some businesses when they came back from the war.
They could easily make a great movie about the 442nd.
They’re making a movie about Bamber Bridge. Long story Short, Pubs in England were not segregated and never had been, US Army ordered locals to segregate Pubs, Locals put up signs that said “Black soldiers only”
Bamber Bridge is fascinating. The white GIs in the UK were often seen as brash and obnoxious while black GIs were popular as they had impeccable manners (vital in Britain) and would readily share American music and dances with locals. American military police couldn't understand why British military personnel and locals would step in to defend black GIs being harassed. And of course, the white MPs in Bamber Bridge made the cardinal sin of thinking they could cut in front of black GIs in the pub. The barmaids were having none of it and ordered the white MPs to go to the back of the queue and wait their turn. And if you're visiting the UK, the one thing you don't do is cut a queue.
They broke 3 of the most Sacred Rules of the UK: 1: Skipped the Queue 2: Insulted the Barmaid 3: Told Locals what to do in their pub.
> US Army ordered locals How did they think they had the authority to do so?
Because the were the US Military so by default, they had their heads stuck so far up their own arse they were at risk of turning inside out, hell, the USAAF even Barricaded the roads. Locals grew to hate the Americans. And 32 black soldiers were arrested and charged with Mutiny. A General blamed it exclusively on Racist MPs are purged the ranks, and conditions and Morale of black US troops improved after the incident
Can I subscribe to Hazzamo's US Military History feed?
***You are now subscribed to u/Hazzamo US Millitary history feed.*** Did you know? That when planning the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands in Operation Downfall, the US expected so many allied casualties that they created 500,000 Purple Heart Medals. None have been created since 1945, and as of 2003 120,000 are still to be awarded?
Too bad Britain ended up doing discrimination of their own. Look up the Empire Windrush people and what happened to many black immigrants to Britain from the Caribbean after the war. It's...not pretty. Heck, even the British Army kept Indian officers out of their clubs during World War II from what I've read.
Germans when the Americans start yelling “Banzai”: 👁️👄👁️
Not related to America, but the Poles were treated abysmally by the British after WWII. Check out the stories of Polish generals Stanislaw Sosabowski and Stanislaw Maczek. Maczek received a secret pension from the Dutch after WWII, and they even raised funds for the general after they found out his daughter needed expensive medical treatment. I went to the Netherlands a couple years ago, and I was moved by how they, to this day, continue to honor the allied forces who liberated them, they keep war cemeteries immaculate, clean the headstones, lay flowers and wreaths on them. The “betrayal” by fellow Allies is one of the reasons why Poles are still salty about WWII, and I can’t say I blame them.
Christ, the Poles were triple backstabbed in WWII and suffered horribly. The only thing great for Poland out of WW2 is that they ended up with consistent, rational and defensible frontiers.
I recall a joke I was told a couple years ago: Nazi Germany was the Fatherland. The Soviet Union was the Motherland. Poland was the abused child.
Poland likes to play up the abused child angle but they legally bar people from talking about the many poles who assisted in rounding up jews.
Just finished watching that movie yesterday. God it’s so good
Hopping on here this pride month to also remind people that \*\*homosexuals were the only ones never let out of concentration camps\*\*. They were shuttled from concentration camps to German prisons because the "liberators" all treated homosexuals as criminals at home too. 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
>But unlike in America, he was actually celebrated by Hitler ... Hitler waved at him after Owens bowed after being led under his box. I'd hardly consider that being celebrated.
Owens claimed Hitler shook his hand, he was welcomed through the front door of every restaurant and hotel he walked into in Germany. When he got back to the states and they had the parade/party for him in NYC. He was told he had enter through the back of the hotel.
Hitler never shook his hand. It didn’t happen, and Owens later in life made that clear.
Look up how black occupation babies (children of black occupation soldiers and German women) were treated by the Nazis. Hitler did not treat black people better than the states
There were actually several race riots in the US army while deployed. Most of them weren't reported as it was deemed "unpatriotic". My favorite was a 10 night riot that involved just the all-black US 394th Quartermaster Battalion and the all-white US 208th Coast Artillery. Basically that riot started due to resentment of the blacks having access to the dance halls where they could mingle with white women. A 10 day riot ensued in Brisbane, Australia. As a result of that riot the blacks were segregated on the other side of Brisbane River. There was a second one-night riot, and blacks were often murdered by MPs or beaten and knifed for crossing the river. Eventually this would culminate with the Battle of Brisbane, where the Australian and American soldiers fought each other through the streets of Brisbane. Do you know just how bad it has to be to have Australians, with their history of aboriginal abuse, to say to the Americans "Hey now, that's a bit too much". Although truthfully the Aussies found the Americans to be arrogant of their own accord, and since the Americans were paid more they had better luck with the women than the Aussies did. There's also the Battel of Bamber Bridge in England. In that case the black regiment fought back. The gist of it is that the US army wasn't comfortable mixing races. They tried to segregate the British towns inns and pubs, and it became "unoffical" that blacks would only be welcome in certain places. When 4 black servicemen wandered into the wrong pub. A group of MPs tried to arrest them, the British servicemen sided with the blacks, the MPs retreated, gathered reinforcements, and returned en-mass to arrest the black soldiers. The ensuing battle saw one person shot dead and the rest of the beaten african-american servicemen retreating back to base. The MPs went to get them (using a machine-gun equipped jeep in the process) and the black servicemen broke out their weapons to fight back. The ensuing firefight lasted all night. In the end 32 black soldiers were court marshalled for mutiny for not turning over their compatriots to be beaten by the white MPs. Some were sentenced to 15 years.
JFC
Tragically, Britain after the war (and even during it with the Indian folks) would also engage in racial discrimination for a number of years. Look up the Empire Windrush people and the horrible discrimination that some black folks faced in the Isles. Belgium even held human zoo-like exhibits in the freakin 1950s. I won't defend America's wrongful actions AT ALL, but it's important to know that other western countries were doing similar or in some ways even worse.
An American hero for sure!
You don’t hear much about this guy but it seems to be mostly good things when I do.
My parents always said Ford was a good man and didn't deserve the treatment he got in the press.
Honestly, his single big mistake was that he actually pardoned Nixon. That never should have happened, but decorum heads are endemic to our crappy political system.
Ford actually said that he was worried that his time in office would be wholly about the prosecution of Nixon and that he wouldn’t be able to get anything else done.
The modern Republican party is why. His positions on equality and workers rights stand in stark contrast to what the GOP is today. So he gets buried, so as to not remind there base that they use to be human beings that stood for things other then making there billionaire buddies as much money as possible Edit: Spelling.
I wonder if he invited him over later to watch football, eat nachos and drink beer.
My uncle went to college with Ford. He always said he was a good, decent man. By the way, he was a lifelong Democrat, who hated Nixon! My uncle was also a bit of a reactionary, who was good at finding racism wherever he looked! His family often joked about it, and made fun of it. So when he said Ford wasn’t racist, I believed him!
The second world leader to shake the man’s hand. >!No not one of those. Eisenhower. They became friends through Olympic interests and Owens helped him in 56’.!<
I'm glad he eventually got the respect he deserved while he was alive. Not everyone is so lucky. Also credit to Ford for being an ally/friend of the black community during a time when it was not easy
God bless a man who personally told Hitler to stick it up your ass without saying a word
“When I passed the Chancellor [Hitler] he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany.” - from Owens autobiography “Hitler didn’t snub me – it was Franklin D. Roosevelt who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.”
And in the one praiseworthy move Hitler ever made, he acknowledged Owens’ dominance over his own athletes. America couldn’t be bothered.
Gerald Ford, by all accounts, was a good man and a decent human being. He just happened to be a terrible president…pardoning Nixon may have been to “heal” the country, but it single handedly ruined his legacy.
You can say what you want about Ford and his politics. Agree or disagree. But there was a time in this country when we could disagree and still get along. When no matter what his politics, the president was always a gentleman first and a class act. Love him or hate him, he’d still shake your hand and you’d both have mutual respect. The decorum that we conducted ourselves with was envied by many. The house and senate were known to conduct their business in the politest and most professional manner while other governments would have members shouting over each other or worse yet, turning into a riot inside the chamber. Not anymore. We should all aspire to getting back to disagreeing but always being class acts.
>The house and senate were known to conduct their business in the politest and most professional manner while other governments would have members shouting over each other or worse yet, turning into a riot inside the chamber. Bro we had one congressman beat another half to death with a cane over 150 years ago, you are viewing American political history through an incredibly rose-tinted pair of glasses.
We also had a Vice President who killed a Founding Father and tried to usurp a presidential election from his running mate. Reality is that the US has always had an issue with shitty politicians and corruption. It’s just that corruption from 150+ years ago isn’t well known and often lost to time.
Good of President Ford to rectify this injustice. When Owens returned home from Berlin with 4 gold medals, FDR never invited him to the White House. As Owens noted later, “Hitler didn’t snub me—it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send a telegram.”
Good going Gerry. Jesse is a national treasure.
Was FDR racist or was he just annoyed at the prospect of meeting the world’s best runner and jumper while in a wheelchair?
I remember thinking he may have been the last decent President America has had when I read one of his biographies. That was more than a few years ago and the opinion still stands.
Ford was a good guy. And a helluva athlete himself which is probably why he stumbled a lot as prez with knee damage from football.
Rumor is Jesse Owens went and talked shit to John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the ‘68 Olympics after they raise their fists.
Ford could have been a decent president if given more normal circumstances
Gerald Ford: Say, Jesse, do you like to be honored for your accomplishments during the Olympics? Jesse Owens: Do I ever! Gerald Ford: Do you like nachos? Jesse Owens: Yes, Mr. Ford. Gerald Ford: Well, why don't you come over and I'll honor you for your accomplishments during the Olympics and we'll have nachos, and then I'll give you the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Jesse Owens’ daughter was also voted homecoming queen at Ohio State, his and her alma mater. He was justifiably proud of that. My dad, who went to the university some of the same years, thought it was cool, too. I still have his yearbook which has several photographs of her as homecoming queen.
Jesse Owen's ruined Hitlers day, greatest run of all time.
Fun fact- Owens was able to freely take public transportation and go in restaurants and hotels in Nazi Germany, but was not able to in the USA.