Browsing: Politics

A Brief History On January 30, 1968, the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong guerillas launched surprise attacks all over South Vietnam during a supposed “cease fire” period to celebrate the Asian Lunar New Year, known as Tet. Digging Deeper At this point in the Vietnam War, Americans were getting a bit war weary and were repeatedly told by their leaders that the US and South Vietnam were winning the war.  The uncharacteristically massive scale of the enemy attack destroyed American public belief that the war was going well or perhaps was even winnable. The North and VC involved in…

A Brief History On January 29, 2009, Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich was successfully impeached by the state legislature and booted from office for the crime of soliciting appointment as the replacement as US senator for President-elect Obama.  Blagojevich was convicted and served eight years in prison for his crime.  About 18 governors have suffered sexual scandals or criminal charges resulting in being forced from office. Digging Deeper Spiro Agnew of Maryland, while serving as Vice President was charged with taking bribes and kick backs while Governor of Maryland and became the second US VP to resign in 1973. Virginia…

A Brief History On January 22, 2009, only a couple days after being sworn in, President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order ordering the closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where suspected terrorists were being held.  Congress overrode the President, and Gitmo stayed open.  Obama also suffered the failure to get universal national health care passed and had to settle for a watered-down version known as “Obamacare.” Digging Deeper Almost all presidents fail at certain projects and here we list a few: President Nixon, who promised “peace with honor” in Vietnam, but the North Vietnamese were not…

A Brief History On January 21, 2009, Israel pulled its military forces out of the Gaza strip after a three-week war with Palestinian Islamic extremist group Hamas.  While fighting in and around Gaza continued in the following weeks, the scale of the fighting was a mere shadow of the Israeli-Hamas fighting that began in October of 2023. Digging Deeper In what was called The Gaza War of 2008-2009, 13 Israelis and between 1,100 and 1,400 Palestinians were killed.  Lasting from December 27, 2008 until January 18, 2009, the war was just one of many Arab-Israeli wars and other armed and…

A Brief History On January 20, 1937, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first US president to be sworn in on January 20th, a date changed from the previous inauguration day of March 4th by the 20th Amendment of 1933.  Some other interesting presidential firsts on January 20th include: Digging Deeper Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first 5-star general sworn in as president in 1953, and the first born in Texas. John F. Kennedy, the youngest elected president, inaugurated in 1961. Ronald Reagan, inaugurated in 1981 as the oldest president up to that time. Barack Obama became the first African American president…