Browsing: Politics

A Brief History On November 8, 1965, a North Vietnamese force of 1,200 soldiers ambushed 400 of the US Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade West of the Dong Nai River and paid dearly for their disregard of American military prowess. Digging Deeper In a search and destroy mission called Operation Hump, the US Army was roaming South Vietnam hoping to find and engage North Vietnamese forces to force a battle that would diminish the Communist forces.  As often happened during the US war in Vietnam, it was the Vietnamese that found the Americans first and initiated contact. Although the outnumbered American…

A Brief History On November 7, 1983, the United States Capitol building was bombed by a female left wing group calling themselves the Armed Resistance Unit. Digging Deeper No people were injured or killed in this act of terror, an act mirrored by bombings by the same group at Fort Lesley J. McNair and the Washington Navy Yard, both in Washington, D.C., although on different days.  The point of contention of the radical group was the US involvement in the invasion of Grenada and US military occupation in Lebanon.  The group also planned to murder Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of…

A Brief History On November 6, 1900, William McKinley was re-elected President of the US with Teddy Roosevelt as his running mate.  McKinley was assassinated in 1901, making Teddy President.  McKinley’s VP from his first term, Garret Hobart, had died in office in 1899 at the age of 55.  If Hobart had not died, he very well might have been President. Digging Deeper Other VPs who nearly attained the Oval Office include Hannibal Hamlin, Abe Lincoln’s VP from his first term who was replaced by Andrew Johnson for the second Lincoln administration.  Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, propelling Johnson to…

A Brief History On November 3, 1986, a Lebanese magazine reported that the US had been selling weapons to Iran as part of a negotiation to get seven Americans released in Lebanon.  President Reagan, as part of his “tough guy” image as a presidential candidate had repeated a line from US leaders since Nixon, “there will be no negotiation with terrorists of any kind.” Digging Deeper Reagan, however, appeared outed as dealing with terrorists in violation of US law in the Iran-Contra Scandal, dealing with Iran, a state sponsor of terrorists.  Reagan’s team was allegedly even negotiating with terrorists before…

A Brief History On October 31, 1973, three Provisional Irish Republican Army members held prisoner in Dublin, Ireland were busted out of prison in a manner befitting an action movie! Digging Deeper The Provisional IRA was a group attempting to force a unification of Northern Ireland with the rest of the island, using violence as a main method of “persuasion.” The prisoners had been convicted and sentenced to prison for “offences against the state.” An aborted plan to break out the prisoners by blowing a hole in the prison wall was replaced by an even more spectacular plan of using…