Real Love Is Fiction

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

Oprah called it ""the single greatest love story, in 22 years of doing this show, we've ever told on the air."  And she made the memoir of the story one of her books-of-the-month.  It has been featured on the Hallmark Channel, Lifetime Television, and CBS News. And the story is this: The author, Herman Rosenblat, who is a retired television … Read More

LBJ Was So Classy

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

From an actual audiotape, August 9, 1964.  President Johnson is ordering pants from Joe Haggar: Operator: Go ahead sir LBJ: Mr. Haggar? JH: Yes this is Joe Haggar LBJ: Joe, is your father the one that makes clothes? JH: Yes sir – we're all together LBJ: Uh huh. You all made me some real lightweight slacks, uh, that he just … Read More

More Nixon Tapes Released

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

With Frost/Nixon making its way to the big screen, this is timely.  The National Archives has released more Nixon White House tapes, and once again, they show just how dirty and corrupt Nixon was. Here, for example, is a newly-released tape from July 1, 1971.  Nixon instructs Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman to have someone break into the Brookings Institution … Read More

“The Doves Were Right”

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

Interesting new book out by Gordon M. Goldstein called Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam.  The author originally wrote the book in conjunction with McGeorge Bundy.  Bundy was JFK's national security advisor — one of the "best and the brightest", albeit with strong Republican roots.  It was Bundy who was urged Kennedy to send … Read More

Copernucus Found

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

This is a story that appeals to me and maybe three other people: Researchers said Thursday they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus by comparing DNA from a skeleton and hair retrieved from one of the 16th-century astronomer's books. The findings could put an end to centuries of speculation about the exact resting spot of Copernicus, a priest and … Read More

The Cotton Belt

Ken AshfordElection 2008, History, RaceLeave a Comment

Fun with maps. The top map shows the 2008 Presidential results.  Blue counties voted for Obama, red ones for McCain (darker hues representing larger majorities). The bottom map dates from 1860 (i.e. the eve of the Civil War), and indicates where cotton was produced at that time, each dot representing 2,000 bales of the stuff. Obviously, there's a strong relationship going … Read More

War Candidates Usually Lose

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

Hey, he's right. It's been 48 years since a war hero candidate won when running against a candidate who has never seen combat.  Whoever had the most combat/war experience, always lost.  Well, except in 1988, but still: John McCain entered the 2008 presidential campaign with a strong advantage shared by John Kerry in 2004, Bob Dole in 1996, and George H.W. Bush in … Read More

Election Trivia

Ken AshfordHistory1 Comment

1928, when Herbert Hoover won.

After Hoover’s win, Democrats won until 1952. In 1952 and 1956, Eisenhower (a Republican) won, but with Nixon on the ticket. In 1960 and 1964, Democrats won. Nixon was (of course) on the ticket when he won in 1968 and 1972. Then we had Carter (a Democrat). Next was three Republican wins (1980, 1984, and 1988), but with a Bush on every ticket. Republicans didn’t win in 1992 and 1996, but a Bush won in 2000 and 2004.

Therefore, it has been 80 years since Republicans won without a Nixon or a Bush on the ticket.

“The Mediator Of The Head And The Heart”

Ken AshfordHistory, Popular Culture, TheatreLeave a Comment

If you consider yourself a science fiction movie fan, and have never heard of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, then you are no science fiction movie fan. Metropolis is widely-considered the first serious science fiction film (the Georges Méliès’ 1902 short A Trip to the Moon cannot be considered high science fiction), and most science fiction classics, from Blade Runner to Star … Read More

A Useful Set of Graphs

Ken AshfordEconomy & Jobs & Deficit, Election 2008, HistoryLeave a Comment

Presidents and the economy. In the graphs, the parties are color-coded by the traditional Republican red and Democratic blue. Individual terms are in a lighter shade, and the party average is the darker shade. Technical note Unless otherwise noted, the figure shown is average annual growth rate for a president’s term, from the year, quarter, or month of inauguration to … Read More

That Was Then….

Ken AshfordHistory, RaceLeave a Comment

WorldNutDaily informs us: The original targets of the Ku Klux Klan were Republicans, both black and white, according to a new television program and book, which describe how the Democrats started the KKK and for decades harassed the GOP with lynchings and threats. The book is by David Barton, who is, shall we say, not the most reliable of historians. … Read More

How It All Started: A Reminder

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and … Read More