Harry S. Truman: A good wartime president

Harry S. Truman was a liberal democrat. And this makes sense, considering he was Vice President to FDR, among the most liberal Presidents we ever had. But I thought it was neat to learn, that while he was liberal on domestic issues, he was very conservative when it came to foreign policy.

I also found it very iinteresting to learn that he apparently had no knowledge of the Manhattan Project, or that the world's best scientists were working to develop an atomic bomb. Some say this was because he had basically no contact with President Roosevelt during the short time he served under him. However, it may also be a testament to the secrecy of the project, and the success of the nation amid a war to keep it a secret.

He also was unaware of what was happening inside the Soviet Union regarding their development of weapons and their development of a socialist government. So, two of the most significant markers of the Truman administration evolved around events Harry S. Truman was not even aware of prior to becoming President: The nuclear bomb and the Cold War.

On April 12, 1945, shortly after becoming the only President to be inaugurated President for a fourth term, Roosevelt died as a result of a stroke, and Truman became the 33rd President. A few months later, on May 8, 1945, victory in Europe was declared. Britain and the United States celebrated, and this day became known as Victory in Europe Day, or V-E day.

War with Japan was coming to a close, please were sent to the Emperor of Japan to surrender, and the alternative was "complete and utter destruction."  The Emperor ignored the pleas, and so the war in the Pacific continued. The United States and Britain were preparing for a very costly invasion of Japan.

This prompted Truman, under the direction of his advisers, and with the permission of the British, to drop atomic bombs on Japan's military cities. After papers were dropped on the cities warning the people of what was going to happen, giving them plenty of time to get out, the bombs were dropped. On August 8, 1945, Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima.

Truman issued another warning for Japan to surrender, or a ruin will fall from the sky like no other seen in history. Japan still refused to surrender. So, on August 9, 1945, Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki. There were orders for two more bombs to be dropped if necessary, but this wasn't needed, as Japan finally got the message.

The effects of the bombings were huge. Around 90,000-146,000 were dead or dying in Hiroshima, and 39,000-80,000 were dead or dying in Nagasaki. This is not even to mention all the other damage to Japan made by these horrendous bombs. This time Japan finally got the message, and on August 15, 1945, the Prime Minister offered Japan's complete surrender.

The majority of Japanese were happy the war was over, because they had suffered much loss and suffering. However, there were reports of some Japanese warriors continuing the fight in the Philippines and other places.

According to David Powers, the Japanese Emperor made his first broadcast to the Japanese people on August 15, 1945. He never spoke of "surrender" or "defeat," and so many soldiers would keep on fighting. This was testament to the importance of using the atomic bombs. If they had not been dropped, it would have come at grave costs to the United States and its allies.

In retrospect, many people still criticize Truman for dropping the bomb. They say it was a senseless act of terror on many innocent civilians. However, we must also consider the fact that the people are responsible for the people ruling over them. Truman later said that attacking Japan saved thousands of both American and Japanese lives. Estimates had a war on mainland Japan lasting over a year, and costing 250,000 to 500,000 American lives

So, the war was over. There was much celebrating. But there was also a lot of destruction caused by the war and rebuilding to do. Of course, there as also the fact that the Russians had created the Soviet Union and were pent on spreading Communism around the world. Hence, this began the reconstruction of both Europe, Japan, and the Cold War.

References and further reading:

• Weekly Standard: The Inconvenient Truth about Truman
• whitehouse.gov: Harry S. Truman
• David Powers Japan: No Surrender in WWII

James Madison: Small Government, War President

James Madison was the fourth president to serve under the U.S. Constitution that he wrote, argued for, and saw adapted. So there was no president before him, nor since, who understood the Constitution better.
He was therefore an ardent defender of constitutional liberties.  He was also the first wartime president.

When Thomas Jefferson decided to step down after serving two terms as president, Madison, Jefferson's closest adviser and secretary of state, became the logical choice to replace him.  He was nominated by the Democratic-Republicans, and easily defeated Federalist Charles Pinckney in the election of 1808.

On March 4, 1809, he was 58 years old when he took the oath of office, becoming the 4th President of the United States.  Madison gave the appearance of a wise, worn-out and taciturn old man.  Yet the charming personality of his wife, Dolley Madison, more than made up for this.  She was the life of a huge inauguration party, and this set the stage for the Madison presidency.

During his presidency the opposition party, the Federalists, were a battered and broken down party.  This happened in part due to the tragic death of Alexander Hamilton, who was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804.  The Federalists held only a few seats on Congress. So much of the opposition Madison faced was from members of his own party.

He inherited a recession, and, like Jefferson, he had to deal with tensions caused by war between the British and French.  Both French and British blockades (set up against each other) were impacting the American economy due to the inability to American ships to get by them.  Raising tensions was the fact that British and French ships were attacking American merchant ships.

British war ships took this a step further when they started to board American ships and take American sailors captive, claiming they were deserters from the British Navy.  The British also claimed lands south of the Great Lakes and had succeeded in convincing Indian tribes (and arming them) to to fight American settlers.

Not helping matters was that the British officials in Canada were encouraging Indians there to attack U.S. frontier settlements.

Many in Congress wanted to improve conditions in the country by going to war with Britain. The most eager were New England merchants who were were being hurt by the recession that was caused by ships not being able to deliver goods to Europe.  Madison was in favor of avoiding war, but after the midterm election of 1810, which saw many "war hawks" being elected, Madison was pressured to become the first war-time president.

Madison declared war against Britain in December of 1812, a war that would become known as the War of 1812, or the Second Revolutionary War.  It did not start out good for the Americans, although in the end, after two years of fighting, the war was ended in a draw when the Treaty of Ghent was signed in December of 1814. The person who negotiated the treaty was John Quincy Adams, the son of the president.

During the war Madison faced reelection.  He did not face much opposition from the fractured Federalists, although he did face opposition from within his own party, especially on the issue of war.  Also during the war, in August of 1814, the British landed just 35 miles from Washington, and Madison watched as they easily marched past American militia unites.  Madison fled to Virginia.

His wife Dolley, however, remained at the White House and watched events with her telescope.  When she observed British forces approaching the White House, she loaded her personal belongings onto her carriage. She also, at the last minute, took a famous painting of George Washington out of its frame and gave it to friends to keep safe.  Then she left for safety.

British Admiral George Cockburn and his troops entered Washington and burned down the executive mansion. They also burned down the Capitol and Library of Congress.  Madison may have taken a lot of heat for this.  However, three weeks later American troops were victorious when the British tried to capture Baltimore.  The Americans were then successful holding back British forces in northern New York who were marching south from Canada.  These last minute American victories made the war a draw.

Two weeks after the treaty of Ghent was signed , on January 8, 1815, the British attacked American forces that were lead by Andrew Jackson in New Orleans.  A major battle ensued, and in the end 192 British soldiers had died, 1,265 were injured, and 500 were missing.  The Americans suffered only 13 deaths, 13 wounded, and 19 missing.  The British retreated.

Then news of the Treaty of Ghent reached Washington: the war was over.  Peace returned to the land.  Euphoria in the States rose as news got out that the new nation had faced the world's mightiest military and won, not once but twice.  Madison became a very popular president.

The war was a disaster for the Federalist party.  New England Federalists adamantly opposed the war, and even met once to secede from the union.  Considering many Americans blamed them for holding back the war effort, the party simply faded away.

Now, no longer having to have to face the issues of war, Madison was able to focus his attention on domestic issues.  He proposed the building of roads and canals and a national university (an idea the George Washington came up with).

Still, while Madison was a small government person, the war had increased the size and scope of government at the expense of the states and natural liberties of individuals.  Perhaps, if he had been able to establish peace instead of war with Britain, he might have gone down in history as one of the better small government presidents.

Republican party is failing to represent the American people

A friend of mine was all concerned about Glenn Beck leaving the republican party.  I guess she thought it would upset me, considering I'm a big fan of Beck's. My response was: "It doesn't surprise me at all."

Why I'm not surprised is because Glenn Beck has morals and values and principles that do not change based on the whims and wishes of a modern world.  His ideas and values are akin to those of Americans for most of history.  Yet those values are currently not shared by the current leaders of the republican party, who continue to support and push forth the progressive agenda as opposed to making efforts to try to stop it.

Because to Glenn Beck, and I agree with him, it's not about republicans versus democrats, it's about conservative and libertarians versus liberals and progressives.  The leaders of the republican party keep using conservatives and libertarians to get elected, and then they compromise with democrats to advance the democrat agenda.  If we wanted them to compromise with democrats we would have voted for democrats."

It's true.  It's about people who aim to defend and protect individual liberties at all costs, versus people who aim to create laws to perfect society at the expense of liberties.  It's about those who do what's right regardless of political implications, versus those who do what they think is needed to win elections.

She said, "Give some examples."

I said, "The 2014 election was a complete rejection by the American people of Obama's agenda.  They elected republicans in a landslide, giving republicans a mandate to reject and oppose Obama's agenda. Instead of opposing Obamacare, they completely fund it.  Instead of opposing Obama's unconstitutional executive order on amnesty, they completely fund it."

I said this completely on emotion, as though I were defending a good buddy.  I read this before I even knew for a fact Beck was truly leaving the party, and before I read Beck's reasoning for doing so.  It was only after I had the above discussion that I read Beck's remarks about why he was no longer a republican.  It did not surprise me how close I was to his reasoning.

He wrote a letter to Karl Rove that pretty much explains everything.

If you don't think that the Republicans are progressive light then you don't know the history of the movement started by Teddy Roosevelt and the GOP.

There are good men and women in the party that believe in the constitution. Are you one of them?

Do you seriously believe that Jeb Bush is not progressive light? Help me out with
Common Core and Jeb Bush!

...How about Mitch McConnell and his targeting of Ted Cruz and Mike Lee?How are things working out for all of the campaign promises? How about the deficit? The war? Defunding ObamaCare?  Oh, didn't the GOP vote to confirm Cass Sunstein? How is illegal immigration working out for you? (Actually, I know the answer: really well as your big corporate buddies love it. Especially down in the colonias). It is modern day slavery. Has Grover started any new Muslim Brotherhood front groups you and the Bushes can pass off as the good guys? How about some more FCC regulation on the Internet?

Oh, I forgot! You did get to the bottom of Benghazi. Oops. Nope. It must be because you are swamped in actually fixing the VA system for all the men YOU put in harms way. Gosh, sorry. No, you aren't even doing that.

...How is the health of the three equal branches of government?

I will say this; you are better than the president. You are only half as bad. You are only doing the fundraising dinners, while he is doing that AND playing golf. It is almost like you are progressive light.

I know, you understand 'strategy' and I don't. I know, you can't push for these things right now! You will lose the presidency in 2016.

No, now you have to compromise on things like immigration etc. so you can win the White House. THEN you will have the White House, the Senate and the House. That is when you really go for it ... Right?

Next time. Not now. That when things really change! Just like they did when you had both branches under Bush!!

Crap. Another bad example.

You guys have the spine of a worm, the ethics of whores, and the integrity of pirates. (My apologies to worms, whores and pirates)

You are right about one thing,

I have said this before. You are also right that you don't need to worry about me.
You need to worry about the American public. Because they have had it up to their teeth with you, the GOP and the DNC lies.

...It is sad that you can no longer hear the American People because they could save you. Instead you listen to your political consultants and the amazing thing is you still believe all of it.

Can you not smell what you are shoveling anymore?

The world has changed. The whole world is being redesigned. Not by government but by dreamers and doers.

You are the taxi medallions in an Uber world.

You don't have to be young to see that. You just have to be open and honest.
Instead, you just continue to shine up the progressive agenda of people like Jeb, pressure, corrupt or threaten freshmen and smear the good people of this country who believe in the actual principles enshrined in the constitution.

It is sad what the GOP has become. You would campaign against Reagan. (Cruz has the principles of Reagan- but all you see of Reagan was HOW Ronald Reagan won, not WHY he won). JFK would be too small government for the GOP as you see it.

"Government isn't the solution, Government is the problem". You believe only government run by the Democrats is a problem.

I think that last quote pretty much sums up the frustration of the republican party.  Republicans champion against too much government that stomps on liberties.  However, when they are in office they sign laws that do just that, and they do it to get re-elected.  If you don't believe me, look at how many bills that took away freedoms that George W. Bush vetoed.

John McCain, for instance, instead of opposing the idea of man made global warming, his agenda was merely a softer version of Obama's.  Instead of spending a billion dollars on stuff we don't want, McCain championed to spend half that.  So what's the difference?  Either way we get what we don't want.

I personally think that Beck is a little premature to simply leave the republican party.  I think he would be better served to champion for a true libertarian or conservative who truly believes in the founding values of this nation.  Someone who will run as a conservative and act as one once elected.

I also honestly believe Beck is not an idiot, and if a Reagan-Coolidge-esk candidate is nominated by republicans, he would assuredly vote for that person.  This, as he well knows, is the only way to change the republican party so that it truly does represent the American people.

Further reading:

• Rove lays into Glenn Beck
• 'You want to rumble Rove?' Glenn pens open letter to Karl Rove
• Eight years, 12 vetoes: why president Bush chose to ignore his veto power