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Key Terms
-Cold War: A war the US would've been fighting against Russia, if they didn't have the bomb. Arguably spanned from just after WWII until the 1989 Malta Summit) when the Americans and Russians made peace to fight a war together against Iraq.
-The bomb: Any of a variety of uranium, plutonium, and hydrogen weapons developed by the US and stolen by everybody else from the lab in Los Alamos.
-Fidel Castro: The thorn in the US's other side who also had The Bomb (from the Russians).
-Proxy War: Getting somebody else to do the dirty work, with the intention of you not getting caught.
-Presidents during the Cold War: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush.
-House Un-American Activities Committee (not the "House of Un-American Activities Committee", that doesn't make sense): Committee of the House of Representatives for finding Communists!
-Joseph McCarthy: Communist Hunter. Misconception: Joseph McCarthy, being a Senator, was not a part of this committee. He was with the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, part of the Committee on Government Operations (now the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs).
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Of the musicians/comedians who ever lived, Tom Lehrer is one of the greatest.
Mr. Lehrer made a household name of himself with such popular tunes as “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park,” “The Elements,” and “The Masochism Tango.” But is he given as much credit as is due to him for his commentaries on topics of his day? Famous in the 1960’s, Tom Lehrer immortalized all the important stuff about the Cold War in popular song form. On Werner von Braun: a song of the same title. On Nuclear Proliferation: “Who’s Next?” On World War III: “So Long, Mom.” On the nuclear end of the world: “We Will All Go Together When We Go.” Armed with a piano and a degree in mathematics, he set out to make fun of the world. And we love him for it.
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Whenever people cite the Los Alamos Laboratory as the place where Russia got the plans for The Bomb, it shouldn't come as such a surprise that they were able to get away with it. The lab was positively flooded with spies.
The only reason it took so long to develop the device was because, at the time, most of the people working there were spies. I have a theory that there was probably just one lone scientist actually working for the US, and the rest were spies, working like Frank Abagnale.
"Doctor, what do you think of this arrangement of the equations? Have we accounted for a great enough error?"
"I concur."
We never suspected a thing.
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Okay, so I was reading “Born in Blood and Fire” for HotA and I come across this: “Aside from petty harassment by the CIA—Involving such escapades as an exploding cigar and schemes to make Fidel’s beard fall out—the military threat from the United States had ended” (Chasteen 269). Seriously, guys? No wonder the Soviets got The Bomb from us – our best strategists are sitting around watching cartoons, looking for ways to get our enemies out of the way. But now I want to see this movie: http://www.638waystokillcastro.com/about.asp. If anyone has it, let me know.
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Mr. G explains the concept of a proxy force to the class:
“Well, let’s say I want to attack Henry here. I don’t want to do it directly because then it’ll be obvious that Mr. G is attacking students. So, let’s say I give David a bat and after school I tell him I’ll teach him some karate moves.” Proxy force.
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Charlie Chaplin was a communist. Everybody knows that, right? Nowhere is this fact more apparent than in his 1957 film “A King in New York.” Oh ha, that Charlie Chaplin. He’s being a king! In New York! Hilarious! And he’s convicted of being a Communist! Ha-wait, what? That’s right. First he’s consorting with this Communist kid, and then he’s on trial. Go see this movie.
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Dr. Strangelove. See it. Enough said.
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And as for classroom politics, my attempt at the gaining of Senior Class president with my co-candidate Sammy Trumbo-Gomes has been thwarted once again by a run-off election. I trust, my friends, that you know what to do, come Monday. Just remember our speech and your hearts will guide you to democratic peace and prosperity:
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And remember to Ask Teddy: Send your democratic queries to askteddyroosevelt@gmail.com
~Curran O'Donoghue
