EGYPT IN CRISIS
We have been watching with interest & concern the events ongoing in Egypt. Both CNN & FOX NEWS have done an excellent job of coverage. We hope the crisis will end soon & the result will be positive for the people of Egypt.
I just read today an article published on January 20 of this year by Douglas E. Schoen on FoxNews.com. I think it is an appropriate commentary on JFK's contribution to world events of the past 50 years.
Here are some highlights:
"President Kennedy's commitment to the promotion of freedom, liberty & democracy around the world has shaped the foreign policy of Democratic & Republican administrations alike for five decades.
Indeed, he articulated a worldview...approach to foreign policy that has been pursued by (both) the Bush....(&) Obama administration(s)."
"President Kennedy inspired--both in the United States and around the world--a sense of vision & purpose that makes America the great nation that it is."*
"John F. Kennedy--Still Shaping American Foreign policy 50 Years After His Inaugural Address"
by Douglas E. Scheon
January 20, 2011
FoxNews.com
January 30, 1968
TET OFFENSIVE BEGINS
Communist forces today launched the largest offensive to date of the war in Vietnam. Many towns & military bases came under attack as well as the US embassy in Saigon.
These series of attacks, launched during the Tet holiday cease-fire in South Vietnam, include 80,000 North Vietnamese & National Liberation Front forces.*
*The Tet offensive will stun Americans who had believed, based on government information, that the United States was in the process of winning the war. From this date forward, support for the war will steadily decline.
January 30, 1971
OPERATION DEWEY CANYON II BEGINS
Dewey Canyon II, "the vanguard of the US 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division",
moved today from Vandergrift Combat Base along the highway to Khe Sanh.
The purpose of the move is to clear the way for 20,000 South Vietnamese Army troops to reoccupy territory in northwest South Vietnam & to mass on the border in preparation for an invasion of Laos.
January 30, 1933
HITLER NAMED GERMAN CHANCELLOR
President Paul von Hindenburg has named Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, chancellor of Germany.
Hitler wants to make Germany a powerful, unified one-party state. He will begin with the expansion of the state police, the Gestapo.
Hitler's rapid rise to power comes in part due to the frustrations of the German people that have resulted from the harsh terms of the Versailles Treaty & the economic hardships of postwar Germany.
January 30, 1943
RAF LAUNCHES DAYTIME RAID ON BERLIN
10 years to the day after Hitler was made German chancellor, Great Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) has made the 1st air raids on the German capital city.
Ironically, on this same day, propaganda addresses were planned by the Nazis to celebrate the anniversary of Hitler's coming to power.
January 30, 1948
GHANDI ASSASSINATED IN NEW DELHI
The "Mahatma" (Great Soul) Ghandi, known for peaceful disobedience, was fatally shot today in New Delhi, India.
Ghandi was shot 3 times in the chest by 39 year old Hindu extremist, Nathuram Godse. The Mahatma was walking to his prayer meeting in the lawn of Birla House. He was 78 years old.
As a young man, Ghandi studied law in England where he was influenced by reading Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience. He practiced law in South Africa before returning to India in 1914.
By 1930, Ghandi had a mass following. He protested the British salt tax & led a 200 mile march to the Indian Ocean to make salt.
Ghandi's goal of an independent India had just been realized last year but he opposed the partition of Pakistan (Muslim) & India (Hindu). In recent days, the Mahatma has been fasting in an effort to end religious strife in his country.
The assassin, Godse, was editor of the "Agrani" newspaper. He had written in his last editorial: "Gandhi must be stopped--at any cost. I am going to assassinate him in the open, before the public....as my duty..."
An appropriate comment of a journalist of the time is:
"Just an old man in a loincloth in distant India: Yet when he died, humanity wept."
