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Albert E. Burke: Difference between revisions
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During his presidency the atmosphere in Dallas approached <mark>hysteria. “The historical conservatism of the city,” wrote Dallas’ most prominent merchant, Stanley Marcus [of Neiman-Marcus], “had been fanned to a raging fire by the combination of a number of elements: the '''far right daily radio''' ‘Facts Forum’ program by Dan Smoot sponsored by the ultraconservative '''wealthiest''' man in town, '''H. L. Hunt'''; the '''John Birch Society'''; the '''oil''' industry’s hysterical concern for the preservation of what they considered a biblical guarantee of their '''depletion allowance'''; the ‘National Indignation League’ founded by a local garageman, Frank McGeehee, in protest of the air force’s training of some Yugoslavian pilots at a nearby air base; the '''consistently one-sided attacks on the administration by the ''Dallas Morning News''''' and the semi-acquiescent editorial policy of the ''Times Herald'', which had previously been a middle-of-the-road, fair newspaper.</mark> For the lack of courageous firemen in the business and intellectual segments of the community, the fire raged on.” ... | During his presidency the atmosphere in Dallas approached <mark>hysteria. “The historical conservatism of the city,” wrote Dallas’ most prominent merchant, Stanley Marcus [of Neiman-Marcus], “had been fanned to a raging fire by the combination of a number of elements: the '''far right daily radio''' ‘Facts Forum’ program by Dan Smoot sponsored by the ultraconservative '''wealthiest''' man in town, '''H. L. Hunt'''; the '''John Birch Society'''; the '''oil''' industry’s hysterical concern for the preservation of what they considered a biblical guarantee of their '''depletion allowance'''; the ‘National Indignation League’ founded by a local garageman, Frank McGeehee, in protest of the air force’s training of some Yugoslavian pilots at a nearby air base; the '''consistently one-sided attacks on the administration by the ''Dallas Morning News''''' and the semi-acquiescent editorial policy of the ''Times Herald'', which had previously been a middle-of-the-road, fair newspaper.</mark> For the lack of courageous firemen in the business and intellectual segments of the community, the fire raged on.” ... | ||
Dallas was gaining notice. The <mark>leader of the American '''Nazi''' party, George Lincoln Rockwell</mark>, opined that Dallas had “the most <mark>patriotic, pro-American</mark> people of any city in the country.” <mark>The compliment may have embarrassed a few, considering its source, but we believed that about ourselves. To the radical conservatives, Dallas had become a kind of shrine, a Camelot of the right</mark>. ... | Dallas was gaining notice. The <mark>leader of the American '''Nazi''' party, George Lincoln Rockwell</mark>, opined that Dallas had “the most <mark>patriotic, pro-American</mark> people of any city in the country.” <mark>The compliment may have embarrassed a few, considering its source, but we believed that about ourselves. To the radical conservatives, Dallas had become a kind of shrine, a Camelot of the right</mark>. ... | ||
The mob immediately closed him in | Once again—it wasn’t just Dallas. But we who lived there had the feeling that we were in the middle of a political caldera, a grumbling, reawakening fascist urge that was too hot to contain itself. I wonder what might have happened in Dallas if Kennedy hadn’t died there. | ||
The most conspicuous and despised symbol of fuzzy intellectualism was Adlai Stevenson, a former Democratic presidential candidate and the current American ambassador to the United Nations. | |||
There was also something intensely personal about the hatred of Stevenson. He was the last word in eggheads, Mr. Humpty Dumpty himself. His urbanity didn’t wash in Dallas. Intellectual charm was suspect; besides if you took the trouble to be witty you probably didn’t have it where it counted. Stevenson was a <mark>weak sister</mark>. | |||
In fact he was a sincerely courageous man, and he decided to beard his enemies by marching straight into their camp. He agreed to speak at the Dallas Memorial Auditorium on October 24, 1963—United Nations Day.... | |||
The mob immediately closed him in. The hysterical woman, who was the wife of an insurance executive, brought her placard down on Stevenson’s head. A college student <mark>spat</mark> upon him. When the policeman finally rescued him, Stevenson wiped the <mark>spit</mark> off his face with a handkerchief and asked aloud, “<mark>Are these human beings or are these animals?</mark>” ... | |||
[The "new" world: then as now, no matter how much things change, they still remain the same. | [The "new" world: then as now, no matter how much things change, they still remain the same. That "world" may have toned it down a bit after the JFK assassination, but it was always roiling beneath the surface, and as soon as the effects of 1963 wore off a bit, that world came boiling forth with its usual vengeance. | ||
Read on (the full article [https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/why-do-they-hate-us-so-much/ Why Do They Hate Us So Much?]); it only gets "better".] | Read on (the full article [https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/why-do-they-hate-us-so-much/ Why Do They Hate Us So Much?]); it only gets "better".] | ||