1867: Alaska and Seward’s Folly

We remember President Andrew Johnson because he succeeded President Lincoln and was impeached and not convicted in 1868. 

 

Yet, he made a decision in 1867 that impacted the 20th century in ways that no one could have imagined.  It may have been as consequential as The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 that doubled the size of the nation.

 

Back in March 1867, Secretary of State Seward signed a treaty with Russia and purchased Alaska for $7 million.  

 

It was actually a huge bargain but that’s not what they thought back then.

 

So they called it “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s icebox”.

 

The critics were tough on President Andrew Johnson, too.  They called it his “polar bear garden.”

 

Less than a 100 years later, or 1959, Alaska became a state and nobody is calling the purchase a folly anymore.

 

Can you imagine Soviet missiles pointing at the US from north in Alaska? Or more oil fields in the hands of Putin today?

 

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2013 podcast: ROMAN LEADERS OLD & NEW: Caesar & the new Pope

ROMAN LEADERS OLD & NEW: Caesar & the new Pope.......

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Listen to "ROMAN LEADERS OLD & NEW: Caesar & the new Pope!" on Spreaker.

We remember those who served in Vietnam, 1961-73

On this day in 1973, US troops left Vietnam.  

It ended a war that began when President Kennedy sent some advisers, was later escalated under President Johnson to 500,000 troops and finally ended by President Nixon.  

As you may know, the parties signed a cease fire in January 1973.   It followed the "famous Christmas bombing" when President Nixon forced the communists to sign the agreement.  We called it "Operation Linebacker" and it was effective.  The bombing missions were so good that the communists were shortly begging for a paper to sign.

Twenty-seven months later, or May 1, 1975, the North walked into Saigon, and we’ve known it as Ho Chi Minh City ever since.

Did it have to turn out that way?    

President Nixon did not think so.  He wrote about it in No More Vietnams, a book that gets better with age.  The point is that we choose to win wars or lose them, the latter of which we did in Vietnam.  To win would not have required a single soldier – just a few B-52s to remind the North that we meant to enforce the ceasefire.  We should remember that North Vietnam was devastated in 1973.

The tragedy of Vietnam is that the USSR could not believe that we let South Vietnam collapse in 1975, as Stephen J. Morris wrote on the 30th anniversary of the disintegration of Saigon:

If the United States had provided that level of support in 1975, when South Vietnam collapsed in the face of another North Vietnamese offensive, the outcome might have been at least the same as in 1972. 
But intense lobbying of Congress by the antiwar movement, especially in the context of the Watergate scandal, helped to drive cutbacks of American aid in 1974. 
Combined with the impact of the world oil crisis and inflation of 1973-74, the results were devastating for the south. 
As the triumphant North Vietnamese commander, Gen. Van Tien Dung, wrote later, President Nguyen Van Thieu of South Vietnam was forced to fight “a poor man’s war.”

Even Hanoi’s main patron, the Soviet Union, was convinced that a North Vietnamese military victory was highly unlikely. 
Evidence from Soviet Communist Party archives suggests that, until 1974, Soviet military intelligence analysts and diplomats never believed that the North Vietnamese would be victorious on the battlefield. Only political and diplomatic efforts could succeed. 
Moscow thought that the South Vietnamese government was strong enough to defend itself with a continuation of American logistical support. 
The former Soviet chargé d’affaires in Hanoi during the 1970’s told me in Moscow in late 1993 that if one looked at the balance of forces, one could not predict that the South would be defeated. 
Until 1975, Moscow was not only impressed by American military power and political will, it also clearly had no desire to go to war with the United States over Vietnam. 
But after 1975, Soviet fear of the United States dissipated.

No kidding that fear of the U.S. dissipated.  

The post-Vietnam years contributed to the perception that the U.S. was weak and unwilling to defend its interests.  From Nicaragua to Iran to the Soviets in Afghanistan and Cuban troops in Africa, it was a time of U.S. weakness.  

Thankfully, it ended with the Reagan presidency.

Yes, there were many mistakes in Vietnam, from using the Gulf of Tonkin resolution to send 500,000 soldiers to war to not fighting to win. 

I believe that the biggest mistake was not preserving our gains, or a South Vietnam that would have looked a lot like South Korea today.

Again, it could have turned out very different, especially for the many who served in Vietnam.  They won the battles, and the politicians lost the peace.

This is President Nixon's book and for some of the young people who don't remember.

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Happy # 81 Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton is one of the best "rock guitarists" ever!    He was born on this day in 1945.

Clapton's career goes back to The Yardbirds, Cream, and his own solo work.

My favorite Clapton guitar performance is "White Room" recorded by Cream, i.e. Clapton, Ginger Baker & Jack Bruce.  According to Songfacts, Eric Clapton used a Wah-Wah pedal on his guitar.  It was great.

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March 30, 1981: President Reagan was shot!

On March 30 1981, I was having lunch in Mexico City with a British friend and the phone rang.  It was my mother calling from Dallas saying that President Reagan had been shot.

Reagan nearly died. He was clearly affected by the shooting, physically and emotionally.

Looking back, we remember some great Reagan lines:

“Honey, I forgot to duck” (The President’s words to the First Lady)

”Please tell me you’re Republicans.” (The President greets the surgeons)

Reagan survived and went on to have two very successful terms.  Nevertheless, we remember that sick feeling hearing that the President had been shot in Washington DC.

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A look at Texas politics with George Rodriguez from South Texas

 A look at Texas politics with George Rodriguez from South Texas......We will look back "The No Kings March", Iran War and negative coverage & Texas politics.

CANTO TALK podcasts from last week

Check our podcasts from last week...

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King Trump tolerates another ‘no kings’ march

King Trump tolerates another ‘no kings’ march:

You’d think a king would work harder to oppress all these protesters!

On one channel, people are calling Trump a king and going home to watch themselves on TV tonight.  Some of them will put their selfies on social media or their YouTube pages.

On the other channel, thousands were killed in Iran for opposing their regime.

Click to read: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/03/king_trump_tolerates_another_no_kings_march.html

Happy # 82 Denny McLain

We remember Denny McLain who was born in Chicago on this day in 1944.  

Denny broke with Detroit in 1963.    

He became a regular in the starting rotation in 1965 and won 108 games over 5 years, including 31-6 in 1968 and 24-9 in 1969.     

McLain won The Cy Young Award in 1968 and shared it with Mike Cuellar in 1969.  

His career fell apart in 1970 after some gambling allegations and was out of baseball in 1972 at age 28.    

McClain won 131 games.

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We remember Astrud Gilberto. (1940-2022)

Happy birthday Astrud Gilberto.....she was born in Salvador, Brazil.  We remember her version of "The girl from Ipanema".  She died in June 2023.

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