Standing Down Hitler

Standing Down Hitler

If you were to ask anybody in this country what was America’s “finest hour”, you might find many different answers.  For most of us, we think of a handful of incidents where the true spirit of what it means to be an American comes forth.  And to some, you might hear the answer “America’s finest hour is still ahead of it”, and that may be true.  Nobody can tell that right now.

But in terms of American history, without a doubt when America linked arms with it’s allies and stood down the terrible threat Adolph Hitler’s Germany was posing during World War II would have to represent the finest show of strength, national resolve and honor in the history of the nation.  And that is because during these difficult years, America did not just use its vast resources to save Americans and American interests.  It is not an overstatement that by standing down Hitler, America saved the world.

World War II was without a doubt the most devastating war in the history of the world.  The death toll worldwide from this conflict reached over sixty million people.  The aggression of the axis powers seemed to know no limitations which only makes more dramatic the brave stand that America, England, France and the other allied powers showed to stand in the face of a well armed and ruthless enemy and deny them the world domination they sought.

Its easy to look back now on how the greatest generation, as they often have been called, found the will, the determination to risk everything to stop Hitler’s armies.  But we forget that at the time, there was no way of knowing if the allies were going to prevail.  Early in the war, Hitler seemed unstoppable as he occupied Poland and the invasion of Europe spread to England, France, Norway and beyond giving Germany more and more leverage to spread the war to Africa, into Russia and across Asia as well.  By the time the full allied force was assembled and ready to strike back, Hitler’s advances were so deep and the spread of the war so far reaching that at times it seemed impossible to turn back this evil tide of military hostility that threatened to engulf the globe.

As often is the case, it was when America entered the war that the allies began to see a hope to stop the horror of what Hitler was trying to do.  It took the bombing of Pearl Harbor to put the American population on alert that the isolation of the American continent did not mean that they would be spared the spread of the war to their homeland unless something was done.  By attacking America’s ships at harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, the Japanese brought the most potent military machine in the world into the war against the axis powers which eventually spelled doom for the cause of Hitler and his allies.

America’s battles on the many fronts of World War II is filled with dozens of stories of courage and strategic brilliance that finally began to turn the war to the favor of the allies.  It took courageous decision making at the very top levels of command to make that decision to use the most devastating weapon man had ever known to strike Japan and speed the end of conflicts.  The toll of dropping nuclear weapons on Japan was horrific but America’s president knew that by ending the conflict, tens of thousands of American lives would be saved.  Only that made it a justifiable attack.  But that attack alone did not bring Hitler to his knees.  The turn of fortunes began on D-Day on June 5, 1944.  This massive assault on the beaches of Normandy France caught the German defenders by surprise.  Nevertheless, the cost in lives was tremendous as American and allied troops staged that massive invasion to begin to bring the Nazi war machine down.

We can only look back with gratitude to the brave men and woman who fought to keep America and the world free from Hitler’s plans of world domination.  And by stopping him, we can truly say, this was America’s finest hour.

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Saving Kuwait

Saving Kuwait

The history of American use of its military forces, there are some stand out examples of how America considers its military might be a force for good and justice.  And the use of military for a just cause can be beautifully illustrated in the way America came to the aid of an ally in the Gulf War of 1991.  This war goes under a lot of names including Operation Desert Storm and the Liberation of Kuwait.  But whatever title, it was a battle America needed to enter into because of an unjust invasion of an ally and an act of aggression we could not just stand by and let happen.

The United States and the civilized nations of the world had put up with a lot of barbaric behavior from Saddam Husain, the dictator in Iraq for a long time.  He was becoming more and more aggressive in his push to test the will and the ability of advanced nations to stop him.  But he crossed the line when on August 2, 1990 Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait on trumped up charges of illegal drilling of oil on border property between the two countries.

It is important to remember that America and it’s allies did not launch a full scale attack within days or weeks of the Iraqi take over of Kuwait.  There were efforts to negotiate and resolve the crisis by peaceful means.  But Saddam Hussein defied the world and continued his plan to absorb Kuwait and then possibly take the attack to the next stage into Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf War was also an important statement to the world that America’s allies are important to us and we will defend them if it comes to that.  We proved that in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and here in the Middle East.  When a country becomes a friend of the United States, it’s enemies become our enemies.  And in this unthinkable invasion, not only did Iraq directly assault one of America’s allies, that hostility showed that Saudi Arabia was at risk which was a very important ally as well.

America also leveraged its ability to depend on it’s friends from around the world, rallying a tremendous international force as the preparations for war began to mature.  In total, 34 countries sent troops, ships, arms and other military assistance to join with American military power to turn back this invasion.

The other lesson this war taught the enemies of America is the phenomenal effectiveness of the American military.  On January 17, 1991, the assault began with a massive air attack that stunned the Iraqis and the world.  The ferocity of the bombings and the firestorm that defying the west brought down on the Iraqi military virtually doomed them to ever mount an efficient force to fight back against this overwhelming military response to their aggression.

Following that air attack came one of the most brilliant ground campaigns in modern warfare.  Using modern technology, America faced Iraq’s impressive army on their home turf and soundly defeated them.  The Iraqi strategy was to keep the massive desert behind them because they felt no enemy could ever navigate that desert and find their rear flank.  But was a deadly miscalculation as the coalition forces, lead by General Norman Schwarzkopf, used satellite technology and navigation systems to guide their armies across that desert by night and stage a stunning surprise attack on the Iraqi Republican Guard bringing them to defeat with a decisive blow.

The term “Lightning War” could best be used to describe the l ability of the American lead coalition armies to repel this invasion on Kuwait.  By early March of 1991, major hostilities were over and Kuwait had been liberated.  To defeat an enemy in less than 90 days was accomplishment the world never thought possible.  But demonstrated to the world that America was able to defend its allies and stop a ruthless dictator.

Since that war there has been discussions about whether President Bush should have used the advantage we gained by defeating Saddam’s armies to capture Iraq as well.  President Bush showed great wisdom by sticking to the declared mission and returning Kuwait to Kuwaiti control.  H shows that President Bush in 1991 was showing wisdom in his leadership which resulted in Operation Desert Storm turning out to be one of the most successful military campaigns in United States history.

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Remember the Alamo

Remember the Alamo

America remembers many great battles that represent a turning point in a conflict that helped shaped our history.  We think of D-Day in World War II that turned the tide of victory toward the allies despite horrific losses.  But it is a unique battle that is remembered with pride and patriotism but is also a battle that was lost and almost everybody on our side brutally killed.  But that was the case in the battle for the Alamo in 1863.

The battle for the Alamo was not a conventional battle in the sense of two equally matched armies fighting back and forth to retain property.  It was, to put it bluntly, a slaughter.  But the brave stand of those few hundred Texans against thousands of Mexican soldiers continues to inspire us today because it was a stand against impossible odds but it was a stand that reflected the American ethic of never giving up or surrendering when there is a principle to be defended.
The siege at the Alamo actually lasted thirteen days.  It began on February 23, 1863 and it was over by March 6th.  It is hard to imagine today, with Mexico to our south a trusted ally of the United States but this was a battle to stop that attempts by Mexico to invade the newly forming country of the United States which was an act of war to be sure.  The brave men who stood against that vast army have become American icons of bravery and the American spirit and the names listed among those killed in that fort included Davy Crocket, Jim Bowie, the commander of the unit Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis.  It was Travis that inspired his men to fight against insurmountable odds and his courage is what we celebrate whenever we say that famous rallying cry that come out of this battle which was “Remember the Alamo.”  Travis wrote in a letter how he defied the Mexican attackers on the eve of the final siege.

I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna.  I have sustained a continual Bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man.  The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken.  I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls.  I shall never surrender or retreat.  I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country.  Victory or Death.

It was this brave stand that actually turned the war against this invading army to the advantage of the Americans.  The outrage from the slaughter of these men inspired that famous rallying cry that we remember even now centuries later when we hear those words “Remember the Alamo”.  Their stand against Santa Anna gave Sam Houston the time to organize a much more potent army which went on to deliver to Santa Anna a stunning defeat at San Jacinto which was the turning point for Texas which went on from there to victory in this war.

The spirit of Texas was never the same and to this day, Texas prides itself as a people of particular courage, boldness and a unique independence that even sets them apart from the already fiercely independent American spirit.  Moreover, the entire nation looks to this battle as an example of how a few good men helped deliver a victory, even if it was at the cost of their own lives.  That indeed is the true spirit of patriotism.

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Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny

America is a vast country covering thousands of square miles of land that traverses tremendously diverse climate and landscape.  From high and majestic mountains, to wide deserts to vast fruitful plains that seem to go on forever, the sheer size of the physical landscape of America is breath taking.

Obviously, this was not always the case.  When those earliest settlers landed on the east coast and carved out their stark settlements, they had no idea of huge expanse of land that lay to the west.  It took the bold explorations of surveyors such and Lewis and Clark to report back how stunningly huge the amount of physical space that was available for America to inhabit.

At first, the very idea of becoming a nation was seemingly impossible for the early settlers to grasp.  They came here to escape persecution, tyranny or to make a new home for their families.  If they could have looked a few hundred years down the line into the future and seen the powerhouse of a nation that would grow up from their work in those early years, they would have been stunned that this country grew to be such a world force.  So the earliest challenges of settlers and early leaders of the citizens of the young America was to grasp the scope of what they were about to set about to achieve.

But grasp that scope they did.  It seemed that the physical majesty of what was to become the nation of America inspired a concept that was just as grand as the land itself and that was the concept of Manifest Destiny.  Manifest destiny was the force that drove those settlers and explorers to drive their wagon trains across sometimes impossible terrain through difficult weather conditions and facing many dangers from animals and Native Americans alike to build a nation that spanned form the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans.

This was the dream of the early settlers of this country.  They did not just see a new nation but one of importance, of an almost holy calling to become a virtual utopia of democracy and opportunity.  And part of that utopian vision was the idea of a nation that spanned ocean to ocean and from Mexico to the Canadian border as well.

When you think about it, its phenomenal that a people who did not have space photographs of a landscape or high speed travel such as is common today to get a vision of a unified nation of such vast size and scope.  But it was more than just physical size that spoke to the hearts and souls of those early Americans.  Manifest Destiny spoke to a vision of greatness for America that was birthed in the hearts of even these early citizens.

The size of the country was to be a reflection of the majesty of the human spirit and the magnificence of the American experiment to build a nation built on freedom, the will of the people and on democracy and opportunity.  Today such concepts seem ordinary and for that we can thank the early founders of this country for catching that dream together and making it a reality.

Many have criticized Manifest Destiny as greed or empire building.  And to be sure, mistakes were made and many people died or had their individual destinies hurt in the wholesale rush to the west that America experienced in its early decades.  But what is not diminished is that sense of calling and that sense that America was put here for something great.  That calling lives still in the hearts of all true Americans as we find out how we too can help our country fulfill its Manifest Destiny to be a voice for freedom and liberty in the world.  Let’s hope Americans never loose their sense of calling and destiny.  Because if that dies away, something holy and magnificent will die with it.

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Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin

Sometimes when a country is just getting organized, its citizens are considered to be uneducated, out of touch or primitive.  But exactly opposite was the truth when the great American experiment began to take shape.  The world did not see America as provincial or simple and that is due to a large part to the work of the man many that many have called “The First American”.  That man was Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin stands out amongst those we would call “The Founding Fathers” because he was neither a military man nor a politician.  He was one of the few we think of a one of our nation’s fathers that never served as president.  But that does not mean that his contributions to the start of this great country were not profound and far reaching.

Benjamin Franklin could easily be described as what was popularly known in his day as a “renaissance man”.  He was truly proficient in many fields of discipline and he had a mind that was fascinated with all areas of study and knowledge.  As such he brought to the discussions with his fellow founding fathers a knowledge of political theory, an awareness of history and an ability to speculate on the perfect union that was crucial to the laying the conceptual foundation of what America would come to be when it blossomed into reality.

For many, we remember Benjamin Franklin as a great scientist and inventor.  And to be sure he qualified in that realm as well.  Every school boy or girl has that image of him flying that kite to capture electricity to test his theories that is so popular in our mythology of his accomplishments.  But these images are no myth for Franklin was truly a great inventor contributing to the world such important innovations as the lightning rod, swim fins, the catheter, the harmonica and bifocals.  In that way, Benjamin Franklin had as much in common with Michelangelo as he did with Thomas Jefferson and indeed he was in good company if listed with either.

But it was a political theorist and a philosopher that Franklin made huge contributions to the development of the American experiment in its early formations.  It was he who was able to envision the concept of a new American nation.  But his talents did not end at his ability to use his powerful mind to envision the future so well.  He was also a talented communicator, writer and teacher so he was able to use his eloquence and magnetic personality to promote the idea of an American nation both within the colonies and internationally.

Benjamin Franklin was truly a citizen of the world as he was as comfortable in the courtyards of France as he was in the pubs of Boston.  In fact, he was so popular on both sides of the Atlantic that he served as America’s first ambassador to France and therein lies one of his greatest contributions to the independence of the new country.  He was able to use his vast popularity and his trained powers of persuasion to cause the French to enter the battle on the side of the colonies against the British which was a major contributor to the success of the revolution to free America from English control and launch the independent American nation.
Franklin’s writings have become treasured documents among the archives of this important time in American history.  But just as much as his written work, his influence as a thinker, an intellectual and an international diplomat set the standard for others to follow after him and truly established America as a member of the international community of nations.

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American Inventions

American Inventions

The history of how America emerged as the premier superpower in the world is about more than just a great military or a homeland so rich in natural resources that we were able to become the breadbasket of the world.  There are many forces that combined in the American experiment that has made this country so great.  One of those great forces is the phenomenal inventive minds that have graced America virtually since its inception.  Starting with the powerful mind of Benjamin Franklin, the history of inventions that started in America and transformed the world is lengthy indeed.

The computer has become so much a part of our lives that we forget that it was once invented.  The history of the development of this “futuristic” device is long and filled with genius.  The actual first prototypes of the computer were developed by the Defense Department, which is oddly the source of a lot of the great innovations in American history.  But it was the early PC developers including Steve Wozniac, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates that took the computer to the level of familiarity we know it to be now and made computers a part of our everyday lives.

Most world changing inventions have a profoundly positive influence on mankind’s quality of life.  But an invention that did not improve life but destroyed it is also an American invention that changed the world.  That invention, of course, is the Atomic Bomb.  Developed by the fabled “Manhattan Project”, this bomb changed everything about war, diplomacy and the way nations relate to one another.  And to find a positive amongst all the death the bombings in Japan brought about, that bomb may be one of the key elements that brought an end to a horrific war, World War II.  And in the long run, that is a conflict that the world breathed a sigh of relief when it came to an end.

There is a joke that makes its rounds frequently during political jesting that “Al Gore invented the internet.”  If he had invented it, he would be a world changing inventor for sure.  But it is not out of line to declare that America invented the internet.  Again, the original primitive retypes for what became our modern internet was the work of the American Defense Department as a measure to insure that America’s computer security was guarded by decentralizing the network.  From this simple goal, the vast World Wild Web has emerged that has transformed everything about how we look at communication, information and knowledge.  We have American ingenuity to thank for that.

But of the thousands of American inventions that have done so much in the fields of medicine, technology, research and communications, none can compare to an invention by a brilliant thinker by the name of Henry Ford.  That invention, obviously, is the automobile.  Just like with some of the other inventions we have talked about, we can hardly imagine a time where there was no such thing as an automobile.

Mr. Ford’s amazing invention literally transformed society not just in America but around the world.  From it came the freeway system and an overhaul to how cities and towns are organized and linked together.  And while there are downsides to the widespread use of automobiles, it has been a huge leap forward for America and civilization as a whole.  And Mr. Ford, like any of the inventors we have talked about and thousands we have not, would see the betterment of mankind as their greatest calling.  America has hosted this great calling for centuries and will continue to produce brilliant inventors such as these for a long time to come.

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George Washington

George Washington

It is impossible to reflect on the truly great leadership that has been one of the real blessings of this nation without including the name of George Washington in that list.  In fact, in almost anyone’s “top ten” list of truly great presidents, Washington would almost certainly top the list.  His stature in American history is legendary and the respect Americans have for this their first president borders on adoration of myth.

In fact, there is a lot of myth and some humor about our first president that reflects the love people have for this great leader.  From the many quips about his supposed wooden teeth to the thousands of places around the nation that proclaim “George Washington slept here”, to the mythical story of how he threw a silver dollar across the Potomac as a child or his response when he was caught cutting down a cheery tree and responded to the accusation “I cannot tell a lie”, Washington’s myth is strong in the national memory of this great leader.

Washington never set out to become the greatest president of all time or even to be in a position of leadership in the new country he helped to start.  He was the one who originated the concept of a “citizen president” and he believed so strongly in that concept that he refused to run for a third term because his time as citizen leader was over.  This tradition was sustained with little exception until it was codified into part of our constitution in the form of the 22nd amendment.

But before Washington was a great political leader, he showed his tremendous leadership skills on the field of battle.  He learned the art of warfare serving honorably in the French and Indian war and his influence and the respect he had earned during that conflict netted him the title of commander and chief of the American Army when the continental congress created that role in 1775.  Small wonder when he ascended to the presidency some years later, he carried the responsibility of commander and chief with him to the presidency where it continues to reside today even though few of our modern presidents have the military credentials of Washington.

When commanding the troops during the revolutionary war, a famous incident that has been captured beautifully by artists was his decision to cross the Delaware in New Jersey to stage a surprise attack and win the battle against the British.  It was yet another brilliant maneuver that showed his firm grasp of military strategy and only served to add to his fame and reputation as an outstanding leader of men.

After the war, Washington again was interested in retiring from public life but he was never one to turn away when his nation needed him.  And needed him it did as he presided over the Continental Congress to assure the successful drafting of the US Constitution.  Of the many great accomplishments of his life, his ability to provide leadership and inspiration to that assembly to produce this masterpiece of American political ligature would certainly be ranked as perhaps his finest hour.

George Washington was rewarded for his superior leadership skills when he was given the awesome responsibility of serving as the nations first President of the United States.  His wisdom and insight into what the nation needed at east stage of its early development made him the man of the hour for a struggling republic.  Few recognize that one of his greatest contributions to the presidency was recognizing that the nation was torn and weary of war.  So using his considerable influence and negotiating skills, Washington signed a number of important treaties that resulted in years of peace that were needed to turn the country from thoughts of war to thoughts of building a great nation.

Washington never tired of providing leadership for two terms as the first American president and it was he who decided not to serve a third term and returned once again to private life.  But his impact on the nation and the world was profound and long lasting.  It was the kind of nation shaping influence that truly earned him the title associated to him to this day of “father of the nation.”

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