1948: John J. Pershing Lies In State At The U.S. Capitol

General John J. Pershing lies in state at the U.S. Capitol in 1948.

Pershing was born one year before the onset of the American Civil War and died three years after the conclusion of World War II.

During his lifetime, Pershing saw Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant make their reputations—and he saw George S. Patton and Dwight David Eisenhower make theirs.

Pershing is the sole U.S. general from World War I whose name is known today to the general public.

Mail Call

American soldiers in the Pacific Theater in 1944.

Mail Call

German soldiers on the Eastern Front in 1941.

Happy New Year

Best 2014 wishes!

It Is Now The Vulgar Mob That Gives The Tone

For the Age has itself become vulgar, and most people have no idea to what extent they are themselves tainted. The bad manners of all parliaments, the general tendency to connive at a rather shady business transaction if it promises to bring in money without work, jazz and Negro dances as the spiritual outlet in all circles of society, women painted like prostitutes, the efforts of writers to win popularity by ridiculing in their novels and plays the correctness of well-bred people, and the bad taste shown even by the nobility and old princely families in throwing off every kind of social restraint and time-honored custom: all of these go to prove that it is now the vulgar mob that gives the tone.

Oswald Spengler, in “The Hour Of Decision” (1933)

Harlots On Tour

This morning Andrew and I made a quick run to the food store to pick up a couple of things for my mother.

While in the store, Andrew and I did something we NEVER do: we checked out the magazine rack.

To our amazement, what did we see? A copy of the British magazine, Royal Life. Until this morning, I had had no idea that Royal Life was available in Norman, Oklahoma.

Out of curiosity, we plunked down $10.00 and brought a copy of Royal Life home.

The publication is hilarious—loads of “current” stories and photographs about Queen Elizabeth II and her immediate family. We laughed for hours.

I especially enjoyed the article and photographs about Anne, The Princess Royal, and her recent visit to Canada. The Princess Royal appears to be the world’s biggest sourpuss.

Most of all, however, I treasured the article about Sarah Ferguson and her daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.

The article included the above photograph—which turned everyone in the house off lunch.

My dad called the photograph “Harlots On Tour”.

Merry Christmas

Tomorrow, Andrew and I will be off to Oklahoma.

My Favorite Paris Building

Les Invalides, in the snow, January 2013.

We spent an entire day at Les Invalides.

In Fact, The Mistranslation Is Automatic . . .

A stupid man’s report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.

Bertrand Russell

2004: USS Ronald Reagan Arrives In San Diego

USS Ronald Reagan arrives at its new homeport in San Diego in 2004, after a two-month transit from Norfolk, Virginia, in whose shipyards the USS Ronald Reagan had been constructed.

USS Ronald Reagan, a nuclear-powered supercarrier, is the most technologically-advanced aircraft carrier ever built. As an instrument of naval power, it is probably more valuable than entire fleets of mid-size naval powers such as Spain or Argentina.

USS Ronald Reagan is the first ship in the history of the U.S. Navy to be named for a former president still living at the time of the ship’s christening, an unprecedented honor.

If one enlarges the photograph, one may observe that sailors of the USS Ronald Reagan are manning the rails as the carrier arrives in San Diego harbor.

It must have been an inspiring, awe-inducing sight.