Frank Beacham's Journal

Václav Havel, Czech playwright, essayist, poet, philosopher, dissident and statesman, was born 86 years ago today

Václav Havel, Czech playwright, essayist, poet, philosopher, dissident and statesman, was born 86 years ago today.

From 1989 to 1993, Havel served as the first democratically elected president of Czechoslovakia in 41 years. He then served as the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003) after the Czech-Slovak split.

Within Czech literature, he is known for his plays, essays and memoirs. His educational opportunities limited by his bourgeois background, Havel first rose to prominence within the Prague theater world as a playwright.

Havel used the absurdist style in works such as The Garden Party and The Memorandum to critique communism.

After participating in Prague Spring and being blacklisted after the invasion of Czechoslovakia, he became more politically active and helped found several dissident initiatives such as Charter 77 and the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted.

His political activities brought him under the surveillance of the secret police and he spent multiple stints in prison — the longest, for nearly four years, between 1979 and 1983.

Havel's Civic Forum party played a major role in the Velvet Revolution that toppled communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989. He assumed the presidency shortly thereafter, and was reelected in a landslide the following year and after Slovak independence in 1993.

Havel was instrumental in dismantling the Warsaw Pact and expanding NATO membership eastward. Many of his stances and policies, such as his opposition to Slovak independence, condemnation of the Czechoslovak treatment of Sudeten Germans after World War II and granting of general amnesty to all those imprisoned under communism, were very controversial domestically.

As such, Havel continually enjoyed greater popularity abroad than at home.

Havel continued his life as a public intellectual after his presidency, launching several initiatives including the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism, the VIZE 97 Foundation and the Forum 2000 annual conference.

Havel's political philosophy was one of anti-consumerism, humanitarianism, environmentalism, civil activism and direct democracy. He supported the Czech Green Party from 2004 until his death.

He received numerous accolades during his lifetime including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Gandhi Peace Prize, the Philadelphia Liberty Medal, the Order of Canada, the Four Freedoms Award, the Ambassador of Conscience Award and the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award.

He is considered, by some, one of the most important intellectuals of the 20th century.

Havel died on the morning of December 18, 2011 at age 75.

On this day in 1924 — 98 years ago — future President Jimmy Carter was born in Plains, Georgia

In the early 1980s, Frank Beacham and Carol Dickman engag former President Carter in a long conversation about woodworking. Carter’s former staff had given him some tools and he was making furniture, which he was quite excited about.

On this day in 1924 — 98 years ago — future President Jimmy Carter was born in Plains, Georgia.

Carter was the son of a peanut farmer and was the first president to be born in a hospital. He was raised a devoted Southern Baptist and graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1946. He married Rosalynn Smith later that year.

After graduation, Carter served in the Navy’s new nuclear submarine program and was looking forward to a career in the Navy when his father passed away in 1953. The Carters dutifully returned to Georgia and took over the family farm.

Back in Plains, Carter became involved in local politics, serving first on the school board and working his way up to a seat on the George State Planning Commission. In 1962, he was elected to the George Senate. Nine years later, he became governor.

A liberal Democrat, Carter launched a campaign against Republican presidential incumbent, Gerald Ford, in 1974, after former President Richard Nixon had resigned due to his involvement in the Watergate scandal. Ford, who assumed office immediately upon Nixon’s resignation in 1974, pardoned his former boss, enraging many who thought Nixon should have had to stand trial.

Carter’s "Washington outsider" persona helped him win the White House in 1976. Carter’s tenure as president was most notable for his alternative-energy policies, racial-equality programs and friendly overtures toward Russia.

He was instrumental in brokering a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt and signed an arms-reduction treaty with the Soviet Union (SALT II). These triumphs, however, were overshadowed by his inability to lead the nation out of a crippling energy crunch caused by the OPEC oil embargo of 1973.

On top of his administration’s failure to effectively combat the energy crisis, which in turn contributed to rapidly rising inflation, Carter’s administration was forced to deal with another crisis.

In 1979, an Islamist student group in Iran stormed the U.S. embassy in Teheran, holding 70 Americans hostage for 444 days. Carter’s failure to secure the release of the hostages, the ongoing recession and a growing movement toward conservatism in America contributed to Carter’s loss to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential campaign.

The Carters have since stayed active in national and international affairs. In 1982, they founded the Carter Center in Atlanta to advocate for human rights and to alleviate "unnecessary human suffering" around the world.

Since 1984, the Carters have given their time each year to build homes and raise awareness of homelessness with the international charitable organization Habitat for Humanity.

In 2002, Carter won the prestigious Nobel Prize for his efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights and to promote economic and social development.

On August 3, 2015, Carter underwent elective surgery to remove "a small mass" on his liver and his prognosis for a full recovery was initially said to be "excellent." On August 12, however, Carter announced he had been diagnosed with cancer that had metastasized, without specifying where the cancer had originated.

On August 20, he disclosed that melanoma had been found in his brain and liver, and that he had begun treatment with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab and was about to start radiation therapy. His healthcare is being managed by Emory Healthcare of Atlanta.

On December 6, 2015, Carter issued a statement that his medical scans no longer showed any cancer.

I had many encounters with Carter through the years. He even used my office to make phone calls when he was campaigning for president. I later travelled to Europe and the Normandy coast in France with Carter when he was president in 1979.

The trial for eight antiwar activists charged with the responsibility for the violent demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago on this day in 1969 — 53 years ago today

Photo by Richard Avedon

The trial for eight antiwar activists charged with the responsibility for the violent demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago on this day in 1969 — 53 years ago today.

The defendants included David Dellinger of the National Mobilization Committee (NMC); Rennie Davis and Thomas Hayden of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, founders of the Youth International Party ("Yippies"); and two lesser known activists, Lee Weiner and John Froines.

Bobby Seale, the eighth man charged, had his trial severed during the proceedings, lowering the number of defendants from eight to seven. The group was charged with conspiracy to cross state lines with intent to incite a riot. All but Seale were represented by attorneys William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass.

The trial, presided over by Judge Julius Hoffman, turned into a circus as the defendants and their attorneys used the court as a platform to attack Nixon, the war, racism and oppression. Their tactics were so disruptive that at one point, Judge Hoffman ordered Seale gagged and strapped to his chair.

The Chicago Seven were indicted for violating the Rap Brown law, which had been tagged onto the Civil Rights Bill earlier that year by conservative senators. The law made it illegal to cross state lines in order to riot or to conspire to use interstate commerce to incite rioting. President Johnson's attorney general, Ramsey Clark, refused to prosecute the case.

When the trial ended in February, 1970, Hoffman found the defendants and their attorneys guilty of 175 counts of contempt of court and sentenced them to terms between two to four years. Although declaring the defendants not guilty of conspiracy, the jury found all but Froines and Weiner guilty of intent to riot. The others were each sentenced to five years and fined $5,000.

However, none served time because in 1972, a Court of Appeal overturned the criminal convictions and eventually most of the contempt charges were dropped as well.

On this day in 1944 — 78 years ago — President Franklin D. Roosevelt had to answer critics who made his Scottish terrier, Fala, a campaign issue in the heat of his re-election race

On this day in 1944 — 78 years ago — President Franklin D. Roosevelt had to answer critics who made his Scottish terrier, Fala, a campaign issue in the heat of his re-election race.

They claimed that Roosevelt had left Fala behind after a visit to the Aleutian Islands, and then sent a military ship to rescue the dog. The accusation was never proved.

“I don’t resent attacks, and my family doesn’t resent attacks, but Fala does resent them,” Roosevelt said, in a rebuttal inspired by his friend, Orson Welles.

“You know, Fala is Scotch, and being a Scottie, as soon as he learned that the Republican fiction writers in Congress and out had concocted a story that I'd left him behind on an Aleutian island and had sent a destroyer back to find him — at a cost to the taxpayers of two or three, or eight or twenty million dollars — his Scotch soul was furious. He has not been the same dog since. I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself ... But I think I have a right to resent, to object, to libelous statements about my dog,” the president said.

Roosevelt’s words delighted the public and the controversy was dropped.

Fala often slept at the foot of F.D.R.’s bed and was close to him until the end of the president’s life. The dog attended the Roosevelt funeral.

After the president’s death, Fala went to live with Mrs. Roosevelt in Val-Kill. The dog survived Roosevelt by seven years and was buried beside him. The relationship of Roosevelt and Fala is immortalized by a statue at Roosevelt’s memorial in Washington, D.C.

Thanks New York Times!

On this day in 1940 — 82 years ago — the first peacetime draft in the history of the United States was imposed

Vietnam Veterans Against the War, 1972

Photo by Frank Beacham

On this day in 1940 — 82 years ago — the first peacetime draft in the history of the United States was imposed.

It came in the form of the Burke-Wadsworth Act, passed by Congress by wide margins in both houses. The measure gave birth to the Selective Service.

The registration of men between the ages of 21 and 36 began exactly one month later, as Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, who had been a key player in moving the Roosevelt administration away from a foreign policy of strict neutrality, began drawing draft numbers out of a glass bowl.

The numbers were handed to the president, who read them aloud for public announcement. There were some 20 million eligible young men — 50 percent were rejected the very first year, either for health reasons or illiteracy (20 percent of those who registered were illiterate).

In November, 1942, with the United States now a participant in the war, and not merely a neutral bystander, the draft ages expanded. Men 18 to 37 were made eligible.

Blacks were passed over for the draft because of racist assumptions about their abilities and the viability of a mixed-race military. But this changed in 1943, when a "quota" was imposed, meant to limit the numbers of blacks drafted to reflect their numbers in the overall population, roughly 10.6 percent of the whole.

Initially, blacks were restricted to "labor units," but this too ended as the war progressed, when they were finally used in combat.

"Conscientious objector" (CO) status was granted to those who could demonstrate "sincerity of belief in religious teachings combined with a profound moral aversion to war."

Quakers made up most of the COs, but 75 percent of those Quakers who were drafted fought. COs had to perform alternate service in Civilian Public Service Camps, which entailed long hours of hazardous work for no compensation.

About 5,000 to 6,000 men were imprisoned for failing to register or serve the nation in any form. These numbers were comprised mostly of Jehovah's Witnesses.

By war's end, approximately 34 million men had registered and 10 million served with the military. However, the draft laws remained intact.

Of the more than 72,000 men registering as conscientious objectors (CO), nearly 52,000 received CO status. Of these, over 25,000 entered the military in noncombatant roles, another 12,000 went to civilian work camps and nearly 6,000 went to prison.

Draft evasion only accounted for about four percent of the total inducted. About 373,000 alleged evaders were investigated with just over 16,000 being imprisoned.

The large cohort of Baby Boomers who became eligible for military service during the Vietnam War was responsible for a steep increase in the number of exemptions and deferments, especially for college students.

Besides being able to avoid the draft, college graduates who volunteered for military service (primarily as commissioned officers) had a much better chance of securing a preferential posting compared to less-educated inductees.

As U.S. troop strength in Vietnam increased, more young men were drafted for service there, and many of those still at home sought means of avoiding the draft.

Since only 15,000 National Guard and Reserve soldiers were sent to Vietnam, enlistment in the Guard or the Reserves became a popular means of avoiding serving in a war zone.

For those who could meet the more stringent enlistment standards, service in the Air Force, Navy or Coast Guard was a means of reducing the chances of being killed. Vocations to the ministry and the rabbinate soared, because divinity students were exempt from the draft.

Doctors and draft board members found themselves being pressured by relatives or family friends to exempt potential draftees.

Some conscientious objectors objected to the war based on the theory of Just War. One of these, Stephen Spiro, was convicted of avoiding the draft, but given a suspended sentence of five years. He was later pardoned by President Gerald Ford.

There were 8,744,000 service members between 1964 and 1975, of whom 3,403,000 were deployed to Southeast Asia.

From a pool of approximately 27 million, the draft raised 2,215,000 men for military service (in the United States, Vietnam, West Germany and elsewhere) during the Vietnam era.

The draft has also been credited with "encouraging" many of the 8.7 million "volunteers" to join rather than risk being drafted. The majority of servicemen deployed to Vietnam were volunteers.

Of the nearly 16 million men not engaged in active military service, 57 percent were exempted (typically because of jobs including other military service), deferred (usually for educational reasons), or disqualified (usually for physical and mental deficiencies but also for criminal records including draft violations).

During the 1968 presidential election, Richard Nixon campaigned on a promise to end the draft. He had first become interested in the idea of an all-volunteer army during his time out of office, based upon a paper by Martin Anderson of Columbia University.

Nixon also saw ending the draft as an effective way to undermine the anti-Vietnam war movement, since he believed affluent youths would stop protesting the war once their own probability of having to fight in it was gone.

There was opposition to the all-volunteer notion from both the Department of Defense and Congress, so Nixon took no immediate action towards ending the draft early in his presidency.

Instead, the Gates Commission was formed, headed by Thomas S. Gates, Jr., a former Secretary of Defense in the Eisenhower administration. Gates initially opposed the all-volunteer army idea, but changed his mind during the course of the 15-member commission's work.

The Gates Commission issued its report in February, 1970, describing how adequate military strength could be maintained without having conscription. The existing draft law was expiring at the end of June, 1971, but the Department of Defense and Nixon administration decided the draft needed to continue for at least some time.

In February, 1971, the administration requested of Congress a two-year extension of the draft, to June 1973. It was approved.

Meanwhile, military pay was increased as an incentive to attract volunteers, and television advertising for the U.S. Army began. With the end of active U.S. ground participation in Vietnam, December, 1972 saw the last men conscripted, who were born in 1952 and who reported for duty in June, 1973.

On February 2, 1972, a drawing was held to determine draft priority numbers for men born in 1953, but in early 1973 it was announced that no further draft orders would be issued.

In March, 1973, 1974 and 1975, the Selective Service assigned draft priority numbers for all men born in 1954, 1955 and 1956, in case the draft was extended, but it never was. Jeff Mellinger, the last drafted enlisted ranked soldier still on active duty, retired in 2011.

The pressures of the draft during the Vietnam war had a great effect on the music produced in the period and shaped the classic rock and roll that is still played today.

On this day in 1970, Vice President Spiro Agnew said in a speech that the youth of America were being "brainwashed into a drug culture" by rock music, movies, books and underground newspapers

On this day in 1970, Vice President Spiro Agnew said in a speech that the youth of America were being "brainwashed into a drug culture" by rock music, movies, books and underground newspapers.

Three years later, Agnew resigned from office after being charged with extortion, bribery and conspiracy.

Above, Ralph Steadman depicted Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon at the 1972 Republican National convention in Miami

On this day in 1953 — 69 years ago today — Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy, the future 35th president of the United States, married Jacqueline Bouvier in Newport, Rhode Island

On this day in 1953 — 69 years ago today — Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy, the future 35th president of the United States, married Jacqueline Bouvier in Newport, Rhode Island.

Seven years later, the couple would become the youngest president and first lady in American history.

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy was born into a prominent New York family in 1929 and grew into an avid horsewoman and reader. In 1951, after graduating from George Washington University, Jackie, as she was called, took a tour of Europe.

That fall, she returned to the U.S. to begin her first job as the Washington Times-Herald's "Inquiring Camera Girl." Shortly afterward, she met a young, handsome senator from Massachusetts named John Kennedy at a dinner party in Georgetown.

They dated over the next two years, during which time Jackie mused at the idea that she might actually marry a man who was allergic to horses, something she never thought she would have considered. In 1953, the two were engaged, when Kennedy gave Jackie a 2.88-carat diamond-and-emerald ring from Van Cleef and Arpels.

"Jack," as Kennedy was called, and Jackie married on September 12, 1953, at St. Mary's Church in Newport, Rhode Island. Jackie wore an ivory silk gown made by Ann Lowe, an African-American designer.

The Catholic mass was attended by 750 guests and an additional 450 people joined the wedding reception at Hammersmith Farm. The couple danced to the Meyer Davis Orchestra's version of "I Married an Angel." Davis had also performed at Jackie's parents' wedding and at Kennedy's inaugural ball.

Thanks History.com

Jimmie Davis, country singer and former two-term governor of Louisiana, was born 123 years ago today

Jimmie Davis, country singer and former two-term governor of Louisiana, was born 123 years ago today.

A noted singer of both sacred and popular songs who served two nonconsecutive terms as the Governor of Louisiana (1944–1948 and 1960–1964), Davis was a nationally popular country music and gospel singer from the 1930s into the 1960s, occasionally recording and performing as late as the early 1990s.

Born in 1899 to a sharecropping couple, the family was so poor that young Jimmie did not have a bed in which to sleep until he was nine years old.

Davis graduated from Beech Springs High School and Soule Business College, New Orleans campus. He received his bachelor's degree in history from the Baptist-affiliated Louisiana College in Pineville and received a master's degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Davis's 1927 master's thesis examined the intelligence levels of different races, and is titled Comparative Intelligence of Whites, Blacks and Mulattoes. He taught history (and, unofficially, yodeling) for a year at the former Dodd College for Girls in Shreveport during the late 1920s.

He was hired by the college president, Monroe Elmon Dodd, who was also the pastor of the large First Baptist Church of Shreveport and a pioneer radio preacher. Davis became a commercially successful singer of rural music before he entered politics.

His early work was in the style of early country music luminary, Jimmie Rodgers, and he was also known for recording energetic and raunchy blues tunes like, "Red Nightgown Blues.” Some of these records included slide guitar accompaniment by black bluesman, Oscar "Buddy" Woods.

During his first run for governor, opponents reprinted the lyrics of some of these songs in order to undermine Davis's campaign. In one case, anti-Davis forces played some of the records over an outdoor sound system only to give up after the crowds started dancing, ignoring the double-entendre lyrics.

Davis until the end of his life never denied or repudiated those records. He is associated with several popular songs, most notably "You Are My Sunshine,” which was designated an official state song of Louisiana in 1977. He claimed that he wrote the song while attending graduate school at LSU, but research indicates he bought it from another performer.

The practice of buying songs from their composers was a common practice during the 1930s through the 1960s as some writers in need of cash often sold tunes to others. "You Are My Sunshine" was ranked #73 on CMT's 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music in 2003. Until his death, Davis insisted that he wrote the song. In any case, it will forever be associated with him.

Davis became the popular "singing governor" who often performed during his campaign stops. While governor, he had a #1 hit single in 1945 with "There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder.”

Davis recorded for Decca Records for decades and released over 40 albums. A number of his songs were used as part of motion picture soundtracks, and Davis himself appeared in half a dozen films, one with the popular entertainers Ozzie and Harriet.

Members of Davis' last band included Allen "Puddler" Harris of Lake Charles, who had also been an original pianist of Ricky Nelson.

Davis died in 2000 at age 101.

Here, Davis sings “You Are My Sunshine”

Charles Evers, brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, was born 100 years ago today

1971 Mississippi campaign for governor. Evers is in the center and a 23-year-old Frank Beacham on the top right

Charles Evers, brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, was born 100 years ago today.

In 1969, Evers became the first African American since the Reconstruction era to have been elected as mayor in a Mississippi city, Fayette, in Jefferson County. In 1971, he ran for governor and later for the U.S. Senate in 1978, both times as an Independent candidate.

As a young reporter for United Press International assigned to the final days of the civil rights movement, I covered Evers' 1971 campaign for governor. He was a fascinating man in a fascinating time.

During World War II, Charles and Medgar Evers both served in the United States Army. Charles fell in love with a Filipino woman overseas. He could not marry her and go to his native Mississippi because of her "white" skin color. Mississippi had enshrined Jim Crow rules in its constitution, which prohibited interracial marriages.

In Mississippi in 1951, Charles and Medgar grew interested in African freedom movements. They were interested in Jomo Kenyatta and the rise of the Kikuyu tribal resistance to colonialism in Kenya, known as the "Mau-Mau" Rebellion as it moved to open violence.

Along with his brother, Charles became active in the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL), a civil rights organization that also promoted self-help and business ownership. He drew inspiration from Dr. T. R. M. Howard, the president of the RCNL, who was one of the wealthiest blacks in the state.

Between 1952 and 1955, Evers often spoke at the RCNL's annual conferences in Mound Bayou on such issues as voting rights. Around 1956, Evers's entrepreneurial gifts and his civil rights activism landed him in trouble in Philadelphia, Mississippi. He left town and moved to Chicago.

There, he vowed to support the movement back home, and fell into a life of hustling, running numbers for organized crime and managing prostitutes. The money he made was said to have been substantial, and much of it was used to underwrite the Civil Rights Movement.

In 1963, Byron De La Beckwith shot Medgar Evers as he arrived home from work. Evers died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. Charles Evers was shocked and deeply upset by news of his brother's death.

Over the opposition of more establishment figures in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) like Roy Wilkins, Charles took over Medgar's post as head of the NAACP in Mississippi.

In 1969, Charles Evers was elected mayor of Fayette, Mississippi, the first African-American mayor in his state since Reconstruction. By then, Fayette had a majority of black residents, but African Americans had been effectively disfranchised in Mississippi from 1890 until passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Fayette had no industry, which meant it had almost no residents who had grown up outside the area. Its white community was known to be hostile towards blacks. Evers' election as mayor had enormous symbolic significance statewide and national resonance. The NAACP named Evers the 1969 "Man of the Year."

John Updike mentioned Evers in his popular novel, Rabbit Redux. Evers popularized the slogan, "Hands that picked cotton can now pick the mayor." Evers served many terms as mayor of Fayette. Admired by some, he alienated others with his inflexible stands on various issues. Evers did not like to share or delegate power.

The political rival who finally defeated Evers in a mayoral election used the slogan: "We've seen what Fayette can do for one man. Now let's see what one man can do for Fayette."

In 1971, Evers ran but was defeated in the gubernatorial general election by Democrat William "Bill" Waller, 601,222 (77 percent) to 172,762 (22.1 percent). Waller had been the original prosecutor of Byron De La Beckwith.

In 1978, Evers ran for the Senate seat vacated by James O. Eastland. He finished in third place behind his opponents, Democrat Maurice Dantin and Republican Thad Cochran, but he received 24 percent of the vote. Cochran won the election and still holds the Senate seat.

Evers died on July 22, 2020 in Brandon, Mississippi at the age of 97.

On this day in 1951 — 71 years ago today — President Harry S. Truman's opening speech before a conference in San Francisco was broadcast across the nation, marking the first time a television program was broadcast from coast to coast

On this day in 1951 — 71 years ago today — President Harry S. Truman's opening speech before a conference in San Francisco was broadcast across the nation, marking the first time a television program was broadcast from coast to coast.

The speech focused on Truman's acceptance of a treaty that officially ended America's post-World War II occupation of Japan. The broadcast, using microwave technology, was picked up by 87 stations in 47 cities.

It’s hard to believe, with the deep the effects television has had on our culture, that the medium is still so young. Television, of course, is now in every nook and cranny of American life. It has not been with us forever, as many seem to think.

Today, television has mostly become a tool of political propaganda. It is long past time for a national debate and a critical reassessment of the effects television has had on our culture.

Thanks History.com