June 15, 2019

"I like the concept of red, white and blue. The baby blue doesn’t fit with us."

Said President Trump about his choice of a new color scheme for the Air Force One planes (that will be delivered in 2024, after he's gone from office (unless he does that thing some people furiously ideate about and stays though his term is up)).

I'm reading the quote in the NYT, which adds:
The current plane’s design is closely associated with John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, who chose the colors in consultation with the famed French designer Raymond Loewy.

The Kennedys both disliked the look of the plane under President Eisenhower, changing the paint scheme from orange to a lighter blue. They took care with the design because they wanted to present a less militaristic image to the rest of the world.

In their reimagining, “The United States of America” was emblazoned on the side of the plane, the font a close match to one used in the printing of the United States Constitution. The plane’s new look was unveiled in 1962....

And here's some classic Trump provocation:
“People get used to something,” Mr. Trump said, “and it was Jackie O.,” referring to Onassis, the last name Mrs. Kennedy took during her second marriage. “And that’s good,” Mr. Trump continued, “but we have our own Jackie O. today. It’s called Melania. We’ll call it Melania T.”

121 comments:

AllenS said...

Are earth tones out of the picture now?

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“It”?

Hahahaha. That’s how he thinks of his wife?

John henry said...

Why a French designer (in 62)?

Was there not a single American designer who could figure out how to paint a plane?

One more reason to loathe the Kennedys and the Kennedy presidency.

As if we didn't have enough already.

John Henry

mockturtle said...

Why a French designer (in 62)?

Because Jacquie idolized everything French.

tcrosse said...

Why a French designer (in 62)?

Loewy spent most of his professional career in the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1938.

chickelit said...

And that’s good,” Mr. Trump continued, “but we have our own Jackie O. today. It’s called Melania. We’ll call it Melania T.”

And that irritates the hell out of the Robin Givhans of the world who insist that Michelle O was the new Jackie O.

The Mouse that Roared said...

January 20, 2025.

He will still be there if he wins a second term.

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

Baby Blue is a good color. But the Red, White and Blue combination is better. That is our brand.

The Frenchies can use Baby Blue on their illegally subsidized Airbus Fleet.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Baby blue = Bernie Bros. Diapers. Socialism. Cradle to grave beta male.

Ann Althouse said...

Jackie Kennedy's feet look huge in that picture. I looked up the size: 10!

She was 5'7".

Melania, as long as we're comparing, is 5'11' and her shoe size is 10 1/2.

Ann Althouse said...

Loewy was a big deal. From Wikipedia:

"Raymond Loewy (November 5, 1893 – July 14, 1986) was a Franco–American industrial designer who achieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries. He was recognized for this by Time magazine and featured on its cover on October 31, 1949.

"He spent most of his professional career in the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1938. Among his designs were the Shell, Exxon, TWA and the former BP logos, the Greyhound Scenicruiser bus, Coca-Cola vending machines, the Lucky Strike package, Coldspot refrigerators, the Studebaker Avanti and Champion, and the Air Force One livery. He was involved with numerous railroad designs, including the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 and S-1 locomotives, the color scheme and Eagle motif for the first streamliners of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and a number of lesser known color scheme and car interior designs for other railroads. His career spanned seven decades.

"The press referred to Raymond Loewy as The Man Who Shaped America, The Father of Streamlining and The Father of Industrial Design."

Melania is also an immigrant. Immigrants are Americans. Many of the very best Americans are immigrants!

Michael K said...

That baby blue AF1 is the one in which Johnson took over Jackie's cabin on the way back from Dallas.

Ann Althouse said...

Do not use this space to express yourself with extra spaces or repeated extra words (for a graphic effect). Please only use words to generate meaning here. (Or link to things.)

I deleted a comment that had "ha" repeated about a thousand times.

Don't do that.

Francisco D said...

Jackie Kennedy's feet look huge in that picture. I looked up the size: 10!

I sold women's shoes on Michigan Avenue, 45 years ago. It was commonly believed that Jackie Kennedy wore size 7AA because that is what all the rich women on Lake Shore Drive wanted to wear.

Michael K said...

Legal immigrants.

Francisco D said...

Jackie Kennedy's feet look huge in that picture. I looked up the size: 10!

I sold women's shoes on Michigan Avenue, 45 years ago. It was commonly believed that Jackie Kennedy wore size 7AA because that is what all the rich women on Lake Shore Drive wanted to wear.

chuck said...

...they wanted to present a less militaristic image to the rest of the world.

I don't recall the US becoming less militaristic during the Kennedy administration, quite the opposite: the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban missile crisis, the Berlin Wall, the Vietnam intervention, the Belgian Congo. The Kennedy era was one PT 109 after another.

Meade said...

I don’t like the way that man with the Barry Goldwater glasses is trying to choke Jackie O.

Fernandinande said...

Jackie Kennedy looked like she had a touch of FAS.

chickelit said...

Dylan sang "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" just a couple years later.

LYNNDH said...

Que to Dems. Already they are saying NO. I mean the Dems all think change is the best thing going. No reason not to change the paint scheme. Another Trump yank of the Dem chain.

Birkel said...

He's leaving office on January 20, 2025.
So your math might be wrong.

chickelit said...

That baby blue AF1 is the one in which Johnson took over Jackie's cabin on the way back from Dallas.

Not just that, he was lying sprawled on it when she came back to the plane, still covered in JFK's blood. I think he apologized -- somewhat. This is all sourced from SS agents.

tcrosse said...

A high-school chum had one of these, but his Mom disposed of it while he was away in Viet Nam. He went on to be an industrial designer and actually work for Loewy for a while.But losing this car broke his heart.

Craig Howard said...

I like the current livery but Mr. Trump's idea is good, too.

But you just know it will become a controversy. Sigh.

gilbar said...

Igna said... That’s how he thinks of his wife?

Yes, Igna; i'm pretty sure that he Does that that his wife is It, And he probably thinks that she has IT

gilbar said...

seriously, are those Clown Shoes?

Original Mike said...

My mother told a story way back when of the Indian government wanting to make a gift of shoes to Jackie O (probably some traditional Indian thing) but couldn't because they weren't made that big.

Original Mike said...

"January 20, 2025.
He will still be there if he wins a second term."


He can fly home in it.

Otto said...

Melania has it all over Jackie. Melania is a sexy babe.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

OMG! Dissing the sainted Jackie O. Doggies, that Trump fellow do know how to stick a thumb in the Dem's eye.

Original Mike said...

I've never understood the adulation of Jackie O.

William said...

Is it absolutely necessary to politicize plane colors. I think the current colors are fine but if a new format is chosen, I'll be able to reconcile myself to the loss. Personally, I'd prefer all black with the front of the plane made up to look like a grinning death skull. That would be really cool and would let everyone know that they shouldn't fuck with America.

Automatic_Wing said...

The problem with Trump's design is that it looks like a generic airline livery that you might see in a movie or in some flight sim software. He's not wrong that the current livery looks a bit dated, but I don't think what's being proposed is an improvement.

stevew said...

Trump cracks me up. He is so good at trolling and tweaking everyone. Talking about the Kennedy presidency he refers to the first lady as Jackie O. And then uses "It" to refer to Melania - but he's referring back to the concept of Jackie O, the media darling and brand, not the human, so it fits.

Does the new color scheme complement Orange Man Bad?

Fernandinande said...

+1 for the skull on the front, plus flames along the engines and a low-rider air suspension so it can jump up into the air at takeoff.

U!S!

And horns that play "La Cucaracha".

A!

Automatic_Wing said...

Something like the Iron Maiden tour plane would be cool.

gilbar said...

would let everyone know that they shouldn't fuck with America.
I've always been surprised that we never put this on a flag.
Oh. wait sssss
or
sssss

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Iron maiden fills enough seats to be able to afford an entire aircraft?

I fail to compute.

Gahrie said...

I've never understood the adulation of Jackie O.

Relatively young, relatively beautiful, from the right social class, tragically widowed with two young children, widow to a slain Democratic Icon. It was a slam dunk. I have nothing bad to say about her however. She handled herself well no matter what life threw at her.

Gahrie said...

Iron maiden fills enough seats to be able to afford an entire aircraft?

The band has used several different jets, including a 757 and a 747. The lead singer is a rated airline pilot. The custom versions of these planes usually don't hold that many people, and I bet leasing one isn't all that much more expensive than simply buying commercial tickets for the band and crew.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Does the lead singer fly the plane? Cuz that would be great.

Original Mike said...

"Relatively young, relatively beautiful, from the right social class, tragically widowed with two young children, widow to a slain Democratic Icon. It was a slam dunk."

Well, sure, I guess I do "get it". More accurate to say, pre-assassination, it wasn't warranted (IMO). But I agree she handled herself well through very rough times.

Beasts of England said...

'Iron maiden fills enough seats to be able to afford an entire aircraft?'

I had the same reaction, but the article said it was a leased aircraft.

Yancey Ward said...

Trump is a genius at trolling the media, and they will take this bait, too.

Gahrie said...

Does the lead singer fly the plane? Cuz that would be great.

Yeah. His name is Bruce Dickinson. There's actually a documentary about the fact that the band leased their own jet, and Bruce did most of the flying, for their world tour in 2008.

From Wikipedia:

"Iron Maiden: Flight 666 documents the opening leg of the band's Somewhere Back in Time World Tour, which took place between February and March 2008. During this leg of the tour, the group travelled 50,000 miles (encompassing India, Australia and North and South America) in just 45 days, performing 23 shows in 13 countries to half a million fans. To achieve this, the band travelled in their own Boeing 757, nicknamed "Ed Force One" after the band's mascot, Eddie, which was specially converted to carry the band, their crew and twelve tonnes of equipment.
The aeroplane was largely piloted by the band's lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, who was then employed by Astraeus Airlines."

RK said...

Jackie Kennedy's feet look huge in that picture.

We'll find out that Trump reads Althouse if he tweets something about Jackie O's yuge feet.

Drago said...

Yancey Ward: "Trump is a genius at trolling the media, and they will take this bait, too"

All the leftist cultists/LLR-lefties will.

Hoax Dossier Truther Conspiracy kook Inga already has.

Admittedly, that was a very low bar.

Bob Smith said...

Dwight Eisenhower “Don’t get involved in a land war on the mainland of Asia” JFK. “Hold my beer” Then he sent almost 16,000 “military advisors” to South Vietnam. The moral of the story? Never let a bunch of bean counters fight a war.

Big Mike said...

There’s a difference of almost 56 years between JFK’s assassination and today; however right Jacqueline Kennedy was for the 1960s, we aren’t even in the same millennium. And Melania’s taste is impeccable, particularly when contrasted with Hillary’s pantsuits.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

today's lefties shouldnt mind--
they're Red, White and feeling quite Blue.

Did Ed Sullivan ever introduce Jackie O?--
"Tonite, we've got a really big shoe"

Big Mike said...

@Althouse (8:55), thanks for educating your commentariat about Raymond Loewy. I was familiar with his work, mostly because for years I was in love with the Studebaker Avanti, a car that looked surprisingly contemporary decades after it was introduced. You can still see them at classic car shows, and their owners are almost fanatical in their devotion. In my opinion the Times erred (what’s new?) in calling him a French designer. French-born, yes, but his best work was done for American companies during the Art Deco era and thereafter.

Darrell said...

Melania as nose art on Air Force 1?

I'd like to see that.

Narr said...

JFK wanted to move away from fuddy-duddy Ike's massive retaliation strategy, so proceeded to re-fund the ground forces. The whole helicopter fixation, the Green Berets, it was all calculated to project America's can-do, willing, up-to-the-minute mastery of high-tech conventional and unconventional war.

And I can never resist the chance to rudely point out that if the S Vietnamese elites hadn't been Kennedy co-religionists, we might have avoided the whole stinking mess. That was completely unwarranted intrusion of religious sentiment into governmental policy.

As for Jackie, yeah, attractive woman, willing to keep up appearances and not see the obvious. Handled widowhood pretty well afaik.

Narr
Sold ladies' better shoes one year--from petite 5 1/2s to plowhorse 13s

Narr said...

It's a small sample, but several African-American female former colleagues I have seen in the last few weeks on campus express a lot of admiration for Melania's style.

Narr
politics doesn't come up

Milwaukie guy said...

Loewy should be called a Franco-American. There could be Franca-Americans, too.

Hagar said...

He is trolling them - again.

The sketches do indeed look like new color scheme proposals for American Airlines or whatever.

Nothing says Air Force 1 like the existing scheme - even if it is credited to Jackie O.
Leave it alone!

rcocean said...

"Melania T.” - haha.

rcocean said...

Robin Givhans - why has Althouse given up on her?

Leland said...

The new livery looks fine and has all the US colors. It also won't have a militaristic look. I don't think this change is as big a deal as the Clintons changing the US Army's long term ad campaign and giving them berets.

rcocean said...

Any other President - this would be applauded. But its Orange man. And he's always bad.

rehajm said...

Let Ralph Lauren design the scheme. He can do red white and blue.

rehajm said...

Trump's design is nice.

He could have said gold, gold and gold you haters...

narciso said...

That's part of it, spellman Douglas and Mr. Vandenheuvel were the ones that found diem in a Maryland monastery, but moyar points out he was head and shoulders above his successors

narciso said...

It was only the likes of halberstam who was listening to a vietcong mole (something) Pham who got the wrong story.

rcocean said...

halberstam wrote one good book "best and the brightest" - then kept on inflicting his pompous verbose, conventional liberal establishment viewpoint on us for 30 years. Reading him was a cure for insomnia.

veni vidi vici said...

Why the "it"? That kind of grated on me, notwithstanding Don 'n Mel appear to be getting along well nowadays.

She's so magnificently lovely, I couldn't imagine her as an "it". But then, maybe things are different when one lives with her. I've dated my share of Eastern Euro / Slavic women, and they're pretty stern taskmasters!

traditionalguy said...

After careful consideration, Air Force One should be Purple. That will let everyone know the Emperor of the world has arrived. Trump may have thought of it , but it will give the Marxist Dems something to work harder for.

Jim at said...

Does the lead singer fly the plane? Cuz that would be great.

Yes. Bruce Dickinson pilots the jet.

Sally said...

She. Her.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Cool - a lead singer who pilots the band around. nifty.

narciso said...

Actually he got the premise wrong, as with his treatment of the China issue a decade before, it's the same story Bonner would tell of el Salvador before times management got him out.

Fen said...

Melania as nose art on Air Force 1? I'd like to see that.

Borrowed from the insightful Victory Girls blog

Maybe with MAGA in 24k Gold lettering? :)

walter said...

veni vidi vici said...Why the "it"? That kind of grated on me
--
The it refers to the scenario.
This isn't hard.

Jaq said...

When I am in WPB in the winter, I love driving by AF1 and knowing that POTUS Trump is in town. It gives me a chance to thank the Lord that it’s not parked in Chappaqua.

Jaq said...

Jackie Kennedy's feet look huge in that picture. I looked up the size: 10!

“Big hands, I know you’re the one!”

Did I just read a story in the New York Times largely centered on Trump where he was not attacked? I admit I only skimmed it, but it was kind of remarkable.

Vance said...

Hah, the thing is that not even the left can argue that Melania does not have taste. They may not agree with her style, but she undeniably has taste.

The story with Trump is "OrangeManBad cheat on lovely spouse!" So when "lovely Spouse" is involved, how can you attack it with the usual howling mob?

Besides, does anyone want to be on her bad side? Trump gives and takes but Melania looks like the kind of lady who is just as much at home in a dungeon sipping wine while telling the men to "turn the wheel another notch" as she is at a fancy dinner party.

Anonymous said...

veni vidi vici said...Why the "it"? That kind of grated on me

Trump was referring to "the thing" that people get used to. He referred the that thing as "the Jackie O" early in his comment and just stayed consistent throughout the thought.

narciso said...

Jackie was an auchincloss, in some obscure way related to gore vidal, so it would be closer to melania k, the whole daniels brouhaha, turned out to be as substantial as the claims the mail and the telegraph regurgitated against her,

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Cool - a lead singer who pilots the band around. nifty.

"Going Down" (Jeff Beck Group)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmzv5xJ4wE4

Anonymous said...

"When I am in WPB in the winter, I love driving by AF1 and knowing that POTUS Trump is in town. It gives me a chance to thank the Lord that it’s not parked in Chappaqua."

https://www.bradenton.com/news/politics-government/article231527273.html

Trump is coming to his Doral Resort next week for an event. My worksite borders the club. I collect errant golf balls that land in our plant. Nowhere for AF1 to land, but I expect I'll see an impressive array of helicopters.

--Rt1Rebel

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Man, I would would think being sober enough to fly a plane would be against IM's image!

Inga...Allie Oop said...

When are you dummies going to stop making excuses for Trump? No he wasn’t talking about some “scenario” or “thing people get used to” he called his wife an “it”.

Michael K said...

When are you dummies going to stop making excuses for Trump?

Probably late January, 2025, you idiot.

Anonymous said...

It's called reading, Inga, you should learn about it.

walter said...

When are you going to stop pathetically trying to twist absolutely everything into fake controversy?
Right. Never.

effinayright said...

Anyone notice how quickly Jackie Kennedy became "Jackie O" in our memories?

And does anyone remember that Homer Simpson's wife Marge's maiden name was Bouvier?

heh

walter said...

Inga and her ilk are the true "bitter clingers".

effinayright said...

veni vidi vici said...

...She's so magnificently lovely, I couldn't imagine her as an "it". But then, maybe things are different when one lives with her. I've dated my share of Eastern Euro / Slavic women, and they're pretty stern taskmasters!
***********

You mean..."when the whip comes down...."?

Fen said...

"Probably late January, 2025"

I dunno. I'm thinking since the President's agenda was hamstrung by a failed coup attempt, we should set aside the 22nd Amendment. Exceptional situation and all.

Don't worry, we'll put it back when he leaves office in 2032. Ish. ;)

narciso said...


https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2019/06/15/jim-acosta-notes-how-mitt-romneys-binders-full-of-women-gaffe-seems-downright-quaint-now/

Jaq said...

Binders full of women wasn't a gaffe, it was an opening for deliberate misunderstanding though.

Anonymous said...

Seems weird that binders full of women and a dog on the roof of a car may well be the two things that derailed Romney. But now that he has revealed his true character, I'm glad. If Romney had won election, we'd have had more of the same, and it would be impossible to dislodge, and Trump would never have been.

--Rt1Rebel

gadfly said...

Question for our money-hungry bureaucrats. If we need to buy four new Air Force Ones, why are we buying customized aircraft first built in 1969 whose principal use nowadays is hauling freight? Remember when Trump said he would not approve building the new planes, but then he decided that the colors should change to red white and blue modeled after Trump's own plane. If a paint job is all we need, just paint the current presidential aircraft because the Trumps will never fly on the new ones.

John Ray said...

Inga invents her own grammar, her privilege. Inga wants us to abide by her ***-up grammar rules. That's not allowed, Inga.

Livery color, maybe in F-22 or F-35 format. "Oh, you didn't see us coming?"

As to the former First Lady, she was Jackie before Jackie O. In either case, she handled herself very well. Except of course, when she poured 7-11 and K-Mart quality wine into bottles carrying expensive wine labels on front for White House guest consumption.

Big Mike said...

When are you dummies going to stop making excuses for Trump?

Dunno. When are YOU dummies going to pull your collective heads out of your collective asses? Shortly after that, I imagine.

Mark Daniels said...

Late to post a comment here, these comments by Trump struck me: "It’s called Melania. We’ll call it Melania T." The use of the third-person singular pronoun for his wife seems odd to me.

Also: Jackie Kennedy was called Jackie O because of her second husband, Aristotle Onassis. If she'd had such a nickname during her husband's presidential tenure, she would have been Jackie K. If the Trumps split and she remarries, the equivalent of the Jackie O nickname will be, "Melania [fill in the blank].'

madAsHell said...

Trump should paint the whole damn aircraft red, and then change the name to the Big Red One.

You know....you can't be one unless you got one!!

Mark Daniels said...

Trump's dismissal of "baby blue" as being inappropriate for the presidential plane overlooks the fact that the color, which could also be described as "sky blue" is at the center of the US Air Force logo. It seems appropriate for "Air Force One."

Churchy LaFemme: said...

The quote is perfectly clear.

People get used to "something". Once it was "Jackie O.". Now it is "Melania T."

The antecedant is "something". "IT" is the "something" people get used to.

It would be perfectly clear if the NYT hadn't added the parenthetical:

referring to Onassis, the last name Mrs. Kennedy took during her second marriage.

Which is maybe why they added it.

Jim at said...

he called his wife an “it”.

Which is far better than what the 73 drunken fools who bedded you had to say when they sobered up.

stevew said...

When are you dummies going to stop inventing controversy and outrage?

Anonymous said...

Personal pronoun/object abuse! Impeach!

Jaq said...

No he wasn’t talking about some “scenario” or “thing people get used to” he called his wife an “it”.

What thinking looks like south of the D-K line.

Jaq said...

"We have a new heavyweight champion, and it’s Mohamed Ali!”

OMG! You just called Ali an it!

Francisco D said...

When are you dummies going to stop making excuses for Trump? No he wasn’t talking about some “scenario” or “thing people get used to” he called his wife an “it”.

Inga sweetheart,

Have you heard of an "It Girl"?

She's the one that all the boys and girls liked and admired in HS. You know, the one you hated because you were fat, ugly and really stupid. She was smart, kind and attractive. Melania is our "It Girl" FLOTUS.

Drago said...

Mark Daniels: "Trump's dismissal of "baby blue" as being inappropriate for the presidential plane overlooks the fact that the color, which could also be described as "sky blue" is at the center of the US Air Force logo."

Even more reason to change it. The alignment with Air Force wuss robins egg blue coloring was incidental to the wuss frenchie who designed it.

Meade said...

I see Jackie was wearing her signature hat in that photo. Well, she looked so pretty in it
but I wonder if it was really the expensive kind.

Gk1 said...

To think I thought Trump would quit 2 years in because he hated the tedium of dealing with coup plotting swamp creatures and democratic media hacks but it's things like this he absolutely lives for. Putting his imprint on the presidency at every opportunity. This may be the last presidency that doesn't sell the rights to painting Air Force 1 with company sponsored logos after our govt. runs out of money.

Meade said...

Maybe I can jump on it sometime. And by “it” I mean the hat.

readering said...

Next up, freshen up the color of 1600 PA Ave.

Yancey Ward said...

I agree with readering for once- the White House should be gold......or orange.

John henry said...

Belay my earlier comment about why did we need a French designer.

I see now that he was an American designer, albeit born in France.

So why didn't the article point out that he was an American designer? Or, if they had to get the French reference in, a "Franco-American designer.

And we are supposed to trust the media? Why?

John Henry

Yancey Ward said...

Who is dumber than shit.....it's Inga.

John henry said...

No Fen, no MAGA.

How about "JOBS!" instead?

H/t Scott adams

Or perhaps:

"Nancy sez'

'Jobs, Jobs, jobs. Let's vote for jobs'"

H/t noagendashow.com

John Henry

John henry said...

William,

Love the idea of the death skull. It would be a very tough sell, though.

How about shark teeth instead? When fascists complain, he can explain that it is in memory of the American Volunteer Group known as the flying tigers and the civilian American pilots who gave their lives for a free China.

Much harder to object to.

John Henry

John henry said...

Rcocean,

I read best and the brightest in the 70s and don't remember much about it.

More recently, past 10 years or so, I've read his "the coldest winter" about the Korean War and "the reckoning" (name?) about the US and Japanese auto industries.

I was favorably impressed by both.

Started reading his book about the 50s but just could not get interested.

John Henry

Jaq said...

To think I thought Trump would quit 2 years in because he hated the tedium of dealing with coup plotting swamp creatures and democratic media hacks but it's things like this he absolutely lives for.

We are all just living in a Tom Wolfe novel and Trump is Sherman McCoy.

Jaq said...

This may be the last presidency that doesn't sell the rights to painting Air Force 1 with company sponsored logos after our govt. runs out of money.

In Infinite Jest the Trump-like POTUS sold the naming rights to years, oh yeah, an he was a experialist who gave back territory to shed the burden. “Hey Mexico, what would it take to get you to take California back?"

narciso said...

when you realize that Halberstam, misread the diem situation and that led to the coup that provoked this situation, one wonders how accurate the rest of the story is,

there are parallels with the way Brezhnev took out Amin, in 1979, and nearly 20 years the Russians did a similar thing with Dudayev,