News and Notes
Commentary From the Editors
Monday, March 01, 2010
John Wayne a Draft Dodger in World War II? The Argument Continues
Here for the first time is the first hard evidence that Wayne volunteered for potentially dangerous service with the equivalent of today's C.I.A., and the papers are not out of someone's attic, but official government documents.Big Hollywood has the latest public defense of the World War travails of John Wayne. The actor never quite made it into the service, instead spending the war years making movies and doing USO tours. His fans protest that Wayne tried to sign up, had a bad knee and a bad back, was deferred for family reasons, and so on.
This latest defense is based on an application Wayne apparently filed in 1943, hoping to get into Office of Strategic Services photo unit of director John Ford.
It's debatable whether getting into Ford's photo unit would have been the equivalent of "potentially dangerous service with the equivalent of today's C.I.A.," but let's just grant that it was. This argument, like so many others, still misses the point -- which is that even if rejected in this case (or others), John Wayne could still have signed up as an Army private at any time. He didn't.
In fact, the Big Hollywood article itself notes that point:
By 1943, with officer's slots all filled, the only way Wayne could have gone into the service was as an army private; he had waited too long. Years later Wayne told Dan Ford that as a private, "I felt it would be a waste of time to spend two years picking up cigarette butts. I thought I could do more for the war effort by staying in Hollywood.""Two years picking up cigarette butts" is a pretty cold quote about the contributions of Army privates, isn't it? Would any Hollywood actor (or politician) today get away with describing Army service during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as "two years picking up cigarette butts"?
Meanwhile, Clark Gable, at the time a far bigger star than Wayne (and at age 41, six years older) enlisted in the Army in 1942 and then went a step further and volunteered for combat duty. He also might have decided he could do more for the war effort by staying in Hollywood, but he didn't.
The point isn't really to knock Wayne. I like the guy, and I love many of his movies, especially those old beauties with Ford. And "draft dodger" isn't the right term anyway -- it's not like he fled the draft board and hid out.
The point that does matter to me is the historical one, which is that the loudest "patriots" and the strongest voices in favor of war are often people who avoided fighting one when they had the chance. Dick Cheney is only the latest example, with his infamous "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service" statement about joining up during Vietnam. We should be skeptical of those voices.
I think Wayne's an example of that idea. He was a big supporter of the Vietnam War, famously directing the film The Green Berets with its naive anti-war reporter being won over by The Truth as shown by Wayne's tough-guy Col. Kirby.
Again, no reason to knock Wayne personally. No doubt he did feel strongly about the Vietnam War. But in point of fact, lots of guys his age with bad knees and families made their way into the fighting in World War II, if they were determined enough. Wayne could have too, and didn't. This latest document doesn't seem to change that.
Labels: Dick Cheney, John Ford, John Wayne
Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 12:05 PM0 comments 
Monday, August 10, 2009
"For Bushies Only"
According to a report in The Raw Story, former staffers from the administration of President George W. Bush plan to create a social network, Facebook-style, specifically for fans and ex-employees of the former president.
It turns out there's already The Bush-Cheney Alumni Association, which is less of a social network and more of a collection of articles whose theme is "we didn't do so bad," mixed with a little "and anyway, this Obama guy isn't so hot, either."
We learned that the president and vice president really liked the troops. In one story, the president highjacks a couple of soldiers for two hours to talk to them about the difficulties in being president. In another story, we're told Vice President Dick Cheney liked to host parties for wounded troops, with live entertainment. With country music, but no rap, he says. "The country and western is sort of a compromise between old folks -- you know, the big band sound of the '50s and the rappers that the younger generation understands."
Another story included these details:
"On June 30 the vice president -- code-named "Angler" by the Secret Service for his love of fly-fishing -- staged a fly-fishing event on his lawn with a group of wounded troops being helped out by the charitable organization Project Healing Waters. Rather than the usual rubber waders and camouflage fishing hat, the vice president sported a dark suit, a white shirt, green tie and business shoes but still managed to show off his favorite fly-fishing cast to the troops. Instead of water, he aimed for a bright green patch of grass as the smiling military men and their wives picked up tips and practiced themselves."
We have plenty of presidential stories on Who2. We also have a list of all the presidents for easy reference, we have profiles of First Ladies and a special feature on The Unfinished Terms of Vice Presidents.
Labels: Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Presidents
Posted by Mr. Hehn at 4:06 PM0 comments
