All the victims of war
Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. died yesterday. Tibbets lived in both Davenport and Des Moines, Iowa as a boy and grew up to become the pilot who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. His plane, the Enola Gay, was named for his mother, Enola Gay Haggard of Glidden, Iowa.In 2003, an interview with Tibbets appeared in the book "Hope Dies Last," written and collected by the oral historian Studs Terkel, in a chapter chronicling World War II. The interview profiled a man chosen by his government to carry out a horrific act of violence, and is fascinating in its revelation of a man who, as a piss and vinegar youth, was asked for more than surely any of us ever have been or will in "rendering unto Caesar."
A couple snippets...
(President Truman) had a big smile on his face, and he said, "General Spaatz, I want to congratulate you on being first chief of the air force," because it was no longer the Army Air Corps. Spaatz said, "Thank you, sir, it's a great honor, and I appreciate it." And he said to (General) Doolittle: "That was a magnificent thing you pulled flying off of that carrier," and Doolittle said, "All in a day's work, Mr. President." And he looked at Dave Shillen and said, "Colonel Shillen, I want to congratulate you on having the foresight to recognize the potential in aerial refueling. We're gonna need it bad someday." And he said thank you very much.
Then he looked at me for ten seconds and he didn't say anything. And when he finally did, he said, "What do you think? I said, "Mr. President, I think I did what I was told." He slapped his hand on the table and said: "You're damn right you did, and I'm the guy who sent you. If anybody gives you a hard time about it, refer them to me."
Studs: Do you ever have any second thoughts about the bomb?
Second thoughts? No. Studs, look, I got into the Army Corps to defend the United States to the best of my ability. On the way to the target I was thinking, I can't think of any mistakes I've made. Maybe I did make a mistake: maybe I was too damned assured. At twenty-nine years of age, I was so shot in the ass with confidence, I didn't think there was anything I couldn't do. Of course, that applied to airplanes and people. So, no, I had no problem with it. I knew we did the right thing. I thought, Yes, we're going to kill a lot of people, but by God we're going to save a lot of lives. We won't have to invade Japan.
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Studs: One big question. Since September eleventh, what are your thoughts? People talk about nukes, the hydrogen bomb.
Let's put it this way. I don't know any more about these terrorists than you do; I know nothing. When they bombed the Trade Center I couldn't believe what was going on. We've fought many enemies at different times. But we knew who they were and where they were. These people, we don't know who they are or where they are. That's the point that bothers me. Because they're gonna strike again, I'll put money on it, and it's going to be damned dramatic. But they're gonna do it in their own sweet time. We've got to get into a position where we can kill the bastards. None of this business of taking them to court. The hell with that. I wouldn't waste five seconds on them.
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Studs: When you hear people say, "Let's nuke 'em, let's nuke these people," what do you think?
Oh, I wouldn't hesitate if I had the choice. I'd wipe them out. You're gonna kill innocent people at the same time, but we've never fought a damn war anywhere in the world where they didn't kill innocent people. If the newspapers would just cut out the shit: "You've killed so many civilians." That's their tough luck for being there.
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Other topics:
It's difficult for outsiders to understand the interworkings of Hollywood and the issues at play with the looming strike of the Writers Guild, though all of us who occasionally enjoy their industry's product will soon be affected. Super-blogger Ken Levine, a former scribe for "M*A*S*H," "Cheers," and "Wings," provides a sense of the writers' posture and perspective here. It shouldn't be difficult for you to find the opposing perspective of the behemoth media conglomerates.
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Good for Barry. That's bullshit.
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Perhaps no political story today speaks more to the rotted-out state of the power structure of the Democratic party than the sorrowful treatment of the Dennis Kucinich presidential campaign by the party elites. The opening descriptions of the Chicago labor rally and its aftermath in this story make me want to cry in my soup. Labor in the United States has been awarded the raw deal it compromised to get.
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The Cardinals have a new general manager-- long-time front office lieutenant John Mozeliak. I'm just grateful that he's older than me.
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The viewing schedule for this year's Moeller Television Festival-- to be held at my place in Des Moines November 10th-- will be published on this site Sunday morning. With this daggum writers' strike staring us all down like a bully in the schoolyard, has there ever been a more fortuitous time to participate in this always exciting, educational, and sweetly-nostalgic event?
posted by CM @ 9:58 AM
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