Regarding the situation at Columbia University, my friend Jim Dueholm sent me the following message: In watching what's happening on the Columbia campus, I recalled Eisenhower had been Columbia president for four years. I wonder what the five-star general would have done to bring peace to the campus, free Jewish students from fear and allow them to go back to class, and punish the malefactors?
Those are indeed the things Ike could have done and probably would have done. Presaging his deployment of the 101st Airborne to Little Rock, he also may have called for the national guard, since the mayor is apparently unwilling to deploy police force adequate to clear out the mob to the extent necessary to return the campus to normal. The Posse Comitatus Act bars federal troops from quelling domestic violence (except, I assume, to enforce federal law), but the Act doesn't apply to national guard troops controlled by a state. Thomas Dewey, a Republican, was New York governor when Ike was Columbia president, so Ike could have asked the governor to deploy the guard, and Dewey probably would have agreed to do so. New York now has a Democratic governor, but Biden won't call for the guard, and the governor would probably spurn him if he did. In the run up to January 6, 2021, Trump authorized use of the DC national guard on January 6, but the mayor and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to call for them. Jim Dueholm
Note that the time you discuss, that of the Civil Rights movement had its issues with moral confusion as well. We won't even discuss the segregationists who were purely evil. But let's discuss Southern Democrats who recognized it has wrong but we're afraid to speak. I don't think a single one ever did. I seriously doubt that Al Gore Sr, a died in the wool liberal on every issue but this one was in his heart of hearts a believer in segregation. But he did not dare speak a word. Even worse let's discuss the generations of Democrats from Wilson to FDR who ignored the plight of southern blacks because of electoral politics. So it's an old story. But today of course there is no risk to being a normal Democrat. Joe Biden won't lose the election if he strongly denounces the insanity at Columbia and elsewhere. Or if he stands by Israel rather than parrot Hamas lies. But he does it anyway. 3 cheers for Ike. I suspect Reagan and both Bush's would have done the same thing. And ultimately after trying to find a compromise I even think Clinton would have. Trump? Not so sure. He'd rather bellow and pronounce than actually do anything. But today's Democrats? Unless they are named Fetterman or Torres they are on the side of evil here.
Those are indeed the things Ike could have done and probably would have done. Presaging his deployment of the 101st Airborne to Little Rock, he also may have called for the national guard, since the mayor is apparently unwilling to deploy police force adequate to clear out the mob to the extent necessary to return the campus to normal. The Posse Comitatus Act bars federal troops from quelling domestic violence (except, I assume, to enforce federal law), but the Act doesn't apply to national guard troops controlled by a state. Thomas Dewey, a Republican, was New York governor when Ike was Columbia president, so Ike could have asked the governor to deploy the guard, and Dewey probably would have agreed to do so. New York now has a Democratic governor, but Biden won't call for the guard, and the governor would probably spurn him if he did. In the run up to January 6, 2021, Trump authorized use of the DC national guard on January 6, but the mayor and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to call for them. Jim Dueholm
Note that the time you discuss, that of the Civil Rights movement had its issues with moral confusion as well. We won't even discuss the segregationists who were purely evil. But let's discuss Southern Democrats who recognized it has wrong but we're afraid to speak. I don't think a single one ever did. I seriously doubt that Al Gore Sr, a died in the wool liberal on every issue but this one was in his heart of hearts a believer in segregation. But he did not dare speak a word. Even worse let's discuss the generations of Democrats from Wilson to FDR who ignored the plight of southern blacks because of electoral politics. So it's an old story. But today of course there is no risk to being a normal Democrat. Joe Biden won't lose the election if he strongly denounces the insanity at Columbia and elsewhere. Or if he stands by Israel rather than parrot Hamas lies. But he does it anyway. 3 cheers for Ike. I suspect Reagan and both Bush's would have done the same thing. And ultimately after trying to find a compromise I even think Clinton would have. Trump? Not so sure. He'd rather bellow and pronounce than actually do anything. But today's Democrats? Unless they are named Fetterman or Torres they are on the side of evil here.
What is going on at campuses makes me sad. I generalized resistance in society to hold miscreants to account. I think we should doxx them all