Tag: Ike

Churchill, Ike, & The “Epic Human Tragedy” Of The First Wave At Omaha

Via ZeroHedge

On this 75th anniversary of the D-Day Normandy landings, the venerable UBS’ Art Cashin remembers:

Editor’s Note: The following historical note was originally presented by an old friend on the floor who is a military history buff. We didn’t have time to research it ourselves but he swears it’s true and, on the floor at least, your word is still your bond…so here goes a remarkable story.

On this day in 1944, Winston Churchill called Dwight Eisenhower. The conversation went something like this:

“Ike, I want you to put me on one of the ships to observe the invasion. We’ve waited so long for this moment. It will be a turning point in the history of all mankind. And, I can not send so many brave boys to meet danger or death without showing them I share some risk.”

Ike replied something like:

“Mr. Prime Minister, I understand your feelings completely. But you are such a symbol of the Allied cause that I cannot allow you to take the risk. If something happened to you, it would be a setback to the war effort no matter what fate we met on the beach.”

Churchill threatened to call FDR but Ike said he would resign before letting Churchill board the invasion fleet. Churchill then reminded Ike that he (Churchill) had once been First Lord of the Admiralty. Therefore, he said “I think I still have enough friends in the British Navy to get aboard some vessel whether you like it or not.”

The reply – “Perhaps, Mr. Prime Minister…but I assure you I shall do everything I can to prevent it.”

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Trump’s Not Like Ike

Guest Post by Bill Bonner

POITOU, FRANCE – Yesterday came word that the European Central Bank followed through, just like the Fed.

After $2.7 trillion in “stimulus,” it has officially taken its foot off the pedal.

No more bond purchases by the end of the year.

It follows the Fed in returning to “normal” monetary policy.

The announcement scarcely made the headlines. The media knows what keeps the public engaged – reality TV and fake news, mostly. Not central bank monetary policy.

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Libertarianism and War: The Rothbard Rule

Guest Post by Justin Raimondo
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The year was 1956: the icy winds of the cold war were blowing across the political landscape. And it was a presidential election year, pitting the internationalist Republican Dwight Eisenhower against Adlai Stevenson, the darling of the Democratic party’s left wing. The “isolationist” faction of the GOP, led by Sen. Robert A. Taft, had been finally defeated by what Phyllis Schlafly later called the Republican “kingmakers” of the Eastern Establishment. And the looming menace of the cold war turning hot was everywhere in the headlines. While Eisenhower was rallying the nation against the alleged Communist “threat,” Stevenson was calling for a nuclear test ban, negotiations with the Soviet Union, and an end to the military draft.

There was no organized libertarian movement at the time, although the people and institutions that would later emerge as the leadership were beginning to coalesce. Prominent among them was Murray Rothbard, then a thirty year old economist and consultant for the Volker Fund, who was also the Washington correspondent for the quasi-libertarian Faith and Freedom magazine. While most if not all conservatives and libertarians favored Eisenhower, Rothbard shocked his readers with a ringing endorsement of the liberal Democrat Stevenson.

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