John Adams

Recently I finished a seven-episode miniseries from HBO, “John Adams”.  It’s about our second President, played by Paul Giamatti.  He’s taken various roles here and there, usually fairly snarky, but the best and most memorable, aside from this one, was in “Sideways”, wherein he expresses an intense dislike for merlot.   Rest assured, viewers, our second President made no such preferences – at least not in this miniseries.

Background.   JA was a lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts around the time of the American Revolution.  His first claim to fame was defending the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre – and he got them off.  FYI, Sam Adams (as in the beer) was his cousin.

Next assignment:  getting all the states on board for the Declaration of Independence.  For that he had to work with Thomas Jefferson (Virginia), herein played by Stephen Dillane, better known to us as Stannis Baratheon on “Game of Thrones”, and Benjamin Franklin (Pennsylvania), played by Tom Wilkinson.   Although George Washington has a substantial role – as you would imagine – he’s played kind of low-key here.  It looks like Adams was a major actor in getting this done, for which he doesn’t seem to get much, if any, credit.  Hancock seems to get all the attention because of his snazzy signature, and Jefferson for actually writing the damn thing. 

Third Assignment:  while the War was going on, Adams was sent to Paris to work with Ben.   That didn’t seem to work too well, as Ben was “when in Rome, jump in hot tubs with the French ladies”, while Adams was a bit too serious. 

Fourth Assignment. After the US became a country, Adams was sent to London to act as our first Ambassador to the UK, a job he didn’t enjoy – though at least now he had Abigail by his side.  It looks like the London tabloids were up and running back then. 

Fifth Assignment.  Eventually he came back, and managed to win the Presidency in the 1796 election, after Washington had served two terms and then called it a day (although they did not have term limits back then).  Also back then, the #2 winner wound up as the Vice President:  this meant Thomas Jefferson.  (Imagine that setup today:  Hillary as Trump’s VP?  Sorry, can’t help laughing at that…)  It didn’t take long for the two of them to butt heads, and the 1800 election comes back as the first instance of candidates throwing mud at each other.  Here the mud tends to be overarticulate, but still fun as mud.

Adams Administration.  Back then the US had not much in the way of power at home or abroad.  It looks like his #1 concern was managing the ongoing conflict between England and France, which were at war at the time and both seeking US assistance against the other.  While France had assisted us in gaining our independence, by that time King Louis XVI, the actual sovereign responsible for that assistance, was gone, replaced by Napoleon, who had not yet crowned himself Emperor of France’s “First Empire” – he was leader of France’s First Republic.  Adams’ policy was to remain neutral, obviously the correct position given the circumstances.

Retirement.  The last episode covers his retirement back to his farm outside Boston.  His daughter died of breast cancer, than his wife Abigail (played by Laura Linney) died as well.  Adams managed to reconcile with his erstwhile adversary Thomas Jefferson, and lived to see his oldest son, John Quincy Adams, elected president in 1824 – in a very contentious election.  Finally he and Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

Speaking of which, he gave the painter, Trumbull, a hard time about the famous portrait.  “We signed individually as we passed through Philadelphia, there was a war going on at the time.  We never gathered together all at once to sign it.”  The moviemakers adjusted the portrait to make the parties resemble their depictions by the actual cast members.  Clever.

Objectively, I get the impression that Adams gets short shrift these days.  Of the first five Presidents (himself, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe) he was the only one to serve only one term and the only one not from Virginia.  [The last Virginia President we had was Tyler.   As Massachusetts Presidents go, we got his son John Quincy, Calvin Coolidge, and JFK.]   But as noted above, he really had one job:  keep us out of the European conflict, and he did that.  So it looks like he is underrated. 

Excellent acting by the cast, though my angle was Rufus Sewell, aka Obergruppenfuhrer John Smith from “Man in the High Castle”, acting as Alexander Hamilton.  It looks like Hamilton and Adams weren’t exactly friendly either.  Either way, Giamatti generally gets the job done.  Bravo!  Huzzah!

The American Revolutionary War

“Revolution” seems a bit of a misnomer: we had to fight a war for independence and then set up our own form of government after that.  War is a better word.  This is an early post, with July 4 coming up close at hand.

The whole thing began in New England in April 1775 with the battles in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, followed by the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775.  Rebel militia, if not defeating British Redcoat regulars, at least inflicted punishing losses.  Over the winter of 1775 the sides were stalemated, until March 1776 when the rebels brought up cannon, forcing the British to evacuate Boston.

Our own invasion of Canada – a campaign lasting from September 1775 to June 1776 – failed.  Blame Canada.

The British, remarkably enough, did not have conscription or a draft (except for limited press-ganging for the Royal Navy).  They relied on volunteers and when those fell short, German mercenaries, most of which were from Hesse, thus “Hessian”.   They also expected Loyalists (Americans loyal to the King) to help in bigger numbers, but consistently overestimated that help.  A substantial number of Americans actually stayed neutral, and Loyalists, in addition to being less numerous than expected, were also of little assistance unless substantial British regulars were nearby to protect their families back at home from harassment by rebel sympathizers.  That is, the Brits could only recruit Loyalist troops from areas under their control (e.g. New York and other coastal areas). 

NY & NJ.  The next phase took place mostly in New York and New Jersey.  In addition to Newport, Rhode Island, the British took Staten Island without a fight.  They swept Long Island until Brooklyn, at which point rebel resistance stiffened.  However, for some reason General Howe refused to finish off the rebels in Brooklyn – like Hitler’s mysterious halt at Dunkirk – and as at Dunkirk, the good guys managed to slip away to safety, in this case Manhattan.  The Brits chased Washington out of Manhattan, into New Jersey, where Washington managed to keep his army alive, conducting a fighting retreat, similar to Rommel in North Africa from October 1942 to May 1943.  At various points Howe had the opportunity to crush Washington’s army, but held off on doing so, even to Washington’s surprise. 

In December 1776 Washington crossed the Delaware into Pennsylvania, but came back later that month to surprise the Hessians at Trenton, and stayed for the winter at Morristown, New Jersey.

1777 opened with the Brits taking two separate – and uncoordinated – campaigns.  Down south, Howe took Philadelphia – without a fight – but did not coordinate with Burgoyne coming down from Canada to attack Albany.  Without Howe’s help, Burgoyne was defeated near Albany in September and October, a climactic battle at Saratoga.  This put an end to Burgoyne’s campaign and essentially defeated half of the British army in America.  That left it up to the other half to get things done.

For the winter of 1777, Washington camped at Valley Forge, just outside Philadelphia.  In addition to nurturing his battered army, Washington got Baron von Steuben to give it a crash course in military training:  meaning the US Army which emerged from Valley Forge in 1778 was a disciplined, trained regular army for once, although Washington never had enough regulars to avoid relying on militias and guerillas for the rest of the war.

In 1778, the French, Spanish, and Dutch entered the war.  The French were willing to do so openly, while the Spanish and Dutch preferred to keep their assistance “under the radar”.   The timid and mostly ineffective General Howe was replaced in May 1778 with General Clinton, who abandoned Philadelphia to defend NYC.  Washington then marched back up to White Plains, but the British held on to Staten Island, Manhattan, and Long Island for the remainder of the war.

The British were also hampered in their war efforts in America by the need to defend their overseas possessions elsewhere, in the West Indies and in India.  A US attack on Newport in August 1778 failed, but by October 1779 the British had abandoned Newport anyway.  Over the winter of 1779 Washington’s army was again weakened, but British attempts to wipe it out were defeated by NJ militias.  Benedict Arnold defected in September 1780, but his last major act of any significance for the British was a failed attack on New London, CT in September 1781.

Their campaigns in PA, NJ, NY and MA failing, the Brits then attempted to gain some success down further south.  While they managed to take Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC, attempts further inland consistently failed.   Horatio Gates took over US forces, later to be replaced by Nathaniel Greene; Cornwallis commanded the British forces in this campaign.  He won several battles, but at costs which severely depleted his armies and forced him to retreat back to Wilmington, NC.   Thus by late 1780, only the coastal regions were securely in British control.

In early 1781 Cornwallis went up to Yorktown and established a base there, joined up by Arnold who had been raiding Virginia and received reinforcements from New York.  Washington sent Lafayette and Wayne down to oppose him.  The French sent a huge fleet to the Chesapeake – far larger than the British imagined or expected, effectively blockading Cornwallis from the sea.  With Washington facing him on land and the French blocking him from the sea, Cornwallis was trapped.  By October 19, 1781, he was forced to surrender.  In terms of active hostilities on land, the war ended at this point.

North’s Tory government in the UK resigned in March 1782, and the Whigs took over.  Initial peace treaties were signed in November 1782, with the Treaty of Paris in September 1783 finally ending the war and establishing American independence once and for all. 

Washington’s role is hard to overestimate.  He had to not merely command troops in battle, but also keep his army intact during retreats AND deal with a rudimentary government which had little power to assist him in anything.  America’s Fifth Column, its diplomatic efforts – e.g. Benjamin Franklin – also deserve immense credit.  Without help from Von Steuben in reforming the US Army, and direct (and indirect) help from the French, Spanish, and Dutch in keeping the Brits busy elsewhere and directly opposing them at Yorktown, the British may have been able to defeat the Americans.  Some credit also goes to Howe for being so timid in attacking US forces, basically the McClellan of this war. 

As an aside, check out A Transatlantic Tunnel! Hurrah!, an alternate history story by Harry Harrison (best known for The Stainless Steel Rat and Deathworld) in which the British won the Revolutionary War, and a descendent of Washington helps design – guess what – a transatlantic tunnel from the UK to America, very much in a steampunk vein.  Enjoy.

American Revolution

July 4^th again!  Last year I discussed the Grateful Dead.  This time I’ll discuss the American Revolution and other topics in a random fashion.

 When it comes to Cuba, for example, Che Guevara seems to get more credit than Fidel Castro.  At least with our own revolution, America gets it right.  George Washington, the man who led our forces to victory and by far the most important figure in our revolution, gets the top billing he deserves:  our capital city named after him, with an obelisk in his name; the state containing Seattle is named after him; two colleges; the $1 bill; the quarter; and lots more. 

 Viewed in perspective, the American Revolution is remarkable:

1.         A ragtag army managed to defeat, in conventional warfare, the redcoated armies of the world’s largest and most powerful country at the time Great Britain.  A colony defeating its mother country in battle?  Amazing. Granted, we had some help from France, but the French alone could not have done it, and would not have intervened had we not been a winning proposition.

2.         After finishing up the war, the Founding Fathers established a Constitution AND a stable democracy.  As history shows, it’s fairly easy to get rid of a dictator; imposing something close to order and stability afterwards is quite another story (we have some VERY recent history to show us that...).  Let’s compare two other major revolutions:

            A.         French Revolution (1789).  After some lip service to “liberty, equality, fraternity”, they set up a guillotine in what is now Place de la Concorde and began lopping off heads.  Not only the royal family (King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette) but each other’s!  The Terror ended up devouring its own – Danton and Robespierre themselves became victims.  Eventually the French ended up with an emperor, Napoleon, and after some proud victories, with a comeback tour by Napoleon, they wound up with defeat; then Louis Phillippe and  Louis Napoleon (aka Napoleon III).  In other words, they had to wait until 1872 or so to finally get a stable republic.

            B.         Russian Revolution (1917).  The first one, led by Kerensky, only served to depose the Tsar but keep the war going on.  In November the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, took over in St Petersburg; a civil war lasted until 1922; and from 1922 to 1989 the Russians had to endure under a totalitarian dictatorship, induding those particularly nasty years under Stalin.  Like the French, the Bolsheviks couldn’t resist brutally murdering not only the Romanovs but each other. 

 Celebrate July 4^th?  Some argue that the blacks in this country have little reason to celebrate July 4^th, because the American Revolution – and the establishment of democracy thereafter – did not immediately abolish slavery.  This sounds a little harsh.  Never mind that they had to construct an entire democratic government out of thin air, including a Constitution, a Bill of Rights, and set the whole thing up so it would (A) have enough power to do anything and protect itself from anarchy and tyranny, of the minority AND the majority; (B) not be so powerful that we’d wind up with a dictator; and (C) have an amendment system so it could be peacefully changed without a violent, bloody revolution.  Never mind t hat they had to sell this whole package deal to all 13 colonies and satisfy slaveowners down south as well as bankers in Philadelphia, New York and Boston.  Never mind that at that point, America was still an agricultural country which had yet to experience its own Industrial Revolution.  Never mind that even England had to wait until 1833 to abolish slavery.  Never mind that it took us a Civil War from 1861-65 to achieve this goal years later.  Slamming the Founding Fathers for not abolishing slavery in 1787 sounds about as logical as slamming Wilbur and Orville Wright for not launching a jet aircraft and breaking the sound barrier at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903.

 American Wars.  I did some number crunching and came to a remarkable conclusion.   If you add up the days of prolonged hostilities (notwithstanding when a peace treaty formally ended the war) of each of the wars the US has been in, and divide the number of total deaths by that, we end up with not only some idea of how bloody these conflicts were, but you can also divide them into three categories of intensity of conflict:

A.  Low level.  The Revolutionary War (1775-81), War of 1812 (1812-1815), Gulf War (1990-91), and current Iraqi War (2003-2007): 2 deaths per day.

B.  Mid-level.  Mexican War (1846-48), Spanish-American War (1898), Korea (1950-53) and Vietnam (1965-72): a range from 20-33 deaths per day.

C.  High-level.  the big three: WWI (1917-18): 200/day; WWII (1941-45): 300/day; and the biggest by far, the Civil War (1861-65): 427/day.  Civil War casualties (well over 600,000) practically equal all the rest combined, with the next two being WWII (407,316) and WWI (116,708).  

            This should put it in perspective when the “body count” comes back from Iraq.  We aren’t even CLOSE to Vietnam – in total deaths OR intensity.  IF the situation can be stabilized and a strong, non-Islamic sickwad regime emerges, YES it will have been worthwhile.