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Seven Years Of “The Progressive Professor”, 4,900 Entries, And Counting!

Ronald 9 Comments

Today, August 11, marks seven years of “The Progressive Professor”!

Over these seven years, there have been precisely 4,900 entries, with this entry being that number!

It has been fun doing this blog, and I thank those who have read it, continue to read it, and those who have participated and contributed in comments, numbering almost 9,350 in the past seven years.

With my book–“Assassinations, Threats, and the American Presidency: From Andrew Jackson to Barack Obama”, Rowman Littlefield Publishers, coming out on this Saturday, August 15, I will be engaged in publicity on radio, tv/cable, and in print and on the internet, and will share links, both audio and visual, which will be placed on my blog on the right hand side, along with those radio interviews already there in the past, and my video lectures at Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter campus, on the Presidencies of Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson.

I hope many of my readers will listen and look at these interviews and programs as they are added, and I will be very busy doing lectures and book signings over time, which means there might be days when in travel or being overly occupied, I will not add an entry.

But one can be sure that I will be active on this blog, as it now enters Year Number 8!

So thanks everyone, and hope you will continue to follow me, read me, listen to me, and watch me over the next months and years!

Memory Of The Two Assassination Attempts Against Gerald Ford In September 1975

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Today is the 41st anniversary of Gerald Ford becoming President, upon the resignation of Richard Nixon.

Ford’s historical reputation has risen as the years have gone by, with the major contribution he made, besides restoring faith and stability in the American Presidency, being his brilliant appointment of Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, who served on Court from 1975 to 2010, and lives on today in retirement at age 95.

But also part of the Ford story was the reality of his facing two assassination attempts by women within 17 days in September 1975—Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme on September 5, 1975; and then 17 days later by Sara Jane Moore on September 22, 1975.

The details of these two assassination attempts comprise Chapter 13 of my forthcoming book–“Assassinations, Threats, and the American Presidency: From Andrew Jackson to Barack Obama”, Rowman Littlefield Publishers, to be released this coming Saturday, August 15.

A 30 percent discount offer from the publisher, Rowman Littlefield, is available on this website, using the code 4M15ATAP, and the book will ship after August 15.

Huey Long, Joseph McCarthy, George Wallace, Donald Trump—The Art Of Demagoguery!

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It is now clear that we have in our midst a true demagogue—a person who appeals to the insecurity and disillusionment of many Americans about the direction of their nation in domestic and foreign policy.

We have had this before, and it always ends in disaster and loss of reputation, without accomplishing anything beneficial in the short run or the long run.

We had Senator Huey Long of Louisiana in the early 1930s, who gained a following of millions, talked about “Every Man A King” in the midst of the Great Depression. He ended up being assassinated in 1935 while seeking the Presidency. This is covered in Chapter 7 of my forthcoming book, “Assassinations, Threats, and the American Presidency: From Andrew Jackson to Barack Obama”, from Rowman Littlefield, to be published and available on August 15.

We had Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin in the early 1950s, when there was the ongoing Cold War with the Soviet Union, exploited as an issue, causing the destruction of the lives and reputations of millions of Americans without any justification. It ended up with the collapse and repudiation of the Red Scare, and the early death of McCarthy from alcoholism.

We had Governor George Wallace of Alabama, who divided the nation over racial integration and civil rights, and won five states in the Electoral College in the Presidential Election of 1968, and then was shot and paralyzed for life during the Presidential Election campaign of 1972. This tragedy, ironically, led to a reformed Wallace who changed his view on civil rights as a result of his own handicapped condition as a result of the assassination attempt. I cover this in Chapter 11 of my forthcoming book on August 15, which I have listed the title and publisher two paragraphs above this one.

Now we have Donald Trump, who is promoting racism and nativism, and since he is super wealthy, his ability to influence the public view is, in many ways, more dangerous than any of the above demagogues.

Just as with the others, Trump will fail in the long run, but will be very dangerous in the short run. Let us hope that his demise will not be brought about in the fashion that occurred for Huey Long and George Wallace! We wish him good health and long life, but want him out of the political fray, because he has nothing positive to offer America, just negativism and division!

The Growing Threat Of Right Wing Domestic Terrorism To President Obama And Presidential Candidates

Ronald 7 Comments

The horrifying Charleston, South Carolina Massacre reminds us of the growing tide of racism and hatred that has emerged in the six and a half years of Barack Obama’s Presidency.

Barack Obama has faced more death threats than any President since Abraham Lincoln, and the mounting threats have taxed the Secret Service, which is responsible for his safety, that of his family members, and protection of the White House and its grounds from “Fence Jumpers”, who have become more bold in recent years, including Omar Gonzalez, who scaled the fence last September and entered the White House and almost made it to the stairs for the private quarters of the President and his family.

But it is also the hate groups which have multiplied in recent years, and have an effect on unstable, mentally ill people, mostly young men, many of them rightfully called domestic terrorists. The threat of foreign religious and political extremism also hangs heavy over the responsibility of the Secret Service to protect the President, the Vice President, other top government officials in the line of succession, and Presidential candidates.

There is a growing sense of foreboding and fear that the President, who has 19 more months from today until he leaves office, is in great danger, with any slip up by the Secret Service one too many.

Right wing domestic terrorism against Americans who are subjected to hate because of their race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation or identity, or political persuasion is a danger not only to regular citizens, but also to Presidential candidates in the political season we are now entering.

Hillary Clinton, already protected as the wife of a former President, is under Secret Service protection, and Bernie Sanders, being a Socialist, also faces dangers not faced by right wing candidates on the Republican side, although Jeb Bush, brother and son of former Presidents, is also a target.

And Donald Trump, with his provocative mouth attacking Obama, Clinton, Bush and others, is a perfect foil for right wing lunatics to plan to attempt assassination plots against our President and others seeking the Presidency.

The reality of death threats against President Obama is covered in Chapter 16 of my forthcoming book, entitled; “Assassinations, Threats, and the American Presidency: From Andrew Jackson to Barack Obama,” available August 15 from Rowman Littlefield Publishers, and can be purchased at a 30 percent discount using the code available on this blog. It is well worth a read!

“Assassinations, Threats, And The American Presidency: From Andrew Jackson To Barack Obama” Available For Pre Order On Amazon!

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I am very proud to announce that my forthcoming book, entitled “Assassinations, Threats, And The American Presidency: From Andrew Jackson To Barack Obama”, being published by Rowman & Littlefield in mid April 2015, is now listed on Amazon, and is available for preorder.

This book will cover all known threats against 16 Presidents, including the five living Presidents; the assassination of two and the wounding of a third Presidential candidate; and a discussion of fifteen men who might have become President, had assassins been more successful than they were.

The book also has art prints and photographs of the most significant assassination threats, some successful, and others not; and also has a set of charts to clarify the whole issue of the assassination threats throughout Presidential history over the past 180 years.

The Crisis In Presidential Security: The Shortcomings Of The Secret Service Made Bare!

Ronald 2 Comments

We wake up today to the shock that a “Fence Jumper” at the White House last night, September 19, 2014, managed to scale the fence at the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the White House and rush forward without any Secret Service reaction, and managed to reach the North Portico of the White House, and actually enter the doors of the White House, before being tackled and seized.

Nothing like this has ever happened before at the White House, although there have been many “Fence Jumpers”, consistently, since the Presidency of Richard Nixon onward!

Luckily, President Obama and his daughters had just left the White House and were on a helicopter on the South Lawn on the way to the Presidential retreat, Camp David, for the weekend, with First Lady Michelle Obama apparently elsewhere out of town.

Imagine if this intruder had been able to approach the President and his daughters!

Luckily, the “Fence Jumper” had no weapon on him, but that was pure luck, but it is clear he had to be mentally deranged, and COULD have been a threat to our 44th President.

Obama has already faced more threats, although none face to face, but the total is at least 40 such threats known publicly, but with indications that he has actually faced thousands of death threats in his less than six years in office, more than anyone since Abraham Lincoln!

This blogger and author has just sent to his publisher, who sought him out,  his manuscript on the threats to Presidents.  The book will be published in mid May to early June by Rowman & Littlefield, and will be entitled: ASSASSINATIONS, THREATS, AND THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY: FROM ANDREW JACKSON TO BARACK OBAMA.  This author and blogger has just requested an extra paragraph to be added, regarding this latest threat to President Obama.

The book will cover 16 Presidents who were assassinated, or wounded, or unhurt, or indirectly threatened over the course of American history, and will also include three Presidential candidates who were struck down–Huey P. Long, who was assassinated in September 1935 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in Los Angeles in June 1968; and George C. Wallace, who was shot, wounded, and paralyzed for life in Laurel, Maryland in 1972.  So a total of 19 leaders are examined for the death threats, sadly successful in six cases, wounded in three cases, and ten remaining unhurt.

Additionally, there will be a concluding chapter that examines “Fifteen ‘Might Have Been’ Presidents”, who, if history had been different, might have become President, including ten Vice Presidents; two Secretaries of State; one Speaker of the House of Representatives; one President Pro Tempore of the Senate; and one United States Senator.

The book will be a good read, and I hope my readers will consider reading it when it is available in late Spring-early Summer!