Making History

With the imminence of the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, let me toss this out - on sports talk radio a host offered the opinion that the Kennedy assassination was the most important day in American history in the last fifty years.

Hmm. What would talk radio be without lists and arguments? So, contenders for the crown, in no particular order:

9/11: has to be a favorite for "Most Consequential".

June 5, 1968: Robert Kennedy assasination. This was a "bolt from the blue", since it was utterly unexpected rather than the culmination of a process. Kennedy could well have united the Democratic Party, defeated Nixon, wound down the Vietnam war, and who knows what else.

Nov 9, 1989: Berlin Wall falls. This was the (quick and surprising) culmination of a process rather than a bolt from the blue. One might plausibly argue that whatever happened next would have eventually happened whether the wall fell that day or at some later date.

Dec 9, 2000: Supreme Courts stays Bush v Gore recount. Hmm - a process culminating in a coin toss. I am aware of studies indicating Bush would have won proper recounts, but who knows what would have actually happened live on the ground? And where might President Gore have led us, particularly post 9/11?

Aug 8 1974: Nixon resigns. It was the end of a process but it also changed expectations about Presidential power and conduct. Maybe.

Aug 29, 2005: Katrina makes landfall in Louisiana. I am putting this on the list more as a reminder of the importance of perspective - at the time I was not alone in thinking it would resonate for years or decades, but now it is just a memory. And this Bold Prediction is especially poignant:

As to political impact... for the Dems thinking about 2008 - New Orleans will highlight the importance of executive experience, and create yet another reason that Senators don't become President.  Unless, of course, the Dems can find a Senator who has some sort of proxy executive experience at the state and national level...

Yeah. Which takes us to...

Jan 20, 2009: Obama inaugurated. Will that really seems as important in ten years as it seemed five years ago? Well, wait - for similar reasons? If it sours the public on Democrats the way Jimmy Carter did, then yes, Obama's time in office will be historical as well as hysterical.

And on a speculative basis, how about...

Oct 1, 2013. HealthCare.Fail. Time will tell.

Jan 30, 1968: Tet Offensive. Exposing Johnson's lies, opening the door to Robert Kennedy, souring America on foreign involvement for decades. Big.

Juky 20, 1969: Man on moon. That date will be in history books after a lot of these other dates are long forgotten. But what changed?

April 24, 1980: Iranian hostages/debacle in the desert. Had Carter pulled off that rescue, who can guess the results? But Reagan's election in 1980 seems very unlikely.

Jan 17, 1991: Kuwait/Desert Storm. America comes storming back. Sure we're good, but did anyone know our military was this good?

Jan 17 1998: Devil with a blue dress / ""I did not have sexual relations with that woman". Hard to believe the impeachment of a President could fade so quickly in importance.

Sept 15, 2008: Let's at least give a nod to the Lehman bankruptcy, which opened the floodgates to the worst recession since the Depression.

Some of these nominees for "Most Consequential" really just fill in the field. But there are several legitimate contenders for the top spot. Suggestions, nominees, or preferences?

Comments

[MarkO]

August 16, 1977

Elvis dies.

[Thomas Collins]

Most important? Ironically, it involved a Dem and former Dem. I classify Volcker becoming Fed major domo and Reagan becoming POTUS as one event. They gave the US the chance to get out of the economic doldroms and paved the way to prosperity and, in RR's case, took down the Sovs. I just hope we don't give it away now.

[narciso]

Well TM there is this counterpoint;

http://www.11thcavnam.com/education/myth_the_tet_offensive_was_a_com.htm

now I know the counter argument, Westmoreland downplayed the numbers the likes of Sam Adams
had proffered, but facts are facts.

[peter]

The hostage crisis/desert debacle, as it made possible the Reagan recovery. Another four years of Carter, and this country would have become a third rate banana republic decades sooner than Obama.

[narciso]

As for Desert Storm, subsequent events have jaundiced my view of the consequences, suppose Saddam had moved farther south into Hejaz, and seized part of the oil fields, then
the Sauds would have had to call in Bin Laden's group, we might have had a steeper recession, but it's likely the Baathists would have made short work of that group.

[Jack is Back!]

Why can't sports reporters stick to sports? Want to know why?

Even in the heirarchy of journalism, sports reporters are on the bottom rung compared to political pundits and reporters. A very shaky ladder to be sure, using inferior material but a ladder never the less.

Costas is so full of himself he is going to go political at Sochi. I see him as the next passenger on Vlad's galloping stallion.

[narciso]

Lehman seems obvious, to have been the last domino, which imploded rather conveniently,
but as we see in retrospect, there was Bear Stearns in the spring, that California bank
that Schumer, pushed over the rails in June,

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

ThomasC@10:50-- very fair points. The whole 1983-2007 prosperity wave was made possible by the political movement created by Lady Thatcher and Ron R; and they both needed Volcker to make the Dollar a viable reserve currency, and stabilize markets to allow for that prosperity... and they both accepted the political pain Volcker's 1981-1983 recession caused. But the EVENT that made all that possible? To me that was the Mullahs taking the Embassy Hostages. The Embassy Hostages showed Carter's worthlessness, indeed, that led to Carter appointing Volcker to replace the feckless Miller. So I would go with the Embassy Hostage Taking date.

[Beasts of England]

'That's one small step for (a) man...'

Nothing in the secular history of mankind comes close.

[MarkO]

Nothing compares to the vast suppression of civil rights that followed on 9-11. There has not been such a lasting change in the past 50 years.

[Beasts of England]

I'd also add The Beatles invasion of America as a huge cultural shift.

[MarkO]

Hairy Reed.

[peter]

rse, is the LUN what you attended?

[narciso]

Well looking at significant changes, the Lincoln assasination, had he been able to shepherd a smoother reconstruction policy, what might have resulted.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Come on, it's not even close.

June 3, 2008 - not just the day but the moment when...

we began to provide care for the sick

good jobs to the jobless

the rise of the oceans began to slow

our planet began to heal

we ended a war

secured our nation

restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth

we came together to remake this great nation

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

easy with lincoln and reconstruction alternative history. Lincoln deliberately fought Total War against the Confederacy, and encouraged his generals to be as destrcutive of Confederate resources and culture as possible. In winning the Total War, Lincoln not only defeated Jeff Davis, he also defeated Northern Copperheads. Was Lincoln as tyrannical and drunk with power as Booth claimed? we'll never know, but I see scant evidence that Lincoln would have been more 'understanding' of Southern culture during reconstruction.

[Ignatz]

--June 3, 2008 - not just the day but the moment when...--

Baby Ignatz had her Sweet Sixteenth.

[narciso]

Well compared with Johnson, ('the other one')
like they said in Die Hard,

[peter]

Apparently, it wasn't just any plane that landed in Wichita, it was a humongous obese custom 747 freighter that looks like it ate a couple of whales. Jato assist maybe?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Lincoln v. Johnson-- fair point. Lincoln would have been more focused, competent and far less corrupt, but materially different outcome? don't see it.

[Beasts of England]

I have no comment regarding NK's 11:17 comment.

[narciso]

We talk about lasting changes, I'm sorry the moon landings doesn't seem to be one, a few years away from the 50th anniversary, and it may take a quarter century before we go back,

[Miss Marple]

My nomination would be Friday, February 22, 1980: the win of the US Hockey team over the Soviet Union at the Lake Placid Olympics.

It has long been my contention that after 4 years of Carter's trying to tell us we were a second-rate power, all of the reversals, all of the anti-war stuff, Americans were suddenly reminded that we COULD accomplish things and we did like winning and by God we were too patriotic!

I sincerely believe that this victory paved the way for Reagan's successful win over Carter. Americans really want to love their country, Reagan did, and thus he won.

[Porchlight]

9/11, not close.

[Jane]

I loved that win Miss Marple and many on the team were from Boston.

I think the day of Obama's first inauguration because that was the beginning of the end of the country we love.

[Beasts of England]

narciso@11:24 - It was an extraordinary event, coalescing ideas and technologies unrivaled. We did piss away that mojo. Point made.

[jimmyk]

It should have been 9/11, but who'd have thought that 7 years later we'd elect a guy named Hussein who would undo the previous 7 years progress against terror? It hasn't had the lasting impact that it should have had. How quickly we get complacent.

[peter]

within a couple of years, no less

I blame Yoko Ono

[Jeff Dobbs]

Ig:
Baby Ignatz had her Sweet Sixteenth.

And Baby TK her fourth.

And a week after that, baby hit and run had her fifth.

[Ignatz]

I think congress should pass thread control legislation.

The dangerous proliferation of threads is clogging our internet streets with murder and mayhem...ok, maybe actually just a little confusion.
Does Tom really need access to this many threads? Couldn't he just use a safer shotgun approach through the door once in a while?
No one is talking about stopping him from doing threads on hunting or shooting trap. Even our illustrious leader enjoys shooting trap with a thread once in awhile. (just give the healthcare.gov guys a minute to photoshop it).

Even the NSA is outthreaded; this is a national security issue too.

I propose only one thread per day be allowed per blogger and there be no out of state multiple thread purchases allowed.*
If it saves even one life it's worth it. Let's do it, for the children.

*Would not preclude the ATF from exporting fully automatic threads to Mexico.

[Account Deleted]

March 4, 1913 marked the beginning of the progressive degeneration we are still suffering. The inauguration of the thoroughly racist Woodrow Wilson marks, IMO, the entrance of the termites into the foundation.

[Thomas Collins]

Were I allowed to stretch a little outside of TM's 50 year limit, I might vote as number one Borlaug's wheat cultivation research. I realize it's not a single event, but I think it could be argued to be the most significant work in the 20th Century.

[monty hall]

Old news for distraction and misdirection.

Keep your eyes on future events. Buh bye, Petrodollar. 23 Nations and the newly formed BRICS Bank.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/setting-up-of-brics-development-bank-in-pipeline-pm-manmohan-singh/articleshow/26143899.cms

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Borlaug-- maybe humanity's greatest hero, who no one knows about.

[rse]

Yes Peter. That was the event. I went recognizing that equity was becoming the constant refrain and I do better when I am there as the spider on wall.

When I went through the actual atlas hard copy this morning I saw that PolicyLink was a sponsor and looked up the history of Neighbor Works. It was identified Tuesday as the original funder apart from Emory's Community PS group. That history and looking at current board shows taxpayers and debt are what funds Neighbor Works and the upcoming Promise Neighborhood's are actually mentioned in links from here. http://equityblog.org/

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

why should 6 Billion people suffer from fuel cost/food inflation because Bernanke decides to debase the Dollar? Alternative PetroCurrency makes perfect sense for China/Brazil-- House of Saud, not so much.
BTW-- this may not be a bad idea for the USA if we maximize fossil fuel production and net export crude and refined products.
The debt Mongers in DC and GS won't like it though.

[Thomas Collins]

Re 9/11: Once again I'll stretch outside of the 50 year window and tab Qutb's trip to the USA and subsequent tutleage of Zawihiri as a candidate.

[Beasts of England]

And for the middle class, too, Ig!

[Jeff Dobbs]

TC:
Were I allowed to stretch a little outside of TM's 50 year limit

Oh, then that's easy. August 4, 1961.

[Old Lurker]

I second 3/4/1913 followed by 8/18/20.

Ducking.

[centralcal]

Look at this list of nut jobs (cut from Greatwire just now):

Around 10:15am, a series of liberal radio, tv, print, and online journalists were spotted arriving at White House, expected to meet with the president.

Not a complete list. Among the folks seen walking into the West Wing –

From MSNBC: Lawrence O’Donnell, Ezra Klein, Ed Schultz

From Fox: Juan Williams

From Huffington Post: Howard Fineman

From Mother Jones: David Corn

From New Republic: Jonathan Cohn

[narciso]

Now you're just asking for trouble, OL. The Qutb part is a little more speculative, he had to participate in the Egyptian revolution, be inprisoned by Nasser for trying to overthrow the regime, then die in prison, while his brother moves to the Kingdom.

[James D.]

Anyone know what's going on with the Senate today? Did the alleged pederast Majority Leader go through with his threat to go nuclear?

[clarice]

9/11--the ushering in of a police state IMO.

[Beasts of England]

Damn, OL!

[Thomas Collins]

I'll really push the 50 year limit and say Gutenberg's work with printing and movable type was the key event for the modern world.

In any event, in the vast scope of history, JFK's assassination, while a tragedy for the family, wouldn't make my top 1000 events. For the last 50 years, I'd put Ropes and Gray's Ed Hanify and the other Teddy K lawyers' work in getting Teddy K off lightly in his leaving Ms. Kopechne to die as more important than JFK's assassination.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

That nineteeth is something we need to revisit. I mean... facts are facts.

[narciso]

You see why Tony Spilotro, acted the way he did;

[Thomas Collins]

But wasn't it August 5th in Kenya at the time, H&R? :-))

[narciso]

It's like they are still in denial;

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/191006-white-house-says-it-gets-why-democrats-are-angry

[hit and run]

"As long as I’m the leader, the answer is no . . . because I really do believe it will ruin our country."
--stuff Reid said in 2008 about bringing up the nuclear option

“He might just as well have said, ‘if you like the rules of the Senate, you can keep them!’”
--stuff McConnell said this morning

[Beasts of England]

And Harry Reid himself is the one who put Spilatro in the Black Book.

[Jane]

James I can't figure it out either. How many votes does he need or can he just deem it.

[Extraneus]

Don't miss McConnell's opening statement during his nuclear remarks today.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Submitted without comment-- House/Senate Repubs will not use another Shutdown to attack ObummerCare, they will use DoT strategy to use ObummerCare Fail as the basis to win in '14 and then attack ObummerCare: http://hotair.com/archives/2013/11/21/new-gop-strategy-on-obamacare-let-it-burn/

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Senate Games-- I believe the 'Nuclear Option' is changing Senate rules by simple majority, as no filibuster is permitted.

This is beautiful BTW-- winning Senate elections in '14 depends on spreading the ObummerCare BIG LIEs to all Dems. Reid Lying about the Nuke Option just makes that easier. I love the DC Circuit Court, and I hate to see it ruined by more Third World appointments, but that's what will happen the next 3 years.

[Account Deleted]

"but that's what will happen the next 13 years months."

I hope security is adequate for five of the Nine Ninnies through October '14 cuz the Searchlight Pederast has greater objectives than the 1st Circuit.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Wow-- McConnell actually said very well what I was thinking. This next election could be alot like '74. Let's get after these ever loving Dem bastards and rip their everloving guts out (H/T Gen. George Patton)

[narciso]

Doesn't seem fair, they go after Reich, Bolton, Rogers Brown, Estrada, the judge from Texas, Edith something or other, men and women of impeccable credentials and reputation, they put up so many apparatchiks, that it's not worth distinguishing them.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Well-- I'm only concerned about 5 wise men on the SCOTUS. The 4 ninnies can go....

[Thomas Collins]

I think it's less about distraction than about maximizing the chance Obama can govern by decree for the remainder of his term. I think the hope is that his DC Circuit nominees will support whatever decrees Obama has planned in the future.

I hope the GOP now doesn't allow procedural waivers for anything in the Senate.

[Porchlight]

Love Norman Borlaug. I highly recommend his biography Our Daily Bread by Veit Erlmann.

[Porchlight]

And the rat fink progs hate him now because of evil GMOs.

[peter]

Thanks, rse. I haven't had a chance to read Stanley Kurtz' book on the left's plans to redistribute wealth from the suburbs, but this certainly looks like a part of it. The left never sleeps, as I learned from reading Radical in Chief, about the Midwest Academy, a phrase you never see mentioned ever in the mainstream press.

[narciso]

That's where Andy Stern formerly of the AFL-CIO comes from.

[derwill]

The stake in the heart of Obamacare is going to when many, if not most, of those people forced onto the exchanges discover that they have lost their doctor and hospital. I can attest to how traumatic that is from having to find a new doctor for my elderly mother in New Orleans after Katrina. Most of the few doctors who did return to the city afterwards wouldn't take Medicare patients, so that by the end of the ordeal--and desperate because she'd run out of her blood pressure medicine--we were forced to resort to picking doctors names out of the yellow pages and calling them to see if they would take her.

[Plantipalliser]

The admin thinks the liberal press is its private public relations firm, which it in effect is, but is not supposed to be.

[Some Guy]

Is it just me, or is Harry Reid really stupid?

Didn’t he just make it MUCH easier for Republicans to take back the Senate, AND then be able to make serious changes?

Impeachment of Holder or you know who would be unpossible because you’d never get 60 votes. Now 52 is all you’d need.

[narciso]

to put it not to fine a point on it, they are playing with fire, many have lost their jobs
and have no prospect of gaining them back, a somewhat smaller number has lost their homes,
and now you are taking away their health care,

[narciso]

Would the Capitol's press be any more insipid;

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/21/3769372/experts-healthcaregov-fix-needs.html

[Account Deleted]

Some Guy,

Conviction in the Senate requires 67 votes. Holder could be impeached by the House on any day Boehner might choose.

[monty hall]

"Norman Borlaug"

Unintended consequences. Is there anything scientists come up with that isn't forged into a weapon?

Ask A. Einstein.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

RickB-- correct, 2/3 senate conviction vote is constitutional, not a senate rule.

Speaking for myself, in this Total War in the Senate, I'm more than happy with Mitch McConnell as wartime Minority Leader. McConnell's up for election, he's guarding his Right Flank against a primary, and he knows the Senate inside out. He might even get "My Friends" to keep his mouth shut.

[Some Guy]

Oops, thanks for reminding me of the 2/3 on impeachment. My bad.

However, impeachment was the extreme example, overturning O'care, spending, and undoing damage will now be within reach.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

51 vote OCare repeal-- is made easier with this reid move, I agree. Majority Leader McConnell probably won't even have to fire a Senate Parliamentarian to ger 'er done.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

'Weapon' yeah, a weapon against starvation.

[Jane-Rebel Alliance1]

They broke the rules to change the rules. Sen Thune: "It just gets weirder around here by the day."

Can the House defund the Senate?

[narciso]

So in that memoir, by the Blackwater founder, one is reminded that State's budget went up four fold from 2000-2005, surprising to little avail.(95) the ICG that vaunted body that seems to render it's judgement inpartially, sarc, Hagel was part of that, didn't anticipated Muqtada Sadr's rise, his is the most prominent Shia name in all of Iraq(131) the infamous Order 17, that supposedly kept Blackwater employees from being tried did nothing of the sort (164) and there are many such examples of things we thought we knew.

[MarkO]

The adjective "radical" must be deployed against those who cavalierly repealed a 200 year old rule.

Radicals. Extremists. And the House should follow suit in whatever way it can.

[narciso]

I think the proper name for this, is what they call it down in Caracas way an 'Enabling
Act'

[rse]

It's not that I am pumping my blog but the why on changing the rules and the apparatchik judicial nominees sure makes more sense when you realize how many people have picked up a "dictatorship of the dead" view of the Constitution with their degrees. Coupled to a belief that until the old rules and structures are gone the taint of slavery remains with us.

Completely unaware they are determined to destroy the very mindset that decided slavery was unacceptable without being in those shoes.

[rse]

They are radical MarkO.

Extirpate current system from the roots would be the precise aim. Unaware that they rely on the system's health too.

[Old Lurker]

Rush says the rule reverts if the Dems lose control. Dems do have balls.

[matt]

I would say that October 24, 1962 was pretty important. Kennedy and Khruschev were less than 30 minutes away from mutually assured destruction. I'd say that sort of outranks most of the rest of the events involved.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Important-- see this Post at NRO for our Operational Orders. Keep working to stamp out ignorance, confront our liberal friends and colleagues with uncomfortable truths, stamp out ignorance that the education system and media have drilled into them, Never back down, never stop working,.. it will be hard and frustrating, but isn't saving the greatest nation in the history of the world worth it? http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/364513/no-time-coast-peter-kirsanow

[narciso]

Of course it does 'two legs bad, four legs good'

[Beasts of England]

You think we've ever been closer than that, matt?

[daddy]

Wonder what their BMI Index is?

[Jack is Back!]

Something beneath the surface to go Nuclear on senate rules just for a bunch of circuit court justices. Wonder what it is?

How can the vulnerable Dems go for this? It only makes their chances less so.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Daddy@1:26-- heh...
now, get back on that treadmill, and drink your carrot juice.

Sincerely,
The FAA

[rse]

Yes Beasts. It's in Claire Berlinski's book.

The facts will come to me when I am thinking of something else. Or driving but I was shocked. And the Soviet officer who broke protocol to decide there had not been a launch lost his job. I guess it is coming back.

[Some Guy]

Something odd going on.

Harry Reid is a nasty small-minded old hack. However, he isn’t a part of Obama’s cadre or the progressive wing of the party. He’s just a hack who is in it for Harry Reid. So, what does the WH have on him to make him do something he wouldn’t do on his own?

[narciso]

The Mel Watt appointment to the FHA board, JiB.

[narciso]

Operation RYAN you mean.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

JiB-- alot of legal challenges to Obummercare can most easily be filed right in DC and go up through the DC Circuit. The SCOTUS will NOT hear all of those appeals, so the DC Circuit will be the final word on many ObummerCare and other regulatory issues. Hence, Obummer has to have as many Third World judges on the DC Circuit as possible.

[derwill]

--Rush says the rule reverts if the Dems lose control. Dems do have balls.--

So what's to the stop the GOP from doing the same thing the Dems just did should they get control? And not only that but go one step further and pass another "special" one time only rule that gives them the power to kill Obamacare with a bare majority.

I swear, these people really are incapable of considering the law of unintended consequences. For the best example, see Obamacare.

[Old Lurker]

Only way to see it is they figure they lose control in the Senate in 2014 so better stack the lifetime slots now while they can. Pretty good gamble; if they lose they got this done which will muck up the judiciary for years...if they win they are that far ahead.

And even if they lose if in fact it reverts unless the Reps vote to keep it at 51, they can always hope that there will be a "My Friend" or two or three who will block extending this power to a new majority.

And their approval is so low already, what do they have to lose?

Pretty logical, you must say.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Harry Reid-- if he doesn't go along with Obummer on BIG issues, Obummer will have the Lib Dem Senators make UPChuck Schumer Majority Leader. The only reason Schumer isn't official Majority Leader is because he hurts Dem chances in '14, because he's such an obvious disgusting bastard, Reid hides it a bit better.

[Old Lurker]

Plus all those board slots and other appointments that are for fixed terms.

[Old Lurker]

Reid hides it better? Now that defines "low bar".