New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Vietnam War

Historian Jill Lepore On Data Mining and Voter Manipulation

by Leave a Comment

if thenBook purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.

Jill Lepore’s book, If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future (Liveright, 2020) is an account of the Cold War origins of the data-obsessed, algorithmic twenty-first century.

Launched in 1959 by some of the nation’s leading social scientists, the Simulmatics Corporation mined data, targeted voters, manipulated consumers, destabilized politics, and disordered knowledge ― decades before Facebook, Google, and Cambridge Analytica. [Read more…] about Historian Jill Lepore On Data Mining and Voter Manipulation

Westmoreland: West Point’s Controversial Graduate

by Leave a Comment

general westmoreland plaque

The grounds and buildings occupying the hallowed landscape of the United States Military Academy at West Point are adorned with statutes, plaques, and pictures of many of the nation’s most famous military leaders. The cemetery is a veritable who’s who of those who fought in our nation’s wars. Statutes of Patton, Eisenhower, and MacArthur stand outside West Point’s Library, Dining Hall, and Parade Grounds.

Inside Eisenhower Hall are pictures of some of its most notable graduates, including one who is often labeled one of the most controversial generals in American military history. There is also a plaque in his honor at Thayer Hall, the building that is named after the Academy’s first Superintendent, Sylvanus Thayer. [Read more…] about Westmoreland: West Point’s Controversial Graduate

Vietnam Memorial Project Coming To Port Byron

by Leave a Comment

The Wall That Heals, a 250-foot replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, along with a mobile Education Center, is coming to Port Byron on June 1 to 4, 2017 and will be open and free to the public.

The Wall That Heals honors the more than three million Americans who served in the U.S. Armed forces in the Vietnam War and its walls bear the names of the more than 58,000 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam. [Read more…] about Vietnam Memorial Project Coming To Port Byron

New-York Historical Opens Art as Activism Exhibit

by Leave a Comment

Roosevelt and Lehman Campaign PosterLong before digital technology made instant worldwide communication possible, political protests and calls for action reached the public through posters. Posted on walls and bulletin boards, slapped up on store windows and church doors, these works often featured bright colors and modernist art-inspired graphics, and were quickly mass-produced to inform communities, stir up audiences, and call attention to injustice.

This summer, the New-York Historical Society is presenting 72 posters dating from the early 1930s through the 1970s in Art as Activism: Graphic Art from the Merrill C. Berman Collection, on through September 13, 2015. [Read more…] about New-York Historical Opens Art as Activism Exhibit

New Book: A Dictionary Of Vietnam War Slang

by 1 Comment

Vietnam War Slang DictionaryOn August 7th, the US marked the 50th anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the basis for the Johnson administration’s escalation of American military involvement in Southeast Asia and war against North Vietnam.

A new book, Vietnam War Slang: A Dictionary on Historical Principles (Routledge, 2014) by Tom Dalzell, outlines the context behind the slang used by members of the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War. [Read more…] about New Book: A Dictionary Of Vietnam War Slang

Remembering America’s Fallen In Every Community

by 6 Comments

800px-American_military_cemetery_2003There is a special group of people who are remembered by a society. These are the fallen, those who die in battle on behalf of something larger than themselves. In the Bible there is an infrequently used term “nephilim” from the verb “to fall.”

Based on the archaeological evidence, the Nephilim appear to have been part of group who were remembered in Canaanite societies in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (second millennium BCE). These fallen warriors were remembered in feasts and stories just as warriors who have fallen in battle are still remembered today. It’s part of the human experience. [Read more…] about Remembering America’s Fallen In Every Community

Martin Luther King’s Plattsburgh Legacy

by Leave a Comment

MLK NYH1Today is Martin Luther King Day, and if you lived through the 1960s, you’ll never forget that turbulent decade. Even turbulent is putting it mildly: weekly classroom drills for nuclear attacks (Get under my desk? What the heck is this thing made of?); riots over race, poverty, the draft, and the Vietnam War; the assassinations of JFK, King, and Bobby Kennedy; and so much more. [Read more…] about Martin Luther King’s Plattsburgh Legacy

Kennedy Assassination 50th Anniv Events Planned

by Leave a Comment

ST-525-8-63During the weekend of November 22, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Glens Falls (UUCGF) will present four free events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

“Over the course of the weekend, we aim to shine light on radical and dramatic changes JFK was planning in foreign policy, just prior to his assassination. Specifically, JFK was intending to withdraw U.S. troops from Vietnam. After the assassination these plans were reversed and kept secret from the public, and these decisions still affect us today,” Sally Strasser, a coordinator of the UUCGF events, said in announcement of the events. [Read more…] about Kennedy Assassination 50th Anniv Events Planned