BeagelDave
Well, I thought manhattan would have responded to my posting - (then again, it has only been a few hours since I made it).
I will admit that the “websites” (some blogs actually) I posted a few hours ago were highly partisan and these were probably not the ones I “surfed” when accusations were flying fast and furious during the 2004 election. However, I’ll admit that the websites I used even then, were probably similarly partisan in nature.
Also, since the 2004 election, I’d say none of these sites have updated their information. The most famous Chickenhawk website - the NH Gazette - still states that “Paul Harvey is a complicated case, we’re working on a dossier”. And I’m still waiting.
Then again, the websites you posted would also be somewhat partisan. Did his employers thoroughly research his military record?
If you want me to post a retraction based on what he (or his employers said), then I retract my accusation of his never having served in the military.
Okay you wanted a retraction? There it is.
I want to say more, but this post is getting too long. I’ll wait to hear what you and manhattan have to say.
As used in the last ten years or so, it’s a term used to denote those who stomp and shout and cheer for war but somehow ended up not actually serving when they were eligible. The group has included, at various times, Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney and Dan Quayle (among others). George W. is an honorary chickenhawk, since he actually WAS, technically, in the strictest sense of fact, a member of a military unit, albeit one that he a) rarely showed up for duty with and b) had a snowball’s chance in my microwave of actually being called up to go over there.
There’s also a term in gay jargon: a chicken hawk is an older man (can be as young as 30s, but usually 50 or better) who preys on young men (not pedophilia young, but 18-early 20s), usually offering them money. (Hardly an exlusively gay problem as any number of “1950s hearthrob Beef Jerkey, 78, and his wife Tonia, 22, are filing for divorce” headlines can attest, but chicken is gay slang for “male who’s legal but just barely”, hence the term.)
Was Paul Harvey directly involved in George Wallace’s presidential campaign, something along the lines of press secretary or spokesman?
Neither Wikipedia or Google are all that helpful. Accrding to Time, Wallace considered both Harvey and KFC founder Col. Sanders as VP running mates. (Could you just imagine the negative impact on future business had the Colonel agreed?).
Dan Quayle would logically fall into the same “honorary” category that George W. Bush is in. He too was in his home state’s National Guard during the Vietnam War.
Not too much. I will add that Encyclopædia Britannica also has Mr. Harvey serving in the Army Air Corps, receiving a medical discharge in 1944. It’s a pay site, though, so no link. Certainly EB is not faultless; I believe that Cecil may have had to school them once or twice. But I’ll believe it a damn sight more quickly than the dreck on which you based your apparently baseless charge. I’m disappointed that after two full years on this site you’re willing to put something like that under your username on such flimsy “evidence.”
My problem was with the blanket statement that Harvey “never served in the military”.
He DID “serve in the military” for a period of time. The circumstances involving him leaving the military might be fuzzy…but ANY web site that I googled concerning Paul Harvey’s biography seem to mentioned the Air Corps stint.
I’ve already stated earlier (in debunking yet another myth about Harvey in this thread) that I tend to roll my eyes at much of what he says…so I’m not defending the dude one way or another because I’m a fan…just “fighting ignorance”
manhattan
Take it easy there. I thought someone who is an SDSAB member would behave in a more civil manner. (Particularly, since I read that some SDSAB members have been moderators). I’m just a lowly dues-paying SDMB member. I posted a retraction (even put the word “retract” in bold type) and admitted the sites I had chosen were not reliable and very partisan, etc. But no - you had to come back with more bitterness and vitriol.
Incidentally, I am not anti-veteran nor anti-military. (You can check all postings I have made.)
As for the reliability of websites? Well recently a Harvard student posted an announcement on his website http://www.thinksecret.com/ that Apple computer was releasing a new product. He announced it even before Apple did. They are not happy and they are suing him. Heck, it’s just some website run by some student. Why was Apple computer so upset? Why would any visitors to that site take its content seriously?
Well, do you want to end the discussion here ? Otherwise our “discussion” might belong in the Pit.
I’ll leave that choice up to you.
Sorry, wolf_meister. I misread your retraction as a one based solely on Mr. Harvey’s self-reporting and subject to further discussion as opposed to it being entire. With my better understanding of the retraction, I think we’re done – ignorance fought, happiness achieved, etc. No worries.
Manhattan
Thanks for the reply “cha-cha”. (Figured I’d return the “Dennis Miller-ism”).
Yes, without getting further embroiled in this brouhaha I thoroughly accept your revised reply. That earlier one was just a tad harsh. Oh I’m a big kid I can take it. I just felt as if the next step might have been - "we’re taking this to the Pit !!! :mad: "
Sure, I’ve posted in the Pit once or twice (LOL) but I never pitted anyone nor have I ever been pitted. That was a close one.
Okay, so there we have it. Everything’s fine.
And I think it is safe to say that all the Dopers can have peace in our time. Or is it peace for our time? (oh but that’s a whole 'nother thread isn’t it?).
Well, someone had to do it. So I went to the library tonight and have the 1978 Esquire article. Just read it.
According to the author, William Brashler, much of the info about Harvey’s service record was leaked by the FBI, who had investigated him in a 1950 incident in which Harvey was arrested after scaling the fence at the Argonne National Laboratory. But that’s another story.
The info in the article says that he was
Later he supposedly drove a plane around the airfield without authorization, and crashed into a fence.
He got a medical discharge on March 15, 1944. Certificate of disability by reason of psychosis. Transfered to a VA hospital for psychiatric care, and was discharged on March 29, 1944.
There is a newspaper account I’ve read in which Harvey says he rebutted the charges line by line, and gave the info to the AP, but I’ve not found the rebuttal except in the article I read. He says he never was in a hospital and never treated for mental problems.
His son applied for and received classification during the Viet Nam war as a consciencious objector. His son and his wife were more liberal evidently, and convinced him about the folies of the war.
If anyone has any specific questions about the article, which was extensive, I’ll be glad to share more.
SamClem
I was willing to let the whole thing die, but I appreciate your posting.
When you say he was “inducted” into the Army Air Corps on December 2, 1943, by that do you mean he was drafted as opposed to his voluntarily joining?
If he “slashed his heel” in January, 1944 he would have just barely been out of basic training?
If he was discharged on March 29, 1944 then his entire military career was slightly less than 4 months?
Did he even leave the United States during any of this time?
Very interesting. Thank you SamClem. Perhaps I should do some further investigation on my own. But by all means, feel free to post more.
