Sept. 19, 2001 – A combination of network and server problems at BellSouth in Florida caused the Virgin Island Source publications to be inaccessible for several hours Wednesday.
No one at OnePaper Inc., the company which provides the template for all three Source publications, could say exactly what the problems were.
Joanna Dame, president of OnePaper, said she was in constant contact with technicians, but when the server goes down, it is hard to pinpoint the exact problem.
The Source regrets any inconvenience as a result of the interruption.
PLANS FOR 7 NAVY SHIPS TO VISIT NOW REMOTE
Sept. 19, 2001 – Ten days ago, working plans to welcome seven visiting U.S. Navy warships — including an aircraft carrier — to the territory by the end of September had local service providers and suppliers looking forward to a much-needed infusion of visitor spending.
Now, with the Navy on war alert in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, those plans have been put on indefinite hold, according to local residents in the know, and Navy communications reflect a stark change of policy with regard to saying anything about plans at all.
On Sept. 9, Frank Farmer, a member of the United Service Organization (USO) board on St. Thomas, had put out a call for volunteers and donations of food, drink and paper products for naval personnel who would be aboard "ships in the territory later this month."
The next day, Farmer told the Source the ships were from the USS John F. Kennedy Battle Group, including the Kennedy aircraft carrier itself. He had just asked James O'Bryan at Government House for help getting the USO building on the Charlotte Amalie waterfront ready to receive visitors and was about to call AT&T "to get extra phones put in."
He noted that the visit plans were tentative. "It's always tentative with the Navy," he explained, "and then, a week prior to their arrival, we know for sure."
Navy League national director Norma Kennedy confirmed on Sept. 10 that the USS Kennedy would be visiting Sept. 25-29. She knew because her "good friend Mo," the carrier's commanding officer, Capt. Maurice Joyce, was planning to stay at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort, where Kennedy works, and "I made his room reservation."
In fact, she said, there already were 40 reservations at the Reef from Navy personnel who would be in port. She added that plans to leave on Sept. 13 for a vacation in Europe would keep her from greeting her many friends among the "typical ship's compliment of 5,800 military personnel."
Also on Sept. 10, Cmdr. John Kirby, Second Fleet public affairs officer in Norfolk, Va., said Navy ships would be visiting the islands "later this month" and that the visit would be "in conjunction with some of our exercises."
According to published reports, the Navy had notified Puerto Rican officials on Sept. 7 that a new round of Navy bombing exercises off Vieques "could begin as soon as Sept. 24" and could last 23 days. Under a 1983 agreement, the Navy is required to give the Puerto Rico government 15 days' notice before the start of exercises.
Kirby added, "We make it a policy not to discuss specific ships, ports or dates, but these are ships of the USS John F. Kennedy's Battle Group, and they will be visiting some ports down there."
That same afternoon, Linda Oliver of the Navy's agent in the territory, C&C Port Services, said the USS Kennedy and six as yet unnamed warships from the carrier's Battle Group were expected. She said plans were being made with the Port Authority for two of the vessels to berth at the Crown Bay dock Sept. 20-24, while two others would anchor off St. John in Pillsbury Sound and another was scheduled to visit St. Croix.
On Sept. 25-29, Oliver said, the Kennedy was scheduled to anchor south of Hassel Island and begin tendering "over 5,000" crew to and from the Coast Guard dock at King's Wharf. At the same time, she said, the seventh ship would be visiting St. Croix.
A day later, all plans were put on hold by the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. National reports late that day, Sept. 11, said the USS Kennedy had been ordered to the New York area.
Sindi Coombs, owner of C&C Port Services, said later that her mainland Navy contacts had "not heard from the ships either for a cancellation or a confirmation" of the planned Virgin Islands calls. "It could be nothing more than the ships are so busy doing whatever they're doing that they haven't had time to respond," she said. But "if they're needed in other parts of the world, that's fine," she added, because "they'll come back."
On Sept. 12, Kennedy said she hadn't heard anything but felt sure that the aircraft carrier was "not coming in," because of the reports that it had been deployed to New York.
An e-mail to Kirby on Friday asking for an update on whether Navy ships would be visiting local ports as planned brought the terse response on Saturday that "For security purposes, I am not going to discuss the future movements of our ships."
Also on Saturday, Coombs said she still had received no word from the Navy. But, having advised suppliers that the visits might be off, she "had not had one complaint from a vendor" about the potential loss of revenues. "If the Navy ships come," she said, "we are going to be hosting men and women who will probably be going to war for us in the near future." As such, she said, they should be "treated with as much respect and patriotism as we can muster."
On Sunday, Frank Farmer's wife, Cynthia, said they now do not expect to see the USS Kennedy this month, because of the Navy being put on war readiness. When next the carrier does call in the islands, "We will have to be more than ready to show them how much they are appreciated," she said. "We should greet them with a round of applause," she said, "no matter what."
Now, with the Navy on war alert in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, those plans have been put on indefinite hold, according to local residents in the know, and Navy communications reflect a stark change of policy with regard to saying anything about plans at all.
On Sept. 9, Frank Farmer, a member of the United Service Organization (USO) board on St. Thomas, had put out a call for volunteers and donations of food, drink and paper products for naval personnel who would be aboard "ships in the territory later this month."
The next day, Farmer told the Source the ships were from the USS John F. Kennedy Battle Group, including the Kennedy aircraft carrier itself. He had just asked James O'Bryan at Government House for help getting the USO building on the Charlotte Amalie waterfront ready to receive visitors and was about to call AT&T "to get extra phones put in."
He noted that the visit plans were tentative. "It's always tentative with the Navy," he explained, "and then, a week prior to their arrival, we know for sure."
Navy League national director Norma Kennedy confirmed on Sept. 10 that the USS Kennedy would be visiting Sept. 25-29. She knew because her "good friend Mo," the carrier's commanding officer, Capt. Maurice Joyce, was planning to stay at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort, where Kennedy works, and "I made his room reservation."
In fact, she said, there already were 40 reservations at the Reef from Navy personnel who would be in port. She added that plans to leave on Sept. 13 for a vacation in Europe would keep her from greeting her many friends among the "typical ship's compliment of 5,800 military personnel."
Also on Sept. 10, Cmdr. John Kirby, Second Fleet public affairs officer in Norfolk, Va., said Navy ships would be visiting the islands "later this month" and that the visit would be "in conjunction with some of our exercises."
According to published reports, the Navy had notified Puerto Rican officials on Sept. 7 that a new round of Navy bombing exercises off Vieques "could begin as soon as Sept. 24" and could last 23 days. Under a 1983 agreement, the Navy is required to give the Puerto Rico government 15 days' notice before the start of exercises.
Kirby added, "We make it a policy not to discuss specific ships, ports or dates, but these are ships of the USS John F. Kennedy's Battle Group, and they will be visiting some ports down there."
That same afternoon, Linda Oliver of the Navy's agent in the territory, C&C Port Services, said the USS Kennedy and six as yet unnamed warships from the carrier's Battle Group were expected. She said plans were being made with the Port Authority for two of the vessels to berth at the Crown Bay dock Sept. 20-24, while two others would anchor off St. John in Pillsbury Sound and another was scheduled to visit St. Croix.
On Sept. 25-29, Oliver said, the Kennedy was scheduled to anchor south of Hassel Island and begin tendering "over 5,000" crew to and from the Coast Guard dock at King's Wharf. At the same time, she said, the seventh ship would be visiting St. Croix.
A day later, all plans were put on hold by the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. National reports late that day, Sept. 11, said the USS Kennedy had been ordered to the New York area.
Sindi Coombs, owner of C&C Port Services, said later that her mainland Navy contacts had "not heard from the ships either for a cancellation or a confirmation" of the planned Virgin Islands calls. "It could be nothing more than the ships are so busy doing whatever they're doing that they haven't had time to respond," she said. But "if they're needed in other parts of the world, that's fine," she added, because "they'll come back."
On Sept. 12, Kennedy said she hadn't heard anything but felt sure that the aircraft carrier was "not coming in," because of the reports that it had been deployed to New York.
An e-mail to Kirby on Friday asking for an update on whether Navy ships would be visiting local ports as planned brought the terse response on Saturday that "For security purposes, I am not going to discuss the future movements of our ships."
Also on Saturday, Coombs said she still had received no word from the Navy. But, having advised suppliers that the visits might be off, she "had not had one complaint from a vendor" about the potential loss of revenues. "If the Navy ships come," she said, "we are going to be hosting men and women who will probably be going to war for us in the near future." As such, she said, they should be "treated with as much respect and patriotism as we can muster."
On Sunday, Frank Farmer's wife, Cynthia, said they now do not expect to see the USS Kennedy this month, because of the Navy being put on war readiness. When next the carrier does call in the islands, "We will have to be more than ready to show them how much they are appreciated," she said. "We should greet them with a round of applause," she said, "no matter what."
HANSEN: BAILOUT COULD SUBSIDIZE FLIGHTS TO V.I.
Sept. 19, 2001 – Hire a transportation expert so the Virgin Islands gets a share of the $24 billion aid package requested by airlines that suffered catastrophic financial losses related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. That's Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen's suggestion.
She envisions the money being used to subsidize airfares for visitors to the territory. Once they arrived, she said, their spending would help keep the territory's hospitality businesses afloat.
"The airfare price will be so tempting that people will take the opportunity to relax their minds in another part of America where they can be safe," the veteran St. Croix legislator said Wednesday.
Hansen, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, also is calling for money to advertise the territory as a tourism destination now. She declined to specify a funding source, saying only that she will unveil her plan Thursday, when her committee meets for what is scheduled to be its final work on the administration's Fiscal Year 2002 budget.
"If we do what we have to do, there will be no downturn in the economy," she predicted.
As part of the move to bring tourists here for the near future, she is calling for an advertising campaign in nearby Puerto Rico. Additionally, she wants subsidies for Seaborne Airlines to run flights from San Juan and to persuade Boston Harbor Cruises to start its high-speed ferry service between St. Thomas and St. Croix in the next few weeks, rather than in December as is now planned.
In a release circulated from her office late Tuesday night, Hansen announced that she was sponsoring legislation for the Virgin Islands to donate $10 million from the General Fund, or $5 million each from the Transportation Trust Fund and the Land Bank Fund, "to be employed to benefit the families of those who succumbed in the tragic act." She described her plan as "a symbolic gesture."
On Wednesday, Hansen suggested that the $10 million donation would garner the territory good publicity. She also said that V.I. residents should add $1 each to the kitty. "When the dust settles, the mayor of New York will be telling people to have their conventions here," she predicted.
Meantime, she said, she is pushing for the creation of a V.I. tourism authority. She said she has a bill in the works, using the Hawaii Tourism Authority as a blueprint and drawing on work done on a bill creating an authority that the 23rd Legislature approved in its final hours last December. Gov. Charles W. Turnbull subsequently vetoed that measure, objecting to the private sector having majority representation, and the 24th Legislature failed to achieve an override.
Hansen said the idea of a tourism authority is gaining support among her colleagues. "We getting the senators one by one," she said.
She said the authority would have experts on board, not political appointees. And if the members saw the need for tourism-related legislation, they could propose what would work best, rather than kowtowing to the administration's policies.
Hansen repeated her pledge to use 100 percent of the money generated from the territory's 8 percent hotel occupancy tax for advertising. The hotel tax is the sole source of revenues for the Tourism Advertising Revolving Fund. Historically, the fund has been tapped for other purposes as well, including annual appropriations for the territory's three carnival celebrations.
"I'm trying my best to correct this, and I'll try to appropriate additional money," she said. She is proposing that money to fund V.I. Carnival, the Crucian Christmas Festival and the St. John Festival come from Anti-litter and Beautification Commission funds, rather than from the tourism advertising fund.
Hansen also called for stepping up efforts to proceed with capital improvement projects that are already funded. "They're moving like snails," she said.
She said the construction projects would provide work for people who might lose their jobs if the hospitality industry suffers a downturn as predicted.
She envisions the money being used to subsidize airfares for visitors to the territory. Once they arrived, she said, their spending would help keep the territory's hospitality businesses afloat.
"The airfare price will be so tempting that people will take the opportunity to relax their minds in another part of America where they can be safe," the veteran St. Croix legislator said Wednesday.
Hansen, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, also is calling for money to advertise the territory as a tourism destination now. She declined to specify a funding source, saying only that she will unveil her plan Thursday, when her committee meets for what is scheduled to be its final work on the administration's Fiscal Year 2002 budget.
"If we do what we have to do, there will be no downturn in the economy," she predicted.
As part of the move to bring tourists here for the near future, she is calling for an advertising campaign in nearby Puerto Rico. Additionally, she wants subsidies for Seaborne Airlines to run flights from San Juan and to persuade Boston Harbor Cruises to start its high-speed ferry service between St. Thomas and St. Croix in the next few weeks, rather than in December as is now planned.
In a release circulated from her office late Tuesday night, Hansen announced that she was sponsoring legislation for the Virgin Islands to donate $10 million from the General Fund, or $5 million each from the Transportation Trust Fund and the Land Bank Fund, "to be employed to benefit the families of those who succumbed in the tragic act." She described her plan as "a symbolic gesture."
On Wednesday, Hansen suggested that the $10 million donation would garner the territory good publicity. She also said that V.I. residents should add $1 each to the kitty. "When the dust settles, the mayor of New York will be telling people to have their conventions here," she predicted.
Meantime, she said, she is pushing for the creation of a V.I. tourism authority. She said she has a bill in the works, using the Hawaii Tourism Authority as a blueprint and drawing on work done on a bill creating an authority that the 23rd Legislature approved in its final hours last December. Gov. Charles W. Turnbull subsequently vetoed that measure, objecting to the private sector having majority representation, and the 24th Legislature failed to achieve an override.
Hansen said the idea of a tourism authority is gaining support among her colleagues. "We getting the senators one by one," she said.
She said the authority would have experts on board, not political appointees. And if the members saw the need for tourism-related legislation, they could propose what would work best, rather than kowtowing to the administration's policies.
Hansen repeated her pledge to use 100 percent of the money generated from the territory's 8 percent hotel occupancy tax for advertising. The hotel tax is the sole source of revenues for the Tourism Advertising Revolving Fund. Historically, the fund has been tapped for other purposes as well, including annual appropriations for the territory's three carnival celebrations.
"I'm trying my best to correct this, and I'll try to appropriate additional money," she said. She is proposing that money to fund V.I. Carnival, the Crucian Christmas Festival and the St. John Festival come from Anti-litter and Beautification Commission funds, rather than from the tourism advertising fund.
Hansen also called for stepping up efforts to proceed with capital improvement projects that are already funded. "They're moving like snails," she said.
She said the construction projects would provide work for people who might lose their jobs if the hospitality industry suffers a downturn as predicted.
CREW QUARANTINE IS ANOTHER BLOW TO V.I. BUSINESS
Sept. 19, 2001 – Cruise industry officials were hoping Wednesday to persuade the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to rescind its recent order barring cruise ship crew members who are not U.S. citizens from leaving the vessels while they are in port in the Virgin Islands.
The ban's effects have been felt all this week — a blind-siding economic blow to the Havensight Mall and nearby merchants, as business dropped off dramatically at shops, restaurants, telephone centers and cybercafes.
Edward Thomas, president of the West Indian Co., and Michael Crye, president of the International Council of Cruise Lines, were working on the problem, Calvin Wheatley, WICO spokesman, said Wednesday.
It appeared evident that the ban on disembarkation by non-U.S. nationals was a part of the heightened security measures that have been instituted nationwide in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. mainland. Efforts by the Source to obtain clarification of the INS order were unsuccessful. Repeated telephone calls Tuesday and Wednesday to Ivan Ortiz, the INS public information officer in San Juan, went unreturned. Calls to the INS office on St. Thomas were referred to Ortiz in San Juan.
Cruise ships typically carry a crew-to-passenger ratio of about 1:3, according to Wheatley.
Thus, an average-size cruise ship such as the Carnival Destiny, with a 2,766-passenger capacity, would have about 900 crew members aboard. Megaships such as the Carnival Triumph can carry some 3,000 passengers with 1,000 crew. Most crew members are foreign nationals — mainly from Central and South America, Europe and Southeast Asia.
Wheatley said WICO estimates that crew members spend an average of about $73 per person ashore each time their ship is in port at St. Thomas. That would mean about $170,000 on Tuesday alone, with the crew of the megaship Explorer of the Seas prevented from disembarking.
The Delly Deck restaurant, long a fixture in the Havensight Mall, has felt the loss. "We've really taken a hit," manager Anna Saplis said. "Monday and Tuesday were bad."
At Modern Music, across the street from the mall entrance, general manager Jim Burke said business has been down about 80 percent in the last three days. The store has done a thriving business in renting videos to the crews, which they take one week and return the next, he said.
"Tuesday we had Explorer of the Seas, one of the big ones with about 1,000 crew," Burke said. "We had about 20 American crew in, and they told us the foreign crews were allowed off in Nassau in the Bahamas and Puerto Rico." Puerto Rico is a U.S. Commonwealth, flying the U.S. flag.
The S&B Liquor store in Frederiksted also felt the impact of the ban on Wednesday, when the megaship Carnival Triumph was in port. "We usually sell lots of phone cards and sodas and snacks," manager Lionel Smith said, "but today we didn't."
On Wednesday morning, Attorney General Iver Stridiron said became aware of the problem when "I noticed Sunday that Havensight looked deserted." He said he was meeting with the governor later in the morning and would bring the matter to his attention.
"I think we will have to deal with the federal authorities," he said. "I'll tell the governor that I'll contact the Justice Department and see if I can help."
Thinking for a moment, Stridiron added, "You know, most of those guys have been on the ships for years."
The ban's effects have been felt all this week — a blind-siding economic blow to the Havensight Mall and nearby merchants, as business dropped off dramatically at shops, restaurants, telephone centers and cybercafes.
Edward Thomas, president of the West Indian Co., and Michael Crye, president of the International Council of Cruise Lines, were working on the problem, Calvin Wheatley, WICO spokesman, said Wednesday.
It appeared evident that the ban on disembarkation by non-U.S. nationals was a part of the heightened security measures that have been instituted nationwide in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. mainland. Efforts by the Source to obtain clarification of the INS order were unsuccessful. Repeated telephone calls Tuesday and Wednesday to Ivan Ortiz, the INS public information officer in San Juan, went unreturned. Calls to the INS office on St. Thomas were referred to Ortiz in San Juan.
Cruise ships typically carry a crew-to-passenger ratio of about 1:3, according to Wheatley.
Thus, an average-size cruise ship such as the Carnival Destiny, with a 2,766-passenger capacity, would have about 900 crew members aboard. Megaships such as the Carnival Triumph can carry some 3,000 passengers with 1,000 crew. Most crew members are foreign nationals — mainly from Central and South America, Europe and Southeast Asia.
Wheatley said WICO estimates that crew members spend an average of about $73 per person ashore each time their ship is in port at St. Thomas. That would mean about $170,000 on Tuesday alone, with the crew of the megaship Explorer of the Seas prevented from disembarking.
The Delly Deck restaurant, long a fixture in the Havensight Mall, has felt the loss. "We've really taken a hit," manager Anna Saplis said. "Monday and Tuesday were bad."
At Modern Music, across the street from the mall entrance, general manager Jim Burke said business has been down about 80 percent in the last three days. The store has done a thriving business in renting videos to the crews, which they take one week and return the next, he said.
"Tuesday we had Explorer of the Seas, one of the big ones with about 1,000 crew," Burke said. "We had about 20 American crew in, and they told us the foreign crews were allowed off in Nassau in the Bahamas and Puerto Rico." Puerto Rico is a U.S. Commonwealth, flying the U.S. flag.
The S&B Liquor store in Frederiksted also felt the impact of the ban on Wednesday, when the megaship Carnival Triumph was in port. "We usually sell lots of phone cards and sodas and snacks," manager Lionel Smith said, "but today we didn't."
On Wednesday morning, Attorney General Iver Stridiron said became aware of the problem when "I noticed Sunday that Havensight looked deserted." He said he was meeting with the governor later in the morning and would bring the matter to his attention.
"I think we will have to deal with the federal authorities," he said. "I'll tell the governor that I'll contact the Justice Department and see if I can help."
Thinking for a moment, Stridiron added, "You know, most of those guys have been on the ships for years."
WHAT CANDLELIGHT VIGIL?
Dear Source,
I read in the St. Thomas Source an article that appeared this [Wednesday] afternoon. It was an invitation to the public to attend a candlelight vigil in Emancipation Garden at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
The vigil was being hosted by the local firefighters to pay tribute to the firefighters and all involved in the tradegies of last week.
I got my flag and my red candle and headed to town for 6 p.m. I arrived minutes before the time and met two police officers and one other lady. I asked if they knew anything and was told their job was to block off the street but they didn't know why. I told them what I had read in your paper.
As I was sitting in my car for a while, one reporter from The Daily News showed up totally bewildered. Soon a firefighter from across the street came over to tell the officers there would be no vigil due to information getting out too late.
So there was no candlelight vigil. I sat in my car, lit my red candle and sang "America the Beautiful," wiped away a tear and drove home.
I am writing because I am sad that the message didn't reach others and to thank you for putting it out.
I am glad I drove the half hour to get there. I feel better. Thanks for your news.
Jane Clemo
St. Thomas
I read in the St. Thomas Source an article that appeared this [Wednesday] afternoon. It was an invitation to the public to attend a candlelight vigil in Emancipation Garden at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
The vigil was being hosted by the local firefighters to pay tribute to the firefighters and all involved in the tradegies of last week.
I got my flag and my red candle and headed to town for 6 p.m. I arrived minutes before the time and met two police officers and one other lady. I asked if they knew anything and was told their job was to block off the street but they didn't know why. I told them what I had read in your paper.
As I was sitting in my car for a while, one reporter from The Daily News showed up totally bewildered. Soon a firefighter from across the street came over to tell the officers there would be no vigil due to information getting out too late.
So there was no candlelight vigil. I sat in my car, lit my red candle and sang "America the Beautiful," wiped away a tear and drove home.
I am writing because I am sad that the message didn't reach others and to thank you for putting it out.
I am glad I drove the half hour to get there. I feel better. Thanks for your news.
Jane Clemo
St. Thomas
Editor's note: We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to source@viaccess.net.
SOURCE DOWN FOR SEVERAL HOURS WEDNESDAY
Sept. 19, 2001 – A combination of network and server problems at BellSouth in Florida caused the Virgin Islands Source publications to be inaccessible for several hours Wednesday.
No one at OnePaper Inc., the company which provides the template for all three Source publications, could say exactly what the problems were.
Joanna Dame, president of OnePaper, said she was in constant contact with technicians, but when the server goes down, it is hard to pinpoint the exact problem.
The Source regrets any inconvenience as a result of the interruption.
No one at OnePaper Inc., the company which provides the template for all three Source publications, could say exactly what the problems were.
Joanna Dame, president of OnePaper, said she was in constant contact with technicians, but when the server goes down, it is hard to pinpoint the exact problem.
The Source regrets any inconvenience as a result of the interruption.
THEOPHILUS REGINALD FORBES FUNERAL SERVICE
Theophilus Reginald Forbes, age 80, of Sea Cows Bay, Tortola, died Sept. 13, at Peebles Hospital. Funeral services are set for 11 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 21, at Sea Cows Bay Methodist Church. Viewing will be at 10 a.m. at the church. Internment will be at the Forbes Family Cemetery.
He is survived by sister Louise Bianca Cills of St. Thomas; brother Carl Forbes of New York, many nieces, nephews, and numerous other relatives and friends.
He is survived by sister Louise Bianca Cills of St. Thomas; brother Carl Forbes of New York, many nieces, nephews, and numerous other relatives and friends.
TWO 5-STAR HEROES SHINE IN TWO 5-STAR BIOS
Eisenhower Decides to Run: Presidential Politics and Cold War Strategy
by William B. Pickett
Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 269 pp, $29.95
Rating 5 stars *
Churchill: A Study in Greatness
by Geoffrey Best
Hambledon, London, 384 pp, $29.95
Rating 5 stars *
A World War II monument is planned for the Mall in Washington, D.C., but the real monuments of that war will be its men and memories, its women and mementos. A lot of them will survive. Standing out on the winning side will be two great figures – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Democrats, take heart: Eisenhower was neither Democrat nor Republican but sought the White House unilaterally. Liberals, take heart: Churchill was Churchillian, not Conservative — as everybody knows. But they were, to the core, politicians.
Proof that Eisenhower was no reluctant presidential candidate, despite the image to that effect, is neatly compiled in William B. Pickett's studious short work "Eisenhower Decides to Run: Presidential Politics and Cold War Strategy," along with an explanation of why he decided to do so.
Ike did have an altruistic purpose in running for the presidency, indeed two: first, the threat of excessive defense spending (that parting shot at "the military industrial complex"), and second, national complacency and isolation. Did he really fear Soviet world domination? Apparently not.
On the other hand, Pickett does not seriously deal with some enigmas of Eisenhower's administration which haunt us today: Why, of all possibilities, did he choose Richard Nixon as his running mate? Why, when he could have rid the Republic earlier of Joseph McCarthy, did he allow him to drink himself into political oblivion first? And why did he capitulate to the red-scare insistence to purge the government of homosexuals (on grounds of their being subject to blackmail)?
Pickett's otherwise thoughtful, savvy and well-written portrait of Eisenhower is an eye opener. All considered, Ike was the best general in World War II, and he made a highly useful interim president.
In comparison to Eisenhower (no littérateur), to Roosevelt (no international negotiator), and to Stalin (no human being at all), Winston Churchill (no unflawed genius) looms over the war era with his essential English port from Portugal and his English cigar of Cuban tobacco with a Connecticut wrapper. As Shakespeare said of Caesar, "Why man, he doth bestride the world like a Colossus."
Here was the last English aristocrat (the last worth the title he turned down, anyway) who was half American and more worldly than any cosmic figure of the era. He was the wife of every Englishman and the husband of every Englishwoman despite the fact that he had a Penelope for a wife (Dear Clemmy), the epitomal English mother. His American mother was useful, too, for she invented the Manhattan cocktail: Canadian rye, French sweet vermouth, and an Italian cherry.
Beatified in The Battle of Britain, Churchill has survived more revisionist debunking in recent years than Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito combined; yet his portly figure still dominates the 20th century — for his bravery (in the Boer War), his colossal mistakes (Antwerp and Gallipoli), his sulking (between the wars), his deviousness (with Roosevelt), his demagoguery (in the Phony War) and his stubbornness (not merely against the Axis but against Stalinism, not merely for his Soft Underbelly theory about Italy but for his obstinate support of Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery).
Geoffrey Best is brilliant elucidating Churchill's shrewd handling of Parliament, Congress, the Kremlin, the British Empire, radio, film, the press, chicanery, port, and the cigar to defeat the Nazi terror.
Few men so eloquent as Churchill have led so many to do so much; and few men so inarticulate could be more precise with battle orders than Eisenhower. The greatest gift of each, however, was the ability to pick subordinates who were winners. And this key factor in the Allied victory both authors readily recognize.
We were lucky to have had so many willing to risk their lives for us in those dark days, so many to work so hard, so many who knew what to do to save civilization. But we also were lucky to have had the services of these specific men at that specific time to get those vital tasks done.
Eisenhower was, without America's real comprehension, the ultimate military authority. Churchill was the leader of the Allied leaders, and now even we Americans can admit this without in any way diminishing the value of the millions who contributed to the Allies' victory. As Churchill told the free world then, everyone who fought in whatever way he could, in any way she would, was bloody essential. We were that up against it.
Look back and contemplate the alternatives to all-out victory over fascism and, ultimately, communism. There were no alternatives. But few realized that when Churchill stood alone, then Britain stood alone, then we all stood alone together.
* Richard Dey rates the books he reviews for the Source on a scale of 1 to 5 stars:
5 stars – Beyond serious criticism
4 stars – A fine read
3 stars – Good, fascinating, with caveats
2 stars – Interesting or shows promise
1 star – Cautionary tale
by William B. Pickett
Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 269 pp, $29.95
Rating 5 stars *
Churchill: A Study in Greatness
by Geoffrey Best
Hambledon, London, 384 pp, $29.95
Rating 5 stars *
A World War II monument is planned for the Mall in Washington, D.C., but the real monuments of that war will be its men and memories, its women and mementos. A lot of them will survive. Standing out on the winning side will be two great figures – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Democrats, take heart: Eisenhower was neither Democrat nor Republican but sought the White House unilaterally. Liberals, take heart: Churchill was Churchillian, not Conservative — as everybody knows. But they were, to the core, politicians.
Proof that Eisenhower was no reluctant presidential candidate, despite the image to that effect, is neatly compiled in William B. Pickett's studious short work "Eisenhower Decides to Run: Presidential Politics and Cold War Strategy," along with an explanation of why he decided to do so.
Ike did have an altruistic purpose in running for the presidency, indeed two: first, the threat of excessive defense spending (that parting shot at "the military industrial complex"), and second, national complacency and isolation. Did he really fear Soviet world domination? Apparently not.
On the other hand, Pickett does not seriously deal with some enigmas of Eisenhower's administration which haunt us today: Why, of all possibilities, did he choose Richard Nixon as his running mate? Why, when he could have rid the Republic earlier of Joseph McCarthy, did he allow him to drink himself into political oblivion first? And why did he capitulate to the red-scare insistence to purge the government of homosexuals (on grounds of their being subject to blackmail)?
Pickett's otherwise thoughtful, savvy and well-written portrait of Eisenhower is an eye opener. All considered, Ike was the best general in World War II, and he made a highly useful interim president.
In comparison to Eisenhower (no littérateur), to Roosevelt (no international negotiator), and to Stalin (no human being at all), Winston Churchill (no unflawed genius) looms over the war era with his essential English port from Portugal and his English cigar of Cuban tobacco with a Connecticut wrapper. As Shakespeare said of Caesar, "Why man, he doth bestride the world like a Colossus."
Here was the last English aristocrat (the last worth the title he turned down, anyway) who was half American and more worldly than any cosmic figure of the era. He was the wife of every Englishman and the husband of every Englishwoman despite the fact that he had a Penelope for a wife (Dear Clemmy), the epitomal English mother. His American mother was useful, too, for she invented the Manhattan cocktail: Canadian rye, French sweet vermouth, and an Italian cherry.
Beatified in The Battle of Britain, Churchill has survived more revisionist debunking in recent years than Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito combined; yet his portly figure still dominates the 20th century — for his bravery (in the Boer War), his colossal mistakes (Antwerp and Gallipoli), his sulking (between the wars), his deviousness (with Roosevelt), his demagoguery (in the Phony War) and his stubbornness (not merely against the Axis but against Stalinism, not merely for his Soft Underbelly theory about Italy but for his obstinate support of Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery).
Geoffrey Best is brilliant elucidating Churchill's shrewd handling of Parliament, Congress, the Kremlin, the British Empire, radio, film, the press, chicanery, port, and the cigar to defeat the Nazi terror.
Few men so eloquent as Churchill have led so many to do so much; and few men so inarticulate could be more precise with battle orders than Eisenhower. The greatest gift of each, however, was the ability to pick subordinates who were winners. And this key factor in the Allied victory both authors readily recognize.
We were lucky to have had so many willing to risk their lives for us in those dark days, so many to work so hard, so many who knew what to do to save civilization. But we also were lucky to have had the services of these specific men at that specific time to get those vital tasks done.
Eisenhower was, without America's real comprehension, the ultimate military authority. Churchill was the leader of the Allied leaders, and now even we Americans can admit this without in any way diminishing the value of the millions who contributed to the Allies' victory. As Churchill told the free world then, everyone who fought in whatever way he could, in any way she would, was bloody essential. We were that up against it.
Look back and contemplate the alternatives to all-out victory over fascism and, ultimately, communism. There were no alternatives. But few realized that when Churchill stood alone, then Britain stood alone, then we all stood alone together.
* Richard Dey rates the books he reviews for the Source on a scale of 1 to 5 stars:
5 stars – Beyond serious criticism
4 stars – A fine read
3 stars – Good, fascinating, with caveats
2 stars – Interesting or shows promise
1 star – Cautionary tale
JAMES ARCHIBALD DONOVAN FUNERAL SERVICES
James Archibald Donovan, age 55, of Carrot Bay, Tortola, died on Sept. 11, at Peebles Hospital. His funeral service will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22, at Zion Hill Methodist Church. Viewing will be at 9 a.m. preceding the service at Zion Hill Methodist Church. The Internment will be at Capoons Bay Cemetery.
He is survived by sisters Doris Smith, Eugenie Donovan, Glasgow, Bernice Phyllis and Beulah Donovan, Claudette Industrious, Joan Hunter aand Melba Nedd; many aunts, uncles, and friends too numerous to mention.
He is survived by sisters Doris Smith, Eugenie Donovan, Glasgow, Bernice Phyllis and Beulah Donovan, Claudette Industrious, Joan Hunter aand Melba Nedd; many aunts, uncles, and friends too numerous to mention.
TWO 5-STAR HEROES SHINE IN TWO 5-STAR BIOS
Eisenhower Decides to Run: Presidential Politics and Cold War Strategy
by William B. Pickett
Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 269 pp, $29.95
Rating 5 stars *
Churchill: A Study in Greatness
by Geoffrey Best
Hambledon, London, 384 pp, $29.95
Rating 5 stars *
A World War II monument is planned for the Mall in Washington, D.C., but the real monuments of that war will be its men and memories, its women and mementos. A lot of them will survive. Standing out on the winning side will be two great figures – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Democrats, take heart: Eisenhower was neither Democrat nor Republican but sought the White House unilaterally. Liberals, take heart: Churchill was Churchillian, not Conservative — as everybody knows. But they were, to the core, politicians.
Proof that Eisenhower was no reluctant presidential candidate, despite the image to that effect, is neatly compiled in William B. Pickett's studious short work "Eisenhower Decides to Run: Presidential Politics and Cold War Strategy," along with an explanation of why he decided to do so.
Ike did have an altruistic purpose in running for the presidency, indeed two: first, the threat of excessive defense spending (that parting shot at "the military industrial complex"), and second, national complacency and isolation. Did he really fear Soviet world domination? Apparently not.
On the other hand, Pickett does not seriously deal with some enigmas of Eisenhower's administration which haunt us today: Why, of all possibilities, did he choose Richard Nixon as his running mate? Why, when he could have rid the Republic earlier of Joseph McCarthy, did he allow him to drink himself into political oblivion first? And why did he capitulate to the red-scare insistence to purge the government of homosexuals (on grounds of their being subject to blackmail)?
Pickett's otherwise thoughtful, savvy and well-written portrait of Eisenhower is an eye opener. All considered, Ike was the best general in World War II, and he made a highly useful interim president.
In comparison to Eisenhower (no littérateur), to Roosevelt (no international negotiator), and to Stalin (no human being at all), Winston Churchill (no unflawed genius) looms over the war era with his essential English port from Portugal and his English cigar of Cuban tobacco with a Connecticut wrapper. As Shakespeare said of Caesar, "Why man, he doth bestride the world like a Colossus."
Here was the last English aristocrat (the last worth the title he turned down, anyway) who was half American and more worldly than any cosmic figure of the era. He was the wife of every Englishman and the husband of every Englishwoman despite the fact that he had a Penelope for a wife (Dear Clemmy), the epitomal English mother. His American mother was useful, too, for she invented the Manhattan cocktail: Canadian rye, French sweet vermouth, and an Italian cherry.
Beatified in The Battle of Britain, Churchill has survived more revisionist debunking in recent years than Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito combined; yet his portly figure still dominates the 20th century — for his bravery (in the Boer War), his colossal mistakes (Antwerp and Gallipoli), his sulking (between the wars), his deviousness (with Roosevelt), his demagoguery (in the Phony War) and his stubbornness (not merely against the Axis but against Stalinism, not merely for his Soft Underbelly theory about Italy but for his obstinate support of Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery).
Geoffrey Best is brilliant elucidating Churchill's shrewd handling of Parliament, Congress, the Kremlin, the British Empire, radio, film, the press, chicanery, port, and the cigar to defeat the Nazi terror.
Few men so eloquent as Churchill have led so many to do so much; and few men so inarticulate could be more precise with battle orders than Eisenhower. The greatest gift of each, however, was the ability to pick subordinates who were winners. And this key factor in the Allied victory both authors readily recognize.
We were lucky to have had so many willing to risk their lives for us in those dark days, so many to work so hard, so many who knew what to do to save civilization. But we also were lucky to have had the services of these specific men at that specific time to get those vital tasks done.
Eisenhower was, without America's real comprehension, the ultimate military authority. Churchill was the leader of the Allied leaders, and now even we Americans can admit this without in any way diminishing the value of the millions who contributed to the Allies' victory. As Churchill told the free world then, everyone who fought in whatever way he could, in any way she would, was bloody essential. We were that up against it.
Look back and contemplate the alternatives to all-out victory over fascism and, ultimately, communism. There were no alternatives. But few realized that when Churchill stood alone, then Britain stood alone, then we all stood alone together.
* Richard Dey rates the books he reviews for the Source on a scale of 1 to 5 stars:
5 stars – Beyond serious criticism
4 stars – A fine read
3 stars – Good, fascinating, with caveats
2 stars – Interesting or shows promise
1 star – Cautionary tale
by William B. Pickett
Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 269 pp, $29.95
Rating 5 stars *
Churchill: A Study in Greatness
by Geoffrey Best
Hambledon, London, 384 pp, $29.95
Rating 5 stars *
A World War II monument is planned for the Mall in Washington, D.C., but the real monuments of that war will be its men and memories, its women and mementos. A lot of them will survive. Standing out on the winning side will be two great figures – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Democrats, take heart: Eisenhower was neither Democrat nor Republican but sought the White House unilaterally. Liberals, take heart: Churchill was Churchillian, not Conservative — as everybody knows. But they were, to the core, politicians.
Proof that Eisenhower was no reluctant presidential candidate, despite the image to that effect, is neatly compiled in William B. Pickett's studious short work "Eisenhower Decides to Run: Presidential Politics and Cold War Strategy," along with an explanation of why he decided to do so.
Ike did have an altruistic purpose in running for the presidency, indeed two: first, the threat of excessive defense spending (that parting shot at "the military industrial complex"), and second, national complacency and isolation. Did he really fear Soviet world domination? Apparently not.
On the other hand, Pickett does not seriously deal with some enigmas of Eisenhower's administration which haunt us today: Why, of all possibilities, did he choose Richard Nixon as his running mate? Why, when he could have rid the Republic earlier of Joseph McCarthy, did he allow him to drink himself into political oblivion first? And why did he capitulate to the red-scare insistence to purge the government of homosexuals (on grounds of their being subject to blackmail)?
Pickett's otherwise thoughtful, savvy and well-written portrait of Eisenhower is an eye opener. All considered, Ike was the best general in World War II, and he made a highly useful interim president.
In comparison to Eisenhower (no littérateur), to Roosevelt (no international negotiator), and to Stalin (no human being at all), Winston Churchill (no unflawed genius) looms over the war era with his essential English port from Portugal and his English cigar of Cuban tobacco with a Connecticut wrapper. As Shakespeare said of Caesar, "Why man, he doth bestride the world like a Colossus."
Here was the last English aristocrat (the last worth the title he turned down, anyway) who was half American and more worldly than any cosmic figure of the era. He was the wife of every Englishman and the husband of every Englishwoman despite the fact that he had a Penelope for a wife (Dear Clemmy), the epitomal English mother. His American mother was useful, too, for she invented the Manhattan cocktail: Canadian rye, French sweet vermouth, and an Italian cherry.
Beatified in The Battle of Britain, Churchill has survived more revisionist debunking in recent years than Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito combined; yet his portly figure still dominates the 20th century — for his bravery (in the Boer War), his colossal mistakes (Antwerp and Gallipoli), his sulking (between the wars), his deviousness (with Roosevelt), his demagoguery (in the Phony War) and his stubbornness (not merely against the Axis but against Stalinism, not merely for his Soft Underbelly theory about Italy but for his obstinate support of Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery).
Geoffrey Best is brilliant elucidating Churchill's shrewd handling of Parliament, Congress, the Kremlin, the British Empire, radio, film, the press, chicanery, port, and the cigar to defeat the Nazi terror.
Few men so eloquent as Churchill have led so many to do so much; and few men so inarticulate could be more precise with battle orders than Eisenhower. The greatest gift of each, however, was the ability to pick subordinates who were winners. And this key factor in the Allied victory both authors readily recognize.
We were lucky to have had so many willing to risk their lives for us in those dark days, so many to work so hard, so many who knew what to do to save civilization. But we also were lucky to have had the services of these specific men at that specific time to get those vital tasks done.
Eisenhower was, without America's real comprehension, the ultimate military authority. Churchill was the leader of the Allied leaders, and now even we Americans can admit this without in any way diminishing the value of the millions who contributed to the Allies' victory. As Churchill told the free world then, everyone who fought in whatever way he could, in any way she would, was bloody essential. We were that up against it.
Look back and contemplate the alternatives to all-out victory over fascism and, ultimately, communism. There were no alternatives. But few realized that when Churchill stood alone, then Britain stood alone, then we all stood alone together.
* Richard Dey rates the books he reviews for the Source on a scale of 1 to 5 stars:
5 stars – Beyond serious criticism
4 stars – A fine read
3 stars – Good, fascinating, with caveats
2 stars – Interesting or shows promise
1 star – Cautionary tale
