Desensitization, Fear, and the Promise of Courage in Ordinary Men

Desensitization, Fear, and the Promise of Courage in Ordinary Men

Paul Andreas Fischer

History of the Holocaust

3.23.2015

Desensitization, Fear, and the Promise of Courage in Ordinary Men

Reserve Police Battalion 101 was a unit of police officers tasked with the extermination and deportations of certain populations of Jews and Poles in Nazi controlled areas, beginning with the massacre at Józefów. These men had no prior experience in warfare or killing, and could have been described as incompetent for regular military service. In Christopher Browning’s accounts of what happened, two salient explanations of their behaviour surface: desensitization, and the promise of commendation for courage in the killing process. This paper will examine these in detail, and draw on other sources to emphasize that these acts of terror were instigated and carried out through fear. In addition some basic information on the events that transpired and the men responsible will be offered.

Initial Discomfort of Battalion 101

The battalion was made up of policemen and deployed early in the occupation of Poland. There was little to no fore-knowledge of the nature of the activities they would be responsible for. Their duties primarily consisted of escort and evacuation of Polish political prisoners at the beginning, and Gypsies and Jewish prisoners as well. Eventually, the orders came to liquidate certain groups, and they became the instruments of mass killing. At the time of their actions in the massacres, many were haunted, but few dropped out. The trinkets that were confiscated from victims before execution-style killings did little to quell the images of being face to face with them before shooting .

Only twelve of the five hundred assigned to the atrocious acts opted out in the first shooting of over 1000 Jews. Eventually, less than 20% are estimated to have found a way to evade their duty. In interviews with surviving perpetrators, one describes his determination to shoot with the others as a fear of appearing “cowardly” while commanding officers humiliated those unable to perform the actions. It is clear that these group dynamics were a contributing factor to the successful elimination of the Jews. Some of those who did not drop out had internalized the fascist ideology of the Nazi party, and admitted later that it was a long time before they realized there had been anything wrong with what they had done.

This retrospective lack of guilt shows that the willingness to kill did not occur without protest or as the result of long-term cumulative radicalization, but caused psychological damage to the German soldiers. “It was a tenacious, remorseless, ongoing campaign in which the “hunters” tracked down and killed their “prey” in direct and personal confrontation.” The campaign also developed as the extermination continued, soldiers became more and more efficient and indifferent to their task. Germans had been told that these people were not human, but policemen still found themselves physically sickened. There is an eyewitness account of the Major Trapp, the leader of the battalion who was both responsible for the atrocities as well as one who sympathized with soldiers who could not carry out killings, weeping like a child and he later confides to a driver that if the actions are ever revenged, “then have mercy on us Germans.” He was later executed in war trials, a grim realization of his early prophetic remorse.

The apprehensiveness was not shared by others in command; Captain Hoffman reproached his unit that they had not, “proceeded energetically enough” and company doctors were on hand to instruct the manner of inducing death immediately. This was not quite enough to spare the soldiers the psychological harm, and they emerged from the woods “spattered in blood and brains.” Trapp would later release Jews rounded up after execution squads did not arrive in a timely fashion, which showed a commitment to his lack of comfort in following the abhorrent orders. Later massacres would be carried out after guard duty in work camps, allowing Germans to become more accustomed to the concept of killing Jews, and they became increasingly efficient.

Source of Courage, the Promise of Commendation and the Selbschultz

Some of the courage from soldiers was in the nationalism they felt for Germany, whether they saw the Jews as people or not, most did accept the view that these people were enemies of the state. This was reiterated at the massacre at Serokomla in May 1940 where acts were perpetrated by “vigilante-style units known as Selbschultz (“self-defense”),” and the events of resistance, such as when Poles ambushed Jobst, a German, or armed free camps of Jews and Polish political prisoners often were met with shocking brutality and retaliatory killings. For helping Jews, a village could be massacred or random killings perpetrated such as occurred when “strangers and temporary residents of Talcyn on the one hand, and those without sufficient means of existence on the other,” were randomly selected for retaliation, and 180 Jews were also slaughtered.

The concept of Jews as enemies of the state was harder to justify with the execution of small children. The least effective strategy was early mass-murder. As the soldiers gained experience, they gained efficiency, for “distancing, not frenzy and brutalization is one of the keys to the behaviour of Reserve Police Battalion 101.” This was a cold, calculated attempt to dull the human conscience to mass murder. One soldier tried to justify his actions by casting himself as the liberator or redeemer of their souls. Most disturbing, however, is the role of career ambitions.

The perpetrators in the Battalion were not prosecuted until long after the war, and it was not until the 1960s that attention was given to the massacre of Jews. Many soldiers retained positions in police forces after the war, according to Browning, and “career ambitions must have played an important role.” While on one hand they were faced with the prospect of deployment to a battlefield many in the battalion were totally unprepared for, on the other hand the carrot of promise of recognition and career advancement was dangled temptingly in front of the policemen.

In the event that soldiers or officers evaded duty, they could be given career threatening dismissal or other reprimands. For the romantic Hoffman, who suffered stomach cramps from psychological pain, but exhibited enthusiasm for the process, even bringing his bride to deportations, his career was ended after failing to appear at important events. The promise of courageous commendation tempered and amplified by fear, what some might describe as a cowardly obedience, helps to explain why these actions took place, but to understand how cigarette salesmen, tailors, and working-class middle-aged men could become some of the most brutal murderers in history, it is necessary to look to the desensitization process in the policemen.

Fear and Desensitization of German Policemen

The policemen had internalized some of the Nazi propaganda by this time, but “by virtue of their age, of course, all went through their formative period in the pre-Nazi era” and they saw their victims as contemporaries; it must have been difficult to follow orders and look them in the eyes before shooting them. Later instructions were given to shoot them in the backs of their necks, as they toppled into graves, or even have them lie down next to dead bodies as they were shot. Wounded were often buried alive, according to an eyewitness. This can be seen in another example of mass killing as well.

In Indonesia, political squads were responsible for killing around 2.6 million people, and a film, The Act of Killing, recounts many similar problems and psychological issues presented. Political action squads moved from shootings to strangulation as a primary method of murder, and some men were responsible for the murder of thousands of innocents as well. Use of intoxicating substances played a role, in battalion 101, “alcohol was made available to the policemen” so many soldiers’ memories are vague and their actions were marked by extreme intoxication. In Indonesia as well, the squads drank and used black market drugs to keep their mind away from the atrocities. This is relevant because it shows some of the necessary and persistent ingredients to reaching the critical mass of compliance in order to secretly carry out authoritative tasks such as those assigned to these groups.

As killings moved towards extermination with the final order to exterminate in 1942, the German police battalion was not responsible for direct killing as much as deportation to death camps. The actions became less barbarous, but the ultimate end was far more sinister. To soldiers, “after Józefów, the roundup and guarding of Jews to be killed by someone else seemed relatively innocuous.” This meant incidents of soldiers going mad in the woods or shooting their ceiling in barracks during nightmares began to lessen or cease. Yet still, “one action followed another in unremitting succession”; soldiers must have found their own part unbearable to live with. As in Indonesia, it would be a long time before the government or perpetrators themselves would inform them they had done something explicitly wrong.

At the end of the book there is discussion given to the various methods of radicalization. The radicalization was not something that could have happened in a single hour long indoctrination session, but must have been the result of cumulative societal prejudice. In experiments, when ordered by a doctor, 30 or 40% of participants would electrocute their subjects, depending on whether or not they were watched. It is a testament to how proliferation of the racial ideology of the Nazis were in Germany that these numbers in policemen asked to carry out even greater acts of terror and mass murder were raised to 80%, and under some commanders 100%. It also speaks to the role that authority plays in assigning the role of enemy to an innocent.

What Made Monsters of Men

While one would think it takes more than simple carrots and sticks, the use of promise of a career advancement and threat of dismissal to make monsters of men. The harrowing story recounted here shows that this is not the case. Using simple propaganda, desensitizing actions and substances, along with an effective demonstration of necessity, the nadir of human morality was exposed. Neither fresh recruits (few had prior experience in German occupied territory), nor seasoned veterans could carry out this sort of task easily, but given the instruction, humans most unanimously will, a chilling concept.

The holocaust gives a sense of the gravity and importance of government. Subsequent studies argue that every human has the capability to display all of the symptoms of totalitarianism, and that democracy is a precious thing which must be guarded jealously. Failure to take liberty seriously and export of democratic ideology does not just preclude a reversion to fascism, but a radicalization of authoritarianism. In these rank and file policemen, only around 25% were party members in 1942, yet they became part of the most terrifying tool of destruction known to man.

Nicotine shown to have half the constrictive properties on veins as alcohol, and marijuana actually will make them bigger (with vasorelaxatory properties identified in THC)!

Nicotine and vein constriction:

"Smoking was associated with significant changes in the aortic pressure-diameter relation that denote deterioration of the elastic properties and were maintained during the whole study period: the slope of the pressure-diameter loop became steeper (baseline, 35.43±1.38; minute 1, 45.26±1.65; peak at minute 10, 46.36±1.69 mm Hg/mm; P<.001) and aortic distensibility decreased (baseline, 2.08±0.12; minute 1, 1.60±0.08; nadir at minute 5, 1.54±0.07×10⁻⁶ cm²·dyne⁻¹; P<.001). In contrast, no changes in aortic elasticity indexes were observed with sham smoking."

http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/95/1/31.short

Alcohol and vein constriction:

"Blood ethanol levels achieved at 60, 120, and 180 minutes were 649+-48, 1,285±81, and 2,546+-130jug/ml, respectively. LAD cross-sectional area was reduced significantly from control at the end of each of the three dosing periods (-24± 5%, -40± 3%, and -53±.3%; p<0.004). a-Adrenergic blockade had no effecton LAD cross-sectional area, while nicardipine partially reversed the ethanol-induced vasoconstriction. No significant change in vessel cross-sectional area took place in control dogs."

 http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/78/1/165.full.pdf

Marijuana and vein relaxation:

"The present results provide strong evidence that THC is a PPARγ ligand, stimulation of which causes time-dependent vasorelaxation"
This results in a lower blood pressure and better athletic performance.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006291X05021352

Fine Particulate Matter in Tobacco and Air Pollution, a Prospective Review of Mortality Rates

    Review of mortality rates among tobacco smokers and non-smokers has been inconclusive. While tobacco use is associated with between 1 and 3 years decline in life expectancy in humans (Ferrucci, et al.) after controlling for exercise (associated with a 10 year change in life expectancy), this does not associate positively with rat studies seen in earlier reviews in which rats smoking over 20 cigarettes a day outlived non-smokers by 5% and human smoking patterns which mostly match this group. Studies have also shown poverty to have a similar detrimental effect on life expectancy, but will not be counted in this study, as the assumption must be made (lacking proper surveys) that exercise and income are positively correlated.

     There are two ways of approaching this quantitatively, and both will be pursued in this review to check for logical fallacy. Firstly, the assumption can be made that due to an unsupported difference in the pulmonary systems of rats and humans, that tobacco smoke has a detrimental effect on the lifespan of humans and investigation of how this occurs must happen. Secondly, it can be assumed that there are other confounding factors such as air pollution and radioactive exposure which account for greater levels of mortality in certain geographical areas, making tobacco data coincidental (which would be supported by female trends in the UK where lung cancer increased significantly as smoking declined by 50%, as shown in a previous article).

Fine Particulate Matter in Tobacco: enough to cause cancer, early mortality, neither or both?

     The average cigarette delivers 1525 (+-193) (μg/m3) of fine particulate matter (or "tar" on some cigarette warnings) over a period of around 300 seconds (Gerber, et al.), and each puff contains 60 ml  or .00006 m3, and there are around 10-20 puffs on a cigarette (sizes vary from 60 mm to 100 mm in commercially sold products, the 60 mm will be used, as the most commonly used). This means that in a cigarette there is .0006-.0012 m3 of smoke exposure, multiplied by the average 1525 (μg/m3) parts fine particulate matter yielding .72 μg of exposure. This multiplied by an average of 18 (+-8, depending on the state/smoker) cigarettes per day, delivering into the lung between 7 and 25 μg fine particulate matter exposure over the course of a day. This is the equivalent of standing in a closed garage with ten cars running for 30 minutes (Invernizzi et al.) to put it in perspective.

      Is this enough to significantly change the risk for lung cancer or mortality, according to modern studies on air pollution, and assuming all other factors constant? Every 10 μg elevation in atmospheric fine particulate matter is associated with a decrease in life expectancy of .6 years which does fall within the realm of possibility of the decline of one to three years associated with tobacco use after adjustment for exercise mentioned earlier, but fails to explain why rats smoking similar amounts of tobacco lived 5% longer. To understand this, further investigation will be necessary into a couple confounding factors which may explain why tobacco smoke has a greater deleterious effect on humans than rats, when physically the pulmonary systems should react in step with each other.

Ferrucci, Luigi, et al. "Smoking, physical activity, and active life expectancy." American Journal of Epidemiology 149.7 (1999): 645-653.

Gerber, Alexander, et al. "Tobacco smoke particles and indoor air quality (ToPIQ-II)–a modified study protocol and first results." Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology 1 (2015): 5.
Invernizzi, Giovanni, et al. "Particulate matter from tobacco versus diesel car exhaust: an educational perspective." Tobacco control 13.3 (2004): 219-221.
Pope III, C. Arden, Majid Ezzati, and Douglas W. Dockery. "Fine-particulate air pollution and life expectancy in the United States." New England Journal of Medicine 360.4 (2009): 376-386.
Zacny, James P., et al. "Human cigarette smoking: effects of puff and inhalation parameters on smoke exposure." Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 240.2 (1987): 554-564.

The Downfall of the First Republic: Polish Nobility, Five Eternal Rights, Three Contributing Failures, and Three Conspiring Powers

Paul Fischer

2/4/2015

John Huener

The Downfall of the First Republic: Polish Nobility, Five Eternal Rights, Three Contributing Failures, and Three Conspiring Powers

Polish nobility were guaranteed five eternal and invariable principles in the constitution of 1793. Unfortunately the monarch and the people were notably left out. Without the absolutism of France (which also failed) or the great rights of Venetian or German merchants and burghers, the middle class, Poland found itself following a colonial model in the chaos of the ancien regime in Europe. The downfall of the First Polish Republic in 1795 was the result of a series of coinciding factors, each of which will be addressed fully and with concise clarity.

The primary contributing factors to the downfall of Poland that will be addressed are economic destabilization, civil strife and political turmoil, as well as an incapacity to perform militarily in such a way as to maintain Poland’s borders in the new nation-state system imposed on much of Europe by nationalism, in a geopolitical sense. Inability to compete economically with other nations created a myth of Poland as a nation without a purpose. Specific trade inequalities as well as industrial non-competitiveness will be seen first, and as a contribution to the exacerbation of other elements of the devolution of the Polish state before its removal from political maps (if not from that of cultural identity).

Economic malaise: The New World and Europe’s Grain Basket

Poland lies along the Oder and Vistula rivers and with the unification of Lithuanian and Polish lands through personal union with the creation of the Republic of the Two Nations in 1569, a great amount of grain harvest was gained. As control of these far flung regions began to disintegrate, so to did the economic prosperity of Poland. The rest of Europe underwent nationalization in an industrial sense, while Polish reforms came too little, too late.

While German reforms granting power to burghers were necessitated by squabbles within the Holy Roman Empire, and in France and Italy these protections were de facto incorporated with their national development in the middle ages, it was not until 1791 that “Poland transformed from a nation of gentry to a nation of proprietors” (Taras, 34). This late realization of economic equality and prosperity to national success meant that “putting-out” systems in Europe took longer to occur in Polish lands, and with them the seeds of industrialization which made European colonial ambitions reality.

Historically, nature had protected Poland from the malevolent forces of economic sabotage or instability. When civil wars or marauding Tartars devastated the farmlands, merchants and nobility were comfortable to wait for times to change, safe in the knowledge that it was impossible for rudimentary military operations to effectively control the territory (at times this included Poland’s own rulers). Unfortunately, divides which economically split these nobles would also result in military conflict later on.

The shift towards Moscow and the Orthodox church resulted in times of entire regions simply refusing to pay tribute or taxes,  and in the Great Deluge, the nation was torn apart in civil war waged by Poland’s elite nobility. Costly military  and political conquests, such as union with Lithuania began to fall apart because “to Orthodox nobles, especially in the distant eastern borderlands, taking service with Moscow often seemed to offer a more promising path of advancement” (Lukowski and Zawadzki, 56).

When economic tithes stopped coming to Roman Catholic authorities, the progression of other country splitting heresy, such as that in Prussia, began to become more commonplace, and the crown and military found itself in a disadvantage. This was worsened by the introduction of New World markets, destabilizing demand for raw materials that Poland was known for. Their economic advantage was destroyed as England’s industrialization provided eastern lands with better products, in a similar manner to the colonies, which undermined the historical technological advantages Polish merchants and forces enjoyed.

Five Liberties, and How Oppression and Repression Tear Poland Apart at the Seams

When the big three neighbors of Poland, Austria, Russia, and Sweden, that were primarily responsible for the nation’s fall, were disorganized and ineffective at projecting power beyond their own borders, Polish chariots established an effective rule over one third of continental Europe. However, as these nations consolidated under the power of some of the most effective rulers in history, and in France the absolutism of Louis XIV became the envy of Europe, Polish compromise made political change grind to a halt. Even in wars within Poland, there was no satisfaction and the nobles expressed indignation at their “oppression” or at the inability to act in a reactionary manner, in either case neither side’s ambitions could be fulfilled, and consequently little conquest, economic development, or other trade marks of the absolute monarch such as imperialism could be fulfilled.

This was endemic and intrinsic to a policy change forced upon the king, “nothing new” in which the Polish Sejm or parliament, “hereby affirmed for all time to come that nothing new may be enacted by Us and our Successors save by the common consent of the senators and the envoys of the constituencies” (Lukowski and Zawadzki, 64), which meant that even funding for a defensive war that the monarch approved of could take three or four years to be approved, if at all. The weakness of a central authority in Poland is illustrated in the case of certain magnates or nobles which held more economic wealth than the royal treasury. Polish neighbors had no love for this egalitarian noble led state, much later, after the fall, Prince Metternich, the Austrian Chancellor stated, “Polonism is only a formula, the sound of a word underneath which hides a revolution in its most glaring form” (Taras, 36). For foreign nations, in pre-revolution and pre-napoleonic Europe, revolutionary ideals were more hated even than the most bitter foes.

Under one king, August III, “only one session of the Sejm was able to pass any legislation at all” (Taras, 31). Enemies of Poland, and of religious authority alike took full advantage of this system to make a mockery of attempted nationhood. The inability to rule was compounded by liberum conspire under which Polish nobility had the right to conspire against authority, and indeed even to wage warfare against the king.

Moving from Polish insurrections to foreign policy, seeing that “this system also generated self-destructive tendencies, especially when skillfully exploited by Poland’s foes” (Taras 32), draws a vivid picture of the conspiracy of multiple malevolent forces in the fall of Polish authority. With one third of the population dead due to war and war-related famines and hardship, and substantial territory lost, this authority had dwindled for nearly a century before the famous partitions and direct involvement of foreign belligerents.

Polish Military and Geopolitical Power: More Than Technological Disadvantage

Neighboring nations had a contempt for national Poland. The viewpoint of the rest of the world was that Poland was a nation, once too powerful to deal with, with unchanging ideology in the face of a rapidly changing world. While Renaissance and middle age era kings of Poland were able to boast resounding victories over heretics and foreign opponents alike, by the time gunpowder fuelled war machines took dominance, the nation fell apart on the battlefield as well as at home.

While the ultimate elimination of the Polish state was diplomatic, a result of treaties and occurred gradually over the last decade of the 18th century in partitions, it was causally linked to vicious warfare which left the country and people in tatters. With no choice but to fight, and no war machine to fight with, it was easy for foreign nations to dictate terms to Polish nobility, a class that by this time was facing humiliation in the face of successful peasant authority throughout Europe. Poland had no choice to throw its power behind a monarch or decentralize into the peasant masses, either option was fundamentally undermined by the very constitution Poland considered to be the premier among democratic or republican movements at the time.

This was one example of a compromise that failed. Where once, in times of duchies and feudal rule, compromise gave Poland unprecedented authority in negotiations and in integrating new cultures and classes, now this conciliatory nature tore the nation to pieces. With nationalist ideologies spreading in Europe, a mixed background of constituents made consolidation impossible, except through the guiding force of the greater powers.

Unfortunately for occupying powers, this did not work. Poland was ripped apart, eaten digested, and excreted nearly in whole, and periodic nationalist rebellions proved this point. While they did little to restore the Polish state, the idea of a Polish nation remained so ingrained to its people behavior that nearly 150 years later, the state was able to rise again, a testament to the strength this culture possessed.

The nation survived bitter persecution and is now stronger for that effect. Without the conspiring influence of war and struggle, however, it is possible that Poland could have exerted control over some greater lands and resources. Failure to recognize the future of Europe as interconnected to the destiny of Poland is a failure that is not likely to repeat itself. Thought that which has seen Poland survive thus far is the fierce loyalty to land and nation, and this remains paramount in this nation-state as it has successfully repulsed attempts by the Soviet Union and other powers to absorb their cultural identity.

Works Cited:

Lukowski, Jerzy, and W. H. Zawadzki. A Concise History of Poland. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2006. Print.

Taras, Ray. Consolidating Democracy in Poland. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1995. Print.

Watergate: Trial and Tribulation, A Commander-in-Chief Laid Low

Paul Fischer

2/1/2015

Felicia Kornbluh

Watergate: Trial and Tribulation, A Commander-in-Chief Laid Low

One of the first questions that arises while reading All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein is the historical authenticity of the events and journalistic integrity involved. It becomes very clear with further research, as well as sources, that the biggest challenge to the events that occurred is the typo on page 43. Of course, it must be first noted that ultimately the story was confirmed by Richard Nixon’s resignation as a correctly placed political and legal noose began to tighten around his ill-gained structures of power. Bernstein wonders at first how deep the conspiracy can go, and without the corporate trails of money that are prevalent today, with soviet infiltration at the forefront of the public opinion, it is safe to say that the extent of this corruption was if anything underestimated. Yet it is still important to reaffirm this before moving to the primary purpose of this paper, the evaluation of the artistic value of this work and its impact on popular culture and opinion. As Sussman says, “We’ve never had a story like this. Just never.”

It is also important to note the solidity of the accusations and events, because it played an important part in explaining how the American public could believe this extraordinary story. Bernstein was so confident in the public’s belief, with good reason after the prosecution’s interrogation of Nixon and his men and the devolution of the administration, that he was able to frame the story in a publicly accessible and theatrical manner. This despite generally conservative alignment shifts coincident with the incarceration and removal of voting rights of approximately 25% of voters, mostly African-American and democrats by the turn of the millennium.

Without making direct accusations, the book ominously points to a greater surveillance and corruption than can even be proven. As white house aides and Republican leaders alike attempted to stifle investigation into the Watergate incident, Woodward and Bernstein are both rebuffed handily. Unlike a manufactured scandal, such as when the FBI attempted to frame Martin Luther King Jr. for the beating of white women, which are shallow and ill-planned, this investigation has a breakthrough contributing to its authenticity as well as the dramatic flow of the story line.

Perhaps the greatest attribute to the story is that an alignment shift was not created. While the long term implications for the Republican party, and American democratic procedures cannot be understated, some might argue that this was a bone. In the coming election presidential candidate George McGovern seized this up, and overestimated the public’s belief and investment in these events. He made a number of extraordinary claims, and Republicans were able to use this to their advantage in counter-stories published, mocking investigative efforts.

The author uses suspense to his advantage as he closes in on Haldeman. For his source the “stakes seemed to quadruple” whenever Haldeman’s name was mentioned. Forced to do it himself, Woodward had to find a way to obtain absolute certainty in the confirmation. As FBI realizes that there is an inside informant, and some of the stories are coming “nearly verbatim” from bureau reports, maneuvering becomes tight. Jubilation breaks out as it is confirmed from secret grand-jury testimony by Hugh Sloan, a leading member of the conspiracy that the slush fund in question was in fact used for dirty political tricks.

Seeing Woodward and Bernstein as foils of each other is impossible. At the beginning of the story, this seemed to be the case, but by the time the story is confirmed, they act as one and if anything have reversed in roles as journalists. In late October, the doubt must have been crushing. The administration was dirty, but it is not clear how or what machinations were in place to ensure the survival of the corruption.

The sick surprise of having their big break nearly defeated is gut-wrenching. There is a perfect relief when finally, “Stoner [Sloan’s lawyer] said he would not recommend making any apology to Bob Haldeman."  The sacrifice of the journalists is also critical to the book’s literary success. These were men willing to risk incarceration, even while following all of the rules, in order to see justice done to a demagogue who was using corruption to maintain his “popular” rule: Nixon, the president of the United States himself.

Finally, Nixon “accepted the resignations of Ehrlichman and Haldeman and Dean.” Then on national television he took responsibility for the actions of his subordinates. As the tapes unraveled, so to speak, and the president’s men are brought into the limelight, the story is rated as B-plus, then Butterfield laid out the whole story before the senate committee and the country, and the story is more than a B-plus. While the president continued to insist that he was “not a crook” and called the stories “scurrilous” in nature, his authority was compromised. Though he believed that “one year of Watergate was enough,” the nation would never recover from the breach of sacred trust by an executive in this manner.

A Documentary Review of PBS: America’s War on Poverty

Paul Fischer

1.25.2015

Felicia Kornbluh

A Documentary Review of PBS: America’s War on Poverty

The Public Broadcasting Service takes on the War Against Poverty, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s brainchild in a television series. The series shows how poverty touches the entire American political and economic system. As racial divides are thickly drawn with a black marker, a massive redistribution of wealth is found to be necessary. This is in contrast to the prosperity victory in World War II brought to the United States.

The director uses political footage, interviews from authors, citizens, and politicians alike to show the dramatic widespread effect of poverty, as well as the machinations that made change possible and the vehicles for effecting that change in operation. Combining black and white footage, with modern colour film drives home that this film is part of American history, as much as it is the present. Sadly, the American history of poverty, and Native American struggles are ignored. Racial divides are not absent, but are set aside to the second half of the film, as the film has a dialectic focus on the Equal Employment Opportunity Act and the Civil Rights Act. However, this is appropriate because the War Against Poverty is a specific time-place referring to the 1960’s, though those unacquainted with this, will be confused by the title and content.

“The very things that made America great its inventions… were causing some Americans to be left behind.” The joint continuous miner brought the story of John Henry, in which a man labours to death against a machine, to reality on a societal level. Coal miners found steady work and good wages evaporating to the hypnotizing diligence of the mechanical workers.

By 1960 nearly half of residents in some counties in coal-mining Virginia relied on government aid. In the words of John F. Kennedy, “automation did it.” An exodus of former coal miners seeking work and african-americans fleeing racism arrived in the North and changed the country. In the capital as well, a march on Washington signalled a substantive movement towards change in the country. Poverty was geographical, and with the help of unions and politicians like Kennedy, racial lines became shattered.

Violence broke out. Homes and bridges were bombed. A decade before the race riots became bloody, and years before the Vietnam war, destitution was driving Americans to fight for their right to live, or death by starvation. Before the political promises of Kennedy could be carried out, he was assassinated. Carrying out his promises was a medical necessity. In states such as Mississippi, poverty and lack of healthcare caused parasites, lethargy, and severe anemia in children. Nowhere was poverty greater.

But all was not lost. There was no initial confidence in Lyndon B. Johnson, but using a variety of political and legislative means, he was able to “continue” both domestically and abroad, the goals of the administration and American people. The African-American movement was growing in the public conscious, but the backlash against it would have killed what chances there were had it not been for Head Start and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. By ensuring the poor could vote, and that race did not factor into this, the end of segregation was in sight. More importantly, this minority, which had a lower population growth than the Jewish population in Germany due to economic impoverishment, was given opportunity to become full partners in the make-up of this nation.

Surviving the depression, Johnson made significant inroads to Americans, enacting the first anti-poverty legislation since the Great Depression giving needed alleviation to Americans, to “replace their despair with opportunity.” He created a task force, and began a movement to change the country. In some states, it was a matter of saving lives. The idea that black Mississippians could control anything was considered to be ludicrous, and this was seen in their oppression, and reversed by their first true liberation, with economic and political equality. Before they could lose their job, their welfare when they voted.

Sargent Shriver was appointed head of the War Against Poverty, and with what some would call blind optimism, energetically took on the job. He had expertise setting up the Peace Corp, and was able to use this domestically with efficiency. Unable to levy higher taxes, and without a comprehensive job program the questions existing are problematic. Investigating voting problems made enemies, but it was a political sacrifice that had to be made. As workers protested discrimination and were incarcerated, the CDGP made allocations of federal money to post bail for these workers under the auspices of work salary advances.

The mixing of the Civil Rights movement with the War Against Poverty created humiliation for Shriver, and was seized upon. Yet these were two movements intertwined, and impossible to separate. As the opposition insisted “don’t you ever give up that gun, that is all you’ve got to protect that little baby in that crib” the documentary shows the backlash was not one which could be stood up against without great courage. Klansmen were marching unhooded and unafraid of retribution, despite their violent message, and African-American protestors needed the same protection, though without the threat of violence.

As planes began to fly in the South Asian peninsula, Johnson signed the Equal Employment Opportunity Bill into law. Suddenly the education programs and hand-up (not hand out) the federal government had offered America’s poor looked smart; the country was going to send a conscript army into war. Racial equality would also figure in importantly towards preventing this war from tearing the nation apart at the seams. This would seem to be an appropriate direction for the documentary, but for better or for worse the film begins discussion in the last section of reorganization and scandal in anti-poverty movements.