I met a traveler in from D.C., frayed, Who said--"On four July, along the Mall....

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Walter Shaub Retweeted

For @waltshaub I met a traveler in from D.C., frayed, Who said—”On four July, along the Mall There came a vulgar, strutting cavalcade In tribute to our leader’s greed and gall; A Russian military-style parade Of tanks and, dragged along the route’s terrain,

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As fighters flew above the town’s canyons A naval ship not named for John McCain While at the mic a sneering man did say, ‘My name is Donald Trump, the Con of Cons, Look on my works, Obama, and despair! I’m greater than you ever were, okay?’

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But none were there to hear; the sidewalks bare And empty viewing stands stretched far away.”

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[tblue37]

1. Clever parody of "Ozymandias." nt

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Nixon's "Honor America Day" in DC on July 4th, 1970, was marked by protests & partisan rancor:

Walter Shaub Retweeted

If you’ve forgotten, President Nixon’s “Honor America Day” in DC on July 4th, 1970, was marked by protests & partisan rancor: https://timeline.com/honor-america-day-1970-74931625e339 … 49 years later, those who could not remember history could well be condemned to repeat it on our National Mall.

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On the 4th of July in 1970, the nonpartisan Honor America Day turned into a drugged-up protest
Nixon, Nazis, naked bathers…and Bob Hope

Matt Reimann
Jul 3, 2017 | 5 minute read

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2600/1*skhv6PYUskpG8JQwfaL-TA.jpeg

National Socialist White Peoples Party members respond to counter demonstrators staging a marijuana smoke-in at Honor America Day in Washington, D.C., July 1970. (Brig Cabe/Washington Post via Washington D.C. Public Library)

Tensions all over America were high in the summer of 1970. The Nixon administration’s bombing of Cambodia and the continued war in Vietnam were seen by a vocal section of the population to be murderous disasters. Outraged students raised their voice, and in May, the National Guard killed four of them at Kent State and two others at Jackson State. It appeared to some as if the country doubled down on its sins, adding the blood of its own citizens to the mix.

A month later, a group of wealthy and prominent Americans assembled to do something about the national divide. Their mission was not to address the problems behind it, but to invigorate a broad and vague spirit of appreciation for the United States of America. They called it Honor America Day: a massive, entertainment-filled ceremony, to be held in Washington DC on the Fourth of July. For a day, Americans could swap their discontent for waving flags, live music, and old-fashioned pride.

That wasn’t exactly how it went down.

Leading the Honor America committee was J. Willard Marriott, head of the eponymous hotel chain and friend of President Nixon. Honorary members of the committee came to include former first lady Mamie Eisenhower and former presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson. Vince Lombardi and astronaut Frank Borman joined as well. Bob Hope was to be the master of ceremonies. Politicians such as Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, endorsed Honor America Day in their own region. The hope was for a thoroughly bipartisan, inoffensive, and well-meaning event, even if it meant very little in the end.
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Washington Area Spark -- Protesting Honor America Day: 1970

Protesters at the July 4, 1970 Honor America Day celebration push a lighting truck into the reflecting pool near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Police used tear gas to break up several thousand protesters who demanded an end to the war in Indochina and legalization of marijuana.

Nixon’s closest supporters organized Honor America Day after the U.S. was wracked by protests following Nixon’s April 30 announcement that America was expanding the war in Vietnam by invading Cambodia.

Protesters commemorated Honor America Day by holding an annual “smoke-in” on July 4 to demand legalization of marijuana.

For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsk6Z5oFm

For information and related images for the 1973 smoke-in, see flic.kr/s/aHsjtBD68C

For information and images related to the 1979 smoke-in, see flic.kr/s/aHsjDAiRxW

Photographer is unknown. The image is an auction find.

Honor America Day: 1970

Honor America Day was staged by supporters of President Richard M. Nixon on July 4, 1970 on the grounds of the Washington Monument and drew an estimated 50,000 people.

Most of the antiwar movement believed this event to be a pro-war rally. Honor America Day was quickly organized after students at nearly 500 campuses went on strike and four students were killed by National Guard at Kent State University and two by police at Jackson State University during antiwar protests.

The principle sponsors were Rev. Billy Graham, Nixon’s personal minister, and the entertainer Bob Hope who headed USO tours for U.S. servicemen. Kate Smith sang God Bless America at the event. Nixon sent greetings to the event

A significant group of protesters numbering several thousand showed up to demand an end to the war in Indochina and demanding legalization of marijuana. Police used tear gas to quell the protests and many in the larger crowd received their first whiff of the stinging gas.

An album of selected recordings from the event highlighted by the Kate Smith rendition memorialized one point of view. On the other hand, the demonstrators recreated the event for many years as an annual “smoke-in” demanding legalization of marijuana.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Kick for Shelleyesqueness. nt