Myths of the Golden Era -- Exploded!

[LizzieMaine]

Nothing says "junior high school math teacher" like an AMC Pacer.

 

[gtdean48]

Nothing says '70s Car like a Pacer.
...

Gremlin????

 

[p51]

Speaking of period myths, how about the myth that everyone was fully behind the war effort in WW2? People forget there was a huge isolationist movement before the war and plenty of people were against the war even after Pearl Harbor. Congress's voting to declare war was almost unanimous, but not quite.
Or how about people think everyone loved FDR? The man was reviled in his time by a great many people.
I guess that in the future, people will say that everyone was behind President Obama even though anyone around right now would know that isn't indeed the case at all (regardless how you might personally feel about him either way).
History always glosses over stuff, I guess. I got tired of trying to explain to people that the American Civil War was not fully about slavery, because it's an easy label to put on that time period.

 

[LizzieMaine]

FDR himself blew out that myth in 1936:

For twelve years this Nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing Government. The Nation looked to Government but the Government looked away . . . Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that Government is best which is most indifferent . . .

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace — business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me — and I welcome their hatred.

The viciousness with which so-called "Liberty Leaguers" attacked FDR, his wife, his sons, and even his dog was rarely equalled in its scurrilousness and its obscenity until the invention of blogger comments.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi Lizzie

Where is your quote from? Is that Franklin? I think History has shown that his policies didn't really do much to stop the Depression, but he's still worshiped by many of the 80 year-olds back home in Illinois. I looked up Liberty Leaguers and found that they were Conservative Democrats. I wouldn't have thought that.

Thanks

 

[Edward]

Nothing says '70s Car like a Pacer.

Never driven one, or even been in or near one in person, but... I had a Matchbox model of one back in the Seventies that I remember I loved. Probably still in my folks' attic. I didn't know that's what it was at the time, of course: I think the first time I saw a "real" one was in Wayne's World.

Speaking of period myths, how about the myth that everyone was fully behind the war effort in WW2? People forget there was a huge isolationist movement before the war and plenty of people were against the war even after Pearl Harbor. Congress's voting to declare war was almost unanimous, but not quite.

I think, too, people today often ascribe to the decision to go to war things that we know now, but weren't common knowledge back then. I don't know when exactly the Allies knew of the death camps, or their full extent (quite possibly the latter not until their liberation), but obviously not in 1939. I'm very glad Hitler was beaten, given the full extent of what we now know, but I do suspect it would have been a harder sell to the average person in 1939 than it is looking back given what we now know. Of course, on the flipside most people seem back then to have more readily bought government propaganda on any issue - or is that a myth too? Maybe it was just that there were far fewer outlets for dissenting voices than we are used to now? Or maybe this is simply the effect of history as referred to below?

Or how about people think everyone loved FDR? The man was reviled in his time by a great many people.

Exactly like Churchill.

I guess that in the future, people will say that everyone was behind President Obama even though anyone around right now would know that isn't indeed the case at all (regardless how you might personally feel about him either way).

Plausible... Or maybe other recent presidents (ahem) may be reappraised if a historical reappraisal of recent conflicts becomes the orthodoxy...who knows.

History always glosses over stuff, I guess. I got tired of trying to explain to people that the American Civil War was not fully about slavery, because it's an easy label to put on that time period.

True. There's a fascinating narrative, I think ,comes out of what the Civil War means to people and what it symolises now in folk history, as opposed to the more convoluted reality. Not unlike Culloden, or the Boyne in that respect.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Hi Lizzie

Where is your quote from? Is that Franklin? I think History has shown that his policies didn't really do much to stop the Depression, but he's still worshiped by many of the 80 year-olds back home in Illinois. I looked up Liberty Leaguers and found that they were Conservative Democrats. I wouldn't have thought that.

Thanks

The Liberty League was a cross-section of the extreme right of the time -- the main Democrat involved was former New York governor Al Smith, who had an intense personal dislike for FDR. The quote was from FDR's final speech of the 1936 campaign.

If you compare the Gross Domestic Product in 1936 from what it was in 1932, your view of his impact on the Depression might change. Where he made his mistake was on ramping back on the New Deal following his re-election, thus triggering the Recession of 1937-38.

I grew up in a household where a picture of FDR still hung on the wall in the 1970s, so naturally my view is not that of the modern revisionists.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Never driven one, or even been in or near one in person, but... I had a Matchbox model of one back in the Seventies that I remember I loved. Probably still in my folks' attic. I didn't know that's what it was at the time, of course: I think the first time I saw a "real" one was in Wayne's World.

My Dad considered buying a Pacer back then. I even remember going with him to the AMC dealership on Beach Boulevard. He finally settled on a '76 Datsun 610 (now Nissan).

On a humorous note the bad guys in Cars 2 are The Lemons, a gang made up of Pacers, Gremlins and Yugos. The unreliability of the Yugo is touched upon in the film as the head of the Yugo crime family has to be towed around by one of his henchmen.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I had a co-worker once who owned a Yugo. It was stolen one night, and caught fire and burned to a shell before the thief could get it a hundred yards from the house.

 

[MikePotts]

I had a co-worker once who owned a Yugo. It was stolen one night, and caught fire and burned to a shell before the thief could get it a hundred yards from the house.

..........."Stolen"...........riiiight

 

[Angus Forbes]

Plausible... Or maybe other recent presidents (ahem) may be reappraised if a historical reappraisal of recent conflicts becomes the orthodoxy...who knows.

Precisely . . . whatever this might actually mean (ahem) . . . but who knows?

 

[John in Covina]

I had a co-worker once who owned a Yugo. It was stolen one night, and caught fire and burned to a shell before the thief could get it a hundred yards from the house.

What many people don't know is that the Yugo was based on Fiat technology manufactured under liscence. How do you say fix it again Tony in Serb?

 

[John in Covina]

the main Democrat involved was former New York governor Al Smith, who had an intense personal dislike for FDR.

Al Smith was at one time about as left leaning as FDR. It wasn't just personalities that made him change his mind on the course of the New Deal.

The time was that the confidence of the people of the US was so shaken so many times that they had to try what ever they could. They even had programs and guidelines that worked against each other.

The book that helps with a glimpse of the 1930's is "From Yesterday" which gives some great insights from a variety of views and also uses a series of different areas of activities to outline the Great Depression.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

What many people don't know is that the Yugo was based on Fiat technology manufactured under liscence. How do you say fix it again Tony in Serb?

фик поново, Тони
fik ponovo, Toni

The Fiat was also the basis for the Soviet/Russian Lada

[video=youtube;wZ4NRbJQz3o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ4NRbJQz3o[/video]

 

[Noirblack]

фик поново, Тони
fik ponovo, Toni

The Fiat was also the basis for the Soviet/Russian Lada

[video=youtube;wZ4NRbJQz3o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ4NRbJQz3o[/video]

It's strange when you market your car with guys from you military! It might make sense to have military allusions in your ad if you are selling Jeeps or Hummers, but crappy little Ladas? If the Russian military was using them, the rest of the world didn't have much to worry about.

I love the way the guy behind the wheel of the Lada has a cigarette going. It's a nice touch.

 

[vitanola]

Al Smith was at one time about as left leaning as FDR. It wasn't just personalities that made him change his mind on the course of the New Deal.

The time was that the confidence of the people of the US was so shaken so many times that they had to try what ever they could. They even had programs and guidelines that worked against each other.

The book that helps with a glimpse of the 1930's is "From Yesterday" which gives some great insights from a variety of views and also uses a series of different areas of activities to outline the Great Depression.

Do you mean "Since Yesterday"?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Translation: "We can march faster than our crappy Ladas." lol

 

[Noirblack]

Translation: "We can march faster than our crappy Ladas." lol

I remember that Ford weaponized the Pinto because they were rigged to blow up if they got rear ended. Maybe the Russians had something up their sleeves that we don't know about.

 

[Chasseur]

My Dad considered buying a Pacer back then. I even remember going with him to the AMC dealership on Beach Boulevard. He finally settled on a '76 Datsun 610 (now Nissan).

On a humorous note the bad guys in Cars 2 are The Lemons, a gang made up of Pacers, Gremlins and Yugos. The unreliability of the Yugo is touched upon in the film as the head of the Yugo crime family has to be towed around by one of his henchmen.

When we went through some hard times in the early 1980s my dad bought a used Pacer, it was about the cheapest car he could find in the paper. We all called it the cockroach car

I also found that thing with the Lemon carsas villans in Cars 2 one of the funniest things in the movie. Man that Pacer brought back memories.

 

[jamespowers]

Or how about people think everyone loved FDR? The man was reviled in his time by a great many people.

You mean Wheeled Satan?