Enola Gay

Let me preface this entry by saying that I believe Harry Truman had no choice but to give the order to drop the bombs on Japan.  That's my opinion; we are all entitled to an opinion.  Those people intended to annihilate all of us or die trying.
Now I'll get on with my story.
I usually go to sleep listening to my Pandora radio.  I've created four stations, but I usually listen to the folk station.  Every once in awhile I'd hear someone I believed was Pete Seeger singing a song called "Enola Gay".  It's a war protest song, and it haunted me for weeks.  Finally I did a few searches online and found out it wasn't Pete Seeger at all; it was some guy named Utah Phillips.  
I do love discovering a new folk singer, even if he's dead by the time I find him.   
Here are the words to the song:

Enola Gay

(Utah Phillips)



Look out, look out from your schoolroom window! 
Look up, young children, from your play! 
Wave your hand at the shining airplane, 
Such a beautiful sight is Enola Gay. 
 High above the clouds in the sunlit silence, 
So peaceful here, I'd like to stay. 
There's many a pilot who'd swap his pension 
For a chance to fly Enola Gay. 

 What is that sound high above my city? 
I rush outside and search the sky. 
Now we are running to find the shelters, 
Hearing sirens start to cry. 
 What will I say when my children ask me, 
Where was I flying up on that day? 
With trembling voice I gave the order 
To the bombardier of Enola Gay. 

 Look out, look out from your schoolroom window; 
Look up, young children, from your play. 
Your bright young eyes will turn to ashes 
In the blinding light of Enola Gay. 
 I turn to see the fireball rising. 
"My God, My God," all I can say. 
I hear a voice within me crying, 
"My mother's name was Enola Gay." 

 Look out, look out from your schoolroom window; 
Look up, young children, from your play. 
Oh, when you see the warplanes flying, 
Each one is named Enola Gay.


But I really wanted to let you hear this Utah Phillips singing his song, and there wasn't any such video on Youtube.  So I made a pathetic attempt at finding pictures of the Hiroshima tragedy, making a slideshow, and adding vocals of the guy singing the song.  Lord only knows how many copyright violations I'm guilty of, but here it is.  If I get tossed in jail, please send me some postcards.

The book I'm reading now

"In The President's Secret Service" is a book about the Secret Service and how it has evolved, as well as the training the agents receive; it also has plenty of dirt on recent presidents.
Ever since Cliff and I went to Plains, Georgia, and sat in Jimmy Carter's Sunday School class (and later had our picture taken with him and Ros), I've had a good opinion of him.  Turns out, the members of the Secret Service did not.  However, after a chapter of griping about him, it was admitted that he really was devoted to Ros, and that he was serious about his religion.  Hey, that's more good than they had to say about some of the others.  The president they seemed to be most fond of was Reagan, but they didn't care much for his wife.  They had good things to say about President Ford, too.  
The way they describe Nixon makes me wonder how he ever ended up in office.  Wow.  I'm not even sure he was safe walking the streets; he had all the traits of a crazed postal worker.  
Oh, and from what I've learned about Lyndon Johnson, Bill Clinton is a boy scout in comparison.    
In the previous entry I mentioned the fact that we had visited the Truman Library; Patsy from Arkansas left a comment that a relative of hers with rather loose morals worked for Truman for years; she and her sister had wondered if there was ever any "hanky-panky" between them.  
Well, nothing would surprise me these days, but from what I've read about Harry Truman, he was really in love with Bess for as long as he lived.  That doesn't mean he might not have slipped up at some time, though.  Boys will be boys.  But if you read the many, many letters Harry wrote to his wife over the years, you will see the love in them.  
So far I haven't read any dirt on Truman in this book I'm reading, but the Secret Service wasn't much of a presence back then.  After Kennedy was assassinated, they started expanding.  
I have a long-standing admiration for Harry Truman.  He wasn't afraid to speak his mind.  
That's about all my ramblings on this hot day (it may reach 108 degrees).