Cool
John Wayne as JB Books. “The Shootist “
Yep, the enemies of freedom never give up their desire to destroy the Constitutional Republic which theoretically represents and the U.S. Military that protects it and us. The left are relentless, godless, control freaks that want nothing better then to destroy America, primarily from within, and with help from our enemies abroad. Things are going to get bumpy, put on your seat belts and get ready for a fight, it’s coming.
I long for the days when men like John Wayne were the heroes. Now we have pantywaists like Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, et.al. telling how to think, and the news media is in full mourning for a draft dodging, malcontent, subversive, muslim - mohammed ali.
From the article:
“...in October 1979, Ronald Reagans biography of his dear friend John Wayne appeared in Readers Digest. Reagan imparted this advice: Dont ever trust a man who doesnt like John Wayne. A mans opinion of John Wayne is a good rule-of-thumb test of his character and moral values. To admire John Wayne is to admire the heroic and the morally noble. To sneer at John Wayne is to admire the opposite. Its revealing that you find very few liberals among his admirers, and very few conservatives among his detractors.
Marion “Duke” Morrison sought an appointment to the Naval Academy as a high school senior in 1925, but when that fell through he accepted a football scholarship to USC. Duke Morrison became John Wayne in 1931 when the unkown actor won the lead role in the big budget film The Big Trail.
A mans opinion of John Wayne is a good rule-of-thumb test of his character and moral values.
To admire John Wayne is to admire the heroic and the morally noble.
To sneer at John Wayne is to admire the opposite.
Its revealing that you find very few liberals among his admirers, and very few conservatives among his detractors.
Words to live by. In my 68 years I have found this to be 100% true.
On Parris Island in 1989, we were shown two movies. Sands of Iwo Jima, and The D.I., with Jack Webb.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_A._Johnson
Truman hated Marines going back to his days serving in WWI.
And when he couldn’t get Forrestal to slash and burn with the Navy and Marine budget he brought in Louis Johnson, arguably the worst Secretary of Defense this country ever had.
Ooooh Rah!
It was good to learn that The Duke had repeatedly tried to enlist at the start of WWII.
I’ve been a bit surprised that Obama has not tried to dissolve the Corps. He will probably mandate that the Corps camo uniforms be switched to fuschia & chartreuse, as a parting shot, before he leaves office.
Or, he may have enough sense to realize it is not a good idea to be on the “BIg Time Bad List” of BOTH the SEALS and the Marines.
The Chowder Society saved the U. S. Marines. John Wayne played a role in a movie. The Chowder Society was a group of active and retired Marine officers who lobbied, launched public relation campaigns (this movie included), and a number of other things that were probably improper for serving officers. They succeeded using their very refined political skills that are still a hallmark of the Marine Corps to this very day.
http://www.bluetoad.com/article/The+Chowder+Society/32339/0/article.html
Much more available online, google it.
Harry Truman once said, “No one has a better PR operation than the US Marine Corps.
thank you very much for this post. thank God for the great man John Wayne.
I am not sure how accurate this is. The Defense act of 1947 pretty much established the force structure. This is when the USAF was created.
The Movie was released in 1949. And the Doolittle board was not focused on reorganizing the force structure, it was nearly solely focused on officer/enlisted relations and was known as a board to sort through GI complaints about service in WWII.
It’s documented that Cates did send someone to ask Wayne to make the film. But the conclusion of the piece here is a little far fetched.
Director Allan Dwan went back to the very beginnings of the movie industry. I’d forgotten it was he who helmed “Sands of Iwo Jima.”