Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August: A Crucial Read for Government Leaders Today

THROWBACK THURSDAY

The current horrors in Israel/Gaza left me speechless here for a number of days. Today I felt that this 2009 blog post had something important to say. 

Display of 1962 Soviet Missile in Havana

I wrote this in 2009 while listening to an audio biography of Robert Kennedy by Evan Thomas. I felt inspired to share these thoughts when I reached the chapter dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis. RFK later published a book based on his memoirs during this crisis called 13 Days, which led to a pretty good film by the same name.

13 Days is about a critical moment in the Cold War. Robert Kennedy was Attorney General at the time, with his older brother John serving as President. The adversary during this critical juncture in history was Nikita Kruschev. When it was discovered that the Soviets had begun setting up nuclear missiles in Cuba, the president and his team of advisers had to determine what course of action to take.

It was decided that the president would go about “business as usual” so as to not alarm the press or the public, while his brother RFK led the brain trust that would work out scenarios and a path of action. Amongst this inner circle were Adlai Stevenson, McGeorge Bundy, Dean Acheson, Dean Rusk, and trusted friend/aide Kenny O’Donnell.

Several important events preceded the crisis: the Bay of Pigs debacle; the building of the Berlin Wall the previous year, which revealed the nature of their adversary; the riots in Oxford Town several weeks previous when James Meredith was to be enrolled at Ole Miss, which showed Bobby how inept and unprepared the military was for a crisis; and the January publication of Barbara Tuchman’s Guns of August, which spent 42 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and which both JFK and RFK had read. This is a book that changed history.

The insights from Tuchman’s tome had a riveting effect on RFK when the brainstorming began and he perceived how hawkish men like Dean Rusk and the others were. In evaluating courses of action, Berlin was not a city with free people inhabiting it, but rather a bargaining chip. What’s worse, the Pentagon agreed that it was highly unlikely a pre-emptive strike would take out every missile silo in Cuba, so we would most likely lose at least one and maybe more major U.S. cities.

Tuchman’s book, primarily a description of the first weeks of World War I, was the wakeup call. Tuchman showed how the drums of war create their own momentum. Because of this book Bobby was probably the first to understand that military action very likely could lead to World War III, something no one in a nuclear age could ever hope for. And as a result, the brothers dug in their heels against being drawn down that slippery slope by overly-confident military exuberance.

As an aside I thought the following anecdote from the RFK biography was amusing. The magnitude of the resistance to the integration of the University of Mississippi had an unsettling effect on RFK. The violent clash at Ole Miss left two dead including a French journalist covering the story for a London paper. 48 soldiers and 28 U.S. Marshalls were wounded by gunfire. When a few weeks later he learned that there were nuclear warheads in Cuba aimed at the United States, the younger Kennedy quipped, “Think they could hit Oxford?”

This morning I want to thank God for Barbara Tuchman and her efforts to put down in lines the insights she’d gained from her dedicated research. This incident is living proof of the power of the written word. It is not a stretch to imagine that her book saved many lives, if not the world.

More Thoughts on Murder Most Foul: Most Foul Indeed

Zürich. I shall never forget, President Kennedy was assassinated, the pain we felt for America and the bewilderment and disillusionment experienced by the many former soldiers in World War II and former inmates in Soviet camps in prison. The failure of the US judicial authorities to uncover the real assassins of Kennedy was all the worse because of the inability or the lack of desire by the American judicial authorities to uncover the assassins and clear up the crime.. 

We had the feeling that powerful, openhanded and generous America, so boundlessly partial to freedom, had been smeared in the face with dirt, and the feeling persisted. Something more than respect was shaken--it was our faith.
--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

So begins an essay on Henry Kissinger in a book of Solzhenitsyn's selected writings titled World Communism: A Critical Review. That's quite a quote when you consider the Nobel laureate who said it.

How interesting that I stumbled upon this passage (above) while listening to Dylan's latest album Rough And Rowdy Ways, which culminates in the explosive epic 17-minute lament "Murder Most Foul."

It takes but a glance to see what this song is about. The photo of JFK fills the back panel of RARW, with the Old English lettering Murder Most Foul beneath. The lyrics begin with a matter-of-fact alliteration: "It was a dark day in Dallas, November 1963"

So much has been written about the assassination that you'd think it difficult to add anything, yet Dylan adds much, in the manner only Dylan can. Really. Assemble a thousand songwriters with a thousand typewriters for a thousand days and how many would have come up with something like "Murder Most Foul"?

Being led to the slaughter like a sacrificial lamb
He said, "Wait a minute, boys, you know who I am?"
   (I automatically hear in my mind, "Wait a minute boys, this one's not dead" from Hurricane.)
"Of course we do, we know who you are"
Then they blew off his head while he was still in the car
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Now here's an interesting aside. While editing this I have been listening to Murder Most Foul on YouTube and as YouTube usually does, they follow up with related videos. After two or three cuts from RARW the next song in the playlist is Hurricane. What are the odds that this is a coincidence?

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Earlier this week I came across Eyold Østrem's "Murder Most Foul (2020) – An American Litany" at Expecting Rain and was wholly into it, an excellent breakdown on this song. Østrem first breaks down the song's structure, provides a musical analysis of the verses in order to set up the discussion of the lyrics.

In the first “great verse” Dylan sets down the historical framework, the storyteller holding the microphone, like a news commentator.

In the second verse, writes Østrem, "The narrator has put on a different hat: it is no longer the storyteller speaking, but the tutor, the 'wise old owl' who observes the events cooly and communicates to us children what he sees, in short sentences, clichés, commands."

Hard to believe that it's already nearly four months's since the song went viral on Twitter in late March. That Friday morning I listened to it three times before doing anything else that day and it was the second verse that said "listen up" from the very first time I listened. The middle of this verse hit me with graphic force on a couple levels. First the visual, which all who have seen the Zapruder film will agree was disturbing enough. Second, the comparison to a great magic trick.

This is where the Solzhenitsyn quote comes to mind. I still remember the first magic show I attended. "How did he do that?" is what a child's mind will ask. Solzhenitsyn raises the question, "Why this lack of desire, lack of curiosity to know how they did it?"

The day they blew out the brains of the king
Thousands were watching, no one saw a thing
It happened so quickly, so quick, by surprise
Right there in front of everyone's eyes
Greatest magic trick ever under the sun
Perfectly executed, skillfully done

"Play it for Houdini spinning around in his grave."

I've mentioned it before that Dylan was a great fan of magic, especially the masterful magician and showman Harry Houdini. When Dylan was asked what historical moment he'd like to go back and see he replied that he'd like to have been there when Houdini was shackled, chained, trussed, nailed into a box and thrown into the East River off Governor’s Island.

The song is so dense that one can easily miss many of its features, but Østrem places a spotlight on this unique aspect of the Dylan account of the assassination.

"The third 'great verse' is mindblowing, both metaphorically and literally," Østrem writes. "We are inside the head of the President while it is being blown to pieces – a unique insider perspective from a dying man, and we witness his surprised hallucinations while he observes his own death, partly as a very close observer ('Ridin’ in the back seat next to my wife, … leaning to the left, I got my head in her lap'), partly as a detached soul, hovering over the scene, following the events depicted in the Zapruder film closely, before leaving it at 2:38 when the president’s dead and Johnson is sworn in."

There are songs and movies in which the impact is strong at first, but diminishes after time. I think that is the difference between good and great. Dylan's Nobel Prize was no fluke. The more you listen to this incredibly painful reminiscence, the deeper it penetrates the deep places in your soul.

Tommy, can you hear me? I'm the Acid Queen
I'm riding in a long, black Lincoln limousine
Ridin' in the back seat next to my wife 
Headed straight on in to the afterlife
I'm leaning to the left, I got my head in her lap
Hold on, I've been led into some kind of a trap
Where we ask no quarter, and no quarter do we give
We're right down the street, from the street where you live
They mutilated his body and they took out his brain

This song is no joke, even when he says rub-a-dub-dub. Just as the album begins with "I Contain Multitudes" so does this song contain an incredible multitude of references that will reverberate beyond whatever you think you understand. Just as a garden of perennials continues to produce riches year after year, so will this song as does the rest of the Dylan catalogue.

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If I manage to get you to listen more attentively to "Murder Most Foul" and read Eyolf Østrem's Murder Most Foul (2020) – An American Litany, then I've accomplished my purpose here. You can find my first response in March here: Dylan Dishes Up A New Meal with a Feast of References: Murder Most Foul.

Dylan's brilliance has never been simply the writing, but the entire experience, the evocative manner in which we encounter him through his delivery and the supporting musical accompaniment.

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For what it's worth, if you are Dylan fan and don't own Rough and Rowdy Ways, what are you waiting for? I'm serious. Like nearly every Dylan album I've every owned the more you listen, the more you appreciate everything you find here.

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You can find the complete lyrics for this song at www.bobdylan.com/songs/murder-most-foul/

Latest Dylan Release Brings Back Memories of JFK's Three Visits to the Northland

Dealey Plaza, Nov. 1963. Photo credit: Walt Cisco. Public domain

It exploded around the world like a match to gasoline. The response to Thursday evening's release of "Murder Most Foul" was actually a lesson in timing. What makes a Tweet go viral has as much to do with the conditions as it does the content. It's been 8 years since Tempest, and Dylan fans wondered if there would ever be new material to consume. Wildfires occur when there are drought conditions, not when the landscape is typhoon-soaked.

I enjoyed reading all the angles by which various writers and critics throughout the land approached the song. One listed all the people referenced, another identified all the songs referenced. In another you could find all the lyrics, which would be useful for further study. The responses ranged from emotional to philosophical, and everything in between, giving many of us who remember that dreadful day an opportunity to revisit our own first-hand emotional responses to that murder most foul.

JFK's Visits to the North Country

Iron Rangers welcome JFK to the Northland. Photo credit: Lou Novak

Here's another bit of history that might serve as backstory for the song. John F. Kennedy actually visited Duluth not just once but three times, twice in the year leading up to his election in 1960 and a third time in September 1963, two months before his fateful Dallas visit. During that 1960 campaign stop he hopped up to Hibbing in his private aircraft named Caroline. Whereas many on the Coasts consider this to be flyover country, it was hardly so for Kennedy.

His first took place in September 1959 with the aim of trying to gauge what level of support he might have for a presidential run the following year.

Kennedy's second visit to this bastion of blue collar support was October 2, 1960. The campaign was in full swing at this point, and in Chronicles, Volume One Bob Dylan describes the energy generated by that visit.

"My mother said that eighteen thousand people had turned out to see him at the Veterans Memorial Building and that people were hanging from the rafters and others were in the street, that Kennedy was a ray of light and had understood completely the area of the country he was in. He gave a heroic speech, my mom said, and brought people a lot of hope. The Iron Range was an area that very few nationally known politicians or any famous people ever made it through . . .  If I had been a voting man, I would have voted for Kennedy just for coming there."--Chronicles, Volume One

18,000 may have been an exaggeration, but the size of the impact was no exaggeration. "It was the largest crowd for a political rally in the history of the Iron Range, according to the Duluth Herald."

You can actually find that October 2 Hibbing Campaign Speech here in the JFK Library archives. It begins with these words:

I must say I would not have missed coming to the strongest Democratic area that I have seen in this campaign. (Applause) I used to think they were pretty good in South Boston, but we are going to send them out here for indoctrination. (Applause)

Nice opening, and a great way to secure hearts already won.

Here are some photos from that visit.

And a few more in this article from the Hibbing Daily Tribune published on the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination.

Much more can be said, but this is enough to set the stage. Young Bobby had left for college in the fall of '59 and missed these visits, but he was well aware of them, as his Chronicles notation indicates.

Related Links
JFK Campaign 1960
Vintage Duluth: Duluth Public Library
JFKs Three Visits to Duluth by David Ouse

Special thanks to Duluth-born & Hibbing-raised Nelson French for the JFK Northland links.

Dylan Dishes Up A New Meal with a Feast of References: Murder Most Foul

Twas a dark day in Dallas, November '63, the day that will live on in infamy

Dylan does it as only Dylan can do. Near 17 minutes, a lyric tapestry of historical references against a backdrop similar to slowly moving waves a sustained cello foundation, oceanic in depth, embellished with ominous, haunting percussion and piano, perfectly choreographed to produce a mood, a mood perfectly suited to the event most central to this song and our generational angst.

Last night, Bob shared the new song with his several hundred thousand Twitter followers, accompanied by these words: Greetings to my fans and followers with gratitude for all your support and loyalty across the years. This is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting. Stay safe, stay observant and may God be with you. Bob Dylan

The song's title is Murder Most Foul, a song about the Kennedy assassination in Dylan's carefully crafted stream-of-consciousness style that he has used frequently in his songs. Stream-of-consciousness and crafted may seem contradictory, and I doubt anyone but Dylan can tell you which of these poles carried more influence. The objective is achieved brilliantly, capturing that mood, that historical moment, that murder most foul.

"The day they blew out the brains of the king
Thousands were watching the whole darn thing
It happened so quick and so quick by surprise
Right there in front of everyone's eyes
The greatest magic trick ever under the sun
Perfectly executed, carefully done."

So many great lines, you want to go right back into it a second time because it is so packed.

"What is the truth? Where did it go?"

And this one: "You've got unpaid debts, we've come to collect."

As I listened to it the first time through I couldn't help but think I'd heard a similar chord structure and mood song before. That is, it kept reminding me of something, so afterward I found myself searching my memory vault for this other song that had a similar mournful sound. I first turned to Tempest, then other nooks and crannies from the Dylan catalog ("Not Dark Yet" came to mind) but nothing was precisely what I was thinking. Once I opened the door to other considerations I hit upon it. Johnny Cash: "I Hung My Head." Both the mood and delivery cadence seem to echo one another.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M53FcPoWtA

All the references to people and places mirror stylistically Chronicles: Vol. 1 in places. Here are a few people that pepper the landscape of Murder Most Foul: Marilyn, Wolfman Jack, the Invisible Man, Tom Dooley, John Lee Hooker, Oscar Peterson, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, the Birdman of Alcatraz, Pretty Boy Floyd. There are places, too. Dallas, The Crossroads, New Orleans, the Trinity River, Tulsa--along with song references as well: Please don't let me be misunderstood, the Old Rugged Cross, Cry Me A River, Turn the Radio On, etc.

It seems like every line in the song could be elaborated on and thereby produce a book. It wouldn't surprise me if someone somewhere hasn't already started it.

There's also an American Pie quality to the song in a sense, a long song packed with references and minutia about which much has been written. Of course Maclean was emulating Dylan to a certain extent, the songwriter who broke the 3-minute song barrier with densely packed lyrics like Desolation Row and Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.

It's too early to start picking favorite lines, but I liked this one, playing off Lee Harvey Oswald's response to being fingered for the deed. "I'm just a patsy, like Patsy Cline."

Here's the song itself:

The timing of its release is interesting. We're in a very strange time again, sobering and surreal.

Related Links

Wordless Wednesday: The JFK Assassination

Will AI Finally Solve the JFK Assassination?
Moment of Impact