Autocracy in America Episode 3: Consolidate Power This episode looks back to Depression-era Louisiana Governor Huey Long, who sought to take over the apparatus of government in his state, just as illiberal leaders have done in other countries. They interview Richard D. White, who wrote his biography of Long called Kingfish back in 2006. Like someone else we know, Long’s political approach was to present himself as entertainer and salesman, although he did deliver on his promises at first. He survived impeachment, but then embarked on revenge by capturing the legislature, manipulating supposedly independent bodies, packing the courts, intimidating the media and embarking on violence. He was not a politician: he was a demagogue.
The Rest is History Episode 452 Custer’s Last Stand: The Battle of the Little Bighorn I must say that I’ve been a bit uncomfortable about how flippant Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook are when telling this story. Perhaps it’s that they’re star-struck from their Saturday Afternoon Matinee memories of Custer and Sitting Bull, but perhaps there’s also a thread of racism running through this as well. At one stage they pull themselves up, noting that if they were talking about the Titanic, they would be talking about incredible bravery instead of treating it so flippantly. From their website: “The Battle of The Little Bighorn is one of the totemic moments of American frontier history. However, it is also mysterious, with the exact events of that blood-soaked day difficult to trace. On the 22nd of June, George Custer marched out with vague orders to drive the vast gathering of the Lakota and their allies, under the leadership of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, towards General Terry’s force, advancing from the South. Custer, keen as ever for a charge, was hoping to score a considerable defeat over the Native Americans in time for the 4th of July centenary. Then, on the evening of the 24th of June, Crow scouts reported that the Lakota’s trail had been found, and Custer launched into action. Marching his men through the night, they arrived at the encampment the following morning, shocked to discover a camp of thousands. At 3pm, the first force attacked, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, in all its horror and gore, had begun…”
In Our Time (BBC) Rupert Graves 1895-1985 I really only know Rupert Graves through his I Claudius (which I watched but didn’t finish reading -must do so someday) and I was aware of him as a World War I poet with some connection with the other British poets on the front. He was born in 1895 to a distinguished Anglo-Irish family, and his mother was part of the Von Ranke family (most famous for Leopold Von Ranke, the father of source-based history). As with other boys of his social class, he went to Charterhouse where he excelled in classics and sports. He lived most of his childhood in Spain, but he enlisted with the British army as soon as war broke out, and on account of his public school education, he was immediately given a commission. There he met Siegfried Sassoon, with whom he had a homoerotic but probably chaste relationship, and Nancy Nicholson, a nurse, whom he married. He wrote Goodbye to all That in 1926 to make money in the midst of his marital breakup, which was triggered when he fell in love with Laura Riding, after earlier forming a consenual menage a trois with her while still with his wife. He later married Beryl Hodge. He wrote over 140 books and 1000 poems, The White Goddess and a number of retellings of classical myths. The panel on this episode comprises Paul O’Prey, Emeritus Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Roehampton, London; Fran Brearton
Professor of Modern Poetry at Queen’s University, Belfast and Bob Davis. Professor of Religious and Cultural Education at the University of Glasgow.
Shadows of Utopia Episode 12 Pol Pot in Paris Part II (YouTube with images) Yet another marathon episode of 2.5 hours – that’s just too long for a podcast. This episode covers 1947-1953. He starts off by returning to Vietnam, where the Viet Minh guerillas had scattered into the rural areas. The French troops were spread too thinly, and massacres in villages (for example in My Trach) were to be repeated during the Vietnam war decades later. As part of the cold war, the Sino/Soviet pact saw both Russia and China recognizing Ho Chi Minh, but Vietnam needed both Laos and Cambodia to be independent so that their own position was safe. The Communist Parties in both those parties were dominated by Vietnam, and there was no proletariat.
A nationalist movement was emerging in Cambodia, but it was sometimes at odds with Vietnam, their old enemy. The Cambodian Issarak, despite its many factions, was active in Cambodia. It joined the more intellectual student movement, but of course there was a split between those who looked to the return of the exiled Son Ngoc Thanh (then under house arrest in Paris) and those who looked to the Vietnamese Communists. The student movement in Paris approached Thanh and invited them to join them in armed struggle, but he refused because he was angling to return to Cambodia, which he did in October 1951 where he was greeted by huge crowds. By 1952 he started another magazine, which was shut down within 6 months. In 1952 he joined with Issarak (did he intend that all along?) which enraged King Sihanouk. The King and the French moved against the Democratic Party, dismissed the government and Sihanouk declared himself Prime Minister, promising independence from the French within 3 years.
Meanwhile Saloth Sar, the young Pol Pot, was still in Paris. Student study groups had formed, and Saloth Sar was invited even though his ideas did not exactly align with the unstated Communism of the student groups. At this time, French Communism was at a high point (at the French election, it gained 25% of the vote), but so too was the cult of Stalinism. Into this came the influence of Mao’s thought, with its two-step revolutionary progression, and its affirmation of its nationalist nature rather than a formula imposed from outside. So, for Saloth Sar, we had the combination of influences: Lenin, Stalin, Mao and the French Revolution itself (where the Terror was interpreted as a way of ‘saving’ the Revolution). By the end of 1952, a lot of the students in Paris were having their scholarships withdrawn by the King, and although they were talking a lot about Cambodia, they didn’t really know what was going on there. So in December 1952 Saloth Sar volunteered to return to Cambodia to check out the situation. Just as he arrived, Sihanouk abolished the National Assembly.
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 