45 replies to this topic

[Loomis]

Claims that Ted Kennedy supported the IRA did not start with Andrew Roberts.

[Ambler]

Claims that Ted Kennedy supported the IRA did not start with Andrew Roberts.

Very true. Still, I don't see why we should let Andrew Roberts be tarred and feathered by Wikipedia and Johann Hari. Here's some reviews of A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900.

They're taken from The Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Telegraph, The New Statesman, Daily Telegraph, History Today, Newsweek, and The Financial Times, none exactly tools of the far right.

'Hugely entertaining and pointedly admonitory. His wide-ranging curiosity and nimble prose will captivate readers who don’t otherwise think much about 20th-century history or the imperatives of the Anglosphere. The book is a trove of anecdote, information and apothegm. Mr. Roberts’s tough-mindedness, though, also guarantees that his book will make many enemies. The guardians of established opinion will be especially displeased.' Roger Kimball, The Wall Street Journal

‘Roberts’s bulldog style makes a refreshing change from those historians who would prefer to apologise for the misdeeds of British and American imperialism. And there is substance to his thesis. In Andrew Roberts, the Anglo-American(-Australian-Canadian-Kiwi) Special Relationship has found an advocate of Churchillian eloquence. It has seldom needed one more.' Professor Niall Ferguson, Mail on Sunday

'With much of the West engaged in self-flagellation and a baffling inability to recognise a mounting threat in its midst, Andrew Roberts steps into the fray with a trenchant, timely and powerfully Churchillian defence of the Anglo-American world.' Justin Marozzi, The Sunday Telegraph

'Magnificently provoking. ... A worthy successor to Churchill's history of the same subject. ... This is not a book for those who like their history written in various shades of apologetic grey. This is history written with the author's heart on his sleeve. This is a work of astonishing range and depth, combining as it does a polemical flair with sure-footed scholarship. It disinters a recent past that it then re-interpreted to exhilarating - and very contemporary - effect. Macaulay could not have done it better himself.' Hywel Williams, New Statesman

‘Macaulay hoped that his History of England would replace the latest novel on drawing room tables, and it may well have done so. Andrew Roberts may harbour a similar ambition, and find it fulfilled. Certainly this book is more entertaining than many novels. It is a splendid example of Whig history, a patriotic history as lively and partisan as Macaulay’s: full of detail, enlivened by brilliant pen-portraits, opinionated and provocative. It will have some readers purring in happy agreement, and others tearing their hair in fury.’ Allan Massie, Daily Telegraph

'This book is deeply researched, very well written and full of fresh thinking. Roberts has spread his scholarly net far and wide, catching minnows and leviathans in the process. ... Andrew Roberts has written an extraordinarily wide-ranging, stimulating and necessary book. We should be grateful for that.' Denis Judd, History Today

'Engaging, entertaining, and opinionated, Andrew Roberts' new book is a brisk tour through the epic years of the 20th century. Churchill would have approved of Roberts' style, which is anything but bland. Readers will find much to think about in these pages, and much to argue with; depending on your point of view, Roberts can be illuminating or infuriating - and sometimes both at once.' Jon Meacham, Newsweek

‘This history of the English-Speaking Peoples contains many good things, including a perceptive, revisionist account of Suez. It is beautifully written and will be widely read.’ Vernon Bogdanor, The Financial Times

And as for Roberts hating the Irish, here’s one from The Catholic Herald:

‘Andrew Roberts is one of the most astoundingly insightful and original historians of his age. Roberts’ masterpiece – possibly the most significant book he will ever write; surely the year’s key historical publication – is an eloquent and wholly persuasive rebuttal to weaselly escapism. Roberts has carried on Churchill’s work and done the world a service.’

Now let's forget about Roberts and address the question of Teddy Kennedy's IRA sympathies.

[Loomis]

They're taken from The Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Telegraph, The New Statesman, Daily Telegraph, History Today, Newsweek, and The Financial Times, none exactly tools of the far right.

Well, some would describe the Torygraph that way.

Now let's forget about Roberts and address the question of Teddy Kennedy's IRA sympathies.

I'm game. Although I don't know squat about the subject.

[Jim]

I'm game. Although I don't know squat about the subject.

This is an internet message board. Your position is a requirement, not a limitation.

[Salomé]

It is important to go back to that horrific incident - and to Kennedy's despicable behaviour on the night - to explain why his character alone ought to disqualify him from any British honour, irrespective of his shameful support for the terrorist IRA.

At 12.45am on July 18, 1969, and with Mary Jo in his car, Kennedy - who had been drinking and partying - drove off the Dike Bridge connecting Martha's Vineyard (where the Kennedys had their holiday retreat on America's East coast) with Chappaquiddick Island.

He managed to extricate himself, walk back to his motel, complain to the manager about a noisy party, take a shower, sleep the night, chat to a friend the next morning, order two newspapers, meet his lawyers and finally report the accident to the police at 9.45am.

By then, however, his car had been spotted and Mary Jo's corpse had been found by a fire department diver, Captain John Farrar, at 8.45am.

She had not drowned, but had survived in an air pocket inside the car, only to asphyxiate when the oxygen finally ran out several hours later. The brutal fact is that had Kennedy alerted the police earlier, Mary Jo might be alive today.

She was given no autopsy and Kennedy was not charged with drink-driving, but merely given a two-month suspended sentence for leaving the scene of an accident. To this day, Kennedy has not apologised to Mary Jo's family, and, of course, the tragedy did not for a moment affect his future rampant drinking and womanising.

I too believe that Chappaquiddick sums up the man's character best, but at the same time I'm disgusted by how some on the right abuse Mary Jo Kopechne's death to bash Kennedy over the head with, when they clearly care little about the woman herself. The real disgrace though lays with the democratic party's establishment at the time, who sacrificed any and all justice the Kopechne family was entitled to in favor of salvaging what was left of Ted Kennedy's career.

[HildebrandRarity]

Perhaps in the waning years of his life he felt remorse and tried to genuinely 'make up' for what he did by doing 'some good' for less privelaged Americans in order to 'make it right', knowing that Nobody Lives For Ever?

Most folk are neither universally loved nor universally loathed 100% of the time.

There are shades of grey in all of us. Generally.

I do find it amusing that one can be a bit of a prick during the 'strong' years of one's life...only to try to do an angel in the weak later years knowing death is not too far away.

Feeling philosophical today.

[Tybre]

Perhaps in the waning years of his life he felt remorse and tried to genuinely 'make up' for what he did by doing 'some good' for less privelaged Americans in order to 'make it right', knowing that Nobody Lives For Ever?

Most folk are neither universally loved nor universally loathed 100% of the time.

There are shades of grey in all of us. Generally.

I do find it amusing that one can be a bit of a prick during the 'strong' years of one's life...only to try to do an angel in the weak later years knowing death is not too far away.

Feeling philosophical today.

Amusing, but not surprising. Remotely religious man faced with death will start playing extra nice when he knows his time is coming, try to make some last ditch efforts to get in good with whichever god they worship. And of course I suppose it's general human nature anyway. Go about life being a prick and as you're nearing the end of it you come to realize you don't quite have as many friends as you'd thought and start trying to make up for it somehow. 'course I can go on all day with all the possible scenarios but you get the point.

[Sark2.0]

I'm game. Although I don't know squat about the subject.

This is an internet message board. Your position is a requirement, not a limitation.

The best thing I've read all day. Well-done.

[Loomis]

I'm speechless. I guess the (alleged) IRA-supporting was the least of it. "Have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?" Mary Jo may have felt "it was worth it"? Sweet mother of pearl.

[Napoleon Solo]

http://hmssweblog.wo...fan-to-the-end/

[jrcjohnny99]

Ya gotta love the Kennedy's !!!

[Loomis]

I'm speechless. I guess the (alleged) IRA-supporting was the least of it. "Have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?" Mary Jo may have felt "it was worth it"? Sweet mother of pearl.

I've never followed the IRA/England situation. I don't even know what to call it. I don't understand what is going on, or has gone on, in Northern Ireland, so I don't know whether supporting, or allegedly supporting, the IRA is supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing.

Well, it's a bad thing if you're against terrorism. Not "freedom fighting", but terrorism in which innocent bystanders also get creamed along with those who've been designated "legitimate targets". Obviously, supporting a cause doesn't mean supporting every single thing that's done in the name of it. One can say that the Israelis have done wrong to the Palestinians, while also condemning the deaths of Israelis in terror attacks.

They almost act as if they're entitled to these political positions. How dare anyone in the public question them?

And we've actually seen this sort of situation come up again, fairly recently, with Caroline Kennedy, who was SHOCKED I tell you, SHOCKED, that she might actually have to go out and campaign and earn the NY Senate spot that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton resigned in order to join the Obama administration. She just wanted it handed over to her by Governor Patterson.

I saw some old footage of Teddy Kennedy on the news. It was when he ran for President almost thirty years ago, and an interviewer asked him: "So why do you want to run for President?" And the question completely knocked him for six. The simplest, most fundamental (and most important) question that there was, and Kennedy couldn't even begin to answer it. He just went "Uh...." and then went silent. I guess he didn't feel able to reply: "Well, because I'm entitled to be President."

[mccartney007]

Hey, did you guys hear that Michael Jackson died?

[Tybre]

Well, it's a bad thing if you're against terrorism. Not "freedom fighting", but terrorism in which innocent bystanders also get creamed along with those who've been designated "legitimate targets". Obviously, supporting a cause doesn't mean supporting every single thing that's done in the name of it. One can say that the Israelis have done wrong to the Palestinians, while also condemning the deaths of Israelis in terror attacks.

I'm assuming there's still some sort of English troop presence in Northern Ireland? What is the current problem?

Since I'm too tired to spell out everything I know (and unfortunately I do have a proclivity for rambling off everything I know), here. Alright well that's more backdrop than the current situation, but it's kind of a big factor of what's going on now, as I understand it. Or wait for a response from Loomis or someone else. Whatever floats your boat.

[hcmv007]

Even though I did not agree with him on most of his stands, nobody can deny the zest and joy he had in living. He was a person who lived his life to the fullest and always stood up for what he believed like I said even though I didn't agree with him I always admire people who do that. Despite the controversies over the years regarding him he served his state and his constituents and did what he felt was right. (Raises glass) This is for you, Senator. You will be missed.

[Vauxhall]

I'm assuming there's still some sort of English troop presence in Northern Ireland?

The British Army ended operations in Northern Ireland in 2007, although some troops remain without formal security obligations. Probably some English troops within that number.