Dana Graham

History & Current Events Category

Global Warming (thru the ages)

I originally wrote this in early 2009 but, sad to say, it still applies: I hate to waste time on this, but since it's currently fashionable to believe that man is causing global warming, I just can't help putting it to the "historical perspective" test. I am no scientist, and I'm not even going to get into the vested interests of a whole bunch of people who are riding the government gravy train "studying" this.  All that aside, it fails the...Continue Reading!

These Are Perilous Times

Originally written in May, 2009: Please.  No, they are not.    Every generation thinks they live in unprecedentedly "perilous times". Remember the bucolic 1950's? Ozzie & Harriet, Mickey Mouse, Howdy Doody, Elvis, and all that innocence? That's not what people thought at the time! It was "head for the bomb shelter and duck and cover" 'cuz them Ruskies could be sending a nuclear bomb over any minute. Not to mention polio and a bunch of other disesases since eradicated. We now know that...Continue Reading!

The Moore House, Palos Verdes Estates

There has been a lot of discussion about the impending demolition of the "Moore House", 504 Paseo Del Mar, Palos Verdes Estates.  Having lived here since 1947 and grown up in Neighborhood Church across the street from it, I remember when it was built and have some perspective on this: First of all, and cutting to the chase, I agree that the current owner has the right to tear it down and build the house he desires.  The PVE City Council...Continue Reading!

A Look Back at Hindsight

As an amateur historian, it has always amazed me how often other historians, let alone non-historians, engage in hindsight when assessing past actions and events.  This is so pervasive that I have decided that the various forms of this need to be categorized and named.  I have modestly christened this the Graham Hindsight Scale, which currently runs from 1 to 4, tho I reserve the right to modify or expand it as I discover examples of other types of hindsight. ...Continue Reading!

Somali Pirates

I am sure this must be in the planning stage, but we've all heard of "bait cars" used to catch car thieves, right? What we need now are a few "bait boats" (if the fishing industry will loan the term), modeled along the lines of the WW 1 British Q Ships. Disguised as innocent, vulnerable merchantmen, they would lure a German U-boat within range, then drop the gunwales and blast the sub out of the water with previously concealed deck...Continue Reading!

World War II Detention Camps

While the commonly held public view of the Government "relocation" of those of Japanese ancestry in the early months of WW 2 is that it was a "disgrace" and "a stain on our national history", there is another side to this that most Americans don't know: While classified information for 50 years following the end of WW 2, it is now commonly known that, in the months leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack, US cryptanalysts had been working feverishly on...Continue Reading!

The Other Reasons Japan Lost the War

This is the text of a talk I gave to veterans of the Pacific War.  It was given as a distillation of 40 years of studying the subject and was given "off the top" without reference to books, notes, internet, etc, so there are no footnotes.  While the reader may take issue with some of the positions, he will presumably forgive any incidental, non-substantive errors.  If you want the 58 minute You Tube digest, here's the link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ACyOeTm6RA   THE OTHER REASONS...Continue Reading!