by Gore Vidal
Liberian NEO
Provide Relief
Somalia
Restore Hope
Somalia
Continue Hope
Somalia
Provide Transition
Angola
Garden Plot
Los Angeles, CA
Silver Anvil
Sierra Leone NEO
GTMO
Haiti > Guantanamo, Cuba
Safe Harbor
Haiti > Guantanamo, Cuba
Quick Lift
Zaire
Victor Squared
Haiti NEO
Fiery Vigil
Philippines NEO
Productive Effort/Sea Angel
Bangladesh
Eastern Exit
Somalia
DESERT STORM
Southwest Asia
Desert Shield
Southwest Asia
Imminent Thunder
Southwest Asia
Proven Force
Southwest Asia
Desert Sword/Desert Sabre
Southwest Asia
Desert Calm
Southwest Asia
Desert Farewell
Southwest Asia
Dates
U.S. Forces Involved
22 Oct 1992–25 Oct 1992
14 Aug 1992–08 Dec 1992
??
04 Dec 1992–04 May 1993
26,000
04 May 1993–Dec 1993
??
03 Aug 1992–09 Oct 1992
May 1992
4,500
02 May 1992–05 May 1992
23 Nov 1991
1992
24 Sep 1991–07 Oct 1991
Sep 1991
Jun 1991
May 1991–Jun 1991
02 Jan 1991–11 Jan 1991
02 Aug 1990–17 Jan 1991
Nov 1990–Nov 1990
17 Jan 1991–28 Feb 1991
24 Feb 1991–28 Feb 1991
555,000
01 Mar 1991–01 Jan 1992
01 Jan 1992–1992?
Name
Locale
Steel Box/Golden Python
Johnston Island
Sharp Edge
Liberia
COLD WAR ERA
Name
Locale
Classic Resolve
Philippines
Hawkeye
St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Nimrod Dancer
Panama
JUST CAUSE
Panama
Promote Liberty
Panama
ERNEST WILL
Persian Gulf
PRAYING MANTIS
Persian Gulf
Blast Furnace
Bolivia
EL DORADO CANYON
Libya
Attain Document
Libya
Achille Lauro
Mediterranean
Intense Look
Red Sea/Gulf of Suez
URGENT FURY
Grenada
Arid Farmer
Chad/Sudan
Early Call
Egypt/Sudan
Dates
U.S. Forces Involved
26 Jul 1990–18 Nov 1990
May 1990–08 Jan 1991
Dates
U.S. Forces Involved
Nov 1989–Dec 1989
20 Sep 1989–17 Nov 1989
May 1989–20 Dec 1989
20 Dec 1989–31 Jan 1990
31 Jan 1990–??
24 Jul 1987–02 Aug 1990
17 Apr 1988–19 Apr 1988
Jul 1986–Nov 1986
12 Apr 1986–17 Apr 1986
26 Jan 1986–29 Mar 1986
07 Oct 1985–11 Oct 1985
Jul 1984–Jul 1984
23 Oct 1983–21 Nov 1983
Aug 1983–Aug 1983
18 Mar 1983–Aug 1983
Name
Locale
U.S. Multinational Force [USMNF]
Lebanon
Bright Star
Egypt
Gulf of Sidra
Libya/Mediterranean
RMT (Rocky Mountain Transfer)
Colorado
Central America
El Salvador/Nicaragua
Creek Sentry
Poland
SETCON II
Colorado
EAGLE CLAW/Desert One
Iran
ROK Park Succession Crisis
Korea
Elf One
Saudi Arabia
Yemen
Iran/Yemen/Indian Ocean
Red Bean
Zaire
Ogaden Crisis
Somalia/Ethiopia
SETCON I
Colorado
Paul Bunyan/Tree Incident
Korea
Mayaguez Operation
Cambodia
New Life
Vietnam NEO
Frequent Wind
Evacuation of Saigon
Eagle Pull
Cambodia
Nickel Grass
Mideast
Garden Plot
USA Domestic
Red Hat
Johnston Island
Dates
U.S. Forces Involved
25 Aug 1982–01 Dec 1987
06 Oct 1981–Nov 1981
18 Aug 1981–18 Aug 1981
Aug 1981–Sep 1981
01 Jan 1981–01 Feb 1992
Dec 1980–1981
May 1980–Jun 1980
25 Apr 1980
26 Oct 1979–28 Jun 1980
Mar 1979–15 Apr 1989
06 Dec 1978–06 Jan 1979
May 1978–Jun 1978
Feb 1978–23 Mar 1978
1978–1978
18 Aug 1976–21 Aug 1976
15 May 1975
Apr 1975 29 Apr 1975–30 Apr 1975
11 Apr 1975–13 Apr 1975
06 Oct 1973–17 Nov 1973
30 Apr 1972–04 May 1972
Jan 1971–Sep 1971
Name
Locale
Ivory Coast/Kingpin
Son Tay, Vietnam
Graphic Hand
US Domestic
Red Fox [Pueblo incident]
Korea theater
Six Day War
Mideast
CHASE
various
Powerpack
Dominican Republic
Red Dragon
Congo
[NONE]
Chinese nuclear facilities
Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuba, Worldwide
Vietnam War
Vietnam
Operation Ranch Hand
Vietnam
Operation Rolling Thunder
Vietnam
Operation Arc Light
Southeast Asia
Operation Freedom Train
North Vietnam
Operation Pocket Money
North Vietnam
Operation Linebacker I
North Vietnam
Operation Linebacker II
North Vietnam
Operation Endsweep
North Vietnam
Operation Ivory Coast/Kingpin
North Vietnam
Operation Tailwind
Laos
Berlin
Berlin
Laos
Laos
Dates
U.S. Forces Involved
20 Nov 1970–21 Nov 1970
1970–1970
23 Jan 1968–05 Feb 1969
13 May 1967–10 Jun 1967
1967–1970
28 Apr 1965–21 Sep 1966
23 Nov 1964–27 Nov 1964
15 Oct 1963–Oct 1964
24 Oct 1962–01 Jun 1963
15 Mar 1962–28 Jan 1973
Jan 1962–1971
24 Feb 1965–Oct 1968
18 Jun 1965–Apr 1970
06 Apr 1972–10 May 1972
09 May 1
972–23 Oct 1972
10 May 1972–23 Oct 1972
18 Dec 1972–29 Dec 1972
27 Jan 1972–27 Jul 1973
21 Nov 1970–21 Nov 1970
1970–1970
14 Aug 1961–01 Jun 1963
19 Apr 1961–07 Oct 1962
Name
Locale
Congo
Congo
Taiwan Straits
Taiwan Straits
Taiwan Straits
Quemoy and Matsu Islands
Blue Bat
Lebanon
Suez Crisis
Egypt
Taiwan Straits
Taiwan Straits
Korean War
Korea
Berlin Airlift
Berlin
In these several hundred wars against Communism, terrorism, drugs, or sometimes nothing much, between Pearl Harbor and Tuesday, September 11, 2001, we tended to strike the first blow. But then we’re the good guys, right? Right.
Dates
U.S. Forces Involved
14 Jul 1960–01 Sep 1962
23 Aug 1958–01 Jan 1959
23 Aug 1958–01 Jun 1963
15 Jul 1958–20 Oct 1958
26 Jul 1956–15 Nov 1956
11 Aug 1954–01 May 1955
27 Jun 1950–27 July 1953
26 Jun 1948–30 Sep 1949
STATE OF THE UNION, 2004
In the 1960s and ’70s of the last unlamented century, there was a New York television producer named David Susskind. He was commercially successful; he was also, surprisingly, a man of strong political views which he knew how to present so tactfully that networks were often unaware of just what he was getting away with on their—our—air. Politically, he liked to get strong-minded guests to sit with him at a round table in a ratty building at the corner of Broadway and 42nd Street. Sooner or later, just about everyone of interest appeared on his program. Needless to say, he also had time for Vivien Leigh to discuss her recent divorce from Laurence Olivier, which summoned forth the mysterious cry from the former Scarlett O’Hara, “I am deeply sorry for any woman who was not married to Larry Olivier.” Since this took in several billion ladies (not to mention those gentlemen who might have offered to fill, as it were, the breach), Leigh caused a proper stir, as did the ballerina Alicia Markova, who gently assured us that “a Markova comes only once every hundred years or so.”
I suspect it was the dim lighting on the set that invited such naked truths. David watched his pennies. I don’t recall how, or when, we began our “States of the Union” programs. But we did them year after year. I would follow whoever happened to be president, and I’d correct his “real” State of the Union with one of my own, improvising from questions that David would prepare. I was a political pundit because in a 1960 race for the House of Representatives (upstate New York), I got more votes than the head of the ticket, JFK; in 1962, I turned down the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate on the sensible ground that it was not winnable; I also had a pretty good memory in those days, now a-jangle with warning bells as I try to recall the national debt or, more poignantly, where I last saw my glasses.
I’ve just come across my “State of the Union” as of 1972. Apparently, I gave it fifteen times across the country, ending with Susskind’s program. Questions and answers from the audience were the most interesting part of these excursions. As I look back over the texts of what we talked about, I’m surprised at how to the point we often were on subjects seldom mentioned in freedom’s land today.
In 1972, I begin: “According to the polls, our second principal concern today is the breakdown of law and order.” (What, I wonder, was the first? Let’s hope it was the pointless, seven-year—at that point—war in Southeast Asia.) I noted that to those die-hard conservatives, “law and order” is usually a code phrase meaning “get the blacks.” While, to what anorexic, vacant-eyed blonde women on TV now describe as the “liberal elite,” we were pushing the careful—that is, slow—elimination of poverty. Anything more substantive would have been regarded as communism, put forward by dupes. But then, I say very mildly, we have only one political party in the United States, the Property Party, with two right wings, Republican and Democrat. Since I tended to speak to conservative audiences in such civilized places as Medford, Oregon; Parkersburg, West Virginia; and Longview, Washington, there are, predictably, a few gasps at this rejection of so much received opinion. There are also quite a few nods from interested citizens who find it difficult at election time to tell the parties apart. Was it in pristine Medford that I actually saw the nodding Ralph Nader whom I was, to his horror, to run for president that year in Esquire? Inspired by the nods, I start to geld the lily, as the late Sam Goldwyn used to say. The Republicans are often more doctrinaire than the Democrats, who are willing to make small—very small—adjustments where the poor and black are concerned while giving aid and comfort to the anti-imperialists. Yes, I was already characterizing our crazed adventure in Vietnam as imperial, instead of yet another proof of our irrepressible, invincible altruism, ever eager to bring light to those who dwell in darkness.
I should note that in the thirty-two years since this particular State of the Union, our political vocabulary has been turned upside down. Although the secret core to each presidential election is who can express his hatred of African-Americans most subtly (to which today can be added Latinos and “elite liberals,” a fantasy category associated with working film actors who have won Academy Awards), and, of course, this season it’s the marriage-minded so-called gays. So-called because there is no such human or mammal category (sex is a continuum) except in the great hollow pumpkin head of that gambling dude who has anointed himself the nation’s moralist-in-chief, William “Bell Fruit” Bennett.
Back to the time machine. In some ways, looking at past States of the Union, it is remarkable how things tend to stay the same. Race-gender wars are always on our overcrowded back burners. There is also—always—a horrendous foreign enemy at hand ready to blow us up in the night out of hatred for our Goodness and rosy plumpness. In 1972, when I started my tour at the Yale Political Union, the audience was packed with hot-eyed neocons-to-be, though the phrase was not yet in use, as the inventors of neoconnery were still Trotskyists to a man or woman or even “Bell Fruit,” trying to make it in New York publishing.
I also stay away from the failing economy. “I leave to my friend Ken Galbraith the solving of the current depression.” If they appear to know who Galbraith is, I remark how curious that his fame should be based on two books, The Liberal Hour, published a few years before the right-wing Nixon criminals tried to hijack the election of 1972 (Watergate was bursting open when I began my tour), and The Affluent Society, published shortly before we had a cash-flow problem.
In the decades since this State of the Union, the United States has had more people, per capita, locked away in prisons than any other country, while the sick economy of ’72 is long forgotten as worse problems—and deficits—beset us. For one thing, we no longer live in a nation, but in a Homeland. In 1972, “roughly 80 percent of police work in the United States has to do with the regulation of our private morals. By that I mean controlling what we smoke, eat, put in our veins—not to mention trying to regulate with whom and how we have sex, with whom and how we gamble. As a result our police are among the most corrupt in the Western world.”