Hollywood and Discrimination

I recently viewed the movie "Casablanca" and wondered about the career of Dooley Wilson. Wilson, an African American, played the piano player and sidekick of the Humphrey Bogart character. Wilson was "Sam". Another supporting actor in the movie was Sydney Greenstreet who played Ferrari; he owned the Blue Parrot nightclub. Wilson was paid $ 350 a week for 7 weeks while Greenstreet was paid $ 3750 a week (and this was liberal Hollywood?).

(Source: Wikipedia on 2/17/10)

Right to Privacy

Five times prior to the establishment of a right to privacy in 1965-Griswold v. Conn.-the Supreme Court laid the foundation for claiming this right. In 1923 they ruled that parents had the right to teach their own children a foreign language- Meyer v. Nebraska. In 1925 they ruled that parents could send their children to a private school-Pierce v. Society of Sisters. In 1942 they ruled that a person of limited intelligence could procreate-Skinner v. Oklahoma. In 1952 they ruled a person could resist "certain invasions of the body"-Rochin v. California. In 1964 they ruled that a person had the right to travel abroad-Aptheker v. Secretary of State. In addition the court twice passed on the opportunity to establish this right, once in 1943 and again in 1961. Thus when the Griswold ruling came out it was not out of the blue.

(Source: The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States 1992 edition).

Eugenics

I came across this Supreme Court case while researching privacy cases. In 1927 the US Supreme Court ruled that Carrie Buck could be sterialized because, as Oliver Wendall Holmes said, she came from "...three generations of imbeciles...". A lower court described the family as "...shiftless, ignorant, and worthless class of anti-social whites in the south". The case was Buck v. Bell (1927). The wider significance of this case is that after the ruling and Carrie Buck's sterialization "...numerous states passed similiar laws and Nazi Germany gave the fullest sweep to the argument".

(Source: The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States 1992 edition. Page 98).

General George McClellan

While reading a history of the United States from 1934, I came across an interesting point about Gen McClellan by Gen Robert E. Lee. The author states; "In truth, Lee had the highest regard for McClellan. Some years after the war he expressed the opinion that McClellan was the best commander the Army of the Potomac ever had and that among his opponents he was the ablest. Indeed, any man who could take such heavy toll of Joseph E. Johnston and Robert E. Lee as McClellan inflicted in almost every battle was no ordinary soldier. Furthermore, few commanders have won the heart of a great army as McClellan won that of the Army of the Potomac". (Is the compliment accurate? I don't know)

(Source: History of the United States by Asa Earl Martin. Published in 1928, 1934 and 1946 by
Ginn and Company. Page 856)

Senator Joseph McCarthy

The republican senator from Wisconsin claimed, 60 years ago, that he knew of "206 card-carrying communists" who worked in the US State Department. As we know he said this in a speech he gave in West Virginia. Shortly thereafter he wrote to President Truman and said he had the names of 57 communists. On Feb 20, 1950 he told congress that he had a list of 81 commies. "When Congress actually started to investigate, the list shrank to 10 names". Even though there was no proof of the charges "...many of the accused lost their jobs and reputations". "McCarthyism now describes the practice of using unsubstantiated accusations of subversive activity to discredit an opponent".

(Source: "Did You Know" by Jan Housewerth from The Record on 2/8/10).

"Sexting"

An interesting First Amendment case might be in the making in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. A decision would effect NJ, PA, Delaware, and the Virgin Islands. The court is presently considering whether "...teens can be prosecuted...for taking their own photos and sending them to their friends". Sexting is the ..."cell phone messaging of either explicit photos or words". How is this be be considered? Is it "...constitutionally protected speech or a public safety concern..." that the law must deal with. Some say it is teenage indiscretion and others say it is child porn. (For those who think the First Amendment is dull, think again).

(Source: "Sexting" by Kibret Markos of The Record on 2/3/10).

Wartime Conscription

I have come across, from time to time, reference to the wartime conscription of women in England during WWII. A short front page article in a 1945 newspaper was headlined, "England to stop draft of all over 30". It stated, "conscription for men and women for war jobs under Britain's national service law" has been discontinued. "No British women have been called up for a considerable time". (I will try to find more on this).

(Source: Headline above. The Philadelphia Inquiror on April 13, 1945).