‘Since 1912’

Since 1912, every time the presidency of the United States switched to the Democratic Party, that Democratic presidential pickup winner started his presidency with both houses of Congress in the column for the Democratic Party.

The significance of dating back to 1912 is that it was also the decade of the 17th Amendment. This is direct elections of United States senators by the states’s voting citizens.

For the last 100-plus years—Since 1912—every Democratic presidential pickup winner started his presidency with both houses of Congress in the column for the Democrats.

This was applicable to: 1912 Woodrow Wilson; 1932 Franklin Roosevelt; 1960 John Kennedy; 1976 Jimmy Carter; 1992 Bill Clinton; 2008 Barack Obama; and, most recently, 2020 Joe Biden.

Even when Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson, as successors following the deaths in office of FDR and JFK, their full-term elections won in 1948 and 1964 were accompanied by same-party majority control of both houses of Congress.

The same cannot be said of the Since 1912 Republicans. 

Since 1912, three Republicans did not experience same-party majority control of both houses of Congress. Richard Nixon, the Republican presidential pickup winner of 1968, had neither house of Congress. In fact, over the last 100-plus years, Nixon was the only president—elected to more than one term—who never had either house of Congress in his party’s column at any point during his presidency. Ronald Reagan, with his 1980 Republican pickup of the presidency, was able to see his party flip the U.S. Senate but, with not enough of a sufficient shift, the U.S. House stayed in the column for the Democrats. And George Bush, winning a Republican hold (and a third consecutive cycle for his party) in 1988, did not have either house of Congress in his party’s column.

So, when observing this, it must be remembered: Since 1912, when the presidency switched party occupancy, more advantages were with the Democrats.

This means the Since 1912 Democrats have no excuses.

This is why, with last week’s decision from the United States Supreme Court to overturn the 1973 decision on Roe v. Wade, I do not and will not excuse the Democratic Party.

The post-1973 Democrats could have codified Roe v. Wade into law following the 1976 Democratic pickup of the presidency for Jimmy Carter.

This is almost 50 years.

This warrants a conclusion.

With such historical, electoral, and political advantage, the Since 1912 Democrats—via Wilson, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Carter, Clinton, and Obama; along with Truman and Johnson; and, of course, with Biden—have done what they intended.

Since 1912, the Democrats delivered—and not delivered—what they intended.

The Since 1912 Democrats, currently under Joe Biden, intentionally delivered the highest court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Flashback 1982: The Murder of Vincent Chin

Thursday, June 23, 2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the murder of Vincent Chin.

Vincent Chin, born May 18, 1955, in Mainland China, was 27 years old.

This happened in Highland Park and Detroit, Michigan.

Vincent Chin was a Chinese American and an auto engineer who was having a night out with friends, on Saturday, June 19, 1982, at a club for what was his bachelor party. Two people, who are white, were also employed in the automobile industry. Their names: Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz. There were layoffs going on the industry at the time. Ebens (b. October 30, 1939) and Nitz (b. 1958 or 1959), who had recently been laid off, were upset. So, they targeted Chin.

Outside the club, and leading the charge, Ebens, a Chrysler plant supervisor and stepfather to Nitz, went after Chin. The two chased after and found Chin. Nitz held down Chin. Ebens, with a baseball bat, repeatedly struck Chin and beat him to near-death. Chin was taken to Henry Ford Hospital, in Detroit, and succumbed to his injuries four days later.

Vincent Chin’s mother, Lily (according to Find a Grave, 1920–June 9, 2002; his father, Bing, died in 1981), was devastated and outraged. (Recommended reading with a link, for her, appears below.) It was further upsetting that this crime against her son—and, yes, it was indeed a hate crime—went unpunished. It was, after all, murder. And this did not initially receive much national attention, in 1982, but gained ground a year later (with Lily as a guest on Donahue).

I have plenty of material covering this. But, I want to mention the following: While this was in Detroit, Michigan, my area of residence in childhood and even now, I was at the age of 10—just two months shy of turning 11—years old. I was stunned by this, when news of it was reported in 1982, and I was further saddened that Vincent Chin (who would now be 67) did not survive. (I wanted him to.) This was a life denied. I am disgusted his killers were not punished in the justice system of the United States. (The closest were with civil judgments for damages. Neither Ebens or Nitz did time.)

My area PBS stations—WTVS (Ch. 56—Detroit, Michigan) and WGTE (Ch. 30—Toledo, Ohio)—will be broadcasting on Monday, June 20, 2022 Who Killed Vincent Chin? Nominated for the 1988 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, it was directed by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña. (As of this blog’s publication date, I have not seen it. I will and have it set for DVR. According to Wikipedia, “In 2021, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’.”) I do not know whether there are other PBS-affiliated stations which will broadcast Who Killed Vincent Chin? According to onscreen programing guide, through my provider, it is part of the POV series. (Frankly, I don’t regularly tune in PBS. Its programming schedules tend to vary one area to the next—this includes Detroit and Toledo—so I don’t generally keep track of PBS.) But, perhaps this documentary will be on in different Designated Marketing Areas (DMAs. Nationwide, there are 210. This means one’s applicable market, like New York, New York; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; et al).

I already mentioned having different materials related to the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin. The following are with online sources like The History Channel’s website as well as some published-to-YouTube videos which include—with the first two—brief clips from Who Killed Vincent Chin?

•  Vincent Chin is murdered  (History)

•  Forty-year anniversary of Vincent Chin killing marked amid surge of anti-Asian violence  (World Socialist Web Site)

•  Killing of Vincent Chin  (Wikipedia)

•  Remembering Vincent Chin: “The Legacy of Lily Chin”  (Medium)

Appreciation: ‘The Parallax View’

I subscribe to Criterion Collection’s streaming service, The Criterion Channel, which has over 1,000 DVD and Blu-ray titles and which greatly appreciates the art of motion pictures. (Website links: Criterion and Criterion Channel.) 

Last week, I streamed the 1974 political thriller The Parallax View. Coincidentally, with the date of this blog topic, it debuted in U.S. movie theaters 48 years ago—on the date Friday, June 14, 1974. I had a previous blog topic recognizing the 50-year anniversary of The Godfather (Link: ‘“The Godfather” Turns 50’). While that anniversary number is more a standout, I could not assume I would have remembered to wait for this motion picture’s 50-year anniversary until June 2024.

Produced and directed by Alan J. Pakula (1928–1998), The Parallax View casts Warren Beatty (who turned 85 on March 30, 2022) as an Oregon reporter who investigates the complex mystery that continues in the short years following the assassination of a United States senator and presidential candidate atop the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington.

Much like the period following the 1963 assassination of 35th United States president John Kennedy, with several connected individuals having met their untimely deaths, a body count grows in The Parallax View. But, there is a striking element discovered by Beatty’s Joe Frady: Behind all this is the California-based Parallax Corporation. It recruits assassins who take out political figures.

The Parallax View costars Paula Prentiss, William Daniels, Walter McGinn (1936–1977), Kenneth Mars (1935–2011), Jim Davis (1915–1981), and Hume Cronyn (1911–2003). (Prentiss is particularly effective as a reporter, also the ex-girlfriend of Joe, who witnesses the senator’s assassination. I also appreciated the subtle and convincing work of McGinn, as a recruiter, who died at age 40 from an auto accident three years after this film’s release.) The Parallax View was adapted to the screen by David Giler (1943–2020) and Lorenzo Semple Jr. (1923–2014) from the 1970 novel by Loren Singer (1923–2009). (Contributing to the screenplay, but not credited, is Robert Towne who won 1974’s Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Chinatown.) Its memorable cinematography is by Gordon Willis (1931–2014), one of the most unique and talented in his profession, who gives this film so much of its menace. (Willis received 1983 and 1990 Oscar nominations for Zelig and The Godfather, Part III. He was the 2009 recipient of an Honorary Oscar for “unsurpassed mastery of light, shadow, color and motion.”) 

Alan J. Pakula started his career, in 1950s Hollywood, in the cartoon department at Warner Brothers. His first marriage was to the Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning actress Hope Lange (1933–2003). He became known in the 1970s with a trio of films some described the Paranoia Trilogy; but, their sinister tones were in tune with some evil forms not devoid of reality. Pakula was an important voice in 1970s cinema. His biggest success, and his only Academy Award nomination for Best Director, was for All the President’s Men. That film was about the Watergate scandal—from 50 years ago this week, on Saturday, June 17, 1972!—and which was investigated and reported in Washington Post. That picture was a huge commercial and critical hit—and it was one of the top contenders for 1976. (It lost to Rocky while Pakula lost to its director, the late John G. Avildsen.) Pakula directed three actors to Oscars: Jane Fonda, with her first of two, as 1971’s Best Actress in Klute; the late Jason Robards, with his first of two, as 1976’s Best Supporting Actor in All the President’s Men; and Meryl Streep, with her second of three wins and her first for lead, as 1982’s Best Actress in Sophie’s Choice. (That film garnered Pakula a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.) Five other actors were nominated under Pakula’s direction: Liza Minnelli, the first of her two, as 1969’s Best Actress in The Sterile Cuckoo; Jane Alexander, the second of her four, as 1976’s Best Supporting Actress in All the President’s Men; the late Richard Farnsworth, the first of his two, as 1978’s Best Supporting Actor in Comes a Horseman; and, in the 1979 Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress races, nominations for the late Jill Clayburgh (the second of her two) and Candice Bergen in Starting Over. (The great comedic performance Pakula got out of Bergen must have helped her become cast, in 1988, for her best-known and Emmy-winning role: the title character on CBS’s Murphy Brown.) As a producer, Pakula was nominated for 1962 Best Picture contender To Kill a Mockingbird (which lost to Lawrence of Arabia), adapted to the screen from Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, but leading man Gregory Peck (1916–2003) prevailed for Best Actor. For having directed 16 films, and having been a really good actors’s director, this was a remarkable record.

For any of the Progressives Chat regulars who have not seen The Parallax View…I highly recommend it. It had a lot to say back in 1974…much to which we relate here in 2022. The first video is its trailer. The second video is by Fandango’s Movieclips, which shows an early moment from the film. The third video, which is also available on the DVD and Blu-ray copies by Criterion Collection and for streaming on The Criterion Channel, is with filmmaker Alex Cox. He directed two particularly memorable 1980s films—1984’s Repo Man (starring Emilio Estevez and the late Harry Dean Stanton) and 1986’s Sid and Nancy (starring Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb)—and he more thoroughly explains why The Parallax View had (and still has) such impact. (A warning: Some clips are shown of what happens in the film.) 

‘…Before Mass Shootings’

Sabby Sabs’s Sabrina Salvati published to YouTube, on Sunday, June 5, 2022, a clip in which she plays a discussion between The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal and Aaron Matè about the aftermath of the school-shootings massacre in Uvalde, Texas. 

Much of what is said is with recognition that, over time, breakdowns in what values people and politicians have ever had along with capitalism—the financial institutions, the corporations, obviously all who are among the nation’s haves—helped manifest the sorry state that is this now the U.S. It was certainly not helped by more and more greed which, frankly, could never be enough to those who cannot get enough. 

When it all adds up, and one has lived long enough to observe this, it does not seem surprising.