Category Archives: History

Toledo Electric Auto-Lite Strike 1934

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April 12, 1934, the ELECTRIC AUTO-LITE STRIKE begins in Toledo Ohio over union recognition and wages. The strike lasts nearly two months, during which occurs a brutal five-day pitch battle between some 6,000 strikers and the Ohio National Guard, leaving two striking workers dead and more than 200 injured. The highly publicized struggle happens at the height of the Great Depression and comes to be known as the Battle of Toledo. The strike is regarded by many labor historians as one of the most important strikes in U.S. history…

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Letter from Ho Chi Minh to President Harry S. Truman, 02/28/1946

ho-chi-minh-telegram-truman-lFDR had stated he was against the re-acquisition of Indochina by the French after WWII. Unfortunately he didn’t make it that long. Truman ignored Ho Chi Minh’s plea for help and backed the French.

Ho Chi Minh had come to power in Vietnam with the assistance of the OSS in the wake of the Japanese surrender in September 1945. He had not yet been tarred with the Communist label– that came later for political reasons. Truman sacrificed Ho in order to keep the French solidly in the Western bloc against the Russians at the end of the war…the rest of course was tragedy….

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Combat Footage: French Indochina War

Number of military casualties in the French Indochina War:

— Viet Minh – 500,000 killed (est.)

— French Union Forces – 89,797 killed and MIA

Geneva Peace Conference 1954

John Foster Dulles Deutsch: John Foster Dulles...

John Foster Dulles

The Geneva Accords “temporarily” divided Vietnam at the 17th Parallel. Why such a disappointing outcome for Ho Chi Minh and his comrades? At the time Ho’s primary allies, the USSR and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), had other geopolitical considerations that outweighed any benefits to be gained from digging in their heels for Ho Chi Minh… READ MORE>>