I read your stuff because you are interesting, because you're a good writer and a good storyteller and because you have your own very interesting voice and ideas I would read your stuff if you, like me, were a 6th great grandson of nobody in particular. Not that my 6th great grandparents thought of themselves that way.
My father worked with him at the CIA and greatly admired him. I sat with those men at dinners, too. I remember hearing them talk about The General. You probably served a martini or two to Dad at the farm. It is always an honor to know a true hero. Thank you for this post.
Tremendous article. I used to think we had some incredible people at our house and table ( Lew Walt and mikes Copeland), but holy smokes, what a life.
Both of us grew up white and privileged. We grew up in a time and in places most people can’t relate to or understand. I was in college before I understood that having a passport, traveling in and outside the US and occasionally being in contact with rarified air was not the norm.
It’s always what you do with the privilege you had that defines us.
You have used your privilege for good. Nothing better than that
I'm a second generation peacenik (Dad flew C47s in the South Pacific and organized our suburban community against the Vietnam War) and a military history buff (gotta know your stuff to be effective) and have been following you at Salon for years and was thrilled to see I get several columns a week as a subscriber. I found "Command Missions online at the Internet Archive and realize I will be reading it voraciously over the next few days. Thank you.
How good it would be if more men and women of comparable lineage were to conduct themselves as you have. Your grandfather would be immensely proud of you.
Instead, what we see is a portrait of families of great accomplishments having children who squander their positions of privilege by getting all too comfortable in basking in the glow of their own unearned celebrity or trust fund. This regression to the mean can be especially damaging when it leaves offspring unprepared to live life on their own terms and within their own interests and capabilities. With so many protectors, advisors, flacks and image managers, lawyers, wealth managers, feel-good docs, and assorted hangers-on, is it any wonder that these people end up so messed-up?
Given these likelihoods and probabilities, there is no living happily ever after, and Cinderella's story ends up in tragedy.
Harrison Salisbury was among my very favorite writer/journalist, among the earliest mainstream journalists to oppose the Vietnam War, in a time when that took great courage. We (the 04-05 officers I knew) who served at MACV HQ and heard the BS given to the press daily, most of whom swallowed it whole and repeated it (just occurred to me that swallow+repeat=vomit), would later laugh at the reporters' gullibility (there were a few exceptions, like Morley Safer, but they were in the field, not comfortably in Saigon). Later, from Walter Reed Hospital, I realized it was tragic, not funny. But that war, to protect U.S. oil interests and other Big$$$, was different only in details from every war-by-any-time the U.S. engaged in since the end of WW2.
What a great piece on a great man. As a member of a family of one of those 10th Mt vets who revered him, it is a tremendous kick to know that the following generations have benefitted so much from his example, and continue to make a positive difference in a very complicated world.
Another wonderfilled and informative article. A pleasant intermission between solid salvos in the political wars. More justification for deciding to subscribe so I can read more of your well written postings.
Love your writing. Grew up as a Navy Brat of a senior officer in the 50s and 60s. To me a time of peace and privilege. Also the greatest decade of rock and roll. But also a time of innocence as a privileged child. Coronado California was just a Navy town, not a millionaire's town. My innocence lasted until I joined the Air Force, for lack of any other plan. An overall good experience, 26 years plus. Some major disillusions, but a good choice looking back. Enough about me. Love your stuff. Keep it coming.
Thank you, Lucian, for reporting on all of this! I hope you write more at some point about the relationship between the black and white descendants of Jefferson, and how you feel about it.
Lucian, I enjoy, revere actually, your political point of view and your ability to write so lucidly (Lucianly)--with your unabashed reveals & open honesty. This piece brings it all back home.
I read your stuff because you are interesting, because you're a good writer and a good storyteller and because you have your own very interesting voice and ideas I would read your stuff if you, like me, were a 6th great grandson of nobody in particular. Not that my 6th great grandparents thought of themselves that way.
My father worked with him at the CIA and greatly admired him. I sat with those men at dinners, too. I remember hearing them talk about The General. You probably served a martini or two to Dad at the farm. It is always an honor to know a true hero. Thank you for this post.
Tremendous article. I used to think we had some incredible people at our house and table ( Lew Walt and mikes Copeland), but holy smokes, what a life.
Both of us grew up white and privileged. We grew up in a time and in places most people can’t relate to or understand. I was in college before I understood that having a passport, traveling in and outside the US and occasionally being in contact with rarified air was not the norm.
It’s always what you do with the privilege you had that defines us.
You have used your privilege for good. Nothing better than that
I'm a second generation peacenik (Dad flew C47s in the South Pacific and organized our suburban community against the Vietnam War) and a military history buff (gotta know your stuff to be effective) and have been following you at Salon for years and was thrilled to see I get several columns a week as a subscriber. I found "Command Missions online at the Internet Archive and realize I will be reading it voraciously over the next few days. Thank you.
Another great piece Mr Truscott!!
How good it would be if more men and women of comparable lineage were to conduct themselves as you have. Your grandfather would be immensely proud of you.
Instead, what we see is a portrait of families of great accomplishments having children who squander their positions of privilege by getting all too comfortable in basking in the glow of their own unearned celebrity or trust fund. This regression to the mean can be especially damaging when it leaves offspring unprepared to live life on their own terms and within their own interests and capabilities. With so many protectors, advisors, flacks and image managers, lawyers, wealth managers, feel-good docs, and assorted hangers-on, is it any wonder that these people end up so messed-up?
Given these likelihoods and probabilities, there is no living happily ever after, and Cinderella's story ends up in tragedy.
So glad you wrote this, Lucian.
Harrison Salisbury was among my very favorite writer/journalist, among the earliest mainstream journalists to oppose the Vietnam War, in a time when that took great courage. We (the 04-05 officers I knew) who served at MACV HQ and heard the BS given to the press daily, most of whom swallowed it whole and repeated it (just occurred to me that swallow+repeat=vomit), would later laugh at the reporters' gullibility (there were a few exceptions, like Morley Safer, but they were in the field, not comfortably in Saigon). Later, from Walter Reed Hospital, I realized it was tragic, not funny. But that war, to protect U.S. oil interests and other Big$$$, was different only in details from every war-by-any-time the U.S. engaged in since the end of WW2.
What a great piece on a great man. As a member of a family of one of those 10th Mt vets who revered him, it is a tremendous kick to know that the following generations have benefitted so much from his example, and continue to make a positive difference in a very complicated world.
Another wonderfilled and informative article. A pleasant intermission between solid salvos in the political wars. More justification for deciding to subscribe so I can read more of your well written postings.
Thank you, LKTIV
Love your writing. Grew up as a Navy Brat of a senior officer in the 50s and 60s. To me a time of peace and privilege. Also the greatest decade of rock and roll. But also a time of innocence as a privileged child. Coronado California was just a Navy town, not a millionaire's town. My innocence lasted until I joined the Air Force, for lack of any other plan. An overall good experience, 26 years plus. Some major disillusions, but a good choice looking back. Enough about me. Love your stuff. Keep it coming.
Thank you, Lucian, for reporting on all of this! I hope you write more at some point about the relationship between the black and white descendants of Jefferson, and how you feel about it.
Good genes; great values.
Lucian, with all the progress made during our lifetimes it still amazes me that a moron like Former could
enroll millions of followers with his Obama birth certificate lie.
Parlaying that into POTUS will be written about long after we are gone.
I experienced that same respect you describe so well when others spoke highly of my Dad when I was on active duty.
Lucian, I enjoy, revere actually, your political point of view and your ability to write so lucidly (Lucianly)--with your unabashed reveals & open honesty. This piece brings it all back home.
I am very glad neither you, your brother nor the chickens were entombed by the hay bales...