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Sunday, April 14, 2024

Start with an outlandish tweet; then get serious along with DWT getting serious. Rename Dulles Airport. But pick a new name responsibly.

 https://twitter.com/GReschenthaler/status/1775158244790480951

 


 Yeah. Deal killer. Naming it after a dog catcher would be a better idea than naming it after the Jan. 6 instigator. But if ever a cry for bettering a name existed, tell me about it. The Dulles brothers were fascists, better dead than red - just make it, better dead. Stop there. Better than alive. DWT opines:

Yes, Yes, A Thousand Time Yes— Rename Dulles International Airport... Earl Warren International?

 

Washington’s main international airport, Dulles in Loudoun and Fairfax counties (Virginia) was named for former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, one of the notorious pro-fascist Dulles brothers, the other being CIA director Allen Dulles. Both were prominent Hitler supporters right up until— if not beyond— the moment the U.S. entered the war. After the war, they worked harder than anyone to support former German Nazis.


Many people who keep track of 20th century history are aware of the murderous roles the Dulles brothers played in shaping post World War II American foreign policy. In many ways, the U.S. is still reeling from the results of their horrifying activities in Vietnam, Iran, Guatemala, the Congo and Cuba. Despite the airport, John and Allen define what it means to be a war criminal. Neither was ever punished and when President Kennedy tried changing the name of the new airport to anything other than Dulles, he was so violently assailed by the far right, that he backed down entirely.

Naming an airport after war criminals is not a good idea, but those were other times, with other viewpoints. And the DWT headline suggests Earl Warren.

Damned good choice. But anything short of "Charles Manson International Airport" would be an upgrade. "Antifa Airport" would do, but universal support would be lacking. Naming it after Trump? No. 

Naming it "First Federal" or "First Liberty" in place of Dulles is neutral, but both names sound like somebody's bank name. "D.C. Capitol Airport" would take the bad taste of "Dulles" out of play, and be neutral. Sure, Earl Warren is better, but consensus these days is hard to find.

Kline at DWT quotes. Posting what in turn is worth quoting here, at length:

In his definitive book, The Brothers, Stephen Kinzer wrote, in way of introduction, that “This story is rich with lessons for the modern era. It is about exceptionalism, the view that the United States is inherently more moral and farther-seeing than other countries and therefor may behave in ways that others should not. It also addresses the belief that because of its immense power, the United States cannot only topple governments but guide the course of history. To these widely held convictions, the Dulles brothers added two others, both bred into them over the years. One was missionary Christianity, which tells believers that they understand eternal truths and have an obligation to convert the unenlightened. Alongside it was the presumption that protecting the right of large American corporations to operate freely in the world is good for everyone.”

Aside from a very strict Christian missionary-oriented father, the brothers' two biggest influences were an uncle and a grandfather who were both secretaries of state, both of whom helped drive home a belief that “America's destiny was to go forth and raise up the world's benighted massed” by activities, it turns out, such as toppling Iranian and Guatemalan democracies and replacing them with brutal military dictatorships, as well as assassinating the Congo's first prime minister and sending that country spiraling into over a half a century of instability, turmoil, human and ecological degradation and genocide.

Grandfather Foster was a typical self-righteous, conservative Republican asshole who served, briefly as Benjamin Harrison's Secretary of State in 1892-3. He inculcated his two grandsons with the idea that America was “a nation blessed by Providence, powerful to the point of invincibility, whose people were destined to spread, civilize and command. From him they also learned how profitable it can be to ingratiate oneself with men of wealth and influence.” Gramps may well have been the nation's first corporate and international lobbyist. But he's better known for his singular accomplishment as Secretary of State. In 1893 he helped direct the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and that country's annexation by the United States with the help of the U.S. military. He was the first American secretary of state to participate in the overthrown of a foreign government. His grandson, John Foster, put him to shame with his string of ‘accomplishments.’”

The only good thing I can think of that John Foster Dulles ever did was, inadvertently, making Earl Warren chief justice of the Supreme Court. The Dulles brothers had just finished violently deposing the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammed Mosadegh, and were getting ready to do the same to the democratically elected president of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz, when the 13th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Fred Vinson, had a heart attack and died. Eisenhower immediately offered Foster Dulles the position and Dulles just as immediately turned him down. He had monsters to slay all over the world and had no time for Justice, not even a chance to pervert it. Kinzer speculates that “Foster's decision to remain as secretary of state opened the way for the appointment of Earl Warren as chief justice. If he had decided otherwise and left the State Department, Allen would undoubtably have continued to press the anti-Arbenz project. Whether another secretary of state would have shared his passion for it is an intriguing question for which there can be no answer.”

Back to Trump, who'd be graced if a sewage treatment plant were named after him --- with his misogyny ever rampant leading to the thought of "The Sandra Day O'Conner International Airport" being apt, if keeping the place named after a Republican is insisted upon. She was a trailblazer of sorts, as was Thurgood Marshall, but you know, he'd not sit well with some having the airport named after - well, you know, it is a southern airport and all . . .

Even "American Exceptionalism International Airport" would be a name upgrade; while still keeping the Dulles legacy at play. That airport just, simply, needs a naming coup de tat. That's a bottom line.

Last thought, how about:  

The Who Killed Kennedy International Airport, as a name - replacing Dulles?