This and That
Patton on war strategy and Iran Deal 2, new book reviews and interviews with Hoenig and Binswanger, marginalized dates in July, a new coordinated siege on the White House
July’s marginalized, unknown and forgotten historic or important dates include:
July 4: America’s 250th birthday.
July 6: American President George W. Bush and screenwriter, director and actor and movie star Sylvester Stallone were born on this date in 1946—the men both turn 80 years old today—Bush in New Haven, Connecticut and Stallone in New York City. Forrest Gump, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks in the title role, debuted in movie theaters on this date in 1994.
July 9: Tom Hanks was born in 1956 in Concord, California.
July 10: Earl Hamner, Jr. was born in 1923 in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Schuyler, Virginia. Omar Sharif was born in Cairo, Egypt.
July 14: Barack Obama agreed with America’s foremost enemy, Iran, in what became known as the Iran Deal, which was opposed—later revoked—by Donald Trump as well as by Nazi death camp survivor and author Elie Wiesel, who pleaded to a joint session of Congress to reject Obama’s Iran deal. President Gerald Ford, who twice hosted Ayn Rand in the White House, was born in 1913. An Islamic terrorist drove a truck bomb into a gathering of French people on Bastille Day on this date 10 years ago.
July 15: The cryptic 493-word “Escape from Indigena,” a short story about slavery with a radical twist, debuted in the Greenwich Village literary journal In Parentheses Literary Magazine (Volume 8, Issue 4) in 2024. The micro-fiction’s included in an e-book collection of 16 previously published short stories by Scott Holleran, Long Run: Short Stories, Volume One with a foreword by English literature scholar and Ayn Rand biographer Shoshana Joy Milgram.
July 16: Barbara Stanwyck was born on this date in 1907; Barry Goldwater—America’s first major presidential candidate who was Jewish and the candidate Ayn Rand endorsed—accepted the Republican Party nomination near San Francisco at Cow Palace on this date in 1964. Arizona Senator Goldwater told the delegates and televised audience: “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
July 17: Trans World Airlines (TWA) flight 800 crashed after taking off from an airport in New York City killing everyone on board. The 747 exploded, severing the aircraft’s first class cabin, following hundreds of eyewitness reports of a “streak of light“ and missile sightings off the coast of Long Island on the eve of the 1996 Summer Olympics and threats of Islamic terrorism against America. The U.S. government concluded that a fuel tank exploded, failing to identify the cause. Walt Disney’s Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California on this date in 1955. “The idea of Disneyland is a simple one. It will be a place for people to find happiness and fun.” —Walt Disney
July 18: Dreams from My Father, Barack Hussein Obama’s memoir, was published on this date in 1995. Christopher Nolan’s sequel for Warner Bros. to 2005’s Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, debuted in movie theaters on this date in 2008.
July 20: American Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon on this date in 1969. Scott Holleran’s blog (2008-2020) debuted on this date. It’s also the date I announced impending publication of my first book, a selection of 16 previously published short stories, Long Run: Short Stories, Volume One.
July 21: Robin Williams was born in Chicago on this date in 1951.
July 23: Runaway, my short story of a gay teenager on his own in the city, was accepted for publication in India. Listen to me read my story aloud here.
July 26: “With two atom bombs ready to use, on July 26, [President] Truman joined the other allies in issuing the Potsdam Declaration, calling for Japan’s unconditional surrender. When Japan rejected the declaration on July 29, final preparations for an attack on Hiroshima began.” —Erik Sass, The Mental Floss History of the United States (2010, HarperCollins).
July 27: Norman Lear, who created The Jeffersons, Good Times, One Day at a Time and other TV shows, including All in the Family, was born on this date in 1922.
Book Review: Norman Lear’s Memoir
Even This I Get to Experience (Penguin Press, 2014) by Norman Lear, who died this week at the age of 101, moved me when I read it a few years ago. In the aftermath of his death, I re-read my margin notes. Because his is a remarkable career in television—he was a true freethinker—I want to pay tribute to a creator. I wrote this review. (For additional, personal thoughts, including meeting Mr. Lear, listen to my forthcoming podcast for the paid subscriber).
July 30: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, Batman Begins, Oppenheimer, Homer’s The Odyssey, Dunkirk) was born on this date in 1970. Read Scott Holleran’s interview with Nolan, conducted at his Warner Bros. Studio office in Burbank, California, in 2005.
