Category: Mitch McConnell

Biden cares about people other politicians would ignore

On By Marc NadeauIn Barack Obama, China, CNN, Evan Osnos, Harry S. Truman, Joe Biden, John McCain, Lyndon B. Johnson, Mitch McConnell, Robert A. Caro, US PoliticsLeave a comment
Evan Osnos besides a picture of his excellent biography of President Joe Biden (source: The Aspen Institute).

(version française)

Few days before the US presidential election of November 3rd, I reviewed the biography of then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden by acclaimed author and journalist Evan Osnos.

Those of you who watched CNN during the last couple of weeks have certainly seen him, since he notably commented the inauguration of the 46th President.

Despite a hectic schedule, Mr. Osnos kindly accepted to answer a few exclusive questions for this blog. I’m very happy to share this insightful interview which sheds light on the personality of the new resident of the White House.

Here is the content of our exchange.

I was amazed to see that President Biden installed a bust of President Harry S. Truman in the Oval Office. How does this former President inspire him? 

Biden has fond memories of Truman because of his grandfather’s political influence on him. He recalls visiting his “Grandpop” Ambrose Finnegan, in Scranton, and all the Irishmen in the neighborhood were blue-collar “Truman Democrats.” “That’s the thing they liked about Harry Truman: no artifice,” Biden wrote in his first memoir. “He knew where he stood, and he wasn’t afraid to say it.”

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Making James Bond Blush

On By Marc NadeauIn Canadian Army, George C. Marshall, Hachette Books, History, James Bond, Military, Mitch McConnell, Monte Cassino, Saul David, Special Forces, US Army, Winston Churchill, Winter Line, World War IILeave a comment

TheForce_SaulDavidFew years ago, while visiting in Italy, I booked a talented guide to visit Monte Cassino and its vicinity. As I left the train, upon arriving in the bucolic town whose name is associated to one of the most famous battles of World War II, I was struck by the breathtaking landscape. Up above a steep mountain, the famous Benedictine Abbey lays towering over the surrounding valley.

I immediately wondered what kind of soldiers could conquer such a hostile environment and dislodge the Germans, ferociously guarding the impregnable summits forming the Winter Line set up to block the Allies on their way up North to the Eternal City, Rome.

Some years later and thanks to renowned military historian Saul David, I finally found the answer between the covers of the book The Force: The Legendary Special Ops Unit and WWII’s Mission Impossible. Assembled from scratch with Canadian and American soldiers in the summer of 1942 “for a top mission behind enemy lines”, the First Special Service Force was initially trained to operate in winter conditions with a new snow vehicle.

The mission of the unit soon became the object of turf wars and power plays between British and American top brass and politicians. While Churchill – who had a “”particular interest” in the Force” jealously fought toe and nails to reserve these exceptional warriors for an eventual foray in Norway (operation Jupiter), US Army chief of staff George Marshall considered such a venture to be a sideshow. The American warlord was certainly frustrated to exclude such a powerful tool from a vital theater of operations.

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