2022-10-25T06:55:09Z https://www.humaneventsonline.com/feed/atom/ WordPress Mike <![CDATA[Every Las Vegas Casino Heist Explained]]> https://www.humaneventsonline.com/every-las-vegas-casino-heist-explained.html 2022-10-25T06:53:17Z 2022-10-25T06:52:14Z Everyone hopes to go Las Vegas and come back a millionaire by playing slots or endless games of poker. Some people, however, have different ideas as to how to make bank. Today we will tell you about these people who committed the most infamous heists all over map of casinos [...]

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Everyone hopes to go Las Vegas and come back a millionaire by playing slots or endless games of poker. Some people, however, have different ideas as to how to make bank. Today we will tell you about these people who committed the most infamous heists all over map of casinos in Las Vegas

Half of these robberies occurred in the late 20th century, and the latter half occurred a bit more recently. We’ll discuss them chronologically to track the history of robberies in Las Vegas casinos. They surely make for some high-end entertainment.

The MIT Blackjack Team

We’re starting with perhaps the tamest case, but one of the most fascinating ones, that of the MIT Blackjack Team. The team was made of college students from MIT, and later Harvard and other universities, who were recruited by a professional blackjack player, J.P. Messar. He taught them how to play blackjack better and how to count cards.

They first tested the strategy in Atlantic City in 1979, and then graduated to Las Vegas, and later even led a “European invasion”. There were multiple teams at one point and it’s estimated that they made between $22 million and $57 million in the span of 20 years. While card counting is not illegal, casinos treat it as if it is.

The Eudaemons

The Eudaemons were a group of physicists from California who created a device that could predict where the ball would fall on a roulette wheel. After all, if the US President could cheat the whole country, why couldn’t they?

The device included a microcomputer (hid in the observer’s shoe) that was fed data about roulette games. The computer would then relay signals to another device (attached to the bettor’s chest).

The device didn’t accurately predict every outcome, but it significantly skewed the odds. The group went to a few casinos in Las Vegas in 1978 to test the system. Their profit was around 44% for every dollar betted. It’s estimated they made around $10,000 that way before they disbanded. While not a heist, this is still next-level cheating.

Stardust

Stardust Casino in Las Vegas was hit twice in two consecutive years – 1991 and 1992. The craziest part was that the robberies were committed by the same man, Royal Hopper, who worked as a security guard. In 1991, he tasked his two sons with the robbery; they stole $150,000 and weren’t caught.

Seeing his first plan worked, Hopper planned another heist six months later. This time the robbers took $1.1 million and used smoke bombs as distraction. They, however, used the employee’s entrance to exit the casino, which aroused suspicion it was an inside job and Hopper was questioned by the police and later charged with the crime.

We’re starting to wonder how Stardust treated its employees, because another employee, Bill Brennan, who worked as a sportsbook cashier, made the run with $500,000 from the money he was supposed to deposit, again in 1992. Brennan remains en-large and has become a sort of legend in Las Vegas casinos.

Circus Circus

The Circus Circus robbery of 1993 is one of the most daring robberies, which might make the textbooks on 20th century American history one day; it already made it to Netflix in its docuseries Heist.

A naïve 21-year-old woman, Heather Tallchief, robbed the casino of $3.1 million with her boyfriend, Roberto Solis, who was a convicted murderer that had committed robberies before. Tallchief found a job for an armored vehicle company. The car was meant to stock up the ATM’s at Circus Circus, but Tallchief drove away with it instead.

Solis and Tallchief used fake documents and relocated to Amsterdam. When Tallchief fell pregnant, she left Solis. She brought up her son in both the Netherlands and the UK, until deciding to go back home. 11 years after the robbery, she turned herself in and received 5 years in federal prison. Solis was never found.

Bellagio

Bellagio is a star in the map of Vegas casinos, and so it deserved an equally iconic robbery. Jose Vigoa, Luis Suarez and Oscar Sanchez, experienced casino robbers, stole $160,000 from the cashier at Bellagio. Vigoa, who was already wanted, didn’t even bother wearing a mask. A high-speed car chase ensued and Vigoa eventually received four life sentences.

In 2010, the Bellagio was robbed again by a man just as smart as Vigoa. Anthony Michael Carleo, son of a Vegas judge, produced a gun and went home with $1.5 million. Of course, being the genius that he was, Carleo bragged about the robbery and was ultimately charged.

Treasure Island

Apparently, hubris is the downfall of most Vegas casinos robbers. It certainly was for Reginald Johnson. He robbed Treasure Island Casino in July 2000, along with his brother, by brandishing guns and taking out the cash. They did the same in October 2000, and again escaped.

Apparently, third time is the charm as when they attempted to rob the same casino in December 2000, they were finally caught. They were charged with the robbery of more than $30,000 and the attempted murder of a security guard.

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Mike <![CDATA[What is Watergate]]> https://www.humaneventsonline.com/what-is-watergate.html 2021-11-08T14:50:01Z 2021-10-14T14:49:47Z Watergate is the name of the scandal in which the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Watergate Office Building were broken into by people associated with president Richard Nixon. The event took place in June 1972, but the criminal investigation continued for another two years and ended with Nixon’s resignation. It’s [...]

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Watergate is the name of the scandal in which the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Watergate Office Building were broken into by people associated with president Richard Nixon. The event took place in June 1972, but the criminal investigation continued for another two years and ended with Nixon’s resignation.

It’s difficult to imagine what the contemporary political climate of the US would have been if not for Watergate. This event is perhaps one of the most significant events in 20th century history. After all, whenever a massive scandal happens nowadays, we attach it to the suffix -gate.

Nixon – The Man, The President

Richard Nixon became the 37th President of the United States when he won the 1968 elections. He won with 301 electoral votes, while his front-runner, the Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey, gathered 191 electoral votes. The situation with the popular vote was a bit different.

However, the two candidates were closely tied for the popular vote, which might have given Nixon a reason to worry about re-election. Nixon had already lost one election to the charming John F. Kennedy in 1960, and he perhaps wanted to take precautions this time. Nixon has always been a bit insecure.

Although he excelled in sports and academics, he was never popular with his classmates. This continued into young adulthood when he attended Whittier College. Political analysts have given much thought to his formative years and said that Nixon remained an outsider even when he held the highest office in the land.

Plagued by feelings of insecurity and inferiority for years, Nixon didn’t shake them off when he moved to the White House. He abstained from using the Oval Office (except for ceremonial purposes) and instead retreated to Office 180 where he worked alone for long hours every day. He also tried to limit contact with White House aides to the bare minimum.

Covering Up a Cover Up

There is another possible reason for Nixon’s involvement in Watergate. Ken Hughes, an expert on the notorious scandal, has a plausible theory about the origin of Watergate.

The Theory

Hughes argues that Nixon might have ordered the wiretapping in a bid to cover up his involvement in US diplomatic relations before he became the president. Nixon had allegedly set up a meeting with South Vietnam’s ambassador through a mediator (Anna Chennault) a few days before the 1968 presidential elections.

The meeting did occur in Washington DC on October 30th 1960, and the subject was the War in Vietnam and what Nixon would do about it if he won the election. It’s illegal for private citizens to engage in diplomatic missions, even more so ones that concern war.

Unbeknown to Chennault, her movement was tracked by the FBI and the agency had also wiretapped South Vietnam’s embassy where the meeting happened. The FBI report remarks that Chennault instructed the ambassador to hold on, rather than accept a halt, because ‘we are gonna win.’ This instruction, she said, came from her boss (no name mentioned).

Relation to Watergate

In June 1971, the New York Times published the leaked The Pentagon Papers containing US involvement in Vietnam.

Nixon worried that the secret meeting would come to light, which would reveal not only his illegal involvement in the war, but also the fact that the war could have ended earlier if not for him. President Johnson ordered a halt right before the 1968 election, but South Vietnam didn’t accept it.

Nixon then created the Special Investigation Unit, “The Plumbers”, in his bid to stop the leaks. Their first mission was to break into the office of a psychiatrist who was treating Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked The Pentagon Papers, in an attempt to discredit him. The mission, however, was unsuccessful.

The Plumbers reportedly also looked for other information that could hurt the Democrats in the upcoming election, such as the Ted Kennedy-Chappaquiddick incident and the alleged involvement of the Kennedy administration in the assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.

The Plumbers also took part in the Watergate burglary and they might have been tasked to look for evidence that Nixon’s opponents knew about his involvement in Vietnam.

The Watergate Scandal

In January 1972, the plans for Watergate began. The main participants were G. Gordon Liddy, John Mitchell, John Dean, E. Howard Hunt and James McCord, among others. McCord tasked FBI agent Alfred Baldwin with carrying the wiretapping mission and then listening to the wiretapped conversations.

On May 28 1972, the burglars successfully entered the Watergate Complex and wiretapped the phones of Robert Spencer Oliver and Larry O’Brien. However, it turned out that the devices needed repairs, so another burglary was planned.

On 17 June 1972, Baldwin stayed at the Howard Johnson’s hotel across the street from the Watergate Complex while the wiretapping was taking place. His role was to alert the burglars if needed.

A security guard at the complex noticed some tape on a door and removed it, without releasing it was used to keep it open. When he returned, however, the door was retaped and he alerted the authorities. Baldwin failed to see the police coming, which led to the arrest of Virgilio Gonzalez, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martínez, and Frank Sturgis.

The Cover Up

The Nixon’s administration cover-up of the Watergate break-in is more infamous than the break-in itself. The White House denied any involvement in the incident and there’s a good chance that Nixon didn’t know about it beforehand. In a wiretapped conversation between him and his chief of staff, Nixon asked “Who was the asshole that did that?”.

However, the Watergate break-in brought up the names of Hunt and Liddy who were also involved in the Plumbers’ operations, so Nixon and his administration were concerned that this too would be revealed. Nixon’s aide John Ehrlichman ordered for Hunt’s safe to be destroyed by Dean to cover up the Plumbers’ missions.

Nixon’s press secretary called the break-in “a third-rate burglary attempt”, while Nixon said that Dean brilliantly investigated the incident and found no involvement of White House staff.

Another problem arose when Martha Mitchell, wife of John Mitchell, attempted to talk to reporters about Watergate. In June 1972, the conversation between Martha and a reporter ended abruptly. A few days later, Martha was found with bruises all over her and during the Watergate trial, McCord confessed that Martha was essentially kidnapped and beaten to shut her up.

The conclusive evidence of Nixon’s re-election campaign’s involvement in Watergate was the bank records showing payments to Bernard Baker, one of the Watergate burglars. Through his multiple bank accounts, it was found that he was paid by the presidential campaign, and more specifically that private legal donations to the campaign were funneled into his accounts.

All five burglars were found to be connected to the campaign in one way or another.

Conclusion

This is the story about the factors that led to Watergate and the immediate aftermath. The long court case eventually found the Watergate Seven (Liddy, Hunt, Barker, Gonzalez, Martinez, McCord, Sturgis) guilty and ended with the resignation of president Nixon in 1974.

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Mike <![CDATA[Men on the Moon]]> https://www.humaneventsonline.com/men-on-the-moon.html 2022-07-06T10:32:08Z 2021-07-22T14:40:50Z ‘That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind’, said Neil Armstrong when he first stepped on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. This sentence still rings in our years more than 50 years later. Indeed, Americans view this event as one of the most significant [...]

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‘That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind’, said Neil Armstrong when he first stepped on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. This sentence still rings in our years more than 50 years later.

Indeed, Americans view this event as one of the most significant events that occurred in the 20th century. In this article you can learn more about the fateful Apollo 11 mission.

The Space Race

Let us first address the elephant in the room, or the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Team USSR was way ahead by the mid-1960’s. They had sent the first artificial satellite, called Sputnik 1, in space in 1957. Two years later, Luna 2 became the first spacecraft to reach the Moon.

This was followed by the first animals to reach outer space and safely return to Earth, the dogs Belka and Strelka, in 1960. A test for the first human to fly in outer space – the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

By all means, USA was far behind. They did everything the USSR did, however, after the fact. The US knew they had to do something bold and daring to reach their competitors.

Apollo Missions

Apollo 7 mission patch

In an address to Congress on May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy declared it was a national goal for the US to send the first man to the Moon and return him safely to Earth. Unfortunately, he didn’t live to see that happen, but the successful Apollo 11 mission was dedicated to him.

Enter Project Apollo. The project received $25 billion in funding for a period of 10 years (1961-1972) or 2.5% of US’s GDP at the time. Sadly, tragedy struck with the first Apollo mission. While the crew was performing a pre-launching test, a fire started in the lunar module and all three crewmembers (Ed White, Roger B. Chaffee and Gus Grissom) tragically died on January 27, 1967.

It was thought this could put an end to the whole project, but instead NASA put man-crewed missions on hold, while they resolved the technical issues. The next three uncrewed missions (Apollo 4 to 6) were used to test new technology, and allowed for crewed missions to proceed.

Apollo 7 launched on October 11, 1968, and orbited the Earth returning safely on October 22, 1968. Then on December 21, 1968, Apollo 8, the first lunar mission, successfully penetrated the lunar orbit. Soon after, on March 3, 1969, the crew members on board of Apollo 9 tested all the aspects of the lunar module in Earth’s orbit.

Finally, the Apollo 10 mission did the same, although it did it in the lunar orbit, which was a dry test for the actual moon landing.

Apollo 11

On July, 1969, everyone in the US, and many others around the globe, were impatiently waiting for Apollo 11 to reach the Moon. The three crew members, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, were on board of a Saturn V rocket, which launched into space on July 16, 1969.

Saturn V had 3 stages that allowed it to reach the Moon. The first one was the most powerful one and it was used to lift the aircraft off the ground. It then detached to let the second stage take the astronauts into the Earth’s orbit, while the third stage took the aircraft outside the Earth’s orbit and broke off to let it reach the lunar orbit. Each module is amazing on its own, but it’s mostly the technology of detachment that truly made the mission possible.

After the final detachment, there were three modules left – the command, service, and lunar modules. Armstrong and Aldrin undocked the lunar module and landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, while Collins was orbiting the Moon.

Six hours later, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the Moon. He and Buzz Aldrin conducted experiments in which they collected samples from the Moon in the next 2 hours and 31 minutes before returning to the aircraft. Approximately 600 million people worldwide watched the live broadcast of their mission.

The three astronauts departed from the Moon on July 22 and safely returned to Earth on July 24 by splashing into the Pacific Ocean at 16:50:35 UTC. The module landed approximately 15 miles away from the recovery ship USS Hornet.

Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were personally welcomed by President Richard Nixon. The crew had to formally go through customs in Hawaii. Wholesomely, the crew declared moon rocks and moon dust to the Hawaiian authorities.

After staying a few weeks at an isolation ward at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston, the three astronauts were ready to be celebrated as American heroes with grand parades in New York City and Chicago on August 13, 1969. Their day ended with an official dinner with President Nixon in Los Angeles.

Going Back

Apollo 11 is certainly the most famous Apollo mission, but there were five other successful missions to the Moon in the next 3 years, which took another nine astronauts to the Moon. The missions were very expensive and they eventually ceased.

However, President Donald Trump announced plans for return to the Moon in the next few years and talked about plans for creating a space station to orbit the Moon. The plan called Artemis is in full motion and NASA says that they plan to send the first woman and the first person of color to the Moon.

The missions are supposed to be longer than the Apollo missions, perhaps in an attempt to try out equipment that could be used to reach another milestone – landing on Mars. We are impatient to know more about Artemis progress in the future.

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Mike <![CDATA[A Tragic Day]]> https://www.humaneventsonline.com/a-tragic-day.html 2021-11-08T14:40:45Z 2021-06-10T14:35:51Z On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. He became the fourth president to be assassinated while in office (after Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, and William McKinley). While the four preceding cases were almost immediately resolved, Kennedy’s [...]

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On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. He became the fourth president to be assassinated while in office (after Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, and William McKinley).

While the four preceding cases were almost immediately resolved, Kennedy’s assassination left many questions unanswered, and the mystery around it only intensified when Oswald was killed. We review the various theories about JFK’s assassination, which is considered one of the most significant events of the 20th century.

November 22, 1963

John and Jackie Kennedy arrived in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, on a political mission to raise more funds for the Democratic party and to heal the divide within in. The President and the First Lady rode in an open-top 1961 Lincoln Continental limousine alongside Texas Governor John Connally and the First Lady of Texas, while Vice President Johnson and the Second Lady rode two cars behind.

The planned route starting at Dallas Love Field was supposed to reach the Trade Mart in approximately 45 minutes to allow all spectators to see the President. The route was published in Dallas newspapers beforehand.

There were massive crowds along the road and the First Lady of Texas commented, “Mr. President, you can’t say Dallas doesn’t love you”, to which Kennedy replied, “No, you certainly can’t” – these were his last words.

As the limousine passed the Texas School Book Depository, three shots were fired. The first shot didn’t do anything. The second one penetrated Kennedy’s neck and exited, striking Connally in the upper back. The third shot hit Kennedy’s head. Kennedy was pronounced dead at Parkland Memorial Hospital at 1:00 pm.

Oswald

Various people who worked at the Texas Book Depository claimed they heard gunshots coming from above them. They said that a man (Oswald) was looking out the window on the sixth floor. Police officer J.D. Tippit attempted to apprehend Oswald a few miles away from the scene, but Oswald escaped and shot the policeman four times. He was later caught hiding in the Texas Theatre.

Two days later, on November 24, Oswald was being transferred from the city jail to the county jail when he was fatally shot by Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner. Ruby explained that he killed Oswald to spare Mrs. Kennedy the pain from attending her husband’s murder trial.

Theories

There are many theories as to why Kennedy was assassinated, and numerous Gallup polls over the years show that Americans across the political spectrum believe that there was a big conspiracy involving many players, rather than the lone-wolf scenario.

In 2017, President Trump ordered the declassification of JFK’s files. The National Archive released 19,045 documents relating to the case, although that’s not the full release. These files, however, provided more evidence to study, which we will use in the following section.

Jack Ruby and the Mafia

There are many theories about the man who killed Oswald. Despite trying to portray himself as a patriot who avenged the President’s death, Ruby’s background pointed towards something else. Ruby was rumored to have a connection to the Chicago underworld as evidenced by a recently released memo dictated by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

Moreover, Hoover also confessed that the previous day (November 23), the FBI Dallas office received a call from a man claiming to work for an organization that plans to kill Oswald. Hoover alerted Dallas’ deputies to heighten the security, which they didn’t.

Oswald is said to have been paid by the mob to execute Kennedy. He was then killed by Ruby to prevent him from testifying. The mob had every reason to order the assassination. John and Robert Kennedy, cracked down on organized crime from day one and they might have become their targets. Frank Ragano, lawyer of the mobster Jimmy Hoffa, claims that Hoffa confessed to his role on his deathbed.

This claim, along with many others, are unproven, and the committee overlooking mafia’s involvement in JFK’s assassination found no traces of involvement from any mobster family. If they did, the authorities would have undoubtedly pressed charges as they continuously try to indict mafia members.

Jack Ruby and LBJ

Another curious angle to the Ruby affair is his supposed involvement with Vice President Johnson. Roger Stone, an official in the Nixon administration, claims that Nixon hired Ruby as an informant for the House Un-American Activities Committee back in the 1940’s on behest of Lyndon Johnson.

A document from 1947 mentions Jack Rubenstein (Jack Ruby’s full name) of Chicago in relation to the committee. Some dispute the authenticity of this document, while others point to another Jack Rubenstein from Chicago who was an avowed communist.

This theory relates to the idea that Johnson orchestrated the assassination to become the president. Madeline Brown, an alleged mistress of Johnson, claimed he told her about his plans at a party attended by Nixon and Hoover the day before. It was proven that Johnson didn’t attend that party.

CIA

The third and perhaps most prominent theory is that JFK was killed in a CIA plot. There are three main reasons why. First, JFK was said to consider ending the war in Vietnam, which angered war-hawks in the agency. Secondly, the President also allegedly wanted to put an end to the Cold War, for which he was branded a traitor by the CIA.

Finally, there were allegedly talks of disbandment of the CIA after Kennedy became disillusioned with them.

Lone-Gunman?

The CIA theory is loosely supported by another theory – the multiple shooters one. Witnesses at the scene have said that they heard more than three shots, and some thought there were multiple gunmen as Oswald only produced three shots.

Moreover, the idea that the second shot alone injured both the President and the Governor so heavily has been contested. Parkland Hospital was not allowed to proceed with the autopsy as Kennedy’s body was sent to Bethesda instead. The doctors there weren’t experienced to perform autopsies.

Finally, when the bullet was retrieved, it was in pristine condition, which is impossible considering its impact with two bodies (tests proved the same). And so, the theory goes that the assassination was an inside job orchestrated by the CIA and all these little details were not really considered by the commission investigating the murder in order to hide the traces.

According to the commission, Oswald acted alone and he was the lone gunman.

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Mike <![CDATA[Who is Ayn Rand]]> https://www.humaneventsonline.com/who-is-ayn-rand.html 2022-10-25T06:55:09Z 2021-02-15T14:30:59Z Ayn Rand was a writer and philosopher, born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire on February 2, 1905. Her family was wealthy, but after the Bolshevik Revolution, her father’s business was confiscated and they struggled financially. Alisa studied history at the Petrograd State University, although she was purged [...]

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Ayn Rand was a writer and philosopher, born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire on February 2, 1905. Her family was wealthy, but after the Bolshevik Revolution, her father’s business was confiscated and they struggled financially.

Alisa studied history at the Petrograd State University, although she was purged for a while for being a bourgeoise student, but eventually allowed to graduate in 1924. While in university, she was enthralled by Aristotle’s writings, whom she credits as being her main inspiration.

Rand’s life changed when she went to visit relatives in Chicago in 1926 and decided to stay in the US. She gained citizenship after marrying actor Frank O’Connor and became Alice O’Conner, while also adopting the pen name Ayn Rand.

Rand got her big breakthrough came with her screenplay Red Pawn and then Night of January 16th, which opened on Broadway in 1935. Rand’s first novel We the Living (published in 1936) outlined Rand’s main topic of interest – the individual vs. the state.

The most famous American philosophers

Rand and her husband became politically involved in the 1940’s and she realised she had a passion for public speaking and political activism. Through her new social sphere, Rand was able to meet prominent philosophers such as Ludwig von Mises from the Austrian School of Economics and libertarian writer Isabel Paterson. The three drew inspiration from each other.

Later, Rand published her novel The Fountainhead (published in 1943), which became an international success. She then moved to New York City and created a group of like-minded individuals who went to become the biggest proponents of her objectivist philosophy and the keepers of her legacy (think Ayn Rand Institute).

Rand’s magnum opus Atlas Shrugged (published in 1957) cemented her as one of the most famous American philosophers and writers of her time.

Objectivism

Rand coined the term objectivism to describe her ideology, which can be summarised as accepting reality as it is, following reason rather than whims or faith, working hard to achieve a sense of purpose, pursuing your own happiness, and treating people like individuals with whom you trade value, as per Rand Institute.

Rand advocated for selfishness, which made her unlikable in some social and political circles, but we think she was rather misunderstood in that aspect. Rand believed that all people should be able to pursue their own goals without their growth being spurred by others and/or by the state. Considering Rand’s experiences under Soviet rule, we can understand why.

Rand and Politics

So how does Rand’s philosophy apply to political life? First, she believed that the only just economic system is capitalism. Second, Rand supported limited or small government (she’s sometimes wrongfully described as anarchist), whose only purpose should be protecting one’s rights and protecting one from violence.

Rand has stated many times that the government (not just the US government, but most governments) fails to protect people and violates the Non-Aggression Principle. An example for that is taxation – taxation is not voluntary, but mandatory and taxes are collected under the threat of violence (imprisonment). She supported voluntary taxation and charity.

Rand was also against the welfare state, because she noted that for money or property to be transferred to someone, they have to be taken from someone first. According to Rand, there’s no such thing as a right to economic security.

Rand and Politicians

It should be noted that Rand became famous during the Cold War. We say this because Rand’s story as a Russian woman who escaped the Soviet dictatorship and achieved the American dream made her a darling to American politicians and likely helped her book sales. That is not to say that she wouldn’t have accomplished anything otherwise, but to only note that the political climate was favorable.

There are many politicians who have explicitly declared their love for the Russian-born philosopher. Ronald Reagan described himself as an admirer of Rand back in 1966. He might have changed his opinion once he became the US president, because Rand spoke against the religious right and specifically against the newly-elected president.

She believed Americans should follow reason, not faith, and that this religious insurgence might negatively impact capitalism. She also stated that she supported abortion, as opposed to Reagan. However, Raegan did support abortion before his presidential run, he even made it legal in California. He also legalized “no-fault divorce” and arguably his born-again-Christian attitude only emerged when he was struggling with his presidential campaign.

Another big supporter of Rand during her own time was (and still is) Ron Paul. The libertarian politician said she influenced him, but at the same time he didn’t agree with her opinion on religion. His son, senator Rand Paul, appears to feel the same way, although he hasn’t criticized Ayn (as far as we know).

Apart from politicians, Rand has also influenced wealthy political donors such as the Koch brothers. David and Charles Koch share her views more attentively than others, probably because they’re not religious. They have financially supported the Ayn Rand Institute and they founded the Cato Institute, which also popularizes her philosophy.

Current Trend

Ayn Rand’s supporters in DC have only multiplied in the 40 years since she passed away. There has been a renewal in interest or it perhaps became better known due to the increasing role of social media in our daily lives. We want to give you a small list of contemporary American politicians who have explicitly professed their love for Rand:

  • Donald Trump, 45th President of the US
  • Paul Ryan, 54th Speaker of the House of Representatives
  • Ron Paul, US Representative for Texas (22nd and then 14th congressional district)
  • Rand Paul, US Senator from Kentucky
  • Ron Johnson, US Senator from Wisconsin
  • Gary Johnson, 29th Governor of New Mexico
  • Ted Cruz, US Senator from Texas
  • Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Justice
  • Rex Tillerson, 69th US Secretary of State
  • Mike Pompeo, Head of the CIA, 70th US Secretary of State
  • Andrew Puzder, nominee for US Secretary of Labor

As we have shown, Rand is still influential in DC. Some philosophers and political analysts have even gone as far as to claim that one cannot understand contemporary US politics without looking at Ayn Rand first. This is why we believe Ayn Rand and her works are a pivotal moment in 20th century United States.

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Mike <![CDATA[Welcome]]> https://www.humaneventsonline.com/welcome.html 2021-11-08T14:30:55Z 2021-01-05T14:27:41Z Dear readers, we wholeheartedly welcome you to our newest blog! This blog will discuss the most important events that happened in the United States in the 20th century. We are impatient to tell you everything that our research brought to life, and we hope you are just as impatient to [...]

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Dear readers, we wholeheartedly welcome you to our newest blog! This blog will discuss the most important events that happened in the United States in the 20th century. We are impatient to tell you everything that our research brought to life, and we hope you are just as impatient to read about it on our blog!

We suppose you are a history buff like us and we can’t wait to share our passion for knowledge with you. On this page, you can find more information about this blog such as the blog contents and the ambitions we have for it.

What’s Special About the Last Century

In our daily lives, we take many things for granted. We use our electronic devices as if humanity has always had them, but only a hundred years ago, there weren’t even TV’s. It’s not that we don’t know this information, it’s the fact that we rarely think about the amazing progress that humanity went through in mere 100 years.

This is why we chose to dedicate this blog to the most important events in the 20th century. More specifically, we decided to concentrate on events that happened in the United States since we are all American , and since that’s when the country became a world power.

However, it’s not just a matter of politics, many great things happened in the United States back then. Art, inventions, milestones – you name it. A single blog would not be enough to contain all the significant events from the last century. We will certainly try though!

Blog Contents

As we already said, the blog is going to discuss various important events from the history of the United States in the 20th century. Each article on our blog will be about a different affair that somehow captivated America and the world. It could be a story of success and heroism, or it could be a tragedy that we still cannot get over.

In order to choose the most significant events to talk about first, we decided to look at polls conducted by respectable analytic companies that asked American what they believe are the most significant events.

Many of the answers overlap and they can’t really be graded by importance due to the peculiarities of each era in which the research was conducted. For example, a poll from the late 1990’s placed Clinton’s impeachment hearings before the Watergate affair, likely because the case was still ongoing.

Here’s a small sample of the topics we intend to cover. As you will notice, they are not graded by importance – we will leave that to you, the reader:

  • The first Transatlantic flight
  • The creation of Hollywood
  • The Prohibition Era
  • The Great Depression
  • US Role in the two world wars
  • Dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  • McCarthyism
  • John F. Kennedy’s assassination
  • Robert Kennedy’s assassination
  • The Civil Rights Movement
  • The Moon Landing
  • The Watergate affair
  • The rise of Neoliberalism
  • Black Monday
  • The Gulf Wars
  • Bill Clinton’s impeachment

Thank You

These are the topics we are currently working on and we will be happy for you to tell us if any of them interests you. You can, for example, provide an interesting angle to a broad theme, which we can then research and write an article on.

Remember, we can’t do this alone. In order for a blog to be complete, it needs engaged visitors to read it and comment on it. So please, don’t ever hesitate to contact us and to give us feedback or recommendation for new material. We will be always happy to read your thoughts and work to improve our blog.

We hope for this blog to become a space where we can share knowledge and learn from each other. Where we can discuss obscure theories and events for hours and days at a time. We want for this blog to become your favorite place on the historical side of Internet, and we will work hard to make that happen.

Thank you again!

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