Davy & The Indians

In Remember (My Visit) To The Alamo series, I wrote on the controversy surrounding how Davy Crockett died, in the course of which I mentioned his background along with his opposition to the Indian Removal Act while serving in Congress.

I've gone back to look at his speech on the Act, delivered on May 19, 1830.  

The Indian Removal Act, proposed by President Andrew Jackson, with the enthusiastic support of most of the white population in the south, was designed to remove members of the Five "Civilized" Tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, Choctaw, and Seminole) (1) from the southeast, moving them to what later became the state of Oklahoma.  The Jackson Administration required funding for the proposed action, which led to the Indian Removal Act.

David Crockett was first elected to Congress from Tennessee in 1827 and then reelected in 1829.  His Congressional district bordered Chickasaw lands, and he had a long acquaintance with many of the tribes, particularly the Cherokee and he'd fought the Creeks during the War of 1812.

Walt Disney's Davy Crockett series portrayed his opposition to the Act very prominently in the second part of the three part series that created a nationwide sensation in late 1954 and early 1955.  Here is how the speech is portrayed in that episode, broadcast on January 26, 1955.  I watched the entire series either when first broadcast or when it was rerun later in 1955 or in 1956.  And, yes, I had a coonskin cap.  Crockett was played by Fess Parker, who in the 1960s went on to star as Daniel Boone in a long-running TV series.  Davy's sidekick is played by Buddy Ebsen, who later went on to discover Texas Tea in The Beverly Hillbillies.

While the fact of Crockett's opposition is actually shown, the context and content of his speech was quite different, as was his appearance - in Congress, Rep Crockett dressed like his fellow representatives - he did not wear a coonskin cap.

You can find his actual speech, or more precisely a "Sketch" of his remarks, here.  Excerpts:

He did not know whether a man (that is, a member of Congress) within 500 miles of his residence would give a similar vote; but he knew, at the same time, that he should give that vote with a clear conscience.  He had his constituents to settle with, he was aware; and should like to please them as well as other gentleman; but he had also a settlement to make at the bar of his God; and what his conscience dictated to be just and right he would do, be the consequences what they might. 

He had always viewed the native Indian tribes of this country as a sovereign people.  He believed they had been recognised as such from the very foundation of this government, and the United States were bound by treaty to protect them; it was their duty to do so.

Mr. C. said that four counties of his district bordered on the Chickasaw country.  He knew many of their tribe; and nothing should ever induce him to vote to drive them west of the Mississippi.

No man could be more willing to see them remove than he was if it could be done in a manner agreeable to themselves; but not otherwise.  He knew personally that a part of the tribe of the Cherokees were unwilling to go.

It had never been known that white men and Indians could live together; and in this case, the Indians were to have no privileges allowed them, while the white men were to have all.  Now, if this was not oppression with a vengeance, he did not know what was.

If he should be the only member of that House who voted against the bill, and the only man in the United States who disapproved it, he would still vote against it.

The vote was close, but the Act passed the House by a vote of 102 to 97.  Rep Crockett was the only member with the tribes either in their district or adjacent to their lands to vote against the bill.  David lost his bid for reelection in 1831, due in large part to his vote on the Removal Act.  He regained his seat in 1833 before being defeated again in 1835.  Following this defeat, and disgusted by the Jackson/Van Buren administration, he decided to stake his future in Texas.  He arrived in San Antonio on February 6, 1836 and died a month later, along with the other defenders of the Alamo.

And nearly two centuries later we are still grappling with the legacy of earlier treaties with the tribes resettled in Oklahoma as seen by this week's Supreme Court case which addressed the complications raised by the Court in its previous decision on those treaties and the nature of Indian sovereignty, issued only two years ago.

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(1) The term "civilized" is used to distinguish these tribes from those in other areas of the country and in different eras.  These tribes all had established treaty relations with the United States and they were in compliance with those treaties.  The treaties established them on lands across the southeast and each tribe had organized governance structures and were pursuing agricultural and settled ways.  There was also considerable intermarriage between whites and tribe members.  This was a very different scenario from federal relations with the nomadic tribes of the Great Plains like the Sioux and Comanche.

Based On A True Story

Read Norm MacDonald's 2016 book, Based On A True Story: Not A Memoir.  Funny, outrageous, bizarre - just like Norm.  Some is true, some not, and some you just can't tell.  If you like Norm's comedy you'll like this, as I did.  If not, you won't get it.  Definitely written by him.  The style and rhythms are pure Norm and you can hear his voice in your head as you read (and he does the audio book version).

Not knowing much about his early career I was interested to see how much credit he gave to Adam Sandler, "Without Adam, no career".

As we now know (but didn't then), Norm had already been diagnosed with the leukemia that would kill him in 2021.  Amid the wild tales, there are a couple of moments, when it seems, in retrospect, he's reflecting on his diagnosis:

"The only thing an old man can tell a young man is that it goes fast, real fast, and if you're not careful it's too late.  Of course, the young man will never understand this truth."

In the context of a hospital visit to a child who's been diagnosed with a fatal illness, most of which is very, very funny, he writes:

"Death is a funny thing.  Not funny haha, like a Woody Allen movie, but funny strange, like a Woody Allen marriage.  When it's unexpected, death comes fast like a ravenous wolf and tears open your throat with a merciful fury.  But when it's expected, it comes slow and patient like a snake, and the doctor tells you how far away it is and when, exactly, it will be at your door.  And when it will be at the foot of your bed.  And when it will be on your flesh."

The Motown Playlist

Recently I've been on a bit of a Motown binge (see, for instance, Holland-Dozier-Holland).  I was going to do a post on my Top Ten favorites but after #1 (Reach Out, I'll Be There) and #2 (Marvin Gaye's version of I Heard It Through The Grapevine), I couldn't make any further headway in the ratings because Motown produced so much great music from the early 60s through 1972.  

On a long plane flight a couple of weeks ago I listened to my personal Motown playlist and was reminded once again just how many outstanding songs came out of Detroit and how good the music makes me feel, so I decided to just post my playlist.  I listened through my Bose earbuds, which accentuates the bass, enabling me to further appreciate James Jamerson's playing as part of the Motown studio band.

A couple of omissions regarding Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye.  In the early 70s both transformed their music.  In the case of Wonder, it was elevating an already astonishing level of virtuosity into the stratosphere with a creative explosion that lasted the entire decade, so Talking Book and its single, Superstition, and subsequent albums are not included here, nor is Marvin's What's Going On? and its successors.

The Temptations

My Girl (1964)

Get Ready (1966)

(I Know) I'm Losing You

Ain't Too Proud To Beg

All I Need (1967)

I Wish It Would Rain (1968)

Cloud Nine

I Can't Get Next To You (1969) - The best of ensemble singing.  Everyone contributes.

Ball Of Confusion (1970)

Just My Imagination (1971)

Papa Was A Rolling Stone (1972)

 The Four Tops

Baby I Need Your Loving (1964)

I Can't Help Myself (1965)

It's The Same Old Song 

Something About You

Shake Me, Wake Me (1966)

Reach Out (I'll Be There) 

Standing In The Shadows Of Love

Bernadette (1967) - Levi Stubbs takes pleading vocals to another level

Walk Away Renee (1968) - Better than the original

Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got) (1972) 

Stevie Wonder

Fingertips, Part 2 (1963) - 12 year old harmonica playing Stevie in a dynamic live performance

Uptight (1965)

I Was Made To Love Her (1967)

Signed, Sealed, Delivered (1970)

Marvin Gaye

How Sweet It Is (1964)

Ain't That Peculiar (1965)

Ain't No Mountain High Enough - with Tami Terrell (1967) 

Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing - with Tami Terrell (1968)

I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Isolated vocal.  Wow.

 Smokey Robinson & The Miracles 

You Really Got A Hold On Me (1962)

The Tracks Of My Tears (1965)

I Second That Emotion (1967)

The Tears Of A Clown (1970)

Martha & The Vandellas

Heat Wave (1963)

Dancing In The Streets (1964)

Nowhere To Run (1965)

The Supremes

Where Did Our Love Go (1964)

Stop! In The Name of Love (1965)

You Keep Me Hanging On (1966)

The Marvelettes

Mr Postman (1961)

Don't Mess With Bill (1966)- Underrated

Junior Walker & The All-Stars

Shotgun (1965)

 Edwin Starr

War (1970)

The Conversation

Saw the still above which reminded me of the greatness of this film, made by Francis Ford Coppola in between Godfather I and II.  Starring Gene Hackman, along with John Cazale, Harrison Ford, and Cindy Williams, The Conversation deals with surveillance, privacy, media, and the difficulty of distinguishing fact from narrative, making it relevant even today.  I rewatched the film last year and it stands the test of time.

I came across the photo on the Twitter account of The Projectionist Woman, which features an impeccable selection of movie stills.

Regarding Dobbs

With the Supreme Court's recent abortion decision there has been talk in both parties about potential Congressional action.  For the Democrats it's been about codifying legislatively the precepts of Roe/Casey on a national level.  For the Republicans, in the event they gain control, it is passing a national ban on abortion after 15 weeks (or, for others, an absolute ban).

Apart from the intra-party political disputes each party would face in drafting legislation (1), I have my own problem with these proposed solutions because I do not believe Congress has any Constitutional authority to pass such legislation.  Past legislative proposals have invoked the Commerce Clause as the Constitutional justification but my view of that clause is that the decision of an individual to have an abortion does not constitute interstate commerce.  Some conservatives have made an alternative argument that Congress has authority to legislate on this subject under the 14th Amendment but it is a big stretch to do so, and moreover, it would mean effectively reading that Amendment as supporting substantive due process, which is otherwise anathema to conservatives.

If I were in Congress I would vote against any such proposals and that is why THC is never going to be nominated for public office by either party!

UPDATE:  For those interested in the underlying constitutional law issue, listen to this Bari Weiss podcast in which Akhil Reed Amar, a pro-choice Yale Law School professor, explains the constitutional deficiencies of the 1973 Roe decision.

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(1) For the Democrats the problem is the party has moved way beyond Roe/Casey and takes the position that there should be no legal constraints on abortion - the Equality Act proposed by the party would Federalize abortion and allow it at any time until birth (though there are legislative proposals in California and Maryland to extend that for a bit after birth).  For Democrats, abortion has moved from the Clintonian formula of "safe, rare, and legal" to the Calhounian doctrine of a positive good.

For Republicans it is going to be extremely difficult to reconcile the differences between those supporting a European style 15 week limit, with appropriate health exceptions, and those who will strongly advocate for an absolute ban.  The former is roughly consistent with American public opinion, the latter opposed by most Americans.

Belfast

This mostly black & white film is worth watching for the cinematography alone though that is not its only positive attribute.  Set in 1969-70, at the beginning of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, it is the story of a Protestant family living in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood in Belfast as told through the eyes of the youngest son.

Belfast is directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also wrote the screenplay.  Branagh, born in Belfast, was eight years old when The Troubles began.  His Protestant family lived in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood and his father, just like the dad in the film, was a plumber and joiner who traveled to England to find work to support the family.

The film swings between the idyllic parts of childhood and frightening outbreaks of violence, and it is very frightening when it starts on the screen.  Branagh has sympathy for all those caught up in the situation, and nothing but disdain for those who promoted sectarian hatred.  Because it is told through the perceptions of a boy too young to understand what is going on around him, some scenes are exaggerated and there are a couple that are clearly fantasies of how the child would like to remember those days and his parents.  Very moving and very disturbing at times.

As a young man, Branagh directed and starred in the finest Shakespeare ever put on film, Henry V.  If you haven't seen it, do so.  And watch it with a copy of the play with you to appreciate the brilliance of Branagh's adaptation.

Still Reelin' In The Years

I can't cry anymore/ while you run around

Break away

Just when it seems so clear/ that it's over now

Drink your big Black Cow/ and get out of here

A half century later Donald Fagen and his reconstituted Steely Dan are still at it (Fagen's partner and collaborator, Walter Becker, passed in 2017).  This is from their current tour.  

Some characterize the Dan's music as Dad Rock.  I'm fine with that, though in my case it would be more accurate to call it Grandpa Rock. 

pic.twitter.com/uNkwCLKu0K

— steely dan video (@steelyvideo) June 23, 2022

A New Day

Something I doubted I'd ever see.  Emirates Airlines, the carrier of the United Arab Emirates, has started direct jet service to Israel.  Things are really changing in the Middle East.  Rivalries and alliances are being recalibrated.  Wonderful to see.

Touchdown. We've officially landed in our newest destination, Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/2ZgEnJVdVV

— Emirates Airline (@emirates) June 23, 2022

I've flown Emirates twice to India and it is an excellent carrier, new aircraft, great service.  Both times I transferred planes in Dubai and being in that terminal for several hours was quite an experience as planes arrive from all over the world and an astonishing variety of passengers disembark and make their way to connecting flights.

Walking Hanoi

About a decade ago Chris Arnade traded in his career as a Wall Street bond trader for documenting via photography and prose the lives of poor people, first across America, more recently, across the world.  He's currently reporting on his visit to Hanoi, along with some reflections on comparing life there to America.  He's well worth reading on Substack or following on Twitter.  This is one of his finest reports.  A sample:

All of this makes walking in Hanoi a constant game of risk management. Will I trip over the cages of geese being sold, or twist my ankle on the bricks holding down the piles of clothes being sold, or will the log from the trees being trimmed by someone who looks to be charging people to do that, drop on my head? Or will the moped hauling ice hit me? Or will the moped hauling bananas be distracted by the log about to drop on the moped hauling garbage, hit me?

Despite all of that, there’s a weird counterintuitive functionality to the chaos, that once you get an intuitive feel for, becomes orderly, and you can move around quickly, crossing roads more easily than in the US.1

The biggest obstacle to walking in Hanoi isn’t the infrastructural nastiness, but the continual offers of hospitality. It is an exceedingly generous and warm city. Perhaps the most I have ever been in.

You cannot, certainly as a foreigner, pass along an alley of open homes, stores, and through the plazas of kids playing badminton, older women dancing, without being asked to join. To sit down, then given a drink (No no no way you’re paying. Absolutely not. That is clear), then offered the best cuts of what they are eating. Or even be asked to come inside their home and have a meal and do some shots of 8 year old rice wine.

Sign O' The Times

We started our return trip to the States from the Bordeaux airport, which was plastered with signs and frequent announcements (in French and English) that verbal or physical assaults on airport or airline employees would result in arrest and prosecution.  Looks like the deterioration in behaviors we've seen recently in the U.S. is not limited to our country.

Double Shot

Here's a Saturday night song for you!  I'd forgotten about this one when I did the post on One-Hit Wonders of the 60s.  Need to go back and add it.  And how's The Swingin' Medallions for a hip name?  Also one of the greatest uses of the Farfisa organ in that decade.  From 1966.

Wonder how far they'd get with these lyrics today:

Woke up this morning, my head was so bad
The worst hangover that I ever had
What happened to me last night
That girl of mine, she loved me so right (yeah) (oh, oh)
She loved me so long and she loved me so hard
I finally passed out in her front yard (whoo)
It wasn't wine that I had too much of
It was a double shot of my baby's love

 

Why America Can't Build

Interesting article from the online magazine Palladium, Why America Can't Build.  The author is Brian Balkus who has experience in the large project management field.  It poses the question of why do large infrastructure projects take longer to build and cost considerably more per unit than similar projects, not just in Asia, but in Western Europe where just about everything else costs more than in America.

The subject is actually broader than large projects and has become in recent years the subject of much study, often referred to as The Cost Disease; why does the cost of certain things, like electronics/computers, go down, while others, like healthcare/construction, go up?

In the case of large projects, Balkus starts with a Los Angeles freeway expansion that the company he worked for at the time, Kiewit, was managing and then extends the discussion to other examples like the fiasco of California's proposed high speed rail line, which California voters approved in 2008 and which now, fourteen years later, is $44 billion over budget, with very line actual work done.

The reasons specific to large projects identified by Balkus include:

- Environmental review requirements, including the use of litigation by opponents to slow projects down.  As Balkus notes:

The NEPA/CEQA process incentivizes the public agencies to seek what is often termed a “bulletproof” environmental compliance document to head off future legal challenges. This takes time, with the average EIS taking 4.5 years to complete. Some have taken longer than a decade. A cottage industry of consultants is devoted to completing these documents, earning themselves millions in fees.

- The lack of in house expertise at the agencies overseeing these projects, forcing reliance on outside contractors who often have interests other than speeding along a project.  Balkus writes:

These consultants were well paid, with the primary consultant compensation for HSR at $427,000 per engineer, compared with the Authority’s in-house cost of $131,000 per engineer. This structure creates a principal-agent problem where they are incentivized to maximize their billable hours. As a California State Auditor assessment of the project noted, consultants “may not always have the state’s best interest as their primary motivation.”

- Unionization, or more specifically how unions operate in the U.S., since as Balkus points out all of the European countries that do public projects at less cost also have unions working on the projects:

The fundamental problem isn’t unions per se, but rather the way that unions operate within parts of the U.S. system. The Netherlands has strong unions, but the Port of Rotterdam has been automated to an extent that has proven impossible in the U.S. due to union resistance . . . There are too many layers of permission needed to innovate, including groups whose interests run counter to innovation.

The result is that innovation is inhibited by both labor resistance and a decentralized government bureaucracy that has neither the incentives nor the capability of driving real change. Perhaps it should not be shocking that U.S. construction productivity has fallen by half since the 1960s . . .

According to Balkus, things are posed to get even worse:

President Biden has signed executive orders strengthening construction unions and increasing the stringency of NEPA requirements. 

As a counterexample, the author writes of Madrid's successful project to expand its subway system, which it did for a fraction of the per mile cost of similar projects in the U.S.  He also points out to exceptions in the U.S., including my home state of Arizona.

However, not every building environment in the U.S. is the same. Roughly 40 percent of U.S. megaprojects are in New York, California, or Texas. While megaprojects run into issues everywhere, the Texas projects have a significantly better track record than either of its coastal peers.

Other states have learned from their example. Arizona explicitly studied lessons learned from Texas when building the largest public works project in its history, the $1.7 billion Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway Project. By using a non-standard project delivery approach, this project was completed in 2019 in fewer than 1,000 days, an estimated three years earlier than what would normally be expected. Early coordination between the contractor and engineer ensured that the design issues that appeared on Sepulveda or HSR were avoided, saving the project an estimated $100 million.

Maybe that's why so much of America's new industrial capacity is being built in those two states. 

One objection to this type of critical review is that it is a legitimate choice to favor environmental and regulatory process concerns, and to preserve high paying union jobs.  I agree.  But those who do favor that approach also seem to be constantly harping on our need to improve infrastructure without any seeming awareness of the difficulties in undertaking such projects and why they cost so much.  It's a choice.  You can't have both.  Decide what your priorities are.

A few years ago I wrote a post about a video Rachel Maddow and Spike Lee did at the Hoover Dam about the need to do big projects like that in America, funded by the government, without any awareness of why it is so difficult to do projects like this in 21st century America.  The Hoover Dam project was approved by Congress in 1928, construction started in 1931 and was completed in 1936.  How many decades would it take to do this same project if it started now?  What are the odds it would even be approved?

Deciding on priorities will become even more important as we look to greatly expand solar, wind, and batteries over the coming decades.  The amount of metals and rare earths required for these technologies is staggering.  Unless we want to become dependent upon China for our future, this will require legal and regulatory changes to facilitate enormous increases in mining and metal processes.

It's not just mega projects that are subject to extended times.  Regarding just the regulatory review process, in the 1990s, at the company I worked for, we conducted a comparative study of how long it would take to get a new production line approved by environmental regulators at our plants in the U.S., France, and Australia.  All these countries were heavily regulated and the pollution control requirements very similar yet it took twice as long (several months) to get approval in the U.S.

Elegy From Gump Worsley

My dad took me to a couple of New York Rangers games in the early 1960s.  At the time the Rangers were a mediocre entry in the six team National Hockey League (NHL), a league in which only Canadians played.

We had tickets rink-side, protected by the clear plastic barrier.  The Rangers' star was Andy Bathgate, and I remember being startled when he skated by us, only a couple of feet away, opened his mouth and he had maybe three teeth!

The goalie for the New York team was Lorne John "Gump" Worsley.  The Rangers were so bad that when Gump was asked "which team gives you the most trouble" he answered "The New York Rangers".  I also distinctly remember him because in those days goalies did not wear masks so you could see their faces.  Years later when Worsley became the last goalie not to wear a mask he was asked why and responded, "My face is my mask".(1)

 

Gump enjoying a smoke:

Gump had a long career, entering the NHL in 1952 and not retiring until 1974, with his best years from 1964 to 1969 as goalie for the Montreal Canadians.  Gump had some outstanding seasons and developed quite a fan base because of his wit but most of all because he just looked like some guy who came off the street and got put in to be a goaltender.

It's tough playing without a mask.  That's Gump knocked out after taking a puck to the head.

That's not the only time:

When Gump passed in 2007, Canadian band The Weakerthans recorded a tribute which I came across recently and quite enjoyed.  The lyric:

He looked more like our fathers, not a goalie, player, athlete period. Smoke, half ash, stuck in that permanent smirk, tugging jersey around the beergut, “I’m strictly a whiskey man” was one of the sticks he taped up and gave to a nation of pudgy boys in beverage rooms. Favourites from Plimpton’s list of objects thrown by Rangers fans: soup cans, a persimmon, eggs, a folding chair and a dead rabbit. The nervous breakdown of ’68-’69 after pant-crap flights from LA, the expansion, “the shrink told me to change occupations. I had to forget it.” He swore he was never afraid of the puck. We believe him. If anyone asks, the inscription should read, “My face was my mask.”

 

 

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(1)  The first NHL goaltender to wear a mask was Jacques Plante of the Montreal Canadians who, on November 1, 1959, donned a fiberglass mask after suffering a badly cut nose and lip from a first-period shot by, yes, Andy Bathgate of the Rangers. 

This is Detroit goaltender Terry Sawchuk, a contemporary of Gump's.

True Social Justice

In 2019 I wrote of my disgust with the election of Chesa Boudin (see San Francisco Elects The Joker As District Attorney).  He proved so horrible in the job that San Francisco voters just ejected him from office in a special recall election.  Though Boudin denounced Republicans and billionaires for his recall, the truth is that the GOP has been moribund for decades in San Francisco, and Boudin's election campaign was supported by billionaire George Soros, who has funded the campaigns of a number of pro-criminal district attorneys across the United States.  It was the progressive voters of San Francisco, fed up with Boudin's sympathy for criminals and the continued deterioration of their city, who voted him out.

My congratulations to the voters of San Francisco.  This was true social justice in action.

There are still a worrying number of voters who really support what Boudin was selling, but encountering the reality of his policies sobered up many others.  The biggest problem we face was pointed out by The End Times:

"the heart of the problem is that well-meaning people have not confronted that fact that these causes have been hijacked by people with profoundly different moral beliefs than they have, and who use the same words to mean very different things."

Once enough voters of good intent come to this realization I hope more such events will occur.  We'll see.

Night And Day

 Our rental in Domme.  

Tiny Dancer

Been writing this thing for over a decade and never featured Elton John, the reason being I don't care for most of his stuff, but early in his career he released three singles that were quite good and a fourth that is a classic; Your Song (1970), and before and after his greatest song, Levon (1971) and Rocketman (1972) - the latter the subject of a fascinatingly weird cover by William Shatner.  By far, the song I like best is Tiny Dancer (1972) with its glorious chorus.  The lyrics are very specific and don't seem to have anything to do with my life, but I've always found the song very moving.

Like almost all of John's songs, the lyrics are by Bernie Taupin with music by Elton.  According to this article, some of the lyrics were inspired by Bernie's then-wife, Maxine, who had been into ballet when she was younger and sewed patches on Elton's jeans and jackets when he was starting out.

Tiny Dancer is also the latest installment of Rick Beato's "What Makes This Song Great" series which takes you deeper into the arrangement and structure of the tune.  I'd been aware there was a pedal steel on the recording but until Rick isolated the track had not appreciated just how good it was.

The song is also featured in one of my favorite films, Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, based on his experiences as a 15-year old writer for Rolling Stone magazine (read Cool and Uncool for one of my prior posts on the movie).

One More Appeal

 

On June 2, 1944 King George V wrote a final appeal to his Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, asking him not to take ship in order to observe the D-Day landings in Normandy which were to take place four days later.

Full text:

Buckingham Palace
GR- Royal crest/stamp June 2nd 1944

My Dear Winston,
I want to make one more appeal to you not to go to sea on D day. Please consider my own position. I am a younger man than you, I am a sailor, & as king I am the head of all three services. There is nothing I would like better than to go to sea but I have agreed to stay at home; is it fair that you should then do exactly what I should have liked to do myself?

You said yesterday afternoon that it would be a fine thing for the King to lead his troops into battle, as in old days; if the King cannot do this, it does not seem to me right that his Prime Minister should take his place.

Then there is your own position. You will see very little, you will seem a considerable risk, you will be inaccessible at a critical time when vital decisions might have to be taken, & however unobtrusive you may be, your very presence on board is bound to be a very heavy additional responsibility to the Admiral & Captain.

As I said in my previous letter, your being there would add immeasurably to my anxieties, & your going without consulting your colleagues in the Cabinet would put them in a very difficult position which they would justifiably resent.

I ask you most earnestly to consider the whole question again, & not let your personal wishes which I very well understand lead you to depart from your own high standard of duty to the State.

Believe me,

Your very sincere friend,

George R. I. (signed by hand)

Churchill's determination to personally observe the landing induced angst across the Allied leadership, with General Dwight Eisenhower also adding his strong objections. 

For the Prime Minister his desire was merely a continuation of his life long adventurous streak which saw him put his life at risk many times; on the Northwest Frontier of India; as a participant in the famed (and unnecessary) cavalry charge against the Dervishes at the Battle of Omdurman in the Sudan; as a reporter taken prisoner and then making his escape during the Boer War, all at the turn of the century; as a battalion commander in the trenches of the Western Front during WWI, an assignment he volunteered for after resigning his ministerial position in the wake of the Dardanelles debacle.

A reluctant Churchill finally agreed to remain home during the invasion.  The Prime Minister finally made it to Normandy six days after the landings.

On the other hand, Yogi Berra was present on D-Day as a gunner's mate on a fire support ship off Utah Beach!