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And so, colleagues and students, you have the tragic story of the Thirteen Day War.
On November 9, 1962 a cease fire was declared. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and The People’s Republic of China descended into political chaos, ultimately shattering into many warlord dominated states, many of which are, unfortunately, still with us. The United States of America did not shatter, so I guess that you could say that the United States “won” the war. Certainly that is what President Kennedy said, declaring that, “The sacrifice of the American people and our allies, have made the world safe for democracy. International communism will no longer threaten the future of our children.” I argue that the United States survived because it was a democracy. You see, at least most of the American survivors of the war still had a stake in the survival of the country. That is the strength of democracy. People have a stake in the system. Too, in 1953 President Dwight D. Eisenhower began making plans to keep the government functioning in case of an emergency. These plans included construction of several shelters to act as relocation facilities for the different branches of government. The Congressional bunker, interestingly, was built underneath a very beautiful resort called the Greenbrier in the mountainous state of Western Virginia.
President John F. Kennedy served out the remainder of his term but was not re-elected in 1964. The American people, thoroughly sick of the war prone Democratic Party that had taken the United States to war four times in the 20th century (World War I, World War II, Korea, The Thirteen Day War), elected an unbroken string of candidates from the peace party, the “Republicans”. (Richard M. Nixon 1965-1973, Barry Goldwater 1973-1981, Ronald Reagan 1981-1989, George H. Bush 1989-1997, Robert Dole 1997-2005, Newt Gingrich 2005-2013, John Ellis “Jeb” Bush 2013-2021, etc.) The Republicans denounced the Democrats for foreign adventurism and for “destroying America”. They promised isolationism and policies that would further the “economic prosperity and welfare of ordinary Americans”.
The Republicans kept their promise. America turned its back on the rest of the world and concentrated on rebuilding. The Democrats denounced the Republicans as the party of “tax and spend” as the tax rate shot up to 99% for the wealthiest tax payers (a rate not seen since World War II) and the Republicans instituted massive public works programs. Despite the government’s best efforts, millions of Americans still found themselves sick, hungry and hopeless in the postwar United States.
Certainly what some scientists began to call “nuclear winter” complicated recovery. The climatic effects of smoke from burning cities lasted for decades making temperatures (especially in the northern hemisphere) plummet, devastating agriculture, and causing hunger and in some places starvation. Stories of mass starvation and cannibalism in the former Soviet Union and China are too well known to repeat here.
Those Americans without education and skills found themselves trying to cross the border into Mexico, hoping to make their way further south to a new life. The Mexican government took a hard line against these illegal northern immigrants, establishing “shoot to kill” border patrols to safeguard Mexico and the Mexican way of life from the Yankee “invasion”.
The wealthiest, most highly skilled, and best educated Americans began to immigrate to countries untouched by the war such as India, South Africa, Brazil, and Australia. This was the so called “brain drain” of America and Europe. Clearly English speaking India, with the democratic institutions inherited from its days as part of the British Empire combined with its vast resources and huge untapped population, was the land of opportunity for both educated and skilled Americans and Western Europeans.
The decline of America and Europe were a god send for us here in India, but it is sad indeed to reflect that we owe our current prosperity to the most tragic event in the history of mankind, the Thirteen Day War.
And now, I will be happy to take any questions you may have.