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Lincoln’s Views on Slavery, Race, and National Unity 1858
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Lincoln-Douglas Debate August 21, 1858, Ottawa, Illinois
Most Americans know only a politically polished image of Abraham Lincoln. In fact, this shallow and overly-liberalized ideological image has become near mandatory in today’s 1984ish academic and media straight-jacket. Yet the real Lincoln was not shallow, and his debates and writings often demonstrate broad understanding of and comprehensive analysis of issues. Moreover, his ability to debate and communicate was formidable. However, his words and thinking often differed sharply from modern liberal ideology. Much of this can be seen from excerpted quotes from Roy P. Basler’s 1946 collection, Abrham Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings. The quotes in this article can be found on pages 443-447. On June16, 1858, Lincoln had just received the Illinois Republican Party’s nomination for US Senate. The August 21, 1858, Lincoln-Douglas debate in Ottawa, Illinois, was the first of seven that ran through October 1858. The debates were related to the Illinois Legislature choosing a Federal Senator. Steven Douglas was the Democrat incumbent, first elected in 1847. In 1913, the 17th US Amendment to the US Constitution changed the method of election to popular vote in each state.
Correcting Widespread Misconceptions about the Vietnam War
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- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Part 3 of 3—1969 to 1975 and Beyond
In 1946, following Japanese occupation of Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos) during World War II, Vietnamese Communists ( the Viet Minh) began their revolutionary struggle to deny the French rule of their former colony. The French suffered an embarrassing defeat by the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. President Eisenhower supported rescuing the French situation at Dien Bien Phu by using CIA transport aircraft, manned by former Army Air Corp pilots, to drop supplies and Foreign Legion paratroopers to assist French forces. The 1954 Geneva Accords split Norh and South Vietnam at the 17th Parallel. The French Parliament having abandoned Indochina on July 20, 1954, the Geneva Accords shifted primary responsibility for keeping South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos free of North Vietnamese Communist aggression to the United States. By 1959, Moscow was directly involved in plans for North Vietnamese “liberation” of South Vietnam and ultimately Cambodia and Laos. They had already infiltrated about 10,000 armed insurgents into South Vietnam by 1962. Following a misguided JFK directed regime change removing South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem on November 1-2, 1963, resulting in Ngo’s assassination by a junta faction, the South Vietnamese Government and Army were in chaos for two years. Taking advantage of this, more than 240,000 North Vietnamese troops had invaded South Vietnam by 1967. The VC tripled from 10,000 to 30,000 plus.
Correcting Widespread Misconceptions about the Vietnam War
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Dien Bien Phu to Tet to Soviet Financing of US Antiwar Movement - Part 2 of 3
Part 1 of 3 of this short series on the Vietnam War began with some initial facts about US involvement following the French Parliament decision to withdraw from Indochina—Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—on July 20, 1954. Part 1 also contained a short summary of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong Tet Holiday offensive in early 1968. The1968 Tet offensive was one of the largest and most significant but most misunderstood events of the Vietnam War. That misunderstanding has unfortunately been perpetuated and further distorted by media and academia. Part 2 will therefore start with greater elaboration and detail on the background of US involvement, which is also widely misunderstood, and the Tet Offensive.
Invalid and Valid Iran-Vietnam Analogies
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- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Correcting Widespread Misconceptions about the Vietnam War - Part 1 of 2
First of all, I want to give readers a brief summary of the experiences that have shaped my perspectives of both wars. I served as an intelligence officer, navigator, and what is now called a combat systems officer (CSO) in the USAF from Octobers 1961 to June 1969. This included heading a photo intelligence team during the Cuban Missile Crisis and flying combat missions in Laos and North Vietnam with the 606th Air Commando Squadron. On February 22, 1967, I survived bailing out of a burning A-26k attack-bomber at night and at low altitude—about 700 feet above ground. During several months of hospitalization, I was able to talk with wounded Army, Marine, and Air Force combat casualties about their experiences. I wrote a book, Lessons from the Vietnam War: Truths the Media Never Told You, published in 2009 and 2018. I have written other articles on the Vietnam War and numerous articles on the Ukraine War, the Middle East, Islam, the Afghan War, the U.S. “Civil” War, the Iran War, Immigration, and a wide variety of political, military, and historical subjects. Many of these can be found on my Times Examiner archive. Mike Scruggs - The Times Examiner
AIPAC Lobbyists Grip on Congress
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Driving American Military and Foreign Policy
North Carolina and South Carolina
“A Republic, if you can keep it.”—Benjamin Franklin, September 17, 1787
In 2026 so far, the American Israeli Political Action Committee (AIPAC) has spent $231.8 million funding 496 of 527 sitting Members of Congress, averaging $467,000 per member. This represents approximately 18% of the 2026 Congressional campaign spending of $1.3 billion as of about August 14. About 75% has gone to Democrat candidates and 25% to Republican candidates. So far, Democrat candidates have received an average of $753,000 and Republicans $221,000, but it varies widely per campaign with Senate races receiving on average 5.3 times House races.
Mike Scruggs is the author of two books: The Un-Civil War: Shattering the Historical Myths; and Lessons from the Vietnam War: Truths the Media Never Told You, and over 600 articles on military history, national security, intelligent design, genealogical genetics, immigration, current political affairs, Islam, and the Middle East.
He holds a BS degree from the University of Georgia and an MBA from Stanford University. A former USAF intelligence officer and Air Commando, he is a decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War, and holds the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, and Air Medal. He is a retired First Vice President for a major national financial services firm and former Chairman of the Board of a classical Christian school.
Click the website below to order books. http://www.universalmediainc.org/books.htm.
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