Thursday, December 21, 2006

Are Wisdom and War Ever Companions?

"In Germany the strategic bombing, that of industry, transportation and cities, was gravely disappointing. The war was not shortened.
. . . .
In the cities, the random cruelty and death inflicted from the sky had no appreciable effect on war production or the war."
--John Kenneth Galbraith
Galbraith has earned the right to be heard, as confirmed by Wikepedia:
His books on economic topics were bestsellers in the 1950s and 1960s.
Galbraith was a prolific author who produced four dozen books and over a thousand articles on various subjects. Among his most famous works was a popular trilogy on economics, American Capitalism (1952), The Affluent Society (1958), and The New Industrial State (1967). He taught at Harvard University for many years. Galbraith was active in politics, serving in the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson; and among other roles served as U.S. ambassador to India under Kennedy.
He was one of a few two-time recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He received one from President Truman in 1946 and another from President Bill Clinton in 2000. He was also awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, for his contributions to strengthening ties between India and the United States.


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