Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

September 19, 1952: The United States stopped Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England. This decision was heavily influenced by Chaplin's assumed political beliefs and associations, as he had been accused of communist sympathies during the era of McCarthyism. Chaplin decided to move to Switzerland, where he lived the rest of his life, only returning to the USA one time in 1972 to receive an honorary Oscar.


AKA Uncle Fester 43 years later.


Sept 19, 1980: The Damascus Incident culminated at Missile Complex 374-7 near Damascus, Arkansas.



The 8 lb (3.6 kg) socket (circled in above image) fell off the ratchet and dropped approximately 80 feet (24 m) before bouncing off a thrust mount and piercing the missile's skin over the first-stage fuel tank, causing it to leak a cloud of its Aerozine 50 fuel. Aerozine 50 is hypergolic with the Titan II's oxidizer, dinitrogen tetroxide, such that they spontaneously ignite upon contact with each other. The nitrogen tetroxide is kept in a second tank in the rocket's first stage, directly above the fuel tank and below the second stage and its nine-megaton W-53 nuclear warhead.

The following morning (19th) vapor detectors indicated an explosive atmosphere in which Airman David Livingston, 22, entered the silo to turn on an exhaust fan.

At about 3:00 a.m., the hypergolic fuel exploded – likely due to arcing in the exhaust fan with an earth shattering KABOOM! The initial explosion catapulted the 740-ton silo door away from the silo and ejected the second stage and warhead. Once clear of the silo, the second stage exploded. The W53 thermonuclear warhead landed about 100 feet (30 m) from the launch complex's entry gate. Its safety features prevented any loss of radioactive material or nuclear detonation. Serious pucker factor!



The Airman (pictured above) later died at the hospital, and 21 others in the immediate vicinity of the blast sustained various injuries. The entire missile launch complex was destroyed. The thermonuclear warhead was recovered and returned to the Pantex weapons assembly plant in Texas.



The cause and consequences of this Broken Arrow incident were dramatized in the 2017 documentary “Command and Control,” based on Eric Schlosser’s outstanding 2013 book of the same name.

This was the second serious accident in five days involving nuclear weapons at a US Strategic Air Command base.

A Brief History of: The 1980 Damascus Titan 2 Accident (10 min Docu):




In 1980, nuclear missileer's and other personnel were able to unwind between shifts with CADDYSHACK at Vandenberg Air Force Base's Minuteman Theater.



Not surprisingly, WARGAMES was a popular title at the Minuteman Theater at Vandenberg Air Force Base in 1983.



Frederick Wiseman's documentary MISSILE (1988) follows the 4315th Training Squadron of the Strategic Air Command at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where Air Force officers are trained to man the Launch Control Centers for the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Sequences include discussion of the moral and military issues of nuclear war; the arming, targeting and launching of the missile, codes, communications, protection against terrorist attack, emergency procedures, staff meetings and tutorial sessions.




Sept 19, 1986, RADIOACTIVE DREAMS opened. (Don't think I've ever seen this one)


After a nuclear war, Phillip Hammer and Marlowe Chandler have spent fifteen years on their own in a bunker, stuffed with junk from the 40s and old detective novels. Now, nineteen-years-old, they leave their shelter to find a world full of mutants, freaks, and cannibals. They become famous detectives in the struggle for the two keys that could fire the last nuclear weapon.

“There’s a huge government cover-up, but I remain unconvinced that it’s a cover-up of actual knowledge,” Graff says. “This is more a cover-up of ignorance.” If the government is covering up anything, he adds, it’s the testing of its military technology and its knowledge of technology being tested by China and Russia. Still, he is sure strange things are among us.

“There’s almost certainly life out there in the universe,” he says. “The math of whether we’ll interact with it is incredibly challenging. What I hope readers take away from the book is this profound sense of wonder about where we rank in the universe. At a certain level, the least interesting question is, are there flying saucers visiting Earth?”

Jack Shafer, Politico’s senior media writer, worked with Graff at the publication in the 2010s, and Graff co-dedicated Watergate to him. “I don’t think I ever saw Garrett angry,” Shafer says. “He’s an even-tempered, positive guy. He’s got an extraordinary skill at taking difficult issues and making them digestible. He’s good at digging new silos and telling stories that aren’t derivative of old ones.”

Garrett M. Graff Knows the Truth Is Out There

Oldest living Pearl Harbor survivor, dies at 105