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deadpresidents · 1 day

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Awash in conflicting reports from unstable battlefronts, [President Gerald] Ford wanted a firsthand appraisal [on the situation in Vietnam] from someone he could trust. General [Frederick] Weyand was his chosen emissary. "You are not going over to lose," he instructed Weyand, "but to be tough and see what we can do." Ford conceded that any military options were severely limited. "I regret I don't have the authority to do some of the things President Nixon could do," he remarked wistfully. As the Oval Office emptied, photographer David Kennerly stayed behind. "You know, I would really like to go with the General," he said. Ford needed no persuading. As a journalist, and a friend, with extensive knowledge of the region from his two-year stint as a combat photographer for UPI, Life and Time, Kennerly could be counted on for an honest assessment of events -- more honest, perhaps, than that of diplomats and military men -- and with it, the pictures to back him up. Kennerly returned to his first-floor office with a sign dangling from his neck. GONE TO VIETNAM. BACK IN TWO WEEKS.

That evening the irreverent photo hound dubbed Hot Shot by the Secret Service appeared in the upstairs family quarters to say goodbye. Ford threw a protective arm around the young man's shoulders.

"You be careful. You have everything you need?"

As a matter of fact, Kennerly's pockets were empty. Local banks were closed and he could use some cash. Ford opened his wallet and handed over its contents, $47, as Betty Ford gave Kennerly a hug. He was striding toward the door when the President called out his name. "Here," said Ford, tossing Kennerly a quarter. "You might as well clean me out."

-- Richard Norton Smith, on White House photographer David Hume Kennerly's interactions with President Gerald Ford after Kennerly asked to accompany a General on a fact-finding mission to Vietnam in March 1975, shortly before the Fall of Saigon, An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

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emptyjunior · 5 months

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I haven't seen the movie yet but I hope they include my favourite thing from the book, which is Coriolanus Snow doesn't take a single action the entire time that a woman doesn't explicitly tell him to take.

What were some of the wins in the Coriolanus Snow political playbook?

-He was the only mentor that met his tribute early and built an actual relationship with them, which gave him a huge advantage over the other mentors who couldn't even get a name or birthdate out of their tribute.

-He was able to get a reporter to interview his tribute multiple times, gaining screen time and notoriety.

-His stardom rose when he attempted to save the Crane girl and was seen on camera looking heroic, calling for a medic.

-He wrote the proposal on the sponsorship system and basically invented the idea of sponsors, ranking and gambling that sustained the games for 75 years.

And guess what? Not a SINGLE one of those was his idea😭

TIGRESS tells him to go down to the train station that day, says that Lucy Gray is probably scared and vulnerable, his grandmother gives him a rose from her garden to take, and Tigress explicitly tells him to get on Lucy's good side because her trust will be a valuable thing.

LUCY GRAY tells snow to stop freaking out and freezing at the zoo! Because he just stands there, camera shy, terrified about messing up his reputation and she tells him to 'Own it' and act like any mistake he ever makes is a chance for a Performance, it is a chance to gain more power. SHE drags him over to the reporter and banters with the people of the capital, teaching him a lesson about being in front of the press that he will use for his entire Presidency.

Snow prides himself on looking rich even though his family is in in ruin and it is TIGRESS who helps them achieve this. The careful image he maintains, is maintained by HER, working her hands to the bone to make his clothes look new, their reputation stay untarnished.

The sponsors? The idea to bring food to tributes so they don't starve before they can even compete?? It's LUCY GRAY'S idea!! She suggests it on screen, she invents the idea of a Victor as an Idol, she sings and does fan meet and greets and asks for people to bring her a sweet thing if they can. And then Snow goes and repeats that in class and it's credited as a profitable Academy idea and not hers.

There's a thousand moments like this! Of Snow letting all his smarts and tactics fail him, and Lucy Gray hissing the answer in his ear to get him to act. And he's praised as a hero after this, as the only person who did something in an emergency!

And after all this, our unreliable narrator heads home at the end of the day like, ah I really did that. Snow lands on top once again, that was for sure my idea.

Featured the girl? You featured the girl snow? In her own plan that she did while you stood there frozen and anxious😭So generous.

Truly he's an absolute doofus, he's a silly little boy with Light Yagami energy, any mettle he gains as a Political Mastermind later on is due to the strategy and empathy of the women he's surrounded himself with

#it is so interesting though to read about manipulation from a narrator who's Unaware he's being manipulated #his professors- the game maker - Lucy #all influencing him to do things and he's just there like I am in total control for sure #oh coryo #you fool #hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #coriolanus snow #president snow #lucy gray #lucy gray baird #tigress #books #movies

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shinobicyrus · 1 year

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Watching WTNV make a sudden resurgence on Tumblr has been wild and delightful but what’s really been striking me about the passage of time has been seeing the recent fanart.

Because unlike back in the day when the majority of Cecil fanart depicted him via...a narrow consensus, most of what I’m seeing of Cecil now barely even represents him as a person, anymore.

He’s the Night Vale 👁, now.

And if he is humanoid? Then his face is...hidden. Blurred or otherwise made indistinct. In the time that he’s been gone, Cecil is no longer a mere Tumblr Sexyman.

He is a Sexy Eldritch Horror, now.

#you know what that is? growth #Cecil Palmer #the original #Tumblr Sexyman #Welcome to Night Vale #God I remember going to the book tour for the first WTNV book #it was in Milwaukee at the same time as the 2015 Republican Debates #listened to Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor get interviewed by Patrick Rothfuss #while Trump was in a big convention center across the street #back when the idea of Trump being president was still hilariously implausible #God that feels forever ago #someone asked about the Glow Cloud and gender #and I forgot both the question and the answer #which is...fitting at least

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licorice-lips · 5 months

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I get so excited when talking about The Hunger Games to about anyone, but it's especially amazing when I talk to my friends from college and we go into deeper political discussions about anything we can remember about the trilogy and TBOSAS, like the media manipulation and construction of narratives as a weapon for population control, or how deep runs the reflection of the real world in simplest detail of the books (like the tr4fficking of children or the use of drugs in District 6 as a tool for control, like it happens in Cracolândia in Brazil, just for as one example), or even the State of Nature of Humans according to Hobbes or Rosseau or whatever philosopher, or the correlations of the world with modern capitalism, how TBOSAS (even though it wasn't the intention) shows perfectly through Sejanus that the system in itself is the problem and therefore it can only be better if it's completely replaced.

It's amazing, I wish there were more articles and scientific productions about The Hunger Games, I'd 100% read them all

#books #the hunger games #catching fire #mockingjay #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #TBOSAS #Coriolanus snow #lucy gray #katniss everdeen #peeta melark #suzanne collins #president snow #I just love this so much I could talk about it my god #like captain america said: I could do this all day

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agir1ukn0w · 5 months

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I'm sorry but I just do not subscribe to the opinion that the hunger games movies were in any way bad or that they "butchered" the characters or themes that suzanne so meticulously and lovingly created, because a) she was always a constant presence in the creation of those movies and the directors/producers were very respectful and mindful of the differences between her books and what they could actually implement in a visual medium that would make sense and propel the story forward in a way that made sense in their interviews, and b) even though the movies definitely don't show all of the thematic nuances of the books, and although they do gloss over/erase a lot of the ways that the games affect katniss and peeta (namely his disability/her loss of hearing), and while the movies are quite preoccupied with the visual aesthetic and streamlining the story for a wider audience, they do still contain the heart and soul of the books and, to me, the creators seemed fiercely protective of suzanne's core vision. also fuck you they're just amazingly well-shot, well-written, and well-acted films, including the mockingjay movies, and i will die on this hill

#i may be a huge book nerd but i'm also a movie buff so i'm obligated to be loyal to both mediums #i feel that both the books and the movies offer a full story when put together and i honestly couldn't have one without the other #i saw someone say the mockingjay movies were bad and i was like...wtf are you talking about and did we see the same movies??#suzanne created such beautiful rich characters and jennifer/josh/donald/woody/elizabeth/sam brought them to life for me #since i'm a very visual person i really appreciate the movies for being as faithful as they were #anyways i just adore these movies (and the books) so much so if anyone wants to shit on them they can go thru me #the hunger games #thg #thg movies #mockingjay #catching fire #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #tbosas #suzanne collins #katniss everdeen #president snow #peeta mellark #effie trinket #haymitch abernathy #coriolanus snow #finnick odair #lucy gray baird #tigris snow #johanna mason #sejanus plinth #jennifer lawrence #josh hutcherson #elizabeth banks #woody harrelson #donald sutherland

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triple1st · 5 months

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forever thinking about how this is romana's last conversation with the doctor

#* ◦ ❝ « 𝘰𝘰𝘤 . the poster's crusade .#of course in the latter years of her presidency she stumbles upon prior incarnations & alternate doctors from other gallifreys #(though for some reason in dark eyes 1 the lord president is some random time lord & romana isn't mentioned)#it's a premonition of things to come & a testament to romana's will & the values the doctor taught her #that she would never allow herself to be corrupted - not even by pandora nor the power of gallifrey's highest office #she only tires of the possibility #of gallifrey itself #& grows as weary of the time lords as the doctor was & had every right to be #could've been some neat foreshadowing towards romana's darker nature manifesting in an incarnation born for war #but that never came to pass in the audios & very briefly in the EDAs (romana iii is in a total of 3 books)#romana ii harbors enough darkness herself i get chills thinking about her enacting vengeance on the daleks in gallifrey (audio drama) 6 #lalla ward is great in the role truly i understand keeping her for the time war audios it's amazing how her performance evolves #even in neverland/zagreus she is hardly a starry eyed pupil anymore she's grown into a fierce leader #with the weight of the universe on her shoulders #telling rassilon to buzz off as he asks her to abdicate so that he may take over what a queen #what isn't featured here is her complementing leela & telling this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship (gay)

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tennessoui · 10 months

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unhinged ruthless codependent hunger games obikin my BELOVED. love imagining capitol events later when everyone has no clue what to expect from this brutal and broken-hearted victor who murdered 17 ppl and what they get instead is a docile lil wolf puppy following obi wan around and biting anyone who gets in between them. they are so confused

anakin’s whole thing after the end of his hunger games is like “well I was just so heartbroken over the loss of the girl — I can’t even say her name it hurts to think about — and I ended up trauma bonding with obi-wan and growing closer to him as we both healed from our losses and then I fell in love because he is so easy to love….for me but you’re not allowed to love him because I do haha 🔪”

and it works!! People fall in love with their love because they love a story, especially one that has so much tragedy and then a happy ending <3

#asks #obikin #hunger games au #was thinking about this last night and a few months ago someone was like #oh it was said in the books that past victors would #be used by the Capitol if someone wanted to have sex with them #in exchange for money for the President #and this anakin finding out that that happened to his obi-wan #would ALSO be his reason to start a very targeted revolution

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markantonys · 11 months

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elayne when galad rolls up to the last battle as president and ceo of the Organization For The Oppression Of Channelers

#also egwene when mat rolls up married to the president and ceo of the Organization For The Enslavement of Channelers #anyway elayne was 100% right about galad and i'll die on that hill #get out of here with your 'she was too hard on poor galad uwu' takes! she knew his number from day 1 #while everybody else was going 'gasp! galad became a whitecloak! who could've seen that coming!'#elayne was just standing there being that one oprah 🤷 gif you know the one #elayne trakand #galad damodred #wot #the wheel of time #wot book spoilers

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kweenzillagurl · 11 months

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I genuinely could not care less about anything to do with the main Snow plot of A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but if I do not get the scene where one of the surviving tributes takes the Panem flag flying in the arena and wraps the dead bodies of the other tributes in it, I will lose my mind.

#that was the best scene in the entire book #Like I know it’s about what haunts snow and it’s rad worldbuilding #BUT THAT SCENE FUCKED ME UP AND IT HAD NO RIGHT BEING THAT GOOD #like ma’am in the best way possible #WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK WAS THAT #a ballad of songbirds and snakes #President snow #coriolanus snow #Lucy gray baird

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oghotonghoton-potiushi · 5 months

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This is where my beef started

Page one

One

#Yall have some nerve defending this man #Like #Who talks about their sister like thiz?#Incel?#coriolanus snow #president snow #tbosas #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games books #the hunger games #tom blyth

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sunsetling-12 · 5 months

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wanna know what? since suzanne collins wrote a snow origin story she should also write a coin origin story

how different or how similar she and snow are? was coin always >like that< or she was made into that way? how are her views on the world? how was like growing up in district 13? how she became the president?

i never imagined there was something to say about snow, but she did it anyway, so i could only speculate the wonders she could do in a coin centered prequel

#the hunger games #tbosas #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games saga #the hunger games series #president snow #coriolanus snow #alma coin #president coin #panem #district 13 #a president coin sequel would slap so hard #imagine the parallels we could make between her and snow????#please suzanne collins i never asked for anything #dreaming about more hunger games books because i am obsessed

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deadpresidents · 4 months

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GEORGE WASHINGTON •Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •George Washington: A Life by Willard Sterne Randall (BOOK)

JOHN ADAMS •John Adams by David McCullough (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams by Joseph J. Ellis (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •John Adams: Party of One by James Grant (BOOK)

THOMAS JEFFERSON •Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History by Fawn Brodie (BOOK)

JAMES MONROE •James Monroe: A Life by Tim McGrath (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness by Harlow Giles Unger (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity by Harry Ammon (BOOK)

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS •John Quincy Adams: American Visionary by Fred Kaplan (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life by Paul C. Nagel (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics by William J. Cooper (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams by Phyllis Lee Levin (BOOK | KINDLE)

ANDREW JACKSON •American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times by H.W. Brands (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •Andrew Jackson, Volume I: The Course of American Empire, 1767-1821 by Robert V. Remini (BOOK) •Andrew Jackson, Volume II: The Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832 by Robert V. Remini (BOOK | KINDLE) •Andrew Jackson, Volume III: The Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845 by Robert V. Remini (BOOK)

MARTIN VAN BUREN •Martin Van Buren and the American Political System by Donald B. Cole (BOOK | KINDLE) •Martin Van Buren and the Emergence of American Popular Politics by Joel H. Silbey (BOOK) •Martin Van Buren: The Romantic Age of American Politics by John Niven (BOOK)

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON •A Child of the Revolution: William Henry Harrison and His World, 1773-1798 by Hendrik Booraem V (BOOK | KINDLE) •Mr. Jefferson's Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy by Robert M. Owens (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •The Carnival Campaign: How the Rollicking 1840 Campaign of "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" Changed Presidential Elections Forever by Ronald G. Shafer (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

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izzywhizzey · 2 years

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YALL ARE NOT EXCITED ENOUGH ABOUT THIS ADAPTATION

#or about the book in general #lucy gray baird #Coriolanus snow #thg #the hunger games #hunger games #a ballad of songbirds and snakes #abosas #ballad of songbirds and snakes #prequel #snow #president snow #katniss everdeen #katniss #peeta mellark #peeta #villain origin story

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carlalovd · 5 months

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ok but the way coriolanus walked out during ‘pure as the driven snow’ pissed me off so much

#coriolanus snow #tbosas #president snow #lucy gray baird #he was complaining through the whole book #about how she hadn’t written a song for him #and then he has the audacity to not even listen to it

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generic-lab-assistant · 3 months

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Hmmmm send historical figures for me to draw.. I wanna get back into that groove

#ive been reading a book about presidents and wanna draw old men but im bad at choosing stuff #ray content

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aurumacadicus · 10 months

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I know nothing about Red, White, and Royal Blue but a lot of the negative reviews are like "author obviously has no idea how the monarchy or the presidency work" and my first thought was "good for them."

#books #it's fiction darlings #i also don't care about the monarchy or presidency so this book would have been perfect for me

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