I think my truckbuddies might enjoy this color film produced in 1960, in the last year of Eisenhower's presidency, that nicely summarizes the history of the "People's House" up to that time -- without, however, mentioning the complete reconstruction of the place in President Truman's time.
In this similar black-and-white film produced a year or so later, you can see a few extraordinary pictures of the hollowed-out White House interior during Truman's reconstruction, starting about the 40:45 mark:
Bonus: Lady Bird Johnson dedicates the new Jacqueline Kennedy Garden in 1965. This was on the eastern side of the rear of the residence, while the Rose Garden was on the western end, extending to just outside the Oval Office in the West Wing. Mrs. Johnson is beautfully well-spoken, the epitome of a cultured, gracious Southern lady.
Thanks to my truckbuddy Frank for passing along this poignant news about Matthew Shepard's interment in the Washington National Cathedral. I don't know why I never heard of this before.
A funeral service was held at Washington National Cathedral this morning for former President Jimmy Carter, attended by President and Mrs. Biden as well as all living ex-presdients. The eulogies given for Mr. Carter were a striking lesson in how to live a good man's life, for anyone who had an ear to hear.
Good-looking Jason Carter, chairman of the Carter Center in Atlanta, spoke with fondness and deep appreciation for his grandfather:
Former Atlanta mayor and United Nations ambassador Andrew Young warmly praised the former president's work for civil rights:
President Biden spoke of the shining exanple of Mr. Carter's character, in and out of the Oval Office:
No one could witness this scene and listen to the tributes paid to Mr. Carter without being deeply impressed and clearly shown what a true patriot is. No one but a fool or a criminal.
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P. S. -- It's cold AF down here in Texas, and we've been covered with snow since early morning:
Fortunately, we got our necessities stockpiled before Jack Frost arrived, so we're styaing in and staying warm.
The Vice President delivered this speech in Washington, D. C., last night against the backdrop of the floodlit White House, essentially repeating what she has said in every speech of this 100-day campaign. But her remarks last night were very well-written and well-spoken, and this could be considered the definitive version of her appeal to the nation. Rachel Maddow afterward called it a "damn good speech," and so it was, in the best constitutional tradition of our republic.
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Fellas, we might wish she had said more about this or that; but the plain truth is she's all we've got, and it's Kamala or the devil. So I'm backing her 100% and I hope you are too. She's a fine person, a good woman, and a true patriot, and thank God for all that. Don't sweat the details; it will all get sorted out as we go along. The alternative is unthinkable.
And today the Morning Joe panel discussed Harris's speech, in contrast to Trump's recent pronouncements:
Computer and internet problems may be keeping your Head Trucker offline for a while, but to tide you all over, here are some interesting but completely unrelated vids that I found over the weekend.
PBS will air the annual concert A Capitol Fourth live from the West Lawn of the U. S. Capitol beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Along with the U. S. Army Band "Pershing's Own," headliners include Alabama, Barry Manilow, and KC and the Sunshine Band. Description:
Celebrating 35 spectacular years on the air, A Capitol Fourth will kick off the country’s 239th birthday with an all-star musical extravaganza that puts viewers front and center for the greatest display of fireworks anywhere in the nation. America’s favorite Independence Day celebration is broadcast live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, before a concert audience of hundreds of thousands, millions more at home, and our troops watching around the world on the American Forces Network.
Here's a short interview with Jerry and Michael Colbert, father and son producers of the program:
And here's a clip of KC and the Sunshine Band rehearsing in front of the Capitol yesterday:
Gawd, I can't believe the once-young-and-studly Harry Wayne Casey, whom I saw in concert in 1976 at the height of his fame, looks like a boring old middle-aged man . . . like me!
Where does the time go?
And the White House released this video celebrating a good week for the President, and marking in part the progress of liberty and equality in this our wayward but beloved land of hopes and dreams:
This amazing half-century: April 17, 1965, was the date of the first gay-rights picket march in front of the White House, a silent protest led by Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings, which for five years was repeated at intervals in Washington at the White House and the Pentagon, and at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Below are some of Kameny's original signs carried in the 1965 picket line, as proudly displayed at the Smithsonian Institution.
And this week ABC published an interview, not embeddable, with Paul Kuntzler, 73, another participant in the picket march, which you can see here.
It's hard now to recall, and for the young'uns amongst us, nearly impossible to comprehend, the overwhelming homophobia of society in those days, and the unceasing, sweaty-palmed fear of being found out - or merely suspected - as a homosexual. Here in the Deep South, at any rate, it was the Worst Thing in the World, worse than being a Communist, even: a traitor not merely to your country, but to God and the entire human race. Seriously - that was how people viewed gayness back then - the unmentionable, unforgiveable sin. Even when I came out at the end of the 1970's, all my good church friends who were "just like family" promptly dropped me like a hot potato, and shunned me ever afterwards.
And it truly boggles your Head Trucker's mind to look around and observe the vast difference in public acceptance that has occurred in just one lifetime - mine. We have lived through a slow-motion revolution these fifty years, with results like gay marriage that were merely daydreams, flights of fantasy, when your Head Trucker came out. It's been quite a journey; I'm glad I have lived to see this day.
Of course many others followed in the footsteps of Kameny and Gittings to lead the onward march for equality, justice, and dignity, and we owe everyone who has lent a hand to the struggle a continuing debt of gratitude for the rights and freedoms we now enjoy - and, we hope, will be enjoyed by many generations of LGBT people in years to come.
Here is Frank Kameny, the loud, proud, grand old man of the gay-rights movement, discussing how he came to be an activist after he was summarily fired from his civil-service job in 1957 for being gay, and took his case all the way to the Supreme Court a few years later:
After Kameny's death in 2011 at the age of 86, CBS's Mark Irvine commemorated his lfie and work with this report, which includes a clip of the White House picket line in 1965:
And here is the full 1984 documentary Before Stonewall, narrated by author and activist Rita Mae Brown, tracing the evolution of gay life and gay activism from the 1920's onward: a fascinating look at our people's recent past, the once-unspeakable history which ought to be required viewing for all the young folks before they get issued their pink cards:
As the film makes clear, where once to be gay and be yourself, it was necessary to be a disreputable denizen of the so-called underworld, now we can be happy, ordinary, boring middle-class folks just like our straight moms and dads and brothers and sisters, or for the politically ambitious, even Senators, Ambassadors, and perhaps one day soon, President - a refreshing and long-overdue change in my view.
The sublime neoclassical architecture of the White House never fails to inspire and delight your Head Trucker. National Geographic takes us behind the scenes at the Executive Mansion in this 1995 documentary, narrated by Morgan Freeman:
Some video of the first same-sex weddings in Taos, New Mexico, last Wednesday the 28th. Dignity may be somewhat lacking in these impromptu ceremonies, but the emotions are all that they should be.
While we're on the topic of marriage, Chicago Cardinal Francis George, while ranting against how "irrational" gay marriage is, admits that "the Church did not invent marriage"; but "nature gives us marriage," so that's why we do it. Say what?
It's also worth taking another look at this rather amazing chart of Biblical Marriage that I posted on the Blue Truck a year or two ago - at the link, you can download it yourself or share it on Facebook or Twitter.
And Mary Cheney, lesbian daughter of the former Vice-President who married her wife, Heather Poe, last year in D. C., today slammed her sister's announcement earlier this week that she is "not pro-gay marriage." Mary said:
For the record, I love my sister, but she is dead wrong on the issue of marriage. Freedom means freedom for everyone. That means that all families — regardless of how they look or how they are made — all families are entitled to the same rights, privileges and protections as every other. It’s not something to be decided by a show of hands.
Finally, in the atrium of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C., tonight Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will officiate at the wedding of her good friend and Kennedy Center Director Michael Kaiser and government economist John Roberts (no relation to Chief Justice John G. Roberts). On the guest list are stars of opera and Broadway, as well as the cream of Washington society. Ginsburg is already scheduled to celebrate another same-sex wedding next month.
My God, fellas - can you believe?? A GAY WEDDING presided over by a SUPREME COURT JUSTICE?!! Holy fuck, we're sure not in Kansas anymore, Toto.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, harmony; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
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We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
and welcome to the Blue Truck, a blog for mature gay men with news and views on gay rights, history, art, humor, and whatever comes to mind. Plus a few hot men. The truck's all washed and gassed up, so hop in buddy, let's go.
CAUTION: For mature gay men only beyond this point. Some posts and links may not be suitable for children or the unco guid. You have been warned.
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My Story
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Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act - the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?
It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual. You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred. It's like saying you choose to be black in a race-infected society.
If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God.
Note, 9/15/26: For the past week, Blogger has not updated most of the posts in this sidebar. I don't know what to do about it. You can still access the websites below by clicking on the titles of each one.
