Remembering the Berlin Airlift

November 10th, 2009, 4:57 pm · 1 Comment · posted by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writer

A reader called to remind me that in all the talk about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the importance of Berlin during the Cold War (how many spy novels were set in Berlin with all its wheels within wheels and changing alliances), we have forgotten an event that might have made all this importance possible. In 1948, when the Russians cut off access to Berlin by land, Harry Truman ordered the Berlin Airlift to send supplies to western parts of Berlin. When the Russians finally figured out that Truman was going to keep the planes of supplies coming, they lifted the blockade. It’s possible that without the airlift Berlin would have simply been ceded to the East in its entirety.

Perhaps not all that current, but history is always interesting.

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Orange Punch bloggers write from a particular libertarian point of view. We’re dedicated to advancing human freedom and believe that the primary role of government is to defend Americans’ liberties. We seek a smaller, more limited government, expanded and freer trade at home and abroad, open markets and secure property rights. We believe in the power and goodwill of the individual; that he or she will aspire to a better tomorrow for themselves, for their family and for the community. We would hope for people to exercise integrity and self-responsibility along the way. The bloggers are Alan Bock, Brian Calle and Mark Landsbaum. The genesis of this particular brand of libertarianism is R.C. Hoiles, founder, Freedom Communications, Inc., parent company of the Orange County Register.

ocobserver says:

November 10, 2009 at 5:39 pm

Big international power play. If the russians really meant business they would’ve tried to shoot a plane or two from the sky. A superpower pee-pee contest. Like the old vaudeville prank of telling your opponent not to step over the line and when he does simply redraw the line. A small country like NKorea is much more dangerous than a superpower.

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