Talk:Homer E. Capehart

Ridiculous
This is ridiculous! Since when are we putting ever speech made by every Senator, without context, without information on when it was given, without anything, in fact. I vote for deletion. Danny 08:54, 31 July 2002
 * It shows facts, today denied, but known to the US, when they occured. It is vital, that people know the truth user:H.J.
 * It shows nothing of the kind. It shows that a Senator made a speech in the Senate. That is hardly worthy of an encyclopedia article. Alternately, should we list every speech made about every controversial issue? Danny
 * Actually, a quick search on Google shows that Capehart is best remembered for inventing the jukebox. Now that's worthy of an article. Danny
 * I'll volunteer to do that! Olof
 * Move this statement to top :"Senator Homer. E Caphart of Indiana's remarks were interspersed with a mass of supporting evidence". user:H.J.
 * So? Danny

Legacy
Capehart was an Indiana businessman, Capehart radios and jukeboxes, who played an important role in the popularization of jukeboxes in the 1930s when he was sales manager at Wurlitzer. His own jukeboxes did not sell nearly so well, and, of course, coin-operated music players go back many years, at least back past the 1920s song, "Put another nickel in, in the nickelodeon", which refers to coin-op music boxes.
 * Capehart was best known for his sponsorship of "Capehart housing", subsidized standalone housing on military bases for personnel and their families. He was otherwise an undistinguished senator, who certainly had no significant role in foreign policy.Ortolan88 10:21 Jul 31, 2002 (PDT)
 * PS--I'm glad my sarcastic summary line led to such a great improvement in this article.Ortolan88
 * So am I. This is an excellent article. Danny

Nazi apologists
Very interesting subject! Turns out that Capehart's Senate speeches are used by Nazi apologists to downplay the persecution of the Jews by highlighting the suffering of the Germans, and by historians when examining the (nuclear and otherwise) options that Truman had in ending the war with Japan. Of course, he was a populist politician, and the fact that those speeches were given while he was in the minority shouldn't be overlooked. Indeed, he is a controversial figure. Olof


 * I like what you've done with it, Olof. Now we just have to figure out the naming convention. Danny

Name change
If there's no objection, I'm going to rename this article from the ponderous Senator Homer E. Capehart of Indiana to Homer Capehart. --Brion VIBBER
 * It certainly should be changed, but as I recall, he was pretty consistently Homer E. Capehart, the old guy Ortolan88
 * Google search gives 182 without the E and 106 with, but if you're sure it was used consistently during his lifetime I've no objection to using it. --Brion VIBBER
 * He was just out of the senate when I went to Purdue so I saw his name a fair bit. Those midwestern senators loved the resonance, like Bourke B. Hickenlooper.
 * Gonna move this entertaining talk page too?Ortolan88
 * Great. Will do! --Brion VIBBER
 * Maybe I'm naive, but saying that a Senator made a statement and then gave evidence for it really seems to be a bit much. Danny

Congressional biographies copyrighted?
Are the Congressional biographies at http://bioguide.congress.gov/ copyrighted? Can we incorporate them into articles in the 'pedia?
 * That's not the question, Zoe. First let's figure out if we SHOULD incorporate them. I'm against verbatim copying of anything, except a brief passage in quotation marks. We're supposed to be writing an encyclopedia, not building a library. What's wrong with the external link I put in? --Ed Poor
 * I note the current "stub-class" rating. I think it's rather better than that, I'm quite impressed by the article. I assume the facts are accurate, the article paints a coherent picture of someone who had his moments in history, I enjoyed reading it. JohnHarris (talk) 08:27, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

2002 version of this article with speech
From the artcile history, mentioned above:
 * February 5, 1946 concerning this United States administration, which has been carrying on the deliberate policy of mass starvation (of Germans) without any distinction between the innocent and the helpless and the guilty alike."...


 * Senator Homer. E Caphart of Indiana's remarks:


 * "The fact can no longer be suppressed, namely, the fact that is has been and continues to be, the deliberate policy of a confidential and conspiratorial clique within the policy-making circles of this government to draw and quarter a nation now reduced to abject misery...'In this process this clique, like a pack of hyenas struggling over the bloody entrails of a corpse, and inspired by a sadistic and fanatic hatred, are determined to destroy the German nation and the German people, no matter what the consequences."... "At Potsdam the representatives of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Socialist Republics solemnly signed the following declaration of principles and purposes: "It is not the intention of the Allies to destroy or enslave the German people."


 * "Mr. President, the cynical and savage repudiation of these solemn declarations which has resulted in a major catastrophe, cannot be explained in terms of ignorance or incompetence. This repudiation, not only of the Potsdam Declaration, but also of every law of God and men, has been deliberately engineered with such a malevolent cunning, and with such diabolic skill, that the American people themselves have been caught in an international death trap."...


 * "For nine months now this administration has been carrying on a deliberate policy of mass starvation without any distinction between the innocent and the helpless and the guilty alike."...


 * "The first issue has been and continues to be merely humanitarian. This vicious clique within this administration that has been responsible for the policies and practices which have made a madhouse of central Europe has not only betrayed our American principles, but they have betrayed the GI's who have suffered and died, and they continue to betray the American GIs who have to continue their dirty work for them."...


 * "The second issue that is involved is the effect this tragedy in Germany has already had on the other European countries. Those who have been responsible for this deliberate destruction of the German state and this crimimal mass starvation of the German people have been so zealous in their hatred that all other interests and concerns have been subordinated to this one obsession of revenge. In order to accomplish this it mattered not if the liberated countries in Europe suffered and starved. To this point this clique of conspirators have addressed themselves:'Germany is to be destroyed. What happens to other countries of Europe in the process is of secondary importance."

Ikip 17:44, 29 December 2009 (UTC)