February 07
Clarence Linden Crabbe's Birthday
Anniversary of Senator
Joseph McCarthy's
West Virginia Women's Club Speech
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February 7 is the birthday of one of the few personalities who was named, or
rather nicknamed, after food, thereby reversing the eponymous concept
underlying this book. Larry "Buster" Crabbe was named after the once popular
buster crabs which are crabs halfway between hard shell and soft shell. He
was a top athlete, an Olympic gold
medal winner, film star, and the
grandfather of
Nick Holt,
defensive coordinator of the
University of Southern California Trojans football
team and former
head coach of the
University of Idaho Buster Crabbe, the celebrity, was best known as the popular Adonis sci-fi film star of the 1930' s and 40' s with his "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers" pictures. Buster Crabbe' s film career was launched by his success in in two Olympic Games: 1928, where he won the bronze medal for the 1,500 meter freestyle, and 1932, where he won the gold medal for the 400 meter freestyle. |
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Buster Crabbe |
Time magazine wrote on April 11, 1932: "Clarence (Buster) Crabbe, 22, of Los Angeles, ablest distance swimmer in the United States: the 1,500-metre race in the A.A.U. championships, at New Haven, lowering his own American record by 20.9 seconds to 19:45.6. Later he won two other championships: the 300 yard medley and 500 yard free style. Los Angeles won the team championship with 45 points to New York's 37."
Crabbe then went on to star in Buck Rogers, several westerns, and even in a musical film,. The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi. He is the only actor who has played Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers — the top three pulp fiction heroes of the 1930s.
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Buster Crabs Béarnaise |
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Ingredients |
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| 9
busters, cleaned and dried 1 egg, beaten 1 cup milk |
1/2 cup butter 6 buttered toast triangles 1&1/2 cups Béarnaise sauce* 1 TB chopped parsley |
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| Instructions |
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*See Appendix A
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Senator Joseph McCarthy
| On February 7, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin delivered a speech to a women's club in West Virginia. Here are a few excepts from that now infamous speech: |
"Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism
and Christianity. The modern champions of communism have selected this as
the time. And, ladies and gentlemen, the chips are down--they are truly
down.....The reason why we find ourselves in a position of impotency is not
because our only powerful potential enemy has sent men to invade our shores,
but rather because of the traitorous actions of those who have been treated
so well by this Nation.... This is glaringly true in the State
Department. There the bright young men who are born with silver spoons in
their mouths are the ones who have been the worst.... In my opinion the
State Department, which. is one of the most important government
departments, is thoroughly infested with Communists.
I have in my hand 57 cases of individuals who would appear to be either card
carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party, but who
nevertheless are still helping to shape our foreign policy...."
McCarthy had no list and he never proved his accusations. McCarthy's charges made him the unofficial leader of a national witch hunt in which the suspected "Reds" were metaphorically burned by an irresponsible press until Edward R. Morrow had the integrity to take on McCarthy. After Morrow's famous attack, the nation began to look back at itself and the golem that it had created. No longer could the nation or McCarthy's Senate colleagues continue to stomach his psychotic behavior and on December 2. 1954, the Senate censured McCarthy by a vote of 67 to 22.