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Wernher von Braun was a monster, and just one of the many that the United States willfully rehabilitated. Another great example is Franz Halder, who was effecti

Wernher von Braun was a monster, and just one of the many that the United States willfully rehabilitated. Another great example is Franz Halder, who was effectively allowed to write the history of the war and significantly de-emphasized the military's involvement. 'Myth of the clean Wehrmacht' to learn more about that.

ralfd 3y ago
Maybe, but he did not end as a monster. https://www.nytimes.com/1965/06/14/archives/von-braun-fights-alabama-racism-scientist-warns-state-us-might.html https://www.nytimes.com/1965/06/14/archives/von-braun-fights... Surprisingly for a Nazi, or maybe not for an engineering nerd buying into the idealistic propaganda of his new home land, he could be quite naive about human evil. PBS: > In 1952, von Braun drove the 20 minutes to the all-black Alabama A&M College, to recruit a group of its science majors for a quixotic outreach campaign at a local white high school. One of the A&M students, Clyde Foster, was not really sure what von Braun’s aim was, but he guessed the scientist was looking to get a group of mostly farm kids interested in the wonders of outer space. Why von Braun thought black college students would be the best ambassadors to rural white children is lost to history. The result was that Foster and six other A&M students found themselves standing on stage in front of an auditorium filled with white kids who were known to throw trash and spit from their school bus windows at any blacks they passed. Predictably, “nobody was listening,” Foster said, and the assembly was a disaster.
- NoboruWataya 3y ago
  There's something pretty monstrous about being able to actively participate in the Nazi machine and then put it all behind you as if it never happened. I think "engineering nerds" sometimes get too much of a free pass from the HN crowd.

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Wernher von Braun was a monster, and just one of the many that the United States willfully rehabilitated. Another great example is Franz Halder, who was effecti

by Sebguer 3y ago

ralfd 3y ago
Maybe, but he did not end as a monster. https://www.nytimes.com/1965/06/14/archives/von-braun-fights-alabama-racism-scientist-warns-state-us-might.html https://www.nytimes.com/1965/06/14/archives/von-braun-fights... Surprisingly for a Nazi, or maybe not for an engineering nerd buying into the idealistic propaganda of his new home land, he could be quite naive about human evil. PBS: > In 1952, von Braun drove the 20 minutes to the all-black Alabama A&M College, to recruit a group of its science majors for a quixotic outreach campaign at a local white high school. One of the A&M students, Clyde Foster, was not really sure what von Braun’s aim was, but he guessed the scientist was looking to get a group of mostly farm kids interested in the wonders of outer space. Why von Braun thought black college students would be the best ambassadors to rural white children is lost to history. The result was that Foster and six other A&M students found themselves standing on stage in front of an auditorium filled with white kids who were known to throw trash and spit from their school bus windows at any blacks they passed. Predictably, “nobody was listening,” Foster said, and the assembly was a disaster.
- NoboruWataya 3y ago
  There's something pretty monstrous about being able to actively participate in the Nazi machine and then put it all behind you as if it never happened. I think "engineering nerds" sometimes get too much of a free pass from the HN crowd.