Friday, August 15, 2008

1968





Some portion of the confused electorate cast ballots for Democrat Eugene McCarthy[1916-2005] thinking he was Republican Joseph McCarthy[1908-1957].
In an age of generally more optimistic politicians, the expression 'contemptus mundi' [contempt of the world] was associated with Eugene McCarthy.

"It's not enough to succeed. Others must fail."
- Gore Vidal [born 1925]

In 1948, at 22, Vidal wrote the first American novel to deal with a love affair between two men, The City and the Pillar. Vidal intends to spend his remaining years in California; he sold his Amalfi coast cliff-top villa to a hotelier who's turning it into a museum.