Prologue
Back in 1983, Whiskey 601 existed as an imaginary rectangle of ocean located approximately forty miles off the west coast of Vancouver Island. It was relative insignificant in size; a mere 20 miles wide and 10 miles high. However, it was its location, near the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, that made it significant.
Its official name on a nautical chart was Exercise Area W-601. However, it was more often referred to as “Whiskey Six Oh One”, or as Canadian Navy sailors had shortened it, “Whiskey”. Of course, the name gives the notion that there is a connection with libation; however, the curious title is simply due to the military’s desire to use the phonetic alphabet to spell out letters. This is why the “W” in W-601
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In sailor circles, the location is only noteworthy for its high rolling waves. At Whiskey 601, the giant swells are omnipresent and everlasting, and when you are trapped on a navy ship the situation is inescapable. Whiskey-601 was a seasick sailor's nightmare. In navy circles, even the strongest-stomached seamen would groan when they would be told that the ship was headed for “Whiskey”.
The reason for Whiskey’s high seas is relatively scientific. In seaman’s parlance, “fetch” is the distance wind travels to arrive at a certain location. It is a simple math ratio and the greater the fetch the higher the swell. In respect to Whiskey 601, the fetch can be huge. There is nothing blocking the westerly wind for thousands of miles, as there is no land mass all the way to Asia. You can imagine that each individual swell started off as a small ripple in the water thousands of miles away and an unrelenting west wind had driven it to become an 18 foot swell by the time it got to Whiskey 601.
So, was Whiskey 601 ever the place to be? When naval tactics were considered it certainly was. Its proximity to the entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the only passageway to the important port cities of Vancouver and Seattle, not to mention several major United States Navy bases made it very important.
In the days of the Cold War, this choke point was something the Soviet Navy would count upon. All maritime traffic
The issues that involved and caused the Whiskey Rebellion was due primarily to major economic and political concerns - westward expansion and a developing government. At the time, many of people were in search of land, and property they could settle on that the recently dismissed British and French could no longer occupy. Available land in the east was diminishing and so in turn, the population begin moving westward. Also, after the Treaty of Paris in 1783 and consequently the end of the American Revolution, created many changes. Lack of authority and resources to affirm authority (Ex. no more mass British army to fight off Indians), had its consequences. Nearly 80 percent of the federal budget was spent battling and removing Indians from the lands along the Ohio River, the most recently settled land by Americans (p.146). In order to compensate for this, Congress passed the tax on whiskey stills which affected mainly poor white farmers. Therefore, westward expansion and the riddance of the Indians, brought forth the infamous Whiskey Rebellion.
In a time of voyages and exploration there was a new atmosphere surrounding not only Europe but also the newly discovered Americas. Of course with a new era must come and new favorite drink of choice amongst the people. For the Colonial age this beverage was spirits. By popularizing a technique known as distillation a new range of drinks were on the rise. When originally cultivated spirits were primarily used for medical purposes. The appeal then turned to how easily people were intoxicated by it and how much easier it was to store. Distilled drinks then became popular mainly because of increased durability and could more compactly fit on ships. Distilled drinks were more easily traded, traders were able to fit more alcohol in the ship much
What is the first thing someone would think about when whiskey is mentioned? A fun Saturday night out? Maybe, but it they probably did not think about the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791. This Rebellion was resisted by farmers who were accustomed to distilling their excess corn to make alcohol in four small counties in both Pennsylvania and Western Pennsylvania. This Rebellion was met full force with troops set by George Washington. This event was a prime example of the battle between State’s Rights versus Federal Authority as illustrated in the book, Founding Brothers written by Joseph J. Ellis. Even today, the battle continues between the States and the Federal Government regarding the issue of legal marijuana. This issue started 2012 when the
The Whiskey Rebellion was a revolt of settlers in western Pennsylvania in 1794 against a federal excise tax on whiskey then, suppressed by militia called out by President George Washington to establish the authority of the federal government. The main cause of the Whiskey Rebellion was because of the placement of the tax on the domestic goods, This is known to be the first tax placed on a domestic goods in the new world. Due to the rebellion many outcomes became, two of the main outcomes were the power demonstration and the lost in federalist support. First, the government was able to demonstrate the power showing the people that they had the power to stop the rebellions and any action of the rebellions, with the people noticing that the government can withhold the rebellions they are least likely to revolt again. Also, with George Washington sending in the militia the federalist who does not believe in the ideas of why he sent in the militia, there was a massive lost of federalist
As the Revolutionary War ended, the United States faced a completely new set of challenges. Now the United States had to shift focus from gaining independence from England to gaining their own financial security. The newly formed country had to figure out a way to pay for the war debt incurred by the colonies. In order to do this, the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, convinced congress and the president that a tax on whiskey would be able to provide the revenue needed to repay the debts. However, the tax on whiskey was met with heavy resistance. To Hamilton, the tax was only “a few dollars a year for the average small distillery” but for the Frontiersmen it was an attack on their way of life. The resistance to the tax, the
The tax on whiskey developed tension between the east and the west because of their differences on politics. Slaughter reinforces his claim by establishing the relationship between the easterners and westerners; mainly by giving examples of what they thought about each other. Slaughter explains that the easterners thought that the westerners were
Offner, Arnold, "Provincialism and Confrontation: Truman’s Responsibility" in Major Problems in American Foreign Relations, Volume II.
The Whiskey Rebellion was created from many issues, not just the excise tax on whiskey. Farmers in western Pennsylvania blocked roads to prevent tax collectors from reaching them and to show their disdain for the taxes placed on the farmers that they
The Whiskey Rebellion occurred soon after an excise tax was placed on Whiskey. Many people living in Western Pennsylvania and Maryland produced Whiskey from their homes, which they then sold or used as a form of currency. A fairly large group of men protested in an extremely violent way. The men attacked a tax collector, formed mobs, attacked arsenals, and “raised liberty poles” (Document A). Rumors about rebels negotiating with England and Spain frightened the federal government, as stated in Document A. As a response to this destructive behavior, President Washington led an army of 12,950 militiamen to suppress the rebellion. It is evident that George Washington’s response to the Whiskey Rebellion showed that the Constitution had fixed the
1. How NSC-68 influenced America’s response to Communist North Korea’s invasion of South Korea in June 1950 and to Communist expansion in Southeast Asia in the 1960s. The NSC-68 called for military assistance programs that would meet the requirements of our allies. Since South Korea was an ally, we assisted them in repelling the invasion of another communist nation. This help for South Korea meant that a communist nation would be weakened and therefore possibly cripple a potential ally for the Soviet Union. Also, South Korea would then respond to a call for aid if the Soviet Union ever attacked
The Whiskey Excise Tax hit rural farmers especially hard, and they started crying foul almost immediately after passage. It was criticized for being an “unreasonable economic hardship and as an ominous intrusion by central authorities into local affairs” (Gould, 1996, 405). These “westerners” felt as if they were being unjustly victimized by this tax. Most farmers during this period in American history worked extremely hard just to make ends meet, so operating a whiskey distillery offered them a source of extra income. In the minds of these western farmers this tax left them at a competitive disadvantage with eastern farmers. Western small-time farmers generally had small whiskey distillers. These frontier distillers could not run as efficiently as the larger distillers in the east, so their tax burden was much greater. For this reason many of the western farmers felt that Secretary Hamilton had set up a system that was giving tax-breaks to the larger eastern-based distillers. This sentiment is often echoed in today’s world- that the federal government promotes “big business” (Holt, 2004, 30). The cause of much of this rile and frustration, however, stems from the age-old
During the whiskey rebellion, southern farmers were outraged at the taxing of whiskey, which at the time was a very valuable item for trade. Washington using the power of the executive branch to enforce the law, sent 15,000 troops to put an end to the rebellion. The troops crushed the rebellion without a fight.This showed that this new government could deal with rebellions and was much stronger, this became one of Washington's high points of his administration.
In 1961 President John F Kennedy put together a doctrine, which altered from President Eisenhower’s one. It was to “Respond flexibly to communist expansion, especially guerrilla warfare.” (Roskin & Berry, 2010, p. 58) It was a time when the Cold War was at its height and nuclear weapons a mass threat and source of power. This doctrine was aimed at using alternative means before opening into combat. This, in light of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, it succeeded in doing.
The Cold War was a response to the perceived threat by the United States that Communism would interfere with national security and economic stakes in the world. It was a perceived threat by communist countries that the United States would take to the world. During the Cold War, the United States, Russia, and other countries made efforts to avoid another world war, while warring in proxy in other lands. The devastation caused by the hydrogen bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the next technological advancements became only deterrents to the public. Governments had their own agenda which would result in worsening the strain between nations. The United States hid behind a curtain of nationalism resulting in increased
Cooley Distillery, found in Dundalk, Co. Louth, was the first new whiskey distillery to be set up in Ireland in over 100 years and it is Ireland’s youngest, smallest and only independent whiskey distillery (“The Cooley Distillery”). John Teeling, a successful business enthusiast, investor, and Harvard Business school scholar, who found great interest and opportunity in Irish whiskey, established it in 1987. Cooley began distilling in 1989. The origins of Irish whiskey dates back to around 600 A.D., when Irish monks brought the alembic and the secret of distillation from the Middle East, according to the history of Irish Distillers. The Irish name “uisce beatha” translates to “water