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Tag: Remembrance

  • No One Yelled Like Fatman Scoop

    No One Yelled Like Fatman Scoop

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    Photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage

    When they weren’t shooting the shit between songs or screaming over records, overnight DJs for New York’s landmark rap station Hot 97 would find themselves with brief pockets of downtime. Isaac Freeman III, known to fans as Fatman Scoop, used these rare quiet moments to write, frequently calling DJ Riz, his partner in the rap duo Crooklyn Clan, to run through potential lyrics for their club anthems. Scoop was once a rapper, but the lines he’d workshop for Riz, on club classics like “Where U @?” and “Be Faithful,” weren’t exactly rap. They were closer to stage directions, the kind of guidance you might find if parties came with instruction manuals. It’s amusing to picture Scoop in pained concentration, scribbling rudimentary commands to women to put their hands up, to throw different denominations of legal tender in the air, to make noise or shut up.

    For three decades, Fatman Scoop, who passed away on August 30 at the age of 56, was rap’s preeminent hype man. In a way that is true for few other recorded artists, his art didn’t thrive in his lyrical content — on his biggest hit, “Be Faithful,” his most memorable line is commanding “all the chickenheads, be quiet!” three times in a row — but the quality of his voice. Scoop didn’t invent this approach as much as he remixed it. “Hands Up,” his first collaboration with Crooklyn Clan, is a mix of popular instrumentals stitched together with Scoop’s battle-worn voice issuing the same proclamations DJs have been shouting at partygoers for generations. He wasn’t like Red Alert or Funkmaster Flex — radio DJs yelling over records live on the air (though he did that, too) — nor was he Ol Dirty Bastard, deliriously screaming over the intros, outros, and choruses of his own songs. Like DJ Kool before him, Scoop reclaimed and recontextualized existing songs with records built around his shouting.  

    A former member of the DJ collective the X-Men (now known as the X-Ecutioners), Scoop got his start doing promo for the label Tommy Boy, which he later parlayed into the job at Hot 97. As his own records blew up, the larger entertainment industry came calling. For a time in the 2000s he was in high demand, lending that voice and spontaneous kineticism to what might otherwise have been disposable pop standards from Timbaland (“Drop”), Janet Jackson (“So Excited (Remix)”), Missy (“Lose Control”; this wonderful video captures Scoop performing his up-close magic), and Mariah Carey (“It’s Like That”).

    There’s a school of thought that hip-hop’s origins go back much further than its supposed 1973 birth, to Black southern DJs in the ’30s and ’40s who smuggled African oral traditions into their introductions to the Black pop of their day. They talked their shit with style, verve, and musicality. They rhymed, they spit, they yelled at their listeners. Fatman Scoop — who was born two years before Herc hosted his ‘73 Back to School Jam in the Bronx — descended from this tradition, transfusing recorded music with the spontaneous energy of the impromptu shows and parties that molded the early days of the genre. He soon became a tour guide, a cultural commentator, a Simon Says host. But above all, he was just a familiar type of New York character: a loud man who lights up any room he walks into, making strangers take shots at a cookout while charming everyone with his goofy, profane limericks. In his abrasive, gravel-filled uncle’s bark — one that sounded like every cigarette he ever smoked — he emanated an endearing knowability.

    Fifty-three years does not make what many consider a full life, but in a tragic recurring narrative we’ve seen in hip-hop entirely too frequently, it was all that was afforded to a kid from Harlem whose artist name was inspired by his love of ice cream. And yet, there is an aspirational quality to the way Fatman Scoop passed on Friday night in Connecticut. He died doing what he lived for: shirtless on a stage in the tristate area, literally screaming his heart out at a crowd of revelers. In an epitaph a judicious editor would never print for its graceless obviousness, his final recorded words before collapsing were “Make some noise.”

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    Abe Beame

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  • Tuskegee Syphilis Study Whistleblower Peter Buxtun Dead at 86

    Tuskegee Syphilis Study Whistleblower Peter Buxtun Dead at 86

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    (NEW YORK) — Peter Buxtun, the whistleblower who revealed that the U.S. government allowed hundreds of Black men in rural Alabama to go untreated for syphilis in what became known as the Tuskegee study, has died. He was 86.

    Buxtun died May 18 of Alzheimer’s disease in Rocklin, California, according to his attorney, Minna Fernan.

    Buxtun is revered as a hero to public health scholars and ethicists for his role in bringing to light the most notorious medical research scandal in U.S. history. Documents that Buxtun provided to The Associated Press, and its subsequent investigation and reporting, led to a public outcry that ended the study in 1972.

    Forty years earlier, in 1932, federal scientists began studying 400 Black men in Tuskegee, Alabama, who were infected with syphilis. When antibiotics became available in the 1940s that could treat the disease, federal health officials ordered that the drugs be withheld. The study became an observation of how the disease ravaged the body over time.

    Read More: How the Public Learned About the Infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study

    In the mid-1960s, Buxtun was a federal public health employee working in San Francisco when he overheard a co-worker talking about the study. The research wasn’t exactly a secret — about a dozen medical journal articles about it had been published in the previous 20 years. But hardly anyone had raised any concerns about how the experiment was being conducted.

    “This study was completely accepted by the American medical community,” said Ted Pestorius of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaking at a 2022 program marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the study.

    Buxtun had a different reaction. After learning more about the study, he raised ethical concerns in a 1966 letter to officials at the CDC. In 1967, he was summoned to a meeting in Atlanta, where he was chewed out by agency officials for what they deemed to be impertinence. Repeatedly, agency leaders rejected his complaints and his call for the men in Tuskegee to be treated.

    He left the U.S. Public Health Service and attended law school, but the study ate at him. In 1972, he provided documents about the research to Edith Lederer, an AP reporter he had met in San Francisco. Lederer passed the documents to AP investigative reporter Jean Heller, telling her colleague, “I think there might be something here.”

    Heller’s story was published on July 25, 1972, leading to Congressional hearings, a class-action lawsuit that resulted in a $10 million settlement and the study’s termination about four months later. In 1997, President Bill Clinton formally apologized for the study, calling it “shameful.”

    The leader of a group dedicated to the memory of the study participants said Monday they are grateful to Buxtun for exposing the experiment.

    “We are thankful for his honesty and his courage,” said Lille Tyson Head, whose father was in the study.

    Buxtun was born in Prague in 1937. His father was Jewish, and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1939 from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, eventually settling in Irish Bend, Oregon on the Columbia River.

    Read More: The Overlooked History of a Student Uprising That Helped Institutionalize Black Studies in the U.S.

    In his complaints to federal health officials, he drew comparisons between the Tuskegee study and medical experiments Nazi doctors had conducted on Jews and other prisoners. Federal scientists didn’t believe they were guilty of the same kind of moral and ethical sins, but after the Tuskegee study was exposed, the government put in place new rules about how it conducts medical research. Today, the study is often blamed for the unwillingness of some African Americans to participate in medical research.

    “Peter’s life experiences led him to immediately identify the study as morally indefensible and to seek justice in the form of treatment for the men. Ultimately, he could not relent,” said the CDC’s Pestorius.

    Buxtun attended the University of Oregon, served in the U.S. Army as a combat medic and psychiatric social worker and joined the federal health service in 1965.

    Buxtun went on to write, give presentations and win awards for his involvement in the Tuskegee study. A global traveler, he collected and sold antiques, especially military weapons and swords and gambling equipment from California’s Gold Rush era.

    He also spent more than 20 years trying to recover his family’s properties confiscated by the Nazis and was partly successful.

    “Peter was wise, witty, classy and unceasingly generous,” said David M. Golden, a close friend of Buxtun’s for over 25 years. “He was a staunch advocate for personal freedoms and spoke often against prohibition, whether it be drugs, prostitution or firearms.”

    Another longtime friend Angie Bailie said she attended many of Buxtun’s presentations about Tuskegee.

    “Peter never ended a single talk without fighting back tears,” she said

    Buxtun himself could be self-effacing about his actions, saying he did not anticipate the vitriolic reaction of some health officials when he started questioning the study’s ethics.

    At a Johns Hopkins University forum in 2018, Buxtun was asked where he got the moral strength to blow the whistle.

    “It wasn’t strength,” he said. “It was stupidity.”

    __

    AP reporters Edith M. Lederer in New York and Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed. Lederer was a friend of Peter Buxtun’s for more than 50 years and played a role in AP’s report on the Tuskegee study.

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    MIKE STOBBE / AP

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  • Paul Alexander: Polio Patient With Iron Lung Dies at 78

    Paul Alexander: Polio Patient With Iron Lung Dies at 78

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    DALLAS — Confined to an iron lung after contracting polio as a child, Paul Alexander managed to train himself to breathe on his own for part of the day, earned a law degree, wrote a book about his life, built a big following on social media and inspired people around the globe with his positive outlook.

    Alexander died Monday at the age of 78 at a Dallas hospital, said Daniel Spinks, a longtime friend. He said Alexander had recently been hospitalized after being diagnosed with COVID-19 but he did not know the cause of death.

    Read More: To Fight COVID-19, Ford Is Planning to Manufacture Ventilators. This Isn’t the First Time the Automaker Has Made Medical Devices

    Alexander contracted polio in 1952, when he was 6. He became paralyzed from the neck down and he began using an iron lung, a cylinder that encased his body as the air pressure in the chamber forced air into and out of his lungs. He had millions of views on his TikTok account.

    “He loved to laugh,” Spinks said. “He was just one of the bright stars of this world.”

    In one of his “Conversations With Paul” posts on TikTok, Alexander tells viewers that “being positive is a way of life for me” as his head rests on a pillow and the iron lung can be heard whirring in the background.

    Spinks said Alexander’s positivity had a profound effect on those around him. “Being around Paul was an enlightenment in so many ways,” Spinks said.

    Spinks said that Alexander had learned how to “gulp air down his lungs” in order to be out of the iron lung for part of the day. Using a stick in his mouth, Alexander could type on a computer and use the phone, Spinks said.

    “As he got older he had more difficulties in breathing outside the lung for periods of time so he really just retired back to the lung,” Spinks said.

    Gary Cox, who has been friends with Alexander since college, said his friend was always smiling. “He was so friendly,” Cox said. “He was always happy.”

    A book Alexander wrote about his life, “Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung,” was published in 2020. Cox said that the title comes from a promise Alexander’s nurse made him when he was a young boy: He’d get a dog if he could teach himself to breathe on his own for three minutes.

    “That took a good maybe two years, three years before he was able to stay out for three minutes and then five minutes and then 10 minutes and then eventually he got the strength to learn to stay out all day,” said Cox. And, indeed, Alexander did get that puppy.

    Alexander, who earned a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1978 from the University of Texas and a law degree from the school in 1984, was a driven man who had a strong faith in God, said Spinks. They became friends in 2000, when Cox took a job as his driver and helper.

    He said he would drive Alexander to the courthouse, and then push him to his court proceedings in his wheelchair. At the time, he said, Alexander could spend about four to six hours outside of an iron lung, and would be in an iron lung when he was at his office or home.

    Spinks only worked for Alexander for about a year though they remained friends, and Spinks said he was among the friends who helped maintain and repair Alexander’s iron lungs.

    “There were a couple of close calls when his lung would break and I would rush out there and we would have to do some repairs on it,” Spinks said.

    Cox said that at one point, he and his brother got an iron lung off eBay and drove to Chicago to pick it up, bringing it back to Dallas and refurbishing it.

    “They quit making them,” Cox said. “They quit supplying the parts for them. You can’t even get a collar for them anymore.”

    Polio was once one of the nation’s most feared diseases, with annual outbreaks causing thousands of cases of paralysis. The disease primarily affects children.

    Vaccines became available starting in 1955. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a national vaccination campaign cut the annual number of U.S. cases to less than 100 in the 1960s and fewer than 10 in the 1970s. In 1979, polio was declared eliminated in the U.S., meaning it was no longer routinely spread.

    Read More: What the History of Polio Can Teach Us About COVID-19

    Spinks said that Alexander loved being interviewed, and had a passion to show that disabled people had a place in society.

    Chris Ulmer, founder of Special Books By Special Kids, a social media platform that gives disabled people a way to share their stories, interviewed Alexander in 2022.

    “Paul himself really loved inspiring people and letting them know that they are capable of great things,” Ulmer said.

    “He just had such a vibrant and joyful energy around him that was contagious,” he said.

    Cox said that over the years, people around the globe sought Alexander out to hear his inspirational story.

    “If he set his mind to it, he could do it,” Cox said.

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    Jamie Stengle / AP

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  • 'The Full Monty' Actor Tom Wilkinson Dies Aged 75

    'The Full Monty' Actor Tom Wilkinson Dies Aged 75

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    LONDON — Tom Wilkinson, the Oscar-nominated British actor known for his roles in “The Full Monty,” “Michael Clayton” and “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” has died, his family said. He was 75.

    A statement shared by his agent on behalf of the family said Wilkinson died suddenly at home on Saturday. It didn’t provide further details.

    Wilkinson was nominated for a best actor Academy Award for his work in 2001’s family drama “In The Bedroom” in 2001 and in the best supporting actor category for his role in “Michael Clayton,” a 2007 film that starred George Clooney.

    He is remembered by many in Britain and beyond for playing former steel mill foreman Gerald Cooper in the 1997 comedy “The Full Monty,” about a group of unemployed steel workers who formed an unlikely male stripping act.

    Wilkinson appeared in dozens of other movies, including “Batman Begins,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Valkyrie.”

    The actor was recognized for his services to drama in 2005 when he was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire.

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    Associated Press

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  • Why China Fondly Remembers Henry Kissinger

    Why China Fondly Remembers Henry Kissinger

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    Considered an unwavering American patriot to some and a warmonger to others, Henry Kissinger left an indelible and polarizing imprint across many parts of the globe. But the former U.S. Secretary of State, who died on Wednesday at the age of 100, is fondly remembered in China—scene of arguably his most seismic diplomatic success and where news of his passing has garnered warm tributes.

    China’s state broadcaster CCTV dubbed Kissinger—known locally as a “double centenarian” for both his age and the fact that he’d visited the Middle Kingdom 100 times—a “legendary diplomat,” highlighting his key role in establishing ties with Communist China in the heat of the Cold War. Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to the U.S, posted on X that Kissinger’s death was “a tremendous loss for both our countries and the world” and that “he will always remain alive in the hearts of the Chinese people as a most valued old friend.”

    The term “old friend” has special significance in China and is one that President Xi Jinping used to describe Kissinger during his latest (and last) visit in July. “Sino-U.S. relations will always be linked with the name of Henry Kissinger,” Xi said. On Thursday, Xi sent his personal condolences to the White House, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.

    From Cold War foe to friend

    Even before Nixon entered the White House in early 1969, he had been interested in repairing relations with China, leveraging schisms in the Sino-Soviet relationship to further contain his Cold War adversary in Moscow. By late 1970, Nixon and Kissinger—first appointed his National Security Adviser, a role he later combined with Secretary of State—were ramping up efforts to establish communication with “Great Helmsman” Mao Zedong. But headwinds such as the U.S. invasion of Cambodia hampered progress fostering a dialogue.

    Kissinger’s efforts relied on using Pakistan as an intermediary—though he also tried Romania and mutual contacts of China’s Embassy in Paris—and in December 1970 Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai responded to a cable from Pakistan President Yahya Khan to say that “a special envoy of President Nixon’s will be most welcome in Peking.”

    Both sides engaged in important signaling during the spring of 1971, with Nixon publicly stating his interest in visiting China and the two countries exchanging table tennis players in what was dubbed “Ping Pong diplomacy.” By July 1971, Kissinger was secretly dispatched to Beijing for the first meaningful discussion with Zhou on mending the myriad divisions—not least over the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam—that had blighted relations over the years.

    As with today, Taiwan’s status was the burning issue that Kissinger had to tactfully address and upon which the success of his mission ultimately rested. The island had effectively split from China following the flight of the routed U.S.-backed Nationalists of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek across the Strait at the culmination of the nation’s 1927-1949 civil war—Chiang would go on to rule Taiwan until his death in 1975—and it hosted thousands of American troops. Even though the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had never ruled the island, which had only been sparsely inhabited by the Qing Dynasty and had been ruled as a Japanese colony from 1895 until 1945, its sovereignty then, just as now, was considered a red line.

    While Kissinger resisted Zhou’s insistence that “Taiwan was a part of China,” he nevertheless conceded that “we are not advocating a ‘two Chinas’ solution or a ‘one China, one Taiwan’ solution,” according to official documents. This prompted Zhou to say for the first time that he was optimistic about Sino-U.S. rapprochement: “the prospect for a solution and the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries is hopeful.” In response, Kissinger told Zhou that he expected that Beijing and Washington would “settle the political question” of diplomatic relations “within the earlier part of the President’s second term.”

    It was sufficient for Mao to green-light Richard Nixon’s history-making trip to China in the spring of 1972, which fomented a “tacit alliance,” as Kissinger put it, in place of more than two decades of bristling hostility. In China, Nixon agreed what became known as the Shanghai Communiqué, which stated the U.S. formally “acknowledge” that “all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China.” (Although the CCP frequently and opportunistically misinterpret his “acknowledge” as “accept.”) However, downgrading relations with Taipei proved prohibitively contentious for the Republican Party, with Nixon’s ignominious resignation in 1974 and the political weakness of his successor, Gerald Ford, delaying the formal diplomatic switch to Beijing until January 1979.

    For China, that changed everything. Just a few weeks later, its then paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, flew to Washington. Mending relations with the U.S. formed the bedrock for his market-led “reform and opening” economic liberalization drive—one that continued to face significant resistance from hardliners inside the CCP. Deng had bet everything on that trip and didn’t hold back, visiting the headquarters of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Boeing in Seattle, before infamously donning a 10-gallon cowboy hat at a Texas rodeo. Even before he touched down, Deng reportedly told an aide on the flight: “As we look back, we find that all of those countries that were with the United States have been rich, whereas all of those against the United States have remained poor. We shall be with the United States.”

    A rival superpower is born

    Whether China is still “with” the U.S. today is a contentious question, though the prosperity that Deng’s visit unleashed is undeniable. China’s export-led boom that followed transformed it into the world’s No. 2 economy and top trading nation. Internally, some 800 million Chinese have been lifted out of extreme poverty, according to the World Bank. China is set to contribute 22.6% of global GDP growth over the next five years—twice as much as the U.S.—and is the top trading partner to the majority of the world.

    In the interim, the U.S. and China have faced and overcome difficulties in their relationship, not least the hundreds of peaceful protesters killed in the streets surrounding Tiananmen Square in 1989, and the U.S.’s accidental bombing of China’s Embassy in Belgrade 10 years later. Still, in recent years repression against ethnic Tibetans and Uyghur Muslims in China’s far west, as well as the leaching of freedoms in semiautonomous Hong Kong, have become escalating issues of contention—ones that have taken on fresh impetus as the Cold War foundation for that initial rapprochement crumbled away.

    After all, the detente between Washington and Beijing was always rooted not in mutual appreciation but shared enmity of the Soviet Union. With its gaze firmly on undermining Moscow, Washington was willing to engage with Beijing in the hope that China would reform, open up, and democratize. But the latter never happened. The status of Taiwan, just as when Kissinger sat down with Zhou over a half-century ago, remains the most combustive issue, with President Joe Biden vowing four times to defend the island from Chinese aggression. Xi has other plans. “China will realize reunification, and this is unstoppable,” Xi told Biden in San Francisco earlier this month.

    Just how bad things may get is a question that worried Kissinger to the end—that the famed pragmatist’s greatest success may now be hurtling toward disaster. “I think some military conflict is probable,” Kissinger told Bloomberg grimly in June in one of his last interviews. “The current trajectory of relations must be altered.” So feared the man who first set their course.

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    Charlie Campbell

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  • Henry Kissinger, Influential and Polarizing U.S. Secretary of State, Dies

    Henry Kissinger, Influential and Polarizing U.S. Secretary of State, Dies

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    Henry Kissinger, the former Secretary of State known for his realist approach to foreign policy during the Nixon and Ford administrations, has died. He was 100.

    News of his death was confirmed by a statement from his consulting firm.

    Kissinger was a highly influential but polarizing figure. His impact extended beyond his tenure as national security adviser from 1969 to 1975 and overlapping/concurrent service as Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977, for decades spanning from the Vietnam War to the aftermath of 9/11. He leaves behind a mixed legacy: Once the most admired man in America according to a 1973 Gallup poll—the same year that he was controversially named the joint recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize for the Paris Peace Accords, along with North Vietnamese counterpart Le Duc Tho—he has also been fiercely criticized as a war criminal.

    As Secretary of State, he was known for pioneering a policy of détente with the Soviet Union and promoting an open door policy toward China. He’s also credited with eventually (some would argue belatedly) extricating America from the Vietnam War. But his critics have argued that his policies contributed to millions of deaths by permitting heavy bombing in Cambodia and Laos, blocking the ascension of a democratically elected leader in Chile, genocides in East Timor and Bangladesh and civil war in southern Africa.

    Born in 1923 near Nuremberg, Germany, Heinz Alfred Kissinger and his Jewish family fled the Nazis in 1938. (Once in America, he changed his name to Henry.) As a new American citizen, he served in the U.S. Army for three years, returning to Europe to fight in World War II and receiving a Bronze Star in 1945. Kissinger then earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard, where he held a faculty appointment from 1954 to 1969.

    Kissinger was one of the leading practitioners of realpolitik, arguing that pragmatism—rather than idealism—should govern America’s approach to foreign policy. He once famously said that “power is the ultimate aphrodisiac,” a mentality that manifested itself, some critics alleged, in a calculating and opportunistic approach to his professional relationships.

    In the 1968 presidential election, Kissinger hedged his bets. After Nixon won the nomination, Kissinger—a former adviser to rival Republican Nelson Rockefeller, then Governor of New York—sent vague updates to the Nixon campaign about the status of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s peace talks with North Vietnam. But Kissinger played both sides: offering, but never ultimately delivering, Rockefeller’s opposition research on Nixon to Hubert Humphrey’s campaign.

    Pres. Nixon congratulates Henry Kissinger after he was sworn in as Secretary of State on Sept. 22 1973 in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

    Bettmann Archive

    Once Nixon appointed him national security adviser, Kissinger proved adept at navigating the administration’s atmosphere of suspicion and wiretaps, reportedly authorizing FBI investigations and wiretaps against at least one member of his staff and further knowledge of staff surveillance.

    He managed to escape the Watergate scandal largely unscathed, continuing to serve as Secretary of State until the end of the Ford administration in 1977, when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.

    After co-founding an international consulting firm, Kissinger Associates, Inc., in 1982, he continued to leverage his global connections and remain active in diplomatic circles.

    Though he was no longer Secretary of State, he continued to advise future administrations. Reagan appointed him chair of the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America, which he led from 1983 until 1985. He also served as a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 1984 to 1990.

    Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States between 1974 and 1977, meets Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office. (Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

    Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States between 1974 and 1977, meets Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office.

    Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    In November 2002, President George W. Bush appointed Kissinger chairman of the 9/11 commission, but he resigned a few weeks later amid questions about potential conflicts of interest. Kissinger also served as a “powerful, largely invisible influence” on that administration’s approach to the Iraq War, according to Bob Woodward’s State of Denial. However, Kissinger tipped his hand a bit in a 2005 op-ed, writing that “victory over the insurgency is the only meaningful exit strategy.”

    Kissinger’s influence also extended to another Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who once wrote in The Washington Post that she “relied on his counsel.”

    Some critics have objected to Kissinger’s continued involvement in American foreign policy, arguing that his actions as America’s top diplomat created long-lasting problems that the nation continues to grapple with today, such as aiding fundamentalist Islamic movements in the Middle East and playing a role in fostering American dependence on Saudi oil.

    Nevertheless, Kissinger continued to remain active in both society and diplomatic circles well into his 90s. Continuing to meet with leaders from Russia and China, including at least 17 meetings with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. In June 2018, at the age of 95, he warned against the advent of artificial intelligence in a piece for The Atlantic entitled “How the Enlightenment Ends.” Two years later, in November 2020, Kissinger also warned incoming President Joe Biden to work quickly to restore U.S.-China relations that deteriorated during the Trump Administration.

    But until the end, his political philosophy remained pragmatic. “America would not be true to itself if it abandoned [its] essential idealism,” he wrote in his book World Order at age 91. “But to be effective, these aspirational aspects of policy must be paired with an unsentimental analysis of underlying factors.”

    More Must-Reads From TIME

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    Madeleine Joung

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  • Inside Rosalynn Carter’s Friendship With a Wrongfully Convicted Murderer

    Inside Rosalynn Carter’s Friendship With a Wrongfully Convicted Murderer

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    Mary Prince, a Black woman who had been convicted of murder, was already a controversial figure at Jimmy Carter’s 1977 Presidential Inauguration.

    Although she was incarcerated, Prince was given permission to travel to Washington, D.C. for the event and arrived in a dress made of material given to her by her fellow inmates at the Fulton County Jail and the Atlanta Work Release Center. At the end of the celebration, Prince remembers newly minted First Lady Rosalynn Carter pulling her aside. “Before I left, Mrs. Carter said, ‘How would you like to work in this big old place?’” Prince told People that year.

    Read more: Rosalynn Carter, Transformative First Lady and Mental Health Advocate, Dies

    Rosalynn Carter and Prince had known each other for years at that point, and had developed a close bond. Prince had been young Amy Carter’s nanny when the family lived at the Georgia governor’s mansion, not long after Prince was accused of—and subsequently sentenced to life for—murder. When the Carters arrived at the White House, most political operatives would have advised the family to keep their distance from Prince. But the first couple did the opposite.

    After the inauguration, Prince told Rosalynn that she would indeed be interested in working at the White House. And Rosalynn pulled out all the stops: She secured a reprieve for Prince, helped make President Carter her parole officer and officially hired her to serve as Amy Carter’s nanny at the White House.

    Rosalynn Carter, who died on Sunday at the age of 96, and her husband remained lifelong friends with Prince, and were both staunchly convinced she was wrongly convicted in the 1970 shooting death of a man outside a bar in Lumpkin, Ga., after an argument involving Prince’s cousin.

    “She was totally innocent,” Rosalynn Carter told Kate Anderson Brower for her 2015 book, The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, bristling at the slightest hint of wrongdoing. “She had nothing to do with it.”

    Both Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter earned a reputation for decency over the decades, and their relationship with Prince, who grew up in poverty in Georgia and dropped out of school in the seventh grade to care for her younger sister, gives more credence to their interest in helping the most vulnerable members of society.

    The Carters first met Prince in late 1970 when Jimmy Carter was serving as Georgia governor, and Prince applied for a job as part of a program to put prisoners to work. Prince quickly made a positive impression on Rosalynn Carter, who asked the young woman if she would be interested in taking care of a then-3-year-old Amy Carter. It was a match made in heaven: the toddler bonded so much with her new nanny that she reportedly cried every time Prince left.

    In his 2006 book, Our Endangered Values, Jimmy Carter wrote about how Prince was unfairly victimized by the criminal justice system because of her race. He noted that Prince only met her court-appointed lawyer on the first day of her trial, and that the lawyer convinced her to plead guilty after incorrectly promising a light sentence instead of the life sentence that was ultimately handed down.

    “She was fortunate and could just as easily have been executed,” Carter wrote. “If the victim had been white, we would never have known Mary Prince.” (Prince, who was also known by the name Mary Fitzpatrick before her formal separation from her husband, was eventually pardoned after a reexamination of her case.)

    The Carters raised eyebrows with their decision to move Prince into the White House, both from other members of the White House staff, who were skeptical of her innocence, and from the public at large. Saturday Night Live even spoofed the Carters’ relationship with Prince, with Sissy Spacek playing a young Amy Carter and Garrett Morris, in drag, as Prince. The cringe-worthy skit includes dialogue that calls Prince’s innocence into question and hints that the Carters hired her for publicity.

    After Carter’s one term in the White House, Prince moved just a few blocks from the former first couple in Plains, Ga., where she continued to babysit for their grandchildren. President Carter went on to dedicate his 2004 book Sharing Good Times to “Mary Prince, whom we love and cherish.”

    Anderson Brower interviewed both Rosalynn Carter and Prince for her book, and told C-SPAN in 2015 that the two women’s bond remained ironclad. “She’s still a huge part of the Carter family,” she said at the time. “They consier her one of their own, and they just love her.”

    More Must-Reads From TIME

    Contact us at letters@time.com.

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    Kathy Ehrich Dowd

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  • Matthew Perry’s ‘Friends’ Co-Stars Lead Tributes For Actor

    Matthew Perry’s ‘Friends’ Co-Stars Lead Tributes For Actor

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    Actor Matthew Perry was found dead at his Los Angeles home on Saturday, Oct. 28. According to the Los Angeles Times, the 54 year-old was discovered unresponsive in his hot tub. Local police are investigating and the cause of death is, at present, unknown. A source is quoted as telling the publication that no foul play is suspected. Since news broke of the sitcom star’s untimely passing, Perry’s acting peers, along with fans across the world, have been paying tribute.

    Perry is a household name in Hollywood, best known for his portrayal of the ever-sarcastic, yet lovable, Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom Friends. The actor, who held dual citizenship between the U.S. and Canada, portrayed the iconic role for 10 seasons, from 1994 to 2004. Perry also enjoyed a career on the big screen, starring in films such as The Whole Nine Yards [2000] and 17 Again [2009]. The actor released his much-anticipated memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, in 2022. Within the best-seller, Perry opened up about his highly-documented battle with addiction, detailing his grueling trips to rehab, interventions, and the multiple surgeries he had to endure after his health began to decline as a result of his lifestyle.

    In 2021, after years of anticipation, the core six Friends castmates reunited for a TV special. Although Perry almost missed the reunion, due to needing emergency dental surgery, he made it for the James Corden-presented special. During the reunion, Perry praised the show and his bond with the cast. Becoming emotional, he revealed that even after the series ended, if he bumped into any of his co-stars at events, he’d spend the rest of the evening speaking solely to them, as was the power of their bond. Perry’s main castmates—Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc—all nodded in agreement at his words.

    While Perry’s fellow Friends leads have yet to publicly comment on his death, other cast members from the show have taken to social media to share their condolences. Maggie Wheeler, who famously played Chandler’s on-off girlfriend Janice (remembered for her unique laugh) shared a picture of her and Perry, in character, on her Instagram. “What a loss. The world will miss you, Mathew Perry,” she wrote. “The joy you brought to so many in your too-short lifetime will live on. I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared.” Fans were quick to comment, many responding with Friends references relating to Chandler and Janice’s much-debated relationship.

    Meanwhile, Morgan Fairchild, who portrayed Chandler’s mom Nora, posted her condolences on X (formerly Twitter). “I’m heartbroken about the untimely death of my ‘son,’ Matthew Perry. The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock,” she wrote. Referencing Perry’s actor father, she continued: “I’m sending love and condolences to his friends and family, especially his dad, John Bennett Perry, who I worked with on Flamingo Road and Falcon Crest.”

    Actress Paget Brewster, who played Chandler’s girlfriend Kathy in Season 4 of Friends, praised the actor for how he treated her. “I’m so very sad to hear about Matthew Perry. He was lovely to me on Friends and every time I saw him in the decades after,” she wrote on X. “Please read his book. It was his legacy to help. He won’t rest in peace though… He’s already too busy making everyone laugh up there.”

    Warner Bros., the production company behind Friends, also paid tribute, describing Perry as a “true gift to us all” and sending love to his family, loved ones, and fans.

    Friends creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane, alongside the sitcom’s EP [Executive Producer] Kevin Bright, released a joint statement in honour of Perry, saying they were “shocked and deeply, deeply saddened” by his passing.

    “All we can say is that we feel blessed to have had him as part of our lives. He was a brilliant talent. It’s a cliche to say that an actor makes a role their own, but in Matthew’s case, there are no truer words,” the statement read.

    “From the day we first heard him embody the role of Chandler Bing, there was no one else for us. We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment—not just to his work, but in life as well. He was always the funniest person in the room. More than that, he was the sweetest, with a giving and selfless heart.”

    In reference to the titles of the Friends episodes starting with “The One Where,” the trio signed off their message with: “This truly is The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken.”

    Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, shared a poignant message, too. Perry’s mother, Suzanne Marie Morrison, served as a press secretary for the Prime Minister’s father, Pierre Trudeau, who previously served as prime minister himself. “Matthew Perry’s passing is shocking and saddening. I’ll never forget the schoolyard games we used to play, and I know people around the world are never going to forget the joy he brought them,” Justin wrote. “Thanks for all the laughs, Matthew. You were loved, and you will be missed.”

    Below, see some of the other tributes paid to the comedic actor, as Perry’s peers and fans try to process his passing.

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    Olivia-Anne Cleary

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  • I’m A Grandma With Tattoos. Here’s What Getting Inked So Late In Life Has Given Me.

    I’m A Grandma With Tattoos. Here’s What Getting Inked So Late In Life Has Given Me.

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    It started with a crane tattoo on my right leg. Cranes were one of my sister’s favorite birds, and when she died unexpectedly, I needed to honor her memory with something more permanent than an urn filled with ashes.

    At 55, I was the oldest person in the tattoo shop that day, surrounded by millennials getting full sleeves inked or piercings for their noses, eyebrows and lips. However, the moment I walked through the door, I felt right at home. The people there didn’t look at me as a middle-aged grandmother going through an identity crisis ― they saw me as a woman who appreciated tattoos. What they didn’t know was that I had secretly wanted one for years.

    Like many boomers, I grew up in a time and culture that frowned upon tattoos. It didn’t help that I was also raised in a staunch Christian family that believed only criminals and deviants got inked. My parents were unaccepting of anything (or anyone) out of the ordinary, so I often felt constrained by their high expectations and narrow-mindedness. As badly as I wanted a tattoo, I knew that if I dared to stray from what they considered the norm, I’d be swiftly criticized and suffocated by their palpable disappointment.

    It wasn’t until I met a woman in her early 70s who had just gotten her first tattoo ― a butterfly on her breast ― that my perspective changed. It never occurred to me that older people, especially women, could do this. I thought tattoos were just for the young. Of course, I’d heard horror stories about the pain of getting inked, regrets about permanent mistakes made by sloppy artists, and warnings of tattoos shifting on older, sagging skin. But the woman I met told me her tattoo experience was nearly painless, and that it gave her a sense of empowerment. She was invigorated by defying our culture’s ageist attitudes and smashing the stigmas associated with tattoos.

    My husband wasn’t too thrilled when I mentioned I wanted to get inked to honor my deceased sister. He didn’t understand the appeal of being permanently marked. Still, he respected that it was my body, my choice, and he even accompanied me to the tattoo shop.

    I was nervous when the needle first touched my skin, but surprisingly, I liked the sting of it as the artist traced the outline of the crane on my leg. Once it was done, I knew I wanted more.

    There was something addictive about having my own narrative permanently inked into my body. It was a new form of self-expression that gave me a sense of uniqueness and daring I’d been missing since I’d hit my 50s.

    Although I loved and was proud of my new tattoo, I was careful to conceal it whenever I was around my parents and older, judgmental siblings. I wasn’t ready to deal with their negativity and criticism, so it was easier to hide my beautiful crane under a pair of jeans. I knew my family viewed tattoos as self-destructive behavior, but this didn’t stop my craving for more. Within the year, I had three more inked on my arms, all of them representative of important moments in my life. But I still covered them when I was around the family.

    The cover-ups came off after my parents passed away. I saw the shock and disapproval in my siblings’ eyes when my tattoos were revealed, but their opinions no longer mattered. I’d spent my entire life trying to please my family, so when that pressure was finally lifted, I felt as free and light as the flock of birds tattooed on my forearm.

    The tattoo the author got for her late dog.

    Courtesy of Marcia Kester Doyle

    Although some stigmas still exist about tattoos (especially for women and older people), those perceptions are changing. Our culture has become more accepting of tattoos, viewing the people who have them as trendy, adventurous, brave and free-spirited. My tats mean all of these things and more. I see my body as a blank page, and the images inked into my skin are an artistic expression of who I am. Each one shares a personal story of struggle, courage or love. Many are tributes to those who have passed on but made a difference in my life. The tattoos are like photos of my feelings and the special memories that I hold dear.

    Responses to my tattoos have been mostly positive. Still, some people find it strange that a woman my age enjoys getting inked. They question my reasons and say they would never permanently mark the body that God gave them. I can respect their opinion without feeling the need to defend my own, because these tattoos have boosted my self-esteem and helped me love my body again ― something I haven’t felt since I was young.

    Tattoos have also been a way to heal from trauma and grief. When my beloved dog died, I had her name and paw print inked on my arm so I could carry her memory with me forever. This opened the door to conversations with strangers who were also dog lovers, because my loss resonated with them. Their compassion and support were an unexpected source of comfort during my grieving process.

    My other tattoos (nine, so far, on my arms and legs) are made up of meaningful quotes, animals and symbols. The possibilities are endless for getting inked, and I have a bucket list of tattoos I’d like to have. This includes the names of my three grandkids, my husband’s initials, paw prints of my other dogs, a colorful tiki, more birds in flight, and a very detailed tattoo of an eagle copied from a sketch my sister drew before her death. She was an artist, and drawing birds of prey was her specialty. The eagle will be inked on my calf, large enough to take up the entire space. Although I don’t have plans for a full sleeve, I like that there’s still plenty of empty canvas on my body for more art. And I’m sure there will be many more milestones to commemorate in the years ahead.

    When people comment on my tattoos now, they usually say how cool they are and admire my courage to move beyond the confining barriers of ageism. The biggest question is always “Will you get more?” ― and my answer is always the same. No matter how old I am, I’ll never stop getting tattoos.

    Marcia Kester Doyle is the author of “Who Stole My Spandex? Life in the Hot Flash Lane” and the voice behind the midlife blog Menopausal Mother. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, HuffPost, The Independent, USA Today/Reviewed, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, AARP, Woman’s Day, Country Living, House Beautiful and elsewhere. You can find her at MarciaKesterDoyle.com.

    Do you have a compelling personal story you’d like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we’re looking for here and send us a pitch.

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  • Together at Peace Presents the Memory Mile 2022 and the ‘Up’ Collection

    Together at Peace Presents the Memory Mile 2022 and the ‘Up’ Collection

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    Press Release
    –

    Mar 30, 2022


    HINSDALE, Ill., March 30, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Together at Peace invites everyone who has lost a loved one to spend the week of April 24-May 1 walking one mile or more anywhere in the world in memory of loved ones who have passed away while raising money for the four inspiring charities that are registered for the event. The partnered charities are Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana, St. Mary’s Grief Support Essentia Health, Life Lessons Scholarship Program and Simply from the Heart.

    Part of this special event is the “UP” collection curated by Cathy Ponakala from Virgil Catherine Gallery in Hinsdale, IL. The emerging artists featured are internationally collected: Guy Stanley Philoche, Gregg Emery, Larry Stewart and Ramona Nordal. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of these pieces will benefit the partnered charities. 

    Once registered, participants will be invited to attend a “Peace Party” open house in Hinsdale on May 1 to celebrate the end of the walk. A zoom link will be made available for those who are not able to attend. Bring a picture of loved ones, enjoy uplifting reflection stations, feel hope and support in gathering with others to share memories.

    Together at Peace’s mission is to inspire healing and hope after loved ones pass away, through events, charitable giving and support. Registration is free. 

    REGISTER TODAY AT TOGETHERATPEACE.COM

    Source: Together at Peace

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