MEN’S CLUB
BY HOWARD ARKIN
On Thursday Oct 7, Fulbright
scholar author
and speaker, Jack Bilello,
treated the Men’s Club to an interesting
lecture on the United
States and World War I and how
the Versailles Treaty played a part
in sowing the seeds for World
War II. In august of 1914, Europe
stumbled into the war because
of the entangling alliances Great
Britain, France, Germany, Russia,
Austria and Hungary had with
one another. The powder keg was
lit when archduke Franz Ferdinand
was assassinated by Serbian
nationalist, Gavrilo Princip.
Bilello then spoke on the differences
between nationalism and
patriotism. Patriotism being ones
love of country and nationalism
being love of country, but fear and
distrust of other nations. I had the
feeling Bilello was referring to political
climate we are experiencing in
the U.S. today.
The war resulted in total more
than 37,000,000 casualties, with
Germany invading neutral Belgium
to attack France as it would do
again two decades later. In the
next five years names, such as the
Somme, Verdun, Ypres, the Marne
and Belle Wood, would appear in
our newspapers these were the battles
of useless trench warfare which
would kill tens of thousands.
Three thousand miles away from
this carnage, the neutral isolationist
United States looked on. Sentiment
here was in favor of the allies, Great
Britain and France. Russia was no
longer a participant, having signed
a peace treaty with Germany. In
1916, President Woodrow Wilson
ran for re-election, winning with
the slogan, “He kept us out of war,”
but events were taking place which
would soon change our course.
In 1915, the liner Lusitania was
sunk off of the coast of Ireland by
a German submarine, killing 128
Americans. In 1917, British intelligence
intercepted a note from
the German government to the
Mexican government, which the
British passed onto us. Known as
the Zimmerman Note, it read that
in the event the United States and
Germany went to war and Mexico
allied itself with Germany, Germany
would help Mexico regain territory
lost in the Mexican war. Sounds
“quite nuts,” but if this plan was
successful perhaps Trump could
now have enough money to pay
for the wall.
Another big factor of our going to
war was Germany’s breaking of the
Sussex Pledge. The Sussex Pledge
restricted Germany’s u-boats from
attacking American commercial
shipping on the Atlantic. Wilson
asked for a declaration of war on
April 6, 1917, congress complied.
With our entry, it took only 18
months to end the war known as
“the war to end all wars.” Little did
we know…
In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles
was signed and The League of
Nations was born. Both were
unable to stem the tide which
would envelope the world twenty
years later. The United States did
not join the league and unfortunately
returned to its isolationist
ways. Three of the four major
figures of World War II played
small parts in World War I. Stalin
played no part, but eventually
came to power due to the Czars
collapse in 1917. Roosevelt and
Churchill were cabinet officials.
The last figure was an unbalanced
corporal in the German army who
started it all.
There are many reasons why we
got into World War II Just ask the
historians.
The Snooze Bowl and the Rugelach!
BY STEVE AUERBACH
The date had finally arrived.
February 3 and the Men’s Club was
having one of the most exciting evenings
of the year: The annual Super
Bowl Party! Maybe I got ahead of
myself. I should have called it,
“The Snooze Bowl, Dilly Dilly.”
The game was the lowest-scoring
Super Bowl in N.F.L. history, and
hardly one to remember.
There was no shortage of ways
to sum up the Rams’s offensive
ineptitude. In all, the L.A. team’s
drive chart looked brutal: punt,
punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt,
punt, field goal, punt, interception,
missed field goal. They were penalized
for 65 yards and rushed for
just 62!
But at least we could look forward
to the edgy and hilarious
commercials, remembering the
past with the singing Budweiser
Frogs, “Where’s the beef?” and
“Whazzzzzup.” But
to my surprise, that
was also a bust.
I asked my grandson
about the “Game
of Thrones” dragon,
but he responded
I’m no longer cool,
because I know nothing
about the “Game
of Thrones.”
Moving on, at least
we had the excitement
of the halftime show to look
forward to. But what was the excitement,
a half shirtless Adam Levine
of Maroon 5 with a lots of tattoos?
That’s exciting? I started thinking,
if many of the Men’s Club members
in attendance removed our shirts,
we could have given Adam Levine a
run for his money… and just maybe
some of us could actually sing.
Now for the real excitement:
we decided to change the catering
from Iavarone Bros. to Ben’s
Deli; baked ziti from the former
was out; newly-ordered pastrami,
corned beef, roast beef and turkey
sandwiches from the latter was in.
I quickly found out, as you mature
(a better way to say “get older”),
sporting events take a back seat to
Deli. I wanted to start taking bets
on what sandwiches would go first.
If you guessed pastrami, you would
have won.
It was also Diet Coke versus
Regular Coke, and if you guessed
Diet Coke, you were also a winner,
considering mostly everyone who
attended was also probably diabetic.
All in all, everyone had a great
time. But the highlight of the night
was not the Patriots touchdown. It
was Ben’s Deli rugelach!
See you next year!
History of
Movie Stunts
Guest Speaker Clive Young
Thursday, March 14 at
7:30 p.m.
Guests are welcome when
accompanied by a member for a
fee of $5.00 payable at the door.
Coffee and cake will be
available.
Call Jerry Siegel 347-235-4513
for more info
American troops marching during
WWI
Patriots vs Rams
30 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ March 2019