Paul Carter

Why was #WorldWarII fought across a chain of remote islands in the #SouthPacific? It wasn’t about the islands themselves. It was about control-of movement, supply routes, and position. From bases like #Rabaul, Japan planned to move through the Solomon Islands and cut the United States off from Australia. So the U.S. had to stop that expansion. That’s why the fighting happened here. #ww2 #ww2history

Somewhere between booking flights and getting a vaccine for a mosquito-borne virus that “eats your brain”... I started to question this whole plan. Anyway, this is what it took to get here. Follow along on the journey! #WWII #WorldWar2 #Guadalcanal #History #MilitaryHistory

During World War Il, the war didn’t just exist on the battlefield. It showed up everywhere, even in the way products were marketed. #WWIl #WorldWar2 #History #MilitaryHistory #VintageAds

I flew over Henderson Field on my way into Guadalcanal... and stood just outside it not long after. At first, it doesn’t look like much. But during World War II, this single airfield became one of the most important positions in the Pacific. Originally started by Japanese forces, it was captured by the United States early in the campaign-and from that moment on, everything depended on it. Because when the sea was no longer safe... this runway became the only way in and out. #WWII #Guadalcanal #PacificWar #MilitaryHistory #WarHistory

I’ve spent years studying World War Il and Richard Nixon. There’s only so much you can understand from a book. So I decided to go to the South Pacific... to the same islands where these events actually took place. Sixteen days. Some of the most remote places in the world. A few plans in place. A lot left to figure out. #WWII #WorldWar2History #Guadalcanal #WarHistory #Nixon

Most people would walk past this beach and never think twice. But this is Red Beach - Guadalcanal. In August of 1942, U.S. Marines landed here, launching the first major offensive against Japan in the Pacific during World War II. What looks quiet now... was once chaos. It’s hard to imagine how much history can exist in a place that feels so still. #worldwar2 #ww2history #guadalcanal #history #militaryhistory

@MattLeinartQB #1 Williams to Leinart in endzone at Rosebowl.

Top 5 occasions to have a drink?

In honor of Pat Nixon’s birthday week: Her 1969 visit to South Vietnam lasted only a single day. It wasn’t heavily publicized, and it wasn’t meant to be symbolic in a grand way. But it marked the first time a First Lady entered an active combat zone. Much of her time was spent away from cameras-meeting with wounded servicemen and visiting local children. A quieter moment in history, but one that still stands out. #patnixon #richardnixon #firstlady #vietnamwar #1969

Greatness doesn’t come when everything goes your way. It comes when you’re tested - when you take a few knocks, face disappointment, and endure difficult seasons. Only after walking through the deepest valleys can someone truly appreciate standing on the highest mountain. These words from Richard Nixon reflect a philosophy shaped by a life of both triumph and hardship. Whether one agrees with his politics or not, Nixon’s life was certainly a study in both. Sometimes the most meaningful lessons about resilience come from those who experienced both the highest peaks and the lowest valleys. #richardnixon #presidentialhistory #americanhistory #historyquotes #nixon

Roadside lunch on📍Efate Island, Vanuatu. As we left the airport and headed north through the jungle, my guide Arthur suddenly asked if I had eaten. A quick stop at a roadside stand introduced me to something I had never seen before. Two women were cooking kasava with beef belly over a grill. Kasava is a type of yuca root, boiled and sliced open, with fatty beef belly placed on top and wrapped in a large leaf. We took it to go and ate it in the van as we drove up and over Snake Hill. Simple roadside food, and one of the best lunches of the trip. #vanuatu #southpacific #islandlife #travelhistory #travelvlog

@RepRobertGarcia Operation buy votes in an election year is in full swing...

Proud to present the City of Maywood with $850,000 for their new teen center! This project will be a huge asset for teens and young people for decades to come.

Hidden along the shoreline on Efate Island are the remains of American military tanks left behind after World War II. During the war, the island of Efate became an important U.S. military base supporting Allied operations across the South Pacific. Thousands of troops, vehicles, and supplies passed through these islands as the United States built airfields, roads, and logistics bases throughout the region. When the war ended in 1945, the military faced a problem: returning all of that equipment back to the United States would have been incredibly expensive. In many cases, it simply wasn’t worth the cost. Much of the equipment was abandoned. Today, some of those relics - including these tanks can still be found partially submerged along the coast and in the mangroves of Havannah Harbor, quiet reminders of the massive wartime presence that once existed here. #WWiiHistory #SouthPacificHistory #Vanuatu #Efate #MilitaryHistory

@randal_wallace @PrezWisdom That's the same reason my book did well too. I discussed the man and humanized him rather than politicize everything.

@PaulCarterCA @PrezWisdom I think that is why my podcast did well. It may be the only show outside the Nixon Foundation itself that isn’t full of negative smears against him. My show said from the start he was one of the four greatest and he was treated unfairly. From the moment I started the numbers grew

FOLLOW BACK FRIDAY Things I’ve learned running this Presidential history account: - people love or hate LBJ - people really HATE Woodrow Wilson - James Polk has a TON of fans - Chester Arthur also a fan favorite - people LOVE James Garfield and Calvin Coolidge #POTUS 🇺🇸

@randal_wallace @PrezWisdom I agree. I have had so many people approach me and tell me the same thing.

@PrezWisdom I have actually learned this doing my show. Other than the old hippie crowd & the very far left, people actually have begun to appreciate Richard Nixon far more in recent times than they had.

Before politics, the Nixon family ran a small grocery store in Whittier, California known as The Nixon Market. In this clip, Richard Nixon recalls how the store survived through the hard work of the entire family. “My mother and father had five boys and we all worked in the store.” For Nixon, the lessons of discipline, responsibility, and long hours began behind the counter of that small market. #RichardNixon #WhittierCalifornia #AmericanHistory #PresidentialHistory #NixonFamily

📍 Havannan Harbor, Efate - Vanuatu During World War II, this quiet harbor served as a U.S. Navy seaplane anchorage. From these waters, American patrol aircraft launched reconnaissance and anti-submarine missions supporting operations in the Solomon Islands. The seaplanes were moored directly in the harbor and serviced by tenders, a floating airfield in the South Pacific. The landscape has changed. The history remains. #WWIIHistory #SouthPacific #Efate #Vanuatu #wwii

@sidrosenberg19 @NYCMayor @realDonaldTrump “Says you haven’t been to school in months…MONTHS!!” I know you’ll get the Scorsese reference (if indeed that weren’t the very reference you were making). Welcome back, Sid. When are you having me on to promote SCALIA: SUPREME COURT YEARS, 1986-2001? amazon.com/Scalia-Supreme…

#ThisDayInHistory (February 27, 1972) After a historic week in China, President #RichardNixon addressed the American people from Shanghai. For more than two decades, the United States had no formal engagement with Communist China. Now the world was watching. Nixon framed the visit not as agreement - but as strategy. A calculated opening in the larger Cold War balance of power, and a turning point in U.S.-China relations. #ColdWar #PresidentialHistory

(February 23, 1969) Just one month into his presidency, Richard Nixon traveled to Brussels - home of NATO headquarters - during a tense moment in the Cold War. Europe was uneasy over Vietnam. Anti-American protests followed parts of his tour. Allies were questioning U.S. leadership. The visit wasn’t ceremonial. It was strategic. A signal that the United States intended to remain at the center of NATO - even as the global order was shifting. #RichardNixon #Nixon #ColdWar #NATO

This was major moment. To be clear this was the right move by #Nixon within the context of the Cold War & the need to balance the Soviet Union at a time before all the rot in the Soviet Union had fully set in. The #China opening however should have been changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union & the evidence that the nature of the Chinese Communist Party was not changing. Nixon seemed to intuit this when he once lamented we may have created a "Frankenstein" towards the end of his life. Unfortunately, most American political & business elites did not & they helped pave the way for China's rise to become our #1 geopolitical challenge. This applies even to Nixon's partner in the opening, #Kissinger, who continued trying to keep the door open on China long past when it was in our national interests. It took the rise of Trump & his first term to finally adjust, though there are worrisome signs of possible backsliding by Trump in the second term... And thus the cycle of #history continues its oscillations.