For some reason, this reminds me of that time in the Cold War, that a rickety footbridge collapsed.
Small accident, not a single injury directly resulting.
This very small accident caused an international incident.
Because the town was a US state border town, neither state would take responsibility and replace the bridge, the feds said it was a state matter for the states to sort between themselves, and the town certainly couldn’t afford it themselves nor did they have a municipal government to collect taxes for such things, and so this one townsperson, after weeks and weeks of the states arguing, he says to himself, I’m gonna get us a damn bridge. So he campaigns to every possibly responsible authority he can, newspapers pick up the story, still no bridge and the same nonsense about jurisdiction from both states and the feds. Finally, he decides to go for broke, and writes to the Soviet Union requesting foreign aid to rebuild their bridge. So, the Soviets send a journalist. And, ridiculously quickly, the feds say they’ll pay for the bridge. (The Soviet Union then promises, if the US Federal Government doesn’t actually follow through, the Soviet Union will get the bridge built.) The bridge is built at Federal expense. It still stands today. The generally accepted story among the general public is that the feds just built the bridge to get rid of the Soviet journalist before “US Federal Government Cannot Afford Basic Infrastructure, Local Authorities Seek Foreign Aid” ended up in a Moscow newspaper. Though I’m sure the US Government would give a different official explanation of the incident.
(Specifically, “I can build my own infrastructure, thankyouverymuch!” reminds me a lot of the guy’s supposed line, “I’m gonna get us that damn bridge”.)
Just appaling. How dare they.
I can build my own infrastructure, thankyouverymuch!
For some reason, this reminds me of that time in the Cold War, that a rickety footbridge collapsed.
Small accident, not a single injury directly resulting.
This very small accident caused an international incident.
Because the town was a US state border town, neither state would take responsibility and replace the bridge, the feds said it was a state matter for the states to sort between themselves, and the town certainly couldn’t afford it themselves nor did they have a municipal government to collect taxes for such things, and so this one townsperson, after weeks and weeks of the states arguing, he says to himself, I’m gonna get us a damn bridge. So he campaigns to every possibly responsible authority he can, newspapers pick up the story, still no bridge and the same nonsense about jurisdiction from both states and the feds. Finally, he decides to go for broke, and writes to the Soviet Union requesting foreign aid to rebuild their bridge. So, the Soviets send a journalist. And, ridiculously quickly, the feds say they’ll pay for the bridge. (The Soviet Union then promises, if the US Federal Government doesn’t actually follow through, the Soviet Union will get the bridge built.) The bridge is built at Federal expense. It still stands today. The generally accepted story among the general public is that the feds just built the bridge to get rid of the Soviet journalist before “US Federal Government Cannot Afford Basic Infrastructure, Local Authorities Seek Foreign Aid” ended up in a Moscow newspaper. Though I’m sure the US Government would give a different official explanation of the incident.
(Specifically, “I can build my own infrastructure, thankyouverymuch!” reminds me a lot of the guy’s supposed line, “I’m gonna get us that damn bridge”.)