Dragqueen(dot)Racing

  Picture yourself in Washington DC on a rainy fall evening in 1941.  As you stand under an awning, trench coat and fedora soaked from the rain, a similarly outfitted man approaches.  “Is it ready?  Do you have it with you?” he asks in a British accent.  “We’re out of time.”  You nod and jiggle the leather valise in your hand.  He lets out a sigh of relief.  “You may have just saved Britain,” he says as you hand him the briefcase.  Inside, a map detailing Nazi Germany’s plans to invade South America has begun its journey into the hands of US President Franklin Roosevelt.  Two days later, FDR will address the nation at the Mayflower hotel.  The following part is real, by the way. “I have in my possession a secret map made by Hitler’s government. It is a map of South America and part of Central America, as Hitler proposes to reorganize it,” FDR will tell the crowd.  With American approval for involvement in a war in Europe ho...

  Wednesday night, August 28, 1968, Chicago Illinois.   Inside the International Amphitheater, the Democratic National Convention was nearing its conclusion.  Fights had broken out on the convention floor between supporters of Vice President Hubert Humphrey and those of Senators Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern, as well as supporters of civil rights-focused candidates Julian Bond and Channing Phillips.  Security guards shoved CBS reporter Dan Rather to the ground while he was attempting to interview delegates live on the air.   Outside, in nearby Grant Park, the Battle of Michigan Avenue was raging.  An absolutely astonishing amount of law enforcement gathered to confront a menagerie of loosely aligned protest groups.  In total, 12,000 Chicago cops and 15,000 Army service members and National Guard troops arrived in downtown Chicago to confront protestors with overwhelming force.  The mayhem was captured on film by reporters from nearly eve...