> > >>> Michael Hoover <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 05/12/00 05:48PM >>btw:
> >Michael Parenti has noted that policy of containing spread of
> >slavery was promptly reversed following death of President Zachary
> >Taylor (southern slaveowner opposed to extension of slavery and
> >secession) death. Parenti's article "The Strange Death of President
> >Zachary Taylor" (*New Political Science*, Vol. 20, #2: June 1998)
> >raises questions about official cause of death (severe indigestion
> >from eating too many iced cherries with milk after sitting too long
> >in sun, or something like that), looks askance at mainstream
> >historians' parroting of official line despite insufficient evidence,
> >and critiques conclusion drawn from 1991 exhumation that Taylor was
> >not poisoned.
> >
> >CB: Soon someone will denigrate Parenti as a conspiracy theorist.
> >Coup d'etats may be more common in U.S. history than legends of
> >American democracy have it.
> >CB
>
> I'll denigrate Parenti for being unwilling to look at evidence--they
> did dig the guy up, after all, out of historical curiosity...
> Brad DeLong
Beautiful Charles! I had included similar comment at end of my post but
decided to erase it to see if anyone would make that charge (even as I
had hunch that you might comment as you did). Actually, Parenti was
subjected to allegation - and not by mainstream historians but by
reviewers & editor of *Radical History* journal who rejected his essay
for concluding possible altered history had Taylor lived (which
Parenti does not conclude) despite being impressed by his forensic
critique.
re. Brad Delong comment... Have you read Parenti article or are you
playing role of what C. Wright Mills called 'crackpot realist?' Gotta
love your appeal to ubiquitous - and 'neutral' - 'They'...
Taylor was 'dug up' via court order initiated at request of writer
Clara Rising who was researching book on Taylor. As for Parenti
not looking at evidence, well, footnotes in his piece include following:
'Results of Exhumation of Zachary Taylor," released by the Office of the
Coroner, Jefferson County, KY (Septemr 1991)
'Final Diagnosis: Taylor, Zachary," no date, signed by George Nichols,
attached to a brief statement entitled 'Post Mortem Examination of the
Body of Taylor, Zachary ME-91-514,' no date, location, letterhead or
author
Report on colorimetric spectrophotometry tests done on Taylor's hair and
nails, filed on 29 June 1991 by Michael Ward, forensic scientist, KY
Dept. of Health Services, Divison of Laboratory Services, Frankfurt, KY
Data with handwritten title 'U of L scanning electron microscope EDAX,'
no date, from Beverly Giammara and David Birch, Analytical Electron
Microscope Laboratory, University of Louisville (no final report released)
Letter to George Nichols from Drs. Frank Dyer & Larry Robinson, Oakridge
National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN
Telephone interviews (conducted by Peggy Noton): Dr. Richard Greathouse
(county coroner in Louisville), Dr. Vincent Guinn (forensic consultant,
University of Maryland), Dr. Richard Bisbing (senior research
microscopist, McCone Laboratory, Chicago), Dr. Frank Dyer (identified
above), Clara Rising
Of course, if you're really interested in any of this, see above citation
included with previous post, you can read article yourself.
Michael Hoover
