October 24, 1960: John Wayne's "Alamo" Lie

October 24, 1960: The film The Alamo premieres. John Wayne had wanted to make a film about the March 6, 1836 siege of the former Spanish mission in San Antonio for 15 years. He plays Davy Crockett, and, since Crockett died at the Alamo, this is one of the few films in which a character played by John Wayne dies. His son Patrick Wayne plays an officer who survives, because he's sent out to get reinforcements. His daughter Aissa Wayne also appears.

Richard Widmark plays Jim Bowie. Laurence Harvey plays William Travis. Doo-wop singer Frankie Avalon plays Smitty, a young soldier who is an aide to Crockett. Denver Pyle, later known as Uncle Jesse on The Dukes of Hazzard, plays Thimblerig the Gambler. Richard Boone, then playing Paladin on Have Gun -- Will Travel, plays Sam Houston, who gets revenge at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.

Ruben Padilla plays Generalissimo Antonio Miguel Lopez de Santa Anna, defending Mexico from the Texans.

"Remember the Alamo!" the Texans said in 1836. Modern Texans still say it today. But they don't remember what really happened. What are the 2 things present-day Texans hate the most? Illegal immigrants and other criminals. The Texans at the Alamo were both of those things: What is now the City of San Antonio was then part of Mexico, and they were there without permission; and they were slaveholders, and slavery had been abolished in Mexico in 1829 -- officially. Clearly, in practice, the country had not been able to fully do so.

In other words, at the Alamo, the good guys won. But the Texans yelled, "Remember the Alamo!" at San Jacinto 46 days later, won that, and declared independence. Then, in 1844, when it looked like Mexico was going to take them back, they called their Uncle Sam for help. Cowards.

And then, to thank America for saving their asses, they seceded in 1861, because they decided that having slaves was more important than accepting that all men are created equal.

And then, nearly a century later, John Wayne made a movie about the Alamo, and, of course, any side that The Duke is on must be the heroic one, right? Wrong: The men "defending the Alamo" were no heroes. And John Wayne was no hero.

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October 24, 1960 was a Monday. Actor BD Wong and golfer Ian Baker-Finch were born.

Baseball season was over. Football was in midweek: There would be no Monday Night Football for another 10 years. And there were no games scheduled in the NHL. There was 1 game in the NBA: The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, newly moved from Minneapolis, 111-101 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.