Marijuana saved George Bush Sr. life

[swoopfly 5]

Five years after cannabis hemp was outlawed in 1937, it was promptly re-introduced for the World War II effort in 1942.

So, when the young pilot George Bush bailed out of his burning airplane after a battle over the Pacific, little did he know:


* Parts of his aircraft engine were lubricated with cannabis hempseed oil;

* 100% of his life-saving parachute webbing was made from U.S. grown cannabis hemp;

* Virtually all the rigging and ropes of the ship that pulled him in were made of cannabis hemp;

* The firehoses on the ship (as were those in the schools he had attended) were woven from cannabis hemp; and,

* Finally, as young George Bush stood safely on the deck, his shoes’ durable stitching was of cannabis hemp, as it is in all good leather and military shoes to this day.

Yet Bush spent a good deal of his career eradicating the cannabis plant and enforcing laws to make certain that no one will learn this information—possibly including himself.…

[fastphil 0]

Like much of our governments efforts, it doesn't make sense to me; guess I'm an outlaw...

[airtwardo 6]

Wait...what?

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[vanair 0]

It was a submarine. What else did you get wrong?

[swoopfly 5]

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It was a submarine. What else did you get wrong?

from a quick google search.........

USS Finback (SS-230), a Gato-class submarine was the first SHIP of the United States Navy to be named for the finback, the common whale of the Atlantic coast of the United States.

[timmyfitz 0]

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It was a submarine. What else did you get wrong?

Marijuana and hemp are not the same thing.

[pchapman 261]

Yeah I notice that "marijuana saved George Bush" stuff is out on the web.

But since this is History & Trivia, do we actually have evidence that hemp was used in his parachute harness?

Hemp had been used in parachute harnesses and lines very early on, and the US military did use cotton, linen (flax), nylon, and hemp, sometimes with two types woven together, at different times before the end of WWII. Poynter's tends not to mention all the variations, but I saw a technical document from Wright Field in 1954 that goes over some of the changing standards. But I haven't seen anything technical that specifically gets into the use of hemp in parachute systems by the US in WWII.

[swoopfly 5]

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It was a submarine. What else did you get wrong?

Marijuana and hemp are not the same thing.

Really??? Maybe you can point me in the direction of where these different things come from since they are not the same.

I can guarantee you that if you made your own hemp, for some reason our government would charge you with manufacturing marijuana aswell. But thats crazy officer as you can clearly see this is just hemp i am producing so i do not know where the marijuana charge came from........As they are so clearly not the same!!

[swoopfly 5]

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Yeah I notice that "marijuana saved George Bush" stuff is out on the web.

But since this is History & Trivia, do we actually have evidence that hemp was used in his parachute harness?

Hemp had been used in parachute harnesses and lines very early on, and the US military did use cotton, linen (flax), nylon, and hemp, sometimes with two types woven together, at different times before the end of WWII. Poynter's tends not to mention all the variations, but I saw a technical document from Wright Field in 1954 that goes over some of the changing standards. But I haven't seen anything technical that specifically gets into the use of hemp in parachute systems by the US in WWII.

This information is in the book written by Jack Herer, The Emperor wears no clothes.

[pchapman 261]

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This information is in the book written by Jack Herer, The Emperor wears no clothes.

Thanks for that clue.

That's a pro-hemp book, an abridged version of which is on the web / torrents. (Not sure about the full one).

In the Bush section his references are:

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(USDA film, Hemp for Victory, 1942; U. of KY Agricultural Ext. Service Leaflet 25, March 1943;
Galbraith, Gatewood, Kentucky Marijuana Feasibility Study, 1977.)

I haven't found the leaflet or study, but the Hemp for Victory video is on the web, as is a transcript. It mentions the agricultural WWII production in the US, and use for ships ropes etc.

One quote is:

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All such plants will presently be turning out products spun from American-grown hemp: twine of various kinds for tying and upholster's work; rope for marine rigging and towing; for hay forks, derricks, and heavy duty tackle; light duty firehose; thread for shoes for millions of American soldiers; and parachute webbing for our paratroopers.

While I haven't seen all his sources, it looks suspiciously like the original author (Herer) simply took a list of possible or historical uses for hemp, and pretended that he knew for certain that the actual articles used by George Bush (or on the mythical rescue ship) were made of hemp rather than the various other materials in use. It is quite the coincidence that firehoses and the thread in his shoes are mentioned!

Also, the limited evidence I have of the design of US military bailout rigs in WWII shows very little role for hemp. (Details below)

Therefore on the balance of probabilities, I consider "marijuana (or hemp) saved George Bush's life" to be

--------- DEBUNKED ---------




More detail:

German paratrooper and bailout harnesses in WWII were apparently hemp made (entirely or partially?), and colour photos of old equipment is consistent with this (showing a rougher medium brown harness).

But what about in the US? Poynter's mentions plenty of cotton harnesses for the US military, and towards the end of the war nylon started to be used more as it was industrialized. I didn't seen anything about hemp. Poynter doesn't necessarily include every fact, but he does go through different styles of harnesses (back, seat, etc) for the different US military branches.

The 1954 Wright Air Development Center report TR 54-49 had a section from the Navy about parachute harnesses. An early Army-Navy spec for "linen, linen-hemp, and linen-ramie" was used at one time but resulted in a stiff and uncomfortable harness. This was superseded by more flexible linen harnesses, also with much increased strength due to improved manufacturing methods. This was suitable for the increasing speeds of aircraft. Then as WWII came, sources of flax from Europe dried up, so a new standard used by the Navy came up, that specified cotton, with just slightly reduced strength. A second cotton spec came out with an improved weave -- the original swelled up too much when damp making it hard to adjust.

One photo on the web of Bush in his cockpit shows a very smooth, flexible harness on him. That could have been at some other point in his WWII Avenger service.

Between the photo and the navy specs, it seems unlikely that George Bush wore a harness that was of hemp or partially of hemp. Still, I can't rule out that there other things going on that my limited study didn't find.

[timmyfitz 0]

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It was a submarine. What else did you get wrong?

Marijuana and hemp are not the same thing.

Really??? Maybe you can point me in the direction of where these different things come from since they are not the same.

Today in the U.S., hemp (meaning the roots, stalk, and stems of the cannabis plant) is legal to possess. No one can arrest you for wearing a hemp shirt, or using hemp paper. Marijuana (The flowers, buds, or leaves of the cannabis plant) is not legal to possess, and there are stiff fines and possible jail terms for having any marijuana in your possession.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=marijuana vs hemp

[JohnRich 4]

Good research. Yes, this just looks like a weak attempt to justify smoking marijuana, because a former President might have had the soles of his shoes sewed on with hemp cord. Yeah, right...

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One photo on the web of Bush in his cockpit shows a very smooth, flexible harness on him. That could have been at some other point in his WWII Avenger service.

Between the photo and the navy specs, it seems unlikely that George Bush wore a harness that was of hemp or partially of hemp. Still, I can't rule out that there other things going on that my limited study didn't find.

Here is a photo of a bailout rig from the same batch in which Bush's was made. It's taken from the thread titled "President Bush's Skydive, 1999", where the rig is housed in the Bush Library & Museum.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2009-11/1349507/04%20c%20Parachute%201.JPG
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2009-11/1349507/04%20c%20Parachute%202.JPG

[ripcord4 0]

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It was a submarine. What else did you get wrong?

from a quick google search.........

USS Finback (SS-230), a Gato-class submarine was the first SHIP of the United States Navy to be named for the finback, the common whale of the Atlantic coast of the United States.

USN submarines are generally considered to be boats.

[skypuppy 1]

Seems to me there's different varieties of hemp plants, and the ones grown for fibers (cloth, etc.) or oils for cooking, have lower thc content than the ones I used to grow at university.

Incidently, there is a hemp farm (legitimate one) down the road from me.

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[Andy9o8 0]

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Quote

Quote

It was a submarine. What else did you get wrong?

from a quick google search.........

USS Finback (SS-230), a Gato-class submarine was the first SHIP of the United States Navy to be named for the finback, the common whale of the Atlantic coast of the United States.

USN submarines are generally considered to be boats.

Not the point. How much hemp rigging would have been on submarines?
A clipper ship, maybe...