My dad told me this back in the 60s when “communists” were the big bugaboo.
When a professor is fired for communism, you can be pretty sure the real reason was personal. The dean can’t put “I don’t like him” on an official form.
This applies in all areas of life, not just hiring and firing. The officially given reason for an event is never right. Sometimes the real reason is an evil conspiracy, sometimes it’s personal, sometimes it’s just random.
I’m thinking about two “accepted stories” in automotive history. Neither makes sense.
1. The ‘palace revolution’ at GM in 1957. I’ve debunked this one before.
2. Supposely intermittent windshield wipers were developed late because the carmakers didn’t want to pay the inventor for the patent. Good conspiracy theory, but in fact the patent wasn’t needed. Chrysler introduced electric wipers in 1940. The flashing relay that could make wipers intermittent was already common then. Aftermarket turn signals were available in the 30s and became optional in 1938.
The experience of intermittent wiping was already present with vacuum wipers. When you turned the knob partly on, the wipers would hold still until the glass was wet enough to slide, then make a couple of wipes until the glass was dry again. Soft power can be a kind of intelligence.
If anyone had WANTED to make intermittent wipers, the experience and the parts were in plain sight. Most carmakers were desperately trying new electrical gimmicks to break out of the Depression, so they weren’t complacent or lazy. They just didn’t think the gain in sales was worth the expense of design and tooling.
