Accept Nothing Less Than Full Victory

When it comes to important dates in history, some days are more equal than others. And today, June 6, is one of those days.

That’s because today marks the 74th anniversary of D-Day, a seminal event in the history of human conflict and the struggle against collectivist tyranny.

It was June 6, 1944. On that day, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coastline in Normandy, France. They did so, of course, to fight Nazi Germany, and to try to put an end to the existence of one of the ugliest, most philosophically repugnant regimes the world has ever seen.

In his comments about the D-Day invasion, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” (If you want to experience “goose bumps,” I highly recommend listening to Gen. Eisenhower’s D-Day message for yourself. I assure you it’s two minutes well spent).

In doing so, the United States and the Allied troops sent more than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft in to support the invasion. Close to my heart are the over 13,000 paratroopers from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne Divisions.

I say “close to my heart” because today I feel a sense of pride, having also been a member of the elite U.S. Army paratrooper forces, and for also having gone through essentially the same training my fellow paratroopers went through some three-quarters of a century ago.

American soldiers leave a landing craft tank to storm Omaha Beach on D-Day, 1944.

Now, in conducting the D-Day operation, the Allied troops suffered more than 9,000 killed or wounded. Yet it was their bravery and ultimate sacrifice that allowed some 100,000 soldiers essentially to gain a foothold in Continental Europe, literally by the end of that gruesome June day, 74 years ago.

Of course, the battle for Europe had just begun on June 6, 1944, and there was much more death and destruction that followed for both sides. Yet through it all, the United States carried with it the principle that we would accept nothing less than full victory.

That principle, and the relentless mindset it reveals, is really the only way to approach one’s own life.

Think about it: we are born, and from that moment on we are engaged in a battle for survival. As humans, we have no choice but to use our most salient feature to facilitate that existence, i.e. the faculty of reason. That’s why Aristotle called man the “rational animal.”

Our reason allows us to solve problems, and to provide for our basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter. Our reason also allows us to form societies, to write laws that protect individual rights and to understand what’s required to produce the goods and services necessary for that survival.  

It is this rational realization that’s led us to what we have today — a capitalist economy fueled by the financial markets, and one that allows us to participate in the ownership of great companies (i.e. via the equity markets) and to lend our own capital to help fund other companies (i.e. the bond markets).

The way I see it, we have no choice but to exercise our minds, and to use our rational faculties to sustain our lives. Now, any particular individual certainly can abdicate this responsibility, but that doesn’t change the fact that his or her survival will still depend on another person’s reason applied to the challenge of survival.

And it is in this effort that we should accept nothing less than full victory for ourselves, for our families and for our society. And it is this mindset that, for me, is the takeaway to ponder on this day, June 6, D-Day.

If you want to find out more about how I apply the “accept nothing less than full victory” mindset in my newsletter advisory services, then I invite you to check out my Successful Investing, Intelligence Report and Fast Money Alert advisory services today, D-Day.

Fast Money Summit and FreedomFest Agenda Now Posted Online!  

Today, I am very happy to announce that the tentative agenda for the “Fast Money Summit” and FreedomFest are now posted! 

Go to https://www.freedomfest.com/agenda-3/ and check out over 200 speakers, panels, debates and exhibitors. It represents thousands of hours of work. See why FreedomFest is the #1 conference in the world.  

The dates, July 11-14, are only five weeks away. Our room block at Paris and Bally’s will end in two weeks! We have over 1,500 people coming.

The Fast Money Summit Will Take Place in the Vendome A Room at the Paris Resort

Register now at www.freedomfest.com, or call toll-free: 1-855-850-3733, ext. 202. Be sure to use the code EAGLE100 to get $100 off the registration fee. See you on 7/11 in Las Vegas.

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A Decisive Moment

“World War II was a decisive time in our history and June 6, 1944, marked the decisive moment of the war.”

— Lane Evans

The late U.S. congressman was spot on with his assessment of what this day in history meant for the war, for the United States and for the free world. Let us never forget what happened on this June day on the beaches of Normandy, 74 years ago.   

Wisdom about money, investing and life can be found anywhere. If you have a good quote you’d like me to share with your fellow readers, send it to me, along with any comments, questions and suggestions you have about my newsletters, seminars or anything else. Click here to ask Jim.