Daily US History

September 27 is the anniversary of the day that Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was first published in 1962. The book was a scathing report on the damage that pesticides were causing to the environment and collusion between the chemical oligarchs and government officials.

For four years, she had gathered research and data, and had each chapter peer reviewed by scientific experts. It carefully detailed how DDT would slowly work its way through the food chain, poisoning the entire chain. The book gets its title from a fictitious town where we did nothing about DDT, poisoning all the animals. No more birds, no more children.

The chemical companies attacked her accreditation, increased government lobbying, and attempted to reframe the book as calling for an outright ban on pesticides. Monsanto even went so far as to produce a parody booklet that described a desolate world without pesticides.

The government reacted immediately with all sorts of character assassination. The Secretary of Agriculture said that she was "Probably a communist", and wondered why "a spinster was so concerned with genetics.". They even released a propaganda film about fire ants in an attempt to market pesticides.

There was just one problem here. She was right. As much as the oligarchs and their official cronies conspired to discredit her, the evidence was plainly obvious for all to see. The book took off, and popular support forced the US regime to start the Environment Protection Agency, which would place limits on capitalist destruction. DDT was banned in the US. Bird populations began to recover.

However, the corrupt regime still tries to discredit her to this day. Even going so far as to compare her to Hitler.