October 31

"Let peace and prosperity be restored to the land. May God bless this people: may God save the Constitution."

Andrew Johnson, 17th President, 1865-1869. From a speech given to a special session of the Senate on March 22,1875. Ten years after the end of The Civil War, Reconstruction had attempted to bring the nation back together. However, the nation was still in turmoil, with among other issues, disputes in elections as Republicans accused Democrats of of unfair and violent election practices and Democrats accused the Republicans of corruption. In one instance, government troops were sent to Louisiana to attempt to restore order. In that state, two competing legislatures had been elected and each attempted to send their chosen Senator to Congress. A dispute ensued whether or not President Grant had the right to send government troops to solve state election issues. Johnson, who had been recently elected to the Senate, gave his speech opposing the Federal intervention, siting numerous examples from the Constitution. It was to be his last public speech, as he died on July 31, 1875. From The Senate, 1789-1989: Classic speeches, 1830-1993, Volume 3, edited by Wendy Wolff.

October 30, Birthdate of John Adams, 1735

"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth."

2nd President, 1797-1801

October 29

"Liberty must be allowed to work out its natural results, and these will, ere long, astonish the world. "

James Buchanan, 15th President, 1857-1861

October 28

"Forgive your enemies but never forget their names."

John F. Kennedy, 35th President, 1961-1963-attributed to Kennedy. Kennedy never wanted to make political friends so likewise he never really considered opponents to be enemies. One telling journal entry reads, "In politics you don't have friends-you have confederates." (Matthews, Chris; Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero, Simon & Schuster, New York, New York, 2011, p. 79) Rather, he held on to his old friends from school and his World War II years. After the war, he worked for a time as a reporter and columnist for The Chicago Herald-American. He soon came to realize he wanted to influence policy rather than report on it. He had high ambitions and rose from being elected to Congress in 1946, to the Senate in 1953, and to the Presidency in 1961. Because of his ambitions and desire to be independent, Kennedy did not consider himself indebted to any one individual nor group despite their rank or experience, nor to his party, despite whatever help they may have given him. On the other hand, they might have considered him beholden to them. Thus, his enemies may have thought that he needed to ask them for forgiveness, rather than the other way around. When Kennedy was assassinated, there was much conjecture and speculation as to who might have actually been responsible. Fifty years later, conspiracy theorists have placed blame on many groups. Within the government, the CIA and its leaders were suspect. They were angry that he did not support the invasion of Cuba at The Bay of Pigs in 1961, nor follow their recommendations to bomb Cuba during the Russian Missile Crisis in 1962. Also, the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover may have motivated to eliminate Kennedy, whose powers he and his brother, Bobby, as Attorney General, sought to curtail. There is speculation that "The Mob" or organized crime leaders had a hand in the conspiracy. Kennedy's father, Joseph, a "businessman" had gained much of his fortune in the 1920's and 1930's. Allegedly he had his "friends" influence and rig elections around the country to help John get elected. Despite their "help", many bosses were prosecuted and imprisoned for interstate racketeering as Kennedy again oversaw his brother, Bobby, in his bid to lessen the influence of organized crime. Even Kennedy's Vice-President, Lyndon Johnson, of Texas, has been implicated. Supposedly, his motivation would have been his own desire to be President. Johnson, a career politician with a reputation for heavy handed power plays, had also aspired to the Presidency in 1960, but was picked for Vice-President to get the Southern vote, and then was marginalized and left out of decision or policy making processes. On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas. Charming and popular as Kennedy was, he was also a calculating politician who left many angry and "influential" people in his wake.

October 27

"Get  action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster."

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President, 1901-1909- attributed to Roosevelt in letters to his children. First quoted from a letter to J. A. Roosevelt (Roosevelt's uncle) written by Theodore's father, Theodore Roosevelt, Senior. (McCullough, David, "Mornings on Horseback", Simon and Schuster, New York, New York, 1981, p. 31) Although this phrase may not have been originally uttered by the future President, it certainly is a standard theme and motivating idea and a driving force in his life. Roosevelt was quite sickly as a young boy, nervous and afraid of many things, and suffered from severe asthma. When little Theodore would suffer an attack at night, his father would " take him in his arms and walk the floor with him for hours." (ibid, p. 36)The rest of the time, Roosevelt's father was an authority figure but also a great companion. He taught his children to ride horses and to climb trees. As they grew older he tried to include them in his own outside activities. Roosevelt's father hated idleness. From that point of view, the phrase and sentiment most likely arose: "Get action. Seize the moment. Man was not intended to become and oyster." Perhaps the phrase had some reference to the Roosevelt's summer home at Oyster Bay on Long Island. Oysters are similar to clams, but early in their life, they attach themselves to a safe spot and remain there their entire lives. Young Theodore became interested in, almost obsessed, with natural history and wild life. He began a collection of birds that he would capture and stuff them himself. He became a reader of books on poetry, science, and history would report on what he had read to anyone who would listen. However, he remained sickly until his father took him aside and told him that he had to build and take charge of his body. He began an exercise regimen and his father even hired boxing coaches and took him on summer hikes and camping expeditions. He started to "get action" and never stopped. Even long after his father passed away, he remained a strong guiding influence on Roosevelt. When Theodore left to go to college at Harvard, his father wrote to him, "Take care of your morals first, your health next, and, finally, your studies.'' (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/tr-transcript/) Theodore was a boon companion to his children as well. He became President at the age of 42 and he and his second wife, Edith, brought their six children and the Roosevelt rambunctiousness to the White House. One child had been born to his previous wife, Alice, who had died as a result of complications from giving birth. The children had free run of the White House and were known to have dropped water balloons on the guards and given elevator rides to their shetland pony, Algonquin. Their menagerie also included six dogs, snakes, a macaw parrot, cats, rats, guinea pigs, and a flying squirrel. Roosevelt also took great pleasure in telling ghost and cowboy stories and in leading the children and guests on hikes and swims at their Sagamore Hill summer home.

October 26

"A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk."

Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President, 1933-1945- Radio Address to the New York Herald Tribune Forum, October 26, 1939. The social media of 1939 was radio and The New York Herald Forum was a program that drew statesmen from around the world to discuss current problems. Roosevelt, a master of "social media" in his time, of course, took the opportunity to participate. 1939 had been a very eventful and historic year in the United States and around the world. Germany had invaded Poland in March of that year, Great Britain had declared war on Germany, in India Gandhi had begun a fast as India continued its quest to gain independence from Great Britain, and Japan was at war with China. In the United States, two now classic movies would be released: "The Wizard of Oz" in August and "Gone with the Wind" in December. Baseball great, Lou Gerhig was forced to end his baseball career with the New York Yankees due to the disease that now bears his name and Ted Williams began his career with the Boston Red Sox. Frank Sinatra began his recording career and Kate Smith belted out her rendition of "God Bless America". As Roosevelt gave his address on October 26, Germany had recently plundered Nazi occupied areas on October 19. Two weeks prior to his address, he had met with Albert Einstein and had been briefed on the possibility of developing the atom bomb. In the radio forum, on October 26, Roosevelt speaks of the speed and pace of progress and democracy. He states that some governments and individuals seek to move too quickly and arbitrarily, causing conflict and war. Others wish to move too slowly or not at all, with the same results. He gives his definitions of Radicals, Conservatives, Reactionaries, and Liberals: "A Radical is a man with both feet firmly planted— in the air"; "A Conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward"; "A Reactionary is a somnambulist walking backwards" and "A Liberal is a man who uses his legs and his hands at the behest-at the command—of his head". Roosevelt states that those of the extreme right or left sharpen to the "argument" or discussion, but they should merely serve to make us realize the value of "the democratic middle course", where he states he plots a course "just a little bit left of center." He ends his address stating that the United States, in regards to the growing European and Asian conflicts, "is neutral and does not intend to get involved in war". As we know know, however, his stated policy of neutrality changed over the subsequent two years, as we increased our amount support to Great Britain, and the United States was eventually drawn to declare war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

October 25

"The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted."

James Madison, 4th President, 1809-1817- from Madison's notes during the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, July 11, 1787. The United States of America didn't just "appear" on July 4, 1776 with the Declaration of Independence. The war for independence was fought until October 19, 1781 when General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia. The Treaty of Paris was subsequently signed on September 3, 1783, officially recognizing the United states as an independent country. Of course, we know George Washington was our first President, but he did not take office until 1789. What happened between those years of 1783 and 1789? The new nation started its existence guided by the Articles of Confederation, which created a nation of pre-existing states, rather than a government over individuals. (http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/intro/). The result was strong state and local government but a weak centralized government. In stepped Madison, along with other statesmen, including George Washington. The solution, concluded Madison, was to create an extended republic, in which a variety of opinions, passions, and interests would check and balance each other, supported by a governmental framework that endorsed a separation of powers between the branches of the general government. (http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/intro/). Thus, in February of 1787, the Confederation Congress endorsed the meeting of the Grand Convention “for the sole purpose of revising the articles of Confederation and reporting to Congress...(to)render the federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union.” It is during these sessions of debate and discussion that Madison makes his quote. On that day, the discussion turned toward representation. Some believed that the majority should rule. Others held that men of wealth and education should have more say. They would be bound by duty, honor, and their oaths. If that were not enough, they should not represent the people. The discussion turned to who would be more trustworthy- those of the North, South, or the West. Here, Madison, ever the wit, gives his opinion: To reconcile the gentleman with himself, it must be imagined that he determined the human character by the points of the compass. Then on a more serious note: The truth was that all men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree...(it) had been mentioned where it was admitted that those who were possessed of the power in the original settlement, never admitted the new settlements to a due share of it. England was a still more striking example. The power there had long been in the hands of the boroughs, of the minority; who had opposed & defeated every reform which had been attempted.After much debate, disagreement, and controversy, the Constitution was adopted. The United States would have a centralized federal government and individuals and minorities would have rights and protection under the law; we would not be governed merely by majority rule.

October 24

"The second office of this government is honorable and easy, the first is but splendid misery."

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President, 1801-1809. From a letter written to Elbridge Gerry Philadelphia, May 13, 1797. After George Washington declined to run for a third term, Jefferson came in second place to John Adams for President in the election of 1796, which, at that time, made him Vice-President. Gerry, a fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence, was to become the namesake for the term, Gerrymandering, where voting boundaries were redrawn for the political advantage of one party over another. In 1793, Jefferson had returned to farming and his scientific pursuits after resigning as the first Secretary of State over disputes with Alexander Hamilton in regards to how much power the federal government should have over the states. Jefferson believed the states should have more power than the Federal government, while Hamilton supported a stronger Federal government, as did John Adams. To Jefferson, "federalists in high government posts were "timid men who prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty." (From a letter written in April 1796 to the Italian intellectual Philip Mazzei.) Thus, although Adams and Jefferson were great allies in favoring independence from Great Britain, they came to hold differing views as to how the new nation should be governed. As a result, when Jefferson was elected as Vice President, he did not serve as much of an aide to Adams, but instead concentrated on his duties of presiding over the senate, the role prescribed in the constitution. He was content to let Adams contend with the domestic and international conflicts of the time. Adams would not be a popular President, who in an attempt to prevent rebellion, encouraged laws to be passed which limited freedom of speech and of the press. Adams also had to deal with renewed conflicts with Great Britain and became embroiled in bribery scandals with France, our supposed ally. As Adams' popularity began to diminish, Jefferson, who did not view himself as part of the administration, began to position himself to become the the third President. It is debatable as to whether or not Jefferson's Vice-Presidential conduct was honorable, but his political moves did propel him in 1801 to the office of the President and its splendid misery.

October 23

"I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress."
Ronald Reagan, 40th President, 1981-1989, -found in a collection of one liners on 3x5 cards compiled by Reagan. Whether or not anyone agreed or disagreed with Reagan's politics and policies, no one could deny Reagan's ability to speak and warm up a room. Although seen as warm and friendly, Reagan took very strong stands was willing to engage in debate and discussion to uphold his viewpoint. Most of his speeches contained humorous remarks, but with a point. He is quoted as having said, "Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means." (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/ronaldreag169550.html#H4yBOqgmSKjuiWFg.99) His daughter, Patti Davis, has said that his humor was a lifelong coping mechanism, stating, "I think everything goes back to the fact of him being the child of an alcoholic. He protected himself against the unpredictability of his home, by developing this sort of coating of humor over everything." (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-reagan-wit/) Reagan did mention the Ten Commandments many times over his career. His remarks might be said to reveal a couple more parts of his personality and beliefs: In terms of government, Reagan believed there was too much of it. In one speech to the National Association of Manufactures on March 18, 1982, Reagan said, ". . . It is reported to us," ..."that the Lord's Prayer contains 57 words. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has 266 words. The Ten Commandments are presented in just 297 words, and the Declaration of Independence has only 300 words." And then it goes on to say," . . . an Agriculture Department order setting the price of cabbage has 26,911 words." He also quotes economist William Freund, "...(who) has said that if the Ten Commandments had been published as government regulations and issued on stone, Moses would have come down from Mt. Sinai with a sprained back and without the tablets." (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/) On a personal level, we glimpse Reagan's character and value systems in the following remark: "...Government exists to ensure that liberty does not become license to prey on each other. We haven't been perfect in living up to that ideal, but we've come a long way...and yet if we simply adhere to the Ten Commandments that Moses brought down from the mountains—and he didn't just bring down 10 suggestions—and the admonition of the Man from Galilee to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, we could solve an awful lot of problems with a lot less government." (Remarks at Kansas State University at the Alfred M. Landon Lecture Series on Public Issues, September 9, 1982)(http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/)

October 22

"I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also."

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President, 1901-1909, From a speech given March 23, 1911 at the University of California at Berkeley, at its Greek Theater, for its 43rd Annual Charter Day Ceremonies. As a leader, Roosevelt staunchly and confidently advances and justifies his views in increasing American political and cultural influence in the twentieth century. Incidentally, fifty-one years later, in 1962, President John F. Kennedy would also speak at Berkeley's Charter Day ceremonies, at the inception of the cultural upheaval of the 1960's. In March of 1911, Roosevelt had already been out of office for two years. In 1902, the United States had "supported" a revolution in which Panama had broken from Columbia and declared independence. Negotiations began almost immediately with the United States taking control of the stalled canal design and construction. In 1911, the Panama Canal was not yet completed and would not be opened for another three years, a project spanning from 1904-1914. Roosevelt, in addressing those whom he calls "... you students, young men and women, our masters of the future...", gives a broad and sweeping view of the advancement of western civilization. He acknowledges some failures and shortcomings American civilization and states, "We are often self congratulatory", but states, "I would like every man to remember that no other nation gives a rap about what we say of ourselves. They care for nothing except what we do." He makes these remarks to the students and faculty so they should have "...a full and intense realization the seriousness of your work." He sees more western advancement and states, "... I believe that in the future, it is on the Pacific that the greatest crises in world history will be faced...". As the speech progresses, Roosevelt states in terms of modern accomplishments, the building and engineering of the Panama Canal is "the greatest feat of the kind that has ever been attempted by civilized mankind". He justifies the controversial taking of control of the canal zone, stating, "...If I had acted strictly according to precedent, I should have turned the whole matter over to Congress, in which case, the Congress would ably be debating it at this moment, and the canal would be fifty years in the future. Fortunately, the crisis came at a period when I could act unhampered. Accordingly I took the Isthmus, started the canal, and then left Congress-not to debate the canal, but to debate me. And in portions of the public press, the debate still goes on as to whether or not I had acted properly in taking the canal." He closes the subject by saying, "In the field of practical achievement, in statecraft, and in such material work of the Panama Canal, America has done its full part... I am proud of this." (http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/images/research/txtspeeches/744.pdf) As Roosevelt rightly predicted, much conflict and advancement has swept across the Pacific in the past century.

October 21

"There is nothing wrong with America that can't be cured with what is right about America."

Bill Clinton, 42nd President, 1993-2001, from his First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1993. Ambitious, educated, entitled, and enabled, Bill Clinton, presided over a great period of economic growth. From his teenage years, he found he was good at speech and debate and became active in student government. He was inspired by Martin Luther King and also wanted to follow in the footsteps of John F Kennedy, whom he met in the summer of 1963 as an Arkansas delegate of Boys Nation. Majoring in International Affairs at Georgetown University, he won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University in England, staying involved in government all the while. He graduated from Yale Law School where he met Hillary Rodham and they married in 1975. She provided much support as he rose through the political ranks of Arkansas, where he was elected governor. Through his success in Arkansas, he gained prominence in national politics, and with Hillary's steadfast support, won the Democratic nomination for President in 1992, despite allegations of improprieties with several women. As the first President of the "Baby Boomer" generation, Clinton called for renewal of America: "...Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Americans have ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people. And we must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us. From our Revolution to the Civil War, to the Great Depression, to the civil rights movement, our people have always mustered the determination to construct from these crises the pillars of our history...Well, my fellow Americans, this is our time. Let us embrace it. Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. And so today we pledge an end to the era of deadlock and drift, and a new season of American renewal has begun...To renew America, we must be bold. We must do what no generation has had to do before. We must invest more in our own people, in their jobs, and in their future, and at the same time cut our massive debt. And we must do so in a world in which we must compete for every opportunity."

October 20

"There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves."

Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President, 1963-1969- "from a news conference at the LBJ Ranch, Stonewall, Texas, on Saturday, November 28, 1964." This quote, uttered almost off-handedly by Johnson, has many levels of depth. Here he speaks on a Thanksgiving weekend from his Texas home, while taking a break from his duties in Washington, just a little over a year since the unfortunate assassination of President Kennedy. Taken by itself, it sounds like a reassuring statement for a still frazzled nation. On that level, he makes a very wise and home-spun statement that applies to almost any family, community, or national issue. However, in its political context, it seems to be more a back handed swipe directed towards our French ally, Charles de Gaulle. Twenty years after the end of World War II, de Gaulle seeks more autonomy from the Atlantic Alliance, also know as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), which was formed in 1949 against further threats from Russia and East Germany. In the tense times of the 1960's Cold War between Russia and Western Europe and the United States, France seeks to be put on equal footing with Great Britain and the United States and to increase its military and nuclear power independently. Johnson states, "...The ultimate essentials of the defense of the Atlantic community are the firmness and the mutual trust of the United States and Europe...The safety of the United States depends upon the freedom of Europe, and the freedom of Europe depends upon the strength and the will of the United States...The United States is committed to the increasing strength and the cooperation of the Atlantic community in every field of action--economic, commercial, and monetary. There are no problems which we cannot solve together, and there are very few which any of us can settle by himself...The United States sees no safe future for ourselves and none for any other Atlantic nation in a policy of narrow national self-interest. One of the great aspirations within the Atlantic community is the aspiration toward growing unity among the free peoples of Europe...". Eventually a new European Union was formed but in 1966, France did pull out of complete compliance of the NATO alliance in its desire to strengthen itself. France also withdrew from its interests in French-Indo China (Vietnam). Partially as a result, Johnson and the United States escalated our military involvement in South-East Asia. The unpopular conflict grew and as more and more American lives were lost, in 1968 Johnson decided not to seek re-election. On a cultural level, the 1960's became a time of social upheaval with war and protest, draft-dodging, James Bond, the Civil Rights movement, hippies, and "the Generation Gap." Rather than solving problems together, the fabric of the nation was ripped apart and ever so slowly is spun and re-spun into our nation and world today.

October 19

"Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong."

Calvin Coolidge, 30th President, 1923-1929- from his "Have Faith in Massachusetts" Senate President Acceptance Speech, January 7, 1914. This speech, Coolidge's first as President of Massachusett's State Senate, is a tone setting "pep talk" for the legislature. At the time, Coolidge was forty two years of age and gaining prominence as he progressed from serving in the Massachusetts' House of Representatives to the Senate. Eventually he would be elected governor of Massachusetts and within ten year's time would be President of the United States. In his address, he thanks the Senate for the honor of being elected and recognized the obligations the came with the job. He goes on to state his philosophy of "law making", the chief function of any legislature..."Men do not make laws. They do but discover them. Laws must be justified by something more than the will of the majority. They must rest on the eternal foundation of righteousness." He sees our successful representative form of government, even with its human weaknesses, "as one which secures to the people more blessings than any other system ever produced." As he does throughout his life and career, he shows his regard and affection for Massachusetts and New England in general, and his home state of Vermont. In later years he would remark, "Vermont is a state I love. I could not look upon the peaks of Ascutney, Killington and Mansfield without being moved in a way that no other scene could move me. It was here that I first saw the light of day, here that I received my bride. Here my dead lie buried, pillowed among the everlasting hills. I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and invigorating climate, but most of all, I love her because of her indomitable people." (Address September 21, 1928) Likewise, he sets high standards for his fellow senators- "...Representative government must be preserved...The courts of Massachusetts are known and honored wherever men love justice. Let their glory suffer no diminution at our hands." He goes on to say, "Have faith in Massachusetts. In some unimportant detail some other States may surpass her, but in the general results, there is no place on earth where the people secure, in a larger measure, the blessings of organized government..." He makes his main point. "Do the day's work...If it be to protect the rights of the weak, whoever objects, do it. If it be to help a powerful corporation better to serve the people, whatever the opposition, do that...Expect to be called a demagogue, but don't be a demagogue...Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong... the final approval of the people is given not to demagogues, slavishly pandering to their selfishness, merchandising with the clamor of the hour, but to statesmen, ministering to their welfare, representing their deep, silent, abiding convictions." He concludes his remarks, saying, "To that, not to selfishness, let the laws of the Commonwealth appeal...Such is the foundation of liberty under the law. Such is the sublime revelation of man's relation to man, Democracy."

October 18

"We ought to be persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained."

George Washington, 1st President, 1789-1797, From Washington's Inaugural Address in New York, April 30, 1789. In the descriptive and nuanced style of the 1700's, Washington addresses the assembled Senate and House of Representatives for the first time- thirteen years after the Declaration of Independence. In a fairly brief but remarkable speech, Washington shows his love for country, his desire to gain the respect of the countries of the world, and that the American people give credit to the Great Author of every good and to follow the dictates of morality. Now at fifty-seven years of age, Washington states he had hoped to retire to Mt. Vernon, "as the asylum of my declining years...", but "I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from (my) retreat...". In another remarkable statement, he states he requires no pecuniary compensation, or pay, for performing his service to his beloved country as President, just as he had declined payment as Commander in Chief during the revolution- "When I was first honoured with a call into the Service of my Country, then on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have in no instance departed...and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the Station in which I am placed, may, during my continuance in it, be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require." Finally, in accordance with the great religious and philosophical sentiment of the age, he gives great credit to Providence for the success and emergence of the colonies "Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency." He places emphasis on the responsibility of the people to have continued devotion to ensure the success of the new nation..."(in) principles of private morality; and...(to)command the respect of the world...there is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists ... an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity:...we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained: And the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people." In his eyes, the blessings of success of the nation depend on the right conduct of its people.

October 17

"Always stand on principle...even if you stand alone."

John Quincy Adams, 6th President, 1825-1829, Attributed to the younger Adams. John Quincy Adams was a hard man to like and a complicated person. Although a successful statesman and one term President, he may almost be seen more as a prophet in the biblical sense, as he fought often solitary and unpopular battles for the conscience of the young and developing Unites States and its people. He had a vast and cultured background, mixed with a stubborn, almost savage nature, and some would say, personal depression. Born on July 11, 1767, the eldest child of John and Abigail Adams, he witnessed from afar the battle of Bunker Hill on June 17,1775 and subsequently experienced the danger and uncertainty of the American Revolution. When his father signed The Declaration of Independence, he feared for his father's life and feared the British might try to take his family hostage. As an adolescent, he spent seven years in Europe with his father who was a special envoy during the Revolution. During that time, at the age of fourteen, young John Quincy served as secretary and translator for his father's own envoy in St. Petersburg, Russia. When the end of the conflict was negotiated in Paris in 1783, Adams returned home with his father and earned his law degree at Harvard College. He pursued his own career as an envoy and statesman, eventually serving as Secretary of state under James Monroe. In 1824, he won the Presidential election in a highly controversial decision when Andrew Jackson won the popular vote, but Adams won the electoral vote after another candidate, Henry Clay, swung his electoral votes to Adams. Never able to gain much support for his policies, Adams served only one term as President. He did go on to serve nine terms in Congress where he fought a long, unpopular battle against slavery. Because slavery was allowed by the constitution, in 1837 Congress even passed a "gag rule" preventing discussions and petitions against slavery. Adams fought for seven years to overturn the rule and continued to speak out against "the merciless scourge of slavery", "the great and foul stain upon the North American Union". (American Statesman: John Quincy Adams, Edited by John T. Morse, Jr., Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Riverside Press, 1883). When asked if he were ever discouraged, Adams replied, "Duty is ours, results are God's." The gag rule was lifted in 1844 and the fight against slavery continued. Adams died February 23, 1848, two days after suffering a stroke on the floor of Congress, while voting against approval of what became the Mexican-American War.

October 16

"Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office seeking. Men of good character and impulses are betrayed by it into all sorts of meanness."

Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President, 1877-1881, From a diary entry written while at the Soldiers' Home, August 9, 1878. Many issues, some highly political and others more practical faced Hayes during his tenure in office. This quote serves as a corollary from his Inaugural Address in 1877 when he stated, "he serves his party best who serves his country best." Hayes attempts to gain independence as President, without having to be beholden to the Spoils system where party supporters were "supposed" to be appointed to federal offices for supporting and "contributing" monetarily to the party and the President. Hayes battled to reform the practice but was unsuccessful during his term. Only after the assassination of James Garfield, who followed Hayes, was a law passed prohibiting contributions or "assessments" from appointees and requiring entrance exams for potential office holders. The diary entry, itself, was written at what is called "Lincoln's Cottage" at the Soldier's Home, the summer residence of Presidents going back to the Lincoln administration. It was (and is) located on a hill three miles north of the White House in Washington D.C.. There were cooler breezes away from the disease bearing heat and humidity found nearer to the Capital, located on the Potomac River. (Lincoln is said to have spent his last night on earth at the cottage on April 13, 1865, before he was assassinated.) Hayes mentions the "season" of pestilence (Yellow Fever) in his December 2, 1878 State of the Union Address..."The enjoyment of health by our people generally has, however, been interrupted during the past season by the prevalence of a fatal pestilence (the yellow fever) in some portions of the Southern States, creating an emergency which called for prompt and extraordinary measures of relief...About 100,000 cases are believed to have occurred, of which about 20,000, according to intelligent estimates, proved fatal...The fearful spread of this pestilence has awakened a very general public sentiment in favor of national sanitary administration, which shall not only control quarantine, but have the sanitary supervision of internal commerce in times of epidemics, and hold an advisory relation to the State and municipal health authorities, with power to deal with whatever endangers the public health..." (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29519)

October 15

"It's plain hokum. If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em. It's an old political trick. But this time it won't work."

Harry S. Truman, 33rd President, 1945-1953, Address at the National Plowing Match, Dexter, Iowa, September 18,1948.(http://www.dexteriowa.org/) Truman was often the political underdog and outsider in Washington, D.C. politics. He was the last modern President to have not gained a college education and the "connections" that would have come as a result. He had applied to West Point, but was turned down due to his poor eyesight. He was very well read in history which contributed to his knowledge of government and leadership. Despite his "lack" of education, Truman's spirit, knowledge, and experience carried him forward. Merle Miller, from Iowa and a Washington correspondent, called Truman "an uncommon common man" and "the last real human being to occupy the White House". Truman's Secretary of state, Dean Acheson, once said of Truman, "I have read over and over again that he was an ordinary man. I consider him to be one of the most extraordinary human beings who ever lived." This speech was made as part on his famous "Whistle Stop" campaign of 1948 as he ran for President against the Republican candidate, Thomas E. Dewey. Truman was not given much chance of victory but he surprised the pundits and won the popular vote. Parts of the speech, presented at The National Plowing Match, which was a competition for $1500 in prize money and drew 80,000 people, give an idea of Truman's steadfast demeanor. World War II had been won in 1945 but the world and the nation were still in a state of conflict and flux. He states, "... It does my heart good to see the grain fields of the Nation again...The whole world has reason to be everlastingly grateful to the farmers of the United States. In a very real sense, the abundant harvests of this country are helping to save the world from communism. Communism thrives on human misery. And the crops you are producing are driving back the tide of misery in many lands. Your farms are a vital element in America's foreign policy. Keep that in mind, that is of vital importance to us and to the world...In this critical situation, my motto has been: "Keep your temper and stand firm." We have kept our tempers. We have stood firm. And we have been reasonable and straightforward at all times. He continues by saying he and the Democratic party can best help the farmers and laborers as long as they work together. He believes the Republican party is attempting to split the vote by creating animosity between city workers and country farmers: "... So long as the farmer, the worker, and the businessman pull together in the national interest, this country has everything to hope for...The Republican strategy is to divide the farmer and the industrial worker--to get them to squabbling with each other--so that big business can grasp the balance of power and take the country over, lock, stock, and barrel. To gain this end, they will stop at nothing. On the one hand, the Republicans are telling industrial workers that the high cost of food in the cities is due to this Government's farm policy. On the other hand, the Republicans are telling the farmers that the high cost of manufactured goods on the farm is due to this Government's labor policy. That's plain hokum. It's an old political trick. "If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'era." But this time it won't work. He concludes, "There is one way to stop the forces of reaction. Get every vote out on election day, and make it count. You can't afford to waste your votes this year. I'm not asking you just to vote for me. Vote for yourselves! Vote for your farms! Vote for the standard of living that you have won under a Democratic administration! Get out there on election day, and vote for your future! (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=13000)

October 14- Birthdate of Dwight David Eisenhower-1890

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."

34th President, 1953-1961, From his first Inaugural Address, January 20, 1953. Eisenhower, a Republican, was elected to the Presidency after the administrations of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S Truman. His rise paralleled that of the United States, itself, gaining prominence during World War I and becoming a world leader during and after the victory of World War II. He oversaw a period of peace and prosperity in the 1950's, oftentimes portrayed in television shows such as "Happy Days", contrasted with bomb shelters being built by some American families. There were also tough and controversial issues concerning the advancement of increased civil rights in education and economic opportunity. Under Eisenhower's leadership, the interstate freeway system was begun and NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was initiated. On the world stage, Eisenhower helped negotiate the end of the Korean War and saw the escalation of "The Cold War" with the Soviet Union. The United States and its citizens had won great freedoms and with those freedoms, held great responsibility. He starts his address with a prayer: "...Give us, we pray, the power to discern clearly right from wrong, and allow all our words and actions to be governed thereby, and by the laws of this land. Especially we pray that our concern shall be for all the people regardless of station, race, or calling...". My fellow citizens: The world and we have passed the midway point of a century of continuing challenge. We sense with all our faculties that forces of good and evil are massed and armed and opposed as rarely before in history. This fact defines the meaning of this day. We are summoned by this honored and historic ceremony to witness more than the act of one citizen swearing his oath of service, in the presence of God. We are called as a people to give testimony in the sight of the world to our faith that the future shall belong to the free...faith defines our full view of life. It establishes, beyond debate, those gifts of the Creator that are man's inalienable rights, and that make all men equal in His sight...The men who mine coal and fire furnaces and balance ledgers and turn lathes and pick cotton and heal the sick and plant corn—all serve as proudly, and as profitably, for America as the statesmen who draft treaties and the legislators who enact laws. This faith rules our whole way of life. It decrees that we, the people, elect leaders not to rule but to serve...Great as are the preoccupations absorbing us at home, concerned as we are with matters that deeply affect our livelihood today and our vision of the future, each of these domestic problems is dwarfed by, and often even created by, this question that involves all humankind. This trial comes at a moment when man's power to achieve good or to inflict evil surpasses the brightest hopes and the sharpest fears of all ages... Science seems ready to confer upon us, as its final gift, the power to erase human life from this planet...Realizing that common sense and common decency alike dictate the futility of appeasement, we shall never try to placate an aggressor by the false and wicked bargain of trading honor for security. Americans, indeed all free men, remember that in the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains...We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose. We must be willing, individually and as a Nation, to accept whatever sacrifices may be required of us. A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both..."

October 13

"One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppression of minorities or encroaching upon their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression."

James K. Polk, 11th President, 1845-1849- From his inaugural address, March 4, 1845. Polk, the first of ten children of Samuel Polk and Jane Knox, was born in what is now Pineville, North Carolina in Mecklenburg County. There Polk spent his youth and early adult life and in 1818 graduated from the fledgling University of North Carolina. While there, he became a member the Dialectic Society and gained experience in debate and public speaking. To identify themselves from their rival, The Philanthropic Society, the Dialectical Society took on the color of light blue, now known as Carolina Blue, one of the distinguished colors of the university to this day. After graduation, Polk moved west and studied law under trial lawyer, Felix Grundy, in Nashville, Tennessee. He started his political career in 1823, winning a seat in the Tennessee State Legislature. He soon won a seat in Congress and became a supporter and advisor of Andrew Jackson who became President in 1828. Polk's career progressed and he, himself, eventually was nominated President and won the election of 1844. Under his administration, the United States greatly expanded its territory, annexing the Oregon Territory after a dispute with Great Britain. In another expansion, the United States, annexed Texas after it declared independence from Mexico and after the Mexican-American War also added what is now California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. As a young President, only 49 years of age, in his Inaugural Address of 1845, Polk lays out his philosophy and interpretation of the of the Constitution as his guide. "... The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I shall be directed...“To the States, respectively, or to the people” have been reserved “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States.” Each State is a complete sovereignty within the sphere of its reserved powers. The Government of the Union, acting within the sphere of its delegated authority, is also a complete sovereignty... It is a common protector of each and all the States; of every man who lives upon our soil, whether of native or foreign birth; of every religious sect, in their worship of the Almighty according to the dictates of their own conscience; of every shade of opinion, and the most free inquiry; of every art, trade, and occupation consistent with the laws of the States...By the theory of our Government majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and in conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression." (http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/swearing-in/address/address-by-james-k-polk-1845). As the question of states rights grew in the coming decade, it was the very spirit of "compromise" and the question of the "rights" of the states and individuals which contributed to the coming Civil War.

October 12

"History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside."

John F. Kennedy, 35th President, 1961-1963. Sentiment echoed at Kennedy's nomination acceptance speech July 15, 1960. His speech in Los Angeles has been called ,"The New Frontier Speech." The Cold War and the Space Race with Russia were looming on the horizon, as was ongoing tension in the Middle East, and civil unrest was growing at home in the United States. "...We are not here to curse the darkness; we are here to light a candle. As Winston Churchill said on taking office some twenty years ago: If we open a quarrel between the present and the past, we shall be in danger of losing the future. Today our concern must be with that future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do. Abroad, the balance of power is shifting. New and more terrible weapons are coming into use. One-third of the world may be free, but one-third is the victim of a cruel repression, and the other third is rocked by poverty and hunger and disease. Communist influence has penetrated into Asia; it stands in the Middle East; and now festers some ninety miles off the coast of Florida. Friends have slipped into neutrality and neutrals have slipped into hostility...A technological output and explosion on the farm has led to an output explosion. An urban population revolution has overcrowded our schools and cluttered our cities and crowded our slums. A peaceful revolution for human rights, demanding an end to racial discrimination in all parts of our community life, has strained at the leashes imposed by a timid executive leadership. It is time, in short, for a new generation of leadership.(This line was echoed in 1992 by Bill Clinton, a Kennedy admirer, and expanded to also say, "it is time for a new gender of leadership.")

October 11

"God knows that I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil, for which we are not responsible, and we must endure it, till we can get rid of it without destroying the last hope of free government in the world."

Millard Fillmore, 13th President, 1850-1853. From a letter to Daniel Webster on October 23, after signing the The Fugitive Slave Act on September 18, 1850. Fillmore, Zachary Taylor's Vice President, ascended to the Presidency when Taylor suddenly passed away in the summer of 1850. Tensions between the North and the South were already high at that time. The Missouri Compromise was passed which admitted California as a free state, Utah and New Mexico were admitted as territories with the residents given the right to vote on whether slavery would be legal or not. Also the buying and selling of slaves was abolished in Washington, D.C., and The Fugitive Slave Act was passed and signed, stating captured slaves must be returned to their "owners", no matter in what part of the country they were found. Neither side favored all of the Compromise, as Northerners did not intend to abide by The Fugitive Slave Act and Southerners were unhappy that they would not be able to expand slavery into the new territories. The compromise did not stop the South from attempting to secede from the Union, but only delayed it.

October 10

"The consequences of a speedy removal will be important to the United States...and to the Indians themselves. It will place a dense and civilized population in large tracts of land now occupied by a few savage hunters...(and) will separate the Indians from immediate contact with settlements of whites."

Andrew Jackson, 7th President, 1829-1837. From Jackson's State of the Union Address, December 6, 1830. Jackson rationalizes that the government is generous in giving land to the native tribes rather than seeing them lost or annihilated. Those Native Americans who did not leave voluntarily were forced to leave in late autumn resulting in the death of hundreds in what is now called, 'The Trail of Tears', as the tribes traveled from the southern states across the Mississippi River into Oklahoma. "...It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly 30 years, in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation. Two important tribes have accepted the provision made for their removal at the last session of Congress, and it is believed that their example will induce the remaining tribes also to seek the same obvious advantages... The consequences of a speedy removal will be important to the United States, to individual States, and to the Indians themselves... Humanity has often wept over the fate of the aborigines of this country, and Philanthropy has been long busily employed in devising means to avert it, but its progress has never for a moment been arrested, and one by one have many powerful tribes disappeared from the earth...What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute, occupied by more than 12,000,000 happy people, and filled with all the blessings of liberty, civilization, and religion?"

October 9

"If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it."

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President, 1801-1809. From a letter to James Meriwether,Jr., May 9, 1798. James Meriwether was a fellow Virginian and correspondent of Jefferson. He appears to have been the uncle of the famed Meriwether Lewis, personal secretary of Jefferson during his Presidency, who was appointed by Jefferson to lead the Lewis and Clark Expedition to survey the Louisiana Purchase. Here Jefferson speaks about unsettled conditions with England. War was averted by John Adams and through Jefferson's Presidency but broke out as the War of 1812 under James Madison. "...At this moment all the passions are boiling over, and one who keeps himself cool and clear of the contagion, is so far below the point of ordinary conversation, that he finds himself insulated in every society. However, the fever will not last. War, land-tax, and stamp-tax are sedatives which must cool its ardor. They will bring on reflection, and that, with information, is all which our countrymen need, to bring themselves and their affairs to rights...It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war: but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it. In that, I have no doubt, we shall act as one man. But if we can ward off actual war till the crisis of England is over, I shall hope we may escape it altogether."

October 8

"Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If the next centennial does not find us a great nation...it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces."

James A Garfield, 20th President, 1881, -From an Address, July 4, 1876 commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. "Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature… If the NEXT CENTENNIAL does not find us a great nation…it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.” Garfield had been a college professor and preacher as a young man and turned from teaching and preaching to politics, joining the Republic Party and opposing slavery. He fought in the Civil War and rose to the rank of Major General. In Congress, he became known as a hard worker and eloquent speaker. In 1876, the country was still struggling in the aftermath of the Civil War and there was general unrest in the population and corruption in the government. With his background as a preacher, perhaps he drew inspiration from the Biblical book of Proverbs, one of which states, "If you remain indifferent in time of adversity, your strength will depart from you." (Prov 24:10) or "Virtue exalts a nation, but sin is a people's disgrace."(Prov 14:34) Clearly he believed in democracy and the rights of people but also that the people held responsibility as well.

October 7

"We were about one third Tories, and one third timid, and one third true blue."

John Adams, 2nd President, 1797-1801- From a letter written to his friend, Benjamin Rush, on March 19, 1812. In 1812, as a second war with Great Britain was brewing, Adams briefly reflects on the beginnings of American Independence as he tells of the the first and second Continental Congresses in 1774 and 1775. Many were the events leading up to sentiment which lead to the eventual Declaration on Independence in 1776. One of which was the passing of the Stamp Act in 1765, which levied taxes on the colonies in an attempt to recoup revenue which the british government had spent "defending" the colonies in the French and Indian War. The colonists boycotted British goods in protest leading to the repeal of the Stamp Act, but further British measures resulted in more protests and a deterioration in the relationship between the colonists and Great Britain. Britain stated they had every to set laws and tax the colonists, who responded with the cry of "No taxation without representation." British troops were sent to the colonies eventually leading to the Boston "massacre" in 1770 and in 1773, the Boston Tea Party further fueled the animosity. The British, closed down Boston Harbor, demanded repayment, and restricted town meetings in the state to only one per year. Other colonies, believed that an attack or restriction on one colony was an attack on all colonies. In June, 1774, a resolution from a town meeting in Philadelphia "called for a congress with representatives from each of the colonies to convene and discuss the matter further." ( http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/proc_in_pa_1774.asp) On September 5, 1774, 56 delegates from 12 colonies met and "reaffirmed the colonists’ rights as Englishmen— including the protection of life, liberty, and property and the right to representation." (from "The Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, passed on October 14, 1774".) No official discussion of independence was brought to the table until later as each side became more determined. In this context, almost forty years later, Adams writes to Rush, a fellow delegate of the second Continental Congress and fellow signer of The Declaration Of Independence. "...I lament my dear friend, that you were not in the Congress in 1774 and 1775. A thousand things happened there that no man now living knows but myself...1774 was the most difficult and important year of all. We were about one third tories, one third timid, and one third true blue." (The color of the uniform of the Continental army.) "We had a code of fundamental laws to prepare for a whole continent of incongruous colonies. It was done; and the Declaration of Independence of 1776 was no more than a repetition the principles, the rights and wrongs asserted and adopted in 1774." (Old Family Letters: Copied from the Originals for Alexander Biddle...J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1892) Adams seems to not give much credit to Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence. Adams and Jefferson had been at political odds with each other for over ten years but eventually reconciled and exchanged a large volume of correspondence to each other until they both passed away on the same day- July 4, 1826.

October 6

"When we are sick, we want an uncommon doctor, when we have a construction job to do, we want an uncommon engineer, and when we are at war, we want an uncommon general. It is only when we get into politics that we are satisfied with the common man." Herbert Hoover, 31st President, 1929-1933- Article Originally Published in the February 6, 1949 Issue of "This Week" Magazine, source found in http://hoover.nara.gov/index.html, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, ADDRESSES UPON THE AMERICAN ROAD,BY HERBERT HOOVER 1955-1960,THE CAXTON PRINTERS, LTD., CALDWELL, IDAHO, 196, p 92 Hoover continued speaking and writing after his Presidency. Here he speaks about recovery after World War II. "In my opinion, we are in danger of developing a cult of the Common Man, which means a cult of mediocrity. But there is at least one hopeful sign: I have never been able to find out just who this Common Man is. In fact, most Americans – especially women – will get mad and fight if you try calling them common. This is hopeful because it shows that most people are holding fast to an essential fact in American life. We believe in equal opportunity for all, but we know that this includes the opportunity to rise to leadership. In other words – to be uncommon! Let us remember that the great human advances have not been brought about by mediocre men and women. They were brought about by distinctly uncommon people with vital sparks of leadership. Many great leaders were of humble origin, but that alone was not their greatness. It is a curious fact that when you get sick you want an uncommon doctor; if your car breaks down you want an uncommonly good mechanic; when we get into war we want dreadfully an uncommon admiral and an uncommon general." The idea appears to have originally been brought forth in a speech entitled "Moral and Spiritual Recovery from War", given at Wilson College, at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, October 13, 1945. "...whoever this political common man is, I want him to have all the unique benefits of the American way of life including the opportunity to rise to leadership...to have leadership in government, in science, in education, in professions and in the home we must find and train some uncommon men and women...One of the great riches of American life is the vast reservoir of leadership in the people. But leaders are not found like queen bees...It is our educational system rooted in the whole people upon which we must depend to develop leaders."

October 5- Birthdate of Chester Alan Arthur, 1829

"Good ballplayers make good citizens."

21st President, 1881-1885- Stated by Arthur as he welcomed the Cleveland Forest Citys Baseball, (some sources named them the Cleveland Blues) Club to the White House, April 13, 1883. Baseball grew in popularity in the United States in the late 1800's for many reasons. One such reason is that as people moved to the cities to work in factories as the Industrial Age created population shift, the pastoral and rural game of baseball became a popular spectator sport, reminding people of their roots. Presidents such as Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and U.S. Grant would sometimes watch baseball games on what was called the White Lot, which extended south from the back of the White House towards the where the Washington Monument is located. Most of that area is now called the Ellipse, where the national Christmas tree is erected each year. Baseball also came to be touted as "America's Game" and a way to heal sectional divisions created by the Civil War. Baseball players came to be seen as celebrities and many Civil War veterans played on teams as leagues grew and clubs from different cities and regions began to compete. Besides the Cleveland team, there were the Cincinnati Red Legs, the Boston Nationals (at one time the Beaneaters, then Braves) and the Americans (Red Sox), the New York Nationals (Gothams, then Giants), the New York Americans (Yankees), the Chicago White Stockings, the Philadelphia Quakers and Phillies, the St. Louis Browns, the Kansas City Blues, Monarchs, and Royals, and others too numerous to mention here. Presidents naturally gravitated to the baseball's celebrities and popularity. In time the sport came to be seen as truly "American" and was introduced to other nations primarily through military teams. With world wide popularity, we see many foreign born players (up to 28%) now competing in the Major Leagues. Sources "Baseball: The Presidents' Game", By William B. Mead and Paul Dickson, 1993, Farragut Publishing; "The Empire Strikes Out: How Baseball Sold U.S. Foreign Policy and Promoted the American Way Abroad", By Robert Elias, 2010, The New Press.

October 4- Birthdate of Rutherford B. Hayes- 1822

"Strikes and and boycotting are akin to war and can only be justified on grounds analogous to the those which justify war, viz., intolerable injustice and oppression."

Rutherford B Hayes, 19th President, 1877-1881, from his diary April 6, Volume04, Chapter44, http://ww2.ohiohistory.org/onlinedoc/hayes/ Hayes, from Ohio, was a lawyer by trade before he entered politics and was no stranger to tumultuous times before and after the Civil War in the mid 1800's. As President, one of the first (of many) crises Hayes faced was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. After the war, railroads expanded partly with subsidies from the federal government. The railroads became the largest employer outside of agriculture in the United States. Thirty three thousand miles of track were laid and warehouses and factories were built to service the growth. Unfortunately, there was too much growth and with no immediate return on the investments, employee's wages were cut several times in 1877. Subsequently, workers organized strikes and protests first in Baltimore, Maryland, then workers from the New York Central, Erie, and Pennsylvania railroads also went on strike. Hayes called out Federal troops in an attempt to prevent riots. Strikes continued to spread to Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Chicago. No one was killed by Federal troops but but many people died in clashes between the public and state militias and police. Eventually the confrontations ended and workers returned to their jobs, but the railroads were blamed for the strikes and violence. By necessity they improved working conditions and for the most part, stopped cutting wages. The immediate catastrophe had ended but Hayes was concerned about the great disparity of the workmen's wages and the great wealth of the railway owners. Not only did he write in his diary, Strikes and and boycotting are akin to war and can only be justified on grounds analogous to the those which justify war, viz., intolerable injustice and oppression., he also saw the other side of the situation. At a different time he wrote, "The strikes have been put down by force; but now for the real remedy. Can't something [be] done by education of strikers, by judicious control of capitalists, by wise general policy to end or diminish the evil? The railroad strikers, as a rule, are good men, sober, intelligent, and industrious.", and " The real difficulty is with the vast wealth and power in the hands of the few...who represent or control capital...Hundreds of laws of Congress and the state legislatures are in favor of these men and against the interests of the workingmen."- from "Rutherford B. Hayes: the American Presidents Series", by Hans Trefousse, 2002, Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, New York, New York.

October 3

"We all declare for liberty...but we do not all mean the same thing. With some...the word may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men and the product of other men's labor- different and incompatible- liberty and tyranny."

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President, 1861-1865- From an Address at a Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland, April 18, 1864- Lincoln makes a short speech in Baltimore a just about a year before the War ended on April 9, 1865. He speaks at what became known as a Sanitary Fair. When it became evident that the Federal government was unable to provide for the needs of its army, expositions were organized by private citizens in many cities to raise funds to improve the living conditions of Union soldiers in the field and to help supply hospitals. The largest one of its kind may have been the Philadelphia Fair which ran from June 7, 1864 to June 28, 1864. http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/civil-war-sanitary-fairs/ In Lincoln's Baltimore address, he remarks on the changes the nation and the city of Baltimore had undergone in the past three years of the war. Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 and now freed and escaped slaves were fighting for the Union Army. In Lincoln's eyes, the war was originally and primarily fought to keep the Union together. The issue of slavery had been a point of dispute and contention from the very beginning of the revolution and inception of the nation. Lincoln opposed slavery and had finally found a way gain widespread political approval to abolish the institution. Here he speaks of Liberty: "The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name—liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names—liberty and tyranny. The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the sheep was a black one. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails to-day among us human creatures, even in the North, and all professing to love liberty. Hence we behold the processes by which thousands are daily passing from under the yoke of bondage, hailed by some as the advance of liberty, and bewailed by others as the destruction of all liberty. Recently, as it seems, the people of Maryland have been doing something to define liberty; and thanks to them that, in what they have done, the wolf’s dictionary, has been repudiated." http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/address-at-a-sanitary-fair/

October 2

"Democracy is the most vile form of government...democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention...and in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."

James Madison, 4th President, 1809-1817. From The Federalist Papers, #10.The American Revolutionary War ended in 1781 and in 1788, we are still figuring out what our best form of government would be. One portion of the the debate was whether we should have strong state governments or a strong central government. Another part of the debate was whether we should have democracy and pure majority rule or a variation. Madison suggests a republic form of government would be better. "...it may be concluded that a pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert result from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government, have erroneously supposed that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions. A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect, and promises the cure for which we are seeking. Let us examine the points in which it varies from pure democracy, and we shall comprehend both the nature of the cure and the efficacy which it must derive from the Union..."

October-The Dark Side (of Politics)

October 1- Birthdate of James Earl Carter- 1924

"America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it ts the other way around. Human rights invented America."

Jimmy Carter, 39th President, 1977-1981-From President Jimmy Carter's Farewell Address, January 14, 1981. As Carter spoke, Americans were held hostage in Iran and Ronald Reagan awaited to be inaugurated as America's next President. "...One of those constructive forces is enhancement of individual human freedoms through the strengthening of democracy, and the fight against deprivation, torture, terrorism and the persecution of people throughout the world. The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language. Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity, and who suffer for the sake of justice -- they are the patriots of this cause. I believe with all my heart that America must always stand for these basic human rights -- at home and abroad. That is both our history and our destiny. America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America. Ours was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded explicitly on such an idea. Our social and political progress has been based on one fundamental principle -- the value and importance of the individual...The battle for human rights -- at home and abroad -- is far from over...If we are to serve as a beacon for human rights, we must continue to perfect here at home the rights and values which we espouse around the world: A decent education for our children, adequate medical care for all Americans, an end to discrimination against minorities and women, a job for all those able to work, and freedom from injustice and religious intolerance.