#43. Bush, George Walker

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – George Walker Bush (b 1946) was the 43^rd President of the United States from 2001-2009. #43 George and #6 John Quincy Adams share a unique place in the history books – both had a father who served as president. And having “Dad” precede you in such a position of glory must have been a heck of a thing to live up to. But there’s another way of looking at it – from Dad’s point of view – how did their offspring carry on the banner entrusted to them? #41 George H W Bush lived through the eight years of his son’s presidency and beyond, as expectations and analysis continue; remember his comment about the “trials and tribulations of my sons”? And one of those tribulations began before #43 George was even declared president; and in a strange way involved two Bush sons.

A new phrase entered the lingo of the American public and it had to do with a voter’s vote getting properly counted. Or not. Hanging Chads became a physics lesson. Technology had evolved into the “hole punch ballot” so votes could be machine counted. Punch a hole in a ballot and let the machine count the holes. But, alas, if the “chad” – that is the excess tissue that had to be removed in order to have a hole to count — wasn’t fully removed, well, you had a “hanging chad” and the machine didn’t know what to do. And those “hanging chad ballots” happened in the state of Florida, and the Governor of Florida was Jeb Bush, the son of #41 George and the brother of candidate George.

The US Supreme Court was involved before George finally got into the White House. Opponent Al Gore, who had served as Vice President for eight years, racked up 48.4% of the popular vote; George Bush received 47.9%. But the “electoral college” system we use gave Bush 271 electoral votes and Gore 266 (you must have 270 to win). And Florida’s 25 electoral votes were the “hanging chad recount” issue. Do the math. The tally in Florida was so close – a difference of 537 individual votes out of six million cast in Florida – that a recount was called for; then a second one as “chads” continued under scrutiny. The US Supreme Court ruled on December 9 to reverse a Florida Supreme Court decision for a third count. On December 13, 2000, Al Gore conceded the election. He strongly disagreed with the Court’s decision, but in his concession speech stated that, “for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession.” On the morning of January 20, 2001, carrying out the duty of the outgoing vice president, Al Gore presided over the joint session of the US Congress where the electoral votes from every state are officially counted, and declared George W Bush duly elected with 271 electoral votes to his own 266. At 12:01 PM George Walker Bush was sworn in as our 43^rd president.

Back to 1946

George Walker Bush was born July 6, 1946 at Grace Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, the first of the six children of George Herbert Walker and Barbara Pierce Bush – George, Robin, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Dorothy. Starting life as a “Connecticut Yankee” since Dad was a student at Yale at the time, George was two years old when the family moved to Odessa, Texas and Dad became a “Texas oil man.” So George grew up a Texan – Texas heat and Texas oil wells; the family moved about; the siblings arrived. George lived with change; his sister Robin’s bout with leukemia and death; his mother’s depression; his father’s expanding business. He went to Sam Houston Elementary and San Jacinto Junior High in Midland; by 1959 the family was in Houston and George was sent to Kinkaid, a college prep school there. For grades 10-12 he was sent cross country to Phillips Academy Andover in Massachusetts, and then Yale, as Dad had done; sports and fraternities too, but with an east coast difference from his familiars. He graduated Yale with a BA in history in 1968, a C student he said, but “good at rugby.”

The Context of Vietnam

US military troops were sent to Vietnam beginning in 1965; by 1969 more than 500,000 were stationed there. The last units left Vietnam March 29, 1973. The priority of call for the draft was based on the birthdates of registrants born between 1944-1950; those exempt were in university education or medically unfit. Thousands of young men evaded the draft by moving to Canada; thousands joined the ROTC or National Guard in order to avoid being sent to the controversial ground war in the jungles of Vietnam.

The Military and Harvard

Unmarried, out of college, and physically fit, George faced the same choices as his predecessor Bill Clinton faced in 1968 when he graduated from Georgetown – choices framed by the war in Vietnam. George joined the Texas Air National Guard with a commitment to serve until 1974. After two years of training, he was assigned to Houston, flying Convair F-102s with the 147th Reconnaissance Wing out of the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base. His application to the U of Texas law school in 1970 was rejected; in December 1972 the last draft call was issued. George moved to Montgomery, Alabama to work on the US Senate campaign of Republican Winton Blount and was suspended from flying for failure to take a scheduled physical exam, but drilled with the Alabama Air National Guard. In 1973 he was accepted in a graduate program at Harvard. Honorably discharged from the Air Force Reserve in 1974, the next year he received his Harvard MBA.

Enter Laura

George was 31 in 1977 when he established a small oil exploration company; and that was the year he met, and married, a girl named Laura. Laura Welch was the only child of Harold and Jenna Welch, born November 4, 1946, in Midland, Texas. By the time she and George met she was already a school teacher there; with a BS in education from SMU (1968) and a master’s degree in library science from the U of Texas (1973). A pretty good match, it seems; the story goes that when George proposed to Laura, she accepted based on one thing: “that I’ll never have to give a campaign speech.” We know how that worked out; but as of this writing their marriage is in its 47^th year and George continues to give Laura credit for “smoothing his rough edges.” And he gives her credit for helping him overcome his problem with alcohol. “I woke up with a hangover the morning after my 40^th birthday celebration,” he said, “and decided it was time to quit.” He avers he hasn’t had a drink since 1986. Stories abound of his 20 years of alcohol abuse, of his bar-hopping and mediocre performance in the military and in school. And theories of how such abuse affects future decision making are out there; in particular the decisions he made during his eight years as president. But that’s getting ahead of the story; let’s follow what he did, and what was happening around him, in those 24 years between 1977-2001.

The Businesses, The Kids, And Stuff

• 1977 – George established Arbusto Energy, a small oil exploration company, name later changed to Bush Exploration. George and Laura were married November 5 in Midland, Texas.
• 1978 – George ran for US House of Representatives from Texas 19^th district, lost.
• 1981 – George and Laura became parents with the birth of twins Barbara Pierce Bush and Jenna Welch Bush; George’s father became US Vice President.
• 1984 – George became chairman when his company merged with Spectrum 7. Decreased oil prices caused the company to fold into Harken Energy Corporation; George became a member of the Board of Directors. There was an insider trading investigation by SEC.
• 1985 – George’s father re-elected vice president.
• 1986 – George vowed to give up drinking.
• 1988 – George and family moved to Washington to work on his father’s presidential campaign.
• 1989 – George’s father elected US president. George arranged for a group of investors to purchase a controlling interest in MLB’s Texas Rangers for $89 million; invested $500,000 himself and became managing general partner; George actively led team projects and attended games for the next 5 years becoming publicly more visible.
• 1991 – George was one of seven people selected to run his father’s 1992 presidential campaign.
• 1993 – George’s father lost his second presidential bid; Bill Clinton was inaugurated. George considered a candidacy to become commissioner of baseball.
• 1994 – George declared his candidacy for the Texas gubernatorial election; brother Jeb was running for governor in Florida.
• 1995 – George elected governor of Texas, became focus of attention as a potential future presidential candidate. Brother Jeb defeated in his bid for Florida governor.
• 1997 – Bill Clinton re-elected president.
• 1998 – George re-elected governor of Texas with 69% of the vote, first Texas governor to be elected to two consecutive terms. George promoted faith-based organizations; decided to seek 2000 Republican presidential nomination; and sold his shares in Texas Rangers for over $15 million. Brother Jeb elected governor of Florida.
• 1999 – Bill Clinton impeached, but remained in office with a high approval rating.

A New Century Begins

As Texas Governor, George signed a bill into law proclaiming June 10, 2000 to be “Jesus Day” in Texas, urging people to “follow the example of Jesus” and answer the call to service helping those in need. On August 3, in acceptance of his nomination as presidential candidate at the Republican Convention in Philadelphia, George attacked the Clinton administration on defense and military topics, high taxes, and a lack of dignity and respect for the presidency. Headed towards November, George campaigned as a compassionate conservative, criticizing opponent Al Gore over gun control and taxation.

You know what happened next. That was the year chads became a household word. By the end of the next eight years the Federal Budget had gone from a surplus of $236 billion to a deficit of$459 billion. Did the lid fly off Pandora’s box?

The first catastrophe happened just 234 days into George’s presidency. On the morning of September 11, 2001, four Islamic terrorist suicide attacks struck the United States, killing 2,977 people. Two hijacked planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City; a third plane struck the Pentagon in Washington; the fourth plane, believed to be headed for the US capitol, crashed in a Pennsylvania field due to passenger heroism – they simply revolted against the hijackers, opting for their deaths there rather than the horrific consequences of having our capitol destroyed. The US went to war. On March 20, 2003 US forces invaded Iraq; on May 1 George Bush announced “mission accomplished.”

In the 2004 presidential election George’s conduct during the war on terrorism was rewarded; he won 50.7 percent of the popular vote and defeated John Kerry with 286 electoral votes. But by 2005, George’s approval rating had dropped below 50 percent; people were angry that US troops were now entangled in an Iraqi civil war; and at home, Hurricane Katrina struck, and destroyed, the city of New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast. George’s handling of Federal assistance to the thousands of homeless still brands him today as a “failed president.” And then, in 2007, as families had been madly borrowing against their home equity to “maintain lifestyle,” the housing bubble burst; the economy tanked. By 2008 election time, American voters were ready for the Democrats again.

The Afterlife

After welcoming Barack and Michelle Obama to the White House, and participating in their inauguration day, George and Laura returned to Texas; they’ve got a ranch in Crawford, and a home in Dallas.  George and Laura remain friends with the Obamas; they’ve attended the Trump and the Biden inaugurations; they’ve stayed in touch. George has taken up painting as a hobby –self-portraits, world leaders, veterans; still life and dogs too; several books of his paintings have been published. In 2019 on the 10^th anniversary of South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun’s death, George presented a portrait of the man to his family. That was a nice gesture, don’t you think?

George’s parents died in 2018; but comparisons of father/son continue still, and that’s the touching thing. When you think of it, George was “expected to follow” in Dad’s footsteps; sent to the same schools and expected to desire the same success as a war hero and superior student. In truth he was more like his mother. Barbara never cared a flip about school; when she met George H W at the age of 16 she started planning her wedding, and her family, with no interest in college or career. She loved sports; she loved hanging out with a crowd; she wasn’t much for sticking by the rules. And the world admired that in our “National Grandmother.” So I say enough with the comparisons!

I didn’t think George should have been elected, it was an icky-sticky win. And I didn’t like much of what he did as our president; though many things occurred that were way beyond his control, he made some costly mistakes. But there’s just something about the guy I like. So yes, I’d feel pretty bad if I didn’t invite him, and Laura, to my party. And the grandkids too – just look at the cuties in that selfie.

#42. Clinton, Bill

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – William Jefferson Clinton III (Bill) (b 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993-2001. Always known as “Bill,” there is something about a first-name informality that tends to make a person more approachable, don’t you think? More youthful even. Bill is in his late 70’s and gray-headed now, but he still has a youthful look about him, something in his eyes lighting up when he spots a friend, or even when he stands in front of a crowd of thousands selling a book, or introducing one of the most famous persons in the country. I know, because I’ve been in those crowds. When he and James Patterson came to Little Rock in 2018 selling autographed copies of their book The President Is Missing (a political thriller) the crowd was ecstatic and Bill was tickled, breaking into “just one more story” to share with us as James kept trying to keep things on track about where to buy the book. (And even though it had a ridiculous plot, it sold over a million copies!) When Ruth Bader Ginsburg came to Little Rock in 2019 to speak before a sellout crowd, Bill was as mesmerized as the rest of us as he introduced her, obviously thrilled (and awed and humbled) just to know her. And Bill Clinton probably seems youthful to me because he is the first president out of 42 who is younger than I am. Yes, Bill is of the Baby Boomer generation, in fact, he is also labeled as a “New Democrat” which means his policies reflected a centrist “Third Way” political philosophy.

So what does that mean exactly? “Centrist” is another peg for “mainstream,” you know, not exactly all the way left, and not exactly all the way right. Take a little of the “right-center” folks and a little of the “left-center” folks, mix them together, and find a compromise, is that it? A Third Way? Pepper that up with some James Carville “campaign wizardry” (It’s the economy, stupid!) and you have a simple explanation of “how the Republicans were finally ousted by a young whippersnapper” who became our 42^nd president. But Bill didn’t just “become” our president, he stayed for a while – presiding over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history. And when he left eight years later, he had the joint-highest approval rating of any US president. Even after he’d been impeached. What goes into the making of a man who can do all of that?

Two Towns in Arkansas

Bill was born August 19, 1946, at Julia Chester Hospital In Hope, Arkansas as William Jefferson Blythe III, the only son of William Jefferson Blythe Jr and Virginia Dell Cassidy. Hope had a population of near 8,000 in the 1940s; almost in Texas, almost in Louisiana, almost in Oklahoma, it is famous for the big juicy watermelons that grow so well there in hot summer days. Bill’s grandfather Cassidy (Pawpaw) ran a grocery store there, serving black and white equally in highly segregated times, and his grandmother Cassidy (Mawmaw) was a care-giving nurse. Imagine Bill’s early life in the small-town atmosphere; imagine peaceful front-porch evenings and church on Sundays and the freedom to run and play. And to sleep at night under his Hop-A-Long Cassidy bedspread? Hop-A-Long Cassidy was a hero in the movies and comic books and radio shows of the 40s and 50s. He was a Cassidy who represented the good, always taking up for the underdog. Did the National Park Service choose that theme for Bill’s “Clinton Birthplace” bedroom we can visit today, or is that a truth of the times?

This much is definitely true: Bill’s father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr, died in an automobile accident three months before Bill was born. Bill’s mother Virginia Cassidy was studying to be a nurse, like her mother Edith. Bill and his mother lived with James and Edith Cassidy those early years, pretty much as described, I’d say. I’ve visited Hope, and the Birthplace; that seems to be the atmosphere. Then in 1950 Virginia married Roger Clinton. They moved with Bill to Hot Springs, Arkansas, a resort town tucked in the beautiful Ouachita Mountains and famous for its health-giving mineral springs. And famous for its “gangster history” of gambling and drinking and living outside the law. A mixture of messages! Illegal gambling began there after the Civil War; it remained in some form or other until Gov Winthrop Rockefeller succeeded in shutting it down in 1967. Suite 443 of the elegant Arlington Hotel was a vacation favorite of Al Capone during the 20s and 30s – his rooms overlooked Bathhouse Row where he, and thousands of others, came for the health-spa waters offered in splendid Victorian elegance. And alcohol, and gambling.

Such was the environment in which Bill lived from 1950 to 1964. Bill’s schooling took place in Hot Springs; so did his adjustment to a different home life; his stepfather was, by all accounts, an alcoholic and a gambler. If you’ve ever lived with an alcoholic or a gambler, you get the picture. Roger Jr was born in 1956 and Bill sometimes had to intervene on behalf of his little brother, and his mother. When he was a teen, he took on the last name of “Clinton” in hopes of “being more of a family.” So there you have it. Is that the mix it takes?

Despite the distractions, Bill poured himself into his schoolwork. And he was totally nuts about music — at Hot Springs High School he was in the chorus and played the tenor saxophone, winning first chair in the state band. For two years he performed in a jazz trio, The 3-Kings. When he was sixteen, he became interested in law due to winning a debate in a mock trial in his Latin class. When he was 17; he was selected as a Boys Nation senator to go to the White House and meet President Kennedy. That handshake was the ultimate kick-in-the-head inspiration; when he graduated in 1964 he had a scholarship in hand, headed for Georgetown University (the only place he applied) and Washington, DC.

School, More School, and Hillary

In a nutshell, Bill earned his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, won a Rhodes Scholarship to University College, Oxford, in England; graduated from Yale Law School in Connecticut; and returned to Arkansas as a law professor at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. All this between 1964 and 1974. Then, back in Arkansas, he ran for a seat in the US House of Representatives against an incumbent, and lost.

He’d started preparing humbly enough; with an International Affairs major at Georgetown he supplemented his scholarship with a job clerking in Arkansas Senator William Fulbright’s office, which greatly shaped his perspective on the Vietnam war. By the time he graduated (with honors) in 1968 he’d won a prized Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford University in England for two years. And he also faced being drafted for the war. He was an anti-war demonstrator; he connected with Arkansas ROTC. Reconsidering, he submitted himself for the draft; his number was drawn, but he was never called to service; it was a confusing time and his coursework at Oxford did not result in a degree. He entered Yale in 1970, and that’s where he met Hillary Rodham. The two moved to Texas temporarily in 1972 to help lead George McGovern’s presidential campaign, working at campaign headquarters in Dallas with Texas future governor Ann Richards, and the then unknown Steven Spielberg. (Good contacts in the pocket, eh?)

Back in New Haven, Bill and Hillary continued to live, and study, together; in 1973, when they both graduated, he moved back to Arkansas, but Hillary continued postgraduate work at Yale. Bill kept asking her to marry him; she kept delaying. But then a quirky thing happened. She failed the bar in DC but was admitted to the bar in Arkansas. “I chose to follow my heart instead of my head,” she later wrote. In 1974 she followed Bill to Arkansas.

So Many Firsts

Can you keep track? Bill lost his bid for US Representative and Hillary failed a DC bar exam. Then they started racking up firsts. Hillary became one of only two female faculty members at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, and then the first director of a new legal aid clinic at the University. Bill and Hillary bought their first house together in Fayetteville in 1975, and had their wedding there that October; it was a small family ceremony in the living room with a very large party in the backyard. In 1976 Hillary worked in Indiana for the presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter. He won. And Bill Clinton had a win; he was elected Arkansas attorney general. The couple moved to Little Rock. In 1977 Hillary joined the Rose Law Firm, co-founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, and was appointed to the board of Legal Services Corporation by Jimmy Carter; meanwhile Bill began a campaign for governor.

In November 1978, at the age of 32, Bill was elected governor of Arkansas, becoming one of the nation’s youngest governors ever. So in January 1979 Hillary became Arkansas’ First Lady, at the age of 32. The couple moved into the historic Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock, and that’s where they were living in February 1980, when their daughter Chelsea was born. After a few missteps, Bill was ousted in the 1980 election (making him the youngest former governor, he joked), but he quickly righted his ship (a learning experience) and won the next four terms, Governor of Arkansas from 1983-1992! That’s twelve non-consecutive years Bill was governor and Hillary was the first lady of Arkansas.

On October 3, 1991, on the front steps of the Old State House in Little Rock, Bill Clinton announced the beginning of his 1992 presidential campaign. You know what happened after that. On January 20, 1993, Bill and Hillary and Chelsea moved into the White House. Republicans were out; the New Democrat was in. They stayed eight years.

The Spotlight.

Chelsea was given the codename name Energy by the Secret Service in 1993, and Bill and Hillary’s first concern was giving their 13-year-old daughter some privacy and a normal life. So much for that hope. She was 18 when her father was impeached. His trial took place between December 19, 1998 – February 12, 1999; he was acquitted by the US Senate and remained in office. Charges of perjury were approved – this was for lying to a grand jury about having sex with a White House aide. It must have been a brutal time for Chelsea, and for Hillary, but whatever may have been said in private, publicly they stood behind Bill.

And so did most everybody else. Bill’s public approval rating reached its highest point during his impeachment proceedings; he left office with a rating of 68 percent, his final quarter Gallup rating was the highest any president has received in 50 years. “He’s got weak morals,” one reporter said about him, “but he’s done a heck of a good job.” Were citizens simply more concerned with how things were going for themselves than a personal dally? (Or perhaps, mentally at least, acknowledging their own frailty?) Life was humming smoothly for most folks; the rate of inflation hovered around 2.2%; the unemployment rate was the lowest since 1969; the crime index the lowest since 1973. The US was not involved in any major warfare and wonder of wonders, the federal budget had a surplus of $124 billion, the first balanced budget in 30 years.

On A Personal Level.

There was a poster on exhibit in the Clinton Center at one time that featured Virginia Cassidy’s message to her son “Life happens in the present, and you’d better make the best of it.” So you move on. You try harder. And you get better.

Chelsea went on to be an exemplary daughter; married with three kids, a slew of college degrees (the last a Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford in 2014), and an astounding record of public service. Hillary went on to become a US Senator, then Secretary of State, and twice a presidential candidate. That, and more about her childhood, as we look at #44 and #45.

Bill and Hillary moved to Chappaqua, New York and bought a house in 2001; that’s still home base today, but they maintain an apartment atop the Clinton Presidential Center alongside the Arkansas River in Little Rock where they pop in frequently. The Park for the Clinton gravesites is along the back side of the building; inside exhibits detail every year of the accomplishments of the eight-year Clinton presidency; upstairs is a collection of Clinton personal items (including a saxophone). There’s a replica of the Oval Office, and a restaurant downstairs named, appropriately, “42.” Next door are classrooms for the Clinton School of Public Service and the Presidential Archives where approximately 78 million pages of official records documenting the life and career of the 42nd president of the United States are available for research. Opportunities for learning and participating abound.

In his 1993 Inaugural Address Bill made the statement: “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.” The Clinton story isn’t over.

As to a party? Well, I’d choose to have it at the Center, with Bill playing his saxophone and Harry Truman at the piano. And as I recall, Thomas Jefferson did a mean violin. Stay tuned.

#41. Bush, George Herbert Walker

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas –George Herbert Walker Bush (1924 –2018) was the 41^st President of the United States from 1989-1993. Described as “a gracious and underappreciated man,” George himself said his legacy was “lost between the glory of Reagan…and the trials and tribulations of my sons.” That may be true when you focus only on “presidential politics” – eight years of a vice-presidency beneath the neon glow of a Hollywood star; then eight years as a Dad to the 43^rd President of the United States, who stirred up a headline controversy or two. (And another son who tried.) And then there was the 1992 “Bar Code Incident” which, as even mischaracterized media blurbs tend to do, stuck to George like glue. I admit, that’s a thing I remember about George H W. The insinuation that “My gosh, he is so out of touch he doesn’t know that groceries are scanned nowadays.” Well, that’s a silly measure of a person to start with, but digging deeper, however wealthy his childhood and however exclusive his education, George Herbert Walker Bush was no spoiled brat. This is a guy who signed up for the Navy on his 18^th birthday in 1942; was commissioned as a naval aviator just before his 19^th  (youngest ever); and at the age of 20, on September 2, 1944 while flying a Grumman TBM Avenger, was shot down over the Pacific Island of Chichijima.

A Grumman TBM Avenger, in case you don’t know diddle about fighter planes, was a torpedo bomber that flew off and back onto aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean during WWII. George’s squadron was assigned to the USS San Jacinto, but his plane didn’t make it back that fateful day. George released his payload, hit his target, ejected over water, and floated in enemy waters before being rescued by the submarine USS Finback. His crewmates died, but his own survival after such a close brush with death made its mark on the rest of his life. Humility comes with that question: “Why was I spared?” The Navy awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross for his role in that mission. When he was discharged in 1945, he had flown 58 missions, completed 128 carrier landings, and recorded 1,228 hours of flight time. What did George do with the rest of his life? He lived 94 busy years, mostly in service to his country; he had a strong marriage and was father to six children; he founded a successful business; he studied hard and played well. He respected his heritage. And he graciously weathered the sticks and stones of public scrutiny.

Pop and Poppy

George Herbert Walker Bush was born June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, the second of the five children of Prescott and Dorothy Walker Bush – Prescott Jr, George, Nancy, Jonathan, and William. George was named after his maternal grandfather, George Herbert Walker, who was known as “Pop” to the kids; so the nickname “Poppy” was given to little George. Yes, the family was wealthy – thanks to railroads and investment banking; they weathered the depression relatively unscathed. George spent most of his early years in Greenwich, Connecticut, where his parents settled in 1925. But grandpa “Pop” also owned an estate in Kennebunkport, Maine and built a cottage there as a wedding present for Prescott and Dorothy. So little Poppy had pretty places to be and nice things to do growing up. He attended Greenwich Country Day School, then Phillips Academy – a prestigious private school in Massachusetts – from 1937-1942. Phillips Academy, also known as Andover, is the oldest incorporated academy in the United States, established in 1778. Its founders were strongly associated with the Patriot cause, they manufactured gunpowder for the Continental Army. John Hancock signed the academy’s articles of incorporation; Paul Revere designed the academy’s seal. That seal includes the mottos: “The end depends upon the beginning” and “Not for oneself.” Those mottos must have made an impression.

No Time Wasted

George crammed so much into the years between leaving Andover in 1942 at age 18 and graduating from Yale in 1948 at age 24 I’ll bullet it:

• 6/1942 –enlisted in US Navy
• 6/1943 – commissioned as ensign at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, youngest pilot in Navy
• 12/1943 – engaged to Barbara Pierce
• 5/1944 – flew first combat mission bombing Wake Island
• 9/1944 – shot down over the Pacific
• 11/1944 – returned to San Jacinto, operations in the Philippines
• 1/1945 – married Barbara Pierce in Rye, New York; began training in Auburn, Maine for an invasion of Japan
• 9/1945 – Japan surrendered, released from active duty
• 11/1945 – Entered Yale on GI Bill
• 7/1946 – son George Walker Bush born
• 6/1948 –Graduated Yale Phi Beta Kappa, BA in economics

Note about his time at Yale: he was a married student on an accelerated program graduating in two and a half years; he captained the Yale baseball team and played in two College World Series as a left-handed first baseman; he was in all the honor societies, his first child was born. Barbara, by the way, was scorekeeper for all those baseball games.

Let’s Talk About Barbara

Barbara Pierce (1925-2018) was born June 8, 1925 in a hospital in Flushing, Queens, New York City, the third of the four children of Marvin and Pauline Robinson Pierce – Martha, Barbara, Jimmy, Scott. And yes, father Marvin was connected to the “US President #14 Franklin Pierce” family in some way. Marvin was a businessman, Pauline was a housewife, and Barbara grew up in Rye, New York in relative comfort. Her mother’s generally pessimistic outlook on life she saw as an example to avoid; early on Barbara decided she would choose to be happy with what she had. She attended public schools, though not all that fond of schoolwork. But she enjoyed athletics – swimming, tennis, even football; she also was a sought-after dance partner. And that leads to the story about how she met George – across a crowded room.

“You are 16, I am 17.” Like a Richard Rodgers song, George spotted Barbara across the room at a Christmas dance in 1941 and asked a friend to introduce them. They didn’t dance, George didn’t know how to waltz; so they sat and talked. And kept up a correspondence. They became secretly engaged. Then he was gone; she spent some time at Smith College, dropped out and worked in a nuts and bolts factory to support the war effort, grieved when he was shot down, got to know his family (they nicknamed her Bar, which stuck for life), and began to plan their wedding. They married January 6, 1945 in Rye’s First Presbyterian Church with a reception at the Apawamis Club, where they’d had their first date. Pretty romantic, eh? Rye, New York and Greenwich, Connecticut, where each grew up, are small communities on Long Island Sound about 5 miles apart, and part of the New York metropolitan area. For their first years of marriage, they moved wherever George’s squadron training sent him. When he entered Yale, they lived in shared housing in New Haven; after George was born they moved into a converted mansion next to the president’s house where 40 people shared the kitchen and bathrooms. All the joys of young marrieds.

Gone To Texas

The next 15 years were building years. George didn’t need to confer with Barbara about leaving the “daily shadow” of family expectations and old familiar places. He accepted a job offer in TEXAS, as an oil field equipment salesman for Dresser Industries, and Barbara was gung ho to go. On their own.

They moved a lot – Odessa, Texas; Bakersfield, California; Midland, Texas – as George learned the oil business. Next was the launch of the Bush-Overby Oil Development Company in 1951; in 1953 he cofounded the Zapata Petroleum Corporation, drilling in the rich Permian Basin in Texas; in 1954 he was named president of Zapata Offshore Company, a subsidiary specializing in offshore drilling. He stayed there until the mid-60s, when he sold his stock for $1 million. The family was living in Houston by then.

And the family had grown. Robin was born in 1949; Jeb in early 1953. Jeb was just 2 months old and George not quite 7 when their sister was diagnosed with leukemia. Robin’s death that October was a tragedy of enormous magnitude; Barbara’s hair turned white; depression set in. And then one day she overhead son George tell a neighbor he couldn’t come out to play because “my mother needs me.” Barbara got herself back on track. The experience of Robin’s death did two things; it brought Barbara and her son George forever close; and it further solidified the relationship between husband and wife. Three more children were born to George and Barbara: Neil in 1955, Marvin in 1956, Dorothy in 1959.

An Appealing Political Candidate

Well known and well off in Texas by the 60s, in 1964 George tried for a US Senate seat and lost; nevertheless the New York Times reported on “his attractive personal qualities.” And so the ball was rolling. But it would be 25 years before George would stand in front of the US Capitol for a swearing-in as President of the United States. Let’s look at how he connected with the presidents along the way – Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan – a group that wound up scandalized, mistrusted, misunderstood, and unabashedly worshiped. What did he gain?

• Appointed by Richard Nixon:  US Ambassador to United Nations.  Chairman of Republican National Committee.
• Appointed by Gerald Ford: Chief of US Liaison Office in China.  Director of Central Intelligence Agency for CIA.

While Democrat Jimmy Carter was in office he had no political appointments though he met with Carter on a personal basis. He went back to Texas as a bank president and part-time professor at Rice, and began planning his presidential campaign for 1980.

• Ronald Reagan’s pick in 1980:

George really wanted that presidential spot on the Republican ticket in 1980. He fought against Reagan, labeling his supply-side-influenced plans for tax cuts as “voodoo-economics.” Reagan wanted Ford as VP, other Republicans didn’t like that idea. But they liked George Bush. So the campaign moved ahead with a smiling Ronald Reagan and a smiling George Bush offering the promise “Let’s Make America Great Again.”  By 1984 the duo is Bringing America Back. Well then.

And then it was 1988. Don’t you know that felt good?

There was even one special “goosebumps” zing to the day; it was a Bicentennial Year, George Washington to George Bush, 200 years since we inaugurated our first “head of government,” and invested our trust in a specific person. We had chosen 41 white males to assume that role, so far.

George H W Bush probably had the broadest training for the job than any of the previous 40, even more so than our first George. He had a good education and a good family. He’d done terribly dangerous things and survived them. He’d successfully managed his own business. His time as US Ambassador to the United Nations gave him valuable experience in foreign policy and in dealing with the Soviet Union and China. As chair of the Republican National Committee, he was involved in how a hopeful person wangles their way to the starting gate.

As Chief of the US Liaison Office in the People’s Republic of China, George’s real-life experience as he and Barbara lived there convinced him that American engagement abroad was needed to ensure global stability and that the United States “needed to be visible but not pushy.” During his year in charge of the CIA, the US national security apparatus actively supported Operation Condor operations and right-wing military dictatorships in Latin America. Think that didn’t give George some savvy? And eight years in Second Position, just one step from the Oval Office? Never mind that Nancy and Barbara were so different in style and beliefs they barely spoke, and that his own ideas did not line up with those of Ronald Reagan. The point is: he saw how things work. So why did he fail to get a second term? Was he just too nice to fight?

It Didn’t End Here

The 1992 defeat didn’t end the Bush Legacy. George H W and Barbara continued to stay in the news. Yes, the family had another presidency to get through, and enough controversies rattling around to dash any hopes of a quiet retirement. At one point Barbara, the “nation’s beloved grandmother” said “Enough of the Bushes,” but somehow they stayed on our minds. I’ll tell you more when we get to #43.

If I could have them over for tea, I’d promise not to mention a thing about politics.

#40. Reagan, Ronald Wilson

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004) was the 40^th President of the United States from 1981-1989. Ronald has the honor of having his time in the White House defined as an “era.” The Reagan Era. He implemented Reaganomics. That means, basically, he cut taxes and government spending. He had two landslide election experiences – one because voters were not happy with the other guy and wanted somebody different, and one because they were mesmerized by him. Yes, somebody did try to kill him, but the perpetrator didn’t have a political concern, he was just trying to impress Jodie Foster, following the example of a character in a film she was in who went around shooting people. What’s weirdly ironic about that is well, Ronald Reagan was in a lot of films. His first lead role in the movies was “Love Is On The Air” in 1937; the one that’s most talked most was “Knute Rockne, All American” (the famous Gipper). During WWII, he produced hundreds of training films for the Army Air Force.

In the 50s he moved to TV, hosting the GE Theater, coming into our homes every week with a smile and a story. And remember Wagon Train? Zane Grey? Death Valley Days? Of course you do. By the end of the 60s he’d appeared in 53 feature films and established himself as a regular visitor in our living rooms via those black and white screens with the little nano-nano antenna on top. Famous enough to get himself elected governor of California, he feasted on politics from 1967 to 1975. It took a little finagling to get to the White House in 1980, but once in, without that “two terms only” rule no doubt he’d have gone a third. Or maybe not; he was 77 by then, the oldest person (at that time) to be in the presidential role. And though inflation had been reduced and the unemployment rate had fallen; the national debt had nearly tripled as a result of those tax cuts and increased military spending. He is remembered today as “the Great Communicator.” Was that due to years of portraying whatever character he was assigned? Or did he have a natural gift for connecting?

The Boy In Illinois

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois February 6, 1911, the younger son of Jack and Nelle Wilson Reagan; his brother Neil was three years older. Jack was a salesman, and, it is said, had an alcohol problem; the family moved several times before settling in Dixon, Illinois, a town of 8,000 about a hundred miles west of Chicago, in 1920. Nelle was deeply religious; she was active in the Disciples of Christ church and led prayer meetings there. Ronald attended Dixon High School, then Eureka College, where he played guard position for the 1930 and 1931 Eureka Red Devils football teams. His first job was as a lifeguard; he spent summers working at Lowell Park Beach in Dixon. A marker there proclaims he saved 77 lives although some of those may have been pretty girls faking distress so they could be rescued by the handsome hunk called “Dutch.”

Ronald graduated Eureka College with a BA in economics and sociology in 1932 and headed for Davenport, Iowa and a job as sportscaster for football games in the Big Ten Conference; then to Des Moines and station WHO as a broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs. Imagine this – the station received basic descriptions of the games by wire; Ronald then created play-by-play accounts for the airwaves. Definitely a communications skill. In 1936 he traveled with the Cubs to their spring training in California, and the “hunk called Dutch” took a screen test. Zap, he wound up with a seven-year contract with Warner Brothers. Hollywood! 1937! Ronald was 26 years old. He became a star; Gallup polls placed him in the “top 100” in 1941 and 1942.

And What About Pretty Girls?

Let’s start with Jane Wyman. Ronald and Jane co-starred in a movie together in 1938 – it was Brother Rat, a comedy about cadets at VMI and the pranks they pulled; it was adapted from a successful Broadway play. Probably fun to make too; Ronald and Jane started dating then. They married in 1940; daughter Maureen was born the next year; in 1945 they adopted a son they named Michael. Another daughter in 1947, Christine, only lived two days. Jane filed for divorce in June 1948. It was a year before the divorce was final; Ronald hadn’t wanted it to happen, but in the “oh well” department for Jane, he was her third husband; overall she married five times between 1933-1965.

And then there was Nancy Davis. She and Ronald met in 1949 when he was president of the Screen Actors Guild and she needed help because her name had erroneously come up on the Hollywood blacklist. He helped, and they began dating. Nancy had already been squired around by some good-looking actors – Clark Gable and Robert Stack and Peter Lawford to name a few. Ronald was leery of marriage after his divorce from Jane, but he and Nancy finally tied the knot March 4, 1952. William Holden was best man; the Little Brown Church in the San Fernando Valley was the place. And the “My Ronnie-My Nancy” couple that we watched during those White House days began to evolve.

Their daughter Patricia (known as Patti Davis in later years) was born October 21, 1952; yes, if you’re counting on your fingers that’s seven-and-a-half months later; their son Ronald was born six years after that. An interesting thing about Nancy’s “I Love Ronnie” fetish – she really was stuck on Ronnie, but her relationship with her kids was sometimes contentious. Of her two – Patti and Ron, and her step-kids Maureen and Michael, her worst relationship was with Patti; years of family feuding lay ahead.

Nancy Begins

Anne Frances Robbins (1921- 2016) was born July 6, 1921 in Manhattan. Called “Nancy” from the beginning, she was the only child of Kenneth and Edith Luckett Robbins. Kenneth and Edith separated soon after their daughter’s birth and Edith traveled the country pursuing acting jobs; she left Nancy in the care of her sister Virginia Luckett in Bethesda, Maryland. “My favorite times were when Mother had a job in New York and Aunt Virgie would take me by train to see her,” Nancy recalled in later years. Edith married again in 1929; Nancy’s new step-dad Loyal Edward Davis was a prominent neurosurgeon. The family moved to Chicago and he formally adopted Nancy, legally changing her name to Nancy Davis. Nancy attended Girls Latin School of Chicago from 1929-1939; then Smith College in Massachusetts for a major in English and drama, graduating in 1943.

With Mom as an actress who had friends like ZaSu Pitts, Walter Huston, and Spencer Tracy, Nancy eased into acting; 1945 a road tour; 1946 a Broadway musical; 1949 a seven-year contract with MGM. She was usually cast as “a steady woman; a loyal housewife; a responsible young mother.” And then in 1952 she became a wife and a mother. “I was never a career woman,” she later said. “I became an actress because I hadn’t found the man I wanted to marry.” Well then.

SAG, and The Governor’s Mansion

The Screen Actors Guild, in case you’re not familiar with it, is a labor union for actors; it was founded in 1933 when major movie studios were forcing actors into binding multi-year contracts. SAG sought to protect its members, and to expand work opportunities for them. Ronald served as President of SAG twice; between 1947-1952 issues included the Hollywood blacklist which banned any entertainment professional who was a member of, or in sympathy with, the Communist Party, from any work in the studios. Ronald also joined the American Veterans Committee, worked with AFL-CIO to fight right-to-work laws, and spoke out against racism. He supported Harry Truman in 1948, then began shifting to the right; he supported Eisenhower in 1952 and Nixon in 1960. He criticized Medicare, calling its legislation the end of individual freedom in the United States. In 1962 he registered as a Republican.

He announced his candidacy for the California governorship in 1966. Incumbent Pat Brown labeled Ronald an extremist; the press called Ronald “monumentally ignorant of state issues.” But guess what. Ronald was elected with 57 percent of the vote. And he won again in 1970. During his eight years as California’s governor, public schools deteriorated due to his opposition to additional public education funding, the homicide rate doubled, and armed robbery rates rose, even with the many laws he signed to toughen criminal sentencing. Ronald decided it was time to tackle the presidency.

Teflon?

On January 20, 1981 there was no snow in Washington, DC on inauguration day, just California sunshine. Limos were back for the parade; Frank Sinatra was back for the ball. And something happened that day that seemed a little too much like a Hollywood movie plot. After 444 days of President Carter’s negotiations, the release of 52 American hostages from Iran was announced, just minutes after the Reagan swearing-in. Reverend Donn Moomaw, pastor of the Bel Air church the Reagans attended, uttered these words in his benediction at the ceremony “We thank you, O God, for the release of our hostages.” And what an announcement for a brand new president to make at his inaugural luncheon – “Some 30 minutes ago, the planes bearing our prisoners left Iranian air space, and they’re now free of Iran.” Once the press got hold of the news the country went wild – the National Christmas Tree on the ellipse was lighted; the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building were bathed in red white and blue; yellow ribbons spread country-wide in joy and celebration. Theories about that perfect timing spread too, as gossip will. But 1984 brought him a second inauguration day.

“Reaganomics” was about tax cuts, though critics labeled it “trickle-down economics” — the belief that tax policies that benefit the wealthy will spread to the poor. Rising budget deficits and wealth inequality ultimately marked the Reagan era. A massive buildup of the military took place, the arms race escalated, Grenada was invaded, Libya was bombed, the secret and illegal sale of arms to Iran was revealed. And yet, Ronald Reagan gained the name “the Teflon President,” nothing bad seemed to stick. No matter what he did, he remained popular in the public eye.

Astrology?

Remember that assassination attempt early on? It wasn’t a political thing, but it definitely impacted how the White House operated during the Reagan years. Which brings us to Nancy. Having her husband shot terrified Nancy; when Merv Griffin told her a woman named Joan Quigley had predicted that particular day would be dangerous for the president, Nancy hired Joan at a salary of $3,000 a month. Private lines were set up at the White House and Camp David and used, according to some reports, throughout the day. In his 1988 memoir, For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington, White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan wrote the following about Nancy Reagan’s consultations with an astrologer: “Virtually every major move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House Chief of Staff was cleared in advance with a woman in San Francisco who drew up horoscopes to make certain the planets were in a favorable alignment for the enterprise.” He wanted her fired; VP George Bush also suggested she be fired. In 1990, Joan Quigley released a book in which she asserted that she was “in charge” of the President’s scheduling during the Reagan administration. Nancy’s comment: “Astrology was simply one of the ways I coped with the fear I felt after my husband almost died. Was astrology one of the reasons [further attempts did not occur]? I don’t really believe it was, but I don’t really believe it wasn’t.”

Reality?

There are those who believe Nancy greatly influenced “her Ronnie” and his decisions in the White House. Clearly she viewed herself as his protector; “The Gaze” labeled the way she watched him as he spoke. But there is no questioning her impact on style and glamour as First Lady. She wanted everything in the White House redone, and she set about doing it, taking donations from citizens to cover the expense. She dressed exquisitely, accepting gifts of dresses, gowns and suits from fashion designers who were delighted to have their names associated with White House goings on. The problem with that? Accepting gifts from the tax-paying public? The “glamorous paragon of chic” was in violation of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 though she claimed she gave most gifts to museums after wearing them. And that new state china service she commissioned from Lenox? Those 4,370 pieces etched in gold cost $209,508, during a time when her husband’s administration proposed that ketchup be counted as a vegetable for school lunches.

Ronald and Nancy returned to California in 1989; friends had purchased a home for them in Bel Air; they also had their ranch in Santa Barbara. He was diagnosed with Alzheimers in 1994 at the age of 83 and died June 5, 2004, being cared for by Nancy in his last years. Nancy died of congestive heart failure March 6, 2016, at the age of 94. Ronald and Nancy are buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. Both received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor; they were jointly awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.

As to me partying with the Reagans? Absolutely dreadful idea.

#39. Carter, Jimmy

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas –James Earl Carter Jr, aka Jimmy Carter (b 1924) was the 39^th President of the United States from 1977-1981. As this is written, he is the oldest living former president, and the longest-lived president in US history; reaching his 100^th birthday October 1, 2024. He didn’t win the presidency by landslide; and he didn’t get re-elected for a second term. But he is, by all show of hands, the best-loved “after president” we’ve ever had. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 (21 years after he left the White House) “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” He has befriended the presidents who served after him – Democrats and Republicans alike, offering advice and “buck-up support” as they have come to him; he’s critiqued them too, when he thought they were headed in the wrong direction. He has attended their inaugurations and their funerals; he has voted in every presidential election and expects to do so in 2024.

One of the most down-to-earth gifts of time he has given is his work with Habitat for Humanity. Just out there hammering nails and hanging doors and making sure a family has a decent house to live in. He and former First Lady Rosalynn began as advocates for Habitat in 1984, leading major volunteer building events in the United States, and many Asian countries. “Habitat isn’t charity, it’s partnership,” said Jimmy. “The people who will live in the homes work side by side with the volunteers who help build them. Rosalynn and I have been small players in a global effort to alleviate the curse of homelessness.”

Home, Down On The Farm

James Earl Carter Jr (Jimmy) was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, the first of James Earl and Lillian Gordy Carter’s four children – Jimmy, Gloria, Ruth, and Billy. James had a general store and farmland; Lillian worked as a nurse, first at Wise Sanitarium; she gave birth to Jimmy there, so yes, he’s our first president to be born in a hospital. The house they brought him home to was at the end of a dirt road; it had no electricity or running water. Plains was a small town in the 1920s with a population of 479 farmers and a few store keepers. It hasn’t changed much, the 2020 population was 573; 54% black and 42% white; the rural southern culture still revolves around farming, church, and school, although tourism is a major addition now; the National Park Service maintains the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site. “Born and raised” in Plains, both Jimmy, and former First Lady Rosalynn, will both be buried there, but let’s talk about what happened in between, and after, too.

When Jimmy was very young, his Dad gave him an acre to farm; he was industrious with that – yes, he grew and sold peanuts. He played a little basketball in school, but there wasn’t much entertainment in town; he did a lot of reading. Uncle Tom Gordy, his mother’s brother, was in the Navy, and often sent the family postcards from around the globe; Jimmy began to think about the Navy too, and the world beyond Plains. Before he entered high school he wrote the US Naval Academy asking for a catalogue. He graduated Plains High School in 1941; the story goes he and other senior boys skipped school on April Fool’s Day that year and were given zeroes for their prank. So Jimmy wound up as salutatorian rather than valedictorian in that class of twenty-six. And the only one who went on to college.

The Navy, The Marriage, The Children

World War II was going on, and there was stiff competition for admission to the Naval Academy; Jimmy studied at Georgia Tech before being admitted to Annapolis in 1943. He graduated in the top ten percent of his class in August 1946, just after he and Rosalynn Smith got married that July; he was 22, she was 19 and had just graduated from Georgia Southwest College. Jimmy first saw Rosalynn when she was a day old; in fact his mother Lillian delivered her. The Carter and Smith families were friends; one of Rosalynn’s sisters was named after Lillian; one of Jimmy’s sisters became Rosalynn’s best friend. That’s the way it is in a small, close-knit community, though the two didn’t have their first date until 1945. Their marriage lasted 77 years, until Rosalynn’s death in 2023. Jimmy’s comment on the longevity of their partnership: “the secret is to marry the right person.”

With the excitement of a Navy career underway, the newlyweds left Plains in 1946, ready to see more of the world. And they did; son Jack was born in Virginia in 1947. In 1948 Jimmy had officer training for submarine duty and served aboard USS Pomfret, which included a simulated war patrol to the western Pacific and Chinese coast; son Chip was born in Honolulu in 1950. Son Jeff was born in Connecticut in 1952; that was the year Jimmy joined the Navy’s fledgling nuclear submarine program, led then by Hyman Rickover, whose high standards for both men and machines inspired Jimmy.

In March 1953, Jimmy was selected to be an engineering officer for a submarine that was about to begin construction, the USS Sea Wolf. To prepare for the new assignment, he took classes in reactor technology and nuclear physics at Union College in Schenectady, New York; Jimmy and Rosalynnn and the boys lived in military housing nearby.

And then, on July 22, 1953, just two months before construction of Seawolf began, Jimmy’s father, at the age of 58, died of pancreatic cancer. The best-laid plans? Sometimes they change. Jimmy’s mother Lillian couldn’t manage the farm, nor could his sisters Gloria and Ruth. Brother Billy was just 16. Rosalynn was happy with their Navy lifestyle; returning to Plains seemed to her a monumental step backwards. But Jimmy felt obligated. He was released from active duty in the Navy October 9; he and Rosalynn and the boys moved into public housing in Plains. After debt settlements Jimmy’s inheritance was small; he and Rosalynn began to re-adjust their lives. He was 30, she was 27, and the boys were 6, 3, and 1.

Peanuts, and Politics

The transition was hard; that first-year harvest failed due to a terrible drought and net profits totaled $187. Jimmy opened several lines of credit to keep the farm going. He studied agriculture and Rosalynnn learned accounting. In addition to growing peanuts, the Carter farm included a warehouse where Jimmy’s Dad had stored and resold seeds. Jimmy decided to expand the warehouse operation – offering custom peanut shelling and storage; supplying bulk fertilizers and lime; grinding and mixing corn; storing ginned cotton. He even added fire and casualty insurance to the services provided by his agri-business. And the business thrived. By 1959 Jimmy began to be involved in the local community by serving on boards for civic entities. He became a deacon at the Plains Baptist Church. In 1962, he ran for state Senate; during two terms there he attacked wasteful government practices and helped repeal laws designed to discourage blacks from voting. And in his Baptist Church, when members voted to exclude blacks from worship there, Jimmy and Rosalyn voted to integrate.

Somewhere between “Yes, I cut down the cherry tree,” and “No, I did not erase the tapes,” is there a “George Washington Approved” lie? I don’t know, but I know for certain if you’re one facet of a government made up of hundreds of legislators and millions of voters, you must work with people. And idealist Jimmy, with all his smarts, and good intentions, and sense of right, was a “do-it-yourselfer.” He was hard hit when he lost his 1966 bid for governor of Georgia to segregationist Lester Maddox; he campaigned honestly as conservative, moderate, and liberal, which he was. But he lived in a state where many folks still considered “Dixie” their national anthem. So in 1970 he changed tactics; he continued to seek the black vote, but he also conferred with George Wallace; his appeal to racism was blatant. And he won. Then, in his inaugural speech as the new governor of Georgia he said what he really had in mind, declaring “the time of racial discrimination is over,” and shocking the crowd.

And then he didn’t engage with his fellow politicians, which made him unpopular with the legislature. That’s the way he did things in his four years as governor of Georgia; that’s the way he wound up doing things in his four years as President of the United States. Being “unknown nationally” worked in Jimmy’s favor in 1976. The grudge against Nixon-Ford was still in voter’s minds and they wanted a change. The “Jimmy Who?” choice tantalized — Georgia peanut dust was way more appealing than Washington dirt. Jimmy made it in by a hair. But even a hair opens the door, right?

Jimmy and Rosalynn started a new tradition January 20, 1977, Inauguration Day. After the swearing in on both a family Bible and a Bible used by George Washington, they walked the parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House, an endearing gesture. But Jimmy’s independence didn’t mix well with the “Washington” way of doing business. He avoided phone calls from members of Congress. He didn’t return political favors. It didn’t take long until the Democrats were on his back. Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill said it is “inappropriate for a president to pursue what has traditionally been the role of Congress.” In 1979, when the House voted against giving him a standby gas rationing plan, he delivered remarks saying he was embarrassed for the American government because “House Members are unwilling to take responsibility for a serious threat to our nation.” Republicans accused him of “making comments not befitting the formality a president should have in public remarks.” By 1980 voters were tired of listening. And Hollywood was waiting in the wings. The Carters moved back to Plains.

Before he left for Washington in 1977, Jimmy placed the family farm supply business into the protection of a blind trust, which allowed a law firm in Atlanta to manage the business during his years in the White House. When Jimmy and Rosalynn returned to Plains in 1981, they were informed that due to three years of drought and several changes in warehouse management, they were over $1 million in debt. Their solution? They sold the business and began writing books.

Over the next 40 years they experienced the best of “the life they both wanted.” They lived in snug familiarity where they grew up, in the only home they’ve ever owned. There’s a pond out front that Jimmy dug for fly fishing, and a woodshop out back. And they traveled the world, making an impact unmatched by any. More than 65 countries have honored them, welcomed them, or benefited from their efforts. Just two perky kids from Plains, Georgia, who had a few ideas. That blip in the White House was short, but it empowered them with a special “notability” that may have been worth it all.

Post Script

Somehow I got this far without Rosalynn’s early-life details, or any mention of daughter Amy, let me catch up. Eleanor Rosalynnn Smith (1927-2023) was born August 18, 1927 in Plains, Georgia, the eldest of the four children of Wilburn Edgar and Frances Murray Smith; her brothers were Jerry and Murray, her sister Lillian. Dad was an auto mechanic and farmer, Mom was a teacher and dressmaker. “We didn’t have much money,” Rosalynn said, “but neither did anyone else, so as far as we knew we were well off.” Her father died of leukemia in 1940 when she was thirteen; Rosalynn assisted in the dressmaking business to meet the family’s financial obligations. Rosalynn was valedictorian of her Plains High School class of 1944; she went to Georgia Southwest College and graduated in 1946, valedictorian again – then she and Jimmy married.

After having three sons close together by 1952, on October 19, 1967 a daughter was born. The boys had voted on “having a sister” and even picked out her name a year earlier — Amy Lynn Carter. Amy lived in Plains until the family moved to the Governor’s Mansion in Georgia; she was nine when they moved to the White House. “The boys were so much older than Amy it was like she had four fathers,” said Rosalynn. “They had to take turns spoiling her.” Amy had a Siamese cat named Misty Malarky Ying Yang. And her Daddy wrote her a story-tale book The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer, which she illustrated, you can buy it on Amazon today.

The Carter story can’t end without mentioning “Miss Lillian” again. Though her husband and three of her children died at an early age of pancreatic cancer, she lived a busy life for 85 years. She made headline news in 1966, when at the age of 68 she joined the Peace Corps and worked at the Godrej Colony 30 miles from Mumbai, India as a nurse. She got as much attention as Amy during Jimmy’s White House years, even appearing as herself in a Lucille Ball movie “Calling the President.”

Would I invite the Carters to my party? Oh yes, I love that south Georgia drawl.

#38. Ford, Gerald Rudolph Jr

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (1913-2006) was the 38^th President of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He has the distinction of being the only person to serve as president without being elected. It was unexpected, shocking, and quite frankly, took some adjusting to. Were you alive in the 70’s? If yes, I’m betting the Gerald Ford you remember is actually Chevy Chase. Because, you see, Chevy Chase gave us what we needed when we just couldn’t figure it out. He gave us the “Gerald Ford Klutz.” SNL was Saturday night, and Chevy Chase made us laugh with a well-perfected pratfall, oops, the man can’t even get off the plane without stumbling. We loved the antics of Charlie Chaplin and Lucille Ball; they showed us stumbles. And made us comfortable about our own goofups. But we want our president to be strong. Somebody that can kick ass and save us from bullies when we are threatened. Somebody that will listen to us, and make decisions that lead us in the right direction, even if that is hard to do. And somebody who is honest enough to tell the truth. A tall order. Count back over the last ten presidents we chose – Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Truman, Roosevelt, Hoover, Coolidge, Harding, Wilson; how many gave us all of that? How many cover-ups can you count; how many selections based mostly on hero worship? So what happened during the term of a president we didn’t choose? Let’s start with this: Gerald Ford and Chevy Chase became friends. Gerald even made an appearance on Saturday Night Live. He had a sense of humor, with skin thick enough to be able to laugh at himself. He was actually a pretty nice guy. So why didn’t the American public bring him back in 1976?

The “I want revenge” voters were still ticked that he gave Richard Nixon a full pardon. The “dissatisfied with the status quo” voters wanted to sweep the room clean and start over with somebody – anybody! – else. And the Republicans who spent their lives trying to get elected into positions of power were flat out jealous of someone who popped up in the White House one day without lifting a finger. It was a strange kettle of fish. As I always say, let’s go back to the beginning for some perspective.

Leslie, and Gerald

Leslie Lynch King Jr was born July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska, the firstborn child of Leslie and Dorothy Gardner King. He was sixteen days old when Dorothy fled with him to her sister’s house in Oak Park, Illinois; Leslie had pulled a knife and threatened to kill them. By December the Kings were divorced; Dorothy had full custody of her little boy, and they were living with her parents in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1917, Dorothy married Gerald Rudolf Ford, a salesman in a family-owned paint company, and three-year-old Leslie became known as Gerald Rudolf Ford Jr. Gerald grew up in Grand Rapids with his three half-brothers – Thomas (1918), Richard (1924) and James (1927).

Gerald was gung-ho about Scouts and went all the way to the top; here’s another “only” to add to his list: he is the only Eagle Scout to become a US President. He was a star athlete at Grand Rapids South High School; he was captain of the football team and in 1930, made the All City team of the Grand Rapids League. College recruiters were watching. At the University of Michigan, he helped the Wolverines to two undefeated seasons and national titles in 1932 and 1933. In 1934 he was selected for the Eastern Team on the East-West Shrine Game in San Francisco; as part of the 1935 Collegiate All-Star football team, he played against the Chicago Bears in the Chicago College All-Star Game at Soldier Field. And the pros were watching. Gerald graduated from U of Michigan in 1935 with a BA in economics and offers from the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers. But no thanks, he chose a job that September as boxing coach and assistant varsity football coach at Yale, and applied to law school there.

Gerald loved football; here’s a tidbit for you: as President, often at state events he’d have the Navy band play the University of Michigan fight song instead of “Hail To The Chief.”

Athletic. Smart. Good Looking.

Gerald was heavily involved in sports at Yale. He got involved in politics while there too; in 1940 he worked for the presidential campaign of Wendell Wilkie. He graduated in the top third of his class in 1941, and was admitted to the Michigan bar soon after. And there is one more thing he did while going to school at Yale. He worked as a male model for photo shoots. So there’s another only: Gerald is the only US President to appear on the cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine. Yep, that’s our guy. Not too klutzy, eh?

In May 1941 he opened a law practice with a friend in Grand Rapids, but after the December attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Navy. At the Navy Preflight School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he taught navigation skills, ordnance, gunnery, first aid, and military drill, and, no surprise, all nine sports that were offered to the trainees. Gerald applied for sea duty in 1943 and served on the aircraft carrier USS Monterey in the Pacific Theater; he was honorably discharged in 1946, having received the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the Philippine Liberation Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.

Back In Grand Rapids

“I came back a converted internationalist,” said Gerald, explaining why he decided to challenge the incumbent congressman, who was a dedicated isolationist. “I thought he ought to be replaced. Nobody thought I could win. I ended up winning two to one.” Gerald had campaigned face-to-face, visiting voters at home, and as they left their workplace, and out on their farms (he even ended up milking cows!). The year was 1949; he was 36 years old. For the next 25 years, as four presidents – Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson – entered and exited those White House doors, Gerald held Michigan’s 5^th congressional district seat. In the early 1950s he was urged to run for the Senate, or the governorship of Michigan. He wasn’t interested. “My ambition was to become Speaker of the House, the greatest legislative body in the history of mankind.”

Gerald was Minority Leader of the House between 1965-1973. In 1966 as criticism of President Johnson’s handling of the Vietnam War grew, Gerald spoke from the floor of the House questioning whether or not the White House had a clear plan for a successful conclusion. Later, he appeared in a series of televised press conferences with Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen proposing alternatives to Johnson’s policies. An enraged Johnson accused him of “playing too much football without a helmet.” Sure sign he’d rattled Johnson’s cage?

For sure Johnson went back to Texas and Republican Richard Nixon was elected, along with Vice President Spiro Agnew, the former governor of Maryland. The “pixies who specialize in irony” got busy. The Nixon-Agnew combo got through their first term together okay and landslid into term two. But Maryland’s state attorneys had begun an investigation, suspecting Spiro of criminal conspiracy, bribery, extortion, and tax fraud. Spiro, they said, had been taking kickbacks from contractors while he was governor. And he kept taking them while he was VP. Well oops. He resigned October 10, 1973.

Nixon needed a new VP. The 25^th Amendment, ratified in 1967, specifies in detail “what to do” if a presidential or vice-presidential position becomes vacant (the Kennedy assassination really got everyone thinking about “line of succession”) and an empty VP spot could be filled by presidential nomination, with Senate and House confirmation. Nixon submitted Gerald Ford’s name.

You Need To Know These Dates

I promised I wouldn’t talk about Watergate. But you have to know about these overlapping dates. Stuff was hitting the fan; things were coming to light about Nixon’s involvement in that 1972 break-in at the DNC, and the ensuing coverups. House Speaker Carl Albert informed Nixon that Gerald Ford was the person they wanted in the VP Spot. Why did Gerald accept? His goal had always been “Speaker of the House,” he’d been trying for years and promised wife Betty that if he didn’t make it in 1974, he was retiring in 1976. Nevertheless, he moved into the “second in line” position, taking the oath of office of Vice President December 6, 1973.

On August 1, 1974, Chief of Staff Alexander Haig contacted Gerald Ford at his residence, notifying him that “evidence against Nixon is devastating and there will be an impeachment or resignation. Be prepared. You could become president.”

Do you know how to resign as President of the United States? You send a letter to the Secretary of State. The minute it is initialed, you’re done. Note the time for Nixon: 11:35 AM. August 9, 1974. That’s the actual moment Gerald Ford became President; then he was officially sworn in by Chief Justice Warren Burger in the White House East Room as wife Betty looked on. He spoke to the assembled group in a speech that was broadcast to the nation; one line was “I am indebted to no man, and only to one woman–my dear wife–as I begin this very difficult job.” Then he and Betty walked the Nixons out of the White House, and the peaceful, heartbreaking, transition was complete.

On September 8, Gerald pardoned Richard Nixon. In a televised broadcast to the nation; he explained it was “in the best interest of the country,” and that someone must write an end to this tragedy, concluding “Only I can do that, and if I can, I must.”

The response was just what you’d expect. “It was a corrupt bargain,” a “deal struck between two men,” “an unwise, divisive, unjust act.” I remember thinking that myself; the pieces fit together too neatly for happenstance. Gerald’s press secretary and close friend resigned in protest. Historians believe that pardon cost him the 1976 election; Gerald agreed. He carried something in his wallet thereafter, in his own mind justifying his decision. It was a portion of the text of Burdick v United States, a 1915 Supreme Court decision stating that “a pardon indicates a presumption of guilt, and acceptance of a pardon is tantamount to a confession of guilt.” In 2001 he was awarded the John F Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, with the comment “history has proven to Ford that he made the right decision.”

Betty, and The Kids

Gerald was a true-blue family man; Betty’s about-to-be sister-in-law Janet told her, just before she and Gerald got married, “You won’t have to worry about ‘other women’ with Jerry, work is his cross.” They were married 58 years and had four kids together, and oh, the stories. I came across this anecdote about the day they were moving into the White House, somebody spotted a king-sized bed and questioned “Are you going against the tradition of separate bedrooms for the president and his wife?” “If they’d asked me how often we have sex, I’d have answered ‘as often as we can’” she later quipped. That was true-blue Betty Ford, and this is my favorite First Lady photo of all time. It was Betty’s last day in the White House. She jumped up on the Cabinet Room table and White House photographer David Kennerly got the shot. “It captured her personality,” he said “a feminist first lady posing in a space predominantly occupied by white men.”

And yes, she was a feminist; a passionate supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment and one of the most candid first ladies in history, she spoke her mind about equal pay, sex, drugs, abortion. When she had a mastectomy, she talked about breast cancer in a time the word “breast” was not used in social settings, vastly increasing breast cancer awareness; she publicly disclosed her struggle with alcoholism and substance abuse and got treatment; on recovery she founded the Betty Ford Center to help people with substance use disorders.

How did this feisty lady get so feisty? Elizabeth Anne Bloomer (1918-2011) was born April 8, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois, the third child and only daughter of William and Hortense Neahr Bloomer; her brothers were William Jr and Robert. The family moved to Denver, then Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Betty grew up. And yes, she got some teasing about her last name; sometimes kids called her “Betty Pants.” I’m betting she gave them the eye-to-eye in return. Something about dancing is a confidence-builder, and Betty began dance lessons at the age of eight – ballet, tap, modern movement; she decided dancing would be her career. At 14, she began modeling clothes, and teaching dance. In high school, she started her own studio, instructing both youth and adults. Her father died when she was 16; her mother worked to support the family; something that surely affected Betty’s views in support of equal pay and gender equality.

After high school, Betty studied dance in New York, worked as a fashion model, joined Martha Graham’s dance group, and performed at Carnegie Hall. Back in Grand Rapids, she taught dance to children with visual impairment and hearing loss. And she got married, and divorced. In August 1947 she met Gerald Ford; he was 34, she was 29. He was just out of the Navy, she was just divorced. They married the next year, Gerald was elected to Congress the year after that. Michael was born in 1950, John 1952, Steven 1956, and Susan 1957. Did they live happily ever after? It seems they did, despite that unexpected White House drama. Maybe Chevy Chase helped them laugh, easing them, and us, on to a better understanding of that moment in time; certainly they received many accolades and awards in years to come.

They retired to Rancho Mirage, California in 1977 when Gerald was defeated by Jimmy Carter. And they became friends with the Carter family over time. They wrote their memoirs and continued active in many causes they cared about; both lived to be 93. Gerald died December 26, 2006, Betty July 8, 2011; both are buried at the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

As for Chevy Chase, all those pratfalls he took doing the Gerald Ford Klutz injured his back and he became addicted to painkillers; in 1986 (a little irony here) he entered the Betty Ford Center for treatment.

Would I invite Gerald and Betty to my party? Well heck yeah, and Chevy too. Sometimes a good laugh is the best connector of all.

#37. Nixon, Richard Milhous

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas –Richard Milhous Nixon (1913 – 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, from 1969 to 1974. And he was the only president escorted out of the White House before his term was up. Remember that story about George Washington and the cherry tree? It was a made-up tale, making the point that George was such an honest and honorable fellow that even when he did a terrible thing – that is, he cut down their prize cherry tree with the little hatchet his father entrusted to him  – his remorse was so great he said “Father, I cannot tell a lie. It was me that did it.” I just rewatched the tapes of the “Nixon Resignation Speech” of August 8, 1974; you can too, it’s all out there. But you won’t see remorse. You can watch his exit on August 9 too; just after the swearing-in of new president Gerald Ford. It’s weirdly sad; the White House backdrop; the red-carpet path lined with all branches of the military, arms at present; he smiles as he walks past. The now excused First Lady Pat Nixon clings to new First Lady Betty Ford, who is clinging to our new President Gerald Ford; all three have a somber look. The Nixons board the helicopter, and Richard turns. Then, arms flung high, he gives the crowd his trademark V.

On September 8 Gerald Ford issued Proclamation 4311, granting a full and unconditional pardon to Richard Nixon for any crimes he might have committed against the United States. Richard Nixon was absolved of any connection to the infamous Watergate Scandal; 69 others were charged with various connected crimes; 48 were found guilty and were fined, or served time in prison. Richard Nixon lived another twenty years, assuming, in his own mind at least, the role of “elder statesman.” But what about the cherry tree?

Cute Kid

Richard Milhous Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California January 9, 1913, the second of the five sons of Francis and Hannah Milhous Nixon. The name of the town goes back – Yorba was the family name on the original Spanish land grant; Linda simply means “pretty.” And it was pretty, an agricultural area of lemon groves southeast of Los Angeles; father Francis built the house on their little ranch. Hannah was of Quaker faith, and the boys were influenced by Quaker observances, such as abstinence from alcohol, dancing, and swearing. “We were poor,” Richard once explained to Eisenhower, “but the glory of it was we didn’t know it.” Their ranch failed in 1922; the family moved to Whittier, another area with many Quakers, and Francis opened a grocery store and gas station.

Richard did well in school; he was president of his eight-grade class; in high school he played junior varsity football and had great success as a debater, winning several championships. All this while helping at the family store – up at 4 am, drive to Los Angeles to purchase vegetables at the market, back to the store to wash and display them; then on to school. He graduated from Whittier High third in his class of 207. And he was offered a tuition grant for Harvard! His older brother Harold was ill, his mother needed help and he was needed at the store, so he stayed at home and enrolled at Whittier College, graduating summa cum laude with a BA in history in 1934. And then a scholarship to Duke University School of Law. There was intense competition for scholarships there; he kept his all the way through, was elected president of the Duke Bar Association, and graduated third in his class in June 1937.

Right now, I’m liking Richard Nixon a lot, aren’t you?

All Grown Up

Admitted to the California bar in 1937, Richard went to work as a commercial litigator for local petroleum companies; the next year, he met Pat. Thelma Ryan, that is, his future wife. A funny circumstance, they were cast in a play opposite one another. He claimed “love at first sight”; they didn’t marry however until June 21, 1940. Daughter Tricia was born in 1946, Julie in 1948. We’ll get back to them.

As a birthright Quaker Richard could have claimed exemption from the draft, but sought a commission in the US Navy. He served in numerous capacities throughout WWII and received numerous commendations; he was relieved of active duty in 1946. Now here’s a tidbit for you: remember Eisenhower’s passion for bridge? Richard picked up five-card stud poker during the war; his winnings helped to finance his first congressional campaign. And where was that? Well, back in Whittier, of course, where he was still a registered voter. In 1947, at the age of 34, he was elected as a US Representative from California . Then 1950-53 a US Senator from California; then off to Washington as Eisenhower’s VP from 1953-1961. So far, doing great, a winning streak. Obviously, President next?

Sometimes You Lose

Maybe he was just too sure of himself. Sometimes a long winning streak makes us lazy. Or maybe he was sick that day; everyone has a bad day now and then. But that first debate with John Kennedy was a bummer for Richard, who had long ago proven himself a great debater – he had all those certificates from high school and college to prove it. Maybe too many strings got pulled during that 1960 campaign, and merit lost out to craftiness? With television now a factor, maybe it hadn’t occurred to any of us yet that image would actually become more important than substance.

A squeaky close defeat is worse than a landslide whuppin’; you wonder what else you could have done, or where things went wrong. There were charges of voter fraud, but in January 1961 at the end of term, the Nixons moved back to California and Richard wrote a book. It was a best seller.

So everybody said run for governor of California, and he did. And he lost. Pretty clear, this was the end of Richard Nixon’s career, according to the media. On November 7, 1962, the morning after the election, Richard made an impromptu speech, saying “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.”

If I were a reader of minds, I’d point to that as the moment when Richard Nixon took advice from Robert Johnson, out there on Mississippi’s Highway 61. If you don’t know your blues history, look up that part about making deals with the devil.

Feeling Out The Way

In 1963 the Nixons traveled Europe; Richard gave press conferences there, and met with leaders of the countries visited. They moved to New York, where Richard joined a leading law firm. In 1964, he received some write-in votes in the primaries; but he stayed quiet. The Republicans had heavy losses.

At the end of 1967, Richard told his family he planned to run for president a second time. In March 1968, President Johnson announced he would not be running again. In April Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. In June, Robert Kennedy was assassinated while campaigning. In August, at the Republican Convention in Miami, Richard was nominated on the first ballot and chose Spiro Agnew, governor of Maryland, as his VP.

We had a three-way race: George Wallace as an Independent to pacify the southern states who now hated the Democrats due to the recent civil rights legislation; Hubert Humphrey for the Democrats, who were blamed for all the turmoil and upheaval going on – war and anti-war demonstrations; the hippie counterculture, assassinations, everything in the country that was bad; and Richard Nixon, who promised “peace with honor” and whose slogan was “Nixon’s the One.” Who would you have voted for? I voted for Nixon, he represented sanity in an insane time. I had teen-age sons, and prayed for war to end. And so did just enough people. Former VP Richard Nixon, and former Second Lady Pat, were now sitting on top. Richard sent a note to Hubert, saying, “I know how it hurts to lose a close one.”

Let’s Talk About Pat

You’ll need to get out your yellow pad to take notes about Pat Nixon. Just an ordinary gal, but a superstar in her own sweet way. You’ll see what I mean. Thelma Catherine Ryan (1912-1993) was born March 16, 1912  in the small mining town of Ely, Nevada, the third child of William and Katherine Halberstadt Ryan. Her father nicknamed her “Pat” because she was born just minutes before St Patrick’s Day; it stuck. Father William was a miner, then the family moved to California in 1914 and settled on a small truck farm. Pat’s mother died when she was 12, her father 5 years later; Pat assumed the household duties for her older brothers William and Thomas. She also worked at a local bank as a janitor and bookkeeper during that time.

While attending Fullerton College, she worked as a driver, pharmacy manager, telephone operator and typist. In 1931 she enrolled at the University of Southern California and supplemented her income as a sales clerk, typing teacher, and an extra in the film industry. Yes, she had bit parts in a few motion pictures. But what she wanted was teaching; and in 1937 she graduated cum laude from USC with a BS in merchandising, and a teaching certificate. She took a position at Whittier High School. Ah. And then the part in the play, and meeting Richard, and getting married, and becoming a mom. And the wife of a politician. She campaigned. As Second Lady, and then as First, she undertook missions of goodwill around the world. She didn’t stand and wave; she visited people on their home ground – schools, orphanages, hospitals, markets. She was the most traveled First Lady in US history (later surpassed by Hillary Clinton); she made solo trips to Africa and South America as “Madam Ambassador”; in Vietnam she entered a combat zone, lifting off in an open-door helicopter to witness US troops fighting in the jungle below; she visited Army hospitals, speaking with every patient there.

Pat did things for the White House to make it prettier, and more useful, as many First Ladies devoted their time to, but she did down-to-earth things too; her first Thanksgiving in the White House she organized a meal for 225 senior citizens who didn’t have families; the next year she invited wounded servicemen to the White House for Thanksgiving dinner. She ordered pamphlets for visitors describing the rooms of the house in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Russian. She had ramps installed for the handicapped and instructed the police who served as tour guides to “learn how” by attending sessions at the Winterthur Museum. Guides were to speak slowly and directly to deaf groups; it was ordered that the blind be allowed to touch antiques. Just little things like that.

And Then There Was Watergate

You’ll have to dig into the Watergate Scandal on your own. Basically, as plans began for the 1972 campaign, some folks from the CRN (Committee to Reelect Nixon) broke into the DNC headquarters (Democratic National Committee). To “get the jump,” you know. And they got caught. And they lied. And lots of people had to lie to cover up those lies. One of those was our president. Even though Richard Nixon won in 1972 with 61% of the popular vote and 97% of the electoral, the devil tiptoed in and began to claim his due.

The swamp muck of Watergate. The public ousting. The helicopter ride. Richard wrote nine books over the next 20 years; he and Pat traveled a great deal, always representing the United States, until their health began to fail. Pat died June 22, 1993 at their home in New Jersey at age 81 of cancer and emphysema; Richard and their daughters were with her. Richard lived another ten months, suffering a severe stroke in his home; he died April 22, 1994 at the age of 81; his daughters were there for him too.

Richard and Pat are buried on the grounds of the Nixon Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California; his birthplace is part of the overall site.

As to my party with the Nixons, yes, I would have enjoyed being with them in their early married days; they were hard workers with good dreams. But the swamp-muck Nixon, no. My youngest son, who was only 9 the day we listened to that 1974 Resignation Speech, has this advice for his sons, and nieces, and nephews concerning life: Always take responsibility for your actions. If you mess up, admit it, and try to make things right.

Even if you’ve chopped down the cherry tree.

#36. Johnson, Lyndon Baines

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973) was the 36^th President of the United States, from 1963-1969. Looking back over the previous 35, it seems the US populace tends to select presidents “seasonally”; that is, in a longing for change (like when we chose George the ordinary man over George the king). When it’s spring we can’t wait for summer; in August heat we long for the coolness of fall. One party’s policies we replace with the other; and then, we change back. But that move from a youthful rock star to a good old boy in a cowboy hat was a same-party insta-switch. Of course, “different” was the plan, the Democratic ticket had needed a southerner to balance New England cool, and entice the southern states to stay on board. Lyndon obliged. VP Lyndon was in the second car behind John Kennedy in that fatal Texas parade November 22, 1963; he and Lady Bird were scheduled to host the Kennedys for a weekend of relaxation at their Texas ranch after campaigning was done. Lyndon took care of Jackie’s wishes immediately after John’s death; he made sure she was standing by his side as he was sworn in on Air Force One. As our new president, he dictated that even though the Secret Service wanted them back in Washington immediately – who knew what plots were afoot?; and even though Texas medical examiners insisted an autopsy be performed there; the dead president’s body was put onto Air Force One and taken to Bethesda Naval Hospital, which was Jackie’s choice. Lyndon was an imposing figure, and he knew how to push.

Life On The Pedernales

Lyndon Baines Johnson was born August 27, 1908, in a small farmhouse near the Pedernales River in Stonewall, Texas. That was isolated Hill Country, where “the soil was so rocky it was hard to make a living from it.” He was the eldest of the five children of Samuel Ely and Rebekah Baines Johnson – Lyndon, Sam Houston, Rebekah, Josefa, and Lucia. Father Sam served six terms in the Texas Legislature; by the time Lyndon was 10 he was going to the Capitol in Austin with his Dad; he watched the floor debates; he listened to behind-the-scenes deal-making. Rebekah had big dreams for her children; her dreams for Lyndon were especially grand, something she never let him forget.

So here’s a story-book fairy tale for you: Ludwig Erhard, the chancellor of what was then West Germany, was scheduled to meet with President Kennedy in Washington November 25, 1963, complete with full military honors and a formal black-tie dinner. Instead, he wound up attending the funeral of President Kennedy. The nation-to-nation talk was rescheduled to December, and new President Johnson decided that instead of the Washington DC formality, he’d do the honors in his home state, in his own way. Lyndon met the chancellor at the Austin airport; helicopters flew the party over the state capitol, and then headed for Hill Country and the LBJ Ranch, there along the Pedernales. Secretary of State Dean Rusk was there; diplomatic talks began at the Texas White House but soon shifted to a tour of the ranch. On Sunday there was a visit to nearby Fredericksburg, an area originally settled by German farmers; the Mayor’s welcoming speech was in German; then they went to church, where hymns were sung in German.

The state dinner took place in the high school gymnasium; 30 tables set up on the basketball court, loaded with five hundred pounds of brisket, three hundred pounds of spareribs, German potato salad, Texas coleslaw, ranch baked beans, and sourdough biscuits. At the end, a choral group sang Tief in Dem Herzen Von Texas (Deep in the Heart of Texas) and a smiling Erhard was presented with a ten-gallon hat. A key relationship with a crucial Cold War ally – solid.

There’s another part of this story, equally fairy-tellable; on a cross-country move in 1999 I spent a night in Fredericksburg; I went to that church on Sunday morning where hymns are sung in German; then I took the trolley-train-tour around the town, which drove us by that farmhouse where Lyndon was born 91 years before. Our tour guide took great delight in recounting this part of Erhard’s visit: “When they came by here,” he said, “Lyndon poked him in the ribs and grinned, saying ‘Now there’s where I got spermed!’” We laughed; I’m sure Erhard must have too – two guys, cracking jokes. Nothing fancy.

From There, To There

In 1924, Lyndon graduated from Johnson City High School as president of his six-member senior class. And he didn’t want to go to college. He and some friends drove to California and took some odd jobs; then back to Texas and work on a construction crew. Finally, he enrolled at Southwest Texas State Teachers College, where he worked as a janitor and office helper to help cover costs. He left for a year to teach 5th, 6th, and 7th grades at Welhausen, an impoverished Mexican-American school in the South Texas town of Cotulla. That’s where “purpose” began to take hold and he began to realize the importance of education; finally with enough money to finish school, he graduated in 1930 with a BS in history and a teaching certificate. Just thirty-three more years till the presidency. Lyndon went from teacher to congressional aide; then US Representative from Texas, then Senator from Texas. In 1951 he was Senate Majority whip; in 1954 majority leader. And he tried for the president’s spot on the Democratic ticket in the 1960 election, but lost out to Kennedy.

Crude, Rude, and Shrewd

Nevermind, I’ll just be an innocuous VP. Shrewd. But Lyndon didn’t behave like a VP was supposed to behave. He requested his own office and full-time staff in the White House; he drafted an executive order for Kennedy’s signature granting him “general supervision” over matters of national security. Kennedy turn him down on both requests, but tried to keep him happy, saying “He knows every reporter in Washington, I can’t afford him saying we’re screwed up.” Bobby was openly contemptuous of Lyndon, that’s Attorney General Robert Kennedy, you know, John’s younger brother. Many members of the Kennedy White House ridiculed Lyndon’s crudeness. Rude.

So Kennedy appointed him head of the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities (intended as a nominal position) , where Lyndon worked with African Americans and other minorities. To keep him out of the way, Lyndon was sent on many minor diplomatic missions; this gave him insight into global issues (and opportunities for self-promotion). Kennedy gave him control over all presidential appointments involving Texas; and appointed him Chairman of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, asking him to evaluate the US space program and recommend a project that would beat the Soviets. Lyndon recommended getting an American to the moon in the 60s. Fingers in nearly every pie.

High Society to Great Society

With all the dominoes Lyndon managed to row up during his 1,063 days as Vice President, on November 3, 1964, after 347 days as President, they all fell in his direction. It was a landslide win, the largest share of the popular vote for Democrats in history – 61%. He squeaked in as a VP on that Kennedy ticket, but the Texan won his own presidency Texas style. Big.

And so the Great Society was launched. All aimed at expanding civil rights, public broadcasting, access to health care, aid to education and the arts, urban and rural development, and public services. The War on Poverty. Medicare and Medicaid. The Higher Education Act. The Nationality Act. Containment of Communism. And then the ongoing Vietnam War began to spark angry protests. Race riots became violent; crime rates spiked; Lyndon’s approval rating dropped. In despair he chose not to seek another term.

On January 20, 1969, Lyndon Johnson was there for Richard Nixon’s swearing-in, then leaving the White House in Republican hands, got on the plane to fly back to his ranch in Texas. When the front door of the plane closed, he lit a cigarette ‍—‌ his first since his heart attack in 1955. One of his daughters pulled it out of his mouth and said, “Daddy, what are you doing? You’re going to kill yourself.” He took it back and said, “I’ve raised you girls. I’ve been President. Now it’s my time.” On January 22, 1973, at the age of 64, he suffered his final heart attack. He managed to call the Secret Service agents there on the ranch; they found him in his bed, still holding the phone. He is buried near the house where he was born, now a part of the National Park Service.

Historian Kent Germany summarizes the presidency of Lyndon Johnson in this way: The man who was elected to the White House by one of the widest margins in US history and pushed through as much legislation as any other American politician now seems to be remembered best by the public for succeeding an assassinated hero, steering the country into a quagmire in Vietnam, cheating on his saintly wife….”

His Saintly Wife

Claudia Alta Taylor (1912-2007) was born December 22, 1912, in Karnack, Texas, near the Louisiana state line. Her birthplace was “The Brick House,” an antebellum plantation house on the outskirts of town. When she was a baby, her nursemaid said she was “pretty as a ladybird” and the name stuck. Her father was Thomas Jefferson Taylor; he owned 15,000 acres of rich cotton bottomland and two general stores. Her mother, Minnie Lee Pattillo Taylor, a tall, eccentric woman from an aristocratic Alabama family, fell down a flight of stairs while pregnant and died when Lady Bird was five; her widowed father married two more times. Lady Bird was raised by her maternal aunt Effie Pattillo and spent summers with her Pattillo relatives in Alabama, growing up with watermelon cuttings, and picnics; family gatherings on lazy Sunday afternoons.

She was 22 when she met Lyndon on a visit to Washington in 1934, and already had herself two degrees from the University of Texas (history and journalism, with honors) and a substantial inheritance from her mother’s estate. Lyndon proposed on their first date. Ten weeks later they married at St Mark’s Episcopal Church in San Antonio.

Their marriage suffered due to Lyndon’s numerous affairs; her personal writings mention her humiliation over her husband’s infidelities; he often bragged that he “slept with more women than Kennedy did.” But Lady Bird took $10,000 from her inheritance to finance Lyndon’s first campaign when he decided to run for Congress; and Lady Bird ran his congressional office when he enlisted in the Navy at the beginning of WWII.

During WWII, she spent $17,500 from her inheritance to purchase KTBC, an Austin radio station, setting up the LBJ Holding Company with herself as president. In 1952 she added a television station; when Lyndon objected, she reminded him that she could do what she pleased with her inheritance. Eventually, her initial investment turned into more than $150 million for LBJ Holding; she was the first president’s wife to be a millionaire in her own right before her husband was elected to office. Well then.

When All Is Said And Done

When you count everything up, Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson accomplished amazing things, whatever their reasons – a genuine love of country, or a need to build their own self-esteem. Does it matter? Lyndon’s contributions to the world are extraordinary, one can believe his own experiences with poverty and discrimination led him to take a strong stance against them. And Lady Bird’s example of the importance of a First Lady’s role began to break the ice; indeed her accomplishments inspire hope for the roles of all women today. She lived 34 years after Lyndon’s death, spearheading public service projects around the country and enjoying time with her daughters and grandchildren. She died at the age of 94 on July 11, 2007; eight presidents were represented at her funeral there at the ranch.

I find it interesting that Lady Bird and Jackie became friends; look at what they shared – both had step-parents and unusual family alliances, miscarriages and unfaithful husbands; yet they struggled for family solidity as their children – Caroline and John, Lynda and Lucy – were exposed to the unrelenting beam of the White House spotlight. Both women were intelligent and educated and focused on moving forward. When they were born, remember, women did not yet have the right to vote. Things continue to change.

Go visit the LBJ ranch; you can see the homeplace, and the graves; so many stories there, along the Pedernales. Plan for springtime when the Hill Country bluebonnets are in bloom, that’s when I was there. That quiet visit will suffice as my “party with the Johnsons.”

#35. Kennedy, John Fitzgerald

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas –John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) was the 35^th President of the United States, from 1961 to 1963. He was the youngest person ever elected president; his assassination, 1,036 days into his presidency, was one of the most shocking, and widely viewed events ever witnessed. Television saw to that. Ford Theater, where Abraham Lincoln was killed while watching a play in 1865, had an estimated 1,700 persons in attendance that night; certainly not all in a position to see what happened; or even hear the gunshot, as it was fired deliberately after a laugh line. James Garfield was headed for a vacation when he entered the railroad station in Washington that July morning in 1881; only a small crowd in the waiting room witnessed the gunman step forward and fire. William McKinley was attending the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York when he was killed by an assassins bullet; he was in the Temple of Music surrounded by a crowd; only a few were close enough to realize what happened. After the 1901 assassination of President McKinley, Congress directed the Secret Service to hereafter protect the president of the United States.

John Kennedy was riding in a Lincoln Continental convertible in a well-publicized parade; headed for the Dallas Trade Mart to make a speech November 22, 1963; wife Jackie sat beside. Texas Governor Connally and his wife Nellie were also in the car. A Secret Service agent was driving; another sat in the front; a third, Agent Clint Hill, was following closely on the running board of the car behind. Rifle shots were fired from a sixth-story window of a building along the route as bystanders waved.

I’d just put my kids down for their afternoon nap when I first heard garbled radio accounts that “the president was shot!” Stunned reporters struggled for what to say; I turned on my TV; CBS was the first to report the news, interrupting As the World Turns. I called my husband at work to see if he’d heard anything. At 2:38 Walter Cronkite, waiting in New York for confirmation of Kennedy’s condition, was handed a sheet from the AP news ticker. He put on his glasses, took a few seconds to read the sheet, and looked into the camera with this message: President Kennedy died at 1 PM Central Time, 2 o’clock Eastern Standard Time, some thirty-eight minutes ago.

I walked into my sleeping children’s bedroom, and cried. My kids were the same age as Jackie’s and John’s. How was Jackie going to tell her children something like that?

Suspect Lee Harvey Oswald was quickly apprehended; the media swarmed the jail. Over the next four days the networks were on the air non-stop. We’d just returned from church Sunday and switched on the TV as Jack Ruby shot Oswald. It happened in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters; NBC was covering, live. All networks covered the funeral on Tuesday, 50 cameras showed every detail; little John-John saluting the casket as it passed; inside the rotunda of the Capitol little Caroline putting her hand beneath the draped flag on her father’s coffin. A country mourned with prayers, and tears, and muted disbelief.

The Other Side, and Image

And yet, there was another side. In various schoolrooms, bars, and gatherings around the country, applause greeted the news of Kennedy’s death. You see, John Kennedy didn’t become our president by a landslide. He was relatively unknown politically; he was too young. He was a Catholic. He was a rich stuck-up Bostonian with a weird accent. His daddy was a crook. Yet on election day, electoral votes, and charm, and television skewed in Kennedy’s favor.

You see, the 1960 campaign gave us the first televised debate ever. The Kennedy-Nixon Debate, up close and personal from the comfort of our own living room. Interestingly, those who listened to that first debate on the radio scored higher points for Nixon. But television favored Kennedy.

Nixon had been on the public’s radar for eight years as Eisenhower’s VP. He knew about campaigns, and was accustomed to landslide victories. But IMAGE was a new factor in the game. Kennedy met with the debate’s producer ahead of time; he checked the lighting, the temperature, the camera placement. Kennedy wore makeup, and a blue suit and shirt to cut down on glare and appear sharply focused against the background. Nixon refused the offer of makeup; his stubble showed; he looked exhausted and pale. His gray suit seemed to blend into the set; he appeared to be looking at the clock and not the camera; he kept wiping sweat off his face. Kennedy, looking young and energetic, spoke directly to the camera. Result: almost overnight, age and experience lost its importance. We had ourselves a rock star.

The Second Child

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts, the second of Joseph (aka Papa Joe) and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy’s nine children – Joseph Jr, John, Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia, Robert, Jean, and Edward. John’s grandfathers, both Irish immigrants, over time had served Boston as ward boss, state legislator, mayor, and even US Congressman. Papa Joe Kennedy was a businessman. A very shrewd businessman.

I’ll try to keep it short about Papa Joe; he became wealthy through investments in Hollywood, importing liquor, and real estate. He had multiple affairs with women; Gloria Swanson was one on the list. He donated big bucks to political campaigns and got juicy political appointments, such as Ambassador to the UK. He hobnobbed with royalty at Windsor Castle, and tried to meet with Hitler, who, he believed, was “on the right track.” He didn’t like Jews but he did like Joe McCarthy. He believed that Roosevelt would fall, and hoped to succeed him. That didn’t happen. So Papa Joe lined up his firstborn son to be president; but Joe Jr, a US Navy bomber pilot, was killed over the English Channel in August 1944. Papa Joe turned his attention to #2 son, John.

He Kept Going

John was intelligent, handsome, charming, and, more or less, willing to do what Dad expected of him. But John was also burdened with severe health problems. According to family records, autoimmune disease showed up in his first two years of life—he suffered from almost constant infections during infancy. A bout with scarlet fever was so dire a priest was called to administer last rites. In the first half of his life —  twenty-three years — he attended school (Choate, then Harvard, where he graduated cum laude) while dealing with bronchitis, chicken pox, ear infections, colitis, celiac disease, and more; he was hospitalized for possible leukemia, and he began to experience spinal pain. But he kept going.

The last half of his life pain built on top of pain. He was rejected by the Army in 1940 due to chronic back problems, asthma, and ulcers; classified 4F.  But Papa Joe had a friend who got him into the Navy; in 1942 he became skipper of PT-109; his heroism there earned him a Navy Cross; and more back problems. Three more times a priest was called to administer last rites; but he kept going. He was 30 when he was diagnosed with Addison’s disease; that’s when your body stops producing the hormones you need to balance your metabolism, blood pressure, stress response, and immune system. Wow! that’s pretty much everything you need to keep going. He was so seriously ill a priest was called; last rites administered. He was 33 when his spine got worse; and then, another attack of Addison’s while he and Robert were in Asia; he became delirious, then comatose. Last rites: #3. The year: 1950. With the aid of an unbelievable list of medically-prescribed drugs, he kept going.

Politics and Marriage and General Hospital

In 1952 he was elected US Senator. And he met the beautiful Jacqueline Bouvier; they married the next year; he was 36, she was 24. Over the next 10 years, John was hospitalized nine times. He had spinal surgery, developed a urinary tract infection, slipped into a coma, and wasn’t expected to last the night; a priest was called for last rites for a fourth time. Jackie had a miscarriage, and then daughter Arabella was stillborn.

Was the public aware, or tuned into, much of this? Not really. Great joy in January 1957 when daughter Caroline was born healthy; John started campaigning in earnest. On November 25, 1960 son John was born, just 17 days after John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected President of the United States. Boom!

January 20, 1961 Inauguration Day for John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Priests and preachers and rabbis offered their blessings. Marian Anderson sang the Star Spangled Banner. Robert Frost wrote a special poem, and recited it, despite the sun in his eyes. Carl Sandburg and John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway were invited guests. Outgoing president Eisenhower was front and center there, the oldest president ever in office (at that time) handing off to the youngest. Former president Truman was there, and future presidents Johnson, Nixon and Ford were there, making it the largest “presidential fraternity” ever assembled. Plus First Ladies! Jackie Kennedy of course; Edith Wilson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, and (as we count today, knowing the future) Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, and Betty Ford were there. Chief Justice Earl Warren administered the Presidential Oath, a Kennedy Bible was used. Then President Kennedy delivered his address, considered by many to be the best inaugural speech in American history. And the first seen by a television audience, in color.

Home viewers watched the parade too, it lasted three hours; sixteen thousand members of the US armed forces marched with displays of modern weaponry like the Minuteman missile and the supersonic B-70 bomber. Another sixteen thousand marchers were civilians – federal and state officials, high school bands, Boy Scouts, forty floats. Frank Sinatra hosted the Inaugural Ball; Broadway theaters suspended shows so actors could attend; Hollywood biggies spoke and performed as donations rolled in for the Democratic Party. Jackie stayed till 1:30 in the morning; John headed to a second party hosted by Papa Joe.

Let’s Talk About Jackie

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier (1929-1994) was born July 28, 1929 in Southampton, New York, the first child of John “Black Jack” and Janet Lee Bouvier, Wall Street stockbroker and NY socialite. Sister Caroline Lee was born four years later. The stock market crash of 1929 wasn’t the only instability in the Bouvier family; alcoholism and marital affairs caused a separation by 1936, a divorce in 1940. Janet remarried; then Jackie had Hugh Auchincloss (Standard Oil wealth) for a step-father, and three step-siblings; Janet and Hugh had two more children by 1947. And Jackie lived a pampered life in Virginia, becoming an excellent horsewoman and student, graduating top of her class. Vassar, Sorbonne, on her resume; the Kennedy years you already know. She is considered one of the top-notch First Ladies; gracious and charming in her pillbox hat, and unbelievably brave; you’ve seen the picture as she stood beside Lyndon Johnson on Air Force One that day in her pink suit stained with her husband’s blood. The American public didn’t like it when she married Greek oil magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1968 and moved her kids out of the country; he died in 1978 and she returned, working at Doubleday and Viking Press, and getting back into the public eye. She was forgiven, and remains one of the most popular women in American history. She died of cancer in 1994, age 65, and is buried in Arlington Cemetery beside John Kennedy, and their children Arabella, who was stillborn in 1956, and Patrick, who lived two days and died just 106 days before his father’s assassination.

The Aftermath

As for children Caroline and John, they grew up; John was killed in 1999 as he piloted a small aircraft; his wife and sister-in-law also died in the crash. Caroline was appointed US Ambassador to Japan under Obama’s administration; and then Ambassador to Australia by Joe Biden in 2022; choosing to live far from the USA. As for pushy Papa Joe; he lived long enough to see his son Robert assassinated by a gunshot wound to the head in 1968 as he was campaigning for the Democratic party nomination. And his son Edward drive a car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969, drowning his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, who was left trapped inside.

The weirdest thing in this tale of ambition and woe and television impact? Doctors tell us that if John Kennedy had not been wearing the stiff backbrace that he was confined to for the greatest part of his life, he likely would not have been killed that day. The first, and survivable, shot hit him in the back. Without a backbrace, that shot would have knocked him forward, out of range of the second shot, which, since he remained erect, hit directly in the back of his head. And the other weird thing? Records released after 2002 show that due to the overwhelming amount of drugs he was taking, and the fragility of his health, he likely would have died within a year or two anyway.

That shining spot called Camelot? John Fitzgerald Kennedy, despite all the coverups and innuendo and alleged womanizing (with all those meds, and braces?) did something good for his country; his youth and positive encouragement gave a lot of people hope. But the price tag for that rock star image was huge.

I liked him. But no party.

#34. Eisenhower, Dwight David

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) was the 34^th President of the United States, from 1953 to 1961. Of all the presidents who ever campaigned for president, and all the names a political party could pick to head their ticket, nobody had a better name to fit onto a campaign button: I LIKE IKE was a made-to-order winner! And then, the guy was a war hero, to boot. Five-Star General. Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces. Who better to lead a country of 160 million that was becoming, or visioning itself as, “the leader of the free world?” Supreme Commander. We know that sometimes, in order to be supreme, little things get rolled over. We know that being supreme, and being likable, are different things. Sometimes we don’t like our presidents and take aim directly (a few assassinations come to mind); sometimes we just stop voting for them, or put them down in history as NGP’s (Not Great Presidents). What did we do with Ike? And how liked was Ike?

Way Way Way Back

The “Eisenhauer” family migrated from Germany to Pennsylvania in 1741. “Eisenhauer” translates to “iron hewer;” anglicized to the spelling we know today: Eisenhower. Fast forward to October 14, 1890, and Denison, Texas. That’s when Dwight David entered the world, the third of seven sons born to David Jacob and Ida Stover Eisenhower. Ike’s family had specific times for Bible reading, and chores; discipline came from Dad if not met. Father David was a college-educated engineer; but family fortunes went up and down over the years. Mother Ida’s childhood was a series of more downs that ups; reading the Bible was her education. When Ike was born she belonged to Jehovah’s Witnesses and their home was the local meeting hall. Dwight was named “Dwight” after evangelist Dwight L Moody; all the boys– Arthur, Edgar, Dwight, Roy, Paul, Earl, Milton – were nicknamed “Ike” as a shortened version of Eisenhower – Big Ike and Little Ike and so on; the only one still called Ike by World War II was the “Dwight Ike.” Speaking of war, keep this in mind: Mother Ida was a lifelong pacifist, believing that war was wicked. She died in September 1946; Ike was unable to attend her funeral due to war-time duties.

Becoming A Strategist

Along with his gang of brothers Ike grew up hunting, and fishing, but sports – now that was everything. As a freshman playing football, Ike injured his knee; an infection was so bad doctors told him it was life-threatening; the leg must come off. Ike refused. And got well. He graduated Abilene High School in 1909 (the family was in Kansas by then) and worked for a while to earn funds for college. Then someone suggested he apply to the Naval Academy as no tuition was required. Ike conferred with his Senator who advised applying to West Point as well. He passed the entrance exams for both but was told he was too old for the Naval Academy. He went with the second choice: West Point, 1911.

Ike made the varsity football team at West Point and was a starter halfback in 1912; yes, he played against Jim Thorpe in a famous Big Loss for Army game; in the very next game he was tackled in a knee-injuring play; no more football. Except, by doggie, he became the junior varsity coach. His graduation class of 1915 became known as “the class the stars fell on;” 59 members eventually became officers in the US Army; one of them was Dwight David Eisenhower. Ike’s academic record was average; but, in addition to learning military strategy and football strategy at West Point, he learned to play bridge. He was addicted to bridge throughout his military career. While stationed in the Philippines, he played with President Manuel Quezon and gained the reputation Bridge Wizard of Manila. He played in Europe during the stressful days before the D-Day landings. His favorite partner? General Alfred Gruenther, considered the best bridge player in the Army; Ike appointed him as second-in-command at NATO (reputedly) because of his bridge skill. Well then.

Career Army Means Moving Around

Ike’s very first military assignment was Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. During WWI he requested to be sent to Europe but wound up training tank crews. Between wars he held staff positions in the US and the Philippines. By WWII he had attained the rank of Brigadier General; then more promotions. He oversaw the Allied invasions of North Africa and Sicily; he supervised the invasions of France and Germany. He was military governor of the American-occupied zone of Germany in 1945, Army Chief of Staff 1945-1948, and first supreme commander of NATO 1951-1952. (For a blip in there he was president of Columbia University.)

And on a personal level? Way back there in San Antonio, Ike met Mamie Doud; her parents were visiting a friend at Fort Sam Houston. He proposed on Valentine’s Day 1916, they got married July 1 (he was 26, she was 20); Ike was granted 10 days leave for a honeymoon. Mary Geneva “Mamie” Doud was born in Boone, Iowa November 14, 1896, the second of the four girls of John Sheldon and Elivera Carlson Doud. Daddy was rich, and Mama was Swedish, which meant Swedish was often spoken at home, and there were plenty of servants to do everything, so Mamie never learned to “keep house.” That didn’t make for a good start as the wife living on the low pay of a military man. But she was accustomed to one thing – not staying put. Her family traveled a lot, and had a number of homes, she grew up in Iowa, Colorado, Texas. As an Army wife she lived in 33 different homes in 37 years as Ike was stationed at different posts.

Ike and Mamie had two sons; Doud Dwight in 1917; who died of scarlet fever at the age of three; the second son, John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower was born in 1922. Ike was stationed in Panama in 1922; Mamie traveled to Denver for John’s birth; when she returned to Panama she brought a nurse to help care for John. Mamie doted on John; he helped ease some of her depression brought about by her firstborn’s death, and her long separations from Ike. In 1928 Ike was stationed in Paris; in 1929, he was appointed as aide to General Douglas MacArthur. 1935: the Philippines. 1939: Back in the US as WWII began.

It’s Been Good To Know You

During World War II, while promotion and fame came to Ike, Mamie lived in Washington, DC. During the three years Ike was stationed in Europe, she saw him only once. And what about son John; where was he during all of this? John graduated high school in Baguio, Philippines when the family lived there. And decided to follow in Dad’s footsteps – he entered West Point on the eve of the US entry into WWII. His graduation date? Incredibly, it was June 6, 1944, D-Day, the day the Allied forces invaded Normandy. Ike missed John’s graduation. Mamie’s health had never been good – she had rheumatic fever as a child; combine that with loneliness and worry; was her son okay? Her husband safe? And those Kay Summersby rumors? Officially Kay was Ike’s “chauffeur” in London, was there more?

It was 1948 before Ike and Mamie bought the first, and only, home they ever owned. Ike had accepted appointment as President of Columbia University, and the home was a farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. (It’s now the Eisenhower National Historic Site.) Well oops, Ike was made commander of NATO so, back to Europe, hang up that University presidency; hold up on that farm. One good thing for Mamie then – she got to live in Paris, receive royals regularly, and, was even awarded the Cross of Merit for her role in Ike’s military success. Son John, meanwhile, got married, had kids, earned an MA at Columbia in English, and began teaching English at West Point. He, and Dad, and Mom, and War, would cross paths again.

The Next Republican President

Harry S Truman and Dwight David Eisenhower had different opinions about war, and policy, and, well, most things. But they had to work together during those war years. Ike didn’t approve of Harry’s decision to drop the bomb, no sir. He didn’t approve of Franklin’s “New Deal” or Harry’s “Fair Deal.” By 1952, the list of things Ike didn’t like was long, and the after-war upheaval was still stirring up everybody’s guts, so, perfect timing for a War Hero with a different plan. “I Like Ike” buttons sprouted on thousands of lapels, and by January 20, 1953, Ike and Mamie were riding in the presidential limousine on the way to the White House to pick up outgoing Harry and Bess, who invited them in for a cup of coffee before heading to the swearing-in at the capitol. Ike and Mamie wouldn’t get out of the car.

The snit began way back, all those differences of opinion. And then, right after the election but still a few months before the official change of hands, workers showed up at the White House without notice to start re-arranging the White House for the Eisenhowers. They weren’t allowed in. And then, Harry offered to set up a meeting with Ike to begin sharing critical information an incoming president would need to know (remember, he got nothing when he took over presidential duties). Ike declined, meeting with other sources for information. Mamie and Bess fared better, there is a famous photo of the two “Ladies” December 1, 1952, when Mamie accepted Bess’ offer of a tour of the White House. And so it goes.

Who is Happy?

This is complicated. John first. Back when Ike was Supreme Allied Commander, John wasn’t allowed combat duty as it might be a distraction for his Dad. In 1952, while Ike was running for president, John was fighting in a combat unit in Korea. The heart-to-heart father-son talk went like this: if I am elected president, you must never be captured alive. John accepted the fact that he would have to take his own life rather than become an instrument of blackmail; John’s children at the time – David, Ann, and Susan – were 4, 3, and 1. Ouch. John did get to work in the White House later; he was Dad’s Assistant Staff Secretary and on the Army’s General Staff.

Mamie next. For eight straight years Mamie stayed put! She had a White House staff at her disposal; she looked fashionably pretty in pink; and everybody liked her bangs. She was the first First Lady to present a national public image, often entertaining heads of state, the count was over 70 official foreign visitors. She shook hands with thousands of people and readily accommodated photographers, though she maintained her distance from the press. Once John came home from Korea, she had her family near – four grandkids by 1955. John and his wife Barbara even bought property near the Gettysburg farm so they could be close.

John liked Ike, Mamie liked Ike, and the American public continued to be wowed by Ike. He won 531 electoral votes in 1952 and 1956. He won 55% of the popular vote in 1952 and 57.5% in 1956. Could he have won a third term? Speculation is yes; but Ike was the first president to fall under the restrictions of the Two Terms Only 22^nd Amendment, passed in 1951.

Winding Down

Few people were aware of Ike’s major problem: his health. In his entire military career, he never spent a day in combat, but his health brought him to the edge numerous times. Besides that screwed up knee, he had five heart attacks, one stroke, surgery due to Chrohn’s disease, malaria, tuberculosis, high blood pressure, spinal malformation, shingles, neuritis, and bronchitis. Medical records were guarded – neither a Supreme Commander nor a US President dares show any sign of weakness. He died of heart failure March 28, 1969 at the age of 78 in Walter Reed Hospital.

Mamie lived another 10 years after Ike’s death, staying on at the Gettysburg farm. She and Ike had eight years together there after leaving the White House. She died of a stroke at Walter Reed Hospital November 1, 1979 at the age of 83; she and Ike are buried side by side at the Eisenhower National Museum & Library in Abilene, Kansas.

I went to high school, got married, and had kids during Ike’s presidency; the thing I most remember was his role in 1957 when he sent Army troops to enforce federal court orders integrating Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas – I drive by the Memorial to the Little Rock Nine whenever I go downtown today. Both my brothers were in high school when Sputnik was launched; their entire careers were molded by Ike’s creation of NASA and the establishment of a stronger, science-based education via the National Defense Education Act.

Would I invite Ike and Mamie to my party? I don’t think so. I wore the Ike button back then. Ike and Mamie were the residents during my first tourist-visit to the White House in 1953. But it would be stressful to talk about. Too much heartache behind the glory.