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Friday, March 10, 2023
Friday, February 24, 2023
President Garfield
President Garfield Did Not Seek to be President.
James Garfield was respected as a professor of ancient languages, President of Hiram College, and a major general in the Union army. He had been elected to Congress when he was only thirty-two years old.
When he served in the army, his wife, Lucretia, discovered he had an affair with a woman known only as "Mrs. Calhoun." Garfield's wife sent her husband to see Mrs. Calhoun and get back every love letter he had sent. She told him to destroy any evidence of their relationship. The marriage between James and Lucretia became strong and remained until death.
The Republican Party nominated him for the presidency, although he did not seek it. The Party thought he would be able to help bridge the gap that had developed between Congress and the executive branch. Congress and the Presidency were not getting along at all.
After Garfield was elected President, people would hound him for a federal office. Charles Guiteau was very persistent in being appointed as the Consul General of Paris.
Garfield said, "These people would take my very brain, flesh, and blood if they could." Congress passed the Pendleton Act of 1883, which based appointments to the civil service on talent and seniority to help Presidents avoid office seekers.
As they walked by, Charles Guiteau would sit on a bench in Lafayette Park and ask cabinet members to further his petition for Consular General of Paris. Secretary of State James Blaine shouted at Mr. Guiteau, "Never speak to me again on the Paris consulship as long as you live!" So, Guiteau started to go into the White House. Finally, the staff was told Guiteau was barred from entering.
Guiteau bought a pistol and had the salesman show him how to use it, then went to a local prison where he felt he would be sent in the future. He wanted to know where he would live. When President Garfield was waiting for a train at a railroad station, Guiteau walked up to him and fired twice. The first bullet grazed the President's arm, and the second lodged in his back.
It took eighty days for the President to die. Historians think it was not the bullet in his back that killed him, but the doctors' unsanitized medical instruments and fingers. Garfield was awake when they tried to find the bullet. Alexander Graham Bell was called to use his version of an early metal detector. They still did not find it. President Garfield suffered for eighty days in hot and humid weather. He was 49 years old and was President for only 4 months.
After President Garfield died, the bullet was found during the autopsy. Charles Guiteau wrote a letter to Chester A. Arthur, the Vice -President who became President at Garlield's death. Guiteau was hung on June 30, 1882.
Read the letter from Guiteau in the next blog.

Saturday, February 18, 2023
Which President Was This?
After serving in the Civil War, this President said, "I have seen the dead piled up, and I do not want to see another."
However, he believed in Manifest Destiny. The President sent the battleship Maine to the Havana harbor when Cuba went to war with Spain. Suddenly the ship blew up, killing more than 200 Yankee sailors. The American people were outraged and wanted to retaliate against Spain. Remember the Maine was the battle cry. The President instead had a commission investigate. Theodore Roosevelt, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, said, "the President was a "White-lived cur." The Commission decided the ship hit a Spanish mine. ( Some historians think it was likely caused by a coal fire on the ship.)
In three months, America went to war and defeated Spain, and the US got Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam in the treaty with Spain. And later, the President persuaded Congress to annex Hawaii. When the Philipines revolted, he immediately sent a troop to put down the revolt, and he sent troops to put down the Boxer rebellion in China as it was in the best business concerns of America.
The idea of the Press Room for journalists started with this President, and the journalist loved the idea and accepted the carefully chosen "news" he handed out.
When he turned men down for an office, he made them think he was doing them a favor and presented them with a flower from his lapel. The Secretary of War said about the President, "He had a way of handling men so that they thought his ideas were their own."
Some Republican businessmen said they would fire employees who did not vote for their candidate. He won by a landslide.
His inaugural address was the first to be filmed.
He was devoted to his wife, Ida, who unfortunately had epilepsy. If her seizures hit at a state dinner, a public gathering, or a speech, the President would drape his handkerchief over her face. The darkness helped to calm her, and when the seizure passed, the couple acted as if nothing had happened.
He was elected to a second term as President. In September 1901, he attended The Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Leon Czolgosz walked up to the President with a handkerchief wrapped around his hand. He had a gun concealed, and he fired two bullets. The President was hit in the breastbone and the abdomen. As the President fell to the floor, he said, "My wife, be careful how you tell her-oh, be careful,"
Eight days later, the President died. And Forty-five days later, Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, was electrocuted.
William McKinley
President 1897 -1901
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Presidents Day - William Henry Harrison
Keep It Short!
Presidents' Day! We all know about famous presidents such as Washington, Jefferson, the two Roosevelts, and JFK.
But the other presidents had interesting lives too. Today let's look at our ninth president, William Henry Harrison.
William Henry's father was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. William Henry was the last President born as a British subject. His father wanted William to be a physician, but William chose army life. He became an Indian fighter in the northwest territory. He tried twice to make peace with Tecumuseh, the Creek chief, who allied with the British.
Finally, Harrison led the troops that killed Tecumseh and defeated the British at the junction of the Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers. After the war, he served in the US Senate and later as an ambassador to Columbia. Columbians nearly threw him in jail as he supported the uprising against the Columbian government.
He belonged to the Whig Party, and it was considered crass to campaign for yourself in that day. But he was a maverick and the first presidential candidate to campaign for himself with speeches, parties, banners, and parades. This idea has been followed by all the succeeding candidates.
His opponent was Martin Van Buren, portrayed as a snob and a dandy. Harrison's running mate was John Tyler, so the slogan was 'Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too'. Harrison said of himself, "Some folks are silly enough to have formed a plan to make a president of th the U.S. out of this Clerk and Clod Hopper.
The prominent Whigs thought Harrison would be easy to dominate and get the people they wanted into important positions, but he spoiled their plans. He told them where they could 'stick their suggestions.'
He became President in 1841. His wife, Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison, was ill and could not travel to Washington.
He delivered his inaugural address on March 4th. It was a cold, windy day. He did not wear a coat or gloves. His speech was one hour and 45 minutes long ( It became the longest inaugural speech ever given. So the moral is "Keep It Short.")
He came down with a cold and seemed to recover. Then he would go out to various government offices to look for inefficient Federal employees to fire. Also, early each morning, he left the White House to buy food at the local market. He did not wear a coat on these jaunts. A few days later, he had chills and a fever. The diagnoses were pneumonia and pleurisy. The doctors treated their patient with castor oil, calomel, ipecac, opium, camphor, and brandy. He soon had colitis, vomiting, and hepatitis. He died on April 4th, 1841, exactly one month after taking office.
The vice president became President. John Tyler was more challenging to dominate than Harrison.
Anna married William Henry against her father's advice. She lived with him on the frontier. They had ten children. A grandson, Benjamin Harrison, became the twenty-third President. Anna lived twenty years longer than her husband and devoted herself to church work. She was eighty-nine when she died peacefully.
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Love and Cupid
Love, Cupid, and Valentine
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
What was Paupukeevis Thinking?
Paupukeevis
Thursday, December 29, 2022
Auld Lang Syne
Auld Lang Syne
The words were in the Scottish language. Auld Lang Syne means in English "Old Long Since" and is also interpreted as "since long ago" or "for old times' sake."
In the 19th century, it became part of the Scottish Hogmanay or (New Year's celebration). Traditionally the people sing the song while holding hands and standing in a circle.
The Scottish version is: The English version is:
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind? And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne? And old lang syne?
(Chorus) (Chorus)
For auld lang syne, my jo, For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne, For auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, We'll take a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne. For auld lang syne.
And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp! And surely you'll buy your pint cup!
And surely I'll be mine! And surely I'll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup of kindness yet, And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne. For auld lang syne.
We twa have run about the braes We two have run about the slopes,
And pu'd the gowans fine; And picked the daisies fine;
But we've wander'd a weary foot But we've wandered many a weary foot,
Sin auld lang syne. Since auld lang syne.
We twa hae paidl'd i' the burn, We two have paddled in the stream,
Frae mornin' sun till dine; From morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd But seas between us broad have roared
Sin auld lang syne. Since auld lang syne.
And there's a hand, my trusty fiere! And there's a hand my trusty friend!
And gie's a hand o' thine! And give me a hand o' thine!
And we'll take a right guid willy waught, And we'll take a right good-will draught,
For auld lang syne. For auld lang syne.
The song became popular when Guy Lombardo's band, the Royal Canadians, played it on December 31, 1929, on the radio and later on television.
There are many versions of this song today. Robert Burns's, in his various manuscripts of this song, are not worded exactly the same either.
If you notice, some words need to be more grammatical or spelled correctly. This is on purpose.
This information is from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, published May 19, 2017.
Please, everyone, have a safe New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. May God Bless us with good health during the holiday and all the new year.
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