December 8, 1941:The Day of Infamy Speech

Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives:

Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleagues delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And, while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

December 7, 1787: Delaware Ratifies the Constitution

Delaware has the distinction of ratifying the Constitution before any other state, on this day in 1787, an act that later earned it the nickname "First State" and the first place in the 50 state quarters program. The document established the foundation of the US presidency, in language as follows (with certain parts removed because they were later superseded by constitutional amendments):

Section 1 - The President

The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector...

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States....

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Section 2 - Civilian Power over Military, Cabinet, Pardon Power, Appointments

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

Section 3 - State of the Union, Convening Congress

He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

Section 4 - Disqualification

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

December 6, 1884:Washington Monument Completed

December 6 boasts of a number of events in presidential and near-presidential history. In 1884, the long-planned, long-delayed Washington Monument was completed with the setting of its capstone, making the monument 555 feet 5⅛ inches tall, then the tallest structure in the world. (It would be surpassed by the Eiffel Tower a few years later.)

Five years later, on December 6, 1889, the first and only president of the CSA, Jefferson Davis, died of natural causes at age 81. He was in New Orleans at the time of his death, and buried there. In 1893, a funeral train was organized to take his body to Richmond via Gulfport, Miss.; Mobile; Montgomery; Atlanta; Greenville, SC; Raleigh; and Danville, Va. Thousands turned out along the route to pay their respects.

In 1923, Calvin Coolidge's first State of the Union speech was also the first one ever broadcast on the radio, in this case six powerful stations -- perhaps as many as a million people heard the speech. On March 4, 1925, his inauguration was the first one broadcast.

In 1973, Gerald Ford was sworn in as the 40th Vice President of the United States. Ford was one of the seven vice presidents who spent less than a year in that position -- a fraternity that also includes John Tyler, Andrew Johnson, William R. King, Harry Truman, Theodore Roosevelt, Chester Arthur and Thomas Hendricks.

December 5, 1782:Martin Van Buren's Birthday

Today is the birthday of Martin Van Buren, Eighth President of the United States, and the first holder of that office to be born after the Declaration of Independence. The standard historical impression of Old Kinderhook's administration is that of an appendix to Andrew Jackson's, but his most enduring legacy -- one that extends to the present day and into the foreseeable future -- involves his efforts in fashioning the faction around Jackson into a viable, long-term organization: the Democratic party. Or to use a more 19th-century terminology, the National Democracy.

One writer, libertarian Jefferey Rogers Hummel, goes even further in his praise of Van Buren, in an essay called "Martin Van Buren: The Greatest American President":

"Van Buren was a lawyer-president who represented a new breed of professional politician. His opponents denounced him during his life for subtle intrigue, scheming pragmatism, and indecisive 'non committalism.' Those charges were reflected in such popular nicknames as the Little Magician, the Red Fox of Kinderhook, and the American Talleyrand. The ideologically compatible but personally acerbic John Randolph of Roanoke once observed that 'he rowed to his objective with muffled oars,' faulting him as 'an adroit, dapper, little managing man,' who 'can’t inspire respect.'

"Van Buren’s demeanor reinforced such impressions. Appearing shorter than his five feet and six inches, he was stout and balding by the time of his inauguration, his formerly red sideburns now grey and framing a large head with a prominent brow and calculating blue eyes. Always fashionably dressed, charmingly witty, and imperturbably amiable, Van Buren never let political differences master his emotions or cloud his social relations. He was not a daring, original intellect in the mold of John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, and his ability to draw out the views of others often masked his pious devotion to orthodox Jeffersonianism. Even sympathetic historians tend to slight Van Buren’s term in office as the 'third Jackson administration.' Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., concludes that, while president, 'Van Buren was weak in the very respect in which he might have been expected to excel — as a politician.' Except during the last year in office, his management was 'negligent and maladroit' and showed very little 'executive energy.'

"On the other hand, modern advocates of decentralization and states’ rights are often more taken with Van Buren’s better-known rival, Calhoun, and his doctrine of nullification. Van Buren admittedly would not go to the lengths of a John Randolph in sacrificing political success for ideological purity. Yet the New Yorker’s overall career displayed far more consistency in opposing government power at all levels than did the twisting, turning path of the swaggering opportunist from South Carolina. Van Buren was also better attuned to Old Republican antistatism than the irascible, impulsive, and militaristic Old Hickory as strikingly illustrated by Van Buren’s more conciliatory rejection of nullification in spite of bitter personal differences with Calhoun. Above all, in sharp contrast to his political mentor, Thomas Jefferson, the Little Magician managed to hew more closely to principle when he was in the White House than when he was not. Indeed, a close examination of Van Buren’s four years in office reveals that historians have grossly underrated his many remarkable accomplishments in the face of heavy odds. Those accomplishments, in my opinion, rank Martin Van Buren as the greatest president in American history."

It's also a good time to mention Van Buren's vice president, the largely forgotten Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky (right), a Congressman selected as a westerner to give geographic balance to the ticket in 1836. Richard Johnson remains the only vice president selected by the US Senate after no candidate for the office obtained a majority of electoral votes in the election -- Johnson was one short. Supposedly some of the electors objected to his relationship with Julia Chinn, a family slave that he openly treated as his wife.

December 4, 1918:Wilson Sails for Europe

President Wilson and a large entourage sailed from New York this day in 1918 aboard the SS George Washington, escorted by warships under command of Admiral Henry Thomas Mayo, to attend the Peace Conference at Paris. After nine days at sea, Wilson arrived at Brest, and then traveled by land to Versailles, where he headed the US delegation to the conference, the purpose of which was to seek an official end to the hostilities that had ceased with the armistice of November 11.

Two days before he left, the president had told Congress in his State of the Union address, "I welcome this occasion to announce to the Congress my purpose to join in Paris the representatives of the governments with which we have been associated in the war against the Central Empires for the purpose of discussing with them the main features of the treaty of peace. I realize the great inconveniences that will attend my leaving the country, particularly at this time, but the conclusion that it was my paramount duty to go has been forced upon me by considerations which I hope will seem as conclusive to you as they have seemed to me.

"The Allied governments have accepted the bases of peace which I outlined to the Congress on the eighth of January last [known to history as the Fourteen Points], as the Central Empires also have, and very reasonably desire my personal counsel in their interpretation and application, and it is highly desirable that I should give it in order that the sincere desire of our Government to contribute without selfish purpose of any kind to settlements that will be of common benefit to all the nations concerned may be made fully manifest. The peace settlements which are now to be agreed upon are of transcendent importance both to us and to the rest of the world, and I know of no business or interest which should take precedence of them.

"The gallant men of our armed forces on land and sea have consciously fought for the ideals which they knew to be the ideals of their country; I have sought to express those ideals; they have accepted my statements of them as the substance of their own thought and purpose, as the associated governments have accepted them; I owe it to them to see to it, so far as in me lies, that no false or mistaken interpretation is put upon them, and no possible effort omitted to realize them. It is now my duty to play my full part in making good what they offered their life's blood to obtain. I can think of no call to service which could transcend this."

Wilson received a hero's welcome in France, at least along his route from Brest to Versailles, but Britain and France -- which is say, Lloyd George and Clemenceau -- were considerably less enthusiastic about Wilson's ideas about the settlement of the war. Wilson pushed hard for the creation of the ill-starred League of Nations and succeeded in having that put in the treaty, but most of the other points died on the vine.

December 3, 1929:Hoover on the Economy

In his first State of the Union, President Herbert Hoover had the the following to say about the "general economic situation." In hindsight, it's easy to criticize Hoover, but he was hardly alone in thinking that the fallout from stock market crash needed attention, but was ultimately only going to be a bump in the road.

"The country has enjoyed a large degree of prosperity and sound progress during the past year with a steady improvement in methods of production and distribution and consequent advancement in standards of living. Progress has, of course, been unequal among industries, and some, such as coal, lumber, leather, and textiles, still lag behind. The long upward trend of fundamental progress, however, gave rise to over-optimism as to profits, which translated itself into a wave of uncontrolled speculation in securities, resulting in the diversion of capital from business to the stock market and the inevitable crash...

"Fortunately, the Federal reserve system had taken measures to strengthen the position against the day when speculation would break, which together with the strong position of the banks has carried the whole credit system through the crisis without impairment. The capital which has been hitherto absorbed in stock-market loans for speculative purposes is now returning to the normal channels of business...

"The sudden threat of unemployment and especially the recollection of the economic consequences of previous crashes under a much less secured financial system created unwarranted pessimism and fear. It was recalled that past storms of similar character had resulted in retrenchment of construction, reduction of wages, and laying off of workers. The natural result was the tendency of business agencies throughout the country to pause in their plans and proposals for continuation and extension of their businesses, and this hesitation unchecked could in itself intensify into a depression with widespread unemployment and suffering.

"I have, therefore, instituted systematic, voluntary measures of cooperation with the business institutions and with State and municipal authorities to make certain that fundamental businesses of the country shall continue as usual, that wages and therefore consuming power shall not be reduced, and that a special effort shall be made to expand construction work in order to assist in equalizing other deficits in employment. Due to the enlarged sense of cooperation and responsibility which has grown in the business world during the past few years the response has been remarkable and satisfactory...

"I am convinced that through these measures we have reestablished confidence. Wages should remain stable. A very large degree of industrial unemployment and suffering which would otherwise have occurred has been prevented. Agricultural prices have reflected the returning confidence. The measures taken must be vigorously pursued until normal conditions are restored."

December 2, 1823:The Monroe Doctrine

The seed that became the Monroe Doctrine, known to American schoolchildren down the decades, and sometimes referenced by later presidents during policy pronouncements (John Kennedy posited that Soviet aid to Cuba constituted a violation of the doctrine), was planted by President Monroe's seventh annual message to Congress in late 1823. It's useful to remember that most of Latin America had broken away from the Spanish Crown in the decade before Monroe's speech; in 1822, the United States had recognized Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico as independent nations.

The US State Department's web site has this to say about the Monroe Doctrine: "In 1823, France invited Spain to restore the Bourbon power, and there was talk of France and Spain warring upon the new republics with the backing of the Holy Alliance (Russia, Prussia and Austria). This news appalled the British government -- all the work of Wolfe, Chatham and other eighteenth-century British statesmen to get France out of the New World would be undone, and France would again be a power in the Americas.

"George Canning, the British foreign minister, proposed that the United States and Great Britain join to warn off France and Spain from intervention. Both Jefferson and Madison urged Monroe to accept the offer, but [Secretary of State] John Quincy Adams was more suspicious. Adams also was quite concerned about Russia's efforts to extend its influence down the Pacific coast from Alaska south to California, then owned by Mexico.

"At the Cabinet meeting of November 7, 1823, Adams argued against Canning's offer, and declared, 'It would be more candid, as well as more dignified, to avow our principles explicitly to Russia and France, than to come in as a cockboat in the wake of the British man-of-war.'

"He argued and finally won over the Cabinet to an independent policy. In Monroe's message to Congress on December 2, 1823, he delivered what we have always called the Monroe Doctrine, although in truth it should have been called the Adams Doctrine. Essentially, the United States was informing the powers of the Old World that the American continents were no longer open to European colonization, and that any effort to extend European political influence into the New World would be considered by the United States 'as dangerous to our peace and safety.' The United States would not interfere in European wars or internal affairs, and expected Europe to stay out of American affairs.

"Although it would take decades to coalesce into an identifiable policy, John Quincy Adams did raise a standard of an independent American foreign policy so strongly that future administrations could not ignore it. One should note, however, that the policy succeeded because it met British interests as well as American, and for the next 100 years was secured by the backing of the British fleet."

December 1, 1862:Lincoln's Second State of the Union

Lincoln's second Message to Congress, or State of the Union, is best remembered for its closing paragraph:

"Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free -- honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just -- a way which if followed the world will forever applaud and God must forever bless.”

But that's hardly the entire scope of the document, which, unlike modern State of the Union speeches, was delivered in writing to Congress (Jefferson began that practice, and it lasted until Wilson again began delivering the speeches himself, which Washington and Adams had done). Lincoln's second State of the Union -- when the union was indeed in a bad way -- includes a lot of other information, some of it unexpected, except to Lincoln scholars and enthusiasts: trade matters, the settlement of the West and the building of a railroad to the Pacific, relations with other countries, the financial condition of the US Post Office and much more. He even proposed this a constitutional amendment:

ART.--. Every State wherein slavery now exists which shall abolish the same therein at any time or times before the 1st day of January, A. D. 1900, shall receive compensation from the United States as follows...

ART.--All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the chances of the war at any time before the end of the rebellion shall be forever free; but all owners of such who shall not have been disloyal shall be compensated for them at the same rates as is provided for States adopting abolishment of slavery, but in such way that no slave shall be twice accounted for.

ART.--Congress may appropriate money and otherwise provide for colonizing free colored persons with their own consent at any place or places without the United States...

There's also discussion of the future population of the United States. Lincoln reckoned it to be about 251 million by 1930, by extrapolating growth rates from 1790 to 1860. (The US population didn't reach that level till about 1990.) The entire speech is here.

November 30, 1943:FDR at Tehran

The Hoover Institution describes the following painting this way:

On the eve of the Tehran Conference, the Iranian government commissioned a Persian master of miniatures to create three paintings as gifts for FDR, Stalin, and Churchill. The scene depicts the three leaders vanquishing Hitler, Hirohito, and Mussolini. Each leader was given a painting in which he was personally leading the charge on the white horse. (This is a copy of the one given to Churchill.) The artist has portrayed the Iranian people as distant observers (upper left).

November 29, 1952:Ike Goes to Korea

In late 1952, Dwight Eisenhower visited Korea, a highly unusual bit of travel for a president-elect. But during his campaign for the presidency, he had said he would "go to Korea." Remarkably, he did so, arriving on November 29.

"During the presidential campaign of 1952, Republican candidate Eisenhower was critical of the Truman administration's foreign policy, particularly its inability to bring an end to the conflict in Korea," noted the History Channel. "President Truman challenged Eisenhower on October 24 to come up with an alternate policy. Eisenhower responded with the startling announcement that if he were elected, he would personally go to Korea to get a firsthand view of the situation. The promise boosted Eisenhower's popularity and he handily defeated Democratic candidate Adlai E. Stevenson.

"Shortly after his election, Eisenhower fulfilled his campaign pledge, though he was not very specific about exactly what he hoped to accomplish. After a short stay he returned to the United States, yet remained mum about his plans concerning the Korean War. After taking office, however, Eisenhower adopted a get-tough policy toward the communists in Korea. He suggested that he would 'unleash' the Nationalist Chinese forces on Taiwan against communist China, and he sent only slightly veiled messages that he would use any force necessary (including the use of nuclear weapons) to bring the war to an end unless peace negotiations began to move forward. The Chinese, exhausted by more than two years of war, finally agreed to terms and an armistice was signed on July 27, 1953. The United States had suffered over 50,000 casualties in this 'forgotten war,' and spent nearly $70 billion."

November 28, 1866:Henry Bacon's Birthday

Today is the birthday of Henry Bacon, architect of the Lincoln Memorial. He was one of the best-known architects of his day, known especially for designing settings for sculpture. The Lincoln Memorial was his final project, now known the world over. He died in 1924, two years after the memorial was dedicated.

The April 17, 1912 edition of The New York Times noted that "the Lincoln Memorial Commission by a close vote decided to-day to recommend to Congress the design for a memorial to Abraham Lincoln submitted by Henry Bacon, a New York architect.

"Mr. Bacon's design, already approved by the Commission of Fine Arts, calls for a rectangular marble structure surrounded by Doric columns, each forty feet high, not unlike the Treasury Building here except that there is to be only one story. The statue of Lincoln, designs for which are yet to be submitted, will stand on a pedestal at one end of the structure. On one wall will be Lincoln's Gettysburg address, probably in bronze, and on the opposite wall his second inaugurate address....

"Russell Pope, another New York architect, was the only other architect whose design was considered at to-day's meeting."

John Russell Pope might have lost that commission, but he too eventually designed a major presidential memorial: the Jefferson Memorial, dedicated in 1943, six years after he died.

November 27, 1973:The Senate Confirms Ford as VP

The 25th Amendment to the US Constitution specifies that in filling a vacancy in the vice presidency -- something that occurred no fewer than 16 times before the amendment was adopted in 1967 -- the president's choice needs confirmation "by a majority vote of both houses of Congress."

In 1973, such a confirmation happened for the first time when Richard Nixon selected Gerald Ford to fill the vacancy created by Spiro Agnew's resignation. The Senate voted first, 34 years ago today, and it was an overwhelming vote in favor of Ford. Perhaps that was partly because Ford was not Nixon's first choice; he was his last choice.

Ford's biography on the US Senate web site has this to say: "Nixon knew that Democrats felt apprehensive about confirming someone who might be a strong contender for the presidency in 1976 and that they preferred 'a caretaker Vice President who would simply fill out Agnew's unexpired term.' Nixon wanted to appoint his Treasury Secretary, John Connally, but after meeting with the Democratic congressional leadership he concluded that Connally would have a difficult time being confirmed. At Camp David, Nixon prepared an announcement speech with four endings, one each for Nelson Rockefeller, Ronald Reagan, Connally, and Ford. Looking through the names that Republican party leaders had suggested, he found that Rockefeller and Reagan had tied, Connally was third, and Ford last. However, among members of Congress, including such Democrats as Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and House Speaker Carl Albert, Ford's name came in first and, as Nixon noted, 'they were the ones who would have to approve the man I nominated.' As Speaker Albert later asserted, 'We gave Nixon no choice but Ford.'

"The Watergate scandal had so preoccupied and weakened Nixon that he could not win a fight over Connally. Choosing either Rockefeller or Reagan would likely split the Republican party. That left Ford. Nixon reasoned that, not only were Ford's views on foreign and domestic policy practically identical with his, but that the House leader would be the easiest to confirm. He had also received assurances that Ford 'had no ambitions to hold office after January 1977,' which would clear the path for Connally to seek the Republican presidential nomination...

"Ford's nomination was subject to confirmation in both the Senate and House, where Democrats held commanding majorities... Liberals expressed displeasure with Ford's conservative voting record on social welfare and other domestic issues and his undeviating loyalty to President Nixon's foreign policies but did not believe they could withhold confirmation merely because of policy disagreements. A few liberals, led by New York Rep. Bella Abzug, tried to block action on Ford's nomination, anticipating that Nixon's eventual removal would make House Speaker Albert president. Albert, however, pushed for Ford's speedy confirmation...

"On November 27 the Senate voted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford, and on December 6, the House agreed, 387 to 35 (with Ford voting "present"). President Nixon wanted Ford to take the oath of office in the East Room of the White House, but Ford thought it more appropriate to hold the ceremony in the Capitol, where he had served for a quarter of a century..."

November 26, 1789:Washington's Thanksgiving Day

In the first year under the Constitution, the new President George Washington, at the suggestion of Congress, proclaimed a national "day of public thanksgiving," and set it for November 26, 1789. It was not to be a thanksgiving for the fruits of the Earth, or family ties, or any of the other things associated with traditional harvest festivals or the later Thanksgiving holiday. Instead, the nation was to give thanks that it had actually won its independence and came out more united than could have been reasonably expected.

Presidents don't issue proclamations quite like this anymore: "Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me 'to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.'

"Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

"And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

"Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789."

November 25, 1963:John Kennedy's Televised Funeral

A great many people lined up to file past the coffin of President Kennedy as he lay in state at the Capitol in late November 1963, and many more saw the precession of his coffin through the streets of Washington DC, but vastly more people only saw the event on television. It was the first such sombre spectacle of its kind, so far (fortunately) still unique in presidential, as well as broadcast history.

The Museum of Broadcast History tells a little of the story: "The next day -- Monday, 25 November a National Day of Mourning -- bears witness to an extraordinary political-religious spectacle: the ceremonial transfer of the president's coffin by caisson from the Capitol rotunda to St. Matthews Cathedral, where the funeral mass is to be celebrated by Richard Cardinal Cushing, and on across the Potomac River for burial at Arlington National Cemetery. Television coverage begins at 7:00 A.M. EST with scenes from DC, where all evening mourners have been filing past the coffin in the Capitol rotunda. At 10:38 A.M. the coffin is placed on the caisson for the procession to St. Matthews Cathedral.

"Television imprints a series of memorable snapshot images. During the mass, as the phrase from the president's first inaugural address comes through loudspeakers ('Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country'), cameras dissolve to a shot of the flag draped coffin. No sooner do commentators remind viewers that this day marks the president's son's third birthday, then outside the church, as the caisson passes by, little John F. Kennedy, Jr. salutes. The spirited stallion Black Jack, a riderless steed with boots pointed backwards in the stirrup, kicks up defiantly. Awed by the regal solemnity, network commentators are quiet and restrained, allowing the medium of the moving image to record a series of eloquent sounds: drums and bagpipes, hoofbeats, the cadenced steps of the honor guard, and, at the burial at Arlington, the final sour note of a bugle playing 'Taps.'

"The quiet power of the spectacle is a masterpiece of televisual choreography. Besides maintaining their own cameras and crews, each of the networks contributes cameras for pool coverage. CBS's Arthur Kane is assigned the task of directing the coverage of the procession and funeral, coordinating over 60 cameras stationed strategically along the route. NBC takes charge of feeding the signal via relay communications satellite to twenty-three countries around the globe. Even the Soviet Union, in a broadcasting first, uses a five-minute news report sent via Telestar. CBS estimated 50 engineers worked on the project and NBC 60, while ABC put its total staff at 138. Unlike the fast breaking news from Dallas on Friday and Sunday, the coverage of a stationary, scheduled event built on the acquired expertise of network journalism.

"The colossal achievement came with a hefty price tag. Trade figures estimated the total cost to the networks at $40 million, with some $22,000,000 lost in programming and commercial revenue over the four days. Ironically, the one time none of the networks cared about ratings, the television audience was massive. Though multi-city Nielsens for prime time hours during the Black Weekend were calculated modestly (NBC at 24, CBS at 16, and ABC at 10), during intervals of peak viewership -- as when the news of Oswald's murder struck -- Nielsen estimated that fully 93% of televisions in the nation were tuned to the coverage."

November 24, 1877:Alben Barkley's Birthday

Alben William Barkley, Democratic politico from Kentucky and big wheel in the US Senate in the 1930s and '40s, won the vice presidency in 1948 on the same ticket with Harry Truman. At Barkley's inauguration on January 20, 1949, he was 71, thus becoming the oldest person ever to become vice president (the second-oldest was Charles Curtis, Coolidge's veep, who entered the office at age 69 in 1925).

Curtis wasn't ever actually called a "veep." Alben Barkley was, however -- he was the first vice president to be called that -- and the term stuck, even though Barkley's successor, Richard Nixon, didn't want it. "Alben W. Barkley, who served as vice president of the United States from 1949 to 1953, was popularly known as the 'Veep,' " wrote Mark O. Hatfield in Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789-1993. "His young grandson had suggested this abbreviated alternative to the cumbersome 'Mr. Vice President.' When Barkley told the story at a press conference, the newspapers printed it, and the title stuck. Barkley's successor as vice president, Richard Nixon, declined to continue the nickname, saying that it had been bestowed on Barkley affectionately and belonged to him...

"A storyteller of great repute, Alben Barkley frequently poked fun at himself and his office. He was especially fond of telling about the mother who had two sons. One went to sea; the other became vice president; and neither was heard from again. In Barkley's case, the story was not at all true. He made sure that the public heard from him, and about him, as often as possible. And what the public heard, they liked, for Alben Barkley performed admirably as vice president of the United States.

"...Alben Barkley was a genial grandfatherly figure -- but with enough life left in him to court and marry a widow half his age and to captivate national attention with their May-December romance. In many ways, Barkley was the last of the old-time vice presidents, the last to preside regularly over the Senate, the last not to have an office in or near the White House, the last to identify more with the legislative than the executive branch. He was an old warhorse, the veteran of many political battles, the perpetual keynote speaker of his party who could rouse delegates from their lethargy to shout and cheer for the party's leaders and platform. His stump-speaker's lungs enabled him to bellow out a speech without need for a microphone. He was partisan to the marrow, but with a sense of humor and a gift of storytelling that defused partisan and personal animosities."

Today is also President Zachary Taylor's birthday, born in 1784, and as such the first president born after Americans won their independence on the battlefield, as acknowledged by the 1783 Treaty of Paris. See March 5 (his swearing in), July 9 (his death) and September 25 (the Battle of Monterrey).

November 23, 1804:Franklin Pierce's Birthday

Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States, is generally considered a failure as president, but at least he had one of the best quotes -- even if it's apocryphal -- in the face of his final political defeat, when his own party refused to renominate him in 1856: "There's nothing left to do but get drunk."

But Pierce's birthday is a time to remember the man at his political apex, after his nomination for president in 1852. He did, after all, win the election over Winfield Scott by a healthy margin, both popularly and electorially. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a campaign biograph of Pierce that naturally put the best face on the candidate: "The old people of his neighborhood give a very delightful picture of Franklin at this early age," Hawthorne wrote in an early chapter. "They describe him as a beautiful boy, with blue eyes, light curling hair, and a sweet expression of face. The traits presented of him indicate moral symmetry, kindliness, and a delicate texture of sentiment, rather than marked prominences of character. His instructors testify to his propriety of conduct, his fellow-pupils to his sweetness of disposition and cordial sympathy.

"One of the latter, being older than most of his companions, and less advanced in his studies, found it difficult to keep up with his class; and he remembers how perseveringly, while the other boys were at play, Franklin spent the noon recess, for many weeks together, in aiding him in his lessons. These attributes, proper to a generous and affectionate nature, have remained with him through life. Lending their color to his deportment, and softening his manners, they are, perhaps, even now, the characteristics by which most of those who casually meet him would be inclined to identify the man.

"But there are other qualities, not then developed, but which have subsequently attained a firm and manly growth, and are recognized as his leading traits among those who really know him. Franklin Pierce's development, indeed, has always been the reverse of premature; the boy did not show the germ of all that was in the man, nor, perhaps, did the young man adequately foreshow the mature one."

November 22, 1963:John Kennedy Dies

Only two presidents died in their 40s, both of unnatural causes. John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated 44 years ago today, aged 46 years, 177 days. James Garfield, murdered more than 80 years before Kennedy, didn't quite make it to 50, living 49 years and 304 days before his untimely death. The other assassinated presidents, Lincoln and McKinley, weren't old men when the died, either: 56 years, 62 days and 58 years, 228 days respectively.

Besides being the most recent assassination victim among the presidents, Kennedy was the only one shot at a distance, with a rifle. The killers of Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley all got close enough to use handguns. Kennedy is also the only Democrat to be assassinated.

As the most recent assassination, still in living memory, Kennedy's death still seems to generate the most interest. For example, a Google search for "Kennedy Assassination" (with quotes) done ahead of this posting got about 730,000 results. "Lincoln Assassination" turns up 168,000; "McKinley Assassination" gets 19,100 results; and "Garfield Assassination" finds only 12,800.

Today was also the day that Lyndon Johnson became the 36th President of the United States, famously taking the oath of office aboard Air Force One at Love Field in Dallas, the only time a president has taken the oath in Texas, or for that matter west of the Mississippi.

Writing in the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1998, when the Boeing 707 that was Air Force One that day was put on display at the US Air Force Museum near Dayton, Mark Curnutte wrote: "Malcolm Kilduff... was deputy press secretary and worked for press secretary Pierre Salinger under President Kennedy. Mr. Kilduff rode in the third car of the motorcade in Dallas that day, two cars behind the president when he was shot. Back on the plane at Love Field about an hour after the shooting, Mr. Kilduff made preparations for Mr. Johnson's swearing in.

" 'We had no sound cameras, so I found a Dictaphone and tested the belt,' said Mr. Kilduff, who held a microphone between Mr. Johnson and federal District Judge Sarah Hughes.

" 'President Johnson didn't want to take off before being sworn in, and if you look at pictures, you can see the scowl on his face,' Mr. Kilduff said. 'He was upset about JFK, but he also didn't like Judge Hughes. He had opposed her appointment to the bench. I'm sure he was thinking, "Of all the people to swear me in..." '

... [Air Force Col. James] Swindal was aboard the plane listening to the Secret Service radio when the president was shot. 'My first reaction was to get the plane ready in a hurry to get back to Walter Reed (Hospital in Washington),' he said. 'We hoped it was a wound. When we heard he had died, we wanted to make sure nothing else went wrong. I got off the plane and saluted the casket when it arrived.'

"[Air Force Master Sgt. John] Hames was among the crew members who removed seats and a wall from a rear section of the plane, so President Kennedy's casket would not have to go in the cargo hold..."

November 21, 1899:Garret Hobart Dies

Garret Augustus Hobart of New Jersey was the sixth of the seven vice presidents to die in office, passing away in late 1899, presumably from heart disease. He was only 55, and thus the vice president with the third-shortest life span. Only John C. Breckinridge (died at 54) and Daniel D. Thompkins (died at 50) had shorter lives.

Hobart served under President McKinley during his first term, and curiously his opponent for the vice presidency, Arthur Sewall of Maine, also did not survive until the end of what would have been his term, had he and WIlliam Jennings Bryan prevailed in the 1896 election. Sewall died on September 5, 1900.

Sometimes presidents and vice presidents dislike each other, but that wasn't the case with McKinley and his first veep. Hobart's US Senate biography has this to say about this now-obscure figure: "For a running mate, McKinley had preferred Speaker Thomas B. Reed, with whom he had worked for many years in the House, but Reed would accept only the top spot on the ticket. Although McKinley and Hobart were strangers by comparison, the president had no difficulty warming up to Gus Hobart. The wealthy Hobarts leased a house at 21 Lafayette Square, which became known as the 'Little Cream White House.' ... The Hobarts used it to entertain lavishly—particularly because President McKinley's wife was an invalid who could not shoulder the traditional social burdens of the White House. The president frequently attended Hobart's dinners and afternoon smokers, where he could meet informally with party leaders from Capitol Hill.

"No previous vice president had visited the White House as often as Gus Hobart, due in part to the warm friendship that developed between Ida McKinley and Jennie Hobart. Mrs. McKinley suffered from epilepsy, which left her a recluse in the White House. President McKinley doted on his wife and grew to depend on Jennie Hobart, who visited Ida daily. 'The President constantly turned to me to help her wherever I could,' Mrs. Hobart wrote in her memoirs, '—not because I was Second Lady, but because I was their good friend.' Whenever McKinley had to be away from his wife in the evenings, he would entrust her to Jennie Hobart's care. He also invited Mrs. Hobart to White House social functions because her presence 'gave him confidence.' In addition to seeing each other in Washington, the McKinleys and Hobarts vacationed together at Bluff Point on Lake Champlain.

"McKinley looked on Hobart as a trusted adviser. Although the vice president was not invited to join meetings of the cabinet, the president and cabinet members consulted with him freely. The mutual regard between the two men made them, in the words of one acquaintance, 'coadjustors in the fixing of the policies of the Administration to an extent never before known.' Arthur Wallace Dunn, a newspaper correspondent who covered presidents from Benjamin Harrison to Warren Harding, marveled that 'for the first time in my recollection, and the last for that matter, the Vice President was recognized as somebody, as a part of the Administration, and as a part of the body over which he presided.' "

November 20, 1925:Robert Kennedy's Birthday

Robert Francis Kennedy, younger brother of the 35th President of the United States and a candidate for that office himself just before he died, would have been 82 today. Presidential brothers, in recent decades including the likes of Sam Houston Johnson, Donald Nixon and Billy Carter, have seldom distinguished themselves, and Robert Kennedy is the only one to be appointed to a presidential cabinet, serving as 64th Attorney General of the United States under his brother and for a short time under President Johnson.

Would Kennedy have captured the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination had he lived? It's a what-if of presidential history, but even with the California primary in his column, it would have been an uphill fight against the momentum that Vice President Humphrey already had. This collection of news coverage just before his murder illustrates that fact.

November 19, 1863:The Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

November 18, 1886:Chester Arthur Dies

Chester Arthur, 21st President of the United States, had the second-shortest retirement among those presidents who survived office: 625 days, not even two years. Only James K. Polk had less time out of office, a mere 104 days. In terms of presidential lifespans, Arthur died the fifth youngest, after Kennedy, Garfield, Polk and Lincoln -- three of the four murdered presidents. He was only 57 when he died.

During his presidency, the Surgeon General told Arthur he had "Bright's disease," a classification no longer used because it covers a variety of kidney problems that have more precise designations now. He diagnosis might not have been exact by later standards, but Arthur and his doctors knew that the condition would eventually kill him, and it did.

Dr. Zebra notes: "His last months were miserable. He was recognized as having cardiac problems in early 1886. The symptoms were those of heart failure: dyspnea, orthopnea, edema, cachexia. He needed opiates to sleep. In June 1886, Arthur tried relocating from New York to the cooler climate of Connecticut, but found no relief. He returned to New York and told a friend, 'After all, life is not worth living. I might as well give up the struggle for it now as at any other time and submit to the inevitable'.

"Comment: His terminal symptoms are also consistent with end-stage renal disease. It would be interesting to know more about his mental status during these final months."

Chester Arthur's New York Times obituary began: "Ex-President Chester Alan Arthur died at 5:10 o'clock yesterday morning at his residence, No. 123 Lexington-avenue. The immediate cause of his death was cerebral apoplexy, due to the rupture of a small artery within the brain during Tuesday night or early on Wednesday morning. From the time of the attack the ex-President did not speak. He did not become immediately unconscious, but power of speech failed him and consciousness rapidly dimmed, although almost to the last he showed signs of ability to appreciate, in an even fainter degree, what was going on about him. In the closing hour of his life he opened his eyes several times, and at the end turned his head on the pillow. Then all was over...

"Although from the beginning of his illness Gen. Arthur was not ignorant of its gravity, his feelings were characteristic of the disease, buoyant and depressed by turns. Upon his return from New-London, on Sept. 27, he felt so much benefited that he was sanguine of recovery. His appearance even after a Summer of rest and change was sadly unlike the robust picture familiar to the public eye. Any one who had seen him in his vigor might have passed him without recognition. The features still remained, but they were pallid and hollow and the full, straight figure still showed the emaciation that had alarmed the patient and his friends before he sought a change of surroundings. But he felt better. He was again in excellent spirits, and talked confidently of plans for business and pleasure. When the Presidency of the Arcade Railway Company was offered him, he accepted it, believing that he would be able to discharge its duties. A few days after his return he felt so well that he went out driving. The effort fatigued him excessively. He was not willing to believe the fatigue due to his enfeebled condition, but laid it to the rough streets. In speaking of the drive, he used to say, not wholly with jocose meaning, that one of the aims of his life, after he should resume outdoor activity, would be to secure at least one avenue over which people might drive to the Park without being jolted half to death...."

November 17, 1973:"I Am Not a Crook"

Richard Nixon wasn't the most quotable of presidents, but he left his share of memorable phrases to the American people. Perhaps most memorably, in a turn of phrase 34 years ago that has backfired down the years, Nixon said, "I am not a crook." To which the instant response of many listeners was, "Oh, yeah?" Eliciting that response probably wasn't Nixon's intention.

The New York Times covered it this way: "... In a one-hour question-and-answer session with 400 participants in The Associated Press Managing Editors annual convention Mr. Nixon defended himself against all charges of wrongdoing and attempted to regain the political offensive...

"After months of torment over the Watergate and allied scandals, the President gave detailed answers to more than a dozen questions.

"But perhaps the most vivid comment came when Mr. Nixon told the editors he was not 'a crook'--unusual language from a President, even one under fire. 'I've made my mistakes,' the President said, 'but in all my years of public life I've never profited from public service. I've earned every cent. I'm not a crook.'

A fuzzy video of the statement, which includes a few sentences not in the NYT report, is available here.

November 16, 1933:FDR Recognizes Red Russia, Marx Goes to USSR

For years after the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia, the government of the United States had not recognized the Soviet government, but the new administration of Franklin Roosevelt decided that it was time to do so. The following exchange of telegrams, FDR to Maxim Litvinov (pictured below), marked the diplomatic recognition:

The White House, Washington, November 16, 1933

My dear Mr. Litvinov:

I am very happy to inform you that as a result of our conversations the Government of the United States has decided to establish normal diplomatic relations with the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and to exchange ambassadors.

I trust that the relations now established between our peoples may forever remain normal and friendly, and that our Nations henceforth may cooperate for their mutual benefit and for the preservation of the peace of the world. I am, my dear Mr. Litvinov,

Very sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

Washington, November 16, 1933

My dear Mr. President:

I am very happy to inform you that the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is glad to establish normal diplomatic relations with the Government of the United States and to exchange ambassadors.

I, too, share the hope that the relations now established between our peoples may forever remain normal and friendly, and that our Nations henceforth may cooperate for their mutual benefit and for the preservation of the peace of the world.

I am, my dear Mr. President,

Very sincerely yours,

MAXIM LITVINOV

People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs,
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Curiously, one of the immediate effects of the normalization was Harpo Marx's tour of the Soviet Union, which happened shortly afterwards. Aaron Lee, writing about Harpo Marx at Miami University, described the tour (referencing Marx's memoirs, Harpo Speaks (1961)): "In the fall of 1933, Harpo received a call from his by then good friend, Alexander Woollcott: 'I've decided that Harpo Marx should be the first American artist to perform in Moscow after the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. become friendly nations. Think of it!' (Marx, 1961, 297). Woollcott figured that with Harpo's pantomimic capabilities he would be a hit in Soviet Russia; Harpo decided to give it a try.

"After a slight delay with the Soviet customs (they thought Harpo was a spy), Harpo was able to get into Moscow. He was assigned his own personal guide (spy to make sure he wasn't a spy) and given an appointment with the head of the department of Soviet theater to set up some dates for appearances; he wasn't given any. After a week of trying Harpo was ready to leave the country when the Soviet Foreign Minister (Stalin's right-hand man, Litinov) rectified things and got him a Soviet group of actors to put together a show. For the show Harpo would play a harp solo, a sketch with his clarinet and a pantomime piece with the rest of the group.

"Harpo's opening night in Moscow was arguably the best opening night in comedic history. 'I'll be a son of a bitch if I didn't knock them out of their seats... I only had to wiggle an eyebrow to bring the house down.' (Marx, 1961, 317). The Soviet crowd was awestruck. At the end of the show Harpo would make curtain call after curtain call. On the next day, one Soviet critic would write that Harpo had received, 'an unprecedented standing ovation, lasting ten minutes.' (Marx, 1961, 318). Harpo loved every minute of it, 'No other success ever gave me quite the same satisfaction. Besides, it happened on my fortieth birthday.' (Marx, 1961, 318).

"In the six weeks that the show ran in Russia Harpo became a celebrity. The show was an incredible success. Everywhere it played it received the same enthusiastic response it had met in Moscow."

November 15, 1939: FDR at Cornerstone Laying of the Jefferson Memorial

In the fall of 1939, the 32nd President of the United States spoke at a ceremony marking the laying of the cornerstone of a new monument in Washington DC, one honoring the Third President of the United States. Early in his presidency, Franklin Roosevelt had let it be known that he wanted a prominent memorial to Jefferson in Washington DC, one in the same league as the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Congress went along with the idea, and by 1939 the neoclassical memorial, a design by John Russell Pope, was under way at a site on the Tidal Basin. The memorial was formally dedicated on April 13, 1943, the bicentennial of Jefferson's birth.

On the occasion of the laying of the cornerstone, Franklin Roosevelt said of his predecessor:

"...In all of the hundred and fifty years of our existence as a constitutional nation, many memorials to its civil and military chiefs have been set up in the National Capital. But it has been reserved to two of those leaders to receive special tribute in the nation's capital by the erection of national shrines perpetuating their memories, over and above the appreciation and the regard tendered to other great citizens of the Republic.

"Today we lay the cornerstone of a third great shrine—adding the name of Thomas Jefferson to the names of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln...

"Washington represented abilities recognized in every part of the young nation and, indeed, in every part of the civilized world of his day; for he was not only a great military leader, not only a great moderator in bringing together discordant elements in the formation of a constitutional nation, not only a great executive' of that nation in its troublesome early years, but also a man of vision and accomplishments in private civil fields-talented engineer and surveyor, planner of highways and canals, patron of husbandry, friend of scientists and fellow of political thinkers.

"Lincoln, too, was a many-sided man. Pioneer of the wilderness, counsel for the under-privileged, soldier in an Indian war, master of the English tongue, rallying point for a torn nation, emancipator—not of slaves alone, but of those of heavy heart everywhere—foe of malice, and teacher of good-will.

"To those we add today another American of many parts—not Jefferson the founder of a party, but the Jefferson whose influence is felt today in many of the current activities of mankind...

"He lived, as we live, in the midst of a struggle between rule by the self-chosen individual or the self-appointed few and rule by the franchise and approval of the many. He believed, as we do, that the average opinion of mankind is in the long run superior to the dictates of the self-chosen...

"It may be that the conflict between the two forms of philosophy will continue for centuries to come; but we in the United States are more than ever satisfied with the republican form of Government based on regularly recurring opportunities to our citizens to choose their leaders for themselves.

"Therefore, in memory of the many-sided Thomas Jefferson and in honor of the ever-present vitality of his type of Americanism, we lay the cornerstone of this shrine."

November 14, 1896:Mamie Eisenhower's Birthday

During her time as First Lady of the United States, Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower was quite popular, a fact perhaps forgotten in the glare of attention focused on her much younger, and ultimately bereaved, successor in that position.

She was also an important asset to her husband's candidacy. Firstladies.org notes that "the 1952 marked the first presidential campaign in which the spouses of a presidential ticket were consciously marketed to women voters as part of a larger effort. Thus along with the Republican effort to enlist housewives as supporters and party volunteer workers by translating political issues into those most women of the era could relate to such as grocery bills or having their sons, husbands sent to the Korean War front, there were also 'Mamie for First Lady,' 'We Want Mamie,' and 'I Like Mamie Too' buttons.

"Mamie Eisenhower was an energetic and enthusiastic figure on her husband's 77-stop train tour of the nation, the candidate often finishing a speech by asking a crowd, 'How'd you like to meet my Mamie?' a cue for her to appear and wave. On the whistlestop, she even willingly re-staged a scene of waving to reporters and photographers in her bathrobe and slippers. Behind the scenes, she often listened to him rehearse his speeches and sometimes gave suggestions to edit them in a way that spoke more directly to the common citizen, in simple and direct language. She also maintained a degree of control over who came onto the campaign train, into their personal car to meet the candidate. During their layovers in hotels, when the campaign manager assigned her rooms that were apart from her husband's suite, she overruled him. In both the 1952 and the 1956 presidential campaigns of her husband, Mamie Eisenhower also made brief appearances on television commercials and live broadcasts with him.

"Mamie Eisenhower was the first president's wife known to be kissed openly in public by her husband following his inaugural ceremony. She encouraged her husband to compose an inaugural prayer which he recited at the ceremony and also strongly approved the decision to invite African-American opera singer Marian Anderson to sing at the ceremony. She also arranged for the accommodations of her African-American maids to stay in Washington, still segregated at the time, and attend all the inaugural events...."

Mamie's recipe for "million-dollar fudge," apparently a favorite of Ike's, is also still easily available on the Internet:

* 4-1/2 cups sugar
* 2 tablespoons butter
* pinch of salt
* 1 tall can evaporated milk
* 12 ounces semisweet chocolate bits
* 12 ounces German sweet chocolate
* 1 pint marshmallow cream
* 2 cups chopped nutmeats

Heat the sugar, butter, salt, and evaporated milk over low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and boil for 6 minutes. Put chocolate bits, German chocolate, marshmallow cream, and nutmeats in a bowl. Pour the boiling syrup over the ingredients. Beat until the chocolate is all melted, then pour in a pan. Let stand for a few hours before cutting. Remember it is better the second day. Store in a tin box.

November 13, 1833:Edwin Booth's Birthday

Edwin Thomas Booth (pictured), regarded as one of the greatest actors of his day, if not the greatest, also has the historical misfortune of being the elder brother of John Wilkes Booth, murderer of Lincoln. Some years after that terrible event, the elder Booth wrote a letter in response to an inquiry regarding his assassin brother:

WINDSOR HOTEL, NEW YORK,

July 28, 1881.

Dear Sir:

I can give you very little information regarding my brother John. I seldom saw him since his early boyhood in Baltimore. He was a rattle-pated fellow, filled with quixotic notions.

While at the farm in Maryland he would charge on horseback through the woods, “spouting” heroic speeches with a lance in his hand–a relic of the Mexican war–given to father by some soldier who had served under Taylor. We regarded him as a good-hearted, harmless, though wild-brained, boy, and used to laugh at his patriotic froth whenever secession was discussed. That he was insane on that one point no one who knew him well can doubt. When I told him that I had voted for Lincoln’s reelection he expressed deep regret, and declared his belief that Lincoln would be made king of America; and this I believe, drove him beyond the limits of reason. I asked him once why he did not join the Confederate army. To which he replied, “I promised mother I would keep out of the quarrel, if possible, and I am sorry that I said so." Knowing my sentiments, he avoided me, rarely visiting my house, except to see his mother, when political topics were not touched upon–at least in my presence. He was of a gentle, loving disposition, very boyish and full of fun–his mother’s darling–and his deed and death crushed her spirit. He possessed rare dramatic talent, and would have made a brilliant mark in the theatrical world. This is positively all that I know about him, having left him a mere school-boy, when I went with my father to California in 1852. On my return in 1856 we were separated by professional engagements, which kept him mostly in the South while I was employed in the Eastern and Northern states.

I do not believe any of the wild, romantic stories published in the papers concerning him; but of course he may have been engaged in political matters of which I know nothing. All his theatrical friends speak of him as a poor crazy boy, and such his family think of him. I am sorry I can afford you no further light on the subject. Very truly yours,

Edwin Booth.

Curiously, the bit of lore about the elder Booth saving Robert Todd Lincoln from death or at least serious injury seems to be true. That story is here.

November 12, 2006:Ford Outlasts Them All (So Far)

A year ago, Gerald Ford surpassed Ronald Reagan as the longest-lived president at 93 years and 121 days. Ford was near death at the time, however, and died 45 days later. Reagan himself had bested Herbert Hoover in early 2001 and John Adams in late 2001 to surpass the previous longest and second-longest presidential lifespans.

George HW Bush and Jimmy Carter would each have to live 10 more years to top Ford and Reagan, and Bill Clinton would have to live another 32 years.

Currently there are three living former presidents. From the inauguration of George W. Bush to the death of Ronald Reagan, there were five, which was only the third time that many former presidents have been alive. It was also the longest period with five ex-presidents kicking around -- more than three years, compared with the roughly 15 months between the inauguration of Bill Clinton and the death of Richard Nixon, and the 10 months between the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln and the death of John Tyler.

Three former presidents is a fairly common number, beginning all the way back in 1817, when James Monroe took office. All the previous presidents except Washington -- John Adams, Jefferson and Madison -- were still alive at the time, and in fact all of them survived Monroe's eight years in office.

November 11:Presidents and Armistice Day

Though commemorating events on the battlefield, the creation of the remembrance known as Armistice Day and later Veterans Day in the United States included presidential involvement (the day has other histories in other Allied countries, which isn't in the purview of this site). The first US Armistice Day was in 1919, by proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson, who said:

"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nation."

Toni Eugene wrote in Army magazine, November 2007, "In 1920, President Wilson named the Sunday nearest it Armistice Day Sunday and suggested services be held in pursuit of international peace...

"In 1921, the United States followed a custom established the previous year in England and France, where an unknown soldier was buried in each nation’s highest place of honor—Westminster Abbey and the Arc de Triomphe. To ensure anonymity, an American unknown was exhumed from each of the four major cemeteries in which U.S. war dead were buried: Aisne-Marne, Meuse-Argonne, Somme and St. Mihiel. Edward F. Younger, an infantry sergeant who had taken part in Chateau-Thierry, St. Mihiel, the Somme Offensive and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, selected the soldier who would represent the unknown soldier in Washington, D.C. The other three coffins were put aboard a truck and taken to Romagne Cemetery east of Paris, where they were buried.

"The coffin of the unknown bound for the United States was transported with great respect and ceremony by train, then ship and finally horse-drawn caisson to the Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C. Brig. Gen. Harry H. Bandholtz, commander of the Military District of Washington, was responsible for planning the ceremonies there. That Armistice Day was probably the most elaborate of any veterans celebration before or since.

"Between 8 am and midnight November 10, some 90,000 people passed by the bier to pay their respects to the nameless veteran. At 8 am on November 11, the U.S. Army Band played a dirge, military units stood at 'present arms' and a field artillery battery from Camp Meade, Md., fired minute guns as the coffin was moved to the caisson that would carry it to Arlington National Cemetery, in Virginia.

"For this special day, President Warren G. Harding had requested that all flags fly at half-staff from sunrise to sunset and that all Americans pay silent tribute as the coffin was lowered into the tomb. Thousands of people lined the streets as President Harding, Vice President Calvin Coolidge, the chief justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court, military dignitaries and a parade of other distinguished guests followed the caisson bearing the flag-draped coffin to Arlington National Cemetery. After an impressive ceremony marked by a respectful two-minute silence, the coffin was lowered into the crypt. Three artillery salvos, the sounding of 'Taps' and a national salute of 21 guns concluded that national Armistice Day celebration."

President Franklin Roosevelt signed the bill in 1938 that made Armistice Day an actual federal holiday, as opposed to a remembrance day (it was a holiday in many states by then). In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the bill changing the designation to Veterans Day.

According to All About American Holidays by Mayme R. Krythe, "In Emporia, Kansas, on November 11, 1953, instead of an Armistice Day program, there was a Veterans Day observance. Ed Rees, of Emporia, was so impressed that he introduced a bill into the House to change the name to Veterans Day. After this passed, Mr. Rees wrote to all state governors and asked for their approval and cooperation in observing the changed holiday. The name was changed to Veterans Day by Act of Congress on May 24, 1954. In October of that year, President Eisenhower called on all citizens to observe the day by remembering the sacrifices of all those who fought so gallantly, and through rededication to the task of promoting an enduring peace."

November 10, 2007:Arthur Bremer on Parole

"How strange is this: An assassin released on parole?" wrote Patrick J. Lyons in a New York Times blog yesterday.

"Extremely strange, actually. Of all the protagonists in America’s horrible string of high-profile political assassinations and attempts in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, Arthur H. Bremer, who tried to kill Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama, appears to be the first and only one to become a free man again. He was released on parole today in Maryland.

"Mr. Bremer is free after serving 35 years of his 53-year sentence for the 1972 shooting, which left Mr. Wallace a paraplegic. Mr. Wallace lived another 25 years, and Mr. Bremer has evidently been a model prisoner, holding down a prison job and avoiding even a single black mark on his record, officials said.

"Mr. Bremer said at the time of his trial that his motive was to become a celebrity, and many observers have noted the pernicious, if unintended, effect that intense media attention has had, glamorizing assassins and inspiring copycats. John W. Hinckley Jr., who shot and wounded Ronald Reagan in 1981, said he did it to prove his love for the actress Jodie Foster, who appeared in the film Taxi Driver, about a would-be assassin who looked to Mr. Bremer as a role model."

The full posting is here, comparing Bremer's case to other recent assassins and would-be assassins.

November 9, 1906:TR Goes Abroad

On November 9, 1906, Theodore Roosevelt became the first sitting US president to leave the country. Commonplace now, such a trip was unheard of then. But TR had his reasons. He was going to inspect the progress on the Panama Canal (pictured under construction in 1907, below).

"In November 1906 he was setting out on a journey to survey the progress of his project to build that better route between the Atlantic and the Pacific," wrote Alexander Burns in AmericanHeritage.com in November 2006. "Seven years earlier, in 1899, Congress had created an Isthmian Canal Commission, charged with plotting out a route for a canal through Panama, but it had taken several years and multiple treaties to guarantee the United States access to and ownership of the land needed to begin construction. Finally, in 1903, the United States under Roosevelt had arrived at a deal with a new Panamanian government by which the U.S. would control the canal’s route across the isthmus as well as a five-mile strip of land on both sides and a few islands in the Bay of Panama. In exchange for this, the government would pay Panama $10 million initially and $250,000 each year starting in 1912.

"It was a remarkably good deal for the United States. Some observers grumbled that it was too good, particularly given that it had been arrived at only after a new, U.S.-friendly Panamanian government had seized power by force. When Roosevelt disembarked in Panama, however, there was no sign of bitterness or resentment on the part of the Panamanian people. His ship arrived in the middle of a storm, but the weather did little to dampen the energy with which he was received. As he rode through Panama City in the pouring rain, with his wife beside him, he looked out on buildings and streets that had been scrubbed clean in anticipation of his arrival. He could see flags flying in window after window. He basked in the knowledge that his hosts had formally declared a day of 'joy and exalted enthusiasm' in honor of his arrival.

"The trip was far from just ceremonial, though. Roosevelt wanted to see firsthand the progress that was being made on the construction of his canal. Contemporary accounts of his expedition highlight the characteristic rigor of his travels. Intentionally visiting the grittiest of the work sites, he didn’t hesitate to tramp through mud or ride on horseback in order to gain access to unfinished portions of the canal. He also went out of his way to witness the conditions in which the project placed its workers. On one of the first days of the tour, he and the First Lady decided not to attend a lavish luncheon to which they had been invited, at the luxurious Tivoli Hotel. Instead they visited a mess hall in which canal workers ate their meals. Sitting down among several hundred laborers, the Roosevelts dined on a 30-cent lunch. At the Cristóbal work site, the President spent most of his time touring workers’ living quarters."