Consequences Of The Roosevelt - Taft Split In 1912

The presidential actions of William Howard Taft led to Roosevelt's third party candidacy in 1912 which handed the election to Woodrow Wilson.

Theodore Roosevelt once said of William Taft, “He means well.” Long time friends, Taft became Roosevelt’s hand-picked successor in 1908, defeating the Democratic Party candidate William Jennings Bryan. Although Taft struggled to continue Roosevelt’s progressive agenda, he swiftly became his own man, influenced by members of his family and politically seduced by powerful men in the U.S. House and Senate. By 1912, the rift between Taft and Roosevelt was serious, resulting in Roosevelt’s challenge to a Taft reelection. Did Teddy Roosevelt choose the wrong man to follow him as President?

Taft Forged his own Presidential Policies and Sided with Roosevelt’s Enemies

Roosevelt was loved by Americans and esteemed by Europeans. After leaving the White House, “TR” traveled to Africa with his son Kermit and a large entourage to hunt on safari. Traveling to Khartoum in the Sudan, he met his wife and traveled down-river to Cairo, making the crossing to Europe where he was invited to meet kings, the pope, and even the German Kaiser who invited the popular former president to review troops.

Throughout his journeys, Roosevelt received letters from friends like Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, bemoaning the escalating faults of William Howard Taft. In Italy, Roosevelt met with Gifford Pinchot, an old friend and ardent environmentalist who had been dismissed by President Taft over conservation differences with Interior Secretary Richard Ballinger.

Although Taft’s one term realized substantial progressive victories, such as the Income Tax Amendment (16th) and the direct election of U.S. Senators (17th Amendment), he was unwilling to confront Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, the Republican stalwart who ran the Senate, or House Speaker Joseph Cannon. Taft never aspired to be President; his goal was to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Roosevelt’s Former Friendship Turns to Disaffection and Benefits Woodrow Wilson

Roosevelt returned to the United States on June 18, 1910 aboard the German liner Kaiserin Augusta Victoria and was greeted to a hero’s welcome. One of his friends at the New York arrival was Senator Lodge, who briefed him on Taft's lackluster leadership. Roosevelt would spend the next two years planning his return to the White House, refusing to support Taft’s reelection efforts.

In 1912, William Jennings Bryan stepped aside and worked to help nominate New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson as the candidate for the Democrats. Wilson was a staunch Presbyterian, former university professor, and president of Princeton University. He had no political experience and those that derided him referred to him as a Puritan or a “pilgrim.”

Wilson was an idealist whose favorite hymn was “How Firm a Foundation.” As President, he began every Cabinet meeting with prayer. Although a progressive, he opposed the direct primary, the regulation of public utilities, and corporate regulation. Wilson won the 1912 election only because Roosevelt ran as a third party candidate, receiving more popular votes than Taft, but failing to overcome Wilson’s 2 million lead in votes.

Had Roosevelt's Progressive Party candidacy not split the Republicans, Wilson might not have won the 1912 election. The combined total of Taft and Roosevelt was over 7.5 million votes.

Taft the Ironic Winner in American History

Of the three chief candidates in the presidential election of 1912, only Taft would realize his ultimate goal. Under the administration of Warren G. Harding, elected in 1920, Taft would be appointed Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. It was a position he coveted since his university days at Yale and the Cincinnati Law School.

Teddy Roosevelt died in January 1919. He was sixty and, having reconciled himself to the Republican Party, might have been the nominee in 1920. Roosevelt had criticized Wilson’s handing of World War I from the first shots fired in Europe in August, 1914. Wilson himself considered a third term in 1920 until a debilitating stroke ended that dream. When he received notification of TR's death, Wilson smiled.

Additionally, Wilson’s idealism of a world made “safe for democracy” was dealt a crushing blow at Versailles where the Allies, notably the French, dismissed his Fourteen Points. In the United States Senate, Wilson found strong opposition to his cornerstone program, theLeague of Nations. Senators like Foreign Relations Chairman Henry Cabot Lodge and William Borah despised the League as much as they despised Wilson.

Roosevelt’s Choice of Taft Led to the End of the Square Deal

Roosevelt’s activism during his first and second term as President was tempered by the reluctant and acquiescent Taft. In many ways, it was a difference in leadership style: both men sought the same goals but followed different methodologies based on their individual temperaments. Roosevelt the realist was more publicly successful. Taft’s accommodation with men like Aldrich was viewed as compromise and executive weakness.

The rift that led to the disastrous 1912 election in terms of Republican hopes elevated a moralist to the presidency. Wilson’s policies laid the foundation of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. The split in the Republican Party led to two factions, each stressing different ideologies of conservatism that continued well into the 20th Century.

Sources:

• James Chace, 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs – The Election That Changed the Country (Simon & Schuster, 2004)
• Frank K. Kelly, The Fight For The White House: The Story of 1912 (Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1961)
• Edmund Morris, Theodore Rex (Random House, 2001)
• James Ford Rhodes, The McKinley and Roosevelt Administrations 1897-1909 (The Macmillan Company, 1922)
• Page Smith, America Enters the World: A People’s History of the Progressive Era and World War I, Volume Seven (McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1985)

Read more at Suite101: Consequences of 

 

Ancient Hebrews -  Michael Streich

The Ancient Hebrews saw themselves as “God’s chosen people.” Their monotheism separated them from all surrounding neighbors while their belief in God’s covenants offered a positive relationship with deity and the promise of redemption for sin. Turned into slaves in Egypt, their history in the Old Testament recounts an Exodus to the land God had provided for them. As each generation was forced to confront sin and redemption anew, they were eventually overcome by powerful neighbors like the Assyrians and the Babylonians.

 Never again a truly antonymous nation until 1948, the Hebrews never lost their identity as a special people, blessed by a God who was forgiving and who promised the world the Messiah through the seed of Abraham. Hebrew Monotheism and the Covenant Promises According to Genesis, Abraham left Mesopotamia to follow a nomadic lifestyle in Palestine and to worship the one true God. In fact, it was this God – Yahweh, who called upon Abraham to begin life anew. The Ancient Near East had seen the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires, each with their own pantheon of gods and goddesses. These deities were unapproachable and often deemed vengeful. They reinforced the belief that ordinary men and women could never attain to their power or might. 

In contrast, Yahweh spoke to his people and declared himself the refuge of the people. The God of Abraham was both personal and forgiving. The Hebrew God established a special relationship with Abraham and his seed, hence the notion of a “chosen people.” This relationship corresponded to God’s covenants, beginning with Noah after the Genesis flood. Although understood to be unconditional, several prophets such as Amos and Hosea preached that God’s relationship was conditioned on righteous living and following his laws.

 Other Ancient Cultures Contrasted with the Hebrew View Abraham not only had a relationship with God, but that relationship, according to Genesis, was one-on-one; Abraham frequently “talked” with God. God even bargained with man as when Lot attempted to save his city from divine judgment. Such examples do not exist in other ancient societies where religious views held to a great divide between mortals and their deities. The Gilgamesh Epic is an excellent example of the arbitrary nature of the gods even when confronted by heroic mortals. In other cultures, gods and goddesses were placated by sacrifices yet even the best sacrifice was no guarantee of favor. Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian Empire, was enlightened in his toleration of other prevailing beliefs and urged the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuilt their temple, but he never had the same kind of relationship with deity as did Abraham, Isaac, David, or Daniel. Hebrew law, however, paralleled the “eye-for-an-eye” laws of the Ancient Near East such as in the Code of Hammurabi.

 Other Differences in Ancient Hebrew History Unlike their neighbors, the Hebrews, initially, had no kings. Once in the Promised Land after their flight from Egypt, the people were led by judges. Additionally, prophets interpreted God’s covenants and chastened the people when their actions sought to emulate those of their neighbors. Eventually, after much clamoring, they were led by kings. But as the history of Israel demonstrates, kings often led immoral lives, permitting the people to adopt the worship of foreign gods – idols, and thereby inviting judgment. The Assyrians deported the ten “lost” tribes and the Babylonians eventually destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Israel and Jewish Influences Continue to Endure in the 21st Century Perhaps the greatest difference between the Ancient Hebrews and other ancient Near East cultures is that it continues today through the nation-state of Israel, founded in 1948. Additionally, the ancient beliefs, customs, ceremonies, and promises are still a part of Jewish belief.

 The Hebrews also had a significant role in the development of Western beliefs, notably social justice. Yahweh, whose “name” has been linked to “El,” one of the earliest expressions of a male/female deity, gave rise to western monotheism as well as Islamic monotheism. Both Muslim and Christian ethics had ties to early Jewish beliefs. The Ten Commandments, hallmarks of early Hebrew belief which, according to Genesis, were given by Yahweh directly to Moses on Mt. Sinai, continue to be hotly debated in post-modern America as conservatives attempt to have them displayed at courthouses. Such strong influences attest to the durability of beliefs that began with Ancient Israel centuries ago.

Sources: John Barton and Julia Bowden, The Original Story: God, Israel, and the World (William B. Eerdman’s Publishing Co., 2004) Michael Grant, The History of Ancient Israel (Orion Publishing, 1984) Donald B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton University, 1992) 

Read more at: https://www.shorthistory.org/ancient-civilizations/mesopotamia/israel-judea/ancient-hebrews-compared-to-other-ancient-near-east-cultures/

 

The Year Before America Entered the Great War

• Jul 7, 2011
• Michael Streich

The War Between Labor & Capital Continued - Library of Congress: Goldstein Col

1916 witnessed the proliferation of jazz, silent movies, and better automobiles, but the war between labor and business continued, as did segregation.

1916 was an election year, producing a 62 percent turnout, one of the highest in history. The election saw Woodrow Wilson reelected, defeating Charles Evans Hughes, although in several state returns Wilson’s margin of victory was less than four percent. The election demonstrated that World War I, which had been raging since August 1914, was on many minds. It would be the last year of innocence before the war drums beat once again and the new century forced a redefinition of the U.S. presence in the world. Despite this, daily life continued unaltered, in some cases paving the way toward a different society. For many groups, however, full equality was a long journey into the future.

A Changing United States

Both Jack London and Henry James died in 1916 but a new breed of writers was making their way into the American psyche. Eugene O’Neill, acclaimed as one of the nation’s greatest dramatists, wrote “Bound East for Cardiff” while Theodore Dreiser, author of the ground-breaking novel Sister Carrie, contended with censors over newly written material. Despite the popularization of Jazz, Victorian morality still reigned, yet this did not stop Margaret Sanger from opening the first birth control clinic. It was the year bandleader Harry James and Dinah Shore were born.

The automobile was changing the travel habits of Americans and in 1916 the Thomas B. Jeffery Company in Kenosha, Wisconsin offered consumers an enclosed sedan good for “year-round motoring” at a cost of $1165.00 It was also the year Norman Rockwell sold his first two Post magazine covers, at the age of only twenty-two. Neither cover featured a war image. In Hollywood, D. W. Griffith finished Intolerance, an epic silent film with strong religious and ethical overtones.

The Battle Between Labor and Business Continued Despite Progressive Efforts

American workers were still battling for shorter hours and higher wages, even as the Adamson 8-Hour Act addressed the concerns of railroad workers. Despite the changes in social perceptions as seen in the popular literature and in the arts, domestic problems included “Pancho” Villa’s incursion into southern U.S. territory and the blowing up of a New Jersey munitions plant by German agents, an action that damaged the Statue of Liberty. and helped to solidify public opinion against Imperial Germany.

The progressive spirit, however, was still pervasive, proven, in part, by President Wilson’s nomination of Louis Brandeis to the U.S. Supreme Court. Brandeis, famously known for his unorthodox evidence in Muller v Oregon (1908), was the first Jew appointed to the high court, serving well into the FDR administration.

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America’s Domestic Problems in 1916

But the calamities of Europe overshadowed any notion of carefree existence and change. While Paris was bombed by the first German Zeppelin raid, a strike by steel workers in Pittsburgh highlighted on-going labor disputes. Robert Minor’s drawing Pittsburgh, published in The Masses (1916), depicted a worker bent backward from the thrust of a bayonet. It was powerful and ironic that the worker was killed by a tool his own work probably manufactured.

Another pro-labor picture in the 1916 publication, Girls Wanted, coincided with the release of a public report detailing the findings in the investigation of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire. Henry Glintenkamp’s seemingly innocent picture featured three young women huddled in conversation before the ruins of a building. The picture commented on the tragedy of the fire, child labor, and the exploitation of women in the workforce. 1916, however, witnessed the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress: Jeanette Rankin, Republican from Montana.

In the South, segregation was still the rule, but discrimination existed in the North as well. An October 7, 1916 item in the Cleveland Advocate refers to two “ill-kept Colored men” denied entrance to the Stillman Theater. “We do not call this discrimination,” the writer comments, “but rather an effort to exclude from the theater patrons whose deportment…made them undesirables.” The writer used the New Testament analogy of the parable about the man who wasn’t wearing a wedding garment when invited to the feast.

The Promise and Hope of Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward Men

As 1916 drew to a close, the chimes of New York’s Old Trinity Church began at ten minutes to midnight. Thousands gathered in the hope that the New Year would bring peace in Europe. Elsewhere, Secretary of War Baker expressed “profound gratitude” that the United States had, “preserved both its peacefulness and its honor.” (New York Times, December 31, 1916) Peace would also affect the U.S. economy: the 1916 credit balance with belligerent countries was $3,097,000,000.

In retrospect, 1916 was indeed a year of final innocence, despite those groups struggling to achieve their part of American democracy. The war came in 1917, sending American boys to the bloody trenches of Europe. While isolationism prevailed after the war, the U.S. would forever be entangled in alliances and focused on global actions impacting American security and prosperity. 1916 was the last year Americans could look within, without the fear of global threats.

Sources:

• Meirion & Susie Harries, The Last Days of Innocence: America At War, 1917-1918 (Random House, 1997)
• Jeff Nilsson, “Enemy Agents Strike New York – In 1916,” The Saturday Evening Post, July 7, 2010
• Library of Congress archives
• Page Smith, America Enters the War: A People’s History of the Progressive Era And World War I (McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1985)

 How Social Security was Born: Not a Bonus, But a Guaranteed Retirement for all Americans Michael Streich

 

Formally known as the Wagner-Lewis-Doughton social security bill, the Social Security Act was passed by Congress June 19, 1935 and signed into law as immediate legislation by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Old age benefits were discussed by Roosevelt and key supporters who would hold positions in his administration before his 1933 inauguration. His Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, writes that Roosevelt, “…always regarded the Social Security Act as the cornerstone of his administration…” Not all Americans supported the measure, referring to the act as “socialism.” It is still considered controversial and falls under Congressional scrutiny whenever Republicans make significant gains in Congressional representation, as happened most recently in the 2010 midterm elections.

 

The Social Security Act Begins as an Unemployment Insurance Measure

 

During the heady days of FDR’s first Hundred Days, New York Senator Robert Wagner and Rep. David J. Lewis of Maryland approached Roosevelt with a rudimentary bill to provide unemployment insurance. Roosevelt, however, wanted to include social security. Concerns over benefits for America’s seniors arose out of the popularity of the Townsend Movement. This movement proposed generous old age pensions at federal expense.

 

The 1935 bill was the product of many lengthy committee hearings, unending hours of research, and continual brainstorming by FDR’s brain-trust. The initial measure included a health care plan, but this part of the bill was dropped as Roosevelt knew the medical establishment would oppose it, and the rest of the bill was not to be opened to the danger of failure.

 

Passing Social Security and Unemployment Insurance

 

Combining Social Security and unemployment benefits was the recommendation of Harry Hopkins, one of FDR’s key advisers. Unlike other New Deal programs, it was to be a permanent program and not deficit funded. Roosevelt stated, “We can’t sell the United States short in 1980 any more than in 1935.”

 

Roosevelt might have been astounded that in 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected President, beginning the tide of conservative ascendancy in the Congress. By 1985, into his second term, the Senate Budget Committee, led by New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici, recommended a one-year freeze on Social Security benefits.

 

As passed in 1935, Social Security was limited. During Committee hearings, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau opposed a universal system, suggesting that rural farm workers be exempted as well as small businesses that employed less than ten people. Frances Perkins recounts in her memoirs, none of the provisions would completely solve the nation’s poverty, but it was the first step in solving future depression-condition problems.

 

Opposition to Social Security during the New Deal and Beyond

 

No emergency legislation will make an immediate difference without the necessary funding. Before Congress adjourned in the summer of 1935, Louisiana Senator Huey Long, one of Roosevelt’s most ardent critics, mounted a filibuster to stop any funding legislation. His filibuster lasted until adjournment and Roosevelt was forced to creatively look for temporary workers to help set up the newly independent agency.

 

Others, like Oklahoma Senator Thomas Gore, asked Secretary Perkins during a hearing “isn’t this like socialism?” The entire notion of “cradle to grave” federal entitlement reeked of socialism for stalwart GOP lawmakers. These views were vocally resurrected every time Congress expanded Social Security.

 

In 2010 and again in 2011, Social Security recipients received no cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) yet their Medicare contribution costs rose. In the 2010 midterm election, most seniors voted Republican.

 

Senator-elect Rand Paul of Kentucky campaigned on the promise that he opposes “any cuts in benefits for seniors” and “raising the Social Security retirement age…” Days after the election, however, he said “everything is on the table” to balance the budget. (ABC News, November 3, 2010)

 

National Health Care Tied to the Social Security Bill

 

Although Roosevelt cut health care from the 1935 bill, when Congress revisited Social Security in 1939 Senator Wagner attempted to add amendments, including a disability benefit. Congress voted down these expansions.

 

Wagner’s 1939 Health Bill was designed to expand unemployment benefits and Social Security. This was not a universal, federally mandated health plan such as found in other nations. Opting into the plan was not mandatory nor did his bill include forcing Americans to purchase health insurance.

 

Nevertheless, it was severely attacked, most notably by the American Medical Association and the pharmaceutical industry. Universal health care had been attempted since 1915 and was deemed a progressive measure. Not until March 2009 would Congress enact a health care bill that provided affordable coverage for all Americans.

 

The Role of Government during Periods of Economic Hard Times

 

Conservative Republicans led by President Herbert Hoover in the early years of the Great Depression abhorred federal intervention that amounted to any hint of welfare. Even Franklin Roosevelt rejected the government “dole.” But Roosevelt and the liberal Democrats believed that the role of the federal government was to stimulate the economy by putting people to work and providing safety mechanisms like unemployment insurance.

 

Advisers like Frances Perkins made the argument that even a minimal unemployment payout in the first weeks of unemployment would stop evictions and enable breadwinners to provide for their families.

 

Senator Wagner stated that, “Industry can not run with the mechanical perfection of a gyroscope and out of simple caution we must continue to devise methods of dealing with those who may be severed from their normal work despite our best efforts.”

 

Social Security provided one concrete method for ensuring the survival of American retirees. It continues to do so today. For most, the monthly payout represents a fixed income that covers the bare necessities. Any tampering with those benefits would be criminal to the millions who paid into the system all of their lives.

 

Sources:

 

Lewis L. Gould, The Most Exclusive Club (Basic Books, 2005)

J. Joseph Huthmacher, Senator Robert F. Wagner and the Rise of Urban Liberalism (Atheneum, 1968)

Frances Perkins, The Roosevelt I Knew (Viking Press, 1946 First Edition)

Old History Becomes New History Now

One hundred years ago historians might make amazing discoveries by reading old papers, memoirs, or newspapers. Today, the benefit of social media can cause immediate news coverage, for good or bad. During the Mexican-American War President James Polk Bamboozled Congress into secretly giving him one million dollars to offer as a bribe to Santa Anna, who was in exile in Cuba. The general took the money and returned to Vera Cruz aboard an American warship, ostensibly to end the war on Polk's expansionist terms. But the joke was on Polk. Santa Anna kept the war going and almost won.

Polk wanted to annex All of Mexico. That part of his evil plan was well known. But Mexico was predominantly  Roman Catholic, a "no-no" for most Americans. Also, Mexico opposed slavery, a huge "no-no" for Southern states. The press found out about most of the machinations but it was recorded in detail until decades later when historians like Harvard's Frederick Merck wrote a book about it.

Today, however, technology is so advanced that top government leaders can discuss bombing Yemen at length and in detail without noticing that there is a person privy to the discussion that is a journalist. The app they used wasn't approved or secure. After years of watching fictional TV shows like NCIS, viewers know what secret communication rooms and SCIF's are all about. Yet here are a group of so-called professionals not only giving away the plans but, as in the case of J.D.Vance denigrating our European allies, something he does with regularity.

And the President, with a straight face, says he knows nothing! Absolute BS, All of these men have lost the confidence of the nation and the congress and should resign or be fired. Drain the swamp!

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, if you have principles, then it is time to resign. 

Get History Mr. Vance

 Vice President went to Dachau upon arriving in Munich for the security conference and then proceeded to question Europe's Democracy and Spoke of the "enemy within..." How could he have seriously visited a Concentration Camp and not comprehend why it was left standing? My father, who was a school boy in Nazi Germany, came home with a red cheek because his teacher had slapped him across the face. He didn't greet her with the expected Heil Hitler salute. 

My saintly mother, before she died, warned that we could relive the 1930's very easily and she saw the signs of Hitlerism in this country and abroad. It had been illegal in Germany long after the war to possess Nazi paraphernalia including books and posters. The fear was that future generations needed to know what happened Under Hitler

Thankfully, my parents left Germany and immigrated to America.Vance's meeting with AfD, however, was an indirect endorsement of their right-wing beliefs. Germans should be concerned about migration. Angela Merkel had much blame in causing this situation. But free speech should not be mouthing neo-Nazi ideas. At one point Germany had many Turkish guest workers. Their children were born in Germany. They were skilled workers and even university educated professionals. I once met a Turkish shop ower in the Great Bazaar of Istanbul who spoke perfect German and had lived many years in Hamburg - the city my own family came from.

Germany of late has had numerous terror attacks on the civilian population. The perpetrators are usually migrants identifying with Islamist groups or radical ideologies. Germany has courts just as we do. But Germans may remember President Trump referring to Germany as a "fly over country." If it eventually turns out that J R Vance influence the German election, much as we accused Russia of meddling in our elections, then Vance should be severely reprimanded or asked to resign. His speeches are political blackmail to the German people.

And let us not forget the deep friendship that Germany has had with the United States for decades. Germans in Illinois helped Abraham Lincoln get elected in 1860. And they fought in the Civil War. There are more Germans that came to America as immigrants that any other grouping, including the Irish and Italians. Germany influence goes back to the 1700's when they fought with George Washington and many Hessians and other ethnic Germans did not return to Europe but made their homes in the American colonies. This was even true of German soldiers taken prisoner at Saratoga.

So Mr. Vance has a lot of history to reread, if he ever read it in the first place. I was a college history professor. I should know. 

 

When my brother and I were still in middle school, my parents took us every summer for a week or longer to Canada. My dad drove the entire way, never stopping except to eat or get gas. Our goal was the Ontario city of Gananoque in Ontario. Here, we stayed for one night in a perfectly wonderful motel that was clean and manned by a friendly staff. In the morning we had a full breakfast, bacon and eggs, toast, and great coffee. It was, for us kids, a treat since every school day we ate farina or oatmeal.

We drove east, stopped at historical sights and eventually came to out destination: Nova Scotia. Here we spent a week with family friends who own a small knitting mill making sweaters. The first weekend, however, my dad and his old friend went into town to buy about dozens  lobsters. We all had fun cracking them open and piling the meat on the kitchen table. That's when I got my lifelong taste for lobster!

Another fun experience I recall was visiting Fort Niagara, where so many conferences had taken place in colonial times between the indigenous tribes, the British, French, and American colonial representatives. I recall seeing a sign that is was the "Rush-Baggot" Treaty line; the official border between Canada and the United States.

One year we took a popular Thousand Island cruise. Another year we stopped at Fort William Henry, a military outpost featured in the Hollywood fil, "The last of the Mohicans," a novel written in the 1800's by James Fennimore Copper. But I would also recommend Allan Eckert's "Frontiersman" and other books he's written about this time period, all very well written and footnoted for fact.

Walter Edmonds was another superb writer whose books like "Paint a very colorful picture of the colonial period of " Drums along the Mohawk'" That movie starred Henry Fonda as Gill and Claudette Colbert as his wife . Edna May Oliver plays a noteworthy role as well. But Canada was never seriously up for grab's 

The Techumseh conspiracy was defeated and things settled to Status Quo Ante-Bellum. And so it's been since we was a kids, marveling at the clear, exciting land we colorful neighbor to the north!

While we are at it, Let plus the book, "Night Probe" by Clive Cussler who recenly pass away. who recently passed away. The book is a lively James Bond type action story with the premises' that the US has always owned Canada by virtue of an old treaty that was lost long ago Or was it? One copy was aboard the Empress of Ireland,'the ship sank. There we only two copies of the treaty'. Another my have been lost on a ghost train. Clive was always prescient in many of his books. The Ghost train supposed plunged into a dep river bed abd then covered with mud for decades.

It is available in paperback and was published in1981.And so the saga continues. Who will own Canada? 

It makes perfect sense to Give Donald Trump a third term or perhaps even more. Why should a new president follow Trump and sign his or her own executive orders possibly undoing what Donald Trump is doing? Like the times of FDR, the world is in such a crisis that unlimited terms are almost a necessity. It is hard enough for a President to get much accomplished in four years.

The next four years will be Chaos in my regard. As Margo Channing famously said, "Fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy night."  This is a period in Washington when the Term "Decorum" will be banned from all proceedings. And, sadly, the so-called Deep State, whatever that may be, will still be a mythical reality. 

Billionaires, for good or ill, will make the laws and enrich themselves off of a dystopian society.  And we will all clap and sing God Bless America. Let us Thank God for creating such a heaven on earth. Our kids in high school need to read 1984 and see where we are going. Colleges need to require American History survey courses, preferably taught by OLD SCHOOL Masters credentialed professors. 

Maybe then we will really get back to basics and be prepared to say, with Nathan Hale, that we only have one life to give for our country. And, please, give Mr. Musk a lesson on Nazism and racism. Something they obviously don't teach in South Africa. Isn't President Trump tired of him yet?

When I taught Freshman History in College we invariably became entwined in what is generally called "Western Civilization." The course begins with the ancient world and eventually lands on the shores of ancient Greece. Here we learned that there were various types of governments emerging with the various city-states, Athens, for example, is most often associated with early attempts at Democracy. Democracy  is itself constantly evolving. Under Pericles it seems to have reached it's zenith.

Another aspect of Democracy was it's exportation to other regional areas where the Greeks were making cultural and political inroads. It was called Hellenization. All of this boded well for land owning males being able to participate in politics and determine their future.

But other City-States took different paths to express government, such as a system of monarchy. Still others were ruled by oligarchy. These rulers were part of the ruling elite. No elected, their power and wealth in the community gave them the tight to rule.

What are oligarchs? This definition comes from the Oxford dictionary as quoted in Wikipedia: a very rich business leader with a great deal of political influence (particularly with reference to individuals who benefited from the privatization of state-run industries after the collapse of the Soviet Union).

Today, America is poised to be run by oligarchs, chosen by Donald Trump, some to be in his Cabinet, others to act as an ad hoc" Kitchen cabinet" ala Andrew Jackson. No one of them have one iota sense of who the everyday American is. They have no idea I cannot buy eggs due to costs.

Historically, Oligarchs tend to be displaced by the masses, eventually. This is the evolution of society. So we, today, must toil through the Trump years and hope for a better day over the horizon.

A member of my family suggested to me that the firestorm in Los Angeles  was God's punishment for the "young people" living there. I'm not sure whom he exactly meant, But I reminded him that some evangelicals also said that years ago about the New Orleans Katrina disaster. It is so each to blame God for bad things. Did the Christians blame Nero when Rome burned? Throughout history, Christians have used God's vengeance as an excuse for bad things happening.

It is okay to obliterate Gaza and it's people because of what was done to God's chosen people. Early in the conflict, a hard-liner in the Israeli cabinet advocated dropping an atomic bomb on Gaza. There is great hated and it is on both sides. Do we blame God for the carnage? Do we blame Allah? Or do we blame Man's sinful nature? 

In the Old Testament book of Job, God allowed Satan to torment Job, kill his family, devastate his farm, until he had nothing. Job's wife said, "curse God and die." But Job rightly said, "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." That is an affirmation we should say whenever we wake to to a new day God has given us. Blessed by the name of the Lord!

In 1943 my mother and grandmother emerged from a bunker in Hamburg to see their neighborhood in flames. The bombing of Hamburg gave birth to the term, "firestorm." They rushed past their street and every house was burning. Everything they had was gone. All the new furniture that they had bought from extra savings, all her dolls save one were lost forever in the flames.

Los Angeles is only one recent example of horrific tragedy. The same rain that falls on the just fall on the unjust. God does not target neighborhoods. God is not sitting behind a computer board video game targeting areas of the world. That is not how God works. 

We are Americans and as long as we live we strive to do better and be better. We personally were immigrants who came to the New York area with just a suitcase. We were legal immigrants, having spent hours filling out forms and obtaining the necessary shots. It was up to my parents to excel. It was up to me to be a good son and do well in school. And I think I did.

If I lose my life work today, yes, I will cry but I will not blame God.

And we should not blame the Lord for the fires in California. Only ignorant people do that.

 What is the message of "Where have all the flowers gone"?

Where Have All The Flowers Gone is a powerful anti-war song. When reading the novel And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov, Seeger came across lines sung by a group of Cossack soldiers going back to the war about flowers being picked by girls who marry the men who join the army."Sag' mir, wo die Blumen sind" is a German translation of the anti-war song "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?". The song's message is about the transience of life and the ghosts of war. It's built on the association of nature, bridal wreaths, and men at war. 

Marlene Dietrich's version of the song broke the taboo against singing in German in Israel after World War II. She performed the song in German, English, and French, and the German version reached number 20 on the German charts. 

The song was inspired by lines from Mikhail Sholokhov's novel And Quiet Flows the Don. In the book, a group of Cossack soldiers sing about girls picking flowers for the men who join the army

the symbolism comes hauntingly back. I credit various  Wikipedia entries for the above explanation. We are  probably ...In Time of 'The Breaking of Nations'" by Thomas  Hardy,  the title itself is taken from the Book of Jeremiah in the Bible. 

War, Killing, always seem the answer when nations want to cull the flower of a 

.generation. We cry Peace Peace, but there is no peace.

With my dad in New York City during less hectic times!
 

I can remember when there were only three or four TV channels one could watch. We were kids growing up in New Jersey and on New Year's Eve, the only night we were allowed to stay up past midnight, Guy Lombardo filled our living room. My dad had decorated with colorful streamers hung from everywhere in the room and friends of my folks milled about drinking dad's famous brandy and champagne punch. Life was much easier then and more predictable.

We were immigrants from Germany and brought a lot of our traditions with us. But we all toasted at midnight and hoped for a better year to come. Today, we toast to the normality of those past years.  And often wish those times were still the norm. 

Another Year has come and gone but I still think of you, your goodness, and your generosity. 

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!

One of our earliest remembrances in New Jersey reminding me of your wonderful baking and how proud you were of all of your creations. 

Ingrid Maria Piehl born 1930 in Hamburg

Passed unto glory September 2, 2012

Survived Operation Gomorrah at age 13.

Came to America (with me!) August 1953

 Why We Can Never Forget the Horrors of WWII by Michael Streich

The Ukraine War is proof that WWII must remain in our collective memories as an atrocity that must never be repeated. It included the horrors of the Holocaust and the mass destruction of many European cities although predominantly German cities. Countless civilians were lost. This great war is not that far in our past. People are still alive who suffered from the events. 

Just as cities in the Ukraine today are being bombed by ever newer weapons of destruction, new administration folks like Tulsi Gabbard is given a high security intelligence position under Donald Trump, the man who promised to end the war in one phone call. "Peace in our time," as Neville Chamberlain once said. Tusi has been called a Russian asset.

It is painfully obvious that the Ukraine will be abandoned and that any so-called peace will involve the ceding of Ukrainian sovereign land to a rapacious Vladimir Putin who thinks of himself as the modern day gatherer of Russian lands. He also has not studied history. Indeed, most Russians do not know their own history by design,

In the early 1990's I was part of a small group of Americans to visit the Kremlin. We were told that we were the first westerners to be allowed into the armory. We saw the crown jewels, Faberge Eggs, other ancient artifacts and the huge boots belonging to Peter the Great. When we asked about the tsars our guide told us that this was part of Russia's history they had not been taught.

History is often rewritten to hide what really happened. But in the course of this, people die: men Women and children. Just look at Gaza.

These people are being starved to death. A new form of Genocide.

And Israel can call upon Old Testament Passages to support the policy. Donald Trump can do the same thing with Mexico. He can invoke 19th century James K Polk who wanted to annex Mexico. It was almost put into the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. Problem was, the South opposed it because Mexico did not allow slavery, Also, most Mexicans were Catholic.

I taught both high school level and college level history. The past must not be watered down or worse, slowly forgotten. That is why on every trip with students to Southern Germany, we always stopped at Dachau.

copywrite Michael Streich

  Development and Celebration of Epiphany

A Church Festival Ending Christmas Dated to the Early 4th Century

© Michael Streich

 Dec 21, 2008

Twelfth Night has long been associated with the visitation of Magi from the East, but Epiphany also recounts the baptism of Jesus and his first miracle at Cana.

Celebrated on January 6th, Epiphany represents one of the three most important Christian holidays in the church cycle. Most directly, Epiphany recalls the visit of the Magi or “Wise men” from the east, but it is also associated with the baptism of Jesus as well as the first miracle, performed at the wedding in Cana. Celebrated as early as the 4th Century, scholars have traced January 6th as a direct reference to Christ’s baptism to the 2nd century.

Development of the Festival

Historians have traced the first Epiphany celebrations to the eastern Mediterranean region in the early 4th century. Significantly, the festival appeared to parallel a pagan festival centered around Alexandria in Egypt that was tied to the winter solstice. This pagan festival celebrated the birth of the god Aeon in the temple of Kore. [1]

Charles Panati [2] asserts that, “Whereas the solstice caused the banks of the Nile to overflow, the sacred birth caused water in royal and public fountains to miraculously turn into wine.” Hence, January 6th was equated by the Christian Church with the date of the Cana wedding feast when Jesus turned water into wine.

The presence of the Bethlehem star that led the Magi to Christ also figures prominently in the evolution of Epiphany in the church. Sometimes called the Festival of the Lights, it marks that cycle in the church leading from the winter solstice to the return of the sun. R. W. Scribner [3] details this cycle of lights as it expanded in medieval Europe, moving from mid January to February 1st, the feast of St. Bridget, “…a suitable introduction to the feast of the Purification or Lichtmess (Candlemas).”

The Magi from the East

The story of the “wisemen” or Magi (magoi in Greek) is recounted in the second chapter of Matthew. Contrary to tradition, Matthew does not state how many there were. Settling on the number three appears to come, according to most commentaries, from the three separate gifts enumerated in the Gospel: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. In the ancient world, all three of the gifts were considered kingly.

Although depicted as kings in church tradition, there is no indication that they actually were. The Greek term magoi (used also in Acts) can refer to sorcery and magic. In this case, since they came from the east following a particular star, it is believed that they were Persian astrologers from the Mesopotamian region. It should also be noted that they were non-Jews.

Whereas Luke has Christ born in a manager, the Magi found Christ in a “house.” Bible commentators speculate that their arrival was anywhere from 6 months to a year after his birth. This would also explain Herod’s order to have all infants two years or younger slain.

Light versus Darkness and Good versus Evil

Just as the Magi represent goodness and the fulfillment of prophecy (see Isaiah 60.6), Herod’s response represented evil. James Frazer identifies the “period of twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany” as a “witching time” [4] when Europeans burned wood to ward off evil. “The last day of the mystic twelve days is Epiphany or Twelfth Night, and it has been selected as a proper season for the expulsion of the powers of evil in various parts of Europe.”

For some Eastern Church faith tradition, such as the Armenians, the Epiphany is the true day of Christmas. The traditions see December 25th as having explicit pagan connotations, something Augustine and other church fathers seem to admit. Epiphany celebrates the visit of the Magi, Christ's baptism, and the Cana miracle.

Sources and Notes:

[1]Williston Walker, A History of the Christian Church 3rd Ed. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970) p. 154.

[2] Charles Panati, Sacred Origins of Profound Things: the Storoes Behind the Rites and Rituals of the World’s Religions (New York: Penguin, 1999) pp. 217-219.

[3] R.W. Scribner, Popular Culture and Popular Movements in Reformation Germany (London: the Hambledon Press, 1987) pp. 4-5.

[4] James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1966) p. 650.

The copyright of the article Development and Celebration of Epiphany in Catholic Mass & Holy Days is owned by Michael Streich. Permission to republish Development and Celebration of Epiphany in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.