Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right!

I haven't been able to get into my Blog lately, but I had this one planned for a while. I have been doing a fair amount with the "Profiles in American Leadership" lately, all while fretting over the current political and economic, not to mention social, landscapes. Though I have several more historical figures to spotlight in the near future, I think it only right that I take a moment to vent my spleen on things politic. And so...



"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a
member of Congress.. But I repeat myself."

--Mark Twain

Who, with any understanding of the politics of today can argue with Mr. Twain? We cannot blame the Democrats alone for the fuel prices and the slow economy, though they deserve the bulk—notice I did not say a “recession”, we’re not there yet. But, if the Dems and the media have their way we will be in a recession by the end of the year. The Republicans, though they regularly argued against current legislation prohibiting drilling in promising places and the building of new refineries and nuclear power plants for over thirty years, had control of both the legislative and executive branches for several years and did literally nothing to correct the governmental energy policies that have brought us to this scary point in time.

True, we have been trying to fight a war against terror on more than one front in the Mid East--and against the Dems and the media at home--but the Republicans have lost their way. Republicans try too hard to get along, even when it when it is against their interest to do so. The crazy Democrats have taken the opposite position to the Bush administration at every turn, no matter how ludicrous and idiotic, trusting that the public is fickle enough and uninformed enough to be warn down and turned in public opinion; if the Dems can drone on without serious questioning of facts and argument from the Republicans and Conservatives; and if the mainstream media is complicit enough to carry water for them. Of course, his had been the case for ever, but most obviously self destructive since 9/11/01.

The war in Iraq is winding down and new violence in Afghanistan is being quelled effectively, and the terrorists are getting their heads handed to them--I only wish it were in a literal sense*--wherever they can be found. Clearly, our efforts must continue in this regard, or perhaps even up the anti by putting more pressure on the other clowns in the area. But, any success we have against terror, though good for America, will be ignored by the Media or painted black by the Dems and Libs, because it hurts their chances in the polls.

The Republicans, however, have been frightened off by the Dems wins last election. They are in disarray and don’t know where to go or what to do. Let’s face it: they are just are not in the same league as the democrats when it comes to hard nosed politics. Republicans can be shamed by obvious misdeeds into eating their own, while the Democrats can stare into the sun and declare that it’s midnight. And the Media will never point out the obvious discrepancies.

Now we have an opportunity to slap the Democrats wit a resounding defeat in the upcoming elections. Although we have a pretty weak presidential nominee in John McCain—he actually buys into the “Global Warming” con game that the left has been playing for the last twenty years—the fuel prices and oil drilling issues we are faced with today should not only easily keep us from losing seats in Congress again this time around, but could easily give us back control. The Democrats chickens have come home to roost in regards to the nation’s energy policy, and the public needs to know who laid the rotten eggs that these ugly chickens were hatched from. However, the question arises: Do the republicans have the good sense and the guts to play the game hard? If we let this opportunity go by, we are as stupid and leaderless as I have begun to believe us, since the elections of 2000.

Even with McCain, our chances are good. Let’s face it: Obama is another gift. We cannot be afraid to call him what he is: an empty suit with empty rhetoric trying to distance himself, with help of the fawning media, from crazy leftist extremists in his past and present. We can pressure McCain to fight with the gloves off and to choose a V.P. who actually knows something about the economy and who is conservative enough to appease some of us conservatives who are holding our noses while we vote for him. We might even be able to coax some conservatives back who have refused to vote for McCain or wait till 2012. Romney is my obvious pick. Jindal would be my second.

The truth is that the American public is not as smart and informed as it has been in the past. Reagan was able to got them and explain why he was right and why they should follow him. I think that, if we take the facts to the voting public and articulate our argument with logic and without fear, not even the leftist media will be able to hide the truth. Lincoln said, “You can deceive some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t deceive all of the people all of the time.” The Dems and the mainstream media have had a good run lately, but I hope that we can turn the tied back again and that Mr. Twain will be only partially right this time around.

note *(I've thought for a long time that it should be made known to all prospective suicide bombers that their remains will be gathered up and sewn inside of pig carcases and buried appropriately. I'm not sure, but I suspect that for some of the literal minded Muslim Crazies, it might be a deterrent. After all, what self respecting Muslim virgin would sidle up to a martyr in paradise wearing a pigskin suit.)

RONALD WILSON REAGAN

As a boy I watched a lot of television. In those days, old black and white movies were broadcast in the afternoons throughout the week on local stations. I suspect that I watched hundreds of old movies in those days and I had my favorite films and my favorite actors. I cannot say that there were many Ronald Reagan films that I remember thinking were outstanding, but I remember liking Ronald Reagan. In my later childhood years, I would see him in guest appearances on television productions, generally westerns, and eventually I saw him as the host of Death Valley Days. I continued to like him. When he came on the national scene as a candidate for president of the United States and I began to familiarize myself with his political beliefs, I not only liked him, I began to LOVE him. I saw him as everything I wanted in a president. I was so disappointed when he lost the 1976 republican nomination for president, that I threw my vote to a third-party candidate—an action that I vow to never do again, thank you Jimmie Carter. When Reagan won the presidency in 1980, I was jubilant. When he was re-elected four years later, I had hopes that the Reagan revolution would have a long-term impact on American politics. When Reagan died in 2004 and I watched his funeral and the various tributes to him on television, I was convinced that an historical giant and one of the greatest American Presidents had lived and died during my lifetime. Ronald Reagan was one of my true heroes.


Ronald Wilson Reagan
(February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004)

Ronald Reagan, nicknamed “Dutch” by his father for his Dutch boy haircut he wore as a child, was the second of two sons born to John and Nelle Wilson Reagan in Tampico, Illinois, in a small apartment over the local bank. As a boy, he moved around with his parents to various small Illinois towns, often living in poor circumstances due to his father’s alcoholism and employment as a traveling salesman. Reagan’s mother’s influence on him was critical during his youth, when he learned to have respect for minorities and faith in God and the basic goodness in people and an optimistic view of life. Reagan said that his devoutly religious mother would invite black people passing through Dixon, Illinois—persons who he would habitually bring home with him because they were not welcome at the local inn—to pass the night in their home and breakfast the next day before traveling on.

Reagan was a good athlete in high school and college, excelling in football, and attended the local college in Eureka, Illinois, where he worked summers as a lifeguard. He graduated from college with a BA in economics, but he moved to Des Moines, Iowa, and began a career as sports announcer at WOC radio. On a road trip with the Chicago Cubs in California in 1937, Reagan made a screen test for Warner Brothers Studios and landed a film contract which launched a successful acting career that lasted until 1964 and featured 60 feature films and appearances on more than 15 television shows as an actor or host.

Through a home-study program offered by the US Army, Reagan studied toward an officer’s commission and enlisted as a private as a cavalry soldier in Des Moines, Iowa in April of 1937. The following month he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corp of the US Cavalry. After his move to California and the start of World War II Reagan was called to active duty. His poor eyesight precluded him from serving on the war front but he found important service in the Army’s 1st Motion Picture Unit making films to promote the armed services and the war effort. Before leaving the service in 1945, Reagan had earned the rank of Captain.

During the same time period Reagan made choices that would eventually take him to the White House. It was then that became involved in the Screen Actor’s Guild and was eventually elected its president and served from 1947 to1952 and again in 1959. It was during these years that his political beliefs began to come to the forefront, dealing with labor-management disputes and testifying before Congress in the House Committee on Un American Activities. He defended the rights of Americans to have the political beliefs they chose but condemned those that chose to act as agents for a foreign country. By 1948, Reagan began to have political aspirations—a partial cause for his divorce from actress, Jane Wyman, with whom he shared three children—and began to have reservations about the direction of the Democrat party. Reagan became a Republican in 1962 and married actress, Nancy Davis, who bore him two additional children and supported his political ambitions. He would later say that he did not leave the Democrat Party, but that the Democrat Party left him.

During his time as the spokesman for General Electric, Reagan honed his skill as a speech writer and developing the style of public speaking that would serve him so well in politics. At the 1964 Republican Party Convention, Reagan was given the opportunity to speak in behalf of Barry Goldwater and conservative ideals. It was this “Time for Choosing” speech that so impressed his fellow Californians that they began to see him as the Governor of their state and Reagan’s political career was launched. Reagan was elected Governor two years later and served in that office from 1967 to 1975.

Reagan began looking towards the White House almost immediately, enter the Presidential frey seeking the republican nomination in 1968 to give his party an option besides Richard Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller. After two terms as Governor of California and largely successful effort to bring the California economy more sound and the state government more solvent, Reagan began a more earnest attempt to capture the Republican nomination for President. Richard Nixon had resigned from the oval office during his second term because of the Watergate scandal and his then Vice President, Gerald Ford finished his term and was running as incumbent. This made it difficult for Reagan to win the nomination, but he came very close, winning 1070 delegates to Ford’s 1187. But again, Reagan established himself as the Conservative answer to liberal (Carter) and moderate (Ford) political positions. Four years later, Reagan would easily win the republican nomination and even more easily win the presidency over Jimmy Carter in a landslide. Reagan also had long coat tails—the Republicans recaptured control of the Senate after almost 30 years and gained 34 seats in the House of Representatives. Reagan easily won re-election in 1984 by an even great landslide than before, winning every state but Minnesota and the District of Columbia, with record 525 electoral vote and nearly 59% 0f the popular vote.

Reagan’s administration began in dramatic fashion, with Iran releasing 52 hostages who had been held for 444 days which had caused great frustration for the American people and had weakened further the already weak Carter administration. The prevailing thought at the time was that the Iranian government did not expect Ronald Reagan, who was generally perceived abroad as a “Cowboy”, to sit passively by as Jimmie Carter had. This only propelled Reagan’s image to greater heights with the American people and began to re moralize the American military, something that Reagan had promised would be a priority of his administration.

Reagan’s prevailing philosophy on domestic issues throughout his presidency was that "Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem." Reagan’s policies were geared to allow more personal freedom and to ween people away from dependency on the government, to cut taxes and government controls, to allow more Americans more of their own money to spend as they saw fit, which would, in turn grow the economy. His supply-side economic philosophy and his desire to eliminate government restrictions on businesses were criticized roundly by liberal democrats and most of the media, but he persisted and he prevailed by calling on public support.

Reagan’s ability to connect with the common man suggested to many analysts the title “The Great Communicator.” He turned often to the American public in televised speeches explaining his plans and goals to drum up support for his policies and explain respectfully his difficulties with his advisories in Congress. This practice was very effective. The American public responded time and again by calling their congress men and women to express their support for the president and Congress would concede. Through this practice he was able to pursue his domestic and foreign policies to great effect. He also rebuilt the image of the United States and respect for it’s military strength abroad.

Reagan’s economic policies and tax cuts eventually grew the economy to unpresidented levels—the longest stretch of largely uninterrupted economic prosperity in American history of 28 years to date—and, as he predicted, vastly increased federal revenue. Detractors would later decry the fact that government spending during the Reagan years actually increased and that United States’ debt increased to record levels, however, most of the increase in spending was due to Reagan’s efforts to rebuild the United States military. The renewed prosperity that followed his tax polices has continued for nearly thirty years, in spite of major hits to the economy during the past couple of decades by such events as natural disasters, terrorist attacks and military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past.

Reagan’s focus on rebuilding the Military was a large part of re-establishing the United States as the greatest military power on the earth and to back his desire to promote democracy throughout the world and to protect America’s interests abroad. Reagan increased military spending by 40% in his first six years as president and proposed the “Strategic Defense Initiative” (SDI), a missile system designed to shoot down enemy missiles in flight before they could reach America. Detractors called his plan “Star Wars” and claimed that it was infeasible. Today the system has proved not only feasible, but very successful and promises to be strong deterrent, as it is perfected and put in place. The Soviet Union could not match
America’s economic might and could not keep up in the arms race. When Mikhail Gorbachev came into power in the Soviet Union, Reagan saw an opportunity to push the Soviets toward more openness, understanding that freedom of speech would eventually spell the end of the Soviet Union. Reagan met with the Soviet leader at 4 summits to discuss arms reduction and push the Russian for concessions on human rights, insisting that the SDI program—a system that the Soviets knew they could not afford and could not duplicate—was not on the table for negotiation Though many feared Reagan’s unapologetic anti-communist rhetoric and in-your-face foreign policy, would lead us into war—early in his presidency he described the Soviet Union as an evil empire—he was proven correct again. In a speech at the Berlin Wall near the end of his presidency, Reagan, sensing that the time was right, called for Gorbachev’s government to “tear down this wall.” In 1979, the Berlin Wall was disassembled and two years after that, the Soviet Union followed suit.

Reagan had some difficult times as well, but he took adversity in stride and with usual optimistic good humor. Early in his first year as president, Reagan was shot in an assassination attempt. Though he was near to death in the hospital, as he was preparing to go into surgery, he quipped to the doctors, “I hope you are all Republicans”. Also early on, he felt compelled to fire 11,345 Federal Air Traffic Controllers who chose to strike against his warnings not to do so. In 1983, 241 marines were killed in a terrorist bombing of a barracks in Lebanon, where the marines had been stationed as a peacekeeping force. The US forces were removed, giving some of our enemies the opinion that America would not stand against terrorism. Later, Reagan ordered US forces to Granada to put down a communist takeover of the Island state and protect American citizens and interests there. After suffering numerous terrorist attacks, Reagan was able to establish a connection to some of the terrorist activities with Lybian dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. On April 15, 1986, Reagan ordered air strikes on Lybia declaring, "When our citizens are attacked or abused anywhere in the world on the direct orders of hostile regimes, we will respond so long as I'm in this office."

Perhaps, Reagan’s most difficult challenge was his attempt to aid anti-communist forces in Nicaragua against opposition from Democrats in Congress, which resulted in the "Iran-Contra Affair". The National Security team in his administration orchestrated sales of weaponry to Iran and gave some of the proceeds to support the “Contra Insurgents in Nicaragua who were fighting the Communist government there. The Tower Commission, who investigated the “Iran-Contra” scandal when it became known, determined that there was no evidence that Reagan knew of the “scheme”, but criticised the President for being inattentive in his duties.

Though his popularity dipped from 67% approval to just under 50% for a short time after the Iran Contra scandal, Reagan left office as one of the most popular President in American history and became an icon for Republicans and especially for Conservatives. During a vacation in Mexico in 1989, Reagan took a fall from a horse and received a concussion and underwent surgery to relieve subdurl hematoma. Doctors suspect that the event hastened the onset of Alzheimer's that eventually caused his death on the 5th of June, 2004. The national mourning and tributes that followed testify of the great love and respect that the American public held for President Ronald Wilson Reagan. No one loved his country more or respected the office he held more than Ronald Reagan. He would never enter the oval office without a coat and tie and expected the same of others. He was poetic in his expressions about his country as a “shining city on a hill” and often proclaimed the it’s greatest days were in it’s future.

In 1986, the Space Shuttle, Challenger, exploded during takeoff killing all aboard. Reagan’s response was a speech considered by many to be one of his greatest: “The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them... We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of Earth' to 'touch the face of God.” Ronald Wilson Reagan should likewise be remembered. He was an island of optimistic and visionary leadership for America's future in a sea of unimaginative status quo modern practitioners of politics.

STEVE ALLEN

One of my favorite entertainers as a child was Steve Allen. I liked to stay up late, if I could get away with it, and watch “Steverino” on NBC’s Tonight Show. Most people of the baby boomer set probably think of long-time-host, Johnny Carson, when they think of the Television Talk Show/Variety Show format that still flourishes today, with the likes of Jay Leno and David Letterman. Many entertainment personalities have tried their hand at it in the past 50 years, and the concept of a comedian telling jokes, interviewing other celebrities, and introducing performers (old and new) has been the staple for late night television viewers for half a century. As good as Johnny Carson was for twenty years, he did not originate the concept. Before him, Jack Parr sat behind the Tonight Show desk. And before Parr, there was the father of late-night TV talk, Steve Allen.



Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen
December 26, 1921—October, 2000

Steve Allen was a child of vaudeville performers and was raised in Chicago by his mother’s family. He attended college in Tempe Arizona, but left during his sophomore year to work in radio at a local station. Allen enlisted as an infantryman during World War II but did not serve overseas. After the war he returned to California where he had been stationed in the military and landed a job as a radio announcer. Allen parleyed his announcing duties into a comedy show that increased his popularity and opened doors for his concept of a musical and talk format that he continued to develop.

Allen was a very innovative and creatively spontaneous performer. When a scheduled guest to one of his shows, Doris Day, was a no-show, Allen opted to go into the audience to conduct impromptu interviews of average people—this idea evolved into his “man on the streets” bits that he later did on television. This became a staple of his shows and is a popular exercise of talk show hosts to this day. As a last-minute stand-in host for Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, Allen ad-libbed commercials to the delight of the studio and radio audiences exposing Allen’s talent to it’s biggest audience yet.

In the early 1950s, Allen moved to New York City, where he did radio shows for CBS, but eventually created a late-night variety/talk television program for local television in 1953. The local popularity of the show convinced NBC to launch Steve Allen’s concept as “The Tonight Show” the following year. In 1956, while continuing his duties as The Tonight Show host Monday through Friday, NBC began a Sunday night variety show with Allen as the host to compete with Ed Sullivan’s show on CBS. During these New York years, Allen was instrumental in launching the careers of many performers on his TV programs, including Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Don Knotts, and Johnny Carson. Allen also starred in Hollywood films during the fifties, including the dramatic “Benny Goodman Story” which allowed him to bring many of the greats of the big band era to the big screen with him and pay homage to the music genre that he loved. In 1957, Allen left the Tonight Show to focus on the Sunday variety show, but left that show and New York to return to Los Angeles in 1959.

In Los Angeles Allen continued to host syndicated variety shows and worked on music composition and books—Allen would eventually write more than 10,000 songs during his career—writing songs that were recorded by major artists and garnered a Grammy award and authoring some 50 books on comedy and his views on life. During the next three decades, Allen’s shows provided further important exposure for up-and-coming comedians like Rob Reiner, John Byner and Ruth Buzzi, and influenced many talk show hosts who would come later.

One of his best projects was the award-winning program “Meeting Of The Minds” which he produced and which was aired on PBS from 1977 to 1981. Meeting Of The Minds was a talk show format where Allen was host and actors--his wife of 46 years, Jayne Meadows, often played the female figures--portrayed famous people from different times in history gathered together to discuss their views on various topics, such as politics, religion, morality and society. This necessitated substantial research into the famous historical characters and their opinions, to extrapolate the conjectured discussions. This show was a jewel among the typical television fare of the time.

Steve Allen was liberal in his politics and most of his social views for the greater part of his life—he was a self proclaimed secular humanist—and though he generally defended liberal freedom of speech, he seemed to turn more socially conservative in his later years and became troubled by what he considered smutty content on radio and television. He aligned himself with those who wanted to restrict content like the Parents Television Council, Prior to his death, which resulted from an auto accident in 2000, Allen began referring to himself in speeches supporting restriction of offensive material in the media, as an “involved Presbyterian”. A full-page advertisement in support of his proposed restrictions against offensive content appeared newspapers the days before his death.

Steve Allen was an original, and he set the template for an industry format that will likely continue on long after most of us who saw it’s inception are gone. He was unwilling to be satisfied by mediocrity and constantly moved on to the next opportunity, and tried to make quality programing the ideal and stretch his obvious talent. In much he was probably ahead of his time, but Steve Allen should get the acknowledgement his particular genius deserves: he was the first and, in my mind, the best at what he did.

I Was A Teenage Mormon Missionary

A friend of mine and former missionary companion from the Guatemala-El Salvador mission circa 1972, Lynn Kleinman, has been sending me some pictures from our time together in Retaluleu, Guatemala, and I thought it might be a good thing to post some comments on my time as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Like most young missionary men, I was 19 years of age when I set out to be a missionary and was gone from home and family for two years. When I got my mission call from President Joseph Fielding Smith, I was unsure of where the countries were, but the El Salvador part cued me in that it might be a Spanish-speaking mission. I had wanted to go on a foreign mission but without the foreign language part of it, like somewhere in the British Isles, Australia, or New Zealand. However, I have no regrets about serving in Central America and learning to speak Spanish—I had no foreign language training prior to my missionary training—because I have actually used it quite a bit since, I sold lumber for a little while in Los Angeles and had quite a few customers who spoke primarily Spanish and, in later years, I taught safety and asbestos worker training as a safety consultant in Spanish. I even served as the branch president of a Spanish branch of the Church a couple of years ago.

I learned to love the Latinos and Indian people of my mission and enjoyed greatly my association with them and rejoiced when they accepted our message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and were baptized and embraced membership in the Church. Their lives were usually changed for ever for the good. During the past 35 or so years since coming home to the States, I have run into Guatemalans or Salvadorans who either knew me or heard of me from those days—I was part of a singing group that toured the mission for several months in 1972 and helped create some good exposure for the Church and helped generate thousands of referrals for the missionaries to look up and teach. It has been great to see the terrific growth of the Church in my old areas and see the members prosper. Where we only had one Stake—in the capital of Guatemala—when I arrived in the mission, there are numerous stakes and two temples Guatemala and one announced for San Salvador, not to mention the half dozen or more missions that now cover the same territory my old mission covered. While a missionary, I helped teach over 50 individuals who joined the Church. I also heard that some 200 or so individuals came into the Church as a result of seeing our singing group perform and asked to have the local missionaries come teach them more. It was a great experience.

Of course, I also created some great friendships with my missionary companions and others in the mission with whom I worked closely. I hesitate to mention names, not because my memory is bad these days, but because I would probably hurt some feelings by not mentioning some really important ones. However, my first companion was Layne Thompson. I could not have had a better. He was a great example of a missionary who worked very hard when it was time to work and played hard when it was time to relax and play. My last companion was Richard Koplin, a young missionary with great humility and a desire to serve the Lord. I hope I was as good an example and influence on him and my other junior companions as Elder Thompson was for me. Each of my companions had an impact on my work, my testimony, and my desire to serve faithfully. I gained something from each one. It has been said more than once by probably thousands of people that the Church must be true because the young missionaries would have destroyed it long ago. I think there is a bit of truth in that. As good as we young missionaries were, and probably are today, it is remarkable that so much responsibility is given to and accepted by so many young men and women to spread the message of the restored Gospel—a pretty scary thought, if there was not so much faith involved, by both the leadership of the Church and the missionary force in general. In most cases, we were teenagers when we arrived and barely 21 when we returned to our homes. We liked rock and roll music and sports, and loved to do the things that other kids our age liked to do. I remember four of us having a water-fight once in our apartments that also housed the local chapel that ended with all of clothes being dumped in the “pila” which doubled as a baptismal font. In town we held a “rodeo” in our apartments where we rode on a hammock while two others rocked the “horse” at either end to try to dislodge us. It was great fun until the hooks that held the hammock were pulled from the walls. In most cases—not in mine—we left girlfriends at home with the innocent expectation that they would wait for us. We resigned ourselves to a non-dating life for two years and experienced a time in our lives in which we were more attractive to the opposite sex than we would ever be again, but be unable to capitalize on it. I some cases, we would be called to be THE authority of the Church in a small town, presiding over a branch of the Church.

Our mission President, Harvey S. Glade, a man of great faith, was willing to let 5 young men under the age of 22 go rambling across two countries with acoustic guitars, a tiny PA system, and a suitcase a piece—usually, this was accomplished by bus, but often by hitch-hiking or begging rides where we could find them—trying to get to the next town, where the local “Elders” were preparing for us to give a performance that would, hopefully, not embarrass the Church, but convince people that they should look into this new religion. This group was “La Familia Unida” (the united family) and consisted of Randy Teel, from Texas; Scott Eddo, from Southern California; John Cameron, from Ohio; Scott Shirley, from Idaho; and myself. We had all had some experience entertaining to greater of lesser degree prior to our missions and were eager and ready to sacrifice ourselves and our “talents” for the greater good. The idea fo rthe show was Cameron's brain child. He went to President Glade immediately upon arriving at the mission and proposed a show where the missionaries would promote the Gospel message through song and dance--dance was Cameron's department. The idea evolved into a sort of folk quintet who strummed acoustic guitars and sang a variety of songs from Rock, to Broadway, to Spanish popular, to religious hymns, and presented a show about the Church’s Home Evening program. As ill conceived as it sounds, the “show” was pretty successful. We were young and dumb enough to want to do it and our Mission President was inspired enough to let us try it. We had a great time—at least I did. We went everywhere in the mission—everywhere in Guatemala and El Salvador where we had missionaries. In some places we played to very small crowds, and it was doubtful that the people “got it”, and in other places where we played before more than a thousand or full houses and the folks really bought into us. We did a nationally broadcast radio show in Guatemala and appeared as guest performers on the most popular TV show in El Salvador, “Buscando Las Estrellas” (Searching for The Stars).
I still keep in touch with those guys and we hope to do a reunion performance at our mission reunion this October (08).

I might mention here that Scott Shirley has written a very entertaining history of La familia Unida and our many escapades which is posted on the Guatemala-El Salvador Alumni website (http://www.mission.net/guatemala/el-salvador/Paseo.html). He has also posted the “Shirley Chronicles” (http://www.mission.net/guatemala/el-salvador/ShirleyC.html)on the same website, which is also very entertaining and tells of his experiences as a missionary. I might say here also that I feature prominently in the Shirley Chronicles, since he and I spent around 16 months of our missions together as companions, living at the same apartment, or living in close proximity in the same district. So, if you want to know more about my missionary experiences from a secondary, unbiased source, his would be the best. For example, it tells about us being thrown out of the Guatemala City Zoo for causing a disturbance—we had set up a street display and had so many people around us listening to us that foot traffic was through the area was stopped—I was also thrown out of the San Salvador zoo for the same offense.

My mission not only made me a better Latter-day Saint, but it made me a better American and more appreciative of the stature of the United States in a troubled world. I know from experience, of living in the third world, that we Americans are truly a blessed people. No other nation on the earth has so much to offer in opportunity for success and the freedom to pursue a dream. It is easy for me to understand why so many want to come here and take advantage of both opportunity and freedom. It is also easy for me to understand why we are hated by so great a segment of the population of the world. For some, we represent the greatest challenge to their way of life, whether it is religious or political dictatorship, or nationalistic jealousy. No nation has been more ready to help in the time of need and do the hard work and expend their resources than the United States of America. And, I must also add, that no Church or religious group has been more eager to respond in the same ways throughout the world in time of need than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

My mission was a blessing to me that has extended throughout my life. It is a common saying within the Mormon culture that “my mission was the best two years of my life”. I can say that it truly was up to that point. It pales in comparison to marrying and seeing your children born and watching them grow into adults. I hoped that my sons would also go and have the same testimony and character-building experiences that I had. My second oldest, Tyler, has done so—he went to Chile, so we share a common second language—and I have hope that my youngest, Dylan, will take advantage of the opportunity in a couple of years. Nothing I had done up to that point in my life had prepared me more for life than my missionary experience. It taught me to serve others, to put the welfare of others before my own, it taught me to pray for others, to struggle with my own testimony of the Gospel and help others struggle to gain their own. I learned that I could accomplish great things, if I applied myself and trusted in the Lord—a truism that I have had to rely upon many times in my life since. My mission helped sculpt me into the work of art, such as it is, that I am today.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

In 1927, the carving of Mount Rushmore began with the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt to be representative of the greatness of America’s first 150 years—representing the establishment, enlargement, and protection of our nation. Only eight years had passed since Roosevelt had passed away, so his greatness as a President and leader had not lost much of its power over the mind of the American public. Though there may be others who might have qualified to be included—Susan B. Anthony was actually considered early on by a certain faction—if the faces on the mount were limited to just four, then Theodore Roosevelt without doubt deserved to be there, if for no other reason than his exuberance, love for his country and power of persuasion at a pivital time in the nation's history.

Theodore Roosevelt
October 27, 1858—January 6, 1919

Theodore Roosevelt, at his death was perhaps the greatest single personality of the time. He had been the model of masculinity and the dominant political figure in American politics and social justice for twenty years. The power of his personality and his willingness to take on formidable tasks had engendered both great love and respect from his supporters—these were the majority—and fear and loathing from his detractors. Not since Lincoln—as a child, Roosevelt viewed Lincoln’s funeral—had such a strong personality imposed its will on the nation and wielded such history-changing power. And, it could be argued that no other president of the United States, except perhaps Thomas Jefferson, had such varied talents and interests.

Roosevelt was sickly as a young child, but with the promptings of his parents—his father was his hero and “the best man I ever knew”, teaching by example the importance of combining strength, courage, gentleness and unselfishness—he built himself, through vigorous exercise and strenuous outdoor pursuits, into a powerful and vigorous physical specimen and endeavored to live up to his father’s ideals of character. He thrived on pitting himself against difficult physical and mental tasks. His interests were varied and many. As a youth he delved into zoology and taxidermy and wrote a scholarly paper on “The Natural History of Insects. His scholarly works later included some 35 publications on natural history, political history, the history of the Navy, frontier life and an autobiography. His college years at Harvard were spent in pursuit of athletic and scholastic excellence. He was the runner up in the Harvard boxing championship and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude.

After entering law school, Roosevelt felt the call to politics and became a New York assemblyman in 1881, where he began a career of trying to pull the Republican party towards progressive thought, and where he wrote more bills than any other assemblyman. After the death of his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, in 1884, Roosevelt was brokenhearted, and he fled from politics and New York, leaving his newborn daughter, Alice Lee, to the care of his sister, while he went off to become a rancher in the Dakotas. While ranching in the Dakota Territory, Roosevelt was elected sheriff, and as as such, made some courageous arrests of rustlers and outlaws, all while writing articles about western life for magazines published in the East. After his cattle herd was destroyed by a particularly bad winter, Roosevelt returned to New York where he ran for Mayor of New York city but lost. But, he also met and married his second wife, Edith Kermit Carow, whom he took to Europe in 1886 for their honeymoon. While there, the ever adventurous Roosevelt led a group of climbers to the summit of Mount Blanc, for which he was inducted into the British Royal Society.

Roosevelt supported Benjamin Harris in the 1888 presidential election and was appointed to the U.S. Civil Service Commission where he served until 1895—he had also been reappointed to the post under democrat Grover Cleveland. In 1895, Roosevelt became the head of the New York City Police Commissioners where he turned one of the most corrupt and disreputable police forces in America into possibly the nations best. He implemented rules and regulations that governed discipline, weaponry, entry exams, and physical and mental fitness. No longer was employment dependent on political persuasion or restricted by ethnic background. Even women were allowed to join the force. Roosevelt, himself, would walk the beats at night to verify that the officers were out performing their duties. He also instituted bicycle patrols and installed telephones in all police stations.

In 1897, President Mckinley appointed Roosevelt as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. This was an exciting opportunity for Roosevelt who, as an historian had written a history of the US Navy. He took the opportunity to do all within his power to prepare the Nay for any potential war—preparedness for war would be a focus throughout the rest of his political career—and was a leading voice in support of the United States’ war with Spain. When war began with Spain in 1898, Roosevelt personally organized and commanded the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, known as the “Rough Riders”, where he gained notoriety for leading victorious charges against the Spanish in Cuba. His service at the Battle of San Juan Hill was honored by a recommendation for the congressional medal of honor, but was initialy denied the medal, apparently, for voicing criticism of the military’s handling of the war. However, he did receive it posthumously—as did his son, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. for his heroics at Normandy during World War II—more than a hundred years later in 2001 making him the only American President to have received the Medal of Honor.

Upon his return as a war hero, Roosevelt was elected governor of New York State in 1899. As governor of New York he worked so hard and effectively to root out political corruption, that the political bosses of the Republican Party, in order to get Roosevelt out of their political hair, convinced President McKinley to add him to his ticket as Vice President for his reelection campaign in 1900. Just six months after Roosevelt was sworn in as Vice President, President Mckinley was assassinated and Roosevelt, at the young age of 42, became the youngest President in American history.

Roosevelt’s interest in nature and his love for the American West and it’s numerous resources created within him a desire to use his power as President to become the nation’s greatest conservationist. He pushed congress to set aside almost 200 millions of acres of land in the West as national parks, national forests and nature preserves, to protect them for future generations. As President, Roosevelt continued his proclivity towards progressive politics, taking on corporations which he felt were corrupt and were illegally working against the American people’s interest. He personally filed 44 law suits to bridle corporate misconduct. The results of his efforts to even the playing field between workers and business owners and protecting consumers, were the Hepburn Act of 1906, which allowed for the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to regulate transportation of people and goods and the Pure Food and Drugs Act and the Meat Inspection Act of the same year, to regulate railroad rates, recognizing that the railroads had a monopoly, and to make food and drugs safer for public consumption. Roosevelt also stepped in, when he felt necessary, to mediate between labor unions and business, as he did during the coal strike of 1907, to protect the balance of fairness between industry, the work force and the American consumer, which he felt was vital to the American capitalist system and in the nation's interest as a whole. Roosevelt’s skills as a mediator also earned him the Nobel Peace Prize when he negotiated an end to the Ruso-Japanese War that same year, and a later dispute between Germany and France over Morocco, which might have escalated into a world war.

On the world stage, Roosevelt made the United States a super power. He dramatically increased the size of the navy and sent it around the world to show off—primarily for the benefit of the Japanese—the "Big Stick” part of his foreign policy: “Speak softly but carry a big stick.” In 1903, Roosevelt backed Panama in their break with Columbia and took over the building of the Panama Canal from the French who had contracted with Columbia to build it. The U.S. was able to accelerate the building of the canal by eliminating the swamps that were the breeding places of the mosquitoes which spread the yellow fever and malaria amongst the workers and had slowed greatly the progress of the building of the canal under the direction of Columbia and France. The United states became the protector and controller of the Canal by treaty until the Carter administration.

Roosevelt easily won the 1904 election for president in an electoral college landslide, 336 to 140. He made a promise not to run again in 1908, but he regretted the decision soon after his hand-picked successor and friend, William Howard Taft, became president and changed political direction from that plotted by Roosevelt. Roosevelt decided to run again in 1912 but was unable to grasp the nomination of the Republican party from Taft. So, Roosevelt broke with the Republican party and ran again, against his old friend, at the head of his own “Bull Moose Party. This split the party so badly that Woodrow Wilson won the White House back for the Democrats. During the 1912 presidential campaign, Roosevelt was shot in an assassination attempt prior to a speech, the bullet lodging in his chest muscle. Roosevelt assumed that since he was not coughing up blood, the bullet had not entered his lungs and that he would be able to give his ninety-minute speech. True to his nature, he did so before seeking medical treatment.

Roosevelt's years after his presidency were spent doing the things he enjoyed most; traveling to the wilds of Africa and South America, hunting and exploring. He sent home numerous examples of wild life from his trips around the world, which today can be viewed as exhibits in the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institute. His explorations brought him into contact with many dangers as well. During his exploration of the Amazon, where he discovered a before unknown tributary to the great river, he contracted malaria and was so worried about the survival of his fellow explorers, as they endeavored to help him along, that he tried to convince them to leave him behind, so as not to delay their progress to safety. His son, Kermit, would not accede to his wishes, however, and he was brought safely home, but his health was so damaged by the ordeal that it declined from that point on until his death in 1919.

As World War I broke out in 1914, Roosevelt felt even greater frustration for the direction the leadrship of America was taking, as he watched from the sidelines, not being able to lead the country during, perhaps it’s greatest need in his lifetime. He attacked Wilson for being a weak leader, not entering on the side of the allies against Germany much sooner. He proposed organizing another volunteer force similar to the Rough Riders he led during the Spanish—American War, but Wilson refused his offer. When his youngest son, Quentin, an ace fighter pilot, was killed in combat behind enemy lines in July of 1918, Roosevelt’s health took a more aggressive decline and he died January 6, 1919.

Theodore Roosevelt was the quintessential American of his time. His desire for a robust and energetic life, excelling in all of his physical, mental and scholarly pursuits, was part of his identity as an American. He tried to be an example of character, defending the weak against the strong and endeavoring to protect America and the American way of life, as he saw it, for his family and all of his fellow countrymen. He criticized Americans who referred to themselves as German-Americans or Irish-Americans, or any other “hyphenated Americans.” He felt that hyphenated Americans were too willing to split their loyalty between a native country, or the homeland of their ancestors, and their current homeland of America. He believed that each American should see themselves as he did; 100% American. His great self confidence and charisma took him to the highest office in the land and to heights of popularity and respect perhaps unknown by any other American President during their own lifetime since George Washington. His father would have been proud of him too.

HELEN ADAMS KELLER

When we think of great leaders, we normally think in terms of people with great vision and oratory skills, who could lead by convincing others through word or deed to follow their example and perhaps change their way of thinking and inspire others to do important or necessary things. Often great leaders showed their greatness or their exceptional talents at an early age and perhaps greatness may have been expected of them by their contemporaries. Of course, we would err to ignore one great American who would never have been expected to excel in, or even accomplish, anything of great importance in their life. Who could expect anything from a young girl born in the 19th century, who was blind, deaf and dumb from infancy? That was the question that many of her intimates had, but because of a loving teacher and family and her own intellect and incredible strength of will, she would prove the doubters wrong.



Helen Adams Keller
(June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968)

Helen Adams Keller was born in reconstruction Alabama to a former Confederate Army officer, Captain Arthur H. Keller, and Kate Adams Keller, a cousin of Robert E. Lee and the daughter of General Charles Adams of the Confederacy. At about 19 months of age, Helen contracted an illness, probably scarlet fever or meningitis, which left her blind and deaf. Her only communication was through some simple signs within the family household. When Helen reached the age of six, her mother, hoping to help her daughter develop more ability to communicate with the outside world and be able to be more self sufficient, contacted experts in the field of teaching the deaf and blind. Her search ended with the arrival of Anne Sullivan, a recent graduate of the Perkins Institute of the Blind in Boston. The 20 year-old Sullivan became Helen’s instructor and eventually her governess and ultimately a companion for most of her life, until after she married and her health began to fail in 1914.

Understandably, Helen’s parents tended to spoil their handicapped child and inadvertently frustrated Sullivan’s attempts to create a disciplined learning atmosphere for the child. To help Helen focus on her studies without distractions from the family, Sullivan convinced Helen’s father to allow her to separate Helen from the rest of the family and reside in a small house on the family’s estate. As can be seen in the two films entitled “The Miracle Worker” which depict the early events in Helen’s and Anne’s relationship, Sullivan was able to make a break through with Helen by running water over water over their hands while repeatedly making the sign for water in the palm of Helen’s hand. When Helen realized that Sullivan was communicating the “name” for water, the child’s natural intelligence erupted with the desire for more. She nearly exhausted Sullivan with demands to know the signs for everything and everyone she could think of.

At the age of ten, Sullivan began to teach Helen to speak by letting Helen Sullivan’s lips and throat as she spoke and then showing her the signs of the words spoken. She then graduated to learning to read Braille, eventually learning French, German, Greek and Latin. Helen’s unstopped intelligence thrived. She moved with Sullivan to New York 1894 to attend the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf and the Horace Mann School for the Deaf, and in 1896 they went to Massachusetts to attend the Cambridge School for Young Ladies. In 1900, Helen was admitted to Radcliffe College where, at 24, she was the first blind and deaf person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating Magna Cum Laude.

Helen’s accomplishments resulted in great notoriety, which she used to great profit for herself and the causes she chose to embrace. She was a popular author and speaker. Americans of note, including presidents from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon Johnson, and popular figures such as Mark Twain, Charlie Chaplin, and Alexander graham Bell, sought her acquaintance and called her friend. Though Keller’s politics were radical for her time—along with being a suffragist and a pacifist during World War I, she embraced socialism and helped found the ACLU—she is best known for her efforts to help people with physical disabilities. Her efforts were not for Americans alone. She traveled the world over, shedding light on the plight of the physically impaired and encouraging society to recognize their potential. She was a symbol of what can be accomplished by even the most crippling circumstances when love, respect and a helping hand is proffered.

In the decade or so before her death in 1968, Helen’s life and struggles were honored from various quarters. Though Helen’s and Anne’s story was brought to the silent film screen 1919 as “Deliverance”, their story was retold in the Broadway play The Miracle Worker in 1959 and the award winning feature film, by the same name in 1962. Helen was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Johnson 1964 and elected to the Women’s Hall of Fame at the New York World’s Fair later that year. Since her death on June 1, 1968, the world continued pay tribute to Helen Keller with the retelling of her story in on the big and little screens. And, we continue to marveling at her accomplishments with the help of others, and her will to overcome what seemed to be overwhelming physical handicaps.

SUSAN B. ANTHONY

Though I am very conservative in my politics and would be at odds with some of the political beliefs of some of the historical figures I am highlighting in the vignettes in my Leadership in America series, I think that the positives accomplished by these figures should be recognized and focused on. Much of their political ideas were born of their times and situations. As long as their positive impact on American life was not outweighed by any negative impact, I feel compelled to focus on the positives. This, I think, is especially true of Susan B. Anthony and Helen Keller, who had socialist leanings and are my next subjects.
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When the Constitution of the United States was ratified it was a singular document. It was a simple document allowing for the governing of a diverse people with differing beliefs, interests and concerns. Perhaps its greatest attribute beyond the obvious compromise to create a union, was the mechanism included to allow for amendment. This gave the people the power to amend the Constitution in the future if the will of the people evolved to provide greater freedoms. It was the intention of the founding fathers that the constitution be flexible enough to meet future needs that they were unable to anticipate or that they felt the nation could accept in the future. This was the case with the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments that ended slavery and gave former slaves the right to be full citizens with the men the power to vote. It would take the turn of the next century and the 19th amendment to provide all women the right to vote. The Constitution of the United States was an inspired document and it has worked, but it has needed inspired leadership to help it along.


SUSAN B. ANTHONY
February 15, 1820—March 13, 1906

Fourteen years before the 19th Amendment to The United States Constitution was established, Susan B. Anthony passed away. But she would have been grateful that her efforts and the efforts of others like her, for the equal right of a woman to vote had eventually born fruit. Anthony was born in 1820, the oldest of seven children born into a liberal Quaker family active in the abolition movement of the 1800s. An intelligent child, Susan learned to read and write at age three and was taken out of the local school at the age of six and taught at a home school by her father when her father learned that her teacher refused to teach her long division. At age seventeen she entered a Quaker boarding school but had leave later in the year because of her family’s financial crisis following the Panic of 1837. The family moved to Hardscrabble, New York, in 1839 and Susan left home to teach at a Quaker seminary to help pay off family debts. In 1846 she moved on to teach at the Canajoharie Academy where she became head of the women’s department. It was as a teacher that she began to lobby for equal pay for men and women doing the same job.

Anthony left teaching and moved to be with her family in Rochester at age 29 where she began attending a Unitarian Church. She later gravitated away from organized religion altogether. Despite feelings of inadequacy of her oratory talents and a view of herself as unattractive, she began to speak at events supporting the abolition of slavery and temperance and soon became a prominent spokesperson for progressive causes with fellow feminist leaders, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Amelia bloomer. Anthony saw the abolition of slavery and the eventual equality between the races and the sexes as necessary for progress in America and she tried to combine the two in her movement. This, of course, created some distance between her and longtime friend Frederick Douglas, who championed equal rights for black men alone when the 15th Amendment to the constitution was passed and ignored the right of women to vote. Anthony was unable to enthusiastically applaud the progress that left women behind, and felt that there was much left to do and devoted herself to women’s suffrage from that point on.

Anthony had begun her weekly publication, The Revolution, in 1868 which supported equality for blacks and women, but after the 15th Amendment in 1869 it s pages were almost exclusively devoted to women’s issues, including the vote, equal pay, and divorce laws. In 1872 Anthony was arrested by federal law enforcement officers for illegally voting. She argued that the 14th Amendment which stated,” all persons born or naturalized in the United States” did not exclude women from the privilege of voting. Nonetheless, she was tried, convicted, and fined. However, she refused to pay the fine and used her trial and increase notoriety to give her arguments greater public exposure.

During her crusade for equality for women, Anthony endeavored to unionize women labor and combine it to suffrage and to align moderate and conservative women’s suffrage movements. In time she came to believe that a more moderate approach than her more radical friend, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, espoused would realistically gain more. Her position was to focus on the vote and leave other issues like “women’s religious and social bondage” to be argued later. Her efforts translated into the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). History proved her to be right.
When Susan B. Anthony died on March 13, 1906, she may have thought that she had fought the good fight but had come up short, but her legacy was the 19th amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Though it came too late for her to take advantage of herself, her life's work benefited millions of American women in her wake. Since her death, she has been revered by many men and women alike and honored by her country’s government for her leadership tireless efforts for emancipation of the slaves and for the right of all citizens to cast a vote of conscience. In 1921, Anthony was honored with a sculpture in the nation’s capital and was the first woman to be immortalized on a U.S. coin, a quarter-sized dollar minted in the years 1977, 1980, 1981, and 1999.