It's On My Mind

May 26, 2020 (Tuesday)

John F. Kennedy was born May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts, and died November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. He married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier and they had two children, Caroline and John. He was the 35th President of the United States, serving 1961-1963.

He was 43 at his inauguration and 45 at his death by assassination.
John F. Kennedy is most famous for being assassinated early in his presidency. He is also famous for the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile crisis.

John grew up in a wealthy and powerful political family in Brookline, Massachusetts. It was also a big family as he had three brothers and five sisters. John’s father Joe had the dream that one of his sons would become president. He sent them to the best schools and expected that his oldest son, Joe Jr., would be president one day.

John graduated from Harvard in 1940 with honors. He then traveled to Great Britain to be with his father who was the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain at the time. Here he learned firsthand about World War II and realized that the U.S. would likely be involved before it was over. He tried to join the army, but couldn’t get in because he had a bad back. So he joined the Navy and was in command of a patrol torpedo boat when it was sunk. He survived and became something of a war hero. Sadly, his older brother Joe wasn’t as lucky and died in combat during the war.

When Joe Jr. died, John’s father turned to John to become president. He got John involved in politics and helped John to get elected to the U.S. Congress in 1947. In 1955 he won the Pulitzer Prize in history for the book Profiles in Courage.John served as congressman for six years and then became a U.S. Senator in 1953.

Kennedy ran for president in 1960 against current Vice President Richard Nixon. He won in one of the closest elections in history. When he was elected he gave one of the most stirring inaugural speeches in history. In this speech he said the famous words “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”

Just a few months after becoming president, Kennedy decided to try and help Cuban rebels overthrow the communist Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Unfortunately, the invasion failed miserably when the CIA-assisted rebels were soundly defeated. This event is called the Bay of Pigs because of the name of the bay where the invasion took place.

In 1962 the United States discovered that the Soviet Union was building secret missile bases in Cuba. These missiles would be able to strike the U.S. with nuclear bombs. In the unfolding days the U.S. and the Soviet Union came close to nuclear war. The U.S. quarantined Cuba in order to keep the missiles out. After negotiations, the Soviet Union agreed to dismantle the bases. In return, the U.S. agreed never to attack Cuba and to remove missiles from Turkey.

On November 22, 1963 John F. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in a convertible car in Dallas, Texas.

John F. Kennedy – President 1961-1963

October 1, 2019 (Tuesday)

Dwight D. Eisenhower was born October 14, 1890 in Denison, Texas, grew up in Ablilene, Kansas, and died March 28, 1969 in Washington D.C. He married Mamie Geneva Doud and they had one son, John.

His nickname was “Ike.” “I Like Ike” was his campaign slogan when he ran for president.

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He served as President 1953-1961. He was a Republican. He was 62 when he became president.

Dwight D. Eisenhower is best known for being the supreme commander of the Allied forces during World War II. During his two terms as president, the country experienced economic prosperity and peace.

Dwight was born in Texas, but his parents moved to Abilene, Kansas while he was still young. It was in Abilene that he grew up with his 5 brothers. Dwight graduated high school and went to work with his dad at the local creamery. His parents encouraged him to go to college. Since Dwight had grown up with a strong interest in the military, reading many books on military history, he decided to go the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After graduating from West Point, Eisenhower entered the military service. He was a talented leader and soon rose in the military ranks. His West Point graduation class had 59 members who reached the rank of general in their military careers.

During World War II, Eisenhower reached the highest rank in the army, five-star general. He was also named the supreme commander of the Allied forces by President Roosevelt. As the top commander he planned the Invasion of Normandy, also called D-Day. The invasion was a success and helped to push the Germans out of France. This was one of the deciding victories of the war. When the war in Europe ended, Eisenhower accepted the formal surrender of the German troops.

A few years after World War II ended, in 1948, Dwight retired from the army. He first worked as president of Columbia University and then as commander of the NATO forces in Europe. Many people asked him to run for president. At first he said no, but in 1952 he decided to run. Eisenhower was very popular and easily won the 1952 presidential election. Eisenhower’s two presidential terms were a time of economic prosperity and relative peace. Some of his accomplishments include:

Eisenhower Doctrine – Eisenhower wanted to stop the spread of communism. He stated that any country could request aid or military help from the U.S. if it was being threatened by another. This was designed to stop the Soviet Union.
Interstate Highway System – He established the highway system we use today for travel around the country. He saw this as something that was needed to help the economy, but also as important militarily in the case of an invasion by enemies.
Civil Rights Acts – He proposed the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960. He also supported the integration of schools and created a permanent civil rights office in the Department of Justice.
Korean War – He helped to negotiate an end to the Korean War in 1953. He also put American troops at the border between South Korea and North Korea to keep peace. There are still American troops there today.

Eisenhower died of heart disease at age 78 while recovering from surgery in 1969.

Dwight D. Eisenhower – President 1953-1961

October 1, 2019 (Tuesday)
Herbert Hoover was born August 10, 1874 in West Branch, Iowa, and died October 20, 1964 in New York, New York. He married Lou Henry and thy had two sons, Herbert and Allan. He was inaugurated at age 54 and served as president 1929-1933. He was a Republican.
Herbert Hoover is known for being the president during the stock market crash of 1929 which triggered the start of the Great Depression.
Hoover was born in Iowa, the son of a blacksmith. However, both his parents died when he was young and he became an orphan. When he was ten he moved to Oregon to live with his uncle. Herbert was smart and hard working as a child.
Hoover attended Stanford University in California where he earned a degree in geology. After graduating he went to work for mining companies in different locations around the world including Australia and China.
When World War I broke out, Hoover was living in England. He helped to evacuate 120,000 Americans from throughout Europe. Later in the war, he took on the job of keeping refugees fed throughout Europe. At one point his organization was feeding 10.5 million people a day. He did such an excellent job that the President of the United States noticed his work.
Hoover was part of Harding’s cabinet,but was not involved in any of the scandals of that administration. As a result, he was able to stay on when Harding died and President Calvin Coolidge took over and cleaned house. As Secretary of Commerce, Hoover organized various public works throughout the country. One such work was the Boulder Dam on the Colorado River. It was later renamed the Hoover Dam.
Hoover gained the reputation of an honest, intelligent, hard worker and was asked to run for president in the next election. He easily won taking 40 of the 48 states. He was the first president born west of the Mississippi River. He was the first Quaker president. He did not accept his salary for president, but had it donated to charity.
Hoover’s presidency and legacy will forever be defined by the stock market crash of 1929 that occurred just a few short months after he took the office. The country entered the worst economic crisis in its history. Although the collapse wasn’t Hoover’s fault he took much of the blame. He also didn’t do a lot to try and help the poor and unemployed. Homeless camps became known as Hoovervilles.
Hoover was soundly defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the next election. People needed a change and Roosevelt offered hope.
Herbert Hoover lived a long full life after leaving the presidency. During World War II he came back to work to help with food relief again. He also worked on a commission for both President Truman and Eisenhower to find ways to cut costs in government. Hoover died in 1964 at the age of 90.

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Herbert Hoover – President 1929-1933

October 1, 2019 (Tuesday)
Calvin Coolidge was born July 4, 1872 in Plymouth, Vermont, and died January 5, 1933 in Northampton, Massachusetts. He married Grace Anna Goodhue in 1905 and they had two sons, Calvin and John. His nickname was “Silent Cal.” He served as President 1923-1929. He was a Republican. He was inaugurated at age 51.

Calvin’s father was a storekeeper who taught Calvin the vaues of frugality, hard work, and honesty. Calvin was known as a quiet, but hardworking boy.

Calvin attended Amherst College and then moved to Massachusetts to study law. In 1897 he passed the bar and became a lawyer opening his own law firm a year later. He worked in various city offices over the next several years. Then he became a state legislator and mayor of the city of Northampton. He then was elected as lieutenant governor of Massachusetts and, in 1918, won the election to become governor of Massachusetts.

As governor of Massachusetts, Coolidge gained national recognition during the 1919 Boston Police Strike. This was when the Boston police formed a union and then decided to strike. The streets of Boston became dangerous with no police around. Coolidge then fired the strikers and a new police force was recruited.

In 1920 Coolidge was unexpectedly chosen as the vice presidential running mate for Warren Harding. They won the election and Coolidge became vice president. In 1923 President Harding died. Coolidge was at his family home when he learned that President Harding died. Coolidge’s father, a notary public, administered the oath of office to Coolidge in the middle of the night by the light of a kerosene lamp.

Harding’s administration had been full of corruption and scandal. Coolidge had not been a part of the corruption and he immediately fired corrupt and inept officials and hired new reliable staffers. Under Coolidge, the economy thrived. This period of prosperity became known as the “Roaring Twenties”.

After finishing Harding’s term, Coolidge was elected to another term of president. Coolidge opted not to run for president again in 1928. Although he likely would have won, he felt he had been president long enough. He died of a sudden heart attack four years after leaving the presidency. He had retired to Massachusetts and spent his time writing his autobiography and going out on his boat.

John Calvin Coolidge – President 1923-1929

October 1, 2019 (Tuesday)
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th president of the United States from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular U.S. presidents to that point. He was born November 2, 1865, in Blooming Grove, Ohio and died August 2, 1923, while visiting San Francisco, California. He was president sixteen months, March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923.

He married Florence King in 1891.

He grew up in Caledonia, Ohio where his father owned a newspaper. Warren worked there when he was young. He tried studying law for a while but returned to Journalism. He won a seat in the Ohio State legislature and then became lieutenant governor. Harding was an excellent public speaker and began to make his mark within the Republican Party. In 1914 he became a U.S. Senator. His penchant for indecision became well known.

He ran for president in 1920 on the platform, “return to normalcy,” and won the election in a landslide. The people he appointed as cabinet members turned out to be working for their own self interests. There were some good things done, but the administration soon became known for its scandals, notably the “Teapot Dome” scandal, in which oil reserves were illeglly sold to private companies. The Secretary of the Interior was jailed.

Harding was on a trip visiting the territory of Alaska when his health failed. He died in San Francisco. Many people think that the stress of the scandals had some part in his death.

When he died in 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge became president.

A few facts about Harding: He wore size 14 shoes. He was the first president to talk on radio. He was the first president elected after passage of the 19th amendment which gave women the right to vote.

Warren Harding – President 1921-1923