A generation which ignores history has no past and no future. – Robert Heinlein, aeronautical engineer (1907-1988)
The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live it. – Thomas S. Monson, American religious leader (1927-2018)
The cold weather left as fast as it came. Not wanting to sit around while it snowed, Sam did home repairs. While he was busy, I dusted. Underneath the coffee table was a book, “A Book of Days Celebrating History’s Most Significant People and Events” by George Grant & Gregory Wilbur. It listed history by months and days. In 1789 William Hill Brown published the first American novel “The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature.” 1793: King Louis XVI of France was executed by the guillotine during the French Revolution after being sentenced for treason. 1824: Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson was born in Clarksburg, Virginia now West Virginia. 1861: Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and four other Southerners reluctantly resigned from the U.S. Senate. 1929: The British Broadcasting Company broadcast its first programming from London to the world.
1977: President Jimmy Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders. 1997: Speaker Newt Gingrich was reprimanded and fined as the U.S. House voted for the first time in history to discipline its leader for ethical misconduct. 1998: President Bill Clinton angrily denied reports he’d had an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He later admitted he was in fact lying and was consequently impeached by Congress (and acquitted).
Stay with me. As far as I remember my mother was always involved in politics. William “Bill” Waller Sr. launched his campaign as a Democrat for Mississippi Governor in late 1960’s. Our family met him at Greenville Airport to escort him to a political gathering. Governor Waller was elected and served from 1972-1976.
Sometime between 1976 and 1980 Mom went all out for the Republican party. On Aug. 3, 1980, she drove to the Neshoba County Fair where Ronald Reagan was to speak. She dressed in red, white, and blue and while setting up her lawn chair beside the road waved the American flag to onlookers along with a placard for Reagan. Totally committed to President Reagan, she named her first and only puppy Reagan. She joined the local Republican Women also known then as the “Women of the Grand Old Party.”
Mom loved working campaigns and going to Republican Women’s meetings. One day she wanted a ride, so I went with her. The day’s discussion entailed needing a speaker for a Republican convention. Finding a prospect seemed difficult. I leaned over to Mom and whispered, “What about a former Republican governor?” Mom whispered quietly, “There hasn’t been any since reconstruction.” Some people are political, and some people are not.
Shannon Bardwell is a writer living quietly in the Prairie. Email reaches her at [email protected].
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