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MUMBLINGS November 16, 2006
This is written the next morning after the election on
November 7th. One comment for now but more will be coming later about the
election, both locally, state and nation. History teaches us that in an off
year election (when the president is not a candidate) the party in power loses
support. More later.
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Often a person is portrayed in an unfavorable and unfair
manner. This is particularly true with national figures. Take Herbert Hoover
for example.
In 1928, when I was twelve years old, I was driving my
mother in a Ford pickup truck, from Vernon, Alabama, 15 miles to Trull Beat to
vote. She intended to vote for Herbert Hoover against Al Smith. Rounding a
curve on a narrow road, there was not room for the oncoming car and we
collided. Mom never got to vote.
Hundreds of times as I became older and started making
political speeches for the Democratic Party I told this incident and stated,
"That was a good example of why I should never vote Republican." This theme
fell fairly accurate through 1964, when Senator Goldwater of Arizona led the
south into the Republican Party. Since that time, it has been nip and tuck and
still is.
My traveling partner, Matt Metcalfe and I flew to Cedar
Rapids, Iowa to visit the Herbert Hoover Library. I am so glad that we did
because I learned so much about this great man, that I have been ashamed of the
way he was maligned by others and me. People remember President Hoover as the
leader and cause of the "Hoover Depression".
He was elected president in 1928, and became president in
January of 1929 and that November, the Wall Street Stock Market took the
greatest plunge in history. The depression that followed cannot be understood
unless you lived through it. People were desperate, hungry and discouraged. Of
course, the natural thing to do was to blame it on the president, who then and
even now has comparatively little to do with depressions and good times. Being
the top man in the country, and the world, they are given credit, deservingly
or undeservingly.
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Continued
Before I go any further, let me tell you something about
presidential libraries… Franklin Roosevelt developed the concept of these
libraries. His was the first one built in Hyde Park, New York. The second one
was built and dedicated to Harry Truman, Independence, Missouri. The third was
President Eisenhower, Abilene, Kansas and the fourth was President Hoover in
West Branch, Iowa.
Starting in 1929, the order of presidents are: Hoover,
Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan,
Papa Bush, Clinton and Bush #2. Of the libraries that have been my privilege to
visit, in addition to the first three are: Johnson in Dallas, Texas, Carter in
Atlanta, and Reagan in California. Actually, I did not get to go inside
Reagan's Library as it was closed when I got there.
In my opinion, the finest was Hoover's. President Truman
was still alive and supervised the construction of his, you could tell he was
real conservative and wanted to save all the money that he could. However, it
was interesting. President Carter's was incomplete when visited in Atlanta, but
was also interesting. President Johnson's in Texas was obviously very expensive
and complete. Hopefully, I will see the others some day. As you might judge,
history interests me.
See you again soon, I hope.
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