"The fruits of accomplishment"*

Magnet #606 - Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)

Poor Herbert Hoover. He was president during the 1929 stock market crash and the start of the Great Depression.

Whether you're Hoover or Roosevelt, or you're Bush or Obama, sometimes I feel world leaders often take the rap for more than they should - good and bad. After all, they're surrounded by dozens of people (elected and appointed) helping make the decisions that land us in various places and situations in history. And only history will be able to tell the full story.

So, I kinda feel bad for Hoover, who is more often than not, remembered for Hoovervilles, and all the negative stuff about his presidency, even though his fairly nonpartisan .gov write-up said he "brought to the Presidency an unparalleled reputation for public service as an engineer, administrator, and humanitarian."

Even the Smithsonian, who has this portrait of him, said that he seemed to be the "the ultimate problem-solver" and goes on to say that he's the only president that didn't make the cover of TIME while in office. That makes me sad for him.

Especially because he had to live another 30 years knowing it! That's why I picked him for today - today in 1964, he passed away here in NYC, at the age of 90. I will say that this presidential portrait reminds me of a much more debonair Dick Van Patten (as seen here from My Kind of New York) in Eight is Enough.


*From Hoover's inaugural speech:

Ours is a land rich in resources; stimulating in its glorious beauty; filled with millions of happy homes; blessed with comfort and opportunity. In no nation are the institutions of progress more advanced. In no nation are the fruits of accomplishment more secure. In no nation is the government more worthy of respect. No country is more loved by its people. I have an abiding faith in their capacity, integrity and high purpose. I have no fears for the future of our country. It is bright with hope.

Seeing this thing through

Magnet #334 - Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site

Whew! Big day yesterday, huh.

Amidst a flurry of Facebook statuses that were all over the place - from extreme jubilation and awe, to hand-wringing and portents of doom (No surprise, since my FB friends are pretty much evenly divided between New York and North Carolina.) - one status stuck out for me:

"____ ____ says whether you voted for Obama or not, you cannot and must not dismiss the historical significance of yesterday's events."

Too true.

To wit: The inclusion of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Apparently, the Obama campaign invited the surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen to the inauguration. And about 200 accepted. Which makes me even happier that my sister and her fiance went to visit this national historic site, and brought me back this magnet.

You can learn a lot more here, or by watching the movie, but if you don't know, the Tuskegee Airmen were the only all-black fighter group to fly in WWII. The then-segregated military was under pressure to expand the role of African Americans in the war effort. And so the Army Air Corps began their great "military experiment" at a small black college - Tuskegee Institute, founded by Booker T. Washington - in Alabama.

They already had a civilian flight program in place, but in the end, the Tuskegee Airmen included the airmen (pilots, navigators, bombardiers), their instructors, and maintenance and support staff. These men and women trailblazed their way through history, trying to overcome segregation and prejudice, and proving themselves one of the most respected fighter groups in the War.

And, in July 1948, President Harry Truman issued Executive Order No. 9981 which provided for "equality of treatment and opportunity in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." This order marked the first time a president used an executive order to implement civil rights principles, widely considered a major victory for civil rights advocates.

Flashforward 60 years, where a man by the name of Spann Watson, from Westbury, NY, and several of his fighter group, journeyed to DC to see Barack Obama become president. Mr. Watson's 92 years old! And flew in formation for Harry Truman's inauguration ceremonies!

C'mon. How amazing is that?

His "Invitation to History" was captured in this NYTimes video.

Bring tissue.

Freedom is essential

Magnet #333 - Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms

Today in Washington, DC, the streets will be lined, the Mall will be packed, and elsewhere, hotels, bars, offices, churches and stadiums will be packed with people - all there to celebrate the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama. And it won't be just in Washington - it's all over the country, and indeed, all over the world.

But, for as much as change seems to be afoot, there are some things that will never change. And four of them are on this magnet.

In January 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his State of the Union Address before congress - discussing four essential human rights that he believed should be protected universally. The excerpted text is below, but it's odd how much of it applies today.

In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression - everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way - everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants - everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor - anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called "new order" of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.

- Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
from the Annual Message to the Congress,
January 6, 1941

The speech so moved Norman Rockwell, that he wanted to do something to contribute to the War effort. He knew he was too old to serve, so he spent six months and several sleepless nights, painting these four masterpieces, known as the Four Freedoms. Left to right: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear.

The Saturday Evening Post ran them, when the government turned them down. The paintings were a big hit, and of course, the Office of War Information jumped on the bandwagon - issuing them as a series of posters for the War bond effort. They even toured the paintings around the country in 1943, and raised more than $130 million in war bond sales.

The exhibition has traveled various galleries since, and unless they're out again, they should be on display over at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. Well worth the trip. Though, if you head over to their site, they give some great information on each of the paintings.

I'm anxious to see how today goes. Whether you're happy about today or not, it's truly one for the history books. Though, is it weird that there's a part of me that's hoping someone's going to take that quintessential picture of people in front of a storefront full of giant flat-screen televisions watching the inauguration?

In the meantime, happy inauguration day. Stay safe and warm and peaceful and maybe throw in a little hope, if you can.