FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT PEARL HARBOR SPEECH

This is a video of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's December 8,1941 speech. Listening to this speech makes one realize what a wonderful speaker FDR was. The Japanese sneak attack on American soil in Hawaii was one of the greatest tragedies an American President has had to face. FDR handled it well.

Early Jobs

There was an AP article today that asked the current presidential candidates about their worst jobs. Some of them even had some pretty bad jobs! This got me thinking about Presidential jobs before they were elected. Now you can access a list of major jobs in several locations, but that wasn't what interested me. I wanted to know about the very early jobs they might have had. I found some information in an article on Harry Truman's early jobs in a piece on his World War I service:
He had hopes of going to West Point, but he could not pass the eye test. Because of family financial problems, going to college was not possible. His first job was as a timekeeper on a construction crew for the Santa Fe railroad. He next worked in the mailing room of the Kansas City Star. In 1904 he went to work for the national Bank of Commerce in downtown Kansas City, and in 1906 he was employed by the Union National Bank.

Herbert Hoover had many jobs throughout college and started as a laborer in the Nevada goldfields after finishing his degree:
Hoover worked his way through college in a variety of jobs--as a clerk, delivering newspapers, operating a laundry, and managing special lectures and concerts. During summer recess, he worked on geological surveys in Arkansas and Nevada. He also served as financial manager of the Stanford football team.

After graduating in 1895, Hoover took his first job as a laborer in the goldfields of Nevada. In 1896 he went to San Francisco, where he was hired by a firm of mining engineers. He started as an office boy, but in less than a year he was assistant to the superintendent of one of the company's mines.

20 Things You Didn't Know About US Presidents

I found this piece and was a bit disappointed as I already knew most of the facts, but figured not everyone might be as much of a geek as I am and therefore enjoy this list. I've picked out the facts I didn't know to share here:

6. Often depicted wearing a tall black stovepipe hat, 16th president of the United States Abraham Lincoln carried letters, bills, and notes in his hat.

9. Both ambidextrous and multilingual, 20th president of the United States James Garfield could write Greek with one hand while writing Latin with the other. [I had heard this about Jefferson, but not Garfield.]

10. Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th president of the United States, underwent a secret operation aboard a yacht to remove his cancerous upper jaw in 1893.

15. Herbert Hoover, 31st U.S. president, published more than 16 books, including one called Fishing for Fun-And to Wash Your Soul. [I knew he had published books, but not that one.]

16. 32nd president of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt was related, either by blood or by marriage, to 11 former presidents. [I knew he was related to a few, but 11 did shock me a bit!]

18. Military leader and 34th president of the U.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower loved to cook; he developed a recipe for vegetable soup that is 894 words long and includes the stems of nasturtium flowers as one of the ingredients. [I knew about the cooking, but not the recipe.]

Margaret Taylor

Margaret Taylor is the only First Lady we have no extant picture of today. If you see a picture of Margaret Taylor, chances are it is actually Betty Bliss, her daughter. Margaret Taylor did not act as the White House hostess and so little was known about her, although she actually was a well-educated Southern lady.

From the White House site:
After the election of 1848, a passenger on a Mississippi riverboat struck up a conversation with easy-mannered Gen. Zachary Taylor, not knowing his identity. The passenger remarked that he didn't think the general qualified for the Presidency--was the stranger "a Taylor man"? "Not much of one," came the reply. The general went on to say that he hadn't voted for Taylor, partly because his wife was opposed to sending "Old Zack" to Washington, "where she would be obliged to go with him!" It was a truthful answer.

Moreover, the story goes that Margaret Taylor had taken a vow during the Mexican War: If her husband returned safely, she would never go into society again. In fact she never did, though prepared for it by genteel upbringing.

"Peggy" Smith was born in Calvert County, Maryland, daughter of Ann Mackall and Walter Smith, a major in the Revolutionary War according to family tradition. In 1809, visiting a sister in Kentucky, she met young Lieutenant Taylor. They were married the following June, and for a while the young wife stayed on the farm given them as a wedding present by Zachary's father. She bore her first baby there, but cheerfully followed her husband from one remote garrison to another along the western frontier of civilization. An admiring civilian official cited her as one of the "delicate females...reared in tenderness" who had to educate "worthy and most interesting" children at a fort in Indian country.

Two small girls died in 1820 of what Taylor called "a violent bilious fever," which left their mother's health impaired; three girls and a boy grew up. Knowing the hardships of a military wife, Taylor opposed his daughters' marrying career soldiers--but each eventually married into the Army.

The second daughter, Knox, married Lt. Jefferson Davis in gentle defiance of her parents. In a loving letter home, she imagined her mother skimming milk in the cellar or going out to feed the chickens. Within three months of her wedding, Knox died of malaria. Taylor was not reconciled to Davis until they fought together in Mexico; in Washington the second Mrs. Davis became a good friend of Mrs. Taylor's, often calling on her at the White House.

Though Peggy Taylor welcomed friends and kinfolk in her upstairs sitting room, presided at the family table, met special groups at her husband's side, and worshiped regularly at St. John's Episcopal Church, she took no part in formal social functions. She relegated all the duties of official hostess to her youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth, then 25 and recent bride of Lt. Col. William W.S. Bliss, adjutant and secretary to the President. Betty Bliss filled her role admirably. One observer thought that her manner blended "the artlessness of a rustic belle and the grace of a duchess."

Poll: Which American President had or has the most productive/interesting retirement?

The poll has closed for the question, "Which American President had or has the most productive/interesting retirement?" Thanks to all who participated by voting. The options were Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses S. Grant, Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter, and Other.

Jimmy Carter won easily with 47%. Other came in a distant second with 17%. Jefferson pulled in 15% while Grant had 10%. Hoover came in last with 8%.