Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute George Robeson, born in New Jersey, March 16th 1829. After graduation from Princeton, he was a county prosecutor. During the Civil War, a governor commissioned the young Republican to recruit and train military volunteers. Peace restored, another governor named him attorney general. President Ulysses Grant appointed Robeson the Navy Secretary. Among highlights of his eight years in office were re-asserting civilian control and developing new technologies and upholding Republican policies for protecting African-Americans from Democrats. Robeson later won two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. At his initiative, the first all-steel warships were built. He chaired the Republican Conference. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know about the history of our party, the mor...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor George Perkins Marsh, born in Vermont, March 15th 1801. After graduating from Dartmouth, he practiced law and edited a book on ancient Native American monuments of the Mississippi valley. While serving three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, this erudite Whig helped establish the Smithsonian Institution. Marsh was first to acknowledge the effect of human activity on the environment, writing in 1847: "It is certain that climate itself has in many instances been gradually changed and ameliorated or deteriorated by human action." His book on ecology,  Man and Nature: Or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action , inspired early conservationism and led to establishment of the national forest system. President Zachary Taylor named him ambassador to Turkey. Returning after nearly four years, Marsh was elected to the American...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I spotlight a classic Republican repudiation of socialism. March 15th 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote to anti-capitalist author Upton Sinclair: "A quarter of a century’s hard work over what I may call politico-sociological problems has made me distrust men of hysterical temperament. "In the end of your book, among the various characters who preach socialism, almost all betray the pathetic belief that the individual capacity which is unable to raise itself even in the comparatively simple work of directing the individual how to earn his own livelihood, will, when it becomes the banded incapacity of all the people, succeed in doing admirably a form of government work infinitely more complex, infinitely more difficult than any which the most intelligent and highly developed people has ever yet successfully tried. "Personally I think that one of the chief ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I spotlight a venerable building in our nation's capital. March 14th 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed an authorization to construct Washington Naval Hospital. The bill had been passed by the GOP-controlled 38th Congress. First patient admitted was an African-American sailor. The facility has seen various uses after closing as a hospital in 1906. Today, it is Hill Center, a beloved community venue. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know about the history of our party, the more Democrats will worry about the future of theirs. For more information, see  www.grandoldpartisan.com .  Here is a  YouTube Video  about this article. Here is a  TikTok Video  about this article. Here is an  Instagram Video  about this article....

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute David Henderson, born in Scotland, March 14th 1840. Immigrating as a child, he settled near Cedar Rapids. The courageous lieutenant lost a foot in combat while serving with the 12th Iowa Infantry during the Civil War. He re-enlisted to command the state’s 46th Infantry. Peace restored, Henderson studied law and was a collector of internal revenue. President Ulysses Grant named him an assistant U.S. district attorney. In 1882, he won first of ten congressional terms, rising to be Speaker of the House. It was Henderson who created the Majority Leader position, to lead his party on the House floor, separately from the Speaker. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know about the history of our party, the more Democrats will worry about the futur...