Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute John Fugh. At sixteen, he immigrated from China, fleeing the Communists. His father had been an aide to the U.S. ambassador. He studied at Georgetown University and George Washington University Law School. In 1960, Fugh enlisted as lieutenant with the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He cited "a sense of obligation. My family managed to come to this country, and I owed something for being here. Military service was a payback." Posts included San Francisco, Vietnam, Taiwan and Germany. August 1st 1984, President Ronald Reagan promoted him to brigadier general. Fugh retired as major general. His wife was elder sister of journalist Connie Chung. 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 D...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I spotlight Dwight Eisenhower’s home adjoining the Gettysburg battlefield. In 1951, he and wife Mamie bought a 189-acre farm, along with several dilapidated buildings. Having moved thirty-seven times during their marriage, they had never before owned a home. Each state GOP chairman donated a tree along the driveway. Not until extensive repairs and renovations could the couple host a public event – celebration of their 39th wedding anniversary – on July 1st 1955. Among the guests were all White House staffers, over two shifts. While president, he spent most weekends and vacations at Gettysburg. The couple resided there after leaving office, and donated it to the National Park Service, with lifetime residency rights. The farm is now the Eisenhower National Historic Site. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights history of t...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor George Smith, born in Detroit, July 31st 1859. The pharmacist relocated to Honolulu in 1880. He served on the fire department commission and the board of health and the board of education. July 1900, the Hawaii Republican Party committee elected him their first chairman. Smith declared: "To obtain a strong organization, a creditable organization, one in keeping with the grand history of the Republican Party and one that will be a credit to the territory, requires singleness of purpose, harmony, unity of action, without factional strife or prejudice." January 1903, he chaired a committee celebrating installation of an underwater telegraph cable to the mainland. President Theodore Roosevelt sent his "sincerest and most hearty good wishes." Later years, Smith was hospital trustee and city councilman and chamber of commerce pres...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor David Walbridge, born in Vermont, July 30th 1802. After twenty-two years in New York, the entrepreneur relocated to Michigan and achieved success with farming, ranching, flour milling and road building. Whig President Zachary Taylor named him postmaster of Kalamazoo. Adamantly opposed to the Democrats' pro-slavery policies, he won three terms in the state legislature. July 6th 1854, thousands of anti-slavery activists gathered at Jackson to establish the Michigan Republican Party. Once preliminaries were out of the way, delegates elected Walbridge to chair the meeting. This was the GOP's first-ever state convention. That autumn, Walbridge won first of two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. He voiced Republican resolve to resist Democrat demands for more slavery: "The day of compromises on this subject is past; ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor John Pillsbury, born in New Hampshire, July 29th 1827. He managed a store before relocating to Minneapolis at age twenty-eight. This savvy entrepreneur prospered in hardware and lumber and real estate and railroads and banking. His political career began with election to the city council, and then the state senate. He funded the University of Minnesota. Pillsbury bought a rundown flour mill. Modern equipment and techniques soon made it a success. In 1872, he and a nephew founded the Pillsbury Baking Company. In 1875, the dedicated Republican was elected Governor, for first of three terms. Responding to the Great Locust Plague of 1877, he called for a Day of Prayer. Within days, a springtime blizzard killed the ravenous bugs. Pullsbury then supervised relief efforts for stricken farmers. Retirement focused on philanthropy.  He was eulogized as "an earn...