Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Charles Dawes, born in Ohio, August 27th 1865. This son of Civil War hero Rufus Dawes graduated from the Cincinnati Law School. He managed the Illinois state campaign for Willam McKinley. The new President appointed him Comptroller of the Currency. Dawes was brigadier general during WWI, in charge of purchasing for the American military. President Warren Harding named him Director at the Bureau of the Budget. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for stabilizing postwar European economies.  In 1924, Dawes was elected as Calvin Coolidge’s running mate. President Herbert Hoover made him Ambassador to Britain, and then chairman of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. He declined to be the GOP’s 1936 presidential nominee. Charles Dawes is the only Vice President to have composed a hit song, It’s All in the Game . ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I commemorate ratification of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote. It became part of the Constitution on August 26th 1920. Republican Senator Aaron Sargent had written this Women's Suffrage Amendment in 1878, but Democrats delayed ratification for decades. After the GOP won control of Congress in the 1918 midterm elections, Republican Representative James Mann introduced the measure again. Within hours it passed. Twenty-six of the thirty-six states to ratify had Republican-controlled legislatures. 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 an In...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I spotlight a classic assertion of Republican patriotism and decency. Summer 1863, Illinois Republicans invited Abraham Lincoln to Springfield. Though he could not leave Washington at so critical a time, the President did send a letter, on August 26th. He knew it would be reported nationwide. James Conkling, host of the event and an old friend, read it to the crowd. An observer noted that the letter "will live in history side by side" with the Emancipation Proclamation. "It meets the fears of the timid and the doubts of the reformer. It proves that the Proclamation and the policy resulting from it are the most conservative, both of liberty and of our form of government." President Lincoln wrote: "There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say: You desire peace; and you blame me that we do not have...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Archibald Carey, born in Georgia, August 25th 1868. His father, a Republican state legislator, had been enslaved. The talented youth attended Atlanta University, then became a teacher and Methodist preacher. He supported William McKinley for president. His ministries were at churches in Atlanta and Jacksonville before relocating to Chicago in 1898. Carey chaired the state's 50th anniversary celebration of emancipation and served as chaplain of an Illinois regiment during World War I. Several times he helped elect a Republican mayor of Chicago and chaired the city's civil service commission. Carey was delegate to the 1924 Republican National Convention. His son, Archibald Jr., delivered a memorable address at the 1952 Republican National Convention. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights history ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Clinton Cobb, born along the North Carolina coast, August 25th 1842. He studied law after attending the state university, then focused on merchandising. During the Civil War, Cobb managed to avoid enlisting in the rebel military until Union troops occupied the area.  July 4th 1867, he was one of only two white people on stage for a local Independence Day celebration. In 1868, this young Republican won first of three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Cobb chaired the Freedman's Bureau committee and opposed the Ku Klux Klan. Receiving his vote were Yellowstone National Park and the 1875 Civil Rights Acts and other  GOP achievements. 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 t...