Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I highlight White House Conferences on Children and Youth. The first was hosted by Theodore Roosevelt on January 25th and 26th 1909. Interior Department official James West, who originated it, later became the first Executive Secretary of the Boy Scouts. Said the President, "When you take care of the children you are taking care of the Nation of tomorrow; and it is incumbent upon every one of us to do all in his or her power to provide for the interests of those children whom cruel misfortune has handicapped at the very outset of their lives." At first called Conference on the Care of Dependent Children, this was the first-ever White House Conference. More than two hundred social workers, teachers, juvenile court judges and othe reformers attended. They raised awareness nationwide and persuaded Republicans to establish a Children’s Bu...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I praise Nannie Helen Burroughs, born to former slaves near Charlottesville, May 2nd 1879. Age six, she settled in Washington, DC. Age twenty-one, an inspiring speech at a national baptist convention brought her to prominence. In 1909, she established the National Training School for Women and Girls, in order to "uplift the race." Burroughs condemned the racist policies of Democrat President Woodrow Wilson. In 1924, this civil rights activist co-founded the National League of Republican Colored Women. She was a popular speaker on behalf of the GOP. President Herbert Hoover appointed her to the White House Conference on Home Building and Ownership. Burroughs remained active with Baptist missionary work. Her signature presentation was "How White and Colored Women Can Cooperate in Building a Christian Civilization." In 1975, the Mayor ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Wilbur Sanders, born near Buffalo, May 2nd 1834. He studied law in Akron with an uncle whom President Lincoln later named territorial governor of Montana. Outbreak of civil war, Sanders recruited volunteers and was commissioned lieutenant with the 64th Ohio Infantry. A bullet wound at Shiloh caused him to leave the army. In 1863, he relocated to Montana and became a county prosecutor. Sanders served three terms in the territorial legislature. Over the years, he lost four elections for congressional delegate. His law office hosted the Montana Historical Society’s first meeting. He attended four Republican National Conventions    Statehood achieved, the legislature elected him a U.S. Senator. Later years, he defended the rights of Chinese immigrants. A statue of this  essence of Montana Republicanism  ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Therese Jenkins, born in Wisconsin, May 1st 1853. She relocated to Wyoming at age twenty-four and married a wholesaler in Cheyenne. Her political activism began with campaigning to elect, for the 1889 constitutional convention, delegates who supported women's suffrage. Jenkins keynoted Wyoming's statehood celebration, delivering "an address which in ability, logic and eloquence has rarely if ever been equalled by any woman of the land. She was grandly equal to the occasion." The state GOP named her an alternate delegate to the 1892 Republican National Convention. She was one of the first two female delegates to a major-party national convention. Later in life, Jenkins advocated for women's suffrage in neighboring states.  Popular Science  magazine published her article 'The Mental Force of Woman'. She also worked a...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Winthrop Rockefeller, born in New York City, May 1st 1912. He was grandson of oil magnate John Rockefeller and brother of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. He rose to lieutenant colonel during WWII. Heroism when a kamikaze plane struck his troopship garnered him a Bronze Star with Oak Leave Clusters as well as a Purple Heart. A visit in 1953 to Arkansas convinced him to settle there. Rockefeller put his wealth to good use, financing schools and clinics and a fine arts center. He entered politics with fundraising for the state GOP, and soon the party named him Republican National Committeeman. Two years after a failed bid to unseat racist Democrat governor Orval Faubus, in 1966 Rockefeller was elected governor. Highlights of his two terms included desegregating schools and reforming prisons. Looking back on his administration, ...