Posts

William Knowland, meteoric California Republican Senator

Image
Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute William Knowland, born near San Francisco, June 26th 1908. His father was a congressman. Age twelve, he started volunteering for GOP candidates. Public service began in the state house at twenty-four and two years later the state senate. This young Republican served on the RNC executive committee. While an army major in 1945, Governor Earl Warren appointed him to a U.S. Senate vacancy. Knowland went on to defeat humorist Will Rogers for the remainder of the term and then for a full term. He won for a third term with 88% of the vote. Knowland was Senate Majority Leader from 1953 to 1955, and then Minority Leader. He was a foreign policy hardliner, often sparring with President Eisenhower, but mainstream on domestic policy. His guidance helped overcome Democrat opposition to the 1957 Civil Rights Act. Rather than seek another term, i...
Post a Comment
Read more

President Grant hosted the First Professional Baseball Team at the White House

Image
Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I highlight presidential appreciation of baseball. June 26th 1869, Ulysses Grant hosted the first professional baseball team at the White House. The Cincinnati Red Stockings were in town to play the Olympic Club of Washington. The first game was rained out, and Cincinnati won the second 16-5. Their field was at what is now DC's Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Fourteen years later, Grant attended his first game, when the New York Gothams (later, the Giants) hosted the Boston Red Sox. 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 abou...
Post a Comment
Read more

Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision

Image
Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I recall fond memories. June 25th 2001, Clarence Thomas cited  Back to Basics for the Republican Party  in a Supreme Court decision. It was  Federal Election Commission  v.  Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee . A reporter said the citation was "an air kiss to the book". Several years later, I met Justice Thomas and asked him about it. He remembered right away. 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. Here is my Substac...
Post a Comment
Read more

the Omnibus Southern States Admission Act

Image
Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I attest to Republican virtue and Democrat vice. June 25th 1868, the GOP-controlled 40th Congress passed the Omnibus Southern States Admission Act. Democrat President Andrew Johnson had vetoed it, but Republicans voted to override. Under this law, for re-admittance to the Union, secessionist states would have to ratify the 14th Amendment and guarantee civil rights of African-Americans. This is why Johnson objected. Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Arkansas were soon re-admitted. 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...
Post a Comment
Read more

James Edwards, the first Republican Governor of South Carolina since Reconstruction

Image
Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute James Edwards, born near Jacksonville, June 24th 1927. After serving in the navy during WWII, he studied dentistry and set up a practice in Charleston. While a Republican congressional district chairman, Edwards narrowly lost a special election for the House of Representatives. He then was elected state senator. In 1974, he won the governorship. A highlight of his tenure was the Education Finance Act. President Ronald Reagan appointed him Secretary of Energy. This he followed with seventeen years as president of the Medical University of South Carolina. Edwards was eulogized as "a Palmetto gentleman who sought only the best solutions for his community, state, and nation." Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know ab...
Post a Comment
Read more

Republican Elephant versus Democrat Donkey

Image
Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I highlight origin of the Republican Elephant and Democrat Donkey. Page 35 of  Back to Basics for the Republican Party  explains that elephants first became associated with the GOP during Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 presidential campaign. The donkey symbol began with depicting the first Democrat president, Andrew Jackson, as a jackass. June 24th 1862, those two symbols appeared together for the first time. The midterm election campaign underway, a poster showed a patriotic Republican elephant protecting the nation from a treasonous Democrat donkey. The donkey is named Jeff, for Jefferson Davis – the Confederate president and former Democrat senator. He leads an army of rebel jackasses. 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 w...
Post a Comment
Read more

John Jay, anti-slavery activist and co-founder of the New York Republican Party

Image
Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor John Jay, grandson of the famous Founder, born June 23rd 1817. He was elected president of the New York Young Men's Antislavery Society. While in private legal practice, Jay defended many escaped slaves, working on a celebrated case with future Republican President Chester Arthur. He presided at several Free Soil conventions and was that party's candidate for state attorney general. In 1855, he co-founded the New York GOP. Jay observed: "The platform of the Republicans, as adopted at Philadelphia on the 18th of June, 1856, is at once so simple and comprehensive as to admit all Americans, who are in favor of restoring the Government to the principles of Washington, and putting a final stop to the extension of slavery, without compromising their individual preferences, on the other political questions which naturally exist in our government, but...
Post a Comment
Read more