Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute the Buffalo Soldiers. July 28th 1866, the GOP-controlled 39th Congress passed the Army Reorganization Act. This legislation formed a peacetime military, now that the Civil War had ended. A key provision, introduced by Tennessee Republican Congressman Isaac Hawkins, established four infantry regiments with African-American soldiers. A subsequent amendment introduced by Ohio Republican Senator Ben Wade provided for two regiments of African-American cavalry. These soldiers had as their mission to maintain government control over the native populace and to protect settlers from outlaws. They were named Buffalo Soldiers by American Indians, who greatly admired them. Notably, "these soldiers represented the military in the finest tradition of bravery and valor." Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights histo...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Charles Billinghurst, born near Rochester, July 27th 1818. Age twenty-nine, the young attorney moved to Wisconsin. He soon won a state house term. Opposition to slavery led him out of the Democratic Party. Billinghurst was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, in 1854 as an independent and in 1856 as a Republican. His health too precarious for military service during the Civil War, he recruited troops and promoted agricultural development. Death came months after Union restored. Colleagues remembered this popular man as "learned, astute and eloquent." Assigned by his college professor to write a biography of someone "not important enough to have a real biography written about them, but who’d made an impact," famed historian Stephen Ambrose recalled: "I’ll never forget the feeling I had when I finished that work and wrote the 10-page bi...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I highlight a political ritual of days gone by. Originally, presidential and vice presidential nominees did not attend the conventions. Instead, party leaders visited them at their homes, with news of their being nominated. Nominees then delivered speeches, which began their campaigns. This was known as Notification Day. July 27th 1920 was Notification Day for Republican vice presidential nominee Calvin Coolidge. At his home in Northampton, Massachusetts arrived delegates led by the Governor of Kentucky with an official announcement.  There followed a luncheon and a concert and a parade. Next, several thousand Republicans gathered in a field at Smith College for the nominating speech and Coolidge’s acceptance speech. The nominee promised economic growth, national security and racial justice: "America will live in security, rejoicing in...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor William Henry Steward, born in Kentucky, July 26th 1847. Though enslaved, he attended school, eventually becoming a teacher. After several years working for a railroad, the Rutherford Hayes administration hired him as the state’s first black letter-carrier. He edited The American Baptist as well as a local newspaper. This multi-talent also was music director at a church. Steward devoted himself to improving educational opportunities for black children in Louisville. He served on boards of directors for an orphanage and a college and the Young Men’s Christian Association. Democrats received his condemnation for backing Jim Crow and opposing the GOP’s civil rights agenda. Steward aligned with Booker T. Washington’s gradual approach to achieving racial equality. He attended the 1892 Republican National Convention and campaigned for William McKinl...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I spotlight origin of the FBI. July 26th 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt's Attorney General issued an order establishing an Office of the Chief Examiner within the Justice Department. Charles Bonaparte was great-nephew of the Emperor. He hired thirty-four people to begin operations. Their offices were in the old Justice Department building at 14th and K Streets NW in the nation's capital. Previously, to conduct criminal inquiries, Justice had to borrow Secret Service agents from Treasury or hire private detectives. Bonaparte's successor in the William Howard Taft administration changed its name to Bureau of Investigation, later re-named the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 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...