Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan appreciates the Republican Party’s humanitarianism. February 6th 1981, Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation for the  International Year of Disabled Persons . At a White House ceremony, the President said: "I'm proud to participate in this International Year to help increase the awareness of each and every one of us, to commit that we'll make that extra effort in 1981 to assist our disabled in moving into the mainstream of American life. It takes so little, and it offers the promise of so much, because our most valuable resource is our people. "We seek, in the 1980s, an era of national renewal, an era that will set loose again the energy and ingenuity of the American people. "Today there are 35 million disabled Americans who represent one of our most underutilized national resources. Their will, their spirit, and their hearts are not impaired, despite their limitations. All of us stand to gain when those who are disabled shar...

Grand Old Partisan deplores Democrat depravity. February 5th 1858, Slavery Party Representative Laurence Keitt called Representative Galusha Grow "a damned Black Republican puppy." This was meant as an insult, alluding to our party’s respect for African-Americans. Grow responded: "No negro-driver shall crack his whip over me." At that, Keitt tried to strangle him. Some fifty congressmen, from both sides of the aisle, began throwing punches. The brawl ended when a Republican, Cadwallader Washburn, dislodged the hairpiece worn by a Democrat, William Barksdale. Another congressman exclaimed "I’ve scalped him!" – and everyone laughed. Keitt and Barksdale died fighting for the Confederacy. In contrast, Republicans elected Grow to be Speaker of the House and Washburn became a Union Army general. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Rep...

Grand Old Partisan honors Minnie Cox, born in Mississippi, February 5th 1869. Teaching school followed graduation from Fisk University. Her husband chaired the county GOP. She also was a Republican Party activist. In 1891, President Benjamin Harrison appointed her postmaster at Indianola. President William McKinley upgraded the position's status from fourth to third class, along with a salary increase. Cox earned a reputation for efficiency. During the Theodore Roosevelt administration, racist Democrats threatened to kill her. A nasty Democrat newspaper editor, later elected Governor and Senator, said the community should not have to tolerate "a negro wench as postmaster." Rather than accept Cox's resignation, the President closed the Indianola post office until her term expired but continued to pay her salary. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The m...

Grand Old Partisan honors James Birney, born in Kentucky, February 4th 1792. He studied law after graduating from Princeton. Democrats hated him for defending Native American land claims. In 1834, the conscientious Whig freed his slaves and declared himself an abolitionist. Escaping to Ohio, Birney published a newspaper and was secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He founded the Liberty Party and in 1840 was its presidential nominee. Page 20 of  Back to Basics for the Republican Party  explains this was precursor to the Free Soil Party, itself precursor to the GOP. He again ran for president in 1844. Birney suffered paralysis from a horseback riding accident. A year prior to death, he voted for the first Republican presidential nominee. His four sons enlisted in the Union Army, two later serving with the Ulysses Grant administration. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The ...

Grand Old Partisan  spotlights origin of the Connecticut Republican Party. February 4th 1856, pro-freedom newspaper editors met in Hartford at the law office of Joseph Hawley, a prominent Free Soil Party activist. They made plans for establishing a state GOP at a convention the following month. Hawley went on to be Union Army General, Congressman, Governor and Senator. Gideon Welles, another participant, became Navy Secretary in the Lincoln administration. John Niles, also there, had been a U.S. Senator and Postmaster General. He was named Connecticut’s first Republican National Committeeman. Though he died two months after the meeting, his prestige helped make this new party a success. 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...

Grand Old Partisan commemorates an amusing event in Thai-American relations. February 3rd 1862, President Abraham Lincoln somehow found time to write a letter to King Mongkut. After learning that there were no elephants in the United States, Monghut had offered to send several pairs, to be "turned loose in forests and increase till there be large herds. Elephants being animals of great size and strength can bear burdens and travel through uncleared woods and matted jungles where no carriage and cart roads have yet been made." Quite eloquently, Lincoln accepted a gift sword and photograph of the king but declined the pachyderms: "I have also received in good condition the royal gifts which accompanied those letters, -- namely, a sword of costly materials and exquisite workmanship; a photographic likeness of Your Majesty and of Your Majesty's beloved daughter; and also two elephants' tusks of length and magnitude such as indicate th...