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Edward Rowny, acclaimed Soldier and Republican

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Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Edward Rowny, born in Baltimore, April 3rd 1917. His father had immigrated from Poland, and his mother’s parents were Polish. After studying engineering at Johns Hopkins, he became a West Point cadet.  Rowny commanded an infantry battalion against the Nazis. During the Korean War, he helped plan the Inchon Landing and oversaw rescue of a hundred thousand civilians from communists. His initiative led to helicopters being utilized heavily during the Vietnam War. President Nixon appointed him representative for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. He later resigned due to President Carter’s appeasement of the Soviet Union. President Reagan made him chief nuclear arms negotiator. The citation of his Presidential Citizen Medal: "Rowny was one of the chief architects of peace through strength. In 2014, the Prime Minister of South Ko...
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Richard Wallach, the first Republican Mayor of Washington

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Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Richard Wallach, born in Alexandria, April 3rd 1816. At the time, that area was still part of the District of Columbia. He attended Gonzaga High School and what is now George Washington University. The young attorney entered politics as a Whig and served on the city council. President Zachary Taylor named him U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia. He joined the Republican Party at its birth in 1855. Twice, vote fraud cost Wallach election for mayor. Outbreak of civil war, the Democrat mayor was arrested for disloyalty to the U.S. Government. Wallach, city council president, became mayor and went on to win three more terms. His administration paved roads, installed water mains and sewers, constructed markets. Wallach's most notable achievement was, as he described it, a "school within the reach of every child." He hired famed architect Adolph Cluss to...
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Clifford Scott Green, distinguished African-American Republican Federal Judge

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Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Clifford Scott Green, born in Philadelphia, April 2nd 1923. His father had come from the Virgin Islands. He enlisted in the Army Air Corp during WWII and rose to sergeant. He later studied economics and law at Temple University. His bar exam score was highest in the state. Twelve years, Green was a Republican ward leader. In 1954, the GOP nominated him for city council. He also lost a bid for municipal judge. In 1964, a Republican governor named him to the state bench. In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed Green a federal judge. Preferring to remain on district court, he declined nomination from President Ronald Reagan to circuit court. "the most well-liked judge on the bench, and attorneys could not praise him enough for his wonderful demeanor" "an inspiration, a mentor, a teacher, a role model, and a friend to innumerable minority and non-minori...
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Alexander De Witt, visionary Anti-Slavery Congressman

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Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Alexander De Witt, born in Massachusetts, April 2nd 1798. He prospered with textile manufacturing and banking. While a Democrat, he served in both houses of the legislature. In 1852, switching to the Free Soil Party, he won first of two congressional terms. The noble Representative was one of six signatories for the  Appeal of the Independent Democrats . This anti-slavery manifesto denounced the Kansas-Nebraska Act as "an atrocious plot to exclude from a vast unoccupied region immigrants from the Old World and free laborers from our own States, and convert it into a dreary region of despotism, inhabited by masters and slaves". De Witt served as militia colonel. He joined the GOP. During the Civil War, a Republican governor named him to coordinate military recruitment. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights history...
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"We love freedom more, vastly more, than slavery. Consequently, we hope to keep clear of the Democrats!"

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Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I applaud a classic denunciation of Democrat devilry. April 1st 1871, a former slave made his first speech in the U.S. House of Representatives. South Carolina Republican Joseph Rainey advocated passage of the [anti-] Ku Klux Klan Act. He said: "We love freedom more, vastly more, than slavery. Consequently, we hope to keep clear of the Democrats!" 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  Substack  about this article. Michael Zak is author of...
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the National Federation of Republican Women headquarters

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Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I appreciate the National Federation of Republican Women. April 1st 1992, this venerable organization moved into its own headquarters, in Alexandria, Virginia. Dating from 1829, the brick house is on the National Register of Historic Buildings. In 1997, it was named the Marion E. Martin Center , to honor the NFRW’s founder. This tireless activist had been a Maine state legislator and RNC vice chair. 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. Her...
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Alabama Republican civil rights activist Alexander Boyd

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Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Alexander Boyd, a Republican civil rights activist. Born in South Carolina, he joined the Alabama GOP after the Civil War. Support from African-American voters helped elect him county attorney. Boyd's adherence to "equal protection of the laws" angered Democrats. March 31st 1870, masked gunmen shot him to death. They had intended to hang him in Eutaw's town square. His gravestone says "Murdered by Ku Klux". 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...
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