Grand Old Partisan

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, ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Revolutionary War veteran Joshua Dewey. The patriotic teen helped defend Connecticut against British troops. After graduating from Yale, he served in the New York legislature and was named local tax collector by President John Quincy Adams. Having cast a ballot in support of George Washington, he voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. February 20th 1861, while staying at Manhattan’s Astor House Hotel, the President-elect chatted with the 94-year-old Dewey. Presidential aide John Hay, who arranged the meeting, recognized the public relations value of linking the incoming Chief Executive with the Father of our Country. 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 i...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Worthington Smith, born in Vermont, April 19th 1823. His factory manufactured railroad tracks and other equipment. He served in both legislative chambers, rising to senate president pro tempore. During the Civil War, he recruited volunteers for an infantry regiment. Smith was delegate to the 1864 Republican National Convention. Peace restored, he won three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Receiving his vote were the 15th Amendment, the [anti-] Ku Klux Klan Act and Yellowstone National Park. The years after leaving Congress focused on banking and railroads and University of Vermont. His brother and his uncle were Governors. 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 o...