Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates the anniversary of the Udvar-Hazy Center, of the National Air and Space Museum. This enormous facility was a gift from Hungarian immigrant and entrepreneur Stephen Udvar-Hazy. It is in Virginia near Dulles International Airport.  December 11th 2003, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke at the opening ceremony: "The center is a monument to the great achievements in flight and to the even greater possibilities that still lie ahead of us. I've been looking forward to coming here for a tour, and I'm extremely impressed by what I saw this morning. The American people rightly associate the Smithsonian Institution with high standards of historic preservation and superb presentation. Those standards are apparent throughout the nearly 300,000 square feet of this structure. As a regent of the Smithsonian, I congratulate everyone who worked so hard to bring this extraordinary project to completion. The facility we dedicat...

Grand Old Partisan spotlights an important development in congressional history. December 11th 1865, the GOP-controlled 39th Congress established the House Appropriations Committee as well as the House Banking and Currency Committee. This reduced the workload of the House Ways and Means Committee, which previously had handled both appropriations (Ways) and taxation (Means). Previously, a Ways and Means chairman held so much power that he was, in effect, the Majority Leader. First to chair the Appropriations Committee was Thaddeus Stevens, the Pennsylvania Republican who had been Ways and Means chairman. Theodore Pomeroy, a New York Republican, was first to chair the Banking and Currency Committee. In 1968, it became the Committee on Financial Services. First to chair the revised Ways and Means Committee was Vermont Republican Justin Morrill. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than SEVENTEEN decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I appreciate Republican respect for Judaism. December 10th 2001, President George W. Bush hosted the first annual White House Hanukkah ceremony. A 100-year-old menorah had been borrowed by the White House from the Jewish Museum of New York. "Tonight, for the first time in American history, the Hanukkah menorah will be lit at the White House residence. It's a symbol that this house may be a temporary home for Laura and me, but it's the people's house, and it belongs to people of all faiths. "The magnificent menorah before us was crafted over a century ago in the city of Lvov, which was an important center of Jewish life and culture. The Jews of Lvov fell victim to the horror of the Nazi Holocaust, but their great menorah survived. And as God promised Abraham, the people of Israel still live. "This has been a year of much sadness in the United States,...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than SEVENTEEN decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor John Kinkead, born December 10th 1826. Early on, this merchandising entrepreneur worked in several states. Eve of civil war, he settled at Carson City. President Lincoln named him Nevada territorial treasurer. In 1867, Kinkead journeyed to Alaska for the transfer of ownership from Russia and was appointed postmaster of Sitka. Four years later, he returned to the Silver State. He achieved success with mining and smelting and railroads. In 1878, Republican voters elected him Governor. His four-year term focused on infrastructure improvements. After the governance of Alaska was changed from military to civilian in 1884, President Chester Arthur named him Governor. Kinkead resigned months into Democrat President Cleveland’s first term. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know abou...

Grand Old Partisan  appreciates Republican reverence. December 9th 1863, Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase instructed his Director of the Mint to place the motto In God We Trust on designs for U.S. coins:  "I approve your mottoes, only suggesting that on that with the Washington obverse the motto should begin with the word OUR, so as to read OUR GOD AND OUR COUNTRY. And on that with the shield, it should be changed so as to read: IN GOD WE TRUST." Page 74 of Back to Basics for the Republican Party explains: "the motto In God We Trust was something of a pun, replacing the implicit In Gold We Trust guarantee of previous paper money." Coins with this IN GOD WE TRUST motto appeared after the GOP-controlled 38th Congress passed the 1864 Coinage Act. 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 part...

Grand Old Partisan  honors Frederick Pike, born in Maine, December 9th 1816. Law studies followed graduation from Bowdoin College. This "avowed abolitionist" Whig joined the state GOP at its formation. His wife authored a popular anti-slavery novel. He rose from small-town mayor and county prosecutor to speaker of the state house. In 1860, Pike won first of four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. He vigorously supported the Union war effort and was among the first to call for emancipation. He voted for the GOP’s 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, as well as the Homestead Act, the Land Grant Colleges Act and the Transcontinental Railroad. President Abraham Lincoln appointed his brother ambassador to the Netherlands. 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, s...

Grand Old Partisan  highlights Republican dedication to civil rights. December 8th 1953, Lee Rankin, Dwight Eisenhower's Assistant Attorney General, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education . His opponent, lawyer for the segregationists, was John Davis, the 1924 Democrat presidential nominee. Rankin had worked on the 1948 Dewey presidential campaign and then managed Eisenhower's 1952 campaign in Nebraska. He joined the Eisenhower administration at the request of friend and fellow Cornhusker, Attorney General Herbert Brownell. President Eisenhower promoted him to Solicitor General in 1956. This eminent attorney later served as general counsel for the Warren Commission. 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, se...