Charles Billinghurst, the subject of Stephen Ambrose's first biography

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 bio of this guy: 'I know more about Charles A. Billinghurst than anybody else.'"

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. 

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Here is my Substack about this article.

Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.


Each day, his YouTube videos and TikTok videos and Rumble videos and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states.

Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision.

"This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!"

"Your book is a national treasure. I'm always recommending it."

"Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before."

and

"one of the best books I ever read"

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