Presidents' Day

The old rusty Nail

AN E-JOURNAL FOR OLD PEOPLE

 

PRESIDENTS’ DAY

Russell Burton, An Old Person

Here it is February the month we celebrate our two most important presidents.  Yes, George Washington, the father of our country, and Abraham Lincoln who saved the union are no doubt the American Presidents who should be celebrated above all others.  Of course, many of our presidents are note worthy and probably deserve to have a day of leave named after them but there can only be a limited number of days off each year as federal holidays.  What that number is no one knows for it is not clear how one would make that decision.

Certainly that was the argument made by President Ronald Reagan who decided, after much pushing by civil rights groups, to recognize Martin Luther King with a federal holiday.  Presidents’ Days were originally George Washington’s birth day February 22 and 12 February was Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.   I remember those dates well for I was a federal employee and had two days off in one month which was a big deal.  Now we still have the same number of federal holidays but somehow making one of those days come earlier does not seem right.  I think I feel that way because MLK Day is too close to the holidays we have in December. You know, you just back to work and into the swing of things and suddenly another day off.

There is no doubt that MLK should be recognized as an important figure in American history for he was able to move forward the African American agenda that had become stalled.  Many successful African Americans stand on the shoulders of MLK including our president Barack Obama.  I just finished reading a book on his assassination, ‘Hellhound on His Trail’ by Hampton Sides.  Even though the main focus is the killing of MLK, it provides some insight into the latter stages of his movement when he was taking a back seat to younger Black activist. I highly recommend this book.

I guess an argument can be made that another African American activist leader should be remembered other than MLK.  Malcolm X in a sense began this movement and he too was assassinated.  But he was not as well liked for he took a more aggressive militant approach than did MLK who stressed passive resistance.  When you scare people like Malcolm X did, white people will not name a holiday after you.

Passive resistance proved to be a very powerful weapon in moving forward one’s agenda as shown by the success of Mahatma Gandhi who was able to liberate India from England.  His approached of passive aggression included fasting for long periods that worked, for the English were terrified that he would die during one of them for they lasted for weeks.  Certainly, his death would have started massive riots that would have caused the loss of thousands of lives.  MLK did not do much fasting for I think he liked to eat too much.

American Blacks had a very difficult struggle when they first began to live in America as slaves.  I am reading a fascinating book on that subject, ‘The Chronological History of the American Negro’ by Peter Bergman published in 1969.  Interesting, that I would be reading a book today published in 1969 that was in my house all of those years.  Well, I noticed it on my book shelf the other day when I was looking for something to read.  Now, it was there because I bought it when it was first published as a member of ‘The Book of the Month Club’ and never read it.  At the time, being a member of that club was a must for many people.  So, I was a member and I accumulated lots of books many of which I have not read to this day.

But this book does get your attention even though there is not much plot as it is simply dates beginning when the first Black Man came to the New World as a crewman on Columbus’s first trip. African American slavery in the New World began in 1510 under the orders of Ferdinand of Spain. The chronology of Black Slavery in America explores the horrible cruelty of it all.  For instance an owner could whip a Black Slave to death and when on purpose to kill him was fined all of 25 pounds.  I suppose in those days an English Pound was worth about $5 which was a hefty chunk of money but it is hard to imagine killing someone with a whip.  If a slave was whipped to death but not intentionally then the fine was only 15 pounds.  So, I suppose most slaves’ deaths from whippings were accidental.

Speaking of cruelty of Black American slaves I recently saw the movie ‘Djuango Unchained’.  Fascinating movie depicting Black slavery that is at times hard to watch for it was a vicious practice.  Certainly this movie is not the wonderful treatment of Blacks as shown in ‘Gone with the Wind”. A criticism of Djuango Unchained was that the n-word was used many (89) times.  I agree that it is an unpleasant word but how could you have a movie about those times and not use it?

Back to Presidents’ Day, Washington and Lincoln came along when our country needed great men. It is frequently written that without the stature of George Washington our constitution would not have been adopted by all of the colonies.  And, Lincoln struggled mightily to hold the union together for his political opponents of which there were several wanted the South to form its own nation. He also abolished slavery in America which too was not easy but a necessity as shown in the recent movie ‘Lincoln” one that I recommend. Certainly, our country was fortunate to have these two towering men step forward when someone of their stature was needed.

George Washington was a slave holder during his entire life as was Jefferson.  Supposedly, both men were opposed to the concept of slavery yet they supported it by owning slaves.  Interesting…

I guess the other greatest presidents we have had are on Mt. Rushmore.  And, that would be Thomas Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt.  Certainly, Franklin Roosevelt should be there for he too kept our country a democracy.  Then, the entire world was in a great financial depression and the too most powerful nations chose to take different paths to survive.  Germany chose a dictator and we chose an elected president.  Certainly Hitler got Germany out of their depression much more quickly than did Roosevelt. But of course with the unbridled power of their leader Germany lost her way.

Thomas Jefferson is celebrated as a great president because he wrote our ‘Declaration of Independence’ and he argued successfully that religion must be kept out of our government.  Both of these achievements appear on his grave stone.  Teddy Roosevelt is noted for Trust Busting and the establishment of our National Park system both of which are important feats.

Mt. Rushmore was quite an achievement and I watched it happening.  My father’s boss had a cabin near the base of it that we visited on several occasions. It was in the 1930s and I remember seeing the gondolas with men inside chiseling away at their granite faces.  I still have colored slides of them somewhere.

Well, I have written enough on these subjects.  Mixing Presidents’ Day with MLK Day and slavery could be considered a reach. But for several reasons, some of which I have just written they are indeed related as I think they should be.

So long for now.