The President's Cabinet

In 1789, when the Constitution went into effect, Congress passed laws creating the first three executive departments of the new government: Foreign Affairs, Treasury, and War. The head of each department was to be called the "Secretary."
The word "cabinet" came from England, where a private meeting room was often called a cabinet. James Madison, our fourth president,was the first to use this word to refer to the President's advisors.
At first, George Washington consulted with his Cabinet members one at a time, occasionally asking for written opinions. But soon they all met together regularly, in Washington's home on Cherry Street in Philadelphia [then the capital of the United States].
Today, the Cabinet members meet weekly around a big mahogany table in the Cabinet Room next to the President's Oval Office in the West Wing of the White House.
Whenever a member of the Cabinet leaves office the Secretary is traditionally given the leather Cabinet chair, with its brass nameplate on the back, as a memento of service. Members of the Department buy the chair for the outgoing Secretary as a parting gift.

Historical Books of Worth - elementary level

There is a series of books which are worth the investment in order that your elementary-aged children may read historically correct literature. These books first went into print in the 1950's, including both biographies as well as specific historical events. They are - Landmark Books. Whether with or without a dust jacket, you will see the logo at the bottom of the spine, Landmark Books over the outline of the Washington Monument. This series of books is superlatively well done and can play a large role in creating enthusiasm among young readers. (Plus, these provide a quick reference for the Instructor.)

Keeping the Lord's Day Holy

A South Carolina law of 1691 which called for a better observance of the Lord's Day began by pointing out that"...there is nothing more acceptable to Almighty God that the true sincere performance of and obedience to the most divine service and worship...."
-Reformation to Colonization, p. 419

Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh loved a good smoke. In fact, he was instrumental in popularizing tobacco in England, even though Europe had already been introduced to tobacco (Spanish and French explorers had picked up the habit from pipe-smoking Indians). Legend goes that when Raleigh's servant first saw him puffing away, he thought that Raleigh was on fire and doused him thoroughly with water. Raleigh's name went down in history not only as the name of a city in North Carolina but as the name of a pipe tobacco.
-Reformation to Colonization (p. 242)

Inventor's Day

Today is, "Inventor's Day." Here's one inventor's story...

When Bill Black, an Austin-area barber, noticed how hair clippings, which fell onto plants near his barber chair, seemingly improved their growth, he did a little research. He learned that hair contained 18 % nitrogen. Further research, on the part of Black, uncovered that plant fertilizers are nitrogen based. Eureka! Those hair clippings he had been throwing into the trash now became the foundation for FertHairLizer -a plant fertilizer product that still being sold today.
(Texas Trivia - Weird,Wacky, and Wild by Prosapio & Wojna)

What's lying on your floor?

Literature and a Nation

"Literature is the living memory of a nation. It preserves and kindles within itself the flame of a country's spend history, in a form that is safe from distortion and slander. In this way, literature, together with language, protects the soul of a nation."
-Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Strange Bedfellows: The Revered and the Reviled

Senator Joseph R. McCarthy

(R) Wisconsin

(1947 - 1957)

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Robert F. Kennedy

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John F. Kennedy
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For current mainstream political historians, the late Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin), was the devil incarnate, bent on destroying the personal and professional lives of freedom-loving, patriotic Americans. The term McCarthyism is synonomous with witch hunts, that are conducted in fits of blind rage with no regard for the truth. If one wishes to impugn the motivations of a political foe, either a reference to racism or McCarthyism does the trick.

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The author, M. Stanton Evans, offers a different perspective on the Senator from Wisconsin in his book Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy. Evans' opus is a fascinating and well-documented history of Joe McCarthy, and his quest to rid United States government of communist spies and sympathizers. To hear it today the mainstream media paints a picture of a crazed, hateful loner whose weapons included character assassination by careless innuendo.

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Evans has taken a decidely different tact, which included checking well-documented evidence. One of the interesting political alliances of the early 1950's involved the reviled, McCarthy. As a noted anti-communist, this Republican attracted others who shared his views. This included a Democrat from Massachusetts, Joseph P. Kennedy, the father of the revered John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. McCarthy and Joseph P. became so close, that when John ran for the Senate in 1952 against a noted conservative Republican, Henry Cabot Lodge, McCarthy offered no public support for Lodge's campaign at Joseph P.'s request. Lodge lost.

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After the 1952 elections, McCarthy and the Kennedy's remained close. Robert, a student at the University of Virginia Law School, worked pro bono for McCarthy. Robert's respect even ran deeper than that. He asked, and McCarthy agreed to be the godfather to Robert's oldest child, Kathleen, who is now known as Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former Lt. Governor for the state of Maryland.

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