John Fitzgerald Kennedy, known as JFK, officially confirmed his intent to run for President on January 2, 1960. He won the Democratic nomination on November 8, 1960; Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon and won the Presidency of the United States. He was sworn into office on January 20, 1961. The most remembered part of his inaugural address was his world famous quote, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Kennedy’s presidency was very active and addresses many major issues. Here are some highlights of his more memorable dealings while in office.
The failure of foreign policy in the years 1514-1525 can be attributed to many things. The combination of Henry's isolation from European affairs and the fact that his attempts to raise tax were ultimately unpopular failures, meant that he had no way to impose himself upon Europe. Even when he did manage to scrape together the finances needed for a strong foreign policy his reliance on his allies led to disaster. As soon as Henry took the throne in 1509, it was obvious that he was a king that wanted to fight a war. However, wars generally led to very expensive costs to the country.
In the winters the cowboys would ride down to Texas then up to Canada for work and come back with their pay waiting for them. They would drive cattle all the way across the country, leaving dead cattle and nurturing the young calves back to health to have as many as possible to sell at the auction. The cowboys would have deep conversations to keep themselves occupied while they were gone for so many months. Subjects such as things they haven’t experienced yet, love, meaningful relationships, and children would be the main topics discussed while away. Once returning from a long journey and showing the audience the hard work of a cowboy, they discover that the pay that they should have received for working all winter was cut down to just one month’s pay.
He started to ask around and was disappointed to find out that his family didn't recall much about his great uncle. Most of the people who knew him and died and taken their stories with them. There wasn't much to be found on his great uncle so Zesh expanded his search to include other children that were kidnapped by the Indians about the same time in early Texas history. He hoped that the other captives tales could help him gain insight into his great uncles experience and fill the blanks of his story. Zesh tracked down living relatives of the other captives, dug through local Texas archives, and crashed family reunions.
Like most of the essays in this book, it starts off with a very well written and detailed prologue to bring the reader up to speed about what is going on in history around the subject, in this case the years leading up to the American Revolution. The prologue describes a divided America, according to John Adams had estimated that around one-third of the nation were “rebels”, another one third were loyalist, and the remaining were for the most part neutral for most of the conflict. We also are told how this was more of a civil war that pit friends families alike against each other. We focus in on one example in particular, the family struggles of one our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin. We learn that Benjamin Franklin had an affair with an unknown woman in his youth around 1730, this resulted in the birth of an illegitimate child, William.
I especially enjoyed his analysis on the vigilantes and in particular the American Protective League (APL) which is a fairly significant picture of the state of affairs within our country and moreover, the lack of control the government had against the people. The “conspiracy theorist” inside of me has always believed in false flag terror, citizen spies and inside jobs and the existence of the APL was complete confirmation for me. While most would argue that these types of organizations couldn’t exist today, Kennedy opens the door to this type of behavior, which seems illegal in its very fibers. As discussed last week, this time period was rich with reform and political parties were eager to trump the other in any way possible. In Over Here, Kennedy touches on the elites pulling the strings behind the scenes spreading political influence and propaganda along the way.
Candice Millard’s harrowing account of Roosevelt’s 1913 expedition down the River of Doubt is primarily a biography of the former president and his journey, but is also a tale of caution. Millard’s critical treatment of Roosevelt’s story focuses on the carelessness that went into planning, supplying, and organizing the expedition. Roosevelt prominently displays this carelessness, choosing not only the journey with the “greatest unforeseen difficulties” for himself and his men, but also by permitting unproven crewmembers to make crucial decisions without any oversight. Due to early physical problems in his childhood, Roosevelt embraced a “strenuous lifestyle” to overcome any obstacle through sheer will and determination. This unique outlook put others in harm’s way, including his own son, who accompanied Roosevelt strictly out of concern for his father’s health.
In other words, hunting had been part of their descendant’s heritage and traditions for as long as they could remember. There is no place that validates the heritage and traditions of hunting and ignites the hunter’s passion more than deer camp. These temporary hamlets of ‘hopes and dreams’ spring up every hunting season in the American wilderness bringing together hunters of all ages for a week of ritualistic ‘man bonding’ and hunting anticipation. At deer camp, Stories of faded glories, dreams of future triumphs, and boastings of skill and daring are shared. Hunting tactics, strategies, wisdom and knowledge is pooled, as well as meals are prepared and eaten together.
The story is centered on two best friends, George and Lennie. They are both working on a small ranch in northern California. Lennie is mental impaired which causes George to keep a close on him constantly. Symbols were incorporated into the novel showing the hardships, desperately, and distrustful acts people were going through. John Steinbeck’s novel contained many examples of symbolism including; the dream house, hands, soft things, Candy’s dog, and the river.
Known for his enthusiasm towards American politics, his Spanish War hero persona, and a dedicated reform driven governor, Roosevelt found himself taking office as vice-president of the United States on March 4, 1901 and following McKinley’s assassination President on September 14, 1901. Shortly after returning to politics, opportunity had presented itself to further satisfy America’s need for manifest destiny. The French had embarked on the idea of creating a canal that would connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, creating a water way to better improve transportation and drastically cut down cost. This enormous engineering feat had not only claimed countless French lives, but had proved to be too expensive to continue. Roosevelt had realized this great potential and purchased the equipment and rights from the French to pursue this project.