Day: February 20, 2013

John Glenn, National Hero 51 Years Ago Today!

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John Glenn became a national hero 51 years ago today as he soared into space as the first American astronaut to orbit the earth.

Glenn also was the oldest astronaut ever, when he went into space on the shuttle in 1998, when he was 77 years old, and retiring from a distinguished career as a Democratic Senator from Ohio.

Glenn was a true national hero, and became a leading figure in the Senate for 24 years from 1975-1999, after a truly great military career, leading to the rank of Colonel, before he entered the space program, and became one of the original seven astronauts.

Glenn, now 91, will have been married to his wife Annie for seventy years in April, and this is a day to salute his great contributions to our defense, our space program, and to American politics!

The Sequester Battle Will Have Same Result As Budget Battle Between Bill Clinton And Congress In 1995: Presidential Victory!

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The Republican Party keeps “shooting itself in the foot”, symbolically, never learning anything, and undermining their support with public opinion.

In 1995, the Republican controlled House and Senate under Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole forced a shutdown of the government over the budget, but eventually had to give in, and Bill Clinton proceeded to win a second term over Dole handily, and the GOP Congress lost seats in 1996.

The budget battles with Barack Obama by the Republican controlled House under John Boehner have also hurt the GOP image in public opinion, and it is certain that the President will win the battle over the present “sequester” crisis, as Obama comes across, after a solid victory in the Presidential Election Of 2012, as speaking for the “people”, while the Republicans are ready to defend the “special interests” and their tax breaks, and hurt the poor, children, the elderly, and government employees.

Obama has a high rating, and the Congress is at a low historically, so the Republican Party is only, in the long run, hurting itself!

Oddities And Quirks About Presidential Names: One More For Presidents Week!

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As this week is the Presidential week, celebrated this past Monday as Presidents Day, let us do one more entry, this one on Presidential trivia, specifically on the oddities and quirks of Presidential Names.

Four Presidents are remembered for the use of their middle names with their first and last names:

John Quincy Adams
William Henry Harrison
Chester Alan Arthur
William Howard Taft

Thirteen Presidents are usually referred to with their middle initial included:

James K. Polk
Ulysses S. Grant
James A. Garfield
Warren G. Harding
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard M. Nixon
Gerald R. Ford
George H. W. Bush
George W. Bush

Notice that Truman’s middle initial is also his name, as his family could not agree on what name to use, just the letter S, so there is no period after the initial.

Two Presidents use a nickname as their name:

Jimmy Carter
Bill Clinton

Four Presidents switched names, and preferred to be known by their middle name:

Hiram Ulysses Grant
Stephen Grover Cleveland
Thomas Woodrow Wilson
David Dwight Eisenhower

Two Presidents had their name changed as children

Leslie Lynch King Jr.—Gerald Ford
William Jefferson Blythe III–Bill Clinton

Also, many Presidents are also known by other names or titles, including: Andrew Jackson as “Old Hickory”, Martin Van Buren as “The Little Magician”, William Henry Harrison as “Old Tippecanoe”, James K. Polk as “Young Hickory”, Zachary Taylor as “Old Rough And Ready”, Franklin Pierce as “Handsome Frank”, Calvin Coolidge as “Silent Cal”, Dwight D. Eisenhower as “Ike”, John F. Kennedy as “Jack”, Richard M. Nixon as “Dick”, Gerald R. Ford as “Jerry”, Ronald Reagan as “Ronnie”, and Barack Obama as “Barry”.

That is it for Presidential names!