Veterans Day 2014 – Fly your flag today

November 11, 2014

Veterans Day in the U.S. falls on November 11, the date of the armistice that ended hostilities in World War I.  Under the U.S. flag code, and specific presidential proclamations, it is one of those days U.S. residents get called to fly their flags.

Veterans Day poster for 2014, from the U.S. Veterans Administration

Veterans Day poster for 2014, from the U.S. Veterans Administration

President Barack Obama issues a proclamation on Veterans Day every year.

Presidential Proclamation — Veterans Day, 2014

VETERANS DAY, 2014
– – – – – – –
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Since the birth of our Nation, American patriots have stepped forward to serve our country and defend our way of life.  With honor and distinction, generations of servicemen and women have taken up arms to win our independence, preserve our Union, and secure our freedom.  From the Minutemen to our Post-9/11 Generation, these heroes have put their lives on the line so that we might live in a world that is safer, freer, and more just, and we owe them a profound debt of gratitude.  On Veterans Day, we salute the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen who have rendered the highest service any American can offer, and we rededicate ourselves to fulfilling our commitment to all those who serve in our name.

Today, we are reminded of our solemn obligation:  to serve our veterans as well as they have served us.  As we continue our responsible drawdown from the war in Afghanistan and more members of our military return to civilian life, we must support their transition and make sure they have access to the resources and benefits they have earned.  My Administration is working to end the tragedy of homelessness among our veterans, and we are committed to providing them with quality health care, access to education, and the tools they need to find a rewarding career.  As a Nation, we must ensure that every veteran has the chance to share in the opportunity he or she has helped to defend.  Those who have served in our Armed Forces have the experience, skills, and dedication necessary to achieve success as members of our civilian workforce, and it is critical that we harness their talent.

Across our country, veterans who fought to protect our democracy around the globe are strengthening it here at home. Once leaders in the Armed Forces, they are now pioneers of industry and pillars of their communities.  Their character reflects our enduring American spirit, and in their example, we find inspiration and strength.

This day, and every day, we pay tribute to America’s sons and daughters who have answered our country’s call.  We recognize the sacrifice of those who have been part of the finest fighting force the world has ever known and the loved ones who stand beside them.  We will never forget the heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice and all those who have not yet returned home.  As a grateful Nation, let us show our appreciation by honoring all our veterans and working to ensure the promise of America is within the reach of all who have protected it.

With respect for and in recognition of the contributions our service members have made to the cause of peace and freedom around the world, the Congress has provided (5 U.S.C. 6103(a)) that November 11 of each year shall be set aside as a legal public holiday to honor our Nation’s veterans.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim November 11, 2014, as Veterans Day.  I encourage all Americans to recognize the valor and sacrifice of our veterans through appropriate public ceremonies and private prayers.  I call upon Federal, State, and local officials to display the flag of the United States and to participate in patriotic activities in their communities. I call on all Americans, including civic and fraternal organizations, places of worship, schools, and communities to support this day with commemorative expressions and programs.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-ninth.

BARACK OBAMA

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2 Comments | Flag etiquette, Fly your flag today, History, veterans, veterans day | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

November is National Malaria Awareness Month in Philippines

November 9, 2014

Education is still a key tool in the fight against malaria.  In that spirit, the President of the Philippines declares November as National Malaria Awareness Month.

Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo – Wikipedia image

Hope it works.

Proclamation from the President of the Philippines:

MALACAÑANPALACE

MANILA

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES

PROCLAMATION NO. 1168

DECLARING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER OF EVERY YEAR AS MALARIA AWARENESS MONTH

WHEREAS, Malaria is the 8th leading cause of morbidity in the Philippines, affecting most Filipinos of productive age group, and vulnerable groups which includes pregnant women, children and indigenous population groups, and continue to be a major impediment to human and economic development in area where it persists;

WHEREAS, Malaria remains endemic in 65 of the 79 provinces affecting 12.5 million Filipinos, with pockets of high endemicity along municipal/provincial borders, in far flung remote areas and barangays populated by indigenous cultural groups and areas with socio-political conflicts;

WHEREAS, Malaria, with morbidity rate of 55 per 100,000 population and mortality rate of 0.17 per 100,000 population, has to be reduced and controlled by effective malaria prevention and treatment measures, such as increase in the use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and early diagnosis and prompt treatment in malaria risk areas;

WHEREAS, Goal six of Millennium Development Goals aims to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, with the target of halting and reversing the incidence of malaria and other diseases by 2015;

WHEREAS, the WHO/UNICEF Regional Child Survival Strategy focuses on the implementation of an Essential Package for Child Survival, one of which is the use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets of children 0-59 months in malarious areas;

WHEREAS, Malaria is one of the 5 diseases to be targeted under the disease-free zones initiative of service delivery component of “FOURmula One for Health”, an implementation strategy for health reforms;

WHEREAS, recent advances in the field of diagnosis, treatment and vector control makes the disease preventable and curable despite increasing trends of drug and insecticide resistance;

WHEREAS, the main strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality against malaria are through early diagnosis and prompt treatment, vector control through the use of insecticide treated mosquito nets supplemented by indoor residual spraying of insecticides, and early detection and management of epidemics;

WHEREAS, Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known. as the Local Government Code, devolves the provision of basic health services to prevent and control malaria to the local government units. Enhancement on the program management capacity of the LGUs will be one of the major thrusts of the Department of Health and its partners;

WHEREAS, to facilitate program management and inculcate better health-seeking behaviors among the general population especially the high risk population on prevention and control of malaria, the National Malaria Control Program in consultation with the Regional Coordinators, Provincial Health Offices, LGUs, and other stakeholders, recommends that the month of November of every year be declared for the creation of awareness on the prevention and control of malaria.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order:

SECTION 1.            Lead agency. — The Department of Health (DOH) shall lead in the implementation of the Malaria Awareness Month every November of the year starting 2006. As such, it shall call upon all government agencies/organizations for assistance in the implementation of this Proclamation, including but not limited to the following:

a.              Department of the Interior and Local Government

b.              Department of Education

c.              Department of National Defense

d.              National Disaster and Coordinating Council

e.              Department of Tourism

f.               Local Government Units/Organizations

1.              Liga ng mga Barangay

2.              League of Municipalities

3.              League of Provinces

g.              Philippine Information Agency

h.              National Commission on Indigenous Peoples

As the lead agency, the Department of Health shall formulate and disseminate guidelines and procedures on the implementation of the campaign, provide technical assistance to LGUs and/or implementing units or organizations, conduct national/regional advocacy and social mobilization in endemic provinces, augment local logistics for malaria prevention and control, and monitor LGU activities in all phases of the campaign. The DOH will also coordinate activities with major donor funded programs such as Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — Malaria Component and Australian Agency for International Development — WHO-RBM [Roll Back Malaria] projects.

SECTION 2.            Responsibilities of the. Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). — The DILG, through its Secretary, shall issue and disseminate appropriate memorandum, circulars to all local chief executives, mobilize field offices, and assist in the supervision and monitoring of malaria awareness campaign and other prevention and control activities.

SECTION 3.            Responsibilities of the Department of Education (DepEd). — The DepEd, through its Secretary, shall incorporate or integrate malaria prevention and control into the school curriculum, provide a venue in schools for treatment or re-treatment of mosquito nets through school children (each pupil will bring their mosquito net for re-treatment) in coordination with local health officials. The DepEd shall issue and disseminate appropriate circulars for the purpose.

SECTION 4.            Responsibilities of the Department of National Defense (DND). — The DND, through its Secretary, shall issue and disseminate appropriate memorandum circulars to its regional and provincial units to conduct activities in raising the awareness on malaria prevention and control among their personnel and staff especially in endemic areas. The Armed Forces of the Philippines, through the Surgeon General, must ensure that military personnel assigned to endemic areas should undergo the pre- and post- malaria smear test. Provide assistance in terms of transportation and security support to local health personnel in the implementation of the campaign. Strengthen management of severe malaria to prevent deaths in its hospitals in partnership with DOH.

SECTION 5.            Responsibilities of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC). — The NDCC, through the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), shall coordinate the implementation of the malaria awareness month activities with the LGUs through the Barangay/Municipal/City Disaster Coordinating Councils, Regional Disaster Coordinating Councils, and Provincial Disaster Coordinating Councils.

SECTION 6.            Responsibilities of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA). — The PIA, through its Director-General, shall guide, integrate and supervise the public communication activities including advertisements of the malaria awareness communication campaign.

SECTION 7.            Responsibilities of the Local Government Units (LGUs). — The LGUs shall lead the local implementation of the malaria awareness campaign and allocate appropriate resources for the purpose. Ensure that basic quality health, services on the diagnosis, treatment, vector control (distribution of treated mosquito nets, re-treatment, indoor residual spraying) are sustained until 2015. Further, the LGUs shall coordinate with partner NGOs and/or private sectors in the conduct of the campaign and establish a network of all partners at the local level. The concerned LGUs shall issue appropriate local ordinances, resolutions, memorandum circulars and other relevant orders.

SECTION 8.            Responsibilities of the League of Provinces/Municipalities/Barangays. — Through their presidents, shall issue circulars, memoranda and other issuances to their members on the local implementation of malaria awareness activities.

SECTION 9.            Responsibilities of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). — The NCIP, through their Chairperson, shall issue memorandum circulars to the field offices to participate actively in the conduct of malaria awareness campaign among tribal minorities/indigenous communities in coordination with local health officials. The NCIP shall likewise support and help in coordinating field activities and help in the translation of IEC materials.

SECTION 10.         Responsibilities of the Department of Tourism (DOT). — The DOT, through its Secretary, shall issue and disseminate appropriate memorandum circulars to its regional field offices to conduct activities, in coordination with the Provincial Health Offices, in raising the awareness of tourists on malaria prevention especially in endemic areas.

SECTION 11.         Participation of the Civil Societies. — All non-government organizations, members of the civil societies, professional groups, business sectors and other concerned groups are encouraged to contribute to the success of the malaria awareness campaign through information dissemination, social mobilization, providing donations and other appropriate means.

SECTION 12.         Bilateral and multilateral agencies. — All donor partners will be encouraged to support malaria control program in line with the goals of Millennium Development Goal No. 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases at all levels. Integrated programs shall be encouraged.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Republic of the Philippines to be affixed.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 10th day of November, in the year of Our Lord, Two Thousand and Six.

(Sgd.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO

1 Comment | Malaria, WHO - World Health Organization | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

A Scout camp absorbed William McKinley’s boyhood home

November 5, 2014

From the photo archives of the Boston Public Library, we get this postcard:

Scout camp with home of Wm McKinley, circa 1940 post card from Boston PL

Post card from the archives of the Boston Public Library: “Boyhood Home of President Wm. McKinley, Lisbon, Ohio. Now Part of Columbiana County Boy Scout Reservation. Built in 1808.

From the Boston Library’s Flickr files, we learn a little more:

Boston Public Library

Boyhood home of President Wm. McKindley, Lisbon, Ohio. Now part of Columbiana County Boy Scout Reservation, built in 1808

File name: 06_10_016732
Title: Boyhood home of President Wm. McKinley, Lisbon, Ohio. Now part of Columbiana County Boy Scout Reservation, built in 1808
Created/Published: Tichnor Bros. Inc., Boston, Mass.
Date issued: 1930 – 1945 (approximate)
Physical description: 1 print (postcard): linen texture, color; 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.
Genre: Postcards
Subjects: Historic buildings

Notes:
Collection: The Tichnor Brothers Collection
Location: Boston Public Library, Print Department
Rights: No known restrictions

Is this historic building still part of a Scout camp?

According to Buckeye Council, BSA, the home is still part of what is now Camp McKinley.  It’s the home of the camp ranger.

Camp McKinley is located in Columbiana County, near Lisbon, Ohio. The 300 acre camp has been owned and operated by the Boy Scouts of America since 1934.

Camp McKinley is the Buckeye Council’s most historic camp. The modern history of the area began back in 1807 when Ohio was a new state of only three years. Gideon Hughes, a local businessman, built a blast furnace in “new Lisbon” to supply the needs of the settlers heading west. The remains of the Rebecca Furnace are still visible on the camp property. Mr. Hughes also built a stone “mansion” across from his furnace. The house, known as the McKinley homestead, was the home of President William McKinley’s grandparents for a number of years. President McKinley no doubt spent many summers wandering the hills of the present Camp McKinley. The Stone House is now the residence of the Camp Ranger.

President McKinley slept here, as a boy.

Scout camp ranger’s house does not seem to you to be a respectful enough use of a president’s boyhood home?  Buckeye Council has preserved the home at least in its exterior appearance.

Another of McKinley’s boyhood homes is now a bank parking lot.

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Posted by Ed Darrell

Babe Ruth and a Circle 10 Council, BSA, Boy Scout, 1929

November 4, 2014

1929 photo of Babe Ruth, with Robert W. Johnsey, a Dallas Boy Scout.

1929 photo of Babe Ruth, with Robert W. Johnsey, a Dallas Boy Scout.

An old library photo?

A Facebook page called Traces of Texas posted this photo, with this explanation:

Babe Ruth and a Dallas boy scout, In 1929, the era’s most famous, revered, and idolized American sportsman, George Herman “Babe” Ruth, came to Dallas to speak on behalf of the Circle Ten Council and promote scouting to local businessmen. After delivering a rousing speech to a packed house, a Dallas Morning News photographer asked him for a picture. The Babe motioned to a Scout to join him. And for young Robert W. Johnsey, that must have been the highlight of his life.

Where did Traces of Texas get those details, and the photo?

I can find data bases that list a Robert W. Johnsey from Dallas, born in 1916, and dying in Dallas in 1995.  Without paying the fat fees demanded, I learn that one database said he died having never married.  Right age, but is that the right guy?

Then I find notes for a France Ray Mead Johnsey at Find A Grave.  It says she died in 2004, preceded in death by her husband Robert, who died in 1995.

Interesting little mysteries.

Anybody Remember  a Robert W. Johnsey from Dallas, Texas?  Can you give us more details?

Babe Ruth returned to Dallas in 1947. Dallas Observer noted: On July 6, 1947, it was announced that George Herman Ruth would be coming to Dallas on July 9. The occasion: an appearance during a double-header at Rebel Stadium in Oak Cliff on behalf of the American Legion junior baseball program. That Wednesday would be known, according to the ad that ran on Page Four of The Dallas News, as Babe Ruth Day in Dallas, featuring

Babe Ruth returned to Dallas in 1947. Dallas Observer noted: On July 6, 1947, it was announced that George Herman Ruth would be coming to Dallas on July 9. The occasion: an appearance during a double-header at Rebel Stadium in Oak Cliff on behalf of the American Legion junior baseball program. That Wednesday would be known, according to the ad that ran on Page Four of The Dallas News, as Babe Ruth Day in Dallas, featuring “the immortal and beloved” ballplayer who’d been gravely ill only six months earlier. Tickets for his appearance at the ballpark ran one dollar, 30 cents for students.

4 Comments | Boy Scouts of America, Dallas, History, Texas | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Voting in Fort Worth? Drop into the Amon Carter, see how campaigns worked in 1844

November 4, 2014

Election day art — well, this is campaign art, but part of that American tradition of highlighting the public nature of elections and campaigns.

Caption from the Dallas Morning News: James Henry Beard’s The Illustrious Guest, depicting Henry Clay on the campaign trail in 1844, is on loan to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

Caption from the Dallas Morning News: James Henry Beard’s The Illustrious Guest, depicting Henry Clay on the campaign trail in 1844, is on loan to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

Yes, there’s Henry Clay — maybe the man most-expected to become president who never did.  No, your high school history class probably didn’t cover Clay well, and most don’t today, either.  Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes may give him part of what he is due.

But there he is, campaigning in 1844, out on the road.  Actually, he’s at the hotel, reading a newspaper — and everyone else stares.  Some people bring their children to see the
Great Clay.

It was Clay’s third run at the presidency, at to be his last.  He ran on the Whig Party ticket, a party that would crash and burn within the decade, sinking from electoral politics forever.  (Millard Fillmore would be last Whig President, ascending from the vice presidency on the death of Zachary Taylor; Taylor was the last elected Whig President.) Clay was amply qualified on paper, and in the minds of most people, to be president.

Henry Clay, Sr. (April 12, 1777 – June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer, politician, and skilled orator who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives. He served three different terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives and was also Secretary of State from 1825 to 1829. He lost his campaigns for president in 1824, 1832 and 1844.

In 1824, he ran behind Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams. In what Jackson later called the Corrupt Bargain, when no candidate got a majority in the electoral college, and the election went to the House of Representatives (where each state gets one vote!), Clay pulled out, and let it be known that he favored Adams, who had run behind Jackson.  Adams was elected, and appointed Clay to be Secretary of State, the most common stepping stone to the presidency. (Was there a deal cut between Adams and Clay? No evidence can ever quash the suspicions of Jackson and his supporters.)

In 1832, older, wiser, from the Senate and as founder of the Whig Party, Clay ran and lost to Jackson, who won his second term.

In 1844 Clay was 67 years old.  The presidency was open.  Clay sought to walk the fence between groups who favored abolishing slavery, and groups who insisted slavery was necessary for the economy.  He opposed annexing new lands to the U.S., in order to preserve the balance between slave and non-slave states in Congress, especially the Senate.  James K. Polk, a young protege of Andrew Jackson, was chiefly unknown.  But Polk endorsed the idea of the nation’s “manifest destiny,” meaning he supporting annexing lands, sorting out slave/non-slave issues later.  Polk didn’t talk about his views on slavery in territories, and that was enough to mollify anti-slave forces in the party; but Polk was a slave holder, and that encouraged partisans on the other side to believe he’d favor them.  Polk won 49.5% of the popular vote, Clay 48.1%; Clay captured 170 electoral votes when 138 were needed to win.

Clay was, no doubt, more hopeful at the time the painting conveys.

Notice Clay seems to travel alone.  There is not gaggle of reporters, no clutch of campaign aides.  There is no one to fetch the great man a newspaper so he can remain cloistered in his hotel room. It was, in all ways, a much different time.  Voting in the election itself ran for a month, from early November to early December.  How that would have frustrated the television networks!

The painting, on loan to and on display in Fort Worth’s Amon Carter Museum, came to light due to an owner’s bringing it to the Antiques Road Show of PBS, in 2008.  Amon Carter’s curators, always alert to American art and art of the west, worked to get it on display.  That story is told nicely by University of Texas at Dallas art historian Rick Brettell in the Dallas Morning News.

The painting represents the well-dressed — note the red silk living of his top coat — Sen. Henry Clay from Kentucky in the middle of a common tavern during his final run for office. He is at a stop on the campaign trail — his luggage is piled up on the right — and is catching up on the news in front of a stove. The tavern itself is respectable, and one small child, representing the future, looks intently at Clay, while two women and another child peep in curiously from the door. The entire painting projects an air of democratic common sense.

The painting actually focuses on the class differences between Clay and his constituents and represents the great politician as being out of touch with “the American people” — lost in his paper. Clay was a member of the American party that was dominant in the early 19th century and was called the Democratic-Republican Party. He had become a Whig long before the 1844 election, which he lost to James Polk.

With his beautiful clothes and his disdain for those around him, he is as out of touch as many of today’s politicians with their wealthy backers and super-PACS. What we learn from this trenchant analysis of 19th-century politics is that history does repeat itself. Interestingly, Clay, as a slave owner, opposed the annexation of Texas to the republic, a major issue in the election of 1844, for fear that it would exacerbate the debate about slavery then raging in America. How right he was.

Had Clay won instead, would Texas be a part of the U.S. today? Something to ponder on election day 2014 — or to visit, if you’re voting in Fort Worth.

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Posted by Ed Darrell

Voter Lookup (yes, even this late)

November 4, 2014

You suddenly got the urge to vote, you know you’re registered . . . but you don’t know where to vote?

Here to help; put in your address below, you can find your polling place.

Two things:  First, I don’t see your information, and no one in WordPress keeps it.  So your address is safe with you.

Second, holler if it doesn’t work, or you find any other problems!

Thank you for voting!

Ben Sargent cartoon from the Austin, Texas American-Statesman.

Ben Sargent cartoon from the Austin, Texas American-Statesman. “Your vote is your voice.”

Leave a Comment » | Campaigns, Citizenship, Elections, GOTV - Get Out the Vote, Voting, Voting Rights Act | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Election day art of Norman Rockwell, and the unpredictability of elections

November 4, 2014

Can’t let election day go by without at least noting this great, undersung painting by Normal Rockwell, “Election Day (1944)”:

Norman Rockwell, Election Day, 1944, watercolor and gouache, 14 x 33 1/2 in., Museum purchase, Save-the-Art fund, 2007.037.1.

Norman Rockwell, Election Day, 1944, watercolor and gouache, 14 x 33 1/2 in., Museum purchase, Save-the-Art fund, 2007.037.1.

Remember when people used to dress up to go to the polls?

In 1944 President Franklin Roosevelt ran for an unprecedented fourth term.  Most Americans did not know it, but he was deathly ill at the time.  He dropped Vice President Henry Wallace from his ticket — some argue it was a mutual disaffection at that time — and selected the relatively unknown young Missouri U.S. Sen. Harry S Truman for the vice president’s slot.

In November 1944, D-Day was known to be a successful invasion, and most Americans hoped for a relatively speedy end to World War II in both Europe and the Pacific.  Within the next ten months, the nation would endure the last, futile, desperate and deadly gasp of the Third Reich in the Battle of the Bulge, the liberation of Berlin in April 1945, and end of the war in the European Theatre on May 8; the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Philippines Campaign, and the bloody, crippling battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the Pacific Theatre, and then the first use of atomic weapons in war, at Hiroshima and Nagasaki (and we hope, the last use).

Voters in Cedar Rapids could not have known that.  They did not know that, regardless their vote for FDR or his Republican challenger, New York Gov. Thomas Dewey, Harry S Truman would be president within six months, nor that the entire world would change in August 1945.

This painting captures a time of spectacular moment, great naivity, and it pictures the way history got made.

For a 2007 exhibition, the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art offered this history:

Norman Rockwell: Fact & Fiction

September 12, 2009 – January 3, 2010

In 2007, the citizens of Cedar Rapids rallied together to purchase a series of watercolors destined for the auction block in New York. These five watercolors, by acclaimed 20th century American artist Norman Rockwell, depicted scenes associated with an election day and were created specifically for the November 4, 1944 issue of the Saturday Evening Post. To complete the Post commission, Rockwell traveled to a quintessential Midwestern town, Cedar Rapids, to study local citizens as models for his series of images.

In the 65 years since his visit, numerous anecdotes and stories have arisen about the artist’s time in Cedar Rapids and the creation of this work. This exhibition uses these five, newly conserved and restored watercolors and a related oil painting from the Norman Rockwell Museum, along with numerous photographs taken by local photographer Wes Panek for Rockwell, to investigate the many facts and fictions associated with Rockwell’s visit and this set of watercolors.

Norman Rockwell: Fact & Fiction has been made possible in part by Rockwell Collins, Candace Wong, and local “Friends of Norman Rockwell.” General exhibition and educational support has been provided by The Momentum Fund of the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation.

Friends of Norman Rockwell: Wilma E. Shadle, Howard and Mary Ann Kucera, Jean Imoehl, Ben and Katie Blackstock, Marilyn Sippy, Chuck and Mary Ann Peters, Phyllis Barber, Ann Pickford, Anthony and Jo Satariano, Barbara A. Bloomhall, Virginia C. Rystrom, Jeff and Glenda Dixon, Robert F. & Janis L. Kazimour Charitable Lead Annuity Trust, Fred and Mary Horn, Mrs. Edna Lingo, John and Diana Robeson, Jewel M. Plumb, Carolyn Pigott Rosberg, Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Buchacek, Dan and Anne Pelc, Mary Brunkhorst, and John and Diana Robeson.

I am amused and intrigued that this scene also closely resembles the scene when I voted in Cheverly, Maryland, in 1984 — down to the dog in the picture.  Oh, and most of the women didn’t wear dresses, none wore hats, and I was the only guy in the room with a tie.

Roosevelt won the 1944 election in an electoral college landslide, 432 to 99, but Dewey won Iowa, and we might assume Dewey won Cedar Rapids, too.

And that Truman guy?  Rockwell came back to the topic of elections four years later, when Truman was running for election to the office he’d filled for nearly four years, with another classic, American election portrayal.

“Election Day,” by Norman Rockwell, 1948

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Yes, this is an encore post.

Yes, this is mostly an encore post.

2 Comments | Art, Citizenship, Elections, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, History, Voting, World War II | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Election Day 2014: Fly your flag, and VOTE!

November 4, 2014

Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri George Caleb Bingham (American, 1811–1879). The County Election, 1852. Oil on canvas. 38 x 52 in. (96.5 x 132.1 cm). Gift of Bank of America.

The County Election, 1852. Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri George Caleb Bingham (American, 1811–1879).  Oil on canvas. 38 x 52 in. (96.5 x 132.1 cm). Gift of Bank of America.

Every polling place should be flying the U.S. flag today.  You may fly yours, too.  In any case, if you have not voted already, go vote today as if our future depends upon it, as if our nation expects every voter to do her or his duty.

Today the nation and world listen to the most humble of citizens.  Speak up, at the ballot box.

Did you notice?  In George Caleb Bingham’s picture, there are no U.S. flags.  You may fly yours anyway.

The whole world is watching.

More:

Yes, this is an encore post.

Yes, this is an encore post. I really like Bingham’s painting.

1 Comment | Art, Citizenship, Civil Rights, Democracy, Democracy in action, Elections, History, History and art, History images, Museums, Politics, Voting Rights Act | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Milky Way at Philmont National Scout Ranch

November 2, 2014

The Tooth of Time is visible in the lower right corner. We have a Canon 5D Mark II with a 16-35 2.8 lens. The exposure was 30 seconds. Bryan Hayek took the photo.

Philmont caption: A view of the Philmont sky this weekend! The Tooth of Time is visible in the lower right corner. We have a Canon 5D Mark II with a 16-35 2.8 lens. The exposure was 30 seconds. Bryan Hayek took the photo.

Milky Way viewed from the National Scout Ranch at Philmont, New Mexico.

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Posted by Ed Darrell

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