Honoring Millard Fillmore (press release)

January 13, 2025

[This is a press release from the New York Air National Guard.]

NEWS | Jan. 8, 2025

New York Air Guard Wing Marks Ex-President Fillmore’s Birthday

By Capt. Jason Carr, 107th Attack Wing

BUFFALO, N.Y.- The New York Air Guard’s 107th Attack Wing honored Millard Fillmore, the nation’s 13th president, as the wing’s mission support group commander laid a wreath at his grave Jan. 7.

Lt. Col. William Gourlay placed a wreath from President Joe Biden at Fillmore’s grave in Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Since 1967, when Lyndon B. Johnson was president, military officers have maintained the tradition of placing a wreath sent by the current occupant of the White House at the graves of former presidents on their birthdays.

“I love Buffalo history, and it was my honor to make the wreath presentation on behalf of the White House and our nation,” Gourlay said.

The 107th Attack Wing is based at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station.

Descendants of Fillmore, who served from 1850 to 1853, members of the Buffalo Presidential Center, and local American Legion members looked on as Gourlay presented the wreath.

Fillmore had a profound, positive impact on the Buffalo community, and Forest Lawn continues to help commemorate his legacy, according to Julie Snyder, chief executive officer of Forest Lawn Cemetery.

“We are honored to receive the wreath every year and keep it here for the community to pay their respects and honor him this time every year,” Snyder said. “We’re very honored to be one of the 40 cemeteries across the country to have a home for a past president.”

New York National Guard officers also present wreaths at the graves of presidents Martin Van Buren, buried in the Hudson Valley village of Kinderhook, and Chester Arthur, buried in the Albany suburb of Menands.

Buffalo’s Forest Lawn Cemetery was established in 1849 and has over 175,000 burials.

Fillmore was born in Summerhill, New York, in 1800. He became a lawyer in 1823 and served as a member of Congress and then the comptroller of New York State. He was elected vice president in 1848 when Zachary Taylor ran for president. 

When Taylor died in 1850, Fillmore assumed the presidency. He was the last member of the Whig party to serve as president, and while many Whigs joined the new anti-slavery Republican Party, he refused to do so and ran for president in 1856 as the candidate of the Know Nothing Party.

As president, he backed the compromise of 1850 that admitted California to the union as a free state and banned the sale of enslaved people in the District of Columbia but also required federal officials to assist in catching runaway slaves.

The Fugitive Slave Act was deeply unpopular in the North and hurt Fillmore politically in his home state. He died of a stroke in 1874.

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Posted by Ed Darrell

January 28 – Happy birthday, William McKinley

January 29, 2018

William McKinley photographed between 1873 and 1890, by Washington, D.C. photographer C. M. Bell. McKinley served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio, 1876 to 1891; this was probably taken close to the start of his time in Congress. Library of Congress image.

William McKinley photographed between 1873 and 1890, by Washington, D.C. photographer C. M. Bell. McKinley served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio, 1876 to 1891; this was probably taken close to the start of his time in Congress. Library of Congress image.

President William McKinley, 25th President of the United States, served from March 4, 1897 until his assassination in September 1901, six months into his second term. McKinley was born on January 29, 1843, in Niles, Ohio. McKinley would have been 175 years old today, and probably very cranky. 

President during the Spanish-American War of 1898, in which the U.S. took Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam from Spain, and presiding over the annexation of Hawaii in 1898, McKinley is best known for being the third president to die from assassination, in 1901. He was succeeded by his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt.

This photo, published in 1902 after McKinley's death, was probably taken during the campaign of 1900. Library of Congress caption:

This photo, published in 1902 after McKinley’s death, was probably taken during the campaign of 1900. Library of Congress caption: “Photograph shows William McKinley, standing on platform, between Gov. Jos. E. Johnston and Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee, Alabama.”

Frequently overlooked as a non-entity as president, historians in the past 20 years tend to upgrade their judgments of McKinley’s political acumen and achievements as president.

More:

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Posted by Ed Darrell

Happy birthday, Kathryn!

July 4, 2009

Fireworks in Texas - supposedly in Addison, but I cant figure where

Fireworks in Texas - supposedly in Addison, but I can't figure where

I used to tell the kids their mother was so beloved that the town set off fireworks every year on her birthday.  They probably didn’t believe the cause, but the town did, indeed, set off fireworks on her birthday.  I don’t always do the best planning, but at least I don’t ever forget Kathryn’s birthday — I cannot forget it.

We saw a lot of great displays on the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C., and a fantastic show one year out on the water in Baltimore’s harbor, right over Fort McHenry where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write his now-famous poem.  One year with brother Wes and his wife, Momie, we watched bluebirds all day, and then stayed for the fireworks at the Yorktown Battlefield, where Cornwallis was cut off by George Washington and the Continental Army with a grand assist from the French fleet.

We’ve seen great shows in Dallas, a bunch of shows in Duncanville, Texas, and Ogden, Utah, and we saw a part of a show in Addison, Texas, before the rain and wind shut it down (no, I can’t figure out where that photo came from, either) — and that doesn’t count all those shows before we met.  New York City, Hyde Park, from the parking lot of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Salt Lake City, overlooking Liberty Park, Derks Field, and a dozen other displays across the valley; from Wahkara Ridge, high up in Payson Canyon, catching the displays from Payson, Springville, Spanish Fork and Provo, Utah; and right there in Cougar Stadium in Provo.  Ohio, Michigan, Idaho, upper New York State, and probably a few other places we’ve forgotten about.  Great fireworks displays every one.

Last year we camped at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Utah on the Fourth of July — no gunpowder fireworks, just the Milky Way and the most spectacular stars you can imagine, perched on 80-foot sand dunes where voices carried 150 yards with no shouting.  The decision not to drive back into Kanab for their show was a good idea.

This year?  Heck, we’ve already had some fireworks — Kathryn’s mother made a quick trip to an emergency room Friday, and we’ve had to rejuggle the dinner arrangements just a bit for tomorrow.  But the knockwursts and bratwursts from Kuby’s are in the refrigerator; the potato salad’s halfway done.  The beans will cook up most of the morning.  The flags will wave from their new poles.

The kids are home.  Buddy the border setter has his sedatives, so maybe the illegal fireworks around the neighborhood won’t make him a total wreck; and we can choose between a Grucci show at the Cotton Bowl or the local fireworks two miles away — or maybe the fireworks at the U.S. Capitol again, this time on PBS, with a glass of champagne.

The nation may not be setting off all those fireworks just for you, Kathryn, but they should be — and the coincidence can’t be explained except by divine intervention, eh?  Happy birthday, sweetie!

6 Comments | Family, History, Holidays, Point of personal privilege | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Happy birthday, Orrin Hatch

March 22, 2009

Dear Orrin,

We know how old you are really, but we won’t divulge.

U.S. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah

U.S. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah

When we were campaigning in 1976, I don’t think anyone thought you’d be there in 2009, still.  Sen. Reed Smoot served Utah for one day shy of 30 years.  No one else from Utah has come close to your 32 years of service, and it will be a long time before any other challenges your longevity.

Not bad for the first office you ever got elected to.

Kathryn and I wish you all the best on your birthday.

And we’ll be pleased to set  you straight any time you want.

Sincerely,

Ed

Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Campaigns, Elections, Government, History, Personal, Politics, U.S. Senate, Utah | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Happy Birthday, Kathryn!

July 4, 2008


Je t’aime a la folies!

Image from Sotirov

1 Comment | Family, Personal | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell