The Campaign Promise... broken?

Presidential candidates who have never held the office love to promise the world to the people of the United States. They promise an open administration that will work for the people and listen to the people. They typically promise to be a peoples President then it seems once they get into the office, the doors close and few of those promises are upheld. Proof can be seen in the Obama administration. No matter what your feelings on the President the reality is he promised transparency in his administration and we've seen little of that over the last four years. It seems that this problem and others have been going on with Presidents for the last two hundred years. 


I came across this editorial from the New York Evening Post, dated February 2, 1808. It was the final year of Thomas Jefferson's administration and it seemed in some circles people were angry over  some empty promises he had made before he became President. The editorial reads as follows:

"The eight years of Mr. Jeffersons administration are about to expire. He came to the presidency, by affecting to rely upon the intelligence of the people. He endeavours to retain their good opinion, by keeping then in darkness! He affected to wish for what his friend Tom Paine would call an age of reason—political reason, and he demands a blind confidence! Unable to justify his measures, he asks of the nation to be governed by an implicit faith in the propriety of an Act, which ruins many, and distresses all! "A republican government should have no secrets," was once his doctrine. The people shall know nothing is now his practice. The miserable wretch who is led to the gibbet is permitted to know his crime—but the nation is to be led hoodwinked to its destruction. When the sufferers—the unhappy victims ask, and it is impossible for them to avoid asking, why is this vial of wrath poured upon us, "He is a Tory—under British influence"—"settle your accounts and be ruined" is the reply. Yes, it requires all the confidence—all the faith, of which a stupid party bigotry is capable to approve of this terrible desolation.—The justification of this dreadful butchery of the political body, requires indeed the sacrifice of all the pride, and all the liberty, and all the good sense of the nation."

It's clear this individual felt Jefferson failed as a transparent President. So the question is did Jefferson break his campaign promises? Joseph Ellis, Pulitzer-Prize winning historian, agreed. In an op-ed piece in the LA Times (2008) he stated that the first broken campaign promise started with Jefferson in 1800 with his promise to reduce federal power and then turned around and purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803. This move by most all historians is seen as a direct and blatant violation of his promise to reduce executive power and place more control in the hands of the states. In purchasing "an empire" Ellis stated that Jefferson had to "become an imperial president." From Ellis' analysis he was able to determine that two Presidents backed up what they claimed, the first being George Washington and the second was the unlikely James K Polk. 


As Ellis stated on NPR, as far as most historians are concerned, Polk is one of the better Presidents this country ever had. I can back up Ellis' claim because Polk is in my top ten Presidents of all time. He campaigned on four promises: 1) Reestablishment of Treasury, 2) Reduce Tariffs, 3) Acquire Oregon Territory, 4) Acquire California and New Mexico. Not only did Polk accomplish these very specific goals but he did not even seek a second term as President. He told the nation that he accomplished what he set out to do and was done. 


So with such a small percentage of Presidents that actually accomplish what they claim they are going to do, what should we honestly expect from our Presidential candidates? It seems like based on history, not much. So as the Presidential candidates appear on television and in newspapers take their claims of what they will do with a grain of salt, it's more than likely they are not going to do it. 


http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1904
http://www.npr.org/blogs/talk/2008/01/campaign_promises_promises.html
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/02/news/OE-ELLIS2

Amelia Earhart's Final Days...?

Amelia Earhart was an aviation pioneer and the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Earhart earned her way as a faculty member of Purdue University in their aviation department in 1935. Her popularity was at a peak by this point due to her connection with Charles Lindbergh. Her celebrity status helped finance many of her aviation adventures back in the 1920s. While at Purdue University she was tasked with counselling women careers options as well as a technical advisor to the Department of Aeronautics. Working at Purdue paid off because their generous donation of a Lockheed airplane allowed Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan to attempt to circumnavigate the globe. The attempt started in Miami, Florida on June 1, 1937, from there she and her navigator travelled east and landed in places such as: South America, Africa, Indian, Southeast Asia, and finally landing in New Guinea where the last leg of the flight was to take place across the Pacific. Somewhere over the Pacific however through broken radio communication it seems the plane ran out of gas and crashed, never to be seen or heard from again.

Speculation on the whereabouts of the flight have been searched by people for years. Recently an expedition was made by Ric Gillespie and the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery. There findings took them back to Nikumaroro, a remote uninhabited island in the southwestern Pacific. A discovery in 1940 of a partial skeleton that seemed to fit description of Earhart was found there but later lost. This group has been making visits to the island since 1989 and have uncovered numerous artifacts indicating a castaway presence on the island including female products. The group is hoping that DNA evidence will lead them to realize that Amelia Earhart was indeed a castaway on this island for days if not months before she died.

http://news.discovery.com/adventure/amelia-earhart-island-artifacts.html 

Celebrating a Legendary Film - The Godfather

Few films in history have been revered so much as The Godfather. Most people can easily associated quotes such as: "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse" and "Leave the gun, take the cannoli." Even after forty years The Godfather is considered one of the best movies of all time and the "Holy Grail" of movie making. So many films over the last 40 years have aspired to reach the greatness that is The Godfather. It is strange to think about the classic characters and quotes that come from that movie and how different it could have been. Did you know that the studio was originally pushing for Ernest Borgnine to play the role of Don Vito Corleone, a role which Marlon Brando has immortalized in movie making history. There were some other high profile names that auditioned for the various roles in the movie but did not make the cut: Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, Sylvester Stallone, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Martin Sheen, and Steve McQueen. What an incredibly different film it would have been with any of these individuals in the various roles. When the movie was released on March 15, 1972 critics all over the world praised the film. Even today most critics place The Godfather in the top five to ten of best movies of all time. I know for me it is a great movie and is an important movie in film making history that can not go overlooked.

Controversy or Not?

So at the Gettysburg Military Park gift shop they decided after only one week that it was not a good idea to sell bobble heads with the likeness of John Wilkes Booth. Despite the fact that the bobble heads were selling like hot cakes they apparently got enough complaints from visitors that forced the organization to halt sales of the item. My real question for everyone out there is if this is truly a controversy or not? Are we actually that offended by the individual who shot a President of the United States that we can not have a likeness of him in bobble head form? Frankly I personally would not want to idealize such an individual but I would never put myself in a position to say an individual couldn't buy it. Regardless how you feel I thought it was an interesting story.

Preserving History in Massachusetts

I love the story behind this and being that I rarely give an opinion on here, I think I will this time. I wholeheartedly support the town in upholding this will. In 1661, a resident of Ipswich, Massachusetts, William Payne, willed 35 pristine acres along the shore, stating it should be for the benefit of the public school children and never be sold or wasted. This will spurred tenants to build 167 cottages along the 35-acres which generated nearly $2.4 million for the public schools over the previous 25 years. Now the trustees of the will are looking to destroy it and sell the cottages to the tenants in order to settle a lawsuit by the residents for rent increases. However, and thankfully, hundreds of residents have step up to fight this decision, saying it will break the will's intent and hurt the funds for the public school system. Many opponents of the settlements consider the trustees incompetent for having mismanaged the property for so long and having gotten the property in this mess in the first place. It seems like a tough spot that the property has been put in and it might be tough for them to get out of but bottom line is I hope they create a solution that will keep the property intact and maintaining the integrity of William Payne's will.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fate-of-351-year-old-will-sparks-bitter-dispute-between-trustees-residents-in-mass-city/2012/02/24/gIQAf62TYR_story.html