Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima – Uncommon Valor Was A Common Virtue

Today marks the anniversary of the flag raising on Iwo Jima. Here is a clip from a World War II documentary showing video of the soldiers raising the flag. At the time, the photographer didn’t know he was capturing an image that would become so symbolic of the war itself. Sadly, he was tragically killed later that same day.

We take for granted that we can see images of men and women in uniform fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan on our evening news as part of a 24 hour news cycle. During World War II, most images of the war were relayed in newspapers or newsreels.

After the battle of Iwo Jima, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN said, “The battle of Iwo Jima has been won.  Among the Americans who served on Iwo, uncommon valor was a common virtue.” Surely this is true of those who carry on the tradition and responsibility of military service today. Thank you to all the men and women who serve our country.

[Image via Sligocameraclub]

USA! USA! USA! Do You Believe in Miracles?

Today marks the 30^th anniversary of Team USA’s miraculous victory over Russia at the 1980 Winter Olympics. The 1980 US Men’s Hockey Team was made up of collegiate and amateur players when they played the Soviet Union on February 22, 1980. At the time, the Soviet Union team was considered the best hockey team in the world. Facing incredible odds, the US won the game 4-3. Most people incorrectly assume that they won the gold medal as a result of this game. The Olympic hockey tournament was set up as a round robin at the time, not a single elimination tournament like today. After beating the Soviet Union, the US had to beat Finland in order to win the gold, which they did with a score of 4-2.

Here is a clip showing the final seconds of the famous US-Soviet Union match. Do you believe in Miracles?

After last night’s US win over Canada, do you think the USA can bring home the gold in men’s hockey this year?

[Image via Murdoconline]

Building a Bridge - Nixon in China

From February 21-28, 1972, President Richard Nixon visited China to begin a process of normalizing diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. The two nations had been foes since the end of World War II, when the United States started to create distance between itself and communist nations. American politicians feared the spread of communism across Europe and Asia. Many campaigned on the promise to stop this spread and to eliminate any cooperation between the United States and communist countries.  A young Richard Nixon was one such politician, who became Eisenhower’s vice-presidential nominee in 1952 on a strong anti-communist stance. This background makes Nixon’s visit to China in 1972 all the more remarkable.

            Nixon became the first sitting president to visit China. During his trip, Nixon visited Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai, and was initially greeted by Chairman Mao himself. Supposedly, Mao’s first words to Nixon were “Our common old friend, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, doesn’t approve of this.”  The United States had previously backed Chiang Kai-Shek’s Chinese government then exiled in Taiwan in the civil struggle between Chiang Kai-Shek’s government and Chairman Mao’s People’s Republic of China. Nixon’s visit marked a shift in this thinking, as the United States planned to back out and let the Chinese settle the dispute themselves.

            The most quoted antic dote from Nixon’s visit has little to do with the substance of Nixon’s meetings with Chinese officials and more to do with Nixon’s sight seeing. When Nixon stood before the Great Wall of China he said, “this truly is a great wall.”

            At the end of his historic visit to China, President Nixon offered his own views on the importance of the visit and its implications for future US-China relations:

This was the week that changed the world, as what we have said in that Communique is not nearly as important as what we will do in the years ahead to build a bridge across 16,000 miles and 22 years of hostilities which have divided us in the past. And what we have said today is that we shall build that bridge.

Nixon’s visit to China has been written about in scores of books, but here is an example of a different interpretation. Here is a clip from an opera entitled “Nixon in China” by American composer John Adams.

           

[Images via Cbertel and Northwestern]

Let Presidents’ Week Continue! - Interesting Talk on Lessons We Can Learn From Past Presidents

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to ideas worth spreading. It initially started as a yearly conference that brought together people from the worlds of technology, entertainment and design to share ideas. Since then, it has grown in scope and breadth. In 2008, Doris Kearns Goodwin attended a TED conference to speak about what we all might learn from the lessons of past presidents. Here is her talk in its entirety:

[Image via nzedge] 

Happy Presidents’ Day!

The history of Presidents’ Day goes back to 1880, when Washington’s Birthday, February 22^nd, was celebrated as a federal holiday within the District of Columbia. Washington Day was the first holiday created to honor an American in United States history. The holiday spread to all federal offices nationwide in 1885. On January 1, 1971, the holiday shifted from February 22^nd to the third Monday in February by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. This made the “Washington’s Birthday” holiday somewhat of a fraud as it was no longer celebrated on Washington’s actual birthday. Attempts to officially change the name of the holiday to “Presidents’ Day” initially stalled, but after advertisers began to recognize the day as “Presidents’ Day,” most states followed suit. The day shifted from a holiday in which Americans might pay tribute to Washington, to a day that pays tribute to the presidency itself. Most states interpret the holiday to honor two of our greatest presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, as their birthdays both fall in February (Lincoln’s birthday is February 12^th).

            Interestingly, because the states have been left to acknowledge the holiday in their own way, it is celebrated differently across the country. For example, Alabama honors both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson on Presidents’s Day (even though Jefferson’s birthday is in April). Massachusetts also honors other presidents besides Washington, namely those with ties to the state including John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Calvin Coolidge and John F. Kennedy. In New Jersey, Illinois, Missouri and Connecticut, Lincoln’s birthday is still celebrated as a state holiday in addition to the federal holiday of Washington’s birthday.

            We might just think of Presidents’ Day as a day off of work or school (if you’re lucky), however, it really is a day to honor the presidency and all those in public service. To that end, here are some recipes to help you celebrate. I may attempt the Lincoln log, and I’ll get back to you on how that goes…

            Until then….Happy Presidents’ Day!

            To learn more about our nation’s presidents, visit the White House’s presidential database.

           

Lincoln Log Cake

1/2 c. flour

¼ c. unflavored cocoa powder

1 tsp. salt

4 eggs, room temperature

¾ c/ sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

Whipped cream

Mix eggs, sugar and vanilla. Beat at high speed until thick and light; approximately 10 minutes. Fold in dry ingredients. Bake in a 15 x 10 inch jelly roll pan lined with wax paper and greased at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and loosen sides of pan.

Turn out onto clean towel sprinkled with confectioners' sugar. Peel off wax paper - trim edges and cool 5 minutes. Roll up cake in towel for at least 1 hour. Unroll and spread with whipped cream. Roll up again. Place on serving dish. Frost with chocolate frosting. Run tines of fork length of log for bark effect. Cut in crosswise slices.

           

George Washington Recipe

Cherry Thumbprint Cookies

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 sticks butter or margarine

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

maraschino cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the vanilla, butter, egg yolks and brown sugar until creamy. Add the flour and salt and mix well.

Have the children roll the dough into 1" balls and place them on greased cookie sheets. Have the children make a thumbprint in each ball and then place a maraschino cherry in each thumbprint. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. (Makes about 3 dozen cookies)

[Image via Presidentsresort]

Latest Abe Lincoln Biographer? Bill O'Reilly

As we approach President's Day, a controversial newscaster announced that he plans to add to the long list of books that have already been written on one of our most famous presidents, Abraham Lincoln. 


Fox News host and best-selling author Bill O'Reilly is working on "Killing Lincoln," a history book that will take readers "into Ford's Theater and into the mind of Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth," according to a statement from Henry Holt and Company.

For more information, go to the msn release.

What do you think of Bill O’Reilly as the next Lincoln biographer?

[Image via insidesocial]

Haunting Images of 9/11 Released

Today, the NY Times website posted images of the World Trade Towers as they collapsed during the 9/11 attacks. These images are beyond haunting and show the size of the dust cloud that shrouded the city as the towers fell. The images were taken by the NYPD aviation unit, the only group allowed to fly within the city’s airspace after the attacks. ABC and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (who investigated the collapse) filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain copies of the photos. The curator of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum hopes to obtain more of the photos taken by the police  as he believes they are “absolutely core to understanding the visual phenomena of what was happening.”

 View the article that accompanied the photos here.