On this day 82 years ago in 1943 my dad, John F. Maney, was inducted into the army at the age of 20 (the tree in this picture under which dad sat is outside a house in Uffculme England that was used as battalion HQ. I have a picture of that tree 40 years later when dad and I visited in June 1984). A week later he left on a train from Van Wert, OH for Camp Perry on Lake Erie. What a way to start the decade of your 20s.
Today is the 293rd anniversary of George Washington’s birthday. Happy birthday, Mr. President! To our great detriment, Americans are forgetting about our first president. This is sad, in part, because without him, there would not likely be the USA that we know today. Let us hope and pray the woke crowd does not succeed in wiping his name and memory out. That would be a horrible tragedy and injustice for our nation. Do yourself a favor and learn about this extraordinary man with whom God blessed this country.
To the world’s amazement, Washington had prevailed over the more numerous, better supplied, and fully trained British army, mainly because he was more flexible than his opponents. He learned that it was more important to keep his army intact and to win an occasional victory to rally public support than it was to hold American cities or defeat the British army in an open field. Over the last 200 years revolutionary leaders in every part of the world have employed this insight, but never with a result as startling as Washington’s victory over the British.
On December 23, 1783, Washington presented himself before Congress in Annapolis, Maryland, and resigned his commission. Like Cincinnatus, the hero of Classical antiquity whose conduct he most admired, Washington had the wisdom to give up power when he could have been easily become dictator. He left Annapolis and went home to Mount Vernon with the fixed intention of never again serving in public life. This one act, without precedent in modern history, made him an international hero.
In the years after the Revolutionary War, Washington devoted most of his time to rebuilding Mount Vernon, which had suffered in his absence. He experimented with new crops and fertilizers and bred some of the finest mules in the nation. He also served as president of the Potomac Company, which worked to improve the navigation of the river in order to make it easier for upstream farmers to get their produce to market.
Read it all or pick up this book and really get to know the Father of our Country.
From Fox News. Check it out and celebrate our great country and its greatest presidents!
While the political divide in our country may seem as intense as ever, some of the nation’s greatest presidents in history have shared important advice about unity and patriotism that has resonated throughout time — and does to this day.
As we celebrate Presidents Day this year on Feb. 20, 2023, their advice and words of wisdom are worth another look.
Notable commanders-in-chief like Revolutionary War hero and first President Washington conveyed the importance of pride in the country and freedom of speech on America’s foundation.
Washington’s Birthday was celebrated on February 22nd until well into the 20th Century. However, in 1968 Congress passed the Monday Holiday Law to “provide uniform annual observances of certain legal public holidays on Mondays.” By creating more 3-day weekends, Congress hoped to “bring substantial benefits to both the spiritual and economic life of the Nation.”
One of the provisions of this act changed the observance of Washington’s Birthday from February 22nd to the third Monday in February. Ironically, this guaranteed that the holiday would never be celebrated on Washington’s actual birthday, as the third Monday in February cannot fall any later than February 21.
I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father’s child has.
—Abraham Lincoln, Quotations of Abraham Lincoln
I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice; and have received a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to it.
—Abraham Lincoln, Quotations of Abraham Lincoln
When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted.
—Abraham Lincoln, Quotations of Abraham Lincoln
In regard to this Great Book [the Bible], I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book.
—Abraham Lincoln, Quotations of Abraham Lincoln
I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women; but I must say that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during this war. God bless the women of America!
—Abraham Lincoln, Quotations of Abraham Lincoln
I have stepped out upon this platform that I may see you and that you may see me, and in the arrangement, I have the best of the bargain.
—Abraham Lincoln, Quotations of Abraham Lincoln
Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.
—Abraham Lincoln, Quotations of Abraham Lincoln
