That Man

It does not matter when a book was written. If you have not read it then when you do the contents will nourish, enlighten and entertain.  Such is the case with That Man, a memoir written in the early 1950s by Robert H. Jackson, one of the giants of the Franklin D. Roosevelt era. Jackson was an intimate of Roosevelt (they vacationed and fished together) and served as Solicitor General, Attorney General, Supreme Court Justice and America’s chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of the top Nazis after World War II.

Jackson’s suffered a major heart attack in March 1954, and was hospitalized. In May, he went directly from the hospital to the Supreme Court where he joined the other eight justices in the unanimous decision in Brown vs. Board of Education, declaring school segregation to be unconstitutional. He died in October 1954. He had been at work on the memoir prior to his major heart attack.

That Man was an epithet used by Roosevelt haters in the thirties and early forties who could not bring themselves to even speak his name. But by the mid-forties when Roosevelt ran successfully for a fourth term it was obvious he had won the argument as to his worth.

After his death the manuscript came into the hands of Jackson’s son, William, and when he died in 1999, the family found it a closet and later turned it over to John Q, Barrett, a law professor at St. John’s University in New York, who was at work on a biography of Justice Jackson.

Jackson wrote about FDR as he knew and observed him. The manuscript is anecdotal, not researched in great detail. Think sitting around with the family and telling stories about a favorite member who has died.

Reading in short spells over a period days I reflected on my feelings about FDR, and how they changed in three phases over my lifetime. Growing up damn poor during the depression I thought highly of the President and what he did to help us.  Later I listened to his critics and thought maybe he, after all, was a socialist.  He raised taxes, regulated businesses and gave us several social programs which exist to this day. During the second half of the 20^th Century being a socialist was only one step from being a communist.  As the century came to an end and I had read more and more history and biographies I thought FDR a remarkable man for the times.

Maybe someone could have been a better leader and President, but no one else was able to capture the job and so we will never know. We are stuck with our history and when you consider how the other three giants of the age, Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini, ruined their respective countries, That Man was a great man.This memoir enhances that view.

Oh, yes, there was one totally new - to me - tidbit. FDR and Eleanor were married on St. Patrick’s Day in 1905. Joyce and I were married on St. Patrick’s Day in 2013. 

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My visit to Normandy

In 2012, I visited France and Germany. The main purpose in visiting France was to go to Normandy where D-Day had taken place almost 70 years earlier. For many years I wanted to show a sign of respect to the the fighting men who sacrificed everything for us on that fateful day in history. These are some pictures from that visit. The American Cemetery and Memorial is a World War II cemetery and memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, that honors American troops. It is slightly East of what in June 1944 was known as Omaha Beach.

Directional sign, simple and understated.

In the Memorial, one of the remembrances of the men who came and fought.

Carved in stone for generations to remember.

The Pointe Du Hoc. Germans on top fired down on American Rangers.

Final resting place for 9,387Americans.

Having a bad week

Here is a woman having a bad week. On Tuesday, Dr. Annette Bosworth got about six percent of the vote in the South Dakota (that's where Custer got it) Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. On Wednesday she was arrested and charged with six counts each of perjury and filing false election documents. She claimed to be gathering voter signatures when she actually was out of the country in the Philippines on a Christian mission trip, according to state authorities. Lighten up South Dakota, it is not like she was doing a pole dance in Vegas.

(Complete blog here.)

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The most significant date of the 20th Century

Seventy years ago this week I was a 7^th grade student at St. Patrick’s Boys School in the Acre section of Lowell, Massachusetts. Shortly after arriving at school on June 6th, we were all marched over to the adjoining St. Patrick's church by the Xaverian Brothers who taught us, and where we joined the girls and the teaching sisters from the Girl’s School. We were all on our knees in the pews Our aging pastor, Father Meehan, kneeling at the foot of the altar in the lower church, led us in prayer for the success of the invasion of Europe. When the prayers were concluded, Father Meehan declared a school holiday. Naturally we were all thrilled, even if we – middle school students - didn’t really understand the significance of what was happening more than 3000 miles across the ocean.

Today some South Carolina and other veterans of WWII and the invasion are visiting in France where the invasion took place on June 6, 1944. Most of these men are in their 80s and 90s. Sadly, most will not be around in another 10 years. They will be joined on Friday by President Obama, Queen Elizabeth, and Russian President Putin.

For them and for us and for history so no one will forget, Time, Inc. has published a memento volume of pictures and commentary. The pictures are from LIFE magazine, and many were originally printed within days of being taken on the battlefield. These and the accompanying text are stark reminders of how courageous the invasion was. This was a plan that had no alternatives. If the allies were unable to gain a foothold and begin the march on Germany, today’s world would be a much different place. All of this is laid out in “D-Day: 70 Years Later.”

It is impossible to express what we and the world owes those courageous, fighting men and women who invaded Europe in unquestionably the most significant date of the 20^th Century. Just be glad in your heart they succeeded.

(Complete blog here.) 

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Coligny Beach

Snapshots from a visit to Coligny Beach, a popular Hilton Head Island destination:

(Click on pictures to increase size.

At public entrance.

On duty.

Enjoying each other and the water.

Soaking up some rays.

Good crowd on a Tuesday morning.

 A lot of sunscreen required here.

Some sweet music

We came away from the Farmers' Market at Shelter Cove on Hilton Head Island last night (Tuesday, May 20, 2014) having experienced a couple of treats and a disappointment that it was not really a "farmers' market." Only one stand offered fresh vegetables and these came from the market in Columbia more than a 100 miles away. I had a pulled pork sandwich - rate it as good. Now for  the treats. My dessert was frozen key lime pie covered in chocolate on a stick. Outstanding.
While we - me and Joyce - were walking around and eating we listened to L.J. Bush (info@bushwackdLIVE.com) who played music we and others enjoyed. His melodies were soft and his words we understood. Truly a refreshing sound from that frequently heard out in outdoor venues.

Alligators and the black squirrel

This afternoon Joyce and I took a ride in a golf cart to the 11th hole on the North course here at Moss Creek and counted 11 baby alligators in a ditch nearby. The momma and the papa were nowhere in sight. These babies, currently about 30" long,  will - if they live - grow to about five feet in length. At that time Moss Creek management will have to decide what to do with them.
One day this past week some of these gators were on the fairway as golfers played through.  These are the first gators I have seen since moving to Moss Creek in March 2013, although friends have reported many earlier sightings. These two are the cover picture on my album.

 On the way home we stopped to look for a larger gator but he would not surface. It was quite hot and probably he stayed under water to keep cool. As we were about to get into the cart we saw this black squirrel.  These are uncommon in this area. At one point I took a head on camera shot and said "turn for your profile." We laughed as he did exactly that. I do not pretend to converse with squirrels.

Complete blog here.

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Loving the daily newpaper

Letter to the Editor

The Island Packet

 Hilton Head SC

(Published May 8, 2014)

 

The people in this community must really love the daily newspaper.

Every day, it seems, someone provides grist for front-page stories that usually carry over to inside pages. There is always a fresh murder, rape, child molestation, robbery, car theft, or drug offense involving heroin, cocaine or marijuana. On slow days, there are reports of horrific traffic accidents and thefts from charities, businesses or government offices.

And when things really slow down, local government steps up and brings us fresh courtroom dramas involving all of the foregoing.

There is hardly any room in the daily morning paper for the shenanigans of the White House and the Congress, especially the latter.

Francis X. Archibald

Moss Creek

My walk - in free verse

I went up Wax Myrtle Lane

At Cat Brier Drive I went right

An instant decision

Usually I go left.

A car came toward me

One step off the edge of the road

Onto the grass

Until it passed.

Then a waste haul truck

Came along

Again, I stood on the grass

Until it passed.

Two women did I encounter

Walking in the opposite direction

One talking on a cellphone

The other being ignored

We passed without exchanging greetings.

Onto Timber Lane

And through Stablegate community

A man and his dog

A plastic glove on hand

To clean up after the dog.

Rat-a-tat-tat, I heard

And, again, a second volley

I stopped and looked

But could not see the woodpecker.

The day was cool

The sky was clear

I turned left on Moss Creek drive

And left on Cat Brier

And right on Wax Myrtle Lane

I was home

My daily walk was over.

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Joyous Greetings at Easter 2014

Joyous greetings to all in this new Easter season. It is a time for reflecting on all the good and many years we have enjoyed in the company of each other and with friends gone on. For renewing our camaraderie with family and friends, many of whom we do not see every day but carry in our hearts. And, last but not least, for giving thanks to a forgiving and blessing God our Father, and for all those who are near and dear to us. We are truly blessed. We live in a great country surrounded by mostly good people. We have taken advantage of great opportunities. It doesn't get any better than this.

New growth symbolizes the new Easter season.

A child's retirement says you are old!

At dinner on March 17, 2014, the first anniversary of my marriage to Joyce, I told her, two of my sons and a daughter and daughter-in-law, that I was experiencing signs of getting old: Walking has slowed down, I've given up bike riding, hearing is less than what it used to be, and a few other things (best left un-described) are a bit slow in responding. “But what really makes me feel old,” I said, “is having a child retire.”

A retirement ceremony, scheduled at the CIA where my second son, James, an attorney, had completed 27 years of service in various legal positions, had been cancelled because snow shut down the entire federal government in Washington, D.C., on St. Patrick’s Day. Talk about the luck of the Irish. We had the retirement dinner anyway and told James how much we loved him and how proud we were of his service to our country (in addition to an earlier four years as an officer in the USAF.) Three of the agency's leaders passed along laudatory comments about James and his service. I only wish we could have heard them in person.

My wife and I drove to Washington from Hilton Head, S.C., and the trip was uneventful until we got about 90 miles south of the nation’s capital where, for no explicable reason other than density, traffic slowed down to a crawl. We beat the snow, however, but it started to come down and stick on the ground around 7 p.m. on March 16. 

The most notable event of the return trip heading south on March 18, was passing a multiple vehicle accident in the north bound lanes. It looked like a car had been on fire. As we came up on the scene, there were too many vehicles (cars, 18 wheelers, and emergency vehicles) stopped and jammed together to figure out what happened. Not being involved and unable to assist we kept on going. Joyce was at the wheel and measured the traffic back up as stretching two miles from the accident site. It was less than a stellar day for a lot of people.

Our car (BMW) on the left.

One year married and already out in the cold (LOL)

Birds puffing out their chests to keep warm

The retiree with his shovel and friend.

 

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U Pick

About six or seven miles from our home, five acres of daffodils stretched out before us. And this was only one field. A second field is nearby. On a sunny Sunday afternoon we turned off U.S. Highway 278 in Bluffton, SC, and traveled on a paved secondary road and then a well maintained unpaved road to what had been for years a dairy farm. "I milked a lot cows in my day," Chuck Merrick, the owner and operator of U Pick Daffodils, told us. He laughed easily, "a dairy farm is like the 7-11 store." It was not necessary to say which life he preferred. "Cows get milked at 4:30 am, the daffodil farm opens at 10."

Note the "ant" warning.

Ladies picking their own.

Joyce bought some for a friend going in the hospital.

The old pack mule, with a light load.

The click-able link in the first paragraph will take you to a brief history of Merrick's farm and family. Both are interesting and enjoyable, especially the notes about the grandsons.

(Complete blog here.)

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The view from the Top of America ... Look, enjoy and be amazed

One World Trade Center is rising like a Phoenix and is being prepared to open. The link below opens the gateway to a staggering and magnificent 360-degree image taken 1,776ft up on the top the nation's tallest skyscraper, as well as other photos of the site.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2574788/The-view-America-Staggering-360-degree-image-taken-1-776ft-nations-tallest-skyscraper-released-One-World-Trade-Center-prepares-finally-open.html

Hope you enjoy! 

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