Born on the 4th of July: Calvin Coolidge, Jr. 30th President of the United States. A Slideshow

Calvin Coolidge (July 4, 1872- January 5, 1933) is the only President who was born on the fourth of July. This year, according to John Curran's article for the AP, (Calvin Coolidge, born July 4: Hero to Tea Partiers) the occasion was to be marked by a special celebration at the President's birthplace in Plymouth Notch, Vermont.

At noon a Vermont National Guard contingent was to lead a procession of hundreds of people from the village green to the Plymouth Notch Cemetery where Coolidge is buried along with 4 generations of his ancestors.

The following slide show (taken on a trip to Vermont 4 years ago) must be highlighted by two brief points.

First, destiny thrust the Presidency on 'silent Cal'-- a man of few words-- who felt uncomfortable in social settings. President Harding passed away suddenly on a trip to California. So, the recessive Vice President, who believed that Government best that governed least, was thrust into the limelight; this event occurred two and a half years into a Presidency marked by scandals such as The Teapot Dome-- which effectively destroyed the once amiable Harding's reputation after his death.

Secondly, history has dealt a severe blow to Coolidge's status especially as the Great Depression followed a mere seven months after his term ended in 1929.

According to the Curran article, the Tea Party is rehabilitating Coolidge based on his strong anti-tax stance which echoes that of the tea party.

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On Independence Day: A Salute to John Adams and Family

Abigail and John Adams from the Vassar College Collection

Resident of Braintree, Massachusetts, Farmer, Lawyer, Patriot, Ambassador, Statesman, Second President of the United States, father of the Sixth President of the United States and devoted husband to wife Abigail doesn't begin to describe adequately a great Founding Father: John Adams (October 30, 1735-July 4, 1826. He helped Thomas Jefferson draft the Declaration of Independence and according to Wikipedia:

'On June 7, 1776, Adams seconded the resolution of independence introduced by Richard Henry Lee which stated, "These colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states, " and championed the resolution until it was adopted by Congress on July 2, 1776.'

Years later, Jefferson declared Adams as the "pillar of the [Declaration's] support on the floor of Congress, its ablest advocate and defender against the multifarious assaults it encountered."

Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States (1743-1826)

See blog of April 13, 2010 on Jefferson: President, Patriot and Populist

It is so fitting that we remember Adams-- this zealous patriot today-- which happens to be the very day, July 4, 1826--one hundred eighty-four years ago that both he and fellow nation founder, Thomas Jefferson, passed on to the great blue yonder. This was the 50th year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

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Happy July 4th to All!

July 2, 2010

Notable Quotes from General James M. Gavin

"Show me a man who will jump out of an airplane and I'll show you a man who will fight."

"If you want a decision, go to the point of danger."

"When we jumped into Sicily, the units became separated, I couldn't find anyone. Eventually, I stumbled across two colonels, a major, three captains, two lieutenants and one rifleman and we secured the bridge. Never in the history of war have so few been led by so many."

Generals will be Generals: The Youngest 3 Star General: Lieutenant General James M. Gavin

Lieutenant General James M. Gavin

Today is the day that formally starts the second half of the year 2010. And time for some straight talking about what makes an outstanding General. We've heard enough Obama firing General McChrystal and installing General Petraeus to take command of US Armed Forces in Afghanistan. We've heard enough from the skeptics as to why we are fighting this counter-insurgency. We've heard enough about what our departure (the President's 'exit strategy') in July 2011 'really' means.

What we have not heard enough about is how Top Generals are made and get to maintain their status and jobs for extended periods of time.

One such officer was General James Maurice Gavin known as "Jumpin' Jim" (March 22, 1907-February 23, 1990) who was the Commanding Officer of the 82nd Airborne Division that parachuted into Normandy on D-Day 1944;he was also a prominent Major General in the United States Army during World War II and went on to became a three star General (grade of Lieutenant General, the number two officer under the General) at age 48 capping an illustrious career.

The secret to his success lies in humble beginnings and the will to overcome each and every adversity and thus gradually ladder his way--rung by rung-- to achieve his passion. Then, of course he had the good fortune in having strong mentors, whom he chose to follow.

He was the son of an unwed Irish immigrant and was raised in a New York City orphanage from the age of two; he remained there until adopted in 1909 by a coal mining family, Martin and Mary Gavin, from Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania. His father was a coal miner who had a hard time making ends meet and Gavin began working at age 12 to help support the family .

Realizing the limited opportunities for him in Mount Carmel--he definitely did not want to follow his dad's path to work in the mines--he ran away from home on his 17th birthday in March, 1924 and took the night train to New York City. He showed up at the US Army Recruiting office to enlist ; knowing that he was one year underage, he lied and told the recruiter his was an orphan whereupon he was sent to a lawyer who declared himself his guardian and signed the parental consent form for him.

The rest is the 'history'--of a determined energetic young brave warrior-to-be. He was admitted into West Point in the summer of 1925, but only after being stationed in Panama, then Belize and despite a seventh grade education, studied at an army school, grinding away religiously for 4 months studying algebra, geometry English and history from 8AM until noon. His mentors included Sergeant McCarthy who guided him while Gavin served as crewmember of a 155mm gun. An American Indian named "Chief" Williams, his first Sergeant, was another instructor he looked up to.

Once at the Point, he again lied that he was 21, to hide the fact he was 17 at the time of his enlistment. He had to rise daily at 4:30 to catch up with his basic studies he needed to fill in the course work he had missed out. He studied in the bathroom, the only place that had enough light at this early hour. With such perseverance and single-minded purpose, he graduated West Point 4 years later.

We fast forward his career to 1939, right after the German Blitzkrieg began to conquer Europe and Gavin was ordered back to West Point to become a Tactics Instructor where his assignment was to analyze the German tactics, vehicles and armaments (his students judged him to be the best instructor they had). For the first time, he wrote about Airborne forces:

"From what we had seen so far, it was clear the most promising area of all was airborne warfare, bringing the parachute troops and the glider troops to the battlefield in masses, especially trained, armed and equipped for that kind of warfare."

After training at the Airborne School in Fort Benning in July 1941, he went on to lead parachute assaults in Sicily, and Salerno Bay, Italy in 1943 ; when George Marshall heard that a Major was doing the work of a General, he quickly promoted Gavin to Brigadier General (One Star General) overnight.

Gavin then went on to jump with the parachute assault section on the first night of the Normandy Invasion of June 5-6 1944. Troops from his division helped secure and hold the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise and guarded river crossings on the flank of the Utah Beach landing area.

Gavin was later made Major General (two star General) at age 37, the youngest officer to do so (the other officer was George Armstrong Custer). During the operations in the Netherlands, he commanded the 82nd Airborne Division and later fought in Germany until the Germans surrendered in 1945.

In the 1950's Gavin was head of Army research and development. After his retirement in 1958, he served as ambassador to France (1961-63) and was a strong critic of the Vietnam war. He is the author of numerous books.

Amy Johnson, English Aviatrix, Louis Bleriot, French Aviator and Engineer

Photo Montage of Amy Johnson from the Royal Air Force Museum

Amy Johnson (July 1, 1903- January 5, 1941), British Aviatrix earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Sheffield University. Her father encouraged her love of flying by providing funds for her purchase of a used de Havilland Gipsy Moth (an early production bi-wing craft).

Among her worldwide achievements include the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia. On May 5, 1930, she left Croyden ((south of London) and 19 days later, she landed in Darwin, Australia on May 24; her total flight was 11,000 miles. Then in 1931, with co-pilot Jack Humphreys, the duo became the first aviators to fly from Britain to Moscow in one day, achieving the 1760 mile flight in about 21 hours. They continued to fly east over Siberia and landed in Tokyo.

In 1933, she and husband Scottish pilot Jim Mollison flew from Pendine Sands, South Wales to the United States. Though their plane crash landed in Bridgeport, Connecticut (lack of fuel), the pair recovered and were feted by a ticker tape parade down Wall Street.

She drowned in the Thames Estuary (where the River Thames joins the North Sea in Essex and Kent) after bailing out of an Airspeed AS.10 Oxford (twin-engine WW II training plane) during inclement weather.

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Louis Bleriot, French Aviator, Inventor and Engineer

Six years after the Wright Brothers made their December 17, 1903 historic flight at Kitty Hawk (the first of which covered 120 feet in 12 seconds), Louis Bleriot (July 1, 1872- August 2, 1936) etched his name in history by successfully crossing the English channel in his own uniquely designed monoplane, the Bleriot XI. Powered by a 25 Horsepower, 3-cylinder radial engine, with a two-bladed fixed pitch wooden propeller, Bleriot's plane had about the same power as a "lower end large outboard motor" commonly used to power present day motorboats.

On July 25, 1909, he took off at 4:30 AM just after dawn from Les Barraques near the seaside town of Calais with the French government following his course across the English Channel with a destroyer moored below in the harbor. He later reported to the Washington Post that on takeoff he barely cleared telegraph wires at the end of the runway--this was running the engine at its maximum of 1200 revolutions per minute. He flew at an average speed of 40 miles per hour at at altitude of about 250 feet.

Very soon Bleriot encountered rough weather that completely obscured his visibility as he soon outpaced the destroyer. He reported that "[f]or more than 10 minutes I was alone, isolated, lost in the midst of the immense sea, and I did not see anything on the horizon or a single ship."

He landed in turbulent weather with the engine in danger of stalling and a strong cross wind blowing him off course. As he reduced his airspeed for landing, the strong gusts of wind nearly caused his plane to crash. Luckily, he landed safely with damage only to his landing gear and propeller. The rest of the plane survived along with the pilot . The 22 statute mile flight took 37 minutes and as a result, Bleriot became world famous.

From 1909 until 1914, Bleriot produced more than 800 aircraft. He then founded a company that went on to produce fighter planes used in World War I. He opened up 2 flying schools before the war in England. Named for his achievements, the "Louis Bleriot Medal" was established by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale in 1936 and can be given up to 3 times a year to record setters in speed, altitude and distance performance in light aircraft.

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