Some history you always thought was true but sadly was not.

Oh we have always heard so many wonderful stories of our rich history. Sometimes it just sounds too good to be real. Quite often when that happens a warning buzzer should go off in our heads as we see that there seems to be something wrong with the history. I will cite a few examples to wet your appetite for you to investigate more.

1...George Washington wore wooden teeth.

Fact...Not true, that rumor was put out by the British during the Revolution. Washington's teeth were fashioned by Paul Revere and had springs and hinges.


2...Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg address on the back of an envelope on his way to the dedication of the graveyard.

Fact...Not true, the document was carefully worked on by Lincoln and his Secretary of State Seward over a period of weeks.


3...Abner Doubleday invented the game of baseball in Cooperstown New York during the civil war.

Not true...Baseball had been played for a number of years before the civil war.


4...Plymouth Rock was where the Pilgrims first stepped off their ships and on to the new world in what would become Plymouth Mass.

Not true...The Pilgrims first came ashore in what is now known as Provincetown, Mass and there has never been a Provincetown rock......


5...The civil war started over slavery

Not true...It was over states rights. Slavery was a sub issue but came to the fore front during the war.


6...Independence for the USA was voted for by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776

Not true...It was voted for on July 2, 1776. Independence was declared July 2. But the paperwork was not ready to be signed till the 4th.


7...Oliver Stones movie finally tells the truth about the Kennedy assassination.

Not true...Stone's movie is a tremendous piece of fiction


8...The new millennium started on January 1, 2000

Not true...It started January 1, 2001


9...Thomas Edison invented the light bulb

Not true...Edison perfected the light bulb creating the first practical incandescent light bulb..Joseph Swan invented the first incandescent light bulb.


10.The DaVinci code is historic fact.

Not true...Many of the things mentioned in the book are not correct. Leonardo DaVinci never belonged to any group that protected the Holy Grail. It is a clever story and is like Oliver Stone's JFK.....a tremendous piece of fiction.

Presidents of the United States..Let's rate them part 4

As we start this 4th installment into the Presidency..in very simple terms...We will rate the Presidents as I see them. Once again the categories are....


great
near great
very very good
very good
good
not too good
poor
pathectic



er... I don't think I belong here...



30. Calvin Coolidge-1872-1933...1923-1929..."good to not too good"
Coolidge was made VP on the ticket with Harding for his handling of the Boston police strike. He was a rather lackluster fellow publicly. But had a rather rye sense of humor in private. He slept a lot....and through his efforts...much was made possible for the "great depression". There were some measures put out by the Coolidge administration that were great but for the most part it was not too exciting.

31. Herbert Hoover-1874-1964...1929-1933..."not too good"
The horror of Herbert Hoover was that he was handed the depression...He in many ways did not create it. Although he was partly to blame. He tried in many ways to solve the problem. He was not able to for several reasons. First he was trying to use existing ideas and sadly he had a very hostile congress which did everything in its power to destroy him. They were very successful. Hoover, once he was defeated contacted his victor, Franklin Roosevelt. Hoover said that he wanted to work with FDR as the transition of governments went on...therefore causing less hardships on the public. FDR refused and allowed the banks to fail and blamed Hoover for it. By the time of the inauguration of FDR, he and Hoover were not even on speaking terms. Hoover was so angry over how totally he had been set up by Roosevelt. But had the class not say anything, not like Roosevelt. Hoover once told Richard Nixon that the best thing to do was outlive your enemies.....He did!

32. Franklin D Roosevelt-1882-1945...1933-1945..."near great"

Although Roosevelt's actions were very controling he was a great President. What he had was personality, confidence, and style. Most of the world was not at all aware he was crippled by polio. He totally redesigned the Presidency and was the first to offer a form of socialism. His new deal was great and brought the country together although it did nothing to solve the depression..what solved the depression was WW2. Roosevelt's handling of WW2 and his leadership was incredible. He was the perfect man for the job...He was an ego maniac that loved the world's stage and he was only matched by Winston Churchill in that department.

33. Harry S. Truman-1884-1972...1945-1953..."very very good"
He had the awful job of filling Roosevelt's shoes. He did and then some. He made some of the most decisive moves and actions of any President. He was also the first President who told people to go to Hell on a regular basis. He dealt with the windbag Macarthur and put him in line. If McG was right or wrong it was his job to serve at the pleasure of the President and he thought he was God. Harry told him to go to Hell too! He was not liked in his time but his actions were remarkable. I cannot think of a better person to follow Roosevelt. His greatest problem was the war in Korea.

34. Dwight D.Eisenhower-1890-1969...1953-1961..."good to very good"

His was another era of good feeling. The golden age of the 1950's. Eisenhower ended the Korean war...by not ending it.... A truce was declared. He was the perfect grandfather to the nation. He was right smack in the middle of the cold war...It was a time for little action and the nation loved it. He had several health issues but made it through his terms.

35. John F. Kennedy-1917-1963...1961-1963..."good to not too good"
He was a flashing image, and great guy, a great family man, a leader, a author. Most of that was a shame. He was a playboy who had the office bought for him by his father. There was so much corruption in his administration that it was down right scary. Secret tapes, assassination plots, and hate lists...doggedly taken care of by little brother Bobby. The Cuban missile Crisis was over blown (he had 2 sexual trists while dealing with such a heavy issue)..He was high on all kinds of drugs, lied about most of his life. His crowning achievement was getting shot. His wife created a image of Camelot which was totally not a true representation..and today people think he was all he said he was.....Time hopefully will cure this.
He was mostly a fraud...who was a great performer. But there was some meat around the potatos...The nuclear control treaty of 1963. In fairness to him he had a very good personality and was great before a camera. But the image to this day is one that is carefully edited. Sadly it is as fictious as Camalot itself.

36. Lyndon B. Johnson-1908-1972...1963-1969..."good"
He had to follow Camelot which was not easy and deal with Bobby Kennedy. Who was pissed off that the plan of making him President was being interrupted by LBJ. Johnson tried to do many social issues and did but was hampered with Vietnam.

37. Richard M. Nixon-1913-1994...1969-1974..."good"
He was an amazing intellectual, who had tremendous emotional problems. His work on social issues was hardly been matched...However Watergate..became his own personal Titanic. The iceberg was the press who hated him. His personality worked against him as well.. He was frightened of everyone..had hate lists and looked guilty. He did not have a good personality and was not great on the camera. He has not had the protectors like Kennedy. Kennedy's tapes were edited, Nixon's were not.

He would have been the perfect Sec of State....He was as much a genius as John Quincy Adams. He was the first President to resign...whats more his VP was the second in history to do so as well. After office he wrote 10 books of great intellectual property...

38. Gerald R. Ford- 1913----...1974-1977 "very good"
I give Ford a label of very good as he was a made President.. and did his best to redeem the office...and that he did. He was the sacrificial lamb.....We really owe a lot to Ford..he did a lot and what was most important...no one knew that he was doing all of that nor did he talk about it. A great man.

39. Jimmy Carter-1924----...1977-1981..."poor"
His presidency was one disaster after another. It was good to get rid of him.
However, as an ex-president he has been good...but still at times he does come out and make a fool of himself.

40. Ronald Reagan-1911-2004...1981-1989..."very good"
He was an actor...and he did many amazing things. I am not here to talk about them but he changed the country and ended the cold war...He gave the USA pride again after the disasters of the last 20 years. It has been suggested that it was due to the fact that he said what we wanted to hear. I would agree with that. Sadly many of our great leaders are guilty of that. He was sadly too old and started to become senile in the later years of his term. He was to the later 20th century what Roosevelt was to the earlier 20th century. Had he not had the issue of Iran contra I would have listed him as very very good.

41. George H. Bush-1924----...1989-1993..."good to not too good"
He was a great administrator..He really had no great personality. He had the horror to follow Reagan and he could not fill his shoes....He let us in the war in Iraq and still was dumb enough to say no new taxes..and then raise them. He was not as bad as Carter...in the international scene..infact internationally he was great. Domestically he was awful!

42. Bill Clinton-1946---...1993-2001..."very good"
He was a great communicator, a great personality, he was brilliant. and he did some great things. I think he was on a par with Richard Nixon as they were quite a bit alike. Intellectually not morally. He was a good President..But he was a pathological liar like Nixon...and he was impeached...Both sides were stupid..But still he lied and that made him look stupid with his relationship with an intern.
Still I consider him one of the great intellectuals of the 20th century. Sadly he does not have the persona to write great books like Nixon. At least not yet.

43. George W. Bush-1946---...Cannot rate yet
he is a sitting President..although there are many issues of great importance going on right now..it is impossible to judge them yet. But he has annoyed and enlightened many in his term...The war goes on in Iraq....where it all ends...we cannot not guess.

In his term the world changed. Sept 11, 2001 will ring out in history for centuries..unless something worse happens soon..........

Presidents of the United States..Let's rate them part 3

President William McKinley..The first modern President





As we continue our journey into the Presidency we will continue our rating of the Presidents. As you recall the ratings go

great
near great
very very good
very good
good
not too good
poor
pathectic


21.Chester A. Arthur-1830-1886...1881-1885 "very good"
Now there is no doubt that Arthur in his younger days was a crook! But when he was nominated VP he started to change. But September 1881 when he finally found himself to be President he went through an amazing transformation...He became a very serious, honest, forthright man. He did incredible things ...restarted the navy...worked to remove corruption from government....and re styled the entire White House with the help of Louis Comfort Tiffany. He was hated by everyone...by the crooks for he made life awful for them...by the successful politicians..cause he made them look like they were not doing anything. He was a very sick man who had kidney disease and soon after leaving the office was dead.......Quite a change he made and all for the better...save for the decorations of the White House.

22.24. Grover Cleveland-1837-1908...1885-1889...1893-1897..."very good"
Grover Cleveland was a very good administrator..He did not have a great personality. He married his law partners daughter Francis Folsom in 1886. She was 23 and he was 49...and it worked wonderfully. Before he entered the White House it was found that he had fathered an illegitimate child...Prompting the Republicans to cry "Ma, ma, where's my pa?"
and when Cleveland won the election the democrats responded with..."gone to the White House ha ha ha!"
He was the only President to serve 2 times....but not in succession. He served around the administration of Benj. Harrison ....Cleveland also had secret surgery in his 2nd term to remove a cancerous growth in his mouth. The results of that operation were not released till 1917.

23. Benjamin Harrison-1833-1901...1889-1893..."good not too good"
He was about as exciting as a root canal! He was William Henry Harrison's grandson....What else can we say.......Boring!!!!!!!!!!

25. William McKinley-1843-1901...1897-1901...."very very good"
The modern presidency was started by William McKinley.....He was the first President to have a press room...work the press to his advantage....and have constant contact with the world...He was also the first President to ride in a car.
He was in charge of the Spanish American War in 1898....He tolerated Theodore Roosevelt.

He was loved by everyone...Democrats or Republican. His Vice President Hobart died of heart disease....The republican bosses wanted to put Theodore Roosevelt there to get rid of him...As we know the Vice Presidency is not worth a bucket of warm spit..But as Mark Hanna said at the time you have put that madman within one heartbeat of the Presidency
McKinley was assassinated in Buffalo NY at the World's fair there. I have often felt that he was robbed in many ways by Theodore Roosevelt who took many of McKinley's ideas and called them his own. McKinley gets as good a rating as Roosevelt....and he really deserves it.

26. Theodore Roosevelt-1858-1919...1901-1909..."very very good"
Roosevelt as Harry Truman once said was more "bull than moose" He did many things but his greatest program was enhancing Theodore Roosevelt. He did a lot... He never said where the ideas came from...But he changed the Presidency...He made the Presidency a "bully pulpit" He was a great showman....was he a great President? Well he would answer that with a modest YES!!!! To Teddy (by the way he hated being called that) you did a lot and changed the Presidency into theater.

27.William Howard Taft-1857-1930...1909-1913..."good"
Taft had one problem...he was not Roosevelt... He was not a showman..But his work was wonderful. After the Presidency he served as Chief Justice...That he loved best of all.....In the later 1920's he remarked "I don't even remember being President"

28.Woodrow Wilson-1856-1924...1913-1921..."very good"
I have given the ranking of very good to Wilson as he was an incredible President for some of his term. By the time we get the later years of his Presidency. He is acting like a spoiled child. The ideals that he had dealing with WWI and its aftermath had great merit . However, his methods not only destroyed the peace process but also himself. By the time the treaty is signed the entire peace process had become a sham. Wilson introduced his 14 points for peace and it was very egotistical and the other allies rejected it. One member said "God had only 10 commandments and Wison has 14!" Had Wilson used a better method of delegation he most probably would have done what he came to accomplish. Since he became not only his own Sec. of State, Congress, and self anointed leader of the Allies he failed and that brought down his rating in my eyes. Others will disagree.

29. Warren G. Harding-1865-1923...1921-1923..."not so good"
Many have called Harding's term in office as the worst in history. I strongly disagree. He constructed a stellar cabinet..few administrations had as good a group together as Harding picked. There were some losers in the bunch of course but all in all quite good. The first arms reduction treaty was brought out in his watch..as well as many other programs to stimulate the economy. He personal behavior was not very regal...He was as pathectic as JFK when it came to responsibility...He did what he wanted and did his best not to be caught at it....He was real guy and a man who really never should have been President.

Presidents of the United States Let's rate them!!! part 2

Edmund Ross




Continuing our discussion of the Presidency ...I will rate another grouping starting from Millard Fillmore. As you will recall our rating system is as follows..


great
near great
very very good
very good
good
not too good
poor
pathectic


13. Millard Fillmore-1800-1874...1850-1853... "not too good"

Fillmore was not much of Whig and when Taylor died he was in a odd position. He was forced with the real possibilities of civil war. Taylor was not to keen to sign the "compromise of 1850" It looked like war might take place between the slave and free states. Taylor seemed to be leaning in the direction of dealing with a possible war...and then suddenly he died!
Fillmore signed the document...prolonging the arrival of the civil war by 10 years. His administration was almost always dealing with mourning....The White House was constantly draped with mourning cloth. Starting of course with Taylor...Calhoun, Henry Clay, and finally Daniel Webster. By the time the mourning cloths were put away it was election time...and Fillmore was gone.

14. Franklin Pierce-1804-1869...1853-1857..."pathectic"
Pierce was a good looking man....He was a drunk (people used to joke about the fact that he was the victor of many a hard fought bottle)....What else can I say....nothing save for when he left office he said "I guess there is nothing else to do but get drunk" waste of time

15. James Buccahannon-1791-1868...1857-1861..."poor"
Buccahannon was not much better than Pierce....He did complain that the liquor bottles of the White House were not large enough!!! His term was socially successful and politically disastrous. He was most probably gay. The only totally gay President we have ever had. although there has been a bisexual or two.

He sat on his butt allowing the civil war to become a reality. On leaving the office in 1861..he said to Lincoln "If you sir are as happy to enter this house as I am to leave it, than you must be the happiest man in the world"
Buccahannon should never have been President. He was of another time. He would have been good in the 1840's Not on the threshold of the 1860's.......He was elected for only one reason...He had no opinions on anything..... since he had been out of the country while the country was heading for civil war.

16. Abraham Lincoln-1809-1865...1861-1865..."great"
Lincoln requires little introduction...He reinvented the United States...He suspended the constitution in doing that. That is one of the few things people do not know about Lincoln .....He was assassinated 5 days after the surrender of Lee.
There were many attemps after his death to steal his body which led to some amazing events...Lincoln was finally laid to rest in 1901...which was the last time his coffin was opened (just to see if he was still in there) and buried in cement.

17. Andrew Johnson-1808-1875...1865-1869..."very good"
Johnson was given an impossible task...fill the shoes of Abraham Lincoln. Take care of the country after 4 years of civil war....and try to deal with a vengeful corrupt congress. He was impeached for doing nothing "the tenure of office act" which said basically the President cannot pick and choose who he has in his cabinet!!!!! That was totally unconstitutional! He brought up on trial..and was cleared by only one vote!!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe that...The man who saved this country from disaster.... was rejected by everyone...yet he saved the country One of the greatest and bravest men who ever lived....Edmund Ross. Although there are some questions of Ross's qualities....he did do a great thing even if it was not for the right purposes.

18. Ulysses S. Grant-1822-1885...1869-1877... "poor to pathectic"
Grant was a military hero...he was not a great thinker...not a politician....easily swayed...and had perhaps the most corrupt administration in history...What is amazing is that after 8 years of well known corruption going on in his watch...his person integrity was never questioned and he was as adored when he left office as when he came in.

19. Rutherford B. Hayes-1822-1893...1877-1881 ..."very very good"
After Grant Hayes was a welcome relief....He had integrity and honor. He removed the awful military occupation of the south which had been strongly enforced in the Grant administration. He put in the civil service codes..Removed many unlawful public officials, including Chester A Arthur. He said he would serve one term and that was all. He was not elected by a majority...his election was decided a few days before the inauguration. it was basically by one vote...so there were many cries of fraud and corruption ...but Hayes would have no part of it. If there was a model for integrity it was Hayes.

20. James A. Garfield-1831-1881...1881 "cannot judge"
Garfield was a genius.....He was a spellbinding orator....and he was shot by a disappointed office seeker...Interestingly, he was killed by his doctors. He served as President for only a few months when he was shot in July...it took till September for the doctors to kill him.

End of part 2

The Presidents of the United States Let's rate them!!!!! Part 1

This is bound to get several peoples blood pressure up! Rating the Presidents. I did this many years ago when I was working in a research lab...I recall it had the entire place in an uproar as everyone would argue with everyone else over who was great near great or just plain awful! Now this will not have the same effect as I am writing this as a blog and mainly people just read blogs and do not answer them.

The opinions are only mine and I am sure many of them will be contested by others. I am only rating them on a scale I feel works well for me....I will list each President and perhaps give a few lines on them if I feel it makes sense..and then give a rating. This is the list of ratings

great
near great
very very good
very good
good
not too good
poor
pathectic



1.George Washington-1732-1799 ...... 1789-1797 ..... "great" .. He was the first, he looked good, he was smart enough to stay quiet and set an example. He was a cool cold fellow who knew he was a idol of the nation and played his hand...and set up many of the standards that are still a part of the Presidency. He was the only President ever elected with out a rival. He was the model of the office to the framers of the constitution.

2. John Adams-1735-1826 .... 1797-1801 .. "near great" ... Was a very emotional man... who's emotions often got in the way of what he wanted to do. He scared many people and refused to play party politics. His work in dealing with the French in 1799 was wonderful. His high ideals were far in advance of his rivals, and his rivals made it their want to remove him. He once said of Thomas Jefferson " I love Jefferson, I have always loved Jefferson" He was the passionate sage...There never was another like him.

3. Thomas Jefferson- 1743-1826 .... 1801-1809... "very good" .. His Presidency was amazingly successful and terribly out of control. Jefferson was a dreamer who found out his ideals would not work in government. His first term was very successful,Including the "Louisiana Purchase". The second was not very good at all. He became a party politician and lost favor with many who had once embraced his ideas. He was sadly a great backstabber and took advantage of many who thought he was on their side...Had he not done that I would list him as a near great.

4. James Madison- 1751-1836.... 1809-1817 ... "good"... He was the President during the War of 1812. He was a good President. However,he was a lackluster leader...his shining glory was his wife Dolly.

5. James Monroe-1758-1831.... 1817-1825 ..."very good" ... The Monroe administration was quite successful, and the onset of the Monroe Doctrine was a stunning success. Incidentally, the doctrine was not written by Monroe, it was written by his Sec. of State John Q. Adams His administration was known as the era of good feeling.

6. John Quincy Adams-1767-1848 .... 1825-1829... "good" ... Adams was not elected by a majority vote...and he was elected by the House. Therefore his election was always called a corrupt bargain. He tried to do great things but was stopped by congress in every move. His work outside of the Presidency was amazing. He entered the house in 1831, and served as a congressman for the next 17 years. In many respects it was J.Q. Adams who lit the match that started the beginnings of the civil war. More on that when I write about him

7. Andrew Jackson-1767-1845.... 1829-1837 ..."near great" ... Jackson made more moves to shape the Presidency than anyone before him save for Washington. He created the first move towards a more modern Presidency. When he left office he said he had only 2 regrets that he did not shoot Henry Clay and hang John Calhoun.

8. Martin Van Buren-1782-1862.... 1837-1841 ... "not too good" ... He was not for the office. He was party politician. He was known as the little magician as he was fast and sly. He came up with the saying OK....which was perhaps his greatest effort. OK stood for his home Old Kinderhook, NY.

9. William Henry Harrison ... No rating ... 1773-1841... served one month...Made the longest inauguration speech in history. In freezing weather for 2 hours with no coat. Caught pneumonia and died one month later.....judging on that I wonder how effective he would have been as a chief executive.

10. John Tyler-1790-1862.... 1841-1845... "very good"... The first Vice President to assume the office on the death of the chief executive. He went through hell as every one referred to him as "Acting President"...Every letter he received saying that he returned to the sender. His entire cabinet resigned...He fought on till he won. Due to John Tyler's efforts every Vice President who assumes the office on the death of the President IS PRESIDENT!!! He had balls! Even had a ball at the White House and announced " I am a man with out a party so I am having one" Good for him!

11.James K.Polk-1795-1849.... 1845-1848 ..."very good" ... He was President for 4 years. He said he would serve for one term and he did. He worked every day. He exhausted himself, he died soon after leaving office. He was President during the Mexican American War...it added quite a bit to the country.

12. Zachary Taylor-1784-1850 1849-1850 "not too good" He was made President by his party...the Whigs. When he received a notice of his nomination he refused to pay for the postage. So he did not know he was running for President for quite a while. He was put to the test in 1850 when it seemed that the nation might be dragged into "civil war"...He said he would not tolerate any actions and seemed to be ready to go to war to preserve the union....However on July 4,1850 he ate too many cherries and drank a lot of cold milk...and died.

The Wizard of Menlo Park ..Thomas Edison did a lot more than just light bulbs....

Thomas Edison the "Wizard of Menlo Park" did more to change the world than most people ever think. In fact most of what Edison did is totally ignored by historians and researchers alike. There are some great historians who have done a wonderful job of telling Edison's story. But for every good story, there are 20 bad ones. I will be adding some info on Edison that will show him to be much more an influence on our lives than we ever thought.