[Swiftwater Gazette] Happy Birthday!

Mon Feb 8 16:58:25 EST 2010

Herb,

This has been all over the web.  This particular link is to MN Public
Radio.  One of their own has seen it with own eyes so it isn't
photo-shopped.

http://tinyurl.com/ylk2bpp

No one can figure out who paid for it.

Brad

On 2/7/10, Herb Parsons <hparsons at parsonsys.com> wrote:
> Beautiful story. Print this out and save it, or just save it digitally on a
> hard drive, but put it someplace where it will survive. Mark my words. They
> will be telling similar stories about GWB 30 years from now. I didn't agree
> with all of his policies, but he is *that* type of genuine. I have "inside
> information" on similar stories.
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 6, 2010 at 5:13 PM, Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Herb, tell me if this doesn't strike a nerve.  Brad
>>
>> -------------
>>
>> Ronnie and Joe     [Paul Kengor]
>>
>> Today marks the 99th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth. In a
>> telling development, Republicans around the country have begun holding
>> Reagan Day dinners, as they’ve long traditionally done every February
>> for Abraham Lincoln. This is yet another spontaneous display of
>> affection for Reagan.
>>
>> Having written so much on the man, I get lots of questions about
>> Reagan this time of year, running the gamut from his domestic
>> achievements to his historic foreign-policy triumph: peacefully ending
>> the Cold War. Sometimes I get asked for unreported anecdotes
>> reflecting on his personality and character. I have a bunch of those,
>> which were eagerly shared with me by people who met Reagan (he talked
>> to anyone) or were dug up from the thousands of letters Reagan wrote
>> to everyday Americans over a long lifetime. (See my NRO article on
>> Reagan and Ruth Smith of Idaho.)
>>
>> Reagan was just plain likable. Of all the subjects I’ve studied, few
>> were as universally liked. Sure, Reagan, as president, was demonized
>> by the Left, but that’s what the Left does: indecent, ugly rage.
>> Still, even most liberals muster nice words about Reagan personally.
>>
>> Central to that likability was Reagan’s humility. The word “I” didn’t
>> dominate his conversation, unless he was poking fun at himself. He was
>> no narcissist. Ronald Reagan was not full of pride; he was thoroughly
>> unpossessed of self-love.
>>
>> And so, with that background, I’d like to take the opportunity
>> presented by Reagan’s time of year — not to mention the month of
>> Presidents’ Day — to share an anecdote that was told to me by Bill
>> Clark, Reagan’s close friend and most significant adviser.
>>
>> At the time this happened, Clark was serving as Reagan’s
>> national-security adviser. He had previously been deputy secretary of
>> state, and would later be appointed secretary of the interior. His
>> driver all this time was a man named Joe Bullock, a Georgia native who
>> had moved to Washington during the Great Depression. Joe was a victim
>> of the cruel Jim Crow laws that afflicted the South. He went to
>> Washington for a better life.
>>
>> Joe first found employment as a mule driver. He eventually began
>> chauffeuring various senior people in the federal government, some of
>> whom, including a high-level figure in the Carter administration,
>> didn’t treat him well; in fact, that previous cabinet secretary didn’t
>> speak a word to Joe in three years.
>>
>> Thus, Joe was taken aback when Bill Clark not only talked to him,
>> asking questions about his life and family, but also asked whether he
>> could sit up front. Clark rode shotgun with Joe, drawing more than a
>> few stares and safety concerns as well, since Clark, given his
>> influence in national security, was a target of America’s enemies.
>>
>> One morning, Clark’s father visited Washington. He hit it off with
>> Joe. Clark’s father was a rancher, a man of the West. He gave Joe a
>> gift: a Western-style belt, with a kind of “John Wayne belt buckle,”
>> as Clark described it. Joe loved it, proudly displaying it by always
>> leaving his blue suit-jacket unbuttoned.
>>
>> That belt soon assumed a life of its own. A state visit by England’s
>> Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip was upcoming, and protocol demanded
>> that the White House provide gifts. Clark, Reagan, and a few others
>> brainstormed following a morning briefing. For Philip, Clark suggested
>> a “Western belt.” He had one in mind, made by Si Jenkins, a Santa
>> Barbara friend of both Clark and the president. (Reagan, too, was a
>> California rancher.)
>>
>> “Well, what does it look like?” asked Reagan. Clark noted he had a
>> model in the car: Joe, who was wearing the belt. “Send him up,”
>> ordered the president. They called for Joe, who entered via the door
>> of Reagan’s secretary.
>>
>> Joe had worked for the federal government for half a century, but had
>> never been within 50 yards of the Oval Office. He walked in. He saw
>> Clark, Vice President Bush, the senior aides, and the president of the
>> United States. He was in awe, overcome. Suddenly, this tough
>> six-foot-four man began weeping: He had come so far since Jim Crow and
>> the Great Depression. He was choked up.
>>
>> No one in the room was prepared for that reaction. They were dead
>> silent, uncomfortable, unable to respond — except for Ronald Reagan.
>> The president rose, walked over to the driver, extended his hand,
>> breathed in, and said matter-of-factly, “Mr. Bullock, I understand you
>> have a belt to show me?”
>>
>> It was an “everyman” touch. And it put old Joe immediately at ease.
>> Business-like, Joe showed the belt, and then he and Reagan began
>> swapping stories, chatting away like old friends.
>>
>> “The rest of us just faded away,” said Bill Clark, “as the two got
>> along famously.” President and driver, remembering the old days.
>>
>> Bullock left with a story to tell his fellow drivers, and his
>> grandchildren. He died a few years later.
>>
>> No, this anecdote is nothing dramatic. It’s not like challenging
>> Gorbachev to tear down the wall. It’s simply another of many small
>> stories I hear constantly about Ronald Reagan. This was a good
>> president and a good man. The White House needs more of them. That’s a
>> thought worth bearing in mind this February.
>>
>> — Paul Kengor is professor of political science at Grove City College.
>> His books include The Judge: William P. Clark, Ronald Reagan's Top
>> Hand, God and Ronald Reagan, and The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the
>> Fall of Communism.
>>
>> On 2/6/10, Herb Parsons <hparsons at parsonsys.com> wrote:
>> > Even after more than 20 years, I still get a chill (though no tingle
>> > down
>> my
>> > leg) when he hits the "If you seek peace", and my eyes actually well up
>> at
>> > "Mr Gorbachev, OPEN this gate". I'm pretty much gone for the rest of it.
>> >
>> > What a treasure we had. Makes me even sadder for what we've got now, and
>> > what we've become. But, there's still hope (though not BO's "Hope").
>> >
>> >
>> > On Sat, Feb 6, 2010 at 11:48 AM, Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> To all the kids from Illinois who attended second rate colleges -
>> >> Happy Birthday Mr. President!
>> >>
>> >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtYdjbpBk6A
>> >>
>> >> Brad
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>>
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