Happy Presidential Birth Month

We’ve made it to February. The almanacs are telling us that this month will bring us some of the worst weather of the winter. The national media have been telling us that the 2004 Presidential election race has already begun. Since our Iowa Caucuses are slated for Jan. 19 of next year, we’re already being visited by a bevy of baby-kissers.

This may be jumping the gun a little, so I thought I’d jump the gun too. President’s day may be a couple of weeks away, but I thought this was as good a time as any to spend some time thinking about Presidents.

Of course President’s Day is a combination holiday commemorating two of our greatest leaders George Washington, born February 22, 1731 and Abraham Lincoln February 12,1809. Congress made third Monday in February became President’s day in 1968. In 1972, President Nixon proclaimed that it was it recognition of all past Presidents. Personally, I think Lincoln and Washington deserve a holiday, but Nixon doesn’t. Whoever you are, whether Republican or Democrat, can you imagine Bill Clinton getting his own holiday?

That’s not to say that George and Abe were saints. Lincoln was prone to bouts of depression, not that you could blame him. Lets face it, if TV were around in 1860 there’s no way Americans would have given this guy a chance. Some historians are suspicious that one of Washington’s lady friends may have been more than just a friend and some people who met him thought he was very aloof, even snobby. We honor them not for everything that was wrong with them, but for the legacies they left us.

They were human and if they were around today they’d each be the first to admit that. One of the legacies that Washington left us was leaving office after two terms. He knew he was human and that no human should have too much power for too long. Wise man.

Did you know that February is also the birth-month of two other Presidents? The ninth President, William Henry Harrison was born Feb. 9, 1773

He was the first president to die during his term of office, which lasted exactly one month. Seems he gave a two hour inauguration address in the rain and developed pneumonia. He was a hero from the Indian Wars. Turns out that when Harrison was elected President in 1840, the Indian leader Tecumseh placed a curse on him, saying that every president elected in a year that ends with a zero will die while in office.

Harrison died while in office, as did Lincoln, elected in 1860, Garfield, elected in 1880, Mckinley, elected in 1900, Harding, elected in 1920, Roosevelt, elected in 1940, and John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960. Reagan, elected in 1980, broke the curse, but was almost assassinated while in office. Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911.

Henry A. Wallace was born October 7, 1888. He was President Franklin Roosevelt’s Vice President from 1941-1945 but the Democratic Party ditched him for Harry Truman, which is too bad. I think he would’ve made a pretty good President and he was from Iowa. But we’ll never know. Maybe the actual week of President’s day I’ll devote a column to people who coulda-woulda-shoulda been president.

Bess Truman was born in February. February 13, 1938. Come to find out that her maiden name was Wallace, but was no relation.

Neither John Adams or John Quincy Adams were born in February, but Henry Adams was, Feb. 16, 1838, but he decided to become a teacher and writer instead of going into politics. Smart move, politics has a way of becoming fatal.

Teddy Kennedy was born on Feb. 22, 1932. Needless to say, he ran for president a few times but never even won his party’s nomination. I wonder sometimes what America would’ve been like if either of his brothers hadn’t been assassinated, but you’ll have to wait a couple of weeks to hear about that.

Maybe Michael Jordan should run for President. He’d get Chicago’s vote. He was born February 17, 1963, but again, that could be a whole other column.

I sometimes wonder what it would’ve been like if Eisenhower’s Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles had ran as the Republican’s candidate against John Kennedy in 1960 instead of Nixon. He had an airport named after him until they renamed it after President Reagan. Dulles was born on February 25th, 1888. I graduated in 1988 and my birthday is on the 25th, but I’d rather be a teacher and writer than go into politics. I’m sure you’re all relieved