SEPTEMBER 21 — 1788 Happy birthday First Lady Peggy Taylor; 1970 Monday Night Football debuts; 2017 VP Pence uses fake Jefferson quote regarding small government
SEPTEMBER 21
1788 – Happy birthday first lady Peggy Taylor.
Margaret Mackall Smith was born in Calvert County, MD, daughter of an officer who served in the American Revolution. She met a young Lt. Zach Taylor while visiting her sister in Kentucky in 1809. He was 25; she was 21. If she only knew then that Zach would wind up being president of the US someday, she just might have run the other way. But they were married June 21, 1810 near Louisville, and Lt. Taylor began rising up those military ranks.
As a child, her father was a prominent plantation owner, but now she lived her life in the wilds of the frontiers, following her husband around through the War of 41812, where he was promoted to Major, then to Colonel during the Black Hawk War of 1832, Brigadier General during the Seminole War of 1836, and Major General in the Mexican War. She learned how to become accustomed to living life in tents, log cabins, and forts the whole time, giving birth to six children, and burying three of them.
Though Old Rough and Ready tried to prevent his daughters from marrying military soldiers, one of them, Sarah Knox married a young Lt. Jefferson Davis, but died three months later of malaria in 1835. Taylor would fight together with Davis during the Mexican War.
Zachary Taylor detested politics, and had never voted in any election, including his own. However, the Whigs had plans for Taylor, and nominated him to lead the Party. She literally prayed for Taylor’s defeat in the presidential election, and was furious when he won. Peggy was 60, and after 40 years of living the frontier life and losing three out of six children, she was in no shape, physically or mentally, to take on the first lady roles in the White House. As a result, she became somewhat of a hermit upstairs on the second floor; where she only came down to attend church, family meals, and some very important parties. All other first lady roles were conducted by their youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth Bliss.
Peggy had every reason to believe that becoming president would be the last thing her husband needed, and sure enough, within two years in office, President Taylor died. Millard Fillmore would take his place, and Abigail Fillmore would take her place. Peggy retired in Mississippi on a plantation Old Rough and Ready purchased before becoming president, but her health declined rapidly, and she died within a year and a half. According to whitehouse.gov, an observer suggested her manners blended the artlessness of a rustic belle, and the grace of a duchess. Happy birthday, Peggy!
1961 – De Oppresso Liber.
…5TH Special Forces, later called the Green Berets, began serving. JFK personally visited the Special Warfare Center at Ft. Bragg oF review the program and authorized the Special Forces to wear the headgear that became their symbol, the Green Beret. 3 ½ years later the total forward deployment of the group, according to groups.sfahq.com, was completed to South Vietnam. The 5th Special Forces, who was activated April 15, 1960, though one of the smallest units engaged in Vietnam, contain some of the most highly decorated soldiers in U.S. history.
The 5th SFG trained indigenous tribes, known as Civilian Irregular Defense Group, or CIDG, for combat. Since Vietnam, the 5S FG has ben engaged in Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and these days are spread out training in 14 countries throughout Southwest Asia and Africa. CENTCOM Commander Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf have called these Green Berets “the eyes and ears on the ground.”
Although young in years of existence, from its operational base at NHA Trang, the Group deployed throughout the four military regions of South Vietnam. Its operational detachments established and manned camps at 270 different locations which trained and led indigenous forces of the civilian irregular defense groups, as well as regular units of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam. Despite being one of the smallest units engaged in the Vietnam conflict, the 4th special forces Group colors fly twenty campaign Screamers, and its soldiers are among the most highly decorated in the history of our nation.
1961 – We lost a great American. If I weren’t for Earle Dickson
…from Highland Park, NJ, I probably would’ve bled to death a thousand times over. He was a cotton buyer at Johnson & Johnson. His wife Josephine was klutzy lime me, and accident prone. She mistakenly cut herself cooking and doing other house chores, and when Dickson would bandage her wound he found the gauze stuck to a wound with tape did not stay on her active fingers.
In 1920, according to Wiki, he placed squares of gauze in intervals on a roll of tape, held in place with crinoline. Then showed it to his boss, James Wood Johnson, who liked this new, shall we call it, Band Aid and put it into production. After inventing the Bandaid, Dickson was promoted to VP of Johnson and Johnson.
1780 – Benedict Arnold
…gave British Major John Andre plans to West Point. In return for this treasonous action, Arnold was promised a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The move was shocking; in the past Arnold was a great leader during the Revolution, helping the Continentals to capture Fort Ticonderoga and the unsuccessful attack on British Quebec in 1775. However he had enemies in the military and was passed up for promotion several times by men he felt were under qualified. He got into debt, living a lavish lifestyle. These actions led to Benedict Arnold becoming a traitor.
In 1780 he was in charge of West Point on the Hudson River, and on September 21, met quietly with John Andre to give it up to the British. The plot was foiled; Andre was executed, so Arnold led the British troops in battles in Virginia and Connecticut. He later moved to England, but the royal army didn’t give him what he thought they promised, and he died a lonely man in London in 1801.
Tsk tsk tsk.
1970 – Quite possibly the most important night in American history, Monday Night Football debuts on ABS. Browns beat the Jets 31-21. 1963 – Yogi Berra hits his 358th and last HR.
1979 – Michael Jackson is shown on the cover of the National Enquirer in what is said to be an oxygen chamber, along with the headline “Michael Jackson’s Bizarre Plan to Live up to 150”. Jackson refuted the story, saying the picture of him was taken in a burn vicim machine that he donated to the Brotman Memorial Hospital.
2017 – Pence uses fake Jefferson quote regarding small government.
While facing criticism on dismantling the Affordability Care Act, arguing in favor of small government. “Thomas Jefferson said ‘Government that governs least governs best.’”
The Vice President got a lot of criticism for this, and his point was therefore undermined. But Pence was writing, even though he got it mixed up. Jefferson was very much pro-small government, and the fact is people misquote Jefferson all the time. The Monticello website has a huuuge list of misspoken quotes from Jefferson, and also tells you where it came from.
BusinessInsider.com actually ranks the most popular phrases Jefferson never said, like the one where he didn’t say The Bible is the source of liberty. Actually Jefferson rewrote the bible. Here’s one of my favorites: “Some of my finest hours have been spent on my back veranda smoking hemp and observing as far as my eye can see.” Sorry potheads, but Jefferson never even smoked tobacco, let alone weed. If you’re into motivational posters, the saying, “When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on” is a good one, but Jefferson never said that either. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
The mistake that VP Pence made on this day in 2017 was that he quoted Henry David Thoreau in Civil Disobedience, but no doubt if Jefferson were alive today he would have agreed with Pence.