The Legacy of Columbus

If you thought back to the first things you ever learned about the history of
America, the one that jumps out is that Columbus sailed the ocean blue and
discovered America is 1492. While the date is correct, we later learned when
our study of history became more scholarly that there is some dispute about
whether Columbus discovered America at all. So what is the real legacy that
this legend of Columbus has given to the American culture that has made him
such a revered figure in cultural history?

So much of the Columbus story is approximate that, at first review, we would
almost relegate the story of how Columbus discovered America to the level of a
myth that borders on superhero worship. But Columbus was not a myth. There
really was an explorer named Columbus who carried out three bold journeys
across the ocean and during those journeys, he did indeed discover "the new
world." His ships really were named the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria and
he did indeed embark one of those three voyages in 1492.

The legacy of Columbus then is more than just the facts of his exploratory
journeys and their outcome. There is reason to believe that Columbus's fabled
"discovery of America" did not occur on North American soil but somewhat
further south of here, somewhere in the Bahamas. But the legacy of Columbus
lies in his spirit and the challenge he took on that is part of the American
spirit and one we identify with so strongly.

Part of the legend was that Columbus embarked on this trip for the new world
despite the prevailing "scientific" belief that the world was flat. Now
research in recent times have surfaced sufficient documentation to show that
sailors of that time never did believe that teaching. Their extensive knowledge
of navigation and astronomy, which is crucial for any successful sea voyage, was
sufficient for sailors to know that the earth was round and that they would
never "fall off the edge." However, the image of those brave men launching out
to sea, against the advice of popular opinion, to find something new and
exciting so connects with the American spirit of discovery and adventure that
this myth persists as part of the legacy of Columbus.

Americans do have a tremendous sense of discovery and adventure and a deeply
seated need to conquer new lands, to reach out beyond their own grasp and to do
the impossible. This was the spirit of Manifest Destiny which gripped the nation
long before there was any reason to believe that this meager band of colonists
had the resources to settle a great nation. Americans always have had such a
firm belief in themselves and a core faith that they could do the impossible.
That part of the American spirit is what connects to Columbus's setting out on
these bold missions facing certain dangers so he too could discover new lands
and have great adventures.

The legacy of Columbus also lies in the American desire to explore. Even though
the source of the quotation is only a science fiction show, the "mission" of the
fictional space ship "The Enterprise" sums up a deep desire in the heart of all
Americans.

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.
Her five year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and
new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.

For Americans, the mission of James Kirk is a perfect restatement of the
mission of Christopher Columbus. And it is the mission of America which has
driven this country and its citizens to discoveries and achievements that have
never been done before. It is that spirit of Columbus in all Americans that is
one of the things that have made this country great.

The Boston Tea Party

There are some events that took place during the historic time when America was
declaring its independence from England that are so historic, so iconic that
they have taken on the status of myth and legend as much as history. And
certainly the Boston Tea Party fits that description. This is such a stand out
event in American history that it is common to see school children reenact it
during elementary school plays or skits. And the participants names including
John Hancock, Paul Revere and John Adams have similarly become classic heroic
figures in American folklore and history.

But the events of December 16, 1776 were not fable or myth but real and
important parts of the development of the American Revolution that was crucial
to the early foundation of this country. The situation of taxation that was
being imposed by Brittan on goods that were coming into the colonies was one of
serious stress on the colonists because they had no control over those taxes.
And that tax situation was made more extreme with the relationship between the
British government and the East India Tea company who was receiving tax breaks
for their goods that would place them at a competitive advantage in the
Americas.

These kinds of preferential treatment only aggravated the already tense
relationship between the colonies and Britain and many in leadership over the
American states saw the way England was handling the situation as
conspiratorial to try to hurt the economy of the growing new country and to
impose restrictive rule through taxation on the colonies and the colonists.
That is why that famous proclamation "No Taxation Without Representation"
became one that is historic for the outrage against the English that took the
colonies into revolutionary war that eventually lead to the independence of the
American colonies and the beginning of a new country.

Finally on Thursday, December 16, 1776, decisive action needed to be taken. And
our forefathers were nothing if not known for bold and decisive action in the
fact of tyranny. The East India Tea Company had docked the HMS Dartmouth in
Boston harbor full of a fresh import of tea for the colonies. It was time for
the colonists to make a statement that this unethical and immoral use of taxes
on tea was for all intents and purposes an act of war and they were going to
treat it as such.

Badly disguised as Indians, the brave colonists boarded the HMS Dartmouth and
her sister ships, the HMS Beaver and the HMS Eleanor and skillfully and
efficiently dumped the entire delivery of tea into Boston harbor. All totaled,
over forty five tons of tea went into the water that night. It was a stunning
blow. But more than that it was a slap in the face of the British government
and a gauntlet laid down that their attempts to rule the colonies b tyranny
were not going to be tolerated any longer.

This event was pivotal in pushing the hostilities between England and the
colonies past the "nuisance" stage and setting forces in motion for war. But
more than that, it was such a bold statement of defiance that many colonists
were inspired to join the increasing chorus calling for war and independence.

For loyal Britains, the idea of separating and forming their own country was
hard to grasp. But the leadership of the men who planned and executed the
Boston Tea Party demonstrated a new independent spirit. This was the kind of
backbone, the sense of pride and independence that was to come to define the
American spirit in years ahead. But it took the courage and boldness of this
little band of men to demonstrate that being trod on by a foreign tyrant was
not something we had to put up with.

It made a statement to England and to the colonists at the same time that
revolution was possible and they really could think of themselves as free
people who would bow to no king. From that time forward the independence of
America was inevitable. These visionary leaders showed us an America that gave
power to its people, not to kings or governments and the result in how America
works and our lives are lived is the direct outcome of bold protests such as
the Boston Tea Party.

George Washington

It is impossible to reflect on the truly great leadership that has been one of
the real blessings of this nation without including the name of George
Washington in that list. In fact, in almost anyone's "top ten" list of truly
great presidents, Washington would almost certainly top the list. His stature
in American history is legendary and the respect Americans have for this their
first president borders on adoration of myth.

In fact, there is a lot of myth and some humor about our first president that
reflects the love people have for this great leader. From the many quips about
his supposed wooden teeth to the thousands of places around the nation that
proclaim "George Washington slept here", to the mythical story of how he threw
a silver dollar across the Potomac as a child or his response when he was
caught cutting down a cheery tree and responded to the accusation "I cannot
tell a lie", Washington's myth is strong in the national memory of this great
leader.

Washington never set out to become the greatest president of all time or even
to be in a position of leadership in the new country he helped to start. He was
the one who originated the concept of a "citizen president" and he believed so
strongly in that concept that he refused to run for a third term because his
time as citizen leader was over. This tradition was sustained with little
exception until it was codified into part of our constitution in the form of
the 22nd amendment.

But before Washington was a great political leader, he showed his tremendous
leadership skills on the field of battle. He learned the art of warfare serving
honorably in the French and Indian war and his influence and the respect he had
earned during that conflict netted him the title of commander and chief of the
American Army when the continental congress created that role in 1775. Small
wonder when he ascended to the presidency some years later, he carried the
responsibility of commander and chief with him to the presidency where it
continues to reside today even though few of our modern presidents have the
military credentials of Washington.

When commanding the troops during the revolutionary war, a famous incident that
has been captured beautifully by artists was his decision to cross the Delaware
in New Jersey to stage a surprise attack and win the battle against the
British. It was yet another brilliant maneuver that showed his firm grasp of
military strategy and only served to add to his fame and reputation as an
outstanding leader of men.

After the war, Washington again was interested in retiring from public life but
he was never one to turn away when his nation needed him. And needed him it did
as he presided over the Continental Congress to assure the successful drafting
of the US Constitution. Of the many great accomplishments of his life, his
ability to provide leadership and inspiration to that assembly to produce this
masterpiece of American political ligature would certainly be ranked as perhaps
his finest hour.

George Washington was rewarded for his superior leadership skills when he was
given the awesome responsibility of serving as the nations first President of
the United States. His wisdom and insight into what the nation needed at east
stage of its early development made him the man of the hour for a struggling
republic. Few recognize that one of his greatest contributions to the
presidency was recognizing that the nation was torn and weary of war. So using
his considerable influence and negotiating skills, Washington signed a number
of important treaties that resulted in years of peace that were needed to turn
the country from thoughts of war to thoughts of building a great nation.

Washington never tired of providing leadership for two terms as the first
American president and it was he who decided not to serve a third term and
returned once again to private life. But his impact on the nation and the world
was profound and long lasting. It was the kind of nation shaping influence that
truly earned him the title associated to him to this day of "father of the
nation."

The Declaration of Independence

If you had to think of one document other than the Bible that people can most
easily quote almost without thinking about it, that one document would be the
Declaration of Independence. The comparison to the Bible is apt. Not that the
Declaration of Independence is holy in a religious sense of the word. But it
has a place of reverence in the hearts of the American people and in the
history of the founding of this great nation.

While not the first words of the Declaration of Independence, these stirring
words have that kind of prophetic power that anyone who hears them in
immediately inspired by the beauty, the poetry and the deep truths that were so
beautifully expressed in that historic document.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

This one statement from that famous declaration so beautifully demonstrates
some core principles that show why this document has such a deep impact on the
American mind and heart. The statement that the truths in this document were
indeed truths is a profound statement in its own right. The Declaration of
Independence does that suggest that what is being declared in those pages are
theories, possibilities, even political ideology. These are truths which puts
them on the same value as statements of values as often taught in a religious
setting. Truths are eternal values and values that are not changed by
circumstances, by whomever or whatever is handling the government of the land
or by the whim of lawmakers. These truths exist above those temporal earthly
ideas and live on that plain of the eternal.

"Self evident" is a powerful phrase and it reflects on the founder's belief in
what was called natural law. Natural law is the belief system that there are
laws that are part of our natural state of existence and that they cannot be
taken away (inalienable). These laws are our rights as creations of the
almighty and any government system must recognize these laws because they are
above government. It is a basic belief system of the American system that ALL
people are entitled to these rights and that they cannot be taken away.

The mention of a creator in the declaration of independence is very important
because there are those who would maintain that the separation of church and
state tells us that the government is at heart a secular institution. Clearly
the founders did not lay the foundation of our country on that groundwork. They
saw the inheritance we as Americans have in our rights and freedoms to be part
of our legacy from God and as such, above the government and something the
government must back off and leave alone as well as prettiest and defend.

The Declaration of Independence is truly an amazing document especially when
you consider the "primitive" state of the nation when it was written by Thomas
Jefferson and signed on July 2, 1776 to become the backbone of our American
system of government. It became an often referenced and quoted document, even
becoming a part of President Lincoln's famous inaugural speech when he said
with such deep conviction:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a
new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men
are created equal."

Because these words are such a deep part of our American heritage, American
history and the American spirit, they are often a crucial center part of any
study of history in the schools in this country. That is why school children in
every state are so familiar with these words.

But it would do us all well to take some time once a year or so and take our
copy of the Declaration of Independence and read it either as a private moment
of reflection nor with our families. What a wonderful fourth of July tradition
that would make. Then as you watch the fireworks celebrating the birth of the
country and its independence, you will have those words fresh in your heart to
remind you that it was our creator that gave us our freedoms and independence
and nobody has the right to ever take them away.

The Bill of Rights

We as Americans have a tremendous regard and respect for the framers of our
Constitution because it was they that laid the foundation stones for the
greatest country on earth. But on top of the many amazing aspects of the
Constitution, one stands out as an act of wisdom and foresight that made sure
the Constitution would remain a living document for centuries. That was the
provision of the Constitution that allowed for the addition of amendments.

It was not long after the Constitution was ratified that the first ten
amendments were indeed organized and became law. That those ten amendments have
become as central to the American system of government as the Constitution
itself. They have come to be known as the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights are so deeply engrained in the American consciousness that
they are often referenced in conversations about issues, how Americans work and
live together and our relationship with the government. The true genius of the
Bill of Rights was the work it did to severely limit the ability of the
government of the United States to ever interfere with the fundamental rights
of its citizens. This is a stunning achievement at a governmental level when
you think in terms of legal systems of governments throughout history and
around the world.

These ten amendments assure that the rights of citizens in this country are
forever protected from any move by any administration to take those rights and
give them to the government itself. As such, the government is forever banned
from getting too strong and it relegates the government to a servant role in
society which so often is not the case in governmental politics elsewhere in
the world.

The ten amendments to the Constitution cover the core rights of Americans
including:

 1. Freedom of Religion, free speech, freedom of the press and the fundamental
    right of assembly without fear of harassment from the government. Also the
    right to petition the government to seek relief for grievances caused by the
    government.

 2. The right to bear arms.

 3. Protection from the forced habitation of troops in civilian homes in a time
    of conflict.

 4. Protection from unreasonable search and seizure as part of a criminal
    investigation.

 5. The right to due process when being accused of a crime.

 6. The right to a jury trial, to be allowed to cross examine your accusers and
    other rights of accused to assure Americans cannot be "railroaded" by the legal
    system.

 7. The right to civil trail by jury

 8. Protection against cruel and unusual punishment and the right to bail.

 9. Protection of rights not specifically spelled out in these ten amendments.

10. Protection of states rights.

Of these rights, the ones listed in the first amendment are most often quoted
and most cherished by Americans. The original authorship of the Bill of Rights
is credited to James Madison. These basic rules of order for how the government
will respect its own citizenry set in place and entitlement of rights by
American citizens that has fundamentally shaped this country and how Americans
come to expect its government to behave.

It endowed the citizenry of the land with an expectation that the rights of the
citizens of the country at a very basic level are more important than the rights
of the government and that the government "works for us" which is a phenomenal
change to the way societies have been organized throughout history. As such,
The Bill of Rights is one of the many reasons that America can be regarded as
the most unique country in the world and the country that many citizens of
other nations wish their own counties would emulate.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson is one of those almost mythic figures from early American
history that stand tall as one of the great heroes of the revolution and the
early definition of what this country was going to become. Sometimes it's easy
to look at a figure that stands so tall in history and think, perhaps some of
that is myth. But when you look at the history of the times, he was every bit
as great as our adoration of him suggests he was.

Thomas Jefferson's service to the new American union lasted over fifty years.
He not only contributed to the core philosophical underpinnings upon which our
democracy I based, he served in a variety of offices and made some phenomenal
contributions to the developing country including:

* 1775 -- Served in the Continental Congress
* 1776  --  Wrote the Declaration of Independence
* 1779-1781 -- Governor of Virginia
* 1783  --  Elected to Congress
* 1784-1789  --  Commissioner and minister to France
* 1790-1793  --  America's first Secretary of State under George Washington
* 1797-1801  --  Served as Vice President of the United States
* 1801-1809  --  Third President of the United States
* 1803  --  Approved of and helped launch the Lewis and Clark Expedition
* 1803  --  Purchased the Louisiana Territory for the United States
* 1815  --  Launched the Library of Congress
* 1825  --  founded the University of Virginia

This phenomenal record of achievement is virtually unmatched in any public
service record of comparable public servants. But Jefferson's contribution were
more than just offices served, he was one or two or three key philosophical
thinkers of his time that laid the ideological foundations of America.

It is impossible to overemphasize the accomplishment he writing the Declaration
of Independence. This document has taken on such a central position in American
history that it is viewed with the reverence usually reserved for religious
documents. It so eloquently communicates the beliefs and the values of the
American system of government that Jefferson can be seen as a true minister and
prophet of those ideals.

Thomas Jefferson also believed strongly in Manifest Destiny and the westward
expansion of the country as far as the Pacific Ocean. He provided the
inspiration, the funding and the political muscle to launch the famed Lewis and
Clark Expedition that was responsible for discovering vast new lands and
treasures in the heartland of America and providing inspiration to a country to
"go west young man" and to achieve that dream of becoming a nation that
stretched "for sea to shining sea".

Jefferson had a thirst for knowledge that was virtually unquenchable. He passed
that passion for learning on in the building of the University of Virginia. But
his contribution to education that has made such a huge mark on American
society was the building of the American library system by which citizens of
any community can have access to large volumes of information at no cost. It
was an amazing experiment in public education. But today few of us can imagine
a world where we cannot at any time just "go check it out at the library".
Libraries have become that central to the American way of life.

It seems that Thomas Jefferson made an impact on every aspect of society from
the educational systems of the growing country to government and even making
his viewpoints on religious freedom an important part of how America approached
this crucial topic. The entire concept of "separation of church and state" was
one that Jefferson championed.

It should be noted that in his writings it was clear that the separation of
church and state works because it is there to restrict government from
illegally restricting the religious rights of citizens. Sometimes we
misinterpret Jefferson's concepts that this governmental restriction is there
to limit religious freedom when in fact, it is there to encourage all the
religious freedom that the citizens of America need to honor and worship with
complete openness and to never fear that the government will hinder who, what,
when, where or how they go about expressing their religious ideas.

It's important to look back at the genius of this man, Thomas Jefferson and be
grateful that he was the man of the hour for such an important time in the
development of the great nation of the United States of America.

Thanksgiving

Each year America has a holiday in November that has taken on almost a
religious reverence which we call Thanksgiving. We give this holiday so much
honor that it ranks with us along with Christmas and Easter as an important
holiday in the hearts of family and as a nation. But this holiday, so rich with
tradition, has it origins in the earliest days of the founding of this nation.

The early years of the explorers to come to the American continent were
difficult ones indeed. Those explorers, we now call The Pilgrims, faced harsh
weather, unpredictable relations with the natives, disease and other challenges
as they carved out homes from the wilderness they found here. Because their
earliest homestead were in the northeast, the winters were harsh and their
ability to build houses that could keep them warm and to find sufficient food
was a constant worry to the men and women trying to raises families in America.

So anytime they received help from the native population, it was viewed as a
gift from God and accepted with the greatest of joy and celebration. A Native
American chief by the name of Squanto saw the plight of these new neighbors and
saw to it his tribe helped these young families to survive. Besides providing
food and wisdom about how to build structures that could keep them safe in the
winter, Squanto taught them to fish, how to prepare eel and other strange sea
creatures they harvested and how to farm.

This act of friendship was the origin of our revered holiday of Thanksgiving.
The Virginia Colony established the tradition of holding a day of collective
prayers of thanksgiving, and that tradition continues today. Except it is not
just a day of thanksgiving for the kindness and generosity of Squanto to our
forefathers. We take advantage of this day of reverence and thanksgiving to be
grateful for all the good things that God has blessed this nation with.

The foods we use to celebrate Thanksgiving were ones that the pilgrim travelers
found native to this country and the foods that, with the help of Native
American teachers, they learned to capture, harvest and prepare to feed their
families and prosper in their new home. Turkey was a game foul that was in
ample supply to the pilgrims once Squanto showed them how to hurt the bird with
reliable success.

The vegetables we love to have on our traditional menus also had their origins
in the early lives of the pilgrims. Potatoes, cranberries, sweet potatoes,
green beans and all the rest were vegetables that the pilgrims had to learn to
harvest, farm and prepare from natives of the land. So in many ways, our modern
holiday, despite the dominance of football games and the upcoming Christmas
holiday, retains the atmosphere of those early celebrations.

And the meaning of the holiday, despite commercialization, has been retained.
Americans have much to be thankful for. The abundance of the land, the health
of the most prosperous economy on earth and a society that is free and able to
encourage freedom in other cultures are just a few of the things we celebrate
at this holiday time. But for most of us, it is a time to gather family and
friends near and be thankful to God for our health, for the blessings of jobs
and for the privilege all Americans share to be able to live in the greatest
nation on earth where opportunity is ample that any of us can make it and do
well if we work hard at our chosen area of expertise. And these are things
truly worthy of giving thanks for.

Benjamin Franklin

Sometimes when a country is just getting organized, its citizens are considered
to be uneducated, out of touch or primitive. But exactly opposite was the truth
when the great American experiment began to take shape. The world did not see
America as provincial or simple and that is due to a large part to the work of
the man many that many have called "The First American". That man was Benjamin
Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin stands out amongst those we would call "The Founding Fathers"
because he was neither a military man nor a politician. He was one of the few we
think of a one of our nation's fathers that never served as president. But that
does not mean that his contributions to the start of this great country were
not profound and far reaching.

Benjamin Franklin could easily be described as what was popularly known in his
day as a "renaissance man". He was truly proficient in many fields of
discipline and he had a mind that was fascinated with all areas of study and
knowledge. As such he brought to the discussions with his fellow founding
fathers a knowledge of political theory, an awareness of history and an ability
to speculate on the perfect union that was crucial to the laying the conceptual
foundation of what America would come to be when it blossomed into reality.

For many, we remember Benjamin Franklin as a great scientist and inventor. And
to be sure he qualified in that realm as well. Every school boy or girl has
that image of him flying that kite to capture electricity to test his theories
that is so popular in our mythology of his accomplishments. But these images
are no myth for Franklin was truly a great inventor contributing to the world
such important innovations as the lightning rod, swim fins, the catheter, the
harmonica and bifocals. In that way, Benjamin Franklin had as much in common
with Michelangelo as he did with Thomas Jefferson and indeed he was in good
company if listed with either.

But it was a political theorist and a philosopher that Franklin made huge
contributions to the development of the American experiment in its early
formations. It was he who was able to envision the concept of a new American
nation. But his talents did not end at his ability to use his powerful mind to
envision the future so well. He was also a talented communicator, writer and
teacher so he was able to use his eloquence and magnetic personality to promote
the idea of an American nation both within the colonies and internationally.

Benjamin Franklin was truly a citizen of the world as he was as comfortable in
the courtyards of France as he was in the pubs of Boston. In fact, he was so
popular on both sides of the Atlantic that he served as America's first
ambassador to France and therein lies one of his greatest contributions to the
independence of the new country. He was able to use his vast popularity and his
trained powers of persuasion to cause the French to enter the battle on the side
of the colonies against the British which was a major contributor to the success
of the revolution to free America from English control and launch the
independent American nation.

Franklin's writings have become treasured documents among the archives of this
important time in American history. But just as much as his written work, his
influence as a thinker, an intellectual and an international diplomat set the
standard for others to follow after him and truly established America as a
member of the international community of nations.

The 22nd Amendment

On February 27th, 1951, the 22nd amendment was ratified which made permanent a
tradition that has profound influence on the philosophy of government in the
United States of America. This amendment may not be the most well known
amendment but its place in the fabric of American history cannot be overstated.
That is because the 22nd Amendment mandated that:

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and
no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more
than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall
be elected to the office of the President more than once.

The limitation of service as President of the United States to two terms was
one that up until the 22nd amendment was more a matter of custom than law. It
began when George Washington refused to run for a third term. But by making the
limitation of power in the presidency in the 22nd amendment, the American people
made a bold statement about how their government would be run.

One of the most unique aspects to how the United States of America organized
its government was the concept of citizen rulers. This concept was born in the
very halls and pubs where the founding fathers gathered to discuss this new
country that was just getting started. By reducing the idea of a "career
politician", especially at the presidential level, the 22nd amendment dealt a
deadly blow to the concept that America would ever be ruled by a king or a
"president for life."

This was clearly a reaction by America to the abuses that had witnessed by the
pilgrims and immigrants that make up this great country in their homelands.
They reacted strongly and negatively to the deification of kings and the
virtually unlimited powers that too many times systems of royalty tended to
give to their leadership. This was one of the central themes that caused so
many to flee Europe, Central Asia and other parts of the world to seek a land
where it was the people who were the center of the governments will, not the
arbitrary ideas of a king who was cut off from the real needs of the people he
served.

The way America set up its presidency was in every way an attempt to "fix" the
flaws and abuses of the European models and refocus the center of power in
government on the electorate rather than on the elected. Another aspect of the
American federal system that was put in place deliberately to limit the ability
of those in power to abuse that power is the system of checks and balances. This
system assures that none of the branches of government, The Congress, the
Presidency or the Supreme Court could dominate the other or take complete power
and rule without challenge. By insuring that all in power had to answer to the
opposing party and be prepared to answer to the American people for what they
did and even said, this completely eliminated that chances that one part of the
government would stage a "coup" over the other.

Accountability is a word that is not very exciting but it is the concept that
has kept the American system of government healthy and in service to its people
rather than putting them in service for over 200 years.

In addition to these several highly innovative methods the founding fathers
gave to this young country to eliminate the abuses of past governmental
systems, they also put a system in place that assured the orderly transition of
power. The system of elections every two years stopped two evils, the occurrence
of a politician who served for life without accountability and a system wherein
the only way to loose your job in government was by violent overthrow. As a
result the American system, albeit contentious and argumentative, has been and
continues to be one of the most peaceful and orderly systems of federal
administration in the world and indeed in the history of the world.

American Inventions

The history of how America emerged as the premier superpower in the world is
about more than just a great military or a homeland so rich in natural
resources that we were able to become the breadbasket of the world. There are
many forces that combined in the American experiment that has made this country
so great. One of those great forces is the phenomenal inventive minds that have
graced America virtually since its inception. Starting with the powerful mind
of Benjamin Franklin, the history of inventions that started in America and
transformed the world is lengthy indeed.

The computer has become so much a part of our lives that we forget that it was
once invented. The history of the development of this "futuristic" device is
long and filled with genius. The actual first prototypes of the computer were
developed by the Defense Department, which is oddly the source of a lot of the
great innovations in American history. But it was the early PC developers
including Steve Wozniac, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates that took the computer to
the level of familiarity we know it to be now and made computers a part of our
everyday lives.

Most world changing inventions have a profoundly positive influence on
mankind's quality of life. But an invention that did not improve life but
destroyed it is also an American invention that changed the world. That
invention, of course, is the Atomic Bomb. Developed by the fabled "Manhattan
Project", this bomb changed everything about war, diplomacy and the way nations
relate to one another. And to find a positive amongst all the death the bombings
in Japan brought about, that bomb may be one of the key elements that brought an
end to a horrific war, World War II. And in the long run, that is a conflict
that the world breathed a sigh of relief when it came to an end.

There is a joke that makes its rounds frequently during political jesting that
"Al Gore invented the internet." If he had invented it, he would be a world
changing inventor for sure. But it is not out of line to declare that America
invented the internet. Again, the original primitive retypes for what became
our modern internet was the work of the American Defense Department as a
measure to insure that America's computer security was guarded by
decentralizing the network. From this simple goal, the vast World Wild Web has
emerged that has transformed everything about how we look at communication,
information and knowledge. We have American ingenuity to thank for that.

But of the thousands of American inventions that have done so much in the
fields of medicine, technology, research and communications, none can compare
to an invention by a brilliant thinker by the name of Henry Ford. That
invention, obviously, is the automobile. Just like with some of the other
inventions we have talked about, we can hardly imagine a time where there was
no such thing as an automobile.

Mr. Ford's amazing invention literally transformed society not just in America
but around the world. From it came the freeway system and an overhaul to how
cities and towns are organized and linked together. And while there are
downsides to the widespread use of automobiles, it has been a huge leap forward
for America and civilization as a whole. And Mr. Ford, like any of the inventors
we have talked about and thousands we have not, would see the betterment of
mankind as their greatest calling. America has hosted this great calling for
centuries and will continue to produce brilliant inventors such as these for a
long time to come.

The Cornerstone of American Law

There are just a few truly great documents that represent the foundation stones
upon which the American system of government was built. One is the Declaration
of Independence. Another is The Bill of Rights. But when it comes to the legal
girding that we always go back to in order to test if a law in this land can
stand or fall, it is the Constitution of the United States of America that is
that backbone that defines right and wrong for us.

Indeed you might even say that the sole reason we have a Supreme Court is to
have a living body that is here to decide on, interpret and enforce
constitutional law. And what is the worse accusation anyone can make about any
act that is in question from a government agency? "That's unconstitutional" is
that accusation. That is how powerful this document is in American life, legal
definitions and culture.

The historical context of the signing of The Constitution was The
Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia. That city
witnessed many such historic events which enshrine its place in the history of
the country to be sure. The framers of that Constitution would have to be
considered without question the most intelligent and well educated men
certainly of their time and maybe of any time. That document was so well
crafted that it has lasted as a legal standard for over 200 years with no signs
that its power will diminish for hundreds of years more. But in that context,
the Constitution is the oldest document of its kind in existence in the world
and the original is carefully protected but on display in Washington DC.

The Constitution reflected the best of some of the oldest legal documents of
similar intent that went back hundreds of years into history. As such the
Constitution includes ideas drawn from the Magna Carta, the French political
philosopher Montesquieu, The Code of Hammurabi, the law of the Old Testament,
ancient Greek political ideology from such writers as Polybius as well as
Common Law from England. So while the core ideas of the Constitution draw from
some of the greatest systems of government and ideologies from history, the
outcome is a unique format for governing a people that was so untried that it
was considered to be "The Great American Experiment."

The Constitution is divided into seven "articles" each of which discusses one
of the divisions of government. Articles one through three discuss the three
branches of government including the legislative, the executive and the
judicial. Article four goes into depth about the rights and powers reserved to
the states. It is clear to see that the framers knew the importance of leaving
much of the power of governing at the local and state level and that those
rights needed to be preserved at the foundational document of the society, The
Constitution.

Other articles discuss the ratification process and federal power. But the
wisdom of the framers of The Constitution lie in article five which outlines a
process of amendments which leaves room for additional work to be done to keep
the Constitution up to date to changes that need to be made. As such the
Constitution has remained a living document for all of these years and will
continue to be seen in that light for many decades and centuries to come.

America Conquers the Air

If you ask any student even in elementary school why the town of Kitty Hawk,
North Carolina is significant to American history, they will know the answer
immediately. They will know that this was the place that Orville and Wilber
Wright made the first working airplane and discovered that man could fly.

Today, with thousands of airplanes taking to the sky at any given moment and
the experience of flying high above the earth as common as riding a bicycle, it
seems that a world where men did not fly is as far away as the ancient Romans.
But we have to travel in time back to the days before the Wright brothers made
their phenomenal discovery and the invention of the first aircraft when there
was a time when it was firmly believed that man would never fly like a bird and
indeed, man was meant to never fly but always be a terrestrial being. We can be
grateful that the Wright brothers did not hold to that belief.

The date of that first successful flight was December 17, 1903. It was on that
fateful day that Orville and Wilber successfully flew the first controlled,
powered, heavier than air airplane. This break through ranks as one of the
greatest inventions of American history and in truth, one of the great
inventions of all time as man had been dreaming of being able to fly as far
back as we have primitive drawings illustrating that dream.

The Wright brothers were well suited to go through the tedious research to
finally create a machine that could accomplish this feat. We all know that
great inventions are often the results of hundreds or thousands of failures and
tests by which the inventor refines his ideas and makes new discoveries that
take him step by step toward that final break through. That was certainly true
of the Wright brothers.

Our reference to flight becoming as common as riding a bicycle is well chosen
because it was the Wright brothers vocation as mechanics repairing printing
presses, motors and bicycles that gave them the knowledge of the inner workings
of such machines that was needed to create a machine that could sustain flight.
Their work to perfect the design of the common bicycle lead them to believe
that conquering flight was not a question of providing sufficient power to the
aircraft as it was providing mechanisms of control and balance to properly keep
the aircraft steady with sufficient consistency that it could take to the air.

Long before that first successful flight, the Wright brothers conducted their
research. Using their bicycle shop as a makeshift laboratory, they first
experimented with gliders and unmanned aircraft to refine their theories and
their designs. But finally on December 17, 1903, they achieved their dream of
manned flight, even if only for a short time. Orville Wright's account of that
first flight is scientific and understated.

"Wilbur started the fourth and last flight at just about 12 o'clock. The first
few hundred feet were up and down, as before, but by the time three hundred
feet had been covered, the machine was under much better control. The course
for the next four or five hundred feet had but little undulation. However, when
out about eight hundred feet the machine began pitching again, and, in one of
its darts downward, struck the ground. The distance over the ground was
measured to be 852 feet; the time of the flight was 59 seconds."

Little did the Wright brothers know that an entire new industry would be built
around these simple experiments. Moreover, they had achieved a dream man had
dreamed for centuries, to actually be able to fly above the ground and come
back safely. It is truly one of the great accomplishments of American history.

Abraham Lincoln

We would like to think all of our presidents of the United States were truly
great men and to be sure, just handling the awesome responsibility of the
presidency takes a special kind of individual. One of the unique and great
things about the system of government in America is the concept of citizen
leadership. This is the idea of an ordinary citizen rising up and becoming
president for a while and then returning to private life.

But of the handful of men who have held that office, a few have stood out for
their great achievements and leadership in a time that changed the country for
ever. And one of these truly great presidents was Abraham Lincoln. Probably
more than any other president, Lincoln had to handle an internal civil war that
was far more than shouting and name calling. This was a dispute that could have
torn the country in half and starting a rupturing that could have resulted in
dozens of small weak independent states instead of the powerful nation we know
as America today.

It was Lincoln's leadership, his commitment to values and his strong moral
fiber that made it possible for America to find its way through that war and
then to begin the healing process that would eventually lead the nation back to
unity once again. Lincoln's term of service from 1860 until his death was one of
considerable challenge. If he only had the problem of dealing with the attempt
by the south to succeed from the union and his ability to keep those states as
part of the American national territory, he would be lauded as a great American
indeed.

One of the little known leadership styles that Lincoln used to his advantage in
the organization of his presidency was his appointment of talented national
figures from opposing political parties to be part of his cabinet. Lincoln felt
that he needed to have close advisors from the opposing viewpoint to keep from
having his presidency become insulated from the American people and one sided.
By gathering members of the "loyal opposition" into his trusted inner circle,
Lincoln was always aware of both sides of every issue which made him a stronger
leader.

But that is not even his greatest accomplishment or the one that we remember
him for the most. His bold and unchanging opposition to slavery is without any
doubt his greatest contribution to the history of America and indeed to world
history as well. When he was willing to put everything on the line to stop this
barbaric social sin, Lincoln made a stand, against the popular opinion of the
time in many cases that he would be the figure to bring slavery to an end.

It was not a stand that came without cost. The civil war was one of the
bloodiest and costliest in the nation's history if for no other reason than all
casualties; on both sides were casualties of America. It would take many decades
for the ravages of that horrible war to be repaired. The schism between north
and south continued for decades and is still a part of our national personality
in this country.

But the end result was what Lincoln wanted to be his legacy. By issuing the
Emancipation Proclamation to make the end of slavery permanent, Lincoln
followed that up with the passing of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments which
made permanent the freedoms that were hard fought and won in the Civil War.

The freedom that was won for so many black Americans in that war permanently
enshrined the memory of Abraham Lincoln as one of our greatest presidents in
the hearts and minds of all Americans. Small wonder the monument honoring him
on Washington's national mall is one of the most revered spots in the nation
and one that thousands flock to each year to give respect for this great
president that made liberty and freedom a reality for all Americans, not just a
few. And his face on Mount Rushmore is well deserved so the very mountain itself
shouts out, this is one of the greatest leaders in the history of this great
country.

The Civil War

America has been part of some devastating battles over her long history. World
War I and World War II were tremendously difficult conflicts and ones that
taxed the nation's resources to the maximum. But none of those conflicts can
compare to The Civil War not only for the brutality and devastation of human
life but in the damage to social fabric that was caused by that terrible
conflict.

America is proud that it has never had a battle on its native soil. Other than
Pearl Harbor and 911, we have never even been attacked on our own soil. So it
took a war of brother against brother, American against American to make even
the possibility of war within the borders of America even possible.

The war's statistics are staggering for a relatively short conflict. The war
started on April 12. 1861. It was the confederacy that drew first blood
attacking Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The battles of the Civil War and
legendary. We have come to honor the dead of both sides of this bloody conflict
by preserving many of those historic battlefields even to this day.

Throughout the war, the North was at an advantage in preparation, equipment and
supplies. But General Lee, who commanded the confederate army, was a brilliant
strategist and the battles often resulted in massive casualties on both sides.
When the final tally was drawn up, over 970,000 American citizens died from the
Civil War. While that may not compare numerically to the huge losses in the two
world wars later to come, this figure represented 3% of the American population
at the time. And since the huge majority of the war dead were from America's
youth, the hope for her future, the set back this war had on the development of
America's economy was truly remarkable.

In modern times we look back on the Civil War as a titanic battle to bring an
end to the horrors of slavery in this country. And to be sure, the Civil War is
and will forever remain a central part of black history and the beginning point
of the civil rights movement in America. But the causes of the Civil War were
complex and diverse which only made negotiation and resolution of the war more
difficult in advance of conflict.

Part of the issue that was being fought out was the rights of states for self
determination as balanced with the rights of the federal government to
determine affairs in the individual states. On the surface, this may seem
trivial compared to ending slavery but put in context, it was a critical
relationship to iron out in light of our not very distant memory of our
revolution against England for trying to impose unreasonable controls on the
colonies.

American's are fiercely independent people and that independent spirit was born
in the battles of the revolutionary war where America stated firmly that they
would no longer bow to a king or let the centralized government have such
sweeping control over individual lives. The outrage over how England tried to
put the colonies under servitude was the foal that caused the explosion known
as the Revolutionary War. And much effort was made to assure there was language
in the constitution and other critical documents to assure that the federal
government would be severely limited from interfering in the lives of its
citizens.

Beyond that the preservation of the union as one country was also in contest in
the Civil War. But it was the moral issue of slavery that made the Civil War
such an emotional issue and one that caused people to fight with such
ferociousness to defend their side. In the end, even Abraham Lincoln made
slavery the central rational for the war and determined that the end of this
barbaric practice would be the legacy of this horrible conflict.

But one thing that also was a legacy of the Civil War was the determination
that we, as Americans, would never turn our war machine on our own citizens
again. The war tore families apart and literally caused brother to war against
brother. Since reconstruction and the union of America, the country has had a
bruise in its national psyche over this war and that bruise reminds us that we
are one people and we would always be one people devoted to the causes of
truth, justice and the American way of life.

The American Cowboy

Americans have a unique vision of themselves and their role in the world.
Unlike perhaps any other peoples in history, Americans see themselves as people
of destiny and a people who were put here to do something phenomenal and
something significant for history and for all peoples of the earth. This unique
self-concept, sometimes perceived as arrogance, is deeply grounded in a set of
archetypes that Americans use to form their vision of themselves in the world.
And no other archetype is as powerful in the American psyche than that of the
cowboy.

The actual American cowboy was indeed a unique individual. While probably not
as noble and ruggedly handsome as the images created of him in the movies, they
were unique types of men who carved out a civilization from the rugged
wilderness that was the American west in the years before the turn of the last
century.

Some of the reasons that the image of the cowboy sometimes includes elements of
the outlaw and the loner is that much of the legend of the cowboy came from
stories of refugees from the broken southern army who took to the life of the
cowboy rather than attempt to integrate into a society that included making
peace with "the Yankee". And that type of individual certainly did account for
many of the outlaws who went on to become the stuff of legend and stories even
to this day.

The renegade and loner image combined with the rough life of an actual cowboy
whose job it was to guide those huge herds of cattle along trails such as the
historic Cumberland trail where they could be sold to become the steaks,
leather and other goods that were sold in rustic American stores of the time.
This was a difficult life and the stories of the trail make up many history
books for sure. But far more of the stories of the trail are glorifications of
that lifestyle that must have been difficult indeed.

But the image of the cowboy was also something that grew larger than what the
actual lifestyle of those simple but rugged men must have lived in the American
west. It was an image that pulled together heroes as far flung as the Australian
Gaucho cowboy, the Japanese Samurai and a knight in King Arthur's court. It was
an image of a man who demonstrated the rugged individualism that all Americans
consider to be one of the central unifying traits that makes America great.

The cowboy image is one that even has its influence as high in the social
strata of America that it influences the presidency. It is said that there is a
tradition for any president when he first is elected and comes to Washington to
begin learning this big new job. Tradition holds that each president has as
part of their early duties to sit down and watch the movie High Noon. They say
that President Clinton watched it dozens of times in his early years. If this
is true, it accounts for how often a new president seems to grow and change in
the office and becomes his own version of the great American hero that is
depicted in that movie. The American cowboy defends the virtue of the weak and
helpless. He is a staunch defender of families and those in society who are
trying to carve out a home in a difficult world. As such, the American cowboy
fits with the "superhero" image that also appeals to the American system of
justice and morality and values.

Even the star wars epic films were fundamentally grounded in the legend of the
cowboy. The cowboy concept grew up from a history of our country that included
the settling of a big land and the settling of a wilderness that pit the god
given will and intellect of man against God's creation. And it was the will of
man that prevailed. That is why American's admire the cowboy because he
represents their own struggles for greatness, for success and to be a heroic
figure at least for their families, home towns and churches. And that desire so
deeply rooted in the culture of American history will always be what makes
America and Americans great.

The Great War

The history of America is decorated with some of the great conflicts that have
ever been fought by civilizations and for great ideals. This was never truer
than in World War II which was sometimes called the Great War. As is so often
the case, it was not a war that America wanted to become part of. So often, it
is when aggressors bring war to America that she is forced to respond. But in
all cases when America responds, it is with a fury that her enemies will seldom
forget.

When you think about it, the very idea of a world war is terribly frightening.
And in every way, World War II was a world war because it caught up virtually
every country and every continent in a global conflict that went on for years.
The enemies of America and her allies were well armed, intelligent, determined
and powerful. But America was up to the challenge and it will be up to the
challenge again if the likes of Hitler dare to threaten civilization like this
again.

World War II was also virtually a textbook case of flawless collaboration with
our allies. Working together with them almost like we were one country and one
army we deployed our forces across multiple theaters of combat from Europe to
Asia to Russia and across the globe. We had to fight more than one enemy.
Hitler's Germany alone was a frightening enemy as it spread its evil influence
across Europe capturing country after country and threatening to swallow up the
continent whole and then move on to capture lands in central Asia and even
America.

But we also had powerful enemies in German's allies, particularly Japan. When
this frightening enemy struck our forces at Pearle Harbor, it was a blow to
America that could not be ignored. For Japan, they had hoped to cripple the
American military and remove all hope from the American heart to be able to
strike back or become part of the conflict. They got exactly the opposite as
every man, woman and child in America rallied to build the kind of war machine
that would bring the Axis powers to a crashing end, no matter what the cost.

But the most important thing that America said to the world when it took on
Hitler's armies and defeated them was that totalitarian rule of free peoples
would never be tolerated. Hitler had dreams of world domination like the great
kings of ancient Rome of the early Germanic empires. But America had thrown off
dictators when we founded this country and declared that we would not become the
pawn of kings or tyrants. We were not going to turn over that hard fought
freedom to a madman while there was a fighting will left in this country.

It was not an easy battle or one without cost. Thousands of America's youth
gave their lives to preserve the freedoms that had been won by our forefathers.
Our leaders had to show a resolve and a unity that they would not blink in the
face of a challenge and they would not let down the brave American soldier or
the civilian population that stood behind them until Hitler and his allies were
in defeat.

The world saw what America was made of in that great conflict. It saw that a
country that was gifted with great wealth and prosperity was also willing to
turn those resources to defend its borders and defend its allies. It was a
stern lesson for our enemies to learn that America was not a country to be
trifled with in combat. But then we showed that we were not a vindictive
country when, even in defeat, we reached out to Japan, Germany and other
defeated peoples and helped them rebuild from that awful war. This too is a
testimony to the American sprit and the American sense of fair play. Let's hope
that an enemy never rises up again to test that will because they will find as
Hitler did, that America would not fail to respond to the call to battle or the
call to honor which is her legacy.

Standing Down Hitler

If you were to ask anybody in this country what was America's "finest hour",
you might find many different answers. For most of us, we think of a handful of
incidents where the true spirit of what it means to be an American comes forth.
And to some, you might hear the answer "America's finest hour is still ahead of
it", and that may be true. Nobody can tell that right now.

But in terms of American history, without a doubt when America linked arms with
it's allies and stood down the terrible threat Adolph Hitler's Germany was
posing during World War II would have to represent the finest show of strength,
national resolve and honor in the history of the nation. And that is because
during these difficult years, America did not just use its vast resources to
save Americans and American interests. It is not an overstatement that by
standing down Hitler, America saved the world.

World War II was without a doubt the most devastating war in the history of the
world. The death toll worldwide from this conflict reached over sixty million
people. The aggression of the axis powers seemed to know no limitations which
only makes more dramatic the brave stand that America, England, France and the
other allied powers showed to stand in the face of a well armed and ruthless
enemy and deny them the world domination they sought.

Its easy to look back now on how the greatest generation, as they often have
been called, found the will, the determination to risk everything to stop
Hitler's armies. But we forget that at the time, there was no way of knowing if
the allies were going to prevail. Early in the war, Hitler seemed unstoppable as
he occupied Poland and the invasion of Europe spread to England, France, Norway
and beyond giving Germany more and more leverage to spread the war to Africa,
into Russia and across Asia as well. By the time the full allied force was
assembled and ready to strike back, Hitler's advances were so deep and the
spread of the war so far reaching that at times it seemed impossible to turn
back this evil tide of military hostility that threatened to engulf the globe.

As often is the case, it was when America entered the war that the allies began
to see a hope to stop the horror of what Hitler was trying to do. It took the
bombing of Pearl Harbor to put the American population on alert that the
isolation of the American continent did not mean that they would be spared the
spread of the war to their homeland unless something was done. By attacking
America's ships at harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, the Japanese brought
the most potent military machine in the world into the war against the axis
powers which eventually spelled doom for the cause of Hitler and his allies.

America's battles on the many fronts of World War II is filled with dozens of
stories of courage and strategic brilliance that finally began to turn the war
to the favor of the allies. It took courageous decision making at the very top
levels of command to make that decision to use the most devastating weapon man
had ever known to strike Japan and speed the end of conflicts. The toll of
dropping nuclear weapons on Japan was horrific but America's president knew
that by ending the conflict, tens of thousands of American lives would be
saved. Only that made it a justifiable attack. But that attack alone did not
bring Hitler to his knees. The turn of fortunes began on D-Day on June 5, 1944.
This massive assault on the beaches of Normandy France caught the German
defenders by surprise. Nevertheless, the cost in lives was tremendous as
American and allied troops staged that massive invasion to begin to bring the
Nazi war machine down.

We can only look back with gratitude to the brave men and woman who fought to
keep America and the world free from Hitler's plans of world domination. And by
stopping him, we can truly say, this was America's finest hour.

Manifest Destiny

America is a vast country covering thousands of square miles of land that
traverses tremendously diverse climate and landscape. From high and majestic
mountains, to wide deserts to vast fruitful plains that seem to go on forever,
the sheer size of the physical landscape of America is breath taking.

Obviously, this was not always the case. When those earliest settlers landed on
the east coast and carved out their stark settlements, they had no idea of huge
expanse of land that lay to the west. It took the bold explorations of
surveyors such and Lewis and Clark to report back how stunningly huge the
amount of physical space that was available for America to inhabit.

At first, the very idea of becoming a nation was seemingly impossible for the
early settlers to grasp. They came here to escape persecution, tyranny or to
make a new home for their families. If they could have looked a few hundred
years down the line into the future and seen the powerhouse of a nation that
would grow up from their work in those early years, they would have been
stunned that this country grew to be such a world force. So the earliest
challenges of settlers and early leaders of the citizens of the young America
was to grasp the scope of what they were about to set about to achieve.

But grasp that scope they did. It seemed that the physical majesty of what was
to become the nation of America inspired a concept that was just as grand as
the land itself and that was the concept of Manifest Destiny. Manifest destiny
was the force that drove those settlers and explorers to drive their wagon
trains across sometimes impossible terrain through difficult weather conditions
and facing many dangers from animals and Native Americans alike to build a
nation that spanned form the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans.

This was the dream of the early settlers of this country. They did not just see
a new nation but one of importance, of an almost holy calling to become a
virtual utopia of democracy and opportunity. And part of that utopian vision
was the idea of a nation that spanned ocean to ocean and from Mexico to the
Canadian border as well.

When you think about it, its phenomenal that a people who did not have space
photographs of a landscape or high speed travel such as is common today to get
a vision of a unified nation of such vast size and scope. But it was more than
just physical size that spoke to the hearts and souls of those early Americans.
Manifest Destiny spoke to a vision of greatness for America that was birthed in
the hearts of even these early citizens.

The size of the country was to be a reflection of the majesty of the human
spirit and the magnificence of the American experiment to build a nation built
on freedom, the will of the people and on democracy and opportunity. Today such
concepts seem ordinary and for that we can thank the early founders of this
country for catching that dream together and making it a reality.

Many have criticized Manifest Destiny as greed or empire building. And to be
sure, mistakes were made and many people died or had their individual destinies
hurt in the wholesale rush to the west that America experienced in its early
decades. But what is not diminished is that sense of calling and that sense
that America was put here for something great. That calling lives still in the
hearts of all true Americans as we find out how we too can help our country
fulfill its Manifest Destiny to be a voice for freedom and liberty in the
world. Let's hope Americans never loose their sense of calling and destiny.
Because if that dies away, something holy and magnificent will die with it.

Vietnam

In the annals of American history, there may be no other country name that
evokes such emotion as the country of Vietnam. The history of this conflict is
more than just a military struggle. The impact that the Vietnam conflict had on
American culture and foreign policy for many decades to come makes it a truly
watershed war in the life of a relatively young country.

Vietnam was not, on the surface as clearly a moral battleground as World War II
or the Civil War had been. That in itself made it more difficult for Americans
to understand and become patriotic about as they had been in prior wars. Yes,
as in past conflicts, we found ourselves defending our allies, the South
Vietnamese against the attacks of a communist neighbor to the north. And in
that way, it became a struggle to assist an ally, a military objective that
America had long embraced.

But the war was not just with the North Vietnamese. To a very large extent, the
war was against the Chinese and the Russians who were using the theater in
Vietnam to wear down the American fighting force. It was a war that had been
going on for many decades before the Americans got involved as a regional
battle.

Many foreign powers had gotten involved and left defeated so when America
entered this conflict, it was a very different kind of war than we had been
used to. The armies mixed with the population. There were no uniforms and
formations and battle theaters as battle could occur anywhere at any time.
Combine that with a hostile jungle setting and the complete absence of any
battle protocol and you had a formula for failure if not a very difficult road
to success.

Vietnam also is a watchword for the tremendous resistance movement that rose up
on American soil to try to stop the conflict. This resistance movement became
deeply entangled with a huge change to the social fabric in the rise of the
youth movement, the hippies and the fast moving surge of the civil rights and
the woman's rights movements. This made the era of the late 1950s through the
early 1970s tremendously difficult to navigate as a nation.

Vietnam did follow somewhat of a predictable path of invasions, major battles,
set backs and regrouping of our forces. But the military faced a huge challenge
in facing the many new war scenarios this difficult combat setting presented. As
the casualty count grew, without a clear cut definition of victory and with very
few clear victories to demonstrate to the American people our superiority, the
ability of civilian leadership to sustain the support for the war effort became
jeopardized.

Vietnam very much represents a transition in how America viewed conflict. We
came out of the huge successes we had seen our military bring in battle. The
defeat of Hitler and the axis powers in World War II gave America a sense of
confidence, of divine calling to prevail militarily and the concept that we are
the good guys and we will always win. But we did not win in Vietnam and that was
and is a hard lesson to learn.

America demonstrated its devout dedication to the concept of supporting an ally
in a warring situation when it committed troops to the Vietnam conflict. But
there were many lessons to be learned about preparation and going into a
conflict with a strategy that had a high probability of success. In wars to
come in later years such as Grenada, the Balkans and the Liberation of Kuwait,
we demonstrated that America had learned those lessons going in with a massive
force and achieving victory before we got bogged down in a long civil conflict.

So we can applaud the bravery of our troops and the willingness of our
leadership to learn from a tough war like Vietnam. The lessons to be learned
from Vietnam are still being worked out. But in the end, we will be a better
nation and a stronger nation because we put ourselves on the line for a friend,
even if the outcome was not the desired outcome.

John F. Kennedy

In the life of this great nation, a few of its presidents have emerged from the
pack as truly historic and memorable even more than others. Of course, the
presidents from the generation of the founding fathers certainly fit that bill
including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. And presidents that served
the country in times of great crisis also are deeply honored in memory. But in
recent memory, there probably no other president that brings up emotions of
respect and admiration as much as that of John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy seemed to capture the hearts of the American people in a way that was
unique in presidents before or since. Part of it may have been the era in
history that the country was in when he became the President of the United
States. The historic time between 1950 and 1970 was a time when the largest
generation of youth, now known as the "baby boomers", was coming of age. With
them a new youth movement brought a sense of optimism, a "can do" attitude and
to some extent a sense of revolution. They were looking for new ways of seeing
things, a new vision of the future and new leadership and John F. Kennedy was
the perfect man of the hour to provide that leadership.

So much about Kennedy's presidency has an aura of romance and almost a fairy
tale excitement of it. From the naming of his family estates "Camelot" to the
love affair that the public had with the strikingly beautiful presidential
couple, Jack and Jacqueline Kennedy. That touch of magic extended to everything
he did and virtually everybody in his family including his younger brother
Robert who was idolized as well and almost certainly would have served as
president had he not been tragically assassinated during his early bid for that
office.

But this was not to say that Kennedy was not a phenomenal leader. He faced
serious challenges. The Cuban Missile Crisis may have been one of the most
frightening show downs between a nuclear Russia and a nuclear America that has
ever happened in history. When it became clear that Russia was beginning to
build bases in Cuba and arm them with those terrible weapons, this was no time
for a weak president. Had Russia been able to bully Kennedy or intimidate the
young president and put those missiles in Cuba, it seems certain that the
outcome of the cold war would have been one of failure rather than success. But
Kennedy was not bullied or intimidated and using the power of his office,
Kennedy stood his ground and stood ground for all Americans and forced the
Russians to remove those missiles.

But this was not the only great accomplishment of Kennedy's administration. It
took a leader who had great vision and ability to inspire a nation as nobody
else than John F. Kennedy could to set the sights of the nation on landing on
the moon. But Kennedy put that desire and that high calling in the hearts of
his people and the nation rallied to finally see that man step out on the moon
and declare, "This is one step for man, a giant leap for mankind." That was one
of the proudest days in American history and it was Kennedy who inspired us to
that kind of greatness.

As much as the life and leadership of John F. Kennedy perfectly exemplified the
optimism and youthful zeal of a generation, his tragic assignation changed the
country forever as well. On that sad day of November 22, 1963 when Lee Harvey
Oswald gunned down America's beloved president, the hearts of Americans changed
forever.

This was one of those days that almost everybody who was alive at the time,
from school children to grandfathers remembered where they were when they heard
the news. Since we laid to rest this great leader, the presidency itself has
never been the same. While Americans will always respect their presidents, that
sense of adoration for the man in the White House disappeared forever. But the
thing that did not disappear was the ongoing adoration of the man, John F.
Kennedy, who inspired a generation and a nation to look forward to greatness
and in the famous words of his inaugural address in 1961:

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your
country."

The Cold War

When we look back over the span of centuries that represents American history,
it is easy to call out major military engagements which represent the major
wars of this country. From World War II to the Civil War to Korea to World War
I, America has been involved in many military engagements and emerged
victorious in all but a few of them. But one of the strangest, longest lasting
wars that America has entered into was the one that was called "The Cold War".

For many Americas living today, The Cold War was a fact of life for decades.
The reason it was a cold war was that there was no battlefield, no armies on
deployment, no body counts and no major engagements to report. Instead it was a
long period of silent animosity between the United States and the Soviet Union
that lasted from the end of World War II up to the early 1990s.

The strange thing was that the cold war grew out of our relationship with the
Soviet Union during World War II which was a relationship of friendship. But
the seeds of the "conflict" were in place at the end of that horrible war. With
the presence of nuclear technology, the concept of a "superpower" was born. This
was not itself a source of tension until the Soviet Union themselves developed
the bomb as well and a long cold stand off ensued in which both nations trained
thousands of these weapons on each other to warn the other that they must never
consider firing those weapons.

It was a staring contest that lasted almost fifty years and created a
tremendous drain on both economies. Both countries had to maintain "parity" of
their nuclear weapons so neither country got more than the other thus throwing
of the balance of power and giving one combatant an unfair advantage. This was
a strange logic in that both countries possessed enough weaponry to destroy the
earth dozens of times over but still they insisted on "having parity" throughout
the cold war.

It was clear that no battle between the Soviet Union and America could ever be
tolerated. The potential outcome of engaging those weapons had the power to
destroy life on planet earth. But neither country was prepared to lay down
their arms and begin the process of making peace with the other. So the weapons
continued to point at each other, day after day, year after year, for fifty
years.

So instead of conducting battles directly, the two countries fought each other
through small wars around the world. The Soviet Unions, working with China
happily contributed to the humiliating loss in Vietnam that the United States
endured. But the United States then turned around and armed the Afghan
Mujahideen which lead to the defeat of the Soviet Union in their occupation of
that country. From proxy wars, the space race, and occasional face offs such as
the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War continued for decades testing the will
and resolve of both countries never to look away and give the other the
advantage.

Finally the pressure on the economies of the two countries took its toll in the
early 1990s, particularly in the Soviet Union as the stress of sustaining such
an expensive and unproductive war forced the Soviet economy into collapse and
the empire broke up. The United States had won the cold war by sheer will to
endure and stubborn refusal to give in. This is a seldom spoken of element of
the American spirit but it is one that the Soviets learned to their own
disaster not to test. Hopefully no other "superpower" will ever think they are
equipped to test it again.

Saving Kuwait

The history of American use of its military forces, there are some stand out
examples of how America considers its military might be a force for good and
justice. And the use of military for a just cause can be beautifully
illustrated in the way America came to the aid of an ally in the Gulf War of
1991. This war goes under a lot of names including Operation Desert Storm and
the Liberation of Kuwait. But whatever title, it was a battle America needed to
enter into because of an unjust invasion of an ally and an act of aggression we
could not just stand by and let happen.

The United States and the civilized nations of the world had put up with a lot
of barbaric behavior from Saddam Husain, the dictator in Iraq for a long time.
He was becoming more and more aggressive in his push to test the will and the
ability of advanced nations to stop him. But he crossed the line when on August
2, 1990 Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait on trumped up charges of illegal
drilling of oil on border property between the two countries.

It is important to remember that America and it's allies did not launch a full
scale attack within days or weeks of the Iraqi take over of Kuwait. There were
efforts to negotiate and resolve the crisis by peaceful means. But Saddam
Hussein defied the world and continued his plan to absorb Kuwait and then
possibly take the attack to the next stage into Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf War was also an important statement to the world that America's allies
are important to us and we will defend them if it comes to that. We proved that
in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and here in the Middle East. When a country
becomes a friend of the United States, it's enemies become our enemies. And in
this unthinkable invasion, not only did Iraq directly assault one of America's
allies, that hostility showed that Saudi Arabia was at risk which was a very
important ally as well.

America also leveraged its ability to depend on it's friends from around the
world, rallying a tremendous international force as the preparations for war
began to mature. In total, 34 countries sent troops, ships, arms and other
military assistance to join with American military power to turn back this
invasion.

The other lesson this war taught the enemies of America is the phenomenal
effectiveness of the American military. On January 17, 1991, the assault began
with a massive air attack that stunned the Iraqis and the world. The ferocity
of the bombings and the firestorm that defying the west brought down on the
Iraqi military virtually doomed them to ever mount an efficient force to fight
back against this overwhelming military response to their aggression.

Following that air attack came one of the most brilliant ground campaigns in
modern warfare. Using modern technology, America faced Iraq's impressive army
on their home turf and soundly defeated them. The Iraqi strategy was to keep
the massive desert behind them because they felt no enemy could ever navigate
that desert and find their rear flank. But was a deadly miscalculation as the
coalition forces, lead by General Norman Schwarzkopf, used satellite technology
and navigation systems to guide their armies across that desert by night and
stage a stunning surprise attack on the Iraqi Republican Guard bringing them to
defeat with a decisive blow.

The term "Lightning War" could best be used to describe the l ability of the
American lead coalition armies to repel this invasion on Kuwait. By early March
of 1991, major hostilities were over and Kuwait had been liberated. To defeat an
enemy in less than 90 days was accomplishment the world never thought possible.
But demonstrated to the world that America was able to defend its allies and
stop a ruthless dictator.

Since that war there has been discussions about whether President Bush should
have used the advantage we gained by defeating Saddam's armies to capture Iraq
as well. President Bush showed great wisdom by sticking to the declared mission
and returning Kuwait to Kuwaiti control. H shows that President Bush in 1991 was
showing wisdom in his leadership which resulted in Operation Desert Storm
turning out to be one of the most successful military campaigns in United
States history.

When Everything Changed

American history, or really history in general is not always marked with
outstanding events, stunning personalities or remarkable speeches. Much of the
history of a great nation is slow steady improvement, set backs and then how a
people recovers from those set backs. But in the context of American history,
there are a number of truly phenomenal moments when everything changed. These
are not just one day events, although some are that sudden. But these are
events that once they transpired, Americans thought of themselves, the world
and their place in the world completely differently. And it's worth noting what
those events were and how they changed Americans forever.

Obviously the revolution itself and the founding of the country changed a small
group of colonies who thought of themselves as Englishmen far from home. When
the independence of America was done, that vision of ourselves was completely
different. We were now a proud new nation, a new type of nationality that had
its own view of the world and its own hopes and dreams as well.

World War II was the kind of event that once we underwent the tremendous trial,
struggle and victory that such a war demands of a people, we never could go back
to seeing ourselves again in the same way as we thought before the war. Our
victory against Japan, Germany and their allies gave us tremendous confidence
that we could affect world history for the better. But it also gave us a
tremendous sense of responsibility. When we dropped those bombs on Japan,
everybody on the planet began to understand the horrible power that was now in
the hands of mankind, for a season in the hands of America and the huge
responsibility for the fate of mankind that came with that kind of power.

Pearl Harbor while part of World War II deserves its own mention because of the
fundamental change to how America viewed itself in relation to the world. Prior
to that attack, America considered itself invulnerable. Like a teenager that
thought they could never be hurt, we had never been attacked on our homeland
before. But Japan proved that they not only could attack us but that they could
hurt us very badly. Yes, we responded with a fury but from that moment forward,
we knew that we, like everybody else in the world, were vulnerable and we had
to start behaving differently in a world full of both friends and enemies.

Outside of the military world, the famous I Have a Dream Speech by Dr. Martin
Luther King at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963 did not just change
the black community forever. Yes, that speech had a mighty impact on the way
the African American community saw their future and it gave inspiration and
hope to a struggling civil rights movement that spurred it on to victory. But
it also affected all Americans because we started to see ourselves as a
community of many cultures, many races and many orientations. It was the
beginning of acceptance in this country. But that is a process that is far from
over.

In modern times, the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001
had a drastic effect on the minds and hearts of America and indeed on the
world. We are still learning how that effect will finally show itself as the
ripples of shock, fear, anxiety and reprisals are still going on. But to be
sure, as with Pearl Harbor, the effects on our feelings about our place in the
world and our vulnerability were certainly be changed forever.

When America Proved that Anything is Possible

It was one of those moments in American history that the people who were able
to watch it for the first time felt like they were in a science fiction movie.
But with televisions cameras on every move, the nation and the world watched on
July 20, 1969 as three American astronauts landed on the moon.

The project had been in the works for years to be sure. You have to wonder with
the phenomenal amount of work, expert engineering and the amazing genius that
created the rocket ships and everything that would be needed to make the flight
possible, if even those in NASA sat in mute wonder and had goosebumps when
"Buzz" Aldren was the first man in history to put his foot on another world and
pronounce those famous words...

"That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind."

That phrase, which itself was carefully prepared, has a lot of wisdom in it.
Sure, touching another world for the first time in human history was a
tremendous accomplishment for America. But more than that, it signaled a new
era for humankind everywhere. All of a sudden, the moon wasn't a far away myth,
full of mystery and magic. All of a sudden, people everywhere felt like they too
could touch the stars if they put out their best efforts too.

It was also a huge moment for the unity of all people. Few things cause the
world population to come together and link arms and be one people, not separate
countries. Most of the time, it's a terrible global disaster that makes us all
bond together. But this time was different. This time is was a moment so
phenomenal that everybody stopped and watched and everybody knew that this was
not just a great accomplishment for three astronauts and scientists that put
them there. This was a great accomplishment for mankind.

American history is populated with tremendous events, both bad and good. But
it's worth a moment to sit back and reflect on what the first moon landing
meant and continues to mean for Americans and the American spirit. You have to
wonder if any other nation would have had the ability, the creative powers, the
powerful minds and the collective will to see this kind of amazing
accomplishment through to success.

It's even more amazing when you remember that just a few years earlier, on
September 12, 1962 that President Kennedy challenged American to rise to this
challenge in a speech at Rice University. It takes a lot to make something as
historic and earth shaking as landing on the moon a reality and visionary
leadership such as Kennedy showed that day was a big part of why this landing
made history.

This amazing achievement points out something outstanding about the American
spirit. Americans are a people who dream big. And to land a man on the moon
took big dreams. But we didn't just dream to put a man up there, it was not
acceptable unless we got everybody home safely as well.

For the most part the American space program has had a phenomenal history of
success in breaking through barriers that nobody had every done before. Yes,
there have been set backs and tragedies along the way. But Americans are not
quitters and through all the struggles we face, we face them together. But we
never forget to look up at the stars and dream of the day that yet again we see
an American set foot on another world and plant out flag in that soil to be
signal forever that America was here!

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