Welcome to the clifton parkhalfmoon public library. We are very pleased to have David Pietrusza with us this morning to talk about his latest book, 1948 Harry Trumans improbable victory and the year that transformed america. David is the author of a number of books. Hes been here to talk in the past about his book about arnold rothstein, about the book of 1920, the year of six president s, 1960, lbj versus jfk versus nixon, silent pals almanac, virginias Calvin Coolidge and ted williams my life in pictures. Hes also written and produced a documentary local heroes baseball in Capital District diamonds. Reviews for his harry truman book talk about how lively it is, illuminating portraits of four candidates and the evenhanded appraisal of truman is especially compelling. The journey that he takes to get us to election day is one that he has definitively become the best at leading. In the past, his work has been compared to theodore whites classic the making of the president s series. Afte
Steps to the top of the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse. Wet were looking at here, have got the view of the bluewater bridges to the south and lake huron to the northeast. So, were right at the historic the source of the st. Clair river at the mouth of the lake. You can see the nice blue water and what tourists come to this area for. When they hear this is the bluewater area, this is what they get to see. They realize you are not line. Just north of the city of port huron, within the city limits, it gets its namesake from the military for that was established in 1814. Gratiot was an engineer in the u. S. Army and was responsible for building fort gratiot during the war of 1812. The defense from an attack that could come from canada and protecting the mouth of the st. Clair river and lake huron. The decision to add a lighthouse at the mouth of lake huron was made in the 1820s. At that time the traffic was increasing on the great lakes, so they felt this is a significant spot for adding a lighth
I stand before you without a single pledge or promise or understanding of any kind except for the advancement of your cause and that of democracy. [applause] the republicans Wendell Willkie ran for president in 1940. Some images of him on the campaign trail. We are here with david willkie. I want you to introduce the audiences of some of the fervor. Your grandfather ran for president and try to defeat Franklin Delano roosevelt, who was seeking a third term. What an exciting time in the country. Here we are just entering into the great depression, the end of the hoover administration, eight years of the roosevelt administration. President roosevelt was right at the height of its power. That opened up a tie for a dark horse candidate. Keep in mind the state of the Republican Party. It was a party defeated by roosevelt in 1932. What were the republicans looking for and why was your grandfather the person they chose . And nobody else had run for a third term before, going back to the time
Implications for our society. So lets begin. Lets talk about who this guy, henry george was. He was born in 1839 to a middle class, lower middleclass family. What lot of people think because he wrote this book on poverty that he must have grown up in poverty. He actually experienced poverty in his middle years, fairly extreme. So henry george was not a very good student, and he left school about the seventh grade. His father steered him into a trade, where he would learn the craft of typesetting, which was a very important trade and a great opportunity. So george flourished, but he was very ambitious, he headed out to california. He hopes to make it big, but he has this idea that hes destined for something great. Really experiencing povrt full on, and often. He would succeed at something, and then fail, but the good things is the printing of trade always guaranteed him something, so he went from the typesetting room to doing a bit of spot write and editing, and eventually became a very
Then well see what we can get into today. Heavenly father, thank you for today, thank you for this class, thank you for your love and mercy. I pray that you forgive us of our sins, i pray that you would be with the class as they finish up this semester. So much busyness and activity with papers and finals and job interviews and just life. Father, i pray that you would look upon them with favor, that you just help them to finish this semester strong. In jesus name we pray, amen. All right. Well, today i want us to continue our look at the world war ii era. Today well be looking at the home front and specifically examining american politics in the early 1940s. And contrary to popular belief, word war ii did not mute politics as usual in the United States. Politicians continued to bicker, issues continued to be debated, and elections continued to be held. Now, the pivotal highlight of world war ii, of course, was the 1944 president ial election. 1944 was the first president ial election s