HISTORY TRIP

I enjoyed the trip to no end. The most impressive of the the houses and libraries was the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio. It is amazing to know that these guys that we disrespect as "accidental presidents" were so heroic. They had easy lives and could have stayed home and lived comfortably. In Hayes's case he went into the Civil War in May 1861 and stayed until September 1865. Hayes was wounded five times and had four horses shot out from under him. With his fourth wound he was told to stay home. He stayed home long enough to heal and returned to finish the war.

Garfield enlisted in the army in 1861 and rose to the rank of Major General. He was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1862 and resisted entering the congress. He sought advice from President Lincoln. Lincoln told him that he had enough generals. He needed congressmen to help him pass his agenda. Garfield resigned his commission and the rest is history. He was elected president in 1880 and was assassinated in 1881 by a frustrated office seeker. What a waste! His house and library were great to tour. Interesting fact. Garfield was the best speaker of his time and he conducted his campaign from the front porch of his home in Mentor, Ohio. Crowds flocked to his front yard including the media. The media camped out in his yard during the campaign of 1880 and they eventually named his home "Lawnfield" which stuck. The general public listened to his speeches from his front yard, sometimes numbering in the thousands. He probably would have been a very fine president, but we will never know.

McKinley was also in the Civil War, having enlisted at the age of 18. He rose from private to sergeant to captain. He became the governor of Ohio and was a seriously good statesman. He was assassinated in 1901 by an anarchist jerk-off nobody. T.R. became the president.

I could go on for hours, but it is time to sign off. Remember, no normal men become President of the United States.