Earned Freedom

"Our forefathers put their lives on the line to earn our freedom and frame our Representative Democracy.  Our nation's brave soldiers and veterans have been fighting to defend this American way of life for over 225 years.  I hope that no one takes our freedoms for granted, and that everyone takes the time to contact their Representative." -Congressman Tim Ryan, 17th Dist. Ohio

Feb. 23, 1945 U.S. Flag Hoisted on Iwo Jima

In early 1945, U.S. military command sought to gain control of the island of Iwo Jima in advance of the projected aerial campaign against the Japanese home islands.  Iwo Jima, 700 miles from Japan, was to be a base for fighter aircraft and an emergency landing site for bombers.  On Feb. 19, 1945, after three days of heavy naval and aerial bombardment, the first wave of U.S. Marines stormed onto Iwo Jima's shores.

The Japanese garrison numbered 22,000 heavily entrenched men.  The island was covered in intricate and deadly systems of underground tunnels, fortifications, and artillery.  During the next few days, the Marines advanced inch by inch under heavy fire from Japanese artillery and suffered suicidal charges from the Japanese infantry.  While Japanese kamikaze flyers slammed into the Allied naval fleet around Iwo Jima, the Marines continued their bloody advance across the island with remarkable endurance.  On February 23, the crest of the 550 foot Mount Suribachi was taken.  Joe Rosenthal, a photographer with the Associated Press took the now famous photo of 5 Marines and one Navy corpsman struggling to hoist the American flag.

Two other photos were taken that day.  The 3rd photo had 18 soldiers smiling and waving for the cameras.  Many of these men, including three of the six soldiers seen raising the flag in Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize winning photo were killed before the conclusion of the Battle for Iwo Jima in late March.

Thank You to NWYC

"I would like to stress the importance of constituents communicating their feelings to their elected officials on important issues.  We are elected to serve the interests of the people, and hearing from them on a regular basis allows us to keep the wide variety of interests in mind.

I would like to thank the National Write Your Congressman for the years of outstanding work in connecting people with their elected officials.  This fine organization is helping to keep democracy and accountabliity alive in the United States, and we are indebted to their service.

It is an honor to represent the people of the Eighteenth Congressional District of Florida." -Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen 18th District, Florida

President's Day

Presidents Day is ostensibly a time to celebrate the great men who helped shape the nation.

We once celebrated the birthdays of Washington and Lincoln separately, a honor befitting their  legacies. It’s universally accepted that their accomplishments merit unequal treatment in that regard. It was Richard Nixon who decided to replace Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays for the more generic "Presidents Day", which takes place on the third Monday in February.

George Washington, the father of our country, is best remembered for holding the militia together during the early years of the Revolutionary War. His time as president is sometimes considered an afterthought to his military escapades. But perhaps his most decisive triumph came in the summer of 1794, when as president he personally led the militia that put down the Whiskey Rebellion. Washington knew that failure to end the insurrection would render the Constitution — and the notion of Federal supremacy — impotent.  It was too important to delegate to others, so he donned his old uniform, saddled up, and marched through Western Pennsylvania, where he quickly scattered 7,000 disgruntled distillers.  How the course of history would have been different had he failed to squelch the uprising.

Abraham Lincoln called his decision to emancipate the slaves the defining act of his presidency and the 19th century.  He was wrong in one regard: it’s arguably the defining action in American history.  What’s often overlooked is how much Lincoln personally struggled with it.  While he found slavery morally contemptible, he didn’t believe the president had the constitutional power to abolish it. Moreover, he was concerned that emancipation would push the border-states into the Confederacy, a potentially lethal blow to the Union. But with the war going poorly, he came to realize that universal freedom and preserving the Union were inextricable; one not achievable without the other. Emancipation was a huge gamble, one that ultimately paid off.

One could argue that Ronald Reagan’s decision to call the Soviet Union an “Evil Empire” marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War.  In an instant, he had forever branded the longtime adversary as being on the wrong side of history, a fate that would reveal itself in the ensuing years. Many in the White House, including some of his closest aide, did not want Reagan to use the phrase.  They thought the term "impolitic and un-presidential", but Reagan felt otherwise. He was determined to end the notion of moral equivalency between the two systems, a concept that was gaining steam with the media elite.  With a few simple words he shattered that myth.

On This Day In History - 1st and Last President of the Confederate States of America

On this day in 1861, Jefferson Davis, a veteran of the Black Hawk and Mexican-American Wars, began his term as provisional president of the Confederate States of America. As it turned out, Davis was both the first and last president of the ill-fated Confederacy, as both his term and the Confederacy ended with the Union's 1865 victory of the Civil War.

This Day In History - VOA Broadcasts to Soviet Union

With the words, "Hello! This is New York calling," the U.S. Voice of America (VOA) begins its first radio broadcasts to the Soviet Union. The VOA effort was an important part of America's propaganda campaign against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

The VOA began in 1942 as a radio program designed to explain America's policies during World War II and to bolster the morale of its allies throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. After the war, VOA continued as part of America's Cold War propaganda arsenal and was primarily directed toward the western European audience. In February 1947, VOA began its first Russian-language broadcasts into the Soviet Union. The initial broadcast explained that VOA was going to "give listeners in the USSR a picture of life in America." News stories, human-interest features, and music comprised the bulk of the programming. The purpose was to give the Russian audience the "pure and unadulterated truth" about life outside the USSR. Voice of America hoped that this would "broaden the bases of understanding and friendship between the Russian and American people."

George Clymer - Founding Father

George Clymer was a man of wealth who literally risked his fortune on the revolution by exchanging his hard coin monies for the shaky Continental currency.  During the capture of Philadelphia his home was plundered and destroyed by the British

Clymer signed both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.  A man of unusual intellectual curiosity, he also served as an officer of the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Agricultural Society.  He was one of the first to advocate complete independence from Britain, and was called upon by the Continental Congress to serve as the first treasurer for the United Colonies.  He was given the almost impossible assignment of raising money to support the government's operations, chief of which was the new Continental Army.

In 1791, after a term in the First Congress, Clymer served as Federal Collector of the controversial tax on liquor which led to the Whiskey Rebellion.  He concluded his career by negotiating an equitable peace treaty between the United States and the Creek Tribe in Georgia.

A Bit of Trivia

On this day in 1903, toy store owner and inventor Morris Michtom placed two stuffed bears in his shop window, advertising them as Teddy bears. Michtom had earlier petitioned President Theodore Roosevelt for permission to use his nickname, Teddy. The president agreed and, before long, other toy manufacturers began turning out copies of Michtom's stuffed bears, which soon became a national childhood institution.

Reports differ as to the exact details of the inspiration behind the teddy bear, but it is thought that while hunting in Mississippi in 1902, Roosevelt came upon an old injured black bear that his guides had tied to a tree. While some reports claim Roosevelt shot the bear out of pity for his suffering, others insist he set the bear free. Political cartoonists later portrayed the bear as a cub, implying that under the tough, outdoorsy and macho image of Roosevelt lay a much softer, more sensitive interior.

Write Your Congressman

"What makes ours a strong and independent nation is the importance that we place on self government.  As a Representative of the people of Montana, I place the highest importance on hearing from them and learning what they think about issues important to our state.  Every piece of mail that arrives in our office comes across my desk first.  I then distribute the mail to my staff.  This way, I get the first look at the ideas and concerns of the people of our state.  There are no filters to their messages, and I depend on this connection with the people of Montana." -Congressman Denny Rehberg, Montana

Democracy Only Works When Americans Participate

"As I have always said, Arkansas Comes First, is more than just a slogan.  It is my commitment that as a U.S. Senator I will work hard every day to represent the interests and concerns of the prople of Arkansas.

Since a majority of my time is spent in Washington representing Arkansas, I welcome the thoughtful phone calls, emails and letters from constituents back home.  Whether a suggestion or a criticism, this correspondence helps me make the best possible decisions when casting votes or supporting legislation.  I also place responding to the incoming mail and phone calls among my highest priorities.

Democracy only works when Americans participate in their government, and when their voices a heard.  I encourage the National Write Your Congressman organization to continue its efforts in helping bring public officials and their consittuents together."  Mark Pryor, Senator, Arkansas

Elbridge Gerry - Founding Father

Gerry was a patriot who signed the Declaration of Independence and the articles of Confederation, but refused to sign the U.S. Constitution.  He worked vigorously for independence from the "prostituted government of Great Britain" yet feared the dangers of "too much democracy".  Although he championed the people and their rights, he believed that the common man could be too easily swayed by unprincipled politicians for democracy to work.

Elbridge was elected Vice-President when Madison was elected to a second term in 1812, and he was serving in his official capacity when he died suddenly.  Ironically, he was riding to the Capitol to perform the duties of the President of the Senate, a constitutional function of the Vice-President that he had objected to in 1787, and one of the reasons he had refused to sign the U.S. Constitution.