Allow me to offer a shameless plug for the Nov. 11 Wichita Metro Chamber annual meeting at Century II, for its keynote speaker, Doris Kearns Goodwin.
In this world of partisan spin and vitriol, where the search for balanced political commentary is as difficult as the search for a no-money-down home loan, Goodwin is a true breath of fresh air.
I first heard her speak in college, centuries ago, at Wichita State University. Her account of how LBJ died a broken man, a pariah in his own country, was spellbinding. Then, I became reintroduced to her during her frequent radio appearances over the last five years.
Her book on Abraham Lincoln, “Team of Rivals,” is equally spellbinding. Lincoln’s penchant for surrounding himself with philosophical diversity ought to be required reading for anyone running for American political office.
Call the Chamber and sign up to listen to Doris speak on leadership. You won’t regret it.
10 Comments
If you attend the Chamber meeting, ask keynote speaker, Doris Kearns Goodwin, to tell about Abe Lincoln’s vacation to Kansas. And tell how, if Mr. Lincoln had not won the presidency, Abe might have become the first Governor of Kansas (not including the territorial governors.)
Abraham Lincoln was quoted as saying, “If I went West, I think I would go to Kansas.”
Regarding Lyndon B. Johnson, I didn’t know, he “died a broken man, a pariah in his own country.” But if Doris Goodwin says so, I would believe it because she is a great authority on our presidents. I presume it was because L.B.J., in spite of his reputation of being strongly-in-charge, lost control of the Vietnam War resulting in tremendous killing and injuries on both sides and expenditures of our national treasury.
Sound familiar today in 2008?
I should add, I believe the most powerful force in the world today is the desperate grab for jobs by the people. In Vietnam, some relatively large percentage of Americans spent some time there in the military or as civilians.
JWink – she is correct – LBJ was definitely a pariah within the Democratic Party. Remember – he was turned out in 1968.
bth: LBJ wasn’t exactly “turned out in 1968.” Remember he gave that famous speech in which he said something to the effect that he chose not to run for another term. Of course Richard Nixon won that election and soon gave a specific date when the Vietnam War would end.
I don’t remember who the Democratic candidate was that year who opposed Nixon. Was it Hubert Humphrey?
Of course, you might be right in that LBJ probably would have been soundly defeated that year if he had chosen to run … as he had a right to do according to the U.S. Constitution.
JWink – I remember that speech well. I had just returned to Boston from New Hampshire where I had been working the primary campaign for Gene McCarthy. Although we didn’t defeat him in New hampshire our showing drove him out.
RFK entered the race after we knocked LBJ out; he and McCarthy split the primaries thereafter. However, after the assasination Hubert Humphrey – who had won no primaries – got the nomination and the Democratic Party self-destructed in Chicago.
Wink, Sojourner Truth also thought a great future could be found in Kansas.
“I have prayed so long that my people would go to Kansas, and that God would make straight the way before them.”
Good thing she wasnt gay….
Ksfarmgrrl: As I recall the Sojourner Truth story, she lived a poignant life as a slave and freed woman mostly back around Michigan. Don’t think she made it to Kansas.
Reminds me, have you ever been to the old freed slave town in northwest Kansas. Sorry, can’t think of its name right now.
I think Sojourner had more than a dozen children so she probably wasn’t gay.
But what about a graduate student I met at University California/Berkeley in front of the student union in about 1968? She was manning the table for the American Communist Party.
Her name was Berniece Apotheker or something like that? You might be interested in her story between then and now.
Wink, google “Sojourner Truth + Kansas”
She did indeed make it to Kansas for a while.
And I know she was NOT gay. My point is, she had great hopes for Kansas and for freedom in this state.
I wonder what she would think of over seventy percent of Kansas voting to write discrimination into the Kansas Constitution.
It’s become the state of bigots, not the place envisioned by Lincoln or Sojournor Truth.
And yeah, I’ve been to Nicodemus. It’s in the next county, and if you ever visit on a day that Ernestine’s BBQ is open, I’ll buy ya dinner!
Ksfarmgrrl: Don’t know why I couldn’t remember the name of Nicodemus up in your territory. Occasionally I see articles about Nicodemus. Do any descendents of the original freed slaves still live there? My guess is its population has dwindled considerably.
Regarding Sojourner Truth AKA Isabella Baumfree or variation thereof — I did “google” her. The narrative I read said she came to Kansas twice, in 1871-72 and again in 1878-79. I wonder if any historian has researched her Kansas travels to describe where in Kansas she traveled and stayed. I will guess Kansas City, Kansas, and Topeka and Nicodemus. Perhaps she was a founder of Nicodemus in 1871-72 although I would guess Nicodemus was settled closer to the end of the Civil War in 1865.
Because Sojourner/Isabella was born in 1797, she was already getting up in years by the time to she came to Kansas the first time in 1871-72.
Incidentally, I noticed she met Abraham Lincoln possibly during his presidency in the early 1860’s, before his assassination in 1865 of course.
As I alluded to in my earlier comments on this thread, Abraham Lincoln came to northeastern Kansas on the train from Springfield, Illinois in December, 1859. Since bridges for trains were not built across the Missouri River until after the Civil War, Lincoln was rowed across the Missouri River to get to the Kansas side. He spent most of his time in Leavenworth, Kansas, at the Planter Hotel (now gone) during those bitterly cold December days.
Interesting that both stories about Abraham Lincoln and, separately, about Ms. Sojourner Truth and their visits to Kansas are virtually unknown.
PS Ksfarmgrrl: It just occured to me that Ms. Sojourner Truth most likely did her travelling in Kansas on passenger trains by the 1870’s. As such, she most likely rubbed shoulders with Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok, a variety of traveling dignataries on Buffalo hunts, soldiers, hunters, families traveling west, “drummers” or traveling salesmen, dance hall girls, etc. What a story she could tell … and apparently did.
I always wondered if those passenger train cars were warmed somehow in the 1870’s and 1880’s. The engines were steam driven of course but was the steam heat piped back to the passenger cars?