Even though we do not currently have a president worth honoring on Monday, America has been especially blessed by God and all of the honor goes to Him. America’s true and special identity is because of a promise God made to Abraham that was passed down through Issaac and Jacob and then to Joseph. Our blessings are always a great topic to study as our true identity grounds us and can focus us on our purpose, especially in these troubling times when our Countries wealth and greatness is hanging by a thread. Will you take this opportunity to turn to God and take a stand for His Truth’s and share them with others? Bob Barney wrote many scripture-based columns about Why America is So Special, and America in Biblical Prophecy. In these writings you will learn all about this blessing and hopefully grow in your understanding of how God is showing up in the news of today…you can then get more acquainted with The Plain Truth’s commitment to sharing these very truths!
As this President’s Day approaches, we can focus on some of the most poignant historical Presidential moments brought to you by Mike Huckabee’s “Learn Our History” website.
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| FEBRUARY 12 – FEBRUARY 18: February 12 Learn Our History Today: On February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln, one of the most admired and respected of U.S. presidents, was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky. Born into a poor frontier family, Lincoln spent most of his  |
| childhood in what at the time was considered America’s western frontier. Lincoln did not stay in one place while he was young. His family moved first to Indiana and later to Illinois. Lincoln was a voracious reader, despite the fact that his formal schooling was limited at best. Continually, Lincoln strived to improve his mind as a child and young adult. As an adult, Lincoln initially held a wide variety of jobs. Lincoln served as a postmaster, a soldier during the Black Hawk War, a surveyor, a shopkeeper, and finally as a politician. For several years in the 1830s, Lincoln was a member of the Illinois State Legislature, before eventually deciding that he would take up law and become an attorney. For years Lincoln worked as an attorney, but the call of politics was one he could not resist. Lincoln returned to political prominence during the late 1840s and early 1850s as a leader in the newly formed Republican Party. The United States was going through a crisis over slavery at this time, and while campaigning for Illinois Senator in 1858, Lincoln earned national attention through numerous inspired speeches on the issue. Lincoln’s popularity nationwide soared greatly due to these oratories, his most famous being the “house divided” speech. Although he eventually lost the Senatorial election, Lincoln was persuaded to run for President in 1860. Lincoln campaigned on the promise that he would not interfere with slavery where it currently existed, even though he personally favored abolition. His only focus was the preservation of the Union, which at that time hung by a thread. In the end, Lincoln won the election, but his promises were not enough for the slaveholding states. Following South Carolina’s lead, almost all the Southern States seceded and formed their own nation, the Confederate States of America. For Lincoln’s entire Presidency, he engaged in a Civil War with these Confederate States, a conflict which lasted for more than four years and cost more than 600,000 lives, making it the deadliest war the United States has ever fought. During the deadly fighting, Lincoln himself moved closer and closer to committing to the abolitionist movement and finally in 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in the Confederate States. This proclamation proved to be Abraham Lincoln’s lasting legacy, inspiring his image as “The Great Emancipator,” and vilifying him as a hated figure in the hearts of many, including a man named John Wilkes Booth. Booth’s hatred eventually led him to assassinate President Lincoln on April 14, 1865, during a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. Also, on this day in U.S. history:1840: The Housatonic Railroad opens, running from Connecticut to the Massachusetts border.1935: The USS Macon airship crashes into the Pacific Ocean.1955: President Eisenhower sends the first advisors to South Vietnam. |
 February 13Learn Our History Today: On February 13, 1861, the first military action to be accorded with the Medal of Honor was performed by Bernard J. Irwin, an assistant surgeon serving during the United States’ first conflict with the |
| Apache Indians. In late January 1861, a ranch located in Arizona and owned by a man named John Ward was raided by a group of Apaches. They seized a sizeable number of Ward’s livestock, but also took the man’s 12-year-old son. Nearby U.S. Army installation Fort Buchanan heard the news quickly, and a force of over fifty men under Lieutenant George Bascom was mobilized to rescue the boy. Unfortunately, the troops were unable to locate Ward’s son, who was discovered living among the Apaches years later. Worse yet for the unit of soldiers, they found themselves rapidly surrounded by a large force of Apache warriors. A siege began, and in no time the troops became critically low on ammunition and supplies. Back at Fort Buchanan, Assistant Surgeon Bernard Irwin, who as well as serving in a medical capacity had been collecting reptile specimens for the Smithsonian, got word about the unit under siege. Springing into action, Irwin mobilized a force of dragoons and set out to relieve the trapped soldiers. They trekked through 100 miles of treacherous wilderness, fighting Apache’s all along the way, and arrived just in time to break the siege and rescue the trapped soldiers. Irwin would earn our nation’s highest honor for his actions, but it would not actually be awarded until January 21, 1894.Also, on this day in U.S. history:1795: The first state university is opened, the University of North Carolina1861: In Washington, D.C., Abraham Lincoln is declared the President.1990: The Boston Celtic’s Larry Bird ends his NBA free throw streak of 71 games. |
 February 15 Learn Our History Today: On February 15, 1933, President-Elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt survived a failed assassination attempt by Giuseppe Zangara. Roosevelt had just finished an important speech at Miami, |
 February 17 Learn Our History Today: On February 17, 1801, the 1800 Presidential Election was officially decided following a long period of debate and confusion over the results. The election system of that time period was not nearly what it |
| is today. Each elector would cast two votes for two people. The man who earned the most votes became President and the man with the second most votes became Vice-President. Presidents and Vice-Presidents were not a package deal officially, although running mates were chosen. So, each party had to come up with a system that would allow their preferred candidates to be in their preferred positions. The strategy was to have one elector either abstain or vote for a third-party candidate so that the man the party wanted for President would have more votes. In the 1800 Election, the strategy did not work out effectively. Thomas Jefferson and his running mate for Vice-President Aaron Burr both received the same number of votes. Seemingly this would have been easy to solve. Most expected Burr to yield to his running mate. However, many members of Congress saw an opportunity here and began to throw their support behind Burr for President. Accordingly, the Election went to the House of Representatives. More than thirty ballots were taken, all ending in ties. Finally, the exhausting process came to an end with the thirty-fifth ballot, which took place on February 17 and gave Thomas Jefferson the victory. Also, on this day in U.S. history:1621: Myles Standish is elected as the first commander of the Plymouth Colony1820: The Senate passed the Missouri Compromise, prohibiting slavery anywhere north of the 36°30′ parallel extending west from the northern border of Arkansas.1878: The first telephone exchange opens in San Francisco with 18 phones. |
| February 18 Learn Our History Today: On February 18, 1856, a political party known as the American, or “Know-Nothing”, Party nominated its first candidate for President. The Know-Nothings arose in the 1840s as a movement to combat foreign  |
| influences perceived as negative to American society and values. Specifically, the Know-Nothings, and other groups of the time commonly called Nativists, were opposed to Roman Catholicism and the Irish and Italian immigrants that brought it to America. Many Nativist societies sprang up in the 1840s and 50s. They believed they were upholding American values. Famously, when asked by the press about their groups, society members commonly replied that they knew nothing. Eventually, the groups unified into a political party in 1854, taking political offices in several elections. Popular support increased for the movement, but it was not anywhere near enough to get the Know-Nothing candidate, Millard Fillmore, elected to the Presidency in 1856. After this election, the party soon dissolved. Also, on this day in U.S. history:1879: Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi is awarded a patent for his design for the Statue of Liberty.1885: Mark Twain’s famous and controversial novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published.1927: The U.S. opens diplomatic relations with Canada |
January 29
Learn Our History Today: On January 29, 1843, U.S. President William McKinley was born in Niles, Ohio. McKinley was from a family of iron workers and grew up in a staunchly Methodist and abolitionist household. Following a
failed trip to college in 1860, McKinley first job was as a teacher near Poland, Ohio. Around that same time, the Civil War began breaking out and driven by his abolitionist views, McKinley decided to fight for the Union Army. McKinley served throughout the conflict, beginning with the rank of Private and ending the war with the rank of Brevet Major.
Following the war, McKinley initially decided to become a lawyer but eventually found his way into politics. Although he started on the local level, McKinley ended up in Congress and eventually became Ohio’s Governor. Amid deep economic disparity in 1896, McKinley was given the Republican nomination for President, winning a hard-fought victory over democratic challenger William Jennings Bryan. During his Presidency, McKinley had many accomplishments. He was able to bring about economic growth, promote American industry through the raising of protective tariffs, and win the Spanish-American War in 1898.
Not surprisingly, with these accomplishments McKinley won reelection in 1900. Unfortunately, McKinley’s life was cut short just a year later in 1901. While visiting the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, McKinley was shot twice in the abdomen by an anarchist while meeting and greeting the public. At first it appeared that McKinley might survive the wounds, and the doctors were very confident he would. However, unbeknownst to them, gangrene had set in on McKinley’s stomach, and he soon took a turn for the worst, dying in the early morning hours of September 14, 1901.
Also, on this day in U.S history:
1785: Citing health reasons, John Hancock resigns as Governor of Massachusetts.
1850: Senator Henry Clay drafts the Compromise of 1850.
1920: Walt Disney begins work as an artist at KC Slide Co for a salary of $40 a week.
January 30
Learn Our History Today: On January 30, 1835, President Andrew Jackson became the first President to experience an assassination attempt. Jackson was leaving the Capitol Building following a Congressional funeral
when he was approached by a man named Richard Lawrence. Lawrence was a mentally unstable house painter who was thought to have manifested mental issues from exposure to toxic materials in his paint. Lawrence’s mental issues caused him to believe he was owed money by the United States Government and that President Jackson was keeping it from him. In addition, Lawrence also became convinced that he was King Richard III of England.
After spending some time observing Jackson’s movements, Lawrence decided that January 30 was the day he would strike. Approaching Jackson on the steps of the Capitol Building, Lawrence raised a pistol towards the President and pulled the trigger. However, the gun misfired. In a blind fury, Jackson rushed Lawrence and viciously attacked him with his walking cane. In the following tussle, Lawrence pulled out a second pistol, pressed it to Jackson’s chest, and pulled the trigger. However, this pistol also misfired. At this point, Jackson’s aides rushed to his side and ripped Lawrence away.
Following the assassination attempt, Jackson was convinced that his Whig Party political opponents had planned the attack because of his battle to have the Bank of the United States dismantled. Jackson’s suspicions were never proven, but clearly his Vice President Martin Van Buren took them seriously, as he carried two loaded pistols with him whenever he visited the Senate. Lawrence was brought to trial for his crime but declared not guilty by reason of insanity. He died in 1861 in an insane asylum. The Smithsonian would later do a study of the attempted Jackson assassination, and it was concluded that the chances of both of Lawrence’s guns misfiring was 1 in 125,000.
Also, on this day in U.S. history:
1815: Thomas Jefferson’s 6,500 volumes are used to re-establish the burned U.S. Library of Congress.
1933: The “Lone Ranger” begins its 21-year run on ABC radio.
1957: The Eisenhower Doctrine is accepted in congress.
February 4
Learn Our History Today: On February 4, 1789, George Washington was elected as the first President of the United States. Washington was the commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War
and following the war he served as President of the Constitutional Convention. He was a well-known and all-around well-liked leader, who was respected by all sides of the political spectrum at that time. When it came time to choose the United States’ first President, it was not surprising that he was the top choice. However, it seemed apparent that Washington did not want much to do with this high position of leadership. He tried everything he could to sidestep the role, as Washington was very ready to retire to his beloved Mount Vernon and live in peace.
In addition to many other claims of inadequacy, Washington chiefly pointed out that his old age would hamper him, and that a young man would be better equipped to perform the job well. Washington ceaselessly stated that someone else should be chosen for the Presidency. In the end, all of Washington’s self-deprecation made people respect him even more, as he came across as both extremely modest and honorable.
At this point, Congress wanted Washington for President and they would not take no for an answer. On February 4, George Washington was unanimously elected. Now the issue arose of how to address the new President. The Senate proposed first that his official title be His Highness the President of the United States of America and the Protector of Their Liberties. Washington was not in favor of this extravagant title and opted for the more modest, Mr. President.
Also, on this day in U.S. history:
1847: The first U.S. telegraph company was established in Maryland.
1938: Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” opened on Broadway.
2004: Facebook was founded by Harvard students Mark Zuckerburg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes.