The Daily Dose/January 20, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off: Capsule Book Review
The President’s Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy
Though there have usually been past presidents knocking around – the last time there wasn’t was in 1973 after Lyndon Johnson died. It lasted until Richard Nixon resigned and himself become an ex-president – the establishment of an unofficial club of ex-presidents is rather recent. It started when President Truman enlisted the help of former President Herbert Hoover to help feed Europe after World War II. It has continued to this day and over the decades has marked one of the few times in Amerian politics when partisan politics has been tossed aside to do something constructive. As this book shows throughout, regardless of their triumphs and humiliations, the one bond club members share is that each member knows only ones that have occupied the Oval Office know what in the hell’s going on, because they are the ones who have shared the burden.
Sometimes this teamwork, or lack thereof, is public, as when president’s George Bush and Bill Clinton tag-teamed to raise money for disaster relief, and sometimes it is not, such as when candidate Richard Nixon did his darndest to undermine President Lyndon Johnson’s efforts at negotiating an end to the Vietnam War, something Johnson was well aware of but, curiously, never put to advantage.
The President’s Club is a lively, engaging and sometimes wryly funny book and will provide insights into the presidency that both presidential newcomers and veterans will enjoy.
Final Ranking: B. Highly recommended.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow chats about the big sellers at the sundry stand and the cookie tray he prepares at the hotel, plus it’s Asian night at The Shire for dinner, tho The Wife doesn’t permit the use of chopsticks.
…then sometime in the afternoon, I am not entirely sure when, they put out a tray of cookies…Stay away from these…I don’t think anyone is under any delusions that they are fresh from the oven, but neither can you be entirely sure how long they’ve been sitting…These things keep forever and will probably be the only foodstuffs remaining after the next time an asteroid barrels into Earth.
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On This Date
In 1937 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt is inaugurated president of the United States for the second time, becoming the first president to be inaugurated on January 20. This followed the passage of the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1933, which mandated this. The amendment also fixed the starting date of the new Congress on January 3. Previously both a new presidential term and the beginning of a new Congress had been on March 4th.
In 1968 – The Houston Cougars defeat the UCLA Bruins 71-69 at the Houston Astrodome, in what then called the Game of the Century. The game was a rematch of a national semifinal from the previous season when the Bruins had defeated the Cougars and the loss ended UCLA’s 47-game winning game streak. It was also the first regular season college basketball game broadcast nationwide in prime time and the attendance of 52,693 was the largest for a college basketball game up to that time. The Astrodome was in a football configuration for the game, and the court, which came from the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, was in the middle of the arena, far from the nearest seats.
In 1962 – The Twist by Chubby Checker is #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second consecutive week, and third non-consecutive week. The song had also hit #1 for one week in September 1960 and while it is not uncommon for a song to drop from the top spot and return a week or two later, The Twist remains the only song in chart history to hit #1 in separate chart runs.
Quotebook
I had found what I was looking for- a man like myself, but one who in his search for meaning had discovered a worthwhile object for his life; who had paid every price and not counted it a sacrifice; who was paying it still and would pay it till he died; who cared nothing for compromise, nothing for his pride, nothing for ourselves or the opinion of others; who had reduced his life to the one thing that mattered to him, and was free.
John LeCarre
The Secret Pilgrim
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
The first time an airplane took off from a ship was on November 14, 1910, when Eugene E ly took off from the USS Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
Today’s Stumper
Who was the play-by-play announcer for the national TV broadcast of the UCLA/Houston Game of the Century. ? –Answer next time!
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