Posts Tagged Clinton

Carter and Clinton Presidential Libraries

 

Suzanne, my daughter, drove us from Murfreesboro, Tennessee to Atlanta on the Friday after Thanksgiving to visit the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. We looked around for a place to have dinner and found the Lazy Dog Café. We read about it earlier but we were surprised to find it. Out wait person was excellent, our food was wonderful and the atmosphere fun. It even has an outside area where dogs are welcome.

The Library is in a beautiful park setting with trees of every kind. The displays inside are beautifully done and are true to history. The layout is very people friendly with chairs and benches placed throughout. There are thousands of photographs and dozens of videos. There is a well done introductory video of Mr. Carter’s life. Throughout the exhibit you realize that this is a man who stayed true to his values and who worked tirelessly for peace. There is a replica of the Oval Office. The taking of the American hostages is fully explored. There is also an exhibit of his return to Plains.

The next Friday we were off to Little Rock and the Clinton Presidential Library. Naturally we had to find a god place for dinner. We found David’s that serves a wonderful hamburger made from ground chuck which they grind daily. The wait staff walks around with baskets of hot French fries. Again our food was excellent, our wait person enthusiastic about her job and the atmosphere fun.

The Clinton Library also is in a beautiful setting down by the waterfront. Clinton hoped that the location would help revitalize that area of the city. The design of the library is based on The Long Room at Trinity College. The exhibits are extensive and well done. The Cabinet Room was fascinating in that there were videos placed in the table. You could explore how decisions were made. There is a display of one of the formal dinners complete with the table setting. There is an extensive display on human rights. There is a major emphasis on Women’s Rights.

Unlike the Carter Center there are very few benches or chairs. We had a wonderful lunch in the restaurant. The wait person was cordial and our food was excellent and ample.

I left with great pride of being an American. Here are two men, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, from absolutely nowhere, with no financial means, and no grand family background and yet they rose to the highest office in the world. They are great reminders of who we are as a people.

I am grateful that Suzanne was willing to do all of this driving so that I could visit the two libraries. I am also grateful for the time we shared.

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Congratulation President Biden, Kamala Harris and All of Us

Congratulations President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and to the United States on your Inauguration day. I wish I could be there to celebrate with you. I was there to celebrate President Bill Clinton’s Inauguration on January 20, 1993.

It started with an invitation arranged by my friend Linda Lingle. Channel 5 showed up to film me being fitted for a tux by the legendary Henry Berlin along with some delightful chatter between us. The coverage continued when our party boarded a special train headed for the event.

My friends, Germaine and John Carney, shared my hotel room just off DuPont Circle. We attended the festivities on the Mall. I stood through a concert by the Dreadful Dead so I could sit for a Peter, Paul and Mary Concert. We attended the inauguration, heard Maya Angelou read her poem,”On the Pulse of Morning,” ate lunch with the House Finance Committee and attended the South Carolina Ball. I talked to many Republicans at the events including Senator Strom Thurmond, who had planted himself at the buffet line, and Representative Arthur Ravenel.

Standing in line at an official souvenir shop, I met actress Markie Post and writer Marshall McLuhan, “The Medium is the message.” He held my place in line while I went into a stationary shop to order the note cards he recommended.

It was a joyous occasion from start to finish. The smooth transfer of power in the world’s greatest democracy that is how it should be.

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Five U.S. Presidents; Five Great Americans – May 6, 2013 – ethicsdaily.com

I wrote this column six years ago and it is still true today. I just spent the 4th. of July with my sister, brother-in-law and their family. It is a great reminder of what a great country we have and who we are as a people. I could not get the picture of the five presidents to reproduce here. I need my son, Michael, Brandy or Lori to help me with that. The message is clear. We live in a great country. We may be divided at times over issues, but we are never divided in our love for our country.

The picture of President Obama standing with the four living former U.S. presidents at the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas is a grand statement for us, and the rest of the world, as to whom we are. No one had to die for any one of them to take office. None was deposed by some despot.

Each took office as a result of a vote by a free people. Each has his strengths and each has his weaknesses. Although each of us has our preferences, only time will sift through the remains for an accurate judgment.

Each one separately, and all of them together, tell a great story. Although each of these men is flawed in some dramatic way, I am happy to be represented by any one of them.

Along with whatever baggage each man carries, he is a great American. He has stood the test. He has walked through the fire and emerged a winner.

Your vote may have been different from mine, but that is the point. We do not have to agree to live together in peace. We do not have to think the same or vote the same.

I am happy with the choices I made and would make the same choices again. I am sure that you feel the same way about your choices.

Those men can stand there together because each one knows fully the burdens that each one shouldered.

Each one knows the agony, heartache, sleepless nights and the great joy of serving the American people. Each one understands that one word from any one of them during his turn in office could have plunged the world into instant chaos.

These are good men. They are us. Soon, too soon, each one of them will leave us. As each one goes, we will mourn his passing.

We will remember his accomplishments. We will lament his failures. In many cases, we will regret not heeding some of his advice.

Each has taken his turn on the world stage. The country, our country, will endure.

We are a strong people. We are resilient. We are capable of unbelievable acts that dishonor our national conscience, but we are also capable of unbelievable acts of honor, kindness and love.

For a season, we divide ourselves into blue states and red states, Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, gay and straight, but when some misguided individual or group tries to harm us, we become one people, indivisible.

I am proud of those five men pictured there because I am in the picture and so are you. We are all holding hands. When it matters, we are one.

I am for national health care, gun control and immigration reform, and I understand full well that you may not be. We will decide these issues at the voting booth.

Each of us will have the opportunity to state our case to anyone who chooses to listen. No one is forced to listen, and no one is forced to vote.

We are free to follow our consciences, but no one is forced to follow us. We are free to become involved, and we are free to sit on the sidelines.

I am free to worship as I choose, and I am free not to worship at all.

Sometimes in the heat of debate, we forget how fortunate we are. We are free to debate. That is a hard-won freedom.

Look, again, at these five men. With all of their faults and virtues, they are us.

I, for one, am giving thanks for them individually and collectively. You are free to join me.

 

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