Resources on History – American
From a speech at Hillsdale College by former Congressman Mike Pence. Mr. Pence was elected governor of Indiana last year: There is no finer, more moving, or more profound understanding of the nature of the presidency and the command of humility placed upon it than that expressed by President [Calvin] Coolidge. He, like Lincoln, lost a child while he was president, a son of sixteen. “The day I became president,” Coolidge wrote, “[Calvin, Jr.] had just started to work in a tobacco field. When one of his fellow laborers said to him, ‘If my father was president I would not work in a tobacco field,’ Calvin replied, ‘If my father were your father you would.”‘ His admiration for the boy…
Read MoreGeorge Washington dressed well. His clothing, he believed, should reflect the dignity of a military and political leader. Slovenly dress demeans both the man and the nation he represents. But Washington was neither a fashion trendsetter nor a follower. He wrote: “A person who is anxious to be a leader of the fashion, or one of the first to follow it, will certainly appear in the eyes of judicious men to have nothing better than a frequent change of dress to recommend him to notice.” Washington’s concern was propriety – what’s appropriate – not fashion. How a Christian leader dresses when performing his duties probably concerns very few. For several decades our society has tracked toward the informal. But if…
Read MoreYoung George Washington’s education included copying by hand “Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” In the process he learned not only penmanship, but a code of manners that shaped his character and conduct. Some of the 110 rules pertain to etiquette: “In the Presence of Others Sing not to yourself with a humming Noise, nor Drum with your Fingers or Feet.” And, “Shake not the head, Feet, or Legs roll not the Eyes lift not one eyebrow higher than the other wry not the mouth, and bedew no mans face with your Spittle, by approaching too near him when you Speak.” Fortunately, I’ve never been in situation that required me to: “Kill no Vermin as Fleas,…
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