Roosevelt to Reagan - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Roosevelt to Reagan

Presidents Day was yesterday, so I “celebrated” by reading a book from the used book collection in the lobby of our Florida condo building. It was titled Roosevelt to Reagan, by Time Magazine Editor Hedley Donovan, who covered these 9 presidents over the course of his career. The book captured an era when the media was much more impartial than today, as he was able to build a personal relationship with each of the leaders whether Democrat or Republican. His insights and observations while covering the nine presidents were enlightening and interesting, providing a perspective way beyond what I personally knew about them after having lived through each presidency except Roosevelt’s.

Of the nine, Kennedy was my favorite. He was a Democrat and elected during my seventh grade in 1960. I vividly recall wearing the above campaign button, which I still have. Our civics teacher at the time was Mr. Hancock whom I had written about in this 2016 blogpost. That blog referenced another book titled A Thousand Days that I use as bedtime reading. Kennedy served as president exactly 1000 days, thus the title. Turns out there is a movie about the book and it can be accessed by clicking this link. It touches on and explains Kennedy’s New Frontier initiatives:

 Kennedy’s New Frontier Initiatives

Peace Corp - volunteer work in third world countries for young people

Civil rights - pass legislation to address racism

Space program - create NASA and put a man on the moon by the end of the decade

Peace - avoid nuclear war with Communist Russia

Freedom - expand freedom and democracy around the world

These were admirable goals that definitely got the attention of an impressionable 13 year old like me at the time.

But I got older and as the Reagan adage goes, "Anyone who is not a Democrat at age 20 has no heart, while anyone who is still a Democrat at age 40 has no brain”, so I converted. Jimmy Carter was the last Democrat I voted for in 1976 at the age 28. Winston Churchill said it better in light of current events, “Anyone who is not a socialist at 20 years of age has no heart, while anyone who is still a socialist at 40 has no brain”. Note that both Reagan and Churchill switched from liberal to conservative as they got older. Not so for good ole’ Bernie, age 78!

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