Christopher Cox

Author, Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn (Simon & Schuster)

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

There's no better way to celebrate the nation's 250th this summer than to pick up David McCullough's brilliant 1776. It was my privilege to interview him when the book was released to immediate best-seller status 21 years ago. You can watch the full interview here: https://t.co/DBoO86Ezke

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

Thank you for honoring this deserving pioneer of modern motorsport aerodynamics. I was in awe of Jim Hall and Hap Sharp when I watched them at road courses in the 1960s. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Chaparral museum in Midland. Jim Hall was both a legend in his own time and, given his profound legacy, a legend in our own as well.

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

@politico A man of sterling character whom I have long admired. Though hugely accomplished and elected to top Senate leadership, he was unique among his peers for his humility. Very pleased to see the well-deserved recognition he is now receiving. RIP.

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

It would certainly be disingenuous to imply that McGuire was in the party that shot Jackson. That is not at all what I wrote. I pointed out that he “first served as an infantryman for the CSA before being assigned to Stonewall Jackson’s command — where he was called on to amputate Jackson’s leg.” The chronology is correct and nothing misleading is said about the interval between these events.

In keeping with the conventional space limitations of posts on X, an expanded discussion including dates was not part of the post. That brevity is nice for many reasons but it can lead to ambiguity and misunderstanding. So I wanted to reply to your comment to ensure there’s absolute clarity on this point.

I appreciate and agree with the support that you and other commenters have offered for honoring McGuires’s contributions to battlefield medicine and his presidency of the AMA. I mentioned that he joined the Confederate Army as an infantryman to remind people that he was also a willing combatant in the war to protect state-sanctioned slavery. He then attained officer rank as an Army surgeon.

McGuire’s statue is being relocated along with Jackson’s because he was part of Jackson’s command — the reason his statue was on the Capitol grounds in the first place. I would be deeply disappointed if McGuire’s statute were not to be prominently displayed in a museum in honor of his medical achievements. But it seems that’s what’s planned here.

That’s a far better approach that preserves history, bestows honor where it’s due, and avoids what truly would be an insidious implication — that today’s Americans mean to honor men for the reason of their supporting the war to defend slavery.

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

Long past due.

Appropriate that the three Confederate statues will be relocated and displayed in a context that does not imply celebration of either the men or their cause.

Waging war against the United States of America, at exorbitant cost in lives and in defense of the evil institution of human slavery, deserves condemnation, not honor. That’s especially true for 21st century Americans whose country and flag were victorious in the Civil War.

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

The statues of Stonewall Jackson and two other Confederates were removed from the VA capitol on Friday. They will be relocated and displayed in a context that does not imply celebration of either the men or their cause. Long past due. https://t.co/vKSdGQzC4m

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

The connection between character, self control, and foregoing instant gratification in favor of something more important in the future is pure Coolidge.

Buying insurance selectively and wisely is in fact a responsible act of citizenship — witness what happens when so many don’t, or can’t because it’s not available (e.g., flood insurance, earthquake insurance). Major catastrophes then bust the government’s budget and impose the tax burden on one’s neighbors.

Nice to see the moral case for what usually passes as amoral business. Time to check your coverages and your premiums — it’s your duty to yourself and your fellow citizens!

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

https://t.co/6DAjnfbClj

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

Lawrence’s invention was not a tail light but a mechanical arm attached to the back fender of the car. (Remember this was 1914 or so.) The driver used a push button to lift a flag-like signal indicating left or right turns.

Lawrence also invented a mechanical brake signal where a "STOP" sign popped up on the back bumper when the driver pressed the brake pedal.

Primitive though this sounds, these were important safety advances at a time when avoidable automobile accidents and fatalities were all too common.

Even President Woodrow Wilson’s 1919 Pierce-Arrow Series 51 limousine lacked brake lights and turn signals. Electric brake lights didn’t become features on American automobiles until the mid-1920s.

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

On July 19, 1848, nearly 300 people crowded into a nondescript building on a dirt road heard Elizabeth Cady Stanton read the Declaration of Sentiments in full, including this call to arms:

[I]t is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.

There is no written record of how the more than two dozen men at the convention voted on this question, but only one of them spoke in support. This was Frederick Douglass, who joined Stanton in arguing that “the power to choose rulers and make laws [is] the right by which all others [are] secured.”

As a final act before its adjournment, the Seneca Falls convention voted unanimously in favor of a measure offered by Lucretia Mott, which included this acknowledgment of the efforts by Douglass and the other men present that day:

RESOLVED, That the speedy success of our cause depends upon the zealous and untiring efforts of both men and women ….

As a prediction, Mott’s parting words were only half correct. The process of securing women’s right to vote would be anything but speedy. But it would, to a certainty, require the efforts of not only women but men—sometimes violent men—in state and territorial capitals, the halls of Congress, and the White House.

Read more here:
https://t.co/c86p6dIavm

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

Sad to see this. Especially while a woman leads Japan as PM.

Japan enshrines male-only succession for the shrinking imperial family
https://t.co/Fz91G7F25A

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

Such an inspirational story, so engagingly told — highlighted by the facts that an 80 year old pursued his passion with such energy, had to overcome dauntingly long odds, and (happy ending!). he and goodness ultimately triumphed, to the betterment of millions.

Thank you for your research, outstanding presentation, and creative insight in spotting this gem in the first place.

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

Alice Paul was America's Gandhi -- her legacy of nonviolent protest brought a president to heel, rewrote the Constitution, and pointed the way for the movements of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other 20th-century activists. You can read more here: https://t.co/AQXhmyKnhT and here: https://t.co/N1rJpeWiaa

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

@philharmonia So wish I could join in the collective appreciation for this work. But like its early 20th century audience, I find it annoyingly jarring. As a technical achievement it undoubtedly deserves credit, but euphonious it is not.

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

Republicans controlled Congress in 1998. Democrats in Congress mostly voted against the fiscal discipline needed to balance the budget that year. For 60 of the 62 years from 1933 to 1995, Democrats controlled the House. As the power of the purse rests with Congress, and tax legislation must originate in the. House, ascribing fiscal results solely to the President (who can only veto) is misguided.

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

Food for thought this Memorial Day weekend:

The man President Woodrow Wilson revered as a "hero," a "great man," and an "ideal" has, like Wilson himself, fallen from grace. The reckoning with Lee's choice to lead the armed forces of the CSA against the USA in the nation's bloodiest insurrection continues.

https://t.co/blcmIU0xTc

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

New today in this month's issue of American Heritage Magazine:

https://t.co/p0CMATW12f

[Christopher Cox @cchriscox]

The 25 US states, cities, and towns featured in the lyrics of Walt Kelly's 'Go Go Pogo'

In 1956, then-famous cartoonist Walt Kelly, creator of the wildly popular Pogo comic strip, released an LP album of original comedy songs that tickled America and the world. The number one track on the album was a tribute to the strip's eponymous hero, Pogo the possum.

Go Go Pogo is a nonsense rhyme, much in the style of Lewis Carroll, but zanier. The lyrics are hung from a skeleton made of the names of well-known and obscure American places (along with "someplace in Mexico").

Here is the full list of states, cities, and towns that Kelly immortalized in this unique composition now celebrating its 70th anniversary:

1. Maine
2. Oso, WA
3. Key Largo, FL
4. Otsego, MI
5. San Francisco, CA
6. Fargo, ND
7. Okefenokee Swamp, GA
8. Overland, MO
9. San Diego, CA
10. Waco, TX
11. Oswego, NY
12. Atascadero, CA
13. Wheeler, TX
14. Barrow, AK
15. Delaware
16. Ohio
17. Wheeling, WV
18. Oregon
19. North Carolina
20. South Carolina
21. Tishomingo, OK
22. Shamokin, PA
23. Hoboken,NJ
24. Chenango, NY
25. Chicago, IL

And here are the full lyrics (note that Kelly managed to sneak "Pogo Stick" into the first verse):

Go Go Pogo by Walt Kelly
1956

As Maine go Oso Pogo go
Key Largo,
Otsego to Frisco, go to Fargo
Okefenokee playin'
Possum on a Pogo
Stick around and see the show.

Go Overland alive, a band o' jive will blow
Go Pogo
I go, you go, who go, to go, parlez-vous go,
From Caravan Diego
Waco and Oswego
Tweedle de he go, she go, we go, me go Pogo.

Atascadero, Wheeler, Barrow, some place in Mexico
Delaware, Ohio, and you don't need the Texaco
Wheeling, West Virginia
With ev'rything that's in ya
Down the line you'll see the shine from Oregon to Caroline.

Eeny meeny miny Kokomo
Go Pogo
Tishomingo, sing those lingo, whistling go
Shamokin to Hoboken
Chenango to Chicango
It's golly, I go goo goo, goin' go go Pogo.

(solo)

Atascadero, Wheeler, Barrow, some place in Mexico
Delaware, Ohio, and you don't need the Texaco
Wheeling, West Virginia
With ev'rything that's in ya
Down the line you'll see the shine from Oregon to Caroline.

Oh, eeny meeny miny Kokomo
Go Pogo
Tishimingo, sing those lingo, whistling go
Shamokin to Hoboken
Chenango to Chicango
It's golly, I go goo goo, goin' go go Pogo!

You can listen to the original recording here.
https://t.co/2Ik7gsxSYY