Politician Frink Thread

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Yulia Tymoshenko
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& one from before her politician days
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:lbf: still, recent time in prison for being a true Ukrainian has really affected her health
however, I hope she wins election again and the Ukraine is united once more!
 
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Smart is sexy. I'm adding Edith Wilson to this thread. Technically, she was the First Lady of the United States from late 1915 to early 1921. In reality, from the Fall of 1919 to March of 1921, she was the President of the United States. She married the recently widowed, President Woodrow Wilson, on December 18th, 1915. In September 1919, President Wilson went on a public speaking tour throughout the U.S. He was desperate for public support for the ratification of The Treaty of Versailles. His obsession was to establish "A League of Nations," to prevent another catastrophic World War like the one he just skillfully guided the United States through. His prized concept of "A League of Nations" was disintegrating right before his eyes. He couldn't garner enough support in the U.S House or Senate, and his European allies were bailing out left and right. So, under immense stress, he set out on a last ditch public speaking tour to rally support from the American people.

On September 25th, 1919 the President collapsed in Pueblo, Colorado. A week later things went from bad to much worse. The President suffered a devastating stroke that "almost totally incapacitated him. The stroke left him paralyzed on his left side, and only able to see out of the corner of his right eye." (source Wikipedia.) It was at this time that Edith Wilson effectively, and without doubt, became the acting President of the United States. It was all behind the scenes of course, but she was running the show. (To read more about this look up Woodrow Wilson, or Edith Wilson, on Wikipedia. If you look up Woodrow Wilson, click on "Incapacity," and you'll get a brief outline of all of this.)

It should be noted that, "with few exceptions, senior government officials were not allowed to see President Wilson for the remainder of his term." Edith Wilson and the President's puppet-on-a-string doctor, Cary Travers Grayson, simply refused to allow it. Eventually, Woodrow Wilson did start attending cabinet meetings again. However, he basically just sat there occasionally nodding and giving "yes" or "no" answers. His ever doting 5'9 shadow, Dr. Cary Travers Grayson, was always just a whisper away.

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The ever doting Dr. Cary Travers Grayson


Edith Wilson took the helm. She "began selecting issues for the President's attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads." (source Wikipedia.) Remember, this was a little over 46 years before the 25th Amendment of the United States Constitution was set in stone. The 25th Amendment "deals with the succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities." (once again, source Wikipedia.) Edith Wilson was effectively the President of the United States from the Fall of 1919 until March 4th, 1921 (when President Wilson's second term expired.) She did an admirable, and mostly effective job, being the acting President.


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President Wilson & First Lady Edith, before the U.S. entered World War I.


It should be noted that many powerful men in the government wanted Vice President, Thomas Marshall, to become the acting President. Many of President Wilson's own cabinet members clamored for Marshall to take the helm. The most prominent was the distinguished Secretary of State, Robert Lansing.

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-the distinguished Robert Lansing.


Edith Wilson was mad that Lansing was pushing for Marshall to assume the Presidency. Rocked by his treachery, she asked for his resignation. He gladly gave it to her. He was succeeded by the bumbling Bainbridge Colby. Colby served twelve lackluster months as Secretary of State, and didn't leave a trace of achievement in the office. Colby died in 1950 at the age of 80. He was the last surviving member of the Wilson cabinet. Robert Lansing passed away in 1928 in New York City. He was 64 years old.


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-the bumbling Bainbridge Colby. As a young lawyer his most notable client was Mark Twain.



Secretary of State Robert Lansing wasn't the only Washington power player wanting Marshall to become President. Several congressional leaders, from both the Democratic and Republican parties, also wanted this. However, they didn't have the votes to boot Wilson out. Edith Wilson, and her trusted advisors, were able to weather the storm.

Thomas Marshall refused to try and become President. He thought it would set a dangerous precedent to become President this way. He never knew how truly incapacitated Woodrow Wilson was. In those days Vice Presidents never attended cabinet meetings, and were rarely in Washington D.C. at all. Thomas Marshall wouldn't see Woodrow Wilson with his own eyes until March 4th, 1921. The last day of Woodrow Wilson's presidency.

In my opinion, Thomas Marshall was a man of honor. Would Lyndon B. Johnson have acted in this way? Would Richard Nixon, as young as he was, acted in this way? Would "The Little Magician," Martin Van Buren, have acted in such a manner? I like Martin Van Buren, but the answer is "no." The answer is "no" for all three of these extremely ambitious men. Thomas Marshall chose the cautious path, and in my opinion, the honorable one.


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Vice President Thomas Marshall. A man of honor.


Vice President Marshall would die in 1925, of a heart attack in his own bed. The man who coined the funny phrase, "What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar," was 71 years old.

28th President Woodrow Wilson would die in 1924, in the "elegant town house" that he & Edith shared, in Washington D.C. His death was a result of another stroke and heart related problems. He is interred in a sarcophagus in the astonishing Washington National Cathedral.

Edith White Bolling Galt Wilson lived for another 37 years after the death of her husband, President Wilson. She penned her memoir, and it was released in 1939. She also served as director of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Pretty small potatoes considering that she served as director of the United States for roughly 17 months. Very few historians will argue the fact, that Edith Wilson was the acting President of the United States, between October, 1919 until March 4th, 1921. She was in fact in charge of the Presidency at that time. Amazing. In early 1961, at the age of 88, she attended the Presidential inauguration of fellow Democrat, John F. Kennedy. Three days after Christmas, in 1961, she would die of congestive heart failure. Edith Wilson was 89 years old. She was buried next to her husband in the Washington National Cathedral.
 
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OK, Justin, props on the history lesson, but frinking? to words is difficult :o
also, feel I gotta say, as much as I like Edith Wilson as a woman leading our* nation :thumb:
I got no love for her husband, his decision to enter WWI was one of turning points of American history
and not in a good way
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Imperial Germany, the land of my father's father, was not "Nazi Germany" and its destruction directly lead to Nazis :cool:
granted, my mother's side of the family, was busy on the other side of the Somme dying for the British Empire :crazy:
and I am not really OK with that either, all that was done to save France from losing another war, how lame :rolleyes:
anyways, back on task to political frinking :p
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Aung San Suu Kyi
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even Obama agrees :p


*=can I say "our"? my people were in Scotland & Germany
 
OK, Justin, props on the history lesson, but frinking? to words is difficult :o
also, feel I gotta say, as much as I like Edith Wilson as a woman leading our* nation :thumb:
I got no love for her husband, his decision to enter WWI was one of turning points of American history
and not in a good way
flag_map_of_imperial_germany.png

Imperial Germany, the land of my father's father, was not "Nazi Germany" and its destruction directly lead to Nazis :cool:
granted, my mother's side of the family, was busy on the other side of the Somme dying for the British Empire :crazy:
and I am not really OK with that either, all that was done to save France from losing another war, how lame :rolleyes:


*=can I say "our"? my people were in Scotland & Germany


Lol, yeah I think I got off topic a bit:). I do that often. Maybe the photo of Bainbridge Colby will attract some admirers. Anything's possible. I have to admit I'm tired, so I'm gonna address some of your points in bullet-point style....

-I can partially understand your argument on Woodrow Wilson. I have to defend him in the sense that he kept us out of World War I for a long time. This was in spite of the fact that many folks were desperate to go to war. Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt desperately wanted to go, but he was too old. He actually petitioned Woodrow Wilson, and Wilson flat out said "no." Theodore Roosevelt despised him until the day he died for this. Roosevelt surprisingly died in 1919, so he didn't live very long after Wilson's good decision not to let him go to the war. To this day, Theodore Roosevelt's family still loathes the memory of Woodrow Wilson and the Wilson family. Totally ridiculous that they still feel this way. It's been 95 years, they need to let it go.

-I took myself off topic again. Anyway, I commend Wilson for keeping us out of the war for as long as he did. When he finally took us into the War, along with Congress, we were there for 11 months. I think my facts are correct. I'm too tired to go to Wikipedia.

-Woodrow Wilson is a mixed bag for me. One thing I immensely disliked about his administration is the heavy handed Sedition Act of 1918 that they hammered through Congress. It piggybacked onto the Espionage Act of 1917. The U.S government went way overboard, and overstepped their bounds, in arresting people left & right with these Acts as their means to do so. Anyone interested in this can go to Wikipedia and read about the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918. Yeah, some of the people that got arrested probably deserved it. However, a whole bunch of people were arrested for a bunch of bullshit. It's not one, but two, black eyes on the Wilson administration.

-The fact is that the U.S. definitely turned the tide, and helped our allies win the war. I'm not a proponent of war, but the truth is, our allies very much needed our help. The American military turned the tide, along with our allies.

-Quickly, I have to defend France. Two million French soldiers died in battle in WWII alone. Two million tough, courageous, admirable French soldiers laid down there lives in the battlefields of WWII. They lost. The Germans overtook them. That makes no difference. Their sacrifice is every bit as honorable as if they beat the Germans. * note- I'm pretty sure my figures are correct about 2 million French soldiers dying in WWII. I'm sick of Wikipedia right now and don't want to look it up. If someone can correct me, then please do.

-I understand what you're alluding to about the destruction of Germany in WWI leading to the nazi's being able to rise to power. I have to make two points. The first is the harshest...

-The responsibility of the nazi's rising to power is first and foremost on the Germans alone. It's not on the U.S. It's not on France. It's not on England. Or anyone else. It's on the Germans. I know this is a very simplistic answer but its the truth. I do feel sympathy for the German people of the 30's. My God, the economy was absolutely horrible. I've been homeless before. I know what desperate is. I know they were desperate, and then the nazi's took over, and after time many of the German people were terrified of them. I understand this. However, at the end of the day, its the Germans fault for allowing this to happen. With that said....

-The Wilson administration and the Allies should have done exactly what the Truman administration did after WWII. The Truman administration implemented the Marshall Plan to help rebuild war torn Europe. A magnificent concept and it mostly worked. I haven't read about all of this for over a decade, so I'm in over my head writing about this. Frankly, most of what I'm writing about is stuff I read about in the distant past and then around 2004-2005. Please correct my mistakes Robby, or anyone else. Anyway, I know Wilson was trying to build his " A League of Nations" and ratify the Treaty of Versailles. I actually like his concept of "A League of Nations." If this would've come to fruition maybe things would've ended up differently in Germany. Maybe WWII would've been avoided. The Marshall Plan was wonderful. Of course, Truman would stumble five years later and drag us into the hell of the Korean War. Truman's a mixed bag too. All American presidents have been. Well some have been almost completely worthless. Benjamin Harrison, a.k.a. "The Human Iceberg," was totally worthless as a President. He hated the job. He didn't like people at all. He was as introverted as they come. All he wanted was solitude and his musty old law books to romance for hours with. In 1893, he got his wish. The American people booted his ass out and awarded Grover Cleveland his second term. Grover Cleveland didn't do much with it. I think his secretive and mysterious surgery aboard a yacht was his greatest accomplishment. Oh, and he got married in the White House. Maybe all of that was in his first term. The fog of time makes everything blend together.

-Sorry I deleted the pics of the nice looking Asian lady. I don't have her name here, so I can't type it. I kept hitting "preview post" and the "errors occurred" memo kept popping up. Nice pics.
 
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