Free Republic

A subsite within my massive website, devoted to George W. Bush and his family. From a past time when I enthusiastically supported him.

The prominent placement of an Andrew Jackson portrait during an event meant to honor a group of Native Americans at the Oval Office on Monday has raised questions about the White House’s message. Jackson is known for his harsh treatment of Native Americans as president, famously signing the Indian Removal Act, which led to thousands of Native American deaths as tens of thousands were forced to relocate. Some observers thought the juxtaposition of his portrait during the event with the stated purpose of honoring three Navajo code talkers was strange. [Snip] The Cherokees called Jackson "Indian killer"; the Creek called...

If you didn’t know, the late President Teddy Roosevelt really loved his guns for shooting, hunting and battle. He was obviously an avid user and collector. He was seriously into the Winchester lever-action rifles. Historians say his most prized was the Winchester Model 1894 chambered in .30-30, titled by Roosevelt as the “little .30”. When this rifle was first introduced, Roosevelt tried it out and took down an antelope at approximately 190 yards. He marveled at its usefulness and called the .30-30, “Aces.” Because he was such a gun nut, he had to have this one at his Long Island...

Former President George H.W. Bush is now the longest-living president in U.S. history at the age of 93 years and 166 days. Bush on Saturday surpassed the previous record held by Gerald Ford, who lived to be 93 years and 165 days old before he died in December 2006. Jimmy Carter, the second-oldest living president, is 111 days behind Bush and 165 days behind Ronald Reagan, who currently holds the third spot for longest-living president at 93 years and 120 days

We remember the 54th anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination this week.  There is something about President Kennedy's legacy, as Alan Brinkley wrote a few years ago: President Kennedy spent less than three years in the White House. His first year was a disaster, as he himself acknowledged. The Bay of Pigs invasion of Communist Cuba was only the first in a series of failed efforts to undo Fidel Castro’s regime. His 1961 summit meeting in Vienna with the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was a humiliating experience. Most of his legislative proposals died on Capitol Hill. Yet he was also responsible...

Another reminder, as if we needed one, that it's not going to stop with Confederate generals. Or, for that matter, Virginians or slaveowners. Look at the history of the left around the world. And look at where they drew the line and stopped. The answer is nowhere. And so we have this insult, unthinkable in the pre-Obama era where the Dems at least feigned respect for America. An historic Episcopal parish where George Washington frequently worshiped has decided to remove a memorial plaque honoring the nation’s first president, saying the decision was out of a desire to provide a “welcoming”...

President Donald J. Trump announced via Twitter Saturday morning that he will release the long anticipated classified files surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2017 There are currently more than 3,000 classified documents in the National Archives regarding JFK’s death and the investigation into his killer, Lee Harvey Oswald. 25 years ago, Congress passed the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 which ordered the acting commander-in-chief...

Former President George W. Bush delivered a public repudiation of President Donald Trump’s political identity, suggesting many aspects of the current administration are fueling division in the United States and around the world. The former president defended the ideas of globalism, free trade, and free markets as well as foreign interventionism around the world in a speech at the George W. Bush Institute. “We cannot wish globalism away,” Bush said, noting that the United States must sustain “wise and sustained global engagement” for the future of the country. Bush indirectly accused Trump of fueling dangerous ideologies that threatened the unity...

Chalk another one up for big government progressivism. I recently posted about progressive republicans and the 16th amendment, having learned during that research that this was the case: I did not know previously that TR supported the death tax. Here is what he said in 1906: As a matter of personal conviction, and without pretending to discuss the details or formulate the system, I feel that we shall ultimately have to consider the adoption of some such scheme as that of a progressive tax on all fortunes, beyond a certain amount, either given in life or devised or bequeathed upon...

Former US President Jimmy Carter said the US works more like an "oligarchy than a democracy," while also lambasting Trump's “hopeless” approach to solving the Israel-Palestine issue, and the increasing tension with North Korea. The former president was speaking at a ‘Conversation with the Carters’ event at his Carter Center in Atlanta on Tuesday. He said money in politics is what makes the US more like an oligarchy – run by a small group of rich people – rather than a democracy, AP reports. This isn’t the first time the 39th president has made such comments. In 2015, he referred...

A group has now covered the statue of Thomas Jefferson that sits in front of the University of Virginia Rotunda. Dozens turned out with Black Lives Matter signs around 8 p.m. Tuesday. Three people were on the statue that is covered in black.

WEST BRANCH, Iowa -- It is a testimony to the promise of our country to stand inside the home of young Herbert Hoover. The scope of where the Hoover family began, lived and ended each day can be observed in the blink of an eye. One room served as a bedroom for the future president, his parents and his two siblings; the other room was their living room, dining room and kitchen. The rooms are literally side by side. They had little. Soon after, they had less. Yet Hoover persisted. "This cottage where I was born is physical proof of...

As of Sep. 02, 2017: Money pledged for Hurricane Harvey Relief 1) President Trump = $1,000,000 2) Obamas = $0 3) Clintons = $0 Instead, Hillary is charging people for her book tour. (What a joke! Anyone who pays deserves to lose their money. Chumps!)

...In late 1998, the prestigious scientific journal Nature announced that it had conducted DNA testings which proved that Thomas Jefferson had fathered a child with Sally Hemings. According to Nature:Almost two hundred years ago, Thomas Jefferson was alleged to have fathered children by his slave Sally Hemings. The charges have remained controversial. Now, DNA analysis confirms that Jefferson was indeed the father of at least one of Hemings’ children.1 (snip) These authors, however, deliberately ignored the non-paternity results of the DNA testing. In fact, the original Nature article had reported that Thomas Woodson–the child that oral traditions claim was born...

<p>Obama will be the costliest ex-president, with taxpayers shelling out $1,153,000 for his expenses in 2018, according to the Congressional Research Service.Obama's budget request is more than $100,000 higher than George W. Bush’s for next year and nearly $200,000 more than Bill Clinton’s expected budget.</p>

Pandering to the regressive mob, Mayor Bill de Blasio refused to give a straightforward answer on how New York City should treat monuments to President and General Ulysses S. Grant, which include a statue of Grant on horseback in Crown Heights, Brooklyn (standing since 1896), and Grant’s Tomb in Riverside Park, Manhattan (housing Grant’s body since 1897). De Blasio’s dithering comes in the wake of his declaring a 90-day review of “hate symbols” in New York City for ultimate removal. While he was a hero and was integral to the Union’s survival and victory in the U.S. Civil War, Grant...

There once was an American president whose approval rating hovered at 36 percent, who lost a pivotal health care vote although his party controlled Congress, who faced a special counsel investigation, who had an inexperienced and highly partisan White House staff, and who encountered public outrage over a $200 haircut that shut down the Los Angeles International Airport for two hours. Donald Trump? No. Bill Clinton Clinton’s presidency was such a disaster in only four months that Time Magazine devoted a June 1993 cover story to his long string of failures. The cover featured a tiny Bill under the large...

Roosevelt Island should be renamed because of FDR’s “racist” decision to send Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II, a new petition demands. Franklin Delano Roosevelt — who led the nation through the Great Depression and WWII and told Americans they had “nothing to fear but fear itself” — is nevertheless unworthy of having his name on the 147-acre island that is home to 9,700 New Yorkers, those behind the petition claim. “To add injury to insult, the name was taken away from the Native American people who were slaughtered by the American settlers,” said Margarita L., who started...

University of Virginia students have issued a list of demands regarding a statue of Thomas Jefferson on campus because his visage allegedly serves as “an emblem of white supremacy.” President Trump asked reporters on Aug. 15 if violence in Charlottesville over historical monuments would inspire campaigns against the nation’s third present. A coalition of minority student groups answered his call less than one week later with a list of demands for administrators. The Minority Rights Coalition hosted a “March to Reclaim Our Grounds” on Aug. 21, at which point they revealed a ten-point ultimatum obtained by Campus Reform on Wednesday....

This first lady was known for Depression-era frugality, and her meals reflected that. While her husband Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in office, she insisted on putrid White House dinners such as chicken liver, cold mutton, gelatin-heavy “salads” and something called Seafood Surprise.Many history buffs suspect the repulsive meals were less about scrimping and more about exacting revenge on FDR for having affairs. In any event, Mrs. Roosevelt refused to fire the chef who made them. The advice around Washington at the time: If you were invited to dine at the White House, eat before you went.After FDR died, Eleanor...