Posted on 12/07/2002 6:37:48 AM PST by BigWaveBetty
Written on White House stationary in his own hand in 1927, President Calvin Coolidge issued the first official Christmas message to the American people. As a response to numerous requests for the President to send a holiday greeting, President Coolidge asked newspapers across the United States to publish his holiday greeting to the American people. Although he didn't speak, he participated in the first ceremonial tree lighting for the event now known as the Pageant of Peace.
President Eisenhower expanded the list of Presidential Christmas cards recipients significantly in 1953; the President sent season’s greetings to American ambassadors abroad, members of the Cabinet and Congress, foreign heads of state and government officials. Thereafter, the official Presidential Holiday Greeting was the White House Christmas card.
Artist Adrian Martinez of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, designed the 2001 holiday card which features the Second Floor Corridor of the White House with Mary Cassatt's 1908 painting, Young Mother and Two Children. Mrs. Bush selected the Psalm for the card on September 16. At Camp David, the chaplain based his sermon on the Psalm, which was outlined in the lectionary for that September Sunday.
2001 White House Tree
The President and Mrs. Bush stand next to the 2001 tree, an 18-foot Concolor fir that was grown in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania. For ornaments, artists from all 50 states and the District of Columbia designed miniature replicas of historic houses from their regions.
See the past cards from The White House from Hoover to to Bush 41.
My plan was to show all the past cards and pictures of the Presidents and their families in front of that year's tree. As I got to Nixon some thing strange happened and everything up to GWB and Laura's card disappeared. So I'll post them on the thread, you'll have to click the link above to view Mr. and Mrs. America's worst couple though, I refuse to muck up this thread with their awfulness.
"You have only one way to go and that is up," said organizer Julia Morley. "These are girls who are having fun."
The international pageant was forced to pull out of Nigeria last month after Muslim-Christian rioting left more than 200 people dead.
But Morley, whose late husband Eric launched Miss World in 1951, was undeterred and hastily moved the event to London, where it will be hosted by Sean Kanan, an actor from U.S. soap "The Bold and The Beautiful."
Organizers say the show, whose motto is "beauty with a purpose," will be broadcast in 142 countries to a global audience of more than two billion. In Britain, however, where the pageant is widely seen as a quaint, kitsch spectacle, no television channel has agreed to broadcast it.
Miss World is used to controversy. In 1970, feminists threw bags of flour during the event, which was hosted by Bob Hope at the Royal Albert Hall in London. In 1996, when the finals were held in the Indian city of Bangalore, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at rock-throwing protesters, and one man committed suicide by self-immolation.
Still, this is arguably the contest's most troubled year.
The controversy began when a number of contestants boycotted the competition after an Islamic court in Nigeria condemned a woman to death by stoning for having a child outside marriage. The Nigerian government promised the sentence would not be carried out, and Morley pressed ahead.
But violence erupted when a Nigerian journalist wrote an article claiming the Muslim prophet Muhammad would have approved of the contest and might even have taken one of the contestants as his bride. The result was the deadly rioting in the northern city of Kaduna.
Critics said the show should be abandoned. "These girls will be wearing swimwear dripping with blood," British writer Muriel Gray said.
Morley has remained adamant that her show was not responsible for the rioting, however.
"We had nothing to do with the violence, so it is quite ludicrous to suggest we are being insensitive by continuing with the competition," she said.
On Thursday the contest faced a new crisis, with a High Court judge ordering that Morley's assets be frozen.
Nigerian art dealer and promoter Angela Onyeador launched the legal action, claiming she is owed nearly $780,000 after agreeing to act as guarantor for the Miss World gala dinner at a London hotel last month.
The case is due to return to the High Court in London next week. Link
I can't find it on the TV schedule and every story says it won't be broadcast. Check the Miss World site and see if you can find some thing, I couldn't.
Relatives who braved the atrocious conditions waved farewell at the gate of Pier 14, drenched and sometimes emotional as the ship pulled out.
Then the captain's voice came over the loudspeaker:
TV rights foot part of the bill; the show is screened in over 142 countries. Today's pageant will start at 2pm, so it can be shown at peak time in China. But no British channel has agreed to broadcast it, and Ken Livingstone has issued a press release saying that, as mayor of London, he "condemns [the] decision to hold Miss World in London". Tickets for the live show were still available from Ticketmaster yesterday. [snip]The Guardian
I'll keep listening to the news to hear any news on it.
:-)
[snippet]
"The loyalty litmus test comes at a time when newly laid-off Democratic staffers are flooding the job market. With Republicans in firm control of the Senate, staff ratios will no longer be almost evenly divided. The GOP is expected to reimpose the traditional two-thirds staff for the majority, one third for the minority...
Lott has done the equivalent of hanging out a shingle on K Street that says NO DEMOCRATS NEED APPLY." LINK
Cliff should have posed for that Official Seal of the U. S. Democratic Party...wish I could find that...drat!
So Trent's finally getting the hang of things, thank goodness.
Inside there is the Presidential Seal in gold and the words, "For the Lord is Good; His Mercy is Everlasting; and His Truth endureth to all generations." Psalm 100:5, followed by the caption in beautiful calligraphy: May love and peace fill your heart and home during this holiday season and throughout the New Year. 2002
The back of the card identifies the picture as an Oil on canvas, 40" x 30" by Zhen-Huan Lu and the subject is a 1938 Stenway Piano in the Grand Foyer of the White house, 2002.
I love this card so much that I don't even mind that they severely shortened my name on the envelope. My husband's full name is there, but mine has been shortened to Eli because they ran out of room. That's what you get if your name is Elizabeth, I guess. :~) It's always being shortened.
This should be interesting!
It is described as:
A reproduction of a painting N.C. Wyeth created in 1930 for a patriotic poster for the Pennsylvania Railroad was the Nixon’s official 1971 Christmas card. The card depicted President Washington and architect James Hoban inspecting the uncompleted White House in 1798.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.