John Fitzgerald Kennedy Essays - Conservatism In The United States

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Essays - Conservatism In The United States John Fitzgerald Kennedy If you have ever had any curiosities about any of the leading figures of American History, from John Quincy Adams to Robert A. Taft, John Fitzgerald Kennedy details for you the accomplishments and personalities of a great cross-section of Americana. Mind you, this book is not a provocative thriller, nor an aloof murder story, but an encyclopedia of sorts, a personal reference. The people that JFK wrote about were truly courageous and intriguing, and upon reading about them, you begin to immediately respect them. Kennedy won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature with this book, and with all the credit given to this book, how can one argue with a masterpiece? One great merit of this volume is that its instances of courage are all true, clear and in the last analysis constructive; its heroes- John Quincy Adams, Webster, Houston, Ross of Kansas, George Norris-all exercised their courage in a noble way for large ends. The Foreward was written by Allen Nevins, a great journalist and admirer of the Late Kennedy(The most amazing part being that Kennedy at this time was still a senator!). With such a lofty opinion of the ex-president, the foreward was very upbeat. It spoke of the differentiations between courage and bravery, the very definition of courage, and even some of the reasons that a few of the men qualified to enter JFK's profiles. The preface, written by JFK himself, was merely a thank-you to the brave and trail-blazing politicians that preceded him, and to his wife. All in all, there are eight profiles of Kennedy's most revered men. The first listed being John Q. Adams. According to JFK, Adams was young, very unsure and yet, determined. Adams received threats in the mail from the federalist party and was prepared to leave any politics he was set to go into. In time, he began a very powerful man, taking part in more important events than anyone else in our history, the most important, of course, being the presidency. The succeeding profile is of Daniel Webster, one of the most powerful orators and statesmen of his time, or any other. Daniel Webster is familiar to many of us as the battler of Jabez Stone's soul against the devil in Stephen Vincent Benet's story. There could be no mistaking that he was a great man, as JFK writes, "He was a great man-he looked like one, talked like one, was treated like one, and insisted he was one." The next profile is of Thomas Hart Benton, a senator from Missouri, a man that used to engage in stand-off's and shootings. He held all of the people he spoke with in...fear. He spoke well, and always had a rebuttal to even the most stinging sarcasm. As a matte of fact, Benton tried his hardest to become as fearsome as possible, brushing himself daily with a horsehair brush, giving his skin a very leathery texture. Benton held such a fix in the Capitol that Missouri voted him to stay in office for just over thirty years! Benton stood up for what he wanted to happen, he listened less and less to his people in Missouri, and he became very devoted to winning everything he advocated for. Perhaps that is why he was considered courageous, that or the pistols he always carried into the Capitol. Thirdly was Sam Houston, governor of both Texas and Tennessee. During his time as a statesman for Texas, it was up to him to bring Texas into statehood, and he accomplished it well. He was dubbed 'The Magnificent Barbarian" due to his neanderthalic features, and moving orations. He was barnone the most popular statesman of his time, struggling like mad to accomplish all that he had set forth in a long journal to himself. His passion for his voters, the people, placed him in many high offices, in two different states! His worst mistake that ultimately ended his career was his vote to put an end to slavery, a vote that went against the thoughts of most people in Texas. Next in line was Edmund G. Ross, a young senator from Kansas. Ross was admitted during one of the most turmoil-filled epoch of American History, the time of President Andrew Johnson. Andrew had succeeded Lincoln as president, and was sent into his job to clean up all the hatred shared between the North and the South. Of course, the South had been conquered, and it was up to Johnson to decide what

Eleanor Roosevelts Contributions to Human Rights

Eleanor Roosevelt's Contributions to Human Rights On February 16, 1946, facing the incredible violations of human rights that victims of World War II suffered, the United Nations established a Human Rights Commission, with Eleanor Roosevelt as one of its members. Eleanor Roosevelt had been appointed a delegate to the United Nations by President Harry S. Truman after the death of her husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Eleanor Roosevelt brought to the commission her long commitment to human dignity and compassion, her long experience in politics and lobbying, and her more recent concern for refugees after World War II. She was elected chair of the Commission by its members. Contributions to the Development of the Declaration She worked on a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, writing parts of its text, helping to keep the language direct and clear and focused on human dignity. She also spent many days lobbying American and international leaders, both arguing against opponents and trying to fire up the enthusiasm among those more friendly to the ideas. She described her approach to the project this way: I drive hard and when I get home I will be tired! The men on the Commission will be also! On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution endorsing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In her speech before that Assembly, Eleanor Roosevelt said: We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind. This declaration may well become the international Magna Carta for all men everywhere. We hope its proclamation by the General Assembly will be an event comparable to the proclamation in 1789 [the French Declaration of the Rights of Citizens], the adoption of the Bill of Rights by the people of the US, and the adoption of comparable declarations at different times in other countries. Pride in Her Efforts Eleanor Roosevelt considered her work on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be her most important accomplishment. Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home- so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.