American Minute

[Soldier4Christ]

AUTUMN 1831, Four Indians -3 Nez Perce and 1 Flathead, arrived in St. Louis asking about a "book to heaven." Dr. Marcus Whitman and a group of missionaries responded. Dedicating the Oregon Trail, July 3, 1923, President Warren Harding told how Dr. Whitman, clad in buckskin breeches, fur leggings and moccasins, "in the dead of winter 1842, struggled through...blinding storms, 4,000 miles...from Walla Walla...past the Great Salt Lake, to Santa Fe...to St. Louis and finally...to Washington, D.C...It was a race against time. Public opinion was...that Oregon was not worth claiming...Turning to President Tyler, Whitman added...'All I ask is that you will not barter away Oregon or allow English interference until I can lead...settlers across the plains.'" President Warren Harding continued: "Such was Marcus Whitman, the missionary hero...to plead that the state should acquire...the empire that the churches were gaining for Christianity...Never in the history of the world has there been a finer example of civilization following Christianity. The missionaries led under the banner of the cross and the settlers moved close behind under the star-spangled symbol of the nation." The State of Washington placed Dr. Marcus Whitman's statue in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall.

[Soldier4Christ]

Herbert Hoover was born AUGUST 10, 1874. The son of a Quaker blacksmith, he studied at Stanford and became a world renowned engineer. Trapped in China when the Boxer Rebellion broke out in 1900, he directed the building of barricades under heavy fire while his wife worked in the hospital. In World War I, at the request of the American Consul, Hoover helped 120,000 Americans stranded in Europe return home. He directed the feeding of Belgium after the Nazis overran it and orchestrated feeding the Allied nations while avoiding rationing at home. After the war, he arranged the feeding of millions starving in Central Europe and Russia. Serving as Secretary of Commerce for Presidents Harding and Coolidge, Hoover became the 31 U.S. President in 1929. Seven months later the Stock Market crashed. Though implementing a plan of aid through the States, political opponents sabotaged his efforts. In his Memorial Day Address, delivered at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1931, President Herbert Hoover stated: "If, by the grace of God, we stand steadfast in our great traditions through this time of stress, we shall insure that we and our sons and daughters shall see these fruits increased many fold."



Hoover, Herbert Clark. Oct. 18, 1931, in an address beginning a nation-wide drive to aid the private relief agencies during the Great Depression. Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover - The Great Depression 1929-1941 (NY: The MacMillan Co., 1952), p. 151. "My own suggestion is that Iraq might be financed to complete this great land development on the consideration that it be made the scene of resettlement of the Arabs from Palestine. This would clear Palestine completely for Jewish immigration and colonization." Herbert Hoover, New York World-Telegram, Nov. 19, 1945. Solomon Goldman, president of the Zionist Organization of America, wrote to David Ben-Gurion on Apr. 6, 1939, quoting a letter from President Roosevelt to Justice Louis Brandeis: "He wrote about the transfer of several hundred thousand Arabs from Palestine to Iraq. In order to finance this transfer, he suggested the establishment of a fund of three hundred million dollars. He thought that it was possible to collect one hundred million from the Jews, the British Government would loan one hundred and the American Government would loan a third of the required sum." Henry Morgenthau, Roosevelt's Secretary of the Treasury, wrote in his diary in 1942 of a conversation with FDR in which the president said: "I actually would put a barbed wire around Palestine, and I would begin to move the Arabs out of Palestine...I would provide land for the Arabs in some other part of the Middle East...Each time we move out an Arab we would bring in another Jewish family...There are lots of places to which you could move the Arabs. All you have to do is drill a well because there is a large underground water supply, and we can move the Arabs to places where they can really live." (John Morton Blum, Roosevelt and Morgenthau: From the Morgenthau Diaries [Boston, 1970], 519-520.)

[Soldier4Christ]

AUGUST 11, 1984, by an 88-11 Senate vote and a 337-77 House vote, Congress passed the Equal Access Act, stating: "It shall be unlawful for any public secondary school which receives Federal financial assistance and which has a limited open forum, to deny equal access or a fair opportunity to, or discriminate against, any students who wish to conduct a meeting within that limited open forum on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content of the speech at such meeting." Regarding this, President Reagan commented August 23, 1984 at Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas: "We even had to pass a special law in the Congress just a few weeks ago to allow student prayer groups the same access to school rooms after classes that a Young Marxist Society...would already enjoy." The Supreme Court upheld the Equal Access Act by a vote of 8-1 in Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, June 4, 1990: "If a State refused to let religious groups use facilities open to others, then it would demonstrate not neutrality but hostility toward religion. The Establishment Clause does not license government to treat religion and those who teach or practice it...as subversive of American ideals."





The U.S. Code, Section 4071 (20 U.S.C. 4071-74). August 23, 1984, following the enactment of the "Equal Access Bill of 1984," President Ronald Reagan spoke at an Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast at the Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas. U.S. Supreme Court, June 4, 1990, Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, 496, U.S. 226, 250, (1990), No. 88-1597 Part III was delivered by Justice O'Connor and No. 88-1597-CONCUR Part II was delivered by Justice Kennedy and Justice Scalia. 8 to 1 decision. See Widmar, 454 U.S., at 272, n.11. Jeremiah O'Leary, "Reagan Declares that Faith Has Key Role in Political Life," The Washington Times (August 24, 1984). Walter Shapiro, "Politics & the Pulpit," Newsweek (September 17, 1984), p. 24. The Speech That Shook The Nation (Forerunner, December 1984), p. 12. Nadine Strossen, "A Constitutional Analysis of the Equal Access Act's Standards Governing School Student's Religious Meetings," Harvard Journal on Legislation, Winter, 1987. p. 118. David R. Shepherd, Ronald Reagan: In God We Trust (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1984), p. 146.

[Soldier4Christ]

"O Beautiful, For Spacious Skies, For Amber Waves of Grain..." Almost the National Anthem, "America the Beautiful" was written by Katherine Lee Bates, born AUGUST 12, 1859. Daughter of a Congregational minister, she taught high school, then English literature at Wellesley College. Of her 1893 Colorado journey, Katherine Lee Bates wrote: "Some of the other teachers and I decided to go on a trip to 14,000-foot Pikes Peak. We hired a prairie wagon. Near the top we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on mules. I was very tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy. All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse." Printed in The Congregationalist, July 4, 1895, Katharine Lee Bates wrote: "America! America! God shed his grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood, From sea to shining sea!" Meeting with South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan, November 14, 1983, President Reagan said: "At the worship service Sunday morning with our soldiers...less than a mile from one of the most tyrannical regimes on Earth...a choir of little girls...all orphans...closing the service, singing "America, the Beautiful" in our language, was a spiritual experience."

[Soldier4Christ]

"New Jersey is being invaded by Martians!" was the script of a 1938 radio drama based on the novel War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, who died AUGUST 13, 1946. H.G. Wells wrote the best sellers The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The First Men in the Moon, which inspired a boy named Robert Goddard to become the father of modern rocketry. At the National Space Club, March 29, 1985, President Reagan stated: "Personally, I like space. The higher you go, the smaller the Federal Government looks." Reagan continued: "Dr. Goddard once wrote a letter to H.G. Wells...'There can be no thoughts of finishing, for aiming at the stars...is a problem to occupy generations...there is always the thrill of just beginning.'" In his Outlines of History, 1920, H.G. Wells said of the U.S. Constitution: "Its spirit is indubitably Christian." In The Secret Places of the Heart, 1922, H.G. Wells wrote: "Sir Richmond and Miss Grammont went out into the moonlit gloaming...crossed the bridge...and followed the road beside the river towards the old Abbey Church, that Lantern of the West...said Sir Richmond...'It's only through love that God can reach over from one human being to another. All real love is a divine thing."

[Soldier4Christ]

Emperor Hirohito surrendered AUGUST 14, 1945. The next day, on the Jewish New Year, President Truman stated: "The enemies of civilization who would have destroyed completely all freedom of religion have been defeated. All faiths unite in thanksgiving to Almighty God on our victory over the forces of evil." In a Day of Prayer, August 16, 1945, Truman proclaimed: "The warlords of Japan...have surrendered unconditionally... This is the end of the...schemes of dictators to enslave the peoples of the world, destroy their civilization, and institute a new era of darkness and degradation." Truman continued: "Our global victory has come from the courage...of free men and women united in determination to fight. It has come from the massive strength of arms...created by peace-loving peoples who knew that unless they won, decency in the world would end. It has come from millions of peaceful citizens...turned soldiers overnight-who showed a ruthless enemy that they were not afraid to fight." Truman concluded: "It has come with the help of God, Who was with us in the early days of adversity and...Who has now brought us to this glorious day of triumph. Let us give thanks to Him and...dedicated ourselves to follow in His ways."

[Soldier4Christ]

He conquered from Austria to Palestine, Holland to Egypt, uncovered Pyramid treasures and the Rosetta Stone. He sold a million square miles of land to U.S. to raise money for his army. His name was Napoleon Bonaparte, born AUGUST 15, 1769. In 1797, Napoleon said to the parish priests in Milan: "A society without religion is like a ship without a compass." Though emperor for life, disastrous losses in Russia and Waterloo led to his banishment in 1815 to the South Atlantic Island of Saint Helena, where he dictated his "Mémoires" to General Charles Tristan de Montholon, Baron Gaspar Gourgaud and General Henri Gratien Bertrand. Additionally, Emmanuel de Las Cases recorded a journal the emperor's conversations titled "Mémorial de Sainte Hélène." At the beginning of his captivity, Napoleon complained to Montholon of having no chaplain. Pope Pius VII petitioned England to grant Napoleon's wish and Abbé Vignali became his chaplain. To Montholon, Napoleon affirmed his belief in God and read aloud the Old Testament, the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Napoleon stated: "The Bible is no mere book, but a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all that oppose it."

[Soldier4Christ]

Charles Finney died AUGUST 16, 1875. An attorney, he saw so many Scripture references in Blackstone's Law Commentaries that he bought a Bible and came to faith. Finney's 1835 Revival Lectures inspired George Williams to found the YMCA-Young Men's Christian Association-in 1844, and inspired William Booth to found The Salvation Army in 1865. Finney formed the Benevolent Empire - a network of volunteer organizations to aid with social problems - which by 1834 had a budget which rivaled the Federal Government. Concerning the Kingdom of God, Finney wrote "Every member must work or quit. No honorary members." While president of Oberlin College, 1851-1866, it served as a station on the Underground Railroad secretly bringing slaves to freedom, and it granted the first degree in the U.S. to a black woman, Mary Jane Patterson. Charles Finney wrote: "The time has come for Christians to vote for honest men, and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them...Politics are a part of a religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to their country as a part of their duty to God." Charles Finney concluded: "God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics."

[Soldier4Christ]

AUGUST 17, 1955, President Eisenhower authorized the code of conduct for U.S. soldiers, which stated: "I serve in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense...If captured...I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy...I will never forget I am an American fighting man, responsible for my actions and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America." In 1947, the U.S. Corp of Cadets required: "Attendance at chapel is part of a cadet's training; no cadet will be exempted. Each cadet will receive religious training in one of the three particular faiths: Protestant, Catholic or Jewish." In 1949, the U.S. Naval Academy required: "All Midshipmen, except those on authorized outside church parties, shall attend Sunday services in the chapel." On November 15, 1862, Lincoln ordered: "The Commander in Chief...enjoins the...observance of the Sabbath...The sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian people...demand that Sunday labor in the Army and Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity."

[Soldier4Christ]

His legal decisions were so respected they were referenced in U.S. Supreme Court Cases. For 40 years he served on New York's District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals before dying AUGUST 18, 1961. His name was Learned Hand. In 1944, during World War II, Judge Learned Hand spoke on "The Spirit of Liberty" at a program in New York's Central Park: "What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith...The spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women; The spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interest alongside its own without bias; The spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded." Judge Learned Hand continued: "The spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, nearly two thousand years ago, taught mankind the lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten - that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest." Judge Learned Hand wrote: "The use of history is to tell us...past themes, else we should have to repeat, each in his own experience, the successes and the failures of our forebears."

[Soldier4Christ]

A graduate of Georgetown University, he was a Fulbright Scholar before becoming Governor of Arkansas and then America's 42nd President. In 1998, he became the 2nd president ever to be impeached. His birth name was William Jefferson Blythe IV, born AUGUST 19, 1946. At age 15, he took his stepfather's name Clinton. At James Madison High School, July 12, 1995, President Bill Clinton stated: "The First Amendment does not require students to leave their religion at the schoolhouse door...It is especially important that parents feel confident that their children can practice religion...We need to make it easier and more acceptable for people to express and to celebrate their faith." Bill Clinton continued: "If students can wear T-shirts advertising sports teams, rock groups or politicians, they can also wear T-shirts that promote religion...Religion is too important to our history and our heritage for us to keep it out of our schools...Nothing in the First Amendment converts our public schools into religion-free zones or requires all religious expression to be left behind at the schoolhouse door." President Clinton concluded: "Government's schools also may not discriminate against private religious expression during the school day."

[nChrist]

Fascinating - Thanks!

I really hope this is an ongoing series. I think that many of the younger people will be surprised to hear some of these things. If you are putting these together yourself, holler and I'll be glad to help. I do have a collection of older material, but most of mine is near or before 1776. I even have scans of the original documents. I'd really love to see something like this on the front page of every newspaper in the country every day. BUT, I know how far that idea would go.

[Soldier4Christ]

This is a one year series called American Minute that is put out free in an email, on the radio, in a book and on a cd by William J Federer (the book and cd does cost a small fee for production and shipping).

I have the entire years worth but I also have more material to add to this thread to go with it from other sources. Please feel free to add to it with whatever you have. I would enjoy seeing it also.

[Brother Jerry]

Will have to look into this information.  And BEP would love to get some scans of what you have as well.

I thought this was some great reading.

[Soldier4Christ]

300,000 miles on horseback, from the Atlantic to the Appalachians, from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico, for forty-five years, he spread the gospel. This was Francis Asbury, Methodist Circuit riding preacher who was born AUGUST 20, 1745. When the Revolution started, he refused to return to England: "I can by no means agree to leave such a field for gathering souls to Christ as we have in America." He befriended Richard Bassett, a signer of the U.S. Constitution, who converted, freed his slaves and paid them as hired labor. Francis Asbury dedicated the first African Methodist Episcopal Church and met personally with George Washington, congratulating him on his election. By the time he died, the Methodist Church in America had grown from 300 members to over 200,000. Unveiling the Equestrian Statue of Francis Asbury in Washington, D.C., 1924, President Calvin Coolidge stated: "Our government rests upon religion It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for equality and liberty...This circuit rider spent his life making stronger the foundation on which our government rests." Coolidge concluded: "Francis Asbury is entitled to rank as one of the builders of our nation."