American Minute

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The American Red Cross was organized MAY 21, 1881, by Clara Barton, a schoolteacher who had moved to Washington at the outbreak of the Civil War. She distributed relief supplies to wounded soldiers and, at the request of President Lincoln, aided in searching for missing men. Clara Barton helped in hospitals in Cuba during the Spanish-American War and in Europe during the Franco-German war, working with Henri Dunant, founder of the International Red Cross. On May 18, 1918, at the opening of the Second Red Cross Drive in New York City, President Woodrow Wilson recognized those in this great service, stating: "Being members of the American Red Cross...a great fraternity and fellowship which extends all over the world...this cross which these ladies bore here today is an emblem of Christianity itself...When you think of this, you realize how the people of the United States are being drawn together into a great intimate family whose heart is being used for the service of the soldiers not only, but for the long night of suffering and terror, in order that they and men everywhere may see the dawn of a day of righteousness and justice and peace."

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The SS SAVANNAH left MAY 22, 1819, from Savannah, Georgia, and 25 days later arrived in Liverpool, England, completing the first trans-Atlantic voyage by steamship. To pay tribute to the American Merchant Marine, President Franklin Roosevelt designated MAY 22, 1933 National Maritime Day. On May 20, 1986, Ronald Reagan stated: "When steam-powered vessels began to eclipse sailing ships in the latter part of the 19th century, it was largely the result of pioneering work by two Americans, John Fitch and Robert Fulton." In "The Thorny Road of Honor," 1856, Hans Christian Anderson wrote: "We are in America, on the margin of one of the largest rivers, an innumerable crowd has gathered, for it is said that a ship is to sail against the wind and weather...The man who thinks he can solve the problem is named Robert Fulton. The ship begins its passage, but suddenly stops. The crowd begins to laugh...Then suddenly...the wheels turn again...the ship continues its course...The builder of the bridge and earth-between Providence and the human race." Reagan said June 11, 1981: "The future's always looked bleak til people with brains and faith...found a way to make it better, people like Robert Fulton."

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Fur trapper, Indian agent, and soldier; this was Kit Carson, who died MAY 23, 1868. Carson's exploits west of the Mississippi were as famous as Daniel Boone's east. In January of 1868, Kit was appointed superintendent of Indian Affairs in Colorado. Though suffering severe breathing pain, he brought the Ute Indian Chiefs to Washington to arrange a treaty. As they toured northern cities, meeting crowds and posing for pictures with dignitaries such as John C. Fremont and General James Carleton, Kit Carson became wearied. He almost died while staying with the Indian Chiefs at New York City's Metropolitan Hotel. Kit wrote: "I felt my head swell and my breath leaving me. Then, I woke...my face and head all wet. I was on the floor and the chief was holding my head on his arm and putting water on me. He was crying. He said, 'I thought you were dead. You called on your Lord Jesus, then shut your eyes and couldn't speak.' I did not know that I spoke...I do not know that I called on the Lord Jesus, but I might - it's only Him that can help me where I now stand...My wife must see me. If I was to write about this, or died out here, it would kill her. I must get home."

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William Lloyd Garrison published the Boston anti-slavery paper "Liberator" and founded the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. Suffering hundreds of death threats for his politically incorrect stand on the value of human life, Garrison died MAY 24, 1879. He wrote: "I desire to thank God that He enables me to disregard 'the fear of man which bringeth a snare' and to speak His truth...while life-blood warms my throbbing veins...to oppose...the brutalizing sway - till Afric's chains are burst and freedom rules the rescued land." In "W.P. and F.J.T. Garrison," 1885-89, he wrote: "Wherever there is a human being, I see God-given rights inherent in that being, whatever may be the sex or complexion." Former slave Frederick Douglass wrote in My Bondage and My Freedom, 1855: "After reaching New Bedford, there came a young man to me with a copy of the Liberator...edited by William Lloyd Garrison...His paper took its place with me next to the Bible...It detested slavery...and, with all the solemnity of God's word, demanded the complete emancipation of my race...His words were... holy fire...The Bible was his text book...Prejudice against color was rebellion against God."

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"America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine Providence in behalf of the human race" wrote poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. Born MAY 25, 1803, Emerson was friends with writers Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott He composed some of the best loved poems in American literature, including The Concord Hymn, written in 1837 for the dedication of the monument where the battle at North Bridge took place April 19, 1775. Emerson's most recognizable stanza is inscribed on the base of Daniel Chester French's Minute Man Statue: "By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled; Here once the embattled farmers stood; And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept; Alike the conqueror silent sleeps, And Time the ruined bridge has swept, Down the dark stream that seaward creeps. On this green bank, by this soft stream, We place with joy a votive stone, That memory may their deeds redeem, When, like our sires, our sons are gone. O Thou who made those heroes dare, To die, and leave their children free, -Bid Time and Nature gently spare, The shaft we raised to them and Thee."

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Oscar winning actor Marion Michael Morrison, better known as John Wayne, was born MAY 26, 1907. A U.S.C. football player, he worked behind-the-scenes at Fox Studios, before being discovered by director John Ford, who cast him in epic western and war films. On May 26, 1979, Jimmy Carter said: "I have today approved...a specially struck gold medal to John Wayne. For nearly half a century, the Duke has symbolized the American ideals of integrity, courage, patriotism, and strength and has represented to the world many of the deepest values that this Nation respects." Ronald Reagan said November 5, 1984: "I noted the news coverage about the death of my friend, John Wayne. One headline read 'The Last American Hero.'...No one would be angrier than Duke Wayne at the suggestion that he was America's last hero. Just before he died, he said in his unforgettable way, 'Just give the American people a good cause, and there's nothing they can't lick.'" In his album, America-Why I Love Her, 1977, John Wayne stated: "If we want to keep these freedoms, we may have to fight again. God forbid, but if we do, let's always fight to win...Face the flag, son...and thank God it's still there."

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Twentieth-Century Fox made a motion picture in 1955 titled "A Man Called Peter," about the life of U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall, born MAY 27, 1902. He emigrated from Scotland, was ordained a Presbyterian minister, and became a U.S. citizen in 1938. A novel titled "Christy," written by his wife, Catherine, was made into a CBS television series. His son, Peter Marshall, Jr., is the renowned author of such best-selling books as: "The Light and the Glory," "From Sea to Shining Sea" and "Sounding Forth The Trumpet," which chronicle the Providential expansion of liberty throughout American history. On January 13, 1947, U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall stated: "The choice before us is plain: Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration. I am rather tired of hearing about our rights...The time is come...to hear about responsibilities...America's future depends upon her accepting and demonstrating God's government." Opening a session of the 80th Congress, July 3, 1947, Peter Marshall prayed: "God of our Fathers...may it be ever understood that our Liberty is under God and...to the extent that America honors Thee, wilt Thou bless America."

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He left Yale for four years to fight in the Revolutionary War. After graduation, he became a lawyer and taught school in New York. Dissatisfied with the children's spelling books, he wrote the famous "Blue-Backed Speller," which sold over one hundred million copies. After twenty-six years of work, he published the first American Dictionary of the English Language. His name was Noah Webster, and he died MAY 28, 1843. In his 1788 essay, "On the Education of Youth in America," printed in Webster's American Magazine, Noah Webster wrote: "Select passages of Scripture...may be read in schools, to great advantage. In some countries the common people are not permitted to read the Bible at all. In ours, it is as common as a newspaper and in schools is read with nearly the same degree of respect." Noah Webster continued: "My wish is not to see the Bible excluded from schools but to see it used as a system of religion and morality." In his book, "The History of the United States," published in 1832, Noah Webster wrote: "All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible."

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Awarded the Navy's medal of heroism during World War II and the Pulitzer Prize for his book Profiles in Courage, he was the youngest elected President, serving just over 1,000 days before being shot. This was John F. Kennedy, born MAY 29, 1917. He stated in his Inaugural, January 20, 1961: "I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forbears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago. The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe-The belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God." To President Quadros of Brazil, John F. Kennedy wrote January 31, 1961: "Once in every 20 years presidential inaugurations in your country and mine occur within days of each other. This year of 1961 is signalized by the happy coincidence. At this time, each of us assumes challenging duties...To each of us is entrusted the heavy responsibility of guiding the affairs of a democratic nation founded on Christian ideals."

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Southern women scattered spring flowers on the graves of both the Northern and Southern soldiers who died during the Civil War. This was the origin of Memorial Day, which in 1868 was set on MAY 30. In 1968 it was moved to the last Monday in May. From the Spanish-American War, to World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, up through the present, all who gave their lives to preserve America's freedom are honored. Beginning in 1921, every President placed a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The number 21 being the highest salute, the sentry takes 21 steps, faces the tomb for 21 seconds, turns and pauses 21 seconds, then retraces his steps. Inscribed on the Tomb is the phrase: "HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY AN AMERICAN SOLDIER KNOW BUT TO GOD." In his 1923 Memorial Address, President Calvin Coolidge stated: "There can be no peace with the forces of evil. Peace comes only through the establishment of the supremacy of the forces of good. That way lies through sacrifice...'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'"

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In a Memorial Day Address, MAY 31, 1923, President Calvin Coolidge said: "Settlers came here from mixed motives...Generally defined, they were seeking a broader freedom. They were intent upon establishing a Christian commonwealth in accordance to the principle of self-government...It has been said that God sifted the nations that He might send choice grain into the wilderness." Coolidge continued "They had a genius for organized society on the foundations of piety, righteousness, liberty, and obedience of the law...Who can fail to see in it the hand of destiny? Who can doubt that it has been guided by a Divine Providence?" At the Memorial Day Ceremony, May 31, 1993, President Bill Clinton remarked: "The inscription on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier says that he is 'Known only to God.' But that is only partly true. While the soldier's name is known only to God, we know a lot about him. We know he served his country, honored his community, and died for the cause of freedom. And we know that no higher praise can be assigned to any human being than those simple words...In the presence of those buried all around us, we ask the support of all Americans in the aid and blessing of God Almighty."

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“Don’t Give Up The Ship!” commanded 31-year-old Captain James Lawrence, as he lay wounded on the deck of the U.S.S. Chesapeake. Captain Lawrence fought Muslim Barbary pirates in 1804 and when the War of 1812 began, he commanded the U.S.S. Hornet which captured the privateer Dolphin and the H.M.S. Peacock. President Madison wrote May 25, 1813: “The brilliant achievements of our infant Navy, a signal triumph has been gained by Captain Lawrence...in the Hornet sloop of war...The contest in which the United States are engaged appeals...to the sacred obligation of transmitting...to future generations that...which is held...by the present from the goodness of Divine Providence.” On JUNE 1, 1813, Captain Lawrence sailed from Boston and was attacked by the British ship Shannon. Within an hour, nearly every officer was killed. Later, Captain Oliver Hazard Perry was inspired to name his flagship on Lake Erie “Lawrence.” Theodore Roosevelt wrote in Hero Tales from American History, 1895: “Lawrence, dying with the words on his lips, ‘Don’t give up the ship’ and Perry...with the same words blazoned on his banner...won glory in desperate conflicts and left a reputation hardly dimmed.”

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A wedding took place in the White House, JUNE 2, 1886. One of three Presidents to marry in office and the only President to wed on White House grounds, Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom, and together they had five children. Cleveland, both the 22nd and 24th President, stated in his 2nd Inaugural, March of 1893: “Above all, I know there is a Supreme Being who rules the affairs of men and whose goodness and mercy have always followed the American people, and I know He will not turn from us now if we humbly and reverently seek His powerful aid.” In a Message to Congress, December 2, 1895, President Cleveland stated: “Reported massacres of Christians in Armenia and the development there and in other districts of a spirit of fanatic hostility to Christian influences naturally excited apprehension for the safety of the devoted men and women who, as dependents of the foreign missionary societies in the United States, reside in Turkey.” President Cleveland continued: “Several of the most powerful European powers have secured a right...not only in behalf of their own citizens...but as agents of the Christian world...to enforce such conduct of Turkish government as will refrain fanatical brutality.”

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The Dutch sent Henry Hudson to find a water route across America to the Pacific. Though unsuccessful, he claimed the land along the “Hudson” River, where the Dutch West India Company founded New Netherlands, receiving its charter JUNE 3, 1621. The Chamber of Amsterdam wrote in articles for the Colony, 1624: “They shall within their territory practice no other form of divine worship than that of the Reformed religion...and thus by their Christian life and conduct seek to draw the Indians and other blind people to the knowledge of God and His word, without, however, persecuting any on account of his faith, but leaving each one the use of his conscience.” The Charter of Freedoms, June 7, 1629, gave land to wealthy “Patroons” who helped 50 families emigrate. It stated: “Colonists shall...in the speediest manner...find out ways and means whereby they may support a Minister and Schoolmaster, that thus the service of God and zeal for religion may not grow cool.” In 1664, the colony became New York. Franklin Roosevelt, who was born in New York, told the Detroit Jewish Chronicle, March 7, 1935: “All I know about the origin of the Roosevelt family in this country is that all branches bearing the name are apparently descended from Claes Martenssen Van Roosevelt, who came from Holland sometime before 1648.”

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The turning point in the Pacific War began JUNE 4, 1942. American intelligence intercepted Japan’s plans to capture Midway Island and from there, Hawaii. The outnumbered U.S. Fleet ambushed the Japanese armada, but was losing badly. It was not until American dive bombers, navigating by guess and by God, sighted the Japanese aircraft carriers far below through a break in the clouds at the precise moment the Japanese planes had left to attack the U.S.S. Yorktown. In just five minutes, the screeching American dive bombers sank three Japanese carriers, and a fourth shortly after. After this providential event, Japan was forced to go on the defensive. On the Pacific War, President Roosevelt said, August 12, 1943: “Three weeks after the armies of the Japanese launched their attack on Philippine soil, I sent a proclamation...to the people of the Philippines... that their freedom will be redeemed...The great day of your liberation will come, as surely as there is a God in Heaven.” Roosevelt stated October 20, 1944: “On this occasion of the return of General MacArthur to Philippine soil...we renew our pledge. We and our Philippine brothers in arms-with the help of Almighty God-will drive out the invader.”