Off the Publisher’s Desk 6-4-25

Say something good about a Democrat!

Memorial Day has passed for another year, but while I was attending the Memorial Day function at the Emerald Cemetery, Arlo Hansen approached me and commented that he has received the Tribune Press Reporter for more than fifty years. I would like to thank Arlo, who lives in Anoka, MN for his support of this newspaper.

He asked me to say something good about a Democrat, and I noted to him that I had done that a few weeks back and he acknowledged that.

But, more praise can be heaped upon any person that takes on the most stressful job in the world, and that of serving as President of the United States. But first, I would start by telling the good local deed that a fellow did at morning coffee. This regular at morning coffee, who was celebrating his 86th birthday, paid for the coffee.

But I should try to say something nice about someone or group that we all know. So, I will try to praise every Democratic President that was in office during my lifetime.

Serving as President when I was born was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Most of the country liked him for his leadership and work programs during the great depression. Liked him so much they elected him to four terms. He died just 83 days into his fourth term and that thrust Harry S. Truman into the Oval Office.

Truman served out Roosevelt’s term and won one of his own. But, Roosevelt never consulted with Truman while he was Vice President. It’s wasn’t until after Roosevelt’s death on April 12, 1945 that Truman learned anything. I would like to have been a fly on the wall when Truman learned about the Atomic Bomb.

Truman was a square shooter and had a sign on his desk that said; “The Buck Stops Here.” He ordered the A-Bomb dropped on Japan and he took all the criticism for it, but his action saved hundreds of thousand of American Service men that would have lost their lives if it was necessary to attack Japan by force.

Truman told Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, who dropped the first Atomic Bomb on Japan saying; “you tell them that if they have anything to say, they should call me. I’m the one who sent you.”

“The country loved John F. Kennedy. If we had a Royal family back in the 1960s the Kennedys were it. He was the first Roman Catholic to serve as our leader. In his Inaugural address he challenged us to go to the moon, and we did. He asked “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” He was assassinated in Dallas, Texas in 1963, and his Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, took over. 

Johnson’s major legislation is a term that he called the “Great Society.” It was a series of domestic programs aimed at eliminating poverty, reducing racial injustice and expanding social welfare. But his administration was bogged down with civil unrest over the Vietnam War. In a surprise television announcement on March 31, 1968, he said; “I will not seek another term as your president.”

A man who served us as President that had great character and honesty was Jimmy Carter and it was too bad that the economy, high interest rates and a foreign policy that was lacking put his administration into trouble.

William Jefferson Clinton, what can I say about “Lover Boy”. He should have had the “Buck Stops Here” sign on his desk.

I heard someone describe Barack Obama’s administration as “weak and woke.” But things were on the downturn when he took office with several ongoing wars and high unemployment. His landmark “Affordable Care Act,” was signed into law and same-sex marriages were made legal in 2015.

I can only feel sorry for Joe Biden with his health problems and I think that history will not put his administration into a very favorable place and probably at the bottom of the list of great presidents. The Democratic Party should have pushed Biden out before he ran for office in 2020, and not wated until 2024.

Sorry, Arlo, that I can’t find something good to say about all of the eight Democrat Presidents that served during my lifetime. I don’t know if I dare do anything about the Republican presidents!

Thanks for reading!     ~Carlton