Don’t miss the opportunity to attend Putnam County’s Reagan Day Dinner next Saturday, March 2nd! Details under the ‘Save the Date’ heading at the end of the newsletter.

In this issue:

• President’s Day Tribute – Remember President Eisenhower
• Early Voting Continues – Who’s on the ballot?
• February GOP Events and Save-the-Dates

On President’s Day, let’s review and celebrate a great American President – General Dwight D Eisenhower.

General Eisenhower’s list of accomplishments BEFORE becoming President of the United States of America are certainly are quite significant:

• Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe,
• Chief of Staff of the US Army,
• President of Columbia University and
• Supreme Commander of NATO forces, including the Normandy D-Day Invasion.

President Eisenhower, elected in 1952, was distinctive in many ways:

• one of only 5 other presidents to have never held political office prior to being president.
• the second oldest person (after James Buchanan), at the age of 62, to be elected president (at the time of his election)
• the first president to be televised on color television,
• the first president to be constitutionally prevented from running for re-election and
• the first president to fall under the Former Presidents Act, giving presidents a pension and Secret Service protection upon leaving office.
• the last president to be born in the 19th century.

During President Eisenhower’s two terms,

• the last two American states were admitted to the Union,
• he appointed five justices to the Supreme Court, including Earl Warren as Chief Justice in 1953, and last but not least,
• oversaw creation of an Interstate Highway System.

President Eisenhower and Black History Month

Particularly noteworthy during Black History Month, President Eisenhower made great strides in the era of desegregating American public schools, beginning with an executive order to integrate all schools on U.S. Army bases. Further, before the Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs the Board of Education was decided, before the Clinton Tennessee Twelve, before the Little Rock Nine and Ruby Bridges in New Orleans, President Eisenhower had a hand in creating integrated schools for the Oak Ridge 85! Check out this fascinating historical account of The Secret in Scarboro: The Oak Ridge 85

President Eisenhower never backed down from battling Democrat governors that were bent on maintaining segregated schools and were aligning themselves with true white supremacist ideologies. As an example, remember that Democrat Arkansas Governor Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock. President Eisenhower sent elements of the 101st Airborne Division to protect the black students’ safe passage to school and enforce the federal law, later replacing the Airborne Division with the National Guard. In retaliation, Governor Faubus shut down Little Rock public high schools for an entire year.

Remember that President Eisenhower and the Republican Party stood for true equal opportunity for all to have quality of education and broke the fallacy and racial discrimination of the ‘separate but equal’ theory.

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Winston Churchill

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Early Voting – February 14th through February 27th! Who’s on YOUR Ballot?

If you’ve not been under a rock, you know it’s time to vote for your Republican nominee for President! The presidential candidates will appear at the top of your ballot. But what else is on the ballot? LOCAL RACES and RNC DELEGATES! 

Depending on your county, you will see a mix of school board candidates, property assessors, county commissioners and road superintendents. You also have a whopping choice of 66 candidates for at-large (statewide) delegates and 16 congressional district delegates to the Republican National Convention (see Delegate 101 below)!

Your county election commission is the premier source for all essential election information! Click on the link below to find details about your election commission, including a link to their website. Early voting locations, hours, precinct locations for election day and sample ballots! Check this out for yourself and encourage others to do the same! 

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Delegate Candidates for the Republican National Convention 

Although you may vote for up to 3 candidates on the congressional district ballot and up to 14 candidates on the at-large ballot, you may wish to consider whether the delegates will vote responsibly regarding the party platform. If you’ve never reviewed the party platform, take a look here! The current platform was developed in 2016 and adopted in 2020 due to the limited attendance in the RNC Convention. Republicans need a STRONG platform for 2024 and you need representation from individuals that share YOUR values! Choose wisely!

Here’s the candidates that will appear on your ballot if you live in the 6th Congressional District:

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February GOP Meetings & Special Events

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Cumberland County GOP – Tuesday, February 20th @ 6:00 pm  FB link
Coffee and light snack served
Program: 13th Judicial District Criminal Court Judge Shawn Fry
Cumberland County Community Complex/Fairgrounds
1398 Livingston Ave, Crossville, TN

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Rep. Women of the Upper Cumberland  FB link
TBA

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Smith County GOP Tuesday, February 20th @ 6:30 pm  FB link
Food & Fellowship at 6:30 pm, Program at 7 pm
Program: TBA
Smith County Chamber of Commerce
939 Upper Ferry Rd, Carthage, TN 37030

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White County GOP Monday, February 26th @ 6 pm FB link
Speaker: TBA
3rd Floor, White County Courthouse
1 East Bockman Way, Sparta, TN38583

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Warren County GOP Monday, February 26th @ 6:00 pm FB link
Bring a finger food to share
Program: Aundrea Gomez, Citizens for Renewing America
Warren County Administration Bldg
201 Locust St, McMinnville, TN

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Jackson County GOP Tuesday, February 27th @ 6:00 pm FB link
Doors open at 6 pm, Potluck at 6:30 pm, Program at 7 pm
Timeless Events on Main
200 South Main St, Gainesboro TN 38562

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Bledsoe County GOP TBA FB link
Program: TBA

Pikeville, TN 37367

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Bledsoe Co. Young Republicans (Meeting TBA)  FB link

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UPCOMING REAGAN DAY DINNERS