calvin coolidge

One time at a State Dinner this woman finds herself seated next
to The President of the United States - see.

And that President was Calvin Coolidge.

Now this woman had heard that President Coolidge was a man of
few words - reticent you might say.

So the woman says to Calvin Coolidge,  'Mr. Presdident - I'll bet I can
get you to say three words before the evening is over.'

And President Coolidge - no dummy - answers her by saying, 'You lose.'
~~~

Other highlights of Calvin Coolidge's term as the 30th President of the United
States  - according to Carter Smith in his book PRESIDENTS:


~the first radio broadcastof a STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

~passage of a $2 billion SOLDIERS' BONUS BILL benefitting WWI
Veterans

~the U.S., El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua sign the a PACT OF
ANAPALA - a committment by those countries to cut off aid to rebels
in Honduras

~the SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY NOMINATES FRANK T. JOHNS
for its president

~THE IMMIGRATION REFORM ACT OF 1924 tightens immigration
quotas based on the desirability of specific nationalities


At his Inauguration - Calvin Coolige was sworn in by Chief Justice of the
United States  and former 27th President of the United States William
Howard Taft.

The above fact is special for me because I know that William Howard Taft
never wanted to be President of the United States - but it had always been
his Dream to be on the Supreme Court.

Other memorable Inauguarations that come to mind are - in more recent years -
when Poets were invited to recite original Poetry at Inaugurations.

I remember very well when the Late President of the United States John
Fitzgerald Kennedy invited Robert Frost to recite a Poem that he wrote
especially for the occasion.

I remember it was such a Great Poem - but most of all I remember that
it was a cold windy winter day - and Robert Frost had to struggle with
the Wind to keep his Poem from blowing off of the podium.

And who can forget that Beloved African American Poet Maya Angelou
recited her Poem - On The Pulse of the Morning - at the Inauguration of
Former President William Jefferson Clinton.

I googled On The Pulse of the Morning and the last stanza spoke to me:


Here on the Pulse of the New Day
You may have the Grace to Look Up and Out
Into your Sister's Eyes, and into
Your Brother's Face, Your Country
And say Simply
Very Simply
With Hope
Good Morning.
~~~

But that's not what this Post is about.

This Post is about another Poem written by Maya Angelou:


The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of Freedom.