Passed Vice Presidents - # 11 – George M. Dallas

Grave of George Dallas (9 February 2024)

Served under James K. Polk

4 March 1845 – 4 March 1849

Preceded by # 10 – John Tyler

Succeeded by # 12 – Millard Fillmore

Born – 10 July 1792

Died – 31 December 1864 (age 72)

Buried – St. Peters Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, PA

Date Visited – 9 February 2024

George Dallas, President James Polk’s Number Two, was not plucked from obscurity like some of our recent VPs were. He was the son of James Madison’s Secretary of the Treasury. He was the mayor of Philadelphia, the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Pennsylvania, the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and the country’s minister to Russia all before he became vice president.

St. Peter’s Church, Philadelphia, PA (9 February 2024)

The presidential election of 1844 continued to plow new legal ground. The Whig incumbent, John Tyler, the ‘Accidental President,’ the first VP to ascend to the office after the Big Dog dies, had offended enough of the party faithful that they refused to nominate him. Kentuckian Henry Clay led the Whig ticket.

Vice President George Dallas in 1848

With the arrival of photography, we no longer relied

on the interpretations of painters and wonder how close

a representation was to the subject’s actual appearance.

In another nod to bygone practices, the 1844 Democratic convention nominated another man to be James Polk’s running mate. When that man declined the offer, they then approved George Dallas as the VP candidate. Back home in Philadelphia, Mr. Dallas had to be awakened the next day to be told of his new position.

Four state counties and that big city in Texas are named after the vice president. He was also a big proponent of our nation’s ‘Manifest Destiny.’ He believed we should have taken all of the Oregon Territory and annexed all of Mexico after that war. Negotiations settled the disputes more amicably.

Portion of the Tablet Over the Grave of

Vice President George Dallas. St. Peter’s Church,

Philadelphia, PA (9 February 2024)

Knowing that President Polk was not running for a second term, Dallas was planning to run in 1848. However, as vice president, he cast the tie-breaking vote on a tariff bill. Sadly, lower tariffs did not sit well with his Pennsylvania base and any elective prospects after that unfortunate vote were toast. He did serve as President Buchanan’s minster to England before retiring from public service. He died of a heart attack at age seventy-two.

State Capitols – St. Paul, Minnesota – Inside

The land that is now the state of Minnesota came to us in stages. The eastern part was acquired after we won independence from Britain. The rest was part of the Louisiana Purchase from France.

Grand Staircase, Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

Of course, the territory was occupied by indigenous people for thousands of years. The first Europeans to visit were French explorers and missionaries from Canada in the late 1600’s. Once the United States acquired the territory, our westward expansion did what it did. Settlers poured in, especially from northern Europe which was rocked by the Revolutions of 1848. While these liberal democratic uprisings largely failed, they resulted in the exodus of people who settled in the upper Midwest and gave the region its more progressive leanings that have held (for the most part) to the present day. For instance, Minnesota has the nation’s largest Somali population and the second-largest Hmong community in America. Like Garrison Keillor alleged, “Where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the children are above average.”

Rotunda, Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

We’ve been through the westward expansion / Manifest Destiny story before. Present-day Minnesota was part of the Wisconsin Territory from1836-48, after which the eastern part became the Badger State. The Minnesota Territory formally existed from 1849 to 1858 when the eastern part became the state and the western portion became the Dakota Territory. Westward Ho!

Of the lower forty-eight, Minnesota is the furthest north...with that bump-out that is the only U.S. territory north of the 49th parallel. The extra land was codified after we and Britain realized the 1783 border agreement was based on faulty maps.

Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

Recognizing that the French-Canadian explorers were the first Europeans here, the state motto, “L’Etoile du Nord,” ‘The Star of the North’ is the only state motto in French.

Sadly, the presence of down-facing spotlights and the roped-off central star directly below the rotunda foiled any attempt to capture the balanced design pleasure of a straight-up shot.

Minnesota Senate (24 September 2009)

Like most state legislatures, Minnesota’s is bicameral (Latin for ‘two chambers’). The state is divided into 67 districts. One senator is elected from each district and serves a four-year term.

Minnesota House of Representatives (24 September 2009)

Each district is divided into an ‘A’ and ‘B’ section so two representatives from each district (134 total) serve two-year terms.

‘Minnesota Spirit of Government,’ by Carlo Brioschi [1938]

Minnesota House of Representatives (24 September 2009)

Above and behind the Speaker’s rostrum was originally a seating gallery. In 1938, the area was walled off to create more working space. This, in turn, created a platform for more representative art. Painted plaster figures depict French explorers on one side and native original residents on the other side of the heroic female ‘Minnesota’ who pretty much dominates the confrontation. The large lettering midway up the space, “VOX POPULORUM EST VOX DEI” means, “The voice of the people is the voice of God.” (One might riff on just whose people and whose god this refers to...but I won’t)

Ceiling Detail, Minnesota House of Representatives, (24 September 2009)

The last shot is a favorite from the House chamber. The skylight and ceiling trim are spectacular. I thought this composition with segments of both did the trick. Given the capitol was renovated since these pictures were taken, I must return. Since my sister lives nearby, this will be easy.

2024 Election Thoughts - # 1

It’s Election Season...again...and thanks to a couple of readers who actually encourage these rants and my inability to keep quiet, I will post cartoons and commentary. We started this in 2012 and the political landscape since then has certainly gotten more _____. (insert your expletive here).

Even though I’m a bit of a news junkie, I’m starting to resent the idea of 24/7 news networks. When every hour has the next anchor and guest talking head giving their take on the same story/issue, I’m ready to switch to a music station.

 

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

And I really resent that, in order to justify their existence, they have focused on the next presidential election as soon as the last election ends. Being an old fart, I miss the time when there really was an ‘Election Season.’ Every four years, the party conventions nominated candidates in the summer, serious campaigning began on Labor Day and it all ended on the first Tuesday in November. Those were the days.

The networks have to fill the air time with something (besides expensive ads) and while Donald Trump can be a reliable dispenser of outrageous nonsense and ignorance, the Balkanization of news programs convinces me that audiences tune in for confirmation more than information. MSNBC and FOX/Newsmax audiences are not interested in learning anything that doesn’t reaffirm their positions. Thus, the needle doesn’t move much.

Not that the right is ever interested in making their case based on FACTS and TRUTH. Tune in for their take on the Baltimore bridge collapse and you’ll learn[?] that despite all the infrastructure spending that they didn’t vote for, Republican officials are blaming the Biden administration for the tragedy because they’re all consumed by diversity and inclusion rather than safety.

Last night, Uncle Joe had a little fundraiser in New York City. Popular former two-term presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton were there and it was reported that they raised over $25 million for the Biden campaign. The media couldn’t help but note that the one-night haul might exceed what Trump will raise in a quarter...bibles and sneakers included.

Of course, Trump needed to horn in on the event coverage as he also was in New York to politicize the wake of a city cop who was killed in the line of duty. I’m sure he was disappointed that the shooter was not Black or an undocumented immigrant. At first, I couldn’t recall ANY time when then-president Trump even bothered to visit disaster or crime scenes since the malignant narcissist is incapable of empathy. But wait. I was wrong. In 2019, following the mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, he went there to take thumbs-up selfies with hospital staff but then complained that state Democrats were criticizing him.

By David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Daily Star (2016)

Since that was a banner week for mass murder, the president went from Dayton to El Paso where a White supremacist / Republican voter had blown away 22 Latinos in a Walmart. Since the victims refused to see him, he again posed with first responders and complained about not being treated right. This total lack of sympathy and capacity for shared grief is Reason # 213 this cretin should not be elected.

State Capitols – St. Paul, Minnesota – Outside

Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul (24 September 2009)

Constructed: 1896-1905

Architect: Cass Gilbert

State Admitted to Union: May 11, 1858 (32nd)

State Population (2020): 5,706,494 (22nd)

Since I followed posting the Kentucky vice presidents with the Frankfort capitol, I’m following Minnesota VP Hubert Humphrey with the stunning state house in St. Paul...a building so fine, I need two posts to do it justice.

The Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board (CAAPB) web site describes the state house as one that “many acknowledge today as one of the five most beautiful in the country.” The entire country. All of it. Five out of fifty. Top ten percent. I won’t argue with them. In 2011, two years after I was there, the Board undertook a $310 million restoration that addressed a number of structural and aesthetic issues. I bet the place gleams now...outside and in.

The current building is the state’s third capitol, all of which have been in St. Paul. The first, completed in 1854, began as the territorial capitol and burned down in 1881. The second, completed on the same site in 1883, was inadequate from the start and soon prompted the legislature to order the current structure.

Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

Born in Ohio and raised in St. Paul, the capitol’s architect, Cass Gilbert, was one of the great designers of public buildings. His work on the Minnesota capitol put him on the map and he moved his practice to New York City where he went on to design two other state houses in Arkansas and West Virginia, the Customs House in New York and the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. Another Gilbert project, the Woolworth Building in New York, was the world’s tallest skyscraper from 1913-30.

Statue of Knute Nelson, by John Karl Daniels [1928]

Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

Born in Norway, Knute Nelson was an important political figure in the early days of Minnesota and Wisconsin. He served as governor in the 1890’s. The accompanying figures are of him as a boy with his mother and as a Civil War soldier. Sadly, we rarely name our boy-children ‘Knute’ anymore.

Statue of John Johnson by Andrew O’Connor [1912]

Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

Although Minnesota entered the Union in 1858, it did not have a native-born governor until John Johnson was elected in 1905. The popular three-term governor was responsible for civic reforms. He died in office at the age of forty-eight. The additional figures represent the state’s important early industries – agriculture, iron mining, timber and manufacturing.

 

Dome, Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

After St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the capitol dome is the second largest self-supporting marble dome in the world. The dome actually has three layers with a brick and steel middle dome for additional support and water drainage and the inner dome that is seen from inside.

Architect Gilbert insisted on using bright Georgia marble for the dome instead of locally-mined stone. This upset some folks whose memories of the Confederate rebellion were still fresh but Gilbert prevailed and Minnesota rock was used in most other places.

The main (south) entrance does not have the Greek revival columns and triangular pediment common in many state houses. The portico is awash in allegorical statuary. Classically-draped women represent Prudence, Truth, Wisdom and Bounty while the males represent Integrity and Courage. Radiant above the Six Virtues is the golden quadriga (a chariot drawn by four horses abreast), shining like nothing else on the building.

‘Progress of the State’ [1906] by Daniel Chester French

Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

Daniel Chester French was one of our great late 19th and early 20th century sculptors. He created the iconic seated figure of the president in the Lincoln Memorial. Architect Gilbert saw French’s ‘Columbus Quadriga’ at the Chicago World Exposition in 1893 and wanted one for Minnesota. Called ‘Progress of the State,’ it has four horses that represent the classical elements of nature – earth, fire, water and air. The two women embody industry and agriculture...civilization. (Remember – Man conquers. Woman civilizes). Instead of Columbus, the man driving it all is Minnesota. He holds a cornucopia of plenty.

The architect and planners wanted the rest of the country to know that Minnesota was more than immigrant miners, lumberjacks and farmers.

Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

The next post will take us inside the capitol.

Passed Vice Presidents - # 38 – Hubert H. Humphrey

Grave of Hubert Humphrey (18 July 2023)

Served under Lyndon Johnson

20 January 1965 – 20 January 1969

Preceded by # 37 – Lyndon Johnson

Succeeded by # 39 – Spiro T. Agnew

Born – 27 May 1911

Died – 13 January 1978 (age 66)

Buried – Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, MN

Date Visited – 18 July 2023

With the assassination of John F. Kennedy, vice president Lyndon Johnson, ascended to the presidency. The VP office was vacant until the election of 1964 when Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater. His running mate, Minnesota senator Hubert Humphrey became our 38th vice president.

Born in South Dakota, the son of a druggist, Humphrey left college after one year to instead earn a pharmacist’s license and help in his father’s store. Eventually, Humphrey completed his academic training and joined the faculty at Macalester College in St. Paul. Political involvement grew from there. He helped found the Minnesota Democratic-Farm-Labor Party in 1944 and was elected the mayor of Minneapolis.

The official Vice President’s Portrait – 1965

(from Google Images)

At the 1948 Democratic National Convention, the young rising star in the party fired up the meeting by forcing a vote to put a stronger civil rights position on the party’s platform. Of course, this upset the Confederates in the crowd who believed that White supremacy and segregation of the races was still the most important issue. The southerners bolted the convention and formed their own party. Called the Dixiecrats, they hoped to spoil Harry Truman’s election. Strom Thurmond did carry four states but the favorable reaction from the rest of the country boosted Truman to that huge upset win over Tom Dewey.

Grave of Hubert Humphrey,

Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, MN (18 July 2023)

Below his name is the following quote from the man whose nickname was ‘The Happy Warrior.’

“I have enjoyed my life, its disappointments outweighed by its pleasures. I have loved my country in a way that some people consider sentimental and out of style. I still do and I remain an optimist, with joy, without apology, about this country and about the American experiment in democracy.”

Humphrey was elected to the Senate after that. A Democrat hadn’t done that since before the Civil War. He was reelected twice and rose to be Majority Whip in the early ‘60’s. He was the lead author of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and introduced the legislation that created the Peace Corps. He seemed the ideal running mate for the Texan LBJ in the 1964 election. The public agreed and gave them a landslide victory over the far-right Goldwater.

After his failed presidential run four years later, he returned to the Senate where he served until cancer ended his life in 1978 at age 66.

Grave of Hubert Humphrey,

Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, MN (18 July 2023)

Flanking the central marker with Humphrey’s quote are the

seals of the State of Minnesota and the City of Minneapolis (here)

and the United States Senate and the Vice President.

Footstone at Grave of Muriel Humphrey Brown,

Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, MN (18 July 2023)

In 1981, Muriel Humphrey married Max Brown, a friend from childhood. She appreciated the new life and its freedom away from politics and formalities. They had seventeen years together before Muriel passed and reunited with Hubert.

Hubert was for fair labor practices, regulating economic activity, equal rights and basic universal freedoms...a prototype liberal...before Fox and the far right made it a dirty word they couldn’t say without sneering. I can imagine him now defending his liberal bona fides and resisting the left’s capitulation on the label. We’re ‘Progressives’ now. Is that better?

Footstone at Grave of Hubert Humphrey,

Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, MN (18 July 2023)

It’s a shame that at the time of my very first election, I didn’t know Mr. Humphrey better...and that I didn’t realize his opponent, Richard Nixon, was the scum bucket he was. 1968 was such a turbulent, upsetting year and this immature, draft-eligible, city kid was determined to cast his first vote for a change from the Johnson administration’s miserable prosecution of that failed escapade in Viet Nam. I wish I wasn’t so focused on shooting the grave to pause and apologize to the man for not being more understanding in 1968.

Shots of the Day – # 46 - Charleston Details

In 2015, we posted two pieces about the charming South Carolina city. One was an overview and the second promoted monochrome images of the old town. A third post was considered but was lost in the draft pile. As can often be the case, I’ve reconsidered and opted to present it another way.

Hibernia House, Charleston (10 March 2014)

Images are often about the bigger picture. My realistic, documentary, scientist side likes to show the whole thing...the building, the waterfall, the forest. Often, the better aesthetic appreciation comes from a shot of a portion or a detail of the bigger thing...a window, a ripple, a branch.

The keeper images from the Charleston visit include some that don’t say ‘Charleston’ per se. They might evoke the steamy south or class distinctions or a time gone by.

To Keep out the Riff-Raff, Charleston (9 March 2014)

A time-honored tradition. Since before the days of castles

with moats, those with stuff had to discourage

those without stuff not to take their stuff. This fence

addition certainly would make me keep walking.

Here Lyes Buried,

Circular Congregational Church

Charleston, South Carolina (11 March 2014)

Foothold Fern (9 March 2014)

Since a photograph (usually) does not include the words that explain it, we expect the better ones to draw us in with a pleasing composition and the elements that hold our attention.

State Capitols – Frankfort, Kentucky

Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort (9 June 2008)

Constructed: 1905-1909

Architect: Frank Mills Andrews

State Admitted to Union: June 1, 1792 (15th)

State Population (2020): 4,505,836 (26th)

On the great 2008 road trip that concluded the ‘Dead Presidents Quest,’ The ‘State House Odyssey’ began in earnest. Among the capitols between home and the last two graves was Kentucky’s. After posting the stories of three Kentucky vice presidents, it seems only right to include the state house.

Soon after our thirteen colonies became the first United States in 1789, Vermont was added in 1791. Kentucky, carved out of the Viginia Territory, was admitted to the union in 1792. With the larger towns of Louisville and Lexington competing to be the capital, Frankfort was the agreed upon compromise locale.

Pediment, North Entrance [1906] Designed by Charles Niehaus,

carved by Peter Rossack, Kentucky Capitol, Frankfort (22 April 2006)

The central heroic woman is Kentucky. The flanking allegorical 

figures, all classically unclothed, include Progress, Law, 

Plenty, Art and Labor along with the livestock that represent 

Agriculture. In the right corner are Native Americans 

who cower in fear of the encroaching ‘civilization.’

After the first two capitol buildings burned down, a third served the state until the need for more space prompted the construction of the current structure.

Seventy ionic columns surround the 403-foot-long capitol. The architect was clearly taken with the landmarks of France, since the dome, grand staircase and State Reception Room are all modeled after examples in Paris and Versailles.

Kentucky Capitol, Frankfort (9 June 2008)

The capitol building brochure refers to it as “one of the premier public examples of Beaux Arts classical architecture in the United States.” I would agree. The central nave/atrium is a spectacular space.

Great Hall, Kentucky Capitol, Frankfort (9 June 2008)

At each end of the atrium is a grand staircase. Thirty-six columns of solid Vermont granite are 26-feet tall and weigh ten tons. The capitol information boasts that the only machine used in the entire capitol construction was the cement mixer. Each solid column inside and out was lifted into place by pulleys and hand labor. When installed, each column cost $1,968. Today, you can’t get a formal drawing of a column for that amount.

The phosphate and calcium content of Kentucky soil makes it especially good for farming and raising the thoroughbred horses for which the Bluegrass State is known. Tobacco is the state’s leading cash crop and it was not until 2004 when the state finally banned smoking inside the capitol.

Kentucky Senate, Frankfort (9 June 2008)

The Senate has 38 members.

First Ladies Dolls, Kentucky Capitol, Frankfort (9 June 2008)

As in the Iowa state house, Kentucky has a display of female dolls dressed in what are believed to be replicas of the dresses they wore at their husbands’ inaugurations. One state journalist has called them creepy and said they should be removed.

Kentucky House of Representatives, Frankfort (9 June 2008)

The House has 100 members.

Abe and Jeff Together Again

Kentucky Capitol, Frankfort (9 June 2008)

Placed among the honored sons of Kentucky and one of four in the central rotunda space is the traitor president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis. Installed in 1936, the Daughters of the Confederacy decided the Lost Cause needed to be pumped up seventy years after its defeat. It shared the space with Henry Clay, pioneering surgeon Ephraim McDowell and vice president Alben Barkley. Righting rebel wrongs has finally caught on in the twenty-first century. In 2018, they decided to keep the statue but remove the plaque that called him a patriot and hero. Two years later, the statue was finally taken away.

 

Rotunda, Kentucky Capitol, Frankfort (9 June 2008)

With the Lincoln statue occupying the central location beneath

the oculus, I was unable to get the preferred balanced view.

An impressive state house this was.