State Capitols – Phoenix, Arizona Part 2

Stretching away from the Arizona capitol is the former Legislative Government Mall. Following the death of Governor Bolin after only five months in office, it was renamed the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza.

There are upwards of thirty monuments, memorials and dedications, mostly to wars and conflicts and the brave people who sacrificed their lives in service to the country and community. Law enforcement, veterans’ groups, the Bill of Rights, the Ten Commandments, merchant seamen, pioneer women and crime victims all have an edifice.

Lt. Frank Luke jr. Monument, by Roger Burnham [1930]

Arizona Capitol, Phoenix (26 March 2015)

Lt. Luke was just twenty and one of our most accomplished pilots when he was shot down in 1918. Beneath the dashing hero, the base holds the names of hundreds of Arizona men who paid the ultimate price in the ‘War to End all Wars.’

Arizona Confederate Troops Memorial [1961]

Wesley Bolen Memorial Plaza, Phoenix (26 March 2015)

Memorial to

Arizona Confederate Troops

1861 – 1865

United Daughters of the Confederacy

1961

The Confederate Troops Memorial identifies the entire span of the Civil War and neglects to note that the occupation by rebel troops and local sympathizers lasted only eight months. Below three sections of petrified wood is this ironic statement...”A nation that forgets its past has no future.” Ironic because those who most believe we are erasing the noble, valiant history of the American South also try make it illegal to teach the parts about slavery and Jim Crow oppression. Five years after this photo was taken, the monument was removed.

‘Guns to the Fallen’ [2013],

Wesley Bolen Memorial Plaza, Phoenix (26 March 2015)

One of the more impressive installations includes the anchor and signal mast from the USS Arizona. The memorial to the 1902 Arizona citizens killed in the war includes one of the big guns from that battleship and one from the USS Missouri, the scene of the Japanese surrender in 1945.

Navajo Code Talkers Memorial [2008],

Phoenix (26 March 2015)

Finally, I’ll include a shot of a deserving group that made a big difference in our WW II effort in the Pacific. Because the Navajo language represented an unbreakable code to the Japanese, soldiers from the tribe served to transmit critical messages across the theater. I know. You might rightfully say that ALL who served and sacrificed deserve recognition. Thing is, back when certain groups joined in the fight to save the country, those same groups continued to have a hard time at home. Black servicemen were not allowed to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery and non-Whites were denied recognition by the military establishment. Why? “We don’t give medals to Negroes, Jews and other non-White races.”

Thankfully, we’re more WOKE than that now...so far.

Green Mount Cemetery – A ‘President-Adjacent’ Visit - Part 2

Green Mount Cemetery (25 June 2024)

When presenting the Dead Presidents Quest, I tried to give credit to the wives, since many have played major roles in their husband’s development and success. I should do more to tell their stories.

Since the days when Martha Washington presided over the social and ceremonial aspects of the president’s life, the nation’s chief executives have had official hostesses. It wasn’t until Harriet Lane assumed the duty that the term ‘First Lady’ was coined and it stuck. She was terrific in the role and was widely admired.

Grave of Harriet Lane Johnston

Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore (25 June 2024)

She was the niece of President No. 15, James Buchanan, and raised by him when she was orphaned at age eleven. As his favorite niece, the future president made sure she was educated and sophisticated. It is said he raised her for this very role.

Harriet Lane

(taken at the end of her White House tenure)

Later, she married a Baltimore banker and philanthropist, Henry Johnston. Their two sons died as teenagers, as did her husband after just eighteen years of marriage. She lived the last nineteen years of her life with no husband or children.

Grave of Harriet Lane Johnston

Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore (25 June 2024)

I dare say that Harriet Lane Johnston left a legacy to rival that of any First Lady. She donated her art collection to the U. S. government and it grew to become the National Gallery of Art. In her will, she donated funds to build the prestigious St. Albans School, the National Cathedral School for Boys and the renowned children’s clinic that still bears her name in the Johns Hopkins hospital system.

Booth Family Plot

Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore (25 June 2024)

In 1852, the great classical stage actor, Junius Brutus Booth died and was buried in Green Mount Cemetery. The family plot includes the graves of his wife and two of his twelve children, one of whom is the actor and Lincoln assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

 

Booth Family Monument

Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore (25 June 2024)

Although only two of his children are buried here, Junius Booth chose to inscribe his obelisk with the names of some, but not all, of his twelve offspring. I believe only two of the actor’s children currently reside here...the assassin John Wilkes and a sister Asia, whose name is not inscribed here.

Unmarked stone, Booth Family Plot,

Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore (25 June 2024)

Within the confines of Junius Booth’s family plot is this small unmarked stone. I guess someone who knows more can say what it signifies. Prior visitors might already know the answer given the placement of so many pennies here. It isn’t just the coins. They are all placed in the ‘heads’ position with Lincoln’s face up.

Lincoln was murdered six weeks after he was inaugurated into his second term and five days after Lee surrendered to Grant. One can’t help but wonder what his second term and the nation’s history would have been like had he lived to old age. How different would Reconstruction have been without President Andrew Johnson, a drunk with southern sympathies?