To me personally, history has what I like to call “weird” concepts; the older the story, the newer the information. This compares to the “known concept” of history; “old story; old news.”  Of course, there may be some official historical term, or definition for the above mentioned, but now, it’s more fun and confusing to my readers (as to me), just to make stuff up!

Let me give an example of my “known concept;” The Beatles broke up as a band in 1970, or the Japanese attacked the U.S. in 1941; “old story, old news.” My “weird concept;” In 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt survived an assassination attempt; “old story, new news.” WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY? We’ll get back to FDR in a minute.

So much history, as well as life seems to fall into the category of “how come I didn’t know anything about this?” That’s the great aspect of reading; pure enlightenment. Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on myself. For me, going through school, it always seemed the process was the 3 R’s, but not the one’s you’re thinking of; instead, it was Receive information, Regurgitate (spit out) on exam, Run on to the next subject.

When I was younger, I still loved to read, but what I wanted to read. I loved the newspapers, and news periodicals. I also read a lot of fiction, but these days I find non-fiction so much more exciting. Tipped off by Michael Downes about the building of the Trans-Continental railroad in the book “Nothing Like It In The World,” or the A-Z blogs of Denise Costello http://www.mdenisecostello.com/2017/04/20/quotes-of-the-duke-atozchallenge-q/ where I have been learning about the Duke of Wellington, and Martha Reynolds https://marthareynoldswrites.com/ who led me to the connection that Tom Bosley was not just some second-rate actor playing the warm, bumbling father on the TV show Happy Days, but a Tony Award winner on Broadway for best performance by an actor.

Speaking of ……..”‘On with the show.”

FDR was considered one of the greatest presidents this country every had. Strong, and smart with the exceptional leadership abilities to guide America through WWII. Married to the equally brilliant and strong woman Eleanor Roosevelt; champion of human rights, politician and diplomat. FDR suffered from polio. These are the facts I can “crack off the top of my head,” but I was almost shocked to learn only recently that on February 15th, 1933 in Miami, Giuseppe Zangara shot five people around FDR. Roosevelt, the President-Elect at the time escaped injury, but the Mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak received a stomach wound and latter died. Old story, new news.

In retrospect, it’s not hard to see how a man who lived through the Great Depression, was stricken with a debilitating medical condition, and survived an assassination attempt, spoke from the heart with his famous quote stating that “the only thing we have to fear…is fear itself.”

A little more inspiring than “Let’s make America Great Again.”