September 27, 2002

Dear Fred,

I hope that this letter finds you quite hale and hearty. Recently I have been involved in two very gratifying efforts. One of these efforts involves being invited to be a member of the Planned Giving Professional Advisory Board of the Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, NY. I have included with this letter a copy of a note that I just wrote to the president of that institution, Mr. Larry Levine. I also have been asked to be part of a national committee to resurrect the FDR Birthday Balls of the 1930’s and 1940’s which raised monies for the creation of the Warm Springs Foundation and later the March of Dimes. I helped initiate the idea with a letter to Mr. William vanden Heuval, the former Ambassador to the United Nations and the director of the Roosevelt Institute. I have also included those letters with this letter. One of my colleagues, who is an expert in the field of “charitable giving” asked me “what to read” about FDR and I sent the following to him. I thought this would be of interest to you.

In regards to Franklin D. Roosevelt and biographical treatments, I will mention a few forthwith. There are now more books written about FDR then any individual in history. Some of the prime reasons for such enduring interest in both the Roosevelts is their character, energy and personalities. To quote Jonas Klein, in his book Beloved Island, Franklin and Eleanor and the Legacy of Campobello, on the first page of the prologue, much is said about them. “No President and First Lady have been examined in such volume and with such passion. Although the Roosevelt’s triumphs and tribulations are well known, it is far less clear how each felt about these events and how emotions governed their actions. Eleanor revealed certain guarded feelings about her marriage, family and personal relationships, but Franklin shared little and revealed less. The search for understanding their successes and their failures is unending.”

Therefore these two very public people remain in their own way undiscovered. Eleanor, a woman of boundless energy, traveled, wrote daily columns, made an incredible amount of speeches, and probably knew more people then any one who has lived. She had great enduring and emotional friendships, after a childhood of bitterness and emotional pain. She was the eternal optimist, who exhorted people to “get involved”. This is a woman who traveled to the Pacific Theatre during wartime, against all of the military commander’s wishes and desires. She toured the hospitals, carried messages of hope and personally wrote 25,000 notes to the families of the wounded. Shortly afterward, Admiral Nimitz, and most of his subordinates, applauded her effort, and recognized it as an unprecedented morale builder. FDR., who had a wonderful supportive childhood and loving parents, on the other hand was a lonely man, who had a small circle of intimates. Most of them passed from the scene without saying anything substantive. They had working friendships with FDR and he rarely if ever revealed his true thinking to anyone.

Maybe Louis Howe and Marguerite “Missy” LeHand, knew him best, but they passed from the scene in 1935, and 1941 with nothing to comment about except some letters. For sure Missy LeHand spoke to no one in an “off-the-cuff” manner. Howe was a wizened political veteran who attached himself to FDR’s star early on in his career, and only death separated them. As close as Howe and LeHand were to FDR, after their passing, he kept his emotional, political and social views on them to himself. Though I am sure he thought about them, they were rarely mentioned in the past tense. Others like Jim Farley, Bernard Baruch, Henry Morgenthau Jr. and Harry Hopkins were also thought of to be intimate advisors, but that is either unproved or unsubstantiated. Hopkins died in 1946 and had little chance to comment on their working friendship and while the others were able to write about their lives and relationships with FDR, there was little new news revealed in their books. All saw FDR from different perspectives, some self-serving some out of great loyalty and some with a political perspective. Perhaps Henry Morgenthau was a friend of his, but after he became Secretary of the Treasury, he became another advisor and for sure FDR never stayed up late at night with him swapping innermost thoughts. Maybe it was FDR, who was the real parodoxical character in “Citizen Kane” and not Hearst.

So basically, I will try to answer your question, “what is a good basic FDR book?”

I have listed certain books from the hundreds written on FDR below and I have added my own rationale to each.

a)      Before the Trumpet and A First Class Temperament, by Geoffrey Ward are great treatments of FDR’s early life. Both award winning. I would choose the very long, A First Class Temperament, FDR 1910 to 1928. This book goes a long way to explaining how Roosevelt developed into FDR.

b)      No Ordinary Time, Doris Kearns Goodwin, the wartime relationship between the Roosevelts that leans favorably towards Franklin.

c)      Eleanor and Franklin, Joseph Lash, their joint award-winning biography, from an Eleanor intimate, that leans towards Eleanor and her struggles and her interests.

d)      The Lion and the Fox and The Soldier of Freedom, James MacGregor Burns two award-winning volumes that do an excellent job on analyzing FDR the leader in peace and war.

e)      In the Shadow of FDR, Professor William Leuchtenburg’s masterpiece that compares all of FDR’s successors and their attempts to use his administration  and personal style as an example, guidepost, or measuring rod.

f)        Franklin D. Roosevelt, A Rendezvous with Destiny, Frank Freidel, an excellent one volume history of FDR.

g)      Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932-45, Robert Dallek, an excellent analysis of FDR’s foreign policy efforts.

h)      Roosevelt’s Secret War, Joseph Persico, a contemporary treatment of FDR’s secret diplomacy during WWII.

In summation, they are all excellent and each has a tendency to “make a statement”. I would read Persico’s book first and for the following reasons. One, it is written most contemporaneous to our time and its about World War II and its intrigue. It attempts to answer many of the still pressing questions about FDR’s wartime activities. It’s very interesting and well written by a terrific individual, not just an historian. Also, it is easy reading, and if it piques your interest, you will go on to some of the other’s that I have listed above.

I hope that this sheds some light on a vast unending subject that public seems to have an insatiable appetite to consume.

Regards,

Richard

Memories of an Unusual Man

by

Richard J. Garfunkel

March 19,2002

Many years ago I had the pleasure of growing up in the medium-sized city of Mount Vernon, New York. Mount Vernon is a relatively old community that had colonial settlers in the late 1600’s. It came of age as a municipality around 1853 and pretty soon it will be officially 150 years old as a city.

I came to Mount Vernon, not on my own volition but as a passenger in my parents 1946 Roadmaster Buick. I must have been about 10 months old, having been born on May 2^nd, 1945 in that momentous final week of the European phase of the 2^nd World’s War. So I came to 500 East Prospect Avenue, which was situated between Magnolia Avenue on the left and Sycamore Avenue on the right and spent the first few years being gently walked in my carriage under the leafy glades of our street’s magnificent oak trees. Eventually like all children I grew up, looked around my surroundings and started to venture out into the neighborhood. Our section of Mount Vernon was geographically bordered by East Lincoln Avenue to the north and the Lorraine Avenue Hill to the south. In between was of course the aforementioned Sycamore and Magnolia Avenues. Before long I entered kindergarten in the old and since departed Wilson School and therefore started to meet my neighbors. Before long I got to know them all, Jack Bromley, Joel Grossman, Lyndon Joachin, Sherman Robbins, and then Billy O’Hara, Paul Schneider, the Petrillos and the Taddey Brothers. It was a typical middle-class all-American neighborhood. A so-called melting pot of the old and older immigration groups, Protestant, Jewish, Italian and Irish. Did I know anything about these different groups? No, not really! I hardly knew that I was Jewish and somewhat different from other Jews and certainly different from non- Jews. We were all boys, in the street, playing stickball and touch football. We were too small for basketball, but one day a backboard was placed on a garage and that game became available for us to play.

I got to know all the parents. Some were older, and some were younger. Most were veterans of the big war. Ironically my parents were older and still are! My father is going on 98 and my mother is 94. They seemed to have outlived all of the other parents.

Along the way, as I was negotiating this arduous path of youth, I met the O’Hara family that lived a bit outside my natural territory. They lived up Lorraine Avenue somewhat farther than from where I would wander. Their eldest child was an older lad named William J. O’Hara Junior, who we would only call Billy. He had two sisters, Jane and Mary-Anne who were a bit younger than my friends and I. Billy was older, stronger and a better athlete then most of us. If anything he was a contemporary of the older boys Anthony Petrillo and John Taddey, and he attended parochial school. The rest of us were all public school boys. For sure that made him different. With our Italian friends, we thought of them more as Italian than as Catholic.

But religion never entered or affected our relationships. But with Billy, who attended St. Catherine’s, we knew there was a difference. With all that in mind, religion was rarely mentioned if ever.

Thereupon I came into contact with a most unusual man. Almost all of the parents of my friends, were reserved types. They were businessmen or professionals, and they seemed a bit remote. So when I met Billy’s father, Mr.William J. O’Hara he was much, much different. Not only was he a big man, but he was an active and demonstrative man. He not only talked to us, but also, played with us. He not only played with us, but he communicated with us. In other words he was different. He was a busy man, a lawyer and also a very popular member of the old Westchester Board of Supervisors now known as a Westchester County Board of Legislators. From that time on we started to hear him being referred to as the Commissioner. Well of course this was a long time ago, maybe over 50 years or so. I also learned that the Commissioner was associated with not only the Brooklyn Dodgers, but the New York Football Giants. Frankly I knew little of the Giants, but I still was aware of football, and I knew the names of Otto Graham, Dante Lavelli, and Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch. But to all young red-blooded American boys, baseball was king, and when Billy showed me his genuine Roy Campanella mitt that the great Dodger legend gave him I was quite agog. Later on the Commissioner, who was Roy’s lawyer, was shocked and personally saddened by Roy’s car accident and disabling.

My first recollections of their Lorraine Avenue house were the gables and cornices. It was an interesting house with a bustling feeling about it. My second recollection was of the O’Hara’s unusual neighbors, the Herbst family. There were three sons, and the youngest, Roy, who was a very big fellow, was Billy’s contemporary. The other brothers were quite a bit older and much less sane. Roy Herbst had the most incredible comic book collection. The various editions stood in four foot high piles, like columns going nowhere, in the center of the floor of one room.

In that first house on Lorraine Avenue, the Commissioner was always changing his plants around. He seemed to never make up his mind, and even though I was still quite young in 1954, I can still remember being dragooned in to help with these various plantings and trans-plantings. With his gardening work, it seemed like he would be there forever. I remember the year 1954 quite well, because the NY Giant baseball team won the World Series. Even though our neighborhood was equally divided between Dodger and Yankee fans, the Giants proved quite engaging and players like Willie “Say Hey” Mays, Don “Mandrake the Magician” Mueller, Johnny Antonelli, Alvin Dark and Monte Irvin electrified all of us. I watched game after game at the O’Hara’s home. That baseball season was like a breath of fresh air to the Yankee haters who had just withstood five straight agonizing World Series victories. No doubt it was the “golden age“ of New York baseball. The Giants always had a romantic air about them unlike “Dem Bums” from Brooklyn and the corporate, cold and efficient Yankees.

Meanwhile it was in that year, that I was taken to my first football game ever with the O’Haras. It was the Giants versus the Baltimore Colts at the old rusting antiquated Polo Ground. This famous hulk of obstructed views was the legendary home of both the baseball and football Giants. It was situated below and near the 158^th Street viaduct that crossed the Harlem River and under the legendary shadows of Coogan’s Bluff.

My few recollections of the event were the trip past Woodlawn Cemetery, where the Commissioner posed that famous question to me, “Richard, how many dead people are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery?” Of course I was stumped, and the Commissioner quickly answered “all of them!” According to the Commissioner, Woodlawn was so popular a final resting place that “people were dying to get in!”  Get it! Pally!” This was even before the legendary Johnny Unitas laced up his black high-tops and made football history for the Colts. Their big star was the peripatetic scat-back Buddy Young, one of the first great black stars in the NFL.

Before long, in 1956, three seminal events started to unfold. One was that the O’Haras moved down the block, to a wonderful Tudor home called “Fair Oaks”. Two, the Giants vacated the ramshackle Polo Grounds for the Yankee Stadium and three, a second son, named John Patrick O’Hara, instantly nicknamed “JP” arrived.

In regards to importance, at least from my perspective, the move to “Fair Oaks” was amazing. I had never known anyone who moved, no less than four houses, or so, away. Also, our family almost owned “Fair Oaks”. My parents had been encouraged to move to Mount Vernon right after the war. They were originally Manhattanites, who lived in Brooklyn from the time of their marriage in 1935 through the war. With my arrival in May of 1945, they started looking in Westchester. My Mother’s friend wanted them to buy a house in Scarsdale, and my Mother’s Father, had a friend who recommended Mount Vernon. That friend, one Sam Miller lived in “Fair Oaks”.  Sam Miller was a prominent lawyer and a partner in the firm of Scribner-Miller. Some time in 1948, Mr. Miller came to my Father and asked him if he wanted to sell our house at 500 East Prospect and buy his house on Lorraine. My Father asked him why he wanted to sell and where was he going? Sam told my dad that he had originally hired Thomas E. Dewey when Dewey was a young lawyer, and that they were still friendly. In other words, after the election he was going to move to Washington D.C. and have a new job in the Justice Department. My father, though not clairvoyant, suggested that he would be better off to wait until November before making such a decision. Mr. Miller must have taken his advice because he never moved until he sold his house to the O’Haras.

Of course the Giants became the second New York team to vacate the Polo Grounds. In 1922 the Ruthian Yankees, who were a tenant of the baseball Giants, were forced to move out by their fiery manager John McGraw. They built their famous ballyard in the Bronx right across the river from the Giants, and went on to win their first World Series. Well lightning struck twice! The football Giants in their first year at the Stadium won their first NFL championship, in many, many years with a thorough thrashing of the Bears.

Also, last but not least, was the arrival of “JP” O’Hara. JP was the first baby I had seen in quite awhile. My neighbors, the Oshmans had three daughters and nine grandchildren, but they were no longer babies. Here came this special new package with his own nanny Ms. Middleton. I can recall distinctly asking Billy what did he think of this startling new development. I was afraid that Billy would be assigned to watch this new creature. I also wondered whether any of us would be expected to take on new responsibilities. To my relief, young JP was well taken care of and out of sight for many years. Somehow I just missed his growing up. By the time I was in college he was probably in first grade and somehow he never was around Billy and his “late owl” compatriots. There was quite an age gap between the two boys, and JP seemed to be brought up quite differently than Billy.

For sure the O’Haras were older, more mellowed and JP’s sisters were able to help out with his needs. We always thought that JP was a bit spoiled, but who wouldn’t be with all those older siblings?

Not long after that period, I was able to go to the fabled Winged Foot with the O’Haras, and start my insipid caddying career. The Commissioner loved to golf. He had golf clubs and balls all over the house. I quickly realized that this was an important aspect to his being. He was a good golfer, and eventually Billy became a very good golfer. For a few summers I took the New Haven Railroad from the Prospect Avenue Station to Mamaroneck, and walked up either Fenimore Road or Old White Plains Road to Winged Foot. Gene Hayden, the gruff old caddy-master, let me sit in the back as the most junior of all the rabbits. Rabbit was an unendearing term used to classify the most junior and unsophisticated level of caddy. Once in a while I would caddy for Mrs. O’Hara when she played with the Commissioner. I can still recall him warning me, “profanity did not belong on the golf course”. Somehow I was given a break by the caddy-master and I was able to caddy for one Jimmy Coulo, who, prided himself on possessing the fastest golf cart that was affectionately named “Poor Jimmy”. The cart was aptly named because he never tipped terribly well. But all in all, it was better to carry a putter then a bag of clubs! By the way, the Commissioner hit a very long ball and was a wonderful golfer. He never liked to take a cart and always was striding down the fairway at a brisk pace. He never compromised safety and always told me to stand behind a tree an out of the line of fire. Though I do recall clearly that he was hit by an errant shot that bounced off his chest when he turned back towards the tee. It didn’t seem to bother him and I do not recall his reaction. From a purely aesthetic perspective, he also warned me not to follow golfers off the tee and into the woods. I am sure that issue does not need further explanation.

Mr. O’Hara golfed with some of the best in the world, and Winged Foot always was a special attraction for the pros. I remember vividly Sam Snead and Gary Player golfing with the Commissioner. Personally I caddied for Sandy Armour, Tommy’s brother, and Chi Chi Rodriquez.

The Commissioner was very much like Teddy Roosevelt. He was a bold man of action and possessed a sharp mind. He was cherubic in his looks, and therefore from my perspective he never aged. He had strong hands and arms from countless rounds of golf, and he had strong opinions from his interest in the law and politics.

From early on we debated about politics. I came from a Democratic Party background. My Mother always said she voted liberal, but as I learned later her concept of liberalism was more in the Al Smith mold then in the William Kuntzler variety. Though my Father rarely expressed any emotionally politic positions, they both voted Democratic. Therefore when I was a youngster I had staked out my political ground. As early as 1952, at age seven, I knew that my family was for Stevenson and I knew my Mother loved FDR and Truman. So by the age of 12 or 13, I was interested in the classic political debate. Quite often the Commissioner and I exchanged views from our differing political perspectives. Interestingly, I never got the impression that he was very conservative and I was never really very liberal. I certainly could understand his frustration with government and his trepidation about the civil rights movement. But frankly, with all our talks over the years, he seemed much more tolerant than the impression he sometimes gave. In 1960 when I was fifteen and John F. Kennedy was elected, I knew that he publicly supported Richard Nixon.

But he certainly seemed to convey to me a sense of pride in an Irish-Catholic Presidency. When JFK was killed, I felt that he had sustained a great emotional blow. I always felt that he became sickened with politics about that time. I remember clearly his prominently displayed picture of Robert F. Kennedy in his living room and even though I was not a great fan of Bobby Kennedy, I smiled inwardly with self-satisfaction that he had a democrat in the house.

Often the Commissioner was in a hurray to make a golf date at Winged Foot and Billy would drive his old Chevy, nicknamed the “Blue Bullet” at breakneck speed to get him there. Most of the time the Commissioner was encouraging him to “floor it” on the Hutchinson River Parkway. The Commissioner had a relationship with Colonel Curry of Curry Chevrolet and I bought my first car from Curry, a six year old beige 1957 Chevy for $540. I also caddied for the Colonel, who was quite large and imposing, and had an extremely heavy bag, filled with about 18 clubs, four above the regulation, and about 6 of those clubs were woods!

Eventually my career started to wane at Winged Foot, and I had other things to do that occupied my time. But in my last summer before starting college, the Commissioner recommended me for a summer position at Playland in Rye. I worked, with ten other young guys, for John “The Greek” who was head of the Playland painting department. Unfortunately the space here is too limited to digress on all my adventures. But on July 4^th of 1963 I did get in trouble with a crazy couple that wound up attacking me in the parking lot while I was directing traffic. For my exercise in self-defense I was called on the carpet with the Park’s director. A timely and most appreciated word from the Commissioner kept me on the payroll.

By the next year I was off to college in Boston, and my Mount Vernon friendships became reduced to intersessions, letter-writing and holidays. But one distinct memory was of an evening in the summer at the O’Haras. While Billy and I watched baseball in their sunroom, we both loved baseball, Mr. and Mrs. O’Hara walked into their house with a younger and very striking couple. As the Commissioner stepped forward to introduce the legendary football player Hugh McElheny to me, I reached out my hand to him and said “The King”. I had recognized the former star college and Olympic hurdler who had been a top running back with the 49er’s. He now was playing out “the string” with the Giants and the Commissioner told me privately “he was broke”. The Commissioner was looking to get him hired by the Burns Detective Agency. They both got a big charge out of my recognition of the aging star. One thing was for sure, he had matinee idol looks and his wife was extremely attractive. She was wearing a bright blue or green taffeta flared gown that was quite in the fashion of those times.

The O’Haras hosted a number of the football Giants, at their house in those Jim Lee Howell and Allie Sherman days. Certainly the era from 1956 to 1963 was one of great excitement and interest in the Giants. Charley Connerly, Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, Kyle Rote, Jim Katcavage, Andy Robestelli, Roosevelt Brown and Roosevelt Grier graduated into the YA Tittle and Del Shofner Giants of the early sixties. After 1963 and the decline of Tittle, a dark age descended on the Giants, and I remember even Billy losing interest in the team.

The times were changing in the late 1960’s as the Viet Nam War started to heat up. Billy was drafted after college and I applied for Airforce Officer candidate’s school. I saw less and less of Billy, but I stayed in contact with the O’Hara’s. At the end of Billy’s hitch we would get together now and again for a trip or two to New York. Billy took me to the Westchester Classic in 1968, which was won by a pudgy guy named Bob Murphy. Along the way Billy introduced me to Jack Nicklaus, for whom he had caddied for in the 1959 US Open at Winged Foot. That was a great thrill. Jack was always my favorite golfer!

Eventually the O’Haras had moved from Mount Vernon to a house on Hillair Avenue in White Plains. One day I found the house, after an exhaustive search, and the Commissioner told me that he hated the location. He felt he was in the woods and away from everything. He was certainly right again. Not too long after that meeting in the woods of Hillair Circle, the O’Haras relocated to their beautiful house on Carriage House Lane. One night, after their move, I was invited to dinner at their new home. I have a number of distinct memories about that wonderful evening. I was a guest along with two “adult” friends of the O’Haras, and Billy, Jane and Mary Anne. I drank a lot of beer, always Heinekens, we had a terrific steak, and it rained not unlike a biblical event. Unfortunately the beer and good company dulled my senses a bit, and despite the thunder and lightning, I completely forgot that my convertible roof on my 1963 Chevy was opened. When I sauntered out after midnight, the summer rains had passed, and when I opened the car door the earlier deluge flowed out. Fortunately I was too numb to care, and with the wet seats (thankfully they were vinyl) and all I headed home.

Not long after that memorable evening, I became engaged to Linda Rosen from New York City and a recent Barnard College and Teacher’s College graduate. Just before our wedding on July 27^th, 1969, I visited the O’Haras, and as I walked through their door, the Commissioner looked up from his phone conversation and said “Vince, Richard Garfunkel just walked in the door, and he’s getting married next week, he’s a great Yankee fan!”  Of course he was talking to the legendary Vince Lombardy. Wow, was I impressed. Not long after our marriage at the Carlton House on Madison Avenue, Linda and I moved to our apartment at 16 Lake Street in White Plains, and we often visited the O’Haras. On the occasion of one of those visits, I can distinctly recall a very interesting discussion. President Richard Nixon had appointed two Judges, Clement Haynesworth and G. Harold Carswell to the Supreme Court. Even though I was always known to be an active committed Democrat, politics rarely was confrontational with the Commissioner, except that visit. Billy was usually quite conciliatory, and Linda and I thought he was a closet Democrat at times. But this piece of current events really stirred the pot. The gloves came off and we really went at it. Those were very contentious days in America. The Commissioner stood his ground and made an impassioned case against Johnson’s previous Court and the Senate’s rejection of his dual appointments of Homer Thornberry and the elevation of Justice Abe Fortas to Chief Justice. Of course, the battle over Nixon’s appointments went on long after our little disagreement had ended. Eventually the Senate rejected both appointments. Haynesworth was sort of a mediocrity and Carswell was a downright incompetant, who was later arrested chasing young boys in a locker room. Ces’t la guerre!

Over time as Billy’s work took him overseas, and Jane and Mary Anne got married, our lives became busier also. Our children Dana and Jon came along in 1973 and 1976. Of course the O’Haras were always anxious to see our progeny, and we made many visits to see them over the years. Linda and I were guests of Billy and the O’Haras at the US Opens held at Winged Foot in 1974 and again in 1984. I always tried to get over to see Billy compete in the Anderson Four-Ball Golf Tournament. Every round he played his parents were cheering him on. In fact, one year, I watched Billy and Craig Wood, the legendary golf star from the 1930’s and early 40’s, thrash another twosome. The Commissioner was always proud of Billy’s accomplishments on the golf course. After each round I was always invited back to the clubhouse and treated royally. Eventually young JP also took up golf and he was pretty darn good. I saw him win the Anderson a few times and was able to take some decent photos of him in action. Golf was always in the O’Hara blood. They all loved the game. Oh, how I remember when the Commissioner went on a great diet and looked like a Greek God. His stomach was like an ironing board, but his golf swing abandoned him! He was not very happy and often complained that his game had gone to pieces. Eventually the diet was forgotten, the old suits and pants came back and so did his swing. I am pretty sure he was happier with his old power from the tee.

One day while I was visiting, the Commissioner was working on all the season tickets for his super-box at the Giants Stadium. He asked me if I wanted to go to a game and never being one to turn down a nice offer, I readily agreed. The game turned out to be a unique one during the 1986 season. It wound up being a pivotal late season contest with Dallas, which not only the Giants won, in the fourth quarter, but propelled them eventually into their first Super Bowl. Football never really excited me, and I had drifted away from the Giants in late 1960’s with the emergence of Joe Namath. The Giants had been perennial loser’s and the fan’s treatment of Allie Sherman and his subsequent firing had left a bad taste in my mouth. So a Giant victory was not terribly important. Of course I would never say this in front of the Commissioner. We already had too many differences over baseball and politics. 

The most significant part of this game was that another guest in the booth was the former President, Richard Nixon. I felt pretty honored being included and brought my ten year old son Jon along. Since I collected political memorabilia, I brought along two Nixon inaugural cachet postal covers. I hoped that I would get the former president to sign them. Frankly I never liked Richard Nixon, but eventually most of us had pity for him more than hatred.

Nixon was Nixon, he was never out of character and anyone who had seen him on television could never mistake him for anyone else. He had a uniqueness of style or lack of it. But he was still a former President who was still famous and quite liked by many. When the crowd sitting in front of the glass enclosed box turned around and saw Nixon they gave him a warm hand. It hadn’t been quite the same in 1973. The Commissioner was quite anxious about the visit, and he wanted everything just right. Even Governor Tom Kean stopped by to pay his respects to the former President. It was all quite heady. Since I always bring a camera, the Commissioner warned me not to take pictures of the President. He didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable. But during the game I decided that it would be a shame not to record his visit with a shot of him with the O’Haras. So at the first opportunity I went up the President’s body-guard, a burly former policeman, and I asked him if the President would mind posing with the O’Haras He looked at me like I was either crazy or a dope. He told me that the President had been photographed millions of times and loved the camera. Wow! That turned out to be good news.

 I sauntered up to the Commissioner who was standing in the back of the box. He never sat once during the game. I told him that the President wanted to know whether I could take a picture of him with his hosts, the O’Haras. The Commissioner brightened up immediately, and we were quickly able to pose the President between the Commissioner and Billy. I was instructed; in a growl to get it over quickly and that I had one shot to take. I was still a kid to the Commissioner, even at age 41. Boy was I scared that the picture wouldn’t come out, but I actually took two exposures of the same pose. Later on, I brought out the two postal commemorative covers and asked the President to autograph them for the O’Haras and my son Jon. I have the cover with Jon’s name spelled “John” mounted on the wall with the picture of the O’Haras and the famous Richard Nixon!

The years passed quickly after that meeting. Both of my kids were growing up, and I had numerous other responsibilities. I continued to stop by and see the O’Haras. One fall day we attended the infamous Rutgers-Colgate football game in 1993 in the Meadowlands. Terry Toal Jr., the O’Hara’s oldest grandchild, played for Colgate, and our daughter was a senior at Rutgers. We stopped by their box, saw the whole family and were treated like long lost cousins. Again we were on opposite sides. Rutgers won 66-0 in a silly mismatch. The Commissioner was slowing down a bit. He had suffered a fall on the golf course a few years earlier and the effects of that fall started to change him slowly but surely. He was less patient, and more anxious about a lot of things. I recall that he was quite agitated about almost everything that went on in the box that evening.

Thankfully he was still healthy enough to come to our big 25^th wedding anniversary party at our home in 1994. That was a real big year for us with Dana graduating Rutgers and Jon finishing White Plains High School and being admitted to Princeton. But the Commissioner continued to slip. It was wonderful seeing him again and I prayed that he would get no worse. The great smile and humor were still there. I showed him a framed letter that he had recently sent to me. It was a thank you for sending him some D-Day postal covers, and I had it mounted on my wall right next to the famous Nixon picture. He loved that! The O’Haras stayed awhile and they had a wonderful re-union with my parents, who they had not seen in decades. That was precious to witness.

In the next few years he continued to decline, and often when I visited I wasn’t quite sure he really knew me. Eventually he needed round the clock care, and the big empty home on Carriage House Lane was sold. I last saw the Commissioner in the King Street Home in Port Chester. He didn’t know me, and I realized a great chapter in my life had ended. I know that I wandered out in a daze. It was like a part of me was wrenched away. But, I was thankful that he had seen me married and had seen and met my children. He always was interested in them and he had a great time talking to my son Jon. I was glad that I had been able to reward his great faith he had in me over the years. I was doubly glad that my children had met this great man who had witnessed and had been part of titanic events. I thought back on his great stories of Walter O’Malley, and the old Ebbetts family who ran the Dodgers. I loved his football tales about the Giants and the Maras, who were his great friends, and the stories of the legendary Vince Lombardy. He had seen and experienced great times.

Ironically Linda’s cousin, Fred W. Rosen, a heroic PT boat commander in the 2^nd World War, played against the Commissioner’s Fordham football team in 1937 and their tie game knocked that famous squad from Rose Bowl consideration. It’s still a small world. All of Billy’s friends from that era have gone on with their lives. I have not seen anyone from that old wonderful neighborhood in over 25 years. All traces of that neighborhood have disappeared into history. I was glad that I was last to see and enjoy the company of the Commissioner.

He was bigger than life itself. He was generous to all, he had the gift of humor and gab. He never ducked a fight or a battle that was worth fighting. His impression on me is everlasting. I can sincerely glow with pride in knowing a very special man. Where ever he is now I wish him only the best. I have been a better human for knowing him, and thank G-D for that opportunity.   

October 11, 2003

Dear Steve,

Thanks for your kind remarks about our serendipitous meeting at Sam's and welcome to the growing company of empty nesters. We have been in that large societal group for a number of years now. Interestingly, in regards to that reality, Dana is down here visiting, in the same fashion that her brother Jon was last weekend. We had a marvelous trip today with some Israeli distant cousins up to Cold Springs and West Point. Meanwhile I appreciate your effort to respond to my letter and to expostulate your political and philosophical positions. There is no doubt, from your perspective; you have made some telling points. But I would like to reiterate some of my points that you did not answer, and to add a few more observations that reflect on your argument.

First of all you did not address my statement regarding your claim that the 50%, who you do not believe pay FIT, would be against the tax cut.  I am sure that you do not know that or cannot prove that assertion. Your chart regarding which economic group pays or doesn't pay income taxes begs the issue. The graduated income tax, and its current structure is not perfect, but certainly flat taxes, sales taxes and value added taxes are not perfect either. If you believe that a person making less than $25,000 should pay at the same rate that a person making $25,000,000, I pity you. We try in America to make the “playing field” a bit more equal, not more skewed to the super rich. In regards to the “middle class” being burdened by a disproportionate percentage of the tax burden, who should pay the “bills?” The middle class receives much of the services. If you taxed the bottom 13.2% of all wage earners at 100% of their income, the amount of money they would contribute would make very little difference to the rest of the budget. The upper wage earners have the ability to “shelter” much more income than any amount of tax liability you could burden on the13.2%. Also note, that sales taxes, social security taxes and property taxes (on some) certainly take a higher percentage of their gross income than those taxes do on the upper income groups. Personally I am for a minimum Federal tax on every one, but for sure Federal income taxes, on the rich and the upper earners have been cut dramatically. Again I believe that the recent Bush tax cut for the upper earners and his previous inheritance is just relief for millionaires. For that hypocrite to preach, “let no child fall behind” is a “sick joke.”  Better be stated “let no millionaire be left behind.”

In regards to Clinton; yes he was not a “Boy Scout.”  In regards to his peers, he is and was not alone. I think that you have forgotten that Reagan,   under oath, in the Iran-Contra trials of one of his subordinates, and I do not recall which one (Admiral Poindexter, Bud McFarland or Col. North) said that he forgot over 400 times! Who's the bigger liar? For better or worse, Clinton created 22 million jobs and had created a $189 Billion surplus for his successor. Reagan created jobs, no doubt, but at the cost of trillions in debt and left us with the legacy of the “Savings and Loans” boondoggle, of which one of the Bush sons was up to his neck in with the Silverado Bank. Remember it was his buddy Ken Lay and their gang who bought his primary victories over John McCain. Bush said be barely knew them! Who's the liar now? In regards to the Bush “State of the Union” address: he lied through his teeth about everything regarding Saddam Hussein's power.

1)         No real weapons of mass destruction- now 15,000 troops assigned to the search, have not located anything.

2)            Iraq's power degraded by 9 years of over flights

3)            No real connection with Al Quiada (if there was a real connection we should have nuked Baghdad)

4)            Used unsubstantiated scare tactics over the phony Niger uranium story

5)            His Secretary of State's report on mobile weapon factories was also “red herring.”

6)            The “outing” of the Ambassador Wilson's wife, for political and punitive reasons. Exposing hundreds of her contacts and friends to potential    abuse, and possible harm. Without much embellishment I supported eliminating both the Taliban and deposing Saddam Hussein and his Ba'athist regime.

Where I disagree is with the following:

1)                 Terrible tactics by General Franks in Afghanistan.

2)                 Allowing the “paper tiger” Taliban forces to hold us up while we fiddled with the Northern Alliance and their idiotic artillery war for weeks, allowing Osama to escape!

3)            B-52 bombers turned around the so-called “front” in days, and they melted away.

4)            Franks, who commanded from Tampa has been roundly criticized in all circles for his “out of the loop” command.

5)            No “end game” for Afghanistan, and it is now almost a complete disaster as a country.

Bush and Powell completely blundered with the UN and our NATO allies. In our rush to fight a war with a 4th rate nobody force, just to take advantage of the full moon and to beat the hot summer, we alienated the UN (for whatever use they are) and our Allies. So what are we left with?

1)            An unruly public in Iraq

2)            A money pit that will suck up billions

3)            The possibility of a democratically elected Shi'ite theocracy, modeled on Iran.

4)            A steady stream of casualties

5)            No allies, and no other countries contributing troops

6)            The stretching thin of our troops

7)            The abuse of the reserves and the National Guard

8)            A plan to grant Iraq billions, it should be a loan against oil revenues

7         

We overrated their military and should have let the Turks come into Kurdistan, and completely failed at sealing off the Syrian Border. (Where much of the missing leadership has probably fled to, and we probably know it.) We handled the Turkish situation idiotically and then tried to “bribe” them into joining our coalition. By the way it is Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran that have been probably much more responsible regarding terrorism and Al Quiada. Where is the pressure on Syria? Who was:

1)            Smuggling Iraqi oil out for years

2)            Sponsoring Hezbollah

3)            Controlling Lebanon

d)            And arming Hamas in the West Bank

We allowed their infrastructure to be looted, their schools, police stations, museums and their power grids to be destroyed. We cannot even get their oil production back to even basic working order. But we are in a “fantasy” world about democratization and “nation-building”. If the US military kills Saddam Hussein, we will run out of that “swamp” in three months and let civil war ensue, and not care a fig. So much for “nation-building.”

Even with the best of intentions by Tom Ridge and A.G. Ashcroft, their heavy handedness regarding the Muslim American community has accomplished very little. From my perspective they did too little and they did it poorly. All that was engendered was probably legitimate criticism from civil libertarians of the right and the left. Just ask the states where is the homeland security money? The White House has promised and has not delivered.

1)            It hasn't delivered to NYC what they promised after 9/11!

2)            The financial burden on the States have been pushed onto the local taxpayers

3)            Almost every state is in deep deficit, reflected of the Bush economic plan

4)            No job recovery, 3 million jobs lost, a sluggish economy and the first administration to have a net job loss since Herbert Hoover?

5)            Bush has under-funded many of the programs that he promised in many of his speeches.

6)            In fact Bush lied about his whereabouts on 9/11.

7)            His dopey “reading” lesson in the classroom while we were under attack

8)            His “made-up” and “mixed-up” stories regarding his actions regarding the FAA and the orders to ground all flights.

I want to “roll-back” the tax cut on the top 1% to pay for his request for $87 billion. Their tax relief will not create new jobs except for their friends. You did not address:

1)            Continued and massive manufacturing job loss

2)            Tech job loss promised by that industry to the tune of 3 million to be exported to India and China

3)            Degraded national “infrastructure”, no money to fix up our roads, bridges and power grids!

4)            The sex scandals involving our hypocritical “blue noses” of the right

5)            Bill Bennett's gambling addiction. That fatuous hypocritical blowhard!

6)            Rush Limbaugh's pill escapade. What else is new with the hypocritical right?

7)            Rudy G's affair while his wife and children were holding down the Gracie Mansion fortress. His scurrilous annulment of his first marriage.

In regard to “income mobility,” I have no idea what you are talking about. The “inheritance” tax removal will be a disaster to the budget of this country. It will impact only:

1)            The very rich, who do not need relief

2)            Charities that will be gutted

3)            Reinforcing the aristocratic power the “super rich” now enjoys!

4)            In fact, many billionaires are totally against it and many of the super rich have sign petitions opposing its repeal.

5)            In fact, again Bush lied when he stated that family farms and businesses were lost because of the tax. That is a fabrication!

6)            If they are so concerned let people plan better by taking out life insurance! Which they presently do!

I do not consider myself a liberal under any stretch of my imagination. But I would like to state the following:

1)            I would definitely support John McCain over Bush

2)            I support the death penalty

3)            I am against partial birth abortions

4)            I support a strong military and the overthrow of both the Taliban and the Ba'athists.

5)            I am for internal passports

6)            I am for sealing off our borders

7)            I am for removing every illegal alien in the US

8)            I am against allowing further immigration from the Middle East

9)            I am not against the ownership of long guns

10)            I am against further gasoline taxes

11)            I am for making English the official language of the United States

12)            I am against social promotion in schools

13)            I am for rights with responsibility

14)            I support the need for private and parochial education

15)            I am against parole involving egregious cases

16)            I am opposed to the insanity defense

17)            I am for stiffer jail penalties that involve: drug and alcohol abuse

a)            Drug and alcohol abuse

b)            Monopolization and price-fixing

c)            Bid-rigging

d)            False advertising

e)            Mail fraud

f)            Murder and rape

g)            Stock-manipulation

What I am for:

1)            Prosecution of Enron, World Com and other corporate brigands

2)            Investigation of the NY Stock Exchange give-away to Richard Grasso. He was a regulator?

3)            Investigation of the Cheney-Halliburton deal in Iraq

4)            Continued separation of Church and State

5)            Continued and sustained prosecution of pedophile priests

6)            Environmental protection

7)            Safe nuclear facilities

8)            Energy independence

9)            Conversion of local, state and Federal vehicles to solar, gasohol hybrids

10)            More wind and solar power supplies

11)            Use of our strategic oil reserves to lower gas prices when OPEC uses cutbacks to squeeze the marketplace

12)            The answer of why our gas, in NY is $2.10 for 89 octane

13)            Better rotation of out troops in Iraq

14)            A smarter policy with North Korea, they are the real danger!

15)            Better relations with our allies

16)            Less trashing of worldwide agreements

Regards,  Richard

October 8, 2003

Dear Steve-

It is an incorrect assumption to believe that the 50%, who do not pay Federal Income Taxes, according to your information, are approximately the 50% who oppose the recent tax cuts. I do not agree with your statement about the “…non-paying voters only voting for politicians who will continue to supply the protection of our armed forces.” First of all I know countless people who pay taxes, including myself, that are opposed to the recent tax cuts. They feel that these “cuts” won't really create jobs, that it is “bone thrown” to rich supporters, that it is unfair and skewed to the wealthy and that it is bad public policy. The graduated income tax is not socialistic re-distribution of revenue, but a “fair” way to allow society, our country to have those who are most successful economically, and quite often socially advantaged, to pay their “fair” share. They have earned their money, no doubt, but here in our country we are the lowest taxed people in the western world.

 Our society is expensive, and the loopholes that have allowed countless American companies to hide in foreign tax shelters have not helped everyone's tax burden. Note how the elimination of inheritance taxes will perpetuate oligarchic control of the few. This is still supposedly a democracy and to allow the a “super” class of rich to dominate the economy and the political system will lead to the destruction of the middle class and economic disaster. We still need a vibrant strong middle class to be the purchasers of Fortune 500 products. The super rich cannot do it alone! I am unalterably opposed to the elimination of the inheritance tax. I am unalterably opposed to the Bush policy of “let no millionaire fall behind.” I want to see a rollback on the recent rate cut for the top earners to pay for this current unending war and I want to see some sense out of this administration's last year in office.

 Also, so you remember, it is these so-called non-tax paying citizens that make up our Army and do most of the fighting and dying in faraway places. I have no qualms about the cost of anti-terrorism, no qualms about doing away with the Taliban and no qualms with toppling Sadaam Hussein. But I do have qualms about a poorly planned effort, the escape of Osama Bin Laden, and Sadaam Hussein, the miscalculation regarding the administration and costs of our new conquests, and an effort to justify a war with tainted information. I am extremely happy to see Sadaam and his Baathist brigands out of power. But were they really a threat, were their massive unconventional weaponry poised to strike us, were they aiding and arming Al Quaida, and were they a first class military power? I think not! The public was obviously lied to in an effort to “make the ends justify the means!” Clinton was excoriated for lying about “sex.” What else is new? Did Henry Hyde, Robert Livingston, Newt Gingrich, Nelson Rockefeller, and countless others lie about sex? You bet they all did! Bush has lied constantly about what he promised to do as President, and he has obviously lied in his national address regarding the power of Sadaam Hussein. One cannot have it both ways. Either his CIA, and his National Security Agency team are a bungling bunch of self-serving inept Inspector Gadgets, or the Bush White House is manipulating the facts. Which is it? I do not view the administration and future of this country as only a struggle between tax advocates and tax cutters. There are countless issues that cut across all philosophical and political boundaries. For sure, our society needs money! The supply-siders from the Reagan days proved that they can create prosperity for the upper class by running this country into trillions more of debt. Please no more of that!

Regards,

Richard J. Garfunkel

Northern Italy and the End of Hostilities

August 1944 to May 2, 1945

By

Richard J. Garfunkel

July 17, 2004

In regards to Italy, a new fascist government was founded in Northern Italy for a short period of time, but collapsed. After the fall of Rome Marshall Albert (Smiling Albert) Kesselring was reinforced with 8 new divisions of varying quality (one from Denmark, Holland, and Russia, with two from the Balkans and three German ones from the eastern Front) and also the vaunted Herman Goering Panzer Division.

With these forces in the wake of the fall of Rome he established a strong defensive line from Grosetta on the Western coast, not far from the off shore island of Elba (of Napoleonic fame) to the eastern coast of the Adriatic. He fought strong delaying actions, but by August of 1944,as he was forced to re-establish a strong defensive in the Po Valley, Kesselring banked on his new Gothic Line. Attacks on the Gothic Line were concentrated in the east under General Harold Alexander's 15th Army Group and its British 8th Army. With Polish and Canadian forces they were able to move up the coastline from Rimini to Revenna and challenge the Gothic Line's forces commanded by General Vietinghoff's 10th Army. In the east General Mark Clark's army of American and British Corps enveloped Florence (Firenze) on the Arno River and advanced northward to challenge German General Lemelson's 14th Army.

As the winter set in, a weather related stalemate ensued between January and March 1945. Eventually Kesselring was recalled to Germany to support the actions on the Western front, Alexander became commander of the Mediterranean Theater, and Clark succeeded Alexander as commander of the 15th Army Group. So in the Po Valley, rough terrain, and stubborn German resistance handicapped the Allies. The Allies had 4000 planes to the Axis powers total of 200 of all types and this air superiority started to attrite supply lines and whatever was left of German armor. Vietinghoff requested from Hitler permission to orderly withdraw, but was ordered to stand and resist in place. At the end of March the Allies attained the three rs; rest, reorganization and re-equipment. But they were a polyglot command and with the reassignment of 3 British divisions to the Western Front, they were now reinforced with new formations that included the Jewish Brigade, the 42nd Regimental Combat team of Japanese-Americans and a Brazilian Division. The 15th Army Group had already included; American, British, New Zealand, Canadian, Newfoundland, South African, Gurkha, Indian and Polish units. The language and logistical problems were extraordinary and daunting to the supreme command.

By late April 1945, General Lucien Truscott's 5th Army had penetrated deep into the Po Valley, and by the 23rd Bologna fell to Keyes II Corp. The German forces were further compromised by Italian Partisan bands operating throughout their rear areas. These partisans were trained by Allied agents (OSS) and therefore it was estimated that by April I, 1945 there were over 50,000 of these irregular troops (guerrillas) in Northern Italy. Though the German command was never under the illusion of victory or relief they still fought very hard. Eventually when Hitler's death was confirmed Vietinghoff surrendered on May 2, 1945 (my birthday) all of his forces. Eventually through all of this and as the German forces were divided, enveloped and destroyed, the Allied forces reached the Austrian frontier. New Zealand forces also received the surrender of German forces in Trieste. Of course, by this time, Yugoslavian forces under Marshall Tito were also moving towards Trieste as they routed German and Croatian units.

The Germans were caught between the Allies in northern Italy, the Italian Partisans and the Tito's forces. By that late date, many of the American and British forces were worn out. In truth, with the polyglot forces under Allied command, with the rough terrain, the logistical nightmare, and the active partisan forces in the area, the battle for Northern Italy was not easy. The Alexander and Clark commands were never given their proper due. With regards to Yugoslavia, the Allies had no interest. They were never convinced or concerned about a post-war Soviet domination of the Balkans.

Tito had grown in strength and the Allies were decently happy with him and saw no economic imperative in Yugoslavia. If anything the British were only interested in Greece and we wanted Italy to remain in one piece. Also Tito was seen as quite strong, and if there were any worries about the Soviets, Tito was seen as a nationalistic bulwark. Later on, Tito proved that he was independent of Soviet domination. The crisis in the Balkans came decades later in the wake of Tito's death. The nine subgroups that made up that amalgam state started to seek their own self rule, and the ancient rivalry and bad blood between the Croatians (former nazi allied Ustashi) and the Serbs erupted. With all the tough fighting, the Allies weren't in any mood to get into another fracas in the wild topography of Yugoslavia.

With the occupation of Eastern Europe by the Soviets, the old dynasties that had run Bulgaria, Hungary, Roumania and Yugoslavia had been deposed and the ethnic rivalries were suppressed! In essence it wasn't far from what the planners had desired. Unfortunately they had not envisioned a Soviet bloc becoming a new empire.

In truth it was “reality on the ground” that won out. We were not willing or able to challenge Soviet hegemony in that area of the world. The Soviets had proximity, men, and eventually all the “new” politicians. American presidents from Truman through Reagan saw the futility of overthrowing Soviet rule by force! From Churchill's historic “Iron Curtain” speech, containment became the policy rather than confrontation.   

Politics, Talking-Heads and the Media

By

Richard J. Garfunkel

Fall 2003

Former Democrats like Tim Russert, Chris Mathews, and George Stepanopolis, to cite a few of the network types, bend over backwards to act tough on the Democrats to show that they are now journalists. The vast majority of news people are smug, over-paid and have become virtual corporate flacks. Most reporters are not liberal, but have a bias towards the left because they themselves are more libertine and take the power and prestige of being part of the fourth estate as a right and a badge of honor and superiority. These posturing neo-libertarians have a primitive view of fairness and morality. They personally have few rules and therefore have a tendency to be thought of, or characterized, as liberals. They are basically agents of the politically correct police that corporate America, which controls the media have appointed. They are terribly frightened by secondary boycotts, so they treat gays, Hollywood, black radicals and religious institutions with “kid gloves”. Just look at the limpid coverage of the sex-abuse scandal of the Catholic Church and its obvious cover-up. These are heavy crimes! If any one outside of the Church had committed these types of abuses they would have been thrown in jail and locked up forever. But hundreds and thousands of cases have been ignored and their resolution has been left to the civil courts where the Church has been excoriated. Look at the billions in settlements, wow! But has the media called on the carpet the Church's institutional hypocrisy or paradoxically moralizing, no!

What do we expect in America, when, on one hand, the Church, the NY Stock Exchange, the plagiarizers in the press, the Enrons and World Coms and other institutions are only gently spanked until the stench becomes overwhelming. What about Mike Barnacle, that hypocritical thug, and why is he back working on TV? What about the late Stephen Ambrose and Doris Kearns Goodwin and their questionable research? But, they have made millions and what more is proof of success in America! The average student would be tossed out on his/her ear for such indiscretions. How about Michael Beshloss inaccurate book the “Conquerors” and his half-truths? What about Pat Buchanan and his right-wing nativist rantings? What brought him back on the media? Television and the media is entertainment and the news coverage is not immune from that definition. So what are we to deal with? Bill Clinton, who much of the right hates, engineered for many, a very successful stewarding of the ship of state in spite of his personal shortcomings, and against great opposition and hatred of the GOP controlled Congress. But for better or worse, his personal scandals were wrong, but they should have been kept out of the national microscope for the country's sake.

Please note Newt Gingrich's personal life was a real big-time disgrace, regarding his philandering and his divorce of his dying wife, but he is still pontificating, and what about our hero Mayor Rudy who was sleeping and cavorting with his girlfriend publicly, while his wife was holding on to Gracie Mansion like it was her personal castle. Since Bloomberg never moved in, did she really move out? So, Big Bill didn't steal millions, and his executive branch abuses were nowhere near Nixon's or Reagan's. Just judge who went to jail and who became rich. Please note; VP Dick Cheney and his billion-dollar connection with Halliburton. Unfortunately we are now saddled with some “real” problems, not Judge Starr's investigation of Whitewater; but a climbing national debt of $500 billion, the loss of millions of jobs, the disappearance of our manufacturing sector, a trade and currency crisis with China, nukes aimed at us from N. Korea, a divided Europe that hates us, a quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan, shrinking oil reserves and greater foreign dependency regarding energy, porous borders, John Ashcroft, vulnerability to terror, a health coverage crisis, and more to come. It wouldn't be so bad, if our leader had a brain. But there is no “Wizard of Oz” around to help this moron. How ironic that Bill Clinton gets impeached over lying about sex, but “W” gets high marks from many for lying about almost everything else. His promises over education, health care, the environment, and his claims about unconventional weaponry, the connection between Al Quiada and Iraq, and Iraq's threat to us, have all been empty. Eventually as President Lincoln said “… you can't fool all of the people, all of the time!”

    Public Policy and Long Term care Insurance

Long term care could be the nation’s most severe social crisis of the next century. At this present time there are a record number of elderly people in the United States. The amount of octogenarians who are alive and well in the country is a testament of better health care, better diet, and generally a more prosperous society. The great killers of the first half of the century, heart disease, influenza and pneumonia have been on the decline for decades. The public has greater access to medicine through Medicare and Medicaid. Many of the elderly have learned that the active life through exercise and social interaction has been a welcome replacement to the sedentary lifestyle of the classic rocker.

Economically this large group of seniors is a very wealthy generation, and it enjoys one of the most prosperous periods in  recent history. This aging generation of World War Two vets and depression era teenagers has the benefit of a vast population of baby boomers to pay into the coffers of the IRS. At the pace that revenues are coming in, the potential of a real balanced budget by 2002 is more realistic then ever. Ironically with all this wealth, Medicaid is in greater trouble than ever, and new legislation (Kassebaum-Kennedy) has been signed to tighten up eligibility. The government sees continued pressure on Medicaid in the near future, and is making Long Term Care insurance more attractive to both employers, their employees and the general public. In fact long term care insurance has become the most requested benefit now facing employers.

As our huge baby-boom generation ages, our children’s generation, which is a great deal smaller, will inherit both the increased tax and social burden. The big question that will loom over all of us in the 21^st Century, may be “are there enough workers and producers to provide the revenues for this gigantic class of dependencies?” The greatest pressure will involve long term care. With genetic engineering, organ transplants, miracle drugs, the decline of smoking as a habit and great breakthroughs in medicine, the aging population will be exploding.  How will the government solve the problem of this aging population that suffers from new exotic diseases? Who will pay for Medicaid? Will the continued breakup of the nuclear family finally destroy the extended family that has provided home health care providers for eons? These are all important and disturbing questions. Much of this burden will fall on the individual, and much of the solution will come from the private sector in the form of long term care insurance. Individuals will be trained and prepared for an active and long life after retirement. At this pace government will not be able to be relied upon as in the tradition of the past!

Solving this major problem of generation imbalance will test our society severely. The building, the location and the condition of senior care facilities will occupy a great deal of our national treasure and the debate over it will be confrontational and divisive.                             

Letter to the Editor:

The Journal News

March 28, 2004

George W. Bush, Condi Rice, and Richard Clarke

The real story of 9/11 starts to emerge!

Was George W. Bush really focused on terrorism,

or his obsession with his father’s failure in Iraq?

“Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.”

Abraham Lincoln -1864

For better or worse, I was a willing and enthusiastic supporter of regime change in Iraq. Therefore I supported George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. Did he “cook the books” to convince the world and the American public of the urgency of this effort?

In regards to that question, only history will judge. But for sure, there is much evidence supporting that conclusion.

I have always felt that George H. W. Bush’s decision to leave Sadaam Hussein in power was a disastrous mistake. From my political perspective, it had a great deal to do with Bush’s ultimate defeat. Can you imagine an incumbent president with a 95% popularity rating after the war, loses the election to a virtually unknown border state governor with only 37% of the vote? His vote total may have been the lowest total by a defeated incumbent president in our history.

As an immediate result of Gulf War I, 14 out of 17 Iraqi provinces were in open revolt against Sadaam Hussein. But our limitations on Hussein’s use of airpower was limited to fixed-wing craft and not helicopters. Of course we did nothing to support these insurgents, and Hussein used his helicopters to bring in loyalist troops to suppress and eliminate the revolts.

Today I watched Richard Clarke on Meet the Press hosted by Tim Russert. Clarke answered, with great creditability and poise, all of Russert’s questions, and all of the counter-rationale by the Bush team of “spin-doctors.” There is no doubt, in my mind, he was certainly able to reiterate, with a strong defense, his assertions made in his recent book and his testimony before Congress. The Bush administration has an invidious history of going after “whistle-blowers” and still has to answer for the statements by the former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill, the Medicare expert Richard Foster, and the leaking of the name of the CIA operative.

From my perspective, Ms. Rice, who has spouted her views all over the networks, but has been hiding behind “the separation of powers,” should be made to testify in “open session” and under oath. If she wishes not to testify she should be asked to resign. The President and his staff’s conduct should be answerable to the public. President Bush’s obsession with his father’s failure in Iraq, has unfortunately led this Nation into a morass with no end in sight. It is obvious to any unbiased observer, that our involvement in Iraq has increased greatly the interest and support for Al Quieda in the Islamic World. By not being able to quickly win the peace in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have opened a “Pandora’s Box,” that has entered us into a “dark period” of terrorism for the foreseeable future. By stretching our forces thin, by hemorrhaging our budget, by alienating our Allies, George W. Bush has succeeded, in a far greater manner, with his bungling than Bin Ladin and his brigands could imagine. Yes, we now are the chief urban renewal director and “savings and loan” lender in Iraq, so what?  Richard Clarke has described in detail the false premise that George W. Bush was focused and concentrating on the “terror” threat before 9/11. Again, Bush’s campaign rhetoric about 9/11, and his supposed “superior” skills in confronting terrorism has been brought acutely into focus.

Richard J. Garfunkel

A TRIP TO CARMEL

Not long ago I ventured westward for the first time in my life. Though into middle age and decently secure with my own sophistication, I had never crossed the continent, no less the Appalachians except for one round trip flight thirty years ago to Saint Louis. At that time, I was young, feckless and working as a junior analyst for Bache & Co., a long absorbed brokerage house, now an unknown part of the Prudential empire. Part of my responsibilities, of that long ago forgotten mission, was to visit General Steel Industries, a company devoted to the manufacture of railroad cars. Not long after lunch, and without much of a hurried glance at the famous Arch on the bank of the Mississippi, I was back on a silver bird destined for LaGuardia and Wall Street.

Strangely, I had meticulously planned to visit our left coast sometime this coming summer. It would be a long delayed visit to see my friend, mentor and loyal correspondent of 37 years. Henry M. Littlefield, a towering physical and intellectual specimen, had spent the last 24 years administrating and teaching young minds on the Monterey Peninsular. Somehow my inner vision of Monterey reminded me of the drawings that illustrated an old Modern Library edition of a Steinbeck novel, probably about the sardine industry of Cannery Row. But, the fates being the way they are, strange un-chartered winds blow across the careful plans we mortals conceive. Old, big, and reliable Henry, a towering 6’ 5” 250+ pounder, was in the midst of a three year struggle against the ravages of colon cancer. Even though we had a guarded view of his long term future, we never expected such a quick and negative turn in his prognosis. Within a short period of time, his health went from bad to worse. This precipitated a call from wife Madeline, and before very long the valiant struggle was over. There is never real honor in death, but though inevitable to us all, I later learned Henry did it his way.

So those fates again came into play, and I made arrangements, via the computer, for two tickets to San Francisco. My traveling companion was a colleague and protégé of Henry’s, one Randy Forrest, a legendary black man who is five years my senior and from New Rochelle, a neighboring town to my home of Mount Vernon. In his own way, Randy was as  remarkable a story as Henry, or anyone else mind you. The fact that these two accomplished men, from my youth, still were part of my life in middle age remains a story to itself. After decades apart, except for a few isolated, but happy occasions,  Randy and I found ourselves linked together on a journey we never imagined, to a place where nothing would have attracted us , except our common love and respect for a friend. Randy is a very wide and muscular fellow. He reminds one of a shorter, more chiseled, version of Harry Carson, the NY Giant football Hall of Famer. But Randy, reacting like any other mortal,  beneath that bronze armor that masqueraded as skin, was just as leery of flying as yours truly. I just faked it better. So here we were, the Mutt and Jeff of Eastern mourners. And as we made our journey from one venue to the next, our visage caught stares of quixotic curiosity. Both of us being outgoing personages, we told all who could hear, and patient enough to listen, that we were going on a 3000 mile condolence call. Our fleeting public’s sense of sadness and respect seemed to make us feel better.

Not to bore anyone with the dynamics of a hotel stay and a car rental, we arrived at night, hit the head, watched the boob tube and drifted off to sleep. The next morning, after rising and staring out at the haze, we moved out quickly,  looked at a map, jumped into our car and headed south towards Monterey. We never looked back. Never saw the legendary city by the bay, never saw the cable cars or Fisherman’s Wharf, never saw anything! We just headed south. We just talked and talked. It wasn’t hard to talk, because we had known each other for forty years. But, ironically it was Henry who brought us together, initially  in the dingy dank wrestling room of ancient Edison Tech, where our wrestling team worked out, and now for probably a last time on a journey of farewell to that same man. Its a hundred or so miles to Monterey and frankly we got a bit lost. The Californian topography along that route south was surprisingly dull. There were few trees, rolling un-pretty mowed green hills,  plenty of cars and urban sprawl. It certainly did not impress me. But, we weren’t tourists with time to burn, and the memorial was at 12 noon, and our margin of error was narrow.. Thankfully, with all equanimity and the familiarity of an old married couple we sort of engineered a course correction and found our way onto the peninsula. I remember seeing the welcome sight of the Pacific and a fleet of fishing boats tied up along the piers of a small town as we coasted down a long sloping grade. I knew we couldn’t be too far away then. Eventually, with out much more skill,  we entered Carmel, looked for directions to Lighthouse Avenue, and remarkably found ourselves in the midst of street fair that shut off most of the town from vehicular traffic. What a mess! After traveling 3000+ miles across the continent, after a 3 hour confused and meandering trip southward from San Francisco, we found ourselves lost in Carmel, and wondering whether we would ever find Henry’s home. Wandering through and around all the food bourses and souvenir booths, one with a small imagination could easily think they were lost in a Hitchcock film, maybe the carnival scene in Strangers on a Train.  Enough furtive questions led us in the right direction, and with a turn here and there, up ahead was 765 Lighthouse. We had arrived finally in the important and aimed for part of Carmel, and this part of our journey had ended. We had more things of course to do; more people to see, more words to say, more tears to shed, but we both realized without speaking or looking at each other, that a crucial chapter in our lives was about to be closed forever.

Richard J. Garfunkel-

A Trip to Carmel for the memorial service given for Dr. Henry M. Littlefield, coach, teacher, Dean, Headmaster, writer, historian, poet, actor, mentor and friend for 40 years.

The Coming 2003 World Series

By

Richard J. Garfunkel

Yes, I am rooting for the Cubs in the NL, and no matter who wins in the AL; the WS would be a classic. A NY-Chicago fandango would evoke memories of Ruth's called shot at Wrigley in 1932 and their two 4-0 sweeps (1932 and 1938). A Cubbie win would mean their first pennant since 1945 also. Ruth played his last World Series with the Yanks in 1932 and was part of a team that had finished 2nd three years in a row to the Connie Mack led A's powerhouse that was finally running down. The Yanks won 107 games, a great many for the then 154 game schedule. The Mackmen only won 94 and were 13 games out. Over the next few years Mack was forced to sell off many of his stars because of the Depression. The 1932 Yanks featured Gehrig (.349), Lazzari (.300), Ruth (.341), Combs (.321), Dickey (.310) and the great pitching staff of Gomez (24-7), Ruffing, Pipgras, Allen, and Pennock against the Cubs (90-64) managed by Charlie Grimm, after he replaced Rogers Hornsby, that featured Kiki Cuyler, Jo Jo Moore, Gabby Hartnet and pitchers Lon Warneke and Guy Bush.

The 1938 Yanks, in the midst of their 4 World Series in a row streak (unprecedented until 1949-53) won 99 games under the peerless leadership of Joe McCarthy and were led by Gehrig, Joe Gordon, Red Rolfe, Tommy Henrich, Bill Dickey and Joe DiMaggio! Their stalwart pitching led the league by under a half run in era and featured Gomez, Ruffing, Monte Pearson and Spud Chandler. They faced a Cub teamed managed by the famous Gabby Hartnett, who had replaced Charlie Grimm. They only won 89 games, while winning the pennant by 3 games and were led by Billy Herman, Billy Jurges and Stan Hack. The Cubs hit 65 homeruns to the Yanks 174! Both the 1932 and 1938 World Series were sweeps by the McCarthy led Bronx Bombers and the Cubs were crushed in 1932 and out pitched in 1938.

A Red Sox-Cub showdown would also insure that one of the two oldest and most forlorn bridesmaids would finally catch the bouquet. The Cubbies haven't won a WS since 1908 and the Bosox haven't since 1918.

The Cubs beat the Toothless Tigers in 1908 4 games to one. Ty Cobb did hit .368, but his Bengals were out-hit .293 to .203. There was one homerun hit by Joe Tinker of “Tinkers to Evers to Chance” fame. Tinker also led the Cubbies with a .421 batting average.  After losing the first two games, the Tigers rallied to win game three with a five run outburst in the sixth inning, led by Cobb's four hits. But Cobb only had three hits in the other games and the powerful 3-time pennant winning Cubs won their second straight Series over the clawless Tigers (The Cubs won 4-0 in 1907, but had lost to the Miracle Hitless Wonder White Sox in 1906 in Chicago's only subway or trolley World Series.) Such stalwarts as pitchers Babe Ruth, Carl Mays, Bullet Joe Bush and Sam Jones led the Red-Sox powerhouse of 1918. The “Babe” led a lackluster Bosox hitting attack with 11 homeruns out of the club's 15! The league leader only hit 22, the A's came in last! Roth hit .300 with only 317 at bats and the other regular who did any hitting was Harry Hooper an excellent outfielder who hit .289. The Red Sox had won 2 out of the three past World Series, besting the Phillies 4-1 in 1915, and the Dodgers 4-1 in 1916.

In 1918, Ruth's famous 29 2/3 innings of World Series shutout pitching was ended in game 4. But the Sox prevailed beating the aforementioned Cubs, four games to two, led by the infamous Fred Merkle, who batted .389 in the Classic. Ruth won 2 games in his World Series final with the Sox. The Cubs were not a memorable team, but were led, in a war-shortened season, by very strong pitching, featuring; Hippo Vaughn, who led the league with 22 victories and an era of 1.74!

A match-up of the Cubs and Sox would actually be played in the same ballparks from 1918! Wow! Of course the entire aside, history would favor the Yanks who have much better pitching than the Bosox. The Cubs with Prior and Wood and a sense of destiny will probably prevail over the upstart Marlins. But stranger things have happened before.