Champagne, Oysters and the Harvard Club

December 13, 2005

Richard J. Garfunkel

Not far west on 44^th Street, just past Brooks Brothers and J.Press stands that bastion of the Cambridge Ivy League in New York, the stately Harvard Club. The Harvard Club was founded in 1865 by a small group of alumni who were interested in perpetuating the Harvard spirit in New York. Eventually within the year there were about 98 members who met regularly at the Delmonico’s restaurant and other locations. By the early 1890s with 600 members, a permanent location was picked out 44th Street where a block of stables existed.

At number 27 West 44^th Street, with the gift of a design by the celebrated architect Charles McKim, who himself was a club member; the Georgian-facade style club arose in 1894. Today it is a landmark (designated in 1967) and it’s interior is festooned with artifacts from the 1850’s which chronicle Harvard’s illustrious past.

It was a cold late afternoon as I parked in the packed Tarrytown RR Station area. It was much easier to take the rails into the city, at this time of the year, then to fight rush hour traffic. So it was on to the 4:47pm Hudson Line train. It pulled into the station, which sits in the shadow of the Tappan Zee Bridge, right on time. I put my heavy British warmer onto the rack with my brown broad-brimmed western hat from Sedona, and sat down with my half-read book by Jerry Lewis, Dean and Me, (A Love Story). We made excellent time and before long I was walking out into the frigid but windless air of Vanderbilt Avenue near 43^rd Street. I walked briskly up to 44^th Street and West to Fifth. Lo and behold at the corner was Linda who met me at Fifth. I would have been a minute or so earlier, but I had stopped to gawk at the jackets in J. Press. Wow! There wasn’t a jacket under $500 and some of the pants were over $250. I’ll never give away some of my better clothes again. She had walked down from 55^th Street and we were to meet a Barnard colleague at 6:00pm.

Of course we waited and waited, and during those few minutes I scouted around looking for a portrait of FDR that I seen many years before. Linda and I had been to dinner there as guests of my brother-in-law Charles Hale, a graduate of the business school and my sister Kaaren. The club’s entrance was different then and I was later told it had been expanded quite a bit. As I recalled there was an oil painting of FDR in an undistinguished place near the stairway to the restrooms. Of course that was way back in the early 1970’s when Nixon was president. In my search I was gratified to see it on the main wall of the restaurant in a much more prominent place. The Harvard Club has all of its university presidents honored along with other famous alumni like FDR, JFK and Theodore Roosevelt. 

When her friend did not show up we checked our coats and went back to the incredible Harvard Hall room that featured a huge Christmas tree, five bourses with different champagnes, and beds of ice covered by oysters. Besides those goodies there were veggies and cheese platters galore. Before long we found her friend, who had missed the train from Larchmont and had driven instead, No wonder she was late. Along with us there were 277 others. The party was sold out to capacity and everyone who registered came to the event. In other words it was crowded and the food was consumed as if a swarm of locust had landed.

We had fun, met some interesting people, took some pictures and generally enjoyed the happening. Upon returning from taking a picture of the World War II Memorial Bronze, which listed the men of Harvard that gave their lives in the war, (President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Class of 1904 and his sixth cousin Theodore Roosevelt Jr., class of 1909 were listed) I saw Linda talking to this dark-skinned man with a colorful Sephardic-style kipa on his head. Well I quickly found out that he was one Dr. Ephraim Isaac, president of the Yemenite Jewish Federation of America, and he was the Director of the Institute of Semitic Studies in Princeton, NJ. Of course our long and great friends Lynne and John Weiner had taken part in operation Magic Carpet, in 1949, which had eventually evacuated 48,818 Yemenite Jews, with the help of Alaska Air Lines (believe it or not) and their chief pilot Robert Maguire. Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurian called Bob Maguire, who died in June of 2005, at the age of 94, the “Irish Moses”. He had directed almost all of the 430 flights and was so well regarded that Leon Uris based a character on him in his prize-winning novel Exodus. Dr. Isaac was very excited to hear that our friends had the only films of that effort. Lynne, a reporter by training was a young wife of World War II veteran, John Weiner, Captain USA (retired) from Livingston Manor, NY. Lynne, who was the daughter of the famous psychiatrist Philip Lehrman, and had sat on the laps of both Sigmund Freud and George Gershwin (try to beat that) had brought her 16” mm movie camera with her to Israel, and they hopped a ride with Bob Maguire to Yemen. We promised to inform the Weiners of Dr. Isaac’s interest in their film, and of course, Lynne, who has written a book about her exploits, wants to find new venues for her work. Therefore my next assignment is to get them together!

So as we talked, on and on, the Champagne was quaffed, the oysters slurped, the canapés were gobbled and a good time was had by all.  By 8:30pm we decided to catch the 8:48 pm from Grand Central, and we hustled out into the bone-chilling night air of 44^th Street. Next stop Tarrytown! 

Franklin Roosevelt and the Nazi Threat

From: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Champion of Freedom

By Conrad Black-

Comments by RJ Garfunkel

“Roosevelt had recognized from the earliest moments of the Third Reich that Western democracy could not coexist with it. He came to believe, by early 1939 at the latest, that the United States would be required to be the indispensable force to rid the world of Nazism and it would emerge not only as a post isolationist country bat as the pre imminent nation on earth. Supreme political artist as he was, he cannot have failed, by the beginning of 1939, to have glimpsed this destiny that would carry his country to heights no nation had ever occupied and himself to a position in American history, rivaled, if at all, only by Washington and Lincoln.

British historian D.C. Watts wrote ‘His personality was overpoweringly regal; his advisors constituted a court rather than a cabinet. His closest supporters complained that he deliberately concealed the processes of his mind, and that he never talked frankly, even with the people who were loyal to him. He displayed to them a mass of conflicting characteristics, not so much ill balanced as constantly shifting in balance*

            *In consistent in his inconsistencies, cold and distant behind the warmth of personality with which he could overwhelm even the most hardened visitor, listening always to some private voice whose tones we can recognize but never overhear, and whose advice we can imagine but never verify, his protean, almost chameleon like changes, his hesitancies, his willingness to leave initiative to others, the freedom with which he abused others for not acting with the strength he was not prepared to display himself, all this is difficult to reconcile with the reputation he has enjoyed as the great leader of the democracies. And yet a great leader he certainly was.

Like an agile predator, he knew when to emerge, reveal his design, and execute it. And once determined to lead opinion and implement a policy, he was unflappable, devious, utterly determined, an unusually inspiring. Now, in early 1939, his course, though indiscernible to others, was clear to him. It could be summarized in six points.

First, he had to complete the conquest of the Depression by arming America.

Second, he would arrange a virtual draft to a third term as the candidate of peace through strength.

Third, he would complete the acquisition of an overwhelming level of military might.

Fourth, and assuming a new world war was already in progress, he would engineer righteous hostilities with Germany and the lesser dictatorships, ensuring that the dictators would be seen as the aggressors.

The fifth stage would be winning the war and leading the world to a post imperial Pax Americana, in which, sixth, Woodrow Wilson’s goals of safety for democracy and international legality would be established in some sort of American-led international organization.

Nothing less can explain Roosevelt’s conduct from Munich on. No other American leader has ever conceived an immensely ambitious plan for making over the world.

Hans Dieckhoff, the German ambassador in Washington up into late 1938, recognized that Roosevelt had a ‘pathological hatred’ of Hitler, and was ‘Hitler’s most dangerous opponent,’ The President had persuaded the ‘credulous and mentally dull American people’ that Germany was ‘America’s enemy number one.’ The observant chargee Hans Thomsen headed the Embassy after the withdrawal of Dieckhoff. Thomsen constantly warned the Wilhelmstrasse and the Reichsfuerher himself that Roosevelt sought the ‘annihilation of Nazi Germany and the nullification of the New Order in Europe.’ Thomsen also predicted that Roosevelt would, in the event of war, try ‘creating the conditions for, and a skillful timing of, the entry in to war on their side (Germany’s enemies’) side.’ He cleverly foresaw that ‘Roosevelt will not neglect the possibility that as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces he has the power to issue orders which in the course of execution might lead to the creation of a state of war. In the face of this Congress is powerless.’ Thomsen told Berlin that Roosevelt has ‘pathological hatred’ of Hitler and Mussolini, and even predicted that Roosevelt, in furtherance of his goals, might seek a third term as president.

The duel between Roosevelt and Hitler would become increasingly elaborate, like a primeval war dance, until the two mortal enemies came to grips with each other.”

Comments by Richard J. Garfunkel:

I selected these passages from Lord Black’s marvelous book on Franklin Delano Roosevelt because I felt it summed up quite well the complexity of his character, his underlying goals that were well masked, and his determination to find a way to lead the world in eliminating the scourge of Hitlerism.

Many have tried to capture the elusive personality of the great man. James MacGregor Burns in his seminal histories of FDR, The Lion and the Fox, and the Soldier of Freedom, attempted to capture the essence of his underlying strategy of both weathering and conquering the Depression and bringing a lethargic, isolationist America into the mindset of becoming the Arsenal of Democracy. America always had been a haven for escapists that were able to runaway from the political, social and religious ravages of the Old World. America had always been able, in a simpler time, able to rely on two vast oceans to protect it from foreign threats. But be that as it may, the threat to the stability of Europe, the specter of war and its possible impact on the Americas started to emerge with the rise of dictators across Europe. As a result of the First World War, old empires and dynasties had crashed and new states in this post royal age emerged with fragile semi-democratic governments. The struggles of nationhood, along with the onset of the worldwide Depression brought in a new age of strongman rule. Eventually the model of the corporate or fascist state that had emerged in Italy with Mussolini started to be replicated throughout Eastern Europe. Some were amalgams of various peoples like Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, and others were more homogenous states like Hungary and Bulgaria that were carved from old empires. But whether they were fascist, or semi-fascist or Kingdoms that struggled to keep its warring and contentious minorities separated they were all vulnerable to the greater desires and objectives or the larger totalitarian states, Germany and the Soviet Union.

Franklin Roosevelt, like few other western leaders, was able to see the threat of this trend. He attempted, against great odds, to craft a position contrary to the conventional Western trend of know-nothingness. That thinking set the stage for his famous, but ill-fated speech in Chicago. In Roosevelt’s famous “Quarantine Speech” of October 5,1937, the President said:

            ‘The epidemic of world lawlessness is spreading. When an epidemic of physical disease starts to spread, the community approves and joins in a quarantine of the patients in order to protect the health of the community against the spread of the disease.”

This was delivered almost two years before the outbreak of the Second World War and it brought almost universal condemnation by a vast number of America’s editorial pages. It stimulated cries from the isolationist right for his impeachment and American Liberty Lobbyists and other xenophobic groups criticized it as warmongering. His remarks and their reaction reflected his future uphill battle in alerting America to the threat from overseas, the difficulty of repealing or working around the Neutrality Act, and the challenge of re-arming the country and building up its preparedness. It was another difficult lesson that FDR learned in his difficult second term. He had always said that a leader must be careful not to get so far ahead of his constituency so that when he looks back he can see none of his followers. FDR learned that harsh lesson with the Federal Court Re-Organization Plan, known as the Court Packing, and his attempt to intervene in Democratic Primaries before the 1938 mid-term elections. His attempt to rid the party of its right wing Neanderthals in both the north and south backfired badly.

As we all know too well, the 20^th century and its age of invention brought the world much closer together. The malevolent forces, that had always been out there, and for a long time were insurmountable distances away, started to encroach on the Western Hemisphere. Roosevelt understood more then anyone that it would take great personal skills to keep this country armed, unified and motivated in order to protect and defend not only itself, but also, its friends, fellow democracies, and allies from being overwhelmed.

Of course his deception, and seemingly subtle and not so subtle half-truths masked his plan to arm America, help our allies and keep his political friends and enemies guessing.

As it was said by James MacGregor Burns, “while he never formalized his highly personal methods of political administration, and indeed ignored all abstract formulations of administrative problems, he probably was well aware of the justification of his methods in terms of his need to keep control of his establishment. Certainly he hid not embrace unorthodox managerial techniques out of ignorance of orthodox ones.”

Basically much of the criticism of FDR’s style of management came from people who misunderstood the complexity of the political world that he was dealing with. Harold Smith, who became budget director in 1939, had difficulty with FDR as an administrator. At first he was disconcerted, along with many of subordinates over what he and others saw as erratic methods. Years later, as the size and immensity of the job Roosevelt faced, fell into a more focused view and retrospective, Smith told Robert Sherwood that Roosevelt “may have been one of history’s greatest administrative geniuses, ‘He was a real artist in government,’ Smith had concluded.

Of course on the other hand, FDR engendered much frustration over his methodology with the closest of his associates. As the world hurtled toward international fratricide in the last year of peace in 1939, Harold Ickes, one of his most loyal soldiers (The father of Clinton advisor Harold Ickes Jr., who, lived from1874-1952, was Secretary of the Interior from 1933-46 and was cum laude from the 2^nd graduating class from the University of Chicago, was an independent progressive that supported Republicans and others but was drawn to Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. He remained closely aligned with the Progressive movement through the 1920’s, but grew frustrated at trying to “progressivise” Republicans and eventually headed up the Western Independent Republican Committee for Roosevelt in 1932.), who was known as “Honest Harold,” blurted to FDR’s face, “You are a wonderful person but you are one of the most difficult men to work with that I ever known!” FDR answered, “Because I get too hard at times?” Ickes answered, “No, you never get too hard but you won’t talk frankly even with the people who are loyal to you and of whose loyalty you are fully convinced. You keep your cards close up against your belly…” If the President would confide in his advisers, Ickes went on, their advice would prevent him from making mistakes. Roosevelt took the criticism with good humor- but did not change his methods. (The Lion and the Fox, James MacGregor Burns)

Of course this reflects part of FDR’s strength and weaknesses. FDR was able to depend on a coterie of extremely loyal and discreet people were part of his inner circle and team. But he was always quite cautious about revealing his intentions or complete plans. Maybe he was innately distrustful. He was brought up as an only child and kept his thoughts to himself. He was not a complainer and at an early age he had a broken tooth and an exposed root and refused to tell his mother. Though vulnerable throughout his life to numerous attacks of poor health, his strength of mind and body always helped him to rebound quickly. When after years of being around adults, (he did not go to Groton until he was 14 years old), he came in contact with his own peers in school and made a great effort to ingratiate himself. Quite often, as part of the hurly-burley of youthful expressiveness, his classmates rebuffed him. Many of his fellow classmates had already established friendships years before young Franklin entered Groton. It seemed that his difficulty with his peers extended to college, and it was there he was blackballed in his attempt to get into the exclusive eating club Porcellian. But he did get along with young fellows at school. He had sensitivity towards them as a young man and many appreciated that concern. One younger boy at Groton, Sumner Welles, adored FDR and later on he became his valued Under Secretary of State. FDR had a stubborn “Dutch” streak as he liked to say, and he established early on in his social; and political career a strong sense of secrecy. Even his engagement to the young Eleanor Roosevelt was kept secret for a year. He did not confide in people normally and if he did it was “off the record,” a political idiom that he coined. Throughout his career FDR had a penchant for secrecy and veiled his true purposes with guile, duplicity, and charm. Many left his office convinced that they had “captured” his ear. But of course he had a tendency to say to his guest the he “understood,” their positions. Most assumed that he had them with the impression that he “agreed” with them, but in fact Roosevelt was saying that he understood their positions.

To be continued… rjg

December 8, 2005

Letter to the Editor

The current road show of both the President and his Secretary of State that has taken him to the Naval Academy and the Council of Foreign Relations, and Ms. Rice to Kiev, and to Germany to speak to the new German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a cynical effort to obfuscate the real issue of their continuing failures at home and abroad. Even though Ms. Rice has attempted to shift international concerns about human rights abuses to the chastising of the Russian government, and Mr. Bush, in his own inimical fashion, has tried to convince us that we have “turned the corner” in Iraq, the truth is quite different. Whether we are not “stuck” in the tar baby morass that Iraq has become or whether we can shift the subject of our own nefarious tactics regarding prisoners to the subject of protest groups in Russia begs the issue. No matter how many trips abroad, and empty speeches that preach to the choir promising the classic “light at the end of the tunnel,” the truth is that this administration has basically been a failure of mismanagement, incompetence and forthrightness. It has supported itself with lies, have-truths and chicanery right from the beginning. From their record of planting phony news stories, to their linkage of terrorists with the Baathists, to their lies about Iraqi WMDs, to relying upon nefarious Iraqi double dealers, the record is clear. As Lincoln said, “It is true that you can fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”  The continued failure by the Bush Gang to manipulate the news has not lessened worldwide terror, it has not made us safer, and it has cost too many American lives and treasure by ill thought out adventurism. Hopefully the American people will rise up in righteous indignation come 2006 and start the process of long-needed change.

Richard J. Garfunkel

Franklin Roosevelt and the Nazi Threat

From: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Champion of Freedom

By Conrad Black-

Comments by RJ Garfunkel

“Roosevelt had recognized from the earliest moments of the Third Reich that Western democracy could not coexist with it. He came to believe, by early 1939 at the latest, that the United States would be required to be the indispensable force to rid the world of Nazism and it would emerge not only as a post isolationist country bat as the pre imminent nation on earth. Supreme political artist as he was, he cannot have failed, by the beginning of 1939, to have glimpsed this destiny that would carry his country to heights no nation had ever occupied and himself to a position in American history, rivaled, if at all, only by Washington and Lincoln.

British historian D.C. Watts wrote ‘His personality was overpoweringly regal; his advisors constituted a court rather than a cabinet. His closest supporters complained that he deliberately concealed the processes of his mind, and that he never talked frankly, even with the people who were loyal to him. He displayed to them a mass of conflicting characteristics, not so much ill balanced as constantly shifting in balance*

            *In consistent in his inconsistencies, cold and distant behind the warmth of personality with which he could overwhelm even the most hardened visitor, listening always to some private voice whose tones we can recognize but never overhear, and whose advice we can imagine but never verify, his protean, almost chameleon like changes, his hesitancies, his willingness to leave initiative to others, the freedom with which he abused others for not acting with the strength he was not prepared to display himself, all this is difficult to reconcile with the reputation he has enjoyed as the great leader of the democracies. And yet a great leader he certainly was.

Like an agile predator, he knew when to emerge, reveal his design, and execute it. And once determined to lead opinion and implement a policy, he was unflappable, devious, utterly determined, an unusually inspiring. Now, in early 1939, his course, though indiscernible to others, was clear to him. It could be summarized in six points.

First, he had to complete the conquest of the Depression by arming America.

Second, he would arrange a virtual draft to a third term as the candidate of peace through strength.

Third, he would complete the acquisition of an overwhelming level of military might.

Fourth, and assuming a new world war was already in progress, he would engineer righteous hostilities with Germany and the lesser dictatorships, ensuring that the dictators would be seen as the aggressors.

The fifth stage would be winning the war and leading the world to a post imperial Pax Americana, in which, sixth, Woodrow Wilson’s goals of safety for democracy and international legality would be established in some sort of American-led international organization.

Nothing less can explain Roosevelt’s conduct from Munich on. No other American leader has ever conceived an immensely ambitious plan for making over the world.

Hans Dieckhoff, the German ambassador in Washington up into late 1938, recognized that Roosevelt had a ‘pathological hatred’ of Hitler, and was ‘Hitler’s most dangerous opponent,’ The President had persuaded the ‘credulous and mentally dull American people’ that Germany was ‘America’s enemy number one.’ The observant chargee Hans Thomsen headed the Embassy after the withdrawal of Dieckhoff. Thomsen constantly warned the Wilhelmstrasse and the Reichsfuerher himself that Roosevelt sought the ‘annihilation of Nazi Germany and the nullification of the New Order in Europe.’ Thomsen also predicted that Roosevelt would, in the event of war, try ‘creating the conditions for, and a skillful timing of, the entry in to war on their side (Germany’s enemies’) side.’ He cleverly foresaw that ‘Roosevelt will not neglect the possibility that as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces he has the power to issue orders which in the course of execution might lead to the creation of a state of war. In the face of this Congress is powerless.’ Thomsen told Berlin that Roosevelt has ‘pathological hatred’ of Hitler and Mussolini, and even predicted that Roosevelt, in furtherance of his goals, might seek a third term as president.

The duel between Roosevelt and Hitler would become increasingly elaborate, like a primeval war dance, until the two mortal enemies came to grips with each other.”

Comments by Richard J. Garfunkel:

I selected these passages from Lord Black’s marvelous book on Franklin Delano Roosevelt because I felt it summed up quite well the complexity of his character, his underlying goals that were well masked, and his determination to find a way to lead the world in eliminating the scourge of Hitlerism.

Many have tried to capture the elusive personality of the great man. James MacGregor Burns in his seminal histories of FDR, The Lion and the Fox, and the Soldier of Freedom, attempted to capture the essence of his underlying strategy of both weathering and conquering the Depression and bringing a lethargic, isolationist America into the mindset of becoming the Arsenal of Democracy. America always had been a haven for escapists that were able to runaway from the political, social and religious ravages of the Old World. America had always been able, in a simpler time, able to rely on two vast oceans to protect it from foreign threats. But be that as it may, the threat to the stability of Europe, the specter of war and its possible impact on the Americas started to emerge with the rise of dictators across Europe. As a result of the First World War, old empires and dynasties had crashed and new states in this post royal age emerged with fragile semi-democratic governments. The struggles of nationhood, along with the onset of the worldwide Depression brought in a new age of strongman rule. Eventually the model of the corporate or fascist state that had emerged in Italy with Mussolini started to be replicated throughout Eastern Europe. Some were amalgams of various peoples like Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, and others were more homogenous states like Hungary and Bulgaria that were carved from old empires. But whether they were fascist, or semi-fascist or Kingdoms that struggled to keep its warring and contentious minorities separated they were all vulnerable to the greater desires and objectives or the larger totalitarian states, Germany and the Soviet Union.

Franklin Roosevelt, like few other western leaders, was able to see the threat of this trend. He attempted, against great odds, to craft a position contrary to the conventional Western trend of know-nothingness. That thinking set the stage for his famous, but ill-fated speech in Chicago. In Roosevelt’s famous “Quarantine Speech” of October 5,1937, the President said:

            ‘The epidemic of world lawlessness is spreading. When an epidemic of physical disease starts to spread, the community approves and joins in a quarantine of the patients in order to protect the health of the community against the spread of the disease.”

This was delivered almost two years before the outbreak of the Second World War and it brought almost universal condemnation by a vast number of America’s editorial pages. It stimulated cries from the isolationist right for his impeachment and American Liberty Lobbyists and other xenophobic groups criticized it as warmongering. His remarks and their reaction reflected his future uphill battle in alerting America to the threat from overseas, the difficulty of repealing or working around the Neutrality Act, and the challenge of re-arming the country and building up its preparedness. It was another difficult lesson that FDR learned in his difficult second term. He had always said that a leader must be careful not to get so far ahead of his constituency so that when he looks back he can see none of his followers. FDR learned that harsh lesson with the Federal Court Re-Organization Plan, known as the Court Packing, and his attempt to intervene in Democratic Primaries before the 1938 mid-term elections. His attempt to rid the party of its right wing Neanderthals in both the north and south backfired badly.

As we all know too well, the 20^th century and its age of invention brought the world much closer together. The malevolent forces, that had always been out there, and for a long time were insurmountable distances away, started to encroach on the Western Hemisphere. Roosevelt understood more then anyone that it would take great personal skills to keep this country armed, unified and motivated in order to protect and defend not only itself, but also, its friends, fellow democracies, and allies from being overwhelmed.

Of course his deception, and seemingly subtle and not so subtle half-truths masked his plan to arm America, help our allies and keep his political friends and enemies guessing.

As it was said by James MacGregor Burns, “while he never formalized his highly personal methods of political administration, and indeed ignored all abstract formulations of administrative problems, he probably was well aware of the justification of his methods in terms of his need to keep control of his establishment. Certainly he hid not embrace unorthodox managerial techniques out of ignorance of orthodox ones.”

Basically much of the criticism of FDR’s style of management came from people who misunderstood the complexity of the political world that he was dealing with. Harold Smith, who became budget director in 1939, had difficulty with FDR as an administrator. At first he was disconcerted, along with many of subordinates over what he and others saw as erratic methods. Years later, as the size and immensity of the job Roosevelt faced, fell into a more focused view and retrospective, Smith told Robert Sherwood that Roosevelt “may have been one of history’s greatest administrative geniuses, ‘He was a real artist in government,’ Smith had concluded.

Of course on the other hand, FDR engendered much frustration over his methodology with the closest of his associates. As the world hurtled toward international fratricide in the last year of peace in 1939, Harold Ickes, one of his most loyal soldiers (The father of Clinton advisor Harold Ickes Jr., who, lived from1874-1952, was Secretary of the Interior from 1933-46 and was cum laude from the 2^nd graduating class from the University of Chicago, was an independent progressive that supported Republicans and others but was drawn to Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. He remained closely aligned with the Progressive movement through the 1920’s, but grew frustrated at trying to “progressivise” Republicans and eventually headed up the Western Independent Republican Committee for Roosevelt in 1932.), who was known as “Honest Harold,” blurted to FDR’s face, “You are a wonderful person but you are one of the most difficult men to work with that I ever known!” FDR answered, “Because I get too hard at times?” Ickes answered, “No, you never get too hard but you won’t talk frankly even with the people who are loyal to you and of whose loyalty you are fully convinced. You keep your cards close up against your belly…” If the President would confide in his advisers, Ickes went on, their advice would prevent him from making mistakes. Roosevelt took the criticism with good humor- but did not change his methods. (The Lion and the Fox, James MacGregor Burns)

Of course this reflects part of FDR’s strength and weaknesses. FDR was able to depend on a coterie of extremely loyal and discreet people were part of his inner circle and team. But he was always quite cautious about revealing his intentions or complete plans. Maybe he was innately distrustful. He was brought up as an only child and kept his thoughts to himself. He was not a complainer and at an early age he had a broken tooth and an exposed root and refused to tell his mother. Though vulnerable throughout his life to numerous attacks of poor health, his strength of mind and body always helped him to rebound quickly. When after years of being around adults, (he did not go to Groton until he was 14 years old), he came in contact with his own peers in school and made a great effort to ingratiate himself. Quite often, as part of the hurly-burley of youthful expressiveness, his classmates rebuffed him. Many of his fellow classmates had already established friendships years before young Franklin entered Groton. It seemed that his difficulty with his peers extended to college, and it was there he was blackballed in his attempt to get into the exclusive eating club Porcellian. But he did get along with young fellows at school. He had sensitivity towards them as a young man and many appreciated that concern. One younger boy at Groton, Sumner Welles, adored FDR and later on he became his valued Under Secretary of State. FDR had a stubborn “Dutch” streak as he liked to say, and he established early on in his social; and political career a strong sense of secrecy. Even his engagement to the young Eleanor Roosevelt was kept secret for a year. He did not confide in people normally and if he did it was “off the record,” a political idiom that he coined. Throughout his career FDR had a penchant for secrecy and veiled his true purposes with guile, duplicity, and charm. Many left his office convinced that they had “captured” his ear. But of course he had a tendency to say to his guest the he “understood,” their positions. Most assumed that he had them with the impression that he “agreed” with them, but in fact Roosevelt was saying that he understood their positions.

To be continued… rjg

What Do We Do About Iraq?

By

Richard J. Garfunkel

December 1, 2005

Hello and good morning to all of you. My name is Richard J. Garfunkel, and I will serve as the leader for this forum. I want first to thank Reva Greenberg, from Westchester County’s Office of the Aging and VOCAL, who invited me to partake in this endeavor and to also thank Vera Schiller who recommended me to follow her husband Irv, who led these “speak-outs” in the past. I want to welcome you to the 2nd session of the 2005-6 season of VOCAL’s Westchester County’s Intergenerational Advocacy Educational Program, speak-out forum for senior citizens. Basically this is a program that encourages seniors to voice their opinions on a subject of interest to our communities, whether local, regional or national. Its purpose is to help empower people to learn how to ask the right questions, find out information that is necessary for both their physical and mental well-being and add to their cultural and social awareness. By speaking out and using their mind with regards to current public policy issues seniors, like all of us will benefit.

I have passed out to all of you articles from various sources regarding this morning’s topic, “What Do We Do About Iraq?”

I also have a limited number of longer pieces that anyone can have. They also represent a broad spectrum of opinion:

My opening statement regards the important Public Policy question of “What should America do about Iraq?” Currently as a nation we are facing a very difficult situation in Iraq. We are spending approximately $7-8 billion per month. We are facing an ongoing insurrections that has escalated from 100 to 700 or so incidents per day that reflect bombings, small arms attacks, rocket propelled grenades, assassinations, kidnappings and general lawlessness. There has been some successes reflective or public voting, re-opening of schools, the development of a police force and army, the pumping of oil, the return of some services, businesses have reopened and the emergence of a free press. On the other hand there are people being killed every day by bombs, suicide bombers, and guerrilla warfare. The US has sustained over 2100 deaths, there are over 17,000 wounded and our armed forces are under great stress. This includes the stretching of our National Guard and Reserves, and the cost of medical care and disability. In other words is this effort worth the cost?

Therefore to frame our discussion this morning I would like to pose a few questions to our audience. Please note the following:

1)                 Should we stay the course with our current troop levels and rotation?

2)                 Should we increase our troop strength and therefore create more pressure on the insurgency?

3)                 Should we destabilize Syria whose porous border allows fighters to assist the Sunnis in their war against the Shiites?

4)                 Should we re-institute the draft and take the burden off our professional army, the Reserves, and the National Guard?

5)                 Should we establish a timetable for withdrawal of our troops?

6)                 Should we start pulling out our troops unilaterally without any regard to the progress regarding the Iraqi National Force?

7)                 Should Iraq be partitioned into three states, the Kurdish north, Shiite South, and the center left to the battle between the Sunnis and the Shiites?

Should therefore there be a change in Public Policy regarding the Middle East and the Islamic World

1)                 Should we alter our support for Israel?

2)                 Should we support a two state solution for Israel and the Palestinian Arabs?

3)                 Should we end our support for the oil oligarchies, like Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia?

4)                 Should we be making a greater effort to forge cultural ties with the Islamic/Arab world?

5)                 Should we de-emphasize democratic reforms in countries like Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia?

6)                 Should we overthrow Syria, and destroy Iranian nuclear facilities?

What Do We Do About Iraq?

By

Richard J. Garfunkel

December 1, 2005

Hello and good morning to all of you. My name is Richard J. Garfunkel, and I will serve as the leader for this forum. I want first to thank Reva Greenberg, from Westchester County’s Office of the Aging and VOCAL, who invited me to partake in this endeavor and to also thank Vera Schiller who recommended me to follow her husband Irv, who led these “speak-outs” in the past. I want to welcome you to the 2nd session of the 2005-6 season of VOCAL’s Westchester County’s Intergenerational Advocacy Educational Program, speak-out forum for senior citizens. Basically this is a program that encourages seniors to voice their opinions on a subject of interest to our communities, whether local, regional or national. Its purpose is to help empower people to learn how to ask the right questions, find out information that is necessary for both their physical and mental well-being and add to their cultural and social awareness. By speaking out and using their mind with regards to current public policy issues seniors, like all of us will benefit.

I have passed out to all of you articles from various sources regarding this morning’s topic, “What Do We Do About Iraq?”

I also have a limited number of longer pieces that anyone can have. They also represent a broad spectrum of opinion:

My opening statement regards the important Public Policy question of “What should America do about Iraq?” Currently as a nation we are facing a very difficult situation in Iraq. We are spending approximately $7-8 billion per month. We are facing an ongoing insurrections that has escalated from 100 to 700 or so incidents per day that reflect bombings, small arms attacks, rocket propelled grenades, assassinations, kidnappings and general lawlessness. There has been some successes reflective or public voting, re-opening of schools, the development of a police force and army, the pumping of oil, the return of some services, businesses have reopened and the emergence of a free press. On the other hand there are people being killed every day by bombs, suicide bombers, and guerrilla warfare. The US has sustained over 2100 deaths, there are over 17,000 wounded and our armed forces are under great stress. This includes the stretching of our National Guard and Reserves, and the cost of medical care and disability. In other words is this effort worth the cost?

Therefore to frame our discussion this morning I would like to pose a few questions to our audience. Please note the following:

1)                 Should we stay the course with our current troop levels and rotation?

2)                 Should we increase our troop strength and therefore create more pressure on the insurgency?

3)                 Should we destabilize Syria whose porous border allows fighters to assist the Sunnis in their war against the Shiites?

4)                 Should we re-institute the draft and take the burden off our professional army, the Reserves, and the National Guard?

5)                 Should we establish a timetable for withdrawal of our troops?

6)                 Should we start pulling out our troops unilaterally without any regard to the progress regarding the Iraqi National Force?

7)                 Should Iraq be partitioned into three states, the Kurdish north, Shiite South, and the center left to the battle between the Sunnis and the Shiites?

Should therefore there be a change in Public Policy regarding the Middle East and the Islamic World

1)                 Should we alter our support for Israel?

2)                 Should we support a two state solution for Israel and the Palestinian Arabs?

3)                 Should we end our support for the oil oligarchies, like Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia?

4)                 Should we be making a greater effort to forge cultural ties with the Islamic/Arab world?

5)                 Should we de-emphasize democratic reforms in countries like Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia?

6)                 Should we overthrow Syria, and destroy Iranian nuclear facilities?

Thanksgiving, The Kennedy’s and My Brush with History

November 28, 2005

Richard J. Garfunkel

Every time Thanksgiving rolls around as November ages into early winter, and this year it was unusually cold, the seminal event of our life and times, the Kennedy assassination is in the news again. In the same sense, not unlike the general public’s reaction to Lincoln’s death which no one’s grandfather I know could even possibly remember, the attack at Pearl Harbor, the destruction of the World Trade Center and the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was similar to Kennedy’s death in its impact. In all of those past occurrences the public was similarly shocked, and moved to great emotion. Overtime anyone who was alive and cognitively aware of those tragic events could and would tell everyone, who would listen, where they were when the news came their way.

I was at Boston University on that fatal November 22, 1963 day suffering through a pretty interminable and boring “What is Math?” freshman math class. As the hour droned on a student, with the name DeMarco, from Malden, Massachusetts, I believe, stormed into the room and announced to the startled and then shocked group that the President had been shot in Dallas. I am sure that the class, like myself, had no idea that he was even in Dallas. Recently it had been in the news that UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson had harassed there, but other then that fact, in that age of little news coverage, the comings and goings of the President were a mystery to most. After the insane news sunk into all of us, the class was quickly dismissed. We all went downstairs in Hayden Hall where the Liberal Arts College was located, and in the main lobby, by the information desk, was a group of anxious young men and women clustered around a small transistor radio. Everyone was waiting for news that he was all right. Of course the news did not improve the grave reality of the situation. As the last stunning release came forth, every one gasped, some screamed and others cried. We all quickly dispersed as everyone, I assume, was caught up in their own thoughts of collective despair.

I remember walking down the steep marble stairs into the darkening air around Commonwealth Avenue and seeing the traffic standing still. In dead silence with only their beams reflecting that the cars were occupied, every vehicle had stopped. The people were all listening to their radios and as I walked towards Kenmore Square and my dormitory, Myles Standish Hall, I could see the anguish on their tear stained faces. This was Boston and Jack Kennedy was perceived as the hometown lad who made good. Of course President Kennedy, who was born on Beal Street in Brookline, had lived many places with his dynamic, controversial, well-off father and his large famous family. But he came back to Boston, ran and represented a district in downtown since1946 before he won his Senate seat in 1952.

That day was a shocking blur to many of us. I didn’t normally attend religious services, but for the first and only time I went to Hillel House for a memorial service. November 22^nd was on a Friday, and we were all looking forward to going home for our first Thanksgiving since college had started. Many guys from Westchester County had decided to charter a bus for the ride home. In our freshman year no one had a car. We all decided that we did not want to hang around the dorms until the next Wednesday, since the school was shut down, so someone contacted the bus company and remarkably the bus was ready whenever we were. I was especially anxious to get home. While visiting my home for the first time that year I had broken my jaw in a car accident on Columbus Day, that resulted in two-weeks of recovery in the Mount Vernon Hospital in New York. I had my jaw wired in the hospital and went back to school. Therefore, after 40 days of having my jaw wired shut, I wanted to get home and get my mouth unhinged by my oral surgeon Doctor Albert Albanese. Dr. Albanese was one of the younger siblings of the Albanese family that ran a well-known restaurant/gin mill in Eastchester where many of us had our first beer. (Years later we met at County Tennis in Scarsdale and I was able to laugh about that long and unpleasant experience. Unfortunately, not long after we met, he had a fatal heart attack on the golf course)

Funny thing was that my parents weren’t even home. They were away in Spain I believe, and I went to stay with my grandfather who lived on 36^th Street in New York City. He was glad to see me and like the rest of us, and though he had experienced much in his long life (he was 79 at the time), he was quite disturbed and upset by the killing. On Saturday morning we both arose quite early and I turned on his television set and that’s where we witnessed live the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Years later when, after I met my future wife Linda (who worked actively in the Robert Kennedy Campaign of 1968), I came in contact with her famous cousin the famous Frederick W. Rosen, Lt. Commander (retired) who had just happened to have served in the PT Boats and was a contemporary and friend of Jack Kennedy.  Fred was born in Brooklyn in 1917 (the same year as JFK), and moved to Georgia in the 1930’s when his older brother sought opportunities in the textile industry. Fred enlisted in the US Navy and met Jack Kennedy in Charlestown when they were both assigned to the Commandant’s staff in the code-deciphering department. Kennedy had been stuck in this unglamorous duty and some historians thought that he was there being “set-up” by the FBI. During that period of time the handsome, single Kennedy was having a relationship with one Inga Marie Arvad, a 28-year-old beautiful Dane, who was suspected as being a Nazi spy. She was then married, and represented one of the leading Danish Newspapers, and had interviewed Goring, Goebbels and even Hitler! Of course, though warned of Inga’s connections, he did not want to give up Inga, who was the most intriguing women he had so far met. As traveled and sophisticated as he was in meeting ambassadors and diplomats, his extraordinary experience as a 24 year old paled in comparison with this worldly 28 year old. She was not only well traveled like Jack, but was smart, sharp, beautiful, sophisticated and sexually experienced.

It seemed that the FBI had been trailing Inga for quite some time and was wire tapping her phones, observing her actions and bugging her hotel rooms wherever she went and tracking whomever she was associated with. But with all of their efforts, it was said, that they were only able to chronicle her high level of passion and nothing about codes or secrets. If they wanted to entrap the young Kennedy with a potential spy, it failed. The affair with Inga passed, and more serious business was at hand for the young recruits. As time passed in the de-coding section, news came through asking for volunteers for Midshipman School in Chicago, and both Fred and a bored Jack Kennedy immediately volunteered. They were both originally rejected, seemingly because they didn’t have replacements in Charlestown. Fortunately the demand for officer candidates in Chicago was so great that they were both eventually approved for sea duty training.

Eventually, the famous Lt. Commander John Duncan Bulkeley of New York City, who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for taking General Douglas MacArthur out of the Phillipines, recruited both Fred and Jack Kennedy for the PT Boat service. Bulkeley was so famous that he was given a ticker-tape parade up Broadway; a best seller (and later a movie was made with Robert Montgomery and John Wayne) They Were Expendable was written about his exploits crossing 600 miles of open sea, in a PT Boat carrying MacArthur from Corregidor to Mindanao, and FDR not only presented him personally with the Congressional Medal of Honor, but also treated him to a private audience. In the seclusion of their meeting Bulkeley extolled the virtues of the PT Boat and requested that 200 be immediately shipped to the Pacific. Bulkeley later related his “fantasies” to Kennedy’s class in Chicago. and requested the “toughest, hard-boiled men who can take all the punishment in the world.” Fred later recalled that he (Bulkeley) was just recruiting volunteers for that service, because that was the only way one could get into that type of service. (Years later I spoke to Fred about Bulkeley, 1911-96, who had been awarded, along with the Medal of Honor, the Navy Cross, the Army Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit and two Purple Hearts had attained rank of Vice-Admiral, and was being honored in his 80’s. Fred did not speak enthusiastically about him! I was quite surprised but didn’t pursue the discussion.)

While they were both at the Melville Motor Boat Training School (Rhode Island), Jack was the only one with a car and they drove into nearby Newport nightly, and NYC on the weekends. Fred who was from Dalton, Georgia was able to experience a pretty exciting night life with the young Kennedy and he clearly remembered his first time at the “21” Club. Another fellow that they “hung out” with was Knox Aldridge, who played football with Fred at the University of Georgia. Fred had played for the Georgia Bulldogs who tied 10-10 the famous Fordham College Ram team, and its Seven Blocks of Granite linemen of 1937. Fordham, whose record was only marred by the “tie” and was knocked out of consideration for the Rose Bowl by the Bulldog team, featured Vince Lomabardi, Wellington Mara, Alex Wojceichowicz (All-American and Hall of Fame star of the Detroit Lions) and the late William J. O’Hara, Sr. William (Pat) O’Hara, also known as the Commissioner, who died in 2002 at the age of 87, was from my hometown of Mount Vernon. He was at one-time a commissioner on the old Westchester County Board of Legislators and was the lawyer for the old Brooklyn Dodgers, Walter O’Malley and the New York Football Giants. He was a life-long friend of Wellington Mara. At one time, in my early teens I caddied at Winged Foot, where they both belonged and I had the good fortune of caddying for the legendary Mr. Mara, who recently passed away after 75 + years in the game.

Of course Fred saw many sides of the young Kennedy, and some of his remarks could be quite offensive. One time Jack said that the “Jews were all going into the Quartermaster Corps to escape combat.” In truth, Kennedy not only misinterpreted the Quartermaster Corps and its role, but Fred got him to admit that his statement was outrageous. There were many other times that the future President had a tendency to reflect his father’s prejudices. Eventually they were sent to New Orleans where the boats were being built in the Higgins Boat Yard. There, Fred and Jack separated. Fred later served in the Mediterranean as skipper of his own ship, PT-207 of the squadron MTB Ron 15. He was a decorated sailor who was engaged in 73 actions and 55 OSS missions. One included support for the bringing of Michael Burke (member of the OSS, later owner of the NY Yankees) into Italy for the purpose of arranging the surrender of Italian Forces and ending their participation in the Axis Alliance. Of course, on the other side of the world, in the Pacific, Jack Kennedy gained fame with his crew of the ill-fated PT-109.

Fred Rosen stayed friendly with Kennedy after the war and was the only PT boat commander in attendance at his wedding in Newport at Hammersmith Farm. He was on the board of PT Boat Men for Kennedy in 1960 and was invited to be in attendance during the President’s swearing in as President. Fred representing Peter Tare, the PT Officers alumni association, presented President Kennedy with a Steuben glass replica of his famous boat that remained a fixture on his desk during his Presidency. My daughter, who worked at the Kennedy Library, during her graduate school days in Boston, gave us a tour of the Library and we looked immediately for the famous model.

In later years, I was already pretty experienced in the world of local politics. As the 1980 Presidential campaign started to heat up, many of us were extremely unhappy with President Jimmy Carter. I had earlier supported a number of others, including: Hubert Humphrey, Birch Bayh, and Morris Udall. In fact I served on a committee that put together an alternative slate to oppose Carter in the 1976 primaries. By 1980 we had become pretty disillusioned with Carter and we started to look towards a Teddy Kennedy candidacy. I had decided to hear the Senator speak at the Americana Hotel (now the New York Sheraton). I left my 3 East 28^th Street office at around 5:00pm and started to walk over to the Americana that wasn’t to far away. It didn’t take long for me to reach the Americana and I had plenty of time to “kill” before the speech at. 8 pm. I was scheduled to meet two political colleagues from White Plains, one a fellow who became a County Legislator for a short time and the other, Dennis Power, who would serve on the White Plains City Council for one-term and just recently ran and was defeated for Mayor of White Plains.

As I entered the vast lobby of the mobbed hotel, a fellow I recognized walked straight towards me and said hello. I didn’t know his name, but he seemed to know me. He quickly inquired whether I was here to see and hear the Senator’s speech, and I said, “Yes!” He asked me whether I would like to meet the Senator and I said enthusiastically, “Of course.” In a few moments I was on my way up to his suite where I met his national campaign manager, former Congressman James G. O’Hara from Michigan. (O’Hara, born in 1925, then 55 years old had served in Congress from 1958 to 1976 when he lost in a primary for the Senate to the eventual winner Don Riegle Jr.) Well as things happened, I walked in, Congressman O’Hara walked out and there I was left alone with Senator Kennedy. Of course what does one say? Thankfully I was well aware of the relationship of Fred Rosen with the late President and I brought up the subject of the connection. Whether it was true or not, the Senator did say that he remembered Fred along with all of the other PT Boat sailors who had worked with and for his brother back in 1960. Of course Fred had been quite friendly with Paul “Red” Fay, another PT Boatman who served as Under Secretary of the Navy in the Kennedy administration and was a close friend and advisor to the President. We talked for quite awhile until some more visitors arrived. They were union officials that wanted to meet with the Senator. I was in the background, kept quiet, but was able to take a few pictures and eventually time passed and I thanked the Senator, wished him good luck in the NY State Primary, and excused myself. Once downstairs I found the ballroom where many were gathered for the address. There sitting in the front row were my “buddies” from White Plains. They of course wanted to know where I had been up to that time and when I told them they astounded, green with envy and extremely jealous. But I was happy to fill them in on my good luck and before long the Senator came down, was introduced, made a great campaign statement and left the crowd hungry for more.

Later as the years went by I got to meet the Senator at various occasions. Linda and I were back at the Americana on April 14, 2004, now the Sheraton, for a Kerry Campaign dinner, fund-raiser and a cocktail party and the Senator was there with his sister Jean, Ted Sorenson and a cast of thousands. Dana, our daughter, now works at the Kennedy School at Harvard and Fred Rosen passed away in Dalton Georgia on July 14, 2003 at the age of 86.

Richard J. Garfunkel

To Sedona and Back

Richard J. Garfunkel

November 20, 2005

Arizona is a dry and arid place that was, and is, the home of Native Americans for centuries before European adventurers wandered in to their environs. There were many different small and large tribes of these desert folk. Some wandered looking for water and others built semi- and permanent dwellings into the surrounding rock formations, hills, mesas, and mountains. Until the horse came to North America via Mexico and the Spaniards seeking the fabled Seven Golden Cities of Cibola, the indigenous people, we know, as the American Indian was quite limited in his/her ability to be mobile. Many used dogs to drag their sleds. The dogs were large and powerful, but they could only pull a 50 lb load at 3-4 miles per hours. When the horse came to the Southwest the world of the Indian expanded exponentially. A horse could pull a sled holding 150 lbs at more than twice the speed, possibly reaching10 mph or so. Therefore this new ability increased the ratio between the horse and the dog to seven to one with regards to speed and power. This added great mobility to these tribes, which in pre-Columbian days rarely came in contact with each other. The Indians understood this ratio quite well.

Many like the Hopi and the Navajo settled in the area of Monument Valley, where countless western movies were made. Others in the north, up where the fabulous Grand Canyon is located, were the Southern Paiute, Walapai and Havasupai.. In the Flagstaff high plateau region were the Yavapai. Along today’s most populated section of modern Arizona, in and around Phoenix and Scottsdale, within Maricopa County, the Maricopas made their homes. To the northeast below the Petrified Forest and above the White Mountains were the nomadic Western Apaches. When one traveled south to Tucson and the frontier town of Tombstone one would come in contact with the Pima and Papago.

Phoenix is a modern city in comparison to the municipalities in the east. Though Native Americans had lived there as early as 700 CE, it was settled by Europeans in 1870, became the seat of the newly established Maricopa County in 1871, became the territorial capital in 1889, and remained the capital up until statehood in 1912. Today Phoenix and its suburbs have half the population of the growing state. In 2001 it was estimated that there were over 5.4 million Arizonans. When Frank Lloyd Wright started his famous architectural school and winter home in the late 1930’s at Taliesen West, the population of Scottsdale was around 200 souls and they were up a small mountain sixteen miles into the desert. Today Scottsdale’s city limits go far beyond Wright’s most interesting home and the population is over 202,000 people (2000 census.) Meanwhile 200 people immigrate a day to the Scottsdale Phoenix area, so one could easily guess that there many more people than 200,000. (In 1990 the population was 130,000!)

Beyond the obvious contrasts of the mountain ranges, the deep blue, cloudless sky and the valleys one can always marvel at the vegetation that survives in an environment that can be incredibly hostile. Besides the classic symbol of Arizona, the giant Saguaros that can grow to 15-18 feet and have gigantic arms that can spread out in all directions, there others called; prickly pear, pin cushion, fish hook, rainbow, devil’s finger, beaver tail, buckhorn, hedgehog, yucca, ironwood, cholla, and the Joshua Tree. The Saguaros dwarf all of the cacti and deciduous plants and when one drives all over southern Arizona one can see Saguaros for as far as the eye can see.

But when starts on a trek north, two things become quite apparent. First of all one experiences a steady climb in elevation, and secondarily, during the winter, or late fall, the temperatures start to drop. So as one begins to race along the Route 17 road that leads to 179N and into Sedona, one starts to feel the pressure of thinner air, the disappearance of the Saguaros and change in scenery. Sedona is not terribly far from Scottsdale and the 105 or so miles can be consumed quickly at minimum speeds of 75 mph. As one approaches the outskirts of Sedona, the gigantic red rocks, which the region is famous for, leap out at you. They even have nicknames like Coffee Pot, Cathedral Rock, Doe Mesa, Bear Mountain, Madonna, the Nuns, Gibraltor, Court Chimney Rock, Capitol Butte, Giant’s Thumb, and the Bell Rock. People identify with these massive landmarks, and they can be seen from many different directions and angles. As the sun and the clouds cast their glare and shadow on the rocks, the hues become either brighter or subtler. The variations are unlimited and almost every hour of the day from dawn to dusk opens up another unequalled visual delight. The rich red color seems to come from Redwell limestone, laid down by a shallow tropical sea 330 million years ago. Redwell limestone is actually gray in color, is stained red by the overlaying layers. They are red because of a thin, oxidized iron deposit that coats the individual grains of sand. Of course there are more geological details, but the important fact is that these reddish orange majesties shriek out at the viewer against the deep blue background of the skies.

Only recently there is a story of a graduate student participating in an archeological study at the Honanki ruins west of Sedona, who slipped away from his group reflective of a “call of nature.” His serendipitous bathroom break brought to light the first Clovis point (Clovis hunters were considered the first to migrate from Asia over the Bering Straight some 12,000 years ago as the ice-age glaciers were receding.) found in the red rock area. This point, along with others found since, seems to indicate that hunter-gatherers roamed the canyons of Sedona as many as ten thousand years ago.

Of course this was a quick stay as opposed to the one we made five years ago. Sedona is growing and there are currently 10,000+ persons living in and around 89A, which is the main road that goes through the center of town. After touring, shopping and eating in Sedona, we headed southwest for the old mining town of Jerome, that is located half way up a mountain (5000+ feet in elevation) and across the valley city of Cottonwood. Jerome, which used to be a center for copper mining, at one time in the 1880’s boasted 15,000 residents. Today the copper and the people are gone. Little is left from that bygone era except the buildings downtown and the Little Daisy Hotel that is still nestled into the mountainside. Jerome now is the home of 400 residents and a thriving jewelry and collectible center. There’s not much Indian pottery, Kachina dolls or woven goods in Jerome, but there are plenty stores that feature western artifacts and jewelry that attract hundreds of weekend trekkers from as faraway as Scottsdale and Phoenix.

Well, after a great day trip, it was back again to our time-sharing rooms at the Kierland Westin Resort and the 80 degree weather of Phoenix. Scottsdale is a remarkably rich community that borders on Phoenix and when one travels up and down the many miles of Scottsdale Road to its southern border at Mesa, one is amazed by the sheer amount of stores. Scottsdale is very large and the population is spread all over. Places like Camelback and Paradise Valley have incredible homes and one could drive miles without ever seeing an apartment house or a commercial building greater then seven stories high, except for the downtown area of Phoenix surrounding the Bank One Ball Park where the Arizona Diamondbacks play. I can’t emphasize enough about the growth in that area of Arizona, it is remarkable. The potential seems unlimited as long as they can provide water.

The huge artificial Roosevelt Reservoir serves Scottsdale and Phoenix. In 1906, while Arizona was still a territory, a huge 248-foot-high damn was started at the confluence of the Salt River and Tonto Creek, some thirty miles east of Phoenix. It was completed in 1911 and was named after President Theodore Roosevelt. Because of a severe drought the new Roosevelt Lake did not reach capacity until 1915. The first drops of water that finally went over the damn were bottled and saved for the christening, a few months later, of the newly constructed battleship USS Arizona. (Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt led the Navy delegation at its keel laying in March of 1914.)

Meanwhile, chosen for the honor of naming the ship, was given to Miss Esther Ross, the daughter of one of Arizona’s pioneer families. Along with Miss Ross, and many other Arizonan dignitaries who traveled to the New York Naval Yard, was the father of the late Senator Barry Goldwater, who was one of Phoenix’s earliest merchants. The USS Arizona was the latest and greatest battleship in the world at the time of its christening in June of 1915. The crowd was estimated at 75,000 people, and that was the largest crowd, at that time, to ever see an American ship launched. As the crowd roared its approval, Miss Ross shouted, “I name thee Arizona”, and hurled bottles of Arizona water and Ohio champagne at the bow of the ship. Years later after the USS Arizona had met her unhappy fate at Pearl Harbor Esther Ross talked about the rumor that had spread amongst the sailors at the launching. Many sailors considered that the launching of a ship with water was a bad omen. In any event the Arizona was reported at the time to be the first US warship christened with water. If that was a bad omen, it was reinforced by the fact that rocks for the Roosevelt Damn came from the Superstition Mountain.

So the essence to any area’s survival is water, and the early wanderings of most of the Native Americans tribes were in search of water.

Speaking of Native Americans, when one travels to Arizona one is take by the immeasurable varieties of Native American pottery, which ranges from Anasazi to Zuni. Probably of all the various types of modern pottery, (circa 1910-40) the designs made by the famous Acoma potter Lucy Lewis, Maria Martinez and her black on black pottery of San Ildefonso, and Marie Chino of Acoma are the best known. Others like Mata Ortiz, from Casas Grandes also became quite well known. Usually the whole class of mid 20^th century potters is called the “Seven Families,” which includes other names as Tafoya, Gutierrez, and Gonzales. Of course it all started in 1539 with an annoyed Zuni warrior, who spread the rumor of the golden cities of Cibola. Coronado came and conquered the Zunis in less then an hour. From that time on Europeans always controlled the pottery country. The modern age of this pottery came after 1880 with the coming of the railroad and the migration from the East. This modern era extends to 1950, and the contemporary era is from 1950 to the present. So when one goes back to earliest days, between the late 1600’s and 1880, the names of the different types are Mogollon, brown pottery, Anasazi, the gray pottery, Cibola, Mogollon black and white, Hohokam, the buff pottery, Salado, the red pottery, Hopi and Sinagua, the yellow pottery, and the Casas Grandes. Any of those pieces are extremely rare to find and command museum level prices.

The Kachina dolls, another facet of Native art, are a story that must wait for another trip. Kachinas are religious dolls that are reminiscent of our eastern Native American totem poles. But the Kachinas, carved in wood, are in human form, dressed in mystical masks that resemble animals and are usually posed in the action of a religious dance. These Kachinas can range in price from the ridiculous to the sublime. The Navaho types, which seemed to be cruder and adorned with white feathers, are on the low end of the cost spectrum. These dolls could cost anywhere from $40 to $150 depending on size. But the more intricately painted ones, from a varied number of tribes can range into the thousands. So far I haven’t found one that I like and can also afford.

We finished most of our touring by our visits to north of Scottsdale where the small towns of Carefree and Cave Creek are located. Carefree is incredibly wealthy and the rich and famous have built incredible homes into the mountainsides that tower along the main road.  Many range far above the $10 million cost! Carefree has wonderful stores and galleries that service its population. But up the road a bit is Cave Creek, which is a western style town, that has a down home atmosphere of the real west and all sorts of shops along its one main street. One can buy all sorts of barbeque sauces, western horsy gear, planters, pottery and a myriad of other items. Carefree is very upscale and worthwhile to visit, and Cave Creek is a more downscale experience that quickly removes one from the modern day material world of Scottsdale/Phoenix.

So all-in-all Arizona is great, a stay in Scottsdale must be accompanied by a trip to Sedona. Once one sees Sedona that visual experience will last a lifetime. So if you’re youngish, have no roots in the East, willing to make a big change, the Southwest is the place. For us we are already looking forward to our next trip in March 2007.

RJG

Wellington Mara, The White Sox and my touch with History

By Richard J. Garfunkel

October 27, 2005

The rainstorms of October have washed away the long, hot days of summer. The Yankees, after a frustrating up and down season were once again not in the World Series. Over the last ten years we started to believe in the myth of Yankee invincibility and that the Bronx was its only legitimate home. But George’s open checkbook policy of signing “over the hill” former trophies has finally come home to roost. Inconsistent play was the hallmark of the former champs and baseball is still a team game.

Baseball history was surprisingly served the last two years by the success of two perpetual “bridesmaids,” who were two of the original American League franchises, and have coincidentally similar names. The Red Sox and the White Sox have now ended two of the longest championship droughts that had lasted over 80+ years. The White Sox 4-0 sweep over the Houston Astros, replicated three previous other times in baseball history when one league was able to sweep the other league twice in a row. In 1927-8, the Yankees Murderer’s Row teams with Ruth and Gehrig swept both the Pirates and the Cards. Again in 1938-9 the Bronx Bombers with Gehrig and DiMaggio swept the Cubs and the Reds. And of course recently, the “Torre” Yanks swept both the hapless Padres and the Braves. The White Sox, who had a long history of futility emanating from the infamous Black Sox Scandal of 1919, came back into the championship spotlight under the enlightened tenure of Al Lopez in 1959. But since then they had not made an appearance in the Fall Classic and had not won a World Series since 1917, with their ill fated star Shoeless Joe Jackson.

We have a slight connection with the White Sox through one of Linda’s fiends from Barnard College, whose husband is very close to one of the owners of the White Sox. Not too long ago we went to see the Edward R. Murrow film, Goodnight and Good Luck with them and we all wanted the White Sox to win. Months earlier at another dinner we had all speculated about the slim possibility, of the then surging White Sox’s ability to sustain their momentum and win. For sure very few baseball fans would have thought way back in April, that these two teams would have been playing for the championship come October.

Meanwhile the local football season has been shocked by both the collapse of the Jets, with their numerous injuries, and the death of Wellington Mara, the long-time patriarch and owner of the Giants.

In the late 1950’s I started caddying at the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, at the invitation of my Mount Vernon neighbor, the famous and flamboyant William J. O’Hara, a former member of the old Westchester Board of Supervisors. Bill O’Hara, who was affectionately known as the “Commissioner,” was the lawyer of both the old Brooklyn Dodgers and the football New York Giants. Not only was the late Bill O’Hara, who passed away in 2002 at the age of 87, a great golfer and a remarkable individual, but he attended and played football for Fordham College with not only Wellington Mara, but with the late great Vince Lombardi, who was a member of their famous “Seven Blocks of Granite” front line.

Ironically I had another indirect connection with that Fordham class of 1937. They had a wonderful football team that year, and were undefeated when they met a determined University of Georgia Bulldog squad. Fordham was expecting a Rose Bowl invitation. In those days, before the Big 10 Conference winner had an automatic invitation to play the Pacific 8 Champion, the Rose Bowl quite often invited the best team from the East to play. In fact, remarkably, Columbia University beat Stanford 7-0, in 1934.

Fordham, expecting to finish the season undefeated, faced a determined Bulldog team that came to New York, with a young Frederick W. Rosen, a cousin of my wife Linda. Fred later earned fame with his service during World War II with the PT Boats and his friendship with young Jack Kennedy. He met the future President in Charlestown, South Carolina and eventually trained with him at the Melville Motor Boat Training School in Rhode Island, later attended his wedding at Hammersmith Farm in Newport, RI and was part of the team of former PT Boat veterans that campaigned for Kennedy in the 1960 Presidential campaign. Fred, was a member of Peter Tare, the PT Boat Officer’s Alumni Association that later presented the President with a Stueben glass replica of the ill-fated PT-109. Of course Georgia wound up tying the Rams 10-10 and as a consequence of that tie, Fordham eventually lost their invitation to the Bowl game to the University of Pittsburgh.

In the 1950’s, I was a young teenager and had the pleasure and unique experience of caddying for Wellington Mara at Winged Foot. Wellington Mara was the younger son of Tim Mara, a local legal bookmaker at the New York tracks, who had acquired the NY franchise of the Giants in 1925, for an amount reportedly between $500 and $2000. Supposedly that money represented a gambling debt owed to Mara, but the real details have only been rumored about.

The inaugural 1925 season opened inauspiciously with three straight losses. Their first home game, at the fabled Polo Grounds, was a loss to the Frankfort Yellow Jackets 14-0, and played in front of 40,000 fans, of whom only half had paid. The Giants were able to win the next 7 games including 4 shutouts, but despite their new success they became a financial disaster. By the time the Chicago Bears came to town, they were deep in debt, probably about $40,000. Tim Mara’s friends and colleagues were urging him to the man to forget this ill-fated business. Wellington Mara clearly recalled that Governor Al Smith, a friend of his father, and a frequent visitor to their home, telling him “Pro football will never amount to anything, why don’t you give it up.”  Reportedly Tim Mara answered, that the boys, Jack, age 18 and Wellington, age 9 would never forgive him. Of course Al Smith, a great governor was also wrong about FDR. When he was warned by friends not to let FDR, a potential state rival, nominate him at the 1928 Democratic Convention, and become the candidate for NY State governor, Smith said, “don’t worry, he’s a sick man and won’t live another year.”

But resurrection, to coin a phrase for a family of devout Catholics, was at hand. The Chicago Bears were on their way to New York with their most recent acquisition, the great, legendary Harold “Red” Grange and his wily agent Charles C. (Cash and Carry) Pyle. Grange had played his last college game the Saturday before Thanksgiving and his first pro game on Thanksgiving Day. The “Galloping Ghost,” from the University of Illinois, as Grange was nicknamed by the famous sportswriter Grantland Rice, was still technically a senior in College.

With the game scheduled for December 6, a week after the Army-Navy Game at the Polo Grounds, thousands of seats were still in place. By the game time 70,000+ seats had been sold, and more then 20,000 fans were perched on Coogan’s Bluff that overlooked the Polo Grounds, and the neighboring apartment buildings. It was said that Grange made $30,000 on that game alone, and $250,000 that season.  Mara’s $40,000 debt was wiped out and at season’s end he had made a profit of $18,000.

Of course, in the late 1950’s and early 60’s, Wellington’s older brother Jack ran the Giants. When Jack died in 1965, Wellington, who was the personnel director of the Giants, took over the reins of the team. He owned half the Giants along with his brother’s widow and their son Tim. Unfortunately with the dual burden of management and personnel, the Giants entered into a long period of failure and fan disillusionment.

But, be that as it may, I did caddy and get to meet Wellington Mara a number of times. His reputation as a gentleman, a sportsman, a family and religious man was second to none. Mara was the last survivor of one of the founding families that included George Halas and Art Rooney. Who would know, certainly not the politically astute Al Smith that this ramshackle and disorganized league, where franchises were bought and sold for hundreds of dollars, would eventually become a multi-billion dollar enterprise?

An old era has finally passed with the death of the last witness to the earliest days of the National Football League. Will there also be a change in the Bronx, as the Yankees start to feel their age? Will see next spring.

September 27, 2005

Letter to the Editor:

In a letter to the editor, on Tuesday, September 27, 2005, Ms. Judith Niewiadomski makes a broad-brush attack on the patriotism and competence on liberal Democrats, as if they were un-American. She seems to intimate that all Democrats and liberals believe that racism caused the disaster in New Orleans. I believe that is an insincere and insulting conclusion. She also includes, in her diatribe about Democrats, her evaluation of why people are poor. Her thoughts seem to reinforce the view, that conservatives and many Republicans possess, that the biggest crime in America is being poor. Ms. Niewiadomski seems to want to obfuscate the real issue that most people are starting to believe, that it is George W. Bush who is incompetent and that he reflects the insensitivity of his mother and her cavalier attitude of noblesse oblige. Whether the local officials of New Orleans and Louisiana are competent, or not, begs the issue regarding a delayed and confused response from the Bush administration. The American people seem to want to know why FEMA and other critical agencies have been compromised by the appointment of political hacks, and why George W. Bush and his cronies have been directing billions of dollars towards their wealthy supporters and friends? All the metaphors about hard work and savings do not mask the reality that there are millions and millions of disadvantaged poor people whose lives have been completely disrupted by the hurricanes and that George W. Bush’s faux attitude of concern has been promulgated by political necessity.

Richard J. Garfunkel