American Icons - Our Lost Founding Archives

American Icons: Johnny Cash, a God fearing man

On this day in 1932, legendary singer Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas. In 1950 he enlisted in the United States Air Force.

The values of our founding were not lost on this American icon.

For example, here’s a bit of his “Song of the Patriot”:

“I don’t believe in violence, I’m a God fearing man
But I’d stand up for my country just as long as I can stand
‘Cause Im a flag waving patriotic nephew of my Uncle Sam
A rough riding fighting Yankee man”

“A real man”

Johnny Cash believed “the Bible, the whole Bible, to be the infallible, indisputable Word of God,” and said this of his faith:

“Being a Christian isn’t for sissies. It takes a real man to live for God — a lot more man than to live for the devil, you know? If you really want to live right these days, you gotta be tough.”
“If you’re going to be a Christian, you’re going to change. You’re going to lose some old friends, not because you want to, but because you need to.”

February 26, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

American Icons, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

‘America’s Pastor,’ Reverend Billy Graham : “first and always for his fellow citizens”

On February 23rd, 1983 President Ronald Reagan awarded Billy Graham the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The medal is bestowed by the President and is the highest civilian award of the United States, recognizing those who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”

As President Ronald Reagan prepared to present the medal to Reverend Graham, he made the following remarks:
“Reverend William “Billy” Graham’s untiring evangelism has spread the word of God to every corner of the globe, and made him one of the most inspirational spiritual leaders of the Twentieth Century. As a deeply committed Christian, his challenge to accept Jesus Christ has lifted the hearts, assuaged the sorrows and renewed the hopes of millions. Billy Graham is an American who lives first and always for his fellow citizens. In honoring him, we give thanks for God’s greatest spiritual gifts—faith, hope, and love.”

He added: “Billy Graham’s contribution to the well-being of mankind is literally immeasurable. Millions of lives across the globe have been enriched because of his good work. The world is a better place because of Billy Graham.”

Honor and humility

In response to receiving this high honor, Billy Graham said this:
“All that I have been able to do I owe to Jesus Christ. When you honor me, you are really honoring Him. Any honors I have received I accept with a sense of inadequacy and humility, and will reserve the right to hand all of these someday to Christ when I see him, face-to-face.”

Finally, Billy Graham is one of just four private citizens to lay in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.

February 23, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

John Glenn Presidential Medal of Freedom

American Icons, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

John Glenn : “vantage point” of an American astronaut

On this day in 1962, John Glenn is launched into space aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft on the first orbital flight by an American astronaut.

On February 23 that same year, President John F. Kennedy visited him at Cape Canaveral. Glenn later addressed Congress and received a ticker-tape parade in New York City.

Later, On October 29, 1998, nearly four decades after his famous orbital flight, the 77-year-old Glenn became the oldest human ever to travel in space. In 1999, he retired from the U.S. Senate after four consecutive terms in office for the state of Ohio.

“Look out…”

During an interview in November of 1998 Glenn said:
“I pray every day and I think everybody should. I don’t think you can be up here and look out the window as I did the first day and look out at the Earth from this vantage point. We’re not so high compared to people who went to the moon and back. But to look out at this kind of creation out here and not believe in God is, to me, impossible. It just strengthens my faith.”

February 20, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

American Icons, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Ronald Reagan, The Great Communicator

On this day in 1911, Ronald Reagan, the 33rd Governor of California and the 40th President of the United States is born in Tampico, Illinois.

So, to recognize his birthday, here are three of Our posts featuring profound words from “The Great Communicator”:

https://ourlostfounding.com/i-owe-my-life-to-god/

https://ourlostfounding.com/if-we-ever-forget/

Ronald Reagan and “the shining city upon a hill”

February 6, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

American Icons, Civil War, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Daniel Webster : Prosperity and Posterity

On this day in 1782, American statesman Daniel Webster is born in what is now Franklin, New Hampshire. Webster was an attorney, a member of the House of Representatives, and a Massachusetts Senator. In addition, he served as Secretary of State for three Presidents, including Millard Fillmore, John Tyler, and William Henry Harrison.

Daniel Webster is considered one of the greatest orators in American history. For example, his “Second Reply to Hayne” in 1830 is regarded as one of the greatest speeches in senate history. Then, his famous, controversial, three and a half hour “Seventh of March” speech in 1850 helped delay the Civil War.

So, here is a collection of a few other famous, brief, yet powerful quotes from Webster:

First, when asked “What is the most sobering thought that ever entered your mind?” Webster replied, “My personal accountability to God.”

Also, on December 22, 1820, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Pilgrim landing at Plymouth Rock, Webster said:

“[O]ur ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits….Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens…

[L]et us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary.”

“His Word” and “his works”

“If God and His Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendancy; If the evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will; If the power of the Gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end.”

“If there is anything in my thoughts or style to commend, the credit is due to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures. If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”

January 18, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

American Icons, Civil Rights Movement, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Martin Luther King Day with a Greater Purpose

On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. is born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of a Baptist minister.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed the bill designating a federal holiday to recognize Dr. King. We observe it on the third Monday in January so it falls close to his birthday.

Upon signing the bill, Reagan remarked:
“[M]ost important, there was not just a change of law; there was a change of heart. The conscience of America had been touched. Across the land, people had begun to treat each other not as blacks and whites, but as fellow Americans.
…
But traces of bigotry still mar America. So, each year on Martin Luther King Day, let us not only recall Dr. King, but rededicate ourselves to the Commandments he believed in and sought to live every day: Thou shall love thy God with all thy heart, and thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. And I just have to believe that all of us—if all of us, young and old, Republicans and Democrats, do all we can to live up to those Commandments, then we will see the day when Dr. King’s dream comes true, and in his words, “All of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning, ‘… land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.'”

The Guide to a Greater Purpose

In 1955, Dr. King offered sound guidance to protestors then, and now:

“Let conscience be your guide” … [O]ur actions must be guided by the deepest principles of our Christian faith. Love must be our regulating ideal. Once again we must hear the words of Jesus echoing across the centuries: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and pray for them that despitefully use you.”

King’s legacy as a leader endures because of Who he followed:

“Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.”

January 15, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

American Icons, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Theodore Roosevelt : Birthday, “Big Stick,” and the Bible

On this day in 1858, Theodore Roosevelt (who did not like to be called “Teddy”) the 26th President of the United States, is born in New York City.

He was the leader of the Rough Riders, and the Governor of New York. At 43, he became the youngest president ever when President William McKinley was assassinated.

Roosevelt busted up monopolies, and set aside land for America’s first national parks and monuments. In another American first, he was the first American to win a Nobel Prize in any category.

A “Big Stick” and a Bible

“Speak softly and carry a big stick,” a West African proverb he used, characterized his approach to foreign policy.

The following quote characterized his approach to the Bible:

“Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes… that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally… impossible for us to figure to ourselves what that life would be if these teachings were removed. We would lose almost all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals[.]”

Larger-than-life, here’s a photo that showcases his gregarious nature. You may also recognize him from Mount Rushmore.

October 27, 2019/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Abraham Lincoln, American Icons, Founding Fathers, George Washington, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding, Thomas Jefferson

Sculpting Starts on Mount Rushmore

On this day in 1927, the work of carving and sculpting the Mount Rushmore National Memorial begins. The project was declared complete on October 31, 1941.

The iconic granite sculpture, attracts millions annually to the Black Hills of South Dakota.

According to sculptor Gutzon Borglum, “The purpose of the memorial is to communicate the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the United States with colossal statues of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.”

With that stated purpose in mind, what follows is a ‘Mount Rushmore’ of quotes from the aforementioned presidents. Two of these quotes adorn Our Lost Founding shirts:

George Washington
“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the People of the United States.”

Thomas Jefferson
“I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessities and comforts of life, who has covered our infancy with His Providence and our riper years with His wisdom and power… ”

Abraham Lincoln
“In regard to this Great book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.”

Theodore Roosevelt
“Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally impossible for us to figure ourselves what life would be if these standards were removed.”

Finally, here is your humble Our Lost Founding Founder at our National Memorial:

Me at Mount Rushmore, Summer 2019

October 4, 2019/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

American Icons, Founding Fathers, George Washington, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

The White House Burns

On this day in 1814, during the War of 1812, British troops invade Washington, D.C. In the evening, they burn the executive mansion, now known as the White House.

In June of 1812, Americans burned Canadian government buildings in York, Ontario, Canada. Seeking revenge, the British set fire to other buildings in Washington, D.C. These included the still uncompleted Capitol building, the House of Representatives, and the Library of Congress. Thankfully, perhaps providentially from “the invisible hand” “of the Great Disposer of Events,” a major storm, possibly a hurricane, put out the fires. The storm also spawned a couple tornados, and drove the British out of the capital city on damaged boats.

President James Madison and first lady Dolley were already safely in Maryland, though just barely.

Prior to the invasion, President Madison briefly took command of an American Battery at the Battle of Bladensburg. As a result, Madison is first and only president to exercise his authority as commander in chief in actual battle.

Washington Copy

Meanwhile, back at the White House, with British troops gathering in the distance, Dolley “had [a wagon] filled with the plate and most valuable portable articles belonging to the house.”
She also saved what she believed to be the original Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington.

She “ordered the frame to be broken, and the canvass taken out it is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New York, for safe keeping.”

Ultimately, it turned out to be just a copy.

No people…

We think Our George Washington “Invisible Hand” shirt is worth saving. Click the link below to get your ‘copy.’

Interestingly, in Proclamation 20 – Recommending a Day of Public Thanksgiving for Peace on March 4, 1815, President Madison seemed inspired the George Washington quote on the shirt:
“No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of Events of the destiny of Nations than the people of the United States.”

Here is the Washington quote from his Inaugural Address on April 30, 1789:
“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the People of the United States.”

Even so, the sentiment is powerful and worth repurposing for posterity!

George Washington “Invisible Hand”

August 24, 2019/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

American Icons, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: “the spirit and faith of the Nation”

Unprecedented

On this day in 1940, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is nominated for an unprecedented third term as president. He was on his way to a record four terms.

Previously, it was customary that no U.S. president serve more than two terms. In 1796, the first president, George Washington, declined to run for a third term.

It was not until 1951 that the 22nd Amendment was ratified. It states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”

Thus, Roosevelt is the only U.S President to serve more than two terms.

“Sacred fire”

Interestingly, Roosevelt quoted Washington as he closed his third inaugural address in January, 1941:

“The destiny of America was proclaimed in words of prophecy spoken by our first President in his first inaugural in 1789—words almost directed, it would seem, to this year of 1941: “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered … deeply,… finally, staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people.”

If we lose that sacred fire—if we let it be smothered with doubt and fear—then we shall reject the destiny which Washington strove so valiantly and so triumphantly to establish. The preservation of the spirit and faith of the Nation does, and will, furnish the highest justification for every sacrifice that we may make in the cause of national defense.
In the face of great perils never before encountered, our strong purpose is to protect and to perpetuate the integrity of democracy.
For this we muster the spirit of America, and the faith of America.
We do not retreat. We are not content to stand still. As Americans, we go forward, in the service of our country, by the will of God.”

It was another quote from George Washington’s first inaugural address that inspired one of Our shirts, available here:

George Washington “Invisible Hand”

July 18, 2019/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

American Icons, American Revolution, George Washington, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Washington, D.C. : Capital and Capitol Cornerstones

On this day in 1790, Congress declares a site on the Potomac River to be the nation’s new permanent capital. We know it as Washington, D.C. Originally, George Washington selected the site.

Then, in 1793, George Washington lays the cornerstone of the Capitol building. An engraved silver plate commemorates the occasion with this inscription:

“This South East corner Stone, of the Capitol of the United States of America in the City of Washington, was laid on the 18th day of September 1793, in the thirteenth year of American Independence, in the first year of the second term of the Presidency of George Washington, whose virtues in the civil administration of his country have been as conspicuous and beneficial, as his Military valor and prudence have been useful in establishing her liberties, and in the year of Masonry 5793, by the Grand Lodge of Maryland, several Lodges under its jurisdiction, and Lodge No. 22, from Alexandria, Virginia.”

Foundational

“The year of Masonry 5793” is equivalent to the Gregorian year plus 4,000 because the ceremonial Masonic dating system of A.L., Anno Lucis, Latin for ‘year of light,’ like Anno Mundi, coincides with the estimated year of creation (around 4,000 B.C). Of course, the biblical account in Genesis 1:3 states: “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”

Also, the ceremonial foundation stone of the National Cathedral consists of a small stone from a field next to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem set into a slab of American granite. That church that is believed to mark the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth.

July 16, 2019/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding