Presidents - Our Lost Founding Archives

Atomic bomb: “an awful responsibility”

On this day in 1945, by order of President Harry S. Truman, the American bomber Enola Gay drops a five-ton atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The aim was to bring the war to an abrupt end, and to avoid an invasion of Japan and the subsequent likelihood of massive American casualties.

Then, on August 9th, the United States drops a second atom bomb, this time on Nagasaki, at last resulting in Japan’s unconditional surrender. A third was likely forthcoming, if necessary.

Also on August 9th, President Truman gave a “Radio Report to the American People on the Potsdam Conference.” After seeing the devastation in Europe firsthand, he remarked:

“How glad I am to be home again! And how grateful to Almighty God that this land of ours has been spared!

He went on:

“I realize the tragic significance of the atomic bomb.
Its production and its use were not lightly undertaken by this Government. But we knew that our enemies were on the search for it. We know now how close they were to finding it. And we knew the disaster which would come to this Nation, and to all peace-loving nations, to all civilization, if they had found it first.
That is why we felt compelled to undertake the long and uncertain and costly labor of discovery and production.”
…

“An Awful Responsibility”

“Having found the bomb we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans.”
…
“It is an awful responsibility which has come to us.

We thank God that it has come to us, instead of to our enemies; and we pray that He may guide us to use it in His ways and for His purposes.”

* * *

The United States is the only nation to use atomic weaponry in war. While it ended World War II, it may have precipitated the Cold War. Consequently, by 1949, the Soviets had also developed the atomic bomb.

Finally, see The White House memo below from President Harry S. Truman to the Federal Council of The Churches of Christ in America for more perspective:

August 6, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Calvin Coolidge: No Earthly Empire

On this day in 1923, Calvin Coolidge is sworn in as the 30th President of the United States.

President Warren G. Harding was in the midst of his “Voyage of Understanding,” a cross-country speaking tour. However, on August 2nd, he died after an apparent heart attack or stroke at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Harding was the sixth of eight presidents to die in office.

A few hours later, Vice President Calvin Coolidge received word of Harding’s death by messenger while at his family’s homestead in Vermont, which did not have electricity or a telephone.

His father, John Calvin Coolidge Sr. was a Vermont notary public and justice of the peace so administered the oath of office. At 2:47 a.m. Coolidge took the Presidential Oath by the light of a kerosene lamp with the family’s Bible. Then, he went back to bed.

‘Silent Cal’s” seeming reticence and his hands-off economic policy of limited government interference during the ‘Roaring 20s’ helped him win reelection in 1924.

No Earthly Empire

This is a portion of the final paragraph of his Inaugural Address, given March 4, 1925:

“Here stands our country, an example of tranquillity at home, a patron of tranquillity abroad. Here stands its Government, aware of its might but obedient to its conscience. Here it will continue to stand, seeking peace and prosperity, solicitous for the welfare of the wage earner, promoting enterprise, developing waterways and natural resources, attentive to the intuitive counsel of womanhood, encouraging education, desiring the advancement of religion, supporting the cause of justice and honor among the nations. America seeks no earthly empire built on blood and force. No ambition, no temptation, lures her to thought of foreign dominions. The legions which she sends forth are armed, not with the sword, but with the cross. The higher state to which she seeks the allegiance of all mankind is not of human, but of divine origin. She cherishes no purpose save to merit the favor of Almighty God.”

Despite ‘Coolidge Prosperity,’ he said “I do not choose to run for president in 1928.”

August 3, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding, War of 1812

In God We Trust: Our Official National Motto

On this day in 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the law establishing In God We Trust as the official motto of the United States. The motto had been in use, unofficially, since 1864.

First, however, in 1863, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase wrote this to the Mint Director:
“I approve your mottoes, only suggesting that on that with the Washington obverse the motto should begin with the word OUR, so as to read OUR GOD AND OUR COUNTRY. And on that with the shield, it should be changed so as to read: IN GOD IS OUR TRUST.”

Then, he lined through “IS OUR” and wrote “WE” above it.

It was on Flag Day in 1954 when Eisenhower signed the bill to include “under God” in the pledge he said:

“In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.”

His sentiments in the above statement helps us understand his resolve to establish Our National Motto.

Despite the assertion of some that “E Pluribus Unum” is Our motto, today is the 65th anniversary of “In God We Trust” as Our Official Motto, and it’s worth celebrating.

In fact, a couplet from the final stanza of Our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” containing a variation of the motto, inspired Our “Star-Spangled Motto” t-shirt design:

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”

Find yours HERE.

July 30, 2021/1 Comment/by Our Lost Founding

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

John Quincy Adams on “Useful Citizens… and a Real Blessing”

On this day in 1767, John Quincy Adams is born. He was the sixth U.S. president, and the son of the second U.S. president, John Adams.

As a boy, he went with his father on diplomatic missions, then entered the legal profession after his schooling. As a young man, he served as minister to the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, and England. John Quincy Adams became a Republican Senator, and helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812. He also served as secretary of state until the tie-breaking vote in the House elected him president over Andrew Jackson.

“Pursue the Practice”

Definitely his father’s son, who believed “religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand,” John Quincy wrote this in a letter to his own “dear son”:

“for so great is my veneration for the Bible, and so strong my belief, that when duly read and meditated on, it is of all books in the world, that which contributes most to make men good, wise, and happy — that the earlier my children begin to read it, the more steadily they pursue the practice of reading it throughout their lives, the more lively and confident will be my hopes that they will prove useful citizens to their country, respectable members of society, and a real blessing to their parents.”

July 11, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address : “Far above our poor power…”

On this day in 1863, the largest military conflict in North American history begins when Union and Confederate forces collide at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The epic battle lasted three days and Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia retreated to Virginia.

Gettysburg Address

So, below is the full text of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. This version is inscribed in the South Chamber of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers bought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work, which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. And that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth.”

Lincoln Bible

That famous address makes clear Abraham Lincoln’s reverence for God and His Word. This is amplified by the quote that inspired Our “Lincoln Bible” t-shirt:

“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.”

July 1, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding, World War II

D-Day, Operation Overlord : Let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God

On this day in 1944 (D-Day), future president, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces in World War II launches a massive invasion of Europe called Operation Overlord.

In his Order of the Day, he encouraged the “Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Forces” that “The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you” and that he had “full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory.”

Then, he concluded his Order with “Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.” (emphasis added)

Dwight Eisenhower D-Day Operation Overlord

*****

Thy will be done

Later that night, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked the nation to join him in prayer for:

“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home — fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas — whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them–help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too — strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.
Amen.”

June 6, 2021/1 Comment/by Our Lost Founding

Civil War, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Ulysses S. Grant : The Army and the Anchor

On this day in 1822, the first ever General of the U.S. Army and the 18th President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant is born in Point Pleasant, Ohio.

President Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant to the second Lieutenant General in American history. The first was George Washington.

“The influence of this book”

Later in life, just nine years before he died of cancer in 1885, Grant wrote this in regard to education:

“Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties; write its precepts on your hearts and practice them in your lives. To the influence of this book we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization, and to this we must look as our guide in the future.”

April 27, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Ronald Reagan : “I owe my life to God”

On this day in 1981, in an assassination attempt, John Hinckley Jr. shoots President Ronald Reagan in the left lung as the President left the Washington Hilton hotel. The bullet narrowly misses his heart. Still, the President walks in to George Washington University Hospital under his own power.

Less than two weeks later on April 11, the resilient Reagan returned to the White House. He concluded his diary entry for that day with this powerful statement:

“Whatever happens now I owe my life to God and will try to serve him in every way I can.”

Equally Beloved

Here’s an earlier, similarly powerful portion of that same diary entry:

“Getting shot hurts. Still my fear was growing because no matter how hard I tried to breathe it seemed I was getting less & less air. I focused on that tiled ceiling and prayed. But I realized I couldn’t ask for God’s help while at the same time I felt hatred for the mixed up young man who had shot me. Isn’t that the meaning of the lost sheep? We are all God’s children & therefore equally beloved by him. I began to pray for his soul and that he would find his way back to the fold.”

March 30, 2021/1 Comment/by Our Lost Founding

Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding, Under God

Dwight D. Eisenhower : Why We Like Ike

On this day in 1969, Dwight D. Eisenhower , a highly regarded general of World War II and the 34th president of the United States dies at the age of 78, in Washington, D.C.

First, here are two excerpts from his remarks for the American Legion “Back-to-God” program:

“The Founding Fathers… produced the timeless documents upon which the Nation is founded and has grown great. They, recognizing God as the author of individual rights, declared that the purpose of Government is to secure those rights.”

“Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first—and most basic—expression of Americanism. Thus, the Founding Fathers of America saw it, and thus with God’s help, it will continue to be.”

Eisenhower made “In God We Trust” our nation’s official motto. One can find an early iteration of this phrase in Francis Scott Key’s “Star-Spangled Banner,” which became Our national anthem.

Under God

Eisenhower had the words “under God” inserted in to the pledge of allegiance. On Flag Day, June 14, 1954 when he signed the bill to include the words “under God” in the pledge, he said:

“In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.”

Then and now, that’s why we like Ike.

March 28, 2021/1 Comment/by Our Lost Founding

American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding, Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson Elected to second Continental Congress

On this day in 1775, Thomas Jefferson is elected to the second Continental Congress.

Jefferson originally established himself in the first Continental Congress with a tract entitled “Summary View of the Rights of British America.”

Inkling of Independence

Here are two excerpts from his “Summary”:

“[P]ropose to the said congress that an humble and dutiful address be presented to his majesty, begging leave to lay before him, as chief magistrate of the British empire, the united complaints of his majesty’s subjects in America; complaints which are excited by many unwarrantable encroachments and usurpations, attempted to be made by the legislature of one part of the empire, upon those rights which God and the laws have given equally and independently to all.”

“The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them. This, sire, is our last, our determined resolution; and that you will be pleased to interpose with that efficacy which your earnest endeavours may ensure to procure redress of these our great grievances, to quiet the minds of your subjects in British America, against any apprehensions of future encroachment, to establish fraternal love and harmony through the whole empire, and that these may continue to the latest ages of time, is the fervent prayer of all British America!”

Rights Reverberate

Of course, in early June 1776, Congress appointed a committee consisting of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson to draft what would become the Declaration of Independence. This esteemed committee chose Jefferson to compose the most important document in the history self-government. He drafted it in just a few days, at the age of 33.

As we (should) know, this is the basis of Our Declaration:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Jefferson seemed to suggest as much in his “Summary” two years prior. As seen above, he acknowledged “The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time.”

March 27, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Harry S. Truman on New Conflicts and Ancient Teachings

On this day in 1949, President Harry S. Truman signs a U.S. resolution authorizing $16 million in aid for Palestinian refugees who were displaced as a result of Israel’s War of Independence in 1948.

This situation was, and still is, an exceedingly volatile and complex. Our Lost Founding has no delusions of any ability to provide an adequate summary of the conflict here. Pro- and anti-Zionist groups, Palestinian refugees, Arab oil, and the state of Israel are the major sources of on-going conflict in the Middle East.

Truman had the unenviable task of reconciling safety for the Jews and good relations with Arab states.

Men and Nations

Truman’s address to the Federal Council of Churches on March 6, 1946 are as pertinent today as they were then. It applies to the current state of affairs in the Middle East and associated terror groups. We can also apply it to the current debate surrounding religious liberties in Our own country:

“Now that we have preserved our freedom of conscience and religion, our right to live by a decent moral and spiritual code of our own choosing, let us make full use of that freedom. Let us make use of it to save a world which is beset by so many threats of new conflicts, new terror, and new destruction.”

“If men and nations would but live by the precepts of the ancient prophets and the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, problems which now seem so difficult would soon disappear.”

March 24, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding