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WASHINGTON SPOTLIGHT
Why Hillary? Public awaits her answer By year’s end, Clinton plans decision on bid for White House
Dave Granlund, GateHouse News Service
EDITORIALS FROM YESTERYEAR | 1939
From our archives: Why not Walgreen for top GOP post? Note to readers – Sauk Valley Media reprints editorials and articles from the past as a regular Monday feature. The following items appeared in the Telegraph on April 22 and 25, 1939.
What we thought: 75 years ago
that two more major New Deal policies had run head on into each other. The official position enterprises, is a thorally accepted use of the of the administration ough-going Republican word. presumably is to strafe whose sound business And, so far as the counsel and patriotic nation is concerned, the Mussolini, Hitler and Japan. But Secretary Americanism are needed Republican National 7ALGREEN FOR '/0 Wallace has been caught by and would be invalu- Committee would, in .ATIONAL #OMMITTEE able to the Republican our opinion, be measur- selling the dictator National Committee. He ably strengthened by the countries foodstuffs far he Illinois would com- inclusion in its member- below cost in an effort Republican to solve his huge farm mand the State Central ship of this man whose muddle. respect of Committee will meet in direct, simple, clear Paul Mallon, WashIllinoisans Springfield Saturday of thinking is so greatly ington correspondent, and the this week to nominate a needed in the counsels discovered that in one voters of member of the Republiof the nation in these instance, wheat bought the United can National Committee very critical times. by Mr. Wallace’s minions States. to fill the vacancy caused The outstanding abilCharles R. had been sold for shipSo far by the death of the late Walgreen ity and character of C.R. ment to Germany at 38½ as Illinois George F. Harding. There Walgreen and his free1873-1939 politics are are a number of candidom from alliances with cents. Wheat was selling The founder dates, we understand, and leader of concerned, any of the party factions on the Chicago market to Americans at 70 cents. the Walgreen the name of and a spirited contest is certainly recommend drugstore In another instance, Charles R. in prospect for the Saturhim as an ideal choice firm was wheat bought by the Walgreen day meeting. for the important post promoted by government at 72½ The Telegraph suggests the Telegraph would also of national committeeas a possible be a particcents a bushel has been a man who has not been man, and The Telegraph member of the ularly happy heretofore mentioned respectfully suggests that shipped to Shanghai Republican (held by the [Japanese]) choice for for this position but who National the members of the state at prices ranging from 39 national is eminently qualified – Committee. committee give careful to 40 cents. commitCharles R. Walgreen of consideration to this The plain fact is that teeman because he is Dixon and Chicago. proposal. – April 25, 1939 Secretary Hull wants allied with no one of the Mr. Walgreen, head of to get rid of dictators, various factions in state the nationwide drug,EADERLESS but Secretary Wallace, politics and never has store firm which bears GOVERNMENT with his farm program been. He has never been his name and which With President Rooscollapsing, wants more a candidate for office and he founded and built certainly is not classed as evelt away on vacation, desperately to get rid of into one of the nation’s the news leaked out wheat. – April 22, 1939 a politician in the generimportant business
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BRIEFS FROM YESTERYEAR | THE TELEGRAPH | APRIL 1939 !S A KID HE KICKED ,INCOLN SPRINGFIELD (AP) – William W. Thornton, 86, who said that when a youngster he kicked Abraham Lincoln on the shins, died today Abraham at his home Lincoln near New 1809-1865 Berlin. A kick to the Thornton’s shins by an father once impatient boy resided near didn’t stop Lincoln from Lincoln’s winning the home, and, presidency. as Thornton often recounted the incident, Thornton and his father were walking
The ceremonies at the fair grounds were attended by a group of business and professional men who inspected the new commercial television receivers which go on sale this week. Eight miles away, in the RCA building at Rockefeller Center, an audience watched and heard the &IRST TELEVISION ceremonies. SHOW BROADCAST The television models on NEW YORK (AP) – The display ranged from an advent of television, long attachment which reproheralded as the beginning duced pictures only and of a new American induswhich plugs into a radio try, was announced today set for sound, to a large by David Sarnoff, president console type combination of the Radio Corporation television and sound radio of America, in a television receiver, employing a broadcast from the RCA 12-inch kinescope tube. exhibit building at the New Price of the television York Word’s Fair grounds. attachment will be about to town one day when Lincoln stopped them for a chat. Becoming impatient, Thornton kicked Lincoln on the shins and said belligerently: “Don’t bother us. We are on the way to get me a pair of shoes.� – April 22, 1939
$175. Complete sight and sound receivers will be priced from about $300 to $600. – April 20, 1939
(EIRESS TO "RITISH CROWN TURNS WINDSOR, England (AP) – Princess Elizabeth, heiress presumptive to the crown of the world’s greatest empire, came of teen age today, and was hostess at a 5 o’clock tea to celebrate her 13th birthday anniversary in a “grownup� manner. In the past year, the girl, tall and a bit gangling, has discarded half-socks and hair ribbons. She wears her brown bobbed hair with a clip. – April 21, 1939
WASHINGTON – Well, Hillary Clinton has given us a lot to think about, again. If someone threw a shoe at you, would you: A) duck; B) catch it to see what size it is and whether it fits; C) laugh and say it’s either a bat or you’re at Cirque du Soleil. Choosing C, Hillary is being hailed as: 1) quick thinking; 2) witty; 3) selfpossessed enough to be president. Absent any other exciting political figures, attention is being lavished on the former first lady, senator from New York and secretary of state on the foregone conclusion she’ll run for president in 2016. There’s a Ready for Hillary political action committee in McLean, Va., collecting money to make Hillary run and at least 12 super PACS, including Stop Hillary, raising money against her. Actually, they can use the money however they want. The “Ready for Hillary� Internet store offers T-shirts, mugs, magic markers, buttons, lapel pins, hoodies, men’s and women’s long-sleeved shirts, hats, onesies for babies, smart phone cases, water bottles, key straps and, of course, bumper stickers. There are champagne glasses, cocktail napkins, medals, car magnets, tote bags and yard signs. Prices range from $4 to $60. There have been 200 Ready for Hillary events around the country. The PAC says it has raised $5.75 million from 55,000 donors and shipped out 300,000 bumper stickers; 700,000 have signed up to help if Hillary decides to run. HILLARY SAYS SHE still has to figure out why she’d run. “I am thinking about it, but I am going to continue to think about it for a while,� she says. “The hard questions are not, Do you want to be president? or Can you win? The hard questions are, Why? Why would you want to do this? and What can you offer that could make a difference?� Aha! What would she want to do as president? And what could she do? She has said nothing yet about what a Hillary Clinton presidency would mean for the country. Being first woman president would be cool but probably isn’t reason enough to elect her. She ran in 2008 defending the war in Iraq, a war that just about everyone except Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney
annMcFEATTERS Ann McFeatters has covered the White House and national politics since 1986. Contact her at amcfeatters@nationalpress.com.
agrees was a bad mistake. There’s a general consensus that capturing Saddam Hussein was not worth thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. She believes in “empowering women,� whatever that means. If it means raising the minimum wage to $10.10, Congress keeps blocking it. If it means ensuring that women no longer make only 77 percent of what m e n do, Hillary lots of luck Rodham with ConClinton gress. And “What would she want to as long as do as men control president?� the boardasks columnist Ann rooms, the McFeatters. percentage of women CEOs will stay minuscule. She believes in Obamacare, with perhaps a few tweaks. But she would not repeal it. As secretary of state, she racked up sensational air miles, but big breakthroughs such as Middle East peace eluded her. The American deaths at Benghazi occurred on her watch. SHE HAS WRITTEN A book about her experiences at the State Department, due out this summer. Volume two of her memoirs. By year’s end, she promises to decide whether she’s running for president. (Betting is yes.) Then it gets tough. She must show her presidency would be different from her husband’s two terms and from President Obama’s two terms. What would she do about Vladimir Putin and North Korea? How would she put millions of unemployed Americans back to work? How would she get Congress to do something meaningful about climate change? How would she ensure Americans are once again the best educated in the world? How would she curtail gun violence? Suffice it to say, she’s got a lot of explaining to do. In the meantime, prepare for more “I’m ready for Hillary� bumper stickers and “So Ready for Hillary� yard signs. Donate as much as you wish for or against her. But your donations are not deductible for federal income tax purposes. Not until she figures out why she’s running.
3HARE YOUR OPINIONS EDITORIAL BOARD
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Jennifer Baratta Jim Dunn Sheryl Gulbranson Larry Lough Trevis Mayfield Jeff Rogers
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“Since when do you have to agree with people to defend them from injustice? Lillian Hellman, writer, 1976
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