January 13th

January 13th

My father was born on this day in 1916.

And even though women across the country did not even have the right to vote in 1916, a woman by the name Jeannette Rankin, from Montana, would become the first female to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives before the year was up.

Woodrow Wilson would also be reelected president by the narrowest of margins. The president would still manage to keep the United States out of the conflict in Europe but would send troops to Mexico. Blackjack Pershing would soon be vexed by the likes of Poncho Villa, as he chased Villa and his men back and forth across the border. Pershing would eventually declare victory, but it’s Poncho Villa about whom the legends are still told.

Gregory Peck, Betty Grable, Walter Cronkite, Daniel Shor, Martha Raye, Olivia de Havallin, Eugene McCarthy, and Kirk Douglas would also be born that year. My father admired these famous figures, even voting for McCarthy in the ’68 California primary. He also trusted the news if reported by Cronkite, and certainly liked Peck and Douglas in any film.

Now, a hundred and three years later, we’re still talking about Mexico and borders, and wish that Walter Cronkite was here to help sort it all out for us.

But on the upside, the number of women now occupying seats in congress has grown by a hundredfold since 1916.

And Kirk Douglas just turned a hundred and two. Ain’t that a kick in the butt – Spartacus lives.

Although my father was not famous beyond the family that loved him, and never ran for public office, he was elected president to the Lincoln Elementary School P.T.A. when I was in fourth grade and performed admirably – or so I recall.

But mostly, he was just our dad.

I think that counts for a lot more.