Warren G. Harding and Me
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
Our nation’s 29th President Warren G. Harding is generally ranked as one of the worst of the American Presidents. Although he was immensely popular while serving in the White House for just under two and a half years (at which time he died in office while traveling through San Francisco) from 1921-23, many scandals reverberated from his administration and cabinet, most notably the Teapot Dome scandal. His notorious philandering ways even led to the speculation of some that the first lady Florence Kling Harding may have poisoned him. Other notable aspects of Harding’s administration included the fact that he was the first sitting U.S. Senator to be elected President, and the signing of the peace treaties that formally ended World War I while he was President. Read the rest of this entry »
I was up and rarin’ to go on the morning of Saturday, July 26, 1986. The Valley Forge Sons of the Convention was officially underway and we had a day ahead of us packed with fun events. The first item on the agenda was the Pee-Wee Contest at 9am. At this juncture in Sons history, the Pee-Wee Contest was only two years old, having originated at the ’84 convention in Ulverston, England – which my family did not attend. This was my first crack at the contest, and my showing was poor – setting the precedent for nearly all future Pee-Wee Contests (with the sole exception being the one that I 
I have no real memory of my family’s trip to the Cumberland region of Kentucky – but if I did, this is what I would remember: throwing rocks into the water (as seen at right). Because that’s basically all anyone else seems to remember about this trip! My Dad had just started at Miami Litho at the time, so he had amassed absolutely no vacation…so therefore this trip was merely a long weekender sometime in July of 1973. It’s kind of funny how I think of such a minscule trip as legendary, having for years seen photos and home movies taken during our ‘Cumberland trip’ – but really having no memory of it. 
Since we were in Europe, it was assumed that most of the convention-goers would probably prefer to get out and see the local sites rather than stay around the hotel. But since I was in Europe for a full fifteen days, and was at this point just about to complete my first week, I was looking forward to some standard convention fun without all the hustle and bustle. Friday, July 11, 2008, was the day that felt most like a good old regular Sons of the Desert convention.