New York

[Thomas Thorne]

Wonderful pictures!---I remember visiting the Vanderbilt "cottage" in Newport,Rhode Island. We should all have such cottages.

Everyone should read the prize winning biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T J Stiles who also wrote an excellent biography of Jesse James.

It might be fun to argue that a great grand daughter of Vanderbilt, Consuelo Vanderbilt saved western civilization. If Consuelo's arranged and loveless marriage to the Duke of Marlborough had not produced an heir,the dukedom would have been inherited by Marlborough's cousin, Winston Churchill, upon his death in 1934. As a Peer, Churchill could not be a member of the House of Commons which might have been a fatal impediment to being a wartime Prime Minister in the 20th century.

Winston Churchill tutored Consuelo on public speaking.
Tom