Extra Credit Questions

[Gene C]

Judge Davis?

[RJNorton]

Logical guesses, Steve and Gene, but incorrect.

[mbgross]

N. Edwards?

[RJNorton]

Nope, Mike, it was not Ninian Edwards.

[Rob Wick]

Searching through the archives of the forum, I would have to say it was Gibson W. Harris, who was a student in the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office.

Best
Rob

[RJNorton]

You receive an A+ from this retired teacher, Rob. Kudos!

The answer is indeed on the forum in this post.

[Rob Wick]

An A+? I've heard of such grades, but never had the privilege.

After finding the answer, I did some more research and discovered that Harris was actually born in Edwards County, Illinois, which, coincidentally, so was I.

Best
Rob

[L Verge]

Several days ago, I posted about a new book "Writing History With Lightning" which examines how cinema has portrayed American history since its advent. The title made me wonder where it came from. I have not found the definitive answer, but I am secure in asking you: Who supposedly said it and created a stir in America? And, at what event was it supposedly uttered? Don't cheat!

When we get the answer I am looking for, I will give you a bit of history as to where it may have originated.

[Rob Wick]

Given that I'm as obsessed with him as I am with Lincoln, I know the answer is Woodrow Wilson, who is alleged to have said it after screening "Birth of a Nation." I say allegedly, because there are some historians who don't believe he said it.

Best
Rob

[Gene C]

Ben Franklin while taking notes and flying his kite at the same time?

Which reminds me of a George Jones song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE5pM1HXxlI

[L Verge]

Given that I'm as obsessed with him as I am with Lincoln, I know the answer is Woodrow Wilson, who is alleged to have said it after screening "Birth of a Nation." I say allegedly, because there are some historians who don't believe he said it.

Best
Rob

Wow - another A+, Rob! I think Wilson was sort of tricked into that White House screening by his college associate, Thomas Dixon, who wrote The Clansman novel on which the movie was based, and also by D.W. Griffith who was looking for some good publicity. He got it, but at Wilson's expense perhaps during a period where the NAACP was rising to power, lynchings were increasing, and Wilson was known to have tendencies towards white supremacy.

The little bit that I found digging deeper is that the "lightning" phrase appears several places decades before the 1915 incident. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (remember The Rime of the Ancient Mariner from 10th grade English?) used something quite similar in critiquing the acting of the famed British actor of the early 1800s, Edmund Kean -- "To see Kean act is like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning." Another critic, Frances Jeffrey (who died in 1850) praised Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution as, "...like reading history by flashes of lightning."

And that is the sum total of my research on this.

[RJNorton]

Ekwanok Country Club was about 2 miles from Hildene in Manchester, Vermont. Robert Lincoln, who loved golf, was president of Ekwanok. One afternoon in 1923 Robert closed the golf course for the rest of the day.

Why did Robert close the course?

[Rogerm]

Had he suffered a mild stroke.

[RJNorton]

Good try, Roger, but that is incorrect.

[Rob Wick]

I don't know the answer (it's too early for the stock market crash) but doesn't that course have a par 5 that measures almost 600 yards? I'm not sure John Daly could reach that in less than three.

Best
Rob