Elections: Presidential

With the 2016 Presidential election only a few weeks away I thought a look on the idea of early voting.  As of Sept 30 Iowa was already voting for President; I assume by mailing in a ballot or going to an election board in the county one lives in.  All states allow some degree of early voting except the following.  Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Missouri and Michigan.  Three states allow voting only by mail; Washington, Oregon, Colorado.  On the effect of early voting on turnout, The Economist magazine on 9/23/16 reported that "early voting may decrease turnout".  A study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison stated that "for every 10 days that a state allowed early voting, turnout decreased by 1 % point".  (Not what I expected to find and I still wonder if the claim is accurate).

(Source: information taken from a google search)

Political Advertising.

In the 1950's Dwight Eisenhower realized the appeal and power of ads on television; Adlai Stevenson did not (or did not approve of their impact on the process).  Ike also knew the power of "star power"; "the broad-based systematic use of celebrities started in 1952 with Eisenhower".  Even before that date there was recognition of the value of star endorsements; Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge got help from Al Jolson and a song he performed at the time.  Some of Ike's GOP rivals (Robert Taft for one) charged that Ike was trying to use "sex appeal" to win an election.  Taft called Ike a "good-liking mortician".  Adlai Stevenson-Ike's opponent in both of his races in the 50's-noted that Eisenhower was "running a Corn Flakes" campaign" by trying to sell himself like a breakfast cereal. From this developed the GE approach of presenting to the public the benefits of business in America; of this they created the General Electric Theater and used Ronald Reagan to be their pitch man (we all know where that led).  The source notes that JFK used Marylyn Monroe (take that as you wish) to give him star power.  (Singing "Happy Birthday" will never be the same again).

(Source: "Don't Want to turn the party over to a good-looking mortician" by Renee Olson.  A review of Liking Ike: Eisenhower, Advertising and the rise of Celebrity Politics by David Blake.  Reviewed in TCNJ Magazine of the College of New Jersey, Fall 2016 edition.)

FDR and "Missy" LeHand.

A book review in the Wall Street Journal on Sept 29, 2016 provides some interesting info on the relationship between FDR and Miss LeHand.   She worked for him thru most of his political life starting in the 1920's till her death just prior to FDR's.  She was his private secretary and spent more time with him than his wife Eleanor.  FDR and Eleanor became "estranged" after his affair with Lucy Mercer became known.  There was no evidence that Missy and Franklin were sexually involved but they were so close that while he was governor of New York, Missy slept  in an adjoining bedroom.  In his will FDR left Missy half of value of his estate, money that otherwise would have gone to his children.   She died before Franklin so the estate was not an issue, but he arranged to have a navy cargo ship named after her-the SS Marguerite LeHand which was launched on March 28, 1945.

(Source:  "FDR's Right Hand" by Alonzo L. Hammy in the WSJ.  Review of book entitled "The Gatekeeper" by Kathryn Smith.  Printed in the Wall Street Journal on 9/29/16.)

Holocaust "Avenger" plot.

In 1946 a small group of former resistance fighters, led by Josep Harmatz, developed a plan to kill thousands of SS men being held by the Americans in a prison camp-Stalag 13-near Nuremberg. The date was April 13, 1946 and members of a group called Nakam (Hebrew for vengeance) used their work in a bakery to prepare 3000 loafs of bread laced with arsenic.  The operation went into effect with enough arsenic to kill the 12,000 SS men in the camp, but it did not.  This all came to light with a recently declassified US military report with the issue of why no one died a mystery.  Mr. Harmatz recently died in Tel Aviv.  

(Source: "Holocaust Avenger dies at 91" by Aron Heller of the AP.  Reported in The Record on Sep 27, 2016.)
Update:  Google Joseph Harmatz and then "Nakam" will come up.  Its worth reading.

WW II Times Square picture.

The woman-a nurse-in the classic photo of a sailor unexpectingly kissing her in Times Square NYC at the end of the war in the Pacific has died.  She was identified at Grete Zimmer Friedman and she was 92.  The sailor had been identified as George Mendoza who was in Times Square with his wife to be, Rita Petry.  The photo was taken by Alfred Eisensteadt and is called "V-J Day in Times Square".  Several people over the years claimed they were the couple but some years after the photo became famous, it was determined that Friedman and Mendoza were the couple.

(Source: "Woman in WWII Times Square kiss photo dies" by the AP.  In The Virginian Pilot on 9/11/16).