Happy Thanksgiving From William Howard Taft

Knew How to Give Thanks

 

Thanksgiving is upon us, and readers may enjoy this 1911 Thanksgiving proclamation by William Howard Taft.    Careful readers will notice that Taft issued the proclamation from Chicago and not Washington D.C., the source of his three other Thanksgiving Proclamations.  Just two days earlier, Taft had dedicated the training facility at Naval Station Great Lakes, located in North Chicago.  A photograph of cadets in review before President Taft can be found here, courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!   

    By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation  

The people of this land having by long sanction and practice set apart toward the close of each passing year a day on which to cease from their labors and assemble for the purpose of giving praise to Him who is the author of the blessings they have enjoyed, it is my duty as Chief Executive to designate at this time the day for the fulfillment of this devout purpose.

Our country has been signally favored in many ways. The round of the seasons has brought rich harvests. Our industries have thrived far beyond our domestic needs; the productions of our labor are daily finding enlarged markets abroad. We have been free from the curses of pestilence, of famine and of war. Our national councils have furthered the cause of peace in other lands, and the spirit of benevolence has brought us into closer touch with other peoples, to the strengthening of the bonds of fellowship and good will that link us to our comrades in the universal brotherhood of nations. Strong in the sense of our own rights and inspired by as strong a sense of the rights of others, we live in peace and harmony with the world. Rich in the priceless possessions and abundant resources wherewith the unstinted bounty of God has endowed us, we are unselfishly glad when other peoples pass onward to prosperity and peace. That the great privileges we enjoy may continue and that each coming year may see our country more firmly established in the regard and esteem of our fellow nations is the prayer that should arise in every thankful heart.

Wherefore I, William Howard Taft, President of the United States, designate Thursday, the 30th day of November next, as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, and I earnestly call upon my countrymen and upon all that dwell under the flag of our beloved country then to meet in their accustomed places of worship to join in offering prayer to Almighty God and devout thanks for the loving mercies He has given to us.

 In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Chicago, this 30th day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eleven and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and thirty-sixth.

William and Mary's Board of Visitors Extends Taylor Reveley's Appointment

 

 

 Will Serve Until 2017 (At Least!) 

 

 

Applauding His Creator  

Late last week William and Mary's Board of Visitors unanimously extended W. Taylor Reveley III's appointment as President of the College of William and Mary in Virginia, through June, 2017.  The Board first appointed Reveley, pictured above, as President in September, 2008.  Several months earlier, Reveley, then Dean of the William and Mary Law School and John Stewart Bryan Professor of Law and Jurisprudence, had agreed to serve as Interim President, in February 2008.   The Board's announcement praised Reveley's leadership, particularly his focus on strategic planning, private fundraising, and developing a new and more sustainable financial model known as the William and Mary Promise that recognizes the College's status as a Public Ivy and Liberal Arts University.  This blogger thanks President Reveley for his past leadership and future service as the College's 27th President, following in the footsteps of Bishop James Madison and others. 

However, no one is more pleased at the Board's action than the William and Mary Griffin, pictured above.   It was Reveley after all who, when presented with five mascot options after a grueling search process, exclaimed "get me the Griffin," as recounted in this video.  The rest, as they say, is history.



Minotaur Rocket Carries 29 Satellites Into Orbit

Last week the United States Air Force launched a Minotaur rocket from the Virginia Spaceport, on Wallops Island on Virginia's Eastern Shore.  According to this story in Spacenews, the rocket carried 29 satellites, including twelve from universities and one from the Thomas Jefferson High School in Fairfax County, Virginia.  For a description of NASA's so-called CubeSat Launch Initiative Program, which enables universities and others to launch small satellites, go here.  For a description of the satellite designed and constructed by the students from Thomas Jefferson High school, go            here.

This blogger photographed the Minotaur shortly after liftoff as it sped toward the heavens,  more than 80 miles from my location near Jamestown, Virginia. 

Readers who wish to track the satellite designed and constructed by the students at Thomas Jefferson High School can do so here.