Latest / Brian Thomas / Our Valentine, Martha Washington - Big Picture with Jack Atherton
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Seven five at fifty five Karrositi Talk Station. Happy Wednesday,
- 0:06Speaker 1: extra special time to be tuned into the fifty five
- 0:08Speaker 1: Carsse Morning Show. This is the time a week we
- 0:09Speaker 1: get here from Jack added with a big picture. Jack Adaden,
- 0:13Speaker 1: Welcome back, my friend. Thank you so much for joining
- 0:15Speaker 1: the program every week to well pass along your brilliance
- 0:17Speaker 1: and analysis. Good to hear from you so much.
- 0:21Speaker 2: Pal. I hope all the guys listening are making romantic
- 0:25Speaker 2: plans for Valentine's Yes, it's this Saturday, so start puckering up. Men. Actually,
- 0:33Speaker 2: though throughout history, it's not always the men who've gone
- 0:36Speaker 2: the extra mile. Today's seventeen seventy six vignette leading up
- 0:41Speaker 2: to the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of our country's
- 0:44Speaker 2: founding honors America's very first and perhaps most romantic first lady.
- 0:51Speaker 2: Not Jackie Kennedy, not even Millennia. I'm talking about Martha Washington.
- 0:57Speaker 2: Missus Washington went thousands of extra miles to comfort the
- 1:01Speaker 2: general and his troops during the darkest hours of the
- 1:05Speaker 2: Revolutionary War. It didn't start out so romantic for George
- 1:10Speaker 2: Martha's first husband. Yes, she had a first husband, Daniel
- 1:14Speaker 2: Custis took her to live. Would you believe Brian in
- 1:18Speaker 2: the White House Virginia Plantation was called Daniel was twenty
- 1:24Speaker 2: years older and much taller than Martha, But then almost
- 1:28Speaker 2: everybody was barely hitting five feet. She was still described
- 1:33Speaker 2: as strong willed, yet lively and full of fun. And
- 1:37Speaker 2: forget the grandmotherly portraits. This young bride was adorable. Go
- 1:41Speaker 2: look it up. Sadly, she was soon a young widow.
- 1:45Speaker 2: Mister Custis died when Martha was twenty six. She had
- 1:48Speaker 2: already borne four children, only one of whom lived into
- 1:52Speaker 2: her twenties. In fact, Brian just sixty percent of children
- 1:57Speaker 2: in colonial times reached the age of twenty. When Martha
- 2:00Speaker 2: remarried in seventeen fifty nine, George Washington was twenty six.
- 2:05Speaker 2: As well as a colonel of the Virginia Militia. In
- 2:08Speaker 2: the French and Indian War, George had won a reputation
- 2:11Speaker 2: for fearlessness that stretched all the way to Great Britain.
- 2:16Speaker 2: Yet as a colonial, the Crown refused to give him
- 2:19Speaker 2: a commission in the British Army. Had those haughty dopes
- 2:24Speaker 2: done so, George might never have wound up fighting redcoats Instead.
- 2:28Speaker 2: The young giant fought for Martha's hand. She had a
- 2:31Speaker 2: lot going for him. Not the white hair that we
- 2:35Speaker 2: see from the dollar bill, Young George had a full
- 2:38Speaker 2: head of reddish brown hair. He was almost six foot three,
- 2:41Speaker 2: a giant in those days, and still had his teeth.
- 2:47Speaker 2: I was going to say something later on. He got
- 2:50Speaker 2: teeth that were made of hippopotamuses. We're going to be
- 2:52Speaker 2: talking about hippos in a moment. As a wealthy widow,
- 2:56Speaker 2: Martha did not need to marry. This really seemed who
- 3:00Speaker 2: have been a love batch? What made George is so special? Well?
- 3:05Speaker 2: He must have been, because George became guardian of her children,
- 3:08Speaker 2: and after refusing to sign a widow's contract protecting her property,
- 3:13Speaker 2: Martha gave George control over her land, her money, and
- 3:17Speaker 2: eighty four slaves in his own right. George had inherited
- 3:20Speaker 2: Mount Vernon from his half brother Lawrence. His plan was
- 3:24Speaker 2: to scientifically farm more than sixty crops, and George did
- 3:28Speaker 2: that very successfully. All the evidence shows he loved Martha's kids,
- 3:32Speaker 2: as well as her niece and nephew and later the
- 3:35Speaker 2: grandchildren they adopted. Their marriage lasted forty years until his death,
- 3:41Speaker 2: but as a later fighter the Great Mike Tyson observed,
- 3:45Speaker 2: everyone's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
- 3:49Speaker 2: The punch for George Washington came with the Revolutionary War.
- 3:53Speaker 2: In seventeen seventy five, the Continental Congress made him Commander
- 3:57Speaker 2: in chief of its new army. Washington have fought on
- 4:02Speaker 2: without Martha. I don't mean without her support, I mean
- 4:06Speaker 2: having her at his side. George did not return to
- 4:09Speaker 2: his beloved Mount Vernon for almost seven years. Every single
- 4:14Speaker 2: year of the war, during the bitter winter months when
- 4:17Speaker 2: it was too cold to fight, Martha Washington traveled by
- 4:20Speaker 2: coach from Virginia to wherever the general was encamped. The
- 4:25Speaker 2: first trip wasn't so bad. Martha gave parties in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
- 4:30Speaker 2: although George, who loved to dance and play cards, he
- 4:33Speaker 2: worried about offending the Puritans up there. Then came the
- 4:37Speaker 2: real punch. In the kisser encampments like Jockey Hollow near
- 4:41Speaker 2: my hometown of Marristown, New Jersey, and Valley Forge. While
- 4:45Speaker 2: the General prayed kneeling in the snow, his wife got
- 4:49Speaker 2: a smallpox vaccination and cared for his starving, shoeless soldiers.
- 4:55Speaker 2: They loved the woman they called Lady Washington, as he
- 4:58Speaker 2: can tell by now I do. After the British surrender,
- 5:02Speaker 2: George Washington went on to lead the Constitutional Convention that
- 5:06Speaker 2: gave America a limited government dedicated to protecting God given
- 5:11Speaker 2: individual rights. Then, when he really wanted to go back
- 5:15Speaker 2: to farming, Washington was unanimously chosen to be our first president.
- 5:20Speaker 2: George and Martha went on to set the template for
- 5:23Speaker 2: all future presidents and first ladies. Brian, I would leave
- 5:27Speaker 2: everyone with two suggestions. Visit Mount Vernon. It's beautiful and
- 5:33Speaker 2: more modest than you'd think. But then so were the Washingtons. Also,
- 5:38Speaker 2: read to your kids and grandkids a hilarious little book
- 5:41Speaker 2: called George and Martha Rise and Shine. In this book,
- 5:45Speaker 2: George and Martha are two hippos, and it's a good
- 5:50Speaker 2: way to start telling their real story. There were two
- 5:53Speaker 2: hippos who truly loved each other, just as George and
- 5:56Speaker 2: Martha did. Happy Valentine's everyone, and God bless America. Hey men,
- 6:01Speaker 2: Broay Casanova.
- 6:03Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what I That's the day I
- 6:05Speaker 1: got engaged thirty four years ago, this Valentine's Day. I
- 6:10Speaker 1: asked my wife to marry me. Had big plans take
- 6:12Speaker 1: her out to dinner. She wasn't interested, Jack, so we ended
- 6:14Speaker 1: up getting to carry out thy food, sat in the
- 6:16Speaker 1: living room and the kitchen in the on the floor,
- 6:19Speaker 1: ate TI food. And that's when I popped the questions.
- 6:20Speaker 1: She said, yes, And I always say, you know that
- 6:23Speaker 1: they're behind every man is a great woman. And you know,
- 6:25Speaker 1: the best thing you can possibly do as a man
- 6:27Speaker 1: when you're looking for a spout is find someone who's
- 6:29Speaker 1: smarter than you out kick your coverage, which is obviously
- 6:32Speaker 1: what George Washington did. I mean, she.
- 6:34Speaker 2: Would say, by the way, that you've been eating tie
- 6:36Speaker 2: takeout ever since, but I know how well paul It cooks.
- 6:40Speaker 1: Yeah, she is quite the cook. But you know, it's
- 6:43Speaker 1: it just illustrating the value of the importance of a
- 6:46Speaker 1: strong marriage and how much that can help you get
- 6:48Speaker 1: through the tough times, get through the great times. You
- 6:50Speaker 1: get someone to enjoy your life, with someone who's there
- 6:53Speaker 1: to care for you when you're feeling bad. I mean,
- 6:55Speaker 1: there are so many benefits to marriage. And then needs
- 6:58Speaker 1: move over to the financial realities of being made marge,
- 7:00Speaker 1: and how much easier it is to have two people
- 7:02Speaker 1: working together, you know, sharing expenses and sharing you know,
- 7:05Speaker 1: chores and that kind of thing. So, you know, tough times,
- 7:08Speaker 1: great times, it is the best possible place to be.
- 7:11Speaker 2: You know, Brian, that Amesley is the miracle of my life.
- 7:14Speaker 2: I ever would have gotten into this business after leaving
- 7:17Speaker 2: law if it hadn't been for her. And of course
- 7:19Speaker 2: she's the best mother in the world, along with Paulette.
- 7:22Speaker 2: As for first ladies, in case anybody's wondering, Martha Washington
- 7:27Speaker 2: did not adopt any causes as first lady other than
- 7:31Speaker 2: caring for her family and welcoming dignitaries and preserving her
- 7:34Speaker 2: husband's papers. First lady causes came later on. I remember
- 7:39Speaker 2: as a kid lady Bird Johnson beautifying highways and then
- 7:43Speaker 2: you know, jumping ahead Michelle Obama, among other things, fighting
- 7:47Speaker 2: childhood obesity and now Malania Trump as you can see
- 7:51Speaker 2: in her documentary. I hope everybody goes to see that,
- 7:54Speaker 2: focusing on other children's issues, including cyber bullying. What I
- 7:59Speaker 2: hope we do not see again, Brian, his first ladies
- 8:03Speaker 2: or gentlemen running the government the way Edith Wilson did
- 8:07Speaker 2: when Woodrow had his roll, and the way doctor Jill
- 8:10Speaker 2: Biden did sitting in at cabinet meetings and who knows
- 8:14Speaker 2: what else for reasons obvious to everybody except Democrats.
- 8:20Speaker 1: Isn't that the truth? Boy, we learned a lot after
- 8:23Speaker 1: Biden was out anyhow, Jack Aviden, appreciate you coming to
- 8:26Speaker 1: the program again, The Big Picture with Jack Adiden every
- 8:28Speaker 1: Wednesday beginning at seven oh five here in the fifty
- 8:30Speaker 1: five Carosy Morning Show. Thanks for the inside and uh
- 8:33Speaker 1: well everyetty appreciate if you've got a great spouse, go
- 8:35Speaker 1: over and kiss him, because you're getting more benefit than
- 8:38Speaker 1: you maybe even realize. Jack Aviden, thank you very much
- 8:41Speaker 1: for what you do in best of health and loved
- 8:43Speaker 1: you in your better ab