Today is my Dad's birthday; but on February 8, 2004 I got the call that he had died after 76 years of living. Since my dad was my introduction to politics, I figured that I'd write about him today.
More below the fold....
If anything defined my father, it was his service in the United States Air Force (23 years) and his football coaching (service ball and high school). His specialty was vehicle maintenance (various kinds, including refueling rigs).
I don't remember much about him in the very early years (Itazukie Air Force Base in Fukuoka, Japan) and my first memories were of Travis Air Force base in the very early 1960's.
He was subsequently sent away to Korea for a 1 year isolated tour and I lived in Shertz, Texas during that time. My first memories were of President Johnson speaking on the television; my mom had said "be quiet; the President is speaking to us."
We ended up living in many different places; probably the hardest time was when my dad did his first tour in Vietnam (Tan Son Nhut Air Base) We lived in Austin, Texas at the time. Of course, my mom kept most of her worry to herself; I was in the 4'th grade.
When dad returned it was a joyous day. Interestingly enough, he didn't appreciate the protesters but yet, in private, questioned the wisdom and necessity of the war. He said that the toughest times where when they had to take cover during a rocket attack.
We then moved to California (Mather Air Force Base, near Sacramento). It was during this time that I began to understand his politics.
He was an old time Roosevelt Democrat; when I asked him the difference between the two parties, he'd say "The Republicans care about the rich, the Democrats care about the poor."
This pretty much described how he felt:
I remember staying up to watch the returns of the Nixon-Humphrey returns; we didn't have a great feeling about the election.
My Dad gave back to the community by coaching various sports; football was his favorite:
I am number 64 in the photo; this team went 6-2 for the season. Dad took this undersized team and made a winner out of it; his favorite play was the halfback "option" pass and we ended up scoring a ton of points that season.
Another thing my dad (and my mom) did was take me to the library at an early age. Neither of my parents made it out of junior high but they ensured that I went to school and had access to education.
Neither parent really interfered though; my school education was really my own thing; they never checked homework, pestered me about grades, etc. They more or less left me alone, which appeared to work out for me.
Politics
Our family had three brass plaques on the living room wall: Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. That more or less said it all. Both of my parents were die hard Democrats, albeit the "socially conservative", "anti-abortion" variety. Note that my dad was really a deist; he didn't believe in any of the religions though he allowed mom to raise me as a Roman Catholic.
Yes, much to my embarrassment, my parents did participate in a so-called "pro-life" march; still they never once voted for a Republican. They didn't let a "single issue" get their vote.
Dad never liked Ronald Reagan (he called him "a dummy") and he disliked President George W. Bush to his last days.
I remember when Gore lost in 2000; of course I was a bit down but told my parents (who lived in Austin, Texas, where Dad retired) that "we are still in good hands." They warned me: "son, he isn't like his dad; he doesn't have it upstairs; he will ruin our country."
Were they right about that!
Mostly though, Dad despised anyone who sent troops in Harm's way when it wasn't absolutely necessary.
In summary, I owe both my parents for the raising and for introducing me to books. I also owe my love of politics and football to my dad...and well one silly thing: my dad loved to play with stuffed frogs..and so do I. :-)
Here is one regret: when I got introduced to facebook, several of my former football team mates who had played for dad asked me to say "hi" to him and to tell him how they remembered how he had pushed them to do their best and how that had helped them later in life. Sadly, Dad will never know how highly they thought of him.
One thing that makes me smile though: where Dad liked Bill Clinton, he would have been delighted to see Barack Obama elected President of the United States.
Thanks for reading.