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32 to 44

That photo is just to provide irrefutable proof
that I was not born yesterday, nor even
the day before.

I was born when Herbert Hoover was president.
I do not remember Herbert Hoover.
Neither does anyone else.

I do recall hearing Franklin D. Roosevelt's voice
on a splintery, old radio, and I have some memory
of every president since then, so I have been alive
during the term of one of America's great presidents:
most scholars list only Washington and Lincoln before him.

32. Franklin D. Roosevelt (March 4, 1933—April 12, 1945). 
33. Harry S. Truman (April 12, 1945—January 20, 1953).
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower (January 20, 1953—January 20, 1961). 
35. John F. Kennedy (January 20, 1961—November 22, 1963). 
36. Lyndon B. Johnson (November 22, 1963—January 20, 1969). 
37. Richard Nixon (January 20, 1969—August 9, 1974). 
38. Gerald Ford (August 9, 1974—January 20, 1977). 
39. Jimmy Carter (January 20, 1977—January 20, 1981). 
40. Ronald Reagan (January 20, 1981—January 20, 1989). 
41. George H. W. Bush (January 20, 1989—January 20, 1993). 
42. Bill Clinton (January 20, 1993—January 20, 2001). 
43. George W. Bush (January 20, 2001—January 20, 2009). 
44. Barack Obama (January 20, 2009—Incumbent). 

Because I am feeling kind, today, I shall only say, 
but not specify, that among the presidents I recall,
were some undistinguished men, too; even one 
thrown out of office for crime.  Perhaps 
there should have been more.  

I do not think John Kennedy was a great president,
although I do recall, in those turbulent sixties,
a sense of something significant in the plain fact of his age,
coming to office, as he did, when Konrad Adenauer 
was Chancellor of Germany, and Charles de Gaulle 
was President of France.  Kennedy seemed to represent
a new era in America; young, Catholic, articulate, and bright.

I suspect that history may remind us, 
as it is nudging me to say now, that
Barack Obama will mark a high point in our lives.
If he had no other claim to our attention,
we would have to say he was one of the most decent,
dignified, articulate, and honorable people 
ever to have graced the White House.  

He has accomplished much, 
and it will seem like much more
as the savage effort to discredit him
fades with funerals and sunlight. 
Just that he was elected, and re-elected,
provided smoldering racism its chance to flare,
and we had to relive what we had hoped was dying.

When we finally understand 
that our time has been a turning-time in human history,
and that Barack Obama stood center in it,
we will wonder at how well he did
and remember him, not for what we were,
but for whom he was.













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