The Law School at Arizona State University in Tempe is named after Sandra Day O’Connor, in honor of the first female Justice of the United States Supreme Court. A Phoenix high school also bears her name. Appointed in 1981 by then President Ronald Reagan, Justice O’Connor served on the U.S. Supreme Court until 2006. Although a Republican when appointed she was often a swing voter on the Court, frequently siding with other justices who were more liberal.
During her life she served on the Board of Trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA, and Colonial Williamsburg and was appointed Chancellor of The College of William & Mary in 2005. She was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor by the President on August 12, 2009.
Gabor S. Boritt was 16 years of age when the Hungarian Revolution exploded into existence on October 23, 1956. Only two weeks later Russian tanks crushed whatever resistance existed as Hungarian Freedom Fighters played Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address over their radio. A few days later Dwight D. Eisenhower, who cast his vote in Gettysburg, was elected president.
Leaving his home that was reduced to rubble, Boritt crossed the Hungarian border into Austria running past barbed wire and watchtowers with sister Judith. As one of 200,000 Hungarian refugees, Gabor made his way to the United States along with 40,000 others under asylum grants by Ike’s administration.
This refugee immigrant learned our language by reading and studying President Lincoln’s writings and speeches and studying the history of the Civil War. He married, raised a family and settled on a farm near Gettysburg, PA; Dr. Boritt is Professor Emeritus of Gettysburg College and is author of “The Gettysburg Gospel” and “Lincoln and Economics of the American Dream.”
Born in Denison, TX on October 14, 1890, the family of Dwight David Eisenhower moved to Abilene, KS in 1892. Graduating high school in 1909 and unable to afford college, he and brother Edgar (of seven brothers) agreed to attend college alternate years while the other worked to earn tuition money for both. Exceeding the age limit for the U.S. Naval Academy, he was accepted by the U.S. Army and attended West Point, graduating in 1915.
Eisenhower became a Five-Star General, planning and executing Operation Torch (North Africa) in 1942-43 and D-Day Invasion of Fortress Europe (Operation Overlord) on June 6, 1944. Ike was appointed President of Columbia University in NYC in 1948 and ran for President of the U.S.A. in 1952.
Although he enjoyed many achievements during his varied career, one of his presidential legacies was legislation to construct “The Interstate Highway.” In his farewell address on January 17th, 1961, he warned of the control of the industrial and military complex so that security and liberty could prosper together.
Wernher Magnus Maxamilian Freiherr Von Braun is a long name for an aerospace engineer who was the developer of the V-2 rocket produced at Peenemunde, Germany during WWII. Von Braun was born March 12, 1912, received a PhD from Friedrich-Wilhelm University in 1934 and became a member of the Nazi Army in 1937.
Disaffected with the German military, he was overheard saying he was disappointed that his rockets were used in war instead of peaceful missions. Reported to authorities, he was imprisoned for his comments that were considered contrary to Nazi policy. Realizing his importance to the Nazi war effort, he was released and placed under surveillance. His brother saw a U.S. soldier riding a bicycle in a village on May 2, 1945 and told him he and his brother wanted to surrender.
Thus on June 20, 1945 Von Braun was transferred to the U.S., later to Fort Bliss, near San Antonio, TX and in 1950 to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center was established in Huntsville in 1958 where Von Braun presided from 1960 to 1970. Sent to Washington, D.C. as NASA’s Associate Director, he retired in 1972 and was awarded the prestigious “Medal of Science” in 1977. His legacy will live on through the space travel developments he engendered throughout his career. Von Braun became an American citizen on May 15, 1955 and died in Alexandria, VA on June 16, 1977.
People Who Made a Difference – to be continued next week.
