A Word Edgewise |
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A Word Edgewise |
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Last Updated 06/30/05
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Email: mjclen@our-town.com
A
Word Edgewise
TAKE
YOUR POLITICS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT
By
Mary Joe Clendenin
We seem to have
a frenzy of peculiar politicians of late, not only for governor of California,
but for the next president. But this is not the only time in our history that
politics and comedians have blended.
Governor Davis,
at home with Hollywood wannabes, has held office longer than at least one of our
presidents. David Rice Atchison, a senator from Missouri from 1843 to 1855, was
president of the United States for one day.
It happened
this way. During his twelve years as senator, David Atchison was elected pro tem
16 times. One of those occasions was on March 2, 1849, just before Zachary
Taylor was to take oath of office as the 12th president.
Because
Inauguration Day fell on Sunday, Taylor decided he would wait until Monday to be
sworn in. So for 24 hours David Atchison was president; not even long enough to
celebrate. Turns out since he had worked extremely hard during the previous
week, he slept through most of his one-day tenure as chief.
Then there was
Goat Gland Brinkley—I didn’t give him that name. He earned it. It was during
the Depression that Dr. John Romulus Brinkley gained considerable following with
his claims of sexual rejuvenation for aging or tired men. (The “doctor”
title was questionable” but he practiced.)
Viagra vendors
could take lessons from Brinkley. He owned a radio station, KFKB—“Kansas
First, Kansas Best”—and used it to advertise his services. Men flocked to
his clinic and paid a minimum of $750 for surgery to transplant goat sex glands
into their gonads.
The American
Medical Association didn’t approve of Brinkley and his methods. In 1930 they
stripped him of his license and his radio advertisement. So, he ran for governor
with the slogan, “Clean out, clean up and keep Kansas clean.” He received
one of the biggest write-in votes in history. He tried again, and a third time,
but was never elected, although he used his powerful radio station, newly
purchased just over the border in Mexico, to advertise.
Not yet down,
just defeated in politics, Goat Gland Brinkley went again into the sexual
rejuvenation business, this time with a little surgery and a potion made with
hydrochloric acid and some blue dye. By the late 30s lawsuits had sapped his
wealth. (He would have voted for proposition 13.)
Texas had at
least one other rogue candidate for governor, besides MA and Pa Ferguson. His
name was W. Lee O’Daniel, or Pappy O’Daniel.
He and his band made music all the way to the Governor’s Mansion in
1938. The “Pappy” came from the theme song for the band as they advertised
his brand of flour. “Please pass the biscuits, Pappy,” was a line in the
song. His platform was the Ten Commandments.
Pappy railed
against politicians and demanded that every person over 65 years of age be given
$30 per month. He won a second term in 1940 but left office in 1941 to run for
U.S. Senate. He won that election by defeating Lyndon, B. Johnson.
I remember
during the race for governor, W. Lee O’Daniel came to Stephenville. He and his
band performed on a flat bed truck on the square, parked in front of Cawyer Drug
Store. His two sons were members of the band. Mike played the fiddle and Pat
played the banjo.
Dad
corresponded with Governor and Senator O’Daniel on several occasions. I have
copies of some of his letters in a big scrapbook.
So, observers
of the political scene, enjoy a few laughs along with the enlarged egos of the
candidates. Who knows what wild proclamations will strike the voters’ fancy.
We may have a foreign born actor with no policy--and not much else-- for
president.