This new movie has been produced by the National Society of the Pershing Rifles, the honor society for R.O.T.C. cadets and midshipmen, and The U.S. World War One Centennial Commission. The world premiere showing will be on March 15th at the KCI Expo Center, 11730 North Ambassador Drive, Kansas City, MO 64153. You can learn more, view a trailer and reserve tickets here.
Month: February 2019 (Page 1 of 2)
Perhaps it is one of those little known facts of World War I that the war ended for the United States near what is now a traffic circle in New Jersey.
We all remember the Treaty of Versailles–you do remember the Treaty of Versailles, don’t you? Treaties in this country have to be ratified by the Senate, which did not happen in this case.
The National World War I Museum and Memorial has often offered talks on both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, including showing Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films. With Jim’s previous post on the new Tolkien movie, it seems appropriate to follow it up with the announcement of a talk with the above title coming up at the Museum:
New Tolkien Biopic
I’m going to take a chance and presume that all of you have heard of the Oxford Don J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), the poet, philologist and author of classic high fantasy novels, whose works The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit have had a massive influence on popular culture, especially through Sir Peter Jackson’s movie versions. We’ve even had a lecture about Tolkien and World War 1 at the Kansas Historical Society recently.
100 years ago in Kansas, March 1919.
March 9, 1919.
-A poll indicated that Kansas dailies were in favor of a league of nations but were opposed to President Wilson’s plan as submitted to the peace conference.
March 14, 1919.
-McPherson reported 200 cases of influenza.
Once again, kind of a minimal amount of WWI programming on the C-SPAN networks this weekend. All time Central as usual.
C-SPAN2
–Garrett Peck: The Great War in America. Airs at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning, February 25th.
C-SPAN3
–Unknown Soldier of World War I. Airs at 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning, February 24th.
Woodrow Wilson’s National Emergency
The first U.S. President to issue an emergency proclamation was Woodrow Wilson. On Feb. 5th, 1917 he said:
“I have found that there exists a national emergency arising from the insufficiency of maritime tonnage to carry the products of the farms, forests, mines and manufacturing industries of the United States, to their consumers abroad and within the United States.”
A future President remembers Versailles
Herbert Hoover (1874 – 1964), who was later to be the 31st President of the United States, was invited to the 1919 Versailles Peace Conference to be an adviser to President Woodrow Wilson. At the time Hoover was the head of the American Relief Administration, providing food and medical assistance to European countries excepting the former Central Powers, since a state of war still existed. Although not a delegate, Hoover was closely involved in the discussions and deliberations. In 1958 he wrote of his experience and you can read about it here .
This is one of those topics where I know I don’t have all the answers, but I am curious about how many presidential descendants served in some capacity during the Great War.
We always hear about Theodore Roosevelt’s four sons serving in the war. That is only natural; TR had only been out of office for eight years when the United States entered the war. TR had been quite outspoken in the years leading up to the war. The sons had been a part of the public consciousness of the Roosevelt family for many years. There was the outpouring of grief when the youngest son, Quentin, lost his life when his plane was shot down.
This will be one of those lean weekends on the C-SPAN networks when it comes to WWI programming. One program, time is Central as usual.
–U.S. Supreme Court & Free Speech During World War I. Saturday morning, February 16th, at 10:00 a.m.