George Washington preparing to assume the first presidency in 1789; Andrew Johnson facing impeachment defends the Union and the Constitution in 1868; James A. Garfield making his last public comments in 1881; Teddy Roosevelt blustering about his Western exploits and contributions in 1910, and FDR speaking to the nation during the dark days of 1942.

Three of the snapshots (Washington, Johnson, and FDR) are at critical hours in our nation’s history. Garfield was to die moments following his snapshot, but we are left with a vision of a brilliant man determined to lead a still healing nation. TR’s snapshot is set in Oklahoma among his Western friends. He’s telling stories about the fascinating people he has met throughout the West and the World—some with a little truth, some stretched just a bit. Washington is resolved to leave his beloved Mt. Vernon to help establish a new government; a “Garden of Democracy.” The never-smiling Johnson must face down a hostile Senate to maintain balance between the legislative and executive branches of government. Garfield is relieved to be leaving Washington to see his ailing wife in New Jersey after terrible infighting within his party over cabinet appointments. He does not realize that Charles Guiteau is waiting with a loaded pistol at the nearby train station. TR is touched by Bud and Temple Abernathy, sons of the famous Oklahoma wolf-hunter, who have traveled 2,733 miles by horseback to New York City to welcome him back from Africa and Europe. FDR uses a fireside chat to call for the four freedoms: Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear.

In each snapshot depicted by Dr. Gary M. Gray, these patriots demonstrated great courage amidst physical danger during crucial moments in our nation’s history. Washington was shot at often during the French and Indian and the Revolutionary Wars. Angry Secessionists tried to kill Johnson as he sought to leave Tennessee in 1861 and return to his seat in the U.S. Senate. Garfield, a minister and educator by trade, rose to be a two-star general and fought in two of the Civil War’s greatest battles. TR led the charge up the San Juan Hills and later was shot while campaigning in 1912. FDR survived (although the mayor of Chicago did not) an assassination attempt in 1933. Of the five, only Garfield was to die from bullets.

Yet it is each one’s love for their country that makes these snapshots so valuable to audiences today. Each one had a vision for America and sought to lead it to a higher level than before. Each believed, within the societal norms of the day, in freedom, equality, dignity, and healing. Each provide a snapshot into history that will inspire Americans today.

GEORGE WASHINGTON
Federalist, First President: 1789-1797
a
Considered America’s most indispensible man during the formulative days of America’s birth, George Washington brought dignity, courage, fairness and stature to the Presidency. Before that historical moment, however, Washington was an adventurer, soldier, and gentleman planter. Serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and later the President of the Constitutional Convention, Washington was the man for which the Presidency was modeled. George Washington is presented at Mount Vernon on April 14, 1789, the date Charles Thomson, a representative of Congress, formally announced to General Washington that he had been elected President of the United States. There a reluctant Washington addresses a small assembled crowd before departing for New York and describes his challenges, priorities and vision for America.

THOMAS JEFFERSON
Democratic Republican, Third President:
1801-1809
a
Word has just been received at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello of the death of Governor Meriwether Lewis, the great explorer of the Northwest Passage. On December 7, 1809, the same day Captain William Clark arrives to grieve and plan the publication of Lewis’ journal, a delegation from Upper Louisiana Territory has arrived to greet the former President. The “Sage of Monticello” has agreed to discuss his unique role in the Louisiana Purchase and his subsequent master plan of exploration during his Presidency.

ANDREW JOHNSON
Unionist, Seventeenth President:
1865-1869
a
Grounded firmly on the Constitution, the Union, and states rights, Andrew Johnson sought to heal America during the turbulent times following the Civil War. Because of his unbending aligience to the Union and his fearlessness in serving as the Military Governor of Tennessee during the war, Johnson, a Southern Democrat, was President Abraham Lincoln’s running mate for the National Union Party in 1865. Following the war and Lincoln’s assassination, Johnson inherited a presidency during great political and social intrigue, revenge, and turbulence. The Johnson presentation is at the White House on March 4, 1868, the day before his impeachment trial is to commence in the United States Senate.

JAMES A. GARFIELD
Republican, Twentieth President: 1881
a
One of America’s least known presidents, James Abram Garfield was among the best equipped and brilliant men to ever assume the presidency. Born into poverty in 1831 in a NE Ohio log cabin, Garfield was to become a Disciples of Christ minister, educator, college president, two-star general, and minority leader in the U. S. House of Representatives. Two unique perspectives of Garfield are available.

February, 21, 1881: Before traveling to Washington and assuming the presidency, Garfield (the only ordained minister to serve as U.S. President) delivers a sermon entitled “On These Rocks I Stand” at a little Disciples of Christ congregation in Mentor, OH, his hometown. It is based on Garfield’s belief that Christianity and Democracy would be the foundations of his presidency.

July 2, 1881: At the suggestion of Secretary of State Blaine, Garfield shares his “Horatio Alger” journey from the “towpath of the Erie Canal” to the presidency and features his strong convictions regarding slavery, the Union, education of the masses and his guiding principles of “Freedom, Equality and Dignity” for every American. Shortly after this address Garfield is assassinated at a Washington railroad station as he is leaving to visit his ailing wife.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Republican, Twenty-Sixth President: 1901-1909
a
Theodore Roosevelt, was a blusterous, bigger-than-life personality who sought adventure and “the Strenuous Life.” He could go anywhere, in this case Oklahoma, and lifetime friends and memories would result. His friendships with Oklahoma Territorial Governor Frank Frantz, Comanche Chief Quannah Parker, and wolf-hunter Jack Abernathy made for great stories. When Abernathy’s young sons, Bud and Temple, rode their horses from Frederick, OK to New York City to welcome TR home from Europe in 1910, the basis for Roosevelt’s fictional return (July 29, 1910) to Oklahoma was set.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
Democrat, Thirty-Second President: 1933-1945
a
In 1933, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated, the country had screeched to an economic halt. Many Americans were unemployed and the people were “depressed” in mind, body and spirit. Through powerful optimism and “freedom from fear” rhetoric, along with New Deal programs, the country was able to slowly regain its footing. America then faced potential world domination by Germany, Japan and Italy. Now fighting a battle on the world stage, Roosevelt led a massive mobillization process that provided Britain and Russia with arms and supplies. When war was declared in 1941, FDR, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin pooled the world’s resources to defeat the Axis powers. The White House is the setting for the February 23, 1942 “Fireside Chat” to the nation. This presentation is delivered to a somber nation that has suffered a number of military defeats on battle fronts throughout the world. In this address FDR brings hope, confidence, and challenge to the millions listening to his every word via radio around the nation and world. A new president will be added each year. Candidates for future portrayal are Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, and Woodrow Wilson.

GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR
General of the Army
a
The city of Little Rock, AR, is celebrating March 26, 1952 as the most decorated and famed American soldier returns to the site of his birth and baptism. It has been less than a year since President Harry Truman relieved the great general from his command in both Korea and Japan. Yet, MacArthur has remained enormously popular to the masses. There is also the republican nomination for President to be decided later in 1952, and MacArthur has been designated the keynote speaker. Will this be the year that he achieves his ultimate goal? Yet on this day, MacArthur is more concerned with telling his life story—one that is unquestionably among the most remarkable and significant in American history.

FRANKLIN AND ELEANOR
a
Mr. Presidents’ latest experiment is a two-person presentation of Franklin and Eleanor. Both the President (in 1945 at the Little White House, GA) and the First Lady of the World (in 1948 at her Val-kill cottage in New York) are on the stage at the same time, but are in two different locations and in different years.

There are few couples whose lives have been of such interest to the American public, the world public for that matter, as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.

FDR was the image of courage and vision as the world faced the two great threats of the Depression and World War II. Tall, handsome, and articulate, his leadership seemed natural, inspired, and millions pinned their future hopes upon him. Others found him to be a traitor to his class.

Eleanor was the tall, awkward, and plain niece of President Theodore Roosevelt who was surprised when FDR sought her for courtship. Never comfortable as a wife, she felt overshadowed by her mother-in-law Sara Delano Roosevelt. Never comfortable with children, she was to be the mother of five. Never comfortable in speech making, she learned to control her nerves and a high-pitched voice to become Franklin’s voice when polio took his legs.

Two people, both Roosevelts by birth, but very different in looks, temperament, and needs…became the most significant couple in American history. This was not on the horizon when Franklin and Eleanor were married in 1905 as President Roosevelt gave away his niece. Franklin was seen as a potential heir to the political Roosevelt throne, but Eleanor was at best perceived as an intelligent helpmate and mother, a person destined to live her life on the sidelines of greatness.

Their lives were to be public during an unsuccessful campaign for the Vice Presidency in 1920, the New York Governorship in 1929-33, and, of course, the presidency from 1933-45. Yet the personal stories underneath the public view is not only fascinating, but critical in understanding this unique, flawed couple as they served as the central focal point in the world during those two great crises.

You will witness two extremely rare moments as both Eleanor and FDR are in reflective moods…thinking about their hopes and dreams, both together and separate.

Ladies and Gentlemen, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s date is April 8, 1945. He is exhausted from a long and frustrating meeting with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in Yalta, but now he has arrived at his beloved "Little White House" in Warm Springs, Georgia for a few days of rest. Despite his weariness, his spirits are high because Lucy Mercer Rutherford is driving to Warm Springs to meet him tomorrow along with the painter Elizabeth Shoumatoff. Tonight he is writing letters…and thinking of Lucy…and Eleanor.

Eleanor’s date is December 23, 1948. Eleanor (portrayed by Erma Stewart) has just returned from Paris where she served as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations and as Chairman of the Committee that wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On December 10, the United Nations had ratified this Declaration.

It is here that our two separate stories begin.

To arrange for a President of the United States to speak to your conference or convention, contact Dr. Gary M. Gray at
1-800-821-9595.

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