Good morning, Whitewater.
Sunday in Whitewater will have a high of eighty-two, with scattered thunderstorms. Sunrise is 5:15 and sunset 8:34, for 15h 19m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 5.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
Friday’s FW poll asked whether readers would wear a coat of honey bees if, by wearing enough, they’d have a chance for a Guinness World Record. An overwhelming number of respondents (86.36%) said no thanks.
On this day in 1777, Congress adopts the flag of the United States:
In the United States, Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened on that day in 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.[1] The United States Armyalso celebrates the Army Birthday on this date; Congress adopted “the American continental army” after reaching a consensus position in the Committee of the Whole on June 14, 1775.[2][3]
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress. Flag Day is not an official federal holiday. Title 36 of the United States Code, Subtitle I, Part A, CHAPTER 1, § 110[4] is the official statute on Flag Day; however, it is at the President’s discretion to officially proclaim the observance. On June 14, 1937, Pennsylvania became the first U.S. state to celebrate Flag Day as a state holiday, beginning in the town of Rennerdale.[1] New York Statutes designate the second Sunday in June as Flag Day, a state holiday.[5]
Perhaps the oldest continuing Flag Day parade is at Fairfield, Washington.[6] Beginning in 1909 or 1910, Fairfield has held a parade every year since, with the possible exception of 1918, and celebrated the “Centennial” parade in 2010, along with some other commemorative events.
Quincy, Massachusetts has had an annual Flag Day parade since 1952 and claims it “is the longest-running parade of its kind in the nation.”[7] The largest Flag Day parade is held annually in Troy, New York, which bases its parade on the Quincy parade and typically draws 50,000 spectators.[1][8] In addition, the Three Oaks, MI Flag Day Parade is held annually on the weekend of Flag Day and is a three-day event and they claim to have the largest flag day parade in the nation as well as the oldest.[9]
Today is also Fighting Bob’s birthday:
On this date Robert M. La Follette was born in Primrose, Dane County. A renowned lawyer, politician, governor, and U.S. Senator, La Follette was the son of a prosperous, politically active Republican farmer who died eight months after Robert was born. Robert grew up on his family’s farm and entered the UW in 1874.
While a student at UW, he edited the campus newspaper and was strongly influenced by the teachings of John Bascom. After receiving a B.A. in 1879, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1880. The same year, he was nominated and elected district attorney over the opposition of local political boss Elisha W. Keyes. On December 31, 1881 he married his college sweetheart, Belle Case. I
n 1884 he was elected to Congress, again defeating Keyes. Known as “Fighting Bob”, he actively advocated conservation, preservation of public lands, and conservative public spending. Defeated in the 1890 election, he returned to his Madison law practice but remained active in state politics. He served as governor from 1900 to 1906, where he pushed a broad reform agenda which became known as “the Wisconsin Idea.” As governor, he enacted a program that included direct primaries, more equitable taxation, a more effective railroad commission, civil service reform, conservation, control of lobbyists, a legislative reference library, and bank reform.
In 1905 the Wisconsin legislature elected La Follette to the U.S. Senate. He was a controversial senator almost from the beginning. After William Howard Taft became president, La Follette forged the progressive Republican opposition to the Payne-Aldrich Tariff and became a persistent critic of the administration. In 1909, he founded La Follette’s Weekly Magazine (later known as The Progressive) to promote his ideology. In 1911 he was chosen as the progressive Republican candidate to displace Taft, but he was superseded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.
La Follette supported most of the policies of Democratic President Woodrow Wilson until the question of U.S. entry into World War I arose. Vigorously opposed to entry, he was the victim of an unsuccessful attempt to expel him from the Senate for an antiwar speech. In the postwar period La Follette resisted the anti-Communist scare and fought for the interests of workers and farmers against the business-oriented Republican administrations. He initiated the investigation into the Teapot Dome scandal in 1922. In 1924, he ran for president on the Progressive Party ticket but lost to Calvin Coolidge. He died on June 18, 1925, still a fervent believer in democracy.
Both of La Follette’s sons, Robert Jr. and Philip, carried on his political ideals after his death. La Follette was one of the most eloquent orators of his time, consistently speaking out in favor of popular democracy and in opposition to government by special interests. He is regarded as one of the most important Progressives in American history. [Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin Biography, SHSW 1960, pg. 217]