Thursday, May 6, 2010 - I badly wanted him to win, especially after he...
I badly wanted him to win, especially after he called Coretta King to express his concern when her husband was jailed, and after he spoke to the Southern Baptists in Houston, defending his faith and the right of Catholic Americans to run for PresidentMost of my classmates, and their parents, disagreedI was getting used to itA few months earlier, I had lost the student council presidents race to Mike Thomas, a good guy, who would be one of four classmates to be killed in VietnamNixon carried our county, but Kennedy squeaked by in Arkansas with 50 percent of the vote, despite the best efforts of Protestant fundamentalists to convince Baptist Democrats that he would be taking orders from the pope
Of course, the fact that he was a Catholic was one of the reasons I wanted Kennedy to be PresidentFrom my own experiences at StJohns School and my encounters with the nuns who worked with Mother at StJosephs Hospital, I liked and admired Catholicstheir values, devotion, and social conscienceI was also proud that the only Arkansan ever to run for national office, Senator Joe TRobinson, was the louis vuitton beverly bag running mate of the first Catholic candidate for President, Governor Al Smith of New York, in 1928Like Kennedy, Smith carried Arkansas, thanks to Robinson
Given my affinity for Catholics, its ironic that, besides music, my major extracurricular interest from ninth grade on was the Order of DeMolay, a boys organization sponsored by the MasonsI always thought the Masons and DeMolays were anti-Catholic, though I didnt understand whyDeMolay was, after all, a pre-Reformation martyr who died a believer at the hands of the Spanish InquisitionIt was not until I was doing research for this book that I learned that the Catholic Church had condemned Masons going back to the early eighteenth century as a dangerous authority-threatening institution, while the Masons dont ban people of any faith and, in fact, have had a few Catholic members
The purpose of DeMolay was to foster personal and civic virtues and friendship among its membersI enjoyed the camaraderie, memorizing all the parts of the rituals, moving up the offices to be master counselor of my local chapter, and going to the state conventions, with dolce and gabbana uk their vigorous politics and parties with the Rainbow Girls, DeMolays sister organizationI learned more about politics by participating in the state DeMolay election, though I never ran myselfThe cleverest man I supported for state master counselor was Bill Ebbert of JonesboroEbbert would have made a great mayor or congressional committee chairman in the old days when seniority ruledHe was funny, smart, tough, and as good at deal making as LBJOnce he was barreling down an Arkansas highway at ninety-five miles per hour when a state police car, with siren screaming, gave chaseEbbert had a shortwave radio, so he called the police to report a serious car wreck three miles behindThe police car got the message and quickly changed direction, leaving the speeding Ebbert home freeI wonder if the policeman ever figured it out
Even though I enjoyed DeMolay, I didnt buy the idea that its secret rituals were a big deal that somehow made our lives more importantAfter I graduated out of DeMolay, I didnt follow a long line of distinguished Americans going back to George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul discount tiffany jewelry Revere into Masonry, probably because in my twenties I was in an anti-joining phase, and I didnt like what I mistakenly thought was Masonrys latent anti-Catholicism, or the segregation of blacks and whites into different branches (though when I was exposed to black Prince Hall Masonic conventions as governor, the members seemed to be having more fun on their own than the Masons I had known)
Besides, I didnt need to be in a secret fraternity to have secretsI had real secrets of my own, rooted in Daddys alcoholism and abuseThey got worse when I was fourteen and in the ninth grade and my brother was only fourOne night Daddy closed the door to his bedroom, started screaming at Mother, then began to hit herLittle Roger was scared, just as I had been nine years earlier on the night of the gunshotFinally, I couldnt bear the thought of Mother being hurt and Roger being frightened anymoreI grabbed a golf club out of my bag and threw open their doorMother was on the floor and Daddy was standing over her, beating on herI told him to stop and said that if he didnt I was going to beat the hell out of louis vuitton knockoffs him with the golf clubHe just caved, sitting down in a chair next to the bed and hanging his headIn her book, Mother says she called the police and had Daddy taken to jail for the nightI dont remember that, but I do know we didnt have any more trouble for a good whileI suppose I was proud of myself for standing up for Mother, but afterward I was sad about it, tooI just couldnt accept the fact that a basically good person would try to make his own pain go away by hurting someone elseI wish Id had someone to talk with about all this, but I didnt, so I had to figure it out for myself
I came to accept the secrets of our house as a normal part of my lifeI never talked to anyone about themnot a friend, a neighbor, a teacher, a pastorMany years later when I ran for President, several of my friends told reporters they never knewOf course, as with most secrets, some people did knowDaddy couldnt be on good behavior with everyone but us, though he triedWhoever else knewfamily members, Mothers close friends, a couple of policemendidnt mention it to me, so I thought I had a real secret and kept quiet about new prada replica handbags
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