The American Moderator.

I have to give thanks to my friend Cheryl at Flyover People for reminding me of a very important anniversary that passed on Sunday; the birthday of William Allen White.  WAW turned 140 years old.  William Allen Who?  William Allen White, my personal hero.
I suppose any town that one grows up in allows him the opportunity to intimately learn the biography of a local citizen who has made or will make history.  In Emporia, Kansas, Clint Bowyer is championed as our most recent celebrity, a NASCAR winner a few years younger than myself (I attended school with his older brother).  But, Emporia also is proud to proclaim itself as the home of William Allen White, editor of The Emporia Gazette, author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, confidant and lender of opinion to several American presidents, and an American moderator.  A true professor of American rhetoric.  Who would ever have thought a "simpleton" from The Great Plains would make such a grand and everlasting impact on this nation?

My lifelong adoration for this humble journalist lies in the fact that he had the persuasive ability to articulate the thoughts and opinions of small-town America upon a national and international level (he was present for the signing of the Treaty of Versailles that ended WWI).  With his typewriter, he translated the concerns and ideas of "regular folk" into massive editorials printed from coast to coast that pulled opposing sides together.  Mr. White prevented apprehension to convictions by providing careful definition.  He took pride in his community and his nation, never seeing a difference between the two.  And, even more impressive, American leaders listened to him.  President Theodore Roosevelt was frequently a guest at the White home on Exchange Street (a.k.a. Red Rocks), philanthropist Jane Addams frequently exchanged ideas with him, and FDR would correspond with the editor prior to the president's infamous Fire Side Chats.  Make note, those whom he captured the ears of were Republicans and Democrats!
Retrospect is a favorite word of mine, allowing us a meditation to past events.  And, in retrospect, I believe the skills of William Allen White would be welcomed in our modern age.  When so many of our citizens feel their voices are not and cannot be heard, his influential ability with pen and paper would be embraced in the 21st Century.  America needs, as it did during the many difficult times of the first half of the 20th Century, another gifted American Moderator.
One of the reasons I began my blog was, I suppose, in a way to emulate Mr. White's abilities to provide an understanding and eventual collective rallying of Americans, their beliefs and their hopes for the future.  (Of course, I could never hold a candle to this maverick.)  He spoke for those who did not have the ability to create a coherent sentence, for those who shared the purpose of America's democracy that we all embrace.  A referee, a mediator, a poet of the working man, the editor wore many hats.  Wouldn't it be a comforting change in 2008 for political foes, rather than shouting out their inflexible viewpoints, to earnestly offer up, "okay, well, let's sit down and discuss this"?  Mr. White would.
On a side note, Mr. White was a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, just like me.  And to that I say, Happy Birthday Brother White!

“If each man or woman could understand that every other human life is as full of sorrows, or joys, or base temptations, of heartaches and of remorse as his own . . . how much kinder, how much gentler he would be.” -- William Allen White