{"id":2348,"date":"2018-07-01T10:47:43","date_gmt":"2018-07-01T14:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/?p=2348"},"modified":"2018-07-01T10:47:43","modified_gmt":"2018-07-01T14:47:43","slug":"july-1-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/2018\/07\/july-1-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"July 1, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>________________________________________<br \/>\n<strong>On the morning of this day 120 years ago, the United States was hardly a recognized \u201cworld power\u201d\u2014this accolade went to Great Britain (and remained there until the early 20th Century). But by sunset of this day, America had taken its place\u2014if not yet the lead\u2014among the world\u2019s dominant countries.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The impetus for this rising began, one might strongly suggest, with the BATTLE OF SAN JUAN HILL, in Cuba on July 1, 1898. This decisive battle\u2014the bloodiest and most famous of the Spanish-American War\u2014gave rise also to the fame and respect, duly deserved, of former Assistant Secretary of the Navy, now Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, and the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry: \u201cRoosevelt\u2019s Rough Riders.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Rough Riders were certainly the least homogeneous of any military group ever formed, and TR himself recruited many. They were cowboys, bronco busters, Ivy League athletes, ranchers, miners; the one thing, however, that all had in common was superb horsemanship. Despite this unique skill, neither the Rough Riders nor their two companion regiments ever truly \u201crode into battle.\u201d In fact, of the three regiments raised, only one\u2014the Rough Riders\u2014ever saw action on the battlefields of Cuba\u2026but afoot. Because the plans for bringing and debarking the hundreds of horses required for a cavalry unit were so ill-constructed, very few actually arrived dockside at the port of Daiquiri (one of TR\u2019s personal horses drowned while attempting to come ashore; \u201cLittle Texas,\u201d TR\u2019s second horse did survive and later served the Colonel well at San Juan Heights). Without horses, the Rough Riders were re-designated \u201cdismounted cavalry\u201d\u2014in practical effect, infantry.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Nevertheless, Colonel Roosevelt and the Rough Riders\u2014small in number for a \u201cregiment,\u201d horseless, and wearing wool uniforms in the Cuban July heat of day, took first Kettle Hill and immediately thereafter San Juan Hill itself, turning the entire tide of battle against highly destructive artillery, rifle, and machine gun fire, and by sunset secured the Heights and opened the way to Santiago and final victory itself.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Later, in 1906, Theodore Roosevelt became the first American ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, for having negotiated the Treaty of Portsmouth, thereby ending the Russo-Japanese War. As he was the President of the United States at the time of this award, this landmark event stood singularly for over a century. It took, however, even longer for TR to be recognized by the U.S. Congress with the Medal of Honor, posthumously in 2001.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>One of the many things that set TR apart from his predecessors and successors was how he commanded. In that battle 120 years ago, TR didn\u2019t point and \u201cgo there.\u201d He waved, and shouted \u201cFollow me!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Andy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>[7\/1\/2018 \u2013 Copyright \u00a9 Andy McCommish 2018]<\/strong><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>________________________________________ On the morning of this day 120 years ago, the United States was hardly a recognized \u201cworld power\u201d\u2014this accolade went to Great Britain (and remained there until the early 20th Century). But by sunset of this day, America had taken its place\u2014if not yet the lead\u2014among the world\u2019s dominant countries. The impetus for this [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2348"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2352,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2348\/revisions\/2352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}