From the Annals of the Cattle Barons –  In 1929, Charles Goodnight, co-founder of the famous Goodnight-Loving Trail, died at the age of 93.  Goodnight came to  Texas at the age of 9 and was apparently born to live the rugged frontier life.  Using his frontier and scouting skills he was appointed as a regimental guide during the Civil War. By the end of the war, Goodnight had somehow built up a herd of cattle on his ranch in Palo Pinto County.  Combining his ranching and trailblazing skills, Goodnight decided to drive his cattle to New Mexico and Colorado instead of the standard route to the railheads in Abilene and other towns in Kansas for shipment East.

In preparing for the long drive, Goodnight met Oliver Loving, another cattleman similarly noted for his frontier and livestock skills. Loving joined with Goodnight and in 1866, they blazed a 500-mile route from Fort Belknap, Texas, to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, which became known as the Goodnight-Loving Trail. The Trail quickly became one the most heavily used cattle trails in the Southwest.  The route entailed risks as demonstrated when Loving was killed by Commanches in his third trip on the trail.

In 1875, Goodnight extended the trail from New Mexico to Colorado and then retired from trail driving to work on his new ranch in Colorado.  Unfortunately, that venture was a failure and Goodnight was forced to relocate his remaining cattle to Palo Duro Canyon.  With help from other investors, Goodnight built the JA Ranch into a hugely profitable operation eventually running more than 100,000 cattle. At his death he was recognized as one of the great cattle barons of Texas.

From the Annals of Fascism –  In 1941, Germany declared war on the U.S.  The U.S. had been officially neutral in the European conflict until that point, but the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor changed everything.  Adolf Hitler had an oral agreement with Japan that Germany would join a war against the United States, but the sneak attack surprised even him. On December 8, Japanese Ambassador Oshima met with German Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop to secure Germany’s agreement to declare war against the U.S. Germany and Japan were parties to the Axis Power’s  Tripartite Pact, which promised help if Japan was attacked.  But here Japan was the aggressor and Germany was not obligated to assist. Von Ribbentrop rightly calculated that the entry of the U.S. into the European Theater would assure a German defeat.

Hitler had other ideas and was convinced that a declaration of war from the U.S. was imminent.  A low grade war in the Atlantic was already underway with the U.S. Navy attacking German U-boats.  Hitler also miscalculated the ability of Japan to win the Pacific War believing that it would defeat the U.S. and then attack Russia from the east.  A delusional Hitler ordered the German charge d’affaires in Washington to deliver a declaration of war to American Secretary of State Cordell Hull.

In his address to the Reichstag to defend the declaration, Hitler was at his odious best claiming that the failure of New Deal was the real cause of the war and that Roosevelt, supported by plutocrats and Jews, were attempting to divert attention from America’s economic troubles. “First he incites war, then falsifies the causes, then odiously wraps himself in a cloak of Christian hypocrisy and slowly but surely leads mankind to war,” declared Hitler.  The members of the Reichstag leaped to their feet in thunderous applause. One can only hope that they all died miserable and painful deaths.

By the end of the war some 750,000 Texans, including 12,000 women, served in the armed forces. Most served in the Army or the Army Air Force, but nearly one-fourth served in the navy, marines, or the coast guard. During the war 22,022 Texans were killed or died of wounds. One-third of these fatalities were in the navy, marines, or coast guard.

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From the Annals of the Republic –  In 1838, Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar was inaugurated as the second president of the Republic of Texas.  In 1837, Lamar had been promoting Texas in Georgia in his office as Vice-President.  Upon his return to Texas he discovered that his campaign for the presidency was already underway thanks to anti-Houston forces.  His election was all but assured when the two other candidates, Peter Grayson and James Collingsworth, both committed suicide.  The outgoing president, Sam Houston, was never one to miss the chance for a speech.  At the inauguration Houston gave a 3 hour “Farewell Address” while dressed in colonial costume and powdered wig.  Lamar was apparently ill, so his secretary Algernon P. Thompson, gave his inaugural address. Lamar’s inaugural speech declared the purposes of his administration to be awakening into vigorous activity the wealth, talent, and enterprises of the country and laying the foundations of higher institutions for moral and mental culture. Lamar’s term in office was a mixed bag at best.  He was a staunch opponent of annexation believing that Texas should expand westward to the Pacific.  His efforts to create a national bank failed, but he did succeed in his plan to move the capital to Austin.  He was a literary man and is best remembered for his support of public education.  His proposal to establish a system of education endowed by public land grants resulted in the act of January 26, 1839, which set aside land for public schools and two universities. Although it was decades before the school system was established, Lamar’s advocacy of the program earned for him the nickname “Father of Texas Education.”  His namesake is Lamar University in Beaumont and numerous other Texas schools are named after him.