Happy 101st Birthday

I was thinking about Nicholas Katzenbach today, Jan. 17, on what would have been his 101st birthday and was pleased to read a letter to the editor from Friday advocating for two new statues on Princeton’s campus – John Doar and Nicholas Katzenbach. Kevin R. Loughlin wrote his letter in response to a George Will op-ed about Princeton University’s current discussions on campus to remove the statue of John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. I think Loughlin’s idea to erect statues to John Doar and Nicholas Katzenbach at Princeton University, their alma mater, would be a great addition to the campus. Scroll down to read the letter to the editor and George Will’s column. Happy Birthday, Nick. Maybe there is a statue in your future.

Opinion Princeton should add statues of civil rights pioneers
January 13, 2023 at 4:02 p.m. EST

In his Jan. 8 op-ed, “Wokeness comes for a statue,” George F. Will questioned the wisdom of a demand, by some, to remove the statue of John Witherspoon, one of Princeton University’s early presidents, from campus because of his enslavement of two people. Like Mr. Will, I am a Princeton graduate and consider it myopic to judge too harshly the actions of individuals through a historical lens of several hundred years. I think it would be far more instructive to erect two new statues of more recent Princeton graduates to acknowledge their contributions to the more modern civil rights movement.
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John Doar, class of 1944, provided legal support to the freedom riders and other civil rights activists in the early 1960s. He escorted James Meredith to register at the University of Mississippi in 1962. Nicholas Katzenbach, class of 1945, represented the federal government at the “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door” and confronted then-Alabama Gov. George Wallace, who unsuccessfully tried to stop the enrollment of two Black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, at the University of Alabama in June 1963.

The construction of two statues honoring Doar and Katzenbach would promote civil rights awareness on campus far more effectively than the removal of Witherspoon’s statue.

Kevin R. Loughlin, Boston

George Will’s Article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/06/wokeness-attack-on-princeton-statue/

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40th Anniversary of the Fenwick-Lautenberg Senate Race

Millicent Fenwick died 30 years ago, yet she is still making news. In the November 6 Sunday Star-Ledger, Phil Cornell revisited the 1982 Fenwick-Lautenberg Senate race 40 years later (see above or link below). A few weeks before the election, Fenwick was up double digits in the polls, but on election day it was her Democratic rival, newcomer Frank Lautenberg, who was victorious. It was Fenwick’s last race and first loss. There is a chapter in Fenwick: Her Way called Seeking the Senate about the 1982 Senate campaign. I have always viewed that chapter as a 101 on what not to do when running for office. I had fun reliving the 1982 campaign with Cornell. To view an online version of his article click here:

https://www.nj.com/politics/2022/11/another-nj-midterm-election-loomed-large-40-years-ago-in-a-battle-between-an-icon-and-an-upstart.html

Remembering Nicholas Katzenbach

January 17, 2022: As we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service I am also remembering Nicholas Katzenbach who served this country as a navigator during WWII, and as an Assistant Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, Attorney General, and Deputy Secretary of State during the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations. Today would have been Nicholas Katzenbach’s 100^th birthday, a birthday he also proudly shared with Benjamin Franklin. I don’t think Katzenbach, who died in 2012, could have imagined that 57 years after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law that voting rights would once again be the center of political debate and jeopardized in 2022. His voice is sorely missed.

Olympic Rowing – Final Update

Molly Reckford, Millicent Fenwick’s Great-Granddaughter, and Michelle Sechser made it to the Olympic finals last week for the women’s lightweight double sculls rowing. It was a very competitive race and they finished in 6 minutes 48.54 seconds. They were less than a second from receiving the bronze medal and one second from receiving the gold! So close! We are proud of them for giving it their all and representing the United States well. The times below show how competitive the Final A race was. 

Country: Minutes/Seconds/Milliseconds

1. Italy: 6.47.54

2. France: 6.47.68

3. The Netherlands: 6:48.03

4. Great Britain: 6:48:04

5. USA: 6.48.54

6. Romania: 6:49:40

Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls Rowing Results: Final A

Olympic Update

I’m happy to report that Molly Reckford, and Michelle Sechser are heading to the women’s lightweight double sculls rowing semi-finals tomorrow night, Tuesday, July 27, at 10:50 pm EDT. You can watch it live at http://www.nbcolympics.com. The top three teams will compete in the “A” final on Wednesday, July 28. You can watch their winning race from Saturday here (start at 83:03). A special thanks to Sam Reckford, Millicent Fenwick’s grandson and Molly’s Dad, for the updates. Go Molly and Michelle! Go Team USA!

Molly Reckford and Michelle Sechser at the 2021 World Rowing Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta in Switzerland

Millicent Fenwick’s Great-Granddaughter is an Olympian

Molly Reckford, Millicent Fenwick’s great grandchild, won the U.S. Olympic Rowing Trials in the women’s lightweight double sculls and won the final Olympic Qualifying Regatta in Lucerne. She is in Tokyo as part of the USA Olympic team! Her first race is tonight, Friday, July 23, at 9:20 PM EDT. Stay tuned for more information and Go Molly! Go USA!

Happy Easter

Thanks to my cousin, Mara, for sending me this FaceBook post from M Therese Crowley, a Fox News Radio Anchor. Even COVID-19 didn’t keep someone away from decorating Millicent Fenwick for Easter.

 

 

110

Today, February 25, 2020, would have been Millicent Fenwick’s 110th birthday. I’ve been thinking about her a lot lately not only because it is an election year which means her name appears in the news more often than usual, especially in New Jersey, but because the Republican Party has changed so much since she was elected. While I believe she would still be a Republican today, I also think she would vocalize her opinion when she disagreed with the party. What surprises me most is that Millicent Fenwick: Her Way was published more than 15 years ago and I am still getting emails from readers, most of whom have their own Fenwick stories to share. I treasure them all. For those of you in New Jersey, it looks like I may have a couple books talks in the fall. Stay tuned here for more information.

A Grandson’s Memory

Sam Reckford, Millicent Fenwick’s grandson, accepts her induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame from former NJ Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and CNN anchor Susan Hendricks. 

Sam Reckford, Millicent Fenwick’s grandson, recently accepted her induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame on May 6, 2018. Yesterday his affectionate memories of his grandmother were published on north jersey.com. His article appears below.

Remembering my grandmother, Rep. Millicent Fenwick

Last week I accepted, on behalf of my grandmother, Millicent Fenwick, her induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Grandma was a character. One might say that you couldn’t have made her up, but Garry Trudeau came remarkably close in his creation of Lacey Davenport.

Her style and personality were forged from an odd set of circumstances that would be impossible to replicate. She was born into great privilege, but had her mother ripped away from her when she was just four years old, with the sinking of the Lusitania.

She debuted before the King of Spain, but loathed society events.

She disobeyed her parents’ wishes by marrying a dashing aviator, but was soon abandoned by him, and left with two small children and few resources.

She struggled to get a job because she never finished high school, and was even turned away from selling stockings at Bonwit Teller. Of course, what the hiring officer at Bonwit’s didn’t appreciate was that Grandma was the living embodiment of the old maxim, “Don’t let school get in the way of your education.”

When she was withdrawn from boarding school at 16 to live in Madrid – where her father was posted as U.S. ambassador – she gained the opportunity to travel throughout Europe and North Africa, read extensively and learn many languages.

Then fate – made possible by her social position – placed her at a dinner party next to Condé Nast at a time when he needed a junior editor at Vogue.

As a child, I largely knew my grandmother as the author of Vogue’s Book of Etiquette. She knew exactly how people ought to behave in all circumstances, and she dutifully recorded it, but made it plain that etiquette was principally about making people feel comfortable, not Victorian stuffiness.

The most immutable rule of all was how to treat people that are in a subservient position; it is far more important to treat them with respect than it is to act in a certain way in front of one’s peers and social superiors. That is how Grandma came to be loved by her staff and the shopkeepers in Bernardsville, yet not so much by the chairmen of powerful House committees and Cabinet secretaries, not to mention autocrats around the world.

Despite her aristocratic bearing, Grandma had a rapport with working people and those that society had neglected because she truly cared about them and their problems, and they recognized it.

In my office, I have a tapestry embroidered by six Ukrainian women jailed in a gulag in Moldavia, given to her in appreciation of her defense of human rights in the USSR. I don’t know how these unfortunate women found out about her struggle for what would become the Helsinki Accords in that pre-Internet age, but it is an inspiration to me every day to see this testament to what one caring and determined person can accomplish.

It was an honor to stand in for her and thank the people of New Jersey for this official recognition of her life of public service.

We can all aspire to follow her good example.

Sam Reckford is a resident of Millburn.

 

NJ Hall of Fame Ceremony

Welcome to all the new subscribers to Six Degrees of Millicent! Since I haven’t posted anything since last month, I’m guessing the traffic is related to the recent New Jersey Hall of Fame Induction over the weekend. It was a star-studded event with Whoopi Goldberg as Emcee and Bruce Springsteen making a surprise appearance, and performance, with inductee Stevie Van Zandt. I did not attend the event, but read all about it:

Springsteen’s Surprise Asbury Park Appearance / New Jersey Monthly

https://njmonthly.com/articles/just-for-the-web/springsteens-surprise-asbury-park-appearance/