August 12, 2023
Warren G. Harding Source: Harris & Ewing ATHENS– With energy bordering on the demonic I strut around an ancient arena trying to make up for the debauchery of the previous two weeks in Patmos. Alexandra has flown back to Gstaad and I’m sticking with my earliest good friend, Aliki Goulandris, whose magnificent nation home north of the capital restores extremely enjoyable memories. Simply saying her name, which is Alice in English, makes me think of my youth and my 2 tiny children who both matured in this home. It was the golden age: Davis Cup, karate champions, polo in Paris, cruising the Nefertiti and Bushido, Lolly and JT and Alexandra swimming in the swimming pool, and parties galore.
Among her lots of fantastic qualities– she is an opera buff and a ravenous reader– what I like most about Aliki is her refusal to order the lives of others. There are kids and grandchildren, sisters, cousins, nephews and nieces, and many, numerous good friends, and their routines and perspectives remain their own, as Aliki thinks in minding her own business. A friendship that covers near seventy years is the result, and looking back, it is a previous loaded with wonderful memories. Political leaders, reformers, and suchlike are constantly providing suggestions, and absolutely nothing gets more on my nerves than having a total stranger tell me what benefits me.
“Not only was Harding an excellent president, but he followed the worst ever: Woodrow Wilson.”
I know, cigarette smoking, booze, drugs, betting, and loose females are all bad for one, but the last thing I want to hear is that they’re bad for me from a complete stranger and even a good friend. Individuals are always dispensing advice, however how can one recommend another how to act unless one understands the other better than one understands oneself? We can only rate the ideas and emotions of others, yet numerous bores dispense suggestions like confetti at an Italian wedding event. Needless to state, political leaders are amongst those dispensing free recommendations at the drop of a hat, as are club tires. The present occupant of the White Home is constantly informing us what we should do, however he’s amongst the phoniest ever. This is why I like Warren Harding, the best American president, who died one a century ago this month. Not only was Harding a fantastic president, however he followed the worst ever: Woodrow Wilson. I’ll get to the terrific Harding in a jiffy, but first a couple of ideas on the dastardly Wilson.
The Princeton teacher who ended up being president never ever pertained to terms with his mediocrity. Instead, he jailed critics of his war, suspended civil liberties, and handled to act like a dictator up until a stroke sidelined him and his ghastly spouse took control of and ran the country. It was banana-republic things till in 1920 when the fantastic Harding was elected and things went back to normal. Harding liked females and individuals and drink, and won more than 60 percent of the vote, something only Richard Nixon, another excellent president, handled in 1972, Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and FDR in 1936. FDR and Johnson are not my cup of tea; Harding and Nixon are my real heroes.
Harding is constantly ranked near the bottom by the lefty press since he was conservative, kept mistresses, and liked individuals, things those who write for, say, the Bagel Times would like to be able to do but are physically too repellent to attain. For this reason, Harding ranks low. He also fathered a kid while in the White Home, which is a healthy thing to do, a minimum of as far as I’m concerned. Better a birth in a huge home with a lot of staff than in a crowded tenement currently filled with shouting starving children. Am I right or am I right?
Harding passed away in workplace, and millions lined the railroad tracks to honor his remains being brought back from California to D.C. Now some dickheads in the press say Harding was not a terrific president. I state who chose the dickheads to inform us what they believe? Wilson informed a significant lie and divided the country when he went into the war, all for personal glory, whereas Harding unified individuals later with his bonhomie, sincerity, and excellent nature. The terrific military specialist Professor Taki is adamant about something: Had America not entered the great dispute in 1917, there would have been no communism in Russia nor Nazism in Germany following.
Never ever mind. The past is the past and there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it except to attempt and not duplicate a few of the stuff that harmed humanity. But here I am sounding like a bore giving guidance. A young friend of my son who has read me for a very long time requested for some guidance only last week throughout a party. He’s in his late 30s, copes with an American gal in Athens, and needed to know which city I ‘d select to reside in if I remained in his situation. I utilized to know his mom, who at one point was the most beautiful woman in Athens, and he’s extremely abundant. Here it is:
Paris has actually totally changed from the celebration location it used to be, so the City of Light is out. London’s weather is understood to make some people utilized to the sun quite miserable, and it is very crowded to boot. New york city is dirty, unsafe, overrun with migrants, and for masochists only. I told him Rome’s his best bet, and now my child tells me Rome is his friend’s next location. Mine is a grand cruising boat and maybe some Hollywood floozies.