PRESIDENT'S DAY 2010 : REMEMBERING THE 44 POTUS's WHO HAVE SERVED AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF OUR COUNTRY..........

GEORGE WASHINGTON, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THOMAS JEFFERSON, ANDREW JACKSON, THEODORE ROOSEVELT, FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT, DWIGHT EISENHOWER, JOHN KENNEDY, RONALD REAGAN, BARACK OBAMA..........These are ten of the 44 men from 1789 to the present who have led our nation as President of the United States.(POTUS) Today we observe the federal holiday that since 1971, has been designated as, Presidents' Day, combining the former individual observances of Lincoln's Birthday, February 12th, and Washington's Birthday, February 22nd, together with a fuller focus on all our Presidents. In the 221 year history of the American Presidency, the voters of the United States have cast ballots in 56 Presidential Elections to choose the candidate for Chief Executive they prefer. The 44 POTUS's to date, have served from a minimum of 1 month,Wiliam Henry Harrison, the 9th President who served only 1 month, March 4, 1841-April 4, 1841; to a maximum of 12 years, 1 month, and 8 days, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, March 4, 1933 - April 12, 1945; a record that will never be reached or eclipsed, as Presidents can now only serve two 4 year elected terms, by constitutional amendment; or if they succeed to the Presidency due to death, incapacitation, impeachment and removal, or resignation, for a maximum of 10 years, (2 years unelected, 8 years elected). They have been the standardbearers of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, Whig, Democratic, and Republican, political parties, with the Republican and Democratic parties the only ones to win the White House since 1854, as the Federalists, Democratic-Republican party and the Whigs, all evolved, or faded away, by the mid 19th Century. So as we take time on this annual national holiday to honor the memory of those who presided in the founding years of our Union, in time of War, from the War of 1812 and the Civil War, to World War I, II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan Wars, and through years of economic prosperity, as well as recessions and the Great Depression and the current national and worldwide Economic Crisis; think about the Presidents who have played a memorable part in the American pageant, or perhaps those in your lifetime that stand out in your memory and why they do so. And let us remember the Presidency is more than just politics, the occupier of the Office of the President, whoever that person is, our Chief Executive and Commander in Chief, elected to govern and lead, and serves at the discretion of our electorate with a four year lease on The White House, that it is our constitutional right and citizenship privilege to renew or expire, by our votes..........As We Remember Our Presidents In God We Trust, Fr. Troy