By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – U.S. Presidents, past and present, are part of America’s national conversation.
Yes, we talk about politics and governmental affairs, but that is not all. The names of our Presidents are woven into our conversations in many other ways. We name streets, buildings, educational institutions, cities, and states for them, so whenever such a name is mentioned, the memory of a President is invoked.
Ex-Presidents are our equivalent of England’s Royal Family. We like to remember their favorite vacation spots, which ones of them were left-handed, what were their spouses like, what was it like to grow up in their household, and so forth. Followers of this website are interested in the various Presidents’ relationships with the Jewish people.
So, today we announce a new website, to which we are adding every day, called the American Ex-Presidents. You can find it at www.expresidents.net
It is a website in which your participation is earnestly solicited, and in which your editorial contributions will be greatly acknowledged.
Have you ever met a President? E-mail us via sdheritage@cox.net to tell us the circumstances. We will post the story for all to read.
Have you taken a photo of a President. E-Mail us a copy, and we will post it. Have you visited a Presidential birthplace, library, gravesite? Send us a photo and we will post and acknowledge it.
Have you ever seen a school, or a park, or a building named for a President? Send us a photo, and we’ll post and acknowledge that too.
What this site will do, with your help, will be to show how former Presidents continue to contribute to the great American conversation, and how, even after they are out of power, they continue to influence how we think and how we act.
I hope you will enjoy and contribute to www.expresidents.net. It’s a site meant for all lovers of American history, and all participants in the American experience. Again, the email address to which you can send material is sdheritage@cox.net
Thanks, and let’s have fun.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World and of American Ex-Presidents, found respectively on the web at www.sdjewishworld.com and www.expresidents.net