“A real, live nephew of my uncle Sam, born on the 4th of July”
–George M. Cohan, “Yankee Doodle Dandy”
The U.S. was born on the 4th of July (1776). As reported in my last blog, there is some question about the accuracy of that statement, but most people accept it and celebrate our nation’s birth that day.
Giuseppe Garibaldi was born on the 4th of July (1807). Garibaldi was an Italian patriot who could accurately be called the “George Washington of Italy.” He led a rag-tag army of “Red Shirts” to key victories in the war to unify Italy. After achieving unification in 1861 and helping to create the modern nation of Italy, he was a popular leader who could have ruled the new country as a dictator. He believed strongly in a republican form of government, however, and instead retired to the island of Caprera, refusing to accept any reward for his services. The true story is a bit more complicated than this, but one British historian referred to him as “the only wholly admirable figure in modern history.”
President Calvin Coolidge was born on the 4th of July (1872). As vice-president, he succeeded to the presidency following the death of Warren G. Harding in 1923. He was not very ambitious or successful as president, best known for his reticence in speaking and for sleeping twelve hours a day while in office. That record for napping was reportedly surpassed by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
Ron Kovic was born on the 4th of July (1946). In the 1960s, Kovic joined the marines right out of high school, filled with patriotism created by watching Hollywood films that made war look like a glorious endeavor. In Vietnam, however, he discovered that war was anything but glorious. Horribly wounded and crippled for life, he began to question America’s role in Southeast Asia and protested the war as a founding member of the group, Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He wrote a best-selling book about his experiences, and Tom Cruise was nominated for an Oscar for playing Kovic in the film Born on the Fourth of July. Oliver Stone won his second Academy Award for directing that 1989 film, and the “Captain Dan” character in Forest Gump was modeled in part on Kovic.
At the top of this article, I quoted George M. Cohan, the great American showman from the early 20th Century. Among the 300 songs that he authored, his best-known are patriotic anthems such as “Over There,” “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” and the aforementioned “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” The 1942 biographical film about him is also called Yankee Doodle Dandy, and features an irresistible, Oscar-winning performance by Jimmy Cagney. It’s one of those movies that I can recite by heart, but I still watch every time it comes up on television. Cohan was actually born on the third of July, but I guess he figured, “Why let the truth ruin a good song?”
In my last blog entry, I wrote about the relationship between Jefferson and Adams, and the remarkable circumstances concerning their deaths. They both died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the U.S. By an amazing coincidence, on that same day, one of the greatest American song-writers was born.
Stephen C. Foster had a tragic life that lasted only 37 years. Repeatedly cheated by his managers and publishers, he died penniless in New York in 1864. In that short time, however, he created 200 of the most popular and long-lasting songs in American history. “Oh Susanna,” “My Old Kentucky Home,” “Swanee River” (actually called “Old Folks at Home”), and “Camptown Races” (with the profound words, “Doo Dah, Doo Dah” in the chorus) were among his many songs. A century later, in 1942, US songwriters went on strike to fight for higher royalties. Radio stations were unable to play any songs currently covered by copywrite laws, so they turned back to the 19th Century for material that had fallen into public domain. Stephen Foster was re-discovered by a new audience, and his song, “I Dream of Jeanie with the Light-Brown Hair,” rose to number one on the “Hit Parade” charts. Because many of his songs were performed in blackface by white singers in the Minstrel Show tradition, his songs have fallen out of favor today. Still, you can hear his music, in one form or another, played in commercials, cartoons, and films every year.
In the early ’80s, I was watching the Kentucky Derby, and I was emotionally moved by the sight of 130,000 people singing “My Old Kentucky Home” before the race. I knew that Foster had written that song, and, in the days before Google, I headed to the library to learn more about him. My research led me to write a song about him. I recently stumbled on a version of the song I had recorded about twenty years ago, and I created a little film for it. The sound is a bit low, so you might have to turn the volume up. Play it on Independence Day and remember Stephen Foster, as well as the other people born on the 4th of July.
Click on the link: