Bøger af David Vaught

WHAT HAPPENS?When the Values of Duty, Honor, Country clash at West Point with the religious teachings of the Liberty Baptist Church in Burnt Prairie . . .Join us on this journey in the Vietnam War era when the author was confronted by Colonel Al Haig, soon to join President Nixon's White House and later to serve as President Reagan's Secretary of State, . . .And Admiral Moorer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a federal courtroom. . .Waging a vigorous official defense of compulsory chapel, while the author stood up for freedom of religion under the First Amendment,Despite them all having sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States . . . In such a clash and its aftermath, the answer . . .The American Dream is Re-Made.The author updates this clash in the 1960's with more recent clashes of values:In the closing days of the term of Illinois Governor Dan Walker;Against the Illinois political establishment and legal system in the fight to expand the initiative power of Illinois voters;On two different elected school boards, where some put their own interest ahead of students;In the controversies over restoring fiscal balance in the Illinois budget during the administration of Governor Pat Quinn; andIn his entrepreneurial endeavors on behalf of investment clients. Such clashes demonstrate the enduring influence of grassroots Americans in upholding and improving the American Dream.

"Gaylord Jackson Perry was born in 1938 as the younger son of a tobacco sharecropper in Martin County, North Carolina. He and his older brother Jim grew up against a background of backbreaking work six days a week in a community that boasted not a single paved road until the 1950s. Their only relaxation was playing baseball, first with their father and later at school. While both brothers would go on to succeed as pitchers in major league baseball, for Gaylord, success would require a lot of perseverance and an almost equal amount of subterfuge. After a couple of lackluster seasons with the San Francisco Giants, he learned from bullpen-mate Bob Shaw how to throw the illegal spitball. More importantly, he learned to control the tricky pitch and to conceal it from suspicious umpires, opposing managers, and baffled batters. When he finally broke out the spitter in a victory by attrition in a marathon, 32-inning, nine-hour doubleheader against the Mets in May 1964, his destiny was set. The Hall of Famer would go on to a 314-265 win-loss record, with a 3.11 earned-run average and 3,534 career strikeouts, becoming the first pitcher in major league history to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues"--