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David Wilfong - Republican Candidate for Mayor of Jamestown

Posted by Chris Anderson on Oct 07, 2019

Pictured l to r: President Cheri Krull, Republican Mayoral Candidate Dave Wilfong, and Assemblyman Andrew Goodell

Dave Wilfong was introduced by Andy Goodell. Mr. Wilfong is currently a county legislator. He is currently the chairmen of the human services and vice chairmen of the Public Service Committee. Since 1998, Wilfong has served at the Director of Maintenance for Intandem Solutions, formerly known as the Rehabilitation Center in Olean, New York. He has many years of supervisory experience, developing capital budgets and working within approved budgets, and directed the cost efficient maintenance of 23 agency sites. He also has a Building Construction Certificate and is a New York State Certified Building Inspector.

Originally from Jamestown and a veteran of the United States Army, Mr. Wilfong decided to run for mayor to give back to his community.

Issues:

Annexation of the power plant in Falconer - Some city residents have been upset with the level of communication from City Hall. In a Wilfong administration, the city will be committed to open and transparent communication. Mr. Wilfong believes we need to come to the table together and collaborate with our partners in the community.

Distressed properties in Jamestown – distressed properties continue to be a big issue in the City of Jamestown. Wilfong believes we need to design a permit system so City Hall can hold landlords accountable for the conditions of their properties.

Opioid Addiction Problem – Wilfong believes in the city of Jamestown. If you need treatment, you should get it. If you need transitional housing, you should be able to secure that. Mr. Wilfong is also a strong proponent of law enforcement and believe their role is vital.
CODE Enforcement – Mr. Wilfong believes we don’t need all the CODE enforcement officers we currently have. Wilfong believes the City should these positions per diem. The budget is very tight though so it would be hard to cut.
Shared Services – Mr. Wilfong believes the City of Jamestown should look more to shared services with the county and other municipalities.
Expand the Tax Base – 56% of tax revenues went to local non-profits; the City needs to invest more in the tax base and broaden it. Not against non-profits but feels we need to refine the tax base and come up with other ideas as well.
City is not Business-Ready – Mr. Wilfong believes we do not have places for new businesses to locate. We need to have an aggressive plan to bring business back to the City. The City cannot wait for them to come here. It is important to have industrial and business sites that are shovel ready. There should be more communication between the City and the County’s Industrial Development Agency. The City needs to break down the walls between it and the community. Wilfong believes we cannot think of ourselves as an island. The focus should be to bring manufacturing back to the City of Jamestown.

Emergency Services – Mr. Wilfong is 100% behind the City’s fire and police departments. He would like to see a private sector entity take over EMS type services and not see the Fire Dept need to respond to all EMS calls.

A host of questions ensued after Mr. Wilfong’s presentation.

Trina Burruss - Northwest Bank

Posted by Sue Jones on Sep 30, 2019

Picture (l to r): Donna Flinchbaugh, Trina Burruss, President Cheri Krull, Joelle Washer, Jennifer Gibson, and Michelle Jones

Joelle Washer introduced the speaker Trina Burruss who is a dynamic leader, experienced banking professional, community advocate and a true Buffalo booster!

Trina was named Regional Vice President and Community Relationship Officer of Northwest Bank in 2017. In her role, Trina develops relationships with community organizations, small businesses and local cultural groups to help Northwest reach the diverse group of communities that Northwest serves across New York State. At Northwest, Trina is responsible for driving business results, fostering relationships within the community, overseeing the philanthropic endeavors as well as the $102 million community benefits agreement, signed in 2017. Trina worked tirelessly to bring a full service bank branch to Jefferson Avenue; the first on the east side in decades. Currently she is focused on the new Financial Education Center in partnership with Belmont Housing which will open in 2020. Both of these projects are a major part of the revitalization efforts on Buffalo’s east side.

Throughout her career, she has been heavily involved in the Buffalo community, have served on many boards. Today, Trina is on the Board of Directors for Buffalo Urban Development Corp (appointed by Mayor Byron Brown), Say Yes to Education Buffalo, Housing Opportunities Made Equal, First Shiloh Housing Corp, and Chair of the Foundry on Northhampton Street. Trina is also a member of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership Diversity Council, East Side Funders Advisory Council and Leadership Buffalo. Trina is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and First Shiloh Baptist Church, where she serves as Treasurer and Budget Committee Chair.

During her 30 year banking career, Trina has received numerous awards and accolades, including Branch and Branch Manager of the Year, Black Achiever Award, Community Service Banker, Diversity Award, Sales Excellence Club, Community Service Award (Emmanuel Temple), Purposeful Women of Faith (First Shiloh) and Roses for Outstanding Women.

Trina received her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Medaille College and her master’s degree in executive leadership and change from Daemen College.

Trina lives in Buffalo with her husband of 32 years, Cedric. They have four children and are also proud grandparents.

Trina introduced us to Northwest Engage a financial education program and community development strategy. The program is designed to encourage education and youth empowerment through financial education, scholarship and cultural enrichment and economic empowerment through home ownerships and workforce development. Northwest employees are truly committed to the communities they serve and wish to share their knowledge and teach their customers financial skills to last their lifetimes.

The importance of this education is that financial issues and health outcomes are intertwined. 44% of Americans can’t cover a $400 emergency; 43% of student loans aren’t being paid; 38% of Americans have credit debt; 33% have no retirement savings; 2/3 of adults can’t pass a basic finance test; employers and insurance companies are using credit to determine job offers and premium payments.

Northwest Vault is a program for grade school students. The educational presentation involves bankers teaching financial skills through activities, interaction and sharing real-life experiences. The lessons cover the basics of saving, how interest makes money grow, how to create a budget and how to distinguish needs from wants.

Northwest Scholars are older students who are exposed to financial literacy and again helps the students develop lifelong saving habits.

Northwest also partners with community organizations such as CHRIC and CODEI to help improve the community. Workshops are held in personal finance, home ownership and small business. Senior citizen’s learn fundamentals of banking and technology with classes at the local library or assisted living facilities. All of the workshops are taught by Northwest employees in 45-60 minutes.

Financial education is a life long journey. The team at Northwest is standing at the ready to help, no matter what stage of life we are in.

Kayla Crosby - Jamestown Jackals

Posted by Sue Jones on Sep 23, 2019

Pictured (l to r): Lindsey Alday, DeMarcus Oliver - Jackals GM, Kayla Crosby - Jackals Owner, President Cheri Krull

Kayla Crosby is originally from Russell, PA. She first came to Jamestown on a basketball scholarship to play at Jamestown Community College, where she was fortunate enough to have Lindsey Alday as her roommate. After a great experience at JCC, including the women’s basketball team winning the Region III Championship in 2010, Kayla transferred to St. Bonaventure University where she received 7 teaching certifications. The summer after graduating, Kayla began working as a Residence Director at JCC and is currently the Director of Campus Life at JCC on the Jamestown Campus and the North County Extension Center.

While working at JCC, Kayla came up with the plans to start a nonprofit organization and professional minor league men’s basketball team. After playing in semi-pro basketball leagues for 3 years, the Jamestown Jackals joined a new professional basketball league last season. For the first time, the players and coach were compensated for their outreach and mentoring in the community and received paychecks, housing, and professional caliber basketball games across the United States.

During their first season in the Basketball League, Kayla received the Herb Ellis Executive of the year award for overall community engagement efforts and professionalism on and off the court. This summer, the basketball league has announced the hiring of Kayla as the league’s new director of team development.

During her first semester working as a Residence Director at JCC, Kayla wrote many incident reports for drinking and smoking. Her reprimands were not making any difference. She heard from her supervisor that the students felt that she was “stalking” them. When she talked with the students about this and their misbehavior, they told her there was nothing for them to do in Jamestown. She went to work and discussed with the College keeping the gym open later in the evenings and on weekends. She began hosting “open Gyms” where students could play dodge ball and kickball.

The students asked if they could invite Maceo Wofford (known to them as the “legend of Jamestown basketball”) to give them some pointers on the game. Kayla reached out to Wofford and he agreed to come. There was an immediate difference in the students’ demeanor when Maceo and his fellow team mates mentored the younger JCC students.

Wofford tried out for the Erie Hurricanes in 2014 and for 3 years played in the Premier Basketball League. Maceo encouraged Kayla to “Own a Team” and become a part of the new Basketball League, who in addition to playing good basketball, brought fulltime positive role models to young people.

Kayla took her power point to her parents, who said while they admired her desire to do this, they would not be a part of it. Kayla decided to take on the project herself – she got the League’s Owner’s Manual and read it three times, discussing many points with the league commissioner. She talked with the Mayor of Jamestown and Ron Graham, the co-founder of Chautauqua Striders, about starting an educational not-for-profit.

She attended seminars and workshops and met an attorney specializing in non-profits. Kayla decided to have faith and start a team. She held tryouts and the first year, the team made the playoffs. The team was in survival mode that first year. The young men wanted to stay in Jamestown after that first year but there was no housing. By that time, Kayla was Director of Campus Life and facilitated a grant for team housing at JCC by the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation.

By the end of the second season, she had secured housing at the Goodell Estate on Fairmount Avenue.

Season three saw the team win the Northeast Championship of The Basketball League. Their whole focus is to be a different league and that means community. The players are in schools every day and are in churches every night. Kayla is proud of her vision and what it has become, #IntegrityFirst, Inc., a non-profit organization with the vision of “positively impacting lives through the game of basketball and helping individuals develop their potential and achieve success by fostering integrity, motivation, responsibility, hope, perseverance, confidence, and sportsmanship.”. The Jamestown Jackals, one of the teams of TBL is used to support that mission.

Kayla is turning over the General Manager duties to DeMarcus Q. Oliver, formerly the assistant coach of the Raleigh Firebirds, has 15 years of coaching experience, a background in sales and, “a heart for impacting lives.” Oliver will help establish sponsorships and expand the Jackals’ connections in the community. When team tryouts begin, he will assist with recruitment and setting up the structure for the 2020 season.

Eddie Sundquist, Democratic Candidate for Mayor of the City of Jamestown

Posted by Sue Jones on Sep 16, 2019

Pictured (l to r): Chris Anderson, Eddie Sundquist, and Rotary Club of Jamestown President Cheri Krull

Chris Anderson introduced Eddie Sundquist, Democratic Candidate for Mayor of the City of Jamestown. A graduate of JHS as salutatorian in 2007, Sundquist pursued a political science degree at St. John Fisher College, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude in 2010. He taught middle school science in Philadelphia where he also attended the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his Masters of Science degree in education. He was recognized as Educator of the Year by his school in 2011.

Determined to return home and work for others, he returned to Western New York and attended the University at Buffalo School of Law. While at UB Law School, he was an advocate for children and families, working with the buffalo community to develop alternatives to school suspension and discipline programs. In addition, he has an expansive background in legal studies, having interned with the U.S. Treasury Dept. and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and clerked for an administrative law judge at the New York State Division of Human Rights.

Sundquist received his Juris Doctorate in 2015 from UB School of Law and returned to Jamestown to practice law with Lewis & Lewis, P.C. He continues to be a fierce advocate for children, injured workers, and families.

Mr. Sundquist started by telling us he too had left town after graduation, vowing NEVER to come back and he returned because he realized just how wonderful Jamestown is.

He is convinced that this city is at a point where we can grow; we have many challenges, but so many positives. We need to innovate, change and adapt to the 21st Century. We need to make Jamestown more business friendly; make the City connected with low cost, fast, fiber internet for starters.

Jamestown has many condemned buildings. We need to support our neighborhoods and enforce codes and laws, ridding properties of bugs, lead paint and code violations. Decrepit buildings need to be improved and painted and have new roofs and we need to make these improvements affordable with PILOT tax incentives.

We can tackle this city’s financial burdens by becoming creative in our solutions and initiate user fees and different tax rates. We need to share services with other municipalities nearby. We need to initiate a system whereby a problem is resolved by only one call to the City, not be shuttled or transferred to several different departments.

Sundquist fielded questions from the audience regarding his position on the spending of any more money to annex property into the City, to which he answered that any further attempts at this annexation does not foster good will.

Where does he stand on dissolution – his reply was that we should focus on sharing services and stop being territorial. An example he pointed out is the Ellicott Police traveling through Jamestown from one side of their town to the other.

He was asked his position on the city running an ambulance business. He replied that the city does not ask for reimbursement for ambulance calls and perhaps if Jamestown started pursuing reimbursement for these 4,000 calls, the business could be more profitable.

In his opinion all of the city’s issues and challenges are tied up in money. What are the road blocks to the city? He feels the City is unfriendly – it doesn’t make business loans for development that it could and should through JURA and JLDC. He suggests that a high speed fiber internet could be developed in conjunction with our already established BPU.

The city must collect all revenues possible and cut spending by reorganizing all city departments, revisiting existing contracts and employee health care benefits.

A very interesting presentation.

District Governor Bob Artis Wows Jamestown Rotary

Posted by Chris Anderson on Sep 09, 2019

President Cheri Krull hands a $1000 check to Distrtict Governor Bob Artis for the Rotary Foundation

Bob Artis, District 7090 Governor, was introduced by Michele Starwalt, Assistant District Governor.

Bob is a caring, passionate, and deeply spiritual person and as such, he has dedicated his life to helping and mentoring others.

Bob currently works in Buffalo, NY as a consultant with Sinai Consulting, LLC, a global hi-tech staffing and consulting group that provides advice and counsel to help globally competitive companies attract top talent in the field of Robotics.

Bob grew up in (the boot hill) southeast Missouri, USA and is a distinguished veteran of the Army, as well as a former civilian defense contractor with assignments in Thailand and Germany. Bob also has experience working in an academic environment and corporate management.

One of Bob’s main passions with Rotary involves building relationships and connecting people globally for the greater good. Because of some of those connections, Bob and his Rotarian colleagues have accomplished countless community service projects including an impressive water and sanitation Global Grant project for a village in Thailand, in 2017.

Bob has been known to frequent Rotary International Conventions (thirteen thus far) and several Rotary and United Nations Peace Conferences. He is a past president of the Rotary Club of Clarence and has served in numerous district level positions: Assistant Governor (twice), Gift of Life Committee, Ambassadorial Scholars Committee, as well as Rotary Group Study Exchange Team Leader to Thailand.

Because of his deep belief in the good works done in the name of Rotary, Bob is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, Sustaining Member, Benefactor, and Bequest Society member of The Rotary Foundation.

Bob is also an ordained Deacon, has served with American Red Cross disaster relief and as a Board Chair for NY/PA regional blood services.

He and his wife, Corine, (of 55 years) have four sons; Lamonte, Ian (deceased), Tony (deceased), and Keith; 10 grandchildren, and six great grandchildren.

Bob has enjoyed being an active member of the Rotary Club of Clarence since 1987. He and Corine have also graciously hosted Youth Exchange Students from five countries and GSE Teams from three countries.

During his time spent in Rotary, there have been some extraordinary personal experiences, and he has many stories to share.

Bob truly represents Rotary’s theme: “ROTARY CONNECTS THE WORLD!”

As part of his speech to the club, Bob talked about Ana, our exchange student, from Brazil. He took time to meet her at the airport when she arrived in the states. Bob also took time to give our exchange student Paul, from France, a District pin from 7090. He also gave Bob Clarke, from the East Chapel Hill Rotary Club a pin to take home to NC. And, yet, he was not done. Bob also gave Lindsey Alday and Justin Hanft stickers for being new members.

DG Bob does truly represent “Rotary Connects the World!” Bob asked President Cheri to make a connection to an international Rotarian Bob met at the Rotary Convention in Hamburg, Germany. This will connect Jamestown to the international community.

DG Bob also asked Rotary Club members to order a pair of happy socks. He even showed off his own calves and socks! Each pair of socks that is purchased, District 7090 gets $2.50 back to go towards District Designated Funds. Order yours here today ===> http://www.wilsonandbow.com/2019-rotary-7090-theme-sock Bob presented Cheri with two pairs of these socks.

Serving as District Governor is a big responsibility. Bob wanted to deliver a message that will resonate with the club. Our District has a prized possession. A wooden gavel. The gavel was custom made. The wood is derived from giant sequoias in California and the gavel handle is made up of wood from other countries – there are four slivers of wood in handle.

Each made from the following items:

Wood from Paul Harris’ original board room table
Wood from Independence Hall in Philadelphia
Wood from North Church in Boston (Paul Revere fame!)
Wood from the oldest living pine tree in the world

Bob also talked about the key chain he gave everyone when they arrived. Per Bob’s request, please place the name of an individual on there that you would like to become a member of this organization. We all know people in our sphere of influence.

Our own Misty Johnson also told a story about connections that truly resonated with DG Bob. We often pass people on the street like they are invisible. Bob was truly moved by Misty’s story about a homeless man and woman who lost her job.

Rotary Truly Connects the World. And, DG Bob Artis is living proof.

George Borrello - Chautauqua County Executive

Posted by Chris Anderson on Aug 19, 2019

Pictured (L to R): Former Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan, Current Chautauqua County Executive and 57th State Senate Candidate George Borrello, and President Cheri Krull.

Our current County Executive, George Borrello, is running for the 57th District Senate seat vacated by Cathy Young.

Mr. Borrello focused on his ability to step across party lines to get things done. He is very pleased with the progress in Chautauqua County now. 2019 is going to be about collaborating and getting people to work together for the benefit of the community.

A great example of collaboration was the Memorandum of Understanding signed by different stakeholders around Chautauqua Lake.

Another example is the CARE Taskforce – received a $1 million grant from the Federal government to help with the opioid epidemic. Collaboration is showing its many benefits!

And, yet another successful initiative getting off the ground Mr. Borrello spoke about was the GROW Chautauqua Feasibility Study – hops can be grown successfully in Chautauqua county; why are the regions farmers not growing them? The feasibility study found that there was not a centralized location to bring crops. An idea was born of this. The County is going to be holding a public meeting soon to talk about next steps. According to Borrello, this will be a game changer for agricultural and business in Chautauqua County.

When Cathy Young announced she was going to retire, Mr. Borrello’s first reaction was that he did not want to run for her seat. All was going well in the County and he wondered if it was the right time. But, when he looked at what was happening in Chautauqua County, all these projects are dependent on having strong representation in the Senate. According to Borrello, Cathy Young was an amazing advocated for the district

Mr. Borrello stated that we need representatives in Albany for Chautauqua County. We need someone who can make sure the County’s voice is heard. Mr. Borrello wants to go to Albany to explain who we are and what we stand for, not play partisan games. Politicians need to work together!

George Borrello will be running against Democratic candidate, Austin Morgan, who spoke to our club a month or so ago. Click here to read!

Human Trafficking in Chautauqua County

Posted by Sue Jones on Aug 16, 2019

Pictured (l to r): President Cheri Krull, Police Chief Harry Snellings, and Dr. Lillian Ney

Lillian Ney pinch hit for Leanna Luka-Conley, Deputy Commissioner of Child and Family Services and Jessica McKeever of Safe Harbor, Chautauqua County, neither of whom could make the program scheduled for today. Jessica has been at Safe Harbor for 3 years developing policies and procedures to address human trafficking and exploitation of our youth and has now stepped away from that role and taken a place at Conduit Ministries. She and others have found a way to bridge the work at Safe Harbor and the church and it is called “Brave”. Instead today, Dr. Lillian Ney and Police Chief Harry Snellings took to the podium to deal with the topic of Commercial Sexual exploitation of Children in our city and county.

This term refers to a range of crimes and activities involving the sexual abuse or exploitation of a child for the financial benefit of any person or in exchange for anything of value (including monetary and non-monetary benefits) given or received by any person.

Examples include:
-child sex trafficking/the prostitution of children;
-child sex tourism involving commercial sexual activity;
-the commercial production of child pornography; and
-the online transmission of live video of a child engaged in sexual activity in exchange for anything of value.

This also includes situations where a child, whether or not at the direction of any other person, engages in sexual activity in exchange for anything of value, which includes non-monetary things such as food, shelter, drugs, or protection from any person.

94% of children identified as at-risk for exploitation or as confirmed victims of trafficking/CSEC in NYS have experienced previous abuse and have had interaction with the child welfare system.

Teens are most vulnerable included in the following groups: LGBTQ+ youth; runaway/homeless youth; those in the juvenile justice system; and those in foster care and group homes.

In 2017, there were 25 identified cases, 3 confirmed, 13 high risk, 19 medium risk; 14.7 average age; 24% males.

In 2018, there were 30 identified cases, 5 confirmed, 20 high risk, 5 medium risk; 14.1 average age; 20% males.

In 2019, quarter 1, there have been 12 identified cases, 2 confirmed; 10 high risk; 13.5 average age; 8% males.

The local police force works with many other agencies including the FBI whenever necessary to aid with crossed jurisdictions and cell phone investigations. Lew Meckley, a member of the Board of Directors of the Child Advocacy Program, and a cooperating agency, attended the meeting today.

Chief Snellings answered many questions about trafficking and also regarding heroin, methamphetamines, cocaine, marijuana etc. and their role in trafficking.

The Safe Harbor Law was created to protect sexually exploited/trafficked children from being charged with juvenile delinquent offenses. The law defines children involved in these crimes as victims, not perpetrators. Safe Harbor laws also provide services to children who have been sexually exploited.

Gerald Popps - Author, Ethical Leadership in Turbulent Times

Posted by Sue Jones on Aug 05, 2019

Our speaker was sponsored by the Marge and Al Brown lecture series at the Jackson Center. The Brown children have issued a challenge grant of $10,000 for this fund at the CRCF. Their investment was very well spent on today’s speaker who held everyone in the audience rapt with attention on his subject.

Popps was a professor of public ethics at West Virginia University but when he found there was information, he wrote his own book. After seven years of research at the Marshall’s Lexington library he and his editor wife, completed the book. During today’s lecture, he linked Marshall to Robert H. Jackson. Jackson was a literary genius, in a class of his own; a brilliant advocate. Marshall was linked to Jackson by values, origin and religion. He created an international government and human rights democracy. There was 11 years difference in their ages and they grew up 100 miles apart.

Jackson grew up south of Frewsburg, then moved to the village and then into Jamestown. Marshall grew up in Uniontown, PA where he was a mediocre student, he loved history, was a prankster, he roamed the countryside and was an entrepreneur. He was very distant from his father who was very austere. He vowed to attend VMI like his brother, because he overheard his brother tell his mother not to let him go because he would embarrass the family. The family was very poor, but mother had an inheritance which she poured into George’s education. He became the top cadet – not a good student, but he excelled at leadership. At graduation he did not receive a commission so he went to the White House where he wheedled his way into requesting the opportunity to take the army exam. McKinley gave him permission to take the test and then he headed back to VMI where he married.

He often filled in for higher ranking officers, so he had to do everything by persuasion and reason. He attended the Army leadership and command school where he was the top student and became regular army, a self-generated expert in leadership skills. General Bell invited him to teach logistics and tactics to men much older than him. During summers, he volunteered to create and oversee war games and then went full-time with the Regular Army in Philadelphia as a major.

General Hap Arnold was watching Marshall’s future develop as a Chief of Staff in action.

He became Chief Operations Officer of the Army in World War I – always a staff officer. He has a mental breakdown and during this time learned how to play –riding horses, playing children’s games with the kids on the post and yet taking time to go to Japan and learn their fighting tactics. He finally returned to teaching US troops.

A member of the 1st Infantry Division-he was one of the first to ship out to France and Britain where he was taught training in trench warfare to educate the US troops. He developed the perspective to see infield tactics and also learned the skills of shipping, building buildings and providing supplies for the troops. He was transferred to Headquarters where he planned to movement of 600,000 allied troops under the nose of the Germans without them even realizing it. He was hailed as the logistics genius of World War I.

General Pershing selected Marshall as his top aide and Marshall set off to visit the German border areas where he found the total collapse of the German Society. Civilian people were starving and he vowed to remake civil governments as his highest priorities.

He worked for Pershing for five years promoting a citizen’s army with a national guard and reserves and a reduced regular army. But then came the Depression and the funding dried up. In 1938 there were only 175,000 in the Regular Army and 75,000 in the Reserves. Our army was the 18th strongest in the world after Hungary – we were in bad shape.

After three years in China, he returned to Washington and his wife died. He was teaching at the War College and hated it. Pershing had also lost his wife and 3 children in a fire at the Presidio and so he sent Marshall off to be Dean of the Infantry Officers School at Fort Benning, GA, where he revolutionized army training and married a women with 3 children – at last a family.

Almost 60 officers he later appointed in World War II were from Ft. Benning – all became generals.

He integrated infantry with other army units and after 5 years, he was off to run the Civilian Conservation Corps where he took men who were suffering from great poverty and brought them into public service by building roads, bridges and parks. Marshall considered this the best role of his life.

In 1938, Marshall returned to the General Staff as a Brigadier General as Chief of War Plans and began US strategy. His strategy was for fighting to take place in Europe first, defeating Germany first and then turning attention to the Pacific and the Japanese.

He became Deputy Chief of Staff and he began beefing up intelligence, cracking the Japanese Purple Cipher, which is why we won the battle of Midway which really won the war. He created 20 extra air wings and is considered the Father of the American Airforce.

General Hugh Drum was odds on favorite to become Chief of Staff, but on 9/1/39, Roosevelt chose Marshall as the Army’s top man AND WWII began. The army was tiny with little power and funding. The neutrality act kept him from aiding the allies, he couldn’t use the army outside the Western Hemisphere and he was limited to the number of men who could be in service. He reorganized the entire department so that as soon as war was declared, Congress could not block his plans.

In 1939-41 is when Jackson and Marshall began their interaction. They worked on a deal with the British for bases and Britain got old US destroyers which laid the basis for the lend lease program.

Jackson was NOT a militarist but he saw the need.

Marshall was not a legalist but saw the need for civil leadership.

Congress opened the country’s wallet.

In the Arcadia Conference, the Brits and America got together and Marshall organized how the two countries could combine forces and leadership and he opened a British staff office in the Pentagon. Marshall wanted a cross channel invasion of France with forces from Britain including tanks, ships, & fuel because of the flat terrain on the beaches. Churchill was opposed due to the tremendous losses in WWI. So North Africa was first because the British needed the victories and the American needed “to be blooded”. Marshall got Patton to bring in the tanks and they were victorious. Then Churchill wanted to turn to Italy and Sicily.

In 1942, Marshall established the civil governance department IN SECRET, feeling that we had the Germans on their heels. He also began planning the demobilization of the war IN SECRET.

His post war planning included: military tactics, universal military training, a United Nations organization, combined military services into one organization (no petty jealousies), no large land force and focus on intelligence, communications, special forces and espionage. At this time, Jackson was appointed to lead the War Crimes trials. He wanted to rebuild the post war countries as democracies that were human with strong international cooperation and of course NATO.

Marshall became Secretary of State – he saw an arms war coming in the future, he promoted economic aid and monetary assistance to the European organization.

The Marshall Plan WORKED, for the past 75 years there has been an alliance with Europe, the United States and Canada.

We are now seeing a challenge to that paradigm through isolation, tariffs and disengagement. The polarization between Congress and the White House must end.

A WONDERFULLY, FASCINATING LECTURE!