"Except For All The Others"

Thanks to those of you who asked me to post my second winning speech from the LeBow Oratorical Competition.

Here's the YouTube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2phD02eTjeQ

And here's the print version:

http://www.pingry.org/uploaded/photos/News/Oratorical_Speech_Stires_2014.pdf

Thanks for your support.

"Economy and Ecology: Perfect Together"

Hi, folks,

It's been pretty busy over the past 18 months (junior year, essays, APs, etc.), and although my work has precluded me from posting on this blog, it has nevertheless born fruit.

I was very honored to have the opportunity to interview and subsequently write about former New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean in the JFK Library's Profile in Courage Essay Competition at the beginning of this year.  In the spirit of President Kennedy’s 1956 book Profiles in Courage, high school students profile in 1000 words or less an elected official after 1956 who displayed remarkable political courage on the local, state, or national level.  Of Governor Kean's many acts of political courage, I chose to highlight his work as a freshman state assemblyman to save an obscure glacial lake from industrial development in the late 1960s.

I am happy to report that my essay placed second in the country out of 1,951 entries.

Economy and Ecology: Perfect Together

Long before he rose to prominence as New Jersey’s most respected governor, and decades before he made history as Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, Thomas H. Kean launched the first battle of his political career as a freshman State Assemblyman to save an obscure glacial lake from industrial development.  In what would become a David-versus-Goliath encounter, Kean’s seemingly minor environmental effort led him into a firestorm of opposition from special interests bent on quashing his cause in order to advance a multi-billion dollar energy program.  By risking his political future on the widely ridiculed cause of environmentalism in an industrial state, Kean not only secured for posterity a unique natural wonder, but also charted a new course for the identity and future soul of the Garden State.

Even though it is only three miles from Interstate-80, Sunfish Pond is one of the most remote places in New Jersey.  Accessible only by foot, the path to the state’s last glacial lake rises 1000 feet and winds its way over difficult and treacherous terrain.  That this secluded natural rarity survived pressure from 1960s industry to be visited by over 250,000 people in 2013 speaks to a remarkable act of political courage against a modus operandi deeply ingrained in New Jersey’s economic culture (Parks and Forestry).

In 1967, environmentalism had yet to become a true force in American politics. The Environmental Protection Agency did not exist.  There was no Earth Day.  Most Americans had little awareness of humanity’s effect on the planet.  Conservationism was commonly derided, and Kean, who labeled himself the only environmentalist in New Jersey’s government, was ridiculed by one assemblyman who exclaimed, “Essex County has sent a bird-watcher to the state legislature” (Kean 18).  Part of this attitude stemmed from New Jersey’s traditional role as handmaiden to the New York and Philadelphia metropolises.  As an industrial backyard for two major cities, New Jersey had little sense of its own identity, and the political climate revolved around its status as an engine of economic growth.  At the time, “jobs was the be-all and the end-all…no matter what it came at the expense of” (Kean).  With this zero-sum atmosphere and single-minded focus on economic development, any win for conservation was perceived as a loss for industry, while proponents of human “progress” saw the destruction of natural beauty as acceptable collateral damage (Clemens 9).

The threat to Sunfish Pond came from its intended role as a pumped storage reservoir within a larger energy initiative known as the Tocks Island Dam project.  This power plant would spell the end of the glacial lake’s unique pristine beauty, destroying its watershed and much of the surrounding ecosystem.  Kean saw no reason why Sunfish Pond had to be incorporated into the Tocks Island plan.  To the junior assemblyman, the matter was “a simple conservation effort—if you have something really beautiful and there’s nothing like it in the state, then you probably shouldn’t let it be ruined, you should probably preserve it” (Kean).

            Unbeknownst to Kean, the focus of his “simple conservation effort” was inextricably tied to the Tocks Island concept and the special interest groups behind it.  The pumped storage facility at Sunfish Pond actually comprised the keystone of the entire plan (Kean).  As a result, Kean encountered opposition from many directions.  He recalls, “It wasn’t until people started coming out of the woodwork did I realize I’d put my finger in a hornet’s nest.” (Kean).  Kean found himself surrounded by the project’s advocates, determined to persuade or compel him to withdraw his objection.  According to Kean, “they tried everything to get me off the case—every single possible thing” (Kean).  The state’s two most powerful organizations, the Chamber of Commerce and organized labor, made their discontent known.  Tocks Island supporters labeled Kean a “traitor to business” and suggested that psychological disorders were impairing his judgment (Felzenberg 101).  Lobbyists promised Kean additional campaign donations if he complied with the utilities’ demands, and threatened to give to his next opponent if he did not.  The chairman of the GOP in Kean’s home county told him that Kean’s environmentalism was “costing” the party (Kean).  Kean’s opponents even menaced his brother, head of the Elizabethtown Water Company, intimating to Kean that his brother might not be successful when he went to request a rate increase unless the upstart legislator changed his stance on a certain glacial lake in the Delaware Water Gap.

            Despite the fusillade, Kean pressed on.  As he later acknowledged, “for a freshman assemblyman, it was a rough experience.  But the more they came at me, the more I figured I was right” (Kean).  Undaunted, he leveraged allies in the press to bring attention to his cause and soon won the support of most of the state’s newspapers.  Kean authored a bill directing the state to purchase Sunfish Pond and successfully steered it through the Assembly four times, gaining cosponsors with each attempt (Felzenberg 100).  Even though the bill was defeated by utility allies in the Senate, Kean’s movement gained momentum across the political landscape.  After the initial corporate attacks, Kean identified a number of significant flaws in the overall Tocks Island project, leading to final victory in 1972 when New York and New Jersey both withdrew support from the proposal altogether.

            For most of its history, New Jersey resigned itself to a fate dominated by industry at the expense of its natural beauty.  By refusing to allow the sacrifice of a special piece of his state on the altar of “progress,” Kean overcame the conventional wisdom of the zero-sum game between New Jersey’s economy and its ecology. Instead, he opted to “throw out the argument that it’s either the jobs or the environment.  It’s a false argument because it’s all one” (Kean).  As governor a decade later, Kean changed the way his state regarded itself, reminding his fellow citizens that New Jersey was both an economic powerhouse and “America the Beautiful—only smaller” (New Jersey & You).  By putting his political future on the line for a 44-acre glacial pond, young Assemblyman Kean opened the door for New Jersey to claim its rightful destiny as the Garden State.

Bibliography:

Clemens, Paul G. E. The Uses of Abundance: A History of New Jersey's Economy. Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1992. Print. New Jersey History Series 2.

Dale, Frank T. Delaware Diary: Episodes in the Life of a River. New Brunswick: Rutgers University, 1996. GoogleBooks. Web. 4 Jan. 2014. <http://books.google.com/books?id=qN4ynPRYlKQC&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=sunfish+pond+william+o+douglas&source=bl&ots=RjgPcFb9Nw&sig=raOYn85GLV0nJBQOGFpeoQQlrWM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=w7vIUsaXOcmjsQSsqIHgDQ&ved=0CEsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=sunfish%20pond%20william%20o%20douglas&f=false>.

Felzenberg, Alvin S. Governor Tom Kean: From the New Jersey Statehouse to the 9-11 Commission. New Brunswick: Rivergate, 2006. Print.

Harpster, Richard. "U.S. Opposes Tocks Island Pumping Plan." Newark Evening News [Newark] 23 May 1967: n. pag. Rpt. in Public Hearing on Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 45, Re Study of Proposed Uses of Sunfish Pond and Surrounding Area. N.p.: n.p., 1967. 172. Print.

Kean, Thomas H. Personal interview. 2 Jan. 2014.

- - -. The Politics of Inclusion. New York: Free, 1988. Print.

New Jersey. Committee on Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources. Hearings on the Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 45, Re Study of Proposed Uses of Sunfish Pond and Surrounding Area. 1968 Senate N.p.: n.p., 1968. Print.

New Jersey & You: Perfect Together. Advertisement. Youtube. Web. 5 Jan. 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yUsnESf3Ug>.

Parks and Forestry of the State of New Jersey. Statistics on Worthington State Forest Attendance in 2013. 2 Jan. 2014. Raw data.

"With No Loss of Enthusiasm"

Thanks to everyone who requested that I post the video of my speech that won Pingry's annual LeBow Oratorical Competition.

Here is a link to a Youtube video of the speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDgY8mcJH0U

Here is a link to a print version: http://www.pingry.org/uploaded/photos/News/Oratorical_Speech_Stires_2013.pdf

I really appreciate your support.  Thanks for taking the time to have a look.

The Battle for New Jersey History: Part 2

So, to recap, in the previous post about The Battle for New Jersey History, we left off with my letter to Governor Chris Christie, urging him to rethink his decision to cut much-needed aid to sites like the Old Trenton Barracks and USS New Jersey from the state budget.

After sending the letter to Governor Christie, I forwarded a copy to a number of his friends and colleagues as well as many other people who I thought could influence the outcome. Perhaps as many as 200 people received an electronic version of the letter either from me or from other concerned citizens. In the meantime, we awaited the governor's response for several weeks. In sending the letter to my state legislators, I received immediate acknowledgement that they had received my correspondence. I therefore began to think that Governor Christie hadn't gotten it. So I sent it a second time. Eventually, the budgetary deadline passed, and I received word from Ms. Litvack that Governor Christie had used his line-item veto power to eliminate funding for the historic sites for which we had fought. It seemed that the governor didn't realize that there were people out there who deeply cared about New Jersey's historical legacy and weren't about to go down without a fight. We needed a megaphone.

The ideal megaphone was the largest newspaper in the state, The Star Ledger (circulation: 500,000). It took about a weekend to skinny down the gist of my original letter to the governor to conform with the Star Ledger's word limit for opinion pieces. It was deeply gratifying when, on Wednesday, July 6^th, my letter to the editor was published and given its own highlighted column in the Opinion section!

My Letter to the Editor in the Star Ledger.
Note the highlight they put around it!

A little while later, I received a reply from the governor. In his letter, he agreed that the Battleship New Jersey and the Old Trenton Barracks “are noteworthy and deserving of support and appreciation by our state's residents.” However, he acknowledged that he had removed their line-item appropriations because he believed that they would “inhibit the fair and competitive grant process we worked to provide the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.” This left me a bit confused. Was the funding there or not? I asked Ms. Litvack to review the unintelligible political speak, and to please translate. Upon reviewing Governor Christie's response, she explained that by moving these essential sites into this other funding pool, there would be less money to go around across an entire range of important organizations (no win there).

While Ms. Litvack and I were quite concerned about what appeared to be Governor Christie's final decision, it seems that our efforts have ultimately paid off, as the state government transferred the Old Trenton Barracks, USS New Jersey, and Morven out of state jurisdiction and into the Department of Environmental Protection, where they will be safeguarded and given funding to keep up with their operational needs. While we don't know if it was the pressure from a few concerned citizens, the influence of his friends and colleagues, or challenging his decision in front of 500,000 voters that changed Governor Christie's mind, I nevertheless claim absolute victory on behalf of New Jersey History as we head off to meet our next objective!

I mean really, not many people have gotten the chance to claim total victory since the days of the Battle of Trenton!

The Battle for New Jersey History: Part 1

Sorry for the hiatus between posts. Having a schoolwork overload does that kind of thing...

Over the past year, I've been working with a number of organizations, namely the Washington Association of New Jersey, the Crossroads of the American Revolution, and the Daughters of the American Revolution, to preserve a number of amazing historical sites for my generation. New Jersey saw more action during the American Revolution than nearly any other colony, and yet its citizens seem unaware our state's role in the founding of our nation.

My personal involvement in the fight to make New Jersey History known started when Governor Chris Christie announced that funding to the Old Trenton Barracks (the centerpiece of the Battle of Trenton), battleship USS New Jersey (the most decorated battleship ever), and the former governor's mansion at Morven (where many important statesmen lived in Princeton) would be cut from the FY 2011 budget. Without this necessary support from the State of New Jersey, these three sites, steeped in historical significance, would be unable to balance their budgets and would be threatened with closure.

That's where I got involved. In a conversation with Ms. Cate Litvack, head of the Crossroads of the American Revolution, an organization dedicated to preserving New Jersey history, we came up with the idea to have me write a letter to Governor Christie explaining the importance of these sites to my generation. My letter is below:

Office of the Governor

P.O. Box 001

Trenton, New Jersey  08625

Dear Governor Christie,                                                                                 

            My name is Hunter Stires. I'm fourteen years old and live in Bedminster, here in the great state of New Jersey. 

            Thank you very much for all that you are doing to put our state's financial house in order. I appreciate your hard work to address the serious fiscal challenges that you inherited upon taking office.

            I am writing to you today about a different kind of inheritance. I am asking for your leadership in reinstating the funding for New Jersey's Historical sites, in particular the Old Trenton Barracks and battleship U.S.S. New Jersey. Without state funding, these sites will be forced to close, and the impact this decision would have would be irreparably harmful to my generation, effectively robbing us of access to much of our proud heritage for the foreseeable future.

            During our school years, children have an opportunity to see and experience history with a certain, perfect set of eyes that help us understand our place in the world.  New Jersey's unique historical legacy allows school-age kids to discover the essential role that our state has played during key moments throughout our nation's history. At Trenton Barracks, for example, children can walk the same hallowed ground previously tread upon by George Washington who became the first general in the history of the world to inoculate an entire army from smallpox.  Perhaps more importantly, imagine the pride New Jersey kids come to feel when they realize that the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and our future first president literally spent more time in New Jersey than in any other state during the Revolution.  And don't even get me started about the fact that the barracks were the center of one of the defining battles of the war on a certain December day in 1776! 

            Aboard USS New Jersey, children can see exactly where one of the most storied admirals in naval history, Admiral William “Bull” Halsey (born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, by the way) sat in the Flag Plot of the world's most decorated battleship that served her country for nearly 50 years and earned 19 battle stars.  Kids can see the muzzles of her 16-inch guns that were used to defend our nation's interests everywhere from the Pacific to the Middle East. 

            As you finalize the state budget, I urge you to consider the inherent alternative legacies that your funding choices will offer our state's children.  Would you rather they consider themselves citizens of “The Snookie State,” and the setting for questionable reality TV shows? Or would you rather have our kids take rightful pride in the fact that our great state of New Jersey has been at the crossroads of history throughout the centuries, from the Revolution, where George Washington nearly lost—then saved the Glorious Cause itself, to World War II, where we were building ships for the U.S. Navy, including our namesake battleship this budget is seeking to close.

            In essence, the decision to cut funding to these vital historical sites would deprive a generation, my generation, of our birthright.  And with the utmost respect for you and your office, it is not yours to take away.

            I urge you to find another pathway forward.

                        Sincerely,

                        Hunter Stires

The story continues in the next post...

Not a Moment to be Lost: When the Inestimable Blessing of Liberty was at Stake: Part 2

It's hard to imagine the world without the power and might of the United States of America keeping us safe.  What if our country weren't there to change the course of two world wars and protect weaker countries from unwarranted hostile aggression?  The world would certainly be very different if not for the hard struggle of 2,000 men during the last two weeks of 1776.

Most of us know the story of the days and months preceding the Battle of Trenton.  What we may not know is how quickly the plan for that battle was pulled together.


By December of 1776, General George Washington's Continental Army was on the verge of dissolution.  Three months before, they were driven out of New York City in a disastrous, bloody campaign.  Subsequently chased out New Jersey in a week and a half, the American army looked finished.  Most enlistments expired at the end of the year, which meant that most of the American patriots who hadn’t already deserted were literally packing their bags.  General Washington knew that if the army dissolved, so would the “glorious cause” that he had labeled only months before. He had to act. If he didn't, he would become nothing but a footnote in history as the traitor who led a hopelessly vain effort for independence from the most powerful nation on the face of the Earth.

Of course, looking back, we can just count down the days until Washington crosses the Delaware River and saves the day.  Breathing a sigh of relief and exclaiming what a close call it was, we move on with our daily lives, not grasping just how quickly this complicated plan came together before it was set in motion on that momentous Christmas night.

On December 22, Colonel Joseph Reed, a Massachusetts militia commander, wrote Washington about the dire situation, imploring him to retake the initiative and take back at least part of New Jersey.  He proposed a series of offensive actions across the Delaware to achieve these objectives and at the same time, raise morale.  He suggested:

"We are all of Opinion my dear General that something must be attempted to revive our expiring Credit give our Cause some Degree of Reputation & prevent a total Depreciation of the Continental Money which is coming on very fast....In a little Time the Continental Army is dissolved the Militia must be taken before their Spirits & Patience are exhausted & the scattered divided State of the Enemy affords us a fair Oppy of trying what our Men will do when called to an offensive Attack—Will it not be possible my dear Genl for your Troops or such Part of them as can act with Advantage to make a Diversion or something more at or about Trenton—the greater the Alarm the more likely Success will attend the Attacks—If we could possess ourselves again of New Jersey or any considerable Part of it the Effects would be greater than if we had never left it—Allow me to hope that you will consult your own good Judgment & Spirit, & not let the Goodness of your Heart subject you to the Influence of Opinions from Men in every Respect your Inferiours."

Reed's tone of voice could have gotten him in big trouble with a lesser man, and remember, he's writing to the Commander-in-Chief.  Closing his letter, he explained himself:

"Pardon the Freedom I have used, the Love of my Country, a Wife & 4 Children in the Enemys Hands, the Respect & Attachment I have to you—the Ruin & Poverty that must attend me & thousands of others will plead my Excuse for so much Freedom."

The next day, Washington replied with a daring plan to cross the ice-choked Delaware River to launch a dawn surprise attack on the 1500 strong Hessian garrison at Trenton.  While we don't know what plans Washington already had in mind before Reed's letter, this correspondence would lead us to believe that Colonel Joseph Reed set in motion one of the most crucial actions in American history, a move that had to be pulled together in a mere 48 hours.

When the Inestimable Blessing of Liberty was at Stake: Part 1

We've all heard the story of Washington Crossing the Delaware. It's practically a fairy tale for most schoolchildren, of how the Continental Army, in what seems like a pre-destined course of events, crossed a river and changed history. Some of us may have seen the Emanuel Lutze painting in New York, which helps put symbolic faces to that story and show, albeit a bit unrealistically, what the mood must have felt like that night. But I doubt that most people have any idea how difficult it must have been for George Washington in those dark days when the situation was dire, the cause was in doubt, and the Continental Army was about to dissolve. Over the next few posts, I'd like to shed some light on how this amazing story played out when the world held its breath that fateful December day 235 years ago.

In a letter to John Hancock on December 20, 1776, Washington described the distressing predicament and his doubts regarding the militia upon which he was supposed to rely. This is only 6 days before the crossing, and it would seem that the plan to attack Trenton hasn't even begun to form:

“We find Sir, that the Enemy are daily gathering strength from the disaffected; This strength, like a Snowball by rolling, will increase, unless some means can be devised to check effectually, the progress of the Enemy’s Arms: Militia may possibly do it for a little while; but in a little while also, the Militia of those States which have been frequently called upon, will not turn out at all, or if they do, it will be with so much reluctance and sloth as to amount to the same thing [….] could any thing but the River Delaware have saved Philadelphia? can any thing[....] be more destructive to the recruiting service, than giving Ten dollars bounty for Six weeks service of the Militia, who come in, you can not tell how—go, you cannot tell when—and act, you cannot tell where—consume your provisions—exhaust your Stores, and leave you at last at a critical moment. These Sir, are the men, I am to depend upon, Ten days hence. This is the Basis on which your Cause will and must for ever depend, till you get a large standing Army, sufficient of itself to oppose the Enemy....”

As Thomas Paine so eloquently observed, these truly were the times that tried men's souls.