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From:
miki pfeffer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 6 Aug 2020 20:01:07 -0500
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Thanks to Don Bliss and Hal Bush for extended responses to my question.
Don, I see that I can hear your talk from Quarry Farm, and I look forward
to doing that.

Grace King was staying in the Clemens household (for a month) when her host
went off to vote for Cleveland in 1888. Her report of his tale about voting
Democratic that day amused her greatly. (Cleveland won the popular vote;
Harrison the electoral college.)
She wrote, "I love Mugwumps" and thought Charles Dudley Warner would have
been one without the pressure from the ladies in his household and the
owners of the Courant. She needled Warner about Blaine, and she and Livy
watched with some horror his activities under Harrison.
I know she had opinions about TR and will look at those letters more
closely.

Louisiana had been involved in what became known as the "Corrupt Bargain
(or Compromise) of 1877" that gave Hayes his one-vote win.
It would have been fun to listen to Clemens and King discussing that. Both
were practiced in spotting corruption.
All members of the King family were rabidly anti-Lottery.
The legislature-approved Louisiana Lottery, an international ring, was in
the late 1880s choking the state.
Alliances of women, farmers, and other groups in Louisiana defeated Its
renewal (but having to make another questionable bargain), and the U. S.
Supreme Court decided it was illegal to mail lottery material through the
U. S. Postal Service.

But I digress...

About Twichell writing to "Mark" (and Clemens signing his letters the
same):
I was surprised about that, too, when I read Steve Courtney's book of their
letters.
King wrote that Twichell called him "Sammie," so I'm guessing they were
applying tongue-in-cheek in greeting and signature?

I can tell from the letters that Grace, Clemens, and Livy talked regularly
of morals and ethics, and Grace was aware of his anti-imperialism
concerning the Philippines. She seems to have worried that she outed
Warner's alternate view  to a reporter upon his death.
Also, with the Clemens family gone from Hartford in 1899, Grace saw the
Nook Farm neighborhood as "the most perfect expression of American
Philistinism," which puzzled Livy a bit.

Anyway... thanks again, all.
I saw Forum names today among watchers of the interview with Susan K.
Harris, which was very fine.
Regards,
Miki

On Thu, Aug 6, 2020 at 9:34 AM Bliss, Donald <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> See also “Mark Twain’s Tale of Today:the Celebrated Author Critiques
> American Politics” on Amazon-  so much of what he said and wrote is highly
> relevant today.
> Twain thought Grant did some good things as president, eg, established the
> Justice department to prosecute the Ku Klux Klan, established Yellowstone
> as the first national park, and favored international arbitration over war
> to settle disputes, etc.
> Twain campaigned for Republicans Hayes and Garfield before becoming a
> Mugwump and supporting Cleveland over the corrupt Republican James Blaine.
> He liked neither the imperialist McKinley and TR nor the Democrat free
> money Bryant.
> Twain’s assault on legislative corruption had its roots in his days
> working for his brother’s Hannibal newspaper, in Nevada covering the
> legislature, as a Senate aide in DC, and in his first underrated novel, The
> Gilded Age.
> There is a reason why MT’s quotes on politics are  so resonant today!
> Donald Tiffany Bliss.
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Aug 5, 2020, at 6:18 PM, conor cunneen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > [EXTERNAL MESSAGE]
> >
> > I have written / edited a book titled - Suppose You Were an Idiot - Mark
> Twain on Politics and Politicians.<
> https://www.amazon.com/Suppose-Were-Idiot-Mark-Twain/dp/1539442063/ref=sr_1_14?dchild=1&keywords=conor+cunneen&qid=1596661921&sr=8-14
> >
> >
> > I'm nearly afraid to mention an enthusiast's effort in the company of
> this august group but it does give a very clear insight into his views on
> politicians rather than simply politics.
> > "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no
> distinctly native American criminal class except Congress."
> >
> > He truly despised the cant and hypocrisy of US politicians  but also
> others including Leopold of Belgium "He sits at home and drinks blood,"
> Czar Alexander of Russia "one must descend into hell to find counterpart"
> (to the Czar's government).
> >
> > He thought the Boer War "a sordid and criminal war and in every way
> shameful and excuseless" and ranted against imperialism in general, "I
> think that England sinned when she got herself into a war in South Africa
> which she could have avoided, just as we sinned in getting into a similar
> war in the Philippines."
> >
> > As for his thoughts on Teddy Roosevelt!!!!!
> >
> > "Theodore the man is sane; in fairness we ought to keep in mind that
> Theodore, as statesman and politician, is insane and irresponsible."
> >
> >
> >
> > Just to be clear, that is a historical comment about a past President of
> the United States!
> >
> >
> > I'm working on adding new material and hope to have an expanded edition
> out in a few months.
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers and
> >
> > Have a top o' the mornin' Day!
> >
> >
> > Conor Cunneen - IrishmanSpeaks<http://irishmanspeaks.com/>
> >
> >
> > Improving  People,   Performance  and   Productivity    with a smile
> >
> >
> > "Conor, In my close to thirty years of association work, I have NEVER
> seen a speaker as well received as you."
> >
> > Incentive Marketing Association
> >
> >
> > Phone me at  630 718 1643 for a chat.
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Ladd, Barbara <
> [log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 5, 2020 3:28 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject: Re: [External] What were Mark Twain's politics?
> >
> > Miki,
> > I've been wondering about similar matters and thinking that it would be
> wonderful if he were alive to comment on politics in 2020!
> >
> > You could check out his speech on Tammany and Croker:
> >
> > https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3188/3188-h/3188-h.htm#link2H_4_0030
> > Mark Twain's Speeches, by Mark Twain<
> https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3188/3188-h/3188-h.htm#link2H_4_0030>
> > THE STORY OF A SPEECH An address delivered in 1877, and a review of it
> twenty-nine years later. The original speech was delivered at a dinner
> given by the publishers of The Atlantic Monthly in honor of the seventieth
> anniversary o f the birth of John Greenleaf Whittier, at the Hotel
> Brunswick, Boston, December 17, 1877.
> > www.gutenberg.org<http://www.gutenberg.org>
> >
> > Barbara
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of miki pfeffer <
> [log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 5, 2020 3:01 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject: [External] What were Mark Twain's politics?
> >
> > Hello all,
> >
> > During a recent interview with Steve Courtney of the Mark Twain House
> > (thank you Steve; thank you MTH) as part of the "Trouble at Home"
> series, I
> > was asked this question:
> > "What were Grace King's politics?"
> >
> > I struggled to answer with clarity in the moment, as I might about my own
> > if asked.
> >
> > So I am asking you wise ones whose answers I always read with interest
> (and
> > often with amusement):
> > What were Mark Twain's politics?
> > Likewise, what were Sam Clemens's politics?
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> > Miki Pfeffer
> >
> > --
> > Miki Pfeffer, Ph D
> > *A** New Orlean**s Author i**n Mark Twain's Court: *
> > *Letters from Grace King's New England Sojourns   *
> > (LSU Press, 2019)
> > *Southern Ladies and Suffragists: Julia Ward Howe and Women's Rights at
> the
> > 1884 New Orleans World's Fair   *(University Press of Mississippi, 2014)
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of
> > the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged
> > information. If the reader of this message is not the intended
> > recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution
> > or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly
> > prohibited.
> >
> > If you have received this message in error, please contact
> > the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the
> > original message (including attachments).
>


-- 
Miki Pfeffer, Ph D
*A** New Orlean**s Author i**n Mark Twain's Court: *
*Letters from Grace King's New England Sojourns   *
(LSU Press, 2019)
*Southern Ladies and Suffragists: Julia Ward Howe and Women's Rights at the
1884 New Orleans World's Fair   *(University Press of Mississippi, 2014)

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