American dream

TL;DR -- John W. Gardner, of Stanford and the west coast, represents several things about the U.S. He is the second (or first) generation of his family. His life was exemplary. We have mentioned others of the same background (as in, immigrant after the early start) in posts over the years. So, we will make this a category as we proceed preparing for commemorating the 250th, starting in 2024 with the attempt in Boston to use the Harbor as a tea dispensing device. 

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We already have several posts in this category; there will be more. This post will list a few below. 

Today, we will look at John W. Gardner. He represents several things which we will expand up. First, though, his name got our attention as we were looking at an organization, in his name, that has been supporting social issues. There was not much in terms of biography with family specifics. We found his father and mother. He died when John was young. His mother has been referenced by several names, so we will look at that further. One report had her name as Marie Burns. One Census had a different name. Second, he is of the west, having been born in LA. He went to Stanford. His father had been born in England, we surmise after seeing him referenced as an English gentleman. 

Third, John's life? He founded Common Cause after several roles in the U.S. government. For instance, he was Secretary of H.E.W. under President Johnson. We are being brief now as John had a remarkable life and served humanity several ways. He had two daughters with his wife of 65 years who he met at Stanford. She was from Guatemala. 

Now, his organization reminded us of the Gairdner Foundation that we wrote of early last year. We have a task of finding this type of representative organization to write up specs for our future. 

But, back to the "American dream" which is an important topic. Let's start with a list of posts where we can address this theme more thoroughly. Of course, John (Wikipedia) will be there. 

• Emily Noether - Mathematician who came to Bryn Mawr ...
• Charles Thomson - Continental Congress ... 
• Count Rumford - Born here, left. ... 
• John Rogers - Harvard () ...
• Charles Chauncy - Harvard () ...
• Nathan Pusey - Harvard () ...
• ...

It turns out that the 250th and the 400th are of the same timeframe, as in the revolution start and the commercial colony inception. That makes things interesting going forward with respect to the span and scale of research. 

Remarks: Modified: 01/17/2023

01/17/2023 -- Correct the link to  Common Cause. Added link to H.H.S. (Health and Human Services) which was H.E.W. (Health, Education, and Welfare) until May 1980 having been established in 1953.