United States Military Academy

Uh, the other thing I'll say is that, that our son, our oldest son, had just graduated from Wake Forest, and he was a second lieutenant in the Army.

Our other son was at West Point as a freshman, a plebe.

Uh, and both of those, uh, sons and our daughter-in-law, who was also at West Point, one of our daughters-in-laws, spent 11 different tours in different combat zones over the next 10, 15 years.

So you know that when you're an, a military family, you're gonna go to war.

Uh, so for all the people that were at the World Trade Center site, on the airplanes, in the Pentagon that were killed that day, uh, we miss all those and don't know the contributions they could have provided to the United States.

It was a very emotional meeting, and the firefighter said, "Mr.

President, my son's going to West Point and you've changed my life." And the president stops him and puts his hand on his shoulder and said, "No, you changed my life." Huh.

And so that was really a k- kind of a unique way to see a, a, a story come full circle.

Hm.

I decided not to go to college.

I didn't get my dream school, which was the United States Military Academy at West Point.

I have this idea to galvanize and motivate the future youth of this country around a core set of ideas, not just political parties or politicians and the ideas are really America is the greatest country in the history of the world, the Constitution is the greatest political document ever written, and free enterprise is the most assured way to lift people out of poverty and create prosperity for all.

Those are the three big ideas.

I mean, like Jimmy's and Joe's, I thought just watching it, they looked apart back-to-back years.

They go to West Point last year, beat them on the money line to open up the year, and now they go to Bowling Green and beat them on the money line.

So it's only a matter of when they come to the FBS.

It's not if, it's when.

And so, you know, you've spent your career up to this point as a cavalry officer.

I mean, you've done some teaching at West Point.

You've had some other interesting assignments.

The war in which you'll eventually, you know, become directly involved because you're not involved in the initial invasions of Afghanistan or Iraq, but you end up in a command position in a very, you know, interesting, dangerous time in Iraq at sort of the peak of the insurgency.

Arnold achieves that.

But an even bigger prize would be this significant fortress on the Hudson River called West Point.

The British ask Arnold if he can get himself appointed commander of West Point.

It's not his original position.

He's going to have to lobby to become the commander of West Point in order to then betray that to the British, which would give them an opportunity once again to control the Hudson Valley.

Arnold has requested permission to command this post from General Washington and received it.

And he tells the British that he will weaken the garrison, he will send troops out into the countryside, and he will also provide detailed maps for how the British can capture this really important fortification on the Hudson.

In return, the British have offered him 20,000 pounds, a really sizable amount of money, as well as a Brigadier General's commission in the British Army.

Feeling the difficulty of living by literature, at the same time that he saw he might have to rely largely upon his own exertions for a livelihood, Poe expressed a wish to enter the army.

After no little difficulty, a cadetship was obtained for him at the West Point Military Academy, a military school in many respects equal to the best in Europe for the education of officers for the army.

At the time Poe entered the Academy it possessed anything but an attractive character, the discipline having been of the most severe character, and the accommodation in many respects unsuitable for growing lads.

The poet appears to have entered upon this new course of life with his usual enthusiasm, and for a time to have borne the rigid rules of the place with unusual steadiness.

He entered the institution on the first of July, 1830, and by the following March had been expelled for determined disobedience.

Whatever view may be taken of Poe's conduct upon this occasion, it must be seen that the expulsion from West Point was of his own seeking.

Highly colored pictures have been drawn of his eccentric behavior at the Academy, but the fact remains that he wilfully, or at any rate purposely, flung away his cadetship.

It is surmised with plausibility that the second marriage of Mr. Allan, and his expressed intention of withdrawing his help and of not endowing or bequeathing this adopted son any of his property, was the mainspring of Poe's action.

I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news.

I was a 27 year old army officer teaching military and constitutional law at West Point.

Like so many Americans that morning, we didn't immediately understand what we were watching.

Walking back to my office, a cadet at a pay phone, leaving a voicemail for his father, said, Dad, I heard the Pentagon just got hit.

I love you.

I can still hear it vividly.

Later that morning, I sat in a cafeteria at West Point with soldiers and cadets glued to CNN and Fox News as the towers came down.

What happened? It collapsed.

chapter forty four of american history stories volume two one of the most daring men in the patriotic army for a time was benedict arnold He was brilliant, daring, but cowardly withal, mean-spirited, jealous, and treacherous.

His meaner qualities had not shown themselves very much in his military life, and as he had really been very brave and had been of great service to the country, Washington put him in command at West Point, one of the most important military posts in the whole country.

But the mean-hearted Arnold had already planned to betray the post into the hands of the British, and Sir Henry Clinton, a British officer, had promised to give him ten thousand pounds in English gold for his treacherous deed.

General Clinton sent a Major Andre to West Point to visit Arnold and make definite arrangements for the betrayal.

He reached the American lines, met Arnold, and received papers from Arnold in which his whole plans were written.

Putting these papers within his stockings, he started back to the British camp.