Offenburger.com

Along Our Way

What a way to end a summer! We Offenburgers were the guests on a late-summer weekend at the lake house of our friends Joe and Cindy Connolly. The Connollys live in Council Bluffs and commute many weekends to their get-away place on a private lake just south of Columbus, Nebraska. It was a real “kick-back” weekend with lots of sunshine, fun boating, good food and plenty of time to read.
[TO SEE THESE PHOTOS & OTHERS IN LARGER FORMAT, AND TO READ A BRIEF STORY, CLICK HERE.]

A conversation

LIVING WITH CANCER

with the Offenburgers

Chuck Offenburger was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins follicular lymphoma cancer on July 10, 2009, had six months of chemotherapy & is now doing well in a “maintenance” program. Carla Offenburger underwent surgery on April 26, 2010, for removal of a jaw tumor which was found to contain adenoid cystic carcinoma cancer. She underwent six weeks of follow-up radiation in June and July, and continues under close medical observation. We post updates frequently here, including brief insights from Chuck, Carla and at least one of you readers.

“Carla, if you were standing here I’d hug you. This is such a ton of stress and scheduling for anyone but then add that you are recouping yourself and it is nearly overwhelming. Yet here you are forging ahead.”

FOR THE LATEST UPDATE, CLICK HERE.

What’s the deal with the
black & white saddle shoes?

Click here for the story of our farm in Greene County, Iowa.

Here's looking at life
at Simple Serenity Farm

Carla’s sister & brother-in-law Chris and Tony Woods, of Des Moines, were at the farm on Sunday, August 22, helping Carla do the lawn mowing and other yard work that we’ve struggled to keep up with lately, with all our medical appointments. The Woodses brought along their 18-month-old granddaughter Ari, who was a delight watching all the action from the porch with Chuck, catching up on her reading and then getting a moment on the lawn tractor seat!
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Earlier photos in this series

Chuck Offenburger's
new book on sports
legend Gary Thompson
gets excellent reviews

FOR INFORMATION ON WHERE & HOW TO BUY THE BOOK, CLICK HERE!

''GARY THOMPSON: All-American'' is the new, 352-page biography of one of the state’s genuine sports icons. From 1950-’53 Gary Thompson led the Roland Rockets to high school sports glory in basketball and baseball, giant-killers from one of Iowa’s small schools. Then he led the Cyclones at Iowa State from 1953-’57, becoming the college’s first two-sport All-American. He’s had major success in broadcasting and business, from his home base in Ames. And he and his wife Janet have a family as solid as they come. “I’m the luckiest guy around,” Thompson says.

TO READ CHUCK OFFENBURGER'S COLUMN ABOUT THE BOOK AND THE ''BOOK LAUNCHING'' HELD EARLY IN DECEMBER, CLICK HERE.

TO READ DES MOINES REGISTER SPORTSWRITER RICK BROWN'S REVIEW OF THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE SPORTS COLUMNIST JIM ECKER'S REVIEW OF THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ AMES DAILY TRIBUNE SPORTSWRITER DICK KELLY'S STORY ABOUT THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ DOUG BURNS' STORY ABOUT THE BOOK IN THE CARROLL DAILY TIMES HERALD, CLICK HERE.

TO READ ANDY GOODELL'S STORY ABOUT THE BOOK IN THE OSKALOOSA HERALD, CLICK HERE.

WANT TO SEE AND HEAR THE OLD ROLAND HIGH SCHOOL FIGHT SONG PERFORMED? CLICK HERE!

FOR INFORMATION ON WHERE & HOW TO BUY THE BOOK, CLICK HERE!

FOR PHOTOS FROM OUR BOOK LAUNCHING EVENTS, CLICK HERE!

SEE BOB MODERSOHN'S PHOTOS OF OUR BOOK CHAT AND SIGNING AT BEAVERDALE BOOKS IN DES MOINES!

Our Partners & Patrons
Iowa Hall of Pride
netINS, Inc.
Butler House on Grand B&B
Sam's Barber Shop
Douglas T. Bates III, Attorney
KMA Radio's ''Chuck & Don Show''
Barack Obama story & coloring book
The Monks of New Melleray Abbey

Guest Column

Need big help? Call on former U.S. presidents. It's amazing how they can rally Americans

The author, besides directing the Hoover Presidential Library in eastern Iowa, is one of the leading historians in the state. —Chuck Offenburger

By TIMOTHY WALCH
February 6, 2010
WEST BRANCH, IOWA

Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to the rescue! Haiti is in desperate need of assistance, and who better to lead the effort than a couple of former presidents. Really? Barack Obama seems to think so.

Two days after that devastating earthquake hit Haiti, the president announced that Clinton and Bush would spearhead a national fundraising effort to provide aid to the island republic.

At first thought, these former presidents seem to make an odd team to lead a vast humanitarian effort. After all, they share little in common other than the presidency.

But wait a minute; perhaps we’re not giving sufficient credit to the special nature of their shared experience. They’re among a handful of men who personally know the contours of presidential power as well as the influence they have in retirement. That special knowledge, wisdom, and status could be put to good use.

This isn’t exactly a new idea.

Post-presidential careers began when John Quincy Adams left the White House in 1829 and served in Congress from 1831 until his death in 1848. After his presidency, William Howard Taft was dean of the Yale Law School and chief justice of the United States. And Jimmy Carter was honored with a Nobel Peace Prize for his post presidential work in humanitarian relief.

Presidential partnerships first emerged when Harry Truman appointed Herbert Hoover to lead a famine emergency committee after World War II. Over the next eight years those two very different men worked together to stabilize Europe and reorganize the executive branch of the federal government.

This photograph, taken on March 1, 1946, shows President Harry Truman (left) and former President Herbert Hoover in the Oval Office at the White House, following Truman's appointment of Hoover as the chairman of the President's Famine Emergency Committee. The purpose of the committee was to assess world food needs in the aftermath of World War II. At Truman's behest, Hoover traveled 35,000 miles to 22 nations in 57 days, and delivered a report to Truman later that fall. Hoover's report would later influence the Marshall Plan of 1948. (Photo from the collection at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa)

In fact, these collaborations have become fairly frequent in the last several decades. Carter, for example, worked closely with the late Gerald R. Ford on several projects. And let’s not forget that George H. W. Bush joined Clinton in raising funds for the nations devastated by the Southeast Asia tsunami.

It must be said, however, that these partnerships are less than perfect.

Perhaps the biggest limitation is their lack of planning and continuity. The earthquake in Haiti is a perfect example. Clinton and Bush had only passing contact until the earthquake brought them together. What will happen after the crisis has passed? In all likelihood, the partnership will fade – until the next crisis.

It might be beneficial to institutionalize the role and responsibilities of former presidents.

Some pundits and political scientists have suggested that what is needed is a framework to channel this service.

One option would be to make all former presidents honorary members of the U.S. Senate. This idea was first floated in the 1950s. Although appealing, this action would require a constitutional amendment and is not likely make the best use of a former president’s influence and abilities.

Another possibility would be for sitting presidents to convene a “council of former presidents” to raise public awareness of critical issues such as starvation in Africa or head up commissions on, say, the future of Social Security or even health care reform. Former presidents of different parties working together would be likely to stimulate solutions to complex national and international problems.

At the very least, sitting presidents could meet regularly with their predecessors to seek advice on matters of national and international concern.

Shared experience brings these men together in friendship and partnership. Hoover once referred to former presidents as “that most exclusive trade union.” Exclusive, indeed. Our former presidents are a band of brothers with a mutual respect that they and they alone can fully appreciate. They want to be useful, alone and together, and whoever is sitting in the Oval Office has the power and the suasion to challenge them to put their experience to use.

That is the hidden message behind the Clinton- Bush initiative in Haiti and bodes well for work yet to be done in other areas of public life.

Timothy Walch is the director of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa, and the editor, with Richard Norton Smith, of “Farewell to the Chief: The Role of Former Presidents in American Public Life” (1990). You can write him at timothy.walch@nara.gov.

Click here to read more articles by TIMOTHY WALCH