The Botchev Impersonators

John C Calhoun

Born March 18, 1782 from South Carolina, was John Caldwell Calhoun. Prior to his rise to power, Calhoun was a leader Warhawk that lead the unprepared nation into the war of 1812. Calhoun was a firm states rights supporter and believed states rights, along with nullification and limited government were the only ways to preserve the union. He demonstrated these views with his beginning of the Nullification crisis and support of the despised Tariff of Abomination. Calhoun provided intense defenses of the peculiar institution and viewed it as a positive aspect of society. Calhoun's explicit states rights views as whole resulted in him pointing the south to secession from the Union and therefore beginning the destructive civil war.

Jane Addams

Born on September 6, 1860, famous social activist and pacifist Jane Addams would later become one of America’s most famous women. In 1889, Addams and her friend founded the Hull House in Chicago--a prominent American settlement house, mostly for immigrants. The house also provided for the less fortunate in Chicago. As time passed, the Hull House would also provide for children, a public education, and a public kitchen. Addams firmly condemned war and poverty, and was the first female president of the National Conference of Social Work, and was also elected the president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. In addition, she established the National Federation of Settlements, and for her actions, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. Her influence on American society is frequently still seen today.

Earl Warren

As Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Earl Warren led his court to a series of unprecedented decisions, all of which propelled forward the civil rights movement and revolutionized the Supreme Court. In his most well known decision, Brown v Board of Education, Warren single handedly crafted a compromise to end segregation in public schools and please his fellow judges. He won the unanimity to overturn the decision of Plessy v Ferguson and won one of the biggest civil rights victories in American History. He kept all civil rights cases unanimous and decided the groundbreaking cases of Gideon v Wainwright (criminals get publicly funded counsel), Powell v Alabama (free counsel to defendants), and Miranda v Arizona (Miranda Rights), all of which improved the rights of criminals and push forward the civil rights movement. His term as Chief Justice was full of progressive decisions on civil rights, criminal justice, and the Separation of church and state. His decisions and the unanimity he achieved shaped the course of civil rights and criminal justice in America until today.

Eli Whitney

Eli Whitney’s early life was pretty boring… so I’m going to skip to his inventions.  At the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, Whitney introduced the concept of interchangeable parts to the United States.  You think Henry Ford is the father of assembly line production?  Think again.  Interchangeable parts revolutionized the assembly system of numerous products, most notably rifles.  It allowed for cheaper, more reliable production for the same end result.  In addition to interchangeable parts, Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin could be attributed as one of the leading causes of the Civil War (albeit indirect).  Allowing for much more efficient cotton cleaning, the cotton gin revitalized slavery just as it was starting to lose steam, and caused a push for expanding slavery into the new territories.  These two landmark inventions drastically affected the course of American history for the rest of the century, and spurred one of the greatest conflicts in American history.

Muhammad Ali

Being one of the most iconic professional sports figures in American history, Muhammad Ali did much more than just win the heavyweight title three times. Ali was a shining light for blacks who were being discriminated against and showed that race didn’t matter. His social fight, however, did not end at the color of his skin. Seeing as how the Vietnam war directly conflicted with his religious beliefs, he refused his draft orders. As a result of this he was arrested for four years and had his boxing titles rescinded. Eventually his case made it to the supreme court where he was released. Ali’s Fight against social injustice not only made him an icon for race discrimination, but also for the rising counterculture.

Theodore Roosevelt

When the name Teddy (Theodore) Roosevelt is spoken, most think of the iconic Teddy Bear, when in reality his name means so much more. Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt did many amazing things, and was the 26th president of the united states to boot. He was the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation during the Russo Japanese war.  He made our navy much more powerful, a necessity that would come in handy during the world war. Our navy was upgraded during the years of his administration, and its power was key in securing U.S. interests in regards to negotiations both in the Americas and outside the Americas. On top of that, he took massive steps towards protecting the environment, and basically created the modern conservation movement. Yet he was no hippie. He may have spared a bear or two, but some of the other animals that encountered him met a different fate. On top of all that, he had a degree from Harvard in Biology, took up boxing in college, was commissioner of the NYPD, served as a “Rough Riders”, and governor of New York; all before he became president. So if you are looking for awesome, here is awesome. This man lived a life like no other. His square deal and progressive reforms would shape America for years to come.

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass, born Frederick Bailey, was born on a plantation in Maryland. As a child, he was taught how to read and write by the plantation master's wife. He later was able to escape with help from his wife and became one of the most well-known abolitionist speakers of all time. He effectively used his past experiences as a slave as a first-hand account of the horrors and abominations that were taking place in the South. In 1882 he published his autobiography, The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, which detailed the life and experiences of a slave. He later traveled to Britain and Ireland to talk about abolition, but when he returned he began to publish an antislavery newspaper called The North Star. Douglass also was able to write many letters to President Lincoln as well as meet with him on multiple occasions, where he discussed making slavery illegal as well as arming freed slaves to fight in the war. Frederick Douglass also had huge influence after the war in the Reconstruction Era, where he fought for the rights of both African American freedmen and the women's movement of the time. He was also assistant secretary of the Santo Domingo Commission, 
marshal and recorder of deeds in D.C., and U.S. advisor to Haiti.

George Washington

As the first President of the United States, George Wahington shaped the executive office and America for the next 2 centuries. He set many precedents followed by almost every other President including the 2 term limit. According to many historians, he “invented tradition as he went along” and his actions became part of the “unwritten constitution”. He set the precedent for a Presidential Cabinet with Cabinet heads chosen by the President. He also started what would come to be known as Executive Privelige. One of his major contributions was putting down the Whiskey Rebellion and showing that Federal Law was supreme and stronger than state law, and demonstrating that the Federal Government had the power to levy taxes and raise an army. His restraint and nonpartisan stance created an image of Presidential grandeur which would last until today. He could’ve been a king, but refused and saved our Republic.

John Adams 
Some of you might not remember his name, probably because so many of his relatives were also politicians, but his son John Quincy Adams (a later president himself) and his second cousin Sam Adams. He was a dissident of the british, in that he strongly opposed the unfair taxation by the lobsters (british). He was also a man of courage, who stood by his beliefs. He believed in fair trial, and after the boston massacre, he represented the british soldiers in court, despite the grievances of the crown. Six were acquited, and none were charged with murder. This shows deep moral courage, because he feared that representing them would have consequences. Eisenhower:Born in October 14th, 1890 Dwight D. Eisenhower was a Spectacular General who was able to play politics very well during the second world war. He thrashed the Nazi’s starting with the D-Day invasions starting with Normandy. He made a very inspirational speech before the invasion to influence the soldiers to fight. After the war he was elected into the Oval Office in 1953, making him the 34th president. As president he launched a interstate highway project, DARPA which led to many new innovations and was able to rally support for the use of nuclear energy for infrastructural use. He also had his hand in the Civil Rights movements, later on. He was reluctant at first to step in, even being called racist but he later had a big hand in the Little Rock High School where he used executive powers to break down a strike preventing students of African American descent from attending the school by calling in the National Guard against the state troops. Which later was resolved by the court case Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka Kansas. Eisenhower also appointed Earl Warren to be the supreme court justice after the Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson kicked the bucket. At the end of his presidency he warned of the terrors of the military industrial complex.