President Barack Obama has been constantly accused of being born in Kenya, and the “Birther” myth will not die, despite the fact that his birth certificate shows he was born in the state of Hawaii.
Now Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who seeks to run for President, is being questioned as to his right to run for President, since he was born in Canada of an American born mother from Delaware.
But actually, the first “birther” dispute, much hidden, but occurring in the 1880s, was over the right of Chester Alan Arthur to become our Vice President under James A. Garfield, and then to succeed him in the Presidency, after Garfield was assassinated in 1881.
It turns out that at the tim, there was publication of a political diatribe, accusing Arthur of being born in Canada, 45 miles away from Fairfield, Vermont, where it is claimed he was born, and even the birth year is debated, officially 1830, but thought to be actually 1829!
The fact is that Arthur went on to be President for three and a half years, and signed the Pendleton Civil Service Act, courageously vetoed the Chinese Exclusion Act (although passed over his veto by Congress), and initiated the Steel Navy. He turned out to be not a great President, but certainly not a terrible President.
Barack Obama has been President, and has accomplished a lot, particularly considering constant opposition to the extreme, by the Republican Party.
And Ted Cruz, as horrible a candidate as he is in the minds of progressives and liberals, will not be stopped by “birther” myths, but only by the resounding repudiation by the American voters if he is the GOP nominee for President in 2016!