When I have an #OnThisDay topic to blog about, I try to tie it in with a current event. Sometimes that’s easier than other times.

When I created my 2025 editorial calendar for my blog months ago, I wondered what I could do with Jame Monroe’s birthday for my April 28, 2025, blog post. How could I make James Monroe’s 267^th birthday interesting?

Then, the Trump Administration came along and US-international relations were disrupted like eggs in a turned over basket rolling in all directions and breaking.

Monroe Doctrine! US and Western Hemisphere relations! Bingo!

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But what about James Monroe’s Birthday and early years?

Born in Virginia, he had to withdraw from the Campbelltown Academy at the age of 16 when his parent died. He was needed to manage the family farm and take care of his three younger brothers. One of his maternal uncles stepped in as sort of a surrogate father. He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, so he took Monroe to Williamsburg and enrolled him in the College of William and Mary in June 1774.

About 18 months later, Monroe dropped out of college to join the Continental Army. He suffered a severed artery in the Battle of Trenton and nearly died.

After the Revolutionary War, he resumed his law studies under Thomas Jefferson until 1783.

Monroe served in the US Senate, but he left the Senate in 1794 to be George Washington’s Ambassador to France. He later served as Ambassador to Britain.

He was elected Governor of Virginia in 1799. As President Jefferson’s special envoy, he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase. He served as President James Madison’s Secretary of State beginning in 1811. During the War of 1812, he served as both Secretary of State and Secretary of War.

He was what one might call an “over achiever.” And I haven’t even mentioned that he was elected US President in 1816 and was reelected for a second term in 1820.

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And what about the Monroe Doctrine?

Are they still teaching school children about the Monroe Doctrine. I hope so, but it’s hard for me to keep up since I don’t have a close family member in grade school now.

In his annual speech before the US Congress in 1823, Monroe outlined his plans for a new American foreign policy.

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Why did the Monroe Doctrine came about?

The US and Britain were both concerned that Spain was going to gain more control in Latin America, and the US was concerned about Russia’s territorial ambitions along the northwest coast of North America.

George Canning, British Foreign Minister, wanted a joint US-Britain agreement, but US Secretary of State John Quincy Adams argued against that and won. Hence, the Monroe Doctrine was officially just a US policy.

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The four main points of the Monroe Doctrine, which made the US the protectorate of the Western Hemisphere:

1. The US would not interfere in the internal affairs or wars between European countries;
2. The US would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies in the Western Hemisphere;
3. There would be no further colonization in the Western Hemisphere; and
4. The US would consider further European colonization, military intervention, or other interference in the Western Hemisphere as a potentially hostile act.

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Jump forward 200 years

In 1962, US President John F. Kennedy invoked the Monroe Doctrine during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy ordered a naval and air quarantine of Cuba after the Soviet Union started building missile-launching sites there.

President Ronald Reagan used the Monroe Doctrine as policy principle in the 1980s to justify US intervention in El Salvador and Nicaragua.

President George H.W. Bush invoked the Monroe Doctrine to justify a US invasion of Panama to oust Manuel Noriega.

After the Cold War and as the 21^st century approached, US involvement in Latin America decreased, but there was a growing resentment in some countries over the US thinking it could call the shots.

Then comes the illicit drug trade.

Then comes a flood of immigrants trying to enter the United States legally and illegal.

Then comes Donald Trump.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 202 years later!

US President Trump in 2025 took it upon himself to rename the Gulf of Mexico “the Gulf of America,” but only Republicans are calling it that.

In 2025, the US President has cozied up with the President/Dictator of El Salvador to the point that we’re helping to finance the most notorious prison in the world. Trump is threatening to steal the Panama Canal from Panama even though the two-fold Torrijos-Carter Treaties in 1977 transferred the canal to Panama as of December 31, 1999. Trump repeatedly says President Jimmy Carter sold the canal for one dollar, but the Torrijos-Carter Treaties were not a financial transaction. The Panama Canal Treaty gave Panama control of the canal over a 20-year period. The Treaty of Permanent Neutrality guaranteed the Panama Canal will remain open to international shipping.

President Trump claims he can make Canada the 51^st state. Too bad for Puerto Rico. It’s been waiting to become the 51^st state for decades.

President Trump threatens to steal Greenland from Denmark “any way we have to.”

Come to think of it… Trump claims he can make Canada, Greenland, Denmark, and Europe jump at his command, but he said he has no power to make El Salvador return to the US a man his Homeland Security people mistakenly kidnapped and shipped to the CECOT Prison. Who knew El Salvador was more powerful than the US? Well, we know now.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised Guyana that we’ll protect it if Venezuela invades it.

Just wait until Trump learns the names of some other Central and South American countries. He’ll want to take them, too, or maybe bow the knee to them like he has El Salvador.

Geography is not Trump’s strong point. Has he figured out what or where the Republic of the Congo is yet?

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Incidentally, what has become of James Monroe’s house? OR… Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

In February, 2025, the owners of Oak Hill in Loudoun County, Virginia, offered to give the estate to the State of Virginia so the home and 1,200 acres could be turned into a State Park. It turns out that the State doesn’t want it!

The property owners were reportedly offered $55 million for the house and estate, but they were willing to take a fraction of that amount if the State of Virginia would make it a State Park.

The last I read about it the State hasn’t budged.

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Hurricane Helene Update

As of Friday, 58 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, three state highways, and 50 state roads. That’s an incredible improvement over the 105 roads that were still closed a week earlier. Good weather has surely helped.

Although technically “open” now, I-40 in Haywood County at the Tennessee line is still open for just one lane in both directions with a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit.

There are still no estimates of when all the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina will reopen. I encourage you to watch the 18-minute early April video at https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/helene-impacts-and-recovery.htm. Scroll down below “Common Questions” to get to the video. This is a wonderful recent update on the progress being made and the monumental task that lies ahead to get 157 more miles of the parkway open. Below the video is a map showing where the parkway is open and where it is still closed.

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Until my next blog post tomorrow

Keep reading good books.

Remember the people of Ukraine, Myanmar, and western North Carolina.

Janet