Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation
An unknown Rotarian led the pledge of allegiance today.
The Reverend Doctor Paul Watermulder inspired us today with the beauty of truth and that love wins the day, and....
Past President Marilyn Orr took over today for President Mike Horwitz who is currently somewhere on the East Coast!
Visiting Rotarians and Guests of the Club
No visiting Rotarians were visiting today. Guests of the club included our Speaker, Dr. David Chai who was introduced by Karen Malekos-Smith, and Nancy Bush was delighted to introduce Andrea Lynn, United American Bank. Announcements
Bill Tiedeman made a plea for members to turn in their Raffle Tickets money. As Charlie Rosebrook was out of town Marilyn took over his job to remind us that the Golf Tournament BBQ/Dinner at the Peninsula Golf and Country Club on October 2nd is a mandatory event. So show up! You'll have a super time and the food and the surroundings are lavish. The cost is $85 and you can sign up and pay for the event on the Burlingame Rotary website www.BurlingameRotary.org.The talented Mr. Cary Koh is looking for golfers and sponsors for the event and asked everyone to contact him or someone on the Golf Committee if they have the above.
Members of the Golf Committee include : Mike Horwitz, Cary Koh, John Delaney, Marilyn Orr, Charlie Rosebrook, Stan Moore, Cheri Delacy-Carr, Bob Doerr, Cathy Jones, Karen Malekos-Smith and Jim Shypertt....thanks for all you do.
Program
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Rotarian Karen Malekos-Smith introduced David Chai, PhD our speaker for the day. Dr. Chai's bio is pretty amazing and he is rarely still. He is a co-founder of ChineseAmericanHeroes,org. In 2008 Dr. Chai's son, who lives in Burlingame, called him to tell him that Burlingame was celebrating the 100 years anniversary of Burlingame and he might want to do some research on the city's founder, Anson Burlingame and his connection with China. What Dr. Chai discovered amazed him and inspired him to bring Anson Burlingame's story to the world. Anson Burlingame was a Renaissance Man who deeply believed that all men and all nations were created equal. This was an unusual belief in the mid 1800s. Following an incident in 1856 when Senator Charles Sumner of MA denounced President Franklin Pierce and Senator Preston Brooks of South Carolina for sympathizing with pro-slavery violence, Sumner was beaten badly by one of Senator Brooks' relative who was a Congressman and Brooks received no official censure from the House of Representatives. Anson Burlingame delivered a speech on the House denouncing Brooks' assault on Sumner and called him 'the vilest sort of coward.' Brooks challenged Burlingame to a duel not realizing that Senator Burlingame was a well-known marksman. Brooks neglected to show up, and Burlingame's defense of a fellow Bostonian greatly raised his stature throughout the North.
After losing his bid for re-election, President Lincoln appointed Burlingame as Minister to the Austrian Empire, but Burlingame was not welcomed by the Austrians as he had taken the side of Hungary in its bid for independence from Austrian. On June 14, 1861 Lincoln instead appointed Burlingame as minister to the Qing Empire, in China. Burlingame wanted to learn all he could about China and chose to travel overland to Peiking taking the time to read about China. It took him 10 months to get to his destination and in August of 1862 presented his credentials to the Chinese Emperor's son. Burlingame believed in a co-operative policy rather than a concession doctrine regarding China.He was remarkable in that he accepted the testimony of local Chinese that led to the conviction and execution of a white man named Davd Williams. He encourgage students to come to the US to study and he promoted technology. His mission included Chinese as well as European members and 1868 the mission concluded at Washington, D.C. a series of articles, supplementary to the Reed Treaty of 1858, and later known as the Burlingame Treaty which said that Chinese subjects in the United States should enjoy the same rights as citizens of the most favored nation. Burlingame worked successfully to include a clause permitting Chinese to become citizens, which was barred by American law. This treaty was the first equal treaty between China and a western power after the Chinese Opium Wars. He presented his mission to President Andrew Johnson, Napoleon III of France, Kaiser William of Prussia, and Queen Victoria in England.
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On his death in April 1870 he was eulogized by none other than Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain. Mr. Clemens said of Mr. Burlingame 'he was a good manand a great man' and he was actually the one and only dual ambassador ever as he served as US envoy to China and Chinese envoy to the US in the 1860's. Anson Burlingame actually died in St. Petersburg, Russia after contracting pneumonia. His body was returned to the US and buried outside Boston in Cambridge, Massachutsetts.Dr. Chai's mission is to educate more people and students about this remarkable man and aims to create an 'Anson Burlingame' Award. He is also making a movie about him and is working with Senator Jackie Speier to obtain a congressional resolution to recognize Anson Burlingame on the 150th anniversay of the 'Burlingame Treaty' in 2018. Thank you Dr. Chai for bringing our City's namesake to life and to allowing us to appreciate his outstanding contribution to China, the US and the world.