Another Ostend-tatious Musical Interlude

Incredible as it may seem, 2009 may be remembered as the year when not one, but two songs concerning the Ostend Manifesto were written.

Although the document is not explicitly mentioned in "Why Franklin Pierce Sucked: The Song," by Eric Olson, the lyrics obviously refer to the notorious Ostend Manifesto, the scheme cooked up by Franklin Pierce's minions to take Cuba from Spain, by purchase or force.



For information on the other song, see my previous post "Franklin Pierce's Miserable Legacy Celebrated in Song."

Pierce on TV

Franklin Pierce will be the subject of a television program, or at least a segment of a television program, and this time he will not appear as the question to a Jeopardy answer.

From the Campus News section of the Bowdoin College web site:

Prof. Patrick Rael, Scott Ogden '10 to Discuss Franklin Pierce on WCSH Saturday, Oct 17

Story posted October 09, 2009

Franklin Pierce, fourteenth President of the United States (1853-1857) and a member of the Class of 1824, is to be the focus of a segment on the WCSH program Bill Green's Maine Saturday, October 17, 2009.

Host Bill Green interviewed Associate Professor of History Patrick Rael and Scott Ogden '10, who is working on an honors project about Pierce's life.

The crew also photographed some of the Pierce-related materials held in the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives.

Bill Green's Maine airs Saturday at 7 p.m. on WCSH (Channel 6).