As the newest QP columnist, I’m still getting used to the production schedule, which requires everyone to turn in their insightful ideas six weeks in advance of the magazine hitting your mailbox. This means I have to think ahead so you don’t end up reading something tied to Memorial Day after you’ve already watched Fourth of July fireworks.

However, for this issue managing editor Karen Hall has given me a one-time pass to cross the space-time continuum. So, as I type these words, I want you to know it is 6:30 a.m. CDT on Saturday, May 26th. That’s important, because today is a celebration that will only happen once. Today is John Wayne’s 100th birthday.

The Duke

There have been better actors in better roles who received better acclaim in the past century. Yet, John Wayne stands tallest—all 6'4½" of him—as a larger-than-life icon. Playing the lead role in a record 142 films, mostly Westerns and war movies, he represented American idealism. In fact, Nikita Khrushchev told him that Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong had once ordered his assassination to deal a morale blow to America.

As a right-wing conservative, John Wayne wasn’t above controversial statements, especially in the midst of Hollywood’s blacklisting period. “I think those blacklisted people should have been sent over to Russia,” he said. “They’d have been taken care of over there, and if the Commies ever won over here, why hell, those guys would be the first ones they’d take care of—after me.” Or during Vietnam: “I’ve known Jane Fonda since she was a little girl. I’ve never agreed with a word she’s said, but would give my life defending her right to say it.” Somehow, in film and life, John Wayne always managed to find a way to come out of fights with his chin held high.

For me, the lasting image of John Wayne will always be as Davy Crockett in “The Alamo,” which he also produced and directed. Incidentally, it came out the year I was born in Fort Worth. “This picture is America,” he said. “I hope that seeing the battle of the Alamo will remind Americans that liberty and freedom don’t come cheap. I guess making it has made me feel useful to my country.”

I often joke that Texans ask people from other states, “What year in school did you study Texas history?” If you’ve spent time in the Lone Star State you know we’re proud of our heritage, especially William Travis, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and all the heroes who defended the Alamo for 13 days beginning February 23, 1836.

“One hundred eighty-five men killed a thousand of Santa Anna’s men before they died,” said John Wayne. “But they knew they spent their lives for the precious time Sam Houston needed.”

What General Houston needed was a few more weeks to gather troops. On April 19th, still outnumbered two to one, Houston wrote: “This morning we are in preparation to meet Santa Anna. It is the only chance for saving Texas. We are nerved for the contest, and must conquer or perish.”