Nile Kinnick - An excellet film clip

[Herkmeister]

The following clip comes from a DVD set called the Rites of Autumn. The Rites of Autumn are narrated by Burt Reynolds and they are outstanding if you enjoy the history of college football. Thought some of you might truly enjoy this clip.

Just a reminder of why our stadium is the only one named for a Heisman winner and why it is so special.

 

[LuciousBDragon]

Just throwing this out there.

What if we re-named our facility to recognize Nile Kinnick as well as some modern era Hawkeyes?

I suggest "Nile Kinnick Ironmen Field at Demond "Bob" Sander's International House of Murder."

 

[Herkmeister]

Here are three more Rites of Autumn clips that are really good. The Barry Krauss one is kind of funny and pretty touching.

Red Grange


Doug Flutie


Barry Krauss cries to Bear Bryant then helps win National Championship

 

[Herkmeister]

Just throwing this out there.

What if we re-named our facility to recognize Nile Kinnick as well as some modern era Hawkeyes?

I suggest "Nile Kinnick Ironmen Field at Demond "Bob" Sander's International House of Murder."

Go back to bed. You need more sleep.

 

[BubsFinn]

Just throwing this out there.

What if we re-named our facility to recognize Nile Kinnick as well as some modern era Hawkeyes?

I suggest "Nile Kinnick Ironmen Field at Demond "Bob" Sander's International House of Murder."

No. Hell no. Are you out of your mind, no.

 

[HawkIDrummer]

I have a book which includes Kinnick's letters home. This was not your typical 20-something young man. Articulate, intelligent, with an incredibly broad and mature perspective on life.

One can't help wonder what could have been...

 

[Herkmeister]

I have a book which includes Kinnick's letters home. This was not your typical 20-something young man. Articulate, intelligent, with an incredibly broad and mature perspective on life.

One can't help wonder what could have been...

I have a copy of this book as well. The older I get the more appreciation I have for him. As a life long Iowan it makes me very proud. And having our stadium named for him is frosting on the cake.

 

[JRingo]

In a parallel universe, Nile Kinnick may have run for President in 1960 and defeated John Kennedy.

 

[dekhawk]

In a parallel universe, Nile Kinnick may have run for President in 1960 and defeated John Kennedy.

How do you know he would have run as a Republican ?

 

[hawkeyeinmo]

How do you know he would have run as a Republican ?

In a 1940 campaign rally he gave a speech introducing republican Wendell Willkie. I believe his grandfather held an office as a republican. It was pretty widely known he was a republican.

 

[Herkmeister]

In a 1940 campaign rally he gave a speech introducing republican Wendell Willkie. I believe his grandfather held an office as a republican. It was pretty widely known he was a republican.

I agree with you. And until I watched some of these clips it had not dawned on me that Nile would have gone head to head with JFK. It's an interesting bit of history to ponder.

I also wonder how many young people who enter politics have the same social sensitivity as Kinnick, yet become jaded by the political process. I would like to think Nile's character would have never been altered.

 

[dekhawk]

In a 1940 campaign rally he gave a speech introducing republican Wendell Willkie. I believe his grandfather held an office as a republican. It was pretty widely known he was a republican.

He does not sound like an R in some of his letters. He stated he was interested in helping his fellow man rather than the pursuit of money.

 

[Herkmeister]

He does not sound like an R in some of his letters. He stated he was interested in helping his fellow man rather than the pursuit of money.

I must confess, until watching these videos I did not know if his grandfather was D or R. And like you, I thought him to be a D. But to that point, I grew up an R and my views of racism and helping others are the same as Kinnick's. And we all know there are D's who are motivated by money. HRC to be one.

My point is that parties are the root of American evil. If we just looked at issues alone and sought the "right thing to do", the vast majority of people would view individual issues the same. And each of us would at times be in the minority on some issues. But we would not be stuck in a situation that forces us to adjust our morals and views to match a stupid ass party.

Thus, I am now an independent. (Who hates the R's but not quite as much as he hates the D's.)

 

[hawkeyeinmo]

In a 1940 campaign rally he gave a speech introducing republican Wendell Willkie.

He does not sound like an R in some of his letters. He stated he was interested in helping his fellow man rather than the pursuit of money.

Yes he did state that but I have no idea how that statement would make him a D. Read the article "President Nile Kinnick? The great 1960 White House race that never was." sorry don't know how to attach. There is little doubt was raised in a conservative Christian family that was republican. Nile was quoted as saying when challenged about supporting Willkie "I am young republican and expect him to do this country some good". His hero was Winston Churchill. I would hate for a discussion on this great Iowan to turn into a "political debate" but there is little question he was a republican. For the record I am a registered Independent who has voted both parties in the past.

 

[mick82]

In a 1940 campaign rally he gave a speech introducing republican Wendell Willkie. I believe his grandfather held an office as a republican. It was pretty widely known he was a republican.

He does not sound like an R in some of his letters. He stated he was interested in helping his fellow man rather than the pursuit of money.

Remember Lincoln was a Republican

 

[dekhawk]

Remember Lincoln was a Republican

He wouldn’t be one today.

 

[LuciousBDragon]

And Kennedy would resemble more of a Rhino today.

Key thing for all (especially the youngsters here to remember is this):

Both D's and R's love money. To do their job you have to love money. No argument here.

Difference is this:
D's (more-so the popular liberal view) love money and want your money because they think Government knows how to spend your money the best.

R's (more-so the popular conservative view) also love money but think government should have less and that the individual knows how to spend their own money best (and be free to go out and earn more money for yourself).

Don't get me wrong, there are some good politicians on both sides who know how to balance helping the public good and balancing a budget. All the noise in the media takes away from that of course.

As for Kinnick - remember he grew up witnessing the depression and Iowa was on the outskirts of the dust bowl. I can guarantee you most Iowan's at that time were in favor of any kind of assistance they could get. This probably set his political compass left-of-center initially as a teenager/young-adult.

He wrote often to his mother. Like her, he was raised a Christian Scientist which at that time was a "religion" only 20-30 years old. There are fundamental differences between Christian Scientists and today's modern day evangelical Christians. It would not be fair to equate the two.

We know he opposed the war in Europe initially (as did many Americans because there was still a sense of isolationism and neutrality in dealings with Europe coming out of WW1. The forthcoming League of Nations was viewed as a joke. The R's in Congress at the time blocked it while the liberal view was that it was necessary. A young person likely would of viewed the first war in Europe as none of our business/not our fight (go back to mid 2000's when everyone was angry with our involvement in Iraq). A lot of German ancestry was and still is in Iowa and I'm sure that played a factor in people's views too.

You could make the argument that an intelligent young-person from the midwest at this time could have been dead-center on the political spectrum. Conservative-isolationist in their world views but potentially liberal in their views of government aid at home. Depending on whether you thought foreign affairs were the more pressing issue at the time or recovering from the depression was, you could estimate he was slightly right-of-center on the political spectrum since we know his letters and Heisman speech definitely alluded to his world views.

Ultimately, it was the pure evil that the world eventually saw coming out of Germany that swiftly drove most people in the US to agree that war was necessary. It has been noted in Kinnick's letters that he had the same view, the evil was too great and the right thing to do was fight and he acknowledged that to his mother and enlisted rather than go into the private-sector or a life in politics (which would have been an easy move for him).

 

[Hock-I]

The following clip comes from a DVD set called the Rites of Autumn. The Rites of Autumn are narrated by Burt Reynolds and they are outstanding if you enjoy the history of college football. Thought some of you might truly enjoy this clip.

Just a reminder of why our stadium is the only one named for a Heisman winner and why it is so special.

View embedded media

Speechless - what a great man, Iowan and American.

 

[HwkOnHwkLuv]

Why did his parents have to move to Nebraska? Can’t we have anything related to our illustrious football history all to ourselves? I digress.

 

[hawkeyeinmo]

Why did his parents have to move to Nebraska? Can’t we have anything related to our illustrious football history all to ourselves? I digress.

Nebraska paid huge $ for him to move there so he could raise the mean IQ of the entire state.

 

[HwkOnHwkLuv]

Nebraska paid huge $ for him to move there so he could raise the mean IQ of the entire state.

Was that in the documentary? Lol.