Reuben James - Influence

Influence

Three warships of the Navy have been named Reuben James in his honor:

  • Reuben James (DD-245), a four-stack Clemson-class destroyer
  • Reuben James (DE-153), a Buckley-class destroyer escort
  • Reuben James (FFG-57), an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate

There are two songs with the title Reuben James:

  • The Sinking of the Reuben James is a folk song written by Woody Guthrie about the ship Reuben James (DD-245) and her sinking while on convoy duty shortly before the U.S. entered World War II. It became a hit by the Kingston Trio.
  • The second song has no connection with the mariner; it is instead a reminiscence by a young man of an African-American sharecropper named Reuben James that the singer knew as a boy. It was a hit for Kenny Rogers and the First Edition in 1969, written by Barry Etris, and is devoted to his father (see the details at The Art & Music of Barry Etris). It was also recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis in 1970.

James Island of Washington state was named for James.

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Famous quotes containing the word influence:

    “Just what is the civil law? What neither influence can affect, nor power break, nor money corrupt: were it to be suppressed or even merely ignored or inadequately observed, no one would feel safe about anything, whether his own possessions, the inheritance he expects from his father, or the bequests he makes to his children.”
    —Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)

    “The higher the state of civilization, the more completely do the actions of one member of the social body influence all the rest, and the less possible is it for any one man to do a wrong thing without interfering, more or less, with the freedom of all his fellow-citizens.”
    —Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)

    “I have thought a sufficient measure of civilization is the influence of good women.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)