Philip J. Celeste
The time has come for a woman to sit in the Oval Office of the White House as president of the United States.
When Robert P. Kinsman, commander of the Disabled American Veterans of the Department of Massachusetts, appointed U.S. Army veteran Sheila Pelletier as chairperson of the Women’s Veterans Committee for the Department of Massachusetts, he wrote in his letter to all DAV members the following history of women’s service to our country from prior to the Revolutionary War to the present day:
“A bit of history … Women have been serving in the military since before our nation’s founding. During the Civil War, thousands of women served as nurses on both the Union and Confederate sides. Mary Edwards Walker received the Medal of Honor, and she remains the only woman to have earned the award. During World War I, nearly 25,000 women served overseas. In World War II, the Women’s Army Corps was established and more than 1,000 Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) were trained to fly American military aircraft. By the end of World War II, more than 400,000 women served in all branches of the military. In the Korean War, more than 25,000 Women Army Corps and 5,000 nurses served in the U.S. Army. Beginning in March 1962, the first women served in Vietnam, and by the end of the war, more than 9,000 served as nurses in various medical assignments in the country. During Vietnam, eight women were killed in action. In 1976 women were admitted to all service academies. In 1990, Operation Desert Shield mobilized over 40,000 American women to the Persian Gulf region, and women were authorized to fly combat missions and serve on ships in combat. In 2013, the ban on women in direct ground combat roles was lifted, and in January 2016, all military occupations and positions opened to women, without exception. Please join me in congratulating Sheila and supporting her in her new assignment!”
Because of the aforementioned history of women’s contribution to our world, society, and culture, the time has come for a woman to occupy the Oval Office in the White House, in the highest elected office in the United States of America.
I believe that woman to be Nikki Haley. She is the first female governor of South Carolina and has been elected for two terms. Haley served previously as a state representative for three years and as an ambassador to the United Nations for two years during the Trump administration, when she stood up bravely against the tyranny of unfriendly nations that threatened our own and our allies’ national and security and interests.
Haley is intelligent, extremely well educated, energetic, and young. She also served as treasurer and president of the National Women’s Business Association, which makes her well versed in economic affairs. She has a wealth of executive management experience as governor of a large state, as well as knowledge of foreign policy. Haley is a woman who is eminently qualified to be in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., and should be elected president of the United States. The time has come.
Philip J. Celeste is a Danvers resident.