Every four years the nation turns its eyes to Ohio as warring political camps deluge the Buckeye State with advertising and trample it with campaign workers. Political commentators cite Ohio polling numbers daily. And the candidates continually refine their messaging in an effort to win the electoral votes of the only state to consistently pick the winner since 1964.
But New York author David Rohr thinks that it’s time people saw the state in a far bigger light. With his new book, The United States Of Ohio, Rohr discusses the larger impact that Ohio and its people have had on virtually every aspect of American life. Available from Ohio State University Press and all the well-known booksellers, this book’s 21 chapters detail important people, events, and cultural milestones from the state’s past. “It is not only state history, but American history,” according to Rohr. He adds, “There are plenty of states that reflect the American spirit we all know. But Ohio is one of few which could be called a generator and amplifier of that spirit.”
Ohio was the 17th state admitted to the union. And it quickly became the essential link between east and west and, more importantly, between the America of the colonists and the country we know today. Ohio’s Civil War role was critical. It was a the very narrow neck of the north, as the only Union State between slave holding Kentucky and the Canadian Border. After the war, Ohio was the center of U.S. innovation and industrial advancement.
Between the end of the war in 1865 and the 1920s Ohioans gave the nation electric lighting, motion pictures, recorded sound and music, paved roadways, modern oil refining, cash registers, and countless other innovations that the world still relies on today in more modern forms. Rohr says, “People look at Ohio and they see a relatively small state geographically. And when election time rolls around they become mystified—almost miffed—that it gets so much attention from presidential candidates and the political media. But Ohio has a significant population, ranking 7th out of 50 states. And its people are ‘reliably unreliable’ in how they vote for President. Ohio voted for Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016. Ohio’s electoral votes have gone to the winning presidential candidate for the last 14 elections and it has only selected the losing candidate twice since 1900.
The author says that “Ohio led the way to America becoming the country that it is, commercially and culturally.” The state was a particularly potent force in the early 20th century. It had significant industrial and educational resources and a populace that was given to exploration and innovation. So it is no surprise that one of humanity’s greatest achievement—airplane flight—was the work of Ohioans Orville and Wilbur Wright. In the chapter entitled “Where Sports First Met Money,” Rohr points to the fact that professional team sports were invented in the state through the first professional baseball team (Cincinnati’s Red Stockings) and the founding of the National Football League in Canton. Of course, no one can overlook the state’s innovations in other areas, including rock and roll music.
Rohr, who lives, works and teaches in Poughkeepsie, New York, grew up in Toledo, Ohio. He spent much of his early career working in various parts of that state including Columbus, Akron and Cleveland. His unique perspective comes from being Buckeye State native who spent such a long portion of his adult life outside the state. With a background in journalism and advertising, Rohr has created a work loaded with intriguing content that is presented in an engaging, easy-to-read style. More information is available at www.unitedstatesofohio.com or www.ohiostatepress.org.
