Moe
Berg
The "Brainiest Guy in
Baseball"
Part
II
And
Now....The Rest of the Moe Berg Story
!
In Part I of our story we discussed Moe
Berg's high intelligence, education, and his desire to play professional
baseball.
Today, we'll continue the story of this
unique individual...and how vital he was to the war effort in World War
II.
In 1934 he
joined other baseball greats Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Earl Averill, Charlie Gehringer, Jimmy Foxx,
and Lefty Gomez to tour Japan playing exhibitions
against a Japanese All-Star team.
How and why does a mediocre
injury-plagued catcher join such an illustrious group to represent the United
States?
It was to become the real meaning of
the Moe Berg story !
You see, Moe Berg, was on a mission.
He took a 16--mm Bell and Howell camera with him that
was given to him by MovietoneNews, a newsreel
company, to film the sights of Japan.
When the Americans arrived in Japan, it
was Moe Berg who addressed the Japanese legislature in a welcome thank you
speech.....in Japanese !
Remember, Moe
spoke 15 languages !
On November 29, 1934, while the rest of
the team was playing an exhibition game, Berg traveled to Tsukiji to supposedly
visit the daughter of the American Ambassador, Joseph Grew, who was in the
hospital.
It was a
ruse....
Berg never saw or intended to see the
daughter; instead he went to the roof of the hospital, one of the tallest
buildings in Toyko with his 16--mm Bell and Howell camera and filmed the city
and harbor...for MovietoneNews....a film that was
eventually used by the US Government !
During the trip, the Cleveland Indians
gave him his unconditional release....but he continued....with his camera... to
the Philippines, Korea, and Moscow !
When he returned to the United States,
he was picked up by the Boston Red Sox for the final five years of his baseball
career.
Berg retired from baseball in 1939 and would go on to appear on "Information Please", a radio quiz show, on which he excelled and baffled people with his knowledge.
On one of his appearances, baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis would say to Moe...
" Berg, in just thirty minutes you did
more for baseball than I've done the entire time I've been
commissioner".
And for you baseball historians....it was Judge Landis, as
commissioner of baseball, who banned the Chicago White Sox players for life
following the 1919 "Black Sox Scandal".
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Prominent sportswriter John Kieran would also say that...
"Moe was the most scholarly professional
athlete I ever knew".
Moe went back to baseball from 1939 to 1941 as a coach for the Boston Red Sox....and then IT happened in the off season....
December 7,
1941---the Japanese Bombed Pearl Harbor
...and the incredible Moe Berg would be
there for his country.
How?
Spying for the U.S.
Government
To do his part for the war
effort, Berg went to work for Nelson Rockefeller in the Office of Coordinator of
Inter-American Affairs on January 5, 1942.
During the summer of '42,
Berg took the Japanese film he shot in 1934 to US Military intelligence. It was
invaluable...and was said to have...
...greatly assisted Colonel Jimmy Doolittle in his famous Doolittle
Raid over Japan early in the war !
Jimmy Doolittle
Working on assignment in the Caribbean and South America, he was assigned to monitor health and physical fitness for troops stationed in that region from August, 1942 until February, 1943, leaving shortly thereafter because he believed "he could be put to better use".
In August,
1943, he accepted a position with the "Office of Strategic Services" and in
September of that year, was assigned to the 'Secret Intelligence Branch" of the
OSS, stationed in the Balkans.
There he
parachuted into occupied Yugoslavia to study and evaluate various NAZI
resistance groups, having personal contact with Marshall Tito ! He was age 41 at that time !
Later that same year, we was assigned to another OSS operation, "Project Larson", where the objective was to kidnap Italian rocket and missile specialists and bring them to the United States.
He would
continue working with the Office of Strategic Services until mid-December, 1944
interviewing physicists and making attempts to convince them to leave
Europe.
In short...he was a War Hero
!
Moe Berg,
baseball player and American Spy, returned to the United States on April 25,
1945, resigning from the Strategic Services Unit, the successor to the OSS in
August, 1945, following the Japanese defeat.
He was awarded...AND REFUSED TO
ACCEPT....the Medal of Freedom on October 10,
1945.
Baseball came
calling again in 1946 from his old White Sox teammate, Ted
Lyons, then the manager of the White Sox, offering Moe a job as a
coach.
Red Sox owner,
Tom Yawkey, also offered him a coaching
position.
Moe declined both offers.
In his mind,
he was a SPY !
In 1951 Berg
approached the CIA to send him to Israel.
In Moe's
notebook, he wrote...
"A Jew must do this"
The CIA refused his request.
Yet, despite
that refusal, in 1952 he was hired by the CIA to use his old World War II
contacts to gather information about the Soviet atomic program. This time the
CIA was unable to obtain any useful information and in 1954, Moe Berg's contract
with the CIA was not renewed.
For the next 20
years he had no real job, living off the kindness of relatives. A lifelong
bachelor, he would live with his brother, Samuel, until his moodiness caused
him to be evicted; living with his sister, Ethel, for the remainder of his
life.
He never
taught, nor did he ever practice law.
As an
epilogue...
Moe Berg's baseball card is the only baseball card on display at the national headquarters of the CIA.
In 1996 he was named to the "National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame".
Despite only receiving a few votes to Baseball's Hall of Fame, Moe's love the game never waned.
He never
"officially" made it to the Hall on a
plaque....
but...
A part of Moe did !
His sister,
Ethel, finally accepted his "Medal of Freedom" on his
behalf....
...and that medal made the Hall....and is proudly displayed in
Coopertown as a tribute to a War Hero who loved the National
Pastime.
Moe Berg's Medal of Freedom in
Cooperstown
Moe Berg died
on May 29, 1972, at the age of 70 following a fall in his sister's
home.
His final words....."How did the Mets do today?"
They won that day, Moe, and we are a better country because of
you and everything you did to make it a better place for all Americans.
You proved to the world, you really were....
"The Brainest Man in Baseball"
And my final comment....
Where are you Hollywood ?
You need to tell his story on the wide
screen !
Dick
Arendt
Moe
Berg
The "Brainiest Guy in
Baseball"
Part
I
The Brainiest Guy in
Baseball?
Remember the great Casey Stengel?
Casey would refer to this man as "the strangest man ever to
play baseball", and when you consider how "strange" Casey was as
the manager of the Yankees and Mets in the 50s and
60s....
...when the "King of Strange" calls
someone else strange....that can
only mean one thing...
...this guy was
really strange !
But....this "strange" guy would
eventually have his name etched in history...in Cooperstown, New
York....in...
The Baseball Hall
of Fame !
...not on a baseball plaque....but for what he did off the field.
You see, Moe
Berg combined a baseball career with serving his country
!
Morris "Moe" Berg was born March 2,
1902 and he loved baseball...so much that he was determined to make it a
career.
But...Moe had two things going against
him in the 1920s:
He wasn't very good at certain
aspects of the game, and he was Jewish.
But...
He was....smart
!
He started school at the age of 3.
His father, Bernard, was a pharmacist,
and moved the family from Harlem to the Roseville section of Newark in 1910 for
three reasons: good schools, middle class residents, and....very few Jews
!
Bernard believed that his family would
better adapt and be accepted in American society if they worked and associated
with those not of his faith.
As a result, his son Morris (Moe) would
grow up in a non-Jewish environment and in addition to his being "smart", he
began playing baseball for the Roseville Methodist Episcopal Church
team....under a different name....Runt
Wolfe.
In 1918 Moe graduated from Barringer
High School at the age of 16 and was selected by the
"Newark Star-Eagle" newspaper as part of a nine man "dream team" for being he
best third baseman in the city's public school
system.
Barringer High School was the first in
a series of institutions Moe joined where his religion made him "different" from
others.
He loved baseball....but remember...he
was "smart".
After spending two semesters at New
York University, he transferred to Princeton and graduated magna cum laude in
modern languages... studying seven languages ..Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Sanskirt...
...at the same time being a star third
baseman for the Princeton team for three years.
During further studies at the Sorbonne
in Paris, he also learned the Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indian, Arabic, Portuguese and Hungarian
languages.
.....in all....15 languages...plus
regional dialects !
So...what does Moe Berg do after
graduating magna cum laude from a prestigious
university?
He tells his father...he wants to be a
professional baseball player !
From 1923 to 1925 Moe would go back and
forth with various professional baseball teams because he had developed a
reputation for good defense with poor hitting....not good if you want to make it
a career.
But...he wouldn't give up and finally
got to the "bigs" with the Chicago White Sox in
1926.
Moe, however, wasn't like other
baseball players.
Remember....he was "smart"....and he
"informed" the White Sox that he would miss spring training and the first two
months of the season....because he wanted to finish his first year of LAW SCHOOL at Columbia
University.
Amazingly, Charles Comiskey, the owner
of the White Sox, allowed him to do it....coming back to the White Sox at the
end of May.....only to hit .221 after playing in 41
games.
Charles
Comiskey
Owner of the Chicago White
Sox
Moe returned to Columbia after the 1926
season to continue working on his law degree...taking extra classes at
Columbia and in 1927, he did it
again....he told the White Sox owner that he would be reporting late for the
start of the season !
This time Comiskey was not at all
pleased...and Moe would ride the bench for the first three months of the 1927
baseball season...until fate would have it that injuries to two other team
catchers would leave the team without one....until Moe said "I'll do
it".
In his first major league game behind
the plate, he would not only have to worry about catching the team's star
pitcher, Ted Lyons, knuckleball, but face what history would later refer to as
the Yankee's "Murderer's Row" that included Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth
!
And Moe came through....The White Sox
beat the Yankees that day 6-3 with Moe making a sensational play at home plate
tagging out the sliding Joe Dugan.
Result....Moe was now a catcher...a
catcher going to law school...who spoke 15 languages
!
.jpeg)
This time Moe decided that without a
baseball paycheck, his legal education might not have materialized, and as a
result, he went to a lumberjack camp to "toughen up"
for the 1928 season...becoming the first string catcher for
the team.
Back at law school, the time spent
"beefing up" for baseball took a toll....he failed a course in "Evidence" and as
a result, was not allowed to graduate as part of the Columbia Class of
'29.
Did that stop Moe Berg ?
Not at all....he
ended up passing the New York bar exam...in 1929....and THEN....went back to Columbia in
1930 to repeat the "Evidence" course, to be member of the Class of 1930
!
Yes..he was SMART
!
As the 1930 baseball season began,
during an exhibition game, he tore a knee ligament and the year ended with the
White Sox placing him on waivers.
He was then picked up by the Cleveland
Indians. The injuries sustained would be too much and in 1932 the Indians gave
Moe his unconditional release.
Still...Moe could not admit his career
was over and the Washington Senators invited him to spring training in
1932....and he made the team...after the first string catcher's
injury.
It was actually during the year 1932
that Moe Berg would begin his road to Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of
Fame.
He, along with a number of fellow
players, made a trip to Japan to conduct baseball seminars....the Japanese loved
baseball then...as much as they do today.
Berg loved Japan, and after the
completion of the seminars, went back to play the season with the Washington
Senators, only to once again, be unconditionally released in July,
1933.
The Cleveland Indians came calling
again...as a result of an injury to their catcher, and Moe played for the
Indians through 1934.
But it was 1934 when
the REAL STORY OF MOE BERG began to take shape !
And...that's in Part II of our
Story...
of
Moe
Berg
"The Brainest Guy
in Baseball"
"Part II"
Stay tuned
!
Commercial Air Travel in the 1940s
.jpeg)
In todays world airline tickets are
purchased online on what I call an "al a carte" basis.
Other than having to be at an airport
two hours prior to a flight, having to go through security before you board the
plane, everything seems to be an "extra" nowadays.
You pay extra for a larger seat and if you want a window, middle,
or aisle location (it used to be just "first class" or "coach"); you might pay
extra if you want to board before others; you
might pay extra for each bag you check; you might pay
extra for head phones; and of course, you also pay
extra for food...and even a COKE
!
But....it wasn't always that way and I
managed to do a bit of homework as to what it was like to take a commercial
airliner in the 1940s...on an overseas flight !
Of course, there was no such thing as a
"jetliner" or "777"; nope you had to fly on a propeller craft ("prop") and one
of the most popular was the Boeing Model
314.
Boeing 314...nicknamed
"The Clipper"
This "state of the art"
airplane was built by The Boeing Company from 1938 to 1941 and Pan American
World Airways made history by commissioning Boeing to build 12 of these "luxury"
liners.
...and what a craft it was
!
For you pilots out there, it
included a
sophisticated instrument panel in the plane's
cockpit...
And...navigating a plane
across an ocean was a bit different as well....
It was perfect to cross that
Atlantic and Pacific oceans, because it was capable of flying 3,500 miles without refueling...
...carrying 4,296 gallons of gasoline...
...and...
carried an amazing 74 passengers !
But...once you got across
that ocean, "The Clipper" landed not on a runway, but on water
!
Cruising at an amazing speed of 188 m.p.h., it only took 19 hours to get from San Francisco to Honolulu...
...with a "modest" cost
of $760 one way, and a "bargain" price of only
$1,368 if you flew round trip
!
...but they did allow up to
77 pounds of baggage FREE OF CHARGE !
Though it can't be compared
to today's aircrafts, it somehow seemed to offer a "romantic experience" for
what Robin Leach refers to as "The Rich and Famous".
This "beauty" could also
convert the seats into 36 bunks for overnight
flights.
But the crew needed to take a nap as well for the long flights, so Boeing treated them "well" too !
To travel 19 hours, even the
best of us had to make a "pit stop" (look closely at the photo...a urinal was
in the lavatory).
The ladies...they also had a
special lounge...of course... they needed a place to "do their
hair"...
While the passengers in
general needed a place to sit, relax, discuss the world, or read a
newspaper...
But most importantly, you
couldn't possibly travel that long a distance over 19 hours without a
meal.
A meal in your seat?
Nonsense ! It had to be eaten properly....amongst others
!
The Boeing Model 314
"Clipper" made its last Pan Am flight in 1946 and logged in excess of 1,000,000
miles over its history.
Three of the original 12
were lost to accidents and only one Model 314
had fatalities.
On February 22, 1943, a
flight landing in Lisbon, Portugal, severely injured actress Jane Froman who was
a passenger...while 24 passengers and crew lost their
lives.
Air travel certainly has
changed over time to what has now evolved into what most people consider
"chaos"...
... but when "The Clipper" flew its "friendly skies" in the 40s, it was
100% elegance !
Dick
Arendt
_____________________________Losing 2 Greats
in
2
Weeks
who made
history
in the fall
of
1984
If you love the National Pastime, and by some chance you are either a baseball "purist" or from the Chicago or San Diego area....these last two weeks have been the toughest...and saddest...in years.
I'm a Chicagoan...proud to have had my
younger roots in the Midwest, and the thoughts of my afternoons at Wrigley Field
are forever etched in my memory. It was my playground from the age of 6 until
the day I left in 2005 at the age of 58.
October 2, 1984....it had finally
happened.
Since 1945 the Chicago Cubs had
waited... and... waited...and waited.
..and the time had finally come
!
The
Cubs...
...would win the National League
Eastern Division Title with a record of 96-65 beating their dreaded rivals from
New York...the Mets....by 6.5
games.
and
The National League Divisional Series
would begin against the young upstarts from
California....
The San Diego
Padres...
...who were winners of the
National League Western Division with a record of 92-70
(the only team in that division
who would win more games than they had lost).
This was taking candy from a baby as
far as Cub fans were concerned....and...they showed it...for
a while !
In those days there were only 2
divisions, and the winner of the best of a 5 game series would go on the The
World Series.
The Cubs won the first 2 games ( 13-0
and 4-2)...and they were off to San Diego to finish off the Padres. After all,
they merely had to win only 1 of the final 3 games...and they were in
!
And so....the
history of the Cubs as the "loveable losers" would continue, losing all three games.
The Cub fans would however, get their
revenge when the Padres would lose to the mighty Detroit Tigers in the World
Series.
But...other than the ultimate
depression that every Cub fan in the world had in '84, we had two key men in
that series, two ICONS of baseball, each on opposite
sides of the diamond, who passed way in the last 2 weeks that should never be
forgotten in the annals of that great game.
Our Cub third base coach that year,
"Popeye" as he was called, was a feisty little pudgy
guy who would spend 66 years of his life in professional
baseball as a player,
coach, and eventually become the Cubs manager a few years later, in addition to
his distinguished career with a number of other teams, specifically, the New
York Yankees.
Don Zimmer
One of "Zim's" most memorable moments was during the 2010 Divisional series between the Yankees and Red Sox....when, at the age of 72, he decided to charge the mound and take on Pedro Martinez, a man in his 20s, and eventually get tossed to the ground by Pedro....
...only to show up the next day,
looking like this !
My fondest memory of Don Zimmer
?
...when he was the Cubs manager in
1989, the year the Cubs would once again win a division title....and lose again...this time to the San Francisco Giants in
the divisional playoffs.
As a Cub season ticket holder,
that year was just plain fun...until the
end....
...so much fun, that in the spirit
of that "fun", I was paging through a magazine one
day and saw a picture of a bulldog...
...it reminded me of "Zim", and I asked my wife (who is a talented artist), if she could somehow, put him in a Cub uniform.
...it reminded me of "Zim", and I asked my wife (who is a talented artist), if she could somehow, put him in a Cub uniform.
She did...this was what she
drew...and if you look carefully....
I had the chance to present it to
"Zim", who, in laughter....
AUTOGRAPHED
IT !
What a guy...what an ICON...what a wonderful man. What a pleasure to have met
him, and what he represented to the sport....his dedication, the passion, and
yes, the fun.
Don Zimmer passed
away on June 4, 2014...
...at the age of 83; and on that day,
my memories of him were rekindled as to the joy he brought to so many people.
No one who ever knew him could ever
stop smiling at the thought of his name...after
all....
...he was "Zim"....loveable
"Zim" !
During that same year, a young kid who
had reached the major leagues in 1982, began to make waves in the baseball
world....and in 1984, he would begin a terror of national league pitchers that
would last year after year, until his retirement in
2001.
...and worst of
all....
...he was a San
Diego Padre !
Tony Gwynn
I dreaded this man coming to bat in that 1984 series with the Padres, and I was right to do so.
During 1984, he would have a batting
average of .351, and in that 5 game series with my Cubs would bat .316 with 12
hits.
Over his entire career, he would become
the 2nd greatest hitter in my lifetime, with a career
batting average of .338, seventeenth on the all-time
major league list, a mere .060 behind the immortal, Ted
Williams.
And in that amazing career, I may never
have liked him as a Cub fan, but the sheer terror he invoked whenever this great
man came to bat over his entire career, no matter what team he ever competed
against, allowed me to have the greatest respect ever possible for
him.
He was a first
ballot hall-of-famer in 2007, ALWAYS seemed to smile, NEVER used
performance enhancing drugs, and amazingly, had the most hits against another
first ballot hall-of-fame pitcher, who will be induced next month, a local Las
Vegan named Greg Maddux.
He would go on to win 8 batting titles,
was a National League All-Star for 15 years, and finish his distinguished career
with a total of 3,141 hits.
But on June 16,
2014...
...just 12 days after losing
"Zim"...
Tony Gwynn
Mr.
Padre
...would sadly lose a battle against cancer of the salivary gland at the young age of 54 years.
To both of these men....thank you for
being the greatest at what you did.....
...for allowing so many of us fans
across the United States to enjoy your feats over the
years.
And "Zim"....let's hope the "Hall" comes
a callin' soon. You were unique in every aspect of your baseball life, and that
hallowed building in Cooperstown would never be complete without your smile on
an engraved plaque bearing the name of "Donald William
Zimmer" !
And to the memories these men gave us
on the "Field of Dreams" we call a baseball
diamond...
You will be sorely missed
!
Dick
Arendt
Reflections of 1964
June is the month of graduations. You'll see kids in caps and gowns celebrating while their parents and grandparents stand tall with pride...a special day in the course one's life.
This morning, while watching TV, a
piece was run on the "Class of 2014"....their
joy...their optimism...their looking forward to the future just as all of us did
years ago, when we experienced that day.
...and I had both a smile and frown on
my face as I couldn't help but reflect on my own high school graduation, that
special day in June, when I became a member of....the "Class
of 1964".
A few months ago I received a letter from my high
school inviting me to my 50th high school
reunion....
...a notification that I instead interpreted as a
reminder of my "mortality"
!
The high school I attended closed its doors in
1969...
...but to this day, an annual banquet is held for
all alumni at the same location on the same day at which those celebrating their
25th and 50th reunions are specifically honored.
When I attended my 25th class reunion in 1989, I
can still remember seeing those celebrating their
50th....
They looked OLD
!
...and my guess is that few, if any
of those celebrating their 50th are still around to recall that day...because
they would be in their 90's now.
Could it really be 50 years? A quick glance in
the mirror left little doubt ....
I was
now...THEM....
...and so I grabbed the old '64 yearbook and took
a trip down memory lane...not just looking at the pictures, but remembering the
entire year...
....the life
changing year of...
1964
In June,
1964, the Graduating Class of St.
George High School in Evanston, Illinois "unofficially" entered adulthood; and
like all who preceded us, we too felt the optimism of a bright
future.
We all know that the body ages; but in my case,
the mind hasn't...thank goodness....I think...yet !
...and that's how God has allowed many of us to
treasure the past....
...with memories and visions of days in our lives
that are frozen in time.
It still seems like yesterday when that virile
group of guys who were about to take on the world, marched down an aisle in caps
and gowns receiving diplomas stating to the world....
WE WERE MEN
!
Gone were the sock hops, and cruising in my dad's
'64 Chevy Impala (the one that I removed the "V-6" emblem and replaced it with one that said "409"...to entice the babes) !
My dad never forgave me when, a week after I changed to the "409" emblem, the car was stolen from a parking lot in broad daylight.
My dad never forgave me when, a week after I changed to the "409" emblem, the car was stolen from a parking lot in broad daylight.
Some of us went on to college, but coming from a
blue collar community, many entered the working world
...
...and a number of those who entered the
"non-college" world did so without something called a "2-S deferment",
eventually receiving a letter from the President that began with the word,
"Greeting".
.jpeg)
...and to my knowledge, a number of them never
made it back home after 13 months in a foreign country named South Vietnam; one
of which was my pal, Charlie Dietrich, who was on the
swimming team with me for three years...
...and every time I grab that '64 yearbook, I look
at Charlie's picture with a deep sense of "what might have
been".
I receive quarterly reminders of my graduating
class; and sadly, the section I first examine is the "In
Memoriam" part.....hoping not to see a name from the past who I
remembered cruising the halls of my high school on my way to class or to a swim
meet.
I suppose I am the lucky one...I have
survived...so far !
But as I paged through that '64 yearbook, "The Dragon", my mind wandered at the historic memories of
that year in which I entered adulthood...a year that an author named Jon
Margolis, wrote a book entitled...
"The Last
Innocent Year: America in 1964"
Just what were some of those thoughts
and memories and how they have transitioned into the present
day?
I saw men's hair styles go from crew
cuts to "Beatle 'dos"; and as the years passed, saw baldness becoming
"cool".
I saw women's dresses go from well
below the knee... to well above it !
I saw men wearing earrings and women
sporting tattoos.
Yes indeed, life certainly has evolved
since '64"!
But it
was...
A VERY SPECIAL
YEAR !
... the Beatles came to
America...
....a young boxer named Cassius Clay,
became "Muhammed Ali" the day after he defeated an "unbeatable" champion named
Sonny Liston, further startling the world when announced he had become a
Muslim.
...three civil rights workers were
killed in Mississippi, when 300 students and civil rights activists launched a
"Freedom Summer" nonviolent challenge to that state's voter registration
laws.
...the Republican Party challenged the
liberalism of the Johnson administration with a conservative revolution lead by
an Arizona senator, Barry Goldwater, concluding with Lyndon Johnson being
overwhelmingly elected to the presidency in his own right following the death of
John Kennedy.
Years later, I learned that a few miles from Evanston, a junior in high school, who lived in Park Ridge, Illinois, was a "Goldwater Girl".
I wonder whatever happened to her?
Hillary Rodham
Lyndon Johnson gave his first State of the Union address demanding an end to racial injustice and promising an "unconditional war on poverty"; and in June, at the University of Michigan graduation commencement, he asked America to create a "Great Society" with the passage of the Civil Rights Act.
In the spring of '64 the
Ford Mustang made its debut at the New York World's
Fair.
Women became "people" when one named Betty Friedan published a book entitled "The Feminine Mystique", and within a short time, females quickly began to reject their conventional roles in society, embracing new identities and new values, sparking a feminine movement that would transform American culture.
One day in Berkley, California hundreds
of college students demonstrated against racial discrimination and the "Free
Speech Movement" was born. Their NONVIOLENT protests would become the model of
student unrest throughout the remainder of the 60s.
But one can't conclude 1964 without
looking at some of the...
Best moments in
sports
In the baseball world, the Philadelphia Phillies were in first place, leading the
national league by 6 games, with only 12 left to play in the
season....
...eventually losing to the St. Louis Cardinals, who had never been in 1st place the entire season....until the last week.
The Cardinals would go on
to end the New York Yankees dynasty by capturing the World Series in 7
games.
It was also the year the Chicago Cubs
dealt a young upstart named Lou Brock to the
Cardinals (I had to throw that in for the Cub fans out
there).
In the National Football League, the Cleveland Browns....yes...the Cleveland Browns....would win the NFL championship.
In the National Basketball Association,
the Boston Celtics would win their 6th consecutive NBA
championship.
The Detroit Red
Wings would win the NHL Stanley
Cup.
In the world of thoroughbred racing,
Northern Dancer would win the Kentucky Derby and
Preakness, losing to Quadrangle in the Belmont
Stakes.
Can't forget the music
hits of '64 !
There was more than the Beatles !
Their music was all so innocent in that year.
How many of you knew the REAL words
to...
"Louie
Louie"
?
I know I learned this Roger Miller hit once I got to the University of Illinois in the fall of '64 !
I said goodbye to Patty Finland that summer on my way to college...singing this song to her....promising I'd be there for her all of eternity...
...until I met Janet a few months later !
1964...the Year I
"matured"...
The Last Innocent Year
in America
The year I will never
forget...
as a
St George
Dragon
____________________________________
May 20,
1964
The Beatles had made their splash
across the world a few months earlier, but on this day, the image of our town
would change forever !
No longer would Las Vegas be the town
"controlled by the mob"(so we thought)....no siree....it would be the newest playground in
America that everyone had to visit.
It was on that day, 50 years ago, when
a movie was released changing the image of Las Vegas forever....and made one man
and his lady love, the subsequent heirs apparent of The Rat
Pack....
A
legacy...
...lasting to this very
day.
Ann-Margret and Elvis
Presley
in
.jpeg)
50 years ago ! Hard to believe most of us were in our teens or early 20s when this movie was released.
Can you remember the story line?
Probably not, it started as a typical
"Elvis" movie which many have criticized over the years....but millions still
seem to watch it every time it's shown on TCM !
OK...the storyline
involved a guy who wins "big" at a
crap table (after all, his name is Lucky Jackson), yet manages to lose
everything by accidentally dropping his stash in a swimming pool on his way to prepare his car for a Las Vegas sports
event...
...having to get a job as a pool
attendant hustling drinks while he also "hustles"...and of course wins... the
hand of the sexiest, but naturally sweetest,"girl next
door" woman in town, after "the big race".
Colonel Parker's typical formula for
moolah !
But this wasn't just a movie.....this
was about the chemistry of a town with a man and a woman...the perfect
couple....the couple every man and woman in America wanted to
be !
The first encounter between the two
!
Just what guy in this world wouldn't have loved to have
been able to sing a song to
Ann-Margret....and be pushed into a swimming pool knowing it was her hand doing
the pushing ????
Remember this
scene?
By the way, that was the pool at the Flamingo Hotel 50 years ago....and through the magic of cinema, it wasn't really Elvis who fell into the pool.....it was a "sacrificial lamb" by the name of Lance LeGault who took the spill in a suit with guitar in hand !
Here are a few other tidbits about the
movie for your next trivia contest regarding The King
!
There's a scene where Elvis takes off
with "Rusty"...of course Elvis can do anything
including fly a helicopter on a pool drink server's income...which was supposed
to have taken off from McCarran Airport, but if you look carefully, it's not
McCarran; it's New York's Kennedy Airport.
One of my favorites....Elvis on water skis on
Lake Mead.
Here's what you saw in the
movie.
Here's the real
story.
But despite "Hollywood", there remain
aspects of that movie which will live forever in the minds of all of us "senior"
teenagers....who now call Las Vegas our home...
The Dance Scene...actually filmed at
what was once the gymnasium of UNLV...is now the UNLV Barrick
Museum.
The date at Railroad Pass, Nevada visiting an old wild west town...
Elvis and Ann (Lucky and Rusty) got married at "The Little Church of the West" (since relocated to 4617 Las Vegas Blvd South)
There was a song cut from the movie
too.
"You're the
Boss"
A couple of unknowns at the time also played a role in the production.
A young "Teri
Garr" was a dancer in a scene at Jubilee, and one of the guitar players
on the original soundtrack managed to have a successful career as well.....Glen Campbell.
Scenes of an old '64 Las Vegas will forever
be alive in this movie as cameras pan the old hotels that no longer exist;
namely the Landmark, Sahara, Frontier, Sands, Thunderbird, and the Stardust.
An uncovered Fremont Street watching
race cars zoom through the downtown area, and parts of Mt. Charleston are also
evident that have long been improved over time, also keep the memories of years
past alive.
'Viva Las
Vegas" was the Number One gross box office
movie in the career of Elvis Presley, garnering over $5.1 million in
receipts.
And...rumor has it Ann-Margret was the
"love" of Elvis Presley's short 42 year old life...never failing to send a
bouquet of flowers to Ann-Margret on an opening night performance during her
singing career.
It's now 50 years later, and though
time has erased many of the physical objects associated with that movie, what
does remain more than ever, is a song played numerous times each day during the
succeeding decades while fountains, tourists, and even us locals, never tire of
dancing to it's lyrics.
Of course, the
National Anthem of Las Vegas...
Yes..."Viva Las Vegas"....the lasting symbol dramatizing the heartbeat of the amazing city that welcomes millions from around the globe each year to the "Entertainment Capital of the World"...
...that
same town...
...we all
call...
HOME
!
___________________________________________
The Battle of China
A film made by the US Government to stimulate the morale of the American people during World War II
_____________________________
F.D.R. AND AL CAPONE !
F.D.R. AND AL CAPONE !
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt
Al
Capone
Hours after Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Secret Service found themselves in a bind.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was to
give his "Day of Infamy" speech to Congress on
Tuesday, and although the trip from the White House to Capitol Hill was short,
agents were not sure how to transport him safely.
agents were not sure how to transport him safely.
At the time, Federal Law prohibited
buying any cars that cost more than $750, so they would have to get clearance
from Congress to do so, and nobody had time to obtain the approval during that
time of crisis.
And
so...history was made while the government protected
the president on his way to the Capitol
building.
One of the president's Secret
Service detail discovered that the US Treasury had seized the bulletproof car
that mobster Al Capone owned when he was sent to jail in 1931.
They cleaned it, made sure it was in
tip top condition, purring like a kitten, and had it ready for the President the
day after.
Al Capone's 1928 Cadillac 341a Town Sedan....
...was now the President's Limo, as of December 7, 1941.
And run properly it did.
Capone's car was a sight to behold.
It had been painted black and green so as to look identical to
Chicago's police cars at the time.
It also had a specially installed siren and flashing lights hidden
behind the grille, along with a police scanner radio.
To top it off, the
gangsters 1928 Cadillac 341A Town Sedan had 3,000 pounds of armor and inch-thick
bulletproof windows.
Mechanics are said to have cleaned and
checked each feature of the Caddy well into the night of December 7th to make
sure that it would run properly the next day for the
Commander-in-Chief.
And so, on December 8, 1941,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, got into the back seat of the same car once
occupied by a man who was then in prison for income tax evasion and had been the
reputed King of the Underworld in the Windy City !
Epilogue....
_______________
Living Color Brings History Alive
When you view photographs of the mid-1800s, one sees the past in a sterile black and white aspect that looks at history as a time.... long, long ago.
A reader recently sent me a link that
has the ability to colorize moments of the past, and after viewing it, I felt as
if the moments of the past suddenly came alive and became the
present.
For example, here is a colorized photo
of Abraham Lincoln originally taken in February, 1865....and then brought to
life as if the photo was taken yesterday through color.
If you'd like to take a journey back in time....and make it appear that the journey began today, click on this link.
It's fascinating for one
reason....
It brings the past ALIVE
!
________________________________
Anthem Opinions Salutes the United States Armed Forces looking at Aircraft that Fought a War
"Keeping the Spirit of '45
Alive"
To an effort that brought
us the freedoms we enjoy today, let us never forget those who bravely fought to save a nation.
On average 6600 American service men died per MONTH during World War II (about 220 a day).
People who were not around during World War II have no understanding of the magnitude.This gives some insight.276,000 aircraft manufactured in the US.
43,000 planes lost overseas, including 23,000 in combat.
14,000 lost in the continental U.S.
The staggering cost of aircraft in 1945 dollars
B-17 $204,370. P-40 $44,892.
B-24 $215,516. P-47 $85,578.
B-25 $142,194. P-51 $51,572.
B-26 $192,426. C-47 $88,574.
B-29 $605,360. PT-17 $15,052.
P-38 $97,147. AT-6 $22,952.
America lost an average of 170 planes a day.
Facts About Them....
9.7 billion gallons of gasoline consumed.
108 million hours flown.
2.3 million combat flights.
808,471 aircraft engines used.
799,972 propellers.
Russian Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik 36,183
built
Yakolev
Yak-1,-3,-7, -9 31,000
Built
Convair B-4 /PB4YLiberator/Privateer 18,482 Built
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt 15,686
Built
North American P-51 Mustang 15,875
Built
Junkers
Ju-88 15,000 Built
Hawker Hurricane 14,533 Built
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk 13,738 Built
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress 12,731
Built
Vought F4U
Corsair 12,571
Built
Grumman F6F Hellcat 12,275
Built
Petlyakov
Pe-2 11,400 Built
Lockheed
P-38 Lightning 10,037
Built
Mitsubishi
A6M Zero 10,449
Built
North
American B-25 Mitchell 9,984 Built
Lavochkin
LaGG-5 9,920 Built
Grumman TBM Avenger 9,837
Built
Bell
P-39 Airacobra 9,584 Built
Nakajima
Ki-43 Oscar 5,919 Built
DeHavilland
Mosquito 7,780 Built
Avro Lancaster 7,377 Built
Heinkel
He-111 6,508 Built
Handley-Page
Halifax 6,176
Built
Messerschmitt Bf-110 6,150 Built
Lavochkin LaGG-7 5,753 Built
Boeing B-29 Superfortress 3,970
Built
Short Stirling 2,383 Built
The US lost 14,903 pilots, aircrew and support personnel plus
13,873 airplanes -
--inside the continental United States.
There were 52,651 aircraft accidents (6,039 involving fatalities) in 45 months.
Average 1,170 aircraft accidents per month---- nearly 40 a day.
It gets worse.....
Almost 1,000 planes disappeared en route from the US to foreign climates.
43,581 aircraft were lost overseas including 22,948 on combat missions (18,418 in Europe) and 20,633 due to non-combat causes overseas.
In a single 376 plane raid in August 1943, 60 B-17s were shot down. That was a 16 percent loss rate.
In 1942-43, it was statistically impossible for bomber crews to complete the intended 25-mission tour in Europe.
Pacific theatre losses were far less (4,530 in combat) owing to smaller forces committed.
The B-29 mission against Tokyo on May 25, 1945, cost 26 Superfortresses, 5.6 percent of the 464 dispatched from the Marianas.
Over 40,000 airmen were killed in combat and another 18,000 wounded.
Some 12,000 missing men were declared dead, including those "liberated" by the Soviets but never returned.
More than 41,000 were captured. Half of the 5,400 held by the Japanese died in captivity, compared with one-tenth in German hands.
Total combat casualties were 121,867.
The US forces peak strength was in 1944 with 2,372,000 personnel, nearly twice the previous year's figure.
Losses were huge---but so were production totals.
From 1941 through 1945, American industry delivered more than 276,000 military aircraft.
That was not only for US Army, Navy and Marine Corps, but also for allies as diverse as Britain, Australia, China and Russia.
Our enemies took massive losses.
Through much of 1944, the Luftwaffe sustained hemorrhaging of 25% of aircrews and 40 planes a month.
Experience Level:
Uncle Sam sent many men to war with minimum training. Some fighter pilots entered combat in 1942 with less than 1 hour in their assigned aircraft..
The 357th Fighter Group (The Yoxford Boys) went to England in late 1943 having trained on P-39s, then flew Mustangs. They never saw a Mustang until the first combat mission.
With the arrival of new aircraft, many units transitioned in combat.
The attitude was, "They all have a stick and a throttle. Go fly`em."
When the famed 4th Fighter Group converted from P-47s to P-51s in Feb 44, there was no time to stand down for an orderly transition. The Group commander, Col. Donald Blakeslee, said, "You can learn to fly 51s on the way to the target".
A future P-47 ace said, "I was sent to England to die."
Many bomber crews were still learning their trade.
Of Jimmy Doolittle's 15 pilots on the April 1942 Tokyo raid, only five had won their wings before 1941. All but one of the 16 co-pilots were less than a year out of flight school.
In World War II, safety took a back seat to combat.
The AAF's worst accident rate was recorded by the A-36 Invader version of the P-51: a staggering 274 accidents per 100,000 flying hours. Next worst were the P-39 at 245, the P-40 at 188, and the P-38 at 139. All were Allison powered.
Bomber wrecks were fewer but more expensive. The B-17 and B-24 averaged 30 and 35 accidents per 100,000
flight hours respectively-- a horrific figure considering that from 1980 to 2000 the Air Force's major mishap rate
was less than 2.
The B-29 was even worse at 40 per 100,000 hours; the world's most sophisticated, most capable and most expensive bomber was too urgently needed to be able to stand down for mere safety reasons.
(Compare: when a $2.1 billion B-2 crashed in 2008, the Air Force declared a two-month "safety pause").
The B-29 was no better for maintenance. Although the R3350 was known as a complicated, troublesome power-plant, only half the mechanics had previous experience with it.
Navigators:
Perhaps the greatest success story concerned Navigators. The Army graduated some 50,000 during World War II.
Many had never flown out of sight of land before leaving "Uncle Sam" for a war zone.
Yet they found their way across oceans and continents without getting lost or running out of fuel - a tribute to the AAF's training.At its height in mid-1944, the USAAF had 2.6 million people and nearly 80,000 aircraft of all types.
Today the US Air Force employs 327,000 active personnel (plus 170,000 civilians) with 5,500+manned and perhaps 200 unmanned aircraft.
That's about 12% of the manpower and 7% of the airplanes of the World War II peak.
SUMMATION:
Another war like that of 1939-45 is doubtful, as fighters and bombers have given way to helicopters and remotely-controlled drones, eg. over Afghanistan and Iraq. But within our living memory, men left the earth in 1,000-plane formations and fought major battles five miles high, leaving a legacy that remains timeless.
The World’s Wartime Debt to China
By RANA
MITTER
Published: October 17, 2013
At the same time that
China has stated its desire for peace in Asia, the country has been making
assertive claims over waters in the East and South China
Seas.
The confrontational
rhetoric suggests, to many observers (and to China’s uneasy neighbors in the
Pacific region), a sense of pent-up entitlement, stemming from Beijing’s growing
importance in the world.
But another,
little-remembered factor is also at play:
China’s lingering resentment that its contributions to the Allies’
victory against Japan in World War II were never fully recognized and
have yet to translate into political capital in the region.
China’s resistance to
Japan is one of the great untold stories of World War II.
Though China was the
first Allied power to fight the Axis, it has received far less credit for its
role in the Pacific theater than the United States, Britain or even the Soviet
Union, which only joined the war in Asia in August 1945.
The Chinese contribution
was pushed aside soon after the conflict, as an inconvenient story in the neat
ideological narrative of the Cold War.
In the early 20th century
China’s growing desire for national sovereignty rubbed up against Japan’s rising
imperialism on the Asian mainland.
War broke out in earnest
in July 1937, and during the eight years that it lasted, both the Nationalist
forces of Chiang Kai-shek and, to a lesser extent, the Communist fighters
answering to Mao engaged in extraordinary feats of
resistance.
Though far weaker and
poorer than the mighty United States or the British Empire, China played a major
role in the war. Some 40,000 Chinese soldiers fought in Burma alongside American
and British troops in 1944, helping to secure the Stilwell Road linking Lashio
to Assam in India. In China itself, they held down some 800,000 Japanese
soldiers.
The costs were
great. At least 14 million Chinese were killed and some 80
million became refugees over the course of the war.
The atrocities were many:
the Rape of Nanking, in 1937, is the most notorious, but there were other,
equally searing but less well-known, massacres...
... the bloody capture in
1938 of Xuzhou in the east, which threatened Chiang’s ability to control central
China...
... the 1939 carpet
bombing of Chongqing, the temporary capital, which killed more than 4,000 people
in two days of air raids that a survivor described as “a sea of
fire”...
... and the “three alls”
campaign (“Burn all, loot all, kill all”) of 1941, which devastated the
Communist-held areas in the north.
These strains placed
immense pressure on what by then was a weak and isolated country. But some of
the Chiang government’s policies made matters worse.
A decision to seize the
peasants’ grain to feed the army exacerbated the 1942 famine in Henan
Province.
“You
could exchange a child for a few steamed rolls,” one government inspector
recalled in his memoir.
Such missteps made the
Nationalist (Kuomintang) government seem corrupt and inefficient, and an
embarrassing ally for the United States — even though the Nationalists did the
vast majority of the fighting against Japan, far more than the
Communists.
When the Allies won in
1945, China’s contribution to the victory was rewarded with a permanent seat on
the Security Council of the new United Nations, but little more.
After a civil war, the
Chiang regime fell to the Communists in 1949, and Mao had little reason to
recognize its contributions to the defeat of Japan.
China’s wartime allies
also did little to remind their own people of its role in their victory:
The Nationalist regime —
which fled to exile in Taiwan — was an embarrassing relic...
... and the new Communist
regime was a frightening unknown.
For the West, China had
gone from wartime ally to threatening Communist giant in just a few
years.
One major consequence
that remains of great relevance today is that the old enemies of Asia never
struck a multilateral settlement of the sort that took place in the North
Atlantic after 1945, with the formation of NATO and what has become the European
Union.
The United States’
decision to put China on the sidelines of the postwar world order it dominated
has meant that China and Japan never signed a proper peace treaty. And it has
meant that for many years Western historians treated China’s role in World War
II as a sideshow.
But recently a new
political openness within China itself has allowed a different picture of the
war years to emerge.
Chiang and Mao are long
dead, and the Chinese government has been trying to claim a greater
international role by reminding the world of the benefits of its past
cooperation with the West.
Eager to eventually
reunify the mainland with Taiwan, Beijing has also adopted a more favorable
attitude toward Chiang’s legacy.
Chinese filmmakers and
academics now have license to talk more freely about the Nationalists’ wartime
contribution, whether in television dramas or scholarly articles.
A lengthy and sympathetic
biography of Chiang by Yang Tianshi, a historian at the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences, has been a big seller on the mainland.
Chiang’s old wartime
villa outside Chongqing has even been restored as a shrine of sorts, with
pictures and captions describing him as a patriot who stood firm against the
Japanese — a rehabilitation of Chiang’s reputation that would have been
unimaginable under Mao.
This revision of history
has significant consequences for East Asia and Southeast Asia today.
If America’s leadership
in defeating Japan in 1945 continues to justify a U.S. presence around the
Pacific today, Chinese leaders feel, why shouldn’t China’s contribution to the
same goal earn it some clout in the region?
Beijing is trying to cash
in today a geopolitical check Chiang Kai-shek wrote nearly seven decades
ago.
Rana Mitter, professor of
the history and politics of modern China at Oxford University, is the author
of “Forgotten Ally: China’s World War
II.”
The Italian American Club
It's
Back...and...In Full Glory
Just like the old days.
Normally, our "History and Holidays" articles are about historic dates.
In this edition, instead of looking back at a certain day, I'm going to look
back in time to a certain PLACE...and the history of
an historic landmark restaurant....located right in our own backyard
!
Italian American Club
A couple of months ago my wife and
I were invited by Rob Garrett, Las Vegas premier
"Neil Diamond" tribute artist, to his show at the Italian American
Club.
I had heard from my friend, Dennis Bono, that this place "is back" providing great entertainment and
reasonably priced Italian food...
...and Dennis was right on the mark !
I enjoyed myself so much, that I
had to do a bit of homework...and that homework...led me to this "History"
article....
...about a place that was
resurrected from the dead, brought back to life...yet maintaining the intrigue
and charm it has had for over 50 years.
This was where "the boys" hung out years ago,
and those "boys" included Frank Sinatra, a one time
member, and a couple of other Italian guys named Dean
Martin and Perry Como, who would join him on
stage...
Perry Como
...as well as a few
others...
...Made
Guys...
(if you
know what I mean)
Established in 1961, over the past
five decades this legendary social club and restaurant on Sahara Avenue, a few
miles east of The Strip, has seen its good times and bad.
The "bad times" were the result of
poor management in addition to a perception (mostly by the federal government)
that the place was a perilous mob hangout.
In a Los Angeles Times interview,
President Angelo Cassaro was asked...
"Were
there 'made guys' in the house back then?"
"You bet", he says.
Angelo Cassaro
"Was the joint ever dangerous?"
"Never."
(Well,
almost never.)
And...that's what makes this place
a part of HISTORY.....Las Vegas history....
.....it refuses to disown its
"colorful" past.
You see, members of the Chicago,
New York, New Jersey and Buffalo crime families once frequented the club,
bringing in the federal undercover guys.
"It was funny to see the feds at
the bar in their Hawaiian shirts, nursing iced teas, looking at the mirror into
the room next door where the made guys ate family-style," Cassaro said. "They
just assumed bad things happened here."
"There was
never any trouble — and if there was, they'd straighten it out right there.
If
you got a rowdy-dowdy, they'd 86 'em," recalled former Clark County Sheriff Ralph Lamb, who declared war against the mob
presence in Las Vegas in the 1960s and 1970s.
Sheriff Ralph Lamb
"The club
was a meeting spot for old-timers. It was very seldom that I even got a report
there were any mob guys there. Maybe a loan shark or two — not one of the tough
guys."
Former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, a onetime lawyer for numerous mob
characters, said he ran into some of them at the club: "I
had a lot of not-guilty legitimate clients. And, sure, I saw a few of them
there."
Oscar Goodman
Michael
Green, a historian at the College of Southern Nevada, noted, "Yes, there were connected guys who hung out there, but it was
mostly a social club for the average Italian American
citizen."
Still, an illicit reputation
lingered, Cassaro said. "By the 1980s, things happened that got the feds'
attention," he said. "This was the same time when [reputed mob boss] Lefty Rosenthal's car got blown up just a quarter-mile down
the street."
Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal
In those years, one club board
member was a known federal snitch.
Cassaro said nobody knew whether
the government put him in his club position or whether the snitch approached the
feds with information.
"I'm not sure how it got started,
but the made guys didn't like it. Everybody knew," Cassaro said.
"At times, there were threats and
chairs thrown at meetings. But the people this guy was trying to watch, they
came and ate and enjoyed the music. There weren't any operations going on inside
the club. There was nothing to report."
Whenever Italian American
entertainers came to town, the social club would enlist them to appear there for
charity fundraisers — performers like Vic Damone and
Jimmy Durante.
Vic Damone
Jimmy Durante
The club was so thrilled in
Sinatra's participation that officials made" Old Blue Eyes" a lifetime member
in 1963.
"Sinatra brought a lot of prestige
to the club just by being there," said longtime club member Frank Citro.
"This was the place to go. Now the
old headliners are gone. But the club wants that ambience
back."
The social club is a survivor, an
institution that remembers its past but knows it must change for the
future.
For members, there is still a
bocce club; and inside the white brick building guarded by several pseudo-Roman
statues, the pasta Bolognese is still like "the boys" always
loved it !
The decor is sophisticated — not a
red-and-white plastic table top or Tower of Pisa fresco in
sight.
The dress code is "casual", but not TOO CASUAL, or you'll get "the eye" of some guy in
a striped blue suit whose expression indicates "a certain displeasure" that
makes you not want to repeat your mistake.
Though membership hit a slump a few
years ago when it dropped below 100, from a Rat-Pack-era high of 400, new
investors have spruced up the place, including the old "Sorrento Room", a dining area whose prices and authentic
old-style menu remain a Las Vegas throwback. Membership is now over
260.
No need to become a member to enjoy
the food and entertainment though !
In 1988, Cassaro for the first
time became president of a club so badly managed it was near
insolvency.
But that was then, and this is
now...
...and it's a must place if you want some great Italian food at a modest
cost combined with some great entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays and a fun
lounge on other days it's open.
It's open Wednesdays through
Sundays, between 5:00pm and 10:00pm...
The "boys" are now old enough to
have to get to bed early now !
...and like the old
days...
... you never know who's going to
stop by to sing a song !
Thought I'd get you the menu to see
just how reasonable the prices are !
Looking for something different on
a weekend...well here's my suggestion.....
Make a reservation for dinner
and a reasonably priced show....and get a taste of "Vintage
Vegas"!
The Italian American Club is
located at 2333 E. Sahara Avenue (just east of Eastern Avenue).
The phone number for dinner and
show reservations is:
(702) 457-3866
Just a little note...get there
early though, there's a large parking lot, BUT the place fills quickly
!
Without a reservation, you'll
probably have to say...
"Fa getta bout it"
Hiroo Onoda....There has to be a place in History for this Man
Who?
If there was ever a "soldier's
soldier"...this was the guy !
Some called him a hero, some called him
an enemy, and some called him crazy...
...but no matter how you look at him,
he existed, and he was a part of history.
Hiroo Onoda was only 20 years old when
he enlisted in the Imperial Japanese army in 1944.
He trained as an intelligence officer,
and on December 26, 1944, Lt. Onoda was sent to Lubang Island in the Phillipines
as part of the Japanese war effort.
His
mission....
...to do all he
could to hamper enemy attacks on the island, including destroying the airstrip
and the pier at the harbor...
...and...
...and...
...as part of his
orders...
...under no
circumstances was he to surrender or take his own
life.
When he arrived on Lubang Island, he
joined other Japanese soldiers, among them officers who outranked Onoda...who
prevented him from carrying out his orders.
On February 28, 1945 the United States
and Philippine Commonwealth forces landed, and before long, General Douglas
MacArthur's pledge, "I shall return" rang loudly to
the Filipino people.
Almost all of Onoda's group were killed
within a short time of the landing; the remainder surrendering to the U.S. and
Filipino forces...except Onoda and three others.
And so began the legendary story of Lt.
Hiroo Onoda.
He would not surrender and as a
Japanese holdout, lived amongst the mountains with the other three soldiers
who joined him.
They would continue guerilla
attacks, kill some 30 Filipino inhabitants, and engage in numerous
confrontations with local police.
Two atom bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Japan would end Japanese involvement, and on August 15, 1945, V-J Day finally
arrived.
The war was over...expect for Lt. Onoda
and his three loyal followers.
In October, 1945 leaflets were dropped
over the suspected area where Onoda and his band were hiding, but because
they had been fired upon a few days prior, they mistrusted them...and believed
they were propaganda lies...
...and so, they fought on
!
In September,1949 one of the four, Pvt.
Yuchi Akatsu, had enough...he left the group and in 1950, finally, after being
on his own for six months, surrendered to Filipino
forces.
Still....the leaflets would continue to
be dropped saying the war had ended, and still...the remaining three refused to
believe them.
In June, 1953, one of the three,
Corporal Shoichi Shirmada, was shot in the leg by local fisherman, but Lt.
Onoda, true to his military convictions, nursed him back to health to fight on
!
On May 7, 1954 Corporal Shirmada was
killed by a shot fired from a search party looking for the
men.
Now there were two...and fight on they
did !
On October 18, 1972, Private First
Class Kinshichi Kozuka, was shot and killed by local police while he and Onoda
were burning rice collected by local farmers.
Now there was only one....Lt. Hiroo
Onoda...to continue the Japanese war campaign...
...and...
...true to his orders given him in
1944...
...he did !
Though he had been officially declared
dead in December, 1959, this "rice raid" in 1972 suggested he was still alive,
and search parties again were organized to find him.
On February 20, 1974, Lt. Onoda met a
Japanese man named Norio Suzuki, a traveling man, who according to his own
words, was...
...looking for "Lt. Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable Snowman in that
order".
Onoda and Suzuki became friends, but
when it came to surrendering, Onoda would continue to refuse,
saying...
"He was waiting for
orders from a superior officer".
Convinced that he could not get Onoda
to surrender, Suzuki traveled back to Japan with photos of himself and Onoda as
proof of their meeting, and managed to locate Lt. Onoda's commanding officer,
Major Yoshini Taniguchi, who had since become a dealer in
books.
Major Taniguchi flew back to Lubang
Island where on March 4, 1974, he finally met Onoda to fulfill a promise he made
to his troops in 1944...
"Whatever happens, we'll be back for
you"...
...by issuing the following
orders:
1. In accordance with the Imperial command, the Fourteenth Area Army
has ceased all combat activity.
2. In accordance with military Headquarters Command No. A-2003, the
Special Squadron of the Staff's Headquarters is relieved of all military
duties.
3. Units and individuals under the command of Special Squadron are to
cease military activities and operations immediately and place themselves under
the command of the nearest superior officer. When no officer can be found, they
are to communicate with the American or Philippine forces and follow their
directives.
...and in accordance with those
orders.....
On December 18, 1974, Lt.
Hiroo Onoda, surrendered...
...turning in his sword, his
functioning Ariska Type 99 rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition, and several hand
grenades, as well as, the dagger given to him by his mother for protection in
1944.
It was over...finally...for Lt. Hiroo
Onoda...after 30 years of loyally fighting for his country... never believing
World War II had ended until that day in
1974.
So what became of Lt. Hiroo Onoda ?
He was pardoned by President Ferdinand Marcos because his
actions were part of a war in which he fought for his country.
He returned to Japan and became a local hero amongst the
Japanese people.
Onoda would later refer to Norio Suzuki, the man who found
him in 1974, as "This hippie boy Suzuki came to the island to listen to the
feelings of a Japanese soldier."
He would later release a ghostwritten autobiography
entitled "No Surrender...My Thirty Year
War".
In April, 1975 he left Japan to raise cattle in Brazil;
and in 1976 married, and assumed a leading role in the Japanese community of
Terenos, Mato Grosso do Sul.
After reading about the murder of his parents, he returned
to Japan in 1984, establishing a camp for young people.
Lt. Onoda revisited Lubang Island in 1996 donating $10,000
for the local school.
On December 6, 2004 he was awarded the Merit Medal of
Santos-Dumont by the Brazilian air force.
In 2006 his wife, Machie Onoda, became the head of the
conservative Japan Women's Association.
...and on January 16, 2014,
just two months prior to his 92nd birthday, he passed
away in Tokyo, Japan.
So...was he a hero, an enemy, or
crazy?
That's for you to decide, but one thing no one can ever dispute...
He was indeed, a part of history.
Dick Arendt
__________________________________________________January 14, 1942...The Day the Statue
Cried
Presidential Proclamation 2537...something most Americans are unfamiliar with....but to those who suffered its consequences, a dictum that perhaps sparked one the greatest injustices in American history.
Just what was
Proclamation 2537 ?
It was an
order issued by President Franklin Roosevelt six weeks after the bombing of
Pearl Harbor that required aliens from World War II enemy countries----Italy, Germany, andJapan---to register with the United States Department
of Justice, and then received a "Certificate of Identification for Aliens of
Enemy Nationality".
These aliens
were required to report any change of address, employment, or name to the FBI
and were not allowed to enter certain restricted areas such as ports, water
treatment plants, or even areas prone to brush fires, otherwise it would subject
them to "arrest, detention, and internment for the duration of the
war".
...and its ultimate
result...
A month later, on February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed the War
Department's blanket Executive Order 9066,
which authorized the physical placement of all
Japanese Americans into internment
camps.
And so...one of the darkest moments of
American history began....
...interning American citizens strictly on
the basis of their ethnicity.
Having declared war against Japan
following the December 7, 1941 attack, American military experts feared
further sabotage on west coast agricultural and defense establishments; and as a
result of political pressure from those factions, President Roosevelt signed the
order that would eventually intern 110,000 people of
Japanese descent residing on the west
coast.
Ironically, of the 150,000 Japanese living in Hawaii which composed over one third of their population, only between 1,200 and 1,800 were interned.
Executive
Order 9066 allowed local military commanders
to designate "military areas" as "exclusion zones", and declared that all people
of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire Pacific coast including all
of California, and substantial areas in Oregon, Washington, and Arizona...except
for those in internment camps.
These "internment camps" eventually were
scattered over a good portion of the United
States.
There were three types of camps: Civilian Assembly Centers (often converted
warehouses and racetrack stables) used for temporary internment, Relocation Centers (permanent housing
following Civilian Assembly Center evaluation), and Detention Camps, facilities for those who
were considered "problems" or "difficult").
Detention
Camps also included "problem" or "difficult" German-American and Italian-Americans as well
!
What was it like living in one of these
camps?
Research indicates the answer to that
question was determined by which government entity controlled the camp. Some
were subject to American law, and others, to International
law.
A 1943 relocation report stated that
internees were housed in "tar paper covered shacks of simple frame
construction" WITHOUT plumbing or cooking facilities of any kind. They met
international law, and were built based on designs for military barracks,
creating a cramped existence for those with
families.
Many facilities were surrounded with
barbed wire and patrolled by armed guards. Reports indicate those attempting
to leave the camps without authorization were
shot.
![p144n226[1].jpg (489×312)](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t_nKd3RXVsycwCCUcyOa8SfSWMJNT946-RrYXGOKovgu5xG_7d3b82TrwibcK39H-jXF1O-EsbbR1zey1-OgpIYPjaWTI_PGKOf5POXdlHu7hAEaLbs85F=s0-d)
Internees were provided cots for beds, and had unpartitioned toilet facilities.
Because most people were given such
short notice before they were evacuated, many literally left with little other
than the clothes on their backs, with those from the southern warmer climates
being relocated to Wyoming where the winter temperatures reached between 0 and
-18 degrees.
30,000 of those interned WERE
CHILDREN. Education was provided, but rarely were supplies adequate and
space was overcrowded in just about every
case.
What were the typical reactions of these
people?
They proved their worthiness to be
called Americans in just about every way.
33,000
Japanese Americans served in the armed forces during World War
II.
PFC Sadao Munemori, of Company A of the 199th Infantry
Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a part of the 92nd Infantry
Division, WHOSE PARENTS WERE PLACED IN AN
INTERNMENT CAMP...
...was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for sacrificing his life to save his fellow soldiers at Seravezz, Italy on April 5, 1945... a month before the war ended in Europe on May 8, 1945.
And of
course, Lt. Daniel Inouye, the second longest
serving U.S. Senator in history from Hawaii, another member of the 442nd
Regimental Combat Team. who on April 21, 1945, being wounded a second time, was awarded the Congressional Medal of
Honor....in addition to his previously being awared the Bronze
Star.
Senator Inouye wasted little time
enlisting in the army to prove the patriotism of Japanese
Americans.
On December 18, 1944, the U.S. Supreme
Court handed down two historical decisions: one, that the exclusion process
under Order 9066 was constitutional; and second, loyal citizens of the United
States, regardless of cultural descent, could not be detained without
cause.
Finally, on January 2, 1945, the exclusionary order was rescinded
completely...with each detainee given $25 and a train
ticket to their former homes.
As Japanese-Americans returned to their
homes, few would have any possessions they had prior to internment.
Many became victims of theft and improper government storage, and due to having
to leave their homes on such short notice, financial losses resulted from forced
sales of their land.
California laws passed in the 1910s
prohibited most non-citizens from owning property, and as a result, even those
who were tenant farmers would also lose the rights to those farm
lands.
On July 2, 1948 Congress did make a
feeble attempt to make reparation for these wrongs, but the IRS in many cases
had destroyed many original records, thereby making it difficult to prove a
loss.
A total of 26,568 claims totaling $148
million were made, but only $37 million were approved and
dispersed.
As a side note, ONLY ONE
elected official, Governor Ralph Carr of Colorado, denounced the internment of
these citizens...an action that eventually gained him the praise of
Japanese-American...but LOST RE-ELECTION AS A
RESULT.
Yes...it was sad time in our history
when man was indeed judged by ethnicity....a time that all Americans should
remember...and reflect on...as time passes.
This chapter of world history also
deserves much the same as some others and should always be honored in a similar
legacy....
NEVER
FORGET !
Dick Arendt
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
240th Anniversary of "The Party"
They're are a couple of sayings that ring as loud today as they did then...
"Your fair share of the market...is all of it".
...and...
"The only thing certain in life is death and taxes".
And those two sayings were put to the test 240 years ago in the American colony of Massachusetts.
The colonies were British, and as such, were under the control of parliament and King George III; and in the true spirit of "colonialism", Great Britain looked at its areas of control in the same manner as other nations....to be used to enrich Great Britain.
There's another saying that is quite appropriate to this discussion...
"the straw that broke the camel's back"...and that camel's back was broken on December 16, 1773.
But before we get to the "camel" and the "straw"...a little background.
It all began in the 1600s when The British took a like to a beverage that was brought from China....TEA.
Rival companies were formed in order to import this product from China; the most influential...and most profitable...The East India Company.
And this company became SO POWERFUL, that the British government in 1698 granted The East India Company a MONOPOLY to be the only firm allowed to import tea to their country.
As tea became ever more popular, the British government, realizing its popularity...and profitability...went a step further in 1721...
Having developed a similar "taste for tea" in the American colonies, they passed a law stating that the only tea they could purchase, had to come from England.
THEY HAD TO BUY IT FROM "THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN"
....the "East India Company".
...but British law, not wishing to be "cut out of the pie", passed another law....
The East India Company could not sell it directly to the colonies; it had to be sold to British merchants first at auction; who in turn, would export it to the colonies.
..and once it was imported to England...The East India Company would be TAXED by Britain, before it got to the merchants, who would get it to America...
...to the tune of 25% !
With high taxes, this obviously affected the price of the tea in the product's exportation to the Americas...
...and good "business" required "expedient" action in order to compete.
...and the Brits began to "skip the middleman", the East India Company, becoming the original "bootleggers"...not with liquor, but with tea...
...illegally obtaining it from Holland where imported tea was NOT TAXED.
Needless to say, the "illegal" tea without the tax allowed it to be more profitable...to the bootleggers....and when Britain realized that its "take" was being greatly affected...
...they at first tried to lower taxes imposed on the East India Company in order to allow them to more favorably compete...
..but...
They had to make up for the greatest bulk of the lost revenue.
...and so, the British government decided to "pass on the losses" to the American colonies in what were called...the Townscend Acts in 1767.
This "special American colony tax" did not sit well with those in the Americas. British law allowed only Parliament to levy taxes, and this action forced the colonies to endure the tax without proper representation...a saying that only a few years later would ring out as "taxation without representation is tyranny"!
The irony of the hated Townscend Acts was that the money collected DID NOT GO TO ENGLAND...it was kept in the American colonies to pay the salaries of colonial governors and judges...a clever move by the British to make the colonies more dependent on England. Prior to the acts, these salary expenses had been borne directly by the assemblies of each respective colony.
This mattered little to the American colonists. They had previously been subject to a "Stamp Tax" that eventually was repealed in 1765, but this "America only" tax, continued to raise the ire of the colonists.
They were still being taxed... without a say in the matter !
The British parliament finally did relent, and repealed a number of the special taxes levied on the colonies...except one...on TEA.
In an effort to compromise...with the East India Company... parliament, in order to reduce the "legal" stockpiles of East India tea in Britain, began to allow the East India Company to trade directly with the colonies rather than through a British merchant.
...but the British "Tea Act" passed on May 10, 1773, retained the
" Townscend" tax on tea.
And to the American colonists in Boston...
...to be taxed ANY AMOUNT...without any form of representation, was still....UNACCEPTABLE.
In September and October, 1773, it was learned that a number of ships were bound for Boston Harbor carrying 2,000 chests with 600,000 pounds of tea.
As the protests mounted throughout the American colonies, a number of tea consignees either resigned or were forced to resign...with a number of ships returning to England...
...but one stood his ground and demanded the law be strictly adhered to....
...and when the ship, the Dartsmouth", on November 29, 1773, arrived in Boston Harbor, the Massachusetts governor, Thomas Hutchinson, demanded the "Dartsmouth" pay the tax despite protesters not allowing the ship to unload the cargo.
Meanwhile, two other ships, the "Eleanor" and the "Beaver" had also arrived in Boston harbor with tea aboard.
The law required the tax to be paid by a certain deadline...DECEMBER 16, 1773...and when Governor Hutchinson refused to allow all three of the ships to leave....
it happened...
...between 30 and 130 individuals dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded the three vessels during the night and dumped all 342 chests filled with tea into the water !
This act of defiance was later described by Samuel Adams, not as an act against a tax, but as an act of refusing to accept a tax without having had any representation in its enactment.
For years the incident was referred to as "the destruction of the tea", but finally, in 1834, a journalist referred to it in an article as...
THE BOSTON TEA PARTY
So...as this article began, the two sayings in unison brought about the beginning of the American Revolution.
..a country saying "their fair share of the market was all of it"....
...and...
"the only things certain in life are death...and taxes"
And in closing this article, I'd also like to add yet another saying from The Farmers Almanac...
"If Patrick Henry thought that taxation without representation was bad, he should see how bad it is...with representation" !
===============================================
It Was Stated on December 2, 1823...and...It Worked for 190 Years until November 19, 2013
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The 1700's brought people to a "new world" as the colonies in the Americas were formed to enhance the wealth and power of a number of European nations.
Spain, Portugal, Holland, France, and Great Britain saw
opportunities across the Atlantic, and as decades passed, each nation sought
riches from this "new" land that also incorporated
the Caribbean islands and South America.
Russia too had also
made overtures in the Alaskan and Oregon territories, and once the United States
declared independence in 1776, it found itself in a position of having
to co-exist with these nations.
It was the War of 1812
that caused America to look at this continent as vulnerable to foreign invasion
and trade interference.
The British had invaded the United
States.
Napoleon had been defeated in Europe; and in 1815, Prussia, Austria, and Russia had formed a
"Holy Alliance" to defend monarchism.
In defeat, France had agreed to restore the
Spanish monarchy in exchange for Cuba.
This "Holy Alliance" further authorized military
intervention in France to re-establish Bourbon rule over Spain and its American
colonies, a number of which had slowly been establishing independence over the
preceding decades.
...and a return to a monarchy
system of government, a system for which the American
revolution had been fought to eliminate, with the burning of the White
House in 1814 following a foreign
invasion by the British...
...was now considered
in further jeopardy by the edicts of that "Holy
Alliance".
And so...during his seventh "State of the Union" address to the Congress, on December 2, 1823, 190 years ago,
today, President James Monroe delivered a message not just to Americans,
but to the world, stating that any further attempt by any European nation to
colonize or otherwise interfere with states in North or South America, would be
viewed by the United States as acts of aggression, requiring
U.S. intervention.
President James Monroe
There are two key sections of that momentous speech:
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First...
"The occasion has been
judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of
the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and
independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not
to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European
powers."
Second...
"We owe it, therefore, to candor and to
the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to
declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system
to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With
the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not
interfered and shall not interfere. But with the Governments of who have
declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have,
on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view
any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any
manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as to the
manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United
States."
In return, he also stated that the United States
would neither interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the
internal concerns of those nations who were responsible for establishing those
colonies.
...and that bold statement, would subsequently be
seen as the moment in American history, the foreign policy of our country was
defined....
THE MONROE
DOCTRINE
But...though the words were spoken by James Monroe, history has managed to neglect the true architect behind that speech.
...in fact, the author
of The Monroe Doctrine was
actually,,,,
JOHN QUINCY
ADAMS...
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Secretary of State John Quincy Adams
...Monroe's Secretary of State....and eventual successor to
the presidency.
It was JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (the son
of our second president) who forcefully pushed for the doctrine to be openly
declared.
Why Adams ?
It's not a one sentence
explanation.
Secretary of State Adams had been negotiating with
Spain at the time to obtain Florida as part of an original treaty signed in 1819
(Adams Onis Treaty) which was to extend land acquired by the Louisiana
Purchase.
It was during that negotiation in 1823 that France
invaded Spain to prop up the current Spanish crown that France would also assist
Spain in retaking its colonies in South
America.
Britain, concerned that France and Spain would team
up to regain that control, tried to convince the American ambassador that the
United States would best be served by joining Britain in opposing any such
action.
President Monroe, unsure of the correct action, further
discussed the matter with former presidents Madison and Jefferson, and both
agreed that joining the British would best serve the
matter.
Adams, on the other hand, a skilled negotiator, thought
differently. He believed that siding with any particular faction, would alienate
the other.
According to public record, Adams, at a cabinet meeting on November
7, 1823, stated:
"It would be more candid, as well as
more dignified, to avow our principles explicitly to Great Britain and France,
than to come to a cock boat in the wake of the British
man-of-war."
...and Adams prevailed....stating his case unilaterally
without naming any particular
nation.
As the years passed, a number of American presidents would
eventually echo the words of the "Monroe
Doctrine".
In 1842, President John Tyler advised Britain not to interfere with the
annexation of Hawaii as part of the Monroe
Doctrine.
President James Polk in 1845 would call on the Monroe Doctrine as America expanded
west in what he referred to as "Manifest
Destiny".
In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln quoted the Monroe Doctrine as France
invaded and conquered Mexico, installing an Austrian as dictator,
Maximilian.
In 1895 Venezuela cited the
Monroe Doctrine in a dispute with Great Britain; with President Grover Cleveland threatening Britain, insisting on
the Venezuelan right.
...but perhaps the strongest argument of the Monroe Doctrine
came in 1962 from President John
Kennedy when Soviet missile installations were discovered in
Cuba.
And so, this belief prevailed for 190 years...until November 19,
2013...
...when President Barack Obama's
Secretary of State, John Kerry, made the following speech:
Secretary of State John Kerry
"When people speak of the Western
Hemisphere, they often talk about transformations that have taken place, but the
truth is one of the biggest transformations has happened right here in the
United States of America. In the early days of our republic, the United States
made a choice about its relationship with Latin America. President James
Monroe, who was also a former Secretary of State, declared that the United
States would unilaterally, and as a matter of fact, act as the protector of the
region. The doctrine that bears his name asserted our authority to step in and
oppose the influence of European powers in Latin America. And throughout our
nation’s history, successive presidents have reinforced that doctrine and made a
similar choice.
"Today, however, we have made a different
choice. The era of the Monroe Doctrine is over. The relationship – that’s worth
applauding. That’s not a bad thing. The relationship that we seek and that we
have worked hard to foster is not about a United States declaration about how
and when it will intervene in the affairs of other American states. It’s about
all of our countries viewing one another as equals, sharing responsibilities,
cooperating on security issues, and adhering not to doctrine, but to the
decisions that we make as partners to advance the values and the interests that
we share."
And the obvious question to all of
you...
Is this how you feel
?
__________________
Spoken 150 Years Ago...It Still Defines the American Spirit
Our nation was at a crossroad,
brother was murdering brother, and then on November 19,
1863, following the deadliest battle of the American Civil War....a two minute speech...has since become legendary for 150
years.
Let's look back to November 19, 1863
and what precipitated that day.
Approximately 4 months prior to that
day, from July 1st-July 3rd, the Army of the Republic and the Confederate forces
met at a small town in Pennsylvania.
Union forces led by Major General
George Meade met Confederate forces led by General Robert E. Lee. Lee's forces
had won a series of convincing victories, and this confrontation was to open a
complete invasion of southern troops to the northern
states.
It was crucial to both sides, and
has often been considered the "turning point" of the American Civil
War.
...and when it ended, the official
records state that there were a total of...
...7,863 deaths, of which 3,155 were Union, and 4,708,
Confederate...
...27,224 wounded, of which 14,531 were Union, and 12,693,
Confederate...
...and 11,199 captured or missing, 5,369 of which were Union, and 5,830,
Confederate.
It was...and to
this day...is..the bloodiest battle in American
history.
Over the following months the
concept of a national cemetery to honor those who had perished gathered support
and a committee was formed to consecrate this battle scene in a formal ceremony
that was scheduled for November 19, 1863.
After the pomp and circumstance,
a man named Edward Everett, came to the podium to
give the official "ovation".
Edward Everett
Everett was a known orator. He was a
former member of the House of Representatives, US Senate, US Secretary of State,
Governor of Massachusetts, and minister to Great Britain, in addition to
teaching at Harvard University.
And a true orator he was....giving a
13,607 word speech that lasted over two hours in the November
cold.
...but the guest speaker was the
President of United States, who despite illness, and according to John Hay, the
President's private secretary...
...noted that during the speech, the
president's face had "a ghastly color" and that he was "sad, mournful, and
almost haggard"...
...that after the President
addressed the crowd, when boarding a 6:30pm train back to Washington, he was
feverish, weak, and had a severe headache...symptoms of small
pox.
But despite illness, the President
approached the podium and in a mere two minutes,
spoke words that today, many of us have committed to
memory...
The Gettysburg Address
I would reprint those words that most of us are familiar, but rather than do that...to recapture the moment...the time...the emotion...
Let us honor these words by Abraham Lincoln, spoken 150 years ago today, in this manner....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZixvQAYWd8
...a short history and with the help of
Hollywood..bringing you back to that day...
...and those immortal words...
...words that 150 years later, have even greater significance as the history of our great nation marches on.
Dick Arendt
2 comments:
From George Jacobs of Cleveland, Ohio....to....Anthem Opinions
This was a fitting tribute to a special moment- From Reader....Cary Chubin....Ft. Lauderdale, FL....to...Anthem Opinions
No truer words spoken. I'd buy a car from that guy.
___________________________________________
November 6, 1923...When A Man's Face Was Offered a Choice
If you've read my articles with any
regularity, by now you must be aware of my passion for history...and looking at
moments in time and the people who inhabited it, to show you how they changed
the world.
Today...is one of those days...90
years ago !
I have to start with something every
man who has ever lived, has always hated...SHAVING.
Yup...as a kid growing up, I looked
forward to experiencing it for the first time. It determined MANHOOD for a boy who was just about 14 years old. (Ok,
I'm Catholic, and soon realized "manhood" meant something else shortly
thereafter).
Sure it was peach fuzz, but it
needed to come off...because that's what dad did every day...and I was now in
his "league".
You see, "shaving" was a learned art in
the Arendt house, and it was carefully passed down through the generations
starting with my grandfather who came to the United States in 1906.
I have to digress about the "art of
shaving" a bit, because that art was carefully crafted by gramps through a
series of life experiences.
Gramps came over "on the boat" as a
German immigrant with his wife and growing family back then. He was a musician
and from what I was told, played a "nasty" trumpet, in addition to the violin
and piano...so good, that he ended up paying for his boat ride over the
Atlantic by playing in "steerage" for the rest of the immigrants and "passing the
hat".
Not speaking English, he got a job
selling musical instruments...I guess the language of music must be universal,
but eventually got fired due to his never showing up to give the lessons he
promised.
Plan B....playing in polka
bands...not bad, but not steady income.
Plan C...it's now 1918 and the U.S.
decides to pass a law outlawing booze...and to a German, life without beer is
unbearable...especially in Chicago, where the "competition" involved men named
O'Banion and Capone.
Result... make your own...alongside
other "beverages" in the bath tub, and sell it by way of delivering it in my
dad's little red wagon.
...until a Chicago cop patted him on
the head and asked him what was in the wagon !
Result...Gramps is arrested as a bootlegger, pays a fine, and is now looking for steady work.
Plan D...the love of music gets him
hired in a Speakeasy, until one day Grandma decides to pay him a visit when he
comes home a little later each night. Turned out Grandpa was doing a bit of
"flapping" with the "flappers"; and so, that career ended as well
!
Plan E...now we're getting to the
crux of the article...He becomes a barber.
...and until he retired in his 70s,
had his shop open 6 days a week.
Now..with gramps being a barber for
over 50 years...that means the only way of shaving is with a STRAIGHT RAZOR.
Do any of you men remember
the first time you shaved...
...with a razor?
Your face was ON FIRE, BLOOD DRIPPED
from your cheek, your mouth, and your lips; the scars remained for life; and the
rash afterward accentuated the zits you were trying to hide
!!!!
But...this article isn't about my
zits or rash after the shave, it's to honor the man who
solved man's razor burns...
JACOB
SCHICK
Jacob Schick
Before Schick came up with his
invention, man had to suffer while removing those
whiskers.
Ancient cave drawings show
prehistoric males removing beards by shaving with a clam shell or sharpened
flint. OUCH ! They didn't do it very often (toilet paper hadn't been invented to paste on the cuts to stop the blood flow), and some
of the clean shaven cavemen drawings in those caves were alongside
females...
...I guess...to put Mrs. Cavewoman in
the mood to make little cavemen !
Then along came the Romans who
discovered that a wet beard was easier to shave than a dry one, and shaving
became a whole lot less painful as a result.
In 1600s steel blades became popular
in Europe; so popular, that they were passed down through generations because they were
expensive. Unfortunately, the metal began to chip over time as
well.
Then in 1771, a Frenchman named
Jean-Jacques Pettet came along and actually wrote a
book about shaving, showing a novel invention of encasing
the blade in a wooden handle for safety. There's a chapter in his book
that even explained how to sharpen the blade ! Nonetheless, the
"invention" didn't succeed.
Jean-Jaques Pettet
In 1903, an American by the name of
King Champ GILLETTE
came along, concluding that money could be made if
the blades were disposable. Gillette wasn't the handiest guy in the
world; he was a salesman, and to develop this idea, hired another man named
William Nickerson.
King Champ Gillette
..and it took off like a rocket,
with men shaving at home rather than going to the local barber
shop.
Unfortunately, when men did it
themselves rather than at the barber, they would often cut themselves; and
because of those small cuts, William Nickerson's
invention brought a new word to the English language when that took place...and
to this very day, it's called...
.. a "nick".
The American system of capitalism,
as great as it was...needed yet another change, and that's where retired Colonel
Jacob Schick comes into the picture.
...and on November 6, 1923...
Jacob
Schick patented the first ELECTRIC
SHAVER !
Just a little bit about Jake Schick
before we conclude this tribute...
He was a veteran of the Spanish
American War, enlisting in the 14th US Infantry in 1898, and when health became
a problem, he went to Ft. Gibbon in Alaska to join the 22nd Infantry. As his
health improved, he became instrumental in laying out military telegraph lines
stretching over 1,000 miles of frozen Alaskan
interior.
Finding it difficult to shave in -40
degree weather, he came up with an idea of a shaver with a
shaving head driven by a flexible cable and powered by an exterior
motor.
He tried unsuccessfully to market his new idea for nine years until in 1919, after leaving the Army, he was determined to develop his dry shaver.
He tried unsuccessfully to market his new idea for nine years until in 1919, after leaving the Army, he was determined to develop his dry shaver.
By 1927 he had perfected his
invention enough to making it a marketable product; and in 1929, the dry shaver
went on the market.
His company was incorporated in 1930 as "Schick Dry Razor, Inc."
His company was incorporated in 1930 as "Schick Dry Razor, Inc."
This is the first electric shaver
ever marketed in 1931...
Jacob Schick died in 1937 at the
young age of 60.
Today, Norelco owns and operates the
company.
For men (and women) ...the battle
between the blade and electric, will march on as long as man has a beard or
women shave their legs, underarms, and the latest we
can't mention...
but Jake Schick allowed us a
choice...a choice... my face has used for the past 53 years
!
Dick
Arendt
October 31, 1926...the Day... Ehrich Weisz...Died
Who?
October
31st may be Halloween to most people, but to those who believe in the
occult....it was the day a man named Ehrich Weisz
died....and to this day, some believe he
WILL return.
Ehrich
was born on March 24, 1874 to a Jewish rabbi in Budapest, Hungary, and within
two years, he and his family made the journey to the United States "for a better
life", and like most immigrants, the family changed its name to
"Weiss".
Eventually ending up in Milwaukee,Wisconsin, Ehrich, like most young
children, shined shoes and sold newspapers to support the family, but he had a
dream....
He wanted
to be on stage in front of people, and at the age of nine, made his first public
appearance in a trapeze act, as "Ehrich the Prince of the
Air".
At age 12, he decided to run away
from home, hopped a freight train to New York, making a decision that "magic"
would be the way he'd make his fortune.
His nickname " Ehrie" became "Americanized" to
"Harry"; and because he idolized a French magician
named Robert Houdin...he merely improved it by adding an "i" to become...
Harry
Houdini.....at the age of seventeen.
And so the immortal "Houdini" would
begin a career that would awe audiences over the next 35 years of his
life.
What began in beer halls, platforms
with snake charmers, fire eaters, and other "freak" shows, led him from New York
to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago where he and his brother, Theo, would dazzle those
who walked the fair's midway.
This lead Harry to the Welsh
Brothers Circus where he developed an illusion he referred to as "Metamorphosis" where an assistant, and later his wife,
Bess, would be placed into a locked box, and then within seconds switched places
after a curtain was raised.
About the same time, Harry developed
a fascination with "handcuffs", discovering that
almost all of them would open with a single key or a piece of bent
metal.
This lead Harry to once again
reinvent himself as "The Handcuff King" , traveling
from town to town escaping from police handcuffs and any other devices his
crowds would challenge him to remove.
..But that was just the beginning
for Harry Houdini.
From handcuffs, he transitioned to a
straight jacket escape, where he was buckled in tightly, carried to a cabinet,
and then placed behind curtains.
Learning to control every muscle in
his body, he eventually forced one sleeve, then the other over his head, and
made the "miraculous" escape.
..and fame spread across the
country...with Harry traveling to Europe to fascinate the crowds there as well,
before returning to the United States as a premier
celebrity.
But what next
?
He was now "The
Great Houdini" and in 1908, he took his escapes to yet another level, the
"Chinese Water Torture" trick, where he would escape
from a padlocked water can.
Escapes would continue over the
years, and in 1918 Houdini introduced the "biggest illusion" ever staged at the
New York Hippodrome, calling it the "Vanishing
Elephant".
Next it was off "to Hollywood" for
Harry, and in 1918, he starred in a series called "The
Master Mystery" , portraying a character named "Quentin LOCKE", an undercover agent for the Justice Department, who
would use his escapes to solve crimes.
His prowess in that series included
escapes from being buried alive, tied to the bottom of an elevator shaft,
suspended over boiling acid, and strapped to an electric
chair.
..but Harry looked at Hollywood as a hobby,
stating that "profits are meager" . Years later, he even received a Star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 31, 1975.
Houdini had one other passion...the occult...and spent years debunking mediums as "fakes"
and "frauds" as a result of his extraordinarily close relationship to his
mother, who had died in 1913.
For years after her death he attempted to "reach"
her, and after experiencing one fraud after another, was determined to expose
them at every opportunity.
In 1923 he even took time off from his career to
tour the country giving lectures against mediums, even authoring a book entitled
"A Magician Amongst the Spirits" which was published
in 1924.
In the fall of 1925, Houdini would return to the
stage with yet another "attack" on mediums...offering $10,000 to any medium who
he could not mirror. The shows completely sold out each performance which
continued into 1926.
...and then....life
changed for Houdini !
In 1926, strange things began to
happen..
His wife, Bess, contracted ptomaine poisoning; then a chain slipped from his famous "Chinese Water Torture Cell" trick, and Harry broke his ankle.
But the worst was to take place on October 22, 1926.
Houdini, as he was waiting in his dressing room for a performance at the Princess Theatre in Montreal, received a visitor by the name of J. Gordon Whitehead, a student at McGill University, asking if it was really true if he could take ANY PUNCH to the abdomen.
Houdini, sitting on the couch half-listening to the student, mumbled "yes".
As he stood up, Whitehead sent 3 punches into his stomach before Houdini was able to prepare for the blow.
That evening and the next he continued his performances with much discomfort, but then still made the 1000 mile train ride to Detroit for his next engagement.
The pain failed to subside, so he wired ahead for his manager to have a doctor waiting at the theater to examine him.
At the same time he, the entertainer, maintained "the show must go on", and in 104 degree heat, performed in pain.
When the curtain fell, he
collapsed.
He was rushed to the nearby Grace Hospital, and diagnosed with a ruptured appendix. An operation was performed, but peritonitis set in. He had one more operation, but again failed to respond.
His last words were, "I am weaker.
I guess I have lost the fight."
And on Sunday, October 31, 1926, Halloween, at 1:26pm in the afternoon, the "Great Houdini" drew his last breath. He was only 52 years old.
But even death would not stop the "The Great Houdini" from giving his final performance.
His body was taken to a funeral home where NO ONE WAS PERMITTED TO VIEW THE BODY...and placed in a large coffin he had built just 4 weeks earlier for a stage production trick.
...a large dull bronze coffin with a full glass top, lined with silk on the last day of his Detroit performance. He had previously stated that desired to eventually be buried in this particular prop...but the "bad luck" continued as the coffin was accidentally shipped to New York along with his other paraphernalia.
He was buried in Machpalah Cemetery, just inside the front gate, next to his mother who had died in 1913.
But despite Houdini's disdain for mediums, he still promised
his wife, Bess, that if there was any possible way to return after his death, he
would; and for the next 10 years, on Halloween, she
would hold a seance for his arrival.
It failed !
On the 50th anniversary of Houdini's death, believers again
tried to reach him...in the same room of his
death.
That too...failed !
But Houdini still lives...in so many
ways.
There is the Houdini
Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania...
There is the movie, "Houdini" which starred our late Sun City Anthem resident, Tony
Curtis.
(I'll never forget the day a number of years
ago, when I met the cordial Tony Curtis, at Freedom Hall looking at him and
saying "Mr. Curtis, it's not
often you get a chance to meet Albert DeSalvo, The
Great Leslie, Ferdinand Demara, and Houdini in one fell swoop", referring to his roles in
"The Boston Stangler", "The Great
Race", "The Great Imposter", and course,
"Houdini".
He smiled at me, said, "you really are a
fan...call me Tony".)
And of course the magicians we all know in
today's world look at him as their "mentor", spending thousands of dollars
accumulating the many props he utilized during his years of "making
magic".
Yes...Houdini lives..in death...each and every
October 31st...
..on Halloween
!
..a day in which his life is celebrated
with the "tricks" he gave us, while he "treated" his audiences, during his brief
life.
__________________________
The Day Judgment was
Served
September 30,
1946....a day when the world looked at 7 years of hell, and
said....
Justice Must
Prevail.
It all began on September 1, 1939
when Germany invaded Poland and would rapidly make attempt after attempt to
dominate Europe with a philosophy of hatred, destruction, and worst of all....a
war against mankind.
Years prior to that day, in 1933 a
man who had once been imprisoned, suddenly became of the leader of Germany, and
over the next six years, reminded his nation that the destruction of his country
has been the result of forces that economically strangled his people.
Adolph Hitler
The Treaty of Versailles ending the
First World War had left Germany is despair; inflation ran rampant; currency would become
worthless; and a population would become angry and in search of a leader who would allow it to rise from the degradation from that
treaty....
...they had been forced to
relinquish lands, pay massive war damages, and not allowed any form of self
defense by the elimination of armed forces and an air
force.
...and when a people suffer such
humiliation...they need something to build up its self respect and
image....
...and sadly, it
became vulnerable to forces and ideas that would seek revenge to solve those
problems.
But it needed a leader to tell them
how...and from a prison cell and a book entitled "Mein
Kampf", a man named Adolf Hitler, wrote
extensively about the treatment suffered by the
German people...
...stressing his country suffered by
both an influence of communism and one people....
THE JEWS
"Mein Kampf" stated that there was a
"conspiracy" by communists and Jews to dominate the earth; that both required
elimination, in order to prosper and regain the stature it once
had.
Hitler rose to
esteem for one reason...he told his people something
they wanted to hear...that they could again regain the power and
influence they once had....
...but in order to accomplish that
goal, those forces had to be minimized...if not
eliminated.
When Hitler came to power as
Germany's Chancellor in 1933, "Mein Kampf" would become "required reading" in
many cases, All newlyweds were given copies, and when war broke out, all those
who served in military operations were given the book to "learn" and
"understand" the meaning for the actions that "had to be taken" in order to
achieve the goals of regaining prominence.
And so...the World went to war to
achieve that goal; but that war was not only fought against
foreign nations, but toward "people"....not just Jews, but against Jehovah's
Witnesses, homosexuals, those born with hereditary "defects", and those who "The Fuhrer" considered "social misfits", in addition to members of political and
religious groups in opposition to the NAZI beliefs.
,,,and that "war" became a war
against man himself, which has come to be known as "The Holocaust".
It is well known that millions of
innocent people lost their lives as a result of these atrocities, but when the war concluded, something had to be
done...
...that those who were responsible
for them...be tried in a world court for those crimes against man.
After World War I, many of the war
crimes went unpunished, but following World War II, this was not to be the
case.
The world demanded accountability
and representatives of the warring nations met in a city called Nuremberg, near Munich, in Germany, for what would become
known as the "Nuremberg
Trials".
Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and
Joseph Goebbels had committed suicide prior to the trial that commenced on November 20, 1945.
Heinrich Himmler
Joseph Goebbels
On that date, 24 individuals were
accused of "war crimes" and the world, over the next 10 months would be told of
the horrors that these men committed as part of the NAZI party's control over
Germany.
And following that trial...on this
day....67 years ago...
September 30,
1946
...the verdicts were handed
down.
19
were found guilty.
Let history never forget these men
for what has become known over the decades as "man's
inhumanity against man".
Martin Borman
DEATH (in absentia)
Karl Donitz
10 YEARS IMPRISONMENT
Hans Frank
DEATH
Wilhelm Frick
DEATH
Walther Funk
LIFE IMPRISONMENT
Hermann Goring
DEATH
Rudolph Hess
LIFE IMPRISONMENT
Alfred Johl
DEATH
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
DEATH
Baron Konstantin von Neurath
15 YEARS IMPRISONMENT
Joachim von Ribbentrop
DEATH
Alred Rosenberg
DEATH
Fritz Sauckel
DEATH
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Baldur von Schirach
20 YEARS IMPRISONMENT
Arthur Seyss-Inquart
DEATH
Albert Speer
20 YEARS IMPRISONMENT
Julus Streicher
DEATH
The death sentences were
carried out on November 16, 1946.
Hermann Göring committed suicide the night
before the execution and Martin Bormann was not present when convicted (he had,
unbeknownst to the Allies, most likely been killed trying to escape from Berlin
in May 1945).
The remaining 10 defendants sentenced to death were
hanged.
We must NEVER
forget.
Dick Arendt
Remembering an American Armageddon
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There are no words that can describe
September 11, 2001...only a timeline that no American will ever
forget....
All eastern
times:
8:46 am....American Airlines Flight
#11...at a speed of 466 m.p.h. crashes into the North Tower of The World Trade
Center.
9:03 am...United Airlines Flight
#175...at a speed of 590 m.p.h. crashes into the South Tower of The World Trade
Center.
9:05 am...President Bush, while in a grammar school reading a children's book, is informed America is under attack.
.jpg)
+staring.jpg)
9:37 am...American Airlines Flight
#77...at a speed of 530 m.p.h. crashes into the
Pentagon.
.jpg)
9:58 am...The South Tower of The World Trade Centers collapses.
10:03 am...United Airlines Flight
#93...at a speed of 583 m.p.h. crashes in a field near Johnstown PA...believed
to have been on it's way to The US Capitol or The White
House. "Let's Roll" would forever become a part of the American vocabulary.
10:28 am...The North Tower of The
World Trade Center collapses.
5:20 pm...7 World Trade Center...a
47 story building, collapses.
The Human Cost:
2,996 immediate
deaths
246 perished on board the four
planes
125 lost their lives at The
Pentagon
372 foreign nationals were victims
(excluding the 19 hijackers).
And of the 2,606 in New York City
who died, 292 people were killed at street level by burning debris and falling
bodies of those who had jumped from the World Trade Center
windows.
All..were civilians...with the
exception of 55 military personnel killed at the
Pentagon.
May they rest in
peace...
As this...and other
nations....mourn the day...when America was again, as it had been on December 9,
1941...
"suddenly and deliberately
attacked"...
...and yet again would rise above the agony of national tragedy...to heal...
...Yet..never forget.
God bless this great
land.
Dick
Arendt
__________________________
A Man's Tribulations...and how the
Integrity of a Nation Proved...No Man was Above the
Law
Many of us have lived through the
most tumultuous times in the history of our nation, but there was one day, August 9, 1974, when our nation experienced a
moment in time that differentiated our great land, from any other on this
earth...
...a transition of power ...without
a shot being fired, or a revolution taking place.
When we look
at our present world, seeing crowds in cities across the earth deposing its
leaders through military takeovers, watching leaders murdering citizens to
maintain power, and mass demonstrations of unrest culminating in such violence.
we Americans should look back over our shoulders, and say....God Bless this Great Land.
This nation has made its mistakes,
but unlike so many others, we, as a CIVILIZED NATION, demonstrated on August 9, 1974, that our system...worked.
...that peace could prevail under
the most strained of circumstances...
...when the conscience of its
elected body, recognized that the integrity of a nation was at stake,
and through peaceful discussion, rather than violent revolution...proved to the
entire world, that we were not merely a nation of laws; but that no one person,
whoever that person may be, would ever be above
them....
...and concluded after years of
peaceful dialogue and the freedom of the American press, realized that it was in
the best interests of our country, that an elected leader, step away from an
office he had been overwhelmingly reelected to, less than two years
previously...
...and though initially making every
attempt possible to remain....left in a PEACEFUL
manner, after apologizing to a nation for what he had
done.
This leader of course was Richard Nixon.
Life had dealt this man more ups and
downs than any man in our history.
After being elected to the US House of Representatives in 1946, he was
assigned to the House on Un-American Activities Committee, where he received
national prominence in pursuing the conviction of a man named Alger Hiss, who he believed was a Soviet spy. Hiss would
later be convicted of perjury.
In 1950 he was
elected to the US Senate, continuing his crusade against communism,
becoming a prominent figure once again in the McCarthy hearings.
When Dwight Eisenhower received the
Presidential nomination by the Republican Party in 1952, he
was selected to be his Vice Presidential running mate. Unlike today,
when a nominee chooses his vice president, a "smoke filled room" made him the
choice of his party.
...but controversy would darken that
candidacy when he was accused of maintaining a political fund established by his
backers as a reimbursement for his political
expenses.
...yet, he triumphed when we won the
hearts of the American people in a televised speech to 60 million Americans
saying he was a man of modest means...that his wife never had a mink
coat...an historical moment referred to as "The Checkers
Speech".
He would go on to be elected to that
office twice; but unlike many of his predecessors, he became a "working" vice
president, often being sent to foreign nations, notably the Soviet Union, in
1959 where he met with Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev.
In 1960 we would
be nominated by the Republican Party for the Presidency, only to lose in one of the closest elections in American history
to John Kennedy...an election that could have been contested due to alleged
voting irregularities in Chicago. He would not, due to his belief it would not
serve the best interests of the American people.
Many would say poor make-up
during the first series of televised presidential debates in American
history...now a commonplace in American politics, might also have contributed to
his "luck" as well.
We all know the "power of the
press", and there was little doubt, he was never a "darling" amongst the media;
and over his life, newspapers and television reporters continued to haunt his
every political move.
That belief became even more evident
when he unsuccessfully ran for the governorship of
California in 1962. His distrust of the media became even more apparent;
and history will never forget his response to the
defeat....
"You won't have
Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press
conference".
Fate would change all of that
during a period of American history where many believed our country was
losing the "innocence" of the American dream; that the dream was becoming a
nightmare marred in violence not seen since the civil war...a period of time
when we Americans questioned if we really were the best examples of civilization
that inhabited our earth.
It was over the next five
years...Richard Nixon...like every American...watched a series of events that
allowed him to be "reborn" in politics.
....the man who had defeated him in
1960 was murdered in 1963...
...civil unrest became routine in
southern states as America watched peaceful demonstrations turn to bloody racial
confrontations...
...an unpopular war became even more
unpopular...
...Martin Luther King and Robert
Kennedy were both killed...
...an announcement by Lyndon Johnson
that he would "not seek, nor would he accept, the
nomination" of his party for another term as our
president
and...
...the emergence of a southern
governor, George Wallace, as a third party presidential
candidate....
...he would rise from the ashes of
defeat after defeat...
...through those moments in
time...
...to be elected as our
nation"s 37th president in 1968.
The 60's would end with a man
landing on the moon, an attempt at achieving an "honorable peace" in Paris
during the early 70s, and an historic trip to China to reopen that part of the
world to American interests.
...and a second
term was certain, defeating his Democratic opponent, George McGovern,
capturing 49 of the 50
states.
...but then...it all would become
"undone".
On June
17, 1972 a burglary took place as the Watergate Hotel in Washington,
DC...and some were caught....
...some having ties to the
"Committee to Re-elect the President".....
...and two reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein,
would, over time, meet secretly with someone who would only refer to himself as
"Deep Throat".
"Deep Throat"
would provide information allowing the two reporters to dig deeper and deeper
into the "Watergate Break-In"; and eventually, one after another of "The President's Men" would resign, be indicted, and
eventually be convicted of criminal
activity.
During the investigation, yet
another problem was occurring during the Nixon administration.
Vice President
Spiro Agnew, on October 10, 1973, resigned his office,
after being convicted on charges of bribery, tax evasion and money
laundering during his tenure as Governor of Maryland, and was subsequently replaced by Gerald Ford, as part of the 25th Amendment to
the Constitution, adopted only six years prior to that date on February 23,
1967.
As the months passed, and the world
began to collapse for Richard Nixon; the country watched as hearings were held,
and more and more information was being disclosed...until something was
discovered in July,
1973...
There
were tapes...
...tapes made by
the president....of literally every conversation that took place in the
Oval Office, according to a White House aide Alexander Butterfield.
...and a special prosecutor named
Archibald Cox, demanded the president release them to
Congress.
Cox was not only refused by the
Nixon White House on the basis of "executive privilege"...but was fired by the
President as the investigation deepened.
In November, 1973, the president's attorneys made a startling
admission....
...that an
audio tape of conversations, held in the White House on June 20, 1972, featured an 18½
minute gap.
Rose Mary
Woods, the President's personal
secretary, claimed responsibility for the gap, alleging that she had
accidentally wiped the section while transcribing the
tape.
Finally, the president, November 17, 1973, during a televised question and answer
session with the press...made this now famous
statement.
"People have got
to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've
earned everything I've got."
The American people would still not
be satisfied, and a darkness and suspicion surrounded our nation as each day
passed.
...There was MORE...and in April, 1974, the
president released 1,200 pages of TRANSCRIPTS of conversations that had taken
place between he and his aides.
..but when he continued to refuse
releasing ALL of the tapes, the House Judiciary Committee, on May 9, 1974,
opened impeachment hearings until on July 27, 1974,
the House Committee, by a vote of 27-11, recommended impeachment
on the grounds of "obstruction of justice" while just
three days prior to that day, the Supreme Court determined ALL OF THE TAPES must
be provided.
One of the new tapes released
however, recorded soon after the break-in, demonstrated that Nixon had been told of the White House connection to the Watergate
burglaries soon after they took place, and had approved plans to thwart the
investigation.
He at first, claimed a loss of
memory, but was soon told by congressional leaders that he would surely be
convicted in the Senate, and removed from office.
It was over...and on the evening of
August 8, 1974, a nation watched a nightmare end in a nationally televised
address to the American people:
And at noon on August 9, 1974, 39 years ago...
Our 37th
President, Richard Nixon, once again entered the history books, as the only chief executive to ever resign that office...
... an act that also resulted in yet another historical moment of our
past....
...the ascending
of a man, Gerald Ford, to
the Presidency...
...the
only man NEVER to have been elected to hold that
office.
August 9,
1974...the day our system..WORKED.
A Law that Changed the Life of Every Senior Citizen
Living in a 55+ community has its
challenges, and as that "final day" gets closer as each day passes, the most
concerning element of seniors, other than retirement income, is their health
care.
Our nation has huge obstacles to
overcome before the full effects of Obamacare will be known, but well before
this legislation, another "medical crisis" occurred years ago that through years
of consideration, legal entanglements, and political pressure, a massive law was
passed that affects just about every person who is age 65 and
over....
MEDICARE
It was on this day, July 30, 1965, 48 years ago, that President Lyndon
Johnson, sitting alongside former president, Harry Truman, signed Title XVIII of the Social Security Act, which created this
program that citizens age 65 and over (as well as younger individuals who had
disabilities and certain health conditions), would forever come to look at, as
providing peace of mind in their concerns as to the affordability of medical
expenses as they aged...regardless of income or medical
history.
Before Medicare, only half of older adults had health insurance for
essentially two reasons; first, past medical history often made it impossible to
obtain; and secondly, the cost was prohibitive.
Senior citizens who did have medical
coverage paid premiums approximately three times the amount that younger
individuals paid; yet their incomes were approximately half of their youthful
constituents.
There was yet another need for
medicare...the ugly reality of racial discrimination. Poverty levels in the
United States amongst minorities were staggering; and as a result, these groups
were even greater victims of medical catastrophes. They would often be the
last to be seen in hospital waiting rooms, and physicians would make these
people their lowest priority due to their inability to
pay.
...and Medicare made a strong
attempt at solving that problem, by making payments to health care providers
CONDITIONAL on desegregation.
But why was President Johnson
sitting alongside President Truman, in Independence, Missouri, on that day
Medicare was signed into law?
...because as President Johnson so
aptly stated on that July morning, "he was the real daddy of
Medicare"....and issued the very first Medicare Card to the 81 year old
former president.
It was at the close of World War II
in 1945, when President Truman first called for a national health insurance
program...a plea that was initially ignored by both houses of
Congress.
He asked Congress to consider it
again in 1947 and yet again in 1948, but in both cases, the bill quickly died as
a result of little support.
The idea remained dormant during the
Eisenhower administration, but upon the election of John Kennedy; one of his
first acts in 1961, was to commission a task force to create a national health
insurance program for those over age 65.
President Kennedy followed up that
task force with a nationally televised speech in 1962 stressing the need for
such a program.
As the program lingered in Congress,
we all know that President Kennedy was tragically killed in Texas in 1963; and
Vice President Johnson, upon ascending to the office of President, revitalized
the idea.
...and in 1964...called upon
Congress to create the Medicare program.
President Johnson, prior to his
becoming Vice President under Kennedy, had been the Senate Majority Leader from
Texas. He knew Congress...he knew how Washington worked...and became a master
at convincing Congressional leaders to "see it his
way" on more than one occasion.
Shortly thereafter, in 1965, the
medicare bill passed the Senate by a vote of 70-24 and the House,
307-116.
The program officially commenced on
July 1, 1966, and on that date, 10 million Americans enrolled in that
program.
Over the succeeding generations,
numerous changes have taken place, and currently approximately 50 million people
are enrolled in that program....
....15% of the total population of
the United States.
With the "boomers" reaching the
magic age of 65, and life expectancies increasing, that number is expected to
double by the year, 2030.
Will it survive? Will it be
altered?
We will
see...
...but it all began on July 30, 1965, by a president, socially committed to
the American people in his drive to make the Truman dream a
reality.
Yet...how ironic...less than 3 years
later....despite the many "Great Society"
achievements in social legislation over his 6+years of being our
president...
...on March 31,
1968...felt compelled to leave the presidency...
...due to the most unpopular war in
American history...Vietnam.
Dick
Arendt
From A Cartoonist's Dream...to...The Happiest Place on Earth
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It was originally referred to as
"Black Sunday" by its company's executives, because
anything that could have gone wrong, did !
It had been planned for years, and
was a dream of a man who often took his daughters, Sharon and Diane, to a park
watching them ride a merry-go-round.
He was a good family man, and as
such, believed the children of his employees needed a location close to their
jobs that they too, could spend time with their
families.
And so...a dream
was born.
It was originally intended to be
built on a lot across the street from his studio, but this man wanted something
special, and as the concept began to blossom in his mind, so did the passion for
making his dream a reality.
While discussing the financing
for this project with a man named Herb Ryman, the individual who approached the
Bank of America with an aerial drawing of his dream, he told
Ryman, " Herbie, I just want it to
look like nothing else in the world. And it should be surrounded by a
train.".
As a kid, he loved trains, and as
his fortune grew, he enjoyed entertaining his kids and those of his employees
while riding a model train in his yard behind his
home.
And four years later, on July 17, 1955, he stood at it's opening and proudly
proclaimed these words.
"To all who come
to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond
memories of the past .... and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of
the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts
that have created America ... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and
inspiration to all the world."
Of course, we've been talking about
the amazing vision of Walt Disney, and the day Disneyland opened.
But...it wasn't all that easy for
Walt in the beginning. His idea was expensive, and nothing like it had ever
been built, but that didn't deter him from "the
dream."
How to get the money?
Difficulties in obtaining
funding prompted Disney to investigate new methods of fundraising, deciding to
create a show named "Disneyland" and was
broadcast on then-fledgling ABC.
In return...ABC agreed to help
finance the park.
And perhaps the most popular of
shows aired by ABC, was a trilogy about a frontiersman named, Davy Crockett.
How many of us bought "Coon-skinned Caps"...
while we sang this song... and to this
day can still remember the words...
Disney also rented out many of the
shops on Main Street, U.S.A. to outside companies as
well.
But on the day it opened, only the
joy of the day would overshadow the actual event.
On that first day of operation
it was only open to invited guests and the media. Although 28,000 people
attended the event, only about half of those were actual invitees, the rest
having purchased counterfeit tickets.
The following day, it opened
to the public, featuring twenty attractions.
The Special Sunday events,
including the dedication, were televised nationwide and anchored by three of
Walt Disney's friends from Hollywood: Art Linkletter, Bob Cummings, and of
course, future president, Ronald Reagan. ABC broadcast the event live, though many guests
tripped over the camera cables.
In Frontierland, a camera
caught Bob Cummings kissing a dancer.
When Disney himself started to read
the plaque for Tomorrowland, he got through it partially, when he suddenly
stopped, after a technician off-camera said something to him... but after
realizing he was still on the air, said, "I thought I got a signal"... and began
the dedication from the beginning, rather than continuing it from the point he
had previously stopped.
At one point, while in Fantasyland,
Art Linkletter tried to give coverage to Bob Cummings, who was on the pirate
ship. He wasn't ready, and tried to give the coverage back to Art
Linkletter...who had lost his microphone. Cummings then did a "play-by-play" of
Linkletter trying to find it in front of Mr. Toad's Wild
Ride.
Traffic was delayed on the two-lane
Harbor Boulevard in front of the park.
Celebrities who were scheduled to
show up every two hours, showed up all at once.
The temperature was an unusually
high at 101 degrees.
Because of a local plumbers' strike,
Disney was given a choice of having working drinking fountains or running
toilets. He chose the latter, leaving many drinking fountains
dry.
Since Pepsi sponsored the park's
opening, many guests believed the inoperable fountains were a cynical way to
sell soda, while other vendors ran out of food.
The asphalt that had been poured
that morning was soft enough to let ladies' high-heeled shoes sink into
it.
A gas leak in
Fantasyland resulted in Adventureland, Frontierland, and Fantasyland, closing for the afternoon.
But somehow....some way...over 650,000,000 people have since managed to endure that
problematic start....
...a great deal of them who once
were young kids and are now senior citizens, took their kids, and their kids
have since taken their kids...
...some 58 years later, still wearing "Coon-Skinned Caps" and "Mickey
Mouse" ears, while visiting "The Happiest Place on
Earth" in fulfillment of Walt Disney's
dream....
DISNEYLAND.
___________________________________________________June 25, 1876...the Day "Audie" Marched into History
He was last in his graduating class,
but he was also the youngest man to ever be promoted to the rank of Brigadier
General at the age of 23...only 2 years after graduating...from West
Point.
He was not only the poorest of
students, but at one time was close to being expelled from
that prestigious organization on three different occasions for excessive
demerits resulting from pulling too many pranks on his fellow classmates...as
well as going AWOL from a guard post.
He was conceited. He hated following
orders. He was a gambler. He loved to drink, but when it
came to bravery....he hadn't an
equal.
...and that bravery, coupled with
his leadership abilities at such a young age, so impressed his superior, General
Ulysses S. Grant, that when Robert E, Lee surrendered his southern army
at Appomattox Court
House on April 9, 1865, he was asked by General Grant to be present and witness
the actual signing of the surrender.
...but history will not remember
this young brash upstart for his Civil War conduct; it will instead remember him
for yet another reason...
...his
death...at young age of
36...
...on June 25, 1876...
...only 9 days from the celebration
of our nation's 100th birthday celebration...137 years ago
today!
He was the middle child amongst four
brothers and a sister, and rather than being referred to by his real first name,
George, for some reason his siblings, unable to pronounce his middle name
"Armstrong", stumbled through its pronunciation and instead referred to him
as "Audie".
He was anything but a "rich" kid,
even paying for his own schooling and room and board carrying
coal.
...and amazingly, despite his
eventual poor scholastic record at West Point, actually taught school, before he
was accepted into the United States Military Academy.
As previously stated, he was not the
best of students, but fate would intervene on what could (or should) have
been his expulsion from West Point....
...the firing on Fort Sumter on
April 12, 1861.
Though he was to have been a
graduate of the Class of 1862 at West Point and his record questioned if he
would get to that point; in April, 1861, the United States was suddenly at
war...with itself, as the nation divided between North &
South.
The Union needed officers, and was
forced to graduate a number of cadets earlier than they were scheduled as a
result.
And..."Audie", would subsequently
become a cavalry officer, commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd US
Cavalry, and almost immediately was part of the first Battle of Bull Run, where
he became an integral member of General Winfield Scott's
command.
He later became a staff officer to
Major General George B. McClelland, and was promoted to the rank of "temporary"
Captain, as a result of an episode chasing Confederate General, Joseph Johnson,
across a river which his commander questioned as to its safety in
crossing.
"Audie" was fearless, and when he overheard his
commander say, ""I wish I knew how deep it
is." ....
...he, without a moment's
thought... rode forward on his horse out into the middle of the river and turned
to the astonished officers of the staff shouting triumphantly, "That's how deep it is, General!"
That act of heroism so impressed his
commander, that he was allowed to lead an attack with four companies of the 4th
Michigan infantry....the state from which he hailed.
From the battlefield, "Audie"
would lead his men with these famous words that have since gone down in
history...
"On You
Wolverines"
...and would rally the troops to
victory that day.
The successful encounter resulted in
the capture of 50 Confederates and the seizing of the first Confederate battle
flag of the war.
...and from that day forward,
"Audie's" fame would forever be a part of his life.
...but it wasn't very smooth as the
years marched on.
General McClelland was subsequently
relieved of his command by President Lincoln, and "Audie", at the same time,
reverted back to being a 1st Lieutenant.
As luck would have it, he was
subsequently assigned to Major General Alfred Pleasonton, who was commanding a
cavalry unit division.
General Pleasanton was a
rather "flashy" dresser, and "Audie", impressed by the dapper General
Pleasanton, and enjoying the fame he had received previously, came to the belief
that ...
..." if
you were for real", you had to "look the
part".
And so, he too, would become famous
for his fancy uniforms as the war proceeded.
At first, his men weren't impressed
by this pompous look, but eventually, seeing him for the hero he was, they began
to emulate him as a sign of respect, and a red neckerchief became the unofficial
badge of honor to serve under Lt. "Audie".
As the Civil War proceeded, the
battle of Gettysburg approached, and with the deepest respect for this brash and
brave leader of men, General Pleasanton promoted "Audie" from Captain to
Brigadier General. He was only 23 years old.
Though some looked at him as
foolhardy and reckless, the inner genius of this man was anything but that
characterization.
He was a master
at planning military attacks, meticulously scouting every battlefield, gauging the
enemy's weak points and strengths,
and ascertaining the best line of offense.
... and after he was satisfied
with his detailed analysis, he surprised each enemy and routed them on each
engagement.
Success continued for this
Brigadier General, and eventually, he, under the command of General Phillip
Sheridan, completed his military service during the Civil War by blocking Robert
E. Lee's retreat, and receiving the first flag of truce from the Confederate
force.
While present at the surrender at
Appomattox Court House, he received both the Lee white flag of surrender from
General Grant; and the table upon which the surrender was signed, was presented
to him as a gift for his wife by General Sheridan, that included a
note praising his gallantry.
After the conflict, this great man
of war tried desperately to became a man of peace.
He strongly supported
moderation toward the defeated South, and joined President Andrew Johnson on a
journey by train known as the "Swing Around the Circle" to build up public
support for Johnson's policies that had been advocated by President Lincoln
prior to his assassination.
As the years passed, it was obvious
that this man would never be a civilian...that his calling involved the
military...
...and in 1867, at the request of
old friend, General Phillip Sheridan, was given the rank of Lt.
Colonel, deployed to a small fort in Riley, Kansas, and given command of the new
famous...
U.S. 7th
Cavalry.
That element of "Audie's" life had
some sad moments, one of which included a court marshal and suspension for one
year, due to going AWOL....out of loneliness, he went to visit his beloved (and beautiful) wife,
Libby.
Libby Bacon
...but "Audie" would rise from the
ashes AGAIN, and in 1874 he led an expedition into South Dakota's Black Hills,
announcing the discovery of gold...triggering a rush for gold in an area
believed to be "sacred" by the Sioux and Cheyenne
nations.
Miners died, and Americans had to be
protected....and the chaos continued until it was determined that on April 6,
1876, he would lead an expedition against the warring
tribes.
...but...on March 15th..."Audie" was
suddenly summoned to appear before a congressional committee to provide
information regarding the scandals that would later rock the Grant
administration, the result of which was the indictment of Secretary of
War, William Belknap, and.....President Grant's own
brother, Orville.
After testifying, he was to have
returned to Ft. Lincoln, but "Audie" being "Audie",
instead traveled to Philadelphia and New York to consult with his "publishers"
about a book he was authoring.
Orders never meant much to "Audie",
unless of course he was the one giving them !
He finally got back to
Washington on April 21st, but upon arrival, he was
accused of perjury and
disparagement of brother officers.
President Grant was so furious, that
even he refused to allow "Audie" to return to his
unit....
...but....along came an old friend,
General Phillip Sheridan, who convinced the President, that American lives would
be lost, unless this competent and proven leader was restored to his
command.
Grant conceded, and "Audie" left
Washington to rejoin his unit...but...this time, though Grant conceded to
Sherman's request, he also made an attempt to ensure his "loose cannon"
officer would be under the direct supervision of Brigadier General Alfred
Terry.
...but that wasn't the manner in
which "Audie" he could live...even if it was the President of United
States giving the order.
The 7th Cavalry departed from Fort
Lincoln on May 17, 1876, part of a larger army force planning to round up
remaining free Indians.
Meanwhile, in the spring and summer of 1876,
the Lakota holy man, Sitting Bull, had called together
the largest ever gathering of Plains Indians at Ash Creek, Montana, and then
again to a place called The Little Big Horn, to discuss what to do about the
white invaders.
...and on June 25, 1876...they met.
A few hundred American
soldiers...and between 1,800 and 3,000 Indian
warriors.
...and on that fateful day...
...five of
the 7th Cavalry's companies were annihilated; and "Audie", his two brothers, a
nephew, and a brother-in-law, would be
killed.
...The man called "Audie" by his brothers and
sister...
...The man known to every American
as....
GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER
...would be forever burned into the pages of American
history.
...and the date of June 25, 1876...has been forever inscribed in history books known
as...
Custer's Last
Stand.
Dick Arendt
______________________________
June 5, 1947....When America Saved Europe
How sad it is that over the years
the United States has been criticized and attacked by numerous nations
who believe we have harmed them in one way or
another.
...but...in spite of how we may now
be viewed, there was a day, 66 years ago, that
without the American Spirit and it's commitment to bringing peace to the
world, Europe would have failed....
...and would have incurred even
more catastrophic destruction.... than had already been experienced after years
of war against the Axis Powers during World War II.
A terrible war had ended with the
German surrender on May 7, 1945, but instead of merely bringing our troops back
to American shores, we saw that an even greater threat existed to Europe, which
required help....
...our
help...
..THE REBUILDING
OF A CONTINENT whose population suffered every conceivable loss
imaginable.
We could not return their loved ones
they had lost, but we could make an attempt to create a lifestyle that existed
in that part of the world prior to German ambitions of
conquest.
And that goal was achieved through a
congressional act whose official name was The European Recovery
Program.
History better remembers it as The Marshall Plan.
When war concluded, it became quite
obvious that an ally, the U.S.S.R. had other ideas as to the future of Europe.
Rather than returning it to its former prosperity, their dedication to the
spread of communism, was their concept of how the world should
evolve.
...and that concerned
America.
While we would leave, the Soviet
Union would stay; and in doing so, replaced numerous pre-war governments with
Soviet "puppets".
The world was changing again...and
nothing could better dramatize this than the words of Winston
Churchill.
On March 5, 1946, the British Prime
Minister spoke these prophetic words in Fulton, Missouri, that now live in
history:
"It is my duty, however, to
place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe. From
Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron
curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the
capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin,
Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities
and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and
all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a
very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAyXXepUgrE
The United States realized it MUST
ACT to save what it had spent the past four years preserving, and that required
a strong financial commitment.
...and the great nation we
are...answered that call...establishing The Marshall Plan on June 5, 1947.....authorizing massive economic support to
help rebuild European economies in order to prevent the spread of Soviet
Communism.
The plan was named for then
Secretary of State, George
Marshall...
... a man who had answered his
nation's call during World War I
as a member of General John J.
Pershing's staff...
... US Army Chief of Staff and
military advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt during World War II (being
instrumental in naming such distinguished individuals that included Dwight D.
Eisenhower, George S. Patton, Mark Clark, and Omar
Bradley)...
...and upon retirement from the Army
served as Secretary of Defense in addition to the Secretary of State
post.
Surprisingly, The Marshall Plan also
included offering aid to the Soviet Union and its allies, but they chose not to
accept it, fearing American control over communist controlled
nations.
The plan became operational in
1948, and during the four years that it was in place, our great nation
contributed $13 billion in economic and technical
assistance to help the recovery of the European
countries...
...a massive amount of
money, which in today's dollars would amount to
almost...
$137
billion.
So, as we look at June 5th, let all
Americans stand and salute themselves for their dedication to this
world....on and off...any battle
field.
Dick
Arendt
___________________________________________________________________
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A Man, A Machine...and a War
The cotton gin is a mechanical device that removes the seeds from cotton, a process that had previously been extremely labor intensive, that now cleaned 55 lbs of cotton in a single day, a wooden drum stuck with hooks that pulled the cotton fibers through a mesh, the seeds falling outside since they could not fit through the mesh.
...an invention inspired by observing a cat attempting to pull a chicken through a fence, and only getting the feathers !
George, Frank, Joe, Matt, &
Al
As we approach Memorial
Day, my thoughts were to write an article about those who, in my
opinion, sacrificed far and above any others for our country...in order to honor
them, and what they represent to all of
us.
After deep thought, I believe I have
found those distinguished honorees.
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There were five of them, all brothers, from Waterloo, Iowa; along with two sisters,
Jenny and Theresa. Add parents, Tom and Alletta, and they were the stereotype of
the large Irish Catholic family...until World War II broke
out in the Pacific.
Frank and George had previously been
in the Navy and honorably discharged in May, 1941 after each serving for four
years.
But then...we went to war on
December 7, 1941, and they, along with their three other brothers, had to answer
their nation's need once again..
...and to further stimulate that
need, Jenny's boyfriend had been killed at Pearl
Harbor.
The brothers saw no other
alternative....
...and all five enlisted in the US
Navy.
...But they made one stipulation
before they enlisted.... they insisted on serving
together...that's what brothers who love each other do
!
All five were assigned to the USS
Juneau, a light cruiser, that saw duty in the
Pacific.
And less than a year after all five
had enlisted, on November 13, 1942, shortly after leaving the Solomon Islands to
join the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, a Japanese torpedo struck the ship,
forcing it to return to the Solomons.
Sadly, another Japanese destroyer
lie in wait after the first attack and torpedoed the ship again; this time the
Juneau exploding in the Pacific waters.
It was subsequently reported that
initially, approximately 100 sailors survived the
attack; however, American planes were ordered not to break radio silence in
reporting it; and sadly, the 100 remained in the water for eight days until they
were finally rescued.
By that time, only 10 had survived the elements, hunger, thirst, and repeated shark
attacks.
Not amongst that
small group, were George, Frank, Joe, Matt, and Al.
All five were
gone.
It was the morning of January 12,
1943, when their dad, Thomas, getting ready for work, was greeted at his front
door by three men in uniform. Thomas knew the news would not be good; he had
heard of other fathers being greeted in the same
manner....
...and after they told him they had news about his sons, his first words in response, were...."Which One ???"
...and after they told him they had news about his sons, his first words in response, were...."Which One ???"
And perhaps the saddest words that a
parent could ever hear came forth.
"Sorry, all
five"
All five...every
son...gone.
Can there ever have been a more
"supreme sacrifice" than losing all five of your sons...at the same time
?
I can't think of
one.
Of course, this family from Iowa
were the Sullivans...The Fighting
Sullivans.
The Sullivan Brothers
If the story stopped there, it would
have been more than complete, but each story has an epilogue, this not being an
exception.
Thomas and Alletta Sullivan toured
the country throughout the war promoting war bonds.
Jenny, the daughter, served in the
WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency
Service).
The War Department adopted the "Sole
Survivor Policy" in order that no family could lose every member at the same
time.
The US Navy, in dedication, named
two subsequent destroyers. "The Sullivans", the first American warships to be
named for more than one person.
In 1944, their story was told by
Hollywood in "The Fighting
Sullivans", a
movie, if you've never seen, will tug at your heart strings as the boys grow up
in a loving home, eventually leaving for naval duty....and the news of their
death. The closing scene as Thomas goes to work looking at a tower,
visualizing the boys waving at him as they did in their childhood, will make
even the strongest, shed a tear.
Al Sullivan's son, James, the
only Sullivan brother to have had a son, subsequently served on the first "USS
Sullivans" that was christened by his grandmother, Al's
mother.
...and the second "USS Sullivans"
was christened by Al's granddaughter, Kelly Ann
Sullivan.
And, finally, in 2008, the Sullivan
Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum was established.
http://gmdistrict.org/assets/PDFs/Grout_Fact_Sheet_FINAL.pdf
And so...I ask all of you to join me on this Memorial Day, in looking back at a family whose dedication to our nation, has never been equaled.
And so...I ask all of you to join me on this Memorial Day, in looking back at a family whose dedication to our nation, has never been equaled.
They were....The Sullivan
brothers...The Fighting
Sullivans.
Dick
Arendt
______________________________________A Man, A Machine...and a War
He lived only 59 years, but what he invented and patented on March 14, 1794, some 219 years ago, changed the American economic system, and to some historians, was the primary cause of the Civil War.
Born the son of a wealthy farmer in Westborough, Massachusetts in 1765, he lost his mother at the age of eleven when his father remarried; and unlike his real mother, his stepmother strongly opposed his obtaining a college education.
As a result, he worked for his dad in a nail manufacturing workshop as its main operator at the age of 14, in addition to being a farm laborer and school teacher, to save money to achieve his educational dream.
Refusing to accept his stepmothers advice to avoid college, this young man perhaps was the inspiration for the saying, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste"...
... and as such, he saved his earnings religiously year after year, until eventually, at the age of 24, in 1789 was admitted to Yale University, where he eventually graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1792.
His original intent upon graduation was to study law, but again, finances entered the equation, and instead, accepted an offer to become a private tutor in South Carolina.
...but before he got there, he decided to visit Georgia.
Why Georgia?
In the early 18th century, Georgia was "the land of milk & honey" for many New Englanders, and he had to satisfy his curiosity and drive for "a piece of the action".
It's often been said, "timing is everything" and during his sailing to South Carolina, he met the widow of Revolutionary War hero, General Nathaniel Greene.
Enchanted by this young man, and intrigued by an idea he shared with her, she invited him to visit her Georgia plantation to meet her fiance, Phineas Miller, another New England migrant...who also was currently attending Yale at the time, eventually graduating in 1795.
The two men hit it off, and soon they were partners, developing the idea he had originally shared on the ship with Mrs. Greene.
It was simple, but it was effective, and the original intent was not to sell it; but instead, assess farmers a fee to USE their machine, charging two-fifths of the value, paid for, not in cash, but in the material the farmers brought them for processing.
And...on March 14, 1794, this young man decided to obtain a patent for this contraption he called, THE COTTON GIN !
And this man's name of course, was ELI WHITNEY.
The cotton gin is a mechanical device that removes the seeds from cotton, a process that had previously been extremely labor intensive, that now cleaned 55 lbs of cotton in a single day, a wooden drum stuck with hooks that pulled the cotton fibers through a mesh, the seeds falling outside since they could not fit through the mesh.
Both Whitney & Miller believed they had accomplished the impossible, what today, we call "wholesaling" by using others materials, running it through a patented machine, then reselling two fifths of what was processed...to others !
The farmers on the other hand, believed Eli & Phineas wanted a bit too much of the pie...
And...like all good things that seem to be true...it was !
Resentment from others and the simplicity of the device, made it fairly easy to duplicate, and this taking place during an era of early patent law, infringement became inevitable...and costly.
Their response..."let's build them, and sell them to the farmers."
Unfortunately, that too, didn't work out very well.
They received so many orders, they couldn't fill them, and the result...
They received so many orders, they couldn't fill them, and the result...
...the company went out of business in 1797.
But the significance of this article is not just the invention of the cotton gin, but the affect it had on our country.
Many people are not aware that prior to its invention, SLAVERY was on the decline in the American colonies; that many slave owners had actually given away their slaves, due to the market for rice, tobacco, indigo, and cotton becoming unprofitable.
Slaves no longer represented cheap labor; but instead, added to the cost of producing an unprofitable crop.
The cotton gin changed all of that; and as a result, slave labor became paramount in harvesting it, and eventually the Southern Colonies became dependent on it for economic survival, becoming their chief source of wealth.
The American colonies exported 500,000 pounds of cotton in 1793, and by 1810, its exports exceeded 93 million pounds. It became the U.S's chief export representing over one half the value of U.S. exports from 1820 to 1860.
Cotton ws indeed, KING of the southern economy, an economy so heavily dependent on slave labor, that without the means to harvest it, would spell ruin for them.
...and when ruin faces any civilization...they...in defiance and self-preservation...REBEL.
And so, from 1861 to 1865, our land became embroiled in controversy that cost an estimated 620,000 lives, as a result of....PROGRESS.
...progress fueled by a simple invention by a man named Eli Whitney, patented this
day, March 14th, in 1794.
Dick Arendt
March 3, 1931...The Day It Became Official
It was a tune like any other one, and to many at the time, it was an eighteenth century version of "100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall".
Way back when...some time in the mid-1760s, a man named John Stafford Smith, a teenager at the time, from jolly old England, was a member of a popular "Gentleman's Club" called the Anacreontic Society, whose supposed intention was "officially" founded to promote an interest in music...
John Stafford Smith
...when in reality, it was an excuse to enjoy a bit of "wine, women & song" as
a guys night on the town...kind of like a 21st century version of "Crazy Horse Two".
They made every effort to "legitimize" the club in British society, even hiring noted composer Joseph Haydn as a special guest as one of their performers at a concert in 1791...
...but "society" really knew what the club was all about, and so it survived for years amongst the partygoers of the time.
Pub songs were quite popular, and in an attempt to be accepted in the Anacreontic Society, this young teenager John Stafford Smith, put pen to hand, and composed a tune he called "The Anacreontic Song" which became better known as "Anacreon in Heaven".
Well now, the piano played it, the guys drank to it, and then, the president of the Anacreontic Society, a man named Ralph Tomlinson, decided to write lyrics for it.
Ralph Tomilson
...finally getting it published 1778.
...and the band...and the boys...played on !
As things would have it, the tune became popular, and like a good song that makes today's Top 40 chart, it made its way "across the pond" to a recently new country at the time called The United States of America, where they too, had some fun with it.
The problem with the tune however, was the difficulty in singing it due to having a range of one and a half octaves, but when you've "had a few", it didn't matter !
And if you'd like to sing along, here is that bar song !
Hmmm...the melody sounds a bit familiar, doesn't it ?
The song lasted well in the early 1800s when a young 35 year old attorney named Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy during the War of 1812, was so awestruck at what he had seen, wrote a poem called "Defence of Fort McHenry" in 1814.
Francis Scott Key
Defence of Ft. McHenry
American society, so taken by the patriotic words of this poem, eventually set his poem to music....music from the John Stafford Smith tune,"The Anacreontic Song"...
...and renamed it....
The Star Spangled Banner.
In 1889, the US Navy adopted it as their "official" song, and by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916...
...but on March 3, 1931, 82 years ago, President Herbert Hoover signed into law a congressional resolution, making it the Official National Anthem of the United States of America.
So, in the spirit of John Stafford Smith, Francis Scott Key, and the Congress and President of the United States....
Let's stand up, raise a glass...
And sing along....
...and say "Happy Birthday" to the National Anthem of our country.
Dick Arendt
______________________________________February 20, 1962....."God Speed, John Glenn"
On July 18th, he'll be 92 years old, but on February 20, 1962, at the age of 41, he thrilled America by becoming the first American to orbit the earth.
On a journey that lasted less than five hours, we watched, waited, hoped, and prayed, as John Glenn began those few moments in time that will remain in the hearts of all Americans for eternity.
The United States had been in a cold war...and the space race had become more than a rocket into outer space...
...It took on the meaning of SUPERIORITY.....who was the dominant force in the world !
The Soviet Union had managed to claim "space" superiority with the launch of the first satellite into space, Sputnik, on October 4, 1957, a tiny, shiny metal sphere less than two feet in diameter, with four external radio antennae to broadcast radio pulses.
In 1959, the Soviet space program took another step forward with the launch of Luna 2, the first space probe to hit the moon.
While what America experienced over and over again....was failure after failure.
...and then....a Russian cosmonaut named Yuri Gagarin, became the first man to orbit the earth on April 12, 1961.
We were being defeated and embarrassed...and the public knew it.
Two weeks later on May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard, became the first American astronaut to enter space, but nonetheless....we were SECOND to the Russians.
...and that...was UNACCEPTABLE.
On May 25, 1961, a young new President, John Kennedy, addressed the Congress of the United States....
Following that speech, Congress appropriated the funds, and the United States began a determined quest to be the world leader in space exploration.
And with that commitment, came the morning of February 20, 1962, when John Glenn made history as he entered a small capsule named "Friendship 7" that would be launched into space on a Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, carrying him into American history...
along with these famous words:
...and with those words, the journey began....
In many minds, the true commitment to the Space Program began with the flight of this man, who later would become a distinguished Senator from Ohio from 1974 to 1999.
Was this the conclusion of John Glenn's space adventures?
Absolutely not.
On October 29, 1998...he made history once again.
At the age of 77, he became the oldest person to ever travel into space, when he boarded the space shuttle "Discovery".
What a fascinating life for a man who dropped out of college to enlist as a Naval aviation cadet after Pearl Harbor, making his first solo flight in 1943, being reassigned to the US Marine Corps, flying 59 combat missions in the South Pacific, as well as, serving during the Korean War, adding an additional 27 combat missions...
...and whose expertise, lead him to become a test pilot, with eventually being chosen as one of the "elite" to become a member of our first astronaut program.
Thank you, John Glenn, for being an example to all Americans, and in addition to the immortal words, "God Speed" as you bravely entered that small space capsule on that February day, on behalf of all Americans, we also say....
"God Bless"
Dick Arendt
Three Magical Days in February 1964
Yeah....or should I say, "Yeah, Yeah Yeah...Yeah".
Three days when the United States news was dominated by four young men.
It was a time when our country needed SOMETHING to lift our spirits.
It had been just two and half months since we had lost an American president to an assassin's bullet, and somehow the thoughts of "John-John" saluting his dad as the casket passed, were still fresh in our minds.
Thanksgiving was somber in 1963, and Christmas just didn't seem as joyous as it should have been that year; and as 1964 commenced, the innocence of our youth began to take on an entirely different attitude.
We just weren't a very "happy" country for that first month of 1964.
For me...it was the middle of my senior year in high school, and the thoughts of the "hi club-dances" and who was going to be my girlfriend "that week" were beginning to turn to more serious issues, namely, where was I going to go to college...
...and when, as per my dad, the words, "What Are You Going To Do When You Grow Up"? started to take on a new meaning.
But...in the midst of all that seriousness, we did have one last burst of youth....
...from February 7th to February 9th, 1964 !
We were "invaded" !!!
by...
According to history, a few months prior to those three days, a song called "I Want to Hold Your Hand" somehow got into the hands of various US radio stations without formally being introduced for sale to the public.
And it swept the nation...becoming an instant hit...so much so, that America couldn't get enough of them, and the DJ's began playing the flip side of the record.
Can you remember the flip side (or what used to be called the "B" side) of that 45?
Give up?
Capitol Records tried in vain to stop it from being prematurely released in the United States, and on December 26, 1963, finally gave up, and dropped formal legal action.
Within the first THREE DAYS, 250,000 copies had been sold, and by January 10, 1964, it had sold it's ONE MILLIONth copy.
Not bad for four young guys from a poor section of England, the city of Liverpool, who had been struggling since 1960 playing in small clubs throughout Europe.
After perfecting their act over the next few years, their music began to dominate the British charts, and an album called "Please Please Me" became so popular, that a new word appeared in the local press...
BEATLEMANIA !!!!
...and when a man named Ed Sullivan, while he and his wife were visiting London in late, 1963, saw a bunch of youngsters at Heathrow Airport, screaming at the top of their lungs as this group arrived from a tour in Sweden....he began asking questions as to what the commotion was all about !
And so...with Ed Sullivan and Beatle's manager, Brian Epstein, with the help of the sale of a million copies of "I Want to Hold Your Hand"and a total paycheck for the entire group of merely $10,000.....
...they came...or as the press would eventually deem it...
...the British Invasion !
And they arrived in New York on February 7, 1964 to....mayhem....
They held a press conference, and the personalities of these four young men ...with LONG HAIR....brought back a smile to our country we hadn't seen in months.
We seemed HAPPY again as we watched TV that night, and eagerly awaited the BIG NIGHT....
February 9, 1964 !!!!
Even my folks sat in front of that rabbit-eared television set that Sunday evening; confused, yet watching something that they too had once experienced a number of years prior to that night, watching two others, Elvis Presley, and Frank Sinatra.
I can remember their smiles, the shaking of their heads, and...the "here we go again" looks on their faces....looks that took a short time later for my dad to grow his hair a bit longer while the sideburns grew a bit lower !
What a time !
Three Days in February....1964....when America began what is now a 49 year love affair with the " Fab Four".
Dick Arendt
_____________________________________
The Day Rock 'n Roll Cried
February 3, 1959, fifty-four years ago, three men, on a rock 'n roll tour, entered the history books while on a musical a tour referred to as the
Winter Dance Party.
They were to cover 24 mid-western cities in a three week period, and they were concerned about the Midwest winter weather, driving on icy treacherous roads.
It had been a good tour, but one filled with sickness. The flu bug had "bitten" members of their bands, and the drummer even had contracted a case of frostbite.
...and the roads between Iowa and their next concert in Moorhead, Minnesota were a concern.
Charles, the leader of the band, had recently married a lady named Maria Elena; and soon after, learned that they would be expecting their first child.
...and life was beginning to be a huge success for Charles as he was launching a new career after parting with his original band members.
New members of the band included Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup and Carl Bunch.
This tour was going to be a huge success, and money was a bit more plentiful as a result; and with that, the lead singer decided to charter a small Cessna 180 to fly them to Moorhead, Minnesota for their next concert.
Four of them were scheduled to take that flight; Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup, a young upstart named Dion DiMucci, and Charles.
...but as the flight time approached, various problems began amongst the four, as a result, three of them were left behind, while the fourth, Dion DiMucci, decided he couldn't afford the $36 for his share of the flight.
One of the other performers who was battling the flu managed to convince
Waylon Jennings to give up his seat; and as a result of a coin toss, Tommy Allsup lost his as well.
And so...the remaining three left Clear Lake, Iowa for what amounted to less than a 6 mile journey that ended in their being enshrined in the history of rock 'n roll.
...and from that day, February 3rd, it has forever been referred to as
"the day the music died."
Of course, Charles was better known as Buddy Holly; Waylon Jennings gave up his seat to J.P. Richardson, and Tommy Allsup lost the coin toss to a young kid named Ritchie Valens.
So let's take a moment to remember these 'legends".
A day has never passed in the last 54 years without somewhere in the world that their music is still heard by those who were there to remember it, and those who are hearing it for the first time.
J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper)
Ritchie Valens
Buddy Holly
Buddy, Ritchie & The Bopper live !
It all started with James W. Marshall---165 Years Ago
There he was, minding his own business, on January 24, 1848, when, while working as a foreman at a lumber mill owned by a man named John A Sutter, owner of a business at a place called Sutter's Mill, he looked down, and noticed something that was shiny, "could be beaten into a different shape, but not broken".
And of course, what was it?
GOLD
...AND like all good news...the word spread.
On on this day 165 years ago, the California Gold Rush began.
The result... like the Michael Douglas saying in the movie "Wall Street" stressed....it brought thousands to California with an 1848 version of...
Greed is Good !
All told, between the years 1848-1855, it is estimated that it brought approximately 300,000 people to California from across the entire world, over 90,000 in 1849 alone.
It "rushed" progress so rapidly, that the city of San Francisco grew from a population of 200 in 1848, to 36,000 by 1852, to over 150,000 by 1870.
These so-called migrants from across the globe, "49ers" as they were called, caused a chain of historical events unmatched in American history.
Merely nine days after Marshall discovered the gold, the United States, on February 2, 1848, signed the "Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo" ending the Mexican-American War; and part of the terms of the treaty included ceding the "Alta California" Territory to the United States.
It had still belonged to Mexico when the gold was discovered !
Would the Mexican government have requested "more favorable terms" if they had known " there was gold in them thar hills"?
Timing is everything, isn't it?
It took less than a year following the discovery of gold, when, in 1849 a state constitution was held; and a year later, on September 9, 1850, California was admitted as our nation's 31st state.
These "49er" pioneers didn't exactly have an easy time getting to California either.
There were only three choices available to them.
They could travel across the western plains through the Rocky Mountains by wagon train; they could sail 18,000 nautical miles around the tip of South America up to California from the east coast, or they could sail to some place called the Isthmus of Panama, get off the boat, and take canoes and mules for a week "venture" through the jungles of Central America, followed by another voyage up to California after waiting for a ship to arrive once they got to the Pacific side.
Those who chose the first route often encountered bands of hostile Native Americans; the second; the fear of shipwreck; and the third, deadly typhoid fever and cholera.
Not exactly great ways of travel !
And we had those from other nations who made the journey as well, notably the Chinese.
Several hundred arrived in 1850; and by 1852, more than 20,000 Chinese immigrants with their distinctive clothing and appearance, were panning for gold...and years later, many of these same individuals would be highly responsible for their work ethic in the construction of the Continental Railroad bringing rail travel from the east coast to the west.
There were many women as well, which included single entrepreneurs, married women, both poor and wealthy, and yes....perhaps some of the wealthiest... the prostitutes !
In the beginning is was all just "theirs for the taking", but as time passed, that too, changed.
What started as a "free for all"...there was no such thing as private property, taxes, or licensing fees; the early miners adopted a Mexican system of ownership referred to as "staking a claim", a system that was supposedly "legal" as long as the "claim was being worked".
Needless to say, that wording was a matter of interpretation, and man in his greedy ways, then began "claim jumping" to garner personal wealth.
But...without a doubt, the worst abuse came to those who seem to have been lost through the pages of history.....
...Native Americans...
... those dependent on the land, soon faced starvation, as gravel, silt, and toxic materials from mining operations killed fish and agriculture and poisoned streams killing wildlife. These same people faced the "white man" diseases of smallpox, influenza, and measles, losing as much as up to 80% of their population from smallpox alone.
The "Act for the Government and Protection of Indians" passed on April 22, 1850 by the California legislature actually allowed settlers to CONTINUE the practice of capturing and using Native American labor, as bonded workers. Many, especially women and children, were SOLD; the remaining men murdered in genocidal attacks.
According to the state of California OFFICIAL RECORDS, 4,500 Native Americans were victims of violent deaths between 1849 and 1870.
It is estimated that Native Americans totaled 150,000 in 1845, and dropped to less than 30,000 by 1870.
Racism continued toward other ethnic groups as well, specifically against those not originally from North America....especially against Chinese and Latin American immigrants.
So much so....that one out of twelve of these immigrant "49ers" perished due to the high crime rates against them.
But who made the money?
Not so much the miners who panned for the gold...
...but the merchant, the most wealthy of which was a man named Samuel Brannan, a tireless promoter, shopkeeper, and newspaper publisher, who sold supplies to the men who did the actual mining.
And a name with whom all of us are familiar....
Levi Strauss...seller of a strong denim overall; that, to this very day, we all casually refer to as "levi's".
Only about half of the miners ever made much of a profit, and after expenses were deducted, most of them who arrived late in the "Gold Rush" often lost money...their entire life savings.
But what about the original players, James W. Marshall AND John A. Sutter ?
Sadly, like so many who are the "originals", they didn't fare very well.
Marshall, after discovering the gold, turned out, in my opinion, to be the original reason for the saying years later made famous by baseball great, Leo Durocher.
"Nice Guys Finish Last"
After sharing the news with his crew at the mill, the mill employees quickly decided that they too, would seek out the wealth discovered by Marshall; and as a result, they left the mill in search of their own fortunes, panning for gold.
Marshall, sadly, was more concerned about running Sutter's Mill.
After all he was the foreman. So, being the good foreman he was, decided to take John Sutter and the gold samples he had found to be analyzed, only to learn that what had been discovered was not just gold, but 96% pure gold.
Within four days most of the able bodied men were GONE...
And..Sutter's Mill failed.
He tried business after business, but eventually died penniless in a small cabin.
John Sutter also had quite a life.
Though some considered him an enterprising figure in Mexican California, there were those who also considered him a liar, cheat, smuggler, slaver, and alcoholic.
After a hasty departure from his native Switzerland to avoid trial and certain jail time for bad debts in 1834, he abandoned his wife and children, he traveled with a French passport through various countries until in 1839, he reached San Francisco.
Being what we would call today, "a great BSer" he first, became a Mexican citizen, and began identifying himself as "Captain Sutter of the Swiss Guard"; and in doing so, convinced the Mexican governor to grant him 48,427 acres of land in 1840.
When the Mexican-American War ended...
....again...after days of discovering gold at his mill...
...the miners began to pour into American California, and eventually, he lost his mine.
After 15 years of petitioning the US Congress to allow him certain California land grants originally given to him by the Mexican government, all he would ever receive was a pension of $250 p/month for past taxes paid on his once owned California properties.
Though Sutter never did make his fortune; his son, John Sutter Jr. did accomplish something that has lasted to this day....
...Sutter Jr. founded the city of Sacramento.
The California Gold Rush left other indelible marks on our modern world as well...particularly in the State of California.
The state motto is "The Golden State".
On the California state seal, the word, "Eureka" is taken from the language used by the 49ers.
California highways, have a distinguished shape....they are fashioned in the manner of a "miners's spade shovel".
And of course, the NFL has the San Francisco "49ers".
And all of it began on January 24, 1848....165 years ago !
___________________________________________
Boys with Bikes
What a Way to End a Year !
The year was 1903, and according to the history books, it was a fairly eventful year.
The year was 1903, and according to the history books, it was a fairly eventful year.
Ford Motor Company sold its first Model A...
The Boston Pilgrims beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5 games to 3 in the first World Series...
Teddy Roosevelt was President...a "fiery" character, who started the year by closing a post office in Mississippi because it refused to accept its first black postmaster (a woman), in addition to engineering a Central American revolution after Columbia refused to negotiate a deal for the Panama Canal, backing successful Panamanian revolutionists, and even establishing a military base in Cuba called Guantanamo.
Madame Curie shared the first Nobel Peace Prize...
And in the entertainment world, the Edison Company released its first western called "The Great Train Robbery", while an opera singer named Enrico Caruso opened at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, an author named Jack London published a novel entitled "The Call of the Wild," but the year ended with a tragic fire in Chicago where 605 people lost their lives at the Iroquois Theater while vaudeville actor, Eddie Foy, the headliner, desperately tried in vain to save the many who filled the audience.
Some interesting people were born that year as well, which included Bob Hope, Dr, Benjamin Spock, Baseball great Lou Gehrig, and "1984" author, George Orwell.
But when you add it all up....
There was one event that in my opinion, topped all the others.
And it happened at 10:35am in a chilly North Carolina town, called Kitty Hawk, where two brothers changed the history of the world.
The "bike" guys named Orville & Wilbur Wright, made history that morning when each brother made two solo flights in their flying machine from ground level into a freezing headwind gusting to 27 miles per hour.
Orville was a high school drop-out, and Wilbur never attended a single day of college.
Wilbur's father often criticized him for his "lack of ambition."
The brothers always appeared to be close, and began their business careers in the newspaper business after Orville designed and built a printing press with Wilbur's assistance; and what began as a weekly publication, quickly developed into a daily edition.
Unfortunately, after only 4 months, it failed; but the knowledge of the printing business allowed them a successful career in commercial printing endeavors.
As the "gay 90's" marched on, they capitalized on a bicycle craze that was sweeping the nation; and once again, joined forces, establishing the "Wright Cycle Company."
Their success even lead to manufacturing their own brand in 1896.
Their success even lead to manufacturing their own brand in 1896.
But the Wrights had other ambitions and used the profits to fund what they really passioned, FLIGHT.
And so, they entered a competitive world where others had entered primarily with gliders, often succumbing in their efforts.
But there was one element that made the Wrights a bit different from the others....
Wilbur, on the basis of observation, noticed that birds changed the angle of the end of their wings to make their bodies roll to the right and to the left....and thought that a flying machine should encompass the same mechanics...by banking or leaning into a turn...similar to riding a BICYCLE.
This also corrected another major problem.....the wind, enabling recovery when the wind would tilt the flying machine in a certain direction, thus enabling the operator to balance the craft.
But how to accomplish this?
Leave it up to Wilbur. One day, he twisted a long inner-tub box at the bicycle shop, and without realizing it, discovered something we refer to today as "wing-warping," subsequently patented by the Wright Brothers, consisting of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite directions.
And so, it was time to test it out.
Orville was first up, and traveled all of 120 feet in 12 seconds at a speed of 6.8 miles per hour, and was subsequently immortalized in this photo.
Orville was first up, and traveled all of 120 feet in 12 seconds at a speed of 6.8 miles per hour, and was subsequently immortalized in this photo.
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Wilbur and Orville totaled 4 flights that day, and got as far as 200 feet, traveling about 10 feet above the ground.
And so the age of FLIGHT was born, 102 years ago today, on...
December 17, 1903.
--------------------------------------------------------
The Hannukah lights were burning and the Christmas season had just begun. A depression was lingering and a president had almost completed the first year of his third term.
Europe had been at war since 1939 and the Japanese were setting its sights on Asian domination.
The United States watched and hoped that it would not have to be part of these affairs....and then it happened.
December 7, 1941
At approximately 6:05 am on that morning, six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 183 aircraft in search of the American Pacific Naval fleet, which was "securely" located at Pearl Harbor in the city of Honolulu in the Hawaiian Islands.
...and at 7:51 am, they reached their destination; the chaos began. and 39 minutes later, a second wave of 130 Japanese "torpedo" bombers arrived to complete their mission.
Tora Tora Tora which actually means "tiger tiger tiger" was the Japanese code for the attack.
Did the American fleet feel they were safe in that location?
Yes, they did.
At that time "torpedo" bombings were believed to be effective at depths of 75 feet or more, and the depth of Pearl Harbor waters is merely 40 feet.
Unfortunately, that assumption was in error, as on that day the overall death toll reached 2,402 of which 1,177 were military personnel aboard the ill-fated Battleship Arizona. In addition, 1,282 others were wounded which included 68 civilians among the casualties.
The Arizona was one of eight US battleships located there, and following the attack, five were sunk (The Arizona. The Oklahoma, The California, The West Virginia. and The Utah), the remaining three were severely damaged.
In total the United States had nine ships sunk, twenty-one were heavily damaged, and three of them were irreparable.
War had commenced, and in the prophetic words of the Japanese Commander in Chief, Admiral Yamamoto, regarding the attacks, it did indeed...
"awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."
The following day, President Roosevelt addressed the Congress in what has become one of the most famous speeches in our history.
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It all began on December 7, 1941, when an American generation...
...the greatest generation...
...would leave the comfort of their homes, and 131,000 of them would never return to their families...
The Punch Bowl in Honolulu
...in order that we, today, may have what they so nobly fought to preserve...
OUR FREEDOM.
To the brave souls who lost their lives on that day...
We honor you, we salute you....and we will never forget you.
God bless this Great Land we call our home.
Dick Arendt
WHY TURKEY on THANKSGIVING ???
This Thursday, our nation will be sitting down with family to celebrate the American tradition of Thanksgiving.
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We've all seen the portraits of the Pilgrims and the Indians coming together one day to celebrate a joint feast, but there is one question that few can answer.
Why do we eat turkey on Thanksgiving?
Actually, it's rather "basic, Watson," as Sherlock Holmes would often say.
It was cheap !
It goes back to the late 19th century. You see, going to a butcher to get a beef brisket wasn't readily available and people looked at cows as being more valuable alive than dead. Bessie could graze and provide milk for the family every day, but be steak only once.
So, how about chicken? Way back when, they felt the same about the chicken as they did the cow. A live chicken can lay an egg, but a dead one, well, can't ! Besides roosters weren't too tasty and their purpose was to strut the barnyard, looking for objects of their affection...to make more chickens.
Geese were considered, but they were more expensive than chicken to raise, and if you looked closely, not much available for "leftovers."
Venison was considered as a option, but not many people were into hunting for their dinners in Manhattan or in downtown Chicago.
Then here is pork or ham, "the other white meat." Years ago pork wasn't considered fit for human consumption, and besides, the Jewish population wasn't too cool on choosing that option either.
So...one fine day, this big fat bird that can't fly came "a walkin" past one of those farmer's homes. There he was; no one had to feed it, and it was easy to kill because it made a big target for those rifles.
These creatures would spend about seven months eating insects and worms on the farm to keep themselves alive, and yet would grow upwards of 10 pounds or more.
So...by simple deduction, this became the choice of the American dinner table for the Thanksgiving holiday.
In 1863, while pondering the fate of the Union, President Lincoln, needing something to raise the spirit of the country during the Civil War. looked out the window of the White House one afternoon, and saw this bird walk by his door, strutting its feathers for all to see.
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He recalled the early history of the Republic when Benjamin Franklin first suggested that the TURKEY be the national bird, was joyful that another bird was chosen for the honor, and so, because he could never remember having a crave for an eagle sandwich, he came to the conclusion that Benjamin Franklin's original suggestion would better serve the nation in it's stomach, rather than on the back of a coin.
And so (with the help of some imagination), that is why we eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day.
Happiest of holidays to all of you.
Dick Arendt
Dick, Just a few extra tidbits.
ReplyDeleteMore than a few Jews went to California.
In addition to Levi Strauss, the DeYoung's (of the DeYoung Museum), the Gerstles (Gerstle Park in Marin) Sutro (Sutro Tower in SF) and the Lilienthals (The Octagon House) made their fortunes during the Gold Rush.
The Jewish families tended to socialize and eventually marry within the tribe. There's still a lot of "hidden" Jewish wealth in San Francisco, started during the Gold Rush!
Great memories of the Beatles...thanks!
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