US History – Page 2 – Sharing History

Andrew Jackson: Saved By Divine Providence?

January 30, 2024January 29, 2024Uncategorized, US HistoryLeave a Comment

On January 30, 1835, President Andrew Jackson visited the Capitol building in Washington D.C. to attend the funeral of Warren Davis, a member of the House of Representatives. As he exited the building, a man stepped from behind a column, pulled a pistol from his jacket, pointed it at the president, and fired. This was the first assassination attempt of a U.S. President in history.

Luckily for Andrew Jackson, the pistol pulled by Richard Lawrence, his would-be assassin, misfired. Jackson, in a fit of rage, charged Lawrence, hitting him several times with his cane. Lawrence proceeded to pull a second pistol from his jacket and shot at the president. The second gun also misfired. Experts later reported that the chance of both of Lawrence’s pistols misfiring was 1 in 125,000. Many Americans at the time, including President Jackson himself, thought the president must have been saved by divine providence.

However, conspiracy theories also abounded. Jackson was sure that it was his political opposition, headed up by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. While this proved to be untrue, some have suggested that it was Calhoun’s statement to the press several days before that prompted Lawrence to make an attempt on the president’s life. Calhoun said that the president was “a Caesar who ought to have a Brutus.” In any case, during Lawrence’s trial, which interestingly enough was prosecuted by Francis Scott Key of Star-Spangled Banner fame, it became very clear that Lawrence was mentally instable. Lawrence was convinced that he was King Richard III, the rightful monarch of England. He was sentenced not guilty by reason of insanity and was placed in a home for the mentally ill.

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Wynne’s Crossword

December 22, 2023December 21, 2023Uncategorized, US HistoryLeave a Comment

On December 21, 1913, the New York World newspaper printed the first published crossword puzzle. The puzzle was created by Arthur Wynne, a journalist who hailed from Liverpool, England. Though the word puzzle was not an entirely original idea, Wynne’s version was the first to be published and made available to a large audience. Though the puzzle was an instant phenomenon, it was not until the publishing group Simon & Schuster published a book of crossword puzzles in 1924 that the game became popular throughout the country.

When Wynne’s first puzzle was published, the New York Times published an opinion article that referred to crossword puzzles as “a primitive sort of mental exercise” and a “sinful waste” of time. They suggested its popularity was of a fleeting sort. Ironically, the Times’ crossword is now the most famous crossword in the country. It was actually the bombing of Pearl Harbor that led to the New York Times changing its tune. After Pearl Harbor, the Sunday Times editor wrote to the publisher: “We ought to proceed with the puzzle, especially in view of the fact it is possible there will now be bleak blackout hours—or if not that then certainly a need for relaxation of some kind or other.” On February 15, 1942, the New York Times published their first crossword puzzle. Now, over 500,000 people subscribe to the Times crossword and crossword books are sold in their thousands each year in every bookstore around.

Though today’s puzzles might look different than the first one published in 1913, can you solve Wynne’s famous diamond game?

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Poor Richard’s Almanack

December 19, 2023December 12, 2023Uncategorized, US HistoryLeave a Comment

On December 19, 1732, the first edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack was published. While the almanac was centuries old by this point, this version, written and printed by Benjamin Franklin, became one of the best-selling books in the American colonies. While primarily used as a calendar, Poor Richard’s Almanack introduced countless adages that have become common colloquialisms in American English.

After 1732, Poor Richard’s Almanack was published yearly by Benjamin Franklin for 25 years. Franklin wrote under a pseudonym, “Richard Saunders,” or “Poor Richard.” Historians suggest that Franklin did so to better appeal to the common man. The almanac included the times of sunrises and sunsets, weather predictions, astrological charts, jokes, and aphorisms. Many of these aphorisms are commonly used today, including:

“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

“Fish and visitors stink in three days.”

“God helps them that help themselves.”

“To err is human, to repent divine, to persist devilish.”

“No gains without pains.”

The publishing of the almanacs was one of Franklin’s greatest business successes. However, it was also an incredible vehicle for Franklin to spread his political beliefs and encourage revolutionary sentiments. He wrote, “The King’s Cheese is half wasted in pairings; but no matter, ‘tis made of the people’s milk.”

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“Call Me Ishmael”

November 14, 2023November 22, 2023US HistoryLeave a Comment

On November 14, 1851, the now acclaimed novel Moby Dick was published by Harper Collins in the United States. Its author, Herman Melville, had previously published several novels which all received mixed reviews and didn’t make him much money. He hoped Moby Dick, or The Whale, as it was titled in England, would catapult him to literary fame.

Unfortunately, it didn’t happen that way. Reviews of the novel published immediately after its release concluded that “it is a crazy sort of affair, stuffed with conceits and oddities of all kinds . . .” and “extravagance is the bane of the book, and the stumbling block of the author. He allows his fancy to not only run riot, but absolutely to run amuck, in which poor defenceless Common Sense is hustled and belaboured in a manner melancholy to contemplate.” Moby Dick did not bring Herman Melville great success as a writer. It wasn’t until after his death in the 1920s and 30s that Moby Dick was declared one of the great American novels.

Herman Melville spent the years 1841 to 1844 having adventures across the sea that would provide the inspiration for his writing. He originally joined a whaling ship but abandoned it a year later only to be captured by cannibals on the Marquesas Islands. From there he traveled to Tahiti and Eimeo, became a harpooner on another whaling ship, and ended up in Honolulu, where he became a bookkeeper. In 1844, Melville returned to New England a member of the US Navy.

Upon his return, Melville wrote several novels, including Typee, Omoo, and Redburn. He also drafted Moby Dick. These writings were detailed, first-hand descriptions of life aboard a whaling ship and life on remote islands. Upon meeting famed American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne encouraged Melville to consider a more allegorical approach to writing. Melville rewrote Moby Dick, dedicating it to Hawthorne in gratitude for his advice. It was published in 1851.

Moby Dick never gained popularity during Melville’s life. However, in 1924, over 70 years after its original debut, Works of Herman Melville was published and Moby Dick finally got its proper due. It is considered one of the greatest American novels ever written and its vague allegorical nature has opened it up to over a century of interpretation and admiration.

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Order your copy of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick from an independent bookstore like this one: https://www.strandbooks.com/product/9780679783275?title=mobydick_or_the_whale

“Dewey Defeats Truman:” The Newspaper Gaffe of the Century

November 3, 2023December 3, 2023US HistoryLeave a Comment

On November 3, 1948, the day after the 1948 presidential election, the sun rose on Chicago. As on every other day, newspapers were delivered and stacked high in newsracks. As the papers were collected and unfurled, their holders would have read on the front page, directly under the Chicago Tribune logo, “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.” However, Dewey did not defeat Truman. How did the Chicago Tribune, a pillar of upstanding journalism, report the results of the presidential election incorrectly?

FILE – In this Nov. 4, 1948, file photo, President Harry S. Truman at St. Louis’ Union Station holds up an election day edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune, which – based on early results – mistakenly announced “Dewey Defeats Truman.” (AP Photo/Byron Rollins)

First of all, Truman was never supposed to the win the election. Truman was a massive underdog, despite his being the incumbent candidate. Truman had inherited the presidency from Franklin Roosevelt, who had died only three months into his fourth term. By 1948, inflation was high, labor unrest was building (sound familiar?), and Truman’s stance on civil rights had alienated the conservative faction of his party. Thomas Dewey, however, was his party’s hero. He was the conservative governor of New York who had spent his career as an attorney taking on the gangs in the city. 1948 was his second time to be nominated as the Republican Party’s candidate for the presidential election. Polls, media, and public opinion had Dewey as the clear winner of the election long before the polls closed on November 2.

Truman had, in any case, launched an aggressive campaign. He traveled the country by train, stopping in cities all over the United States and speaking out against the ineffectual Congress. Americans responded by saying, “Give ‘em hell, Harry!” which became the unofficial slogan of the campaign. On election day, the liberal, laborer, and African American factions that Truman had reached out to showed up to turn the tide of the contest. Despite this, due to a printer’s strike happening in Chicago, the Chicago Tribune had an earlier deadline than normal. So, at 10:30 p.m. on November 2, the paper with the headline “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN,” followed by “G.O.P. Sweep Indicated in State,” was printed and distributed. In the end, underdog Truman won the election by 114 electoral votes, and the Tribune was forced to reprint and say, “DEMOCRATS MAKE SWEEP OF STATE OFFICES.”

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“City Hall to Harlem in 15 Minutes”

October 27, 2023October 26, 2023Uncategorized, US History1 Comment

On October 27, 1904, the New York City subway ran for the first time. After four years of construction, during which New York streets were dug up, the subway was built, and then the streets were covered up again, the way the city moved changed irrevocably. Today, about 2.4 million people ride the New York City subway each day. The NYC subway has the most stations of any subway in the world and is one of the only metro systems to be open 24/7/365.

The original subway system was built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT). They hired contractor John McDonald on a $35 million contract to build the first line. Engineer William Barclay Parsons worked on the design. This line covered 9.1 miles and took passengers from City Hall to Harlem. On October 27, 1904, the line was opened with great fanfare by Mayor George McClellan. He ceremoniously stood at the controls and started the first train, enjoying the task so much that he drove the train all the way to 103^rd St. The passengers were 15,000 invited guests, many of whom had worked on the completion of the metro line. According to a New York Times (NYT) reporter, “there were a great many who did not make the round trip from City Hall Park to One Hundred and Forty-fifth Street and back again, but got off at their own stations on the return trip in the most natural and matter-of-fact way, as if they had been doing it all their lives,” and New Yorkers have been riding the subway thus ever since.

At 7:00 that evening, the subway opened for public use. Over 150,000 people rode the subway between 7:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. that first day, each of them paying a nickel for the privilege. The same NYT reporter wrote, “it was astonishing, though, how easily the passengers fell into the habit of regarding the Subway as a regular thing . . . the men on the trains were quietly getting out at their regular stations and going home, having finished what will be to them the daily routine of the rest of their lives. It is hard to surprise New York permanently.”

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The Conviction of Scarface

October 17, 2023November 26, 2023US HistoryLeave a Comment

On October 17, 1931, Alphonse Capone, legendary mob boss of the Chicago area, was convicted of five counts of federal tax evasion. Capone was a career gangster who, according to the New York Times, went from “the lowly position of a $75-a-week punk for Johnny Torrio, head of Chicago’s gangsterdom and master panderer, to undisputed control of all the illegal sources of revenue in the city and its suburbs.” This career involved violation of prohibition laws, murder, prostitution rings, bribery, and trafficking of narcotics. In the end, Capone was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.

Al Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York to Italian immigrants. At the age of 14, Capone left school and joined the South Brooklyn Rippers, a teen gang. By 16, he was a member of the Five Points Gang and fell under the tutelage of legendary mob boss, Johnny Torrio. It was around this time while working at a mob-run brothel, Capone got into an altercation with another man and ended up with a knife wound across his cheek. This is what gave him his infamous nickname: Scarface.

In 1919, following a series of violent events, Capone and his family escaped to Chicago where Torrio was working in the Colosimo mob, which ran brothels around the city. The following year, Prohibition was passed, and a new business opportunity opened itself up to the mob. When Colosimo refused to participate in bootlegging, Torrio had him killed. Torrio and Capone teamed up to create the Chicago Outfit, running an incredibly profitable bootlegging business. After Torrio’s retirement, Capone found himself in charge. He expanded the Outfit’s prostitution, bootlegging, and gambling businesses, and through massive bloodshed, expanded the gang’s territory. Throughout it all, Capone avoided jail by paying off city officials and intimidating witnesses.

Capone’s notoriety peaked after the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, in which seven members of a rival gang were brutally shot outside a Lincoln Park garage. It was around this time that the FBI started investigating Capone. The IRS eventually found evidence that Capone had not paid his federal income taxes for the years between 1924 and 1929. In 1931, he was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison and fined $50,000. Capone served two years in Atlanta, but when it became clear that he was still able to run the Outfit from prison, he was moved to Alcatraz in 1934. Capone was released in 1939 with dementia, a symptom of his advanced syphilis. He died in Florida in 1947 at the age of 48. Upon the occasion of his death, the New York Times wrote, “Though ‘Scarface Al,’ once Public Enemy No. 1, died in bed in the midst of luxury, his career ended in mental and physical horror. Among the funeral wreaths his old gangster associates will doubtless shower on his bier there should be at least one inscribed, ‘The wages of sin is death.’”

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Spiro Agnew: The Almost President

October 10, 2023October 9, 2023Uncategorized, US HistoryLeave a Comment

On October 10, 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew became the first U.S. Vice President to resign his position under duress. An impending criminal conviction combined with pressure from President Richard Nixon, who was himself under investigation, led Agnew to deliver the following statement to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: “I hereby resign the office of Vice President of the United States, effective immediately.”

Spiro T. Agnew was born in November 1918 in Baltimore, Maryland. He served as an officer in the US Army during WWII. Agnew was a law student at the University of Baltimore and practiced law for about 10 years before beginning his political career. Agnew was voted in as governor of Maryland in 1967. As far as Agnew’s politics went, his have been considered the origin of the Trump GOP. Authors of a book on the subject said that, as a politician, Agnew took on “what decades later would become the holy trinity of targets for Trump’s MAGA movement—the media, coastal elites, and higher education—Agnew went from punchline to patron saint of middle America” (2). In 1968, Richard Nixon chose Agnew as his running partner, and Agnew became more and more popular with a group of radical republicans into his second term as vice president. It certainly seemed that Agnew had the republican nomination for the 1976 presidential election in the bag.

However, in 1973, the US Justice Department began investigating charges of income-tax evasion and bribery during Agnew’s time as Governor of Maryland. Though Agnew aggressively fought the claims of wrong-doing, the evidence soon became undeniable. Agnew had received money in return for awarding high-priced government contracts and had not reported that money on his taxes. By this time, the Nixon administration knew Agnew was unlikely to escape conviction, and Nixon was facing his own criminal indictment for the Watergate Scandal. According to the US line of presidential succession, if both Nixon and Agnew were removed from office by impeachment, House Speaker Carl Albert, democrat, would have taken office. To avoid giving a democrat the job, Nixon’s administration sought to remove Agnew from office and replace him with a suitable successor by pressuring Agnew to resign.

Agnew’s lawyers came to an agreement with the Justice Department that Agnew would plead “nolo contendere,” or no contest, to the charges of tax evasion, and the Justice Department would drop the charges of bribery and extortion against him. Agnew was fined $10,000 and sentenced to three years’ probation. He was disbarred by the state of Maryland the following year. Less than a year after Agnew’s departure from office, President Richard Nixon resigned due to accusations surrounding the Watergate Scandal, ceding the presidency to Agnew’s replacement, Gerald Ford.

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Tokyo Rose: American Scapegoat

October 6, 2023October 6, 2023Uncategorized, US HistoryLeave a Comment

On October 6, 1949, an American woman named Iva Toguri d’Aquino was the seventh person to be convicted of treason in the United States. She was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and fined $10,000 for her crimes. What exactly was her crime? Broadcasting a radio show to American troops during WWII.

Iva Ikuko Toguri was born in Los Angeles in 1916. Her parents were immigrants from Japan who had settled in California. Toguri attended school, earned her degree from UCLA, and worked with her father in his shop. A normal American girl, Toguri soon found herself living a nightmare when, in 1941, she traveled to Japan to visit her aunt. Before she could return home to the US, Japanese troops attacked Pearl Harbor, and Toguri found herself stuck in Japan, far from her family, who had been forced into an internment camp.

As she waited out the war, Toguri got a job as a typist at Radio Tokyo where she met Australian POW Major Charles Cousens. He and several other captured Allied soldiers had been brought to Radio Tokyo to be the voices of a Japanese propaganda show intended to discourage US troops posted in the Asia Pacific area. Cousens asked Toguri to be an announcer on the show, Zero Hour. She and dozens of other women who announced on the show became collectively known as “Tokyo Rose” by US troops who listened to it. However, the announcers of the show claimed to be trying to sabotage the propaganda program. Toguri repeatedly joked with her listeners that the show was Japanese propaganda, saying, “Be on your guard, and mind the children don’t hear!”

As the war ended, the US media set its sights on now-married Iva Toguri d’Aquino. Two reporters traveled to Japan, promising d’Aquino money for an exclusive interview. Desperately in need of funds, she agreed to the interview. Once her name was published by the American media, the government moved in to investigate. d’Aquino’s name became synonymous with treason, and years of American upset and aggression were heaped upon her. A year’s investigation yielded no evidence that her show was anything other than “innocuous entertainment.”

It was unfortunate then, that famous radio host, Walter Winchell, was unwilling to let it go. He continued to insist that charges of treason be brought against her. In 1949, the government capitulated to pressure from the media and American public and brought her case to trial. Despite people who testified on her behalf, she was declared guilty, sentenced to a decade in federal prison, and stripped of her American citizenship.

d’Aquino served about six years in prison before being released on good behavior. She fought the government’s deportation efforts and moved to Chicago. In 1976, two of the key witnesses from her 1949 trial came forward to say they were pressured into giving false testimony against d’Aquino. Shortly after, the jury foreman from d’Aquino’s trial said that the jury was pressured by the judge to deliver a guilty verdict. In 1977, President Gerald Ford pardoned Iva d’Aquino and restored her citizenship.

In the decades since the Tokyo Rose debacle, many reasons have been given for the obvious scapegoating of d’Aquino. There were certainly politics, racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, and media bias at play. Iva herself said, “I supposed they found someone and got the job done; they were all satisfied. It was eeny, meeny, miney, and I was moe.”

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On This Day: Lehman Brothers Files for Bankruptcy

September 15, 2023September 18, 2023US HistoryLeave a Comment

On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers, a large investment firm based in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy. The Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy is one of the major events of the 2008 financial crisis. It was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history and had lasting effects on the world economy.

In the early 2000s, Lehman Brothers became involved in loan origination, acquiring thousands of mortgages, many of which were considered “subprime,” because they were mortgages given to borrowers with high debt-to-income ratios and low credit scores. These mortgages were often given with variable interest rates, meaning the interest rate on the mortgage would change as the Federal Reserve (Fed) raised and lowered it. Banks all over the U.S., including Lehman Brothers were offering these subprime mortgages, creating a false sense of prosperity in the housing market. After obtaining these subprime mortgages, the banks would bundle them with better mortgages and sell them as bonds (called mortgage-backed securities) to other banks and investment firms.

From 2004-2006, the Fed raised the interest rate four points, leaving the borrowers of the subprime mortgages unable to make their mortgage payments. At the same time, home prices were falling, leaving the mortgagees unable to refinance or sell their homes to make their payments. By 2007, the default rate on variable rate mortgages was 29%. The more mortgages that defaulted, the less the mortgage-backed securities were worth, causing banks and investment firms to lose billions of dollars very quickly. Lehman Brothers was one such firm. When their losses were reported, their stock price plummeted. They declared bankruptcy and accounted for over $600 billion in debt.

The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers was a landmark event in the 2008 financial crisis. It is estimated that American households lost about 26% of their wealth during the crisis. While many of these households never recovered from that loss, unlike the bankers and financial executives that caused the crisis. Richard Fuld, CEO of Lehman Brothers at the time of its collapse, made almost $500 million in the eight years leading up to the bankruptcy.

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