Category: History

Brief narratives about people and events in the American past.

Richard Nixon

… was born in Yorba Linda, California, on this date in 1913.

NewMexiKen was contacted by the staff working with Richard Nixon on his memoirs, RN, many years ago. I was asked to see if I could determine — from among the Nixon papers in my custody — the time of day he was born. As I remember it, my research was inconclusive. Someone else’s must have been helpful. The memoirs begin:

I was born in a house my father built. My birth on the night of January 9, 1913, coincided with a record-breaking cold snap in our town of Yorba Linda, California.

El Tratado de La Mesilla

… was signed in Mexico City on this date in 1853. The treaty settled the dispute over the exact location of the international border west of Texas and gave the U.S. approximately 29,000 square miles of land — in brief, Arizona and New Mexico south of the Gila River — for the price of $10 million. In the U.S. it’s known as the Gadsden Purchase Treaty.

The Mexican Republic agrees to designate the following as her true limits with the United States for the future: retaining the same dividing line between the two Californias as already defined and established, according to the 5th article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the limits between the two republics shall be as follows: Beginning in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land, opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, as provided in the 5th article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; thence, as defined in the said article, up the middle of that river to the point where the parallel of 31° 47′ north latitude crosses the same; thence due west one hundred miles; thence south to the parallel of 31° 20′ north latitude; thence along the said parallel of 31° 20′ to the 111th meridian of longitude west of Greenwich; thence in a straight line to a point on the Colorado River twenty English miles below the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers; thence up the middle of the said river Colorado until it intersects the present line between the United States and Mexico.

Read the entire Gadsden Purchase Treaty.

Wounded Knee

The following is from The Library of Congress, posted on the Today in History page for this date in 2004, but not posted this year:

On December 29, 1890 at Wounded Knee Creek, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, some 500 soldiers of the United States Seventh Cavalry opened fire on approximately 350 Lakota (Sioux) Indians of Chief Big Foot’s Miniconjou band. At the end of the confrontation, between 150 and 300 Sioux men, women, and children, including Chief Big Foot, were dead. This event marked the end of Lakota resistance until the 1970s. Apart from the few minor skirmishes that followed, the Wounded Knee massacre ended the Indian Wars.

In many ways, the massacre resulted from the Ghost Dance movement. The movement was led by a Paiute named Wovoka who claimed to have had a vision that the “Old Earth” would be destroyed and a new one created in which Native Americans could live as they had before the coming of the European. He preached that the only way to survive the impending apocalypse would be to faithfully perform the Ghost Dance and the ceremonies associated with it.

Continue reading Wounded Knee

Thomas Woodrow Wilson

… was born in Staunton, Virginia, on this date in 1856.

After graduating from Princeton in 1879, Wilson studied law at the University of Virginia for one year. He received a Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins University in 1886. Wilson remains the only American president to have earned a doctoral degree.

Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. He became President of Princeton in 1902. His commentary on contemporary political matters led to his election as Governor of New Jersey in 1910 and as President in 1912.

Wilson was the second of two sitting American Presidents to win the Nobel Prize for Peace. (Theodore Roosevelt was the other.)

Richard Wetherill and Charles Mason

Wetherill Tombstone

… rode out on what is now Sun Point in search of lost cattle on this date in 1888 and first saw Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde. That afternoon, Richard found Spruce Tree House, and the next day, the two men discovered Square Tower House. Al Wetherill, Richard’s brother, saw Cliff Palace sometime the year before, but he did not enter the dwelling, so the credit for the “discovery” has been given to Richard Wetherill and Charles Mason.

In 1901, Richard Wetherill homesteaded land that included Pueblo Bonito, Pueblo Del Arroyo, and Chetro Ketl in what is now Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Wetherill remained in Chaco Canyon, homesteading and operating a trading post at Pueblo Bonito until his controversial murder in 1910. Chiishch’ilin Biy, charged with his murder, served several years in prison, but was released in 1914 due to poor health. Wetherill is buried in the small cemetery west of Pueblo Bonito.

[NewMexiKen photo, 2003]

Bicycle mechanics

First Flight

Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully made the first four sustained flights of a heavier-than-air machine under the complete control of the pilot at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, on this date 103 years ago. Their fourth attempt, at 10:35 am, lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet.

The photograph (click to enlarge) “shows Orville Wright at the controls of the machine, lying prone on the lower wing with hips in the cradle which operated the wing-warping mechanism. Wilbur Wright running alongside to balance the machine, has just released his hold on the forward upright of the right wing.” (Library of Congress)

Oldest Ever President

Last month Gerald Ford passed Ronald Reagan and became the oldest ever former U.S. president. Reagan died a day short of 93 years and four months. Ford reached 93 years and four months on November 14.

John Adams and Herbert Hoover were the only other presidents to reach 90.

Tea, anyone?

It was on this date in 1773 that the Boston Tea Party took place. Fortunately for the future of America, the populace at that time was not encumbered with excessive Christmas shopping or second-rate bowl games and could pay attention to public affairs.

In 1770, the British Parliament ended the Townshend Duties — taxes on the sales of lead, glass, paper, paints and tea — ended them on all but the tea. The tax on British tea and a boycott of it in many of the colonies continued.

Tea was a hot commodity in the colonies, however, and considerable foreign tea was smuggled into America to avoid the tax. Some four-fifths of the tea consumed in America was brought in by smugglers.

Continue reading Tea, anyone?

The Bill of Rights

The text of the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, was posted earlier today by NewMexiKen, on this the 215th anniversary of their adoption.

The Bill of Rights

Originally 12 amendments were proposed to the legislatures of the 14 states by the First Congress. Numbers three through twelve were ratified, beginning with New Jersey in November 1789, and culminating with Virginia, the eleventh (i.e., three-quarters of the states), on this date in 1791. (The amendments were ultimately ratified by the remaining three legislatures of Massachusetts, March 2, 1939; Georgia, March 18, 1939; and Connecticut, April 19, 1939.)

The draft first amendment concerned the numbers of constituents for each representative. It has never been ratified. The draft second amendment was ratified by the required number of states in 1992. It took effect as Amendment XXVII (”No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.”)

The image is of the actual document with the 12 proposed amendments. Click image for larger version.

The Bill of Rights

… was ratified by Virginia on this date in 1791, and thereby became part of the Constitution of the United States as its first ten amendments.

The Bill of Rights

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Tatanka-Iyotanka

… was killed on this date in 1890. Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota chief and holy man. He was born around 1831 on the Grand River in present-day South Dakota. He became a warrior in a battle with the Crow at age 14, subsequently becoming renowned for his courage in fights with the U.S. Army.

In 1874, an expedition led by George Armstrong Custer confirmed the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, an area that had been declared off-limits to white settlement by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. When efforts by the government to purchase the Black Hills failed, the Fort Laramie Treaty was abrogated. All Lakota not settled on reservations by January 31, 1876, would be considered hostile. Sitting Bull led his people in holding their ground.

Continue reading Tatanka-Iyotanka

December 14th is the birthday

… of Don Hewitt. The producer of 60 Minutes is 84.

… of Patty Duke. The Oscar-winning actress is 60.

It’s the birthday of Veronica, official daughter-in-law of NewMexiKen and mother of one of The Sweeties®. Happy Birthday, Veronica.

Oscar nominee, for Days of Wine and Roses, Lee Remick was born on this date in 1935. Miss Remick died in 1991.

Congressional Medal of Honor winner Jimmy Doolittle was born on this date in 1896. Doolittle led the daring bombing raid on Tokyo in April 1942. Sixteen B-25s from the U.S.S. Hornet did little damage, but the attack on the Japanese homeland was a major public relations and morale-boosting effort for U.S. forces just five months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Nostradamus was born on this date in 1503.

George Washington died at his Mount Vernon home on this date in 1799 at the age of 67. According to the Library of Congress, his last words reportedly were: “I feel myself going. I thank you for your attentions; but I pray you to take no more trouble about me. Let me go off quietly. I cannot last long.”

Alabama was admitted to the Union as the 22nd state on this date in 1819.

Roald Amundsen and four others became the first to reach the South Pole on this date in the summer of 1911. See the NOAA South Pole Live Camera.

The first radio transmission

… across the Atlantic was made by Guglielmo Marconi on this date in 1901 (Cornwall, England, to Newfoundland, Canada). The message consisted of Morse code for the letter “s”.

That would be dot-dot-dot.

Which is better than a lot of stuff on television 105 years later.

December 11th is the birthday

… of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The Nobel Prize winner (for Literature in 1970) is 88.

… of Rita Moreno. The Oscar winner — supporting actress for Anita in West Side Story — is 75.

… of Tom Hayden. Royal Oak’s most famous native, co-founder of Students for a Democratic Society and Jane Fonda’s one-time husband is 67.

… of John Kerry. He’s 63.

… of Brenda Lee. She’s Rockin’ Around the Christmas Holiday Tree this year at age 62.

… of Terri Garr. The Oscar nominee (supporting actress for Tootsie) is 58.

Indiana entered the Union on this date in 1816, the 19th state.

The Equality State

On December 10, 1869, John Campbell, Governor of the Wyoming Territory, approved the first law in U.S. history explicitly granting women the right to vote. Commemorated in later years as Wyoming Day, the event was one of many firsts for women achieved in the Equality State.

On November 5, 1889, Wyoming voters approved the first constitution in the world granting full voting rights to women. Wyoming voters again made history in 1924 when they elected Nellie Taylor Ross as the first woman governor in the United States.

Library of Congress

December 8th is the birthday

… of David Carradine. Kwai Chang Caine is 70.

… of James MacArthur. Danno can book 69 years worth.

… of Jerry Butler. His precious love is 67.

… of Gregg Allman. Not such a ramblin’ man now that he’s 59.

As the principal architects of Southern rock, the Allman Brothers Band forged this new musical offshoot from elements of blues, jazz, soul, R&B and rock and roll. Along with the Grateful Dead and Cream, they help advance rock as a medium for improvisation. Their kind of jamming required a level of technical virtuosity and musical literacy that was relatively new to rock & roll, which had theretofore largely been a song-oriented medium. The original guitarists in the Allman Brothers Band – Duane Allman and Dickey Betts – broke that barrier with soaring, extended solos. Combined with organist Gregg Allman’s gruff, soulful vocals and Hammond B3 organ, plus the forceful, syncopated drive of a rhythm section that included two drummers, the Allman Brothers Band were a blues-rocking powerhouse from their beginnings in 1969. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

… of Bill Bryson. The humor writer is 54. Not much funny about that.

… of Kim Basinger. Might take her more than 9½ weeks now that she’s 53.

… of Teri Hatcher. She’s desperate at 42.

… of Sinead O’Connor. Nothing compares 2 her at 40.

Sammy Davis Jr. was born 80 years ago today.

John Lennon was killed on this date in 1980.

Jeanette Rankin cast the sole vote in Congress against the U.S. declaration of war on Japan on this date in 1941. She had also voted against entry into World War I. When elected in 1916, Rankin was the first woman member of the U.S. House of Representatives. She was not re-elected in 1918, after voting against entry in the First World War, but was returned to Congress for one term in 1940. Jeanette Rankin was a social worker and a lobbyist for peace and women’s rights. She died just before her 93rd birthday in 1973. She is one of the two Montanans honored in The National Statuary Hall Collection of the U.S. Capitol.

In 1702, the Duke of Alburquerque, Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva Enriquez, arrived in Mexico City to become Viceroy. In a kiss-ass move a few years later, some folks around here named a town after him.

One-hundred-years ago today was a good day for national parks: El Morro, Montezuma Castle, and Petrified Forest were all proclaimed national monuments on December 8, 1906.

Delaware

Delaware Capitol

“The First State,” ratified the Constitution on this date in 1787. Named for Thomas West, Lord De La Warre, colonial governor of Virginia, the modern state has just its original three counties. The state bird is the blue hen chicken and the state insect is the ladybug.

Photo is of the Delaware capitol, Legislative Hall, dedicated in 1933.

[NewMexiKen photo, 2002. Click to enlarge.]

Another View

You’ll have to click the image to enlarge it enough to read, but it’s an interesting statement about diversity in some parts of America. On December 7th, a day famous for its infamy, The Oakland Tribune draws attention to a book that recalls World War II Japanese internment.

Plenty of infamy to go around.

Thanks to Ken for the link.

 Oakland Tribune

Top of the Pencil Building

Washington Monument

On December 6, 1884, workers placed the 3,300 pound marble capstone on the Washington Monument, and topped it with a nine-inch pyramid of cast aluminum, completing construction of the 555-foot Egyptian obelisk.

The Library of Congress has more. That’s their photo (click to view larger version). NewMexiKen doesn’t even like being up that high on the inside.

[Update: Looking at that photo, I’m wondering where was the photographer standing? The photo is not from the completion in 1884.]

Antietam Memorial Illumination

Antietam Illumination

Debby, official younger sister of NewMexiKen, reports from her new home (since summer) near Antietam Battlefield, site of the greatest one-day loss ever of American fighting men.

Saturday night we went to the 18th Memorial Illumination at Antietam where they light a candle for every soldier who was killed, wounded, or went missing in battle there. They had over 23,000 luminaries lining the roadways and fields. It was quite a sight to behold—spread over more than 4 miles (which took an hour to drive) with row after row after row of glowing paper bags about as far apart as a man is tall. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

Debby wasn’t able to take any photographs, but she sent two links. This site has an nice selection of photos (one of which you see above — click it for a larger version). The National Park Service has details and some photos as well.

George Armstrong Custer

Custer Marker

… was born on this date in 1839.

The PBS series The West has a fair essay on his life, career and legacy.

Custer’s blunders cost him his life but gained him everlasting fame. His defeat at the Little Bighorn made the life of what would have been an obscure 19th century military figure into the subject of countless songs, books and paintings. His widow, Elizabeth Bacon Custer, did what she could to further his reputation, writing laudatory accounts of his life that portrayed him as not only a military genius but also a refined and cultivated man, a patron of the arts, and a budding statesman.

NewMexiKen is partial to this photographic legacy.

Walter Elias Disney

… was born on this date in 1901. At The New Yorker Anthony Lane has an assessment.

Even now, forty years after his death, the slight figure of Walt himself is almost impossible to pick out from the parti-colored throng of movie clips, projects, and moral tendencies that march under the banner of “Walt Disney.” Say the name to most people and you know what will flash onto their mind’s eye: unashamedly bright hues, flying elephants, singing bears, corporate dominance, happy endings, and a helping of values that slip down as easily as ice cream. How did we arrive at this blinding apotheosis? One attempt at an answer, the most comprehensive to date, is provided by Neil Gabler, in “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination” (Knopf; $35). Gabler takes more than eight hundred pages to tell and note his tale, which sounds excessive, but then Disney himself was a model of unflagging thoroughness, and, as Thumper would say, if you can’t do nice annotations, then don’t do nuthin’ at all.

Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination

ΦΒΚ

On December 5, 1776, Phi Beta Kappa, America’s most prestigious undergraduate honor society, was founded at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Membership in the organization is based on outstanding achievement in the liberal arts and sciences and typically limited to students in the upper tenth of their graduating class.

Organized by a group of enterprising undergraduates, Phi Beta Kappa was the nation’s first Greek letter society. From 1776 to 1780, members met regularly at William and Mary to write, debate, and socialize. They also planned the organization’s expansion and established the characteristics typical of American fraternities and sororities: an oath of secrecy, a code of laws, mottoes in Greek and Latin, and an elaborate initiation ritual. When the Revolutionary War forced William and Mary to close in 1780, newly-formed chapters at Harvard and Yale directed Phi Beta Kappa’s growth and development.

Library of Congress