… now Denali National Park & Preserve, was established 98 years ago today (February 26, 1917).
Denali is six million acres of wild land, bisected by one ribbon of road. Travelers along it see the relatively low-elevation taiga forest give way to high alpine tundra and snowy mountains, culminating in North America’s tallest peak, 20,320′ Mount McKinley. Wild animals large and small roam unfenced lands, living as they have for ages. Solitude, tranquility and wilderness await.
“[T]eaching takes skill and education and dedication. Home schooling…is on a par with home dentistry.”
Dick Cavett (2012)
Great news: your coffee addiction is actually pretty good for you. A summary of the good (mostly) and bad (some) of drinking a pint or two of coffee a day.
No mention of sugar and cream.
I agree with Letterman, it’s not coffee if you monkey with it.
“You’re not drinking coffee if you’re not drinking it black, don’t you think?”
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
Michael Pollan
(Seemed timely what with the latest nutrition guidelines muddying the waters yet again.)
Abe Vigoda is 94 today.
Steven Hill, District Attorney Adam Schiff of Law and Order, is 93 today.
Dominic Chianese, Corrado “Uncle Junior” Soprano, is 84.
Edward James Olmos is 68.
Honus Wagner was born on this date in 1874. He was one of the original five inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame – with Cobb, Johnson, Mathewson and Ruth. He was the first to have his name etched on a Louisville Slugger.
Hall of Fame skipper John McGraw called Honus Wagner “The nearest thing to a perfect player no matter where his manager chose to play him”. Honus Wagner played 21 seasons, primarily with his hometown team the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was the total package. He could hit for average and power and could change the dynamics of a game on the base paths and in the field– he played every position on the diamond in his major league career except for catcher.
Winslow Homer was born on this date in 1836. That’s his Breezing Up (A Fair Wind), 1873-1876, below.
From the late 1850s until his death in 1910, Winslow Homer produced a body of work distinguished by its thoughtful expression and its independence from artistic conventions. A man of multiple talents, Homer excelled equally in the arts of illustration, oil painting, and watercolor. Many of his works—depictions of children at play and in school, of farm girls attending to their work, hunters and their prey—have become classic images of nineteenth-century American life. Others speak to more universal themes such as the primal relationship of man to nature.
The House of Representatives voted 126-47 to impeach President Andrew Johnson on this date in 1868. The New York Times report on the vote begins:
The first act in the great civil drama of the nineteenth century is concluded. Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, stands impeached of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” It is of no use to argue whether his acts were right or wrong, whether the law he violated is constitutional or otherwise, or whether it is good or bad policy to proceed to this extreme. The House of Representatives, with a full realization of all the possible consequences, has solemnly decided that he shall be held to account in the manner prescribed by the Constitution for his alleged misdemeanors, and, be the result what it may, the issue is made. It must be met without delay, and the first step is already complete.
As the War ended in 1865, there were essentially two different approaches to Reconstruction. The first, shared by Lincoln and Johnson, was that the southern states had not left the Union. There had simply been a rebellion by their citizens. The Union’s purpose in the war had been to end the rebellion, replace the southern leaders and restore the state governments, albeit with freedom for all, black and white. The second approach took the view that the south was a conquered nation to be governed by the federal government. This view was held by many Republicans in Congress.
Johnson was a Democrat and slave-owner from Tennessee selected to run with the Republican Lincoln in 1864 in hopes of attracting pro-Union, pro-war Democratic votes. Johnson was far less inclined than Lincoln to support the former slaves or demand much from the new southern governments. He vetoed Freedmen’s Bills (which were passed over his vetoes) and he openly opposed the Fourteenth Amendment (citizenship and equal protection). The Reconstruction Act of 1867 was also passed over Johnson’s veto. It established military governments in the south.
Ultimately, when Johnson attempted to remove Secretary of War Stanton (the official charged by Congress with carrying out the Reconstruction Act) the House voted to impeach.
The trial was held in the Senate in the spring of 1868. The Senate voted 35-19 to remove Johnson from office, but 36 votes were required. He completed his term as President (until March 1869) and was elected U.S. Senator from Tennessee in 1875, but served only five months before he died.
The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson has contemporary reports from Harper’s Weekly.
New Mexico dumped Arizona 152 years ago today when the Arizona Territory was established. (Since 1850 New Mexico Territory had included both present-day states.)
In March 1861, following conventions in Mesilla and Tucson, the southern portion of New Mexico Territory declared its withdrawal from the Union. The Confederate congress approved and CSA President Davis proclaimed the action February 14, 1862. While all this had no legal force in the United States, it probably did influence the decision in Washington to create Arizona Territory. Congress passed a bill and President Lincoln signed it into law February 24, 1863.
The Confederate Arizona Territory consisted of the bottom half of both present-day states (dividing the two at 34ºN, just south of Socorro and Prescott). The U.S. Arizona Territory set the division along the north-south border we have today (dividing at 109º 2′ 59.25″ W).
Too bad. With the Confederate division New Mexico would have been the Grand Canyon State and Arizona would have had the Deming Duck Race.
The capital of the Confederate Arizona Territory was in Mesilla (near present-day Las Cruces). The first territorial capital of Arizona was Prescott.
First posted here 11 years ago today, February 23, 2004.
NewMexiKen visited the Rio Grande Zoo Monday, a cool but not uncomfortable day (the rain and snow came in toward evening). With me were my daughter Emily and her daughter, my 16-month-old granddaughter, Kiley. The Zoo was quiet and nearly empty, seemingly as many caretakers as visitors.
We had already enjoyed the giraffes for a few minutes when a female came from the far side of the enclosure toward us. I commented to Emily that the giraffe was coming to see us.
Sure enough the giraffe came as close as she could, her head no more than five or six feet from our viewpoint. She seemed attracted to the baby, who was hungry about then and crying.
Kiley stopped crying when she saw the giraffe. We took some photos. The giraffe lost interest and wandered off.
Kiley also lost interest and resumed crying. Slowly, ambling as they do, but without hesitation, the giraffe, which by then had gone around a corner out of sight about 20 yards away, came back, if anything closer.
There was absolutely no doubt in our minds that the female giraffe was interested in the crying baby. I found myself talking to the giraffe, as one would to an intelligent house pet, reassuring her that the baby was fine. It was a conversation with considerable eye-to-eye contact.
The whole incident was extraordinary.
Within a month, three of the six Marines pictured were killed in battle; the remaining three became celebrities in a savings bond drive. The photo, the second taken of a flag raising on Mount Suribachi that day, February 23, 1945, won the Pulitzer Prize for Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. The flag and the smaller one used in the earlier flag-raising are in the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia.
6,821 Americans were killed during the Battle of Iwo Jima, 19,217 wounded. 18,844 Japanese were killed, 216 taken prisoner, 3,000 in hiding.
United States General Zachary Taylor was victorious over Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna in the Battle of Buena Vista on February 23, 1847. Santa Anna’s loss at Buena Vista, coupled with his defeat by General Winfield Scott at the Battle of Cerro Gordo in April of that year, secured U.S. victory in the Mexican American War.
The Battle of Buena Vista was fought near Monterrey in northern Mexico. The 5,000 men fighting under General Taylor’s command used heavy artillery fire to turn back nearly 14,000 Mexican troops. During the night, the Mexican army retreated, but Taylor did not pursue.
The Adams-Onis Treaty was concluded with Spain 196 years ago today (1819). It ceded Florida to the United States and settled, after nearly 16 years, the boundary of the Louisiana Purchase between the U.S. and the Viceroyalty of New Spain.
His Catholic Majesty cedes to the United States, in full property and sovereignty, all the territories which belong to him, situated to the eastward of the Mississippi, known by the name of East and West Florida.
The boundary-line between the two countries, west of the Mississippi, shall begin on the Gulph of Mexico, at the mouth of the river Sabine, in the sea, continuing north, along the western bank of that river, to the 32d degree of latitude; thence, by a line due north, to the degree of latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of Nachitoches, or Red River; then following the course of the Rio Roxo westward, to the degree of longitude 100 west from London and 23 from Washington; then, crossing the said Red River, and running thence, by a line due north, to the river Arkansas; thence, following the course of the southern bank of the Arkansas, to its source, in latitude 42 north; and thence, by that parallel of latitude, to the South Sea [Pacific].
The Treaty thereby negated U.S. claims to Texas — temporarily.
The Avalon Project has the complete text of the Treaty. The Adams in the Treaty short name is Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. Onis is Luis de Onís y Gonzalez-Vara of Spain. It’s also known as the Transcontinental Treaty,
“Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.”
George Washington
… was born 283 years ago today on February 11, 1731*.
To describe George Washington as enigmatic may strike some as strange, for every young student knows about him (or did when students could be counted on to know anything). He was born into a minor family in Virginia’s plantation gentry, worked as a surveyor in the West as a young man, was a hero of sorts during the French and Indian War, became an extremely wealthy planter (after marrying a rich widow), served as commander in chief of the Continental Army throughout the Revolutionary War (including the terrible winter at Valley Forge), defeated the British at the Battle of Yorktown, suppressed a threatened mutiny by his officers at Newburgh, N.Y., then astonished the world and won its applause by laying down his sword in 1783. Called out of retirement, he presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1787, reluctantly accepted the presidency in 1789 and served for two terms, thus assuring the success of the American experiment in self-government.
…Washington was, after all, a magnificent physical specimen. He towered several inches over six feet, had broad shoulders and slender hips (in a nation consisting mainly of short, fat people), was powerful and a superb athlete. He carried himself with a dignity that astonished; when she first laid eyes on him Abigail Adams, a veteran of receptions at royal courts and a difficult woman to impress, gushed like a schoolgirl. On horseback he rode with a presence that declared him the commander in chief even if he had not been in uniform.
Other characteristics smack of the supernatural. He was impervious to gunfire. Repeatedly, he was caught in cross-fires and yet no bullet ever touched him. In a 1754 letter to his brother he wrote that “I heard Bullets whistle and believe me there was something charming in the Sound.” During the Revolutionary War he had horses shot from under him but it seemed that no bullet dared strike him personally. Moreover, when the Continental Army was ravaged by a smallpox epidemic, Washington, having had the disease as a youngster, proved to be as immune to it as he was to bullets.
Forrest McDonald in his review of Joseph J. Ellis’ His Excellency: George Washington.
Ron Chernow was awarded the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for Washington: A Life.
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Vicksburg National Military Park was established on February 21, 1899, to protect areas associated with the siege and defense of Vicksburg, Mississippi, which pitted Union forces commanded by Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant against the defending Confederate forces commanded by Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton. With the capture of New Orleans by Union Admiral David Farragut and Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler on May 1, 1862, the heavily fortified Confederate position at Vicksburg posed the most significant remaining obstacle to complete Union control of the Mississippi River. The Union effort to take Vicksburg and neutralize its gun batteries began in May 1862 with a series of unsuccessful naval attacks led by Farragut and ended with Grant’s climactic siege of the city, which surrendered to Union forces on July 4, 1863.
The Union siege lines and Confederate defensive lines were marked during the first decade of the 20th century by many of the veterans who fought at Vicksburg, thus making Vicksburg National Military Park one of the most accurately marked military parks in the world.
Today is the birthday
… of Tyne Daly, 69.
… of Anthony Daniels. 3CPO is 69.
… of Alan Rickman. Professor Snape is also 69.
… of Patricia Nixon Cox. The former first daughter is 69, too.
… of Frasier Crane. Kelsey Grammer is 60 today.
… of Mary Chapin Carpenter. Celebrating, and one hopes, feeling lucky, she’s 57 today.
… of Ellen Page. The one-time Oscar nominee is 28.
Erma Bombeck was born on this date in 1927. NewMexiKen thought Bombeck funniest when she really was a a full-time mom. When she became rich and famous the humor often seemed more contrived and strained. But then I’d rather be rich and famous than funny, too.
Anaïs Nin was born on this date in 1903 and named Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell. I almost passed over the French author, but figured if she was good enough for a Jewel song she was good enough for NewMexiKen’s list of birthdays. Anaïs Nin was French born of Cuban parents.
The great classical guitarist Andrés Segovia was born on this date in 1893. This from his obituary in The New York Times in 1987.
The guitarist himself summed up his life’s goals in an interview with The New York Times when he was 75 years old: ”First, to redeem my guitar from the flamenco and all those other things. Second, to create a repertory – you know that almost all the good composers of our time have written works for the guitar through me and even for my pupils. Third, I wanted to create a public for the guitar. Now, I fill the biggest halls in all the countries, and at least a third of the audience is young – I am very glad to steal them from the Beatles. Fourth, I was determined to win the guitar a respected place in the great music schools along with the piano, the violin and other concert instruments.”
The Washington Monument was dedicated 130 years ago today. Malcolm X was shot and killed 50 years ago today.
Sidney Poitier is 88 today.
A good day to watch Lilies of the Field, Poitier’s wonderful, enjoyable Academy Award-winning performance.
Ansel Adams was born on this date in 1902.
In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Mr. Adams combined a passion for natural landscape, meticulous craftsmanship as a printmaker and a missionary’s zeal for his medium to become the most widely exhibited and recognized photographer of his generation.
His photographs have been published in more than 35 books and portfolios, and they have been seen in hundreds of exhibitions, including a one-man show, ”Ansel Adams and the West,” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1979. That same year he was the subject of a cover story in Time magazine, and in 1980 he received the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
In addition to being acclaimed for his dramatic landscapes of the American West, he was held in esteem for his contributions to photographic technology and to the recognition of photography as an art form.
… was the first American to orbit the earth — 53 years ago today. It was a very big deal at the time.
Cape Canaveral, Fla., Feb. 20 — John H. Glenn Jr. orbited three times around the earth today and landed safely to become the first American to make such a flight.
The 40-year-old Marine Corps lieutenant colonel traveled about 81,000 miles in 4 hours 56 minutes before splashing into the Atlantic at 2:43 P.M. Eastern Standard Time.
He had been launched from here at 9:47 A. M.
The astronaut’s safe return was no less a relief than a thrill to the Project Mercury team, because there had been real concern that the Friendship 7 capsule might disintegrate as it rammed back into the atmosphere.
There had also been a serious question whether Colonel Glenn could complete three orbits as planned. But despite persistent control problems, he managed to complete the entire flight plan.
When asked the main aim of his life, Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine, said:
“To be a good ancestor.”
Quoted in The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World
