Learn Our History Today: March 15

Learn Our History Today: Today, March 15, is known as the Ides of March. While having nothing to do with American history, it bears mentioning.  In 44 B.C. Julius Caesar was murdered (stabbed in the back 23 times) by his friend and protege Marcus Brutus.  Caesar had been warned by a prophet of sorts (called a “seer”) that he would be harmed no later than the Ides of March on his way to the Theater of Pompey.  When Caesar met the seer on that day, he joked “The Ides of March have come” meaning that the prophecy had not been fulfilled.  The seer was quick to reply, “Ay, Caesar, but not gone!”  This meeting was immortalized by William Shakespeare in the play, Julius Caesar, with the line “beware the Ides of March.”  The word “Ides” comes from the Latin word “Idus” meaning “half division” and especially pertains to a month.

In more recent history, in 1767, Andrew Jackson was born in South Carolina to Irish immigrant parents.  He became the 7th president of the United States, serving from 1829 to 1837.

And on this day in 1783, General George Washington appeared at an assembly of army officers in Newburgh, New York.  The purpose of his visit was to calm the growing frustration and distrust that the army had been expressing towards Congress, which was brought on by Congress’ failure to honor its promise to pay them and reimburse them for food and clothing.  Washington emplored his officers to place “full confidence in the purity of the intentions of Congress.”  His meeting was a success; the officers realized that Washington was sincere and, within minutes, they voted unanimously to express confidence in Congress and their country.

And on this day in 1820, Maine is admitted into the Union as the 23rd state, as part of the Missouri Compromise between the North and South.  The Compromise granted the entrance of Maine as a free state in exchange for the entrance of Missouri as a slave state.

Learn Our History Today: March 12

Learn Our History Today:  On March 12, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his very first national radio address as president.  Broadcasted directly from the White House, he made the address just eight days after his inauguration. 

Directed at the American people who were facing the lowest point of the Great Depression and 25-33% unemployment rates, Roosevelt’s first address was designed to ease public fear and instill confidence in his leadership.  Between March 1933 and June 1944, Roosevelt delivered more than 30 public radio addresses.

A journalist named Robert Trout is responsible for coining the phrase “Fireside Chat” to describe Roosevelt’s public radio addresses. The term was meant to create an image of the president sitting in a cozy room near a fireplace, being very conversational in his communications to the American people.  Trout, however, credited the phrase to Harry Butcher, a CBS vice president in Washington at the time.

And on this day in 1993, Janet Reno was sworn in as the first female attorney general of the United States.  She previously served as the Dade County (FL) district attorney, making her responsible for overseeing 120,000 criminal cases each year.  During her 15- year tenure in Miami, she created the Miami Drug Court to try nonviolent criminals and offer alternative punishments for nonviolent offenders with substance abuse problems.  The Miami Drug Court model was used by other courts around the country, and in February of 1993, President Clinton nominated Reno for U.S. attorney general.

Learn Our History Today: March 9

Learn Our History Today: On March 9, 1862, the U.S.S. Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia engaged in one of the most famous naval battles in the Civil War and possibly all of American history.  All morning long, the two ironclads exchanged cannon fire off Hampton Roads, VA, south of the Chesapeake Bay.  Despite the consistent pounding, each ship easily resisted the cannon shots thanks to the use of armor plates which signaled a new era of steam-powered iron ships.

Originally known as the U.S.S. Merrimak, the C.S.S. Virgninia was captured by the Confederates who then covered the ship in heavy armor plating and outfitted it with powerful guns.  The Confederates launched the ship for their new ship first time in February of 1862, and on March 8th (yesterday in history!) the ship sunk two Union ships. 

The U.S.S. Monitor, which was designed with an unusually low 18” profile for operation in the shallow harbors of the south, featured a flat iron deck and a 20-foot cylindrical turret.  As it snaked through the Chesapeake Bay on the morning of March 9, it engaged the Virginia and fought for four hours.  As the ships circled one another, cannon balls flew threw the air and simply bounced off of the iron ships.  Early in the afternoon, the Virginia retreated to Norfolk and neither ship suffered any serious damage.

Also on this day in history, Republican senators took action to limit fellow Republican Joseph McCarthy’s power.  McCarthy is best known for his accusations of communists operating in the U.S. Department of State, yet he was unsuccessful in producing any evidence to substantiate his claims.  His peers accused him of being a one-man party and “doing his best to shatter that party whose label he wears.”

Also, in pop-culture history, the infamous Barbie doll makes her debut at the American Toy Fair in New York City.

Learn Our History Today: March 5

Learn Our History Today: On today’s date in 1770, a group of furious colonists gathered outside of the Customs House in Boston, MA, and began throwing rocks and snowballs at a British Soldier who was guarding the building.  This was in response to their opposition against British troops who had occupied the city to enforce the strict taxation laws passed by British parliament without American representation.

When the sentinel at the Customs House called for assistance, a British corporal and seven Redcoats came to help, affixing their bayonets to their rifles.  The angry colonists continued to hurl snow at the soldiers, daring them to fire.  Private Hugh Montgomery slipped in the snow and fell, accidentally firing his rifle into the crowd, prompting the other soldiers to fire, too.  After the smoke cleared, 5 colonists lay dying or dead while another three were seriously injured.  It’s a common belief that the deaths of the five men were the first fatalities of the American Revolution.  The event in which I’m writing about has gone down in history as the Boston Massacre.

Also on March 5, 1977, the first and only airing of the Dial-a-President radio program aired on CBS.  The show featured President Jimmy Carter and CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, and allowed callers from across the nation to telephone in and ask questions of the president.  In the course of the two-hour broadcast, about 9 million calls were made to the CBS radio studio. 

Learn Our History Today: March 3

Learn Our History Today:  On March 3, 1791, Congress passed America’s first tax law, which levied a duty on distilled spirits and other items. 

And in 1873, Congress banned the sending of obscene material through the mail.  Called the Comstock Law, after a Connecticut salesman named Anthony Comstock who vehemently opposed obscenity and other vices, the legislation made it illegal to send any obscene, lewd or lavacious books via mail.  In addition, the law also made illegal anything “designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion.”

And in 1845, Congress overrode a presidential veto for the first time in history.  The veto—made by President John Tyler—was on a Congressional bill that would have denied him the authority to appropriate funds to build revenue-cutter ships without congressional approval.  Tyler holds the second spot for the usage frequency of the presidential veto—he used it 10 times, second to Andrew Jackson who used it 12 times during his presidency.

Learn Our History would like to wish Theodor Seuss Geisel (a.k.a Dr. Seuss), the beloved children’s author, a happy belated birthday.  Dr. Seuss’ birthday was yesterday, March 2.   He was born in 1904 and died on September 24, 1991.

Learn Our History Today: March 1

Learn Our History Today:  March 1st is quite a busy day in our history... 1781, the Articles of Confederation were ratified.  The Articles guided the nation until 1789, when the U.S. Constitution was implemented.    Then, in 1790, Congress ordered the first U.S. census.

And on March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the first bill ever to set aside land as a national park.  That land is one of our nation’s most beautiful parks, and home to the cone geyser best known as Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park.

In 1932, Charles Lindberg’s 20-month old son was kidnapped from the family home in Hopewell, New Jersey.  The Lindberg’s paid a $50,000 ransom but the baby was never returned.  Charles Lindberg, Jr. was found dead just a mile from the Lindberg’s mansion.  It looked like the case would go unsolved, but in 1934, a gas station attendant recorded the license plate number of a suspicious customer.  Turns out the customer paid with a marked bill from the ransom money.  The customer, a German immigrant named Bruno Hauptmann, was tracked down and detectives later found $14,000 of the ransom money in his home. He was convicted, and in April of 1936, he was executed by electric chair.

On March 1, 1961, JFK established the Peace Corps, designed to send trained men and women to assist in the development efforts in foreign nations. In just the first week after JFK created the agency, Washington received thousands of letters from young Americans offering to volunteer.

And on March 1, 1971, a bomb exploded inside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.  Fortunately, no on was harmed.  However, the bomb’s explosion caused $300,000 in damages.  A group called the “Weathered Underground” claimed responsibility for the attack in response to the U.S.-supported invasion of Laos.  The group was a radical faction of the Students for a Democratic Society, and they advocated violence-usually in the form of bombings and arson.  They also targeted the State Department, the Pentagon, the NYPD headquarters and the Long Island Court House.  No one was ever killed in their bombings because they always made bomb threats.  Three members of their group died on March 6, 1970 when the building in which they were constructing the bombs exploded!

Learn Our History Today: February 28

Learn Our History Today:  On February 28, 1844, President John Tyler, who was aboard the Navy ship USS Princeton, narrowly escaped death.  The ship sported a 12-inch, 27,000 lb cannon called the Peacemaker.  The Captain of the ship, Robert Stockton—who was also the co-designer of the cannon—was eager to show off the weapon, despite warnings that it hadn’t been sufficiently tested yet.  Stockton fired two successful shots and the 400 passengers on board went wild with applause. 

Below deck, 54-year old President Tyler toasted the Princeton, her commander and the Peacemaker cannon.  Then, the secretary of war requested a third firing in honor of George Washington.  The third firing proved deadly...the cannon exploded and killed several passengers, including David Gardiner, the father of 20-year old Julia Gardiner, whom Tyler was courting and had recently proposed.  The explosion also took the lives of two of Tyler’s cabinet members. Tyler was far enough away from the blast that he was spared, as was Julia, who was climbing up the ladder to the upper deck when the explosion occurred.  The story has a happy ending, however.  Julia and Tyler were married later that year.

And, on this day in 1987, Mikhail Gorbachev indicated that the Soviet Union was ready to sign a treaty that would eliminate U.S. and Soviet medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe.  The offer led to the eventual signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in December of that year.

And on February 28 in 1784, John Wesley charters the first Methodist Church in the United States.   The move was Wesley’s response to provide church structure for his followers during the American Revolution, after the Anglican Church abandoned its American patrons.