There was a cultural revolution in the 1960s. It was probably the biggest and fastest change in the way the youth in America dressed, wore their hair, music they listened to, and rebellious attitude towards "The Establishment," meaning the older generation and the government. The Beatles were just the beginning of the shift.
On February 7, 1964, Pan Am Yankee Clipper flight 101 from London Heathrow landed at New York's Kennedy Airport, and "Beatlemania" arrived. It was the first visit to the United States by the Beatles, a British rock-and-roll group that had just scored its first No. 1 U.S. hit six days before with "I want to Hold Your Hand." The "Fab Four," dressed in mod suits along with their trademark bowl haircuts, were greeted by 3,000 screaming fans who caused a near riot when the group stepped off the plane.
Two days later, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, and George Harrison made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show which was aired in black and white. The audience was packed with screaming teenage girls and made it hard for the estimated 73 million television viewers to hear their performance. Sullivan immediately booked the Beatles for two more appearances that month. The group made its first public concert appearance on February 11 at the Coliseum in Washington, DC with 20,000 fans in attendance. The next day, they gave two back-to-back performances at New York's Carnegie Hall, and police were forced to close off the streets around the music hall because of chaotic fan hysteria. On February 22, they returned to England.
The Beatles' first American tour left a major imprint on the nation's cultural memory. From the big band music of the early 1950s through Doo Wop in the middle of the decade into the Rockability of the late 50s, teenagers of the mid 60s were poised to break away from the more rigid landscape. The Beatles, with their new sound and good-natured rebellion, were the perfect catalyst for the shift.
Their singles and albums sold millions, and at one point in April 1964 all five best-selling U.S. singles were Beatles songs. By the time they released their first feature film, "A Hard Day's Night," Beatlemania was epidemic the world over. In August 1964, the four boys from Liverpool returned to the United States for their second tour and played to sold out arenas across the country.
The Beatles gave up touring to concentrate on their innovative studio recordings, such as 1967s Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band, a psychedelic concept album that is regarded as a masterpiece of popular music. The Beatles' music remained relevant throughout the great cultural shifts of the 1960s, and critics of all ages acknowledge the songwriting genius of the Lennon-McCartney team.
In 1970, the Beatles left a legacy of 18 albums and 30 Top 10 U.S. singles to pursue solo careers.
As a side note... This author saw the Beatles on September 22, 1964 at Memorial Auditorium in Dallas, Texas. We could barely hear because of all the non-stop screaming. I am not sure we will ever see anything like "Beatlemania" again.
Showing posts with label national write your congressman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label national write your congressman. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
The Draft and Vietnam
In January of 1977, President Jimmy Carter granted an unconditional pardon to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War.
In total 100,000 draft aged Americans went abroad in the late 1960's and early 70's to avoid serving in the Vietnam War. Ninety percent went to Canada. Others hide out in the US and Europe. In addition to those who were "draft-dodgers," a relatively small number of about 1,000 were deserters. Others were labeled "Conscientious Objectors."
A total of 209,517 men were formally accused of violating draft laws, while government officials estimate another 360,000 were never formally accused. If they returned home they would have faced prison sentences or forced military service.
President Carter's decision generated a great amount of controversy. He was heavily criticized by veterans' groups and others for allowing "unpatriotic lawbreakers" to get off scot-free. The pardon and companion relief plan came under fire from amnesty groups for not addressing deserters, soldiers who were dishonorably discharged or civilian anti-war demonstrators who had been prosecuted for their resistance.
Although today, when reaching the age of 18 all males must register with the Selective Service, many people born after 1975 are not familiar with the draft and what it meant to young men and their lives. From 1948 until 1973, during both peacetime and war, only men were drafted to fill vacancies in the armed forces which could not be filled through voluntary service. All men between the ages of 18 and 26 had to sign up with the Selective Service, also known as, the"United States Draft Board".
A lottery drawing, the first since 1942, was held on December 1, 1969 at the Selective Service National Headquarters in Washington, D.C. This event determined the order of call for the induction year of 1970. All registrants born between January 1, 1944 and December 31, 1950 were in the drawing. This lottery differed from the 1942 lottery as the oldest were not called up first. It was determined by the order that the dates were pulled.
With radio, film and TV coverage, the capsules were drawn from a jar. The first capsule drawn was the date of September 14, so all men born on that date in any year between 1944 and 1950 were assigned lottery number 1. The drawing continued until all days of the year had been batched to lottery numbers. If you were number 1 you were going. Number 365 would probably never see service. The lowest numbers were drafted first.
If the draft were held today, it would be dramatically different from the one held during the Vietnam War. A series of reforms during the latter part of the Vietnam conflict changed the way the draft operated to make it more fair. If a draft were held today there would be fewer reasons to excuse a man from service.
Before Congress made the changes to the draft in 1971, a man could qualify for a student deferment if he could show he was a full time student making satisfactory progress toward a degree. Under the current draft law, a college student can have his induction postponed only until the end of the current semester. A senior can be postponed until the end of the academic year. Today a man would spend only one year in the first priority for draft, either the calendar year he turned 20 or the year his deferment ended. Each year after that he would be placed in a succeedingly lower priority group, and his liability for the draft would lessen accordingly.
Women are still not required to register with the Selective Service, but this could change with the new policy of allowing women to serve in combat arms specialties.
In total 100,000 draft aged Americans went abroad in the late 1960's and early 70's to avoid serving in the Vietnam War. Ninety percent went to Canada. Others hide out in the US and Europe. In addition to those who were "draft-dodgers," a relatively small number of about 1,000 were deserters. Others were labeled "Conscientious Objectors."
A total of 209,517 men were formally accused of violating draft laws, while government officials estimate another 360,000 were never formally accused. If they returned home they would have faced prison sentences or forced military service.
President Carter's decision generated a great amount of controversy. He was heavily criticized by veterans' groups and others for allowing "unpatriotic lawbreakers" to get off scot-free. The pardon and companion relief plan came under fire from amnesty groups for not addressing deserters, soldiers who were dishonorably discharged or civilian anti-war demonstrators who had been prosecuted for their resistance.
Although today, when reaching the age of 18 all males must register with the Selective Service, many people born after 1975 are not familiar with the draft and what it meant to young men and their lives. From 1948 until 1973, during both peacetime and war, only men were drafted to fill vacancies in the armed forces which could not be filled through voluntary service. All men between the ages of 18 and 26 had to sign up with the Selective Service, also known as, the"United States Draft Board".
A lottery drawing, the first since 1942, was held on December 1, 1969 at the Selective Service National Headquarters in Washington, D.C. This event determined the order of call for the induction year of 1970. All registrants born between January 1, 1944 and December 31, 1950 were in the drawing. This lottery differed from the 1942 lottery as the oldest were not called up first. It was determined by the order that the dates were pulled.
With radio, film and TV coverage, the capsules were drawn from a jar. The first capsule drawn was the date of September 14, so all men born on that date in any year between 1944 and 1950 were assigned lottery number 1. The drawing continued until all days of the year had been batched to lottery numbers. If you were number 1 you were going. Number 365 would probably never see service. The lowest numbers were drafted first.
If the draft were held today, it would be dramatically different from the one held during the Vietnam War. A series of reforms during the latter part of the Vietnam conflict changed the way the draft operated to make it more fair. If a draft were held today there would be fewer reasons to excuse a man from service.
Before Congress made the changes to the draft in 1971, a man could qualify for a student deferment if he could show he was a full time student making satisfactory progress toward a degree. Under the current draft law, a college student can have his induction postponed only until the end of the current semester. A senior can be postponed until the end of the academic year. Today a man would spend only one year in the first priority for draft, either the calendar year he turned 20 or the year his deferment ended. Each year after that he would be placed in a succeedingly lower priority group, and his liability for the draft would lessen accordingly.
Women are still not required to register with the Selective Service, but this could change with the new policy of allowing women to serve in combat arms specialties.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
New Beginnings And Wrapping Up Old Ones
The New Year is the time for new beginnings and wrapping up old ones.
The New Year was 1789, and the first election for President of the United States was held from Monday, December 15, 1788 to Saturday, January 10, 1789. It was the only election to take place partially in a year that was not a multiple of four.
On January 7, 1789 the first President of The United States was elected. At the time there were no real political parties. Candidates were either Federalists, meaning they supported the ratification of the Constitution, or Anti-Federalists, meaning they opposed ratification. In reality both sides were united in supporting George Washington as president. The only real issue to be decided was who would be chosen as vice president. Under the system then in place, each elector cast two votes. If a person received a vote from a majority of the electors, that person became president and the runner up became vice president. All 69 electors cast one vote each for Washington. Their other votes were divided among the other eleven candidates. The candidates were: George Washington, Independent; John Adams, Federalist; John Jay, Federalist; Robert H. Harrison, Federalist; John Rutledge, Federalist; John Hancock, Federalist; George Clinton, Anti-Federalist; Samuel Huntington, Federalist; John Milton, Federalist; James Armstrong, Federalist; Benjamin Lincoln, Federalist; and Edward Telfair, Anti-Federalist. John Adams received the most votes of the eleven candidates and became George Washington's vice president.
In 1804 the Twelfth Amendment was ratified requiring each elector to cast distinct votes for president and vice president.
With the thought of new beginnings and wrapping up old ones, here are a couple of quotes to start the New Year.
"Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." Carl Bard
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain
The New Year was 1789, and the first election for President of the United States was held from Monday, December 15, 1788 to Saturday, January 10, 1789. It was the only election to take place partially in a year that was not a multiple of four.
On January 7, 1789 the first President of The United States was elected. At the time there were no real political parties. Candidates were either Federalists, meaning they supported the ratification of the Constitution, or Anti-Federalists, meaning they opposed ratification. In reality both sides were united in supporting George Washington as president. The only real issue to be decided was who would be chosen as vice president. Under the system then in place, each elector cast two votes. If a person received a vote from a majority of the electors, that person became president and the runner up became vice president. All 69 electors cast one vote each for Washington. Their other votes were divided among the other eleven candidates. The candidates were: George Washington, Independent; John Adams, Federalist; John Jay, Federalist; Robert H. Harrison, Federalist; John Rutledge, Federalist; John Hancock, Federalist; George Clinton, Anti-Federalist; Samuel Huntington, Federalist; John Milton, Federalist; James Armstrong, Federalist; Benjamin Lincoln, Federalist; and Edward Telfair, Anti-Federalist. John Adams received the most votes of the eleven candidates and became George Washington's vice president.
In 1804 the Twelfth Amendment was ratified requiring each elector to cast distinct votes for president and vice president.
With the thought of new beginnings and wrapping up old ones, here are a couple of quotes to start the New Year.
"Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." Carl Bard
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain
Friday, November 22, 2013
Proof Of The First Thanksgiving
Before the arrival of the Pilgrims and Puritans the Wampanoag people gave thanks, feasts, and ceremonies for the Creator's gifts of a successful harvest, hope for a good growing season in the spring, and for other good fortune such as the birth of a child.
In 1621, after a year of sickness and scarcity the Pilgrims along with the Wampanoag tribe, gave thanks to God and celebrated His bounty with feasting and celebration. To these people of strong Christian faith this was not merely a feast, but a joyous outpouring of gratitude. E.W. Winslow, a Pilgrim and later Governor of New England who had lost his wife to the elements in the new land, wrote a letter to his friend in England saying, "Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, among other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming among us, and among the rest their greatest king, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation, and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty...These things I thought good to let you understand that you might on our behalf give God thanks who hath dealt so favourable with us."
In 1622, Winslow's letter was printed in a pamphlet that historians commonly call Mourt's Relation. Winslow's and William Bradford's accounts were written between November 1620 and November 1621. They described in detail what happened from the landing of the Pilgrims at Cape Cod, their exploring and eventual settling at Plymouth, to their relations with the surrounding Indians, up to the first Thanksgiving and the arrival of the ship Fortune. Mourt's Relations was first published in London in 1622 by George Morton. This publication of the first Thanksgiving was lost during the Colonial period and rediscovered in Philadelphia around 1820. Because of Winslow's letter historians have long contended that it was the first Thanksgiving celebrated in America.
The holiday changed as the strictly held customs of the Puritans of the 17th century evolved into the 18th century's more cosmopolitan New Englander. By the 1700's the emotional significance of family united around a dinner table over shadowed the civil and religious importance of Thanksgiving. As the people began to migrate westward New England's holiday traditions spread to the rest of the nation. It was not until 1941, under the leadership of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Congress established the 4th Thursday of November as the national Thanksgiving holiday.
We at National Write Your Congressman wish you all a very blessed Thanksgiving 2013.
In 1621, after a year of sickness and scarcity the Pilgrims along with the Wampanoag tribe, gave thanks to God and celebrated His bounty with feasting and celebration. To these people of strong Christian faith this was not merely a feast, but a joyous outpouring of gratitude. E.W. Winslow, a Pilgrim and later Governor of New England who had lost his wife to the elements in the new land, wrote a letter to his friend in England saying, "Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, among other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming among us, and among the rest their greatest king, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation, and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty...These things I thought good to let you understand that you might on our behalf give God thanks who hath dealt so favourable with us."
In 1622, Winslow's letter was printed in a pamphlet that historians commonly call Mourt's Relation. Winslow's and William Bradford's accounts were written between November 1620 and November 1621. They described in detail what happened from the landing of the Pilgrims at Cape Cod, their exploring and eventual settling at Plymouth, to their relations with the surrounding Indians, up to the first Thanksgiving and the arrival of the ship Fortune. Mourt's Relations was first published in London in 1622 by George Morton. This publication of the first Thanksgiving was lost during the Colonial period and rediscovered in Philadelphia around 1820. Because of Winslow's letter historians have long contended that it was the first Thanksgiving celebrated in America.
The holiday changed as the strictly held customs of the Puritans of the 17th century evolved into the 18th century's more cosmopolitan New Englander. By the 1700's the emotional significance of family united around a dinner table over shadowed the civil and religious importance of Thanksgiving. As the people began to migrate westward New England's holiday traditions spread to the rest of the nation. It was not until 1941, under the leadership of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Congress established the 4th Thursday of November as the national Thanksgiving holiday.
We at National Write Your Congressman wish you all a very blessed Thanksgiving 2013.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Veterans Day - Wounded Warrior Project
On this Veteran's Day, I have chosen to honor Wounded Warrior Project and congratulate them on their 10th Anniversary of service to our nation's wounded servicemen and women.
Almost everyone remembers where they were when our nation was attacked on September 11, 2001. In the midst of overwhelming tragedy, loss of life, and all the ensuing fear and chaos many brave men and women stepped forward to join those who were already serving in the United States military to join the fight against terrorism.
As the war progressed several veterans and friends, moved by stories of the first wounded service members returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq, started providing backpacks with various comfort items to wounded service members. This was the beginning of the Wounded Warrior Project. Over the last 10 years, WWP has developed 19 programs and services and provided assistance to injured service members with their visible and invisible injuries, like post-tramatic stress disorder (PTSD), at no cost to the warrior. They currently have more than 35,000 warriors and 4,100 family members registered with access to WWP's "high-touch" and personalized services.
While a number of veterans' service organizations assist post 9.11 veterans with the challenges of today, Wounded Warrior Project offers programs to help members with both their immediate and long-term needs. The programs and services range from mental health, economic needs, physical health and wellness to engagement with other warriors. The programs help injured service members work through more immediate challenges and establish a foundation for a lifetime of success.
WWP has also launched services and pilot programs that address some of the toughest issues surrounding long-term care for the most severely injured. The Independence Program works with local rehabilitative service providers to assist profoundly injured warriors in regaining the ability to perform the types of daily tasks that most people take for granted. The Long Term Support Program is in a pilot phase and was crafted to ensure that the most severely injured warriors will have access to quality care after their family member/care giver is no longer able to provide care.
The mission of Wounded Warrior Project is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP's purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the publics' aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured servicemen and women aid and assist each other, and to provide unique direct programs and services to meet their needs. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.
I became a member of the "Advanced Guard" of WWP two years ago, and I have found it to be an honest and honorable group who want nothing more than to just help our wounded servicemen and women. If you are looking for a truly service-oriented organization to contribute to, please consider Wounded Warrior Project. To learn more, visit www.woundedwarriorproject.org. You can also "Like" their Facebook page and receive updates and inspiring stories at https://www.facebook.com/wwpinc.fans.
Almost everyone remembers where they were when our nation was attacked on September 11, 2001. In the midst of overwhelming tragedy, loss of life, and all the ensuing fear and chaos many brave men and women stepped forward to join those who were already serving in the United States military to join the fight against terrorism.
As the war progressed several veterans and friends, moved by stories of the first wounded service members returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq, started providing backpacks with various comfort items to wounded service members. This was the beginning of the Wounded Warrior Project. Over the last 10 years, WWP has developed 19 programs and services and provided assistance to injured service members with their visible and invisible injuries, like post-tramatic stress disorder (PTSD), at no cost to the warrior. They currently have more than 35,000 warriors and 4,100 family members registered with access to WWP's "high-touch" and personalized services.
While a number of veterans' service organizations assist post 9.11 veterans with the challenges of today, Wounded Warrior Project offers programs to help members with both their immediate and long-term needs. The programs and services range from mental health, economic needs, physical health and wellness to engagement with other warriors. The programs help injured service members work through more immediate challenges and establish a foundation for a lifetime of success.
WWP has also launched services and pilot programs that address some of the toughest issues surrounding long-term care for the most severely injured. The Independence Program works with local rehabilitative service providers to assist profoundly injured warriors in regaining the ability to perform the types of daily tasks that most people take for granted. The Long Term Support Program is in a pilot phase and was crafted to ensure that the most severely injured warriors will have access to quality care after their family member/care giver is no longer able to provide care.
The mission of Wounded Warrior Project is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP's purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the publics' aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured servicemen and women aid and assist each other, and to provide unique direct programs and services to meet their needs. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.
I became a member of the "Advanced Guard" of WWP two years ago, and I have found it to be an honest and honorable group who want nothing more than to just help our wounded servicemen and women. If you are looking for a truly service-oriented organization to contribute to, please consider Wounded Warrior Project. To learn more, visit www.woundedwarriorproject.org. You can also "Like" their Facebook page and receive updates and inspiring stories at https://www.facebook.com/wwpinc.fans.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
How Times Have Changed - Free Speech Was Tested and Lost
How times have changed, and for the better...
After World War II there was a period called the "Cold War" between the United States and the Communist Soviet Union. It was also a time in the United States when citizen's First Amendment Rights were questioned and stepped upon.
There was a fear that the "Reds" were going to take over the United States. Legislators grew concerned that the movie industry could serve as a source of subversive propaganda and spread the idea of Communism. They established the House Un-American Activities Committee, or HUAC as it was known.
In October of 1947, more than 40 people with connections to the movie industry received subpoenas to appear before HUAC on suspicion of holding communist loyalties. Prominent Hollywood witnesses were grilled and asked bluntly, "Are you or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?" Maybe out of patriotism or fear, some witnesses, including director Elia Kazan, actors Gary Cooper and Robert Taylor and studio executives Walt Disney and Jack Warner, gave the committee names of colleagues they suspected of being communists.
There was, however, a group called "The Hollywood Ten" who resisted, complaining that the hearings were illegal and violated their First Amendment rights. The Ten included Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dytryk, Ring Lardner Jr, John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ormitz, Robert Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo. They refused to cooperate with the investigation by denouncing the HUAC anti-communist hearings as an outrageous violation and demanding they had the right to belong to any political organization they chose. The Ten were cited for contempt of Congress. Each man was found guilty and sentenced to spend a year in prison and pay $1,000 fine. While in prison, Edward Dmytryk decided to cooperate with the government. In 1951, he testified at the HUAC hearing and provided the names of more than 20 industry colleagues he claimed were communists.
A more lasting punishment came as a result of the movie industry blacklist. Studio executives did not want their business to be associated with radical politics in the minds of the movie-going public, and agreed that they would not employ the Hollywood Ten or anyone else suspected of being affiliated with the Communist Party. The motion picture industry blacklist grew steadily as Congress continued its investigations into the 1950's. The blacklist finally ended in the 1960's.
The Hollywood Ten were considered controversial at the time they launched their protests. Some viewed their punishment as justified, while others viewed them as heroic figures who spoke out against the abuses of the "Red Scare," and in defense of the U. S. Constitution.
The horror of this period in time was the fact that people's lives were destroyed out of fear with no evidence other than the word of another person who was in fear for his life and pursuit of happiness being taken away by the very government that was supposed to protect their rights.
Free Speech was tested, and it lost.
The attached video of the "Hollywood Ten 1950" is an important accounting of their persecution, and relevant to our rights as American Citizens today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taancRcLQ8o
After World War II there was a period called the "Cold War" between the United States and the Communist Soviet Union. It was also a time in the United States when citizen's First Amendment Rights were questioned and stepped upon.
There was a fear that the "Reds" were going to take over the United States. Legislators grew concerned that the movie industry could serve as a source of subversive propaganda and spread the idea of Communism. They established the House Un-American Activities Committee, or HUAC as it was known.
In October of 1947, more than 40 people with connections to the movie industry received subpoenas to appear before HUAC on suspicion of holding communist loyalties. Prominent Hollywood witnesses were grilled and asked bluntly, "Are you or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?" Maybe out of patriotism or fear, some witnesses, including director Elia Kazan, actors Gary Cooper and Robert Taylor and studio executives Walt Disney and Jack Warner, gave the committee names of colleagues they suspected of being communists.
There was, however, a group called "The Hollywood Ten" who resisted, complaining that the hearings were illegal and violated their First Amendment rights. The Ten included Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dytryk, Ring Lardner Jr, John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ormitz, Robert Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo. They refused to cooperate with the investigation by denouncing the HUAC anti-communist hearings as an outrageous violation and demanding they had the right to belong to any political organization they chose. The Ten were cited for contempt of Congress. Each man was found guilty and sentenced to spend a year in prison and pay $1,000 fine. While in prison, Edward Dmytryk decided to cooperate with the government. In 1951, he testified at the HUAC hearing and provided the names of more than 20 industry colleagues he claimed were communists.
A more lasting punishment came as a result of the movie industry blacklist. Studio executives did not want their business to be associated with radical politics in the minds of the movie-going public, and agreed that they would not employ the Hollywood Ten or anyone else suspected of being affiliated with the Communist Party. The motion picture industry blacklist grew steadily as Congress continued its investigations into the 1950's. The blacklist finally ended in the 1960's.
The Hollywood Ten were considered controversial at the time they launched their protests. Some viewed their punishment as justified, while others viewed them as heroic figures who spoke out against the abuses of the "Red Scare," and in defense of the U. S. Constitution.
The horror of this period in time was the fact that people's lives were destroyed out of fear with no evidence other than the word of another person who was in fear for his life and pursuit of happiness being taken away by the very government that was supposed to protect their rights.
Free Speech was tested, and it lost.
The attached video of the "Hollywood Ten 1950" is an important accounting of their persecution, and relevant to our rights as American Citizens today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taancRcLQ8o
Friday, September 27, 2013
Dignity
I found this article from September of 2012. It seemed timely with all the wars, hate, and attacks on innocent people that are growing daily in our world. The last paragraph sums it all up. We are, after all, human beings, and everyone should be treated with dignity regardless of their beliefs, nationalities, station in life, or religion.
Benkel told British news sources that area residents wondered why he was searching for former enemies who had bombed German cities. “It doesn’t make a difference if they are German or British,” he told The Telegraph. “They were young men who fought and died for their country for which they deserve a proper burial in a cemetery.”
More than 69 years after they crashed in Germany, the remains of five British airmen have been recovered and will receive a proper burial. The Royal Air Force members disappeared in April 1943 during a raid on a weapons factory in German-occupied Czechoslovakia.
The remains of five British airmen who crashed in Germany during World War II have been discovered near Mannheim, researchers announced on Friday. Their bomber went down with seven men aboard during a raid on a Czech arms factory in April 1943. German soldiers recovered two of the bodies from the wreckage shortly thereafter, but five of the Royal Air Force members remained missing until last week. The British Air Ministry, which conducted an exhaustive search for the men after the war, had concluded that they likely ditched in the sea.
Pilot Alex Bone and his crewmates took off from Lincolnshire, England, 69 years ago in an Avro Lancaster, the heavy bomber used by the RAF in the skies over Europe during World War II. Of the 327 bombers that set out in April 1943 to attack a munitions plant in German-occupied Czechoslovakia, 36 would never make it back to their base—including Bone’s plane. It is believed that he and his crew battled German antiaircraft fire before plunging into a field outside Laumersheim in southwestern Germany.
As it searched in vain for the missing crew in the years following World War II, the British Air Ministry had no idea that German troops had already buried two of the men in Mannheim. Meanwhile, a local teenager named Peter Menges had witnessed the fiery crash and knew the exact whereabouts of the wrecked Lancaster. Decades later, Menges, now 83, joined forces with Uwe Benkel, a health insurance clerk who moonlights as a military history researcher and has helped recover more than 100 planes. Last year, for instance, Benkel unearthed the remains of another British crew near the German village of Schwanheim.
After using metal detectors and ground-penetrating radar to confirm the crash site near Laumersheim, Benkel and his team uncovered the Lancaster bomber’s engine and landing gear, along with hundreds of bone fragments thought to be the remains of the missing men. Relatives have been notified and plans are being made to bury the men in a shared coffin at Germany’s Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Labor Day-The Celebraton of Workers and Their Achievements
Labor Day, an annual celebration of workers and their achievements, originated during American labor's worst times. In the late 1800s at the height of the Industrial Revolution and a series of depressions that had affected the American economy throughout the 19th Century, the average American worked 12 hour days and seven days a week to barely eke out a basic living. Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 and 6 worked in mills, factories and mines across the country earning a fraction of their adult counterparts wages. People of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks.
In order to understand how Americans reached this point you need to see what the economy was experiencing at the time. This is a brief history of the economy of the 1800s.
On September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. History. The idea of a "workingmen's holiday," celebrated on the first Monday in September, caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing it. It was not until 1894 that Labor Day became a federal holiday.
In order to understand how Americans reached this point you need to see what the economy was experiencing at the time. This is a brief history of the economy of the 1800s.
Panic of 1819
- The first major American depression, the Panic of 1819 was rooted to some extent in economic problems reaching back to the war of 1812.
- It was triggered by a collapse in cotton prices. A contraction in credit coincided with the problems in the cotton market, and the young American economy was severely affected.
- Banks were forced to call in loans, and foreclosures of farms and bank failures resulted.
- The Panic of 1819 lasted until 1821.
- The effects were felt most in the west and south. Bitterness about the economic hardships resonated for years and led to the resentment that helped Andrew Jackson solidify his political base throughout the 1820s.
- Besides exacerbating sectional animosity, the Panic of 1819
also made many Americans realize the importance of politics and
government policy in their lives.
Panic of 1837
- The Panic of 1837 was triggered by a combination of factors including the failure of a wheat crop, a collapse in cotton prices, economic problems in Britain, rapid speculation in land, and problems resulting from the variety of currency in circulation.
- It was the second-longest American depression, with effects lasting roughly six years, until 1843.
- The panic had a devastating impact. A number of brokerage firms in New York failed, and at least one New York City bank president committed suicide. As the effect rippled across the nation, a number of state-chartered banks also failed. The nascent labor union movement was effectively stopped, as the price of labor plummeted.
- The depression caused the collapse of real estate prices. The price of food also collapsed, which was ruinous to farmers and planters who couldn’t get a decent price for their crops. People who lived through the depression following 1837 told stories that would be echoed a century later during The Great Depression.
- The aftermath of the panic of 1837 led to Martin Van Burens’s failure to secure a second term in the election of 1840.
Many blamed the economic hardships on the policies of Andrew Jackson. Van Buren, who had been Jackson’s vice president, paid the political
price.
Panic of 1857
- The Panic of 1857 was triggered by the failure of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company, which actually did much of its business as a bank headquartered in New York City. Reckless speculation in railroads led the company into trouble, and the company’s collapse led to a literal panic in the financial district, as crowds of frantic investors clogged the streets around Wall Street.
- Stock prices plummeted, and more than 900 mercantile firms in New York had to cease operation. By the end of the year the American economy was a shambles.
- One victim of the Panic of 1857 was a future Civil War hero and US president, Ulysses S. Grant, who was bankrupted and had to pawn his gold watch to buy Christmas presents.
- Recovery from the depression began in early 1859.
Panic of 1873
- The investment firm of Jay Cooke and Company went bankrupt in September 1873 as a result of rampant speculation in railroads. The stock market dropped sharply and caused numerous businesses to fail.
- The depression caused approximately three million Americans to lose their jobs.
- The collapse in food prices impacted America's farm economy, causing great poverty in rural America.
- The depression lasted for five years, until 1878.
- The Panic of 1873 led to a populist movement that saw the creation of the Greenback Party.
Panic of 1893
- The depression set off by the Panic of 1893 was the greatest depression America had known, and was only surpassed by the Great Depression of the 1930s.
- In early May 1893 the New York stock market dropped sharply, and in late June panic selling caused the stock market to crash.
- A severe credit crisis resulted, and more than 16,000 businesses had failed by the end of 1893. Included in the failed businesses were 156 railroads and nearly 500 banks.
- Unemployment spread until one in six American men lost their jobs.
- The depression inspired "Coxey's Army," a march on Washington of unemployed men. The protesters demanded that the government provide public works jobs. Their leader, Jacob Coxey, was imprisoned for 20 days.
- The depression caused by the Panic of 1893 lasted for about four years, ending in 1897.
On September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. History. The idea of a "workingmen's holiday," celebrated on the first Monday in September, caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing it. It was not until 1894 that Labor Day became a federal holiday.
Friday, July 5, 2013
69th Anniversary of D-Day
Jane Booras, of National Write Your Congressman, wrote an article for the "Banner" about Dave and Patti Berry's trip to Normandy, France on the 69th Anniversary of D-Day. It was such an interesting article, and Dave's photos from the day are so poignant, I felt it should be repeated on our blog.
This
week as we celebrate Independence Day, the birthday of our nation, we can’t
help but think about the thousands of servicemen and women who have fought and
died to keep it free for 237 years. When
we learned that David and Patti Berry were in Normandy, France on the 69th
Anniversary of the D-Day Invasion, and that Dave had taken photographs, we were
eager to share his pictures and experiences with you. All of the photographs on these pages were
taken by Dave. All in all, he shot 1,500
photos that day. To see the complete
collection, go to: http://davidberry.500px.com.
The Invasion of
Normandy was the invasion and establishment of Allied forces in Normandy,
France, during Operation Overlord in 1944 during World War II. At the time it
was the largest amphibious invasion to ever take place.
Allied land forces
that saw combat in Normandy on June 6th came from Canada, the Free French
Forces, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the weeks following the
invasion, Polish forces also participated, as well as contingents from Belgium,
Czechoslovakia, Greece, and the Netherlands. Most of the above countries also
provided air and naval support, as did the Royal Australian Air Force, the
Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the Royal Norwegian Navy.
The Normandy invasion
began with overnight parachute and glider landings, massive air attacks and
naval bombardments. In the early morning, amphibious landings on five beaches
codenamed Juno, Gold, Omaha, Utah, and Sword began and during the evening the
remaining elements of the parachute divisions landed. The "D-Day"
forces deployed from bases along the south coast of England, the most important
being Portsmouth.
Commemorations of the 69th anniversary of D-Day in France
this year began with a flag-raising at an American cemetery overlooking Omaha
Beach. Tourists, many from the U.S. and Britain, gathered in the
still morning under a brilliant spring sky to witness the flag-raising amid the
neat rows of thousands of white marble crosses and stars of David marking the
graves of U.S. servicemen and women killed during the Allied invasion of
Normandy that began June 6, 1944.
A full day of ceremonies including fireworks, concerts and
marches was planned across Normandy in honor of the 150,000 troops, mainly US, British
and Canadian, who risked or gave their lives in the liberation of
German-occupied western Europe during World War II.
Around two dozen
US veterans, some in their old uniforms pinned with medals, stood and saluted
during a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial overlooking Omaha Beach, where
a U.S. cemetery holds the remains of over 9,000 Americans who died during the
vicious battle to storm the French beach under withering Nazi fire.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower when giving the D-Day order on June 6,
1944 said to the troops, “You
will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of
Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves
in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained,
well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely....The free men of
the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your
courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less
than full victory. Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty
God upon this great and noble undertaking."
The invasion moved through four stages. In rapid succession came the landings, the
fight to secure the beachhead, the struggle to open a corridor across Normandy,
and the storming of Cherbourg. Allied
air power deployed parachute troops as the ships were on their way across the
English Channel. The parachutists,
placed behind the German defenses, were in position to undermine
resistance. Two crack American Airborne
divisions, the 82nd and 101st, were flown into action by troop carriers. The 4th Division came ashore and marched up
the causeways. Other American troops
collided head on with every kind of beach defense. Many landing craft were wrecked by mines,
underwater obstructions and cannon fire.
After the beach was secured, heavy armor was
brought ashore. The Allies then fought
their way inland, securing roads. Allied
air power blasted out bridges on all German supply lines. A path was cleared across Normandy. It was General Omar Bradley, by land,
who led the storming of Cherbourg securing the seaport.
“Someone asked if I enjoyed the day. I can’t say that ‘enjoyed’ is the right
word. But as another visitor explained,
‘It was stirring.’ I also found myself
asking, ‘What am I doing to honor their memory and to make the best possible
use of the gifts of life, liberty and freedom that they helped secure for all
Americans that day?’” - David Berry
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
4th of July
Ralph Waldo Emerson was inspired to write, "All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen." I believe our Founding Fathers were living their lives by the same sentiment.
On July 2, 1776, during the American Revolution, the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution declaring the United States independent from Great Britain. The decision prompted John Adams to write to his wife Abigail, "The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."
John Adams was only off by 2 days on his prediction. After much debate and revision over the wording explaining the reason for the decision to separate, the Declaration of Independence was completed and signed July 4, 1776. Thus making July the 4th the day Americans celebrate this great country's independence.
National Write Your Congressman would like to wish you a blessed and happy 4th of July.
On July 2, 1776, during the American Revolution, the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution declaring the United States independent from Great Britain. The decision prompted John Adams to write to his wife Abigail, "The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."
John Adams was only off by 2 days on his prediction. After much debate and revision over the wording explaining the reason for the decision to separate, the Declaration of Independence was completed and signed July 4, 1776. Thus making July the 4th the day Americans celebrate this great country's independence.
National Write Your Congressman would like to wish you a blessed and happy 4th of July.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
The Amazing Nellie Bly - Part Three
"In spite of the assurance that I would be released in a few days, my heart gave a sharp twinge. Pronounced insane by four expert doctors and shut up behind the unmerciful bolts of a madhouse was an uncomfortable position." In spite of what she had experienced, or in her case, because of the rush she experienced, Nellie was eager for her next exciting story.
In 1873, Jules Verne published a novel called Around the World in 80 Days. In his book a fictional hero named Phileas Fogg circled the world on a bet. No real person had attempted this huge and dangerous feat. The year was now 1889 and Nellie was bored and seeking adventure, so she proposed that she attempt it as a publicity stunt for the The World. The paper's business manager told her that it would be better to send a man because he would not need a chaperon or as much luggage. Incensed, Nellie shot back, "Very well. Start the man, and I will start the same day for some other newspaper and beat him." She got the assignment.
At 9:40 a.m. on November 14, 1889, and with two days notice, Nellie now only 25 years old boarded the Augusta Victoria, a steamer of the Hamburg America Line, and began her 24,899 mile journey. All she brought with her was the dress she was wearing, a sturdy overcoat, several changes of underwear and a small travel bag carrying her toiletry essentials. She carried most of her money in a bag tied around her neck.
Communications in 1889 were made possible by efficient submarine cable networks and the electric telegraph. Only short messages could be sent. Her entire stories of her progress and adventures still had to be mailed which took several weeks. The World, in order to keep interest up between reports, organized a "Nellie Bly Guessing Match" in which readers were asked to estimate her arrival time to the second, with the Grand Prize being a free trip to Europe and spending money for the trip. Newspaper sales soared while people in New York and the rest of the country were keeping track of Nellie Bly's whereabouts.
Nellie went through England, France, Brindisi, the Suez Canal, Colombo (Ceylon), the Straits Settlements of Penang and Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. While in France Nellie met Jules Verne and his wife. His wife commented afterwards, "She is trim, energetic, and strong. I believe, Jules, that she will make your heroes look foolish." It is said that Jules agreed and laughed.
During her travels using steamships and existing railroad systems, she experienced some setbacks particularly in Asia . During these stops she visited a leper colony in China and bought a monkey in Singapore.
On the returning trip headed for San Francisco on the White Star Line ship Oceanic she was two days behind the schedule she had set for herself because of rough weather while crossing the Pacific. The World owner, Joseph Pulitzer, chartered a private train to bring her home, and she arrived back in New Jersey on January 25, 1890, at 3:51 p.m. Nellie had circled the world in seventy-two days, six hours, eleven minutes and fourteen seconds!
Nellie Bly was back in New York and a hero. She had not only set the first record to beat, but the year was 1890, and she did it almost completely unchaperoned. The overcoat she had worn during the trip became her trademark. Nellie was now not only a celebrated journalist, but a celebrated adventurer.
What next for this amazing woman?
In 1873, Jules Verne published a novel called Around the World in 80 Days. In his book a fictional hero named Phileas Fogg circled the world on a bet. No real person had attempted this huge and dangerous feat. The year was now 1889 and Nellie was bored and seeking adventure, so she proposed that she attempt it as a publicity stunt for the The World. The paper's business manager told her that it would be better to send a man because he would not need a chaperon or as much luggage. Incensed, Nellie shot back, "Very well. Start the man, and I will start the same day for some other newspaper and beat him." She got the assignment.
At 9:40 a.m. on November 14, 1889, and with two days notice, Nellie now only 25 years old boarded the Augusta Victoria, a steamer of the Hamburg America Line, and began her 24,899 mile journey. All she brought with her was the dress she was wearing, a sturdy overcoat, several changes of underwear and a small travel bag carrying her toiletry essentials. She carried most of her money in a bag tied around her neck.
Communications in 1889 were made possible by efficient submarine cable networks and the electric telegraph. Only short messages could be sent. Her entire stories of her progress and adventures still had to be mailed which took several weeks. The World, in order to keep interest up between reports, organized a "Nellie Bly Guessing Match" in which readers were asked to estimate her arrival time to the second, with the Grand Prize being a free trip to Europe and spending money for the trip. Newspaper sales soared while people in New York and the rest of the country were keeping track of Nellie Bly's whereabouts.
Nellie went through England, France, Brindisi, the Suez Canal, Colombo (Ceylon), the Straits Settlements of Penang and Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. While in France Nellie met Jules Verne and his wife. His wife commented afterwards, "She is trim, energetic, and strong. I believe, Jules, that she will make your heroes look foolish." It is said that Jules agreed and laughed.
During her travels using steamships and existing railroad systems, she experienced some setbacks particularly in Asia . During these stops she visited a leper colony in China and bought a monkey in Singapore.
On the returning trip headed for San Francisco on the White Star Line ship Oceanic she was two days behind the schedule she had set for herself because of rough weather while crossing the Pacific. The World owner, Joseph Pulitzer, chartered a private train to bring her home, and she arrived back in New Jersey on January 25, 1890, at 3:51 p.m. Nellie had circled the world in seventy-two days, six hours, eleven minutes and fourteen seconds!
Nellie Bly was back in New York and a hero. She had not only set the first record to beat, but the year was 1890, and she did it almost completely unchaperoned. The overcoat she had worn during the trip became her trademark. Nellie was now not only a celebrated journalist, but a celebrated adventurer.
What next for this amazing woman?
Monday, April 29, 2013
The Amazing Nellie Bly - Part Two
In 1887, four months after returning from Mexico, Nellie talked her way into Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper in New York City, and at only 23 years of age accepted an assignment to go undercover into the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island posing as a mentally ill girl. The paper promised to get her out after ten days.
The first thing she had to do was convince the doctors at the asylum that she was truly insane. After practicing deranged expressions in front of a mirror she checked into a boardinghouse. Nellie refused to go to bed, telling the boarders that she was afraid of them and that they looked crazy. By the next morning they were convinced that she was the crazy one and called the police. She was taken to a courtroom and pretended to have amnesia. The judge was convinced Nellie had been drugged. After this, she was examined by several doctors who all agreed that she was most assuredly insane. "Positively demented," said one, "I consider it a hopeless case. She needs to be put where someone will take care of her." The head of the insane pavilion at Bellevue Hospital pronounced her "undoubtedly insane." The case of the "pretty crazy girl" attracted media attention. "Who Is This Insane Girl?" asked the New York Sun. The New York Times wrote of the "mysterious waif with the wild haunted look in her eyes," and her desperate cry, "I can't remember I can't remember!"
Nellie experienced all the horrors of the asylum first hand. The food consisted of gruel broth, spoiled beef, bread that was really just dried dough, and dirty undrinkable water. The dangerous patients were tied together with ropes. Nellie witnessed one gray haired woman being grabbed and dragged by the hair as she shrieked and pleaded from the room, "For God's sake, ladies, don't let them beat me." All the patients were made to sit for much of the day on hard benches with no protection from the cold. Waste was all around the eating areas. Rats crawled freely throughout the hospital. The bath water was freezing cold. Patients were treated obnoxiously and abusively by nurses telling them to shut up and beating then if they did not.
Nellie spoke with many of her fellow patients and was convinced that some were as sane as she was. She wrote, "What, excepting torture, would produce insanity quicker than this treatment? Here is a class of women sent to be cured. I would like the expert physicians who are condemning me for my action, which has proven their ability, to take a perfectly sane and healthy woman, shut her up and make her sit from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. on a straight-back bench, do not allow her to talk or move during these hours, give her no reading and let her know nothing of the world or its doings, give her bad food and harsh treatment, and see how long it will take to make her insane. Two months would make her a mental and physical wreck." Nellie also wrote of bath time, "My teeth chattered and my limbs were numb with cold. Suddenly, I got three buckets of ice cold water dumped over my head. One in my eyes, nose and mouth."
At the end of the ten days an attorney for the newspaper came and got Nellie released from the asylum at The World's behest. Her reporting, which was later published in book form titled "Ten Days in a Mad House," brought Nellie her lasting fame. It also caused embarrassment to the physicians and staff of the hospital who would try to explain how so many professionals had been fooled. A grand jury launched its own investigation into conditions at the asylum, and asked Nellie to assist. The jury's report recommended the changes she had proposed, and its call for increased funds for care of the insane prompted an $850,000 increase in the budget of the Department of Public Charities and Corrections. They also made sure the future examinations were more thorough so that only the seriously ill actually went to the asylum.
The first thing she had to do was convince the doctors at the asylum that she was truly insane. After practicing deranged expressions in front of a mirror she checked into a boardinghouse. Nellie refused to go to bed, telling the boarders that she was afraid of them and that they looked crazy. By the next morning they were convinced that she was the crazy one and called the police. She was taken to a courtroom and pretended to have amnesia. The judge was convinced Nellie had been drugged. After this, she was examined by several doctors who all agreed that she was most assuredly insane. "Positively demented," said one, "I consider it a hopeless case. She needs to be put where someone will take care of her." The head of the insane pavilion at Bellevue Hospital pronounced her "undoubtedly insane." The case of the "pretty crazy girl" attracted media attention. "Who Is This Insane Girl?" asked the New York Sun. The New York Times wrote of the "mysterious waif with the wild haunted look in her eyes," and her desperate cry, "I can't remember I can't remember!"
Nellie experienced all the horrors of the asylum first hand. The food consisted of gruel broth, spoiled beef, bread that was really just dried dough, and dirty undrinkable water. The dangerous patients were tied together with ropes. Nellie witnessed one gray haired woman being grabbed and dragged by the hair as she shrieked and pleaded from the room, "For God's sake, ladies, don't let them beat me." All the patients were made to sit for much of the day on hard benches with no protection from the cold. Waste was all around the eating areas. Rats crawled freely throughout the hospital. The bath water was freezing cold. Patients were treated obnoxiously and abusively by nurses telling them to shut up and beating then if they did not.
Nellie spoke with many of her fellow patients and was convinced that some were as sane as she was. She wrote, "What, excepting torture, would produce insanity quicker than this treatment? Here is a class of women sent to be cured. I would like the expert physicians who are condemning me for my action, which has proven their ability, to take a perfectly sane and healthy woman, shut her up and make her sit from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. on a straight-back bench, do not allow her to talk or move during these hours, give her no reading and let her know nothing of the world or its doings, give her bad food and harsh treatment, and see how long it will take to make her insane. Two months would make her a mental and physical wreck." Nellie also wrote of bath time, "My teeth chattered and my limbs were numb with cold. Suddenly, I got three buckets of ice cold water dumped over my head. One in my eyes, nose and mouth."
At the end of the ten days an attorney for the newspaper came and got Nellie released from the asylum at The World's behest. Her reporting, which was later published in book form titled "Ten Days in a Mad House," brought Nellie her lasting fame. It also caused embarrassment to the physicians and staff of the hospital who would try to explain how so many professionals had been fooled. A grand jury launched its own investigation into conditions at the asylum, and asked Nellie to assist. The jury's report recommended the changes she had proposed, and its call for increased funds for care of the insane prompted an $850,000 increase in the budget of the Department of Public Charities and Corrections. They also made sure the future examinations were more thorough so that only the seriously ill actually went to the asylum.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
The Amazing Nellie Bly - Part One
Nellie Bly's life was so full and interesting I have decided to write a
series of blogs about her. I will cover her early life, her life as a
reporter and author, and her life as an inventor and business woman. I
first discovered Nellie when I was researching the oil industry for the
blog, but we will get to that part later.
Elizabeth Jane Cochran, aka Nellie Bly, was born May 5, 1864. Very few people recognize her name today, but 100 years ago every American knew who Nellie Bly was. She was named to the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998 for many good reasons. Nellie was an independent and strong woman for the times she lived in. Women did not even have the right to vote until just two years before her death.
Elizabeth Jane was born in Burrell Township, Pennsylvania. Her father taught her and her siblings the virtues of hard work and determination by example. He started as a modest mill laborer and eventually bought the local mill and most of the land surrounding his family's farmhouse.
When Elizabeth became a teenager she wanted to portray herself as more sophisticated, so she dropped her nickname, "Pinky", and added an "e" to the end of her last name spelling it, Cochrane. After just one year of boarding school she was forced to withdraw because of a lack of money.
In 1880, Elizabeth and her family moved to Pittsburgh. An aggressive sexually discriminative column against working women appeared in the Pittsburgh Dispatch prompting her to write a blistering rebuttal to the editor with the pen name "Lonely Orphan Girl." The editor was so impressed with the writer's earnestness and spirit that he asked the "man" who wrote the letter to join the paper. When she showed up he refused to give her the job. Using her "push-and-get there" attitude and what her father had taught her, she persuaded him to change his mind. Female newspaper writers at that time customarily used pen names, and for Elizabeth the editor chose "Nellie Bly" from the title character in a popular song by Stephen Foster.
As a writer for the Dispatch, Nellie focused her early work on the plight of working women, writing a series of investigative articles on female factory workers. Editorial pressures soon pushed her to the "women's pages" to cover fashion, society, and gardening which were the usual assignments for female journalists of the day.
There are many things that single Nellie out as unusually independent to the times for me starting with this...Dissatisfied with the duties of the women's pages, Nellie took the initiative and traveled to Mexico to serve as a foreign correspondent. The year was 1885, and she was only 21. Nellie spent the next half year reporting the lives and customs of the Mexican people. Her dispatches were later published in a book called "Six Months in Mexico." In one of her reports she protested the imprisonment of a local journalist for criticizing the Mexican government and then dictator, Porfirio Diaz. When Mexican authorities learned of her report, they threatened her with arrest prompting her to leave the country. Safely home she denounced Diaz as a tyrannical czar suppressing the Mexican people and controlling the press.
Elizabeth Jane Cochran, aka Nellie Bly, was born May 5, 1864. Very few people recognize her name today, but 100 years ago every American knew who Nellie Bly was. She was named to the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998 for many good reasons. Nellie was an independent and strong woman for the times she lived in. Women did not even have the right to vote until just two years before her death.
Elizabeth Jane was born in Burrell Township, Pennsylvania. Her father taught her and her siblings the virtues of hard work and determination by example. He started as a modest mill laborer and eventually bought the local mill and most of the land surrounding his family's farmhouse.
When Elizabeth became a teenager she wanted to portray herself as more sophisticated, so she dropped her nickname, "Pinky", and added an "e" to the end of her last name spelling it, Cochrane. After just one year of boarding school she was forced to withdraw because of a lack of money.
In 1880, Elizabeth and her family moved to Pittsburgh. An aggressive sexually discriminative column against working women appeared in the Pittsburgh Dispatch prompting her to write a blistering rebuttal to the editor with the pen name "Lonely Orphan Girl." The editor was so impressed with the writer's earnestness and spirit that he asked the "man" who wrote the letter to join the paper. When she showed up he refused to give her the job. Using her "push-and-get there" attitude and what her father had taught her, she persuaded him to change his mind. Female newspaper writers at that time customarily used pen names, and for Elizabeth the editor chose "Nellie Bly" from the title character in a popular song by Stephen Foster.
As a writer for the Dispatch, Nellie focused her early work on the plight of working women, writing a series of investigative articles on female factory workers. Editorial pressures soon pushed her to the "women's pages" to cover fashion, society, and gardening which were the usual assignments for female journalists of the day.
There are many things that single Nellie out as unusually independent to the times for me starting with this...Dissatisfied with the duties of the women's pages, Nellie took the initiative and traveled to Mexico to serve as a foreign correspondent. The year was 1885, and she was only 21. Nellie spent the next half year reporting the lives and customs of the Mexican people. Her dispatches were later published in a book called "Six Months in Mexico." In one of her reports she protested the imprisonment of a local journalist for criticizing the Mexican government and then dictator, Porfirio Diaz. When Mexican authorities learned of her report, they threatened her with arrest prompting her to leave the country. Safely home she denounced Diaz as a tyrannical czar suppressing the Mexican people and controlling the press.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Meanings Behind The Folding of The Flag
Have
you ever noticed that the honor guard pays meticulous attention to correctly
folding the United States of America Flag 13 times? The 1st fold of the flag is a symbol of life.
The 2nd
fold is a symbol of the belief in eternal life.
The 3rd
fold is made in honor and remembrance of the veterans departing the ranks who
gave a portion of their lives for the defense of the country to attain peace
throughout the world. 
The 4th
fold represents the weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God, it
is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in time of war for His divine
guidance. 
The 5th
fold is a tribute to the country, for in the words of Stephen Decatur, 'Our
Country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right; but it is
still our country, right or wrong.'
The 6th
fold is for where people's hearts lie. It is with their heart that they pledge
allegiance to the flag of the United States of America , and the Republic for
which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice
for all. The 7th fold is a tribute to its Armed Forces,
for it is through the Armed Forces that they protect their country and their
flag against all her enemies, whether they be found within or without the boundaries
of their republic..
The 8th
fold is a tribute to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow of
death, that we might see the light of day. 
The 9th
fold is a tribute to womanhood and Mothers. For it has been through their
faith, their love, loyalty and devotion that the character of the men and women
who have made this country great has been molded. The
10th fold is a tribute to the father, for he, too, has given his sons and
daughters for the defense of their country since they were first born. 
The
11th fold represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King
Solomon and glorifies in the Hebrews eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 
The
12th fold represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in the Christians
eyes, God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit. The
13th fold, or when the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost
reminding them of their Nations motto, 'In God We Trust.' 
After
the flag is completely folded and tucked in, it takes on the appearance of a
cocked hat, ever reminding us of the soldiers who served under General George
Washington, and the Sailors and Marines who served under Captain John Paul
Jones, who were followed by their comrades and shipmates in the Armed Forces of
the United States, preserving for them the rights, privileges and freedoms they
enjoy today. There are some traditions and ways of doing
things that have deep meaning. I personally did not know what the folds stood for. Be sure and share this with all Americans. We need to understand our history and symbolisms.
Thank you, Sarah Hirz, for suggesting this subject for the blog.
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