Category: History
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Recollections of Roosevelt
President George H.W. Bush died recently in November 2018, and a century ago America lost another former president: Theodore Roosevelt, at age 60. The week after his early January 1919 death, this eulogy recalled the man who had served as president from 1901 to 1909. While our current president is often described as a populist, his […]
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The Atlas of Modern War
What was the cause of surging American military superiority in 1918? New York University Mechanical Engineering Professor Collins P. Bliss outlined how the prior century had been a frenzy of technological development in the art of warfare. (Including the usage of the phrase “motor traction” in the very early years of vehicles, before we’d really settled […]
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Washington Crossing Rhine, Not Delaware
The iconic painting Washington Crossing the Delaware is a misnomer. The river was actually modeled after the Rhine River in Germany, leading to several inaccuracies. According to Wikipedia: “The river is modeled after the Rhine, where ice tends to form in jagged chunks as pictured, not in broad sheets as is more common on the Delaware. Also, […]
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When Lincoln Had a Coalition Cabinet
Doris Kearns Goodwin’s biography Team of Rivals was largely about how Abraham Lincoln stacked his Cabinet with several people who had run against him for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination. Lincoln named: New York Senator William H. Seward as Secretary of State Pennsylvania Senator Simon Cameron as Secretary of War Former Missouri Congressman Edward Bates as Attorney […]
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Civil War Food Prices Were Lower Than Those of Today
Between 1861 and 1863, the Civil War caused huge percentage price jumps. Eggs went from 15 to 25 cents per dozen, cheese from 8 to 18 cents per pound, and a bushel of potatoes from $1.50 to $2.25. But if the prices were actually lower than they were in 1918, why was there so much […]
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“Keep Jolly!” Somme Veteran Tells Our Men
How does a soldier keep from going insane in wartime? Maintain your sense of humor. That was the advice in this 1917 article. Among the examples they gave were: “They give absurd names to everything. The Tommies call the ‘R.I.P.’ that is put on a soldier’s grave ‘Rise If Possible.’ When the rats were bad […]
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Precedents for Expulsion of Senators
A U.S. Senate member getting expelled from office hasn’t happened since 1862. So when this 1917 article was written, it had already been 55 years since the last time. It’s come close to happening since. In the past century, there have been 9 senators who faced expulsion proceedings. But all of them either resigned before […]
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‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ as Nation’s Anthem
The Francis Scott Key song, though written in 1814, was not fully recognized as the American national anthem until patriotic fervor struck upon involvement in World War I in 1917. The Star-Spangled Banner would not be officially declared as the American national anthem until 1931, and would not even be played at a sports game […]
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Earliest Known Manhattan Map Made in 1639
A map of “New Amsterdam” with Dutch inscriptions was created in 1639 by cartographer Joan Vingboom. It was then hidden and forgotten about in Holland for almost 200 years. Finally the “Manatus map” had been donated to the Library of Congress, believed to be the earliest map of what is now New York City. The […]
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Monroe Inaugurated 100 Years Ago Today
Even 100 years ago, people were writing “100 years ago” articles. President James Monroe was inaugurated in 1817, with a presidency defined by the so-called Monroe Doctrine. 1917’s President Woodrow Wilson advocated much the same policy, referring to Monroe in a speech to the Senate: “I am proposing, as it were, that the nations should […]
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