Events That Changed Our Lives
On the eve of July fourth, I wanted to look at some historical American events that changed our lives. I have selected five events I was alive for and five that took place before I was born.
Events I Have Witnessed
1. 9/11: The worst terrorist attack ever perpetrated against Americans on our own soil is a day that we will never forget. We will always remember where we were beginning at 8:46 a.m. that day when plans flew into the the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. Were it not for some heroic acts by men onboard the Pennsylvania plane, the attacks could have been more severe. 19 members of al-Qaida, a terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden were behind the evil plot, which led America into a war in the Middle East. However, it was that day -- September 11th -- where Americans learned just how vulnerable they could be. It was that day that ripped a hole collectively through our hearts. It was that day that will stand the test of time as one of the worst moments in American history.
2. The explosions of Space Shuttles Columbia and Challenger: The Challenger was the first Shuttle to destruct in thin air on January 28, 1986. Just 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, the Shuttle blew up, taking seven astronauts with it -- including a teacher, Christa McAuliffe, who had been selected to participate in the flight. Some 17 years, on February 1, 2003, Columbia -- the oldest member of the fleet -- blew up upon landing over Texas. Highly sophisticated structural problems were blamed for its demise. Now, Americans who were alive during the Apollo area had seen tragedies before, but many people thought these spaceships -- the shuttles -- were more infallible. That was not the case, and America is scrambling to complete future flights by 2010 with its successor being Project Constellation with its Ares I and Ares V vehicles.
3. The spread of HIV/AIDS: "As of January 2006, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized on December 1, 1981, making it one of the most destructive pandemic in recorded history," according to Wikipedia. Until There's a Cure Foundation estimates one million people are currently living with HIV in the United States, with approximately 40,000 new infections occurring each year. 70 percent of these new infections occur in men and 30 percent occur in women. By race, 54 percent of the new infections in the United States occur among African Americans, and 64 percent of the new infections in women occur in African American women. 75 percent of the new infections in women are heterosexually transmitted. Half of all new infections in the United States occur in people 25 years of age or younger.
4. Richard Nixon's resignation: Nixon resigned when I was one, so technically I didn't really "witness" his White House mess. However, I was alive, so it does count. Nixon was the only American president to ever resign office. He did so before impeachment proceedings could take place.
Here's the Wikipedia scoop on Nixon's scandal:
"In October 1972, The Washington Post reported the FBI had determined Nixon aides had spied on and sabotaged numerous Democratic presidential candidates as a part of the operations that led to the infamous Watergate scandal. During the campaign five burglars were arrested on June 17, 1972, in the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate office complex. They were subsequently linked to the White House. This became one of a series of major scandals involving the Committee to Re-Elect the President (known as CRP but referred to by opponents as CREEP), including the White House enemies list and assorted "dirty tricks." The ensuing Watergate scandal exposed the Nixon administration's rampant corruption, illegality, and deceit.
Nixon himself downplayed the scandal as mere politics, but when his aides resigned in disgrace, Nixon's role in ordering an illegal cover-up came to light in the press, courts, and congressional investigations. Nixon evaded taxes, accepted illicit campaign contributions, ordered secret bombings, and harassed opponents with executive agencies, wiretaps, and break-ins. His supporters noted that the abuses of the Nixon presidency were but a logical extension of partisan abuses by Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Johnson such as use of the IRS against political opponents. Unlike the tape recordings by those Presidents, his secret recordings of White House conversations were revealed and subpoenaed and showed details of his complicity in the cover-up. Nixon was named by the grand jury investigating Watergate as "an unindicted co-conspirator" in the Watergate Scandal.
He lost support from some in his own party as well as much popular support after what became known as the Saturday Night Massacre of October 20, 1973, in which he ordered Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor in the Watergate case, to be fired, as well as firing several of his own subordinates who objected to this move. The House Judiciary Committee controlled by Democrats opened formal and public impeachment hearings against Nixon on May 9, 1974. Despite his efforts, one of the secret recordings, known as the "smoking gun" tape, was released on August 5, 1974, and revealed that Nixon authorized hush money to Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt, and also revealed that Nixon ordered the CIA to tell the FBI to stop investigating certain topics because of "the Bay of Pigs thing". Such an order was later withdrawn or never carried out. In light of his loss of political support and the near certainty of both his impeachment by the House of Representatives and his probable conviction by the Senate, he resigned on August 9, 1974, after addressing the nation on television the previous evening. He never admitted criminal wrongdoing, although he later conceded errors of judgment.
On September 8, 1974, a blanket pardon from President Gerald R. Ford, who served as Nixon's second Vice President, effectively ended any possibility of indictment. The pardon was highly controversial and Nixon's critics claimed that the blanket pardon was quid pro quo for his resignation. No evidence of this corrupt bargain has ever been proven, and many modern historians dismiss any claims of overt collusion between the two men concerning the pardon. The pardon hurt Ford politically, and it was one of the major reasons cited for Ford's defeat in the election of 1976."
5. Ivan Boesky and the Insider Trading Scandal of 1986: I have to include Boesky because he is the first person I remember who caused a commotion up and down Wall Street. On November 14, 1986 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Boesky with illegal stock manipulation based on insider information. He was sentenced to prison, barred from dealing in securities, and ordered to pay $100 million in penalties. He received a lighter sentence when he agreed to help the SEC in an insider-trading probe that rocked Wall Street. Boessky was also the basis for Michael Douglas' character, Goron Gekko, in the movie "Wall Street". In that movie, Gekko is famous for saying "Greed is good," a sentiment Boesky shared with graduates of
Events I Missed
1. Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Looking back at all the film, including Zapruder's, I can't help but understand the grief that rippled the nation. My parents vividly describe the moment they learned of the President's death. He was so young and vibrant. He was from a wealthy political machine. His assassination is considered to be a defining moment in our history because of its traumatic impact on the nation, its impact on the political history of ensuing decades, and his status as an icon for a new generation of Americans. In 1957, he wrote "Profiles in Courage," which won the Pulitzer Prize for biography. Kennedy is widely regarded as one of our best Presidents ever.
2. The Great Depression: Many people don't know that the Great Depression was actually a pandemic, and the United States was a major victim. The blame was on President Herbert Hoover, who was thrown out of office in 1932 and replaced by FDR. The stock market crash in 1929 was just one event of many that became indicative of our tough times. Roosevelt launched a "New Deal" designed to provide emergency relief to nearly a third of the population, to recover the economy to normal levels, and to reform failed parts of the economic system. Relatively high unemployment lingered until the early 1940s.
3. The Signing of the Emancipation Proclamation: The Wikipedia says, "Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential order in 1863 that freed most (but not all) of the slaves in the United States. It was not a law passed by a Congress but a proclamation written by the president alone based on the war powers given to the President by the Constitution. It was a declaration by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declaring the freedom of all slaves in Confederate territory not already under Union control. Its immediate impact was to free only some runaway slaves, but thousands more slaves were liberated as the Union armies advanced. The great majority of 4 million slaves were freed through operation of the Emancipation Proclamation. The border states freed their own slaves, except Kentucky. Legally their emancipation was permanently effected by the Thirteenth Amendment ratified in December 1865. The Emancipation Proclamation was never tested in court one way or the other, but no legal scholar has questioned its validity."
For me, as a ardent supporter of civil rights and affirmative action, I would have liked to have witnessed this event. It definitely changed the course of the nation, but not completely, as blacks always had trouble in the South, and were constantly abused and treated as slaves well into the twentieth century.
4. The Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was shot by assassin John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865 during a showing of Our American Cousin at the Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. He died the next day in a house owned by William Petersen. The murder was a heavy blow to Northerners who had watched him save the Union, and it changed the fabric of the country leaving, perhaps, a greater divide than ever.
5. Immigration at the Turn-of-the-Century : Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892 and processed more than 12 million immigrants by November 1954 at its closing. Immigrants were examined by doctors and questioned by government officials. Wikipedia says of Ellis Island that, "(it) was the first stop for most immigrants from Europe. There, they were processed before they could enter the United States. First, they had to pass a physical examination. Those with serious health problems or diseases were sent home or were held in the island's hospital facilities for long periods of time. Next, they were asked a series of questions, including name, occupation, work experience, and the amount of money they carried with them." More than three thousand would-be immigrants died on Ellis Island while being held in the hospital facilities. Some unskilled workers and infirm migrants were rejected outright because they were considered "likely to become a public charge."
My paternal grandfather was the only immigrant amongst my grandparents. He sailed to Baltimore around 1913 on the German liner, the Barbarossa (which means Red Beard). He used to vividly recall his young journey here. I can't help but wonder if the course of events in Grandpa's life would have been dramatically different if he had come through Ellis Island. At any rate, I am happy he ended hope here. He was a good man, a proud immigrant who got his citizenship certificate as soon as he was able and enjoyed all the finer things life had to offer. As always, tomorrow night is one of those night for me where I see fireworks and think of all my grandparents in the sky above.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Due to the overwhelming reaction to "Guyspeak", Ike and I are offering you a brand new blog in addition to this one. The new blog, "Deciphering Dudes Dot Com" is available to you right now at understandingdudes.blogspot.com. You ask questions, you get answers. It'd as easy as 1-2-3.
Events I Have Witnessed
1. 9/11: The worst terrorist attack ever perpetrated against Americans on our own soil is a day that we will never forget. We will always remember where we were beginning at 8:46 a.m. that day when plans flew into the the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. Were it not for some heroic acts by men onboard the Pennsylvania plane, the attacks could have been more severe. 19 members of al-Qaida, a terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden were behind the evil plot, which led America into a war in the Middle East. However, it was that day -- September 11th -- where Americans learned just how vulnerable they could be. It was that day that ripped a hole collectively through our hearts. It was that day that will stand the test of time as one of the worst moments in American history.
2. The explosions of Space Shuttles Columbia and Challenger: The Challenger was the first Shuttle to destruct in thin air on January 28, 1986. Just 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, the Shuttle blew up, taking seven astronauts with it -- including a teacher, Christa McAuliffe, who had been selected to participate in the flight. Some 17 years, on February 1, 2003, Columbia -- the oldest member of the fleet -- blew up upon landing over Texas. Highly sophisticated structural problems were blamed for its demise. Now, Americans who were alive during the Apollo area had seen tragedies before, but many people thought these spaceships -- the shuttles -- were more infallible. That was not the case, and America is scrambling to complete future flights by 2010 with its successor being Project Constellation with its Ares I and Ares V vehicles.
3. The spread of HIV/AIDS: "As of January 2006, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized on December 1, 1981, making it one of the most destructive pandemic in recorded history," according to Wikipedia. Until There's a Cure Foundation estimates one million people are currently living with HIV in the United States, with approximately 40,000 new infections occurring each year. 70 percent of these new infections occur in men and 30 percent occur in women. By race, 54 percent of the new infections in the United States occur among African Americans, and 64 percent of the new infections in women occur in African American women. 75 percent of the new infections in women are heterosexually transmitted. Half of all new infections in the United States occur in people 25 years of age or younger.
4. Richard Nixon's resignation: Nixon resigned when I was one, so technically I didn't really "witness" his White House mess. However, I was alive, so it does count. Nixon was the only American president to ever resign office. He did so before impeachment proceedings could take place.
Here's the Wikipedia scoop on Nixon's scandal:
"In October 1972, The Washington Post reported the FBI had determined Nixon aides had spied on and sabotaged numerous Democratic presidential candidates as a part of the operations that led to the infamous Watergate scandal. During the campaign five burglars were arrested on June 17, 1972, in the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate office complex. They were subsequently linked to the White House. This became one of a series of major scandals involving the Committee to Re-Elect the President (known as CRP but referred to by opponents as CREEP), including the White House enemies list and assorted "dirty tricks." The ensuing Watergate scandal exposed the Nixon administration's rampant corruption, illegality, and deceit.
Nixon himself downplayed the scandal as mere politics, but when his aides resigned in disgrace, Nixon's role in ordering an illegal cover-up came to light in the press, courts, and congressional investigations. Nixon evaded taxes, accepted illicit campaign contributions, ordered secret bombings, and harassed opponents with executive agencies, wiretaps, and break-ins. His supporters noted that the abuses of the Nixon presidency were but a logical extension of partisan abuses by Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Johnson such as use of the IRS against political opponents. Unlike the tape recordings by those Presidents, his secret recordings of White House conversations were revealed and subpoenaed and showed details of his complicity in the cover-up. Nixon was named by the grand jury investigating Watergate as "an unindicted co-conspirator" in the Watergate Scandal.
He lost support from some in his own party as well as much popular support after what became known as the Saturday Night Massacre of October 20, 1973, in which he ordered Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor in the Watergate case, to be fired, as well as firing several of his own subordinates who objected to this move. The House Judiciary Committee controlled by Democrats opened formal and public impeachment hearings against Nixon on May 9, 1974. Despite his efforts, one of the secret recordings, known as the "smoking gun" tape, was released on August 5, 1974, and revealed that Nixon authorized hush money to Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt, and also revealed that Nixon ordered the CIA to tell the FBI to stop investigating certain topics because of "the Bay of Pigs thing". Such an order was later withdrawn or never carried out. In light of his loss of political support and the near certainty of both his impeachment by the House of Representatives and his probable conviction by the Senate, he resigned on August 9, 1974, after addressing the nation on television the previous evening. He never admitted criminal wrongdoing, although he later conceded errors of judgment.
On September 8, 1974, a blanket pardon from President Gerald R. Ford, who served as Nixon's second Vice President, effectively ended any possibility of indictment. The pardon was highly controversial and Nixon's critics claimed that the blanket pardon was quid pro quo for his resignation. No evidence of this corrupt bargain has ever been proven, and many modern historians dismiss any claims of overt collusion between the two men concerning the pardon. The pardon hurt Ford politically, and it was one of the major reasons cited for Ford's defeat in the election of 1976."
5. Ivan Boesky and the Insider Trading Scandal of 1986: I have to include Boesky because he is the first person I remember who caused a commotion up and down Wall Street. On November 14, 1986 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Boesky with illegal stock manipulation based on insider information. He was sentenced to prison, barred from dealing in securities, and ordered to pay $100 million in penalties. He received a lighter sentence when he agreed to help the SEC in an insider-trading probe that rocked Wall Street. Boessky was also the basis for Michael Douglas' character, Goron Gekko, in the movie "Wall Street". In that movie, Gekko is famous for saying "Greed is good," a sentiment Boesky shared with graduates of
Events I Missed
1. Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Looking back at all the film, including Zapruder's, I can't help but understand the grief that rippled the nation. My parents vividly describe the moment they learned of the President's death. He was so young and vibrant. He was from a wealthy political machine. His assassination is considered to be a defining moment in our history because of its traumatic impact on the nation, its impact on the political history of ensuing decades, and his status as an icon for a new generation of Americans. In 1957, he wrote "Profiles in Courage," which won the Pulitzer Prize for biography. Kennedy is widely regarded as one of our best Presidents ever.
2. The Great Depression: Many people don't know that the Great Depression was actually a pandemic, and the United States was a major victim. The blame was on President Herbert Hoover, who was thrown out of office in 1932 and replaced by FDR. The stock market crash in 1929 was just one event of many that became indicative of our tough times. Roosevelt launched a "New Deal" designed to provide emergency relief to nearly a third of the population, to recover the economy to normal levels, and to reform failed parts of the economic system. Relatively high unemployment lingered until the early 1940s.
3. The Signing of the Emancipation Proclamation: The Wikipedia says, "Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential order in 1863 that freed most (but not all) of the slaves in the United States. It was not a law passed by a Congress but a proclamation written by the president alone based on the war powers given to the President by the Constitution. It was a declaration by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declaring the freedom of all slaves in Confederate territory not already under Union control. Its immediate impact was to free only some runaway slaves, but thousands more slaves were liberated as the Union armies advanced. The great majority of 4 million slaves were freed through operation of the Emancipation Proclamation. The border states freed their own slaves, except Kentucky. Legally their emancipation was permanently effected by the Thirteenth Amendment ratified in December 1865. The Emancipation Proclamation was never tested in court one way or the other, but no legal scholar has questioned its validity."
For me, as a ardent supporter of civil rights and affirmative action, I would have liked to have witnessed this event. It definitely changed the course of the nation, but not completely, as blacks always had trouble in the South, and were constantly abused and treated as slaves well into the twentieth century.
4. The Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was shot by assassin John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865 during a showing of Our American Cousin at the Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. He died the next day in a house owned by William Petersen. The murder was a heavy blow to Northerners who had watched him save the Union, and it changed the fabric of the country leaving, perhaps, a greater divide than ever.
5. Immigration at the Turn-of-the-Century : Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892 and processed more than 12 million immigrants by November 1954 at its closing. Immigrants were examined by doctors and questioned by government officials. Wikipedia says of Ellis Island that, "(it) was the first stop for most immigrants from Europe. There, they were processed before they could enter the United States. First, they had to pass a physical examination. Those with serious health problems or diseases were sent home or were held in the island's hospital facilities for long periods of time. Next, they were asked a series of questions, including name, occupation, work experience, and the amount of money they carried with them." More than three thousand would-be immigrants died on Ellis Island while being held in the hospital facilities. Some unskilled workers and infirm migrants were rejected outright because they were considered "likely to become a public charge."
My paternal grandfather was the only immigrant amongst my grandparents. He sailed to Baltimore around 1913 on the German liner, the Barbarossa (which means Red Beard). He used to vividly recall his young journey here. I can't help but wonder if the course of events in Grandpa's life would have been dramatically different if he had come through Ellis Island. At any rate, I am happy he ended hope here. He was a good man, a proud immigrant who got his citizenship certificate as soon as he was able and enjoyed all the finer things life had to offer. As always, tomorrow night is one of those night for me where I see fireworks and think of all my grandparents in the sky above.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Due to the overwhelming reaction to "Guyspeak", Ike and I are offering you a brand new blog in addition to this one. The new blog, "Deciphering Dudes Dot Com" is available to you right now at understandingdudes.blogspot.com. You ask questions, you get answers. It'd as easy as 1-2-3.
great thoughts for a great day
keep it up..
Posted by
Unknown |
12:20 PM
interesting idea
deciphering dudes dot com
Posted by
ry |
6:45 PM