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HISTORY: unwrapped – May 2007

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May 25, 2007– Leap'n Beamon

The 1968 Summer Olympic Games were held in the rarified air of Mexico City—7400 feet above sea level. Athletes and trainers were concerned that performances by distance runners would be affected by the thin atmosphere. Higher altitudes meant less oxygen, and if there is one thing runners need, it’s lots of oxygen. But it was the unexpected that made these Games memorable. Some of the black athletes put on a political demonstration. Tommie Smith and John Carlos, winning gold and silver in the 200 meters, accepted their medals in bare feet (to bring attention to the poverty of the African-American community), wearing beads (in honor of blacks murdered as victims of slavery or racism), and holding black-gloved fists in the air (the “Black Power” salute).

But over at the finals of the long jump, something historic was about to happen. A lanky jumper from New York was bounding down the runway, and almost no one noticed. Most of the photographers were waiting at the finish line where Lee Evans was expected to finish the 400 meters in record time. This race had excitement written all over it. Jumping records at the Olympic level are broken by inches. In 1936, Jesse Owens owned the long jump record at 26’ 5 ¼. It took 24 years to break it, and only by 3 inches. In 1968, the record stood at 27’ 4 ¾. In a span of 32 years, the record had progressed less than a foot. But on this day, Bob Beamon jumped 29’ 2 ½”, eclipsing the record by nearly two feet—21 ¾ inches! Here’s how Track and Field News described it:

He was obviously fired up, his step was exactly right, his form bordered perfection, his speed (09.5–100y) came as a great asset, the runway was consistent and fast, the assisting wind read a maximum of 4.473 mph, the high altitude (7350 feet) provided reduced air resistance, and he put together perhaps the ultimate technical effort that all field event performers dream about but rarely realize.

After hearing how far he had jumped, Beamon became so excited and emotionally drained that doctors claim he suffered a “cataplectic seizure.” Igor Ter-Ovanesyan, the co-world record holder, remarked, “Compared to this jump, we are as children.” The leap was caught by a cameraman on his first film assignment and is today one of the greatest sports photographs ever shot. The record leap brought an end to Beamon’s career. While he continued to compete, he never got close to that almost magical jump ever again. His longest jump after Mexico City was 26’ 11 1/2”. On August 31, 1991, Mike Powell of the United States finally broke Beamon’s record when he landed 29’ 4 ½” in Tokyo.

May 24, 2007– Yale Graduate Makes Good

As a Yale graduate, Eli Whitney (1765–1825) was known for his “handiness” and is best remembered for his cotton gin invention (1793), which brought great wealth to many but gave Whitney a meager return on his investment. The cotton engine, “gin” for short, automated the separation of cottonseed from the short cotton fiber. It was such a simple machine that it was easily duplicated and reproduced.Whitney also introduced a technique that proved to be the most revolutionary invention in American history. In 1798, he built a firearms factory near New Haven, Connecticut. Unlike many American industries of his day, Whitney did not build from the top down. He first built all the machinery he would need for his method of production and devised a system of interchangeable parts for muskets. This new technique was adopted all over the country as a defense measure and soon was being applied to other inventions paving the way for mass production and the industrial revolution.

May 23, 2007– Riddle of Mystery Hill

You've heard of Stonehenge in England. But did you know that there are similar configurations outside England, including throughout the northeast United States? In New Hampshire there is a place called Mystery Hill covering about twenty acres where large stones have been arranged in a strange pattern. Some of the stones are built up to make odd rooms and passages. It is speculated that Mystery Hill, and other sites like it, were once places of pagan worship and astronomical ceremony. Ancient words have been found inscribed on its stones. One translation of the inscription reads, "To Baal of the Canaanites, this in dedication."

The pyramid-shaped temples of some Native American tribes were not unique to their times. Ancient Babylon and even more ancient Sumeria are just two cultures who built these tiered ziggurats to worship their pagan gods. These massive buildings were constructed of mud bricks forming multiple stories, with a great, steep staircase leading to the top. In fact, ziggurat is the Assyrian world for "mountain top." You are probably already familiar with one famous (or infamous) ziggurat-type building: the Tower of Babel.

May 22, 2007– A Boy Named Sue

Johnny Cash had a large repertoire of songs—everything from “Matthew 24 is Knocking at the Door” to “Burning Ring of Fire.” The one song that brings the most laughter to the listener is “A Boy Named Sue.” The lyrics are those of the multi-talented Shel Silverstein (1930–1999), author of The Giving Tree, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up, and other award-winning children’s books. In addition to books, Silverstein wrote dozens of clever songs. You might remember “The Unicorn” by the Irish Rovers and “Cover of the Rollin’ Stone” by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show. But it was Cash who made “A Boy Named Sue” memorable when he recorded it on February 24, 1969 at San Quentin Prison before a live but incarcerated audience. Cash hadn’t had the chance to learn the lyrics before he began to belt it out to his demanding audience. He was reading the words as he sang it. If you listen closely, you can hear the shouts of approval from the appreciative crowd of convicts, many of whom could tell stories of their own about abandonment and abuse. Cash commented that it was the most cleverly written song that he had ever heard. The song is about a boy who grows up angry at his father, not only for leaving his family but for naming him Sue. After the boy grows up, he sees his father in a bar and gets in a fight with him because his father gave him a girl’s name. When his father explains that he named him Sue to make sure he would grow up tough, the son embraces his father but still detests his name.

Now to the title of this article. There really was a boy named Sue. Sue Hicks, the City Attorney of Dayton, Tennessee, was the person who arrested John Scopes in the famous Scopes “Monkey Trial” of 1925 that pitted the state of Tennessee against the ACLU and the teaching of evolution in public schools. Maybe Shel (Sheldon) Silverstein got the inspiration for “ A Boy Named Sue” from his own life. His parents called him “Shelly.”

May 21, 2007– Ancient Inventors

Evolutionists try to parlay the belief that ancient man was intellectually inferior to modern-man. The theory does not fit the facts. While there are numerous theories on how structures like the pyramids were built, no one has been able to duplicate the results using what is known of ancient technology. Some have been so perplexed by this historical enigma that they have postulated that alien technology or even fallen angels—the Nephilim—had made these advancements possible. But there is a better and more reasonable explanation. The intellectual capacity of ancient man is no different from modern man because God created us in His image. We should expect to find evidence of that creative capacity soon after creation. And we do.

Consider the work of Heron (or Hero) of Alexandria who lived in the first-century A.D., probably from A.D. 10 to 75. He was a mathematician and practical inventor. He invented a sacrificial vessel where water flows only when money is dropped in a slot. Heron also constructed a small temple so that when a fire was lit, the doors opened spontaneously and shut again when the fire was extinguished. These devices were designed, most probably at the behest of the king, to make people believe that the gods were real and near. Heron also developed elaborate entertainment devices that set wooden actors and props in motion without any of the pulleys and weights visible to the audience. He is most famous for inventing the aeolipile, the precursor to the steam engine.

Many people who read Revelation 13:15 assume that this verse must be describing a modern-day demonic miracle where an inanimate object comes to life. Given what we know about the ancients, especially the work of Heron, there is nothing implausible about believing, if we pursue a strict literal rendering, that an image could be made to “speak” during Nero’s day. All the technology was available, and since Heron lived during the generation preceding the destruction of the temple in A.D., the timing is also right.

May 18, 2007– An Indian Fighter Seeks His Destiny

In today’s publicity-seeking world, George Armstrong Custer would have felt right at home. Much of his reputation was formed by the media. Correspondents, who joined Custer on his military campaigns, helped establish his reputation with their positive reporting. With long blonde curls sprinkled with cinnamon oil, flamboyant dress, and large ego, Custer understood good public relations. His bravery, daring, and leadership skills helped the West Point graduate rise in the ranks during the Civil War. Appointed to the Seventh Calvary, Custer became the most famous Indian fighter in American history. But his boldness and daring would lead to the foolish attack at the Little Big Horn, where 2,000 Indians swept down upon Custer and his men. His final stand would bring him the glory that had eluded him throughout his short life.

May 17, 2007– A Plan That Misfired

Adolph Hitler was confident that the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936 would showcase the superiority of the blond-haired, blue-eyed Aryan race to the whole world. Jesse Owens, an American black athlete, proved Nazi propaganda wrong about the inferiority of ethnic Africans. Owens won four gold medals in track and field events, setting Olympic records in three of the events. He became the first American in Olympic Track and Field to win four gold medals in a single Olympics. By the end of the Games, even German fans were cheering for this black American who proved Hitler wrong. Much was made over Hitler not shaking Owens’ hand, but the German leader did stand up and wave to him. Owens later remarked that when he returned to the United States, he wasn’t invited to the White House to shake the president’s hand.

May 16, 2006 – New Money for Hawaii

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States government made it illegal for any Hawaiian citizen to possess more than $200 in cash. “New Money” was printed in 1942 using brown ink for the seals and serial numbers and bearing a small overprint of the word “Hawaii” along both sides of the front and a very large overprint of “Hawaii” on the back of each bill. This was the only legal tender permitted in the territory of Hawaii. Two hundred million dollars of the old currency had to be destroyed. It was hauled to a sugar mill and burned. The new currency was called “Emergency Issue.” Any serviceman or citizen entering Hawaii had to convert to the new money and then reconvert upon leaving the islands. In case of a complete invasion by Japan, the currency could be quickly declared worthless before the money could be seized and used by the Japanese. The invasion never took place, and the circulation of Emergency Issue was stopped by October 1944.

May 15, 2007– Battle Hymn of Confusion

It’s been sung at the funerals of Winston Churchill, Robert F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan. It has brought crowds to their feet at football game half-time shows. Its rousing version has been a repertory standard of concert choirs. But the hymn’s lyrics, whose chorus every red-blooded American can sing, were written by a leftist nineteenth-century woman. Julia Ward Howe wrote a poem, which was published in the Atlantic Monthly magazine in 1862. The words were put to music and became the song of the Union army during the Civil War. Her hymn’s lyrics show that Howe had the ability to hate that liberals quickly condemn in conservatives. Howe’s hymn of hate, stirred by the passions of the Civil War became the best known song of the Union army. Read the words and keep in mind that they were written by a woman who was an early proponent of liberation theology, which believes that sin is social, salvation is freedom from structures of oppression, and redemption is by warfare.

May 14, 2007– The Galveston Hurricane

In 1900 there were no weather satellites and no Doppler radar. However, warnings were issued by the U.S. Weather Bureau.  People were advised to seek higher ground. Many didn't heed the warnings preferring instead to watch the huge waves. On September 8, the hurricane slammed into Galveston, Texas almost head on. Waves were higher than 15 feet and winds howled at 130 miles per hour. By the time the storm passed, more than 8,000 people were dead, countless were injured and half of the island's homes had been swept away. The Great Storm reigns today as the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. But while the storm was phenomenal, so was the response of the people who survived it.

"Sunday morning, the day after the disaster, began with the sound of bells from the ruined Ursuline Convent calling people to worship," wrote historian David G. McComb. It was a fitting beginning. Despite the unimaginable devastation and what must have been a hard realization that it could happen again, the city immediately began pulling itself out of the mud.

May 11, 2007– A Curious Mix

We often hear today that Christians should not impose their religion on others. “Practice your faith in the church and in your home, but don’t force it on anyone else.” This thinking is so far from the Founding Fathers’ intentions. Many supporters of the War for Independence were not Christians; they were rationalists. With Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson in leadership roles, rationalist influence was very much present in the Continental Congress. At the same time, traditional Christians were represented as well. The Continental Congress attempted to model the kind of cooperation between Christians and rationalists that it hoped would be practiced across the colonies. The Declaration of Independence refers to God four times: “Nature’s God,” “Creator,” “Supreme judge of the World,” and “Divine Providence.” These were rationalist terms that Christian congressman agreed to because they did not deny Christian truth. Interestingly, during the eight-year War of Independence, the annual Thanksgiving and fast-day proclamations issued by Congress and observed throughout the colonies were written with the knowledge that the majority of religious Americans were Christians. The proclamations regularly invoked the name of Jesus Christ and asked for His blessings upon the war effort.

May 10, 2007– In God We Trust

Our nation's coins have not always had "In God We Trust" stamped on them. In 1862 many people began to request that our coinage make reference to God. A sermon by the Reverend Henry Augustus Boardman of Philadelphia declared that "The coinage of the United States is without a God." Some suggested "God our Trust." In 1863 the motto "God and our Country" was proposed. The motto "In God We Trust" appeared for the first time in 1864; it did not receive formal Congressional approval until the following year. In 1865 Congress enacted the following:

And be it further enacted, That, in addition to the devices and legends upon the gold, silver, and other coins of the United States, it shall be lawful for the director of the mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to cause the motto "In God we trust" to be placed upon such coins hereafter to be issued as shall admit of such legend thereon.

The interest to secure a place for the motto was so high because of the events of the civil war. Repentance and trust in God were themes that echoed through the nation after blood of so many had been shed. The motto was dropped in 1907 when President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned the American sculpture Augustus Saint-Gaudens to design new coins. Saint-Gaudens's design did not include the "In God We Trust" motto. As one might imagine, many people were upset at the change. In November of 1907, the president wrote a letter to a minister who objected to the omission. In it Roosevelt claimed that there was "no legal warrant for putting the motto on the coins." Of course, the president was mistaken, since the motto had been authorized by Congress. The matter came before Congress again on May 18, 1908, and an act was passed to restore the motto. "In 1955 Congress extended the act by requiring the phrase to appear not only on all coins but on all paper money thereafter minted or printed. The next year, 1956, Congress enacted a law making the phrase `In God We Trust' officially the national motto."

May 9, 2007– "I Like People Who Can Do Things"

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), along with his son Edward, struggled with a defiant calf that would not return to the barn. Edward pulled on the calf’s ears while his father pushed from behind. Their efforts were in vain. The calf would not budge. Emerson had read the philosophy of Plato and the science of Newton, but none of these intellectual tools helped in getting a reluctant calf into the barn. A young girl, knowing little of philosophy and probably nothing of Newton, watched with amusement at the ineptitude of the father and son team. Without saying a word, she walked up to the calf and thrust a finger into its mouth. Lured by this maternal imitation, the calf dutifully followed her into the barn. Emerson watched with amazement at the ease of her accomplishment. Upon returning to the house, he opened his journal, and wrote these famous seven words: “I like people who can do things.”

May 8, 2007– That's Crackerjack

“Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don’t care if I never get back.” So the line goes in Jack Norworth’s 1908 “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” It’s not often that a snack food is immortalized in song. According to legend, a unique popcorn, peanuts, and molasses confection that was the forerunner to Cracker Jack’s caramel coated popcorn and peanuts was introduced by F. W. Rueckheim and his brother to a snack-craving public in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago’s first World’s Fair. The trick was keeping the stuff from sticking together. Louis Rueckheim, F.W.’s brother and partner solved the problem with a secret process. When Louis gave the treat to a salesman, he exclaimed, “That’s crackerjack!,” slang for “awesome” or “really great.” The name stuck and was trademarked. “A Prize in Every Box” became an advertising slogan when toys and baseball cards were inserted into every package. More than 23 billion toys have been given out since they were first introduced in 1912. Some old Cracker Jack prizes are valued at more than $7,000. Some of the earliest toys were made of metal. A complete series of the 1915 baseball cards, original and in near mint condition, has been valued as high as $60,000. There are no longer any toys in Cracker Jacks. A choking scare forced the company to replace the toys with a “Surprise inside.” It sure is a surprise—it’s made of paper! Well, Sailor Jack and his dog Bingo are still on the box, I mean, bag. Is nothing sacred?

May 7, 2007– Harvard Ain't What She Used to Be

Harvard University was founded in 1636 with one instructor and nine students with the goal of establishing a school to train Christian ministers. The school was named after John Harvard, a 31-year-old clergyman from Charlestown, Massachusetts, who died and left his library and half his estate to the fledgling institution. In accordance with its original vision, Harvard adopted a set of “Rules and Precepts” in 1646 that stated the following (spelling has been modernized):

—Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3) and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. And seeing the Lord only gives wisdom, Let every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of him (Prov. 2:3).

—Every one shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day, that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein, both in theoretical observations of language and Logic, and in practical and spiritual truths, as his Tutor shall require, according to his ability; seeing the entrance of the word gives light, it gives understanding to the simple (Psalm 119:130).

In 1692, Harvard adopted the motto Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae—“Truth for Christ and the Church.” The phrase was embedded on a shield and can be found on many buildings around the Harvard campus and various dorms in Harvard Yard.

The books on the shield represent revelation and reason. The top two books that are shown face up represent the Word of God revealed to us in the Old and New Testaments. The book on the bottom of the shield, which faces down, symbolizes the limits of reason and the need for God’s revelation.

A second and earlier (1650) Harvard motto carried the Latin phrase, In Christi Gloriam, “For the Glory of Christ.” Samuel Eliot Morison, in his history of Harvard,  writes, “Like the Medieval schoolmen, [the founders] believed that all knowledge without Christ was vain. Veritas to them, as to Dante, meant the divine truth. . . .” What once was Harvard is no more. Harvard, like so many of our nation’s earliest colleges, has left its “first love” (Rev. 2:4).

May 4, 2007– The Vaulting Vicar

Bob Richards, affectionately known as the “Vaulting Vicar” because he was an ordained minister, won two Olympic gold medals in the pole vault (1952 and 1956), the first and only person to do so. Richards was the second man to clear 15 feet. That doesn’t seem like much when you consider that today’s pole vault record is over 20 feet. Richards did it with a steel pole. Steel, unlike fiberglass, does not bend and therefore does not have the catapult effect of fiberglass. Getting over the bar was the major concern of every vaulter, but landing was especially hazardous. Unlike today’s massive pits that vaulters can fall into as they drop on their back, pits in Richards’ day were saw dust. A vaulter had to land on his feet or risk serious injury. Richards was the first athlete to appear on a Wheaties box in 1958. Richards ran for president in 1984 backed by the Populist Party.

Richards had two sons who also were outstanding pole vaulters. Brandon broke the national high school record in 1985 (18’ 2”) that stood until 1999.

May 3, 2007– Rewriting History

D.W. Griffith directed the 1915 epic-making silent film masterpiece The Birth of a Nation, based on the play by Thomas Dixon called The Clansman. The purpose of the film was to rewrite the history of the South and the Civil War. The title The Clansman was changed to The Birth of a Nation to give the film broader appeal. President Woodrow Wilson, a former classmate of Dixon's, praised the Ku Klux Klan in his writings and is extensively quoted throughout the film. The Birth of a Nation was the first film shown in the White House. In time, the film shaped Americans racial attitudes. School children were taken to see the movie to learn history. More than 200 million people saw the film, and the revival of the Ku Klux Klan may have resulted from the racial attitudes and fears that were shaped by the movie.

May 2, 2007– The Hessians are Coming

Many of the 29,000 involuntary volunteers hired out to the British by German princes and sent to America to fight in the War for Independence were described as spendthrifts, loose livers, drunkards, arguers, restless people, political troublemakers, not more than sixty years old and of fair health and stature. Students on their way to university and young men plowing the fields were abducted and forced to serve as well. One young man, a theological student, was “recruited” amid his many protestations while on his way to Paris. The mixed rabble and honest young men were forced to serve in a far off country whose citizens viewed them as soldiers who fought only for money. No one was safe from the grip of the seller of souls. The troops were called Hessians due to the treaty made between Britain and the mercenary German princes, one of them being from Hesse. The Hessians pay went to the German princes. Thousands of the soldiers stayed in America after the war and became, in the end, citizens of the country they were sent to destroy.

May 1, 2007– George Washington’s Straight Army

Homosexuality and the military have never been compatible bedfellows. During the Clinton administration, a “Don’t Ask—Don’t Tell” policy was put into effect. Liberal groups are trying to open the military to self-professed and practicing homosexuals. At a General Court Marshall, on March 10, 1778, a Lieutenant Enslin was “tried for attempting to commit sodomy with John Monhort.” He was also tried for “Perjury in swearing to false Accounts.” Enslin was “found guilty of the charges exhibited against him, being breaches of 5th. Article 18th. Section of the Articles of War.” He was dismissed from the service “with infamy. His Excellency the Commander in Chief [George Washington] approve[d] the sentence and with Abhorrence and Detestation of such infamous Crimes order[ed] Lieutt. Enslin to be drummed out of the Camp . . . by all the Drummers and Fifers in the Army never to return.”