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HISTORY: unwrapped – September 2006

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September 29, 2006 – 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.

September 28, 2006 – The Admiral of the Ocean Sea

Columbus might have remained a footnote in history if Washington Irving, the author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle,” had not published a three-volume biography about him. Although Irving established Columbus’ rightful place in history, he also told a few fibs, the most egregious being that Columbus wanted to prove the Earth was round. Actually, all the scientists and cartographers in the fifteenth century believed the Earth was round. The dispute was how big around the Earth was. On this point, Columbus was wrong and his critics were right. Columbus charted his way to the Indies partly using an ancient map of the world drawn by a Greek astronomer, Claudius Ptolemy from the second century. Although Ptolemy accounted for the world being round, he made the major mistake of leaving out a huge landmass that he did not know was there: North and South America.

September 27, 2006 – America's Greatest Mind

Jonathan Edwards (1703 – 1758) is best remembered for his masterful sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” In addition to his achievements as a pastor, Edwards was a father to eight daughters and three sons, missionary to the Housatonic Indians, revivalist, philosopher, and accomplished scientist. From a very early age, Jonathan was mesmerized by the beauty and order of God’s world. In fact, he was especially fond of studying spiders. So much so that his accurate observations have been preserved and are acknowledged in the scientific community today. Even more remarkable is that these observations were made when he was a boy with no tools, training or body of knowledge with which to compare and test his findings. In his childhood work, “Of Insects,” Jonathan wrote “Multitudes of time I have beheld with wonderment and pleasure the spiders marching in the air from one tree to another… their little shining webs and Glistening Strings of a Great Length and at such a height as that one would think they were tack’d to the Sky by one end were it not that they were moving and floating.” As a young man, Jonathan wrote seventy resolutions. One of these resolutions was, “To live with all my might, while I do live.” That he did. Blessed with a brilliant mind, Jonathan Edwards used his brief 55 years to advance the Kingdom of Christ. Many believe Jonathan Edwards was the greatest mind in American history.

September 26, 2006 – 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.

As far back as 1647, American women had been trying to gain the right to vote. Margaret Brent, owner of extensive lands in Maryland, demanded the right to vote in the colonial assembly. Her request was denied. Women in the United States were enfranchised in 1920, but this was not the first time women were able to vote. Women property owners in New Jersey took advantage of the state constitution of 1790. It gave the right to vote to “all inhabitants” who satisfied certain property and residence requirements. This lasted until 1807 when the state legislature passed a bill to disenfranchise women and black men. The bill was pushed through by a legislator who was nearly defeated by women voters. It would take time, but after many years of being denied, American women finally got the chance to go to the ballot box.

September 22, 2006 – The Origin of Computer 'Bugs'

The first computer filled an 1800-square-foot room and weighed thirty tons. The ENIAC was built in 1947 for $500,000. It contained 17,468 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 1,500 relays, 6,000 manual switches and 5 million soldered joints. When turned on, its power consumption caused the city of Philadelphia to experience brownouts. The on/off switching was accomplished with manual relays with flat metal surfaces to insure contact. In 1945, Grace Murray Hopper was working on the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator, a primitive computer by today’s standards, when the machine experienced a problem. An investigation showed that a moth had been trapped between the points of a relay. The moth acted as an insulator stopping the flow of electricity. The operators removed the moth and affixed it to the log book. The entry read: “First actual case of bug being found.” The word went out that the computer had been “debugged.” The term “debugging a computer program” was born. Today, debugging refers to lines of electronic code that acts as the brain of the computer.

September 21, 2006 – Mechanization Comes to the Office

The father of the typewriter was a newspaperman, Christopher Sholes. When his printers went on strike, Sholes tried unsuccessfully to invent a typesetting machine. When he built a page numbering machine, a friend suggested that he design a machine that could print letters. Sholes and two friends patented a typewriting machine in 1868 that was neither strong nor reliable. After improving the machine, Sholes searched for a manufacturer. Remington and Sons, the manufacturer of firearms, saw a demand for the machine, and offered to buy the patents by paying a lump sum or a royalty. Sholes took a lump sum payment of $12,000; a royalty would have paid him a million and a half dollars. Remington carried out development work on Sholes’ invention and produced the Remington Typewriter.   

A depression-weary America found a reason to look heavenward in the summer of 1930. A bashful young discoverer instilled excitement in many becoming an instant hero. Twenty-two-year-old Kansas farm boy Clyde Tombaugh, a former star pole-vaulter in high school, had settled into life on the family farm. Tombaugh was a typical Midwesterner, except for his hobby of building telescopes. Using parts from old farm machinery, Tombaugh built a telescope that could magnify an impressive 400 times. He mailed sketches of the planet Mars to the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. The observatory lacked funds to pay a professional astronomer to search the skies. Tombaugh was offered an internship, which he accepted. The young Tombaugh manned the observatory’s telescope through the night, often during subfreezing cold, taking all of the necessary pictures. After nearly a year, he had scanned more than a million stars on hundreds of photographic plates, Then one night, something blinked back. The photograph was verified and Clyde Tombaugh was thrust into the headlines. A write-in contest was held to name the new planet, and an English school girl’s entry was chosen. “Pluto” became the official name for the new planet and Plutomania took off. Clyde Tombaugh continued an illustrious career in astronomy, being the only person to enroll in college after discovering a new world.

When Sam Goldfish started a film company, he realized the importance in a name, so he combined his name with Edgar Selwyn, his partner. Sam Goldwyn needed an image that would immediately make the company recognizable to the public, so he hired a promoter. The promoter found just the image at a Columbia University football game when the team’s mascot ran onto the field. A lion would be perfect. It was the king of beasts and would make a fine trademark. When a merger created Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Leo the lion won out over Metro’s parrot. MGM bought a real 350-pound lion and the live-action mascot would appear in the opening logo sequence in every movie produced by the studio. Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight was dominating the headlines, so MGM decided to take advantage of the excitement on everyone’s minds by sending Leo on his own well-publicized cross-country trip. Leo’s plane went down near the Grand Canyon, and a bring-him-back-alive lion hunt resulted. The hunt gave MGM plenty of its own exciting headlines to endear itself to the public. Fortunately, Leo survived to continue as the popular symbol for MGM.

Morris “Moe” Berg, a major league baseball player and a spy, could speak nearly a dozen languages. Though educated at Princeton, the Sorbonne, and Columbia and holding a law degree, it was baseball that gave him the most happiness. When the owner of the Washington Senators was told that catcher Berg could speak seven languages, he replied, “Yeah. I know, and he can’t hit in any of them.” Unfortunately, Berg suffered a knee injury and spent the latter part of his career as a bench warmer. After two years as a Red Sox coach, Berg left baseball on the same day his father died. His father always regarded his son’s choice of career as a waste of fine intellect. Berg’s love of the game caused continual contention between the two men. Berg left baseball to pursue diplomacy and espionage during World War II. He was assigned to the Secret Intelligence branch of the Office of Strategic Services, precursor to the CIA. It has come to light in recent years of the extent of Berg’s work in determining Germany’s atomic bomb capability. The mysterious Moe Berg brought fascination to many and lived the original life that most desire but never attain.

The clergy helped lead the resistance and independence movement in America. They were often described as the “black regiment” because of the black robes they wore while preaching. Before marching off to join Washington’s army, Lutheran pastor John Muhlenberg delivered a powerful sermon from Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 that concluded with these words:

The Bible tells us there is a time for all things and there is a time to preach and a time to pray but the time for me to preach has passed away, and there is a time to fight, and that time has come now. Now is the time to fight! Call for recruits! Sound the drums!

Then Muhlenberg took off his clerical robe to reveal the uniform of a Virginia colonel. Grabbing his musket from behind the pulpit, he donned his colonel’s hat and marched off to war. There is a war going on in America today. It has not come to the force of arms, but it is a war nonetheless. Pastors should thunder from the pulpits where the battles are waging, and what we can do to engage in the fight.

September 14, 2006 – Liberty's Pioneer

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, individual freedom, either political or religious, was virtually unknown. Geneva was a good example. Before the city council had disestablished Roman Catholicism, the Church ruled the State through the Roman Catholic bishop. Afterwards, the State ruled the Church through the council. When John Calvin arrived at Geneva in August 1536, he was confronted with this unbiblical approach to government. Calvin's goal was to establish a Church governmentally independent of the council while assuring that the council would not be independent of God's law as it pertained to its civil jurisdiction. His tool in accomplishing this difficult task was the Word of God. He preached and lectured from the Bible every day. He knew that when changes came they would come from the bottom up--from the people who desired a true Reformation without revolution. Calvin drew a clear line of distinction between the civil magistrate, whose authority was confined to civil matters, and the elders of churches, whose authority was confined to ecclesiastical matters. He established in Geneva the biblical idea of the jurisdictional separation between Church and State. Contrary to popular opinion, Calvin did not set up a system of government in which the clergy dominated the city council. He was not even a citizen of Geneva until 1559, and he appeared before the council when he was called on to offer his opinions on theological issues. He never occupied a political or civil office in Geneva.

The Smithsonian Institution enjoys worldwide fame but little is known about the man whose money built the museum.  Scientist James Smithson, a British citizen who never traveled to America, left his estate to the people of the United States to found an institution for research and education. His reason for providing for such a facility in a new country on another continent remains a mystery. It has been said that he hated the British monarchy system and liked the United States’ revolutionary spirit.  His fortune helped build the largest museum complex in the world, which includes 16 museums, four research centers, the National Zoo, the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, the Smithsonian magazine and numerous other offices and activities. Smithson finally made the trip to the United States when his remains were moved to a tomb at the Smithsonian in 1904.

The construction of the Empire State Building began in March 1930 and was completed just 14 months later. It remained the tallest building in the world with 102 stories until 1972. It receives two and three million visitors every year and has played host to kings and queens. It has even scuffled with a giant ape and won. Built during the Great Depression, the building cost $40 million dollars. The workers who constructed the tall edifice were thrilled to have jobs. They put up the building in record time, faster and higher than anyone had ever imagined. Mohawk Indians worked on the high steel of the Empire State Building. Six generations of Mohawk Indians have helped shape the New York skyline. Known for their agile ability to work on the extremely high steel beams, the Mohawks commuted from their reservation in Canada to help construct the “Ambassador of New York.” The Mohawk ironworkers operate in pairs in all kinds of weather at the dangerous windy heights above the city. Fatal accidents are a constant concern, but the courageous sure-footed “sky walkers” continue to work the high steel in cities across the United States.

No one wants to be called a “goody two-shoes”—someone who is prudish and self-righteous. But years ago American colonists considered the term “goody two-shoes” a compliment. The colonists believed that good literature had two purposes: to delight and to instruct. By the early eighteenth century interest in children's literature (and a rise in literacy) led to new markets and a flourishing of new publishers, particularly in England. Innovations in typography and printing allowed greater freedom in reproducing art through engraving, woodcut, etching, and aquatint, although illustrators were still largely anonymous and illustrations confined to frontispieces. One of the most popular fictional books in the colonies was The History of Little Goody Twoshoes, published by one of the most important early publishers, John Newberry. Goody (or Mrs.) Twoshoes was an industrious and godly woman who went through many trials but was eventually rewarded for her virtues.

Thomas Boreman was one of the first entrepreneurs to respond to the market with his miniature books entitled Gigantick Histories (1740–1743) as well as other illustrated books on subjects such as natural history. The most important of the early publishers was John Newbery (1713–1767). Newbery published vast quantities of children’s literature of all types as well as a wide range of books on reading, philosophy, and science, most covered in flowered and gilt Dutch paper and enlivened by simple woodcut illustrations. His first children’s book was A Little Pretty Pocket Book (1744), and one of the most popular was his 1765 History of Little Goody Two Shoes, regarded as the first novel written specifically for children (it is said to have been written for Newbery by Oliver Goldsmith).

While still a teenager, the son of former slaves left Kentucky to search for opportunity in Ohio. Garrett Morgan’s proficiency for fixing things led to many job offers. In 1907, Morgan opened a sewing equipment and repair store and in just a few years, he expanded and added 32 employees. The new company used equipment that Morgan had made to produce coats, suits, and dresses. Morgan went into the newspaper business, and his success provided him a comfortable life. While driving along the streets of Cleveland, he came up with an improvement to traffic signals. With so many different kinds of vehicles including bicycles, wagons, and automobiles sharing the roads, accidents were frequent. Morgan designed a traffic signal that was a T-shaped pole featuring three positions: Stop, Go, and an all-directional stop position that permitted pedestrians to cross streets safely. But it was Morgan’s invention several years earlier that made him a hero. He had invented a breathing device for use in smoke-filled areas. It was a canvas hood placed over the head with a double tube from the hood merging into a single tube at the back. The open end held a water-soaked sponge to filter out smoke and cool incoming air. An explosion at the Cleveland Waterworks ripped through a tunnel, trapping workers and killing eleven. Deadly gases and smoke filled the tunnel making rescue difficult. Morgan, his brother, and two others successfully reached the survivors. But when it was discovered that Morgan was black, sales of the hood declined. The gas masks used during World War II were derived from Morgan’s safety hood. Garrett Morgan’s creative energies have given him a lasting legacy and us a safer world.

September 7, 2006 – From Dynamite to Nobel

Alfred Nobel is a study in contrasts. He probably brought more destruction to the world than any other individual, but he was also dedicated to world peace. Swedish-born Nobel began to experiment with nitroglycerin in 1863. It was an extremely unstable liquid and after his laboratory blew up, killing his brother and four workers, Nobel tried to find a safe way to handle the dangerous substance. He discovered that nitroglycerin could be absorbed into silica and molded into sticks. His invention of dynamite became a huge commercial success with factories throughout the world manufacturing the product. Nobel was concerned with the problems of maintaining peace throughout the world. In his will, he designated that a large part of his fortune should be used to provide an income to be given as a prize to those who had done the most to benefit mankind during the preceding year. The Nobel Foundation initially awarded five prizes each year: physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. Economics was added in 1969. Nobel would be disappointed if he knew how his intention to promote peace has caused bitterness, envy, and competition. The public seems to take more interest in the controversy surrounding the awards than the actual awards. It is also questionable how much the achievements that are awarded have actually done for the promotion of peace. It just goes to show that some of man’s best intentions oftentimes blow up in his face.

Never did a woman create such health mayhem as Mary Mallon. She was born in Ireland and immigrated to the United States when she was 15. Mary worked as a domestic servant, which is where the problem began. In the summer of 1906, Mary worked as the family cook for a New York banker during his family’s vacation on Long Island. Two daughters became desperately ill with typhoid fever, along with his wife and two maids, the gardener, and eventually a third daughter. There were no antibiotics available at that time and buildings were burned to destroy the disease or quarantined and uninhabitable. This could bring financial disaster to the owner.

Health authorities were perplexed and hired a highly regarded epidemiologist to track down the origins of the life-threatening typhoid. Dr. George Soper’s investigation led him to Mary Mallon who had prepared the dessert that was eaten by the stricken individuals. Mary vanished after the outbreak, but Soper tracked her down upon discovering that typhoid outbreaks accompanied her from job to job. Mary herself was healthy, but she was a carrier of the typhoid bacteria due to her poor personal hygiene. Because of her uncooperative attitude and refusal to change health habits, Mary was eventually quarantined in a small cottage on the grounds of Riverside Hospital on North Brother Island, where she lived under close supervision for the rest of her life.

September 5, 2006 – 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.

September 4, 2006 – Super Size 'Life of Christ'

Georgia artist Jack Bailey (1927-2004) created the largest religious painting in the world. The “Life of Christ” was listed in the 1986 edition of Guinness World Records. The painting stretches more than three football fields, depicting the life and ascension of Jesus on 50 panels. Few people have seen it. The canvas panels have sat in Florida warehouses for the past 20 years. They finally made the trip home to Georgia in December of 2005. A self-taught artist, Bailey worked as a sign painter and commercial illustrator. While recuperating from a stroke, he conceived the idea for the painting. It took Bailey and a team of assistants three years to complete the colossal work. A series of financial snafus by those wanting to exhibit the painting have kept Bailey’s work from the public eye except for a brief exhibit in the Atlanta area during the 70s. Jack Bailey wanted the public to see his painting, but he died before his dream could be realized. Now his children are attempting to make their father’s dream come true. The painting is being restored and a foundation has been set up to raise money for an exhibition building. Perhaps in a few years, the public will be able to enjoy the magnificent painting that honors the King of kings.

Alvin C. York was born in 1887, and if it hadn’t been for the First World War—the “war to end all wars” as it was called—his name would have passed into oblivion. York grew up in Pall Mall, Tennessee, into a large family. When his father was killed in a farming accident, the sole responsibility of caring for his eight younger brothers and sisters fell on him. In 1915, Alvin dedicated his life to Christ and became a deacon in the small pacifist church pastored by Rosier C. Pile. The declaration of war by the United States against Germany in 1917 catapulted York into the limelight of history for a brief moment. His pacifist beliefs put him at odds with the draft board when he was denied conscientious objector status. While still holding to his pacifist beliefs, York headed for Camp Gordon, Georgia, for training. It’s at Camp Gordon that York displayed his extraordinary rifle skills. He continued to wrestle with his pacifist beliefs even as he was being shipped overseas to fight in France. During options in the Argonne sector, York killed twenty-five Germans, captured 132 prisoners, including a major and several lieutenants, and put out of commission thirty-five machine guns. He did this with no help from the group of men who had accompanied him since many of them had been killed by German machine-gun fire. Others were wounded or pinned down by enemy fire.

For his efforts, York received the American Distinguished Service Cross and the Congressional Medal of Honor. Word of York’s distinguished service reached America before he did. He received numerous paid offers to promote himself and tell his story to the American people. York refused all of them. He returned home to Tennessee, married Gracie Williams, and began to raise a family. It might have ended there if it hadn’t been for a man who saw the parade that had been given in honor of York in 1919. Show business producer Jesse Lasky spent 20 years trying to convince York to do a movie of his heroic exploits. For 20 years York refused, but with the outbreak of war with Germany, York finally relented. Still not wanting to profit from killing, even killing in time of war, York insisted that all the proceeds for the movie venture would go to religious works. In 1941, the movie Sergeant York hit movie theaters. It starred Gary Cooper, at the insistence of York, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, Noah Beery, Jr., Joan Leslie, and a very young June Lockhart (Timmy’s mother on the “Lassie” TV show). Cooper won the Best Actor Award for his portrayal of York.