Joe's Daily U.S. History Lesson -- April 8

APRIL 8

1912 – New York Times reports Bank Asks Patrons to Aid Reform Work. The National Citizns League needed cash for its new currency Law Propoganda. Actual words in the headline. German-born Paul Warburg, who came from a heavy family line of bankers was working with Senator Nelson Aldrich to come up with a new banking system that was like Europe’s. What they proposed to Congress was a system in which the United Stets gave the new bank the ability to issue U.S. currency, loan it to the government at interest and then convert that federal debt into cash to be loaned out by its member banks over and over and over again.So how does this idea get sold to the masses? That’s where the Citizens League came in. There they were on this day in 1912, right on the cover of the Times saying “A million dollars doesn’t go very far in a campaign of education such as is being carried on by the NCL for the promotion of a sound banking system, yet the contribution of $1M for that purpose by individual Directors of the National banks of the country  short time ago provoked much comment and a suggestion that the electorate was to be corrupted by the use of these funds. ” The NCL went on to say it’s a non-partisan association of businessmen who believe the industry of a country bears the burden of our present defective currency. Good thing big New York Banks and JP Morgan and the Rockfeellers were there to help! Was a million dollars enough to “educate” Americans this new banking system was a good idea? At the time, Woodrow Wilson was governor of New Jersey, and he though the Constitution was corrupt, arguing for a system like Parliament. He believed that competition was sin, so he had no problem rallying the idea for this central bank. The National Citizens League would be successful, and the Federal Reserve Act would come into effect, a mere 16 years before the the Great Depression.

1981- The passing of General Omar Bradley, ...the receiver of today’s bad-ass award. He was a US Army field commander in North Africa and Europe during WWII.He commanded the infantry school at Fort Benning, George, and was later placed at the head of te II Corps for the North African campaign, was successful in causing the fall of Tunisia and the surrenderof over 250,000 Axis soldiers. He led forces in the invasion and capture of sicily and joined his troops In the Normandy invasion, he was promoted to commander of the US 12th army group, the oargest force ever placed under an American group commander, and led successful operations in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Czechoslavakia. After the war, he headed the Veterans administration and became Chief of Staff of the US Army.

In 1949, he was appointed the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the following year oversaw the policy-making for the Korean War, before retiring from active service in 1953. He was the last of only nine people to hold five-star rank in the US Armed Forces. In the 1970 movie Patton, his character is played by Karl Malden.

1974-Hank Aaron hits his 715th career homerun ...and breaks the long standing record held by Babe Ruth. You probably already know this story already, so I won’t get into it too much, and if you don’t know the story, it’s because you’re probably not a baseball fan, which is fine either way. There’s something for everyone here. Long before Hank was an Atlanta Brave, as a young boy he worked for an ice truck.

An ice truck is something humanity had before refrigerators. Ice trucks would drive through neighborhoods and sell ice.

Hank’s job was to break the ice, or at least, ch ip away at it, which he credits to his powerful wrists that would really come in handy later. In 1953 Hank won the 1953 Sally League MVP. One sportswriter commented: “Henry Aaron led the league in everything except hotel accommodations.” He did lead the league in hits, runs, RBI, doubles, and batting average, but these were the 1950 so Hank never got to stay or eat with his team at hotels and restaurants. Matter of fact, one time in a restaurant in Washington DC behind Griffith stadium, when he was done eating the cooking crew at the restaurant broke the dishes. Why? Because a black man ate off those dishes. Ah, the 1950s.

1842- Happy birthday Elizabeth Custer, ...yeah she’s the great general’s wife. She grew up in Michigan as the daughter of a prominent judge, and tragically by the time she was thirteen, her three siblings and mother all passed away. She went to Young Ladies Seminary and Collegiate Institute where she graduated at the head of her class, and met her future husband in the middle of the Civil War. Her dad didn’t want anything to do with Captain George Custer at that time. It wasn’t until Captain Custer led a successful campaign in the Battle of Gettysburg, that her dad would consider the two getting married.

In additiona to being very beautiful and intelligent, Libbie was very talented and used to write her husband’s memoirs when he was out in the fields of battle. In 1887 she wrote a very informative book called Tenting on the Plains which illustrated her life on the Texas frontier and life in the Wild West. After Custer’s last stand at Little Big Horn in 1876, Libbie learned that President Ulysses Grant and his staff blamed Custer for the Indian massacre, and she started writing again to defend her late husband’s honor. She lived as a widow for more than fifty years and died in NYC right before her 91st birthday. If you want to see her portrayel in film, she’s played by Rosanna Arquette in the 1991 tv mini-series Son of the Morning Star.