Enough with ignoring or rewriting history. Andrew Jackson is the father of the Democratic Party and a pivotal and effective President (even if many of his moves are wrong in retrospect). You can't judge a man of 1828 by the mores of 2017.

Three Decades Ago . . .

30 years ago today, Tommy Thompson was sworn in as Wisconsin's 42nd Governor.

Grr

I helped YaYa with her AP History homework and was appalled at the content. Four questions on the Roman Empire, an equal number on China, but scads devoted to obscure nations whose influence spread no further than their contemporary borders. Plus loaded questions asking the student to point out the wrongs of the West, etc. 

It's fine to teach and know a little bit about everyone, but I would not presume that Polish history trump studying about the Mongol invasion, the Great Wall, Egypt, or Athens. 

Ladies and gentlemen, destruction from within.

Learn This

Having just left a post where the Crusades are being wrongfully touted as an act of Christian aggression, may I kindly remind you of *actual* history: 

30 Years Ago Today

 30 years ago today, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded.

Ed Vezey

RIP Ed Vezey, the last surviving crewman of the USS Oklahoma who was present when the ship was attacked at Pearl Harbor.

Did You Know?

It's true. Of the 600 people in the building, only about 130 escaped without serious injury.

Pro Tip

When you find that an author of a work of history places quotation marks around a word or concept that does not normally require it, your Spidey-sense  should start to tingle. 

Maybe the concept does have a duplicitous meaning, but more often than not it means the author has an agenda and is guiding her work within a less-than impartial framework. #Tip

80 Years Ago Today

80 years ago today LA Governor Huey Long was struck down by an assassin. He would die two days later, on the 10th.

History

100 years ago today, a year into WWI, the first tank rolled off the assembly line.

I think this is neat

70 years ago today the Empire of Japan signed the documents of surrender aboard the USS Missouri, officially ending a world war they began in 1937 with the invasion of China (we did not join the war, of course, until after Pearl Harbor, and the European theater erupted in 1939) A sailor aboard made these cards and gave one to each of the men present; when Admiral Nimitz asked for extras to pass out at HQ, the sailor politely declined the request.

100 years ago

100 years ago today the RMS Lusitania, a British passenger liner illegally carrying ammunition to the home isles, was torpedoed by German U-Boat 20 and sunk off the coast of Ireland. 1,198 people lost their lives, including 128 Americans. The event galvanized American thoughts on the conflict and eased our entry into the war two years later. To all the victims - RIP Also - 70 years ago tomorrow Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of German forces in WWII

Appamatox - 150 years on

150 years ago today, in a small village west of Petersburg, Virginia, the bloodiest war in American history effectively came to an end as the great Ulysses S. Grant accepted the surrender of Robert E Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia.

Times Change

This *was* geography. Now, if it was taught, it would be history. A mid-to-late '80's assignment by my sister Chrissy.

200 Years Ago Today

Today is the bicentennial of The Battle of New Orleans, when Andrew Jackson led a motley assortment of regulars, militia, and pirates to an unlikely victory over the British.

Good on Ike

Early in WWII Australia feared invasion by the Japanese and asked for American help. Eisenhower ordered some all black divisions there (under FDR the Army was still segregated) but they were rejected despite the urgency of the situation: Australian law forbid bringing blacks into the country. 

Ike acknowledged the concerns of the Australians by withdrawing the black divisions - and by refusing to send any other American troops in their place. "Stand [your] ground and make no differential between blood," he told his chief of staff.

 Australia quickly withdrew their objection and allowed in the troops.

Woulda Look at That

On page 317 of "Six Crises", Nixon lists Congressman "Gerry Ford" as one of his finalists for the 1960 Republican VP slot. Huh. So much for Ford being a flippant, mindless choice for VP a decade later.

Remember

Remember the Americans who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor

25 Years Ago Today

Today is the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

I grew up with the Wall as part of my world and my consciousness, to the point where I still get freaked out that it only stood for three decades, not thirty. 

Seeing it fall - not because of war but instead because of peaceful reform - wow.  A powerful moment, for the 15 year old Dan, and for the world. 

Gird Your Loins