A Brief History On April 4, 1883, Peter Cooper died at the age of 92 in New York City, the same city he was born in. His legacy still affects us today, although many of our readers may not even be familiar with him. A businessman, inventor, philanthropist, and politician, Cooper left a positive influence on the United States of America that deserves remembering. Digging Deeper Born in New York, he was of English, Dutch and French ancestry, and was adopted as a baby. His father was a hat maker, and Peter continued in the trades, working in cabinetry, hat…
Browsing: April 4
A Brief History On April 4, 1984, President Ronald Reagan made a public plea to the world to ban chemical weapons. Already outlawed by previous treaties, the widespread use of various chemical weapons in World War I was the peak of chemical warfare, but these terrible weapons have not totally disappeared. Today we list 10 Fiendish, Horrible, Evil Weapons We’re Not Supposed to Use, either by International agreement or our own decision. At times even crossbows were banned for use against “Christians,” as were square projectiles. What weapons, devices, or techniques from Hell would you include on a ban against…
A Brief History In the current race to become a major party Presidential Nominee, the list of candidates lack military experience or inclination, with only Donald Trump having the slightest military connection. Considering that each of these candidates wants to be the Commander in Chief of our military forces the situation is somewhat ridiculous. Of our 44 Presidents only 11 had no military experience. Digging Deeper Trump claims the closest thing to military experience by having attended the New York Military Academy from age 13 (8th grade) through high school. Established in 1889 the NYMA has a distinguished list of…
A Brief History On April 4, 1969, Dr. Denton Cooley performed surgery to implant the first artificial (temporary) heart in history! Digging Deeper Dr. Cooley was a renowned heart surgeon and founder of the Texas Heart Institute. Having worked with Dr. Michael DeBakey (another renowned heart surgeon that invented the pump that makes heart surgery possible), Cooley was part of the team that performed the first heart transplant in the United States as well as his artificial heart work. He also pioneered techniques using artificial heart valves which reduced mortality in heart valve replacement surgery from 70% to 8%! Unfortunately,…
A Brief History On April 4, 1841 a stunned nation learned that for the first time in American history a serving president died while in office! Digging Deeper William Henry Harrison from Ohio gave his inaugural address bareheaded despite poor weather. Perhaps because of this blunder, the new president contracted pneumonia and died 31 days later, becoming the first president to die in office and the president with the shortest time served. A total of 8 US presidents have died in office over the 238 years of our nation’s history, and the weirdest part of that is that 4 of them…
