Browsing: Society

A Brief History On January 30, 1835, for the first time in American History an assassination attempt was made on the President of the United States.  Richard Lawrence, a 35 year old housepainter that had immigrated to the United States from England pulled the triggers on 2 pistols aimed at the back of President Andrew Jackson, but incredibly both pistols misfired and the assassination attempt failed.  In the decades that followed, several other attempted assassinations of American Presidents have taken place, with Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy fatally wounded by their assassins. Digging Deeper Lawrence had come to the…

A Brief History On January 28, 1980, the United States Coast Guard proved that their big brother, the United States Navy, does not have a monopoly on maritime blunders or misfortune.  Sadly, this particular “Naval Oops Moment” came at the cost of almost half the crew of the USCGC Blackthorn, a sea going buoy tender designated WLB-391 when the Coast Guard ship collided with the SS Capricorn, a tanker ship causing the Blackthorn to roll over and sink. Digging Deeper The Blackthorn, an Iris class buoy tender, was born during World War II, commissioned in 1944 as a Great Lakes ice…

A Brief History On January 26, 1856, elements of the United States Marine Corps fought a battle against a most unlikely of opponents, Native American warriors of the tribes in the Washington Territory, a battle with the catchy sounding name, The Battle of Seattle.  Like the vast majority of battles fought by the US Marine Corps, the result was a victory for the Devil Dogs, although this particular battle does not often come to mind when contemplating great USMC victories such as Iwo Jima, Belleau Wood, and Khe Sahn. Digging Deeper The Puget Sound War of 1855-1856 (sometimes called the…

A Brief History On January 24, 1915, the British Royal Navy Grand Fleet fought a sizable naval engagement against elements of the German Imperial High Seas Fleet in the North Sea at an area called Dogger Bank.  With all the attention the Battle of Jutland and the submarine war in the Atlantic get, it may be easy to forget there were other major naval engagements during World War I.  Today we discuss one of those naval battles, a battle won by the British, although like Jutland, a not satisfying victory. Digging Deeper The battle area, Dogger Bank, is a 160…

A Brief History On January 21, 2019, the citizens of the United States of America celebrate another national holiday, this one in remembrance of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., an icon of the Civil Rights Movement.  Unfortunately, not everyone has honored Reverend King’s legacy in a commendable way this past month.  Yet, those who have disrespected Reverend King are but some of our fellow citizens who have disappointed our society in various ways in January 2019.  Although we have nearly a third of the month of January yet to go, we feel compelled to list “Jerks of the Month”…