A Brief History On August 17, 1945, George Orwell published his novella, Animal Farm, a cautionary tale that amounts to “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!” An allegory about the siren song of communism, Animal Farm was proven right when almost all the communist countries in the world reverted to at least somewhat of a market system. Digging Deeper Other authors have foretold the future, such as Jules Verne with his tales of submarines and space travel. Orwell himself struck again with Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1949, forecasting our descent into universal surveillance of the population and the…
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A Brief History On July 30, 1969, President Richard Nixon went to South Vietnam to visit the South Vietnamese President and US military commanders. You may not know that this visit to Vietnam was Nixon’s 8th visit to that country, although the first as President. Digging Deeper Nixon was not the first US President to visit Vietnam, as Lyndon Johnson had also gone there in 1967. In fact, John F. Kennedy had also visited Vietnam in 1951, before JFK was President. Some misunderstandings about the Vietnam War include the number of American draftees involved. The actual portion of draftees was…
A Brief History On July 24, 1901, short story writer, William Sydney Porter, was released from prison in Ohio after serving three years for embezzlement. You know him better by his pen name, O. Henry. Digging Deeper Many famous writers have spent time in the slam, including: Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, jailed for sedition in 1703 and again another time for anti-establishment writing. The Marquis de Sade ran afoul of sodomy laws and found himself in and out of jail, finally ending up in an insane asylum in 1801, continuing to write while locked up. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the…
A Brief History On July 22, 1942, due to wartime demands on gasoline, the US instituted a national rationing program for this fuel. World War II saw many items rationed, including fuels, tires, and even cars. But it gets worse! Digging Deeper World War II begat the issuance of ration stamps, resulting in black market and counterfeit stamps. Dog food in cans disappeared, and toothpaste tubes were limited. A national 35 mph speed limit was instituted, coffee availability was cut in half, shoes, bicycles, rubber products, many foods, coal, firewood, and medicines such as penicillin were rationed. Silk was rationed,…
A Brief History On July 17, 1984, President Reagan signed The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, requiring all states to raise the legal age for buying alcoholic beverages from 18 to 21. The penalty for states that did not comply would be a reduction in Federal highway funds. Digging Deeper In the Vietnam War era, a shift in public opinion regarding the age when an American could be considered an adult came about largely based on the argument that if an 18 year old could fight and possibly die for his country, then surely that same 18 year…