A Brief History On July 13, 1973, retired Air Force officer and member of the Nixon Administration revealed the existence of an automatic audio tape system in the Oval Office, helping to bring down President Richard Nixon. While not immediately, Alexander Butterfield survived his snitching and went on to business success, eventually serving on the boards of several corporations. Digging Deeper In spite of various “whistle blower” programs designed to protect and even reward “snitches,” many people are hesitant to provide inside information to authorities in fear of retaliation. Some other “snitches” that survived and prospered include: Tim Allen, television…
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A Brief History On July 11, 1977, civil rights icon, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian honor. King’s medal was awarded posthumously as he had been assassinated in 1968. Digging Deeper At least 20 of these honors were awarded posthumously, including John F. Kennedy, Thurgood Marshall, John Wayne, Roberto Clemente, Elvis Presley and Babe Ruth. At least 26 recipients were given their Medal of Freedom “With Distinction,” a special version, including then Vice President Joe Biden in 2017. Many recipients earned their Medal by providing civic contribution to the US…
A Brief History On June 30, 1882, the assassin of President Garfield, Charles J. Guiteau, was executed by hanging in Washington, D.C. Guiteau had surrendered at the scene of the crime. Today, we look at what happened to the assassins that killed four US Presidents. Digging Deeper John Wilkes Booth, Confederate sympathizer and assassin of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, was hunted down 12 days later and killed by a US Army soldier when Booth refused to surrender. Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist opposed to William Mckinley’s interventionist policies, shot McKinley in 1901. Czolgosz was swarmed and beaten by bystanders after the…
A Brief History On June 27, 1981, the Chinese Communist Party issued its report on the “Cultural Revolution” that took place in China from 1966 until the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. A program designed to “purge” China from political dissidents and traces of capitalism, the Cultural Revolution cost between 400,000 and 7.7 million Chinese lives, depending on the source. Digging Deeper Mao had fought the National Chinese under Chiang Kai Shek since before World War II until he took control in 1949, establishing Communist China and assuming the mantel of a dictator. Mao followed the usual dictator script,…
A Brief History On June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy addressed Germans in Berlin and made his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech. What he meant was “I am a Berliner,” but an alleged mistranslation perpetuated in popular culture made many believe his stirring statement meant “I am a jelly donut!” Digging Deeper JFK is not the only US President alleged to misspeak, with GW Bush, DJ Trump, and JR Biden infamous to their critics for their suspected misspeaking. Here are two other examples: In 1977, an interpreter’s mistranslation claimed that President Carter told the people of Poland that he…