A Brief History On December 14, 2017, the Walt Disney Company continued a trend of corporate mergers and acquisitions that are killing competition in many markets when they announced the deal to acquire the 20th Century Fox movie studio for over $52 billion. Digging Deeper Way back in 1890, Congress realized the problem with only a few companies owning too much of a market, and passed the Sherman Act, the first major anti-trust law in the US. President Teddy Roosevelt built on a reputation as a “trust buster” to protect competitive commerce, but his successor, President William Taft, proved to…
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A Brief History On December 9, 1935, muckraking journalist, Walter Liggett, was gunned down in front of his wife and children by a Minneapolis, Minnesota mobster with a Tommy Gun. Digging Deeper Liggett was a native Minnesotan that had a left leaning political bent, writing against political corruption at all levels and even siding with Charles Lindbergh, Sr. to oppose US involvement in World War I. Liggett became disillusioned with Governor Floyd Olson of the Farmer-Labor Party and began a protracted journalistic campaign against corruption in that party after he had returned to Minnesota from a period of writing in…
A Brief History On December 8, 1991, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus signed a treaty called the Belovezha Accords, an agreement that dissolved the USSR and put in its place the Commonwealth of Independent States. A key part of this treaty was each newly independent state guaranteeing the integrity of the territory of the other signatory states. Digging Deeper As if this sacred agreement was not enough, in 1994, Russia, along with the US and other countries as part of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons further guaranteed the respect of the territory of Ukraine and other involved nations…
A Brief History On December 6, 1884, the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. was completed. A spectacular structure, the tall white obelisk was the tallest man-made structure in the world when complete, over 554 feet tall, losing that title to the Eiffel Tower in 1889, although it still is the world’s tallest monumental column. Digging Deeper Some other magnificent American monuments include: Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, carved into bare rock to depict the likenesses of four of our greatest presidents. Completed in 1941, each head is about 60 feet tall with eyes 11 feet wide! Crazy Horse Memorial, South Dakota,…
A Brief History On December 5, 1831, former President of the US, John Quincy Adams, took his seat in the House of Representatives as a Congressman. He had served as a US Senator and as Secretary of State before becoming President, and he died while still serving in the House in 1848. Digging Deeper Some of the activities of other former US Presidents include: Grover Cleveland, after leaving the White House in 1889, was again elected President and served a second term from 1893 to 1897. Teddy Roosevelt, after serving as Commander in Chief from 1901 to 1909, went on…