For this last post, let us turn to the December 2, 1936 copy of the Washington Post. In this article, we observe a great tongue-in-cheek opening line (a nod to various failed multilateral trade initiatives, notably the 1933 London World Economic Conference): “The State Department last night refused to make a reciprocal trade agreement with Cupid.” On President Franklin D. ... Read More »
That’s a pretty good attention grabbing headline from the Washington Post. And I think this is appropriate, given the current media focus on the White House’s home brewed beer. There was even an official response by the White House regarding the current beer recipe as well as a Wikipedia page. This one was published on September 30th, 1934 about claims ... Read More »
In Washington, late into the evening of December 6th, reporters worked their normal, likely frantic, hours and submitted their articles in time to be published the following morning. War had been raging in Europe now for two years, but it was still very distant for Americans and those living in Washington. It was the thing they read about in the ... Read More »
This … picture … is … awesome. This is why I love baseball. I could almost end the post with just this picture because it’s just that amazing. The 1937 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held in Washington at Griffith Stadium. The Senators were between mediocre and lousy by then, but this was reason to celebrate because it was ... Read More »
Most of you probably are not aware that Nazi saboteurs landed on our shores early during World War II. On June 12th, 1942, a Nazi submarine reached the coast of Long Island, landing four German spies on the sandy beaches of Amagansett. U.S. Coast Guardsman, John Cullen discovered them while on routine beach patrol. George Dasch, leader of the landing ... Read More »
Later this evening, the President will give his annual State of the Union address. On such an important day, it would be remiss of me not to share one of the greatest State of the Union speeches of all time … the one given, twelve presidents ago, by Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 6th, 1941. If you want the full ... Read More »
Here is video (partly in color) of FDR being inaugurated for the fourth time. This being the fourth time is impressive enough, but also, this happened on the South Portico of the White House due to ongoing privations due to the Second World War. It was a rather muted event compared to all other inaugurations. That doesn’t mean this video ... Read More »
April 12th, 1945 was a sad day for our nation. Our president, who had led us through the depths of the Depression and was a force for good during World War II, died at 3:35 pm. He had just been inaugurated for a record fourth term and was guiding our country through the closing months of the greatest war the ... Read More »
Ghosts of DC The lost and untold history of Washington