Born in Baltimore, Maryland, September 12, 1880: Henry Louis Mencken.
But I missed it. It’s worth noting a day or so late, though, just for his creed.
H. L. Mencken celebrates the end of Prohibition with a glass of beer with friends. (Who took the photo? In what bar? Who are those people with Mencken?)
Mencken is the guy who invented the Millard Fillmore bathtub hoax.
As a quintessential curmudgeon, Mencken took a cynical pose on many issues. Why? His creed explains:
Mencken’s Creed
I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind – that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.
I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty…
I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.
I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech…
I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.
I believe in the reality of progress.
I – But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.
The Mencken Society in Baltimore plans a commemoration of Mencken at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, on Saturday, September 15, 2018, starting at 10:30 a.m.
It would be a great day to be in Baltimore.
There are reports that Mencken’s beer was an Arrow Beer, at the bar of the Hotel Rennert in Baltimore. Is that accurate?
The Hotel Rennert stood at the corner of Saratoga and Liberty Streets, at 31 West Saratoga Street. It was torn down in the 1940s.
Baltimore’s Hotel Rennert, torn down in the 1940s, stood at the corner of Saratoga and Liberty Streets. Photo from the Maryland Historical Society.
Yes, I know Mencken had many unpleasant views. He didn’t relish the title “curmudgeon” because it was wrong.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
Cheers to H. L. Menchen!
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