The mighty pen

October 29, 2006

2006 is the 100th anniversary of the Mont Blanc company, the company that made fountain pens a luxury item even while fountain pens were still the state of the art of pens.

Today is the 61st anniversary (according to CBS “Sunday Morning”) or 62nd anniversary (see Wikipedia) of the introduction of the ballpoint pen in the U.S., at Gimbel’s Department Store, in New York City. It was based on a design devised in 1938 by a journalist named László Bíró. Biro produced his pen in Europe, and then in Argentina. But in the U.S., a businessman named Reynolds set up the Reynolds International Pen Company and rushed to market in the U.S. a pen based on several Biros he had purchased in Buenos Aires.

On October 29, 1945 (or 1946), you could purchase a “Reynolds Rocket” at Gimbel’s for $12.50 — about $130 today, adjusted for inflation.

Today I continue my search for a ballpoint or rollerball that will write in green, reliably. I use a Waterman Phileas ballpoint, a Cross Radiance fountain pen, a Cross Radiance rollerball (Radiance was discontinued about a year ago), a full set of Cross Century writing implements, a lot of Sanford Uniballs in various colors, and a lot of Pentel Hybrid K-178 gel-rollers, and some Pilot G-2 gel pens (though the green ink versions are unreliable). I also keep several Marvy calligraphic pens for signing things with a flourish. I have a box of $0.10 ballpoints in a briefcase for students who fail to bring a writing utensil.

Jefferson probably wrote the Declaration of Independence with quills he trimmed himself. Lincoln probably used a form of fountain pen to write the Gettysburg Address, but he had no writing utensil with him when he was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865. President Johnson made famous the practice of using many pens to sign important documents, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964; he made gifts of the pens to people who supported the legislation and worked to get it made into law.

And who said it? (Brace yourself)

Beneath the rule of men entirely great,

The pen is mightier than the sword.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Baron Lytton, in Richelieu, act II, scene ii, a play he wrote in 1839. Yes, he is the same Bulwer-Lytton who wrote the novel Paul Clifford in 1840, whose opening line is, “It was a dark and stormy night.”

1 Comment | First Amendment, History, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

New push for history education in Ho Chi Minh City

October 28, 2006

Many of us still remember it as Saigon.

In holding on to history, people need to start somewhere. To cure ignorance of Vietnamese history, Ho Chi Minh City officials are posting banners honoring women in Vietnam history, according to that story at Viet Q.

History poster in Ho Chi Minh City

Citizens view a poster relating the role of women in Vietnam history.

Would posting history in the street work in Dallas? In Houston? In Chicago, New York, Los Angeles or Boise?

Last summer, on the way to Scout summer camp, Troop 355 from Duncanville, Texas, stopped for a night in Memphis, Tennessee. After dinner (at Hard Rock Cafe, where we discovered the waitress had an Eagle Scout boyfriend and the waiter was an ex-Scout who still loves backpacking), I noticed there on Beale Street a chunk of history required for Texas students, in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS): Across the street from Hard Rock Cafe was the historical marker for the site of Ida Tarbell’s newspaper reporting days. No, I couldn’t interest a single kid in walking across the street to read the marker, though Ida Tarbell tends to show up on tests with some regularity.

I wonder where the Ho Chi Minh City officials got the idea?

Hard Rock Cafe, Memphis

(The Ida Tarbell historic marker is just out of this picture, to the right)

1 Comment | Current History, History, Pedagogy, Public education, TEKS | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

History as a part of science

October 22, 2006

Santayana’s line at the top of this blog is a key justification for what historians do. Avoiding bad results by studying history is not only an exercise in diplomacy and economics, however. Knowing what happened in the past often offers windows into what is happening today, in economics, diplomacy, education, agriculture, transportation, health care, a hundred other fields, and in wildlife management — and what we should do about it

Ralph Maughn’s Yellowstone region-specific blog is one of my late favorites, Yellowstone National Park being part of my childhood in so many way. My wife and I honeymooned in Yellowstone (in January — have you ever had Old Faithful in the moonlight, with only you and a dozen bison as witnesses, no other humans?). My oldest brother is interred there, after a career that saw him finally achieve recognition in the desert southwest — he still preferred the Yellowstone.

Human observation of the area is too recent to make a lot of long-term predictions. We simply do not know how the enormous ecosystems in that relatively small area behaved in response to natural and artificial changes in the past. So we read these articles talking about change with trepidation. Do they show trends? Is this the future that must be, as Scrooge asked the third angel?

Articles in the Jackson Star-Tribune probably will not be picked up by the news syndicators and published in a dozen newspapers nationally, let alone a hundred or more. News of our National Parks, our national treasures, often is limited to the regions where they are. But they affect all of us. The Yellowstone area strides two river drainage systems, the Missouri to the Atlantic, and the Columbia to the Pacific. It is a centacosm (too big for a microcosm) of what is happening worldwide.

To Yellowstone, we are Scrooge. If only the path we need to pursue to be the new Scrooge were clear, decisions would be easier. And so we study history, seeking sources for history of natural things that can tell us what happened 500 years ago, 1000 years ago, and longer ago.

Leave a Comment » | History, Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Yorktown victory’s 225th anniversary – today!

October 19, 2006

Cornwallis surrender

Trumbull’s painting of Cornwallis’ surrender, Sons of the American Revolution

Bernarda notes in comments:

This is the 225th anniversary of the Franco-American victory at Yorktown. The French Defense Minister, Alliot-marie, will be attending the commemoration on October 19th.

Funny, no news about it in the MSM, or you might say thundering silence. Where is the rightwing press, 0′Reilly, Hannity, et al? Do you think they will mention it on the 10th, and the following detail?

“Did You Know?

The 9,000 American forces were in the minority during the Yorktown Campaign. The French army and navy combined for over 25,000 men, while the British army and navy participants numbered over 21,000.”

http://www.nps.gov/york/index.htm

More history kids ought to know better, and today’s a chance to tell them about it.

3 Comments | America's founding, History | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

300 million

October 17, 2006

At 7:46 a.m. EDT the population of the U.S. is projected to hit 300 million people.

What sort of lesson plans are available for such an event?

Is there room for pondering such issues under the state’s education standards for social studies?

2 Comments | Current History, History, TEKS | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Flags of Our Fathers — movie released October 20

October 16, 2006

Clint Eastwood’s movie based on James Brady’s book about his father and World War II, Flags of Our Fathers, will be released on October 20. This blog’s post on photographer Joe Rosenthal’s death a few weeks ago has been one of the most sought after, searched-for and read posts.

This movie release provides excellent opportunities for history teachers. Will we be able to take full advantage?

Here’s the website for the movie.

1 Comment | Flag etiquette, History, History video sources, Lesson plans, Patriotism, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Finding folk music for lesson plans

October 16, 2006

Avoiding Aristotle’s warning that we shouldn’t introduce children to “music,” many teachers like to add a little music to a lesson plan from time to time. Especially useful is music that pertains directly to the stuff in the lesson plan.

If you are stumped on how to find such music as I am (and remember, I teach in Texas!), you may find this index of folk music to be quite useful, The Folk Music Index, by Jane Keefer in Oregon.

As useful as that index is, it is limited to material in Ms. Keefer’s personal collection. Fortunately, her site lists links to other folk music indices: Folk Music Indexes, Print and Electronic Sources. That index includes links to such important indices as Alan Lomax’s work at the Alan Lomax Database.

Just a pause to rant: Texas music suffers from profound neglect in Texas history courses in elementary and secondary schools. Oh, there are recordings available for teachers to use in classrooms, including a few old tunes from Native American tribes, some cowboy songs, and a few other Texas-related songs. Nothing for the classroom begins to touch the full range of Texas music students should be aware of, and take pride in.

Texas music would be a good project for a music major, or a copyright specialist, rather than a historian, perhaps. Or the subject would be a good one to make collaborators of lawyers, musicians and historians. Here are some of the great gaps in Texas music that I see, for social studies education:

  • There is not a good collection of good versions of the Texas state song, “Texas, Our Texas.” There is not a collection at all that I have found.
  • Texas blues as a genre is ignored; Robert Johnson’s recordings in Texas are not mentioned. The history of Dallas Deep Ellum section, with its rich connections to blues, is largely ignored.
  • Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys get mentioned, but not with the kind of explanation they deserve. Other Texas Swing bands are completely ignored. The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin features recordings of Bob Wills tunes by Asleep at the Wheel, but no Bob Wills himself. (Asleep at the Wheel’s story is another that should be featured, in my opinion.)
  • Scott Joplin is rarely mentioned.
  • Conjunto and Tejano and other forms of music popular among Texans with Mexican heritage are largely ignored. Any artists of great note from Texas’ Hispanic cultures are ignored — where is Trini Lopez these days, anyway?
  • Spanish-language music is difficult to find other than current pop hits.
  • Texas’ influence on modern country music needs more focus. If a text mentions Willie Nelson, it’s rare. Charlie Pride? Does anybody remember 20 years ago?
  • Texas’ influence on rock and roll is ignored. I have yet to find any mention of Doug Sahm; Buddy Holly usually gets a sentence. Z. Z. Top, Steve Miller, Janis Joplin — good luck. Roy Orbison? New Bohemians? Lisa Loeb? Forget it.
  • The Austin music scene get mentioned, but little more. A student could pick up more history of Texas music in a 6th Street bar when Jerry Jeff Walker plays, than she could learn in all of the Texas history texts. (If we’re going to compete with the bars for students’ attention, we’d better do a good job . . .)
  • Texas rhythm and blues gets little mention.
  • Texas rap has no mention — not even Vanilla Ice or Paul Wall.
  • Jazz in Texas is ignored.
  • Classical music in Texas is vastly under-reported. Most texts make no mention of Ft. Worth’s Van Cliburn piano competition, for example — one of the premier events in piano.
  • Texas marching band music with its unique styles gets very little coverage. Considering the University of Texas’ Longhorn marching band, the band out of Texas A&M’s Corps of Cadets, Prairie View A&M’s annual competition with Grambling State (of Louisiana), and two or three dozen outstanding, world class marching bands in Texas high schools, you’d think there would be a mention somewhere in a book about Texas history.

If you have a good source of music for history courses, drop a line. If you have a good source of music for economics courses, phone.

6 Comments | History, Lesson plans, Texas, Textbooks | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

End the need for a flag desecration amendment

October 11, 2006

Title: Yankee doodle 1776 / A.M. Willard. Creator(s): Clay, Cosack & Co., lithographer Related Names: Willard, Archibald M., 1836-1918 , artist Ryder, James F., 1826-1904 , publisher Date Created/Published: Cleveland, Ohio : Pub. by J.F. Ryder, c1876.

Archibald M. Willard, “The Spirit of ’76,” one of the best-recognized icons of American patriotism; courtesy of the American Reserve Society Sons of the American Revolution (of which Willard was a member); Library of Congress data: “Yankee doodle 1776 “/ A.M. Willard. Creator(s): Clay, Cosack & Co., lithographer. Related Names: Willard, Archibald M., 1836-1918 , artist Ryder, James F., 1826-1904 , publisher Date Created/Published: Cleveland, Ohio : Pub. by J.F. Ryder, c1876.

Archibald M. Willard, “The Spirit of ’76,” one of the best-recognized icons of American patriotism; courtesy of the American Reserve Society Sons of the American Revolution (of which Willard was a member).

Scouters discuss issues of leadership and skill, a wide-ranging group of topics that pertain to Boy Scouting, on a list-server known as Scouts-L. I subscribe to the discussion, and at times have participated frequently in it. Looking over my own archives, I was amused to see that it was more than a decade ago that I addressed the issue of how to quell any need for a Constitutional Amendment on flag desecration.

The U.S. flag fascinated me from my early childhood. It always strikes me as unique among flags of nations, and I can truly say that I find it stirring to see it in good display. In court, in schools, in the Senate and executive branch of federal government, and in local government, I have had more than my share of occasions to participate in cermonies honoring the flag, or merely sit in contemplation of it during official proceedings. I always reflect on John Peter Zenger’s trial for telling the truth about the King’s governor of New York, and how our flag now means that we can tell the truth about our own government without fear of official reprisal.

I often reflect on the story of Virginia Hewlett, who was a member of the U.S. High Commissioner’s staff in the Philippines when Gen. MacArthur’s forces retreated, and who risked her life in order to strike the U.S. flag and prevent its capture by the Japanese. For this action she and several others were captured, tortured, and endured the war in a prison camp. When she was freed, to her husband and my old friend Frank Hewlett (who was a UPI war correspondent and later a Nieman Fellow and Washington correspondent for the Salt Lake Tribune), she weighed 78 pounds. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments | Flag etiquette, History, Patriotism, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Wits, not bombs

October 10, 2006

When I posted the last piece on Cmdr. Lloyd Bucher and the U.S.S. Pueblo I was unaware of the news that North Korea (DPRK) had detonated its nuclear device.   In retrospect, the crisis around the Pueblo demonstrated that in dealing with officials in DPRK, we generally do best to use our wits, not bullets or threats of bombs.

Just an observation.

7 Comments | Atomic Bomb, History, Politics, War | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

A fine, patriotic hoax — the U.S.S. Pueblo

October 8, 2006

Commander Lloyd Bucher

Cmdr. Lloyd Bucher and the Pueblo on the cover of Time Magazine, February 2, 1968 (substituted for the official portrait of Bucher, which is no longer available)

A good hoax? It could happen, right?

It did happen.

A U.S. spy ship, the U.S.S. Pueblo, under the command of Cmdr. Lloyd Bucher, was captured by North Korea on January 28, 1968 — the beginning of a very bad year in the U.S. that included Viet Cong’s Tet Offensive that revealed victory for the U.S. in Vietnam to be a long way off, the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the assassination of presidential candidate Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, riots during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, a bitter election — and a wonderful television broadcast from astronauts orbiting the Moon on Christmas Eve.

North Korea held the crew of the Pueblo for eleven months. While holding the crew hostage — there was never any serious thought that the ship had in fact strayed into North Korean territorial waters, which might have lent some legitimacy to the seizure of the ship — North Korea (DPRK) tried to milk the event for all the publicity and propaganda possible. Such use of prisoners is generally and specifically prohibited by several international conventions. Nations make a calculated gamble when they stray from international law and general fairness.

To their credit, the crew resisted these propaganda efforts in ways that were particularly embarrassing to the North Koreans. DPRK threatened to torture the Americans, and did beat them — but then would hope to get photographs of the Americans “enjoying” a game of basketball, to show that the Americans were treated well. The crew discovered that the North Koreans were naive about American culture, especially profanity and insults. When posing for photos, the Americans showed what they told DPRK was the “Hawaiian good luck sign” — raised middle fingers. The photos were printed in newspapers around the world, except the United States, where they were considered profane. The indications were clear — the crew was dutifully resisting their captors. When the hoax was discovered, the Americans were beaten for a period of two weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

39 Comments | 1968, Cold War, Heroes, History, History images, Hoaxes, Justice, Korea, veterans, Vietnam | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Based on a true story — except, not Texas. Not a chainsaw. Not a massacre.

October 8, 2006

Nota bene: Be sure to see update, here.

First, there was the woman who squealed in class when I mentioned Travis County, the Texas county in which resides Texas’s capital city, Austin. She said later she had thought it was a fictional county. By the way, she asked, was the rest of the “Texas chainsaw massacre” story true, too? (I have never seen any of these movies; I understand the 2003 version was set in Hewitt, Texas, which is a real, small Texas town near Waco, between Dallas and Austin — but not in Travis County. I’m not sure what Travis County has to do with any of the movies.)

Logs awaiting processing at a sawmill in Nacogdoches County, Texas - Ron Billings photo

Victims of a real Texas chainsaw massacre: Victims await “processing” at a sawmill in Nacogdoches County. Photo by Ron Billings, Texas Forest Service.

Since then, in the last couple of weeks I have had at least a dozen requests to teach the history behind the movie, the “true story.” The movies are all highly fictionalized, I note. Perhaps I should plan a day to discuss real Texas murders, and just what fiction is, especially from Hollywood.

According to Snopes.com, one of my favorite debunking sites, there was never a Texas chainsaw massacre. There was a Wisconsin farmer who stole corpses from the local cemetery, and upon whom was based the earlier Alfred Hitchcock movie, Psycho. There was the chainsaw exhibit at Montgomery Ward seen by writer/director Toby Hooper, when he needed inspiration to finish a screen treatment. That’s about it.

But it’s nearing Halloween, and the studios in Hollywood hope to make money.

There are real Texas crimes that would be good fodder for movies, in the hands of intelligent and creative people. One wonders why more movies aren’t done on the real stories. Read the rest of this entry »

120 Comments | Accuracy, Bogus history, History, How do we know what we know, Movies, Texas | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Turning Point Presentations: Nixon’s “Checkers” speech

October 7, 2006

During one of my phase-shift transitions between universities and public schools yesterday, I caught a snippet of a commentary that I thought was on Richard Nixon’s 1952 speech that kept him on the ticket with Dwight Eisenhower. Public reaction was reported to be overwhelmingly warm, the Eisenhower-Nixon ticket won the 1952 election, won again in 1956, and Nixon eventually took the presidency for his own in 1968.

Shouldn’t that speech be considered one of the greater presentations of the 20th century, at least? It probably should, especially when we consider what history might have looked like had Nixon left the ticket — no Nixon nomination in 1960 against John Kennedy, no later Nixon presidency, Nixon continuing in the Senate . . . gee, which path is more gloomy?

The Checkers speech does not wear well, I think. Reading it today, I see the origins of smear campaign tactics and diversionary tactics that mar so much of today’s election campaigns and policy discussions.

This all comes up because the transcripts of the famous 1977 interview series newsman/comedian David Frost did with Nixon is the basis for a new play in London, “Frost/Nixon” by Peter Morgan, with Frank Langella playing Nixon and Michael Sheen as Frost — a play that is already being made into a movie for Universal Pictures by Academy Award winning director Ron Howard, but after a Broadway run in 2007.

Nixon’s mea culpa answer to Frost on the entirety of the Watergate scandal — “I made so many mistakes” — in the NPR piece voiced by Langella, sounded exactly like Nixon. I mistakenly thought it a recording of the Checkers speech, hearing just a snippet. The Frost/Nixon interviews would probably never have been necessary, had the Checkers speech not been a success. Surely there is a direct line from the Checkers speech to Nixon’s attempt to revive his reputation in the Frost interviews.

Watergate on Broadway, with a movie in the works, should offer good opportunities especially for high school history teachers to bring Watergate to a new generation. Too many people today fail to understand the depth of the damage done to Constitutional institutions in that crisis, and how lucky our nation was to have survived it. There are many lessons there for us in our current Constitutional crisis.

A lesson awaits, also, in the career of David Frost, who crossed from news to comedy and back. Many kids today use comedians as their chief source of political news. We should not be surprised — but let us hope that today’s comedians have as much a sense of public duty as David Frost did in 1977, even while using his public service interview to revive his own career.

Sometimes free markets work spectacularly, don’t they?

4 Comments | Ethics, Famous quotes, History, Lesson plans, Movies, Presentations, Presidents, Quotes, Turning Points, Watergate scandal | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Ten best presentations – readers’ choice

October 3, 2006

KnowHR had a great post a while ago on the “ten best presentations ever,” mostly pertaining to IT and other technology. I noted it on this blog, and I also wrote in with some recommendations for other presentations that ought to be in a ten best presentations list.

Well, KnowHR has done another list of readers’ choices, including one of mine, perhaps the most controversial one.

It’s a useful list. Educators may want to make a special note of the presentation on creativity in education by Sir Ken Robinson.

Someone will always grouse about rankings of things that are difficult to compare, but I find that making such rankings is helpful to students in studying a subject, and such lists emphasize what is important to know when they refer to historical events. The rankings focus on two important facets: The effects of the event, which sometimes cascade over a great deal of time or great distances, and the relative importance of other events.

The Texas Education Agency ranks events in U.S. history, picking a eleven that are important enough students should know the dates by year. Here are the years; can you determine the events to be remembered?

  • 1607
  • 1776
  • 1787
  • 1803
  • 1861-1865
  • 1877
  • 1898
  • 1914-1918
  • 1929
  • 1941-1945
  • 1957
  • (and I would have sworn there was a date for the end of the Cold War, but I can’t find it just now at the TEA website . . . I list the date as 1991, the crumbling of the Soviet Union, which was officially dead at midnight, December 31, 1991) .

1957 stumped me a bit — which historic event was supposed to be the one Texas wanted? Once I learned the trick, I wondered whether 1969 wouldn’t have been a better choice.  (You can check out the link to figure out the event and the year — or pose the question in comments.)

In any case, check out the list at KnowHR. What’s been left off?

5 Comments | History, Lesson plans, Pedagogy, TEKS | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

History at the State Fair of Texas

October 1, 2006

Mr. Fletcher and the Fletcher Corny Dog site

Care for a corny dog? Fletcher’s State Fair Corny Dogs are the original cornmeal-wrapped hotdog on a stick — invented in 1942 for sale at the State Fair of Texas, by Carl and Neil Fletcher, and still a mainstay. This year you may also purchase deep fried Snickers bars, and deep fried Coca Cola from other vendors. (Photo from BigTex.com)

This is the third day of the 24-day run of the State Fair of Texas. State fairs are loaded with history, generally — but it’s not easy to extract it from some of the fairs. Looking over the program for the Texas Fair, it’s difficult to find something that a Texas history teacher might recommend as a site students ought to see. Oh, the life-size sculpture of Marilyn Monroe, in butter, is a great achievement as temporary art in dairy products goes, but it’s not something that particularly edifies students on the stuff they need to know for Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).

An alert kid might learn something about ranching in Texas, which is part of the TEKS. The State Fair features the Texas Heritage Hall of Honor. “The Hall recognizes individuals distinguished by their significant contributions to agriculture and ranching in Texas,” the website says. Since 1992 inductions have been made to honor people significant in agriculture and ranching. 44 people have been inducted, including those who assembled some of the great, legendary ranches in the state.

There are several museums on the fairgrounds — the African-American Museum, a railroad museum, the Dallas Museum of Natural History and the Dallas Science Museum, the Dallas Aquarium, the Texas Women’s Museum, and a spectacular water garden.

Are there other sites Texas history students ought to see? Please note your favorites in comments. Or tell about your own state fair, please.

2 Comments | Current History, History, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Iva Toguri, RIP (Not “Tokyo Rose”)

September 30, 2006

Ima Toguri Aquino (NOT Tokyo Rose) (National Archives photo)

Iva Toguri D’Aquino died this week at age 90. She’s seen here in a file photo being escorted out of federal court after her conviction for treason in 1949. She was later pardoned. AP, via NPR National Archives photo (2-24-2007 blog update)

Scott Simon at NPR’s “Weekend Edition” had a remembrance of a woman from his old neighborhood in Chicago who died this week. It’s an audio report (transcripts are available for a fee from NPR).

As a Japanese American student stuck in Tokyo on December 11, 1941, Toguri was tossed out by her cousins. In order to live, she took a job with Japanese radio, and ultimately was one of a dozen women who read material between songs broadcast to American soldiers, known collectively as “Tokyo Rose.” Toguri refused to renounce her U.S. citizenship, ever. Assigned to work with Allied POWs in Tokyo, she read propaganda notices she said later were so silly that no GI could have believed them, written by an Australian POW for humor.

But at the end of the war, trying to get back to the U.S., Toguri was the only one of the woman broadcasters known. She was detained as a suspect Tokyo Rose for a year, then released — there was no evidence against her. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments | Civil Rights, History, Patriotism, War, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

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