The Model T turns 100 this week, and more than 900 of them are expected at the Wayne County Fairgrounds for the Model T Ford Centennial Party. This article explains some of the significance of the Tin Lizzie:
John Heitmann, a history professor at the University of Dayton who has taught classes on automobile history and its impact on American life, said the Model T is one of the most historically significant cars of the 20th century and maybe the single most important American car.
[. . .]
The Model T, nicknamed the “Tin Lizzie,” was probably the most important vehicle in causing social change in America, Heitmann said. It helped transform the nation’s cities, enabling residents to move farther away from the trolley lines and creating the first ring of suburbs, he said.
All of that is true, but it considerably understates the Model T’s transformation of society. Ford’s mass production ushered in the industrial age, establishing, among other things, the minimum wage and the eight-hour work day. And because the car was so cheap (becoming even cheaper, going from $825 in 1908 to $260 in 1925), the people who made them could actually buy them. So could millions of ordinary Americans. It might be stretching it to say that Ford and his Model T created the modern middle class, but they sure helped make it an enduring force.
A few years ago, I thought we might be headed for a cultural bottoming out when I read that Steven Speilberg really doesn’t read — all his movies were inspired by other movies. (I haven’t been able to find the quote since, so maybe I dreamed it, or maybe it was George Lucas). I think the bottom is either here or very close. The top two opening weekends in movie history, and three of the top five, now belong to films inspired by comic books. (And one of the others is based on a theme ride.)
The Dark Knight” is not a simplistic tale of good and evil. Batman is good, yes, The Joker is evil, yes. But Batman poses a more complex puzzle than usual: The citizens of Gotham City are in an uproar, calling him a vigilante and blaming him for the deaths of policemen and others. And the Joker is more than a villain. He’s a Mephistopheles whose actions are fiendishly designed to pose moral dilemmas for his enemies.
Batman is good, but complex. The Joker is more than a villain. That such an analysis would be made in all seriousness says something important about the United States, but I’m not sure what — it’s been years since I read comics, after all. Maybe we’d better brush up. With Obama in the Middle East and foreign policy questions now ascendant in the presidential contest, we will need as sophisticated an understanding of good and evil as possible.
TODAY’S BONUS: Figuring out the No. 1 movie of all time can be tricky, because what the industry counts — gross revenue — is subject to inflation and other factors. If you go by number of tickets sold and try to adjust for inflation, what’s the top hit in American history? Hint: It’s been seen by far people more on TV than it even was in the movie theaters.
The Indianapolis International Airport board on Friday reaffirmed their plan not to rename the airport after Col. Harvey Weir Cook, an aviator in both world wars.
Instead, the road leading to the new terminal building and the terminal itself will be named after the colonel, 6News’ Julie Pursley reported.
Guess that’s about all we can expect for a hometown hero in the age of globalization. How about the Paul Baer Snack Bar in the Art Smith Terminal of Fort Wayne International Airport?
We just got a tip that the Indiana coalition is one of the finalists in the bid for the Lincoln Museum. That’s good and unexpected news, although the cynic in me wonders if we were included just to soften the blow when the exhibit is awarded to one of the more famous national brands.
Pssst. Wanna hear about a strange endorsment by a foreign country of an American presidential candidate? No, not an Islamic country and Obama:
We hope McCain wins,” says the 62-year-old Vietnamese. “He remembers us and will do good things for Vietnam.”
Just about everyone in Vietnam agrees. They all know who McCain is, and no one seems to hold a grudge about the 23 bombing missions he flew against targets in and around Hanoi. That goes for ordinary Vietnamese, senior bureaucrats and people who met him during his captivity—the district nurse who may have saved his life after he was shot down, and the hard-line military officer who was his chief jailer for more than five years at the Plantation and the notorious Hanoi Hilton.
The story points out that the Vietnamese like McCain in large part because he pushed Washington to normalize relations, which has led to trade that grew to $12 billion as of last year. Enemies become allies, and the world keeps turning. A few years ago, I would have had trouble with this story, but time moves on for everybody. I wouldn’t mind visiting Vietnam today. I’d even like it, in fact.
This being Newsweek, naturally the editors had to put the “no one holds a grudge about the bombing missions he flew” spin on it. It wouldn’t occur to them to say that McCain “doesn’t hold a grudge for being tortured for years.”
Didn’t it seem for a while there that 9/11 was going to bring us together? Oh, well. Happy Fourth of July from Willie and me and the rest of the gang. John and Barack, too, OK? You can’t possibly want to lead a country you don’t love. The modern world began with the American Revolution. And for all its faults, the very presence of America continues to inspire people the world over. We were founded on the best ideas and embody the principles that offer the best hope for civilization’s advance.
Just a reminder that if you want to see the Lincoln Museum, you’d better do it before Monday. And don’t count on any of the collection being in Fort Wayne for very long, despite the best efforts of a lot of people:
Among the powerhouses of historical preservation hoping to divvy out the collection, according to today’s Washington Post, are the Library of Congress, Ford’s Theatre, the National Museum of American History and President Lincoln’s Cottage, all based in Washington, D.C. The organizations have jointly submitted a proposal to assume ownership of the collection.
“The field will be narrowed as early as a month from now. … I would say within the next several months. They hope to narrow it down to three finalists,” Moser said of the process that is involving a private consulting firm and the board.
With bidders like that, what are the chances of the museum being awarded to a Fort Wayne group? And there’s really no logical reason for the museum to be here, except that it always has been and we want our city to continue to have an attraction that cool. Something of such historic interest and significance deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. There’s a better chance of that with one of the big Washington, D.C., players than here in a modest Midwestern city. I know, I know, Abraham Lincoln stuff in the nation’s capital! Whatever are they thinking?
1947: Pilot Kenneth Arnold sights a series of unidentified flying objects near Washington’s Mt. Rainier. It’s the first widely reported UFO sighting in the United States, and, thanks to Arnold’s description of what he saw, leads the press to coin the term flying saucer.
[. . .]
Whether Arnold actually saw something or not, the resulting publicity touched off a worldwide spate of UFO sightings. Barely two weeks after Arnold’s flight, the Roswell story broke, and UFO hysteria was on.
Was it the power of suggestion that led to all these sightings, or was 1947 a peak travel year for little green men? You decide.
I vote for the latter. I’m sure they wanted to keep visiting, but events conspired to prevent it. First, their planet was devastated by global warming, then fuel costs became so high that they had to choose between food and medicine or visiting Earth. Finally, a Democrat was elected supreme president of the planet, and conditions improved so dramatically that no one could imagine the point of leaving the planet ever again.
White House aides say Bush, who majored in history at Yale, likes to emphasize historical comparisons because they are easy for the public to understand and illustrate in dramatic fashion how differently future generations may come to view him.
Unfortunately for the president, many historians have already reached a conclusion. In an informal survey of scholars this spring, just two out of 109 historians said Bush would be judged a success; a majority deemed him the “worst president ever.”
“It’s all he has left,” said Millsaps College history professor Robert S. McElvaine, who conducted the survey for the History News Network of George Mason University. “When your approval ratings are down around 20 to 28 percent and the candidate of your own party is trying to hide from being seen with you, history is your only hope.”
We’re far too close to the last eight years to say what history will say about George Bush. It all depends on how the things he set in motion will play out, and we don’t know that yet. Those 109 historians aren’t acting as true historians, judging the past with the benefit of hindsight and perspective. They’re jumping into the journalists’ arena, commenting on the first draft of history.
History rehabilitated Harry Truman’s image, but it hasn’t been very kind to Richard Nixon’s. I suspect Bush’s treatment will fall somewhere in between. He won’t be in the top half of presidents and probably not even in the top two-thirds, but the worst ever? Don’t think so.
Now we are thinking about a return to the moon, unless, of course, President Obama or President McCain thinks we ought to use that money for universal pre-K or to end global warming. So perhaps you’re thinking about getting up there yourself and homesteading your 40 acres. Well, think again:
A lunar settlement, probably located at one of the lunar poles where scientists believe ice exists in permanently shadowed craters, would be a center of science and commerce. Lunar geologists and astronomers would work cheek to jowl with helium 3 miners and lunar tour guides. There would even be a government of some kind, with lawyers and bureaucrats, to sort out disputes and to pass and supervise laws and regulations.
However, if the lunar settlement is to be more than just an Antarctica style science base, some provision would have to be made about private property rights. And there is the rub.
The Outer Space Treaty, which currently governs national activities in space, is silent about private property rights. The treaty does, however, forbid nations from making sovereign claims on territory on other worlds. National sovereignty is the traditional mechanism for guaranteeing private property.
I know I go overboard sometimes on my libertarian, don’t-give-an-inch property rights rants, so I’m happy to report that here is a hypothetical problem I won’t lose a lot of sleep over. If we’re smart enough to overcome all our earthbound problems now preventing moon colonization, we will have also figured out the property rights issue. An interesting point is highlighted, however, one often slighted by libertarians. While it is true that overreaching government is responsible for the weakening of property rights, without government there can be no property rights at all except the rule of “he who has the most power has the most property.”
Despite unfavorable weather forecasts, General Eisenhower made the decision to attack on June 6, 1944. At 0200 that morning one British and two American airborne divisions were dropped behind the beaches in order to secure routes of egress from the beaches for the seaborne forces. After an intensive air and naval bombardment, assault waves of troops began landing at 0630. More than 5,000 ships and 4,000 ship-to-shore craft were employed in the landings.
History’s turning points happen only because there are people willing to make them happen. Fly a flag today in their honor.
Congress adopted a nationwide 55 mph speed limit law during the oil embargo of the 1970s and threatened to withhold highway funding for any state that didn’t comply. It repealed the law 13 years ago, when oil was cheap and gas plentiful. But with prices going through the roof and everyone worried about global warming, there are increasing calls for Congress to bring back the double-nickel speed limit.
Advocacy groups like drive55.org say rolling the speed limit back to 55 will save fuel, reduce pollution and save lives. It seems logical, but not everyone is convinced slower speeds bring any real benefit, and the debate is heating up.
If we’re going to bring back bad ideas, let’s try that Prohibition thing again. And why in the world are we letting women vote and blacks live wherever they want to?
DARMSTADT, Ind. - As World War I neared its end, a group of German immigrants weary of the war planted a linden tree seedling in southwestern Indiana, declaring it the “peace tree.”
Ninety years later, the tree has grown into a large shade tree that’s tended by Charles and Beth Skeels, who live in an 1880s farmhouse on the property where the tree was planted in 1918.
Beth Skeels said members of her family, the Wortmans — like many Americans — were convinced that the war that raged between 1914 and 1918 and killed millions worldwide was so horrible it would be the last conflict of its kind.
“They thought it was the war to end all wars,” she said.
But at least they left behind a nice shade tree. You take what you can get in this world.
Some 125 years later, the Brooklyn Bridge remains a powerful symbol of engineering might and imagination, and a revered fixture in the landscape of the nation’s largest city.
And it can still attract a crowd, like the one at the bridge’s 125th birthday blowout Thursday night, which featured fireworks, a Navy flyover, a colorful new lighting scheme, a musical tribute to honor the storied span, and even a birthday cake in the shape of the bridge.
“It’s an icon for not only New York, but for America,” says Brooklyn’s
OK, that’s enough sentimentality. Let’s tear the thing down and build one just like it a few feet away — it would do wonders in luring tourists to that pathetic little island. Or maybe it could be leased to a Spanish-Australian consortium looking for a new toll bridge!
“Psst, wanna buy a bridge?” Who doesn’t know that phrase? “Buying the Brooklyn Bridge” has long been synbolic of gullibility. But there is some history there. There actually was a turn-of-the-century con man who “sold” the bridge several times.
Finally, after all the frivolous lawsuits we’ve had, here’s an important one:
A Florida man has sued the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, seeking recognition of 10 men he says served as president before George Washington.
Samuel Klos of Palm Beach argues that the men who headed the government under the Constitution of 1777, or the Articles of Confederation, deserve the same attention as Washington and his successors, the Tampa Tribune reported.
To tell you the truth, sometimes I think we’d have been better off if we’d kept the Articles of Confederation.
Feliz Cinco de Mayo, that strange American celebration (it’s not that big a deal south of the border) of Mexicans kicking some French butt. Actually, maybe it should be an American holiday
This battle delayed the French conquest. More troops were sent from France, and in 1864, the French installed Maximiliano of Habsburg as emperor. Benito Juarez and his government went into exile in the United States and his Republican Army continued to fight the French.
The U.S. Civil War ended in 1865, and at that time General Grant sent General Phil Sheridan to the border to supply the Mexican Army with arms and munitions. Union soldiers could muster out of the army in full uniform and with their weapons if they would go to Mexico and fight. In 1867, the French army left Mexico in defeat and Maximiliano was executed. In their short stay, the French contributed positively to the Mexican culture. They built La Reforma, the grand boulevard in Mexico City, they enhanced the cuisine with pastries and sauces, and they introduced the brass instruments which when blended with the Mexican strings gave us mariachi music.
I wonder what our history in the United States would have been if the Mexican Army had not delayed the French army at the Battle of Puebla on Cinco de Mayo. Perhaps it is a stretch to say that if the French had been allowed to aid and abet the Confederacy, our Civil War would have been prolonged and even have a different outcome. And so we celebrate Cinco de Mayo for the defeat of the French Army, which had an effect on our United States history.
It was five years after the Mexican victory at Puebla that Mexico finally sent France packing. I hope nobody posed in front of a “Mission Accomplished” banner.
Thank goodness Abraham Lincoln just grew up here, so Indiana can stay out of this little Kentucky-North Carolina tiff:
A group in Rutherford County, N.C., opened the Bostic (N.C.) Lincoln Center and is petitioning the federal government to run a DNA test of Lincoln’s father, Thomas, to see if it matches some of the 16th president’s saved genetic material.
Keith Price, president of Bostic Lincoln Center Inc., said Lincoln was born in rural North Carolina, where Price believes Nancy Hanks gave birth to him out of wedlock.
Price is relying on an oral tradition that says Hanks’ family, in the late 1700s, traveled from Virginia to North Carolina, where she worked for Abraham Enloe, who some point to as a possible father. A picture of Enloe’s brother looks “very much like” Abe, Price said. Thomas Lincoln, on the other hand was more like a “fireplug,” Price said.
I suppose next, they’ll want the Lincoln Museum. Well, they’d just better watch it, because we’ll never, ever . . . oh, wait.
Those of you who are of a certain age (near mine) and who grew up here may remember being underage but able to drive over to Ohio for the exotic experience of drinking 3.2 beer. You could drink a six-pack and never feel a buzz, but we were young and drunk on the idea of getting drunk, so we “felt” the effects of that Near Beer. Kids of later generations probably did the same thing with wine coolers, the wusses.
But is it possible that 3.2 beer saved the country? FDR was elected by promising many things, one of which was the end of Prohibition. Repealing the Prohibition amendment would be a lengthy process, so Roosevelt asked Congress to ease the country back into intemperance with the legalization of beer. The 18th Amendement had banned “alcoholic” beverages, which were defined as anything containing 5 percent or more of alcohol, so 3.2 beer was a nifty loophole:
Congress heeded the call. On March 22, FDR signed a bill legalizing 3.2% beer. Within two days, brewers in Milwaukee had hired 600 workers. Beer makers in New York announced plans to spend $22 million refurbishing their dilapidated plants. Detroit automakers scrambled to supply brewers and their wholesalers with $15 million in new cars and trucks. In the 48 hours after the beer taps opened April 7, brewers paid $10 million in federal, state and municipal taxes ($155 million in today’s dollars).
Beer alone would not undo the economic disaster or heal the nation’s spiritual malaise. But at a moment of despair, FDR’s words and actions inspired Americans to believe the country could steer a new course. Over the next few months, the president proposed, Congress approved and millions cooperated in implementing a host of innovative (and untested) projects designed to prime the economic pump and get people back to work.
Beer made us believe again! OK, it’s a little over the top, but interesting. What will be the next Prohbition lesson we learn? No, not marijuana — that was never part of the national psyche. I give you, as the economy starts to melT down, John McCain and Barack Obama, both struggling (whIch means ready to relapse at any moment) ex-smokers.
A lot of changes are called “historic” that really aren’t, but this one sure seems to qualify:
BAGHDAD (AP) — When American soldiers get off duty in Iraq, the men usually return to their quarters, the women to theirs. But Staff Sgt. Marvin Frazier gets to go back to a small trailer with two pushed-together single beds that he shares with his wife.
In a historic but little-noticed change in policy, the Army is allowing scores of husband-and-wife soldiers to live and sleep together in the war zone - a move aimed at preserving marriages, boosting morale and perhaps bolstering re-enlistment rates at a time when the military is struggling to fill its ranks five years into the fighting.
“It makes a lot of things easier,” said Frazier, 33, a helicopter maintenance supervisor in the 3rd Infantry Division. “It really adds a lot of stress, being separated. Now you can sit face-to-face and try to work out things and comfort each other.”
Long-standing Army rules barred soldiers of the opposite sex from sharing sleeping quarters in war zones. Even married troops lived only in all-male or all-female quarters and had no private living space.
Boy, oh, boy. Just think of all those songs (”I’ll pass as your comrade as we march along”), book passages and movie scenes (”I know you’re not that kind of girl, but this is my last night home!”) that will now seem dated. Hey, the family that slays together stays together.
Apparently, “supporting the troops” is not as widespread a phenomenon across the political spectrum as we might have thought:
A national tour featuring decorated veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan won’t be stopping at Forest Lake Area High School today as planned, after school leaders abruptly canceled the visit.
Steve Massey, the school principal, said the decision to cancel was prompted by concerns that the event was becoming political rather than educational and therefore was not suitable for a public school.
Actually, disinviting the veterans makes more of a political statement than scheduling the veterans in the first place. But these days, even hoping your side wins the war is frowned upon in some quarters.
After two decades online, I’m perplexed. It’s not that I haven’t had a gas of a good time on the Internet. I’ve met great people and even caught a hacker or two. But today, I’m uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.
Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.
Whew, thank goodness; no database will replace the daily newspaper. The above excerpt is from a 1995 column in Newsweek. It’s a good thing we have such visionaries looking out for our future.
Kathleen Quilligan, who recently left The News-Sentinel, has landed at The Times of Northwest Indiana with an interesing feature about the coming movie about John Dillinger — “Public Enemies,” starring Johnny Depp — which will be shot partly in Crown Point:
Depp aside, part of the fascination with the movie is the attraction Americans have to crimes and the people who commit them. While there are some who resent movies such as “Public Enemies” that potentially glorify criminals, Purdue University history professor Randy Roberts said to ignore this fascination would be like saying crime doesn’t exist.
“Do we glorify lawlessness? Maybe,” he said. “But does it accurately reflect America’s fascination with lawlessness? Yes.”
Roberts said America always has admired the outlaw hero, and this was especially true in the era of the Great Depression, when the government structure seemed impotent and people applauded those who took matters into their own hands.
We have always secretly admired those who, unlike us, live outside society’s boundaries, so it’sprobably futile to spend too much energy worrying about whether we glorify outlaws — we always have and always will. The larger problem — which it is worth fighting against — is the glorifying of lawlessness in general and our numbness to the effects of violence on society. At least, Dillinger got the end he deserved. Let’s see if Depp tries to make him into some kind of “victim” of Depression-era patriarchal capitalist ruthlessness.
You get the impression listening to the Democratic presidential candidates (especially Obama) that they would never go to war anywhere, at any time, for any reason. You get the impression listening to McCain that he would make war first and ask questions later. I doubt this is quite true, but that’s how the candidates sound, so that’s where the debate tends to be steered.
We will rally, walk and dialogue on Wednesday, as concerned citizens are doing all over the country, to express our sorrow, frustration and anger at a war policy that shows no end in sight.
We want to make our voices heard: “Out of Iraq Now.”
In addition, during this critical campaign season, we want to make it clear that a diverse array of citizens of our community believe that this war must end as soon as possible.
When we get out or Iraq is just one narrow question. Iran is a threat, and the whole Mideast is volatile. Russia is resurgent, and North Korea is dangerous. When and how do we use force or the threat of force to defend our interests? How do we even define our interests these days? We need to have a broader debate with the starting point of acknowledging that neither extreme — isolationism nor nation-building — is the right answer.
Yes, it’s a shame Fort Wayne is losing the Lincoln Museum. The world-class operation has been here 80 years and its loss will make the city less distinctive in one more way. But it’s a private museum that can locate any place it chooses. If the directors really are motivated by wanting the items seen by more people, moving makes sense. This sentence was intriguing:
The foundation board voted to close the museum by June 30, citing the main reasons as too few visitors and lagging interest in history museums compared with more interactive museums.
Anybody else getting a little oversold on “interactivity”? It sort of overwhelms you and takes away one of the pleasures of visiting a museum — just wandering around leisurely, lingering over something interesting occasionally. The Lincoln Museum is said to be “the world’s largest private collection of memorabilia of the 16th president of the United States.” Memorabilia; that would be artifacts, stuff you can actually see and — once in a while — actually touch. You know — history.
The most famous postwar logo without commercial purpose — or, at least, intended commercial purpose — the peace symbol, turns 50 tomorrow.
Half a century ago, a British textile designer came up with an idea for protest signs for a march on a nuclear weapons facility: they would be the size and shape of an extra-large pizza bearing nothing more than a upside-down V with line through the middle, rendered white on black and mounted on wood laths.
These “lollypops,” as the designer called them, would be lightweight and look great on TV, he said. Seen often enough, they would trumpet the message of nuclear disarmament without the need for cumbersome words.
Well,now I really feel old. We gave peace a chance, didn’t we, class? And what did we learn? Peace is not an event, just ending one particular hostility. There will always be other wars in other places. Peace is a learning process.
John Heitmann, a history professor at the University of Dayton who has taught classes on automobile history and its impact on American life, said the Model T is one of the most historically significant cars of the 20th century and maybe the single most important American car.
