Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause.

On September 21, 1897, newsman Francis Pharcellus Church responded to a letter from eight -year- old Virginia O’Hanlon in the New York Sun. Virginia wrote to the Sun to ask if there really was a Santa Clause:

Dear Editor: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Clause. Papa says, “If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.” Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Clause?

In one of, if not the most, famous editorials, Francis Church responded to Virginia saying, “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause." He explained how it might be hard to prove Santa’s existence, but that this did not make him any less real, “The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.” Virginia’s letter, and Church’s response have been reprinted countless times in newspapers and holiday books ever since.

To read a transcription of Virginia’s letter and Church’s response in its entirety, visit the Newseum’s website.

[Image via Newseum]

American Airman's bracelet lost in World War II returns home

Check out this great story about American Airman Jack Glenn's bracelet that was found in Germany during World War II after his plane crashed. After so many years, it is finally being returned to his relatives. The story of the man who kept the bracelet all of these years is equally interesting.

Airman's bracelet lost in World War II returns home

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[Image via Flickr]

Another One Bites the Dust…. Chester A. Arthur is sworn in as President after President Garfield’s death by assassination.

On July 2, 1881, President Garfield was shot in the back by Charles J. Guiteau at a train station. As Guiteau shot Garfield he shouted “I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts…Arthur is president now.” Chester Arthur was Garfield’s Vice-President and a member of the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party. With this statement, Arthur immediately came under suspicion as possibly being linked to Guiteau. He wasn’t, but that comment certainly made for an awkward transition to Arthur’s presidency. President Garfield lived until September 19^th, when it is believed he died from a combination of infections and poor medical treatment. On September 20^th, Chester Arthur was sworn in as the 21^st President of the United States.

Chester A. Arthur was born in Fairfield, Vermont in 1829. He attended Union College and went on to practice law in New York City. During the Civil War, he served as Quartermaster General of the state of New York. In 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Arthur as the Collector of the Port of New York, a very lucrative position within the spoils system. Arthur supervised an excessive amount of employees in the position as a part of Roscoe Conkling’s Stalwart Republican machine. In 1878, President Hayes threw Arthur out of his position at the Port of New York in an effort to reform the civil service system. When Arthur became Vice President under Garfield in 1880, he remained loyal to Conkling in favoring the spoils system of rewarding party loyalty through patronage. However, when he ascended to the presidency one of his greatest political achievements was the Pendleton Act, a major civil service reform bill. Apparently, when Arthur became president he decided to legislate without any fear of political retribution or worries about how his actions might affect his own re-election. This attitude may have been influenced by a medical diagnosis that Arthur kept secret after taking the oath of the presidency. A year after Arthur became president, he was diagnosed with a fatal kidney disease. This seemed to free him from any great concern over his own political future beyond his term. He attempted to gain his party’s nomination in 1884 to keep up appearances, but was unsuccessful. President Arthur died in 1886. Publisher Alexander K. McClure summed up President Arthur’s presidency saying, “No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted, and no one ever retired…more generally respected.” Even the cynical Mark Twain summed up Arthur’s legacy with approval, “It would be hard indeed to better President Arthur’s administration.”

Read more about President Chester Arthur at the official White House website.

Images via NPS.gov and Wikepedia]

Bold as Love: The Death of Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)

September 18, 2009 marks the anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s death at the young age of twenty-seven. Hendrix was a visionary guitarist who, although he never learned to read or write music, made an indelible mark on the history of rock and roll. Hendrix had a gift for composing original riffs and compositions, while also being able to cover the work of other artists in a way that left them forever changed in public perception. A few examples of this ability include Hendrix’s cover of Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower and his interpretation of The Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock. Also, in an anecdote that speaks as much to his virtuosity at learning music just by listening as to his ability to create unique covers, Jimi Hendrix heard the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band the day it was released and performed a cover of the song just a few days later. Paul McCartney was in attendance at this show in London and was amazed at Jimi’s ability to learn the music so quickly, and to be able to make the song his own.

Although he died at the tender age of twenty-seven, Jimi Hendrix left a rich legacy behind. For some, he became an icon of his age; an example of both the art and excesses of the late 1960s. That said, after witnessing the drama of his music and performances, generations of teenagers everywhere have been inspired to take up the electric guitar in the hopes of maybe someday forming a band and lighting their guitars on fire (See Monterey Pop Festival). The rest of us just remain humbled and inspired by his unique combination of guitar distortion, fuzz and feedback.

As an icon of American cultural history, it is interesting to note that Hendrix did not attain widespread acclaim in the United States until after the Jimi Hendrix Experience had already debuted to commercial success in England. The Who had seen Jimi perform in England prior to the Monterey Pop Festival, and therefore refused to follow him on the bill. However, despite the recognition that came from performing in England, Jimi Hendrix walked onto the stage at the Monterey Pop Festival as a largely unknown quantity to American audiences. That would no longer be true by the end of his performance. In honor of Jimi Hendrix and his fans worldwide, here is a clip of his performance at Monterey Pop (including his guitar sacrifice).

[Image via NightswithAliceCooper]

Happy Constitution and Citizenship Day!

Today marks a very important day in our nation’s history. On September 17, 1787, the Constitution of the United States was signed by the members of the Constitutional Convention. After being signed by members of the convention (all but three signed), the Constitution was then sent to the states for ratification. This process was by no means easy, as the document had as many detractors as fans. However, the Constitution received the necessary approval of the states and became law, replacing the Articles of Confederation. If at this point you are thinking “this is boring,” or “what does this nerd fodder have to do with my life?,” then this may be an appropriate time to talk about the other name for September 17th, Citizenship Day. Citizenship Day honors all of us who are lucky enough to be American citizens. As citizens, we should be familiar with the Constitution and the struggles that brought it into being if for no other reason that it is the living breathing roadmap of our citizenship. Besides laying out the basic framework of our government, it also guarantees basic freedoms and legal protections in the form of the Bill of Rights.

Citizenship Day celebrations sometimes include nationalization ceremonies to welcome new citizens to the country. Today I had the privilege of attending a naturalization ceremony that welcomed twenty-four new citizens into the fold. The ceremony was unexpectedly moving, and reminded me of the many responsibilities of citizenship that I often forget. Being an American citizen is hard work. When I listened to the oath being administered to the new citizens, I was reminded of how much is expected of American citizens. For example, immigrants are asked to swear to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. This in it of itself is a pretty heady task when we consider that defending the Constitution can mean fighting foreign enemies who challenge the freedoms laid out in this quintessentially American document. More challenging perhaps is the pledge to defend the Constitution against domestic enemies. Sometimes we defend our freedoms by acknowledging their exercise in the service of causes we may not understand. For example, we may not agree with flag burning or private gun ownership, but we would have a hard time denying the existence of the rights that allow it within our government. We may debate the merits of these rights, but the debate itself serves only to further acknowledge the greatness of a system that allows debate instead of attempting to squash dissent.

Do you have what it takes to pass a citizenship test? Click here to take a test with sample questions.

Here are some other sample questions often asked on INS citizenship exams.

Interested in becoming a United States citizen? Click here for more information.

[Image via ssecamoreperfectunion]

Lights, Camera, Lincoln!

In the past few days there have been several articles about the future of Steven Spielberg's Lincoln biopic. Like every other Lincolnian out there, I was very excited when I first heard about this project a few years ago. Especially since I heard that Spielberg would be basing his film on Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, which I think is an excellent Lincoln book. However, my excitement has abated in recent months when it seemed that funding and other hiccups would keep the film from ever being made. Imagine my surprise when I read two articles in the UK's Guardian and Variety that quote Spielberg saying that his Lincoln film will move forward, while simultaneously announcing that Robert Redford plans on directing a Lincoln film of his own!

Read the Variety article here, and the Guardian's article here.

Robert Redford plans to direct a film called The Conspirator which focuses on the story of Mary Surratt, a woman accused of conspiring to kill Lincoln. James McAvoy is set to star as an idealistic attorney who comes to believe her claims of innocence while working in her defense. I don't want to ruin the ending of this film but this picture tells a story.

Steven Spielberg's biopic, on the other hand, focuses on Lincoln's anguish over the Civil War. He is quoted in both stories as saying he doesn't mind the competition of Redford's Lincoln film, which will be released first, "We are very happy that Redford will be doing this Lincoln movie," he said. "It is completely different from what our DreamWorks Lincoln movie will be, and we believe that it will add to the commercial potential of our film. Lincoln as a subject is inexhaustible." While I don't know if Redford's film will affect the success of Spielberg's film either positivley or negatively, I can agree that Lincoln as a subject is inexhaustible.

Follow the production of Spielberg’s movie here.

Follow the production schedule of Robert Redford’s film (rumored to be shooting in Savannah, GA) here.

[Images via www.wuis.org and www.usa-civil-war.com]

“There is a certain fatality about presidential functions when I am present” - The Curse of Robert Todd Lincoln

Yesterday I marked the death of President McKinley as a result of assassination. A strange and trivial fact about presidential assassinations occurred to me after writing about the McKinley assassination that I thought I would share it with you. Robert Todd Lincoln has the unfortunate distinction of having been present at three separate presidential assassinations:

1) Robert Todd Lincoln was not present at Ford’s Theater when his father was shot on April 14, 1865, but he was there when Lincoln died hours later.

2) On July 2, 1881, Lincoln (who was serving as Secretary of War) was at the Sixth Street Train Station in Washington D.C. at the invitation of President James A. Garfield, and was an eyewitness to his assassination (Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau).

3) On September 6, 1901, President William McKinley invited Robert Todd Lincoln to join him at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Lincoln was an eyewitness to the shooting that resulted in McKinley’s death on September 14^th.

Robert Todd Lincoln seemed to be aware of his own curse; which resulted in presidential deaths as a result of his very presence. When later invited to a presidential event, Lincoln supposedly demurred saying, “No, I'm not going, and they'd better not ask me, because there is a certain fatality about presidential functions when I am present.”

While he seemed to be conscious of his own curse, it is interesting to note that his last public appearance was with Presidents Warren G. Harding and William Howard Taft at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922. Both president survived the occasion which may have proved that there was no curse after all….but it still seems strange to me.

Here is a video that Thomas Edison’s film company made commemorating the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. The film, made shortly after McKinley’s death, shows an angel like figure looking on the images of the fallen presidents, followed by a scene in which a figure that represents the assassins falls on the altar of justice presumably begging forgiveness. If only Edison knew of the curse of Robert Todd Lincoln, he might have had Lincoln standing awkwardly in the background through all three assassinations…

[Image via Pastorron7 and Jive Mofo]