Being Secure
The Maundy Monday Newsletter - This Week in History August 11 - 17.
During the course of human existence, there will be plenty of things we will never resolve or eradicate.
There will always be elderly people and insanely rich people. The Cleveland Guardians will never assemble a team that can actually win the World Series, and we will always have many fellow human beings who cannot afford basic life necessities.
Governments have long wrestled with how to properly care for people who are unable to earn an income to support themselves. During the Civil War, large numbers of citizens received government pensions, which were given to disabled veterans, their widows, and orphans.
By the turn of the 20th century, the United States was deep into the Industrial Revolution, which caused many to leave their farm lives and head to urban dwellings to work in factories. At the same time, improved sanitation, child mortality, and general healthcare expanded life expectancy.
Then came 1929. The Great Depression left millions of Americans unemployed and struggling for basic needs. The elderly were especially hard hit, and many states passed laws to assist them.
When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office, most social assistance programs were managed by charities and rich people passing out money to needy people.
Roosevelt changed the approach and ingrained a European economic system in which people contributed to their own financial security by deducting a portion of their work income through payroll taxes.
This led to the passage of the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935.
When you are born, you receive a Social Security number, which has foolishly become your default identification number. But that number affords you monthly benefits when you reach the eligibility age of 65.
Since its creation, the program has been under attack, and doomsday scenarios have been predicted for decades that it will soon be depleted because the Baby Boom Generation is retiring and the generations that follow are not as large and not contributing as much to the system. Whatever. I think Social Security is necessary and will be around forever.
Okay, let's highlight what else happened this week. As a reminder, these events celebrate their anniversary, ending in 5 or 0. Here's what I got:
1. Mickey Mantle died on August 13, 1995. Mantle was born in Oklahoma and began a legend in New York, playing 18 seasons manning center field for the Yankees. He was an All-Star for 16 of those seasons (1951-1968) and won the Triple Crown in 1956, where he led the American League in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in. He helped the Yanks win seven World Series and helped himself to copious amounts of alcohol along the way. He ultimately died of liver cancer, and I remember that at the time, there was controversy about him moving up the donor list because he hit 536 home runs. He was 63.
2. Japan surrendered to the United States on August 14, 1945. After the United States dropped two atomic bombs on its homeland, the Japanese Emperor, Hirohito, announced the surrender and the end of World War II. The formal signing would take place on September 2 aboard the USS Missouri, which, of course, is the home state of President Harry Truman. After the occupation of Japan, they would go on to make awesome cars and video game consoles.
3. Shannon Faulkner became the first female cadet of the Citadel on August 14, 1995. The Citadel is a military academy in South Carolina that only allowed males to play army. Faulkner sued because Southern females should be allowed to be dorks as well. She won, but when she entered the institution of lower learning, only five cadets were authorized to speak to her. She ended up dropping out. Generally terrible person, MAGA loser, and gubernatorial nominee, Nancy Mace, holds the distinction of being the first female graduate. So there you go.
Here’s one more interesting anniversary to share.
Faith, South Dakota, is a small city in the western part of the state. In 2020, the census said about 370 people lived there. It was established in 1910 as a hub city at the end of the railroad system that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It got its name from Faith Rockefeller, the daughter of Percy Rockefeller, of the Rockefeller clan, who, at the time, was a major investor in the railroads and oil.
Catherine Bach, the actress who played Daisy Duke, used to visit her grandparents in Faith in the summer.
Five years after the Dukes of Hazzard went off the air, palaeontologist Sue Hendrickson, who worked at the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in Hill City, just south of Faith and twice as big with over 800 residents, made a huge discovery on August 12, 1990, of the fossilized remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex.
The dinosaur, named Sue, is thought to have been 14 feet tall when alive, when Jesus roamed the earth. Sue is the largest, most complete T. rex skeleton (90%) in the world and resides in the Field Museum in Chicago. It was founded by Marshall Fields, a department store chain if anyone remembers.
Yesterday was Anonymous’s birthday. She has a tradition of going on a run every year on her birthday. She does a number that reflects her birthday, meaning she runs 2.9 miles every year.
I have tagged along on this run, but this year, I managed to get myself out of it by straining my hamstring in a softball game last week. So, in case you may have forgotten, I am an idiot.
But here's to another spin around the sun for my awesome wife!
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Okay,
Chris
