This is it!

The Maundy Monday Newsletter - This Week in History July 7 - 13.

You don’t mess with a good thing. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Don’t ruin it in the name of improvement.

You get the gist of these sentences. There are reasons why we can’t have nice things and it’s because we are always trying to screw things up when it is entirely unnecessary.

And yet, we humans can’t help ourselves. In April 1985, we saw the great American soda company, Coca-Cola, wake up one day and decide to change the formula of the most popular soda in human history.

Why?

Well, partly, because in 1982, Coca-Cola rolled out Diet Coke, which was widely popular in taste tests compared to Pepsi and Coke because it was sweeter. Pepsi had been gaining ground on market share and the decision was made that a decision needed to be made!

So the suits at Coca-Cola rolled out New Coke and said This is it!

The day New Coke was announced, Coca-Cola stock plummeted, and Pepsi gave their employees the day off to celebrate.

With a resounding response, the people said, this wasn’t it.

People called Coca-Cola day and night because there was nothing else to distract them. By June, it was fielding 8,000 calls a day.

This is it! took on a different meaning just 80 days later, when the Coca-Cola Company announced on July 10, 1985, that it was bringing back the original Coke and calling it Coca-Cola Classic.

It didn’t matter that New Coke tested well or that it tasted more like the rising popular Pepsi brand. All that mattered to loyal Americans was their bond to the sugary drink, and gosh darn it, it wasn’t going to change.

Coke Classic saved a brand and gave us hope that corporations will admit their stupid mistakes if we complain enough.

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. Mary Surratt was executed on July 7, 1865. The boarding house owner was convicted of conspiring to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. As a Catholic convert, her religion was blamed as a motive. The United States would cut off diplomatic relations with the Vatican, and everyone back in 1865 would not believe the situation today.

2. Zachary Taylor died on July 9, 1850. The 12^th president and 36^th-ranked Taylor enjoyed some cherries and milk after the Fourth of July. Then he was either murdered or died because of poor water filtration. Either way, the Mexican War hero president held office for only 16 months.

3. The United States and Vietnam established diplomatic relations on July 11, 1995. Twenty years after pulling out of Saigon, the United States decided it was best for them both to get into some trade deals. Vietnam is on Anonymous’s travel bucket list.

---

Here’s a fun anniversary we celebrate this week:

The first Etch-A-Sketch went on sale on July 12, 1960

My paternal grandparents had an Etch-A-Sketch at their house. They also had lawn darts – I’m not kidding. Lawn darts.

A French inventor of toys and kites created the Etch-A-Sketch. The Ohio Art Company, based in Ohio, took a second look at the toy at a convention and decided to go all in. By Christmas, Etch-A-Sketch commercials were all over television.

The original design had a glass plate on the surface. Then, smart people realized this was pretty dumb because glass can break, and kids could get hurt. By 1970, the front plate was made of plastic. Don’t worry, I’m sure lawn darts were coming out strong around this time.

Anyway, I loved to play with the Ecth-A-Sketch. I had no talent, but it was fun just scrabbling doodles everywhere. I remember trying to spell my name constantly. I didn’t mess around with the lawn darts.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support of Okay History. I hope to be back with something special on Friday. In the meantime, I hope the week is a good one!

Okay,

Chris

Blue’s toys are basic.