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Peace on earth, good will toward men… The Year of Jubilee…
January 21, 2016 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
While I am certainly not an expert on Jewish sacred days, festivals, and special/holy celebrations, one significant event has always captured my imagination: The Year of Jubilee – referred to by some as The Golden Jubilee. It was such a celebration which led President Warren Harding to write a letter to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in response to their invitation for him to attend the Golden Jubilee Dinner in 1923. This letter was printed in The New York Times, January 25, 1923. While we often quote the phrase “Peace on earth, good will toward men”, few are aware of its roots (Luke 2:14) or its significance and/or relationship to the Year of Jubilee. While President Harding (a non-Jew) was certainly not a popular president, this is one instance where his “good will toward men” was well-received. His letter is as follows:
The Traveler… Martin Luther King… voted in but can’t… first woman…
January 18, 2016 by The Traveler · 2 Comments
With today being Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I was trying to find something pertaining to him. In the January 20, 1966 issue of The New York Times I found a small article stating that he was sending his top aide to Birmingham “…to help organize demonstrations protesting alleged voter registration 
discrimination…” Also, “…At the same time a call went out from Dr. King’s headquarters in Atlanta for a meeting next week of civil rights leaders… to map strategy for mass demonstrations against segregated Southern schools…”.
Also in the issue is a nearly full page advertisement for the support of African-American congressman Julian Bond, who was voted into Georgia’s House of Representative after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But the state representatives voted 184-12 not to seat him due to his affiliation with Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He took this matter to higher courts in order to be seated. The advertisement reads “Negroes have died for the right to vote in Georgia. Now they are saying, what good does it do to get the vote, to elect representatives, if those elected must face ‘attitude tests’ and loyalty oaths?” This includes list of names of his supporters including: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Woody Allen; Mr. & Mrs. Harry Belafonte; Diahann Carroll; Sidney Poitier; Dr. Benjamin Spock to name a few.
The first woman prime minister to India had been chosen, Mrs. Indira Nehru Gandhi, only the third Prime Minister to head India. She was the second woman in modern history to head a government.
~The Traveler
One of the icons of Hollywood… Marilyn Monroe…
January 11, 2016 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Death reports have always been of prime interest among newspapers collectors. Not that morbidity is an issue for those of us who collect, but rather newspapers of the day remain the single best document to remember the heroes, villains, famous, and infamous of the past.
Icons of Hollywood are a particular focus among collectors and the death of Marilyn Monroe remains among the most desired newspaper reports of any from the world of television and movies.
We share today the report of the death of Marilyn Monroe in the “Los Angeles Times” (August 6, 1962), the city where she died. It is difficult to image that she would have been 89 years old today had she lived.
A January stroll thru time – 50, 100, 150, 200, & 250 years ago…
January 7, 2016 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
What news was reported in the month of January – 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 years ago? Such a walk back through time via the eyes of those who read the daily and weekly newspapers of the period can be quite revealing. This is why we often say, “History is never more fascinating than when it’s read from the day it was first reported.” The following links will take you back in time to show the available newspapers from the Rare & Early newspapers website. There’s no need to buy a thing. Simply enjoy the stroll.
The start of a new year…
January 4, 2016 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
The start of each new year typically brings a sense of promise – a certain newness of hope and expectation which drives us to peel off bad habits and at least seek to develop new ones. Of course this new refreshed outlook is often quickly squashed once we grab the morning paper and allow the events all around us to cast a wet blanket on our hopes and dreams for the new year. Perhaps a bit jaded – but all too true.
Of course, it doesn’t need to be this way. I’m convinced part of the antidote is for us to practice counting our blessings throughout the year – day-in and day-out. Sound like a plan? For those of us who are “all in”, let’s put our resolution for 2016 to the test and look through the news reports of the first week of January through time and see if we can come out the other end with a sense that life is truly good – after all, we could be living in the past when technology, medicine, the average standard of living, and life-expectancy were not what they are today: 1st Week of January thru Time
New Year’s Eve – 1965
December 31, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
It is not uncommon to read a History’s Newsstand post which takes us on a walk through time. Historic newspapers are all about placing ourselves in the shoes of those who experienced history – first hand. However, such strolls often dig deep – going back 150, 200, 250, or as many as 300 years into the past. This time we’d like to take a more nostalgic approach by focusing on a day some readers may actually remember themselves: New Year’s Eve, 1965.
Vietnam, Jackie Kennedy, The Sholbergs (?), Edward Brooke, Billy Graham, Sean Connery, Audry Hepburn, Soupy Sales, Jimmy Brown, Vince Lombardi, Lassie and more all managed to find their way on to the pages of the last newspaper printed by The Detroit Free Press in 1965. Use the following link to enjoy a series of images which tell of time in the not-to-distant past:
Detroit Free Press, December 31, 1965
Christmas Eve… 1915
December 24, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
War, peace, pain, hope, life, death – what “news items of the day” were our brothers and sisters from 100 years ago reading on Christmas Eve? Certainly the typical newspaper was pregnant with holiday cheer, but people were still born… died… and wars and rumors of wars didn’t always take a vacation. Scroll through select images of The Bethlehem Globe (PA) dated December 24, 1915 to catch of glimpse of 100 years ago – Christmas Eve.
Great Headlines Speak For Themselves… death of Walt Disney…
December 17, 2015 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
The best headlines need no commentary. Such is the case with the HERALD EXAMINER–EXTRA, Los Angeles, California, December 15, 1966: “WALT DISNEY DIES“…
A December stroll thru time – 50, 100, 150, 200, & 250 years ago…
December 3, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
What news was reported in the month of December – 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 years ago? Such a walk back through time via the eyes of those who read the daily and weekly newspapers of the period can be quite revealing. This is why we often say, “History is never more fascinating than when it’s read from the day it was first reported.” The following links will take you back in time to show the available newspapers from the Rare & Early newspapers website. There’s no need to buy a thing. Simply enjoy the stroll.
Why Hawaii Became the 50th State…
November 12, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · 1 Comment
Photo Credit: Noé Alfaro
Authentic newspapers reporting Hawaii Statehood, especially those from Hawaii, have been sought by collectors for decades. The fascination for “all things Hawaii” appears to have no end in sight. It is with this in mind we bring to you the following guest-post from Francisco Meza:
Why Hawaii Became the 50th State
Hawaii, one of the tiniest states and the only one made up entirely of islands, formally became the 50th state in 1959 (August 21, 1959). But Hawaii’s story starts long before 1959. Polynesians, the earliest inhabitants of these islands, settled here over 1,000 years ago. British explorer Captain James Cook, in 1778, named them the Sandwich Islands. Fortunately, this name didn’t stick. Shortly thereafter, American traders made a beeline for Hawaii’s sandalwood. From July 7, 1898, Hawaiian Islands were an organized incorporated territory of the US.
Why did it Take So Long?
The genuinely interesting question about the Hawaiian Islands becoming a state is the reason it took so long. Over sixty years elapsed from the time Hawaii had become a US possession before it became the 50th state. There were several Hawaiian petitions for statehood in the early part of the 20th century. These petitions were either denied or ignored altogether. Some in the US had felt that the Hawaiian Islands had no natural connection with the remainder of the mainland US. Most obviously, Hawaii wasn’t a contiguous territory. It lay 2,000 miles from the US coast.
American Plantation Owners Resented Paying Import Taxes
The clout of the American plantation owners in Hawaii resulted in its annexation in 1898. The protection of the plantations owners’ financial interests played a huge part too. They were keen on gaining exemption from paying import taxes for the sugar that they shipped to the mainland US. The plantation owners also wanted to safeguard their large land holdings from possible confiscation or annexation under a renewed Hawaiian monarchy.
The US Administration and Citizens Didn’t Favor Annexation of Hawaii
The sentiment in the US about the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands was always strong. The people felt it’d be an imperialistic, unjust, and hence, a most un-American move. Hawaii wasn’t only about sugar. It was an important coaling station for naval vessels, as well as, a potential major harbor. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan had pressured Hawaii for trade concessions.
The Reasons for the Delay
At the time of annexation (1898), the monarchy had been in existence for just about a century. Originally, the monarchy had leveraged the firepower of the European sailors to consolidate power. An element of brutality was involved too. A high percentage of Hawaii’s Caucasian residents had been there for so long that they considered themselves native. Additionally, numerous Chinese, Portuguese, and Japanese immigrants had come to Hawaii as agricultural laborers and settled down permanently.
Polynesian Hawaiians Wanted to Maintain the Status Quo Because They Considered the Sizable Japanese Populace in Hawaii a Threat to Polynesian Prosperity
The six-decade reluctance to alter Hawaii’s status from a US territory to state lay both within the Hawaiian Islands and the US mainland. In the mainland, it concerned the uncertainty and fear about permitting electoral authority to any one ethnic group. It wasn’t merely ethnically Polynesian versus Caucasian.
In the Hawaiian Islands, some ethnically Polynesian Hawaiians didn’t favor the change to a US state from the existing US territory. This is mainly because, although they were comfortable feeling almost “American” as long as Hawaii was a US territory, they were apprehensive that’d change in case Hawaii became a state. After WWII had ended, the occupation of Japan by the Allies fuelled their fears even more. The Polynesian Hawaiians’ fears originated from a belief that the Japanese populace on the Hawaiian Islands (almost as high as 30 percent) would, in the event of universal franchise that statehood authorized, organize and vote itself into leadership. And Polynesian Hawaiians considered that the Japanese ascent to Hawaii leadership would result in an overall Polynesian descent in Hawaii.
Factors that Favored Hawaii Becoming the 50th State
At the instant of the vote to statehood, almost 90 percent of Hawaii’s populace comprised US citizens. The importance of Hawaii in WWII had secured its identity as 100 percent American both in the minds of the mainlanders as well as the Hawaiians. Additionally, persistent and successful lobbying of Congressional representatives in the initial phase of the contemporary Civil Rights Movement swayed enough members of Congress into accepting the Hawaiian statehood. They were prepared to overlook the islands’ racial makeup.
Why Didn’t Guam or America Samoa Become a State Too?
Almost 18 years after the Pearl Harbor attack, Hawaii, considered a distant frontier of American settlement, was declared a US state in 1959. Since the 1820s, European Americans had settled down in Hawaii and established English as a language. Additionally, an American-style legal system had been introduced early on, and the US dollar was the main currency.
In the case of American Samoa, indigenous Samoans make up almost 90 percent of the population. Hence, it’s unlikely that American Samoa will ever become a US state. In the case of Guam, the indigenous Chamorros make up almost 37 percent of the population. The remainder includes Filipinos, Chinese, Whites, Japanese, Micronesians, Vietnamese, Koreans, and Indians. It’s highly unlikely that Guam will become a US state in the near future.
Summary
After WWII had ended, Hawaiians themselves desired US statehood. Even during the 14-year intervening period before Hawaii was formally conferred statehood, the “49th State” Record Label was immensely popular in the Hawaiian Islands. Eventually, Alaska became the 49th state at the beginning of 1959. Several months later, Hawaii became the 50th.
If you are ever in Hawaii and want to learn about Hawaiian culture, take a few Hawaii Tours that encompass Oahu and the other islands. You’ll learn see where the Hawaiian battles happened, see the beautiful nature, and stop by Pearl Harbor.
© Francisco Meza