THE STIGMA OF THE FOURTH OF JULY

You may recall that Nathaniel Pope, a delegate from the territory of Illinois, lobbied Congress in 1818 to expand the footprint of Illinois to include a portion of the coast of Lake Michigan on the theory that a port at that location (ultimately known as Chicago) and the resulting trade and commerce with people from other areas in the north would encourage an influx of progressive ideas which would lessen the likelihood that Illinois would become a slave state.

Decades later, Pope's theory about the political implications of the free exchange of ideas from a multitude of visitors seemed to be supported by events in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Unlike most other areas of that state which were rural and devoted to agriculture, Vicksburg was a bustling port on the Mississippi River with a wide variety of visitors with a wide variety of political and philosophical leanings. As a result, when the Civil War was about to erupt, the cosmopolitan inhabitants of the city selected electors to vote against secession from the Union. Of course, this turned out to be a minority view, and Mississippi left the Union on January 9, 1861--the second state to do so, after South Carolina.

Vicksburg was at a strategic location for controlling use of the Mississippi River, and it was subject to bad things happening to it for several months in 1862 and 1863 between heavy bombardment from the Union Navy and the responses from the Confederate forces.  Finally, Confederate General John C. Pemberton surrendered the city on July 4, 1863 to General Ulysses S. Grant. Despite the earlier pro-Union sentiments of its inhabitants, the damage done during the capture of the city and the subsequent harsh occupation by the Northern troops for a decade later caused most of Vicksburg's residents to come to despise their Yankee oppressors.

As a result, the "Fourth of July" was definitely not a holiday any more for the inhabitants of the city for over eighty years. It was not observed in any positive way in Vicksburg until 1945 when the Nazis were defeated in Europe. Even then, however, it was celebrated as the "Carnival of the Confederacy"--not the Independence Day observed by the rest of the country. Finally, however, during the Bicentennial celebrations of 1976 and 113 years after July 4 had become anathema to the people of Vicksburg, they decided to let bygones be bygones, and the holiday is once again "Independence Day" in that municipality.

For additional information on why on July 4 in Vicksburg you can now gorge yourself on hot dogs, listen to marching bands playing patriotic music, and display American flags, please click here.

BALLOONING INTERNATIONAL ACRIMONY

At the height of the Cold War*, U.S. President Eisenhower authorized "Project Genetrix." Project Genetrix involved the release of weather balloons over the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China which were equipped with cameras which would automatically take photos during the daylight hours. The 200-foot tall balloons normally flew at 50,000 feet (15,000 meters) to 100,000 feet (30,000 meters) high and were generally out of the range of fighter aircraft. They and their photographic treasure trove would be recaptured by specially-equipped US aircraft after the balloons had soared over the enemy country.

The balloons and gondola were very flimsy and invisible to radar. Or so the Americans thought. Unfortunately, one of the steel support rods was 91 centimeters long, which happened to be the same wavelength as a frequency used by Soviet early warning radar. As a result, the balloons popped up on Russian radar screens as conspicuously as Donald Trump at an Greenpeace convention.

The Soviets were very irritated and implemented the usual diplomatic blustering. They also quickly realized that the balloons at sunrise, after a cold night's flight, could be found at a lower altitude within the range of their MiG fighters. As a result, after less than a month, Eisenhower cancelled the project when only 54 out of 516 balloons were able to be retrieved by the Americans. Out of those 54 balloons, only 31 provided usable photos.

The project was not a total bust, however--at least from the viewpoint of the Soviets. Upon recovering the cameras from the balloons that they shot down, they discovered how the Americans had made temperature-resistant film which was also immune to external radiation. This enlightenment resolved a problem the Russians were encountering in designing their space program.

High-altitude reconnaissance by the USA resumed with its U-2 program, which ultimately resulted in its own set of political difficulties.

*From what I can tell, the "height of the Cold War" with the Soviet Union has been used to refer to virtually any date from the defeat of the Nazis in 1945 to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Project Generix ran from January 10, 1956 to February 6, 1956.

THE HOLLOW-NECK QUANDARY OF JUNE

Fans of the old TV series Leave It to Beaver (and how could you not be a fan if you have ever seen an episode) still good-naturedly mock the mother in the series, June Cleaver, for her iconic predilection towards wearing a pearl necklace and high heels on occasions where normal women might have a more informal garb while doing the laundry, preparing the meals, or performing any other tasks expected of females at that time. June's fashion choices were not, however, an attempt to glamorize the role of a Eisenhower-era mother and housewife.

With respect to the pearls, the actress playing June Cleaver, Barbara Billingsley, had a hollow depression in the front of her throat. She used the pearls simply to cover up what was perceived as a physical imperfection.

The high heels also have a more pragmatic explanation. In the first season of the show, Billingsley wore normal flats. However, as the boys in the series quickly grew in height, the producers were concerned that the dynamics of the parent-children relationship in the show might appear strained if the kids got taller than the adults at too early of an age. The reason that June Cleaver wore high heels was so that she could continue to tower over her young sons.

To hear from Billingsley's own mouth the explanation for these sartorial inclinations, click here.

Billingsley was typecast for decades as a conservative, white-bread, 1950s mom  whose most challenging crisis was convincing her son Wally not to drink milk directly from the bottle while she and her family lived in an idyllic small town in mid-America. As such, she was the perfect choice for her cameo role in the 1980 movie Airport.

WHEN TEXAS USED TO BE BIG

Map courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

When Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845, it was larger than it is today, and its northern border extended into present-day Wyoming. However, under the Compromise of 1850 (which dealt with a lot of slavery issues), Texas ceded much of its land to the United States, and that real estate was eventually swallowed up by New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Wyoming. Texas was willing to go along with this, as the deal included a provision that the federal government would assume $10 million in debt incurred by Texas when it was a separate nation from 1836 to 1845.

Texas's present northern border was fixed at 36°30′ latitude, which was the legal limit under the Missouri Compromise of 1820 for the northern border of a western slave state. When Colorado and Kansas were formed, this left a 34 mile-wide gap between these two states and Texas, and this gap ultimately became the Oklahoma panhandle. For several decades, no territory or state claimed or governed the panhandle, and it become a legendary bastion of lawlessness and a notorious refuge for scalawags, owlhoots, and ne'er-do-wells. 

THE GRISLY SAGA OF THE WEST VIRGINIA THREE

One of the battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 was the West Virginia. Six months after the attack, the vessel was refloated and the remains of 66 crewmen were recovered. The salvage team made the ghastly discovery of the bodies of three crewmen who had been trapped under the water in a sealed compartment and who had survived until December 23 when either their air or water supply had become depleted. The doomed men had kept track of the time by marking through the days on a calendar.  

This discovery was not a surprise to the sentries who had been patrolling the damaged vessels in the harbor after the attack, as they had heard and had been tormented by the sounds of the slowly expiring crewmen pounding on the hull below the waterline.

The relatives of the 66 men were informed that all of the casualties had died on December 7. The story of the three trapped crewmen was not released until several decades later.

The West Virginia was eventually fully repaired and upgraded and served with distinction in several campaigns in the Pacific.  She was put in mothballs in 1947 and decommissioned and sold for scrap in 1959.

View image | gettyimages.com

THE FELINE PUGILISTIC KINETOGRAPH

Depending on your viewpoint, one of the most delightful or one of the most abhorrent features available on the internet is the plethora of videos of kitties doing cute things. The origins of this controversial practice can be traced back to 1894, when Thomas Edison, in one of his extremely early movies, recorded two cats equipped with boxing gloves duking it out in a ring. Unfortunately, history is silent on which boxer ultimately prevailed, as the film ends before the fight does.

If you wish to see the first cat video ever made, click here. For further information on Edison's early film projects, try this link to Smithsonian Magazine.

THE ORANGE BRAWL

The town of Ivrea in northern Italy has a battle each year which consists of huge crowds of people throwing millions of oranges at each other for three days. It can get somewhat sticky.

The tradition originated in 1194 when nobleman Conte Rainieri di Biandrate tried to employ Le droit du Seigneur* against Violetta, the bride of one of his subjects. Violetta construed this as a form of sexual harassment. In response, she decapitated the noble and displayed his head from his balcony. The townfolk then revolted and burned down his castle.

Depending on whom you believe, 1) the throwing of the oranges represents the throwing of stones by the peasants against the castle or 2) the oranges represent the head of the nobleman and the pulp his blood.

Oddly enough, oranges are not native to Ivrea, and tons of them have to be shipped in from the south for the festival.

*Le droit du Seigneur refers to the purported ritual in medieval Europe where a lord had the right, if not the duty, to deflower a peasant bride on her wedding night prior to turning her over to her husband. Many historians claim that the practice actually never formally existed in Europe but merely represents a nobleman taking unfair advantage of his position. The distinction, if any, probably mattered little to the unfortunate newlyweds.

Embed from Getty Images