An Easy Out...But an Interesting 13 Nonetheless

The last few days have been a series of things that had to be done yesterday and lots of go-go-going. I have several projects that all seem to be converging and convening all on the same day --- reading that must be done, food that must be prepared, writing that must be done, an already burgeoning summer calendar that makes me want to stick my head in the sand, and gee…..my family might want a clean towel before the end of the week as well.

All of my teacher friends are all counting down to the last day of school just as urgently as their students. They all can tick off on their fingers an ever growing list of things that must be done before the final hooray closes out the year. Grades, awards, getting that new contract signed, next year’s grade and room assignment, report card comments, end of the year party preparation, packing if moving to a new room or school, turning in purchase order for next years supplies, meeting new team members if new teachers have been hired, field day preparations, brainstorming new and innovative methods to contain a group of kids a few days longer even through young bodies are are ready to burst at their summer seams, cleaning out files, taking down bulletin boards…..oh my gosh….the list is endless….an ever growing sinkhole of gotta do, gotta do, gotta do.

So forgive me as I resort to a method of posting that is an easy way out for any teacher of history when the entries on the to do list become a bit overwhelming……let’s focus on what happened on this day……..May 15th……in history. I’m sure you will find yourself saying as you read the list, “Oh, I didn’t know that….Oh, I forgot about that…..Huh?” Leave me a comment letting me know which item spurred you to do a quick Google gaggle to find out more.

Here are 13 events that occurred throughout history on May 15th.

1. In 1602, Cape Cod was discovered by Bartholomew Gosnold.

2. In 1862, the Department of Agriculture was created

3. In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

4. In 1916, U.S. Marines landed in Santo Domingo to quell civil disorder.

5. In 1918, regular airmail service between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, began under the direction of the Post Office Department, which later became the U.S. Postal Service.

6. In 1940, nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the U.S.

7. In 1957, Britain dropped its first hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean.

8. In 1964, the Smothers Brothers, Dick and Tom, gave their first concert in Carnegie Hall in New York City.

9. In 1970, U.S. President Nixon appointed America's first two female generals.

10. In 1972, Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, MD while campaigning for the U.S. presidency. Wallace was paralyzed by the shot.

11. In 1975, the merchant ship U.S. Mayaguez was recaptured from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge.

12. In 2003, Texas Democrats boarded two buses and returned home after a self-imposed four-day exile in Oklahoma that temporarily succeeded in killing a redistricting plan they opposed.

13. In 2006, the Pentagon disclosed the names of everyone detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison since it opened four years earlier.

If you like this 13 list, you can find all of my 13 lists here.

If you would like to find other bloggers who 13 on Thursday you can find them here.

13 Presidential Also Rans

Last week I posted 13 unusual names of men that have run for president. This week my focus is on men who ran for president, but they didn’t win making them an “also ran.”

As you will see some men have run for president numerous times and never achieved their goal. Even so, they all had distinguished careers in government serving in many different capacities. I’ve linked to biographies for each individual. Choose one or two and learn something new.

1. Eugene V. Debs ran 5 times….1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920

2. Aaron Burr ran 3 times…..1792, 1796, and 1800

3. George Clinton ran 3 times…1792, 1796, and 1808
He also ran for VP in 1804

4. Henry Clay ran 3 times…..1824, 1832, and 1844

5. William Jennings Bryan ran 3 times….1896, 1900, and 1908

6. James G. Birney ran 2 times…1840 and 1844

7. Thomas Pinkney ran 2 times…..1796 and 1804

8. Charles Pinkney ran 2 times…..1800 and 1808

9. Thomas Dewey ran 2 times…1944 and 1948

10. Adlai Stevenson ran for president 2 times…..1952 and 1956

11. Adlai E. Stevenson ran for vice president 2 times….1892 and 1900

12. Thomas E. Watson ran for president 1 time (1904), but he ran for vice president 1 time as well (1896).

13. Rufus King only ran for president 1 time (1816), but he ran for Vice President 2 times (1804 and 1808)

and a bonus one as well……

John C. Breckenridge only ran for president 1 time (1860), but he ran successfully for Vice President 1 time (1856)

Locate other bloggers participating in Thursday 13 here

13 American Firsts

1. The first college founded in America north of Mexico was founded by French Jesuits in Quebec in 1635. Harvard was the first college founded in the British colonies the following year.

2. The first written constitution in the Americas was the Fundamental Orders, written for the Connecticut Colony at its founding in 1639. This document is considered the first written constitution not only in America, but the world as well.

3. There were two firsts in the category for magazine. Two Philadelphia-based political periodicals, both published in February 1741, share the honor. One was the American Magazine or A Monthly View of the Political State of the British Colonies published by Andrew Bradford. The other was the General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for all the British Plantations published by Benjamin Franklin. They both folded within the first year.

4. The first cookbook published in the United States was from 1796. It was called American Cookery by Amelia Simmons and was published under the pen name An American Orphan. There were four editions of the cookbook between 1796 and 1808.

5. The first U.S. federal prison was established in Auburn, New York in 1821. The Auburn Method used in subsequent prisons began there. Inmates were required to work silently in groups. When they weren’t working inmates were confined to their cells and were required to be silent so as to meditate on their crimes.

6. The first U.S. warship to make it around the world was a sloop named the Vincennes between the years 1829 and 1931. President Andrew Jackson used this action as a show of force to protect American commerce in the Pacific.

7. The first American steam railroad to carry passengers and freight was the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. It began in 1830 and was powered by the Tom Thumb locomotive built by Peter Cooper.

8. The first U.S. president photographed while in office was James K. Polk in 1849.

9. The first Socialist elected to the U.S. Congress was Wisconsin’s Victor Berger elected in 1911.

10. The first movie to be shown in the White House was D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation during the administration of Woodrow Wilson.

11. The first person to receive a Social Security check was Ida May Fuller in 1940. The check was for a grand total of $22.54.

12. Walter F. Mondale and Robert Dole took part in the first vice presidential debate in the 1976 presidential election between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

13. The first atomic powered submarine launched from Groton, Connecticut in 1954. It was named the Nautilus.

Check out other 13s here

13 Premature Obituaries

What would you do if you read your own obituary? What would you do if you heard an announcement regarding your demise on the radio or television?

Here are 13 folks who have the distinction of finding out they were dead….

1. When Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, learned he would be called “the merchant of death” in his obituary it is said he created the Nobel Prize in order to redeem himself.

2. Pope Benedict XV was expected to die in January, 1922 when it was reported he had pneumonia. A New York paper ran the headline “Pope Benedict XV is dead”, however they ran it a little too early and then had to retract the headline by printing another paper with the claim “Pope has remarkable recovery”. By the end of the month Pope Benedict finally met his maker.

3. White House Press Secretary, James Brady, was reported dead by all three major networks in the chaos that ensued following the assassination attempt of President Ronald Reagan. While his injuries were severe Mr. Brady was very much alive.

4. During an event dubbed “The CNN.com Incident” Fidel Castro’s obituary along with others was prematurely placed online where the public could access it. The obituaries were sketched out templates that could be accessed in a hurry by CNN staff upon receiving word a famous person had passed away. Apparently Reagan’s obituary was used as Castro’s template because the text described Castro as a lifeguard, athelete, and movie star!

5. The writer, Robert Graves, was close to death following the Battle of the Somme in 1916. He recovered enough to enjoy reading his obituary in the New York Times.

6. Ernest Hemmingway was declared dead after being involved in an African plane crash along with his wife in 1954. They both were very much alive.

7. In 1897, Mark Twain was visited by a journalist who wanted to find out how Twain was. The journalist had heard Twain was close to death. The news reports had mixed Twain up with his cousin. An obituary was not published, but in an article published June 2, 1897 Twain stated, “The report of my death is an exaggeration.” In May, 1907 Twain was reported missing when a yacht he was on was held up by fog. Twain wrote an account of the incident in the New York Times the following day.

8. Rudyard Kipling read his obituary in a magazine. The story goes he wrote the magazine and stated, “I’ve just read I’m dead. Please delete me from your subscription list.”

9. James Earl Jones was declared dead in 1998 during a Pittsburgh Pirates game. The announcer confused Mr. Jones with James Earl Ray (the man convicted of assassinating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.). The announcer quickly corrected his error.

10. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. was shocked to learn his obituary had been published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on November 29, 2005. On December 2nd the paper retracted the obituary by printing, “We are embarrassed, but happy for Mr. Schlesinger.”

11. During 1971 Katie Webb was a journalist in Cambodia when she was captured by North Vietnamese troops. Her cremated remains were returned to Reuters and her obituary was published. Later Ms. Webb was found very much alive.

12. James McNeill Whistler read his own obituary in a Dutch newspaper. In reply he wrote the paper that reading his own obituary gave him the “tender glow of health.”

13. Serbian, Vuk Peric, placed his own obituary in a local paper in 1997. He simply wanted to see who would show up to his funeral. He watched the proceedings for awhile and then proceeded to tell everyone.

Read other 13s here