History Archives - Renaissance Granddad

Mind Social Studies Archive by category "History"

Charles Curtis becomes the First Native American Senator – Jan 23,1907

Needless to say, I haven’t posted at this site for eons! Hopefully, I can start it up again and post on a more regular basis. So let’s begin with an On This Day In History. On January 23, 1907 Charles Curtis, of Kansas, became the first Native American to serve in the United States Senate. In 1929 Curtis became U.S. President Herbert Hoover’s Vice President. From Wikipedia….. I Charles Curtis Charles Curtis (January 25, 1860 – February 8, 1936) was an American attorney and Republican politician from Kansas who served as the 31st vice president of the United States from 1929 to 1933. He also previously served as the Senate Majority Leader from 1924 to 1929. Curtis was member of the Kaw Nation and was born in the Kansas Territory. He was the first person with any Native American ancestry and with acknowledged non-European ancestry to reach either of the highest offices in the federal executive branch….He is the most recent Executive Branch officer to have been born in a territory rather than a state…. also….He was the last Native American elected to the U.S. Senate until Ben Nighthorse Campbell (a Northern Cheyenne) was elected from Colorado in 1992. Additionally, he was the only multiracial person to serve as Vice President of the United States [15] until the inauguration of Kamala Harris in 2021. As I read the above, I was curious about the Kaw Nation. I have read several books about the Indian Wars and Nations but don’t remember the Kaws. So I…

Hattie Caraway – First Woman Elected to the US Senate!

On January 12, 1932 – Hattie Caraway became the First Woman Elected to the US Senate!! On this day, January 12th in 1932 Hattie Caraway became the first woman elected to the United States Senate!! Caraway was the wife of Arkansas politician Thaddeus Caraway. Her husband was elected to the House of Representatives in 1912 and served as a Representative until 1921,. He became a Senator in that year and served in that capacity until he died in office in 1931. It had been a precedent at that time that the widows were appointed to temporarily take their husbands positions. Following that precedent Governor Harvey Parnell appointed Hattie Caraway to the vacant seat and she was sworn in to office on December 9th of 1931. Caraway with the backing of the Arkansas Democratic party easily won the special election held in 1932 for the remaining months of the term and became the first women elected to the Senate! But that was not the end of Hattie Caraway’s political career. In May of 1932 she surprised Arkansas politicians by announcing that she would run for a full term in the upcoming election.. from Wikipedia…. … She told reporters, “The time has passed when a woman should be placed in a position and kept there only while someone else is being groomed for the job.” When she was invited by Vice President Charles Curtis to preside over the Senate she took advantage of the situation to announce that she would run for…

D.B.Cooper Jumps into History Nov 24,1971

November 24, 1971 – D.B.Cooper Jumps – Todd Snider puts it to Song! In November of 1971, I was 20 years old and entering my sophomore year at the University of Florida. On the 24th of that month…… A hijacker calling himself D.B.Cooper parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 into a raging thunderstorm over Washington State. He had $200,000 in ransom money in his possession. Cooper commandeered the aircraft shortly after takeoff, showing a flight attendant something that looked like a bomb and informing the crew that he wanted $200,000, four parachutes, and “no funny stuff.” The plane landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where authorities met Cooper’s demands and evacuated most of the passengers. Cooper then demanded that the plane fly toward Mexico at a low altitude and ordered the remaining crew into the cockpit. At 8:13 p.m., as the plane flew over the Lewis River in southwest Washington, the plane’s pressure gauge recorded Cooper’s jump from the aircraft. Wearing only wraparound sunglasses, a thin suit, and a raincoat, Cooper parachuted into a thunderstorm with winds in excess of 100 mph and temperatures well below zero at the 10,000-foot altitude where he began his fall. “The storm prevented an immediate capture, and most authorities assumed he was killed during his apparently suicidal jump. No trace of Cooper was found during a massive search. Continue Reading at History.com Yes, the legend of D.B.Cooper lives…Is it possible that D.B. survived the jump..here’s a link to a pretty good article at How…

Robert La Follette – Wisconsin Republican Progressive!!

Robert La Follette – “Fighting Bob” – Wisconsin Governor, Senator and Presidential Candidate (June 14, 1855 – June 18, 1925) Among those born on June 14th is another unsung American heroes the Republican/Progressive,from Wisconsin Senator Robert La Follette. Yes, while it is hard to believe considering today’s Wisconsin, under the governorship of Scott Walker. Wisconsin was once a very progressive state! Well there is one really big black sheep Joseph McCarthy (at least in my opinion). In my lifetime, notable Senators from Wisconsin include: Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day, William Proxmire creator of the Golden Fleece Award. Most the most recent carrier of the mantle of Progressives from Wisconsin is Russ Feingold. Feingold has recently reentered the political arena and will hopefully regain his seat in the Senate. Anyway, I sure hope so! But back to the politician whose birthday we celebrate today! Robert La Follette…. From Wikipedia…. Robert Marion “Fighting Bob” La Follette Sr. (June 14, 1855 – June 18, 1925) was an American Republican (and later a Progressive) politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the Governor of Wisconsin, and was also a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (1906 to 1925). He ran for President of the United States as the nominee of his own Progressive Party in 1924, carrying Wisconsin and 17% of the national popular vote…. ….He is best remembered as a proponent of progressivism and a vocal opponent of railroad trusts, bossism, World War I, and the League of Nations. In…

Seattle Metropolitans win Stanley Cup March 27,1917!

Seattle Metropolitans the first US Team to win the Stanley Cup! Okay, I am not the world’s biggest hockey fan.Living in the suburbs of Philly,I do follow the Flyers and a couple of years ago attended several games. However, I did not follow any hockey before 1967, when the Flyers entered the league,. In 1967 the NHL doubled in size adding six teams to the original six teams.So when saw that on March 27, 1912. The Seattle Metropolitans, of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, defeated the Montreal Canadians and became the first U.S. hockey team to win the Stanley Cup. I said huh?? The Seattle Metropolitans? The Pacific Coast League of Canada and the Stanley Cup?? I needed to find out about this!! First came exploration of the Seattle Metropolitans– From Wikipedia….. The Seattle Metropolitans were a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle, Washington which played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association from 1915 to 1924. They won the Stanley Cup in 1917, becoming the first American team to do so. They played their home games at the Seattle Ice Arena The Metropolitans were an expansion team in the PCHA, that joined the league in 1915! The team was stocked by raiding players from the 1914 Stanley Cup wining Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association (NHA)The Blueshirts’ players who moved to Seattle were Eddie Carpenter, Frank Foyston, Hap Holmes, Jack Walker and Cully Wilson. This core group of players made the Seattle team immediately competitive. Now what…

Aldus Manutius – the Renaissance's Leading Publisher

Aldus Manutius – Venice publisher who created the first pocket-sized books! This afternoon I saw this post in Twitter feed – A Tribute to the Printer Aldus Manutius, and the Roots of the Paperback.. The tribute is a new show in New York at the Grolier Club in Manhattan, “Aldus Manutius: A Legacy More Lasting Than Bronze,” The show brings together nearly 150 books from Aldine press founded by Manutius in Venice in 1494. The books are known as Aldines. So who is this Aldus Manutius and what does he have to do with paperback books. I think I need to find out about this….. At Wikipedia I read….. Aldus Pius Manutius (1449 – February 6, 1515), the Latinised name of Aldo Manuzio [ˈaldo maˈnuttsjo] was an Italian humanist who became a printer and publisher when he founded the Aldine Press at Venice. Sometimes he is called Aldus Manutius, the Elder to distinguish him from his grandson, Aldus Manutius, the Younger. His publishing legacy includes the distinctions of inventing italic type, establishing the modern use of the semicolon, developing the modern appearance of the comma, and introducing inexpensive books in small formats bound in vellum that were read much as modern paperbacks are…… ….Manutius wanted to create an octavo book format that gentlemen of leisure could easily transport in a pocket or a satchel, the long, narrow libri portatiles of his 1503 catalogue, forerunners of the modern pocket book.[10] Manutius’ edition of Virgil’s Opera (1501) was the first octavo volume that he…

The Bookwheel , what a way to read!!

The Bookwheel invented by Agostino Ramelli in 1588! As I started browsing through Wikipedia this morning I came across a contraption invented by Italian military engineer Agostino Ramelli the bookwheel!! It was the perfect invention for all of those like us, who back in 1588 loved to read more than one book at a time! It’s just a tad bulkier than your Kindle!! Th bookwheel which is sometimes called a reading wheel is according to Wikipedia…. a type of rotating bookcase designed to allow one person to read a variety of heavy books in one location with ease. The books are rotated vertically similar to the motion of a water wheel, as opposed to rotating on a flat table surface. The design for the bookwheel originally appeared in a 16th-century illustration by Agostino Ramelli. Since then, Ramelli’s design has influenced other artists and engineers….. ….The bookwheel, in its most commonly seen form, was invented by, presented as one of the 195 designs in Le diverse et artificiose machine del Capitano Agostino Ramelli (The various and ingenious machines of Captain Agostino Ramelli).[1] To ensure that the books remained at a constant angle, Ramelli incorporated an epicyclic gearing arrangement, a complex device that had only previously been used in astronomical clocks. Ramelli’s design is unnecessarily elaborate, as he likely understood that gravity could have worked just as effectively (as it does with a Ferris wheel, invented centuries later), but the gearing system allowed him to display his mathematical prowess.[2] While other people would go…