1946—During the first session of the newly formed United Nations, the General Assembly agrees that the organization’s headquarters should be in the United States.
1946—ENIAC becomes the first general-purpose electronic digital computer. The enormous machine, designed by J. Presper Eckert and John William Mauchly, occupies more than 1,500 square feet of floor space.
1947—Air Force Captain Charles Yeager, flying the Bell X-1, exceeds the speed of sound and becomes the world’s first supersonic flyer.
1948—Under the European Recovery Program, better known as the Marshall Plan, the U.S. delivers billions of dollars in aid to war-ravaged Europe. The program helps stave off Soviet domination of the sixteen democratic nations participating in it.
1949—The United States signs the North Atlantic Treaty Organization—or NATO—pact, pledging to join Canada and ten West European nations in mutual resistance of armed attack on any member nation.
1950—The Korean War begins when North Korean forces cross the thirty-eighth parallel in an invasion of South Korea.
1950—Senator Joseph McCarthy launches his anticommunist campaign in Wheeling, West Virginia, producing a fabricated list of subversives in the State Department. Pages: 207-14.
1951—J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is published.
1951—President Truman fires that “son of a bitch” General Douglas MacArthur. Pages: 93-99.
1952—Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea is published.
1953—Ethel and Julius Rosenberg become the first U.S. civilians executed for espionage after being convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.
1954—In Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court declares that racially segregated schools are unconstitutional, as is the long-standing legal precept of “separate but equal.”
1954—The commissioning of the atomic submarine U.S.S. Nautilus marks the world’s first full-scale use of controlled nuclear energy.
1955—Dr. Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine is approved, beginning the end of a dreaded disease that often left its victims—mostly children—dead or paralyzed for life.
1959—The epic feud between Lyndon Johnson and Robert Kennedy takes root. Pages: 100-111.
1961—The first two U.S. military companies, including 32 helicopters and 4,000 men, arrive in South Vietnam as directed by the Kennedy administration.
1961—FBI director J. Edgar Hoover begins his campaign against “that burrhead,” Martin Luther King Jr. Pages: 215-21.
1962—Publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, an exposé of the widespread damage to life caused by pesticides, marks the beginning of the modern environmental movement.
1963—The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech during a civil rights march in Washington. “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice . . . ,” King proclaims. “There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. . . . No, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
1963—President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas, by Lee Harvey Oswald.
1964—President Lyndon Johnson signs the most comprehensive civil rights act in American history, integrating public accommodations and prohibiting job discrimination. The act also has provisions on voting, education, and federal funding.
1964—The U.S. Surgeon General releases the first report on the health dangers of smoking.
1964—The Beatles storm the nation on their first U.S. tour.
1968—Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in April in Memphis, Tennessee, prompting riots in many U.S. cities. Senator Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated two months later in Los Angeles.
1969—The seemingly impossible dream of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth is realized. “That’s one small step for man,” declares pioneer astronaut Neil Armstrong upon first stepping on the lunar surface, “one giant leap for mankind.”
1969—About 500,000 people gather on a farm near Woodstock, New York, for a three-day music and arts festival.
1969—President Johnson’s brother Sam publishes My Brother Lyndon, a most unflattering account of his famous sibling. Page: 33.
1970—National Guardsmen kill four students at Kent State University in Ohio after a campus protest against the U.S. invasion of Cambodia.
1971—Recording equipment is installed in the White House, preserving forever some colorful chitchat by President Nixon. Pages: 222-27.
1972—U.S. relations with China, almost nonexistent since the Korean War and made even worse by the conflict in Vietnam, begin to thaw after President Nixon makes an historic visit there.
1972—Five men are apprehended after burglarizing the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in the Watergate building complex in Washington, D.C. The event eventually brings down the presidency of Richard Nixon.
1972—An historic respite from the Cold War is achieved when the United States and the U.S.S.R. sign the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty, better known as the SALT treaty.
1972—In the longest decision in U.S. Supreme Court history (and the shortest-lived), the death penalty is declared unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment that bars “cruel and unusual punishment.” It is restored four years later.
1973—The last U.S. ground troops leave Vietnam. Saigon falls two years later, officially ending the Vietnam War.
1973—The U.S. Supreme Court rules that state laws cannot forbid a woman from having an abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy, and can only regulate abortions during the second trimester to protect the woman’s health.
1974—Facing certain impeachment and conviction arising from the Watergate scandal, Richard M. Nixon resigns as the thirty-seventh president of the United States. “By taking this action,” he announces to the nation in a televised address, “I hope that I will have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America.” Vice President Gerald R. Ford assumes the presidency and pardons Nixon for any crimes he may have committed as chief executive.
1974 —Stripper Fanne Foxe, a “friend” of Representative Wilbur Mills of Arkansas, takes her famous leap into the Tidal Basin. Pages: 149-50.
1976—The United States of America celebrates its 200th birthday.
1976—Elizabeth Ray, secretary and mistress of Representative Wayne Hays of Ohio, proclaims to the world: “I can’t type. I can’t file. I can’t even answer the phone.” Pages: 149-51.
1979—Radical Iranian students seize American diplomats and embassy employees in Tehran. They are not released until President Jimmy Carter’s last day in office fourteen months later.
1980—A Senate subcommittee investigates Billy Carter’s special relationship with Libya. Page: 33.
Select Bibliography
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Baker, Jean H. Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1987.
Bartlett, Irving H. John Calhoun: A Biography. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1993.
Boller, Paul F. Presidential Campaigns. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Bonomi, Patricia U. The Lord Cornbury Scandal: The Politics of Reputation in British America. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
Brandt, Nat. The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1991.
Collier, Peter (with Horowitz, David). The Roosevelts: An American Saga. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
Cook, Blanche
Wiesen. Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume One, 1884-1933. New York: Viking, 1992.
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Davis, Burke. Old Hickory: A Life of Andrew Jackson. New York: Dial Press, 1977.
De Bruhl, Marshall. Sword of San Jacinto: A Life of Sam Houston. New York: Random House, 1993.
Donald, David H. Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
Ellis, Joseph J. Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Co., 1993.
Ferling, John. John Adams: A Life. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992.
Foner, Eric. Tom Paine and Revolutionary America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976.
Garrow, David J. The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Penguin Books, 1981.
———. Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. New York: Wm. Morrow & Co., 1986.
Goodwin, Doris Kearns. The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987.
Hamby, Alonzo L. Man of the People: A Life of Harry S Truman. New York and London: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Herman, Arthur. Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America’s Most Hated Senator. New York: Free Press, 2000.
Kane, Joseph N. Facts About the Presidents: A Compilation of Biographical and Historical Information. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1989.
Koskoff, David E. Joseph P. Kennedy: A Life and Times. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1974.
Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin: The Story of Their Relationship Based on Eleanor Roosevelt’s Private Papers. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1971.
Lomask, Milton. Aaron Burr: The Conspiracy and Years of Exile, 1805-1836. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1982.
Lynn, John W. 800 Paces to Hell: Andersonville. Fredericksburg, Virginia: Sergeant Kirkland’s Museum and Historical Society, 1999.
Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the President: Second Term, 1805-1809. Boston: Little, Brown, 1974.
Marszalek, John F. The Petticoat Affair: Manners, Mutiny, and Sex in Andrew Jackson’s White House. New York: Free Press, 1997.
Marvel, William. Andersonville: The Last Depot. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1994.
McCullough, David. Truman. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.
———. John Adams. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.
Middlekauff, Robert. Benjamin Franklin and His Enemies. London: University of California Press, 1996.
Morison, Samuel E. John Paul Jones: A Sailor’s Biography. Boston and Toronto: Atlantic-Little Brown, 1959.
Murphy, Edwin. After the Funeral: The Posthumous Adventures of Famous Corpses. New York: Citadel Press/Carol, 1995.
Nagel, Paul C. Descent from Glory: Four Generations of the John Adams Family. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Perret, Geoffrey. Old Soldiers Never Die: The Life of Douglas MacArthur. New York: Random House, 1996.
Powers, Richard G. Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover. New York: Free Press, 1987.
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Rehnquist, William H. The Supreme Court. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, new edition, 1987/2001.
Remini, Robert. Andrew Jackson and the Course of the American Empire, 1767-1821. New York: Harper and Row, 1977.
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Rovere, Richard H. Senator Joe McCarthy. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1959.
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Acknowledgments
I want to thank, as always, my wonderfully supportive family and friends; my agent, Jenny Bent; my editor, Caroline White, and the folks at Penguin; my guru, Ann Marie Lynch; and a good man named Joe McLellan.
I also appreciate the assistance of some fine historians, especially Thomas J. Dodd and Jack D. Warren. Finally, I thank Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post for everything.
FOR MORE FROM MICHAEL FARQUHAR, LOOK FOR THE
A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans: Pirates, Skinflints, Patriots, and Other Characters Stuck in the Footnotes of History
In this lively, compulsively browsable collection, Michael Farquhar has scoured the annals and rescued thirty of the most intriguing, unusual, and yes, memorable Americans from obscurity. From the mother of Mother’s Day to Paul Revere’s rival rider, the Mayflower murderer to “America’s Sherlock Holmes,” these figures are more than historical runners up—they’re the spies, explorers, patriots, and martyrs without whom history as we know it would be very different indeed.
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A Treasury of Deception: Liars, Misleaders, Hoodwinkers, and the Extraordinary True Stories of History’s Greatest Hoaxes, Fakes and Frauds
We may say that honesty is the best policy, but history—to say nothing of business, politics, and the media—suggests otherwise. In this infinitely citable book, Michael Farquhar recounts some of the greatest deceptions of all time.With what forged document did theVatican lay claim to much of Europe? Who wrote Hitler’s diaries? Why do millions still believe the vague doggerel that Nostradamus passed off as prophecy? Organizing his material by theme (con artists, the press, military trickery, scientific fraud, imposters, great escapes, and more), Farquhar takes in everything from the hoodwinking of Hitler to Vincent “the Chin” Gigante’s thirty-year crazy act. A Treasury of Deception is a zestful, gossipy exposé—and celebration—of mendacity.
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A Treasury of Royal Scandals:The Shocking True Stories of History’s Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens,Tsars, Popes, and Emperors
From ancient Rome to Edwardian England, from the lavish rooms of Versailles to the dankest corners of the Bastille, the great royals of Europe have excelled at savage parenting, deadly rivalry, pathological lust, and meeting death with the utmost indignity—or just very bad luck. Gleeful, naughty, sometimes perverted—like so many of the crowned heads themselves—A Treasury of Royal Scandals is a wickedly delightful look at the most scandalous royal doings you never learned about in history class.
ISBN 978-0-14-028024-1
1 See Part VI, Chapter 6.
2 The “recalcitrant” daughter later caused her mother even more grief when Eleanor discovered Anna had been complicit in Franklin’s affair with Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd. Indeed, all six of the Roosevelt children—with nineteen marriages between them—were quite a handful.
3 Adams’s status as vice president was part of his problem with George Washington, who kept him largely out of the loop—a trend that continued through many subsequent administrations. “I am vice president,” Adams maintained; “in this I am nothing.”
4 See Part I, Chapter 1.
5 In those days, there were no running mates. The person with the second mos
t votes became the vice president.
6 See Part V, Chapter 1.
7 See Part V, Chapter 1.
8 Hamilton may have had a point, given Aaron Burr’s potentially treasonous imperial ambitions. (See Part VI, Chapter 2.) 3. Catiline was a notorious political conspirator in ancient Rome.
9 See the next chapter.
10 See Part V, Chapter 2.
11 See Part III, Chapter 8.
12 The party got its nickname from an earlier declaration by Roosevelt to the press that he was “fit as a bull moose.”
13 Eleanor’s father, Elliott, was Teddy Roosevelt’s younger brother.
14 See Part VI, Chapter 6.
15 See the next chapter.
16 See Part V.
17 In private, however, the story was much different. (See Part II, Chapter 1.)
18 See Part II, Chapter 4.
19 See Part II, Chapter 6.
20 1. See Part II, Chapter 2.
2. See Part II, Chapter 3.
21 As to Scott’s stay in the free state of Illinois, Taney applied an earlier Supreme Court ruling and declared that the laws of Missouri applied, not those of Illinois.
22 See Part III, Chapter 2.
23 McCarthy was elected after campaigning on a much-embellished record of military service during World War II, dubbing himself “Tail-Gunner Joe,” for example, despite having never actually served as a tail-gunner.
24 It should be noted that in her book The Lord Cornbury Scandal: The Politics of Reputation in British America, Patricia U. Bonomi offers convincing though not conclusive evidence that the portrait is actually of a woman, and that Lord Cornbury was the victim of a political smear campaign.
A Treasury of Great American Scandals Page 30