Wednesday, November 24, 1943. The sinking of the Liscome Bay.

USS Liscome Bay.

The USS Liscome Bay was torpedoed at 05:10 by the Japanese submarine I-175.  644 men were killed in the initial explosion or the rapid 23 minute sinking.  The aircraft carrier had been supporting the landings on Makin Island in the Gilberts.  The losses due to the attack far outstripped the US losses in the ground operation.

Burial at sea for two of the Liscome Bay's crew, as surviving crewmates look on.

Most of the naval task force supporting the landing had withdrawn, as the operation had successfully completed, but the Liscome Bay had remained in support of ongoing operations. Japanese submarines had been rushed to the area, withdrawn from other areas of the Pacific, in a near panic by the Japanese Navy, which had been caught off guard by the landings.  Included amongst those losses were the commander of the ship and Navy Cross winner Doris Miller.  It was the deadliest attack on an aircraft carrier in the history of the U.S. Navy.

The Liscome Bay's use at Makin demonstrates something that was to become common in the Pacific, it was being used as an operational carrier.  Indeed, it was the flagship of the operation, with the other two carriers also being escort carriers.

The shock of Tarawa and Makin was in part because the US had simply chosen to leap up into the Central Pacific without completing operations in the Southern Pacific.  Indeed, operations on Bougainville, where the Japanese mounted a small counter-attack on this day, never concluded.

In San Francisco, Leopold Stokowski conducted an all-Russian concert with the San Francisco Symphony.

Friday, July 27, 1923. Casper living on Tulsa Time?

The analogy wasn't as wacky as it might seem.  

I've been to Tulsa, FWIW, and I don't dislike it. A typical Midwestern city.

Or perhaps more accurately an Oklahoma, north Texas city.

I would not care to live there, mind you, but Tulsa is not a bad city.

Courthouses of the West: Tulsa Municipal Building, Tulsa Oklahoma:

This is the Tulsa, Oklahoma Municipal Building which housed Tulsa's government between 1917 and 1960.  While I'm not certain that it housed a courthouse, it has that appearance, and I strongly suspect that the city's municipal courthouse was located here.  This building no longer houses Tulsa's city offices.

President Harding arrived in Seattle and gave a speech at the University of Washington's Husky Stadium.  

It would be his last.

FWIW, I have not been to Seattle, save for McChord AFB, and only briefly.

The Republican Party, anticipating another speech, announced that Hardin's speech from San Francisco, scheduled for July 31, would be broadcast nationwide on the radio.

The Federal Archives list these photos of a Martin MS-1 that the Navy was experimenting with.  The concept was to carry the biplane on a submarine, something that proved viable, and while the U.S. Navy gave up on it by World War Two the Japanese did not.

The Imperial Japanese Navy would, in turn, use submarine born monoplanes to attack the U.S. West Coast, albeit with no success.

Wednesday, March 31, 1943. Oklahoma!

Oklahoma! opened on Broadway.

Having a very long initial run, and having been revived from time to time, I have to admit, I've never seen it.

I have been, however, to Oklahoma on numerous occasions.

The Afrika Korps withdrew from Cap Serrat, the Tunisian city that's about as far north in Tunisia as you can go.  

The British took El Aouana, Algeria.  The ancient city is famous for the French discovery for four dolman there.  Dating back to Roman times, the city was named Cavallo, "horse", by the Romans.

A photographer was apparently touring the Port of San Francisco, which I've also been to.

USS Albireo (AK-90), the former John G. Nicolay,  a Navy cargo ship at San Francisco on this day.

Cavalryman, Gen. Frederick Gilbreath, Commander of the San Francisco Port of Embarkation, on this day in 1943.

Actor Christopher (Ronald) Walken born on this day in 1943 in New York.

Russian writer and politician Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov (Па́вел Никола́евич Милюко́в) died in exile in France on this day in 1943.  He had been a member of the Provisional Russian Government after the fall of the monarchy.   While an opponent of the Communists in his native land, he supported Stalin's efforts to expand Soviet territory and was an ardent supporter of the Soviet war effort against the Germans.

Monday, March 23, 1943. Last sighting of the Xerces Blue.

The last spotting of the Xerces Blue butterfly was made. The species is believed to have gone extinct due to the expansion of San Francisco into its habitat.

Sarah Sundin's blog has a number of interesting items:

Today in World War II History—March 23, 1943: RAF drops 2000 tons of bombs on Dortmund, Germany. At El Guettar in Tunisia, US 1st Infantry Division manages to defeat German armor (10th Panzer Division).

She also discusses the Danish parliamentary elections, which took place in spite of Nazi occupation. The German occupation of Denmark, it might be noted, was quite odd in that Denmark retained its government and even retained its army while occupied.

The Social Democrats took 66 out of 148 seats.  The Danish Nazi Party received a mere 3.3% of the vote.

The British troopship RMS Windsor Castle was sunk by an HE 111 off of Algiers.  All on board save one of 2,700 were rescued by the Royal Navy.

The multinational commando raid styled Operation Roundabout, made up of two enlisted members of No. 12 Commando, four enlisted men of the 29th Ranger Battalion, and four Norwegian soldiers, commanded by a British officer and with an American officer in support, failed in its mission to destroy a bridge over a fjord when a Norwegian soldier dropped his machine gun magazine.  The sound altered the Germans.

The 29th Ranger Battalion was short lived, existing only in 1943.  It was made up of volunteers from the 29th Infantry Division and was trained by the British. The unit was successful but it did not have the supporter of higher headquarters and therefore was disbanded in October 1943 with its men sent back to their units.

29th in training.

The combination of hydrocodone and acetaminophen marketed as Vicodin was approved by the FDA.

Thursday April 2, 1942. The Hornet departs.

On this day in 1942, the USS Hornet left San Francisco Harbor with its load of 16 B-25s.

The Hornet, CV-8, in 1940.

Tuesday, December 9, 1941. The Expanding Japanese Offensive.

President Roosevelt delivered a "fireside chat" to the nation on the arrival of war with Japan.  You can listend to it above, or read it below:

My fellow Americans:

The sudden criminal attacks perpetrated by the Japanese in the Pacific provide the climax of a decade of international immorality.

Powerful and resourceful gangsters have banded together to make war upon the whole human race. Their challenge has now been flung at the United States of America. The Japanese have treacherously violated the long-standing peace between us. Many American soldiers and sailors have been killed by enemy action. American ships have been sunk; American airplanes have been destroyed.

The Congress and the people of the United States have accepted that challenge.

Together with other free peoples, we are now fighting to maintain our right to live among our world neighbors in freedom and in common decency, without fear of assault.

I have prepared the full record of our past relations with Japan, and it will be submitted to the Congress. It begins with the visit of Commodore Perry to Japan 88 years ago. It ends with the visit of two Japanese emissaries to the Secretary of State last Sunday, an hour after Japanese forces had loosed their bombs and machine guns against our flag, our forces, and our citizens.

I can say with utmost confidence that no Americans, today or a thousand years hence, need feel anything but pride in our patience and in our efforts through all the years toward achieving a peace in the Pacific which would be fair and honorable to every Nation, large or small. And no honest person, today or a thousand years hence, will be able to suppress a sense of indignation and horror at the treachery committed by the military dictators of Japan, under the very shadow of the flag of peace borne by their special envoys in our midst.

The course that Japan has followed for the past ten years in Asia has paralleled the course of Hitler and Mussolini in Europe and in Africa. Today, it has become far more than a parallel. It is actual collaboration so well calculated that all the continents of the world, and all the oceans, are now considered by the Axis strategists as one gigantic battlefield.

In 1931, ten years ago, Japan invaded Manchukuo—without warning.

In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia—without warning.

In 1938, Hitler occupied Austria —without warning.

In 1939, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia- without warning.

Later in 1939, Hitler invaded Poland- without warning.

In 1940, Hitler invaded Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg- without warning.

In 1940, Italy attacked France and later Greece—without warning.

And this year, in 1941, the Axis powers attacked Yugoslavia and Greece and they dominated the Balkans—without warning. In 1941, also, Hitler invaded Russia—without warning.

And now Japan has attacked Malaya and Thailand—and the United States—without warning.

It is all of one pattern.

We are now in this war. We are all in it- all the way. Every single man, woman, and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history. We must share together the bad news and the good news, the defeats and the victories—the changing fortunes of war.

So far, the news has been all bad. We have suffered a serious set-back in Hawaii. Our forces in the Philippines, which include the brave people of that Commonwealth, are taking punishment, but are defending themselves vigorously. The reports from Guam and Wake and Midway islands are still confused, but we must be prepared for the announcement that all these three outposts have been seized.

The casualty lists of these first few days will undoubtedly be large. I deeply feel the anxiety of all of the families of the men in our armed forces and the relatives of people in cities which have been bombed. I can only give them my solemn promise that they will get news just as quickly as possible.

This Government will put its trust in the stamina of the American people, and will give the facts to the public just as soon as two conditions have been fulfilled: first, that the information has been definitely and officially confirmed; and, second, that the release of the information at the time it is received will not prove valuable to the enemy directly or indirectly.

Most earnestly I urge my countrymen to reject all rumors. These ugly little hints of complete disaster fly thick and fast in wartime. They have to be examined and appraised.

As an example, I can tell you frankly that until further surveys are made, I have not sufficient information to state the exact damage which has been done to our naval vessels at Pearl Harbor. Admittedly the damage is serious. But no one can say how serious, until we know how much of this damage can be repaired and how quickly the necessary repairs can be made.

I cite as another example a statement made on Sunday night that a Japanese carrier had been located and sunk off the Canal Zone. And when you hear statements that are attributed to what they call "an authoritative source," you can be reasonably sure from now on that under these war circumstances the "authoritative source" is not any person in authority.

Many rumors and reports which we now hear originate with enemy sources. For instance, today the Japanese are claiming that as a result of their one action against Hawaii they have gained naval supremacy in the Pacific. This is an old trick of propaganda which has been used innumerable times by the Nazis. The purposes of such fantastic claims are, of course, to spread fear and confusion among us, and to goad us into revealing military information which our enemies are desperately anxious to obtain.

Our Government will not be caught in this obvious trap—and neither will the people of the United States.

It must be remembered by each and every one of us that our free and rapid communication these days must be greatly restricted in wartime. It is not possible to receive full, speedy, accurate reports from distant areas of combat. This is particularly true where naval operations are concerned. For in these days of the marvels of radio it is often impossible for the commanders of various units to report their activities by radio at all, for the very simple reason that this information would become available to the enemy, and would disclose their position and their plan of defense or attack.

Of necessity there will be delays in officially confirming or denying reports of operations but we will not hide facts from the country if we know the facts and if the enemy will not be aided by their disclosure.

To all newspapers and radio stations—all those who reach the eyes and ears of the American people—I say this: You have a most grave responsibility to the Nation now and for the duration of this war.

If you feel that your Government is not disclosing enough of the truth, you have every right to say so. But—in the absence of all the facts, as revealed by official sources—you have no right in the ethics of patriotism to deal out unconfirmed reports in such a way as to make people believe that they are gospel truth.

Every citizen, in every walk of life,. shares this same responsibility. The lives of our soldiers and sailors- the whole future of this Nation—depend upon the manner in which each and every one of us fulfills his obligation to our country.

Now a word about the recent past—and the future. A year and a half has elapsed since the fall of France, when the whole world first realized the mechanized might which the Axis Nations had been building for so many years. America has used that year and a half to great advantage. Knowing that the attack might reach us in all too short a time, we immediately began greatly to increase our industrial strength and our capacity to meet the demands of modern warfare.

Precious months were gained by sending vast quantities of our war material to the Nations of the world still able to resist Axis aggression. Our policy rested on the fundamental truth that the defense of any country resisting Hitler or Japan was in the long run the defense of our own country. That policy has been justified. It has given us time, invaluable time, to build our American assembly lines of production.

Assembly lines are now in operation. Others are being rushed to completion. A steady stream of tanks and planes, of guns and ships, and shells and equipment—that is what these eighteen months have given us.

But it is all only a beginning of what still has to be done. We must be set to face a long war against crafty and powerful bandits. The attack at Pearl Harbor can be repeated at any one of many points, points in both oceans and along both our coast lines and against all the rest of the hemisphere.

It will not only be a long war, it will be a hard war. That is the basis on which we now lay all our plans. That is the yardstick by which we measure what we shall need and demand; money, materials, doubled and quadrupled production—ever-increasing. The production must be not only for our own Army and Navy and Air Forces. It must reinforce the other armies and navies and air forces fighting the Nazis and the war lords of Japan throughout the Americas and throughout the world.

I have been working today on the subject of production. Your Government has decided on two broad policies.

The first is to speed up all existing production by working on a seven-day-week basis in every war industry, including the production of essential raw materials.

The second policy, now being put into form, is to rush additions to the capacity of production by building more new plants, by adding to old plants, and by using the many smaller plants for war needs.

Over the hard road of the past months, we have at times met obstacles and difficulties, divisions and disputes, indifference and callousness. That is now all past—and, I am sure, forgotten.

The fact is that the country now has an organization in Washington built around men and women who are recognized experts in their own fields. I think the country knows that the people who are actually responsible in each and every one of these many fields are pulling together with a teamwork that has never before been excelled.

On the road ahead there lies hard work—grueling workday and night, every hour and every minute.

I was about to add that ahead there lies sacrifice for all of us.

But it is not correct to use that word. The United States does not consider it a sacrifice to do all one can, to give one's best to our Nation, when the Nation is fighting for its existence and its future life.

It is not a sacrifice for any man, old or young, to be in the Army or the Navy of the United States. Rather is it a privilege.

It is not a sacrifice for the industrialist or the wage earner, the farmer or the shopkeeper, the trainman or the doctor, to pay more taxes, to buy more bonds, to forego extra profits, to work longer or harder at the task for which he is best fitted. Rather is it a privilege.

It is not a sacrifice to do without many things to which we are accustomed if the national defense calls for doing without.

A review this morning leads me to the conclusion that at present we shall not have to curtail the normal use of articles of food. There is enough food today for all of us and enough left over to send to those who are fighting on the same side with us.

But there will be a clear and definite shortage of metals of many kinds for civilian use, for the very good reason that in our increased program we shall need for war purposes more than half of that portion of the principal metals which during the past year have gone into articles for civilian use. Yes, we shall have to give up many things entirely.

And I am sure that the people in every part of the Nation are prepared in their individual living to win this war. I am sure that they will cheerfully help to pay a large part of its financial cost while it goes on. I am sure they will cheerfully give up those material things that they are asked to give up.

And I am sure that they will retain all those great spiritual things without which we cannot win through.

I repeat that the United States can accept no result save victory, final and complete. Not only must the shame of Japanese treachery be wiped out, but the sources of international brutality, wherever they exist, must be absolutely and finally broken.

In my message to the Congress yesterday I said that we "will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us." In order to achieve that certainty, we must begin the great task that is before us by abandoning once and for all the illusion that we can ever again isolate ourselves from the rest of humanity.

In these past few years- and, most violently, in the past three days- we have learned a terrible lesson.

It is our obligation to our dead—it is our sacred obligation' to their children and to our children-that we must never forget what we have learned.

And what we all have learned is this:

There is no such thing as security for any Nation—or any individual- in a world ruled by the principles of gangsterism.

There is no such thing as impregnable defense against powerful aggressors who sneak up in the dark and strike without warning.

We have learned that our ocean-girt hemisphere is not immune from severe attack—that we cannot measure our safety in terms of miles on any map any more.

We may acknowledge that our enemies have performed a brilliant feat of deception, perfectly timed and executed with great skill. It was a thoroughly dishonorable deed, but we must face the fact that modern warfare as conducted in the Nazi manner is a dirty business. We don't like it- we didn't want to get in it -but we are in it and we're going to fight it with everything we've got.

I do not think any American has any doubt of our ability to administer proper punishment to the perpetrators of these crimes.

Your Government knows that for weeks Germany has been telling Japan that if Japan did not attack the United States, Japan would not share in dividing the spoils with Germany when peace came. She was promised by Germany that if she came in she would receive the complete and perpetual control of the whole of the Pacific area—and that means not only the Far East, but also all of the islands in the Pacific, and also a stranglehold on the west coast of North, Central, and South America.

We know also that Germany and Japan are conducting their military and naval operations in accordance with a joint plan. That plan considers all peoples and Nations which are not helping the Axis powers as common enemies of each and every one of the Axis powers.

That is their simple and obvious grand strategy. And that is why the American people must realize that it can be matched only with similar grand strategy. We must realize for example that Japanese successes against the United States in the Pacific are helpful to German operations in Libya; that any German success against the Caucasus is inevitably an assistance to Japan in her operations against the Dutch East Indies; that a German attack against Algiers or Morocco opens the way to a German attack against South America, and the Canal.

On the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerrilla warfare against the Germans in, let us say, Serbia or Norway helps us; that a successful Russian offensive against the Germans helps us; and that British successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

Remember always that Germany and Italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the United States at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with Britain or Russia. And Germany puts all the other Republics of the Americas into the same category of enemies. The people of our sister Republics of this hemisphere can 'be honored by that fact.

The true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. When we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. We Americans are not destroyers —we are builders.

We are now in the midst of a war, not for conquest, not for vengeance, but for a world in which this Nation, and all that this Nation represents, will be safe for our children. We expect to eliminate the danger from Japan, but it would serve us ill if we accomplished that and found that the rest of the world was dominated by Hitler and Mussolini.

We are going to win the war and we are going to win the peace that follows.

And in the difficult hours of this day—through dark days that may be yet to come- we will know that the vast majority of the members of the human race are on our side. Many of them are fighting with us. All of them are praying for us. For in representing our cause, we represent theirs as well- our hope and their hope for liberty under God.

Prime Minister Curtin of Australia also addressed his nation, terming the events his nation's "darkest hour".  Unlike the US, Australia had already been a declared belligerent in the war against Germany.  The arrival of the war with Japan put Australia in an extreme position of disadvantage as it had substantial troops numbers serving in the Middle East already.

Some person apparently undeterred by the news or not inspired by patriotism in the wake of the Japanese attacks robbed a payroll train at Yanderra, New South Wales, Australia.

It was a day of additional set backs and attacks, and expansion of the war, as detailed in Today In Wyoming's History: December 9: 

1941 China declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy. 

Hitler ordered US ships torpedoed. 

The 19th Bombardment Group attacks Japanese ships off the coast of Vigan, Luzon. 

USS Swordfish (SS-193) makes initial U.S. submarine attack on Japanese ship. 

Canadian government orders blackouts and closes Japanese-Canadian newspapers and schools. 

China declares war on Japan, after nine years of "incidents". They were, of course, already at war.

Cuba, Guatemala, the Philippine Commonwealth, and the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea also declare war on Japan. Korea, of course, is already occupied by Japan. 

Japanese troops from Kwajalein occupy Tarawa in the Gilberts. 

Japanese bomb Nichols Field on Luzon. Japanese capture Khota Baru airfield on Malaya. 

Siam agrees to a cease fire with Japan, signaling an early defeat there. 

Japanese ground forces attack across the frontier of the New Territories into Hong Kong; capture the key position of Shing Mun Redoubt; 

D Company of The Winnipeg Grenadiers dispatched to the mainland to strengthen this sector.

Expanding on that, the Japanese occupied Bangkok, Thailand.  British Indian troops crossed the Thai frontier to destroy railroad lines but met resistance from Thai police units and then the Japanese.

The Prince of Wales and Repulse were turned back by the Japanese discovering their whereabouts off of Malaya.  An effort of Japanese torpedo bombers station in Saigon to find and attack the failed, however.

The German Navy lost sank two merchant ships in the Battle of the Atlantic.  In the Mediterranean, the appearance of aircraft from Malta turned back an Axis convoy with supplies for the Axis mission in North Africa.

The Germans lost ground in Russia as the  Red Army recaptured Yelets and Venev, south of Moscow, and Tikhvin, near Leningrad.

British commandos raided Florø, Norway, in an inconclusive raid.  It's become common to think of these raids as universally successful, but that's far from true.  Indeed, British Commando raids were often unsuccessful and, at least in this period, a little messed up. This one featured some accidental deaths due to a hand grenade detonating while they were being fused.

A photographer took a photo of the damaged Catholic Church in Tobruk.  Services were still being held there.

At least as of 2017, this church was still serving a Catholic population in the town.

The U.S. experienced its first East Coast air raid drills.  Businesses and schools were cleared out in a practice drill.

Newspapers across the country reported that San Francisco had been raided ineffectively, which local commanders of the U.S. Army confirmed.

Early in the war this sort of false alarm was common on the jittery Pacific Coast.  It has been the subject of a somewhat amusing move, 1941.

Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians was one of the thousands of men who joined the service this week.  He joined the Navy.

Additional information on this day in World War Two.

Day 831 December 9, 1941

November 26, 1920. Distant scenes.

San Francisco Harbor.  November 26, 1920.  This would be right about the time my grandfather lived and worked in San Francisco as a teenager.

On this day Simon Karetnik was executed by the Bolsheviks in an example, one of many, of the Communists destroying other radicals.  Karetnik was a Ukrainian anarchist leader (yes, that's a ironic situation to be in) of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, and a quite successful one. The RIAU itself was fairly successful for some period of time in fighting the Russian Whites, but it was naïve in the extreme in deluding itself that there was a place for it in competition with the Reds, whom they resisted union with.

RIAU commanders, Karetnik third from left.

On this day in 1920 Karetnik and fellow RIAU officers went, with some reluctance, to a meeting with Red Army commander Mikhail Frunze who had ordered them place under a command of his army.  On the way they were arrested and executed.  Frunze was a successful Red Army commander who died in surgery in 1925.

RIAU commanders.

The entire event also helps demonstrate the absolute mess that Russia had become in its late imperial stage.  Anarchy was a theory that was never going to succeed because of its nature.  Revolutionary socialist other than the Communist were never going to prevail in a struggle as they were insufficiently organized and single minded.  The Whites couldn't succeed as they had no really strong central unity in fact or in theory. That doomed Russia to years of an alien whacky political theory that didn't match its nature or culture and which set Russia back so far in development that it is nowhere near overcoming it today.

The central feature of this rise of extremism had been a pre World War One governmental and economic system that was frozen in the distant past. With no outlet of any kind for a developing society, absurd economic and political theories festered underground.  It's no accident that many of these theories were the same as ones that were then also circulating in Germany and Austria, which likewise had old order monarchical systems going into World War One.

February 25, 1920. The Mineral Leasing Act becomes law

The Casper Daily Tribune was exactly correct, the measure built the way for the oil industry in Wyoming.

Prior to the Oil Leasing Act oil prospects were located, where the Federal government owned the resource, though the Mining Law of 1872.  The act changed the location system to the benefit of both production companies and the Federal government by allowing the resource to be leased through the much simpler leasing system.  Ultimately, this benefited the state through allowing this simpler system to be utilized and by allowing non appropriated lands to remain solidly in the Federal domain, as the Mining Law of 1872 allowed lands to be patented and become private through location.

This is, of course, still the system that's used today.

Elsewhere, the American mission to Russia was coming home, including the Red Cross mission, from which a party of nurses arrived in San Francisco.

Ten of the Red Cross women workers with the A.R.C. Commission to Siberia waving their greetings to their homeland as the transport "Sherman" docked in San Francisco Harbor February 25, 1920.

Scenes from November 24, 1919

September 6, 1919. End of the Trail for the Motor Transport Convoy

Fort Winfield Scott; Presidio and Fort Mason overlooking San Francisco Bay, September, 1919.

On this day in 1919, the Motor Transport crossed San Francisco Bay on two ferries, and then paraded at Lincoln Park.

Medals were awarded by the Lincoln Highway Association, the entity that had been boosting the highway for some time, and the command was received by Col. R. H. Noble, representing Lt. Gen. Hunter Liggett, commander of the Western Department.  Lunch was served at the convoy parked at the Presidio.

They did only 8 miles that day, but then they also crossed the bay, as noted, by ferry.

And so it was over.

Except for analyzing what had occurred.

On the same day, New York was celebrating Lafayette Day.

Myron T. Herrick (1854-1932), American ambassador to France from 1912-1914 and 1921-1929; Jean Jules Jusserand (1855-1932), French author and diplomat and French ambassador to the United States during World War I and Elise Richards Jusserand. They are attending the Lafayette Day celebration in front of City Hall, New York City on September 6, 1919

And the Gasoline Alley gang was getting ready to head out fishing.

Gasoline Alley cartoon for this day in 1919.  Note that they're altering their car, something that does in fact seem to be fairly common for that era.  Cars of the day had as much clearance as early pickup trucks and roads were fairly primitive.  Vehicles of the day, therefore, bore more of a resemblance to early Jeeps than cars of today do, and indeed more of a resemblance to them than some modern SUVs do.

Poster Saturday: Indian Court Federal Building

This is a Depression Era poster for an art display, apparently focusing on Indian art, which was held at the Indian Court Federal Building in San Francisco as part of the Golden Gate International Exposition.

I'm not familiar with this building and don't know if it even still exists.  My presumption is that it did serve a Bureau of Indian Affairs Court function. At that time, most tribes had BIA Courts, which is no longer the case as most tribes have taken jurisdiction of their own court systems.  It must have been located on Treasure Island, as that's where this event took place.  The Golden Gate Intentional Exposition was an effort at a World's Fair that was held to commemorate the two recently opened bridges spanning the San Francisco Harbor.  It ran from February 1939 to October 1939, and then was briefly and unsuccessfully reopened in 1940.

Twin Peaks Tunnel Construction and Opening 1918; San Francisco Streetcar...

February 3, 1918. Twin Peaks Street Car Tunnel, San Francisco, CA, opens.

San Francisco cracks down on prostitution

San Francisco cracked down on prostitution in the city with the result that about 200 houses of prostitution were closed on this day in 1917.

The Preparedness Day Terrorist Attack: July 22, 1916

A bomb went off went off at San Francisco's Preparedness Day Parade, killing ten and wounding forty.  While two labor leaders were convicted for the terrorist act, they later had their sentences commuted due to the lack of any real evidence associating them with the acts.  The perpetrators have never been identified.

Why San Francisco had their parade on a day other than the Flag Day celebration that was the rule I don't know.  But this event occurred on this day, in 1916. 

Preparedness Day was an event authored by the Administration following the passage of the National Defense Act which recognized that we were on the verge of war with somebody.  Maybe Mexico.  Maybe Germany. Maybe Mexico and Germany.  Times were tense.

The times were also increasingly radical, as we will see soon in some additional posts, and anarchists and radical socialistic were very much a factor in various movements around the world, including the United States, at that time.  Indeed, not all that long ago on this blog we read of the 1916 Easter Uprising in Ireland which featured a radical socialist element, which tends to be forgotten.

This event is interesting for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that this is an event which we'd presume to read more in our own time rather than a century ago.  It's also a terrible example of miscarried justice as those convicted of the act never really seemed to have any connection with it, which should have been obvious in the administration of justice that's impartial.  While the perpetrator has never been identified, there are strong suspicions about who was responsible, and it seems very clear that very radical elements were responsible.

Scary times in the US, to say the least. This came in the midst of  the mobilization of the National Guard, a raging war in Europe, and a nearly universal belief that the United States and Mexico would soon be at war.

The Big Picture. Atlantic Fleet entering Golden Gate. May 6, 1908

Satuday, April 18, 1914. Being petty.

 It was Saturday.

The news of the day was, in part, about the Wilson Administration's refusal to back down to Huerta, and continue to demand a salute at Vera Cruz.  Huerta was perfectly willing to apologize, so this was getting down, frankly, to the US insulting Mexico and being petty.

Panama-Pacific International Exposition. San Francisco.  April 18, 1914.

Last prior edition:

Friday, April 17, 1914. Budweiser praising Bismarck. Emmer Breakfast Food.

1910s, 1914, Agriculture, Alcohol, Casper Wyoming, Crime, Food, It was because of World War One, Mongolia, Otto von Bismarck, Railroads, Russia, World War One, Wyoming, Wyoming (Casper)

Friday, March 20, 1914. The Curragh Muntiny

The Curragh Mutiny saw British Army officers stationed at Curragh Camp, Ireland resign their commissions rather than face being ordered to resist the Ulster Volunteers, should the Home Rule Bill pass.

It was a rare example of something like this working, in that the British government backed down, and they were reinstated.

"The Sunny South".

Pancho Villa sent 12,000 troops to recapture Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico from 9,000 federal troops stationed in the city.

Panama-Pacific International Exposition--San Francisco, Calif., construction.

Friday, February 20, 1914. Revolutionary execution.

William S. Benton, a British rancher with Chihuahua holdings, was executed in Juarez by Villistas, after a "court-martial".  He was accused of making an attempt on Villa's life, but his associates claimed he had no views on the Mexican Revolution at all. 

More on this from a Scottish blog:

Pancho Villa murders Keig man

Rosa Luxemburg was tried in a Frankfurt court on charges of encouraging public disobedience and sentenced to a year in prison.  In the Court she stated.

When, as I say, the majority of people come to the conclusion that wars are nothing but a barbaric, unsocial, reactionary phenomenon, entirely against the interests of the people, then wars will have become impossible.

Nice sentiment, but shallow thought.

Luxemburg herself has always struck me as not being too deep. Perhaps I'm wrong as she remains the deluded darling of the far left, and maybe there's more to her than my very limited knowledge is aware of.

James William Humphyrs Scotland made the first cross-country flight in New Zealand.  On the same day, Winston Churchill, serving as First Lord of the Admiralty, flew as a passenger in a Sopwith Sociable.

Panama-Pacific International Exposition, Feb. 20, 1914, one year before opening day. San Francisco.

Legal, Alberta, was founded.

Tuesday, September 21, 1909. Arctic Rivals in New York.

San Francisco after reconstruction.

Today In Wyoming's History: September 21: 1909  Municipal natural gas service starts in Basin. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Cook returned to a hero's welcome in New York City.

Peary received  a hero's welcome in Sydney, New York.

The Shoshone Cavern National Monument, Wyoming, was created by executive order of President Taft.  On May 17, 1954, it was transferred to the City of Cody.

Albert Einstein publicly presented his general theory of relativity for the first time at a gathering of German natural scientists and physicians

Last edition:

Monday, September 20, 1909. The Grand Isle Hurricane of 1909 and The South Africa Act of 1909.

Labels: 1900s, 1909, 1910, 1910s, Boer War, British Empire, Disaster, New Orleans Louisiana, South Africa, United Kingdom, Weather