Having lived through the events of November 22, 1963, while watching the black and white television coverage, I thought I knew enough about the assassination of president John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK). But reading Bill O’Reilly’s book of 10 years ago, “Killing Kennedy”, reminded me of much I had not known
July 14 Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle the Bastille, a royal fortress that had come to symbolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs. This dramatic action signaled the beginning of the French Revolution, a decade of political turmoil and terror, in which King Louis XVI was overthrown
“They fought like soldiers and died like men.” —Commander-in-Chief Washington The Father of our country, George Washington, served as colonel of the Virginia regiment, and was a man of personal strength and courage. His charisma, wit, and intellect were greatly applauded. He was a man of principle and determination. He
I trust you all lived through the Fourth of July this year. If you didn’t, you probably won’t be reading this column In the last couple of days I’ve been noticing complaints by neighbors about the high gas prices in Illinois, which always have been the highest in the Midwest.
July 7 Mary Harris “Mother” Jones begins “The March of the Mill Children”, when, accompanied part of the way by children. She walked from Philadelphia to president Theodore Roosevelt’s home on Long Island, N.Y. to protest the plight of child laborers. One of her demands: Reduce the children’s work week
I recently went looking for a nugget and found a gold mine. Let me explain. I visited the website of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum a few weeks ago to track down information on a former Illinois lawmaker from its oral history collection. I emerged several hours later
Listen to the beauty of Clair de lune and hear the majesty of Claude Debussy’s mastery. Enjoy his Afternoon of a Fawn and feel mesmerized by its tones. Or his Dialogue of the Wind and Sea and you can visualize the very image of a “wild grey ocean driven before
Once upon a time, in Aurora, Ill., there were no shopping centers, strip malls, or whatever one wanted to call them. Aurorans shopped mostly downtown at local retail outlets. There were, of course, local branches of national business entities, such as, Woolworth, Kroger, and Rexall Drugs, to name a few
June 30 Just three days after the United Nations Security Council voted to provide military assistance to South Korea, president Harry S Truman orders U.S. armed forces to assist in defending that nation from invading North Korean armies. Truman’s dramatic step marked the official entry of the United States into
The Latin form Cleopatra comes from the ancient Greek meaning “glory of her father.” Her adopted title means “goddess who loves her father.” And so with very little of historic records, we form an opinion. No papyri from Alexandria survive. Almost nothing of the ancient city survives. There is one
June 23 U.S. president Richard Nixon signs into law the Higher Education Act, which includes the groundbreaking Title IX legislation. Title IX barred discrimination in higher education programs, including funds for sports, and other extracurricular activities. As a result, women’s participation in team sports, particularly in collegiate athletics, surged with
Napoleon III became Emperor in 1852 when the city of Paris was heavily polluted. Parisians were emptying sewage and waste into the streets and into the Seine River. There were no sewers. In 1832 there had been a massive cholera epidemic in which 20,000 residents died. A new city emerged
June 16 The first roller coaster in America opens at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, N.Y.. Its speed is approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride. – 1884. When daylight breaks, survivors of a tsunami in Japan find that more than 20,000 of their friends and family
Thoughts of Summer and vacations brought to what remains of my mind, an unplanned adventure that took place on a teenage Route 66 road trip to California with a couple of friends. When we drove through Arizona we saw a sign for the Meteor Crater. It was a slight diversion,
Costumed reenactors are planning a May-September 2023 celebration of the 350th anniversary of the 1673 expedition by Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette.
June 9 With a spectacular victory at the Belmont Stakes, Secretariat becomes the first horse since Citation in 1948 to win America’s coveted Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes). In one of the finest performances in racing history, Secretariat, ridden by Ron Turcotte, completed
By R. Mel DormerAurora, Ill. Charles Coddington’s recent article on Aurora old-timers memories (May 19: Aurora old-timers know special sites of past places) stirred a few memories for me of my near East Side Aurora neighborhood, the South Broadway/North Avenue area. • Our ever-present mail carrier, Benny, was met at
June 2 Twenty-six journeymen printers in Philadelphia stage the trade’s first strike in America over wages: A cut in their $6. weekly pay. – 1786. In an event that is generally regarded as marking the end of the U.S. Civil War, Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of Confederate forces
In the Summer this year the Tanner House Museum in Aurora will be open to the public Sunday afternoons beginning May 29. The season will run through September 4. Hours will be 1 p.m to 4 p.m.. Visitors may come at any time during those hours. Reservations will not be
May 26 The first copies of the classic vampire novel, Dracula, by Irish writer Bram Stoker, appear in London bookshops on this day. – 1897. One hundred thousand steel workers and miners in mines owned by steel companies strike in seven states. The Memorial Day Massacre, in which 10 strikers
