Friday / Weekend Open Line


On this date 40 years ago, President Richard Nixon announced on a nationwide broadcast from the Oval Office his resignation, effective the next day. The resignation and departure from the White House was in response to the long building, wide-ranging Watergate scandal and the recent passage of likely successful articles of impeachment in the House of Representatives. Just 21 months earlier, Nixon had won re-election as President in one of our most notable landslides and still the largest margin of victory in the popular vote. In that 1972 election, Nixon received almost 61 percent of the nearly 78 million votes cast, with a turnout of over 55 percent. In the 2012 election, nearly 133 million Americans voted, almost 62 percent of those registered. Profile America is in its 17th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Saturday, August 9th. With so much modern infrastructure featuring soaring atriums and deep subterranean transit systems, it’s not easy to imagine getting by without escalators. However, this efficient people mover was conceived in a far simpler, down to earth time. The first patent for a moving stairway was obtained on this date in 1859 by Nathan Ames. However, it was never built. The first practical escalator was built by Jesse Reno in 1896 at Coney Island, New York. Reno called his device an “inclined elevator.” The longest escalator in the western hemisphere is 230 feet long, at the Wheaton, Maryland station of the Washington Metro System. Manufacturing escalators and elevators in the U.S. is a nearly $1.6 billion a year business. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at https://www.census.gov.

Sunday, August 10th. The Smithsonian Institution was founded on this date in 1846. It is named for British scientist James Smithson, who willed his fortune to the U.S. to establish the institution, even though he had never visited America. Today, the Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum and research complex, made up of 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoo, and nine research centers. It currently has some 137 million items in its collections. It is one of the main attractions for both American and foreign visitors, and last year over 30 million people toured the Smithsonian’s many exhibit halls. In addition to the Smithsonian archipelago, there are over 5,000 mostly modest museums in the U.S., employing over 86,000 people. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.