Category: Open Lines

Dr. Martin Luther King would be 85 years old today. The civil rights leader, minister, and recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize was born in 1929 and assassinated in 1968. Next Monday is a national holiday, honoring his memory and life’s work, appropriate in a month that also sees the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. America’s diverse population of some 317 million enjoys the civil rights Dr. King advocated, including around 225 million whites, nearly 44 million African-Americans, over …

January is Financial Wellness Month, appropriately timed to the confluence of New Year’s resolutions and holiday bills. It’s a time to set new goals for financial freedom and moderation in spending; for people to understand the benefits of “paying yourself first.” A financial adviser can help shape money management goals, pointing out the power of compound interest to work for you in savings and against you in debt. Americans have a per capita income average of nearly $28,000 and a …

Couch potatoes can trace their roots to this date in 1928, when three experimental television sets were installed in private homes in Schenectady, New York. Not that there was much to see, the test broadcast by General Electric and RCA being of a woman smoking, followed by a man playing a ukulele. The first home receivers’ screens were only 1½ inches square; a far cry from today’s theater-sized flat screens. And in another departure from 1928’s lonely three, the percentage …

Legislation to grant women the vote was first introduced on this date in 1878, when a California senator proposed the necessary constitutional amendment. It was buried in committee for years and defeated when finally put to a vote in 1887. But some decades later, the matter was settled rather speedily. The 19th Amendment enfranchising women was proposed in Congress in June 1919 and became law in August 1920. In the 2012 election, nearly 64 percent of female citizens 18 and …

If you feel a special, hair-raising electricity in the air today, well that’s no wonder — it’s National Static Electricity Day. Static electricity is the result of an imbalance between negative and positive charges in an object. These charges build up on the surface until they are discharged. This commonly happens when you shuffle about when the humidity is very low and then touch a conductor, such as a door handle or your pet’s wet nose. Static electricity has uses …

The nation’s telephone service options changed forever on this date 32 years ago when AT&T complied with a Justice Department mandate to give up its local Bell System companies. The action came as the result of what has been termed the most significant antitrust suit since the breakup of Standard Oil in 1911. From the late 19th century, the virtual monopoly of what had come to be known as “Ma Bell” controlled America’s telephone equipment and lines. After the breakup, …

During the Revolutionary War, the rebelling colonies and the Continental Congress were anything but too big to fail. To the contrary, finances were very spotty and precarious. To help put affairs in order and make credit available, the first commercial bank in the U.S. opened on this date in 1782, just a week after being chartered by Congress. Called the Bank of North America, it was capitalized at $400,000, which roughly would be something over $5 billion today. The names …

The struggle for black citizens to obtain full civil rights has gone on for many decades since the Civil War. But along the way, there were signs of early progress and acceptance on the part of the majority white population. One such instance occurred on this date in 1886, when African-American Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett took his seat in the Ohio House of Representatives. He was the first black in the nation to be elected in a majority white district; …

In order to tackle the 19th century’s version of “shovel ready jobs,” the nation’s first engineering college opened on this date in 1825 in Troy, New York, now known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. At the time, engineering primarily concerned great structures, applying math and physical sciences to bridges, canals, shipbuilding, fortifications and large buildings. In the years since, engineering has come to be applied to many other fields, such as chemical, electrical, petroleum, and, of course, computers. As a force …

On this date in 1900, President William McKinley’s Secretary of State, John Hay, announced the so-called “open door” policy to stimulate trade with China, free of exclusion by imperial European powers scrambling for control of Chinese markets in the era before the income tax. This was significant because a very large portion of federal revenue came from tariffs or customs on imports. In 1900, federal receipts were around $567 million, of which 41 percent were from customs duties. Today, China …

The place where many of our ancestors first stepped ashore when they came to America seeking a new life opened on this date in 1892—Ellis Island in New York Harbor. The very first immigrant processed at the new facility was a 15-year-old Irish girl named Annie Moore. Over the course of more than 60 years, some 12 million people flowed through the center. Some sources say the number is considerably higher. The peak year was 1907, when just over a …

On this New Year’s Eve, some 317 million Americans of all ages are ready to greet the year 2014. A hundred years ago, the U.S. population was just over 97 million. Fifty years ago, it was just over 186 million. The 2010 Census counted just under 309 million people. To show how the nation is growing, by this time tomorrow there will be 10,800 new babies on hand to welcome the new year, the first of whom will be reported …

As a year draws to a close, it is common to reflect on the passage of time. How history will judge 2013 is not yet known, but this year’s anniversaries are woven into the fabric of today. Two-hundred years ago, a newspaper in Troy, New York coined the term “Uncle Sam” in reference to the United States. One-hundred years ago, Henry Ford unveiled the first moving assembly line. Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court issued the Miranda decision, mandating legal …

The first successful organ transplant in the U.S. was performed this month in 1954 in Boston by Harvard’s Dr. Joseph Murray, who passed away just last year. He transplanted a kidney from one identical twin to another, who lived just over eight years longer. For his pioneering work on organ transplants, Dr. Murray received the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1990. Now, there are nearly 17,000 kidney transplants each year in the U.S., the most common and successful of the …

An institution that has been in the news a lot these past few years, and which has come in for its share of criticism during the nation’s stubborn economic problems, observes the centennial of its founding today. The Federal Reserve System, known simply as “the Fed,” came into being on this date in 1913, with the job of keeping the nation’s complex financial system in tune. Acting as the nation’s central bank, “the Fed” influences the lending and investing activities …

Throughout history, bachelors have had to put up with a lot of pressure from friends, family and society in general. They tend to be stereotyped, and many television sitcoms deal with their supposedly hapless lives. But no insult can rival that enacted in Missouri on this date 1820, when the legislature voted to tax bachelors between the ages of 21 and 50 $1 a year — just for being unmarried. Obviously, the tax did not stand the test of time …

One of the most familiar and cherished Christmas stories has been around a long time — 170 years in fact. Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” was published this week in 1843. Some sources say the publication was on this date. The first print run of 6,000 copies sold out in a week and the book has never been out of print. The tale about the reformation of Ebenezer Scrooge and his “Bah, humbug!” dismissal of the Christmas season became a …

The satellite Atlas was launched from Cape Canaveral on this date in 1958. The spacecraft would make history the next day, beaming the first voice heard from space — a recording of President Eisenhower with a 58-word Christmas greeting. These words came at the height of the Cold War and the space race with the Soviet Union. Today, satellites daily perform vital functions — tracking the weather, relaying millions of telephone calls and computer links, as well as radio and …

Carolina’s Outer Banks, as the Wright brothers made the world’s first powered, heavier-than-air flight. With Orville and Wilbur alternating as pilot, the plane made four flights that day. The first airplane flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. The longest distance covered that day was 852 feet in 59 seconds — an average speed of 31 miles an hour. In only a few years, the airplane became an important part of America’s economy and defense, as well as a …

Over the past few years, an activist group called the “Tea Party” has become a force within the American political structure. It takes its name, by some reckoning, and its inspiration from one of the most effective and famous protests ever staged — the Boston Tea Party. On this date in 1773, colonial protestors boarded ships in Boston Harbor and dumped many crates of valuable tea overboard to protest British tax policies. Britain’s retaliatory moves only hardened the position of …