Things You Never Knew About Your Car

I heard a fleeting fun fact on TV the other day. The first cars did not have steering wheels. That got me thinking about the auto. So here's a DYK

• The first cars were steered with levers. No wheel.
• The first stop light was installed in Cleveland, OH in 1914.
• Prior to the 1920's, cars didn't have gas gauges.
• The average American will spend two weeks at red lights during their lifetime.
• Old cars are the world's most recycled product.
• The pitch of most car horns is F.
• Henry Ford once said, “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.” His first Model Ts, however, did not come in black. They were grey, green, blue, and red.
• Ford also sold scrap wood that turned into charcoal from processing on the assembly line. Ever hear of Ford's charcoal? How about Kingsford? Named for Ford's relative who selected the new site of the new charcoal plant.

Home Run Kings

Barry Bonds maybe the modern home run king, but when I think of sluggers, I think Roger Maris and Babe Ruth. But, should I?

Ruth retired with a record 714 home runs, including 60 in 1927. Not bad, but he may not have even been the best power hitter of his generation. Negro League catcher Josh Gibson hit 69 home runs in 1934 and is credited with hitting "almost 800" in his career by the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Gibson was known as "the black Babe Ruth." Others called Ruth, "the white Josh Gibson."

As great as Ruth and Gibson were, they aren't even close to the all time home run record. Sadaharu Oh played 22 season in Japan and hit a staggering 868 home runs.

All of these guys are in the Baseball Hall of Fame with the exception of Bonds who is not yet eligible and may not make it due to controversy over steroid use. It is interesting to consider competition and debate who is the true sultan of swat. Any conversation must include Ruth, Gibson, Maris, Oh, and Bonds.

The Double Pike

In March 1865, New Yorker Owen G. Warren proposed what he called "the double pike." It was essentially a shovel with a detachable scoop. Minus the scoop, it had two sharp spiked ends (hence the name). The scoop could then be attached to a jacket and used as a breastplate. Warren said, "In strong hands it more than matches the bayonet." His idea was never implemented.

Fifty years later, the U.S. Army began issuing the folding spade for digging trenches.

For more info:
I received this and many other great primary source documents from the National Archives RSS feed.

FDR's Many Forms of Courage

Franklin Roosevelt saved the country some say twice (Great Depression and WWII). He was elected a record four times and held the position of chief executive longer than anyone else. Throughout his Presidency, however, few people knew he was paralyzed from the waist down.

In August 1921 (9 years before becoming President), Roosevelt came down with a fever. Within a month, he was paralyzed. Roosevelt was a fighter and continued his political career when many would have given up due to public opinion of the early 20th century.

The press treated FDR's disability as taboo. They did not film him getting in and out of cars or trains. When giving speeches, Roosevelt would hold himself up on the podium. He would often gesture with his head instead of his hands. Even the most ruthless political cartoonists, most of whom were aware of FDR's condition, did not portray him in a wheelchair.

FDR was a courageous man and today serves as a role model for those who cannot walk. It is a shame that he had to hide his disability for fear the public would view him as weak. He proved, even in retrospect, that those with disabilities can achieve anything; not only be President but be one of the best Presidents.

Capitol over Dinner

Why is Washington D.C. our nation's capitol? In Federalist #43, James Madison said we needed a capitol that was separate from a state in response to an attack on the Philadelphia location of Congress in 1783. Remember Madison. He'll come up again.

Fast forward to 1790. A dejected Alexander Hamilton just left a meeting with George Washington. Outside Washington's quarters, he met up with rival Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton explained that Washington didn't think there was enough support for Hamilton's plan of assumption (a plan where all of the nation's debt would be taken on by the federal government). So the story goes, Jefferson invited Hamilton and the main critic of assumption, James Madison, to his house for dinner. The three sat down and hammered out an agreement. Madison would not vote for assumption but would not criticize it so fervently. In exchange, the capitol would move to a location on the Potomac River.

Here's Jefferson's account:
They came. I opened the subject to them, acknowledged that my situation had not permitted me to understand it sufficiently, but encouraged them to consider the thing together. They did so. It ended in Mr. Madison’s acquiescence in a proposition that the question should be again brought before the House by way of amendment from the Senate, that tho’ he would not vote for it, nor entirely withdraw his opposition, yet he should not be strenuous, but leave it to its fate.

Hamilton got his financial plan and ten years later the capitol moved from Philadelphia to Washington D.C.

For more info: This and "the duel" post came from my favorite book; Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis. I picked it up for a third time this week after being asked what my favorite book was by our school librarian. As a fun side note, I first read the book as a history undergrad. I wanted to study early America with Ellis. I looked him up and found he was a professor at Mt. Holyoke. I'm glad I realized Mt. Holyoke is an all girls school before I mentioned it to anyone.

Booth Mummy

On January 13, 1903, a man named David George died. This would not be very important other than, upon his death bed, George claimed to be John Wilkes Booth. Some of the evidence matched. They looked the same. George was the same age as Booth. He had a long healed broken leg just above the ankle. He was considered a pretty darn good actor. So just to be sure, George was mummified.

The mummy went on display for a while, but when interest faded, it was sold to a Memphis lawyer who of course used it as a sideshow attraction. The mummy quickly began causing trouble. It was bought and sold numerous times. Each time, a curse seemed to bankrupt or physically harm the owner.

But was it Booth? The short answer: no. Booth's body was released to his family after an extensive investigation. Both the government and family believed they had their man.

The Conversation at Weehawken

This story is cross-posted with a new Google Earth tour on History Tours. Read the story here and follow the geography on History Tours. The HT wiki recently went over 5,000 hits and has taken off significantly in the past few weeks. Thanks a bunch.

On July 11, 1804, the Secretary of the Treasury met the Vice President on the dueling ground. Sound crazy? A little. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr had been political rivals for years. Burr took one comment which Hamilton may have never made personally and demanded an apology. When Hamilton's eventual apology was too little too late, Burr challenged him to a duel or conversation as dueling was illegal.

Here's what we know. Both men left their Manhattan homes early that morning and were rowed across the Hudson to Weehawken, NJ. At the end of the day, the Founding Father and Treasury Secretary was dead. How this occurred is disputed.

-Hamilton's camp said that he never intended to shoot at Burr. After being shot, Hamilton claimed that his gun was still loaded and cocked.
-Burr's camp said that Hamilton shot above Burr's head. Burr was either shaken that he was shot at or a terrible aim. He fired and subsequently killed Hamilton.

So which is it? The historical record suggests that Burr is actually correct. Hamilton's gun was fired and appears to have hit branches far above Burr's head. Burr returned fire and hit Hamilton in the ribs which caused the bullet to ricochet off numerous vital organs. A hit a few inches lower would have caused only a slight wound.

Whether the Vice President was shooting to kill or not remains a mystery. Burr fled New York and lived with his daughter in South Carolina for a while before murder charges were thrown out at which time he returned to Washington and finished out his term as Vice President.

The Misquoted Mr. Lincoln

Two quotes famously attributed to Abraham Lincoln, well... were never actually said by Lincoln.

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time."

This may be the most famous Lincoln quote not in the Gettysburg address. The problem: there is no historical record that he ever said it. A few folks around the turn of the 20th century said they recalled him saying something like that. It took off from there.

In reference to General U.S. Grant's drinking:
"If I knew what brand he used, I'd send every general a barrel."

Very entertaining but also not Lincoln's words.