Decade by Decade: One Hundred Years of History
Decade by Decade: One Hundred Years of History
by Diana Loski
Pres. Warren G. Harding
(Library of Congress)
A century passes quickly; it seems to hurry like the blink of an eye. From 1923 to 2023, many significant events have occurred in human history. Here are some of the milestones from the years that end in the number three:
The Year 1923: The nation, and much of the world, began to flourish once more after the devastation from the preceding decade. From 1914 onward, the Great War had taken millions of lives, with battles like Verdun, the Somme, and Ypres approaching a million casualties each. As the United States entered the war during its final year, 1918, the European allies were in need of aid as Great Britain, Russia, France, and Germany each lost over one million soldiers and civilians to death. Russia, in fact, which stopped fighting and began its own revolution, had lost well over two million. To make matters worse, the influenza pandemic killed tens of millions more all over the world. By 1923, the epidemic had lessened, the war had ended, and prosperity returned.
In 1923 in Germany, a dissatisfied veteran was angry about Germany’s loss and the staggering reparations the nation was forced to pay from the agreed Treaty of Paris in 1919. He attempted a failed coup in a Munich beer hall and went to prison for the attempt. His name was Adolf Hitler.
In the United States, Warren Harding, the popular President from Ohio, was in his third year in the White House. Scandals appeared on the horizon, however, as Warren’s cabinet participated in shady deals. The Teapot Dome Scandal was one particular subject of investigation. It was named for an area in the west, notably Wyoming and parts of California, where U.S. Naval reserves of oil were sold surreptitiously to private oil companies. Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, was investigated for taking bribes to free the reserves for the profit of private enterprises.
Harding, concerned about the approaching scandal, decided to take an official trip to Alaska. Accompanied by his wife, Florence, Harding was the first U.S. President to visit the territory purchased in 1867 by then Secretary of State William Henry Seward. On the return voyage, the President began feeling ill when his entourage stopped in San Francisco. On August 2, he suddenly worsened and died. Shortly after midnight on August 3, Harding’s Vice President, Calvin Coolidge, was awakened with the news. He took the oath of office in his home in Vermont.1
In 1923 Harry Houdini became a national figure after breaking free from a straight-jacket while suspended from a skyscraper in New York City.
That same year Pablo Picasso unveiled his cubist masterpiece The Lady with the Blue Veil. Argentine citizen Enrique Tiriboschi became the first person to successfully swim across the English Channel. In Paris, swimming in the Seine was banned due to pollution.2
Dwight D. Eisenhower spent the year in Panama, overseeing the expansion and protection of the operational Panama Canal under the tutelage of General Fox Conner. For a time, Mamie Eisenhower and the couple’s infant son, John, lived in Panama; the long absences of her husband and the excessively oppressive weather soon convinced her to return to Denver, where she and their young son remained with her parents.3
That same year a massive earthquake rocked Japan, killing 120,000 people. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established. The block of communist nations lasted nearly seven decades.
In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, baseball great Eddie Plank sold his garage business on the corner of York and Stratton Streets. Officially retired, though he never used the term, he spent the rest of the year assisting his brother, Ira, who was a baseball coach at Gettysburg College. He also hoped to devote more time to his wife, their young son, and his aged parents.
The year was one for many notable births, including diplomat and future Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, actor Charlton Heston, and singer Hank Williams. Among those who passed away that year were actress Sarah Bernhardt, Gustave Eiffel, the engineer of Paris’s Eiffel Tower, the bandit Pancho Villa – who died by violence – and the 5th Earl Carnarvon, who had recently discovered the long-buried tomb of King Tutankhamun. He died from an infection caused by an insect bite in Egypt.4
The Year 1923: The nation, and much of the world, began to flourish once more after the devastation from the preceding decade. From 1914 onward, the Great War had taken millions of lives, with battles like Verdun, the Somme, and Ypres approaching a million casualties each. As the United States entered the war during its final year, 1918, the European allies were in need of aid as Great Britain, Russia, France, and Germany each lost over one million soldiers and civilians to death. Russia, in fact, which stopped fighting and began its own revolution, had lost well over two million. To make matters worse, the influenza pandemic killed tens of millions more all over the world. By 1923, the epidemic had lessened, the war had ended, and prosperity returned.
In 1923 in Germany, a dissatisfied veteran was angry about Germany’s loss and the staggering reparations the nation was forced to pay from the agreed Treaty of Paris in 1919. He attempted a failed coup in a Munich beer hall and went to prison for the attempt. His name was Adolf Hitler.
In the United States, Warren Harding, the popular President from Ohio, was in his third year in the White House. Scandals appeared on the horizon, however, as Warren’s cabinet participated in shady deals. The Teapot Dome Scandal was one particular subject of investigation. It was named for an area in the west, notably Wyoming and parts of California, where U.S. Naval reserves of oil were sold surreptitiously to private oil companies. Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, was investigated for taking bribes to free the reserves for the profit of private enterprises.
Harding, concerned about the approaching scandal, decided to take an official trip to Alaska. Accompanied by his wife, Florence, Harding was the first U.S. President to visit the territory purchased in 1867 by then Secretary of State William Henry Seward. On the return voyage, the President began feeling ill when his entourage stopped in San Francisco. On August 2, he suddenly worsened and died. Shortly after midnight on August 3, Harding’s Vice President, Calvin Coolidge, was awakened with the news. He took the oath of office in his home in Vermont.1
In 1923 Harry Houdini became a national figure after breaking free from a straight-jacket while suspended from a skyscraper in New York City.
That same year Pablo Picasso unveiled his cubist masterpiece The Lady with the Blue Veil. Argentine citizen Enrique Tiriboschi became the first person to successfully swim across the English Channel. In Paris, swimming in the Seine was banned due to pollution.2
Dwight D. Eisenhower spent the year in Panama, overseeing the expansion and protection of the operational Panama Canal under the tutelage of General Fox Conner. For a time, Mamie Eisenhower and the couple’s infant son, John, lived in Panama; the long absences of her husband and the excessively oppressive weather soon convinced her to return to Denver, where she and their young son remained with her parents.3
That same year a massive earthquake rocked Japan, killing 120,000 people. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established. The block of communist nations lasted nearly seven decades.
In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, baseball great Eddie Plank sold his garage business on the corner of York and Stratton Streets. Officially retired, though he never used the term, he spent the rest of the year assisting his brother, Ira, who was a baseball coach at Gettysburg College. He also hoped to devote more time to his wife, their young son, and his aged parents.
The year was one for many notable births, including diplomat and future Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, actor Charlton Heston, and singer Hank Williams. Among those who passed away that year were actress Sarah Bernhardt, Gustave Eiffel, the engineer of Paris’s Eiffel Tower, the bandit Pancho Villa – who died by violence – and the 5th Earl Carnarvon, who had recently discovered the long-buried tomb of King Tutankhamun. He died from an infection caused by an insect bite in Egypt.4
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
(Library of Congress)
The Year 1933:
Franklin Delano Roosevelt began his first term of four in the White House. Shortly before he took office in March, he was the recipient of a failed assassination attempt in Miami. FDR’s companion in the car, Chicago Mayor Anton Cherak, was killed.
In 1933 two amendments to the Constitution passed. The 20th Amendment changed the date of the Presidential Inauguration Day from March to the 20th of January. It was ratified too late for the new President to take his oath at that time. The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment, which had prohibited the sale, consumption or transport of alcoholic beverages.5
The Great Depression, which had taken a firm hold by 1933, was America’s greatest burden of the decade. It had permeated the entire nation and much of the world. Outgoing President Herbert Hoover received a large share of the blame. Banks had closed, jobs evaporated, unemployment skyrocketed, and hordes of people stood in bread lines for sustenance. Many found themselves without shelter, causing a sharp rise in homeless camps. To calm the nation, President Roosevelt began his fireside chats via the radio that year. One of his most famous quotes, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”, was uttered during one of the broadcasts.6
Roosevelt also made history that year introducing The New Deal to help those in dire financial circumstances. Due to the high unemployment, baseball games and movie attendance rose.
There was an equal amount of unrest across the Atlantic. In India, there were protests against the British occupation of the country. Many were led by peace activist Mahatma Gandhi.
In Germany, Adolf Hitler, a native of Austria and the former felon for attempting the coup in 1923, was elected as Chancellor of Germany, the first time a non-German born citizen achieved that office. He had promised to help Germany economically, but he also cast aspersions on certain ethnic populations of the country, especially Jews. The change alarmed only a few, as the majority believed nothing drastic could happen in a republic. One of those concerned was Jewish scientist Albert Einstein. He decided to leave Europe that year, and settled in New Jersey. He was wise to go. That same year, the Nazis opened Dachau, their first of many concentration camps, just north of Munich.
A Jewish family who left their hometown of Frankfurt, Germany was Otto Frank, with his wife, Edith, and their two daughters, Margot and Anne. They settled in Amsterdam in 1933.
In 1933, the wrought-iron fence that once surrounded Lafayette Square in Washington D.C. was placed to surround the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg.
That same year, former President Calvin Coolidge, age 60, died of a heart attack at his home in Massachusetts. Others who died that year included Louis C. Tiffany, the artist and designer of the famous company of the same name, George Armstrong Custer’s widow, Libby, and General Adelbert Ames, the last surviving acting general of the Civil War, and the first commander of the famous 20th Maine, at age 97. General Ames had fought in the Battle of Gettysburg.
The Year 1943 : President Roosevelt was in the midst of his third term in office, and the world was embroiled in the disastrous World War II. General Eisenhower had been named the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. The United States had joined the war early in 1942, spurred by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 but had not been engaged in Europe until 1943. Ike knew that the troops were not prepared for war. He remembered, “ Our objective was to turn out physically fit men, schooled in their military and technical jobs, adjusted to discipline and unit teamwork, with the greatest possible measure of a soldier’s pride in his mission; because of the public’s unreadiness to support true battle training we could not hope to turn out masses of toughened fighting men, emotionally and professionally ready for warfare.&rdquo7
While the Allies, especially Great Britain, wanted America to fight immediately, Eisenhower knew they were not prepared, and spent the year training them. That year many thousands of American GI’s traveled to Great Britain to prepare for the task of invasion of Europe.
Early that year, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met with President Roosevelt in Casablanca to plan their long-term strategy. Many complications needed to be solved, such as gaining the allegiance of the French Resistance with the temperamental Charles DeGaulle, aid the Allied troops in Africa fighting Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the plan to invade Italy, and the massive Allied invasion of Europe, which was still a year away. Russian leader Joseph Stalin had been invited to the conference, but was unable to attend as his troops were fighting the Nazis at Stalingrad. While the United States ground troops were yet in training, the Americans began constant bombing of the Nazi strongholds and cities from the air.
In the Pacific, the Americans had been actively fighting since 1942. Japanese troops withdrew from the island of Guadalcanal in 1943 after many months of fighting.
That same year one of Hitler’s allies, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, was overthrown and imprisoned.
In Amsterdam, Otto Frank and his family were obliged to go into hiding – aided by some of his business associates. His younger daughter, Anne, continued writing in a diary she had started the previous year.
That year the Jefferson Memorial and the Pentagon were built in Washington – one monument that looked to the past, and the other to help with the future.
Death took millions in the year 1943. One who perished in the war was the screen legend Leslie Howard. According to Sir Winston Churchill, the Nazis knew the Prime Minister was traveling back to England from a meeting with Generals Eisenhower and Marshall in northern Africa. “As my presence in North Africa had been fully reported,” he wrote, “the Germans were exceptionally vigilant, and this led to a tragedy which much distressed me. The regular commercial aircraft was about to start from the Lisbon airfield when a thickset man smoking a cigar walked up and was thought to be a passenger…a German war plane was instantly ordered out, and the defenceless [sic] aircraft was ruthlessly shot down. Thirteen passengers perished, and among them…the actor Leslie Howard….The brutality of the Germans was only matched by the stupidity of their agents.”8
Among others who passed in 1943 were scientist and botanist George Washington Carver, physicist Nikola Tesla, authors Stephen Vincent Benet and Beatrix Potter, and composer Sergei Rachmaninov.
The Year 1953: Europe’s Supreme Allied Commander had succeeded in vanquishing the Third Reich and their horrendous leader. Dwight D. Eisenhower began his first year as President in January 1953. He worked on restoring his Gettysburg farm, a purchase he and Mamie had decided upon in 1950. He also ended the Korean War during the summer of 1953, a conflict which sprang up within a few short years after World War II ended. The decade of the 1950s was one of prosperity, though not without its issues.
With the termination of war in Korea, a new conflict – the Cold War – a war against communism and the Soviet Union – emerged. In the midst of the new fear, spies seemed omnipresent. Among them were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were arrested for their work to sell American secrets to the Soviets. They were convicted in 1951 and executed in 1953.
That same year, English mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary and his guide Tenzing Norkay became the first humans to successfully climb to the summit of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, which is in the Himalayan Range in Nepal.9
John F. Kennedy, a Naval war hero and newly elected senator of Massachusetts, married Jacqueline Bouvier.
In Great Britain, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in Westminster Abbey.
America’s new President decided he didn’t like the name Shangri-La, a Presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland. He renamed it Camp David, after his father and his young grandson.
Some who left us in 1953 included athlete Jim Thorpe, playwright Eugene O’Neill, author Dylan Thomas, and Soviet president Joseph Stalin.
The Year 1963 : Sixty years ago, the year 1963 proved to be an eventful one for the United States. The 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg was commemorated. President John F. Kennedy was in the third year of his term and was planning re-election. On March 30, he and his wife visited Gettysburg, using historian and army veteran Colonel Jacob M. Sheads as their guide.
That same year, the Reverend Martin Luther King, already drawing headlines for his multitude of peaceful protests for equal rights, uttered his famous “I Have a Dream ” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
In 1933 two amendments to the Constitution passed. The 20th Amendment changed the date of the Presidential Inauguration Day from March to the 20th of January. It was ratified too late for the new President to take his oath at that time. The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment, which had prohibited the sale, consumption or transport of alcoholic beverages.5
The Great Depression, which had taken a firm hold by 1933, was America’s greatest burden of the decade. It had permeated the entire nation and much of the world. Outgoing President Herbert Hoover received a large share of the blame. Banks had closed, jobs evaporated, unemployment skyrocketed, and hordes of people stood in bread lines for sustenance. Many found themselves without shelter, causing a sharp rise in homeless camps. To calm the nation, President Roosevelt began his fireside chats via the radio that year. One of his most famous quotes, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”, was uttered during one of the broadcasts.6
Roosevelt also made history that year introducing The New Deal to help those in dire financial circumstances. Due to the high unemployment, baseball games and movie attendance rose.
There was an equal amount of unrest across the Atlantic. In India, there were protests against the British occupation of the country. Many were led by peace activist Mahatma Gandhi.
In Germany, Adolf Hitler, a native of Austria and the former felon for attempting the coup in 1923, was elected as Chancellor of Germany, the first time a non-German born citizen achieved that office. He had promised to help Germany economically, but he also cast aspersions on certain ethnic populations of the country, especially Jews. The change alarmed only a few, as the majority believed nothing drastic could happen in a republic. One of those concerned was Jewish scientist Albert Einstein. He decided to leave Europe that year, and settled in New Jersey. He was wise to go. That same year, the Nazis opened Dachau, their first of many concentration camps, just north of Munich.
A Jewish family who left their hometown of Frankfurt, Germany was Otto Frank, with his wife, Edith, and their two daughters, Margot and Anne. They settled in Amsterdam in 1933.
In 1933, the wrought-iron fence that once surrounded Lafayette Square in Washington D.C. was placed to surround the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg.
That same year, former President Calvin Coolidge, age 60, died of a heart attack at his home in Massachusetts. Others who died that year included Louis C. Tiffany, the artist and designer of the famous company of the same name, George Armstrong Custer’s widow, Libby, and General Adelbert Ames, the last surviving acting general of the Civil War, and the first commander of the famous 20th Maine, at age 97. General Ames had fought in the Battle of Gettysburg.
The Year 1943 : President Roosevelt was in the midst of his third term in office, and the world was embroiled in the disastrous World War II. General Eisenhower had been named the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. The United States had joined the war early in 1942, spurred by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 but had not been engaged in Europe until 1943. Ike knew that the troops were not prepared for war. He remembered, “ Our objective was to turn out physically fit men, schooled in their military and technical jobs, adjusted to discipline and unit teamwork, with the greatest possible measure of a soldier’s pride in his mission; because of the public’s unreadiness to support true battle training we could not hope to turn out masses of toughened fighting men, emotionally and professionally ready for warfare.&rdquo7
While the Allies, especially Great Britain, wanted America to fight immediately, Eisenhower knew they were not prepared, and spent the year training them. That year many thousands of American GI’s traveled to Great Britain to prepare for the task of invasion of Europe.
Early that year, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met with President Roosevelt in Casablanca to plan their long-term strategy. Many complications needed to be solved, such as gaining the allegiance of the French Resistance with the temperamental Charles DeGaulle, aid the Allied troops in Africa fighting Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the plan to invade Italy, and the massive Allied invasion of Europe, which was still a year away. Russian leader Joseph Stalin had been invited to the conference, but was unable to attend as his troops were fighting the Nazis at Stalingrad. While the United States ground troops were yet in training, the Americans began constant bombing of the Nazi strongholds and cities from the air.
In the Pacific, the Americans had been actively fighting since 1942. Japanese troops withdrew from the island of Guadalcanal in 1943 after many months of fighting.
That same year one of Hitler’s allies, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, was overthrown and imprisoned.
In Amsterdam, Otto Frank and his family were obliged to go into hiding – aided by some of his business associates. His younger daughter, Anne, continued writing in a diary she had started the previous year.
That year the Jefferson Memorial and the Pentagon were built in Washington – one monument that looked to the past, and the other to help with the future.
Death took millions in the year 1943. One who perished in the war was the screen legend Leslie Howard. According to Sir Winston Churchill, the Nazis knew the Prime Minister was traveling back to England from a meeting with Generals Eisenhower and Marshall in northern Africa. “As my presence in North Africa had been fully reported,” he wrote, “the Germans were exceptionally vigilant, and this led to a tragedy which much distressed me. The regular commercial aircraft was about to start from the Lisbon airfield when a thickset man smoking a cigar walked up and was thought to be a passenger…a German war plane was instantly ordered out, and the defenceless [sic] aircraft was ruthlessly shot down. Thirteen passengers perished, and among them…the actor Leslie Howard….The brutality of the Germans was only matched by the stupidity of their agents.”8
Among others who passed in 1943 were scientist and botanist George Washington Carver, physicist Nikola Tesla, authors Stephen Vincent Benet and Beatrix Potter, and composer Sergei Rachmaninov.
The Year 1953: Europe’s Supreme Allied Commander had succeeded in vanquishing the Third Reich and their horrendous leader. Dwight D. Eisenhower began his first year as President in January 1953. He worked on restoring his Gettysburg farm, a purchase he and Mamie had decided upon in 1950. He also ended the Korean War during the summer of 1953, a conflict which sprang up within a few short years after World War II ended. The decade of the 1950s was one of prosperity, though not without its issues.
With the termination of war in Korea, a new conflict – the Cold War – a war against communism and the Soviet Union – emerged. In the midst of the new fear, spies seemed omnipresent. Among them were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were arrested for their work to sell American secrets to the Soviets. They were convicted in 1951 and executed in 1953.
That same year, English mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary and his guide Tenzing Norkay became the first humans to successfully climb to the summit of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, which is in the Himalayan Range in Nepal.9
John F. Kennedy, a Naval war hero and newly elected senator of Massachusetts, married Jacqueline Bouvier.
In Great Britain, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in Westminster Abbey.
America’s new President decided he didn’t like the name Shangri-La, a Presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland. He renamed it Camp David, after his father and his young grandson.
Some who left us in 1953 included athlete Jim Thorpe, playwright Eugene O’Neill, author Dylan Thomas, and Soviet president Joseph Stalin.
The Year 1963 : Sixty years ago, the year 1963 proved to be an eventful one for the United States. The 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg was commemorated. President John F. Kennedy was in the third year of his term and was planning re-election. On March 30, he and his wife visited Gettysburg, using historian and army veteran Colonel Jacob M. Sheads as their guide.
That same year, the Reverend Martin Luther King, already drawing headlines for his multitude of peaceful protests for equal rights, uttered his famous “I Have a Dream ” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
JFK at Gettysburg, Mar. 30, 1963
(National Park Service)
In 1963, zip codes were introduced by the Postmaster General to facilitate mail delivery to the growing population. Air conditioners were first used in homes to combat the summer heat.
Leonardo da Vinci’s famous Mona Lisa painting was offered on loan from Europe, and exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
A hurricane and its resulting tsunami killed over 22,000 in Pakistan. A Caribbean hurricane hit Cuba and Haiti, killing 4,000 more. 10
On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Lyndon B. Johnson, the Vice-President, took the Oath of Office privately that same day, reminiscent of Calvin Coolidge’s similar situation in his home forty years earlier. Mrs. Kennedy, in preparing for her husband’s funeral, remembered a memorial she had seen six months before in Gettysburg, and fashioned her husband’s grave in Arlington after the battlefield’s impressive Eternal Light Peace Memorial.11
General Eisenhower, who gave the speech at Gettysburg’s 100th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address at the Soldiers National Cemetery on November 19th, 1963, was in New York at the time of the assassination. He received a call from President Johnson, requesting that Ike fly to Washington D.C. for a consultation. Eisenhower complied and spent two days aiding the new President to make the transition and to help calm the public during the dark days that followed.
Other deaths that year included singer Patsy Cline, NAACP founder W.E.B. DuBois, poets Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams, authors C.S. Lewis and Alduous Huxley, and Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
The Year 1973: Just ten years after the turbulent year 1963, the year 1973 seemed equally unstable. Riots prevailed on college campuses to protest the Vietnam War. Continued stalemates from that war and the rising death toll also enraged the populace, fueled by the press. President Richard Nixon, recently re-elected as President of the United States, agreed to end the war. By August, most of the American troops had returned from Indochina, although some remained as prisoners of war.
That same year an energy crisis emerged. Gas and oil prices rose at an alarming rate, as the Arab nations passed an embargo on the United States. With the depletion of these needed commodities, oil and gas supplies were drastically conserved, and Americans were forced to limit their consumption. To help reduce the stress of the crisis, the eternal flame in Gettysburg’s Eternal Light Peace Memorial was shut off for a time.
At home, the Watergate scandal began to reach the populace. Congress held hearings about the illegal activities at the Watergate, where the President knew and apparently authorized a break-in at the Democratic Headquarters to obtain information to facilitate his re-election. In October, Vice-President Spiro Agnew abruptly resigned. He was replaced by Gerald Ford.
That same year, the Supreme Court heard the case of Roe vs. Wade, and sided with Ms. Roe to legalize abortion in the United States.
In 1973, former President Lyndon B. Johnson died suddenly at his ranch in Texas. Others who passed that year included artist Pablo Picasso, director John Ford, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, author J.R.R. Tolkien, and actress Betty Grable.
The Year 1983: The economic instability from the 1970s had begun to subside by the year 1983. Ronald Reagan was halfway through his first term as President. He introduced his new Star Wars plan, using satellites to protect U.S. military installations across the globe. NASA introduced the Space Shuttle Challenger , which made its maiden flight that year.
That same year, during unrest in Lebanon, a terrorist attack killed 305 people, including 245 U.S. Marines.
In 1983 Bill Clinton was the Governor of Arkansas. Yuri Andropov was the President of the Soviet Union. Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of Great Britain.
During an especially cold winter in Gettysburg, residents of the Gettysburg Hotel, an old landmark in Lincoln Square since 1797, were forced to evacuate in the middle of the night due to a devastating fire. The conflagration consumed the old building.
That summer, a severe storm in Gettysburg uprooted several old trees that had witnessed the famous battle in 1863. Among them was a white pine that stood over the grave of Jennie Wade, the only civilian killed during the battle.
Some of those who died in 1983 were playwright Tennessee Williams, comedian Jack Benny, and World War II veteran and actor David Niven.
The Year 1993: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was the site of a gala premiere of the movie Gettysburg , an epic film about the Battle of Gettysburg, taken from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Killer Angels. The popular film sparked an increase in visitation to the battlefield for many years.
In 1993 Bill Clinton began his first term as President of the United States. At his inauguration were five surviving former U.S. Presidents: Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush.
In March, a gigantic winter storm, called the Storm of the Century, hit in the eastern United States, resulting from a hurricane in the South and a Nor’easter in the North. Gettysburg was one of the areas affected with blizzard conditions.
That year, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy discovered she had Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a terminal cancer.
Former First Lady Pat Nixon died in 1993 after a long illness. Others who passed on that year included actress Audrey Hepburn, tennis pro Arthur Ashe, and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
The Year 2003: Twenty years ago, life had changed drastically after the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001, when terrorists commandeered civilian commercial planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Terror attacks continued all over the world in 2003, including Moscow, Chechnya, and Casablanca. The Iraq War began in 2003, as President George W. Bush had received intelligence, which later proved incorrect, that Sadam Hussein was stockpiling nuclear weapons to attack the United States. Hussein immediately went into hiding and remained hidden throughout the year, although his two sons were captured and subsequently executed by the Iraqis.
Airline travel changed with the 9/11 attacks. Airport screenings became permanent. Only those with special permission were allowed to accompany travelers to their gates, and welcoming arrivals now took place at baggage claim. President Bush established the Department of Homeland Security to defend Americans against further attacks, and a color code was introduced to alert civilians to danger.
In February 2003, the space shuttle Challenger disintegrated upon its return to earth, killing all seven astronauts on board. A nightclub fire in Rhode Island, stemming from a pyrotechnic display from a performing band, killed one hundred people who were unable to escape.
Hurricane Isabel, the year's most potent, roared up the Chesapeake Bay and affected the states of Maryland and Pennsylvania, including Gettysburg, as a tropical storm.
In 2003, comedian Bob Hope reached his 100th birthday. He died soon after the celebration. Others who left us that year included actors Katharine Hepburn and Gregory Peck, children’s television host Fred Rogers, news anchor David Brinkley, and the first mammal cloned from a cell, Dolly the Sheep, age six.
The Year 2013: Ten years ago, the sesquicentennial anniversary of The Battle of Gettysburg occurred in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with immense crowds in attendance for the reenactment, historic commemorations and battlefield events.
Barack Obama had begun his second term in the White House.
The President had introduced and attempted to pass his Obamacare package, where the government took over health care. As a result, multiple filibusters took place in Congress, and the government shut down for sixteen days as Republicans protested the endeavor. Obama’s healthcare plan nevertheless passed Congress and went into effect.
Terror attacks, which have become a way of life, took place in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and in the United States. Two brothers of Chechnyan birth living in Massachusetts placed bombs along the Boston Marathon route. Three civilians were killed and many more wounded in the bombing. The perpetrators were apprehended, with one killed and one arrested.
In 2013 wildfires in Australia resulted in widespread destruction, forcing many to evacuate to the coasts.
Among those who died in 2013 were former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, actors Peter O’Toole and Paul Walker, author Tom Clancy, columnist Abigail Van Buren, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, and Nelson Mandela, the eminent former President of South Africa.
The Year 2023: The current year is not yet finished, but is already rife with historic events. An earthquake devastated parts of Turkey and Syria in February. Wildfires have consumed many acres all over the world throughout the summer, including Canada, Hawaii, Texas, Portugal, and much of Europe. Greece has combatted conflagrations from Athens to its islands in the Aegean, including the Island of Rhodes. An exceptionally snowy winter eliminated the extreme drought in California and improved drought conditions in the west. In Pennsylvania, a mild winter has created dry conditions, although many summer storms, some of them severe, have ameliorated conditions.
On the island of Maui, the death toll, which has surpassed one hundred, has not yet been completed from the fires, and the 18th century coastal town of Lahaina has been completely destroyed.
A rare but powerful Pacific hurricane stormed across the American southwest, causing torrential rains and damage, from southern California and Nevada inland to the Pacific Northwest, where fires have also raged.
In Iceland a new volcano formed. In Patagonia, a new dinosaur species, a type of duckbill, was discovered. In the Amazon rainforest, a plane crashed, killing the occupants except for four children. The children, aged from fourteen years to eleven months, survived and were found after forty days of searching for them.
An increasingly hot summer has caused distress among coral reefs in Florida. Shark attacks are on the rise in the United States, especially among the Atlantic coast.
The war in Ukraine continues.
In Great Britain, King Charles III was crowned in Westminster Abbey. In the U.S., former President Jimmy Carter, who has earned the title as the nation’s longest living President, will celebrate his 99th birthday on October 1. Ill with cancer for many years, at press time the 39th President is still living.
In the United States, former President Donald Trump has been indicted several times for various perceived grievances of the law, including having classified documents in his possession. Current President Joe Biden also was found with classified documents from his time as a senator and Vice-President under President Obama, but was not indicted. An investigation for fraud is currently underway against Biden’s son for money laundering and taking money from foreign powers, which implicates the President. As a result, the nation is deeply divided. Both the former and current Presidents appear to be running for election in 2024.
An economic downturn also affects the nation. Many banks have failed and many companies, including some of long-standing, are closing or filing for bankruptcy. Halfway through the year, the U.S. Debt Ceiling, at just over 31 trillion dollars, was surpassed for the first time in history.
Although the Covid pandemic has largely subsided, the disease still abounds. Though it has weakened, its after-effects are still plaguing many.
Artificial Intelligence has emerged, causing both excitement and concern. AI is taking the need for human workers away. The application appears to replace human thought, making research, and driving simpler, lessening the chance of human error.
In America, gun violence has become almost a daily expectation. In spite of more restrictive laws, the lawless ones find a way to get their hands on a weapon.
Ever intent on finding the positive, Americans look to the future.
By remembering the past, we hope to be better equipped to do that.
Leonardo da Vinci’s famous Mona Lisa painting was offered on loan from Europe, and exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
A hurricane and its resulting tsunami killed over 22,000 in Pakistan. A Caribbean hurricane hit Cuba and Haiti, killing 4,000 more. 10
On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Lyndon B. Johnson, the Vice-President, took the Oath of Office privately that same day, reminiscent of Calvin Coolidge’s similar situation in his home forty years earlier. Mrs. Kennedy, in preparing for her husband’s funeral, remembered a memorial she had seen six months before in Gettysburg, and fashioned her husband’s grave in Arlington after the battlefield’s impressive Eternal Light Peace Memorial.11
General Eisenhower, who gave the speech at Gettysburg’s 100th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address at the Soldiers National Cemetery on November 19th, 1963, was in New York at the time of the assassination. He received a call from President Johnson, requesting that Ike fly to Washington D.C. for a consultation. Eisenhower complied and spent two days aiding the new President to make the transition and to help calm the public during the dark days that followed.
Other deaths that year included singer Patsy Cline, NAACP founder W.E.B. DuBois, poets Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams, authors C.S. Lewis and Alduous Huxley, and Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
The Year 1973: Just ten years after the turbulent year 1963, the year 1973 seemed equally unstable. Riots prevailed on college campuses to protest the Vietnam War. Continued stalemates from that war and the rising death toll also enraged the populace, fueled by the press. President Richard Nixon, recently re-elected as President of the United States, agreed to end the war. By August, most of the American troops had returned from Indochina, although some remained as prisoners of war.
That same year an energy crisis emerged. Gas and oil prices rose at an alarming rate, as the Arab nations passed an embargo on the United States. With the depletion of these needed commodities, oil and gas supplies were drastically conserved, and Americans were forced to limit their consumption. To help reduce the stress of the crisis, the eternal flame in Gettysburg’s Eternal Light Peace Memorial was shut off for a time.
At home, the Watergate scandal began to reach the populace. Congress held hearings about the illegal activities at the Watergate, where the President knew and apparently authorized a break-in at the Democratic Headquarters to obtain information to facilitate his re-election. In October, Vice-President Spiro Agnew abruptly resigned. He was replaced by Gerald Ford.
That same year, the Supreme Court heard the case of Roe vs. Wade, and sided with Ms. Roe to legalize abortion in the United States.
In 1973, former President Lyndon B. Johnson died suddenly at his ranch in Texas. Others who passed that year included artist Pablo Picasso, director John Ford, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, author J.R.R. Tolkien, and actress Betty Grable.
The Year 1983: The economic instability from the 1970s had begun to subside by the year 1983. Ronald Reagan was halfway through his first term as President. He introduced his new Star Wars plan, using satellites to protect U.S. military installations across the globe. NASA introduced the Space Shuttle Challenger , which made its maiden flight that year.
That same year, during unrest in Lebanon, a terrorist attack killed 305 people, including 245 U.S. Marines.
In 1983 Bill Clinton was the Governor of Arkansas. Yuri Andropov was the President of the Soviet Union. Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of Great Britain.
During an especially cold winter in Gettysburg, residents of the Gettysburg Hotel, an old landmark in Lincoln Square since 1797, were forced to evacuate in the middle of the night due to a devastating fire. The conflagration consumed the old building.
That summer, a severe storm in Gettysburg uprooted several old trees that had witnessed the famous battle in 1863. Among them was a white pine that stood over the grave of Jennie Wade, the only civilian killed during the battle.
Some of those who died in 1983 were playwright Tennessee Williams, comedian Jack Benny, and World War II veteran and actor David Niven.
The Year 1993: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was the site of a gala premiere of the movie Gettysburg , an epic film about the Battle of Gettysburg, taken from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Killer Angels. The popular film sparked an increase in visitation to the battlefield for many years.
In 1993 Bill Clinton began his first term as President of the United States. At his inauguration were five surviving former U.S. Presidents: Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush.
In March, a gigantic winter storm, called the Storm of the Century, hit in the eastern United States, resulting from a hurricane in the South and a Nor’easter in the North. Gettysburg was one of the areas affected with blizzard conditions.
That year, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy discovered she had Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a terminal cancer.
Former First Lady Pat Nixon died in 1993 after a long illness. Others who passed on that year included actress Audrey Hepburn, tennis pro Arthur Ashe, and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
The Year 2003: Twenty years ago, life had changed drastically after the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001, when terrorists commandeered civilian commercial planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Terror attacks continued all over the world in 2003, including Moscow, Chechnya, and Casablanca. The Iraq War began in 2003, as President George W. Bush had received intelligence, which later proved incorrect, that Sadam Hussein was stockpiling nuclear weapons to attack the United States. Hussein immediately went into hiding and remained hidden throughout the year, although his two sons were captured and subsequently executed by the Iraqis.
Airline travel changed with the 9/11 attacks. Airport screenings became permanent. Only those with special permission were allowed to accompany travelers to their gates, and welcoming arrivals now took place at baggage claim. President Bush established the Department of Homeland Security to defend Americans against further attacks, and a color code was introduced to alert civilians to danger.
In February 2003, the space shuttle Challenger disintegrated upon its return to earth, killing all seven astronauts on board. A nightclub fire in Rhode Island, stemming from a pyrotechnic display from a performing band, killed one hundred people who were unable to escape.
Hurricane Isabel, the year's most potent, roared up the Chesapeake Bay and affected the states of Maryland and Pennsylvania, including Gettysburg, as a tropical storm.
In 2003, comedian Bob Hope reached his 100th birthday. He died soon after the celebration. Others who left us that year included actors Katharine Hepburn and Gregory Peck, children’s television host Fred Rogers, news anchor David Brinkley, and the first mammal cloned from a cell, Dolly the Sheep, age six.
The Year 2013: Ten years ago, the sesquicentennial anniversary of The Battle of Gettysburg occurred in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with immense crowds in attendance for the reenactment, historic commemorations and battlefield events.
Barack Obama had begun his second term in the White House.
The President had introduced and attempted to pass his Obamacare package, where the government took over health care. As a result, multiple filibusters took place in Congress, and the government shut down for sixteen days as Republicans protested the endeavor. Obama’s healthcare plan nevertheless passed Congress and went into effect.
Terror attacks, which have become a way of life, took place in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and in the United States. Two brothers of Chechnyan birth living in Massachusetts placed bombs along the Boston Marathon route. Three civilians were killed and many more wounded in the bombing. The perpetrators were apprehended, with one killed and one arrested.
In 2013 wildfires in Australia resulted in widespread destruction, forcing many to evacuate to the coasts.
Among those who died in 2013 were former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, actors Peter O’Toole and Paul Walker, author Tom Clancy, columnist Abigail Van Buren, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, and Nelson Mandela, the eminent former President of South Africa.
The Year 2023: The current year is not yet finished, but is already rife with historic events. An earthquake devastated parts of Turkey and Syria in February. Wildfires have consumed many acres all over the world throughout the summer, including Canada, Hawaii, Texas, Portugal, and much of Europe. Greece has combatted conflagrations from Athens to its islands in the Aegean, including the Island of Rhodes. An exceptionally snowy winter eliminated the extreme drought in California and improved drought conditions in the west. In Pennsylvania, a mild winter has created dry conditions, although many summer storms, some of them severe, have ameliorated conditions.
On the island of Maui, the death toll, which has surpassed one hundred, has not yet been completed from the fires, and the 18th century coastal town of Lahaina has been completely destroyed.
A rare but powerful Pacific hurricane stormed across the American southwest, causing torrential rains and damage, from southern California and Nevada inland to the Pacific Northwest, where fires have also raged.
In Iceland a new volcano formed. In Patagonia, a new dinosaur species, a type of duckbill, was discovered. In the Amazon rainforest, a plane crashed, killing the occupants except for four children. The children, aged from fourteen years to eleven months, survived and were found after forty days of searching for them.
An increasingly hot summer has caused distress among coral reefs in Florida. Shark attacks are on the rise in the United States, especially among the Atlantic coast.
The war in Ukraine continues.
In Great Britain, King Charles III was crowned in Westminster Abbey. In the U.S., former President Jimmy Carter, who has earned the title as the nation’s longest living President, will celebrate his 99th birthday on October 1. Ill with cancer for many years, at press time the 39th President is still living.
In the United States, former President Donald Trump has been indicted several times for various perceived grievances of the law, including having classified documents in his possession. Current President Joe Biden also was found with classified documents from his time as a senator and Vice-President under President Obama, but was not indicted. An investigation for fraud is currently underway against Biden’s son for money laundering and taking money from foreign powers, which implicates the President. As a result, the nation is deeply divided. Both the former and current Presidents appear to be running for election in 2024.
An economic downturn also affects the nation. Many banks have failed and many companies, including some of long-standing, are closing or filing for bankruptcy. Halfway through the year, the U.S. Debt Ceiling, at just over 31 trillion dollars, was surpassed for the first time in history.
Although the Covid pandemic has largely subsided, the disease still abounds. Though it has weakened, its after-effects are still plaguing many.
Artificial Intelligence has emerged, causing both excitement and concern. AI is taking the need for human workers away. The application appears to replace human thought, making research, and driving simpler, lessening the chance of human error.
In America, gun violence has become almost a daily expectation. In spite of more restrictive laws, the lawless ones find a way to get their hands on a weapon.
Ever intent on finding the positive, Americans look to the future.
By remembering the past, we hope to be better equipped to do that.
The Gettysburg Experience, P.O. Box 4271 Gettysburg PA 17325 Phone 717.359.0776
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