by Diana Loski

As the years pass, the events of historical import prove to show an unusual dichotomy.  Some reveal even more significance with the passage of time, while others have faded.  Here are some of both from the last century.

The Year 1922:  One hundred years ago, the United States and much of the world were in a state of economic prosperity.  One exception was Germany, a nation broken by the recent global war and blamed entirely for it.  The Treaty of Versailles had stipulated stringent reparations that caused a deep recession in that nation.  As a result, a new political party, the People’s Socialist Party, also known as the Nazi Party, grew in prominence in 1922.  One of its leaders was a middle-aged corporal from Austria named Adolf Hitler.

In the United States, the current President, Warren G. Harding, realized to his surprise that there was no national budget.  A former newspaper owner, Harding insisted that the nation needed one.  He selected Charles Dawes, the son of Gettysburg veteran Rufus Dawes, to establish a budget.  With Dawes’s business-like efficiency, the national budget was soon in place, which contributed to the booming economy.¹  

All was not well in Washington, however.  Harding grew suspicious with issues among his cabinet.  Although the nation would not yet learn about the bribery involved in the Navy’s reserved oil fields in California and Wyoming (the latter called the Teapot Dome), suspicions were aroused by some in Washington; Harding grew uneasy as he learned that his Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, had transferred the fields to his department and then opened them to private enterprise, lining his own pockets in the interim.  For the July 4th holiday that year, the President and his wife, Florence, decided to make a brief trip to their hometown of Marion, Ohio.  They stopped at Gettysburg on the way.  On July 1, 1922, they watched a reenactment of Pickett’s Charge from a now defunct tower in Ziegler’s Grove on Cemetery Ridge.  Harding made no speech and left Gettysburg soon afterward.  Shortly after the visit, Mrs. Harding fell seriously ill with nephritis, a usually fatal kidney infection.  During her illness, the Vice-President’s wife, Grace Coolidge, stepped in to fulfill the First Lady’s duties.  Mrs. Harding spent six months recuperating.²

Mrs. Harding was equally concerned over some of the misdeeds of her husband’s cabinet.  She was alarmed when a clairvoyant told her that her husband “would not survive his term” as President.³

On Memorial Day 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.  A 19-foot likeness of the 16th President was sculpted by Daniel Chester French.  On opposite interior walls were Lincoln’s two greatest speeches: the Gettysburg Address, and the final section of his Second Inaugural.  The cost for the memorial was three million dollars.

In 1922, the first woman senator, Rebecca Fulton of Georgia, took her seat in Congress.  Across the sea, in Egypt, Lord Carnarvon and archaeologist Howard Carter, both British citizens, opened the tomb of King Tutankhamun after his burial in the tombs of Giza three millennia earlier.  In Italy, Benito Mussolini became the dictatorial leader.  In India, Mahatma Gandhi gained notoriety for his demonstrations against British rule.  There was also unrest in Ireland, with protests and escalating violence.  Farther east, fourteen nations formed the Union of Soviet Socialists Republic (USSR).  For a time, Russia no longer existed as it absorbed the surrounding smaller countries to create the new nation.  That same year, Joseph Stalin was appointed Secretary General of Moscow’s Communist Party⁴

A century ago, the first radio was installed in the White House, with President Harding giving the first address over the airwaves.  American aviator Lillian Gatlin became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.  Her success inspired another future aviatrix, a young Amelia Earhart, to become a pilot.  In Great Britain, the BBC was established.  In Canada, the first insulin was administered to diabetic patients.  Author James Joyce wrote his celebrated book, Ulysses.

Because of the recent ratification of the 18th Amendment, “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors ” were now illegal in the United States.  As a result, establishments called speakeasies were suddenly ubiquitous all over the country.  Women’s fashion changed dramatically with the opening of these illegal businesses: bobbed hair, shorter dresses and tight clothing became stylish.  Women who dressed in the new mode frequented the speakeasies, and were called “flappers”.  In 1922, multiple groups formed to repeal what came to be known as Prohibition.⁵

Some who were born in 1922 included singer Judy Garland, actors Ava Gardner, Doris Day and Betty White, cartoonists Charles Shulz and Stan Lee, and comedian Redd Foxx.  Those who died that year included inventor Alexander Graham Bell, Irish nationalist Michael Collins, arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, and Lord Carnarvon, who died of an infection caused by a mosquito bite while on his archaeological dig in Giza.  In Hollywood, California, director William Desmond Taylor was found murdered in his home.  The case was never solved.  In Gettysburg, Salome Myers Stewart, a local diarist and school teacher who was well known for her care of wounded soldiers from the Battle of Gettysburg, died at age 79. 

The Year 1932:  The economic prosperity that had been prevalent during the 1920s had disappeared with the Great Depression, which had taken hold of the world, including the United States, by 1932.  President Herbert Hoover was blamed for much of the national ordeal, and lost his bid for reelection in November to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  With 1/3 of the nation’s population out of work, Roosevelt’s landslide victory was no surprise.

Because of their destitution, many of the less fortunate flocked to the Great Plains, where the government subsidized land for farming.  A drought that year caused not only crop failure, but the overworking of the land caused dust storms.  In January, 1932, a large black cloud, 10,000 feet high, enveloped Amarillo, Texas and spread to the neighboring states of Oklahoma and Colorado.  The Dust Bowl had begun⁶

In Germany, Adolf Hitler renounced his Austrian citizenship so that he could run for Germany’s highest political office.  He lost against the renowned General Hindenburg, but remained a voice of protest for the suffering proletariat.  His Nazi party began promising “freedom and bread” to the populace, and his popularity grew.  His speeches gained national prominence.  Although Hitler lost the election, his Nazi party gained a majority in Parliament.  In India, Mahatma Gandhi was again arrested for his continued protests. ⁷

In Asia, Japanese officials set up a puppet government in Manchuria, after having invaded the country the previous year.  They named it Manchukuo. 

In 1932, A Brave New World written by Alduous Huxley, was published.  Route 66, the historic highway from Chicago to Los Angeles, was opened.  Amelia Earhart flew from the United States to Northern Ireland.  Another famous aviator, Charles Lindbergh, made headlines with the loss of his infant son, the victim of a fatal kidnapping.  The newspapers were also filled with stories about the crime spree of bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.

Some born in the year 1932 included actors Elizabeth Taylor and Debbie Reynolds, singer Johnny Cash, author Umberto Eco and future senator Edward Kennedy.  Among those who passed away that year were band leader John Philip Sousa, poet Hart Crane, producer Florenz Ziegfeld, and Denver socialite and Titanic survivor Margaret “Mollie” Brown.  In Gettysburg, author, historian and former president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary Henry Eyster Jacobs died at age 87.

The Year 1942:  America had just joined World War II at the beginning of the year due to the recent December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  Dwight D. Eisenhower, who would become a prominent name throughout 1942, had been summoned to Washington, D.C. by General George Marshall, President Roosevelt’s Chief of Staff.  Because Ike had been assistant to General MacArthur in the Philippines in the 1930s, and had been the protégé of General Fox Conner and well acquainted with Europe, Marshall knew that Eisenhower was the one with the most knowledge of the perilous situation for both theaters of war.  The United States had declared war on Japan because of Pearl Harbor, and Hitler, an ally of Japan, retaliated by declaring war on the United States.

In the early part of 1942, the U.S. lost dozens of ships to sabotage by German U-Boats.   Eisenhower recorded that “ A typical month was March 1942, when we lost in the Atlantic and Arctic areas 88 Allied and neutral ships of 507,502 tonnage.  During May 1942, with 120 Allied and neutral vessels in the same waters, the United States lost its highest loss of merchant shipping in any one month of the war – 40 vessels.”  As the Americans prepared to send her best assets, her young men and women, to war, the cost would only grow.  Because of the Great Depression and the distaste of the American populace for war, the defenses and military might of the United States fell woefully short.  Ike recalled that the perilous situation our nation faced was "bleak”.⁸

In spite of the nation’s military shortcomings, the United States quickly rose to the challenge.  To retaliate against Japan for its unprovoked attack on the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor and the news of the fall of Bataan in the Philippines, on April 18 an air raid and bombing led by aviator Jimmy Doolittle and his crew successfully proved to the Japanese Empire that they were not invincible.  Other battles that year involving America and its allies included the naval victory at Midway in the Pacific, the Battle of the island of Guadalcanal, and longer campaigns, including El Alamein, in North Africa against the German Field Commander Irwin Rommel and his troops.  In all of these battles, the Allies proved victorious.  Moreover, Hitler’s army was heavily engaged against the Russians in the Battle of Stalingrad, which proved disastrous for the Führer.⁹

In spite of these Allied victories, the military powers of the United States, led by General Marshall, knew that the United States was not prepared for an attack against Hitler’s Wehrmact in western Europe.  It took two years to prepare and sufficiently train the military for the D-Day invasion.  Eisenhower began the grueling task of training the troops and working on amassing the necessary equipment.  One of the new fighting units created for the future assault at Normandy was the airborne troops.  They would be dropped behind enemy lines to aid the invading army.

In 1942 a young Jewish girl, hiding in Amsterdam with her family, began writing in her diary.  Her name was Anne Frank.

In the United States, the populace sacrificed for the war effort.  Rubber drives, nylon drives, and victory gardens were common among the 48 states.  Even Hollywood elites volunteered their services.  Celebrities like James Stewart, Clark Gable, Ronald Reagan, and Tyrone Power put their lucrative careers on hold to fight for their country.  Others, like Bob Hope, entertained the troops overseas; Carole Lombard and Marlene Dietrich made tours of the country to encourage people to buy war bonds.

In 1942, the song White Christmas , recorded by Bing Crosby, was an immensely popular hit, as thousands spent the holidays without their loved ones who were fighting the war.  Even the President of the United States had all four of his sons, and his son-in-law, in the fight.

Some of the famous births in the year 1942 included boxer Muhammad Ali, scientist Stephen Hawking, actor Harrison Ford, director Martin Scorsese, designer Calvin Klein, singer Paul McCartney, Senator Mitch McConnell, and President Joe Biden.

In addition to the many thousands who perished in World War II that year, including many thousands in German concentration camps, was Walter Sickert, an English artist who some have supposed might have been Jack the Ripper, at age 82.  Artist Grant Wood, who painted the famous American Gothic , died at age 60.  Actor John Barrymore also died at age 60.  One of the youngest to be buried in Gettysburg’s Soldiers’ National Cemetery was Paul Heller, a young Marine who, at age 15, died in the Battle of Guadalcanal.  Another casualty of the war was Carole Lombard, who was killed in a plane crash on her way back to California to be with her husband, Clark Gable, after a visit to Indianapolis to raise money for war bonds.  She was 34 years old.

The Year 1952:  In 1952, another war that had emerged shortly after World War II, the Korean War, ended after less than two years of conflict.  Harry Truman was the President of the United States, but his term was ending and an election was held in November.  The President-elect was Dwight D. Eisenhower, the recent Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II.  Ike disliked politics and he reluctantly ran for the highest office.  He and his wife, Mamie, had purchased a farm just south of Gettysburg in 1950.  He spent as much time as he could in renovating the old farm so that he could settle there.  In the year that he was elected President, Ike vigorously continued the renovation.

In 1952, King George VI of Great Britain died after a battle with lung cancer.  His daughter, Elizabeth, took the throne at the age of 26.  Later that year, an extended and severe bout of smog in London killed (due to auto accidents and illness) nearly 4,000 people.  In Egypt, anti-British riots escalated in a bid for independence.  Egyptian monarch King Farouk resigned in response to the unrest. 

In early 1952, the United States detonated the first hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll in a remote area of the South Pacific.  The fallout from the enormous blast created deadly ramifications that took years to materialize.

That same year future President Ronald Reagan married Nancy Davis in a private ceremony.  Jackie Robinson became professional baseball’s highest paid player.  Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory.  The 500th anniversary of the birth of artist Leonardo da Vinci was celebrated across the globe.  John F. Kennedy was elected as the junior senator from Massachusetts. 

Several books of lasting import were published in 1952.  Among them were Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking, and The Diary of Anne Frank.

Among those who died in 1952 were scientist Albert Einstein, Argentina’s First Lady Eva Peron, and author and historian George Santayana.

The Year 1962:  President John F. Kennedy was in the White House.  Due to his callow understanding of world politics, he launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs attack in Cuba in 1961, in a failed attempt to unseat Fidel Castro, the communist dictator of the island nation.  It came as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis, where Russian armaments were discovered in Cuba to eventually use to attack the United States.  As a result, most of the nation in 1962 were worried about nuclear war.  President Kennedy and the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, came to an agreement, narrowly averting the conflict. 

With the nuclear scare, buildings in the United States were fortified and labeled as shelters for nuclear fallout.  Families began to build their own shelters and amassed the storage of food with the fear of looming war. 

In 1962, astronaut John Glenn gained fame as the first United States citizen to orbit the moon.  Professional golfer Arnold Palmer won the Masters and British Open tournaments – and both victories were repeat wins for the athlete.  Author Rachel Carson awakened many Americans to the dangers of pollution and human interference with nature by publishing her book Silent Spring .  Author John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature with his book Travels with Charlie: In Search of America .  Author William Faulkner won the Pulitzer Prize that same year for his last novel, The Reivers .

That same year Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann, who had escaped justice for many years by hiding in South America, was hanged for war crimes.

In Iran, a major earthquake killed 10,000 people.

That same year Nelson Mandela was convicted to life imprisonment in South Africa for attempting to overthrow the government.  He would serve for 27 years.

Others who died in 1962 included authors William Faulkner and e.e. cummings, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands, and Marilyn Monroe, who died under suspicious circumstances at age 36.