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HISTORY: unwrapped – May 2008

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May 30, 2008 - The Big Pox

The smallpox virus had its greatest impact on the Indian populations in what is now Central and South America. Some historians have theorized that “it was not Cortez’ soldiers but smallpox that conquered the kingdom of the Aztecs in Mexico in 1520.” While this might be an exaggeration, smallpox certainly took its toll. It’s no wonder that the “Aztecs couldn’t believe that such a disease could be considered small and called it the `big pox.’“

The psychological impact of smallpox was also great. Between 1518 and 1531 nearly one-third of the total Indian population died of smallpox while the Spanish remained mysteriously unaffected. The Indians interpreted this to mean that their gods had failed them. In a deeply religious and superstitious society this assessment undermined the will to resist and made it possible for the Spanish to conquer what was left of the well-established pagan Aztec population.

Smallpox was followed by waves of measles, influenza, and typhus. “By the end of the sixteenth century, it is estimated that up to 90 percent of the indigenous populations had died in the successive waves of disease, and the Spanish began importing slaves to meet the labor demands created by catastrophic disease mortality.” The Aztecs contributed to their own demise through human sacrifice. As many as fifty thousand people a year were sacrificed “as a gourmet source of protein for its privileged elites.” But, that’s another story for another time.

May 29, 2008 –The Man Who Would be King

Alexander Hamilton was a lawyer, statesman, financier, and one of the main authors of the Federalist Papers. He supported a strong central government, and his influence convinced Congress to use a flexible interpretation of the Constitution to pass far-reaching laws. During his tenure as Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton influenced the passing of laws that funded the national debt, created a national bank and a system of taxes that would pay for it. Hamilton’s detractors called him unprincipled and dangerously aristocratic. At the Constitutional Convention, Hamilton proposed that the “rich and well-born” have a permanent role in controlling the masses. He.wanted an elective monarchy with a strong centralized and representative government. Hamilton believed that the common man needed governing for the common good. According to Hamilton, without government the “unthinking populace” would lead a nation to anarchy.

May 28, 2008 – An Indian Fighter Seeks His Destiny

In today’s publicity-seeking world, George Armstrong Custer would have felt right at home. Much of his reputation was formed by the media. Correspondents, who joined Custer on his military campaigns, helped establish his reputation with their positive reporting. With long blonde curls sprinkled with cinnamon oil, flamboyant dress, and large ego, Custer understood good public relations. His bravery, daring, and leadership skills helped the West Point graduate rise in the ranks during the Civil War. Appointed to the Seventh Calvary, Custer became the most famous Indian fighter in American history. But his boldness and daring would lead to the foolish attack at the Little Big Horn, where 2,000 Indians swept down upon Custer and his men. His final stand would bring him the glory that had eluded him throughout his short life.

Yale College was founded in 1701 because many people in New England felt that Harvard was drifting away from the Calvinistic theology on which it had been founded. In the early 1700s, all Yale undergraduates studied Latin, Greek, and Hebrew followed by logic, metaphysics, math, physics, and theology. They did it all—lectures, discussions, and exams—in Latin! Today, Yale students can choose from among 2,000 courses, but any inkling of the school’s Calvinistic beginnings is hard to find. The college where one of the early rules stated: “All Scholars Shall Live Blameless Lives, according to the Rules of God’s Word, diligently Reading the holy Scriptures the Fountain of Light and Truth; and constantly attend upon all the Duties of Religion both in Publick and Secret,” has, for the most part, forgotten its godly heritage.

May 26, 2008 – Rome Comes to Washington

Buildings in Washington D.C., with their columns and facades, are reminiscent of Classical architecture. In addition, some American political writers called themselves by Latin names like Cato and Publius. The authors of The Federalist, a collection of essays written in favor of the Constitution, did not use their real names. The 85 essays were attributed to the pseudonym “Publius,” but in actuality were written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. Publius Valerius Publicola (“friend of the people”) was a Roman consul. George Washington was known as “Cincinnatus,” a Roman general and patriot (519–439 B.C.) who gave up supreme power and went home to his farm after rescuing the Roman army which had been besieged by hill tribes. You can even see an enormous marble sculpture of our first president—wearing a toga! Our early constitutional framers looked to some elements of the Roman Republic and its form of civil government—not to the Roman Empire and its pagan religious practices—as a model for their political ideas. The word “Senate” is also borrowed from the Romans.

May 23, 2008 – Coin Clipping for Fun and Profit

Exchanging one commodity or service for another commodity or service is called bartering. As long as you needed what the other person had, bartering was a good way to do business. But if you needed something your neighbor had and he didn’t need what you had, you would have to find someone who needed what you had and wanted what the other man had so an exchange could be made. Over time, you can see how complicated bartering could get. One way to fix the logistic problems associated with bartering was to find a commodity that everyone valued and use it as a medium of exchange for everything else. This was most often gold and silver. But how would you know if the gold piece of one trader was as pure as the gold piece of another trader? Gold had to be weighed and certified by an assayer to insure its purity. Assayers were not always around when you needed one.

As time went on, someone had the grand idea of standardizing coinage and stamping it with an image that would be nearly impossible to duplicate. Since gold was a soft metal, it was easy to fabricate, strike, and identify. A simple bite or scratch would identify it as gold. But when there’s a way to make a buck without doing much work, someone will find a way to cheat the system. Since gold coins had smooth edges, it didn’t take much effort to clip just a little gold off the edges while keeping the coin relatively intact. The coin remained virtually the same, but with a few shavings off the edge that no one would notice. If this was done to several coins, a coin clipper would have enough extra gold to exchange for coinage while still being able to hold on to his original coins. This is inflation in action: An increase in the money supply without an actual increase in real money. There had to be a better way to stop coin clipping.

Antoine Boucher, a French machinist, devised a way to stamp coins with raised borders around its circumference and “milled” grooves around the outside edge. If you got a smooth-edged coin, you knew it had been clipped. England struck its first coins with milled edges in 1553, but the process proved costly and was abandoned. People went right back to clipping. In time, putting milled edges on coins became cost effective. This didn’t stop everybody from clipping and putting new edges on the coins. Oliver Cromwell proposed engraving mottoes around the edge of the coins. When this didn’t stop the pilfering, he had coins struck with this message: “The Penalty for Clipping Coins Is Death.” Today, no one bothers with clipping coins since they are no longer made of gold and silver. Even so, the edges of dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and dollar coins still retain the milled edge. It’s all for decoration. You’ve probably noticed that pennies and nickels have smooth edges. Clipping these coins was not worth the trouble because the metals were so cheap. The penny and dime are so close in size that a blind person might find it difficult to distinguish them. The milled edge on the dime gives its value away.

May 22, 2008 – Star Light, Star Bright

The Star Chamber was a room in the palace at Westminster, England, where the king's council met. The room was named because of the star-decorated ceiling. From medieval times the king's council had ruled on specific legal cases that were beyond the jurisdiction of the common courts. By an act of Parliament in 1487, Henry VII strengthened the power of the council so nobles could be put on trial. In 1540 Henry VIII put the committee under his direct control that came to be known as the Court of Star Chamber. There was no jury and any punishment could be inflicted except the death penalty. The Star Chamber forced people to testify against themselves. By the time of Charles I, the Star Chamber had the reputation of being a "legal" way for the king to get rid of his political enemies. The authority of the Star Chamber was taken away by the Long Parliament in 1641 and restored the concept of "lawful judgment" of a defendant by "his peers or by the law of the land." The Courts of High Commission served a similar purpose but were directed at the clergy, especially Puritan ministers. They, too, were abolished in 1641.

Michael Douglas and Hal Holbrook starred in the movie The Star Chamber (1983). When cases must be dismissed because of technicalities, a small cadre of judges resort to establishing a secret tribunal—a star chamber—to try cases and pass their own sense of justice. At first, justice seems to prevail. But before too long, things go awry. Open tribunals, as frustrating as they may be, are better than any star chamber no matter how perfectly conceived.

May 21, 2008 – Censorship in the Classroom

Public school textbooks are fertile ground for the seeds of willful historical deception. A careful analysis of 60 elementary textbooks showed that none of them contained one word referring to any religious activity in contemporary American life. The texts were examined in terms of their references to religion, either directly or indirectly. One social studies book devotes 30 pages to the Pilgrims but never refers to religion as even a part of their lives. It teaches that Thanksgiving was the time when the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians. There is no doubt that the Christian settlers were thankful for the Indian’s help, but the historical record shows that thanksgiving was ultimately made to God. In a booklet used in Seattle, Washington, children were told that “the Pilgrims were narrow-minded bigots who survived initially only with the Indians’ help, but turned on them when their help wasn’t needed anymore.” Not only are the books filled with obvious biases but they also contain numerous historical inaccuracies. Supposedly Increase Mather preached a sermon in 1623 where he “gave special thanks to God for the plague of smallpox which had wiped out the majority of Wampanoag Indians.” It would have been impossible for Increase Mather to have preached such a sermon. He was not born until 1639! The rewriting of history is producing historical dunces who have no knowledge or understanding of our rich religious heritage.

May 20, 2008 – Columbus Makes the Moon Die

In 1504, while shipwrecked in Jamaica, Columbus and his crew had a tough time trading with the natives for food. The Indians quickly became tired of the hawk bells and trinkets the Spaniards had brought with them, and their food supply became scarce. Columbus knew he had to take drastic measures. He told the Indians that if they did not keep his crew supplied with food, his God would get angry and make the Moon “die.” The Indians were skeptical. Was Columbus bluffing? Columbus turned to his copy of the Regiomontanus Ephemerides Astronomicae, or “Astronomical Diary.” This book was printed in Nuremberg, Germany, in the late 1400s and complied by Johann Müller von Königsberg (1436–1476), and was best known by the Latin pseudonym Regiomontanus, or “King’s Mountain.” After consulting the almanac Columbus was able to calculate that in three days (on February 29, 1504) there would be a total eclipse of the Moon. The Moon did “die,” and the astonished natives agreed to keep this “sorcerer” happy and well-fed.

May 19, 2008 – The Failed Assassination Plot

On July 20, 1944, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg planted a bomb during a meeting at Adolf Hitler’s headquarters in Rastenberg, East Prussia, which is now Poland. The bomb, contained in a briefcase, exploded, killing four. Hitler survived with only minor injuries, including burns, a concussion, and a loss of hearing. The injuries were not serious enough for him to cancel his meeting with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini later in the day. The bomb had been placed on the right side of one of the oak table’s two heavy support legs, shielding Hitler from the major force of the blast. After planting the bomb, Stauffenberg left the room. The officer who took his place at the table noticed the briefcase, and with his foot pushed it further under the table.

Stauffenberg waited for the explosion and assumed Hitler had been killed. Big mistake. He flew back to Berlin where he and his co-conspirators hoped to stage a coup de état and install a new government. It was not to be. Hours after the failed assassination attempt, Stauffenberg and other army officers implicated in the plot were rounded up and executed on Hitler’s orders. Eight of the conspirators were hanged with piano wire from meat-hooks. Their executions were filmed and shown to senior members of the Nazi Party and the armed forces as a not so subtle warning to future traitors to the Nazi cause.

Sixty years later, on July 20, 2004, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder led a series of tributes to the conspirators at a ceremony in Berlin. At the army headquarters where Stauffenberg was executed by firing squad for his role in the assassination attempt, Prime Minister Schroeder said Germans should remember all those who stood up to the Nazis. The Stauffenberg plotters are today regarded by most Germans as heroes for their attempt to free Germany from the Nazi regime and its megalomaniac dictator.

May 16, 2008 – Man from Another World

During his lifetime, Nikola Tesla was said to have come from the future, Venus, and even Mars. The inventor of alternating current was actually from Serbia. Always experimenting, Tesla nearly destroyed his New York neighborhood when he tried to manufacture lightning. The police often showed up at Tesla’s home after receiving complaints of his scary experiments from neighbors. Friends were rare for Tesla, because human interaction distracted him from his inventions. He has been called the patron saint of modern electricity, but the reclusive and eccentric engineer was ostracized and viewed as a mad scientist when he was alive. Edison was jealous of him and Marconi took credit for the wireless radio which Tesla had invented earlier. Money had a way of eluding this brilliant man, and he died in debt. The groundbreaking inventions in electricity and magnetism of America’s greatest electrical engineer helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.

May 15, 2008 – It's Never Too Late

Harland Sanders was born September 9, 1890. He began franchising his chicken business in the early 1950s—at the age of 65—using money that he received from Social Security! When he was 40, Sanders began cooking for hungry travelers who stopped at his service station in Corbin, Kentucky. He didn’t own a restaurant then, but he served people on his own dining table in the living quarters of his service station. As more people started coming just for food, he moved across the street to a motel and restaurant that seated 142 people. Over the next nine years, he perfected his “secret blend of 11 herbs and spices” and the basic cooking technique that is still used today. He was made a “Colonel” by Governor Ruby Laffoon in 1935 in recognition of his contributions to the state’s cuisine. In the early 1950s a new interstate highway was planned to bypass the town of Corbin. Seeing an end to his business, Sanders auctioned off his operations. After paying his bills, he was reduced to living on his $105 monthly Social Security checks. He was so convinced that his fried chicken was superior to anything on the market that he devoted himself to the chicken franchising business.

He traveled across the country by car going to restaurants, cooking batches of chicken for restaurant owners and their employees. If the owners liked what they saw and tasted, he entered into a handshake agreement on a deal that would pay him a nickel for each chicken the restaurant sold. By 1964, Colonel Sanders had more than 600 franchised outlets for his chicken in the United States and Canada. That year, he sold his interest in the United States company for $2 million to a group of investors. In 1971, the franchise was sold for $285 million. KFC was acquired in October 1986 from RJR Nabisco, Inc. by PepsiCo, Inc., for approximately $840 million. KFC is now part of the world's largest restaurant company—Yum! Brands—with nearly 32,500 units in more than 100 countries and territories around the world. And to think that it all started with some chicken, “11 herbs and spices,” a cooker, a $105 Social Security check, and a man who did not know the word “retire.”

May 14, 2008 – Delicious and Refreshing

Mention the name of Dr. John Stith Pemberton, and the majority of people would shrug their shoulders. But it was Dr. Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist, who carried his new concoction in a jug down the street to Jacob’s Pharmacy for a taste testing at the soda fountain. The syrup was declared “excellent” and sold for five cents a glass. Carbonated water was added to the new syrup producing a drink that was “Delicious and Refreshing,” a theme that continues to this day.

Dr. Pemberton’s partner and bookkeeper suggested the name “Coca-Cola,” and soon the beverage was being advertised in the newspaper. The first year’s sales averaged about nine drinks a day. Dr. Pemberton had no idea of the potential of his creation. He eventually sold his business, with the remaining interest in his tasty drink being purchased by Asa Candler. Atlantan Candler had fine business sense and ended up with complete control of Coca-Cola. Under his direction, Coca-Cola became the most recognized product around the world.

May 13, 2008 – Radio to the Rescue

During a very dense fog, the British ship East Goodwin collided with a British steamer. The steamer misjudged the tide and accidentally rammed the East Goodwin causing heavy damage. Fortunately, the sea was calm and the damaged ship was able to keep afloat. The steamer remained alongside the East Goodwin until a distress call was sent across the water by wireless radio. It was one of the first uses of radio since its invention just months earlier by the Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi.

The Italian government was not interested in Marconi’s ideas of wireless communication when presented to them in 1896. Marconi believed he would have more success in England where some of his relatives resided. He filed his first patent for a system for telegraphy shortly after arriving in England and in 1897, formed the world’s first radio company.

Although lifeboats were not needed to rescue the East Goodwin crew and passengers, the wireless link with the shore made it possible for the rescue ship to set out much more quickly than would otherwise have been the case. The significance of what happened did not escape the people involved at the time. A system was now in place that enabled a vessel in distress to quickly call for help.

May 12, 2008 – The Father of Modern Chemistry

Robert Boyle (1627–1691) rejected the Aristotelian “science” of his day and showed that a scientific theory should be “proved” by experimentation before considered a scientific law. The ordered consistency of the universe, created by God but showing the effects of the fall, led Boyle to adopt this view of science. A reasonable god created a reasonable universe with consistency in the way the cosmos functioned. An experiment done one day should bring about the same results the next day.

In his last will and testament, Boyle “addressed his fellow members of the Royal Society of London, wishing them all success in ‘their laudable attempts, to discover the true Nature of the Works of God’ and ‘praying that they and all other Searchers into Physical Truths’ may thereby add ‘to the glory of the Great Author of Nature, and to the Comforter of mankind.’”The title of one of Boyle's many books was The Christian Virtuoso, that is, “The Christian Scientist.” Boyle was not a lone Christian voice crying in the wilderness of secular science. The membership of the Royal Society was made up of many Christians who shared Boyle's view that “the world was God's handiwork” and “it was their duty to study and understand this handiwork as a means of glorifying God.”

May 9, 2008 – The Detroit of the South

“In 1921, automotive tycoon Henry Ford, accompanied by Thomas Edison, came to Muscle Shoals with a vision of transforming this area into a metropolis. ‘I will employ one million workers at Muscle Shoals and I will build a city 75 miles long at Muscle Shoals,’ stated Mr. Ford.  The instant rumors of Ford’s plan hit the streets, real estate speculators began buying up land and parceling it out in 25 foot lots and putting in sidewalks and street lights. People from all over the United States bought lots, sight unseen, during this time. Mr. Ford’s offer to buy Wilson Dam for $5 million was turned down by Congress. (The initial cost of the construction of the dam was $46.5 million.)  Instead, Congress, under the influence of Senator George Norris of Nebraska, later formed the Tennessee Valley Authority to develop the dam as well as the entire river valley.  Senator Norris felt strongly that the public, rather than private companies, should receive the benefits from the government’s investments in Muscle Shoals. Although Ford’s plans did not turn Muscle Shoals into a huge city, it did lay the foundation for the city of Muscle Shoals.” Congress missed out on a great opportunity. While the quad-city area (Muscle Shoals-Sheffield-Florence-Tuscumbia) of northwest Alabama is picturesque and a great place to visit and live, it has (mostly) been bypassed by industry, as has much of Alabama, although this is beginning to change. Ford’s venture would have more than paid for the cost of Wilson Dam in jobs, production, and tax revenue. The enterprise would have transformed the South by bringing industrial diversity to a part of the country almost exclusively supported by agriculture.

Muscle Shoals is much more famous, although most people don’t know it, for being a music Mecca. The city was immortalized in song by Lynyrd Skynyrd in “Sweet Home Alabama” with the line “Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers.” It’s hard to believe, if you’ve ever driven through the city, that Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, Clarence Carter, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, Paul Simon, Traffic, Rod Stewart, Bob Seger, and others recorded there. Songs like “Take A Letter Maria,” “High Time We Went,” “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “Respect Yourself,” “Kodachrome,” “Loves Me Like A Rock,” “Land of a 1000 Dances,” “Old Time Rock And Roll,” and “Sailing” were recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. It’s hard to imagine Mick Jagger and the rest of the Rolling Stones hanging out anywhere in the Quad-City area. The biggest tourist attraction is the home of Helen Keller down the road a piece in Tuscumbia, and it’s not much to see.

Detroit may be the automobile capital of the world with its distinctive “Motown (Motor Town) Sound,” but this tiny Alabama enclave that missed out on being the Detroit of the South set its mark in the music business as the “Hit Recording Capital of the World.”

May 8, 2008 – A City in Ruins

Yerba Buena was a tiny village of sand dunes and small oaks populated with fleas that tormented the few people who lived there. The Gold Rush transformed the sleepy town into the booming city of San Francisco. This cosmopolitan center was jolted awake on the morning of April 18, 1906 as an earthquake hit the city. People were in bed as buildings were leveled and streets rose and fell. Fires broke out, causing more destruction than the earthquake. Four square miles of the city was destroyed by fire and the death toll was 4,000. This was not the first time San Francisco had survived a disaster. The city had burned to the ground six times previously. The mythical bird that is reborn from its ashes, the Phoenix, was adopted as the city’s symbol. Did San Francisco survive only to fall victim to a future earthquake? Only time will tell.

May 7, 2008 – Rewriting History

D.W. Griffith directed the 1915 epic-making silent film masterpiece The Birth of a Nation, based on the play by Thomas Dixon called The Clansman. The purpose of the film was to rewrite the history of the South and the Civil War. The title The Clansman was changed to The Birth of a Nation to give the film broader appeal. President Woodrow Wilson, a former classmate of Dixon's, praised the Ku Klux Klan in his writings and is extensively quoted throughout the film. The Birth of a Nation was the first film shown in the White House. In time, the film shaped Americans racial attitudes. School children were taken to see the movie to learn history. More than 200 million people saw the film, and the revival of the Ku Klux Klan may have resulted from the racial attitudes and fears that were shaped by the movie.

May 6, 2008 – Magellan's Miscalculations

Ferdinand Magellan’s (c. 1470–1521) passage across the Pacific Ocean was one of the most grueling voyages of all of sea-faring history. The crossing took nearly four months through an open stretch of blistering heat. When the ships ran out of provisions, the starving crew began to mix sawdust into thin fish broth and to eat the ox hides that covered the mainyards of the ships. The ox hides were soaked in the sea for four or five days to soften them and then cooked for a few moments on top of hot coals. Even rats lurking in the ship’s filth became a prized delicacy. As the sailors began dying one by one, Magellan knew that the voyage had become a race for their very lives.

Magellan’s miscalculations of the circumference of the earth were compounded by corrupt suppliers in Seville. Magellan had specified and paid for food reserves to last a year and a half but only received provisions for a six-month voyage. On January 24, 1521, after two months of sailing across the Pacific, Magellan and his crew sighted land, an uninhabited island east of Tahiti. There they found sea birds, turtle eggs, crabs, and fish. After gorging themselves on these rare delicacies, they continued to sail west. By March 5, the remaining crew members were once again on the verge of starvation. The next day the island of Guam was sighted. Magellan named it and its neighbor, Rota, Islas de Ladrones (“Isles of Thieves”). When the natives boarded the ships they overran them and took everything that was not nailed down.

While Magellan planned and executed the voyage to circumnavigate the earth, he was killed by Philippine natives before he could complete his voyage. It was his second in command, Juan Sebastian del Caño, who led the remaining crew to the finish line. Del Caño received official credit for the accomplishment when King Charles greeted him and awarded him a coat of arms showing a castle, two crossed cinnamon sticks, three nutmegs, and twelve cloves, and above them a globe bearing the Latin motto, Primus circumdedisti me, “Thou first circumnavigated me.”

May 5, 2008 – Real Power Horse

During the 1950s, two companies battled it out in the market place with their competing compact cars. The Chevrolet Corvair was much sportier and more popular than the Ford Falcon. Ford had to design a car that could compete against the Corvair. On April 13, 1964 the Ford Mustang was introduced at the World Exhibition of New York and it was really something special. Heavily advertised during its development with television commercials on all three networks, the Mustang caused a frenzy at Ford showrooms. Everyone wanted to be the first to own the snazzy car. Demand was overwhelming. One man slept in the car until his check cleared; he didn’t want to take a chance that it would be sold to someone else. Ford sold over 400,000 Mustangs that first year, and the hot little car has remained popular ever since.

May 2, 2008 – The Moon -Landing Hoax

The Central and Union Pacific Railroads joined their construction efforts on May 10, 1869 in Promontory, Utah, with the ceremonial driving of the Golden Spike into the track that joined East and West. One hundred years later, on July 20, 1969, two Americans landed on the moon. While railroads transformed commerce, communication, and travel in the United States, Moon landings abruptly stopped with no commercial benefits after six missions. Bill Kaysing thinks he knows why.

Kaysing claims in his book We Never Went to the Moon that the missions were a scam. After a number of technological mishaps, NASA realized it did not have the expertise to make President Kennedy’s dream of putting a man on the Moon before the close of the decade a reality. To avoid shutting down NASA, losing funding, and giving the Soviet Union a reason to believe that America was behind them in missile design, an elaborate hoax was supposedly concocted to fool the world. Taking a page from Hollywood, Kaysing claims that an elaborate Moon-set was constructed somewhere in the Southwest region of the United States. What we saw on television during those eventful days was special effects, “a near seamless piece of performance art.” The only real things the public saw were an empty Saturn V rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral and the return of the astronauts in a sealed “dummy space capsule that was dropped from a C5-A transport plane.”

Nearly everyone was in on the hoax, even Walter Cronkite! Anyone who tried to blow the lid off the planned ruse would pay the ultimate price. As a warning, so Kaysing theorizes, three astronauts were killed in a launchpad “accident” on January 27, 1967, mostly to keep Gus Grissom quiet. Grissom had been complaining about safety issues and threatened to go public. Again, this is according to Kaysing. If any of this story sounds familiar, you might remember the 1978 movie Capricorn One, starring O.J. Simpson, Telly Savalas, Elliott Gould, and James Brolin. The movie was about a faked mission to Mars. The only difference is that these astronauts had a conscience and wanted to get the true story out to the world.

There are millions of people who believe Kaysing is on to something. Mistrust of the government runs deep. But if it’s all true, why have so many people been able to keep the secret for so long? This is where all conspiracy theories break down. Too many people have to keep too many secrets for too long.

May 1, 2008 - John Jay the Reluctant

John Jay, considered by many to be one of our country’s Founding Fathers, was first opposed to American independence. Jay was from a wealthy New York Huguenot family and had a successful law practice, which was cut short by escalation of hostilities with England. Jay was elected to the First Continental Congress and initially opposed the use of strong measures against England due, in part, to his family’s wealth and Tory connections. However, he did write Address to the People of Great Britain, which accused Parliament of “establishing a system of slavery” by denying Americans the same rights as Englishmen. During the Second Continental Congress, Jay opposed all discussion of independence. He was concerned that mob rule would prevail. Though he was absent during the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Jay became a strong supporter of the cause once independence was declared and served as president of Congress in 1778. He was appointed to write a peace treaty with England after the war and was given the role again in 1794, which resulted in the famous “Jay Treaty.” John Jay became the first chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. His long political career reflected his motto “Nothing is useful except what is honorable.”