Dan's Almanac
July 22, 2024: Being an Almanac of Movies for the Day, A Lawyer's Almanac, Nixon's World, Carter's Cartoon World, Shakespeare's World, A Guide to the Presidents, and Miscellany
A Lawyer’s Almanac
The 9/11 Commission Report was released July 22, 2004. Among other things, it called for a major restructuring of United States intelligence and security operations. It was 585 pages and is shown below. 9/11 Final Report: Official Statement of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
Nixon’s World
On March 12, 1971, President Richard Nixon exchanged remarks with reporters at Quonset Point Naval Air Station in Rhode Island. He participated in the Officer Candidate School there from about August to September 1942. Secretary of State William Rogers was a classmate. They were commissioned lieutenants, junior grade. Nixon then went to the Naval Air Station at Ottumwa, Iowa, and then to the Pacific Theatre for about a 14-month service tour. Nixon also briefly discussed the training of his son-in-law, David Eisenhower, at nearby Newport. The Station was deactivated in 1974 upon the order of President Nixon as part of the Vietnam War wind-down. Below is a picture of the Station from the 1960s or 1970s.
Carter’s Cartoon World
In 1974, the United States filed an anti-trust suit against the AT&T communications monopoly. That monopoly was ended by a consent decree on January 8, 1982. The most consequential result was the creation of seven Baby Bells at the beginning of 1984. They were NYNEX, Pacific Telesis, Ameritech, Bell Atlantic, Southwestern Bell Corporation, Bell South, and US West. Through mergers, acquisitions, and rebranding, the remaining corporations are Verizon Communications, AT&T Inc., AT&T Corporation, and Century Link. The original decree left AT&T with Western Electric, the Yellow Pages, the Bell trademark (see AT&T logos below), Bell Labs, AT&T Long Distance, and the freedom to enter the computer business- much of this corporate structure has also changed over the years.
Shakespeare’s World
Pierre de Bourdeilles Brantome was a French soldier and memoir writer. In 1561, he accompanied Mary Queen of Scots on her journey from France to Holyrood. In 1579, he visited Queen Elizabeth I. In 1564, he was in Morocco, and a year later fought with the Knights of Malta against the sultan. He served in Italy under the Marechal de Brissac, in Africa under the Spaniards, in Hungary against the Turks, and in his own country against the Huguenots. About 1594, he retired from court, where he had acted as chamberlain to Charles IX and Henry III. He lived from about 1540 to July 15, 1614. His picture is below. His memoirs were extensive and interesting for their frank depiction of his times and life at a royal court. See The Lives of the Gallant Ladies, two volumes, 1924.
A Guide to the Presidents
President Thomas Jefferson was born April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, Virginia, near Richmond. His childhood and adult homes in Virginia included Tuckahoe Plantation, Poplar Forest Plantation, and Monticello. He attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. His occupations included lawyer and architect. He served in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1769 to 1775 and in the Virginia House of Delegates. He married Martha Jefferson on January 1, 1772. He was a delegate from Virginia to the Second Continental Congresss from 1775 to 1776. In 1776, he was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. He was Governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781. Martha Jefferson died September 6, 1782. From 1783 to 1784, Jefferson was a delegate from Virginia to the Congress of the Confederation (under the Articles of Confederation). He served as Ambassador to France from 1785 to 1789 and as the United States first Secretary of State from 1790 to 1793. He was Vice President from March 4, 1797, to March 4, 1801, during the Presidency of John Adams. He was President from March 4, 1801, to March 4, 1809. While he was President, the United States acquired the Louisiana Territory from France and the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the West took place. He founded the University of Virginia after his Presidency. Jefferson died July 4, 1826, in Charlottesville, Virginia, at age 83, the same day as the death of President John Adams. Jefferson is buried at his Monticello estate, which he designed. The Jefferson Memorial is in Washington, D.C. Jefferson was known as The Sage of Monticello. He was a polymath. Among other things he advocated the adoption of the decimal coinage system which we use today; brought about the repeal in Virginia of the laws of entail and primogeniture; and authored a religious freedom statute in Virginia, separating church from state. He was an advocate of decentralized as opposed to centralized government. He is pictured below.