The shot heard 'round the world: the opening salvos of the battles of Lexington and Concord - this day in 1775 - which began the American Revolutionary War
This Day, 1809:
The father of the Constitution - President James Madison - purchased a slave to work in the White House. The seller: the father of the Declaration of Independence, former President Thomas Jefferson. Even more ironic was the name of the slave: John Freeman
This Day, 1861:
President Lincoln ordered a blockade of Confederate ports. It was a tall order: There were 3,500 miles of Confederate coastline, and the navy, in 1861, had just 42 ships. But the blockade eventually weakened the South by stopping imports of supplies from Europe
The first of four presidents to be assassinated, Abraham Lincoln funeral procession heads down Pennsylvania Avenue, this day, 1865
This Day, 1933:
Trying to combat the Great Depression, President Roosevelt, by executive order, took the U.S. off the gold standard. FDR did so because Americans had lost faith in the dollar, and in “bank runs” were unloading them for gold (more)
/2
The run on banks during the Depression took cash out of circulation, hurting the economy. Roosevelt’s nationalizing of gold had another reason: he was planning a number of expensive social and economic programs and needed money to finance them
Surveys show the #Holocaust is fading from memory. There were so many bodies at Bergen-Belsen Germany, one of Hitler's death camps, that a British Army bulldozer was needed to push them all into a mass grave. This day, 1945
This Day, 1995:
An angry Bill Clinton vowed to find the terrorists behind the bombing of a federal office building in Oklahoma City. The attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killed 168 people, including 19 children, and wounded an estimated 680 others (more) #OKC
/2
Within days, Timothy McVeigh, a U.S. Army veteran, was captured. He said he was angry over what he considered the heavy hand of he federal government in dealing with a religious sect in Waco, TX—on April 19, 1993—and an Idaho family accused of possessing illegal weapons (more)
/3
McVeigh was convicted and, in 2001, executed. Accomplice Terry Nichols was sentenced to life, and Michael Fortier was given 12 years for knowing about the plot but failing to warn authorities. OKC was the worst terror attack on U.S. soil prior to Sept. 11, 2001
/4
The horror that was Oklahoma City was perhaps best reflected in this harrowing, Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of firefighter Chris Fields cradling the body of Baylee Almon - who had turned one the day before (Charles Porter/AP)
This Day, 2019
It is known now, of course, that Trump's campaign chairman Manafort cooperated closely with Konstantin Kilimnik, described (by U.S. intelligence officials) as a Russian intelligence officer

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More from @WestWingReport

Oct 15, 2022
One of our greatest presidents: Dwight D. (“Ike”) Eisenhower - born this day in 1890. The 34th president, he served 1953-61 (more)
2/
Eisenhower was a Republican when that meant putting country first. The GOP platform when he won re-election in 1956:
1. Provide aid to low-income communities
2. expand social security
3. asylum for refugees
4. make it easier for workers to join a union
5. raise minimum wage
3/
A 2021 survey of historians by CSPAN (I was honored to participate) ranked Eisenhower the 5th greatest president. His greatest qualities: "Moral Authority" and "Administrative Skills" (both 4th) worst: "Vision/Setting an Agenda" (16th)
Read 5 tweets
Oct 14, 2022
Construction began on the White House this day in 1792 - with the laying of its cornerstone. The oldest federal building in Washington, it was first known as the “Presidential Palace,” and later the “Executive Mansion,” until Theodore Roosevelt changed it to “White House” in 1901 Image
/2
The White House was the first public building to be erected in Washington. In 1790, Commissioners of the District of Columbia offered a $500 prize for the best design. Hundreds of proposals were submitted, including one from Thomas Jefferson, who submitted his anonymously Image
/3
But the Commissioners chose instead the blueprint of a young Irish immigrant, James Hoban. Hoban modeled it after one of the grandest buildings in Dublin, the Leinster House - you can still see it today Image
Read 6 tweets
Aug 13, 2022
A short thread on the #EspionageAct, now linked to the court-approved search warrant of former President Trump's Florida home:
2/
The espionage act goes back more than a century to World War One — it’s a sweeping, very broad statute that’s aimed at individuals who, the government claims, undermine the government by disclosing secrets that could harm national security
3/
The list of those who have been charged with violating the Espionage Act is long. Examples include Julius and Ethel Rosenberg — executed in the 1950s for being atomic spies
Read 9 tweets
Jun 5, 2022
Mini-Thread: Were it not for two events that are marking major anniversaries this weekend, our world, our place in it, and much that we take for granted, might be quite different:
2/
It's the 80th anniversary of one of the most momentous naval battles in history - certainly in U.S. history - one that turned the tide of the Pacific War: Midway. In one day, the United States got swift revenge for Pearl Harbor, sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers (more)
3/
Luckily for the U.S., its aircraft carriers were not at Pearl Harbor six months earlier, when Japan's sneak attack pushed America into the war. They got revenge at Midway. Here: "Famous Four Minutes" by R.G. Smith, showing the U.S. attack on the carriers Akagi and Kaga
Read 7 tweets
Mar 8, 2022
Min-Thread:
There is always confusion about energy prices, so if you'll indulge WWR for a moment, he (Paul) will try and clear up a few common (and understandable) misconceptions:
1) The United States does not import and export energy. Private sector companies do, with prices set by the free market. Producers (drillers and frackers) sell to the highest bidder - and often the highest bidder is overseas (more)
2) but U.S. refiners also import oil, which sometimes is cheaper - the market bounces up and down, as it does for any commodity. Futures prices (what a company will pay at a future date) are one way to lock in price, but futures have been rising for weeks in anticipation...
Read 7 tweets
Feb 24, 2022
Thread
Putin has called the fall of the Soviet Union the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century. Not World War II, when tens of millions of Soviets citizens were killed. Not the horrors of Soviet totalitarianism (thanks to his hero Stalin) that killed millions more
2/
Not the Holocaust, which began in force on Soviet territory itself. No, Putin said, the greatest catastrophe was the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet empire, which gave tens of millions their first exposure to true freedom That, he thinks, is the real tragedy
3/
The mindset of this lifelong KGB man is that the Soviet empire must somehow be restored. Prior to invading Ukraine, he sent, just weeks ago, troops into another former Soviet republic — Kazakhstan — to help thwart “outside interference.” And Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014
Read 17 tweets

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