12 March

1901 New York City, Education: Andrew Carnegie gave the City $USD 5.2 million to build branch libraries.Forty-one were built. He once said that in ‘a library is the best society the world offers for there are the great and the good.’ Today that sum would be in the order of $USD 154,000,000. Match that Bill Gates! By the way, Carnegie funding built 1,687 libraries in the United States, including the one I grew up with Hastings on the Platte.

1921 Perth, Politics: Edith Cowan of Geraldton was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, making her the first woman in an Australian parliament. After serving as magistrate in the Perth Children’s Court for nearly twenty years, she had defeated the incumbent Attorney-General in the constituency of West Perth. She appears of the sunbaked Oz $50 note.

1933 Washington, D.C., Politics: Eight days after inauguration, President Franklin Roosevelt gave the first fireside chat over the radio, and turned it into a political instrument. Over twelve years, he did just thirty of these talks, but each attracted a vast audience. Often the single radio in a community was tuned in for the whole population. His manner was relaxed, simple, and direct. The term ‘fireside chat’ was coined by a journalist describing the effect of the broadcasts on listeners. Specimens can be found on the Library of Congress web site.

1968 Concord (New Hampshire), Politics: Poet and Senator Eugene McCarthy astounded pundits, and perhaps himself, with 42% of the vote in the state’s Democratic primary against incumbent President Lyndon Johnson who won with 48%. It was humiliating victory and in just over two weeks Johnson withdrew before the next primary occurred.

1999 Warsaw, Politics: One time cornerstone member of the Warsaw Pact, Poland joined NATO. Other Warsaw Pact members followed in quick succession and with neither a bang nor a whimper the Warsaw Pact disappeared. Who would have thought that in 1988? The green on the map represents the Warsaw Pact in 1990 just before the fall of the Berlin Wall.