"THE MOST SUBLIME OF EARTHLY SPECTACLES"

THE GRAND CANYON BECOMES A NATIONAL PARK

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 26, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson signed the legislation which made the Grand Canyon* a national park.  The Nation's Henry T. Finck visited the park in 1893 and described it as "the most sublime of earthly spectacles."

Mr. Finck went on to say that although you might have "read a dozen descriptions...and seen a hundred photographs" of the Canyon, the view in real life is simply "astonishing."

*Grand Canyon is located in Arizona & is carved by the Colorado River.  It is 277 miles long & up to 18 miles wide.  It ranges to a depth of 1 mile.  President Theodore Roosevelt visited the GC many times & was a major proponent of its preservation.

SOURCE

"February 26, 1919:  The Grand Canyon Becomes a National Park," by Richard Kreitner, February 26, 2015, The Nation, www.thenation.com/

Grand Canyon

from Pima Point

Photo by Chensiyuan (2010)

www.wikimedia.org/

USMC LEAVES BEIRUIT

LAST MARINES LEFT BEIRUIT 30 YEARS AGO TODAY

Beiruit, Lebanon (JFK+50) Thirty years ago today, February 26, 1984, just four months after President Ronald Reagan announced that the United States would continue its peace-keeping efforts, the last of the United States Marines stationed here in Beiruit left for home.

In 1982, a force of 800 marines were sent to Beiruit as part of a multi-national force to oversee Palestinian withdrawal.

On April 18, 1983, a suicide bomber drove a truck laden with explosives into the American Embassy killing 63 people including 17  Americans.

Then on October 23 another suicide bomber drove a truck into the marine base in Beiruit killing 241 American military personnel.

Aftermath of Explosion

Beiruit, Lebanon

February 26, 1984

GRAND TETON  BECOMES A NATIONAL PARK

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) President Calvin Coolidge signed a law 85 years ago today, February 26, 1929, at the White House establishing the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

President Calvin Coolidge

GRAND CANYON BECOMES A NATIONAL PARK

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) The United States Department of the Interior announced 85 years ago today, February 26, 1919, that Grand Canyon would be designated a national park.

More than 800,000 acres had been designated for the park by President Woodrow Wilson.

Grand Canyon National Park

Photograph by Phil Konstantin

October 10, 2007

GRAND CANYON

January 11, 1962


JFK delivers his State of the Union address


JFK says:


"In the past year, I have traveled not only across our own land but to other lands--to the North and the South, and across the seas. And I have found....that people everywhere, in spite of occasional disappointments, look.....to the splendor of our ideals."

"For our Nation is commissioned by history to be either an observer of freedom's failure or the cause of its success. Our overriding obligation in the months ahead is to fulfill the world's hopes by fulfilling our own faith." 

January 11, 1908


President Theodore Roosevelt makes the Grand Canyon, located in northwest Arizona, a national monument.  He says:


"Let this great wonder of nature remain as it is now.  You cannot improve on it.  But what you can do is keep it for.....all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see."

January 11, 1935


Emelia Earhart flies from Wheeler Field in Hawaii to Oakland Field in California earning a $10,000 award in the process.  


The 2400 mile flight is made in 18 hours.  

In 1932, Earhart had become the 1st woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.  She disappeared flying over the South Pacific in 1937.

January 11, 1937


 
A riot breaks out at the GM auto plant in Flint, Michigan when police attempt to prevent strikers from receiving deliveries of food. 


Governor Frank Murphy calls out the National Guard to surround the plant.  

The strike ends after a month with an agreement by GM to grant the United Auto Workers "bargaining rights".


January 11, 1956


South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem issues "Ordinance No. 6" which allows the detention of former Viet Minh (Communist) members "considered dangerous to national defense".

Diem attempts to control opposition from religious groups & communists who remain in the South. 


 He will be overthrown & executed in a coup in November 1963.


The Kennedy Library, Boston

The JFK Library has just remodeled their website today.  


I believe you will find this much more "user-friendly", as I do, & urge you to check it out.  Click on the link on this blog.

Shooting in Arizona

I want to express my most heartfelt sadness concerning this inexplicable event.  I, with you, extend my thoughts & prayers to the families involved.