DECEMBER 30 — 1852 Happy anniversary President Rutherford and First Lady Lucy Hays;1861 Greenback rises from the ashes of useless gold and silver from NY banks; SPORTS: 1984 Happy Birthday King LeBron
DECEMBER 30
1861 – New York banks suspend loaning gold and silver to the US Treasury, thus creating the Greenback.
The concept of paper money dates back to China around 7 AD. Throughout the years notes were used to redeem specie, or gold and silver. When President Lincoln took office in April 1861, not only was the nation spiraling into an unstoppable civil war, it was also in financial chaos after three decades of Jacksonian economics. When Lincoln asked banks in New York to help him fund the war to the tune of say, $150 Mill, they banks had reasons to doubt the Treasury’s ability to make good on the loan, and therefore tried to shylock the President into spending 24-36% interest rate.
But Lincoln was not stupid, and realized he’d have to come up with a new currency, the Greenback, named as such for its green ink.
On the $1, we had a picture of then treasurer, Salmon Chase. He’s a long story; I’ll get to him another time. Alexander Hamilton was on the $2, $5 and the $50 dollar bills, and Honest Abe’s mug was planted on the $10. Liberty Bell was on the $50, and Eagle was on the $100. The problem with Greenbacks is that they were not redeemable with specie. In fact, it was only good for paying taxes and simple transactions.
It would not be until another fifty years that government debt in the form of bank notes would be It m as the nation’s official money for all transactions, and it’s called the Federal Reserve.
1852 — Happy anniversary Rutherford and Lucy Hayes.
Lucy Webb Hayes, born August 28 1831 from Ross County, OH, had two older brothers that b sarcastic became medical doctors. Lucy was left fatherless as a baby when her papa Dr. James Webb caught a nasty case of cholera that would be fatal after attending to sick slaves that he was trying to free from his aunt’s inheritance. Lucy’s mom, Maria, was a big fan of Mary Lyon, the founder of the Wheaton Female Seminary in Norton Massachusetts, was far from old fashioned, when advised by her friends to sell Dr. James’s aunt’s slaves rather than just free them, replied that she would rather earn the money of their worth by washing clothes than sell them.
Maria’s dad, Isaac Cook, was the Ohio state legislature who made his grandchildren signs a pledge of abstinence from booze. Mom saw to it that Lucy would attend Wesleyan Ohio and learn Greek and Latin and philosophy and all the other stuff most girls didn’t learn at the time, and that’s where she met Rud, a Harvard law graduate. But she was 14 and he was 23, and the romance would have to wait.
In 1850 they met again at a wedding, and now she was 19, and Rud magically found a gold ring in the wedding cake he server her. On this day in 1852, they were married. Rutherford and Lucy would have 8 children together, 5 that would survive childhood. When the Civil War broke out, Rud Hayes was quick to enlist, and would be injured four times, one seriously, at the Battle of South Mountain in 1862.
Hayes came from money, as his grandfather Sardis Birchard had a big ownership in what would become the 1st National Bank of Ohio, saw to it that Lucy would find her wounded husband, which she did in Middletown MD. In fact, she was so gracious to her husband, she took care of the rest of the wounded, and she became highly regarded in the 23rd Ohio Infantry and was known as the Mother of the Regiment.
It’s no wonder she became such a moral first lady. Rud Hayes won the election of 1876 against New York Senator Sam Tilden in a very controversial count and recount. He was known as his Fraudulency to Democrats. The fact that he was a Republican who was a major general in the Civil War with four battle wounds to show, definitely helped his case.
Meetings can get pretty heated when that’s your nickname as president, but nothing a little brandy, whiskey or wine couldn’t fix right? Not in the Hayes’ White House, where the children’s Easter Egg Hunt first started and the Washington Monument was advocated. Historians have disputed on whether it was Lucy or Rud who determined that the White House would be dry, but the visitors at the time probably didn’t cared, except for the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement Union, which would catch up to Lucy and beg her to join. Lemonade Lucy’s explanation for not joining was that she was too shy, but it probably had more to do with the political gambling’s of associating with such an organization.
Meanwhile the WCTU paid for the Daniel Huntington portrait of her as first lady. Despite the run flavored oranges that may or may not have been injected with actual rum versus rum “flavoring”, the temperance continued ion the White House . The Dark Horse president, one of many bit eh way in American History, Rutherford B.
Hayes only served one term as promised, and after 1881, he and his sweetheart Lucy would retire to Sp[iegel Grove in Fremont, OH in 1881.
Happy anniversary Rutherford and Lucy!
853 – The Gadsden Purchase is signed. The United States agreed to pay $10M to Mexico for around 30,000 square miles of land that would become southern New Mexico and Arizona. It would allow the completion of a southern transcontinental railroad and resolve any remaining conflicts form the Mexican-America n war. One of these issues was the compensation Mexico demanded from the US from attacks by the Native American Indians.
The US refused to pay Mexico however, arguing that while it agreed to do its best to protect Mexico from Indian attacks it never agreed to pay compensation should any occur. Then there was the controversy of who owned Isthmus of Tehauntepec. And yet another one in the disputed Messila Valley. When Mexican president Antonio de Santa Anna sent troops to take the area, US President Franklin Pierce sent out James Gadsden to attempt a negotiation. Gadsden was instructed to renegotiate a border they would supply a route for a southern railroad, arrange a release of US financial obligations for Native Americans, and settle the monetary claims regarding the Isthmus project.
For the most part Santa Anna agreed to these terms as well as the purchase of 40,000 square miles of Mexico in exchange for US $15M. However due to escalating hostilities between the northern and southern part of the United States, the US would basically reneg on the whole thing and offered a new treaty that would allow the US to purchase 30,000 square miles for $10m, REMOVED MENTION OF Native American attacks and private claims regarding the isthmus. With his back against the wall, Santa Anna signed it June 8, 1854. The Gadsden Purchase did nothing to resolve tensions between the two nations but it did establish a route available for the Southern Pacific branch of the central Pacific Railroad.
1903 – The Iroquois Theater in Chicago burns down. This theatre fire was so devastating, even rock band Great White felt relieved when they heard the story. Actually I just made that last part up. After the great fire of 1871, Chicago wasn’t taking any chances and had learned a lot about fire protection buildings. The Iroquois Theater was a beautiful theater that opened in 1903 was believed to be fireproof. But fireproof magazine called the theater anything but, pointing out that there was a great deal of wood trim, no fire alarm and no sprinkler system over the stage. But on December 30th when the house packed in 600 men women and children to see comedian Eddie Foy star in Mr. Bluebear, faulty wiring led to a backstage fire. 27 of the 30 fire exit doors were locked, the fire grew, the lights went out, and panic ensued. In all, nearly 600 people burned to their deaths.
1907 – Abraham Mills commission declares Abner Doubleday, former Union general in the Civil War, invented baseball. This is not true, however, and baseball is somewhat a morph of cricket and rounders, which is an old English game. Americans would give it a diamond, three strike rule, and foul lines.
2013 – Washington Redskins fire head coach Mike Shanaban after their worst season in over 50 years, when everyone knows that owner Dan Snyder’s the one to blame, being called Sports Jerk of the Year. Shanahan was the teams’ seventh coaching fourteen seasons.
1984 happy birthday King James “The Akron Hammer.” Los Angeles Laker LeBron James.
Considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all time, he’s 4 times MVP, 3 times Finals MVP, two Olympic Gold medals, three all-Star game Awards, and appeared in 14 all-star games. Etc. etc. etc.
LeBron James, originally from Akron, Ohio, grew up without a dad since his father was in jail, was born to 16-year old Gloria James, who struggled raising him. When LeBron was 9, Gloria found a local football coach named Frank Walker who showed the young boy how to play basketball. He joined his first team in 5th grade.
In high school at St Vincent-St. Mary’s in Akron, James was already becoming a superstar in the works, scoring over 2600 points, and hustling the court with 892 rebounds and 523 assists. Skipping college altogether, he was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers as a first round draft pick.
From there, NBA fans know the rest. He showed up in several TV shows during his first tenure with the Cavs, including My Wife and Kids, Entourage, The LeBron’s, The Shop and more, and in 2004 established the LeBron James Family Foundation, which helped to build playgrounds and such to impoverished neighborhoods. Although he was Cleveland’s biggest hope for victory, he couldn’t get them over the hump, and signed as a free agent in 2010 to the Miami Heat.
The Cavs jersey burning ensued and King James would win a string of championships along with Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade and others. James competed on the U.S. Olympic Basketball team for the third time; the first time in 2004 he earned a bronze after the team defeated Lithuania, then in 2008 along with Wade, Jason Kidd and others took the gold after beating Spain, this time around, along with Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant took the gold again.
In September 2013 he married his high school sweetie, Savannah Brinson, as quiet as a major celebrity could in San Diego. King James would return back to Cleveland four years later and by 2016 earned the team their first championship in 52 years.
Now he’s with the Lakers, shows up in the Space Jam 2 movie. Happy birthday King James!