JANUARY 16 — 1920 18th Amendment bans booze; 1868 William Davis patents refrigerator boxcar; 1847 Fremont appointed governor of California; 1972 Dallas beats Miami in Super Bowl VI; 2013 Jumpy the Skateboarding Dog races for a world record
JANUARY 16
18th Amendment goes into effect, which result in the following headlines: American News: U.S. is Voted Dry; North Carolina News and Observer: Prohibition Sweeps the State; Washington Times: Whole Country Goes Dry, American Propaganda piece: Liquor Means Alcohol, Alcohol means Poison, why drink Poison.
Indeed, after the Allied victory in WWI, a temperance movement swept across America over the use of distilled spirits. Anti-alcohol groups began emerging by the dozens: the Anti-Saloon League, the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America, and the Women’s Temperance Crusade, just to name a few, had been putting political pressure on banning alcohol more than ever. Some of the groups had been around since the early 1800s, an interesting fact considering the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791 should’ve taught these movement groups a thing or two about how much Americans love booze.
America’s reluctant involvement in WWI, then known as The Great War, didn’t exactly calm nerves, and Americans took to drinking. It was on this day that the 18th amendment passed, outlawing the sale, possession, and importing of alcoholic beverages. At first, smuggling boats from Cuba and Newfoundland would race past the U.S. Coast Guards to undock at Atlantic City in New Jersey, but the Coast Guard wised up to the smuggling business and started pulling over boats a hundred miles away from the harbor to investigate and when necessary, confiscate and arrest.
Within a year, America was legally bone dry for an astonishing thirteen years, though it wasn’t bone dry illegally. And on the next episode of Duh, politicians realize this was a really bad idea. Some of my American gangster stories are some of my favorites, and I talk about Al Capone on my October 17th ep, and Bugsy Siegel on my June 20th ep, and my February 14th ep, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre between Capone and a different Bugsy, Bugsy Moran. In the north, gin was made in bathtubs.
In the south, moonshine became a real disgusting but effective alternative to wine. Speakeasy joints sprouted all across the land, where bars would serve “soft drinks”. Then the crash of 1929 hit. People’s basements began blowing up from the underground production of liquor everywhere throughout the country. Grape concentrate were selling off the shelves in stores, especially the ones that gave instructions how not to make it into wine, wink wink, by showing how to prevent it from fermenting, wink wink.
Clearly the 18th amendment was an epic fail, and FDR would repeal it in 1933. The New York Daily Mirror read: Prohibition Ends at Last! Look, I’m not justifying the consumption of liquor at all. If you want to drink, that’s your business. But this is America. You don’t mess with a man’s whiskey! You may have seen the movie The Untouchables, and it’s always funny to watch Kevin Costner try and act like a tough guy. Especially when he plays a detective and his voice cracks when he yells Freeze.
1861 – Crittenden Compromise dies in the House of Representatves.
The Crittenden Compromise attempted to resolve secession of southern states from the Union through a series of constitutional amendments. Kentucky Senator John Crittendon proposed that slavery would be guaranteed in the south, the Missouri Compromise line which was negated by the Compromise of 1850, to be reinstated extending to the western territories and prohibit slavery north of the latitude 36 degrees and 30 minutes, and deal with fugitive slaves and slaves in Washington DC.
Four states had already seceded from the Union, but Crittenden wasn hoping this would lure them back; and prevent a civil war. No deal. The south loved it, but the Republicans rejected this vehemently. To the republicans, this was not a compromise at all, this was just giving in to southern democrats. On January 16, 1861, the Crittenden Compomise was defeated in the House of Representatives 113 to 80, then later in the Senate 20 to 19, and America continued her path to Civil War.
1868 – William Davis patents the refrigerated boxcar.
Before this, if you were to send perishibles, let’s just say beef for example, from Chicago to, I don’t know Milwaukee, meat was put literally on ice. This would discolor the meat and make it not taste very good by the time it got there.
So Davis came pu with metal racks used to suspend the carcasses above ice and salt. The problem with this invention was that the meat would swing to one side when the car went around a curve at high speeds. Later on another approach was introduced by Andrew chase that fully ventilated the car and havbe the ice on top and the meat at the bottom to keep the center of gravity low. Yummy yummy meat.
1847 – Fremont appointed Governor of California.
Many years before John Charles Fremont became a Union General in the civil war, he was known as the great Pathfinder. He led four major expiditions to the west to explore and survey. During the Meexicxan American War he led his California Battaliuon to Svictory in Santa Barbara and most of Los Angeles. He also signed the Treaty of Cahuenga, which ended the war in California.
After the war, he was appointed governor by General Robert Stockton, however Fremont was accused by his political enemies of Mmutiny, disobedience and conduct prejeducial to military discipline. He was court marshaled and resigned from the military. But President Polk pardoned Fremont, and he served as California governor from 1850-51.
1972 – Dallas beats Miami in Super Bowl VI 24-3. Roger Staubach was named MVP.
1996 — Jamaican authorities open fire on Jimmy Buffett’s seaplane, mistaking it for a drug trafficker’s plane. U2 singer Bono and Island Records producer Chris Blackwell were with Buffett, but no one was hurt. The incident inspired Buffett to write a song called “Jamaica Mistaica”. Michael Jackson entered a plea of not guilty in a Santa Maria, California, courtroom, to multiple charges of child molestation. Though hundreds of fans enthusiastically greeted Jackson upon his arrival to the courthouse, he was reprimanded by Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville for being twenty minutes late. “You have started out on the wrong foot here,” Melville told Jackson. “I want to advise you that I will not put up with that. It’s an insult to the court.”
2014 — 73-year-old Toni Tennille filed for divorce from Daryl Dragon (The Captain), 71, after 39 years of marriage. The couple rose to fame in the Seventies for their songs “Love Will Keep Us Together”, “Muskrat Love” and “Do that to Me One More Time”.
2013 Jumpy the dog skateboards nearly 130 feet in just under 20 seconds, making him one of the amazing things of Los Angeles.
You have got to see the video. It’s online of course, but it doesn’t really do me much good to talk about it. I can’t do Jumpy the justice he deserves. Dog’s got mad skills, yo! Supposedly there’s a video of him somewhere actually racing faster than a human on a skateboard. Check out the video.