NOVEMBER 1 = Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Opens

"Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving."

- Johann Wolfgang Goethe

On today's date, November 1, in the year 1512 the paintings of Michelangelo on the ceiling of  the Sistine Chapel in Rome were opened to public viewing for the first time. Considered one of, if not the most important example of art of the High Renaissance, it was painted between 1508 and 1512 it was as Herr Goethe says above, it was indeed one man's achievement.  

Michelangelo; sculptor or painter?

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born in 1475 in the village of Caprese and was raised in Florence a center of artistic development in the early Renaissance. Showing obvious ability, he was taken in as a special interest of   Lorenzo de’ Medici, a man who was very interested in supporting the arts, who was the leader of the Florentine Republic. Michelangelo 

(right) considered himself to be primarily a sculptor, having demonstrated his mastery of the craft with his magnificent work on pieces such as the Pieta (1498) and David (1504).  But it was as a painter that he was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome in 1508.

Michelangelo  -vs- the Pope

Julius II (below) has been called the "Warrior Pope" because he conducted several wars during his Papacy to bring Italy under his leadership in order to keep the ambitions of the various Kings in line and unite them all under  the leadership of thee church. Such a man was not one to be told "no" by anyone. In spite of the fact that Michelangelo was then working on 

sculpting the tomb of Julius himself.  Michelangelo protested that he should continue to work on the tomb, but the Pope had settled on the ceiling of the Sistine as the primary project. So Michelangelo was obliged to accept. But here again there was disagreement.  The Pope had envisioned large paintings of he twelve Apostles to be the main focus of  the work.  But Michelangelo had in mind a scheme far greater and more involved, dealing with the events of the Bible's Old Testament. Finally after considerable disagreement, Michelangelo was given leave as he put it: "to do as I liked."

The Sistine Chapel took Michelangelo a LONG Time

It wound up taking Michelangelo four long years to complete his very grand design, which came to include over three hundred characters and which he did entirely on his own - no assistants were employed, and the scaffolding used was of Michelangelo's design. As to whether or not the artist laid on his back the entire time or stood, the consensus at present seems to be that he stood, and that the long-held conception of the man on his back for four years is a myth. This was very trying on the patience of the Pope  who wanted the whole thing done in a greater hurry than the artist was prepared to go. Here from the 1553 biography of Michelangelo by Ascanio Condivi we have an idea of what was going on between these two men:

"It is true I have heard him say, that it was not finished as he would have wished; having been prevented by the hurry of the pope, who asked him one day when he would finish the chapel, and Michelangelo replying to him, 'as soon as I am able' added in wrath: 'You wish that I should have you thrown down from the scaffold' and Michelangelo hearing this, said to himself: 'you shall not have me thrown down.' And having gone his way, he caused the scaffold to be removed, and uncovered the work on the Feast of All Saints, and it was seen with great satisfaction by the pope, who was in the chapel that day, and by all Rome, who flocked together to see it."

But on today's date Michelangelo's celebrated masterpiece was unveiled to the world and has been hailed as a one of the greatest artistic achievements of all time. Probably the most famous detail, the creation of  Adam by God is shown below:

Sources =

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel_ceiling

"The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness History", Ed. by Jon E. Lewis, Carroll & Graf Publ., 

New York, 1998

JULY 14 = Billy the Kid III - "the Kid" is Killed

"He did look human, indeed, but there was nothing very mannish about him in his appearance, for he looked and acted a mere boy.
He is about 5 feet eight or nine inches tall, slightly built and lithe, weighing about 140; a frank and open countenance, looking like a school boy, with the traditional silky fuzz on his upper lip and clear blue eyes with a roguish snap about them... he is, in all, quite a handsome fellow...."

This was one newspaper reporter's impression of the appearance of William Bonney, alias "Billy the Kid" who was killed on today's date, July 14 in 1881. One can see some of those features in the photo above (taken by a traveling photographer at Fort Sumner in early 1880 and the only documented photo of the Kid known to exist). But his lover Paulita Maxwell didn't think it was a good picture. But once again the correct view of the young man depended on who the viewer was. To the lawmen on the New Mexico Territory he was a vicious killer. But to the Mexican-American community in the area he was a kind of "Robin Hood".

The Kid and Pat Garret

  When we last saw the Kid he was galloping away (and singing a song) from the Lincoln County Courthouse wherein he had just shot his two guards, James Bell and Bob Ollinger. The man who had put Billy in jail to begin with was Pat Garret (below). This was a man who cut quite a commanding presence wherever he went, standing six feet tall at a time

when most men were five feet. Women found him attractive and men took notice of him too. He was a man who felt that he was destined for bigger things than work as a cowhand, or a barkeep as he had been doing up until then. Well Garret managed to make the right connections to get elected Sheriff of Lincoln County in November of 1880. It was Garret's prison from which Billy had escaped, and now this youngster had been dubbed "Billy the Kid".  Garret wanted the fame that would naturally go to the man who shot Billy the Kid, and  he was determined to get it.

Publicity About the Kid Explodes, Where Was He?

  Ever since the Las Vegas Gazette published its editorial wherein Billy was first named as "Billy the Kid", publicity about his exploits had gone national. Papers in Chicago, New York, even London, as well everywhere in the U.S. were running increasingly lurid accounts of the Kid's allegedly bloody exploits as well his daring escape from the Courthouse in Lincoln, and of Garret's pursuit of him. And thanks to the telegraph news of his escape spread across the county almost

instantly. Where had the Kid gone? It would certainly have been wise for him to go to Old Mexico, as many friends urged him to do. "I told him to leave this place and go to Old Mexico." said his old friend Yginio Salazar.  But the Kid instead chose to linger around New Mexico. Why? There are those historians who believe that the reason he stuck around was to be near Fort Sumner, and the beautiful young lady Paulito Maxwell (above). Others say it was simply because Ft. Sumner was familiar, and comfortable to him, and filled with many friends and the pretty senoritas whom he had always courted.

Pat Garret Closes in on Billy the Kid

Whatever the case, the Kid certainly was keeping in or near Ft. Sumner. It  had gotten to be nearly three months since Billy's escape from the Lincoln Courthouse had put even more attention on the Kid, and more eyes upon Pat Garret to see what he would do to catch, or kill this mere 21 year old who had slipped away from him. Some began to think that

maybe Garret was afraid of going directly after the Kid. But Garrret was biding his time to get a fix on the Kid's exact location. Garret got reports from various quarters. Some say the tips were from men such as Ft. Sumner rancher Manuel Brazil, and Texas officer John W. Poe, who was one of Garret's deputies. And others say the tips were coming from Pete Maxwell, the older brother of Paulito Maxwell, who knew of her romantic link to the Kid, and strongly disapproved of it. This would certainly be given credence by the fact that it was at Pete Maxwell's home in Ft. Sumner (above) where Garret showed up on today's date in 1881 expecting to find the Kid.

Billy the Kid Finally Meets His Maker

  So it was that on July 14 Garret met with Poe, and another deputy, Thomas McKinney, with the hope of finding the Kid at the Maxwell home.  They stayed in the Peach Orchard outside hidden for a long time when they saw someone stand up in the orchard jump the picket fence and disappear from view. He was too far away for them to recognize, but it might have been the Kid. At around midnight the three men left the orchard and slowly stepped towards the house. Posting his deputies on the porch, Garret entered the house to ask Pete Maxwell of he had seen the Kid. Finding Maxwell in his bed, Garret sat on thee edge of the bed. Then someone entered the room. it was the Kid who had removed his boots and was in his stocking feet. He went out on the porch to get some meat from a deer stag hanging there. but he saw Garret's deputies lurking in the dark. So he backed into the house. This is the way Garret described it later in his book:

"He came directly towards me. Before he reached the bed, I whispered: 'Who is it, Pete?' but received no reply for a moment. The intruder came close to me, leaned both hands on the bed, his right hand almost touching my knee, and asked, in a low tone: -'Who are they Pete?' -at the same instant Maxwell whispered to me. 'That's him!' Simultaneously the Kid must have seen, or felt, the presence of a third person at the head of the bed. He raised quickly his pistol, a self-cocker, within a foot of my breast. Retreating rapidly across the room he cried: 'Quien es? Quien es?' 'Who's that? Who's that?') All this occurred in a moment. Quickly as possible I drew my revolver and fired, threw my body aside, and fired again. The second shot was useless; the Kid fell dead. He never spoke. A struggle or two, a little strangling sound as he gasped for breath, and the Kid was with his many victims."

The Legacy of Billy the Kid  
News of the killing of the Kid quickly spread in national and world newspapers. And Garret eventually wrote his own account, "How I Killed Billy the Kid" - quoted above. And of course it can be assumed
Garret's account almost certainly embellished the details. When the Kid saw the figures on the porch, he likely backed in the front door making a perfect silhouette against the moonlit sky for Sheriff
Garret to aim at. Then the Kid spoke in Spanish: "Quien es? Quien es?" Garret knew he had his man, and shot him without waiting. Whatever the details, Billy the Kid was dead. Most of the main players

in this story fell into obscurity in the years following this event. Garret had his temporary fame, but later fell into huge gambling debt. In 1908 he was shot and killed  on a New Mexico desert road under circumstances for which nobody was ever convicted. The great interests who had wanted big profits from developing New Mexico, never realized their gains until New Mexico was granted statehood some thirty years later. By then James Dolan and Lawrence Murphy and "the House"" had fallen into bankruptcy and been forgotten. But the legendary name of

"Billy the Kid" and his exploits has lived on ever after.... immortalized in fiction and film.. leaving only that one grainy picture of him; almost smirking at the camera, with his pistol at the ready near his right hand, yet confidently balancing his rifle in his left. This is all we have to give us any clue to what and whom the Kid really was. Robin Hood or villain? We can only read and research and guess for ourselves.

 
Sources =

"Billy the Kid - the Endless Ride" by Michael Wallis, W.W. Norton and Co., New York, 2007

"Billy the Kid - A Short and Violent Life" by Robert M. Utley, Univ. of Nebraska Press,
Lincoln, 1989

"Billy the Kid - the American Experience" Dir. by John Maggio, WGBH Boston, Public Broadcasting Stations, 2012

"Violence in Lincoln County, 1869-1881: Facsimile of 1957 Edition"
by William A. Keleher - Sunstone Press, Santa Fe,  2007

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_the_Kid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Garrett

APRIL 7 Ike's "Domino Theory" Speech

On today's date, April 7 in 1954, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower (left) during a news conference said this:

"Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a  beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences."

This has since come to be known as his "Domino Theory" speech. It was a very important moment because Ike (the long used abbreviation of his name) was stating a policy that would become the basis of  U.S. policy for many years to come.  It would soon be used as the basis for U.S. intervention in South East Asia.

France's Impending Failure

By 1954 it became clear that he French government's attempt to re-establish control over it's colonial holdings in Indochina (another name for South East Asia) was failing.  Indeed, the last stand for the French control came at the Battle of  Dien Bien Phu in which the French military was decisively

beaten by the Viet Minh. These were the Vietnamese communist revolutionary forces under the command of Ho Chi Minh (right). But that debacle had not yet happened at the time of  Ike's speech.
His main goal in outlining this dark vision of  Viet Minh victory in this struggle was to drum-up U.S. congressional support behind increased aid to the French in their fight to hold onto Vietnam.

The Likely Repercussions of French Defeat in Vietnam

First Ike outlined what  he saw as being the likely repercussions of a French loss in Vietnam. It was an economically important important source of raw materials:  "Now, with respect to the first one, two of the items from this particular area that the world uses are tin and tungsten. They are very important. There are others, of course, the rubber plantations and so on." It would also mean giving over many more

people into Communist domination: "Then with respect to more people passing under this domination, Asia, after all, has already lost some 450 million of its peoples to the Communist dictatorship, and we simply can't afford greater losses." And the central theme of this theory: "But when we come to the possible sequence of events, the loss of Indochina, of Burma, of Thailand, of the Peninsula, and Indonesia following, now you begin to talk about areas that not only multiply the disadvantages that you would suffer through loss of materials, sources of materials, but now you are talking really about millions and millions and millions of people."

The Results of the Speech

The speech had little impact towards Ike's central goal of lining up support for France in the area. As said the French were defeated a

month later. At the Geneva Conference of July, 1955, a settlement was arrived at leaving Ho Chi Minh's forces in control of the northern half of  Vietnam. The longer term effect was a policy that lead directly to  U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict with all of the ill-consequences which that brought under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations as well as America's politics for the next two decades.

Sources =

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/eisenhower-gives-famous-domino-theory-speech

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino_theory

 http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=10202

FEBRUARY 15 = U.S.S. Maine Explodes

On today's date, March 15 in 1898 a vast explosion sunk the American Navy Battleship U.S.S. Maine (Pic- tured above) while she was in the harbor of Havana, Cuba. 260 men were killed out of a crew of nearly 400. The source  of the explosion was unknown at the time.  But an official U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry wasted no time in stating that explosion had been caused by a mine. Spain was not directly blamed for the ''mine" in the Inquiry report.  But much of the American public as well as Congressional leaders believed Spain to be the culprit, and this eventually lead to a Declaration of War against Spain.

"I was just closing a letter to my family when I felt the crash of the explosion. It was a bursting, rending, and crashing sound, or roar of immense volume, largely metallic in character. It was succeeded by a metallic sound - probably of falling debris - a trembling and lurching motion of the vessel, then an impression of subsidence, attended by an eclipse of the electric lights and intense darkness within the cabin. I knew immediately that the MAINE had been blown up and that she was sinking." These were the recollections of the Maine's Captain Charles D. Sigsbee

What was the U.S. Problem With Spain, and Why was the Maine in Havana?

By the 1890's Spanish rule over her "Empire" was growing weak. Spain held several territories in the Pacific Ocean, most importantly the Philippine Islands, and also the island of Cuba wherein there were rebels conducting a full scale insurrection against Spanish rule. And the Spanish authorities were spending no mercies on the Cuban rebels. American indignation over the brutal Spanish tactics ran high. Also there were U.S. commercial interests in Cuba were being adversely affected. The U.S. President at the time was William McKinley

(President 1897 - 1901) who had been an officer during the American Civil War and his experiences there left him detesting war.  So he tried to avoid armed conflict. The Maine was sent in to show the American flag and protect U.S. interests  But with the explosion the newspapers particularly those of William Randolph Hearst (See New York Journal headlines reporting on the explosion above), The public and governmental leaders were whipped into a high pitch of anti Spanish feelings with sensational and totally unproven headlines such as "Destruction of the War Ship Maine Was the Work of an Enemy!" McKinley had few diplomatic avenues to explore and when these failed, war was declared on April 20, 1898.

What Happened in the Spanish American War?


Although Theodore Roosevelt resigned his position as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in order to raise a cavalry regiment that came to be known as "the Rough Riders" which subsequently charged up San Juan Hill on July 1, 1898, it was not T.R. who coined the phrase "A splendid little war". The phrase was written by U.S. Secretary of  State John Hay who gave it that moniker in a letter to T.R..  And it did turn out to be just that for the Americans. The first clash came on May 1, 1898 when the seven ships of the Asiatic Squadron under the command of  Admiral George Dewey (below) blew 10 out-dated Spanish warships

 out of the water in Manila Bay. The rest of the war went with similar victories for the U.S. Army which invaded Cuba and decisively defeated the Spanish forces within three months.  An armistice halted the shooting in August. A Peace Treaty was signed in Paris on Dec. 12, 1898 and in the treaty Spain ceded its former possessions of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam. The United States thus acquired its first overseas Empire.

Oh, and By the Way.....

Several investigations conducted by Admiral Rickover, the National Geographic Society and finally by the Discovery Channel (in 2002) determined that a coal bunker fire caused the explosion which blew up the U.S.S. Maine back in 1898. This "Act of an Enemy" as it was described back at the time, happened as the result of a gap in the bulkhead separating the coal and powder bunkers which then allowed the fire from the coal bunker to spread to the powder bunker. Far from being a dark plot, the loss of the Maine happened because of a design flaw in the ship's construction.



Sources =

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Maine_(ACR-1)

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-maine-explodes

 http://www.spanamwar.com/mainelos.htm

http://www.pbs.org/crucible/tl10.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dewey

JANUARY 14 = FDR, Churchill Meet at Casablanca

On today's date, January 14 in 1943, the two main Allied leaders arrived in Casablanca in French Morocco to plan their strategy for the next stage of the war. Allied troops had invaded North Africa in November of 1942 and had been successful, but showed many of the difficulties of sending green inexperienced and ill-equipped troops at experienced veterans such as the Germans were at that time. So there were several questions to be decided.  One was where the Allies should strike next, when they should move and also the thorny question of what to do about French participation in the war ahead.

The Participants at Casablanca

The Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca and began on this date with the arrival U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.  Soviet Dictator Josef Stalin (below) was invited, but said he

could not come with his country still fighting the Battle of Stalingrad. So it was that FDR and Churchill arrived in fine spirits, happy to get away from the daily grind of politics in their respective capitals.  The two men who had already become fast friends in past meetings were delighted to see each other and share relaxed conversations about important issues over dinner with cigars and martinis.  But serious decisions had to be made about what the next Allied move should be. Stalin's Russia had borne the full attack of the Nazis thus far and was adamant that the Western Allies should launch a second front by attacking France as soon as possible.

"The Soft Underbelly..."

Churchill and his advisers favored an attack on what he called "the Soft Underbelly" of the Axis empire, which was Hitler's weak-willing ally in Italy starting with an invasion of Sicily, and then proceeding up through the Italian "boot". This would divert thousands of German troops from the Russian front Churchill believed, and it could be
begun in 1943. FDR's men, Harry Hopkins and Gen. George Marshall preferred the frontal assault on France that Stalin wanted, but agreed that until U.S. production levels of shipping especially of landing craft were brought to adequate levels, the more intermediate levels of attack offered by the Italian campaign were the only choice available.  A major cross-channel assault on France would not be possible until 1944 at the earliest. And the question of French participation  was a major problem all its own. 


The Problem of France

When Germany invaded and conquered France in 1940, the southern
half of the country was left under the control of a traitorous puppet government called Vichy, which nominally controlled French colonial possessions. This was separate from the Free-French government in exile under the leadership of General Charles de Gualle.  Allied forces invaded Morocco and Algeria on Nov. 8, 1942 in Operation "Torch", and found themselves being fired upon by the French forces as so commanded by Vichy French leaders. But this was overcome, and eventually the French troops and their leaders came over to the Allied side. With Ike's backing, General Henri Giraud was appointed Commander of the French forces in North Africa. There was considerable bad blood between de Gualle, who viewed Giraud as an extension of the Vichy government.

Neither FDR nor Churchill much liked either of the men, as both were proud and difficult.  Nevertheless their joint support was needed for a united Allied front. It took tremendous effort from FDR and Churchill to bring the two rivals together.  FDR said: "My job was to produce the bride in the person of General Giraud, while Churchill was to bring in General de Gualle to play the role of the groom at a shotgun wedding."  But after much argument and discussion, the two men agreed to a posed handshake for the cameras.  And boy does it (above) ever look posed! But FDR and Churchill had finally brought the two together in public, at least.

"Unconditional Surrender"

The press was well aware that the Conference was underway, but they were not given access to the participants and the decisions made until a press conference held on the final day, January 24, 1943.
And at this came a surprise item served up by FDR with his announcement that victory would only be achieved with the unconditional surrender of Germany, Japan and Italy. This left Churchill shocked. The two men had discussed the idea in the past, but has made no definite decision on it. This would leave no room for

negotiation, should Hitler be killed. And Churchill was convinced that it would make the enemy fight all the harder. U.S. adviser Avril Harriman said that Churchill was "offended that FDR would make such a momentous announcement without prior consultation." Historians argue to this day on why FDR did this. Maybe he thought of  General U.S. Grant from the Civil War and his terms of "Unconditional Surrender" in wanting to write an unquestionable end to the war. Unlike the end of World War I where the army was able to blame the defeat on the politician's "stab in the back" - a myth which made room for the rise of Hitler and the Nazis.  We'll probably never know for sure what motivated FDR to make his surprise announcement. But after that it became policy.


Sources =

"No Ordinary Time" by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1994.

"The American Heritage Picture History of World War II" by C.L. Sulzberger, American Heritage  Publishers, New York, 1966.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_Conference

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/casablanca

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Gaulle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Giraud

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Torch