OCTOBER 17 = Al Capone is Convicted of Tax Evasion

On today's date, October 17 in 1931 Al Capone (left) was  convicted of Income Tax Evasion and sentenced to 11 years in Federal Prison. After a lifetime of violence, killing and bloodshed it took the long arm of the Internal Revenue Service to at long last put this ruthless criminal behind bars.

The Rise of "Scarface" Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born on January 17, 1899 to  Italian immigrant parents in New York City.  He started the crooked path early, being expelled from school at 14. He joined a street gang and it was in such company that he acquired at age 17 during a fight the facial scar which gave him the nickname which he personally hated. But this kid had a lifetime of crime ahead of him, and his scar was certainly no hindrance. While he was still a teenager he took up with the Five Points Gang and made himself useful as a bouncer in their brothels. In 1920 he moved to Chicago, becoming a trusted lieutenant to Johnny Torrio, the head of a crime syndicate which supplied alcohol which was then illegal under the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In 1920 this amendment established prohibition as the law of the land. Torrio was nearly killed in an attack by the North Side gang and was sufficiently frightened to retire while he still was alive.  He returned to Italy handing over the reigns of his organization to Capone in 1925.

Capone Goes for Bigger Profits

  Al decided to expand the business, particularly the illegal liquor end of things, and he wasn't shy about using increasingly violent means to do it, effectively going to war with the North Side gang

which had attacked Torrio. Violence increased as did the body count while Capone's men fought it out with North Side thugs and their leaders Dean O'Banion and George "Bugs" Moran (right). At stake was control of the bootleg liquor business and the millions of dollars to be raked in from it and the brothels which they controlled.  Of course Capone was careful to pay off the various politicians, policemen, judges, in particular Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson which protected him from too much law enforcement. Capone became a kind of celebrity and enjoyed every minute of it. He

loved it when the crowds would cheer for him when he showed up at baseball games. He even cultivated a certain Robin Hood image by opening soup kitchens (left) to feed poor men hit by the economic depression which was at its worst. Anybody who could bring relief to the millions left unemployed was certain to be a popular man with the public.

The St. Valentines Day Massacre

But the violence could get to be too much. Capone wanted to wipe out the North Side gang and the influence of its Irish-American leader, "Bugs" Moran once and for all.  On February 14, 1929, seven members of the North Side gang were lured into a garage by several men dressed as Chicago policemen. There the men were lined up against a wall and were shot down in cold blood. It may be that Capone's men thought

that the group they had murdered included Moran himself. But it did not.  In fact, it was Moran himself put the finger squarely on his blood rival by commenting to the press: "Only Al Capone kills like that." Capone had taken the precaution of being out of town at that time. No investigation was able to link the murders into Capone's hands, but he  was widely believed to be the one behind it. His  public image was severely damaged by this brazen murder in broad daylight leading to calls for Government action, while the papers began referring to Al as "Public Enemy No. 1"

The I.R.S. Finally Bags Al 

As Capone's fortune rose, so did the Treasury Department's interest in his income. A ruling by the Supreme Court in May of 1927 worked in the government's favor. In U.S. -v- Sullivan it was determined that “gains from illicit traffic in liquor are subject to the income tax (and) would be taxable” by the government.  Al Capone claimed for years that he had no income which was taxable, so this was exactly what the feds needed to reel in Capone. Led by Elmer Irey and Frank Wilson a group from Treasury known as "the T men" they quietly followed Capone's money and gathered the necessary evidence to show that Capone had made millions off of income for which he had never paid taxes. And on today's date Mr. Capone was convicted on 22 counts of Income Tax Evasion, was sentenced to 11 years in prison was fined $50,000 ($847,111 in today's dollars), charged court costs and ordered to pay back taxes of $215,000 (now, $3,642,576).

Jail is Tough on Al

Capone began serving his sentence in Atlanta, but there were charges that he was allowed too many luxuries there, so his residence was changed to the Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. There, the warden, one James Aloysius Johnston, proved to be a more difficult man to deal with than Capone had dealt with before. There would be none of luxuries that Al had enjoyed before.  As prisoner # AZ-85, Capone occupied a normal cell of 5 ft. by 9 ft., working in  the prison laundry. These surroundings in a claustrophobically small cell in a damp place like Alcatraz is to anyone who has ever toured the place as this writer once did a few years ago, were not conducive to anybody's good health.  At Alcatraz, Capone's body, ravaged by syphilis, began to turn against him leading eventually to insanity. He was released from the Rock after only four years there, and eventually died of a stroke on January 25, 1947 at his home in Palm Island, Florida.

Sources =

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

 https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/capone-goes-to-prison

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2018/10/17/al-capone-sentenced-to-prison-for-tax-evasion-on-this-day-in-1931/#35da68ae7c4c

https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-should-know-about-al-capone 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Torrio

https://www.history.com/topics/crime/saint-valentines-day-massacre

OCTOBER 4 = The Soviets Launch "Sputnik"

"Our movies and television programs in the fifties were full of the idea of going into space. What came as a surprise was that it was the Soviet Union that launched the first satellite. It is hard to recall the atmosphere of the time."

— John Logsdon, Dir. of Space Policy Institute

On today's date, October 4 in 1957 the Soviet Union (Russia) launched an orbital space satellite, which they called "Sputnik, after the Russian word for "satellite". As one can see from viewing the image of it above, it was a rather odd looking craft that looked something like an octopus extending it's tentacles. But in terms of the Cold War (the period from @ 1946 through the mid 80's when U.S./Soviet relations were at their most tense) it came as a rude  awakening to the American people that the Soviets may have gained an edge over the in the race in the Space Race.

"Sputnik": What & Why?

   "Sputnik" was was the first artificial satellite ever launched into space from earth. Measuring about 58 meters (23 inches) in diameter and weighing 184 lbs. of polished metal with four external antennas which broadcast radio signals back to earth which were strong enough to be picked up by amateur radio operators all over the world. The information being collected was tracking and studying the density of the upper atmosphere which could be deduced from "Sputnik's drag on earth's orbit, and the effects of its radio signals gave data about the

ionosphere. Traveling at 18,000 miles an hour, its elliptical orbit took it to a distance of 584 miles at it's farthest point from earth, 143 miles at its closest. And it took @ 101.5  minutes to orbit the earth. As to why the Russians launched it, well they were looking for a way to show that their system was as advanced as that in the U.S. perhaps more so. So the Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev  (above) gave the program his full backing.

The Space Race

  Many Americans were shocked that the Soviets that the Soviets had beaten the U.S. to the punch in such a public fashion. And they felt very uneasy about having this damned Soviet contraption flying over our skies. Perhaps the satellite could eventually be used to spy or even launch weapons on this country. Eisenhower himself (below)was not

worried about it. Many in his administration dismissed 'Sputnik" as a "useless hunk of iron". But others were more concerned. As David Halberstam wrote in The Fifties, "The success of Sputnik seemed to herald a kind of technological Pearl Harbor, which was exactly what Edward Teller said it was."  Whatever the case, the Russians and the U.S. continued one-upping each other with various "firsts" - until the U.S. wrote the final note on the subject by landing Apollo 11 with Armstrong and Aldrin landing on the moon itself in July 20 of 1969, effectively handing the U.S. the win in the Space Race.

Sources =

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1

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

https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/sputnik-memo

SEPTEMBER 21, 1897= "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus!"

Yes I know! With every year that passes the pause between the end of summer and Halloween gets smaller. And after Halloween never mind Thanksgiving but let's move straight on to the Christmas BUYING season.  I bemoan this entirely commercial kidnapping of our once cherished kids holiday into a big cashier's payoff as much as you do. So please understand that that is not what I'm doing here! It would feel a lot more appropriate if this had occurred some time in December.  But it didn't.  It happened now and since this Blog is called "TODAY in History", please indulge me for posting it today.

It just so happens that one of the best loved episodes of our Christmas holiday season occurred on today's date, September 21 in 1897  when the little eight year old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote in to the newspaper the New York  Sun to  get an authoritative answer to a question which had bothered her. Miss O'Hanlon's actual letter (above) struck one of the the Sun's editors as being important enough to require an immediate response.  So Mr. Francis Pharcellus Church composed a properly philosophical answer. First I'll give you the full text of the Sun's introduction, Miss O'Hanlon's letter, and then the Sun's rather lengthy response and then we'll look at some of the historical details.

"Is There a Santa Claus?

We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.

Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’

Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA O’HANLON.

115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."

The Reaction to and Legacy of "Yes, Virginia..."

  The editorial response from the Sun has gone on to be the most often repeated editorial in our English language. Nevermind that it goes on to deal with some pretty adult concepts such as "the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge." and uses some words which I don't imagine most 8 year olds would ever understand these days such as "comprehensible". But it does refer to some very modern day problems as "the skepticism of a skeptical age." In our very own present day with our computers, cell-phones, "smart" phones, we. or at least I wonder if it's possible to capture the imagination of children who seem jaded in a world that that has become harsh and all too real, wherein children know the latest computer trends, but rarely go out and see nature in its own habitat.

Some Reality...

  And of course even this seemingly magical moment has some harsh reality to go with it. The editorial went unsigned in the newspaper that day; its author, Mr. Francis Pharcellus Church had been a war correspondent during the American Civil War, and had thus seen humanity and destruction at its worst. So that may have informed the editorial with its laments about skepticism, and the need for child-like faith, romance and love. Indeed it may very well be that Mr. Church

himself (right) was a kind of hardened cynic. In an edition of the radio program "the Rest of the Story" an anecdote was broadcast saying that Francis Pharcellus Church was an atheist who had no belief in superstitions. It also said that Church didn't want to write the editorial and that this was why he didn't want his name attached to it. Although I must say that I find it difficult to believe that the man who wrote those sweet words was a cynic who didn't believe any of what he wrote there. But there it is for my readers to consider.

"Yes Virginia" Continues....

   Whatever the truth about the details of the story behind the story may be, the essential meaning of the story goes on year after year to inspire readers with its faith in the goodness and love to be found in the whole idea of Christmas and Santa Claus. A cartoon has been produced of the story, a TV movie, and of course numerous newspapers around the
country continue to re-print the letter from little Virginia, and the Sun's response every Christmas. Not a bad legacy for a letter from a little girl, wouldn't you say?


Sources =

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_Virginia,_there_is_a_Santa_Claus

https://oklahoman.com/article/2878743/yes-virginia-brwe-offer-this-classic-for-santa-doubters

https://www.newseum.org/exhibits/online/yes-virginia/ 

SEPTEMBER 3, 1783 = The Treaty of Paris is Signed

The Treaty of Paris was signed by Britain and America on today's date, Sept. 3 in Paris (hence the name), in 1783. This document recognized the former American colonies to be a free and independent nation.  Although both the Brits and we Americans mostly got what they wanted out of the Treaty, the Brit's overall feelings can be summed up by the painting above by Benjamin West. It is a painting of the peace negotiators and it remains eternally unfinished, because the British  declined to sit and be painted into it.

The Fighting War Ends

The last actual armed combat between Britain and America came in October 1781 with the surrender of the last major army the Brits had in America (outside of New York City) on October 19, 1781 at Yorktown, Virginia. That left @ 9,000 prisoners of war (including General Cornwallis) on America's hands. The defeat at Yorktown left the war in

America with diminishing support in the British Parliament and with the British public. The war government of Lord North had been brought down by the defeat at Yorktown  and had been replaced the new Prime Minister, Lord Shelburn (right) who saw a favorable opportunity to develop a new and lucrative trading partner with the Americans. But the point which held up full negotiations on a Peace Treaty was the British unwillingness to recognize America as a free and independent state. Lord Shelburn had no problem with this. Yes Britain would accept American Independence. So on that basis negotiations could proceed.

The United States Send Jay, Adams and Franklin

  The U.S. sent John Jay, the U.S. Minister to Spain to Paris to negotiate with the Brits, and with him sent John Adams (below), and Ben Franklin, already in Paris as our Minister to France.  The Continental Congress  had given it's delegation strict instructions to follow France's lead in the negotiations. But the U.S. delegation saw no advantage in hitching our position to France. Jay told the Brits that his 

people would negotiate directly with them. Adams, who favored the idea as well said that the U.S. wished: "...to be honest and grateful to our allies,  but to think for ourselves."  The most important point came in the first sentence of Article I stating, "His Britannic Majesty acknowledges
the said United States... to be free, sovereign and independent states." 
This was fine with Shelburn who saw it as a way of splitting the U.S. off from France and thus bring about the rich trading partnership with the Americans. And it paid off handsomely with the Brits ceding all of the territory south of Canada down to Spanish held Florida, and east of the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River, thus doubling the size of the United States with the stroke of a pen.

Other Terms of the Treaty of Paris

Among other things, the treaty recognized the deep sea fishing rights of American fishermen in the Grand Banks off the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland coasts.

Declared the Mississippi River to be open for the free navigation of both countries.

Said that the Continental Congress would recommend and "provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties.." seized from British loyalists during the war. Also, it said that debts to creditors on either side of the conflict would be paid.

Released Prisoners of war on both sides; and any property of the British army presently located in the United States was forfeited. This included slaves.

The Treaty was signed by Franklin, Adams and Jay and the British emissary Richard Oswald at the Hotel d’York in Paris, on September 3, 1783.  It would be ratified by the Continental Congress in early 1784. The conflict which had started out as a skirmish between a few hundred British regulars and disgruntled Massachusetts farmers and townsmen way back on April 19 in 1775 and had swallowed up a large chunk of the North American continent was at long last over. And the United States of America which would eventually take up nearly the entire continent was born.


Sources =

https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/treaty-of-paris

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1783)

"John Adams" by David McCullough, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2001

"The American Heritage History of the American Revolution" by Bruce Lancaster, American Heritage Publishing Co., New York, 1971

AUGUST 22, 1485 = The Battle of Bosworth Field

The Battle of Bosworth Field, which was fought on today's date, August 22 in the year 1486, was the climactic engagement in the English Civil War which took up the later half of the 15th Century, called "the War of the Roses". The war was essentially  a struggle between the houses of Lancaster and York over which of them would hold the throne of England and thus rule the country.  The Battle was won by the forces of Henry Tudor, the Earl of Richmond who would afterword would ascend to the throne as Henry VII, having vanquished the forces of King Richard III of the house of York whom he believed had usurped the throne via murder. Richard was killed during the battle; the last English king to suffer that fate in battle. As this marked a change to the house of York and the end of the Plantagenet dynasty over to the Tudors it is a very important moment in the history of England.

Richard Usurps the Throne

The murder which Richard was suspected was that of his nephew Edward V. Richard had become Lord High Protector when Edward IV died and his only successor was his son the 12 year old Edward V. But Richard managed to get himself declared King on July 6 1483 after

which date the young Edward was not seen in public again. Richard III (right) was of course widely suspected of having him murdered. Richard was also rumored to have murdered his own wife Queen Anne. There was also some troubles regarding the Princess Elizabeth, the elder sister of the murdered Prince, and whom she was going to marry.  She was already engaged to marry Henry Tudor, the Earl of Richmond who had been across the English Channel in France waiting for the right opportunity to go and knock the usurper Richard off the throne. With Richard under a cloud of suspicion, now was the time.

Henry Lands in Wales, the Armies Clash at Bosworth

Henry, (below) with an army of 6,000 men landed unopposed at Milford Haven on the southwest coast of Wales on August 11, 1485. He

pushed immediately towards Richard, gathering support as he marched toward Richard's forces in London. Richard quickly gathered his forces, between 7,500 and 12,000 men, and the two finally clashed at Bosworth Field, near Leicestershire.  A large portion of Richard's army was under and Sir William Stanley but he held back while they decided which side it would be most advantageous to support. Thus leaving Richard with fewer men at his disposal than he thought, Richard divided his army into three portions each with a specific goal. Stanley's inaction left the battle swaying back and forth until Richard apparently decided to bring it to an end by charging his group directly at Henry. When he saw Richard apart from the rest of his forces,  Stanley decided to throw in with Henry which turned the tide against Richard.  Seeing Henry fairly close by, Richard swung at him mightily, but was unable to get at him and was soon overwhelmed by Henry's men, who knocked him to the ground, and killed him there on that ground. thus ended the troublesome reign of the Richard III of the house of York.


Sources =

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

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/The-Battle-of-Bosworth-Field/

"Kingdoms of  Europe" by Gene Gurney, Crown Publ., New York, 1982.

AUGUST 16 = Gold is Discovered in Alaska, 1896.

"To Whom It May Concern:

I do, this day, locate and claim, by right of discovery, five hundred feet, running up stream from this notice. Located this the seventeenth day of August, 1896."

With this simple hand-made sign, prospector George Carmack set off the last great Gold rush that our country would ever see.

George Carmack and His Find

  There had been reports of gold in Alaska and in adjacent parts of Canada for years. There were smaller parties of men looking for gold along the Klondike River in parts  of the United States and Canada's Yukon Territory.  The Gold Rush of 1848 was a not too distant memory,

so at about this time, Carnack having found nothing in California heard about gold to be found along the Klondike River.  So he moved into the area with a pair of Native American cohorts: Tagish Charlie, and Skookim Jim. On today's date August 16 in 1896 while camped near Rabbit Creek, Carmack said that he saw a nugget of gold in one part of the creek, The three men looked further and found more gold in many of the rocks at their spot.  Carmack posted the sign quoted above the very next day. As it turned out there was gold to be found all around this portion of Rabbit Creek which was renamed "Bonanza" as many of the local prospectors began setting up claims in the area as news of the find began to spread.

News of Gold Goes National

While the men who were already on the spot at the time became rich, the Yukon was in a fairly remote spot.  So it was nearly a year before the news spread around the country. But on July 27, 1897 news got to the rest of the world. This was when the steamship Portland arrived in Seattle filled with Gold from these original finds. And the newspapers just couldn't resist from trumpeting the news in their largest print. As a

result over the next several months nearly 100,000 men made their way north to Canada and Alaska hoping to strike it rich quickly. Although most of the easy to find gold had been snapped up by the men like Carmack, they made it as best they could to the Klondike river. The fact is that only about 30,000 actually got there.  It was a long and very cold journey by foot or using pack animals or sleds.  And many just gave up or were killed. Said one prospector: "“It is impossible to give one an idea of the slowness with which things are moving. It takes a day to go four or five miles and back; it takes a dollar to do what ten cents would do at home.”

Klondike Fever Rises!

  The excitement was extreme according to further reports in the Seattle Post Intelligencer: "It is safe to say that never in the history of the Northwest has there been such excitement as has prevailed in this city all day long and which is raging to-night.  It is due to the arrival ... of the steamer Portland, carrying sixty-eight men, from the Clondyke

gold fields, every one of whom brings down a fortune." The hopefuls would land at such tent city ports as Skagaway and Deya, And from there they would start the 600 mile trek to the Gold fields (they hoped). There were many routes, one of which was the steep climb of Chillkoot  Pass (left).  They of course needed all manner of supplies, like snowshoes, winter coats, boots, picks and shovels... everything. and of course there were many men who got rich providing these supplies.


The End Result....

Dawson City (below) became the largest genuine city north of San Francisco;  not just a giant tent city but a town with modern amenities such as proper plumbing, electric lighting and fire hydrants. The growth of Dawson City was one of the key reasons that the Yukon became a new Canadian Territory on June 13, 1898.  Those original groups that found gold (known as "the Klondike Kings") became very rich. It is estimated that over one billion dollars worth of gold was found (adjusted for

modern standards). The original "Klondike King", George Carmack, wound up leaving the area with $1 million in his account. There was an environmental impact on the  area due to soil erosion, and deforestation. And the Native American peoples also suffered from the introduction of white men's diseases such a venereal diseases and small pox. The gold began to run out around 1898-99 with many of the small claims selling off to large mining companies.  Also world events started crowding out the Gold Rush for national attention, such as the looming Spanish/American War. Also gold was found elsewhere in the area such as Nome, Alaska. But a handful had gotten very rich very quickly in this, the last great gold rush in our country's history



Sources =

https://www.nps.gov/klgo/learn/goldrush.htm

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

https://www.historynet.com/klondike-gold-rush

http://content.lib.washington.edu/extras/goldrush.html

http://alaskaweb.org/mining/klongoldrushstrts.html

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gold-discovered-in-the-yukon

AUGUST 3 = Jesse Owens Wins Olympic Gold

On today's date, August 3, in 1936 at the Olympic games held in Berlin, the American track star Jesse Owens won the gold medal for his 1st place finish in the 100 meter dash. This was no ordinary feat.  This was because it had happened just three days after Adolf Hitler, the Nazi leader of Germany had opened the games as a tribute to his regime which glorified the White Aryan as the master race. And Owens who would go on to win three more gold medals was an African American.  In the words of  ESPN: " When Owens finished competing, the African-American son of a sharecropper and the grandson of slaves had single-handedly crushed Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy."

The Olympics: Hitler's Showpiece

As I wrote in my blog posting of three days ago (Aug.1 "Hitler Opens 1936 Olympics in Berlin"), the Nazi regime fully intended to use the Olympic stage as a propaganda tool for their new Germany. And as William Shirer told us, the Nazis saw these games as a perfect time for them to impress  the whole world with the scope of their achievements in their Third Reich.  And although the Nazis tried their best to put on a good public face, removing the most obvious signs of their Antisemitic policies, they could only go so far with that charade.  As ESPN further wrote: "Berlin, on the verge of World War II, was bristling with Nazism, red-and-black swastikas flying everywhere. Brown-shirted Storm Troopers goose-stepped while Adolf Hitler postured, harangued, threatened. A montage of evil was played over the chillingly familiar Nazi anthem: "Deutschland Uber Alles."

Jesse Takes Charge and Wins - FOUR times!

  It was into all of these symbols of the Nazi's racist pageantry James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens of Alabama standing 5-10, and weighing 157 lbs. dashed forward at the sound of the starter's pistol, and sprinted down the 100 meter track in a world record tying 10.3 seconds beating

Tinus Osendarp of the Netherlands, and just edging out his own team mate Ralph Metcalfe, thus securing the gold medal (above). And this would only be the first of a total of FOUR gold medals that Owens would collect. In the next few days he would win three more gold medals for the 200 meters dash, the long jump and part of the U.S. team in the 4x100 meters relay, overtaking world records in each category. This total of four gold medals was a record unmatched in that time and for years after.

Hitler Wasn't Happy.....

  In his book "Inside the Third Reich" Albert Speer, one of Hitler's closest associates wrote that Hitler "was highly annoyed by the series of triumphs by the marvelous colored American runner, Jesse Owens. People whose antecedents came from the jungle were primitive, Hitler said with a shrug; their physiques were stronger than those of civilized whites and hence should be excluded from future games." On this day Hitler was only willing to shake the hands of the German athletes who had won medals, leaving the stadium immediately thereafter. When International Olympic Committee president Henri de Baillet-Latour protested saying that Hitler should shake hands with all the medalists or none at all.  Hitler took the suggestion, and in his Nazi snit skipped all of the remaining medal awards.

  Jesse Owens himself was not overly upset one way or another. A calm rational man, he took it all in stride, knowing that in his own country as an African American his treatment would not be much better. "When I came back to my native country, after all the stories about Hitler, I couldn't ride in the front of the bus," Owens said. "I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either." This was certainly a regrettable reality for Jesse Owens' time, but that would eventually change and he would get the accolades due to him as a winner of the record four gold medals in the Olympics. Among many other honors he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford, in 1976 (below).

Sources =

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

"Inside the Third Reich" by Albert Speer, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1970

https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ow/jesse-owens-1.html

http://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00016393.html

https://home.bt.com/news/on-this-day/august-3-1936-jesse-owens-wins-100m-gold-in-front-of-adolf-hitler-at-the-berlin-olympics-11363995389348