Latest news with #OhioNationalGuardsmen
Chicago Tribune
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: America is soon to turn 250. Remember the warmth of the bicentennial?
Friday marks the start of a countdown to America's 250th birthday next year, and rarely has the nation felt so divided. Or at least it hasn't felt so divided since the run-up to America's big milestone birthday. In 1976, 200 years after the Declaration of Independence, America celebrated its bicentennial in spectacular fashion, with parades and fireworks, festivals and historical reenactments. Tall ships graced New York Harbor, while a stirring ceremony got underway at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. A covered-wagon train passed through Illinois on its way to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. More than 90% of the population participated in at least one 1776-related celebration. Red, white and blue were everywhere. The bicentennial arrived during a difficult time for the country, arguably more difficult than today. In 1976, social and political changes were coming quickly in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, a lost war and a political crisis. The nation had just witnessed the Watergate scandal, including the shocking resignation of President Richard Nixon and what was, to some, the equally shocking pardon of Nixon by hand-picked successor Gerald Ford in 1974. The Vietnam War had ended in 1975, after many years of bitter protests, including the deaths of four students gunned down by Ohio National Guardsmen at Kent State University. Almost 60,000 Americans died in the war, and at least 3 million Vietnamese civilians and combatants. At the same time, America was locked in a dangerous Cold War against the Soviet Union. Thousands of nuclear warheads on a hair trigger were aimed at each nation's cities and military bases. The economy wasn't giving anyone a reason to celebrate. The Dow Jones industrial average barely cracked 1,000 that year, versus its current level of 44,000-plus. The annual inflation rate was 5.7% in 1976 and headed to double digits by the end of the decade. Today, it's 2.4%. Unemployment stood at 7.7%, nearly twice today's jobless rate of 4.1%. Worse yet, the seeds had been planted for the Rust Belt recessions that devastated American manufacturing workers in the early 1980s, forever changing the face of Chicago and the Midwest. Even the music and hairstyles were divisive in the mid-1970s, not to mention the clothes — from the powder-blue leisure suits and skin-tight disco duds to denim, denim and more denim. Yet despite all that, Americans put aside their worries, prejudices and battle scars to come together for the country's 200th birthday. A wave of patriotism and nostalgia swept the nation, ushering in a renewed commitment to the ideals of liberty and equality enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. In his aptly named autobiography, 'A Time to Heal,' President Ford accurately described the bicentennial as a moment when Americans began to recover their pride and faith in the country. That was 50 years ago. Can it happen again next year for the 250th? Yes. The American people can come together to demonstrate their resilience and work toward a more perfect union. If that sounds impossible, consider how impossible it sounded in 1976. Planning for the 2026 birthday celebration is in the hands of a nonprofit with a multimillion-dollar budget operating under the banner of In a recent report to Congress, the group promised to deliver, 'The largest and most inspiring commemoration in our nation's history.' Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have agreed to serve as honorary national co-chairs, along with the former first ladies. There are big-money corporate commitments and strategic partnerships. A national celebration is planned for Washington on July 4, 2026 — not far from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., where the biggest wild card in planning the event resides. President Donald Trump, the success of this celebration in bringing together a divided country depends on you as much as anyone. Follow a self-centered, attack-dog script, and half the country will turn away, disgusted and convinced the Republic they love is in unworthy hands. Rise above the defensiveness and name-calling, show the capacity for leading the country as one, and perhaps the whole country will respond, as it did during the bicentennial. This nation needs to heal, and as 1976 demonstrated, a big birthday bash can indeed help to inspire a national reconciliation. America is crying out for it now just as much as it did then. Let's make it happen.
Chicago Tribune
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: Haymarket Square demonstration turns deadly
Today is Sunday, May 4, the 124th day of 2025. There are 241 days left in the year. Today in history: On May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an 8-hour workday turned into a deadly riot when a bomb exploded, killing seven police officers and at least four civilians. Also on this date: In 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an 8-hour workday turned into a deadly riot when a bomb exploded, killing seven police officers and at least four civilians. In 1904, the United States took over construction of the Panama Canal from France. In 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval clash fought entirely with carrier aircrafts, began in the Pacific during World War II. (The outcome was considered a tactical victory for Japan, but ultimately a strategic victory for the Allies.) In 1961, the first group of 'Freedom Riders' left Washington, D.C., to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals. In 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on student demonstrators during an anti-war protest at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others. In 1998, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was given four life sentences plus 30 years by a federal judge in Sacramento, California, under a plea agreement that spared him the death penalty. In 2006, a federal judge sentenced Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison for his role in the 9/11 attacks, telling the convicted terrorist, 'You will die with a whimper.' In 2011, President Barack Obama said he had decided not to release death photos of Osama bin Laden because their graphic nature could incite violence and create national security risks. Officials told The Associated Press that the Navy SEALs who stormed bin Laden's compound in Pakistan shot and killed him after they saw him appear to reach for a weapon. In 2023, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the far-right extremist group were convicted of a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol in a desperate bid to keep Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 presidential election. (Tarrio was later sentenced to 22 years in prison, but was pardoned by Trump on January 20, 2025, the first day of Trump's second term in office.) Today's Birthdays: Jazz musician Ron Carter is 88. Pulitzer Prize-winning political commentator George Will is 84. Actor Richard Jenkins is 78. Country singer Randy Travis is 66. Comedian Ana Gasteyer is 58. Actor Will Arnett is 55. Basketball Hall of Famer Dawn Staley is 55. Rock musician Mike Dirnt (Green Day) is 53. Designer and TV personality Kimora Lee Simmons is 50. Sportscaster/TV host Erin Andrews is 47. Singer Lance Bass (NSYNC) is 46. Actor Ruth Negga is 44. Golfer Rory McIlroy is 36.
Boston Globe
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Today in History: May 4, four killed during anti-war protest at Kent State University.
Advertisement In 1904, the United States took over construction of the Panama Canal from France. In 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval clash fought entirely with carrier aircrafts, began in the Pacific during World War II. (The outcome was considered a tactical victory for Japan, but ultimately a strategic victory for the Allies.) In 1961, the first group of 'Freedom Riders' left Washington, D.C., to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals. In 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on student demonstrators during an antiwar protest at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others. In 1998, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was given four life sentences plus 30 years by a federal judge in Sacramento, Calif., under a plea agreement that spared him the death penalty. Advertisement In 2006, a federal judge sentenced Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison for his role in the 9/11 attacks, telling the convicted terrorist, 'You will die with a whimper.' In 2011, President Barack Obama said he had decided not to release death photos of Osama bin Laden because their graphic nature could incite violence and create national security risks. Officials told The Associated Press that the Navy SEALs who stormed bin Laden's compound in Pakistan shot and killed him after they saw him appear to reach for a weapon. In 2023, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the far-right extremist group were convicted of a plot to attack the US Capitol in a desperate bid to keep PresidentTrump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 presidential election. (Tarrio was later sentenced to 22 years in prison, but was pardoned by Trump on January 20, 2025, the first day of Trump's second term in office.)
Axios
27-03-2025
- Axios
Cleveland's unsolved museum bombing, 55 years later
Fifty-five years ago this week, unknown parties planted a pipe bomb at the base of Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker" statue outside the Cleveland Museum of Art. The resulting explosion — in the early morning of March 24, 1970 — shattered the base of the statue and sent shrapnel flying as far as 500 feet, according to news coverage at the time. Why it matters: It remains one of Cleveland's most perplexing unsolved crimes. The big picture: The famous sculpture, crafted as a likeness of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, was first designed as part of a larger Rodin work, "The Gates of Hell," in Paris. The enlarged version in Cleveland was one of fewer than 10 duplicates cast during Rodin's lifetime under the artist's supervision. Flashback: It was installed outside CMA in 1917, shortly before Rodin's death. Context: The bombing in Cleveland occurred during a moment of revolutionary ferment across the country, driven by opposition to the Vietnam War and police violence against Black people. Six weeks after the bombing, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire at Kent State University, killing four and wounding nine in what would become one of the most symbolic moments of the Vietnam era. On the same day as the shootings (May 4, 1970), the city of Chicago unveiled a rebuilt statue honoring police involved in the 1886 Haymarket Riot — a statue that had been destroyed by a pipe bomb in 1969. Zoom out: Domestic bombings became increasingly common. In 1976, Cleveland was the most bombed city in the United States, earning the moniker "Bomb City, USA" in the national press. What they're saying: "Nearly a dozen radical underground groups ... set off hundreds of bombs during that tumultuous decade — so many, in fact, that many people all but accepted them as a part of daily life," Time Magazine recalls. The intrigue: A message scrawled at the base of the toppled Rodin statue said, "Off the Ruling Class," but none of the radical groups active in Cleveland at the time took credit for the explosion. As recently as 2017, CMA received a tip about a potential suspect but was unable to corroborate it. State of play: The statue was reinstalled in its damaged state after the bombing to serve as a message.
