Friday, March 11, 1966: Ronald Reagan's tree quote

SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- Ronald Reagan called upon private industry Friday to battle the "infinite danger" of growing federal government. "The might of the government is awesome," said the Republican gubernatorial candidate. "We have got to act fast. We're running out of time." Reagan made the remarks in a speech to about 500 persons attending the annual meeting of the Western Wood Productions Association. He urged the group to join with other private industries, such as privately operated utility firms, in combating federal power. "The time has come," he said, "for more control of the government by the people instead of more control of the people by the government."

     ... Regarding proposed federal plans for a Redwood National Park in Northern California, Reagan said he hadn't fully studied new bills now before Congress, but that he favored a "common sense limit" on the program. He explained that both the natural beauty of the area and the economic needs of the lumber industry should be considered. He added, "a tree's a tree -- how many more do you need to look at?"

-- "Reagan Flays Federal Grip on Private Industry," Long Beach Independent, March 12, 1966

-- Editorial cartoon from Fresno Bee, March 15

-- NOTE: Many online resources (and books, for that matter) state that Reagan spoke on March 12. However, newspaper accounts of the time -- both before and after the event -- show that it actually took place on Friday, March 11.

* "If You've Seen One Tree ..." (snopes.com): @

* "The Wrong Side of History" (Center for Western Priorities): @

* Excerpt from "Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power" (Lou Cannon, 2003): @ 

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Saturday, November 6, 1965: 'Restoring the Quality of Our Environment'

Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" brought public attention to the pesticide menace contaminating the environment, but this only dealt with one portion of the problems Americans started referring to as "pollution." Evidence of this growing national concern was the appointment of an Environmental Pollution Panel by the President's Science Advisory Committee. In 1965 the panel produced a report that chronicled the concerns that dominated environmental policy and legislation for the reminder of the 20th century. ... The panel explained that air, water and land pollution threatens the "health, longevity, livelihood, recreation, cleanliness and happiness of citizens" who cannot escape their influence. ... Consistent with Carson's explanation of the dangers of DDT, the panel made an ecological argument for the necessity of federal environmental management.

     -- "Social History of the United States" (2009): @

In a comprehensive report titled "Restoring the Quality of Our Environment," the PSAC Environmental Pollution Panel (President's Science Advisory Committee, 1965) considered pollution in its broadest contest and made more than a hundred specific recommendations. The philosophy of the panel was based on the assumption that pollution is a by-product of a technological society and that pollution problems will grow with increases in population and improved living standards unless drastic counter-measures to reduce it are taken. The panel offered some sweeping recommendations that placed problems of pollution in a new perspective.
     -- "Land Use and Wildlife Resources" (National Academy of Sciences, 1970): @

A tax on polluters was suggested today by a Presidential advisory group as one way to fight environmental pollution. Environment pollution is a new term that includes such matters as excessive noise and junkyards as well as dirty water and fouled air. The "polluters' tax" was one of more than 100 recommendations made by 14 physicians, scientists and engineers of the President's Science Advisory Committee. The panel advanced in its report a philosophy of "individual rights to quality of living." "There should be no right to pollute," it said. 

     -- New York Times: @

* Full text of report (Hathi Trust Digital Library): @

* President Johnson statement (American Presidency Project): @
* Climate Central: @

* "Top 5 Climate Change Websites" (Carbon Literacy Project): @
* "The Discovery of Global Warming" (American Institute of Physics): @

* "Advancing the Science of Climate Change" (National Research Council, 2010): @
* "The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society" (2011): @

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Thursday, September 9, 1965: Hurricane Betsy

Hurricane Betsy, its awesome winds swelling to a top 150 miles per hour, slapped the southern tip of Louisiana on Thursday night and pushed on towards sprawling New Orleans and the plush Mississippi resort coast. The leading edge of the 500-mile-wide storm struck the Mississippi River Delta -- which juts south into the churning Gulf of Mexico -- just after dark. Grand Isle, 55 miles south of New Orleans, was struck by 75 mile an hour hurricane winds, as was Burrwood -- southernmost point in Louisiana.

     -- Associated Press, September 10: @

The tropical storm season, notable for billion dollar Hurricane Betsy, ended yesterday. There were four hurricanes and two tropical storms during the season that began June 1, but Betsy was the only hurricane to strike the United States. She took a heavier toll in damage than the San Francisco fire and the Alaska earthquake combined. Betsy's damages totaled $1,419,830, 429.
     -- United Press International, December 1: @

-- Tracking map from U.S. Weather Bureau preliminary report (September 15, 1965): @

* Summary (www.hurricanescience.org, University of Rhode Island): @

* Summary ("Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones" (David Longshore, 2008): @

* "The thirty costliest mainland United States tropical cyclones, 1900-2013" (Hurricane Research Division, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration; dollars not adjusted for inflation): @
* "A Hurricane Called Betsy" (film from Office of Civil Defense, Department of Defense, 1966): @

* "The Hurricane Season of 1965" (U.S. Weather Bureau, March 1966): @

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Saturday, February 13, 1965: Tiros-9

The Tiros-9 satellite (also known as Tiros IX) produces the first photomosaic of the world's cloud cover.

Caption: This global photomosaic was assembled from 450 individual pictures taken by Tiros IX during the 24 hours of February 13, 1965. The horizontal white line marks the equator. Special photographic processing was used to increase the contrast between major land areas, outlined in white, and the surrounding oceans. The brightest features on the photographs are clouds; ice in the Antarctic, and snow in the north are also very bright. The clouds are associated with many different types of weather patterns. The scalloping at the bottom shows how the Earth's horizon appears in individual pictures.

(Photo from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; link to larger image: @)

* "U.S. Has Big Wheel Satellite In Orbit" (Associated Press, January 22): @

* NASA summary of Tiros-9: @

* NASA summaries of all Tiros missions: @

* Tiros-9 summary (Florida State University): @

* "Catalogue of Meteorological Satellite Data -- Tiros IX" (Environmental Science Services Administration): @ and @

* "Observation of the Earth and Its Environment: Survey of Missions and Sensors" (Herbert J. Kramer, 2002): @

* "Earth Observations from Space" (National Academy of Sciences): @

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Thursday, September 3, 1964: Wilderness Act

President Johnson today signed into law the wilderness conservation bill -- a gift from the present generation to the future of 9 million acres of woodland recreation areas. In a White House bill-signing ceremony, Johnson termed the event "a very happy and history occasion for all who love the out of doors, and that includes me." Under the wilderness bill, 61 million acres of woodland eventually could be preserved in the same state as when Indians roamed the land. Most of the 9 million acres immediately covered is in the Western states.

     -- United Press International (story: @)

* Text: @

* "Johnson Signs Wilderness and Recreation Bills" (Associated Press): @

* Johnson's remarks (The American Presidency Project): @
* Summary (The Wilderness Society): @

* Summary (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service): @
* Summary (U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental and Natural Resources Division): @

* Locations (www.wilderness.net): @
* "America's Public Lands: From Yellowstone to Smokey Bear and Beyond" (Randall K. Wilson, 2014): @ 

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May 1964: 'Great Society' speeches

In the wake of President Kennedy's assassination in 1963, a wave of sympathy and public support enabled President Johnson to pass a number of Kennedy administration proposals, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Building on this momentum, Johnson introduced his own vision for America: "the Great Society" -- in which America ended poverty, promoted equality, improved education, rejuvenated cities, and protected the environment. This became the blueprint for the most far-reaching agenda of domestic legislation since the New Deal.

     -- From PBS (link: @)

Thursday, May 7, Ohio University

     So to you of this student body, I say merely as a statement of fact, America is yours, yours to make a better land, yours to build the Great Society. ... And with your courage and with your compassion and your desire, we will build the Great Society. It is a Society where no child will go unfed, and no youngster will go unschooled. Where no man who wants work will fail to find it. Where no citizen will be barred from any door because of his birthplace or his color or his church. Where peace and security is common among neighbors and possible among nations.

* "Johnson Lists Objectives for U.S." (Associated Press, May 7): @

Friday, May 22, University of Michigan

     For in your time we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society. The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time. But that is just the beginning. The Great Society is a place where every children can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents. It is a place where leisure is a welcome chance to build and reflect, not a feared cause of boredom and restlessness. It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community. It is a place where man can renew contact with nature. It is a place which honors creation for its own sake and for what it adds to the understanding of the race. It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods. But most of all, the Great Society is not a safe harbor, a resting place, a final objective, a finished work. It is a challenge constantly renewed, beckoning us toward a destiny where the meaning of our lives matches the marvelous products of our labor.

* " 'Great Society' Johnson's Goal" (The Toledo Blade, May 22): @

     -- Photo from May 22 speech (from Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)

* Text of May 7 speech (The American Presidency Project): @

* Text and audio of May 22 speech (American Rhetoric): @

* "The Anatomy of a Speech: Lyndon Johnson's Great Society Address" (Michigan Historical Collections, December 1978): @
* "Great Society Emerging As Johnson's Key Slogan" (Associated Press, June 2): @

* "The Great Society at 50" (The Washington Post): @
* Entry from "Safire's Political Dictionary" (William Safire, 2008): @ 

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Monday, April 27, 1964: LBJ's dogs

President Johnson picked his two beagle pups up by the ears Monday and let them yowl. "Why did you do that?" a woman reporter inquired. Johnson had just dropped "Him," and a few moments before had lifted "Her" by the ears and let her down. "To make him bark," he said. "It's good for him. And, if you've ever followed dogs, you like to hear them yelp." ... Some authorities on dogs questioned the President's handling.
     -- Associated Press (story: @)
     -- Photo by Charles P. Gorry, Associated Press

* "SPCA Yelps When Johnson Picks Dogs Up By Ears" (AP): @
* "Dog Lovers Howl Over LBJ Picking Up Beagles By Ears To Make 'Em Yelp" (AP): @
* "White House Mum on Mail Trend Reports" (AP, May 1): @
* "Dogs Have Got Presidents Both In And Out Of Trouble" (AP, May 18): @ 
* Phone call between LBJ and Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (April 29): @ 
* "A National Yelp Over an Earlift" (Life magazine, May 8): @

* "Her and Him" (Life magazine, June 19): @
* Entry from Presidential Pet Museum: @
* Entry from LBJ Presidential Library: @ 

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Friday, March 27, 1964: Alaska earthquake

A devastating earthquake spread death and destruction through half a dozen Alaska cities Friday night. The shock set up tidal waves which swept down the west coast of the continent, doing heavy damage and taking more lives. The death toll could reach into the hundreds. There was no way to assess the number of dead and injured immediately.

-- Associated Press (link to Vancouver Sun, March 28: @)

-- Photo from U.S. Army. Caption: "Collapse of Fourth Avenue near C Street in Anchorage due to a landslide caused by the earthquake. Before the shock, the sidewalk on the left, which is in the graben, was at street level on the right. The graben subsided 11 feet in response to 14 feet of horizontal movement."

Note: The earthquake, which measured 9.2 on the Richter scale, killed 131 people -- 116 in Alaska and 15 in Oregon and California (according to the Alaska Earthquake Information Center, linked below).

* Vancouver Sun, March 30: @

* "Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964" (University of Alaska Anchorage): @

* "The Great Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami of March 27, 1964" (U.S. Geological Survey): @

* "Historic Reports Reissued for Great Alaska Quake 50th Anniversary" (USGS): @

* "50th Anniversary of the 1964 Earthquake" (Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs): @

* "The Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964" (Alaska Earthquake Information Center): @

* "Great Alaskan Earthquake and Tsunami: Alaska, March 1964" (Popular Mechanics, 2007): @

* "Benchmarks -- March 27, 1964: The Good Friday Alaska Earthquake and Tsunamis" (EARTH magazine, 2014): @

* Anchorage Museum exhibit: @

* Photos, USGS: @

* Photos, Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs: @

* Footage (Alaska Film Archives): @

* Video (USGS): @ 

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February 1964: Pierre Brassau

A 4 1/2-year-old chimpanzee namd Peter lives in an animal park in Goteborg, Sweden. Last fall a couple of newspapermen on the Goteborgs-Tidningen got the idea that maybe Peter could paint pictures. On the sly, they gave the chimp a palette, paints, brushes and canvas, and Peter promptly set to work. Recently the newspapermen picked out four of Peter's better paintings and slipped them into a local art show to see what the critics would say. The paintings were signed Pierre Brassau, who was described as an unknown French painter. The critics fell for the monkey business, especially Rolf Anderberg of the morning Posten, who wrote rapturously: "Pierre Brassau paints with powerful strokes but also with clear determination. His brush strokes twist with a furious fastidiousness on the canvas." Critic Anderberg then went on to compare Pierre with another painter in the show. The other painter, Anderberg wrote, was ponderous but "Pierre is an artist who performs with the delicacy of a ballet dancer." When the hoax was revealed, Anderberg was bitter. He insisted that Pierre's work was "still the best painting in the exhibition." He may be right. A private collector bought one canvas for $90.

     -- "Monkey Business," Sports Illustrated, February 24, 1964

* Summary from The Museum of Hoaxes: @

* Winners of 2013 Chimpanzee Art Contest (from The Humane Society of the United States): @ 

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January 1964: 'Black holes'

The term gains wider use after it appears in articles in the Science News Letter (January 18) and Life magazine (January 24). In simplest terms: "A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying." (Definition from NASA)

* "50 years later, it's hard to say who named black holes" (Science News, December 2013): @

* " 'Black Holes' in Space" (Science News Letter, January 18): @

* "What are quasi-stellars? Heavens' new enigma" (Life magazine, January 24): @

* "Black Holes" (from NASA): @

* "Black Holes: Facts, Theory & Definition" (from Space.com): @

* "Black Holes" (video, from Hubble Space Telescope site): @

* Definition from "Firefly Astronomy Dictionary" (2003): @ 

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Tuesday, December 17, 1963: Clean Air Act

President Johnson today signed into law a "clean air" bill designed to channel $95 million in federal funds into a four-year program to fight air pollution.
     The legislation authorizes the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to conduct research into the problem of air pollution, which some experts say is becoming a national menace.
     It also would permit federal aid to states and communities which are fighting air pollution.
     In signing the measure, Johnson said it would combat a "serious and growing" hazard. He said an estimated 6,000 U.S. communities need the type of assistance provide by the bill.
     States will retain the primary responsibility for controlling and reducing pollution except in those cases where pollution from one source -- such as a concentration of factories -- affects more than one state.
     In such cases federal authorities may seek relief in court if a voluntary solution is unsuccessful.
     The federal aid program involves grants on a matching basis on a matching basis of one state dollar for every two federal dollars put up. Regional grants are based on matching of three-quarters federal, one-quarter state.
     The bill signed today is an authorization measure and sets the ceiling on how much money can be spent. Actual appropriations will come later.
     -- Story from United Press International.
     -- 1953 photo of New York from Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. Original caption reads, "Several people standing on the top of a building looking down in to the downtown misty smog that is covering the Empire State and surrounding buildings."
* Text of original law (from www.wilderness.net): @
* President Johnson's remarks: @
* Text of amended law (from U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works): @
* "Clean Air Requirements and History" (from Environmental Protection Agency): @

* "Clean Air Act" (from The Encyclopedia of Earth): @

* "The History of Air Quality" (from Environmental Institute of Houston): @

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Wednesday, September 18, 1963: Joyce Kilmer's 'Trees'

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- The famed Kilmer Oak, bare and rain-soaked under a steel gray sky, was gently cut down Wednesday amid praise of its inspirational qualities as a symbol of nature. Workmen sawed each twisted bough separately and lowered most to the ground with ropes. They paused for a half-hour ceremony eulogizing the old tree and the poet Joyce Kilmer, believed to have been inspired by it. The white oak died of old age. 

     -- The Associated Press (full story: @)

* "Trees" as it appeared in August 1913 edition of Poetry magazine: @

* "Trees and other poems" (1914, from Project Gutenberg): @

* Biography from poemhunter.com: @

* "Poet Joyce Kilmer: Rooted in Mahwah" (New Jersey Monthly, July 2013): @ 

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1963: Endangered species

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources begins compiling the first of what would come to be called the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, a summary of plant and animal species at varying risks of extinction. The first list was published in 1966.

* Overview (from IUCNredlist.org): @

* Overview (from IUCN.org): @

* "Conservation planning and the IUCN Red List" (Hoffman et. al., Endangered Species Research, 2008): @

* "The dilemma of accuracy in IUCN Red List categories, as exemplified by hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata" (Webb, Endangered Species Research, 2008): @

* Endangered Species Research: @

* Extinction Countdown (Scientific American blog): @

* "The Road to Extinction: Problems of Categorizing the Taxa Threatened with Extinction" (1984): @
* "The Anthropology of Extinction: Essays on Culture and Species Death" (2012): @

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Friday-Saturday, August 23-24, 1963: Project Stormfury

A joint project between the U.S. Weather Bureau and the U.S. Navy, Project Stormfury was an attempt to diminish the strength of hurricanes by seeding them with silver iodide, enlarging the eyewall and thereby reducing the wind speeds. On August 23-24, a Navy plane dispersed a total of 1,600 pounds of silver iodide into Hurricane Beulah. The effects on Beulah and other hurricanes were inconclusive, and the project was ended in 1983.

* Summaries from Hurricane Research Division, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration: @ and @

* U.S. Weather Bureau report on Hurricane Beulah: @
* "Project Stormfury: A Scientific Chronicle, 1962-1983" (Willoughby et al, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, May 1985): @
* "The Decision to Seed Hurricanes" (Howard et al., Science magazine, June 1972): @
* "Poking the Storm in the Eye" (New Scientist, September 1980, Page 704): @ 
* Entry from "How It Works: Science and Technology, Volume 8" (Marshall Cavendish, 2003): @
* Entry from "Hurricanes: A Reference Handbook" (Patrick J. Fitzpatrick, 2006): @
* "The Neurotic Life of Weather Control" (from "Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America," Ted Steinberg, 2000): @
* Videos (1966, from CriticalPast.com): @

* Stormfury Operation Plan (from The Black Vault, June 1969): @

* Stormfury Operation Plan (from The Black Vault, June 1970): @ 

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Wednesday, April 10, 1963: USS Thresher

Some 220 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the nuclear submarine USS Thresher sinks, killing all 129 aboard. The accident occurred after the submarine lost power and dropped to the ocean floor, breaking apart from the deep-sea pressure.

Photo from the U.S. Navy. Caption reads, "Overhead view of Thresher's upper rudder, photographed from a deep-sea vehicle ... The view shows draft markings on the rudder side and a navigation light at its top. The original photograph bears the date October 1964."
* Entry from Naval History & Heritage Command: @

* Entry from "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships": @

* "What Really Happened to the Thresher (Popular Science, February 1964): @

* "USS Thresher (SSN-593) 3 August 1961 - 10 April 1963" (Proceedings magazine, March 1964): @

* "50 years later, a look at what really sank the Thresher" (Navy Times, April 2013): @

* thresherbase.org: @

* threshermemorial.org: @

* Photos of crew (from oneternalpatrol.com): @

* "Thresher Loss" (Navy video): @ 

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Thursday, March 28, 1963: 'The Birds'

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, "The Birds" premieres in New York. From Bob Thomas of The Associated Press (full link below):

     "What's the matter with all the birds?" asks a character in Alfred Hitchcock's new film, "The Birds."

     What is the matter, indeed? Sea gulls peck at boaters at Bodega Bay, Calif. Others swoop down on a children's birthday perty. A flight of sparrows invade a house by the chimney. Whole henhouses refuse to eat.

     Something's got to give, and it's the humans. The birds come flying at them like a plague of oversized, carnivorous locusts. Anyone who has been swooped at by a nesting mockingbird know what terror that can hold.

* Movie trailer: @

* Script (from dailyscript.com): @

* Entry from Turner Classic Movies: @

* Entry from AMC's filmsite.org: @

* New York Times review: @    

* "Hitchcock Goes To The Birds" (Thomas): @

* "A Hitchcock Reader" (1986): @

* "The Day of the Claw: A Synoptic Account of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds" (Ken Mogg, Senses of Cinema, 2009): @

* Earlier post on "Psycho" (June 1960): @ 

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Undated: "Snow"

Geoffrey Jones makes a short film during Britain's "Big Freeze" of 1962-1963. The documentary, showing scenes from and on trains, is set to ever-accelerating music. 
* Watch the film: @
* Summary from BFI Screenonline: @
* More about Geoffrey Jones (from BFI Screenonline): @

More about "The Big Freeze"

* From The Royal Windsor Web site: @

* From the BBC: @
* BBC "Winterwatch" documentary: @
* From Wales Online: @ 

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