Rare Books & Manuscripts – The Intelligent Collector Magazine

The Wages of War

book log — An autograph logbook of Captain Robert A. Lewis, co-pilot of the ‘Enola Gay’ – the only in-flight account of the bombing of Hiroshima – sold for $543,000 in a July 2022 Heritage auction.

By Jim O’Neal

Air Force General Curtis LeMay landed on Guam Island on Jan. 7, 1945. He had been transferred there specifically to assume command of the 21st Bomber Command and lead the effort to force Japan to surrender. One of the younger generals in the Army, he constantly chewed a cigar butt to help mask a nerve disorder that made his mouth droop. Thought to be Bell’s palsy, it was probably the result of flying high-altitude bombing missions over Europe.

He was one of the first to abandon the tactic of precision bombing designed to minimize collateral damage to nonmilitary targets and noncombatants. In response to a question, his caustic reply was “I’ll tell you what war is about. You’ve got to kill people, and when you’ve killed enough, they stop fighting.”

In May 1864, during the American Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman said something similar. After burning Atlanta during his infamous March to the Sea, he declared, “War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”

General Sherman was convinced that the Confederacy should be defeated by the complete destruction of both its military and civilians’ ability to wage war. In his March to Savannah, he cut a wide swath destroying cities, plantations, livestock and crops. His intent was to break the spirit of everyone and everything that stood in his way. Today his name provokes animosity in the South for his cruel, wanton destruction, despite the fact that it helped bring the war to a conclusion.

With General LeMay now in Asia, the primary question involved how to convince Japan that surrender was the most prudent decision. The American military had fought their way across the Pacific Ocean to Japan’s doorstep, defeating Japanese troops on a series of islands with strange names like Saipan, Guadalcanal, Corregidor, Tarawa, Iwo Jima and, finally, Okinawa. The Battle of Okinawa’s initial invasion on April 1, 1945, was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. The 82-day battle lasted until June 22, 1944. The Allies intended to use the air base for Operation Downfall, the invasion of the Japanese home islands.

However, the battles in the Pacific had been bloody. The capture of Iwo Jima, less than 8 square miles of volcanic ash, had cost the lives of 25,849 Marines (one-third of the landing force). Okinawa’s price was 49,151, and kamikazes diving from the sky had sunk 34 U.S war ships and damaged an additional 368. If the Japanese could draw that much blood on the outer islands of their defense perimeter, how formidable would they be on the 142,000 square miles on their five home islands? The Joint Chiefs had estimated a minimum of 1 to 2 million deaths in a full assault.

When LeMay assumed command, he implemented the strategic bombing concept that had been so successful in defeating Germany. He also added two new technologies that seemed tailor-made for use against Japan’s predominantly flammable cities. The first was a highly efficient 6-pound incendiary bomblet developed by Standard Oil: the M-69 projectile. It spewed burning gelatinized gasoline that stuck to the ubiquitous wooden houses. The second was the B-29 Superfortress, a long-range, intercontinental bomber. Soon LeMay had 350 bombers parked in the Marianas, with more arriving every day. The 11-man crew bomber had a range of 4,000 miles at 35,000 feet. Importantly LeMay had perfected the optimum mix of explosives and incendiary bombs that resulted in firestorms that evolved into virtual thermal hurricanes that killed by heat suffocation.

The first raid consisted of 344 bombers that crisscrossed a target area and then merged into a sea of flames. They left 1 million homeless and 90,000 dead. In the ensuing five months, LeMay’s bombers attacked the 66 largest Japanese cities, killing 900,000 citizens. In addition, 1.3 million were injured, and 8 million houses were destroyed. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were intentionally spared.

Every Japanese citizen took a sacred vow to fight until the last person was dead.

They spent their time constructing 9,000-plus high-altitude incendiary bombs to float across the Pacific Ocean, using the strong trade winds, and drop them on the West Coast of the American mainland. Japanese schoolgirls labored to assemble the balloon bombs. An Oregon family of six were the only American mainland casualties of the entire war.

Meanwhile, Air Force Colonel Paul Tibbets went to Omaha to hand-pick his B-39 #82 off the production line of Glenn Martin. He renamed it Enola Gay, his mother’s name, and got it back in theater ready to go. President Harry Truman was at sea, returning from Potsdam. On Aug. 6, the White House issued a statement: “16 hours ago an American airplane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima … harnessing the power of the Universe.”

Still the Japanese refused to surrender.

Only on Aug. 10, a day after a second nuclear explosion had devastated Nagasaki, killing an additional 70,000 people, did Japanese experts agree that their country was under an atomic attack. Emperor Hirohito recorded an announcement that was broadcast on the radio.

Most Japanese citizens had never heard his voice before.

This particular war was ended.

Intelligent Collector blogger JIM O’NEAL is an avid collector and history buff. He is president and CEO of Frito-Lay International [retired] and earlier served as chair and CEO of PepsiCo Restaurants International [KFC Pizza Hut and Taco Bell].

The Rocky Path to Proving Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

A first edition of Albert Einstein’s ‘Relativity: The Special and the General Theory, a Popular Exposition’ sold for $10,625 in a December 2021 Heritage auction.

By Jim O’Neal

While watching TV someone mentioned Principe and it piqued my interest, primarily because I knew so little about this relatively small island off the West Coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. After digging a little deeper, I discovered Principe was where Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity was corroborated by a gifted mathematician, Sir Arthur Eddington, during a total solar eclipse.

The date was May 29, 1919.

To fully understand the sequence of events, it helps to start about 75 years earlier.

During the 19th century, the map of Europe was frequently redrawn as old empires crumbled and new powers emerged. You may not know that in 1850, the countries of Germany and Italy that we know so well today did not exist. Instead, there were many German-speaking and Italian-speaking states, each with their own leaders.

Then in the 1860s and 1870s ambitious politicians started merging these states through a combination of hostile actions and political agreements. A prime example was the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. The German states, led by Otto von Bismarck (the “Iron Chancellor”), defeated France soundly. This ended France’s domination of Europe and forced Napoleon into exile in Britain.

The formerly feuding 25 German principalities were transformed into a new unified German Empire on January 18, 1871. The new superpower had an enormous Army, a streamlined economy and intellectual institutions that dwarfed the European continent. The seeds of Germanic militarism would plague the world well into the 20th century. Following a visit by the peripatetic Mark Twain in 1878 he wrote, “What a paradise this land is! Such clean clothes and good faces, what tranquil contentment, what prosperity, what genuine freedom, what superb government! And I am so happy, for I am responsible for none of it. I am only here to enjoy.” High praise for a country that would wreak havoc upon the world twice in the next century.

By the turn of the 20th century, a peculiar devolution emerged with a complicated network of alliances and rivalries. When the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in June 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia. Then the others followed like a line of dominoes cascading helter-skelter. In Europe the fighting took place on two fronts: the Western Front, stretching from Belgium to Switzerland, and the Eastern Front, from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Then it quickly spread to the European colonies throughout the world. The war raged for four and a half years, and more than 20 million lost their lives.

In the United States, seemingly isolated by two great oceans, President Woodrow Wilson was re-elected in 1916 under the slogan “He kept us out of war.” Five months later he asked Congress to declare war against Germany, and 60 days later American troops landed in France. The distant sounds of guns had somehow morphed into a cacophony of a world war.

At the time, very few were aware of the effects the Great War had on Einstein’s efforts to prove his general theory of relativity. The industrialized slaughter bled Europe from 1914-1918 without regard for the weak or strong, the right or the wrong. Wars do not have a conscience or any pity for the young or old. Their objective is destruction. Men make these decisions.

At age 39, Einstein was working in Berlin, literally starving due to food blockades. He lost 50 pounds in three months and was unable to communicate with his closest colleagues. He was alone, honing his theory of relativity, hailed at birth as “one of the greatest — perhaps the greatest — of achievements in the history of human thought.” This was the first complete revision of our conception of the universe since Sir Isaac Newton.

Scientists seeking to confirm Einstein’s ideas were arrested as spies. Technical journals were banned as enemy propaganda. His closest ally was separated by barbed wire and U-boats. Sir Arthur Eddington became secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society and they secretly collaborated. It was actually Eddington who supplied Einstein’s astonishingly mathematical work to help prove the theory. He was convinced that Einstein was correct. But how to physically prove it?

In May 1919, with Europe still in the chaos left by war, Eddington led a globe-spanning expedition to catch a fleeting solar eclipse on film. This confirmed Einstein’s boldest prediction that light has weight and could be bent around an orbiting object — in this case Earth itself. The event put Einstein’s picture on front pages around the world!

Later, on August 2, 1939, he would write a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning him that an atomic bomb was feasible and the Germans, with all their talented rocket scientists, could be dangerously close to making one. He encouraged the president to secure a supply of uranium and make it a priority.

We now know how this ended.

United States has been tested before, but history shows we shall not perish

A newly discovered 1823 Stone printing of the Declaration of Independence sold for $597,500 at a 2012 Heritage auction.

By Jim O’Neal

The 59th presidential election in 2020 was unusual in several aspects. Despite the complications of a lethal pandemic, voter turnout was remarkable, with more than 159 million or 66% of eligible voters casting their ballots. In recent years, 40% to 50% has been considered normal, a major slump from the 73% in 1900. Joe Biden’s 51.3% was the highest since 1932 – the first of FDR’s four elections. Both candidates snared over 74 million votes, which topped Barack Obama’s record of 69.5 million in 2008. (Biden’s 81 million is the most any presidential candidate has ever received.)

However, it is not unusual for an incumbent president to lose a bid for re-election. Ten presidents before President Trump suffered a similar fate starting with John Adams in 1800. This was the first election where political parties played a role and Adams’ own vice president defeated him.

Another unusual facet of 2020 was the delay in getting all the votes counted and then certified, along with an unprecedented number of legal actions asserting irregularities or voter fraud. Post-election polls indicate that a high percentage of Republican voters still believe that their candidate won. This is unfortunate since the United States has a long, impeccable reputation for smooth, peaceful transfers of power.

By contrast, throughout recorded history – at least from ancient Rome to modern Britain – all great empires maintained their dominance with force of arms and raw political power. Then, the United States became a global powerhouse and the first to dominate through the creation of wealth. It is a truly remarkable story, liberally sprinkled with adversity, financial panics, a horrendous Civil War and Great Depression without an owner’s manual or quick-fix guide. However, in 1782, Congress passed an act that declared our national motto would be E PLURIBUS UNUM (“One from many”), which, in combination with a culture of “can do,” bound us together and crowded out the skeptics and naysayers. In 1931, “In God we trust” was added just in case we needed a little divine help occasionally.

In the beginning, it was the land.

After Columbus stumbled into the New World while trying to reach Asia by sailing west, Europeans were eager to fund expeditions to this unknown New World. Spain was aggressive and hit the lottery, first in Mexico, followed by Peru. Portugal hit a veritable gold mine by growing sugar in Brazil using slave labor. Even the French developed a remarkable trading empire deep in America using fur trading with American Indians in the Great Lakes area and staking claims to broad sections of land. England was the exception, primarily since they were more focused on opportunities for colonization. The east coast of America had been generally ignored (too hot, too cold, no gold) until Sir Walter Raleigh tried (twice) to establish a viable colony in present day North Carolina. It literally vanished, leaving only a word carved on a tree: Croatoan.

However, the English were still highly motivated to colonize by basic economic pressures. The population had grown from 3 million in 1500 to 6 million in 1650, but without a corresponding increase in jobs. Hordes of starving people naturally gravitated to the large cities and the seaside. The largest was London, and it swelled to 350,000 people by 1650. To exacerbate the situation, the influx of gold and silver into Europe spiked inflation, making a difficult situation unsustainable. In the 16th century, prices rose a staggeringly 400%.

But we are living proof that England’s colonization of the Atlantic coast was finally successful in the 16th and 17th century. Colonial America grew and prospered as 13 colonies evolved into a quasi-nation that was on the verge of even greater accomplishments. However, by 1775 the greed of King George III became too much to tolerate and they declared their independence from Great Britain. The American Revolutionary War lasted seven years (1775-83) and the United States of America was established … the first modern constructional liberal democracy. Losing the war and the colonies both shocked and surprised Great Britain (and many others) and even today historians debate whether it was “almost a miracle” or that the odds favored the Americans from the start.

Then we began to expand across the vast unknown continent due to a series of bold moves. President Jefferson doubled the size of the nation in 1803 with the remarkable “Louisiana Purchase.” President Polk engineered a war with Mexico that concluded quickly with the United States taking control of most of the Southwest, followed soon by the annexation of the Texas Republic. The discovery of gold in the San Francisco area attracted people from all over the world. Despite all of this, not enough has been written about the strategic era just after the end of the Revolutionary War.

The Treaty of Paris signed on March 1, 1786, did far more than formalize the peace and recognize the new United States of America. Great Britain also ceded (despite objections of France) all the land that comprised the immense Northwest Territory. This was a veritable wilderness area northwest of the Ohio River totaling 265,878 acres, similar to the existing size of America, and containing the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. With this and the Louisiana lands, the United States was eight times larger! In addition, the Northwest Ordinance included three astounding conditions: 1. Freedom of religion, 2. Free universal education and, importantly, 3. Prohibition of slavery.

Also consider that until that point, the United States did not technically own a single acre of land! Now we had an unsettled empire, double the size, north and west of the Ohio River, larger than all of France, with access to four of the five Great Lakes. And then there was the Ohio River itself, a great natural highway west!

This, my friends, is how you build a powerful nation, populate it with talent from all over the world, encourage innovation never seen before, and then trust the people to do the rest. Whenever we are temporarily distracted, have faith that this nation has been tested before and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. As Aesop and his fables remind … United we stand. Divided we fall.

Here’s why Benjamin Rush is an unsung hero of the American Revolution

A Dr. Benjamin Rush autograph manuscript titled “References to texts of Scripture related to each other upon particular Subjects” sold for $5,975 at a February 2006 Heritage auction.

By Jim O’Neal

Early in 1813, two former U.S. presidents were in grief over the death of a mutual friend and colleague. Dr. Benjamin Rush had been responsible for reconciling the ex-presidents and healing the bitter rift that had grown worse after they left office. Now, Dr. Rush was dead and both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were convinced that the eminent physician deserved to be honored for more than his enthusiasm for American liberty.

Benjamin Rush was born in 1746 in a small township a few miles outside of Philadelphia. Just 30 years later, he was one of the younger of the 56 men who bravely signed the Declaration of Independence (Edward Rutledge, age 26, was the youngest). Benjamin was 5 years old when his father died, but in a stroke of pure providence, his mother took notice of his remarkable intellect and was determined to see that her precocious youngster got special tutoring. She sent him to live with an aunt and uncle, who enrolled him in a boarding school run by the Reverend Samuel Finley, an academic who founded the West Nottingham Academy (1744) and later the College of New Jersey (Princeton University).

Rush (predictably) flourished in this rarefied intellectual atmosphere and at age 13 was admitted to Princeton. After graduating in one year, he was then apprenticed to Philadelphia’s foremost physician, Dr. John Redman. However, eager to continue his studies, he sailed to Scotland in 1766. He entered the University of Edinburg, rated the finest medical school in the British Empire. Again, serendipity reigned since this was the blooming of the Scottish Enlightenment. This period was coincidental with the European movement that encouraged rational thought, while resisting the traditional imposition of sovereign authority, especially from Great Britain. By divine providence, the American colonies were gradually drifting into similar territory and the example of taxation was considered undermining independent action, which curtailed liberty.

During the next three years, Rush not only became a fully qualified doctor of medicine, but was exposed to some of the greatest thinkers, politicians and artists that were alive. When he returned to Philadelphia, his bandwidth had continued to expand as he absorbed radical alternatives to conventional theories. He became obsessed with the concept of public service and a champion of the common man.

Establishing a medical practice was challenging since the poor represented the equivalent of today’s middle class and the wealthy naturally controlled the best and most experienced practitioners. Since Rush was now eager to help close social inequalities, he sought out the sick in the slums of Philadelphia and offered his services. He was forced to accept a position as professor of chemistry at the College of Philadelphia to bolster his income (his family had grown to 13) and, importantly, provide an outlet for his prodigious medical papers.

He is credited with being the first to highlight the deleterious effects of alcohol and tobacco, but in the process alienated both heavy users and most producers. Even more controversial was his anti-slavery position with the South growing more reliant on slave labor as the integral part of their agrarian economic development. With Great Britain seemingly intent on oppressing all Americans, the nation was inevitably being drawn into war. Dr. Rush was eager to leverage his medical skills to assist the military and was appointed Surgeon General of part of the Continental Army. His broad experience resulted in a pamphlet called “Directions for Preserving the Health of Soldiers.” He keenly observed that “a greater proportion of men have perished with sickness in our armies than have fallen by the sword.” Looming in the future, the Civil War and World War I would prove just how prescient he was.

Today, Dr. Benjamin Rush is generally forgotten or relegated to the second tier of Founding Fathers, an oversight that even Adams and Jefferson recognized when he died in 1813. It is a curious situation when one considers the sincere eulogies expressed by his colleagues and students. It’s estimated that he trained 3,000 doctors and his writings, both personal and technical, are astonishing in breadth and depth. Jefferson was effusive with his praise and John Adams declared he “knew of no one, living or dead, who had done more real good in America.” High praise from two such prominent men who were there to witness it.

Another man who benefited from association with Rush was the firebrand Thomas Paine, who generally falls into the same category. His publication of Plain Truth is one of the most powerful forces behind the colonies’ quest for independence from the British Crown. Never heard of it? That’s not surprising since Plain Truth was changed to Common Sense after Dr. Rush had Paine read him every line before it was published. He persuaded Paine to make the change and it remains the best-selling book in American history and set the colonies firmly on the road to independence.

When I view the current political landscape, I’m persuaded that all that’s missing is … Common Sense!

Immigrants have sparked controversy since the days of Benjamin Franklin

An interest certificate signed “B. Franklin” and dated Oct. 19, 1785, realized $13,145 at a 2012 Heritage auction.

By Jim O’Neal

Typically, any discussion of Ben Franklin will eventually include the question of why he was never president of the United States. He certainly earned the title as “The First American,” as well as an astonishing reputation as a leading politician, diplomat, scientist, printer, inventor, statesman and brilliant polymath. Biographer Walter Isaacson said it best: “Franklin was the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in shaping the type of society America would become.”

He was certainly there in Philadelphia on May 5, 1775, representing Pennsylvania as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, even as skirmishes escalated with the British military. The following June, he was an influential member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence. In fact, he was the only one of the Founding Fathers to sign the four most important documents: the Declaration of Independence; the 1778 Treaty of Alliance with France (ensuring they would not get involved militarily in the war); the Treaty of Paris (1783), ending the war with Great Britain; and the historic United States Constitution in 1787, which is still firmly the foundation of the nation.

He proved to be a savvy businessman who made a fortune as a printer and prolific scientist who is still revered. His success provided him the personal freedom to spend time in England and France trading ideas with the great minds in the world and enjoying the company of the socially elite.

He was also a shrewd administrator and had a unique talent for writing or making insightful observations on all aspects of life. The only significant issue that seemed to perplex him were the waves of German immigrants that flooded many parts of Pennsylvania. In his opinion, the Crown dumped too many felons that resulted in unsafe cities. They could not speak English and they imported books in German. They erected street signs in German and made no attempts to integrate into the great “melting pot.” Worse was the fact that in many places they represented one-third of the population. He suggested that we export one rattlesnake for every immigrant and void every deed or contract that was not in English. Although the Pennsylvania Dutch (Germans) were an imbalance in the 18th century, by the 1850s they were ideal for the western expansion and proved to be ideal as agrarians.

When World War I erupted in 1914, most Americans viewed it with a sense of detachment and considered it just another European conflict. As a nation of immigrants focused on improving their personal lives, there was little time to root for their homeland. This policy helped Woodrow Wilson win a tight reelection in 1916 and it would last for two years. Since the start of war in Europe fit neatly with the end of the 1913-1914 recession in America, it was a perfect economic fit.

American exports to belligerent nations began rising rapidly; 1913, $825 million – 1917, $2.25 billion. In addition to steel, arms and food, American banks made large loans to finance these supplies. Inevitably, the U.S. was drawn into the war as German submarines sank supply boats. Germany then attempted to bribe Mexico to attack America (the XYZ Affair), and finally lit the fire keg by sinking the Lusitania, which carried a healthy complement of American passengers. Wilson was forced to ask Congress to declare war.

After we were provoked into the largest and deadliest war the world had seen, Wilson then decided that all Americans would be expected to support the war effort. The federal government opened its first propaganda bureau … the “Committee on Public Information.” Thus the creation of the first true “fake news.” Most forums of dissent were banned and it was even unlawful to advocate pacifism. Yes, German-Americans experienced substantial repression as war hysteria rippled through the system. But nothing close to what Japanese-Americans suffered after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

On Feb. 12, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which authorized federal officials to round up Japanese-Americans, including U.S. citizens, and remove them from the Pacific Coast. By June, 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent in California, Oregon and Washington were ordered to assembly centers like fairgrounds and racetracks … with barbed wire … and then shipped to permanent internment camps. Then, astonishingly, they were asked to sign up for military service, and some males 18-45 did since they were subject to the draft.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard three separate cases on the constitutionality and the court decided it was a wartime necessity.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act and President George H.W. Bush signed letters of apology and payment of $20,000 to heirs. A total of 82,219 Japanese-Americans eventually received $1.6 billion in reparations.

Today’s business tycoons would be wise to not forget the past

A statement on Union Iron Mills stationary signed by Andrew Carnegie and dated Sept. 29, 1870, sold for $6,572 at an April 2013 auction.

By Jim O’Neal

It may come as no surprise to learn that virtually all the major cities in California were incorporated in the same year. 1850 was also the year California became the 31st state to join the United States. It is now the most populous state and supports a $3 trillion economy, which ranks No. 5 in the world … larger than Great Britain. However, you probably don’t know that, in terms of land area, the three largest cities are Los Angeles, San Diego and (surprisingly) California City.

This large chunk of land was formed in the boomlet following World War 2 with the intent of rivalling Los Angeles. Southern California was flourishing due to temperate weather, Pacific Ocean beaches and nearby mountains. It seemed logical that with a large influx of people, all that was lacking were lots of affordable housing, automobiles, streets, freeways and plenty of water to drink and as irrigation for the orange groves.

An ambitious land developer spotted this unique opportunity and bought 82,000 acres of prime California City land just north of the SoCal basin. He commissioned a high-power, architectural master-plan community with detailed maps of blocks, lots and streets. Next was hiring a small army of 1,300 salesmen to promote land sales to individuals, while building a 26-acre artificial lake, two golf courses and a four-story Holiday Inn.

This was land speculation on a grand scale; they sold 50,000 lots for $100 million before the market dried up. Some reports claim that only 175 new homes were actually built. The fundamental reason was that Southern California land development primarily evolved south along the coastline toward San Diego and the prime ocean-front property in Malibu, Long Beach and Orange County. Although the scheme failed, California City was finally incorporated in 1965. Today, the 15,000 inhabitants, many from Edwards Air Force base, are sprinkled liberally over 204 square miles.

A prominent No. 4 on the list is San Jose, which narrowly escaped being destroyed in a 1906 earthquake that nearly leveled nearby San Francisco. When we lived there (1968-71), it was a small, idyllic oasis with plum trees growing in undeveloped lots in the shadow of the Santa Cruz Mountains. There were nice beaches an hour away and for $14.15, PSA would fly you 400 miles to LAX in 45 minutes. In addition to the short drive to San Francisco with all its wonders, Lake Tahoe offered gambling, except when it snowed on the Sierra Nevada, a mere 200 miles away.

Nobody dreamed that the miracle of Silicon Valley was on the horizon and the enormous impact of the Internet would result in the boom-bust of the dot.com era in the late 1990s. The stock market was up 400% and then down 80%, wiping out most of the gains. However, post 2002, and the proliferation of the personal computer, there was another technology revolution that would create more wealth than anyplace in the history of the world.

Apple, Google, Facebook, eBay, Intel, Cisco and Instagram are at the core of a technological society that has revolutionized our economy and communications, our lives and, by extension, the world. Smart phones, search engines and social-media giants – plus a community of 2,000 tech firms and venture capitalists – have generated enormous fortunes. Electric vehicles have morphed into driverless cars and trucks that will result in more creative destruction. AI and robotics will obsolete large swaths of production and elevate privacy and anti-trust concerns that will rival early 20th century government action to break up trusts.

Consider when Andrew Carnegie sold his Carnegie Steel Company to J.P. Morgan in 1901 for an astounding $303 million. He became the richest man in America, surpassing even John D. Rockefeller for several years. JPM then merged it with two other steel companies to form the first billion-dollar U.S. company, U.S. Steel. While Rockefeller continued to expand his oil monopoly, Carnegie devoted the last 18 years of his life to large-scale philanthropy. He literally lived by his credo: “The man who dies rich dies disgraced.” President Teddy Roosevelt would lead the trust-busting that became necessary.

Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, the Google gang and Jeff Bezos would be wise to heed George Santayana’s aphorism: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Especially when social media becomes more addictive than crack cocaine.

Are we capable of dealing with the daunting tasks that face us? Of course we are!

A 1776 broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, sold for $514,000 at an April 2016 Heritage auction.

By Jim O’Neal

Two U.S. presidents have been elected by the House of Representatives. John Quincy Adams became the sixth president (1825) when his chief opponent, Andrew Jackson, failed to win a majority of the electoral votes in the 1824 election. The House held a special election to decide the winner. Supposedly, a “corrupt bargain” between Adams and House Speaker Henry Clay vaulted Clay into the Secretary of State position.

John C. Calhoun easily won the vice-presidential vote and he served four years under JQA. When Jackson bounced back and won in 1828, Calhoun continued as vice president for three more years. Then he resigned and made a run for the nomination in a new party: the Nullifiers … the second third party to form (the Anti-Masons were the first third party).

Earlier, in 1801, Thomas Jefferson had been elected by the House after he tied with Aaron Burr in the general election. However, it took 36 votes in the House to break the tie. Alexander Hamilton finally persuaded the electors from New York to vote for Jefferson since he was “the lesser of two evils.” Two years later, Burr exacted his revenge by killing Hamilton in a duel.

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, was Adams’ vice president for four years and then served two terms as president. He had hoped that the young nation would expand across North America, becoming a great agrarian society. Instead, great cities evolved out of necessity to accommodate the millions of immigrants fleeing to the new republic with its fabled “streets paved with gold.” In 1800, Jefferson famously wrote: “When great evils happen, I am in the habit of looking out for what good may arise from them as consolations to us. … The yellow fever will discourage the growth of great cities in our nation; and I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health and the liberties of man.” In Jefferson’s time, the epidemics that repeatedly swept through large cities were especially lethal.

One poignant example occurred in the summer of 1793 when a massive epidemic of yellow fever hit Philadelphia, the largest city in America and temporary capital of the United States. It was caused by the mosquitoes that flourished in the muddy swamps in the area. Yellow fever is an acute, infectious viral disease transmitted by the bite of an infected female.

This episode was responsible for 5,000 deaths, or 10% of the population. An even bigger disaster was averted when President George Washington moved the federal government and nearly 40% of the inhabitants followed. Another mitigating factor helped when a savvy group of doctors imposed a quarantine on all ships and refugees from Philadelphia. Special guards were posted to the wharfs to ensure compliance and citizens were warned not to let any strangers into their homes.

When yellow fever returned to NYC in 1795, they were better prepared with a health department. But in 1798, yellow fever killed 2,086 people (one in 30), or the equivalent of 289,000 in today’s terms. The battle continued during the entire 19th century with major outbreaks in Baltimore, Boston, New Orleans and other southern cities. Eventually, a vaccine was developed.

Thomas Jefferson was eager to obtain what would become part of the Louisiana Purchase when Spain ceded much of North America to France. He dispatched James Monroe and Robert Livingston to France with an offer to buy 40,000 square miles for $10 million. The offer was refused, but Napoleon subsequently made an astonishing counteroffer … 827,987 square miles for $15 million! The offer was quickly accepted since it provided significant benefits. First, safety for shipping on the Mississippi River … a doubling of the size of the entire United States and, mostly, acquisition of the largest, most fertile track of land on Earth. It was enough land to entice migration from the East all the way to the Pacific Ocean. With this vast new area, there would be no need to congest into cities.

However, industrial America developed rapidly as a nation, but cities grew even faster. Masses of immigrants poured into America and a vast population shifted from the country to the city. Between 1860 and 1900, the rural population had doubled, but the number of city-dwellers quadrupled! The city became the supreme achievement of modern industry, the center of civilization. It spread out, built tall skyscrapers, mechanized factories and provided all the goods and services needed for workers.

On the other side of the ledger were the evils: ghettos for the poor, suburbs for the middle-class, exclusive neighborhoods for the wealthy, and ethnic neighborhoods for the immigrants. The city offered hope and opportunity, but it also brought despair. Overwhelming social problems, diseases, poverty, crime and strife between businesses and exploited workers. So we’re left with a few problems to solve:

Rising oceans, melting polar caps, tornadic storms, raging forest fires
Partially filled office buildings and empty, closed-down malls
AI and robots replacing undereducated workers
Rising rates of inequality
Systemic racism
More complex viral diseases as we get deeper into dark spooky places
Telemedicine in place of doctors
Remote learning

Are we capable of dealing with these daunting tasks? Just think about poor George Washington who had to flee when every tenth person was dying. Of course we are, but if we give up in despair, someone (probably China) will assume the leadership role and, in the process, set the world’s agenda. Leaders lead … others follow.

Stop whatever you’re doing, grab the soap and scrub your hands

A group of three framed autographs by famed medical scientists, including Jonas Salk, went to auction in January 2017.

By Jim O’Neal

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) was a handsome, virile young man – 39 years old – when he contracted what was diagnosed as poliomyelitis. Polio is an odd infection whose history traces back to the earliest humans and is generally transmitted by water contaminated with human feces. It primarily affects children under age 5, with only 1 in 200 infections leading to irreversible paralysis.

In FDR’s case, the paralysis overtook all of his extremities, but he eventually regained use of his upper limbs and relied on a wheelchair or crutches for mobility. We know that he had a spectacular political career, culminating in being elected president of the United States four separate times. He is frequently ranked among the top three presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Political commentator George Will observed that some of that steel he relied on must have found its way into his soul and political will.

Some researchers now believe that FDR did not have poliomyelitis, but Guillain-Barré syndrome. If true, it seems to be particularly irrelevant since the treatment/cure was not discovered until this century, just a wee bit late, and it’s still in development.

Importantly, major polio epidemics were not common until the early 1900s, when Europe was plague-ridden. By 1910, frequent epidemics became regular events throughout the modern developed world. It peaked in the summer months and by 1950 was responsible for 500,000 deaths or paralysis every year.

To help fund research for a cure, in 1938 Roosevelt founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, soon to become the March of Dimes. Dr. Jonas Salk was picked to lead search for a cure. Would FDR have made such a dramatic effort if he had something other than polio? Perhaps not, but it’s probably not practical to rely on this ploy to get to priority funding since we’ve learned it’s harder to find good presidents than breakthrough medical cures.

During the war, Salk had pioneered a highly successful influenza vaccine and then taken a position at the University of Pittsburgh … in need of research funding. In danced the March of Dimes and Salk began working on a polio vaccine in 1948. Since polio is a viral disease, humans build up immunities to viruses after direct exposure. Development of mild strains can occur if a viable delivery system is also co-developed (a difficult task).

Salk’s work generated national attention since national panics were occurring every summer and swimming pools, movie theaters and other gathering places were routinely closed.

In the summer of 1952, he injected several dozen mentally handicapped children with an experimental version of his vaccine (try that today!). Also among the first people to be inoculated were his wife, their three children and Dr. Salk himself. Two years later (1954), the vaccine was ready for extensive field trials. In the interim, 100 million Americans had donated money to the March of Dimes (the 1950 census declared that the total U.S. population was only 150 million).

Next, a literal army of 20,000 public health workers, 64,000 school employees and 220,000 volunteers administered the vaccine to 1.8 million schoolchildren. On April 12, 1955, Salk’s polio vaccine was declared safe and effective. This announcement was broadcast nationally on television and around the world on radio. Polio was finally defeated in the United States. Dr. Salk was in a position to make an enormous amount of money. However, when asked in a television interview who owned the patent, he simply answered, “There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?

I realize it is difficult to feel an increased sense of optimism about COVID-19 by retelling the story of polio. But, one source of encouragement is to listen more carefully to what we’ve been told (ad nauseam) about the powerful defenses everyone has access to: simple soap and water! The coronavirus that has changed our lives perhaps forever is enveloped in fatty layers that are easily dissolved by detergents, which expose the core of the virus and cause it to perish.

So stop whatever you’re doing, get to the soap and water and scrub your hands (just like your mother told you before every meal). I do this frequently while I patiently wait for the miracle vaccine.

What do you have to lose?

LBJ exhibited ambition, decisiveness, a strong work ethic … and fear of failure

Lyndon B. Johnson artifacts, including signed photographs and a Civil Rights Bill signing pen, sold for $15,000 at an October 2018 Heritage auction.

By Jim O’Neal

Lyndon Baines Johnson was born in August 1908 in the Texas Hill Country nearly 112 years ago. (Tempus does fugit!). He shined shoes and picked cotton for pocket money, graduating from high school at age 15. Both his parents were teachers and encouraged the reading habits that would benefit him greatly for the rest of his life.

Tired of both books and study, he bummed his way to Southern California, where he picked peaches, washed dishes and did other odd jobs like a common hobo. The deep farm recession forced him back to Texas, where he borrowed $75 to earn a teaching degree from a small state college. Working with poor, impoverished Mexican children gave him a unique insight into poverty. He loved to tell stories from that time in his life, especially when he was working on legislation that improved life for common people.

His real power was developed when he electrified the rural Hill Country by creating a pool of money from power companies that he doled out to politicians all over the country who needed campaign funds and were willing to barter their votes in Congress. The women and girls who lived in Texas were known as “bent women” from toting water – two buckets at a time from water wells – to their homes. Having electricity to draw the water eliminated a generation of women who were not hump-backed. They said of LBJ, “He brought us light.” This caught FDR’s attention and lead to important committee assignments.

He married 20-year-old Claudia Alta Taylor in 1934 (at birth, a nanny had exclaimed “She looks just like a “little lady bird”). A full-grown Lady Bird parlayed a small inheritance into an investment in an Austin radio station that grew into a multimillion-dollar fortune.

Robert Caro has written about LBJ’s ambition, decisiveness and willingness to work hard. But how does that explain the trepidation to run for president in 1960? He had been Senate Majorly Leader, accumulated lots of political support and had a growing reputation for his Civil Rights record. He even told his associates, “I am destined to be president. I was meant to be president. And I’m going to be president!” Yet in 1958, when he was almost perfectly positioned to make his move, he was silent.

His close friend, Texas Governor John Connally, had a theory: “He was afraid of failing.”

His father was a fair politician but failed, lost the family ranch, plunged into bankruptcy and was the butt of town jokes. In simple terms, LBJ was afraid to run for the candidacy and lose. That explains why he didn’t announce until it was too late and JFK had it sewed up.

Fear of failure.

After JFK won the 1960 nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, he knew LBJ would be a valuable vice president on the Democratic ticket against Richard Nixon. Johnson’s Southwestern drawl expanded the base and the 50 electoral votes in Texas was too tempting to pass up. They were all staying at the Biltmore Hotel in L.A. and were a mere two floors away. Kennedy personally convinced LBJ to accept, despite brother Bobby’s three attempts to get him to decline (obviously unsuccessful).

The 1960 election was incredibly close with only 100,000 votes separating Kennedy and Nixon. Insiders were sure that a recount would uncover corruption in Illinois and Nixon would be declared the winner. But in a big surprise, RMN refused to demand a recount to avoid the massive disruption in the country. (Forty years later, Gore vs. Bush demonstrated the chaos in the 2000 Florida “hanging chads” debacle and the stain on SCOTUS by stopping just the Florida recount).

After the Kennedy assassination in November 1963, LBJ was despondent since he was sure he’d become the “accidental president.” But, when he demolished Barry Goldwater in 1968 the old Lyndon was back. The Johnson-Humphrey ticket won by of the greatest landslides in American history. LBJ got 61.1 percent of the popular vote and 486 electoral votes to Goldwater’s 52. More importantly, Democrats increased their majorities in both houses of Congress.

This level of domination provided LBJ with the leverage to implement his full Great Society agenda with the help of the 89th Congress, which approved multibillion-dollar budgets. After LBJ ramrodded through Congress his liberal legislative programs in 1965-66, it seemed that he might go down in history as one of the nation’s truly great presidents. But, his failure to bring Vietnam to a successful conclusion, the riots in scores of cities in 1967-68, and the spirit of discontent that descended on the country turned his administration into a disaster.

On Jan. 22, 1973, less than a month after President Truman died, the 64-year-old Johnson died of a heart attack. His fear of failure, a silent companion.

More than 50 years later, streets filled with a new generation, with new demands

A *Time* magazine signed by Martin Luther King Jr. realized $6,875 at an October 2013 Heritage auction. The issue is dated Feb. 18, 1957, two months after the end of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

By Jim O’Neal

In the two decades following WW2, the African-American struggle for civil rights lacked focus and broad support. Americans had spent four long years fighting a bitter war to free the world from tyranny and were now intent on resuming a peaceful recovery. However, in the process of restoring a normal life, they became disgusted by racial segregation and systemic exploitation of minorities. As important legal victories increased, protesters and marchers were helping change attitudes as the basis for faster, more sincere progress.

Alas, irrespective of the legal triumphs and the changes in public opinion, Jim Crow segregation was deeply embedded in the Deep South and portions of the West. Discriminatory laws generally targeted Latinos and American Indians, in addition to African-Americans. All levels of state government often failed to honor court decisions, while civil rights workers were subjected to mob violence that even included law enforcement officers.

Finally, on Aug. 28, 1963, the largest civil rights protest in American history occurred when 250,000 people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to begin “The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” (later known simply as “The March”). The highlight of the day was a 15-minute closing speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

In it, King offered his version of the American Dream, drawing on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Emancipation Proclamation. It was quickly to become known as the “I Have a Dream” speech. The Dream included a hope that people “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” that black and white children could “join hands … and walk together as sisters and brothers,” and that “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”

MLK cautioned the nation there was still a long way to go. He cited the broken promises Americans made after the Civil War. Slavery was gone, but vicious racism still existed in general society. He said bluntly, “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” King also highlighted the curse of widespread poverty during an era of postwar prosperity. He closed by exhorting white Americans to strive for a realization of the cherished phrase “Let Freedom Ring” and join in the old Negro spiritual that proclaimed “Free at last! Free at last! Great God a-mighty, we are free at last!”

The March on Washington was pivotal in the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which eliminated segregation and began dismantling Jim Crow practices.

On Nov. 21, 1963, Lyndon Baines Johnson, the eighth vice president to assume the nation’s highest office following the death of a president, was better prepared to take command than any of his predecessors. Despite the personal disrespect and abuse from the elitist Kennedy crowd (especially RFK), LBJ was a master politician, serving 24 years as a representative and 12 years as a senator. As Majority Leader, he was truly “Master of the Senate,” as biographer Robert Caro has written so carefully.

The new president stayed in the background as the nation grappled with the enormous grief that engulfed Kennedy’s family and the people during funeral services for the slain president. Then, five days after the assassination – on the day before Thanksgiving – Johnson addressed a special joint session of Congress. He challenged them to honor Kennedy’s memory by carrying forward the dead president’s New Frontier program, saying “Let us continue.”

He asked for early passage of a new civil rights bill “to eliminate from the nation every trace of discrimination and oppression that is based on color or race.” Congress responded by passing every law LBJ pleaded for. Yet, over 50 years later, our streets are filled with a new generation, with new demands, as Congress is deadlocked once again. So, no new laws…

Perhaps Cassius was right after all: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” (William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar).