What Happened Today

No one called her the Black Dahlia when she was living, but shortly after Elizabeth Short's body was found cut in two and mutilated, Elizabeth Short forever after was known as the Black Dahlia. Her body was posed in an empty lot, and she had clearly been tortured for some time. Immediately, the press went crazy about the story, not only giving her her nickname, but also speculating wildly about what she had done in the days and weeks leading to her murder. This made the case impossible to solve for authorities, who had a tough time solving a random murder with a woman who know one had seen for awhile. Although almost every notable or strange person living in Los Angeles at the time has become a suspect in the Black Dahlia's murder, it is highly unlikely anyone will be able to absolutely pinpoint Elizabeth Short's killer.

When US President Franklin Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at Casablanca, their ostensible agenda were the immediate war plans. By early 1943, the British had repelled Nazi Germany's intended invasion, the Russians had the German Army bogged down on the Eastern Front, and the Allies had together cleared the Axis powers out of North Africa. There were some thorny issues, notably how to invade mainland Europe and what to do with the Free French Forces, but instead of simple tactical steps, the main result of the conference was a declaration that "unconditional surrender" was the only way that the war would end. This meant the Axis powers had to be defeated and no negotiated peace could be had.

Johnny Cash is an American cultural icon, and a large part of his mystique is the fact that one of his best, most famous albums was recorded at a maximum security prison. Yet when that fact is reflected on, the idea of recording an album in prison becomes more remarkable, which is only enhanced by the fact that it was his comeback album after getting over drug and alcohol addiction. The actual concert and album only adds to the strangeness of the event. Cash mostly sang songs about crime or murder, most notably "Greystone Chapel," which was actually written by a prisoner at Folsom named Glen Sherley. This attitude about prisoners, that they were flawed humans to be bonded with, straddled a weird divide in 1968, but is largely absent from society today.

When Hattie Caraway became the first woman to win an election to the US Senate, she actually was elected to a seat she already held. Just a few months before, her husband, Senator Thaddeus Caraway, had passed away, and the Governor of Arkansas appointed her to the seat. Then when a special election was called for just a short time later, most politicians in Arkansas let Hattie Caraway finish the rest of the term that would expire in less than a year. Hattie Caraway ran again, though, and would win reelection in 1932 and 1938. Hattie Caraway was not a legendary Senator, based on her floor speeches, committee assignments, or legislation sponsored, and she was a fairly representative and capable Southern Democrat at the time. Still, she did it, and used her specific politics to build her own career.

In 1964, many people knew that there were serious health risks associated with smoking tobacco, but many people also kept smoking. Tobacco was so part and parcel of American life and culture that it basically made Jamestown a worthwhile colony, and cigarette and tobacco ads were everywhere, featuring celebrities and other notables promiting tobacco products. Yet through the 1950s and early 1960s, people became increasingly aware of a link between smoking and health problems such as bronchitis and lung cancer. Then Surgeon General Luther Terry led a committee on the links between smoking and health. Their report made larger claims about overall health being compromised by cigarette smoking, as well as simply being a large report from a public health official warning of the dangers of tobacco. This made smoking much less prevalent in American culture and a well known public health risk.

In one of the most famous declarations in history, Julius Caesar announced his intention to take on the Roman establishment by saying "The Die is Cast." Or at least that's the story, and it certainly is an appropriate reflection of his intentions. Caesar was not really launching an overwhelming invasion or seeking a military solution. Instead, he was playing a political game. He knew that his political opponents, led by Pompey, would be panicked, but that the population of Rome would stand behind him. The initial movements went just as Caesar predicted, but it launched a years long Civil War that stretched all over the Mediterraean. Nonetheless, Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon was something Caesar, Rome, and world history could never turn back from.

An income tax is a defining feature of modern government policy and economics. Yet it is, by necessity, a modern invention, as it requires most people to have a consistent income and a government that can track incomes and taxation. It also had to be brought about by someone with a willingness to change the way taxation works and in a situation that needed more govermental revenue. Thus, it is perfectly sensible that a Prime Minister as forward looking and efficient as William Pitt the Younger would introduce the first modern income tax during the French Revolutionary Wars. Pitt's successor, Henry Addington, would end the war and repeal the tax, but have to reintroduce the income tax when war returned. From that point on, income tax was always an option, and would become a feature of the British government (and most other governments) within one hundred years.

The Fourteen Points, US President Woodrow Wilson's plan for peace negotiations at the end of World War I, were an incredibly audacious statement of idealistic foreign policy principles. Most audacious of all was that Wilson announced the Fourteen Points in a speech to Congress just months after America entered the war and well before the war was actually over. Yet Wilson was outlining a way to prevent another World War by focusing on the ideals of national determinism, free trade, and open diplomacy. Wilson also outlined a plan for a League of Nations to watch over the international community. Largely, these ideas all were kept in the Treaty of Versailles when peace negotiations really were made after the war, but the hope that they would prevent another world war was tragically misguided.

The very first casualty by an Air National Guardsmen took place just after World War II in Kentucky when Captain Thomas Mantell crashed while chasing an unidentified flying object. UFO stories usually center on aliens or the supernatural, but the basic fact of the crash that killed Captain Mantell is a reflection of real world anxieties and priorities. The object he was chasing was described initially as an odd disk, but when he and three other pilots flying P-51s began following it, they realized it was gaining altitude. Mantell was the only pilot who decided to chase it all the way, which is when he blacked out and his plane went into a tailspin. Mantell's death made the story an official government problem, as well as reflecting the basic facts of living in the new culture of the Cold War.

When reigning U.S. Women's Figure Skating Champion Nancy Kerrigan was attacked before the 1994 U.S. Championships, the whole event became front page news. Then it was discovered that the men who planned and carried out the attack were associated with Tonya Harding, Kerrigan's chief rival and the winner of the 1994 Championship. Both Harding and Kerrigan would wind up on the 1994 Olympics Team, which took place a month later. Harding's husband and bodyguard were easily arrested and convicted for the assault. Then Tonya Harding had to plead guilty to hindering prosecution, which meant she was banned for life from the United States Figure Skating Association. After that, Harding became a byword for trash, celebrity culture, and bad life decisions, while Nancy Kerrigan became the leading female figure skater and an icon of the sport.