DATE=04-01-02
TYPE=English Feature
NUMBER=7-36124
TITLE=AMERICAN MOMENTS 4-7 to 4-13/02
BYLINE=Zlatica Hoke
TELEPHONE=202 619-0935
DATELINE=Washington
EDITOR=Ted Landphair
CONTENT=
America's First Colony 1788
(For Use 4/7)
NARR On April seventh, 1788, the first American settlement outside the original thirteen states was established in what was then called the Northwest Territory. The Northwest Territory included all the land north of the Ohio River and west of New York State to the Mississippi River. The total area was about 690-thousand square kilometers. Today it consists of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, and the eastern part of Minnesota. A group of forty-seven men and women left their boats on the north bank of the Ohio River and began a settlement at a place that later became Marietta [PRON: mair-ee-ETT-uh], Ohio. They acted under guidelines set by the Northwest Ordinance of 1785, one of the most important measures passed by Congress under the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first national charter. The Northwest Ordinance spelled out the process through which a territory was organized and then could move to statehood. It guaranteed that new states would be on an equal footing with the old, and it protected the civil liberties of settlers within the new territories. By prohibiting slavery in the Northwest Territory, the ordinance became the first national legislation in the United States that set limits on the expansion of slavery.
United States Severs Relations with Iran 1980
(For Use 4/7)
NARR On April seventh, 1980, the United States severed diplomatic relations with the government that controlled Iran. President Jimmy Carter said the United States was acting because the Iranian government had refused to take custody of American hostages from so-called "militant students." The previous November, the Iranians had assaulted the American Embassy in Tehran and taken the diplomatic staff hostage. President Carter said the United States would hold Iran's leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and his government, responsible for the safety of the embassy hostages.
TAPE: CUT ONE - PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER (:18)
"This lays bare the full responsibility of the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Revolutionary Council for the continued illegal and outrageous holding of the innocent hostages. The Iranian government can no longer escape full responsibility by hiding behind the militants at the embassy."
NARR President Jimmy Carter spent much of the remainder of his term trying to negotiate a deal to free the hostages. (BEGIN OPT) The fifty-two Americans were finally released on January 20th, 1981 after both sides approved a complex settlement. It happened on the day that President Carter left office and was succeeded by Ronald Reagan. (END OPT)
Works Progress Administration (WPA) Established 1935
(For Use 04/08)
TEXT: On April eighth, 1935, Congress approved the Works Progress Administration, known as the "W-P-A." Created by President Franklin Roosevelt to relieve the hardship of the Great Depression, this national works program employed more than eight and one-half million people before it was disbanded in 1943. The Federal Writers' Project was one of several elements within the W-P-A designed to employ people with skills in the arts. Some of these well-known writers included Saul Bellow, John Cheever, Ralph Ellison, May Swenson, Margaret Walker and Richard Wright. During the early years, one of the Project's most notable accomplishments was a series of state guidebooks that offered a colorful sampling of life in the United States. Now considered classics of Americana, these guides remain the Federal Writers Project's best-known undertaking. Another lasting legacy was the agency's recording of the life stories of more than ten thousand men and women from a variety of regions, occupations and ethnic groups. Nearly three thousand of these manuscripts are available to researchers today.
The W-P-A also sponsored the Federal Theater Project, which employed out-of-work actors, musicians, vaudevillians, and theater technicians to perform in classical and modern plays, including Orson Welles' production of Macbeth. Although the W-P-A was largely considered a success, the policy of government financing of theatrical productions stirred political controversy throughout the life of the Project. In 1939, Congress discontinued its funding.
Mary Pickford, "America's Sweetheart" 1893
(For Use 4/8)
TEXT: On April eighth, 1893, American silent-film actress and motion picture producer Mary Pickford was born. With a face that radiated angelic innocence and hair that hung in long, golden ringlets, she became known as "America's Sweetheart," and became the most popular performer in American film history.
Mary Pickford was born Gladys Marie Smith in Toronto, Canada, where as a child she began to act in local theater companies. In 1907, at age fourteen, she coaxed Broadway director David Belasco into giving her a leading role in one of his productions. Two years later, Pickford approached film director D. W. Griffith and began a long association that included performances in such classic silent films as Tess of the Storm Country, Sparrows, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Poor Little Rich Girl. But there was more to Mary Pickford than her innocent demeanor implied. She was a skilled businesswoman, managing her own career (BEGIN OPT) and demanding a salary that was unprecedented -- from one-hundred-seventy-five per week in 1910 to ten thousand dollars a week in 1916. (END OPT) In 1916, she joined with D. W. Griffith, actors Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks -- who was also her husband -- to form United Artists. It would become the first studio to give actors full artistic and financial control over their films. But as creative as Mary Pickford was, her fans would not accept her as anything other than the stereotype of a beautiful, winsome child. Although she earned an Academy Award for Best Actress for the sound film Coquette in 1929, Pickford retired from acting in 1933, after completion of her last film, Secrets. Mary Pickford died May 29, 1979 in Santa Monica California at age 87.
Citizen Churchill 1963
(For use 04/09)
NARR: On April ninth, 1963, the United States bestowed honorary citizenship upon England's World War Two prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill. Guests at the White House ceremony included the British ambassador, representatives of British Commonwealth nations, the former prime minister's son and grandson, and his oldest American friends. However, Winston Churchill, who was eighty-eight and in frail health, was not there. Instead, he watched the ceremony on television at his home in London. President John F. Kennedy spoke about the high regard that Americans had for Britain's stalwart and eloquent wartime leader:
TAPE: CUT TWO - PRESIDENT JOHN KENNEDY :48 (:15 to opt)
"In proclaiming him an honorary citizen, I only propose a formal recognition of the place he has long since won in the history of freedom and in the affections of my, and now his, fellow countrymen. [/////BEGIN OPT Whenever and wherever tyranny threatened, he has always championed liberty. Facing firmly towards the future, he has never forgotten the past. Serving six monarchs of his native Great Britain, he has served all men's freedom and dignity. In the dark days, and darker nights, when England stood alone and most men, save Englishmen, despaired of England's life, he mobilized the English language and sent it into battle." END OPT]
NARR Sir Winston Churchill, honorary United States citizen, died in January 1965 at age ninety.
Marian Anderson Sings at the Lincoln Memorial 1939
(For Use 04/09)
NARR: On April ninth, 1939, Marian Anderson, the African-American soprano, performed a concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D-C. Tens of thousands of people some say as many as two hundred-thousand -- attended her open-air performance of classical, spiritual and patriotic music. Miss Anderson began with "America":
TAPE: CUT THREE - MARIAN ANDERSON SINGS "AMERICA" (RUNS 1:49, ENDS WITH APPLAUSE) ESTABLISH AND FADE UNDER AND OUT AS DESIRED [OPT: IN FULL TO :44, THEN FADE UNDER TEXT]
NARR Originally, Marian Anderson planned to sing at the Constitution Hall auditorium, but her performance was barred by the Daughters of the American Revolution, the group that owned the building. The D-A-R, an organization of women descendants of men who fought against Britain in America's Revolutionary War, insisted that the April ninth date was already booked for another performance. But it is widely believed that the D-A-R's reason for preventing the Constitution Hall concert by Miss Anderson was that she was black. Angered by the D-A-R's decision, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the organization. Mrs. Roosevelt used her considerable influence to help arrange the Easter Sunday concert at the Lincoln Memorial.
Joseph Pulitzer Born 1847
(For Use 04/10)
NARR: One hundred-fifty-five years ago today, publisher Joseph Pulitzer [PRON: PULL-it-sir], who built a newspaper and magazine empire in the United States, was born in Hungary on April tenth, 1847. He immigrated to the United States at age seventeen and went on to become one of America's wealthiest and most influential media barons. One of his leading publications, the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, was noted for its reports on political corruption and crime. Pulitzer later purchased the New York World in New York City and hired the best talent in journalism to work for that newspaper. Through illustrations and cartoons he helped broaden interest in the paper. His goal was to include in his publications stories and editorials so compelling that every American would want to read them. He sought to perpetuate good journalism, so a provision in his will set up the graduate school of journalism at Columbia University in New York. Joseph Pulitzer also endowed the Pulitzer Prizes to be awarded each year for excellence in journalism, other forms of writing, and music.
Bataan "Death March" Begins 1942
(For Use 04/10)
NARR: Sixty years ago today, on April tenth, 1942, about seventy-five-thousand American and Filipino soldiers who were prisoners of war on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, were herded together by their Japanese captors and forced to begin the infamous "Bataan [PRON: buh-TAN] Death March." The Americans and Filipinos were the defenders of Luzon when the Japanese invaded the Philippines on December tenth, 1941. General Douglas MacArthur's plan of defense against overwhelming Japanese forces called for a slow, fighting withdrawal to the rugged, heavily forested Bataan peninsula. (BEGIN OPT) The success of the strategy spoiled the plan of Japanese general Masaharu Homma, who predicted his forces would conquer the Pacific archipelago in forty-five days. The stubborn defenders held out for 119 days before surrendering. (END OPT) The Japanese began to move the prisoners of war about one hundred kilometers to a railway junction for further transportation to P-O-W camps. Some escaped along the way, but between seven and ten thousand prisoners died on the road due to illness, wounds, hunger and Japanese brutality. (BEGIN OPT) The story of the Bataan Death March shocked and enraged the United States and hardened its resolve to defeat Japan. [END OPT]
Jackie Robinson 1947
(For Use 04/11)
NARR Fifty-five years ago today, on April eleventh, 1947, in New York City, Jack Roosevelt Robinson played his first game at a major league baseball park, becoming the first black to play at the top level of professional baseball in the United States. "Jackie" Robinson appeared on that day in a pre-season exhibition game at Ebbets Field, home field of the team he had just joined, the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson had been a star athlete in college before he was recruited by Branch Rickey, the head of the Dodgers baseball organization. Jackie Robinson, a fiery competitor, accepted Rickey's advice that he would have to let his skill on the field, not his fists, answer the racial taunts expected from some of the players and spectators.
TAPE: CUT FOUR -- JACKIE ROBINSON (RUNS :13)
"I knew that I was going to be somewhat out in front and perhaps I would have to take a lot of abuse. I knew that this was bigger than any one individual and I would have to do whatever I possibly could to control myself."
NARR Jackie Robinson succeeded. He opened the door for other black athletes to play in formerly all-white professional leagues. He retired from the game in 1956 to devote more time to business, political and civil-rights activities. Jackie Robinson died in 1972 of a heart attack. He was 53 years old.
Civil Rights Law of 1968 Equal Housing Opportunity 1968
(For Use 04/11)
NARR On April eleventh, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law a measure guaranteeing that all Americans would receive equal access to housing. The law made it a federal crime to deny housing to anyone based on race or religion.
TAPE: CUT FIVE - PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON (RUNS :15) [:05 OPT]
"Now with this bill, the voice of justice speaks again. It proclaims that fair housing for all, all human beings who live in this country, is now a part of the American way of life."
NARR The fair housing law was part of President Johnson's "Great Society" -- federal programs to advance civil rights and education, and reduce poverty, in the United States.
First Shots of the American Civil War 1861
(For Use 04/12)
NARR: In the hours before dawn on April twelfth, 1861, artillery batteries of the South Carolina militia fired the opening shots of the American Civil War. The target was the Federal Army's Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. South Carolina had seceded from the Union four months earlier and demanded the surrender of all federal property within its borders. Fort Sumter was the only remaining Union stronghold in that state. Its commander, Robert Anderson, knew that without reinforcements his situation was hopeless. Nevertheless, he said he could not surrender without orders from Washington, or without putting up at least token resistance. The Confederate guns commenced firing, destroying the fort's barracks and setting fire to the armory. After two-and-one-half days of constant bombardment and with food and ammunition in short supply, Major Anderson surrendered the fort.
The Death of F.D.R. 1945
(For Use 04/12)
NARR: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died on April twelfth, 1945. In January, he had been inaugurated as the nation's chief executive for an unprecedented fourth term. Roosevelt was first elected in 1932 on a platform to lead the United States out of the Great Depression. He oversaw the industrial buildup that made the United States the mighty military machine that he called an "arsenal of democracy" in World War Two, and led the country through most of the conflict. He was the first president to take full advantage of the medium of radio to explain his policies and plans to the nation, and his voice became familiar to Americans through radio broadcasts of his so-called "fireside chats." And it was radio that first brought the nation the news of his death from a stroke at his Warm Springs, Georgia vacation cottage.
(/////BEGIN OPT/////)
TAPE: CUT SIX - CBS NEWS BULLETIN (RUNS :16)
VOICE OF ANNOUNCER JOHN CHARLES DALY:
"We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin from C-B-S World News. A press association has just announced that President Roosevelt is dead. The President died of a -- cerebral hemorrhage. All we know so far is that the President died at Warm Springs, in Georgia."
NARR: The radio announcement in 1945 of the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the only person ever to be elected President of the United States four times.
[/////END OPT/////]
Mr. Jefferson's Monument 1943
(For Use 04/13)
NARR On April thirteenth, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt led ceremonies to dedicate the national monument to Thomas Jefferson in Washington, D-C. The date was chosen to commemorate the two-hundredth anniversary of Jefferson's birth. Jefferson was the third president of the United States. As the principal author of the Virginia statute for religious freedom and, later, the Declaration of Independence, he is considered one of the greatest champions of political and spiritual freedom in American history. A six-meter-tall bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson stands in the monument's rotunda. Some of Jefferson's most famous remarks are carved into the walls. Among them is this phrase about liberty: "I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." [BEGIN OPT] As he dedicated the monument to Thomas Jefferson, President Roosevelt said those words were important to remember during the fighting then taking place in World War Two. [END OPT]
Van Cliburn Wins Piano Competition in Moscow 1958
(For Use 04/13)
NARR: On April thirteenth, 1958, the American pianist Van Cliburn [PRON: KLY-burn] won the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow.
TAPE: CUT SEVEN MUSIC RACHMANINOFF CONCERTO NO. 3 in D MINOR, OP. 30 (RUNS :57), FADE IN AND UNDER [CDC-270]
NARR: Although Van Cliburn's technical finesse and dramatic flair at the keyboard thrilled audiences, his triumph came against steep odds. The contest had the highest international standards, and over the years Europeans had dominated it. Many had wondered if the jury would award the Tchaikovsky prize to an American, because relations between the United States and what was then the Soviet Union were at a low ebb during the Cold War.
MUSIC SWELLS, THEN FADES UNDER AND OUT AS DESIRED
[/////BEGIN OPT/////]
NARR Following Van Cliburn's victory, Premier Nikita Khrushchev invited the American to play several concerts in the Soviet Union. The pianist from Texas received tremendous acclaim at each performance.
/////END OPT/////]
Van Cliburn returned to the United States in triumph and became the first musician ever honored with one of New York City's famous ticker-tape parades. After spending several years on the international concert circuit, he returned to Texas. Later he created a foundation to help support the careers of young classical music artists and established the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Texas.
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