Some days are all dried up when it comes to historical facts that “interest” me in some way. Don’t get me wrong here. Every day has loads of people, places, and things that have occurred that are somehow noteworthy.
But days like October 11 seem to be teeming with items that I find particularly compelling or fascinating.
Like these.
On October 11, 1939, my favorite smart guy, Albert Einstein, told one of my favorite presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt, about the possibility of an atomic bomb. Einstein warned the president that the Nazis might be developing nuclear weapons. He also urged the United States to stockpile uranium ore and begin work on its own atomic weapons. Einstein had his eye on the world. But. He did all of this, though, on Eleanor Roosevelt’s birthday.
Yes, Eleanor was born on October 11, 1884. So she would have been 55 years old when all this talk of nuclear weapons was happening. I’m not sure if she was in on the conversation or not. I mean, at the White House, did it come up over birthday cake? And what flavor? At any rate, these little parts of history make me wonder.
On a much different note, it was also on October 11 that “Saturday Night Live” — created by Lorne Michaels — premiered on NBC. This happened in 1975. The very first host of SNL was, appropriately, George Carlin. I can’t think of another person from that time who would have been better.
The big thing that came to my mind on this was my introduction to SNL. I probably started watching in 1979 or so. And for years, I never missed an episode if I could help it. I would be sitting alone in the darkness on the dining room floor at my parents’ house. All the other kids were moved out by then. So it was just me, as Mom and Dad were always tucked away snugly in bed at that hour. This memory gives me much to consider about my young life. I certainly wasn’t thinking about atomic bombs or the FBI.
Which brings me to this.
On October 11, 1922, the first woman FBI “special investigator”- Alaska Davidson- was appointed.
What a name. Alaska Davidson. She was born, right here, in Warren, Ohio, on March 1, 1868. Her parents were Warren and Mary Elizabeth Doud Packard. Incredibly, her two brothers, James Ward Packard and William Doud Packard, founded Packard, an automobile manufacturer. Oh, those old Packards. Anyway, she grew up in one of the largest houses in Warren, and was named after our big frozen Alaska. Heaven only knows why.
At the age of 54, Davidson was hired by director William J. Burns to work at the Bureau of Investigation (the former name of the FBI) as a special investigator. She was the first female special agent. Her starting salary was a whopping $7 a day plus $4 when traveling. I guess maybe for 1922, that wasn’t so bad.
But here is the thing. After J. Edgar Hoover became acting director of the Bureau in 1924, he asked for Davidson’s resignation when it was decided that the FBI had “no particular work for a woman agent.” So. She resigned on June 10, 1924. I think Hoover was weeding out the “girls” on the force. Only three women became agents in the 1920s. With the resignation of Davidson and fellow agent Jessie B. Duckstein in 1924 and Lenore Houston in 1928, the FBI had no female agents between 1929 and 1972. They had been leading the frontier. Dumb old Hoover.
Speaking of frontiers. This.
That mighty explorer, Meriwether Lewis, died on October 11. That happened in 1809 when Lewis was only 35 years old. The cause of his death was gunshot wounds. Now. There are a lot of stories about his death. He died under mysterious circumstances that could have been murder or suicide along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee. The whole ruckus happened at an inn called Grinder’s Stand.
But here is the thing. Meriwether Lewis’s death has been a source of speculation for many years. Oftentimes, people have the notion that “great men” do not take their own lives. But those closest to Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and William Clark fully accepted the reports of suicide. Jefferson reported that Lewis’s family had a history of what is believed to be manic-depression (bipolar disorder) and that he had been subject to bouts of deep depression since his youth. Clark said more of the same.
You know, Lewis got shot in the butt while they were on their great trip to explore the West in 1806. Maybe he never got over that, either.
So. There it is. A few bits of the past. As wide as they come. All of them happening on October 11.
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In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.
— Eleanor Roosevelt
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If it’s true that our species is alone in the universe, then I’d have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.
— George Carlin
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The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.
— Albert Einstein
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Lewis shot. Einstein thought. Hoover snot.
