End of the World As We Know It

“A government for hire and a combat site

Left her, was coming in a hurry

With the Furies breathing down your neck”

    “It’s the End of the World as We Know It,” R.E. M.

 

At Kirsten Bayer-Petras’s request Dave performed “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” by R.E. M. with James joining in, providing harmony for the final chorus, ending with “I feel fine.”  If only that were true. The lyrics are sung at breakneck speed and at times seem nonsensical.  Here's an example: "Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs/ Birthday party, cheesecake, jellybean, boom." 

 

Here are excerpts from Chesterton Tribune reporter Kevin Nevers from the April Chesterton Town Council meeting:

    “I am not going to request, I’m going to plead for citizens to support the businesses offering curbside service,” urged Jim Tom, R-1^st.  “There are a lot of them out there.  They’re listed in the Chamber’s website. We want these businesses to still be there when this is over.”

    Member Jennifer Fisher, I-5^th, expressed her gratitude to staff for its implementation of the Chesterton Covid-19 Resident Assistance Plan: the green thumbs-up and red thumbs-down window placard program.  “Good job,” she said.  “It reflects the great heart we have in this community.”

    Sharon Darnell, D-4^th, encouraged folks to call and text and email family and friends during the lockdown.  “Please keep those people around you in your thoughts,” she said. “Reach out to them.  Personal contact is so important in these times.”

 

In the “Echoes of the Past” column Nevers does with Betty Canright was this reprint of a story from 1945, when WW II was still taking the lives of Chesterton residents:

   Lt. Magdalene Kubeck, U.S. Navy Nurses Corps, died in an auto accident in the South Pacific area.  It had been raining very heavily in the preceding days and the roads were extremely slippery, and the car in which she was riding was sideswiped by an oncoming vehicle.

 

The Abraham Lincoln Newsletter reprinted an interview Richard J. Hinton conducted in December 5, 1860 with President-elect Lincoln in the hope that he would endorse recognition of the government of Haiti, a republic controlled by former slaves.  Lincoln expressed sympathy for recognition but admitted he would proceed cautiously, given the “alarming” state of affairs with Southern states. Lincoln eventually recognized Haiti in July of 1863 as the Civil War raged.  More enlightening than the interview itself was this biographical profile of 30-year old English native Hinton provided by historian Bob Willard:

    Richard J. Hinton came to America in 1851 and took up residence in New York City.  As a reporter, he opposed the Fugitive Slave Law, became an anti-slavery advocate, and assisted in the organization of the Republican Party.  He was an ally of John Brown and an assistant of abolitionist James Redpath, who headed an effort to encourage free blacks to emigrate to Haiti.

    In 1856 Hinton took up residency in Lawrence, Kansas and joined John Brown.  In fact, but for an accident, he would have been with Brown at Harpers Ferry.  A man mistaken for Brown was hanged.  Together with Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Hinton also planned the jailbreak of Brown’s accomplices who assisted slaves through the Underground Railroad. 

    Hinton helped recruit volunteers for the first Kansas Colored Infantry regiment early in 1862 and was appointed its adjutant with the rank of first lieutenant.  Hinton mustered out of military service in November 1865, having received the brevet rank of colonel.  He finished the war as acting inspector general of the Freedman’s Bureau as well as being sent South from Washington for a time on secret service work ordered by President Lincoln.

 

Haiti’s history has been marked by foreign interference and political instability.  After Christopher Columbus discovered the island of Hispaniola in December 1492, the native Taino population rapidly succumbed to smallpox epidemics and harsh forced labor policies in Spanish gold mines and plantations. Under French rule that began in the seventeenth century black slaves eventually outnumbered white Europeans 10 to 1. During the French Revolution a slave revolt led by Toussant Louverture eventually led to independence in 1804, by which time Louverture had died in a French prison.  In 1915 American business investments seemed threatened by civil unrest.  President Woodrow Wilson sent marines to restore order to Haiti, an occupation that lasted 20 years and involved using Haitians as virtual slave labor to build bridges, roads, and other infrastructure. Following two decades of unstable presidencies, dictator “Papa Doc” Duvalier and son “Baby Doc” instituted a 30-year reign of terror, ending in 1986.  Haiti’s first democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was twice ousted in coups, including in 2004 aided surreptitiously by the Bush administration.  Aristide returned to Haiti in 2011 after seven years in exile but has not run for office since.

 

Bridge buddy and former student Vickie Voller emailed to report that she’d been reading my 2015 Steel Shavings and was pleased that I had written about IUN professor Bob Lovely and Post-Tribune columnist Carol Vertrees.  Vickie was writing for the Post-Tribune in the mid-70s at the time I was submitting weekly columns on the history of Gary.  I’m always flattered when I learn that someone is reading one of my publications.  Douglas Dixon informed me that his manuscript “Beyond Truman: Robert H. Ferrell and Crafting the Past” has been published. He had asked me to review an early draft, but I begged off, saying I did not hold the late IU diplomatic historian in high esteem, mainly due to his disparagement of New Left historians. Ferrell mentored many historians at IU, including Dixon, and was an expert on Harry S Truman. In “The Question of MacArthur’s reputation” (2008), Ferrell concluded that the future general embellished his role in the WW I Meuse-Argonne offensive, taking undeserved credit for the success of troops in combat.