We don’t know their names, nor the photographer who immortalized them, but these men lunching 800 feet up show the daredevil spirit behind Manhattan’s vertical expansion.
In a fascinating episode of the wonderful Time series “100 Photos“, the voice of Rockefeller Center archivist Christine Roussel shares the history of the incredibly famous 1932 photo entitled “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper“, featuring brave, but unknown men eating 800 feet off the ground.
The question of the names of all these men comes up frequently who are these men because on the back of the photograph they’re not identified. …I think it’s kind of sad that they’re not recognized because everybody else gets the credit and yet the people who actually have built the building are forgotten. The fact that they are immortalized in this picture and they are the guys who risked their lives building this building. I think that what’s important about the picture is that it places them in history as being important in the development of New York City and Rockefeller Center.
As accusations fly that Russia manipulated the 2016 American election to put Donald Trump in the White House, some Americans are remembering that the United States also fiddled with elections in numerous nations during the Cold War, including Chile, Iran and Central America.
One of the most notorious examples is Italy, where the CIA mounted an aggressive—and successful—campaign to limit Communist success in the 1948 election, including handing bags of money to conservative Italian political parties (a tradition hardly unknown in American politics). From 1948 to 1968, the CIA gave more than $65 million to Italian parties and labor unions.
But instead of cash, the United States could have sent in the Marines to give Italy the government that America thought it deserved. As late as 1960, America was still contemplating using military force if the Communists took power. Of course, the United States would always have responded militarily if the Soviet Army invaded Italy during the Cold War. But note the difference: American intervention would have been prompted not by Soviet tanks, but rather if the Communists took power through a coup—or by winning an election.
The details have emerged in a newly declassified Pentagon study released by the private watchdog organization, the National Security Archive.
In 1954, the Joint Chiefs of Staff urged that if a Communist government took power in Italy, “the United States, preferably in concert with its principal Allies, should be prepared to take the strongest possible action to prevent such an eventuality, such action possibly extending to the use of military power.”
That position didn’t suit President Dwight Eisenhower, whose World War II experiences as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe made him smarter than most about how to keep an alliance like NATO together. Eisenhower warned that he “could not imagine anything worse than the unilateral use by the United States of its forces to overthrow a Communist regime. This simply could not be done except in concert with our allies.”
Nonetheless, the National Security Council approved a paper that stated: “In the event the Communists achieve control of the Italian government by apparently legal means, the United States, in concert with its principal NATO allies, should take appropriate action, possibly extending to the use of military power, to assist Italian elements seeking to overthrow the Communist regime in Italy.”
Note the words “apparently legal means.” Perhaps the attitude among American leaders during the Cold War was that “Communist government” and “legal” were oxymorons, and that no Communist government could have genuine legitimacy (which had certainly been the case of the Eastern European regimes that rode into office on the backs of Soviet tanks in 1945). Nonetheless, the U.S. Sixth Fleet would have performed the ultimate act of electoral nullification, by using force against a Communist Party that—as did happen in the 1940s and 1950s—enjoyed strong popular support.
Even as late as August 1960, just months before John F. Kennedy took office, an NSC paper proposed that regardless of whether the Communists took power in Italy by illegal or legal means, the United States should be prepared to use military force—unilaterally if need be—to “assist whatever Italian elements are seeking to prevent or overthrow Communist domination.” This was fifteen years after the chaos and devastation of World War II. While Italy has never been known for stable governments, in 1960 it was not still the political and economic basket case under the rule of Allied military government.
In the end, “Eisenhower and Dulles were willing to intervene militarily only if the Communists forcibly seized power and then only in concert with other European nations,” concludes the study’s author, Ronald Landa. And that was wise: as Eisenhower himself realized, U.S. tanks rolling into Rome—or supporting right-wing Italians overthrowing their own government—would have been a propaganda godsend for the godless Communists in Moscow.
All of which has nothing to do with the question of whether Russia influenced the U.S. election. Except as a reminder that political manipulation has been performed by many nations.
On March 12, 1984, President Ronald Reagan was chatting with students at Congress Heights Elementary when he suddenly announced that he had chosen one of them to become his pen pal. The lucky winner was six-year-old Rudy Hines, who was picked because he had proven himself to be a good reader and writer.
The two wrote back and forth with surprising frequency, exchanging hundreds of letters until the end of Reagan’s presidency in 1989. They covered topics you would expect, like reading (“Rudolph, if you get in the habit of reading stories for pleasure you’ll never be lonely”), but also issues typically reserved for the political arena (Reagan lamented not getting to have a personal chat with Mikhail Gorbachev). The Gipper occasionally included some of the doodles for which he later became notorious and sent pictures of himself and the First Lady from their travels, always including a handwritten note on the back.
Rudy and his mom even had the Reagans over for dinner in their one-bedroom apartment on September 21, 1984 (pictured). Rudy told his pal Ron he could come over as long as he gave some warning first, so Rudy’s mom had time to pick the laundry up off the floor. The Reagans were thrilled to accept, but had a condition of their own: that they eat the way Rudy and his mother ate every night. They ended up dining on fried chicken, rice, and salad in the living room while watching TV.
After Reagan passed away in 2004, Rudy recalled how impressed he was with the president for giving personal attention to a young child: “I figured I will get just a generic response that typical politicians give when people write letters to them. But he was not a typical politician. He actually sat down and took the time and carefully thought out his responses to my letters. And I really appreciated that.”
Here’s a video of Rudy and his mother on The Early Show the day after Reagan died.
Comparing the Assassinations of Abraham Lincoln Abraham and John F. Kennedy.
American presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy were both tragically assassinated during their terms in office. Both men were admired by many but actually hated by those who opposed their political views. Shortly after Kennedy was assassinated on 22 November 1963, a comparison of the circumstances of his death and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on 14 April 1865 surfaced. That comparison pointed out some amazing coincidences.
Comparison of events
The following chart compares the amazing coincidences in the deaths of Lincoln and Kennedy. Some items that are commonly listed in this comparison have been deleted as incorrect, thanks to reader feedback.
Lincoln
Kennedy
Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846
Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946
He was elected President in 1860
He was elected President in 1960
His wife lost a child while living in the White House
His wife lost a child while living in the White House
He was directly concerned with Civil Rights
He was directly concerned with Civil Rights
Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy who told him not to go to the theater *1
Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln who told him not to go to Dallas *2
Lincoln was shot in the back of the head in the presence of his wife
Kennedy was shot in the back of the head in the presence of his wife
Lincoln shot in the Ford Theatre
Kennedy shot in a Lincoln, made by Ford
He was shot on a Friday
He was shot on a Friday
The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was known by three names, comprised of fifteen letters
The assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was known by three names, comprised of fifteen letters
Booth shot Lincoln in a theater and fled to a warehouse *3
Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and fled to a theater
Booth was killed before being brought to trial
Oswald was killed before being brought to trial
There were theories that Booth was part of a greater conspiracy
There were theories that Oswald was part of a greater conspiracy
Lincoln’s successor was Andrew Johnson, born in 1808
Kennedy’s successor was Lyndon Johnson, born in 1908
Andrew Johnson died 10 years after Lincoln’s death
Lyndon Johnson died 10 years after Kennedy’s death
*1 Note: It is an urban myth that Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy. There is no record of that.
*2 Note: There is no record whether or not Kennedy’s secretary warned him.
*3 Note: Booth actually fled to a farm and was killed in a tobacco barn. It might be a stretch to call it a warehouse. But two years after his death, Booth’s body was temporarily moved to a warehouse. Also, after the assassination, the government closed the Ford Theatre and turned it into a warehouse.
Other interesting facts
Some other interesting facts include:
Lincoln’s dream
Apparently Lincoln had a dream several days before the assassination that he had been killed. He told his wife that he had seen himself in a casket.
A Kennedy uncovers plot
In February 1861, there was a plot called the “Baltimore Plot” to assassinate Lincoln as he passed through the city. A NYPD offiicer, John Kennedy, claimed to have uncovered the plot. In 1951, a movie The Tall Target was made about the plot, staring Dick Powell as Kennedy.
Pet turkey names Jack
Also, Lincoln’s son Tad had a pet turkey named Jack. Tad asked his father not to kill the turkey for Thanksgiving. Although Harry S Truman started the official tradition, Lincoln was the first to “pardon” a Thanksgiving turkey. (Now what would be real interesting is if JFK had a pet named Abe or had pardoned someone by that name. Thus far, I haven’t heard of that.)
Skeptics disagree
Some skeptics say that you could take any two famous people and find a number of similar-type coincidences between them. The only problem with that theory is that there really haven’t been any listings of such comparisons. And certainly none has been as extensive as the Lincoln-Kennedy similarities.
Summary
Facts concerning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy are amazingly similar. It is uncertain if such coincidences have any meaning, but they certainly are strange.
