William O. Douglas was the first really famous person I ever met, we were both much younger then. (This must have been the mid-1960s, I was probably 12 at the time.) But he was a Washingtonian that had made a name for himself in the East and came home to hike in the high country, and my dad took me along. Later, his often controversial stands in support of individual liberty and absolute opposition to censorship made him my first hero - my cynicism has kept me from having many. More than one lawyer hit the trails looking for the vacationing justice to present a motion when the court was out of session, the response was sometimes to come back the next day - his decision would be under a rock on a stump. He lived a life of enthusiasm, as many cheered as jeered when he married Cathleen Heffernan in 1966, she was more than 40 years younger than he.
In that arena in which politics continue by other means, today marks the last action in a major battle of the American Revolution (although the treaty that ended the war took almost two more years), the queen of France was beheaded, and John Brown led his attempted capture of Harpers Ferry.
We also have the first use of general anaesthetic for surgery, the first US birth control clinic, and it's World Food Day.
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1781 - Troops under Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton took the high ground overlooking Charles Cornwallis' troops at Yorktown, charging with bayonets mounted on unloaded muskets. It was the last action of the last significant battle of the American Revolution, terms of surrender were negotiated on the 17th, and the British formally surrendered on 19 October.
1793 - Marie Antoinette, after four months in the dank Conciergerie prison, mostly in solitary confinement, was taken in a garbage cart to the guillotine at Paris and the blade fell at noon. The executioner held her head up by the hair for the crowds to see, then tossed it between her legs in the cart that took her to an unmarked grave.
1846 - William Morton, a Boston dentist, rendered Gilbert Abbott unconscious using a glass inhaler holding an ether-soaked sponge at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr John Collins Warren then surgically removed a vascular tumor from Mr Abbott's jaw. It was the first use of general anesthesia.
1859 - John Brown led his "Army" of twenty one abolitionists (16 white, five freed slaves) against the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. His plan was to arm the slaves with the 100,000 weapons in the armory, and expected the slaves of Harpers Ferry to rise up once the armory was captured. He miscalculated both the number and nature of the slaves in the vicinity and the militia was raised. Most of Brown's group escaped, he was injured in the battle, captured, tried, and hanged on 2 December 1859.
1916 - Margaret Sanger, Fania Mindell, and Ethel Byrne opened the first birth control clinic in the US at New York City. Hundreds of women lined up before dawn seeking information, all three of the founders would spend time in jail for their work, the law treated medical information on birth control as pornography at the time.
World Food Day, Sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the international observance draws attention to the 824 million persons who suffer "food insecurity." I hate euphemisms - these folks go to bed hungry. There are many reasons that people don't get the food they need, none of them easy to cure but few of them impossible to overcome.
1898
- William Orville Douglas, US jurist, author - Born at Maine, Minnesota,
eldest son of Presbyterian minister, the family moved first to California,
then Washington. After his father died in 1903 his mother settled in Yakima,
Washington. Contracted polio as a youth, escaped paralysis, started regular
hiking to keep strength in legs. Graduated from Whitman College at Walla
Walla, Washington in 1920, jumped a freight train east and earned law
degree from Columbia University at New York City in 1925. Joined a Wall
Street law firm but returned to Columbia as an assistant professor in
1927, in 1928 he moved to Yale, a post he kept until his Supreme Court
appointment. Known for his expertise in bankruptcy, consulted with Department
of Commerce, joined the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission
in 1934. Named to the SEC in 1936, became chairman in 1937. Appointed
to US Supreme Curt in 1939 to replace Louis Brandeis. Strong supporter
of environmental causes, he was best known for absolute opposition to
censorship and as a champion of the Bill of Rights. Faced several impeachment
attempts. Spent his summers at Goose Prairie, Washington without a phone.
His heart was regulated by a pacemaker, after a stroke on the last day
of 1974 he struggled to keep up on the court, retired on 12 November 1975.
He had been the second youngest named to the court, at 36 years and seven
months his was the longest service. He continued to write on conservation,
history, politics, and foreign policy, his articles appeared in magazines
(including Playboy) and he wrote two books, Of Men and Mountains (1950)
and A Wilderness Bill of Rights (1965). Died at Washington City on 19
January 1980.
Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.
The search for static security - in the law and elsewhere - is misguided. The fact is security can only be achieved through constant change, adapting old ideas that have outlived their usefulness to current facts.
Mountains have a decent influence on men. I have never met along the trails of the high mountains a mean man who would cheat and steal. Certainly most men who are raised there or who work there are as wholesome as the mountains themselves. Those who explore them or foot or horseback usually are open, friendly men. At least that has been my experience.
As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both
instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged.
And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in
the air - however slight - lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.
- All of today's quotes are by Justice
William O. Douglas
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