Two days ago we featured a boy who died at age 12, yesterday we had a gangster, today let's profile a cocaine addict! Not because of his addiction, of course, he also happened to be the creator of American medical instruction, the developer of the mastectomy, the first physician to perform a blood transfusion, and the first to wear rubber gloves. His key training came during two years in Europe, mostly in Vienna, and he continued to visit European surgical clinics. Partial to French laundry, Halsted sent his shirts to Paris to be cleaned. After his chief nurse complained of dermatitis from antiseptic solutions, Halsted said, "As she was an unusually efficient woman, I gave the matter my consideration and one day in New York requested the Goodyear Rubber Company to make as an experiment two pair of thin rubber gloves with gauntlets." He married her half a year later, one medical historian suggested it was the first time the beginning of a love affair was recorded in a medical journal. Just one more first n a long series for William Halsted.
During the "Red Scare" in the decade following World War II, there was a frenzy to root out Communists. Congress overrode Harry Truman's veto of the Internal Security Act on this day, legislation that authorized the creation of concentration camps. Two years later, Nixon was accused of siphoning campaign funds into his personal accounts, he went on television to say that the only political gift he accepted was a dog named Checkers. The quotes today are by or about Nixon.
We also have the resolution of a tussle twixt church and state, the Father of the US Navy won a battle and lost his ship, a new planet was found right where it was supposed to be, Puerto Rico was independent for about a day, and the current state of Saudi Arabia was formed.
Due to the press of other commitments, Twisted History will not be sent for the next three days, we'll be back on Wednesday.
1122 - The Concordat of Worms was reached between Pope Callistus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. It settled the Investiture Controversy over who had the right - bishop or emperor - to choose replacement clergy for vacant positions. The pope prevailed, although the emperor retained major influence in the choice of bishops in Germany under the agreement, less in France, but none in Italy.
1779 - John Paul Jones in command of USS Bonhomme Richard (French for 'Poor Richard' in honor of Ben Franklin) closed with the British frigate Serapis, lashed his ship to the enemy to fight at closest possible range. After two of his cannon burst the English captain asked if he were ready to surrender, Jones replied, "Sir, I have not yet begun to fight." The American crew prevailed, then boarded the Serapis in time to see their own ship sink.
1846 - German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered Neptune after a single hour of searching. Urbain Jean Joseph le Verrier at the University of Paris calculated the location of an unknown planet based on irregularities in the orbit of Uranus and provided that information to Galle in Berlin.
1950 - Congress overrode US president Harry Truman's veto of the Internal Security Act (McCarran-Wood Act) by large margins, 57-10 in the Senate and 248-48 in the House. The act required registration of members of any group the Attorney General determined to be Communist organizations and authorized concentration camps. Truman: "the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press & assembly since the Alien & Sedition Laws of 1798."
1952 - In the "Checkers Speech," Senator Richard Nixon, running for Vice President, responded to charges that he had benefited from campaign donations. He laid his life's finances out in a televised speech, including "Pat doesn't have a mink coat. But she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat." Said that the only gift the Nixon family had accepted for themselves was a black and white spotted cocker spaniel that Tricia, then six, had named Checkers.
El Grito de Lares, Puerto Rico - Between 600 and 1000 insurgents in the city of Lares rebelled against the Spanish colonial government, declaring a Puerto Rican Republic that only lasted a day before being crushed. Four months later a general amnesty was declared, and significant rights were allowed to Puerto Ricans, including Spanish citizenship. In English: The Outcry of Lares.
Unification of the Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, commemorates the 1932 creation of a single kingdom from the conquests of Abdulaziz ibn Abdulrahman ibn Faisal al-Saud, primarily the kingdoms of Nejd and Hijaz.
1852
- William Stewart Halsted, US surgeon - Born at New York City,
graduated from Yale University in 1874, MD from Columbia University's
College of Physicians and Surgeons 1877. Interned at Bellevue Hospital,
served New York Hospital to 1878 when he went to Europe to study under
Theodor Billroth in Vienna for two years. Practice in New York, on staff
at six hospitals, advocate for sterile procedures, performed first blood
transfusion 1881. In 1884-5 developed use of cocaine as a sensory block
anaesthetic by experimenting on himself, spent two years getting free
of the addiction. Moved to Johns Hopkins at Baltimore in 1886, developing
surgical methods including strict aseptic technique, gentle handling of
tissue, maintaining balanced body metabolism during surgery, silk sutures,
small stitches under low tension, and complete closure of wounds. Developed
the mastectomy in 1889. In the inter of 1889 and '90 his chief surgical
nurse complained of reaction to mercuric chloride solution used as antiseptic,
Halsted asked Goodyear to make thin gloves to protect her hands. The nurse
was Caroline Hampton, they married on 4 June 1890, the gloves are now
routine. Named surgeon-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1890, first
professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University in 1892. Major influence
on structure of teaching medicine, first to setup a program of surgical
residency - his residents then went to other institutions and taught more.
Created the subspecialties of orthopedics, otolaryngology, urology, and
roentgenology. Bought estate from wife's family, expanded it to 2200 acres
where he grew prize dahlias, Caroline raised horses. Died at Baltimore,
Maryland on 7 September 1922.
I wish I could give you a lot of advice, based on my experience of winning
political debates. But I don't have that experience. My only experience
is at losing them.
- Richard M. Nixon
I wouldn't trust Nixon from here to that phone.
- Barry Goldwater
As President Nixon says, presidents can do almost anything, and President
Nixon has done many things that nobody would have thought of doing.
- Golda Meir
I have sacrificed everything in my life that I consider precious to advance
the political career of my husband.
- Pat Nixon
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