Steve Goddard's History Wire

One Less Liberal

Even in a state some conservatives call the "People's Republic of Massachusetts," columnist David Nyhan stood out as a strident liberal voice. Boston was hardest hit by last week's snowstorm, and on Sunday, the 64-year-old retiree was stricken by a fatal heart attack after shoveling snow. The Boston Globe remembers one of its own and recounts his three decades of coverage of the likes of Tip O'Neill and Bobby Sands:

"Senator Edward M. Kennedy, whom Mr. Nyhan admired but needled from time to time, said in a statement issued by his office: "A Nyhan column over breakfast was a perfect way to start the day, even if it caused a little sudden indigestion. Mr. Nyhan, Kennedy said, "could get to the heart of the matter faster than anyone I have known . . . with a sharp wit and a unique style. Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino called Mr. Nyhan "big in stature, but gentle in voice. When he spoke, he spoke the voice of reason."

Rice's Roots

Writing in the Weekly Standard, Scott Johnson examines how the Martin Luther King's anti-segregation work in Birmingham, AL and the death of 8-year-old Denise McNair in a church bombing there led directly to the advancement of McNair's "friend and playmate," newly-minted Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice:

"I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, before the Civil Rights movement--a place that was once described, with no exaggeration, as the most thoroughly segregated city in the country. I know what it means to hold dreams and aspirations when half your neighbors think you are incapable of, or uninterested in, anything better."

Bush is no Woodrow Wilson

The Los Angeles Times's Ron Brownstein writes of President Bush's effort to sell his activist policies to recalcitrants in Congress, by harking back to such Democratic leaders as Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and even Bill Clinton. Brownstein calls it a flawed concept:

"In each case, to put it mildly, the connection is a stretch. In fact, in each instance, the Bush team is citing the Democrats to sell policies that reverse the strategies those presidents pursued. It's as if General Motors were using a testimonial from Ralph Nader to sell an updated Corvair."

Back to the Future?

Despair in much of Africa as a result of grinding poverty, AIDS, and unrelenting warfare has led some to contemplate what would have been unthinkable a few decades ago -- recolonization. Now the New York Times reviews two new books, which challenge such a return to the past: ''Imperial Reckoning,'' by Caroline Elkins and ''Histories of the Hanged,'' by David Anderson:

"Focusing on the final decade of British rule in Kenya (ending in 1963), both writers evoke a period when, especially in Elkins's view, the colonial pretense of civilizing the dark continent gave way to the savagery of imperial self-preservation. Some 40,000 whites lived in Kenya by the early 1950's, drawn by promises of long leases on fertile land and native labor at low wages. ''Whatever his background,'' Anderson, a lecturer in African Studies at Oxford, writes, ''every white man who disembarked from the boat at Mombasa became an instant aristocrat.'

"But by midcentury, many of the natives, particularly those of the Kikuyu tribe, refused to play their assigned role. The Kikuyu had been put off their most arable land by white farmers. They, like other Kenyan tribes, had been banished to ethnic reserves too small to sustain them."

A History Wire Special -- the Death Penalty

For the third time this week, the execution of CT serial killer Michael Ross has been delayed, this time by a perhaps unprecedented set of circumstances. His attorney, T.R. Paulding, is himself against the death penalty. However, that brought him personally close to Ross, and when the death row inmate begged him last year to do everything possible to make sure he died rather than to extend his life in virtual isolation, Paulding agreed.

Paulding helped clear away obstacles posed by anti-death penalty advocates. But earlier this week, Federal District Court Judge Robert Chatigny stayed the execution, set for Jan. 26, suspecting that the conditions on Connecticut's death row were such that they may have put Ross in an irrational frame of mind when he asked Paulding to help him. The U.S. Supreme Court later in the week overturned a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that had upheld Chatigny, and ultimately, his death was rescheduled for 2:01 a.m. this morning.

But, in another bizarre twist, Chatigny called Paulding Friday afternoon, charging that the attorney had failed to determine independently if Ross was in his right mind when he asked Paulding for help. The judge said if a post-execution investigation found he wasn't, he personally would take steps to remove Paulding's license to practice law. Paulding, on his own, sought and obtained a stay of execution until Monday at 9 p.m. while he responds to the judge's concerns.

Ross was arrested in 1984 for strangling eight girls and young women, some of whom he raped. The drama attending the conviction and imprisonment of this 45-year-old Cornell graduate has transfixed the State of Connecticut since. Adding to the tension is the fact that the state would become the first New England state in 45 years to use the death penalty.

For those who feel the need for arguments for and against the death penalty, HW seeks to draw some lessons from the past and recommends the following sources:

The Death Penalty Information Center is a clearinghouse for the latest news about pending death penalty cases, opinion pieces, and analyzes grouped topically, such as "costs," "mental retardation," and "women." One particularly detailed section covers the history of the death penalty, back to the 1600s.

Pro-DeathPenalty.com offers a compendium of articles, books and tapes promoting the death penalty and a death watch of scheduled executions. It's a take-no-prisoners site, which wears its heart on its sleeve. Commenting on the TV drama, The Exonerated, it comments: "This is strictly an anti-victim, pro-criminal play and is a tragic violation of trust with the public and victims of violent crime."

On the other end of the spectrum is the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, which is equally strident, offering such talking points as "Five Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty."

Stuart Banner's The Death Penalty: An American History is a richly detailed examination of how capital punishment came to be and of its ebbs and flows in popularity across the centuries. Richard Posner, writing in the New Republic, says "Stuart Banner's book is fine and balanced and important. His lucid history of this grim subject is scrupulously accurate."

The National Archives' Learning Curve reports that prior to the 1927 execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, some 250,000 people staged a death-watch vigil. Though the issues involved are widely different, it is notable that a prayer vigil for Michael Ross Friday evening drew only about 100. And yet The Hartford Courant filled six pages of news and sidebars on the gripping execution runup and reportedly issued a special edition to add post-deadline developments.

On one thing, the pros and antis can agree: the debate over capital punishment is becoming more heated than ever before and promises to remain a burning national issue for a good long time.

The Big Crunch

Stock up on the nachos and beer -- the Super Bowl is here again on Sunday, when the Philadelphia Eagles meet the defending New England Patriots. To get you in the mood, FoxSports.com recalls its 10 worst Super Bowl moments. And on a more positive theme, SuperBowl.com recaps each of the 38 matchups for the big prize. Anyone out there recall all 38 Super Bowls? Frightening!

Who's your pick this year? E-mail us your choice.

Rocky Road for Brady Buncher

Thought the Brady Bunch was one big happy family? But some of the togetherness apparently didn't rub off, as we learn Barry Williams's second marriage is on the rocks:

"Since his Brady Bunch days, Williams, 50, has appeared in numerous Brady-themed reunions, including A Very Brady Christmas in 1988 and The Brady Girls Get Married in 1981. He currently works in musical theater, gives public speaking tours and is the author of Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg."

Don Spills the Beans

Joseph Massino at 62 is young to be an old-school Mafia don, one who embraced the traditional code of honor and omerta. Known as the "last don," a title he may have revered, Massino would seem the least likely subject to rat on his New York mafia family. But rat he did, according to the New York Times:

"Mr. Massino, who was convicted in July on federal murder and racketeering charges and could face the death penalty if he is convicted in a new pending murder case, secretly recorded prison conversations with another mob figure about the idea of killing the prosecutor, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of Mr. Massino's cooperation. The threat led federal authorities to provide the prosecutor with a 24-hour security detail."

What a world. I mean, whom can you trust?

Court TV's Crime Library profiles The Bonanno Crime Family: Men of Honour. Until now, we suspect.

Survivors Remember the Holocaust

Survivors around the world are marking today the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports:

"In Poland, where leaders from 30 countries gathered to remember the victims of the Holocaust, Vice President Dick Cheney noted that it did not happen in some far-off place but ``in the heart of the civilized world. The story of the camps shows that evil is real and must be called by its name and must be confronted,'' he said."

Part of the commemoration of the event was an address by Israeli President Moshe Katsav.

Whither Our Roots?

Is it just me or do you sense a lot more people interested in the history of their families? A generation ago, we attributed increased interest in heritage to the popularity of Roots, tracing African-American history back to Africa. But with the internet and Google, windows have been opened to the past that any of us can jump through, with minimal cost, on nights and weekends, often without visiting a library.

For those interested in exploring the subject further, Genealogy Today is a good place to start. It offers its own databases, articles containing research tips from veteran genealogists, and focused research topics as well. Some searches can be done free, and for others, there's a modest fee. A fee of $24.97 allows unlimited searches of a New England genealogy database with more than 70,000 connections.

An incomparable free reference service is the Family Search service of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon Church). No, no, HW is not about to proselytize you, but this service, started several years ago, is about the best example we can think of in which an organization with a mission opened its doors to the public without any "sell," hard or soft, in a bid to strengthen family ties among the public and, incidentally, to build good public relations for a church many consider extreme in its teachings. Billing itself as the world's largest family history library, its huge archives can be visited in Salt Lake City, Utah, or more important for most of us, can be accessed on line.

Happy researching! And if you run into my Uncle Fred, ask why he never calls or writes.

Steve Goddard