Steve Goddard's History Wire

The More Things Change....

"In a city that is constantly razing the old to erect the new, or at least slapping on new paint and jacking up the price, there are quite a few places like Rose's, places that have remained quietly, stubbornly, implausibly the same for decades." That's the Big Apple, folks, the nexus of constant change. The New York Times reports:

"As big-box stores land like awesome mother ships, as French brasseries pop up like dandelions, and as hordes of sexy nightlife-seekers transform formerly hard-bitten blocks into vague facsimiles of Bourbon Street, a surprisingly quaint version of old-fashioned Main Street America is somehow hanging on in arguably the most glamorous city on earth."

Our Find is Older than Your Find

Lima, Peru's Nazca lines --an archaelogical find including animal pictographs that were added to the United Nations Cultural Heritage List in 1994 and have become a major Peruvian tourist attraction -- may now have to take a back seat, as scientists announce discovery of a find that predates them. The Associated Press reports:

"About 50 figures were etched into the earth over an area roughly 90 square miles near the city of Palpa, 220 miles southeast of Lima, El Comercio newspaper reported. The drawings - which include human figures as well as animals such as birds, monkeys, and felines - are believed to be created by members of the Paracas culture sometime between 600 and 100 B.C., Johny Islas, the director of the Andean Institute of Archaeological Studies, told the newspaper."

Rough Rider, Meet the Terminator

The Weekly Standard compares and contrasts the records and swashbuckling styles of President Theodore Roosevelt and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a century later:

"Arnold Schwarzenegger is on the verge of doing great things in California. Elected on a radical recall measure, California's governor is taking equally radical steps to mend the broken edifice of the state government. Proposing four sweeping reforms aimed at education, state pensions, the budget, and electoral districting, Schwarzenegger is taking party structures and legislators head on, using his bully pulpit to dictate the terms of the policy debate in the Golden State. More than anything, he relies on his celebrity and access to the media to shape public opinion and break the power of formidable California interests. In the past, others have employed this model to enact reforms in service of the public good; perhaps the greatest was Theodore Roosevelt."

The Democrats' Not-So-Secret Weapon

Increasingly frustrated by being on the outs in a Washington dominated by a Republican president and Congress, Democrats are holding onto one potent tool they have left -- the filibuster -- which they may use against President Bush's judicial nominees. The filibuster is a political art form, the New Yorker explains, in recalling use of the device in the late 1950s against civil rights legislation, through an archived piece by Richard Rovere:

"In a quite serious sense, it can be maintained that these actually are the early days of a new administration. It is perfectly plain that the Eighty-sixth Congress intends to take matters into its own hands as far as possible, and that it would like to provide the direction and leadership that its large Democratic majority (and a good part of its Republican minority) feels are not coming from the White House. It was two months ago that Lyndon Johnson, the Democratic leader in the Senate, issued his State of the Union message, and he amplified it with another report to Senate Democrats yesterday."

Can Bush Learn from Roosevelt?

Frankin D. Roosevelt built his New Deal on the personification of "the forgotten man." Jonathan Alter, writing in The Los Angeles Times, finds lessons in FDR's sales pitch to the American public:

"The progressive Al Smith, for instance, anticipated GOP arguments of later years by accusing FDR of fostering class warfare. President Hoover, a Republican, was in many ways a progressive by today's standards — he had grown famous organizing relief efforts during World War I and favored raising taxes to balance the budget. But he was appalled at the idea of the federal government guaranteeing anyone, even old people, a decent standard of living. That was the job of business and voluntary associations. Americans, he felt, should be captains of their own fate."

Texas Lore Awaits You

"It displays rifles under glass, Navajo blankets, a silver saddle from the 1948 Rose Bowl Parade and boots once owned by local TV personality Utah Carl. A longhorn head hangs on the wall. "Fell off a bar and killed a piano player in Waco in 1932 or 1933," said Don Jones, Goode's personal assistant. "It's well-attached this time," Jones promised.

Such is the atmosphere of the soon-to-be-open Goode's Amarillo Palace on U.S. 59 in Kirby, TX, according to The Houston Chronicle.

Buffalos on the Horizon

Quick, quick -- what images are on the U.S. nickel? Hey, we said, quick, don't look in your pocket! Sure, it's Thomas Jefferson with his beloved Monticello on the reverse. But remember finding one of those old buffalo nickels, with the proud bison looming on the reverse?

It's been 67 years since the U.S. Mint stopped minting such coins but, as the Detroit News tells us, they're about to start again:

"The United States Mint has shipped 97 million of the new coins to the Federal Reserve's 12 regional banks, and they will start distributing the coins to local banks on Monday. The nickels should start showing up in stores' change drawers within a couple of weeks. For those who can't wait that long, the Mint has planned an elaborate launch ceremony in Washington on Tuesday complete with a real live bison, tribal dances and American Indian speakers. People will be able to show up at Union Station and buy $2 rolls of the shiny new five-cent pieces."

How Many Rockefellers Are There?

For the fourth time in this scribe's memory, a Rockefeller is poised to become a state governor. This week, Arkansas Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller told Republican leaders he plans to seek his party's nomination for the state house, occupied by his father, Winthrop Rockefeller, from 1967-1971.

Winthrop may have gotten the idea from his brother, Nelson, who was governor of New York from 1959-1973. Proving the idea is inheritable, Nelson's nephew Jay Rockefeller, served as governor of West Virginia from 1977-1985 before becoming a U.S. senator. The highest office held by a Rockefeller was Nelson's brief tenure as vice president under Gerald Ford from 1974-1977.

KATV reports Win Rockefeller's announcement "was certainly no surprise to state Republicans or Democrats. Lt. Governor Rockefeller has been talking about a possible run for some time. He says he's excited about the race and all the challenges ahead. Lt. Governor Win Rockeller says an overwhelming number of Arkansas Republicans have encouraged him to run for Governor, an office his father held in the late 1960's."

Theologian Dies After Accusations

Earlier this week, a publication rampup reported that the granddaughter of a noted Mormon theologian was about to make public her sexual abuse at the hands of the hitherto-esteemed religious leader. Thursday, 94-year-old Hugh Nibley, who already had been ill, died at his home in Provo, Utah. The New York Times reports:

"Though not a member of the formal hierarchy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Dr. Nibley, a professor emeritus of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, was regularly called on by senior church officials to research and respond to questions about or criticisms of Mormon teachings....

"Dr. Nibley has been the subject of heated debates among Mormons and former church members recently as one of his daughters, Martha Beck, of Phoenix, has prepared to publish a memoir in which she accuses her father of sexually abusing her as a child. The book, "Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith," is to be published next month by Crown. Dr. Nibley's seven other children all signed a statement condemning the book, saying they were "saddened by the book's countless errors, falsehoods, contradictions and gross distortions." They said that Dr. Nibley had vigorously denied the accusations, which were based on suppressed memories that Martha Beck said she recovered in 1990."

Got Alexander Fever?

Immigrants from most of the 50 states rushed to buy them in the 1950s. Alexander houses, named after the  father-and-son construction team who built untold thousands of the modernist structures, are having a California resurgence, according to The New York Times:

"Even some New Yorkers are buying or renting them, taking advantage of JetBlue's cheap rates to Ontario Airport west of Palm Springs. Developers and real estate "flippers," who buy, renovate and sell quickly, are moving through town with work crews, creating turnkey properties complete with the requisite Eames chair and Nelson bubble lamp."