This week in…
Famous crimes
Charles and Anne Lindbergh were the victims of a heinous crime on March 1, 1932, when they discovered their 20-month-old son had been kidnapped. Lindbergh, the famous aviator, decided to pay the ransom. However, about two months later, the baby’s body was discovered near their mansion. The crime seemed unsolvable until in 1934 when a wary gas station attendant received one of the bills from the ransom money and wrote down the license plate number of the purchaser’s car. Handwriting experts compared the man’s to the ransom notes and coupled with strong public pressure he was convicted and executed. Because of this, kidnapping was made a
federal offense.
Bootleggin’
The last major attempt at prohibition, the Jones Act, was passed on March 2, 1929, strengthening federal penalties for bootlegging. This act marked the first time the federal government took a major role in policing and prosecution. Prohibition, never being particularly popular for obvious reasons, seemed only to bolster and help establish organized crime by creating a black market as it did not decrease demand for alcohol, though consumption decreased significantly. Wisely, five years later the 18th amendment, which enabled prohibition, was repealed, but the damage had been done and the 1930s would be known as the decade of organized crime.
File-sharing
Napster began dismantling on March 6, 2001, after losing to a suit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America for $20 billion. By 2001, Napster’s network included 60 million users around the world trading files with reckless abandon. The company attempted to stay afloat by charging for songs, but the damage had been done — people were too used to getting any song they wanted for free. A wealth of Napster-like clones had sprung up in the interim and in the years following the end of Napster. The RIAA is still fighting to end file sharing to this day. One thing’s for sure: A lone college student with an interesting idea for a computer program changed the way we think about digital rights in the 21st century.
Classic toys
One of America’s great fads of the 1960s, the Hula-Hoop, was patented on March 5, 1963. The bizarre toy, the joy of which is essentially lost on today’s “Nintendo generation,” sold over 25 million units in its first four months alone. Creators of the Hula-Hoop, Wham-O, are to be thanked for producing many other childhood staples: The Frisbee, the Super Ball, the Hacky Sack, Silly String and Slip ‘n’ Slides. Now, if only that line from an Alvin and the Chipmunks song wasn’t so memorable.
Miracle workers
On March 3, 1887, 6-year-old Helen Keller met her “miracle worker,” Anne Sullivan. Sullivan began teaching Keller, whom had lost her sight and hearing due to a severe childhood illness. Sullivan pioneered touch-learning techniques with Keller, and they worked well — so well that Keller graduated from college with honors and became an international lecturer. Sullivan remained Keller’s interpreter and constant companion until her death.
First Congress
The first session of the U.S. Congress was held on March 4, 1789, short a few senators and representatives. The session took place under the new U.S. constitution, after replacing the Articles Of Confederation due to failings in the lack of federalism inherent within it. Later that year, Congress would adopt the first 12 amendments to the constitution, the hallmarks of what the U.S. holds so dear. Adding the amendments got the approval of the constitution by the last two holdouts of the original 13 colonies, and the U.S. as we know it today began to form.
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