Monthly Archive: November 2007

Who’s on the Million-Dollar Bill?

Grover Cleveland, apparently.(Seems to be borrowed from this.)Interesting side note from the U.S. Treasury: Bills bearing the image of Santa Claus may be legal tender.

Wife Wants Fossett Declared Dead

The wife of adventurer Steve Fossett has asked a court to declare her husband legally dead.”After nearly three months we feel now that we must accept that Steve did not survive,” Peggy Fossett said in a statement.

Belated 60th Congratulations

We missed it: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last week.They were married on 20 November 1947, just two years after the end of World War II. The queen is the first English monarch to be married for 60+ years.

Reinhold Niebuhr, Running Mate?

“Does Civilization Need Religion?” asked theologian Reinhold Niebuhr 80 years ago in the title of one of his many works on church and society.

Is This Man D.B. Cooper?

New York magazine unmasks the latest candidate for jumpin’ skyjacker D.B. Cooper.(Of course, there have been others.)It was 36 years ago this weekend. Here’s a nifty Cooper timeline.

Kennedy and Sirhan

Robert F. Kennedy would be 82 years old today. He was only 42 when he was shot to death by Sirhan Sirhan in 1968.Sirhan has been in jail for almost 40 years, and he’s still only 63 years old.Three people born the same year as Bobby Kennedy: Paul Newman, Barbara Bush and Margaret Thatcher.

The First Lady Who Never Was

Philosophy & First Ladies editor Paul Hehn has published a new profile of not-quite-First-Lady Anna Harrison.You may recall that her husband, William Henry Harrison, died 30 days after giving a 100-minute whopper of an inaugural speech, in the snow, without a hat or coat. Anna was still back in Ohio, packing, when he died.

Wallace Shooter Released

Arthur Bremer, would-be assassin of George Wallace, released from prison after 35 years.See The Taxi Driver Connection for notes on Bremer’s weird domino effect on Hollywood, Hinckley, and Reagan.

Norman Mailer, 1923-2007

Norman Mailer has died at age 84. The cause was reported as renal failure, though he also had lung surgery last month. The leads from various obituaries:

Cronkite, Child of 1916

Walter Cronkite turns ninety-one today. He’s been retired for 26 years — longer than he held the anchor chair for The CBS Evening News. Fun fact: Cronkite was such an icon in his day that Swedish news anchors are known as Kronkiters.

The Curious Birthday of Sarah Bernhardt

Our friends at Infoplease asked us to look into the exact birthdate of 19th-century superstar actress Sarah Bernhardt. Most everyone agrees she was born in 1844, but the exact date may be October 22, 23, or 25… or something else entirely. The tale is both lively and confusing.First, a bit about The Divine Sarah, as she was known in her day. Cornelia Otis Skinner, in her 1967 book Madame Sarah, puts it this way: