The Story of Writing

Theodore Roosevelt first says, "Walk softly, and carry a big stick," the Japanese sign the Instrument of Surrender to end combat in WWII, and the birthday club includes Eugene Field and Billy Preston - with a reading from Roosevelt's essay "Lincoln and Free Speech."

The first woman switchboard operator goes to work and the birthday club includes Johann Pachelbel, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Harriet Shaw Weaver, Liz Carpenter, and Lily Tomlin - with a reading from Elspeth Huxley's "The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood."

Union troops - under Gen. William T. Sherman - attacked the city of Atlanta, Zeppelin got the patent for a "navigable balloon," the U.S. Congress passed its first neutrality act, and the Nazis mounted a false flag attack within Germany to establish a reason to invade Poland. The birthday club includes Roger Dean, Van Morrison, and Itzhak Perlman - with a reading from Willa Cather's "The Song of the Lark."

Explorer Ernest Shackleton rescues every member of his crew on the ship Endurance and the birthday club includes Mary Shelley, Virginia Lee Burton, Kitty Wells, Molly Ivins, and Anna Politkovskaya - with a reading from Shelley's "Frankenstein."

The birthday club includes John Locke, Charlie "Bird" Parker, and Temple Grandin - with a reading from Locke's "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding."

Scientific American magazine prints its first issue, Emmet Till is murdered in Mississippi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his speech now called "I Have a Dream" - which is today's reading.

Canada's "Famous Five" ask a simple question, the Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed, and the birthday club includes Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Cecil Smith, and Alice Coltrane - with a reading of a comic poem by an unknown writer.

The French National Assembly approves the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen," the Quebec assembly made French the province's official language, and the birthday club includes Zona Gale, Caroline Pafford Miller, and Ben Bradlee - with a reading from Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's "Enlightened Motherhood."

The Great Moon Hoax begins, the National Park Service is written into existence, and the birthday club includes Walt Kelly and Leonard Bernstein - with a reading from Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre."

The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom is carved, the Treaty of Cordoba is signed, the Panic of 1857 begins, and the birthday club includes Howard Zinn, Paolo Coelho, and Ava DuVernay - with a reading from "My Antonia," by Willa Cather.

The Salad Bowl Strike begins, the World Wide Web opens to the public, and this William Ernest Henley's birthday - with a reading of his poem "Invictus."

The birthday club includes Claude Debussy, Dorothy Parker, Ray Bradbury, and Annie Proulx - with a reading from Proulx's "The Shipping News."

Nat Turner begins a slave revolt and the Lincoln-Douglas debates begin - with a reading from Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's "Minnie's Sacrifice."

Charles Darwin publishes his theory of evolution, U.S. President Andrew Johnson declares the Civil War over, Canada's Supreme Court lays out a road map to provincial secession, and it's the birthday of cosmic horror author H. P. Lovecraft. This episode also includes a reading of Lucille Clifton's "blessing of the boats."

Gold is discovered in California, the liberation of Paris begins, and it's Ogden Nash's birthday - with a reading of his poem, "Everybody Tells Me Everything."

Spanish grammar is published, women in the U.S. win the right to vote, Vladimir Nabokov’s novel "Lolita" is published in the U.S., South African activist Stephen Biko is arrested, and the birthday club includes Antonio Salieri and Margaret Murie - with a reading of Murie's comments on wilderness conservation to Congress.

Roanoke, George Orwell publishes "Animal Farm," and the birthday club includes Fredrika Bremer, Mark Felt, and Jonathan Franzen - with a reading from the 1585 writing "A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia."

The birthday club includes Lawrence of Arabia, Georgette Heyer, Wallace Thurman, William Keepers Maxwell, Jr., Charles Bukowski, and Diana Wynne Jones - with a reading from Jones' "Howl's Moving Castle."

The movie "The Wizard of Oz" premiers, Japan surrenders to end WWII, and the birthday club includes Walter Scott, Oscar Peterson, Stanley Milgram, and Stieg Larsson - with a reading from Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."

FDR signs the Social Security Act into law and the birthday club includes Ernest Thompson Seton, Ernest Thayer, David Crosby, Danielle Steele, and Gary Larson - with a reading from Thayer's "Casey at the Bat."

French King Louis XVI is arrested, Opha May Johnson becomes the first woman to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps, it is Barbed Wire Sunday in Berlin, Germany, and it is the birthday of suffragist Lucy Stone - with a reading from a letter to her mother.

Isaac Singer gets the patent for the sewing machine, Sue Hendrickson discovers the best and most complete T. rex skeleton, NAFTA is born, and the birthday club includes Radclyffe Hall, Erwin Schrodinger, William Goldman, and Mary Roberts Rinehart - with a reading from Rinehart's "Writing is Work."

The Watts Riots, U.S. evacuating its last unit of ground troops, hip-hop and rap, and Reagan's "little joke" are all tied to this day. The birthday club includes Angus Wilson and Alex Haley - with a reading from Wilson's "The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot."

The birthday club includes Era Bell Thompson, Clarence Leonidas Fender, Suzanne Collins, and Rachel Simmons - with a reading from Simmons' "The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence."

Henry David Thoreau publishes his landmark book "Walden," Smokey Bear appears for the first time, and - in Nagasaki, Japan - the U.S. dropped the second atomic bomb used in a military attack. This episode includes a reading from Thoreau's "Walden."

The U.S. Congress agrees to call the nation's currency the dollar, Edison gets a patent for the mimeograph, the world's major powers agree on the parameters of the Nuremberg Trials, and it's the birthday of poet Sara Teasdale - with a reading of her poem "Longing."

Frances Kelsey is given the President’s Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service for refusing to authorize the use of the pharmaceutical thalidomide in the U.S. The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the birthday club includes Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Ralph Bunche, and Anne Fadiman - with a reading from her book "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down."

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the book of the same name that became "the finest piece of journalism" of the 20h Century, LBJ signs the U.S. Voting Rights Act into law, and it is the birthday of activist Virginia Foster Durr - with a reading from John Hersey's book "Hiroshima."

A crucial court case clarifies the importance of freedom of the press and the birthday club includes Guy de Maupassant, Mary Ritter Beard, and Wendell Berry - with a reading of Berry's poem "The Peace of Wild Things."

The Fairness Doctrine is rescinded and the birthday club includes Nicolas-Jacques Conte, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Robert Hayden - with a reading from an essay by Donella Meadows.

Christopher Columbus sets sail and the birthday club includes Ernie Pyle and Leon Uris - with a reading from Pyle's newspaper column "Here is Your War."

The letter that started the Manhattan Project, and it is the birthday of author and thinker James Baldwin - with a reading from his book "The Fire Next Time."

The British abolish slavery, Henry Perky patents shredded wheat, and the birthday club includes Francis Scott Key and Herman Melville - with a reading from Melville's classic novel "Moby Dick."

Author Daniel Defoe is locked in a pillory, the U.S. and Soviet Union sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, and the birthday club includes Ignacio Cervantes, Primo Levi, and Ahmet Ertegun - with a reading from Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe."

Samuel de Champlain starts a nearly 100-year war, Walt Disney releases his first Oscar winner, and the birthday club includes Anna Maria Mozart and Emily Bronte - with a reading from Bronte's "Wuthering Heights."

The way light, itself, was perceived changes in big, important ways, the world's major powers try to limit war crimes, and the birthday club includes Alexis de Tocqueville and Mary Lee Settle - with a reading from Tocqueville's "Democracy in America."

The 14th Amendment is ratified, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, President Hoover orders U.S. soldiers to push U.S. veterans away from the White House, and the Irish Republican Army announces it will stop using weapons to oppose British rule. This episode includes a reading from Wallace Stegner's "Crossing to Safety."

The actual Macbeth is defeated in an important battle, Maximilien Robespierre is arrested by the French National Assembly, researchers at the University of Toronto prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar, Warner Brothers releases the animated short "A Wild Hare," introducing Bugs Bunny - with a reading from Banting's notebook.

The U.S. establishes its Post Office, the first book on the constructed language Esperanto is published, the major Allied Powers in WWII signed the Potsdam Declaration, the birthday club includes George Bernard Shaw, Carl Jung, and Gracie Allen - with a reading from Shaw's "Man and Superman."

Mozart finishes his 40th Symphony - the "Great G-Minor" Symphony, Jack London sails to the Yukon in hopes of finding gold, U.S. President John F. Kennedy says any attack on West Berlin was equivalent to an attack on the U.S., and it's the birthday of political scientist and historian Anne Applebaum - with a reading from her book "Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism."

O. Henry is released from prison, the Kellogg-Briand Pact goes into effect, SCOTUS finds Nixon must provide his Watergate tapes to a special prosecutor and Congress, and the birthday club includes Alexandre Dumas and Zelda Fitzgerald - with a reading from a letter Zelda wrote to F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Ford Motor Company sold its first car, the Chinese Communist Party is established, French dictator Philippe Petain was put on trial for treason in WWII, and it's the birthday of Raymond Chandler - with a reading from his "Red Winds: A Collection of Short Stories."

Katherine Lee Bates starts writing "America the Beautiful," and it's Emma Lazarus' birthday - with a reading of her poem "The New Colossus."

The first pistol-duel showdown in America's Wild West, the jury reaches a verdict in the Scopes Monkey Trial, the world's coldest temperature is recorded - with a reading from Mark Twain's "Pudd'nhead Wilson."

The second day of the Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y., Finland declares independence, people land on the moon, and the birthday club includes Frantz Fanon and Cormac McCarthy - with a reading from McCarthy's "All the Pretty Horses."

The first women's rights convention in the U.S. opens in Seneca Falls, N.Y. and it is the birthday of writer Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson - with a reading of her poem "You! Inez!"

The Hough Uprising rocks Cleveland, and the birthday club includes William Makepeace Thackeray, Nelson Mandela, and Hunter S. Thompson - with a reading from Thompson's "Kingdom of Fear."

The U.S. buys Florida from Spain, Willis Carrier draws up plans for an air conditioner, the International Criminal Court is established, and it's the birthday of comedian Phyllis Diller - with a reading from her joke book.

It is the birthday of Ida B. Wells and the anniversaries of the publishing of J. D. Salinger's classic novel "The Catcher in the Rye" and the launching of Apollo 11, the first space mission that carried people to the moon. This episode includes a reading from Well's speech "Lynch Law in America."

Finding the Rosetta Stone, the Spanish Inquisition ends, Alzheimers is named, and the birthday club includes Clement Clark Moore and Iris Murdoch - with a reading from Murdoch's "The Sea, The Sea."