Secrets

2015—The Washington Post prints ex-Gov. John H. Sununu’s confession that in 1988 he bartered state assets—low numbered license plates—to buy support for G.H.[H.]W. Bush. 2011—Orange County, Calif. Paramedic Chris Trokey saves Dr. Michael Shannon from a burning SUV. Shannon had saved Trokey’s life after his premature birth 26 years earlier. 2008—Senator (and candidate) John McCain [R-Ariz.] says “Mosul is quiet” on a day when 30 die there. 2002—FBI head Robert Mueller says 9/11 might have been preventable. 2001—The Bush twins, charged with underage boozing, plead nolo. 1992—In Gibsonton, Fla., “Lobster Boy” Grady Stiles Jr. is murdered by a hit man hired by his family. 1987—Michael …

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2009—Jonathan Trappe crosses the English Channel suspended from a cluster of 54 multicolored balloons. 1987—W. German Mathias Rust, 19, lands a rented Cessna in Red Square. 1986—The Energy Dept. calls off a search for a high-level nuclear waste dump which had been considering a site in southwestern New Hampshire. 1972—Third time’s a charm for Nixon’s “Plumbers,” finally breaking into DNC HQ in the Watergate Hotel. 1962—The stock market plummets 5.7 percent, the worst drop since 1929. 1959—The U.S. Army sends Able and Baker, two monkeys, into space. 1946—The Pentagon begins working on a long-range bomber to be powered by a nuclear reactor; 15 years and …

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2017—“Last Call” at The Coat of Arms. 1994—Charles Rodman Campbell does his best to dodge it, but Washington State’s hangman finally manages to get a noose around his neck. 1972—Nixon’s “Plumbers” fail a second time trying to break into Democratic National HQ at the Watergate. 1962—To clear an underground landfill, Centralia, Pa. officials set a fire. It spreads to a coal seam, forcing abandonment of the town 30 years later. The fire still burns. 1959—NBC’s Today Show reports straight-faced on the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals’ campaign to clothe quadrupeds. 1944—NBC censors Eddie Cantor: his song, “We’re Having a Baby, My Baby and Me” …

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2004—The NY Times admits its pre-war Iraq coverage was “not as rigorous as it should have been.” 1989—Future Veep J. Danforth Quayle predicts, “We are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy, but that could change.” 1972—Nixon’s “Plumbers” fail to gain entry to Democratic National HQ at the Watergate. 1970—The destroyer U.S.S. Richard B. Anderson’s departure for Vietnam is delayed due to sabotage by the crew. 1947—An FBI memo duly notes that It’s a Wonderful Life  is communistic. 1938—The House Un-American Activities Committee begins carrying out its un-American activities. 1937—Ford’s thugs beat hell out of Walter Reuther and three union colleagues in the …

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2007—As U. Mass. hands an honorary degree to Andrew Card, George W.[MD] Bush’s ex-Chief of Staff, students and faculty boo and howl. 1988—Four years after his death, Peter Lawford’s ashes are scattered at sea because none of his children will pay for entombment. 1986—”Hands Across America” ends hunger and homelessness. Congrats! 1981—Kennebunkport native Dan Goodwin scales the Sears Tower dressed as Spiderman. 1979—“Capital punishment;” says John Spenkelink, sitting in “Old Sparky,” “them without the capital get the punishment.” 1953—At the Nevada Test Site, the U.S. fires a 15-kt nuclear warhead from a cannon called “Atomic Annie,” previously seen at Ike’s Inaugural Parade. 1950—A speeding Green …

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