Tag Archives: Dwight Eisenhower

Little Rock Look Back: Gen. Douglas MacArthur

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GOn January 26, 1880, Douglas MacArthur was born in the Arsenal Building while his father was stationed at the Little Rock Barracks.  Though he left Arkansas a few weeks later when his father was transferred, he returned to his birthplace on March 23, 1952. On that day he was greeted by crowds welcoming one of the USA’s most famous military figures.

Though Gen. MacArthur spent only a few weeks in Little Rock, he was baptized at Christ Episcopal Church.  The location of the baptism remains a mystery today because the church was meeting in temporary locations due to the first structure having been lost to a fire.

When the General returned to Little Rock in 1952, he did pay a brief visit to Christ Church.  He also spoke at the Foster Bandshell in the park which bore his name.  He was one of three presidential candidates to speak at the Foster Bandshell in 1952, the others were the eventual Democratic and Republican nominees Adlai Stevenson and Dwight Eisenhower.

When General MacArthur died, he was granted a state funeral.  He was one of the few non-Presidents to have been given this honor.

Today, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History is located in the Arsenal building.  It was created to interpret our state’s military heritage from its territorial period to the present.  Located in the historic Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal–the birthplace of General Douglas MacArthur–the museum preserves the contributions of Arkansas men and women who served in the armed forces.  Exhibits feature artifacts, photographs, weapons, documents, uniforms and other military items that vividly portray Arkansas’s military history at home and abroad.

That museum will be one of the main beneficiaries of the successful approval of the tax election set for February 9.

Little Rock Look Back: Mayor Woodrow Mann

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IMG_3231Future Little Rock Mayor Woodrow Wilson Mann was born on November 13, 1916, in Little Rock.

In 1955, he ran as the Democratic nominee for Mayor of Little Rock and defeated two term incumbent Pratt C. Remmel, a Republican.  He took office in January 1956 and immediately set about to make a lot of changes.  In addition to revitalizing the City’s bus system, and removing some color barriers at City Hall, he oversaw the dismantling of the copper dome on top of Little Rock City Hall (as opposed to the repair of the dome championed by Mayor Remmel).

Mayor Mann was caught up in a grand jury investigation into purchasing practices at City Hall as well as within the City government in North Little Rock.  Partially in response to this, Little Rock voters approved a new form of government in late 1956.  Mayor Mann opposed the switch to the City Manager form and refused to set the election for the new officials but was ultimately compelled to do so.

He was also Mayor during the 1957 integration of Little Rock Central High School.  He sought to keep the peace and to broker a deal between President Dwight Eisenhower and Governor Orval Faubus.  His powers within the city were, no doubt, hampered because of his lame duck status as Mayor.  In November 1957 following the election of the new City Board of Directors, he chaired his last City Council meeting and left office.

In January of 1958, a series of articles written by Mayor Mann detailed his perspective on the events at Central High. These were carried by newspapers throughout the US.

Because of ill will toward him due to the Central High crisis (he was criticized by both sides) and grand jury investigation, Mayor Mann felt it would be difficult to maintain his insurance business in Little Rock. He moved to Texas in 1959 and remained there the rest of his life.  He died in Houston on August 6, 2002.

Final Days for Dinosaurs at Clinton Center

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These are the final days for the dinosaurs at the Clinton Center.  No, a huge meteorite is not hurdling toward the Clinton Presidential Park, it is just that the exhibit is coming to a close this weekend.

Clinton Dinos

Photo courtesy of Clinton Presidential Center

Dinosaurs Around the World takes you back in time on a dinosaur adventure and a tour of an Earth very different from today – a time before the continents as we know them existed, when lush landscapes covered Africa and greenery was the norm in Antarctica! With 13 life-sized animatronics, a multi-layered narrative, fossils, authentic casts, cutting-edge research and immersive design elements, you’ll experience the Age of Reptiles as it comes to life!

 Dinosaurs Around the World invites you to grab your prehistoric passport to Pangea and discover how continental splits driven by plate tectonics, land bridges revealed after sea level fluctuations, and new landforms created by volcanic activity allowed dinosaurs to disperse to all corners of the globe. These left each of the seven continents with its own unique selection of these giant reptiles. During their 172 million year reign, dinosaurs adapted into a variety of forms including enormous long-necked herbivores, the mighty T. rex, and more.
“We are thrilled to host the global premiere of Dinosaurs Around the World and look forward to sharing this interactive and scientific exhibit with our visitors,” said Stephanie S. Streett, executive director of the Clinton Foundation. “Our summer exhibits are highly anticipated by the community because they are specifically designed to appeal to the entire family.”
In addition to advanced animatronics, Dinosaurs Around the World also features information about the geologic time scale, geology, geography, and climatology. The exhibition questions how the dinosaurs lived on each continent, how they interacted with each other, how geography impacted their behavior and diets, and what the continents were really like at the time.
The exhibit also features an area that chronicles the accomplishments of four U.S. Presidents who worked to preserve the fossil-rich areas in North America where dinosaurs once roamed. Exhibit artifacts include items from the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman. This display includes a dinosaur skull replica on loan from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, an area that President Clinton designated as a national monument in 1996.
Dr. Gregory M. Erickson, a world-renowned dinosaur paleontologist, is the Senior Scientific Advisor for Dinosaurs Around the World. Dr. Erickson received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Washington, a Master’s degree from Montana State University, and a Ph. D. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and conducted post-doctoral research at Stanford University and Brown University before joining the faculty at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Dr. Erickson is currently the curator for the Florida State University Museum and holds research appointments with the American Museum of Natural History in New York, The Field Museum in Chicago, and University of Alaska’s Museum of the North in Fairbanks. Dr. Erickson is working with Imagine Exhibitions as an advisor, writer, and editor of the paleontology copy for the Company’s Dinosaurs Around the World exhibition.
Dinosaurs Around the World is open daily to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, through October 18, 2015. Tickets are available to purchase at the Clinton Center.

Little Rock Look Back: The Little Rock Nine finally enter Central High

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101st_Airborne_at_Little_Rock_Central_HighIt was 58 years ago today that the Little Rock Nine entered Central High School and stayed. On one hand, this brought to the end a nearly month long standoff between segregationists and those who wanted to obey the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board decision.

In the bigger picture, the struggle did not end that day.  Throughout the remainder of the school year, the Little Rock Nine were subjected to threats, isolation and hostility.  Outside of the school, while the crowds may had dispersed after September 25, the raw feelings did not subside.

This was evidenced by the fact that the following year the high schools were closed to avoid having them integrated.

But September 25, 1957, was an historic day in the United States. Under guard of members of the 101st Airborne Division of the Army, the Little Rock Nine were escorted into Central High School. This action by President Dwight Eisenhower was the result of the intrusive efforts of Governor Orval Faubus who had used the Arkansas National Guard to keep the nine students out.

The City of Little Rock was largely a bystander in this issue. The form of government was changing from Mayor-Council to City Manager in November 1957. Therefore Mayor Woodrow Mann and the entire City Council were lame ducks. Mann, whose son was a senior at Central, tried to focus on keeping the peace in Little Rock. Most (if not all) of his Council members sided with the Governor.

Congressman Brooks Hays, a Little Rock resident, had tried to broker an agreement between the President and the Governor but was unsuccessful.  Following that, Mayor Mann was in discussions with the White House about the ability of the Little Rock Police Department to maintain order.  Finally, in the interest of public safety, the President federalized the National Guard and removed them. This paved the way for the Army to come in.

Though the school year was not easy, the nine youths who became known worldwide as the Little Rock Nine were finally in school.  They were Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls.

In 1997, President Bill Clinton, Governor Mike Huckabee and Mayor Jim Dailey, famously held open the doors of Central High for the Little Rock Nine on the 40th anniversary.  Ten years later, Clinton, Huckabee and Dailey returned joined by current Governor Mike Beebe and Mayor Mark Stodola to host the 50th anniversary events.

Today the school is a National Historic Site, while still functioning as a high school.

Little Rock Look Back: Ike in Little Rock

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Detail from UPI photo of General Eisenhower following his address.

Detail from UPI photo of General Eisenhower following his address.

If Ike, Little Rock and September are considered, it is usually in reference to his role in the desegregation of Little Rock Central High in September 1957.  But five years earlier, he appeared in Little Rock on September 3, 1952.

General Eisenhower’s speech to 14,000 in MacArthur Park was the final leg in his swing through the South on his campaign for the White House.  He became the third presidential candidate to visit MacArthur Park in 1952 following General MacArthur (in his ill-fated attempt to gain traction as a GOP candidate during the delegate selection process) and Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson.

He visited every southern state except Mississippi on this campaign jaunt.  In comments that neither he nor his audience could have foreseen as prescient, Eisenhower declared that he deplored the government meddling in areas in which it did not belong.  This remark was made in reference to race relations.  His stance was that some rights of minorities should be protected, but it was not necessarily the role of the federal government.

Ike proffered that if white southerners did not protect the rights of African Americans they were in danger of losing their own rights, too.  In the era of the Cold War when people were worried about the imminent loss of rights, this message seems to have crafted to appeal to those concerns.  While Eisenhower did not shy away from addressing civil rights, his Democratic opponent Adlai Stevenson was silent on the issue.  But with Alabama segregationist Senator John Sparkman as his running mate, it put Stevenson in a difficult position to try to bring it up.

In the end, Ike lost most of the South.  He did carry Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee and Florida. The only states Stevenson won were in the South.  Eisenhower’s 43.74% of the Arkansas popular vote was the highest any Republican had garnered since General Grant carried the state in 1868 and 1872.

 

Little Rock Look Back: Louis Armstrong

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SatchmoLouis Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901 in New Orleans.  As he rose to fame, he would play Little Rock numerous times in a variety of venues.

As the Civil Rights movement started taking hold in the mid-1950s, many African American entertainers were vocal in their support.  Armstrong stayed silent.  Until, that is, September 17, 1957.  That night, in Grand Forks, North Dakota, he blasted President Dwight Eisenhower for his lack of action to make Governor Orval Faubus obey the law.  This was in an interview conducted by a 21 year old University of North Dakota journalism student named Larry Lubenow.

Journalist David Margolick wrote about the incident in The New York Times in September 2007 in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the integration of Little Rock Central High School.  He recounted how the story, written for the Grand Forks Herald, was picked up all over the country.  The entire Margolick piece can be read here.  Margolick tells that when Armstrong was given the chance to back off the comments, he asserted that he meant all of it.

On September 24, 1957, the night that the 101st Airborne was being mobilized to come into Little Rock, Armstrong sent Eisenhower a telegram again criticizing him for lack of action.  He used colorful language which sarcastically spoofed the “Uncle Tom” moniker which some of his critics had bestowed when they felt he was not doing enough for Civil Rights.  The Eisenhower Presidential Library has a copy of that telegram.  The incident between Satchmo and Ike was the basis for two different plays: Terry Teachout’s Satchmo at the Waldorf and Ishmael Reed’s The C Above C Above High C.

Armstrong would again play a part in Little Rock’s Civil Rights history.  In September 1966, he played the first major concert in Robinson Auditorium that was before a fully integrated audience.  Since the early 1960s, there had been a few sporadic concerts which had been before integrated audiences. But the policy of the Auditorium Commission remained that the building was to be segregated.  Following the approval of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, public facilities had to be integrated. Louis Armstrong played before a full house at Robinson Auditorium that night.

No need for Jurassic World, See Dinosaurs around the World at Clinton Center

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Clinton DinosIf Jurassic World has put you in the mood for more dinosaurs, the Clinton Presidential Center has just what you need.  Through October 18, it is featuring Dinosaurs Around the World through October 18.

Dinosaurs Around the World takes you back in time on a dinosaur adventure and a tour of an Earth very different from today – a time before the continents as we know them existed, when lush landscapes covered Africa and greenery was the norm in Antarctica! With 13 life-sized animatronics, a multi-layered narrative, fossils, authentic casts, cutting-edge research and immersive design elements, you’ll experience the Age of Reptiles as it comes to life!
Dinosaurs Around the World invites you to grab your prehistoric passport to Pangea and discover how continental splits driven by plate tectonics, land bridges revealed after sea level fluctuations, and new landforms created by volcanic activity allowed dinosaurs to disperse to all corners of the globe. These left each of the seven continents with its own unique selection of these giant reptiles. During their 172 million year reign, dinosaurs adapted into a variety of forms including enormous long-necked herbivores, the mighty T. rex, and more.
“We are thrilled to host the global premiere of Dinosaurs Around the World and look forward to sharing this interactive and scientific exhibit with our visitors,” said Stephanie S. Streett, executive director of the Clinton Foundation. “Our summer exhibits are highly anticipated by the community because they are specifically designed to appeal to the entire family.”
In addition to advanced animatronics, Dinosaurs Around the World also features information about the geologic time scale, geology, geography, and climatology. The exhibition questions how the dinosaurs lived on each continent, how they interacted with each other, how geography impacted their behavior and diets, and what the continents were really like at the time.
The exhibit also features an area that chronicles the accomplishments of four U.S. Presidents who worked to preserve the fossil-rich areas in North America where dinosaurs once roamed. Exhibit artifacts include items from the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman. This display includes a dinosaur skull replica on loan from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, an area that President Clinton designated as a national monument in 1996.
Dr. Gregory M. Erickson, a world-renowned dinosaur paleontologist, is the Senior Scientific Advisor for Dinosaurs Around the World. Dr. Erickson received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Washington, a Master’s degree from Montana State University, and a Ph. D. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and conducted post-doctoral research at Stanford University and Brown University before joining the faculty at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Dr. Erickson is currently the curator for the Florida State University Museum and holds research appointments with the American Museum of Natural History in New York, The Field Museum in Chicago, and University of Alaska’s Museum of the North in Fairbanks. Dr. Erickson is working with Imagine Exhibitions as an advisor, writer, and editor of the paleontology copy for the Company’s Dinosaurs Around the World exhibition.
Dinosaurs Around the World is open daily to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, through October 18, 2015. Tickets are available to purchase at the Clinton Center.