America
-
The Martha Mitchell Effect
Martha Beall was born on September 2, 1918 and later became Martha Beall Mitchell the wife of President Richard Nixon’s 1968 appointed Attorney General, John Mitchell. Nixon, notoriously known as a man who shifted blame away from himself and onto others, shamelessly placed the Watergate scandal onto Martha’s shoulders. In an interview with popular talk show host David Frost (September 1977 on Frost on America) Nixon said, “If it hadn‘t been for Martha Mitchell, there‘d have been no Watergate.” Martha’s claims of White House wrong doing were thought at first as unbelievable, but were eventually proven correct. On January 1, 1975, her husband John Mitchell was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction…
-
History of Fact Checking in Journalism
A focus on fact-checking in American journalism was spurred on by yellow journalism and muckraking practices of the late 19th century and early years of the 20th century. The Bureau of Accuracy and Fair Play that was founded in 1913 had the assignment to “correct carelessness and to stamp out fakes and fakers”. It served to find and apologize for already in print errors rather than preventing such errors from entering into print in the first place. Time magazine was one of the earliest to use the actual term “fact checking” back in 1935 in an issue of Colliers that referred to the addition of “its researchers and fact-checkers from…
-
Give Me Your John Hancock
The name John Hancock is synonymous with one’s signature. He was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence and legend has it that he purposely made his signature large and legible, so that King George III would be sure to read it clearly. Born on January 23, 1737 in Braintree (now Quincy), Province of Massachusetts Bay he was one of the wealthiest men in the Thirteen Colonies; thanks to an inheritance from his successful mercantile uncle. Before his death on October 8, 1793, he was the 1st and 3rd Governor of Massachusetts.
-
Founding Father Samuel Adams
One of the signers of The Declaration of Independence and an organizer of the Boston Tea Party, it is clear that Samuel Adams was a staunch opponent of Great Britain. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts on September 27, 1722 and President John Adams was his second cousin. He was a graduate of Harvard and went on to become a U.S. Governor, Statesman before his death on October 2, 1803.
-
Paul Revere Rides
On April 18, 1775, it was Dr. Joseph Warren who instructed Paul Revere to alert Adams and Hancock that the British Army was on the way to arrest them. On a borrowed horse Revere set out as messenger on his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington.
