Day Tripping: May 30

Icons On Display

Engines Started

The inaugural Indianapolis 500 auto race was held in 1911 with Roger Harroun, a local automotive engineer, winning the race in his Marmon Wasp racecar. Holding an average speed of 74. miles per hour, Harroun completed the race in just under seven hours and led for 88 of the last 97 laps of the 500-mile race. Comparatively, today’s races on the iconic speedway average in excess of 190 mph, and are completed in less than half the time.

One aspect of Roger’s race that separated him from his competition was replacing a co-driver/spotter for his new innovation, the rear-view mirror. Harroun took home $14,950, a little less than half the total prize money for beating 39 other competitors.

Memorial Dedicated

US Chief Justice William H. Taft, the only former President to reside on the Supreme Court bench dedicated the newly built Lincoln Memorial in 1922. Taft presented the Doric style structure to sitting President Warren G Harding as a gift to the American people in front of a crowd of 50,000 invited guests. Among those invitees was Lincoln’s 78-year-old son Robert Todd Lincoln.

Ironically, the prominent African Americans who were invited to the ceremony were forced to sit in a segregated area under Marine guard. Meanwhile, several veterans from the Confederate side of the Civil War were seated front and centre.

Activism Fueled

In the face of declining participation in the democratic reform movement in China, a group of student demonstrators constructed a 10-metre tall statue in four days and unveiled the Goddess of Democracy in 1989 at Tiananmen Square. The statue was built from a combination of foam and pare mache around a metal frame. At more than thirty feet high, the activists felt that whichever the government’s reaction would have a momentous effect.

If left standing, the statue would fuel more interest in the Democracy movement, and if destroyed, the symbolic action would spark harsh criticism from the outside world about the Chinese government’s policies. Five days later, the Goddess of Democracy was destroyed by People’s Liberation Army troops while the world watched further events unfold.

Musical Milestones

In the aftermath of the Exxon Corporation’s refusal to accept responsibility for the Exxon Valdez disaster that spilled more than 10 million gallons of crude oil off the coast of Alaska, an Australian rock band took action in a classic case of guerilla marketing in 1990.

The members of Midnight Oil hired a flatbed truck to stage an impromptu concert outside the Exxon building in New York City. An astonished lunchtime crowd of Exxon employees and passersby heard singer Peter Garrett say, “We can’t treat the world like a garbage dump, and there’s more to life than profit and loss,” and then were treated to eight songs, topped off by a cover of John Lennon’s Instant Karma.

Narratives

In 1906, famous chocolate maker Milton S. Hershey opened Hershey Park, a family theme park built for the exclusive use of company employees.

Remembrance

It was once said that Claude Rains was at his acting best when playing a ‘cultured villain’. Major roles like The Phantom of the Opera, Notorious, and Captain ‘Louie’ Renault in Casablanca made Rains a beloved star, Claude Rains is an unforgettable film figure. He died at age 77 in 1967.

Notable Births

1908 — The original voice behind Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and almost every other iconic cartoon character, Mel Blanc

1909 — Jazz clarinet great who was among the first bandleaders to integrate race in his groups, Benny Goodman

K. Barrett Katie Wallace Maria Rattray Maryam Merchant Dr Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Mandler MAT Terry Mansfield Hollie Petit, PhD. Terry Trueman Dr Preeti Singh John Gruber Bill Abbate James G Brennan ScienceDuuude Marcus Liam Ireland Claire Kelly Noorain Hassan, BMS Amy Pierovich David Acaster Nora Thewriteyard David Perlmutter Joe Luca

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