History & Comment for March 17, 2025

A look at historical and current events on this day, comment and humor so dry it would make a camel thirsty. 

Transcript

This is History and Comment for Monday the 17th of March 2025.  If you are living under a rock today is St. Patrick’s Day.  

There are so many paths we could go down on this subject.    The day seems to have taken on a bigger life in America than in Ireland.  There it may be noted as the day to honor the Parton Saint of the Island or nationalism.   Much like the Fourth of July here.   Americans have made it more for revelry.   And may well be the cause of idea of a party.     St. Partick’s Day parades most likely started here in American by homesick immigrants.   

In America today,  nearly 32 million people claim Irish roots.  This is third on the list,  English is No 1 with 47 Million.  Then German with 45 million.   Yet we do not see the same national day of celebration.    Granted many communities have German Street Festivals but no single event.  

But exactly who is St. Patrick, is of great debate.   There is some debate if he was in fact a single person or an amalgam of two or three historical persons.   We really do not know for certain.    This is mostly due to the fact that the single person that gets most of the credit, died on this day but the year is also of scholarly debate.   We simply do not know.   He wrote two works that have survived,   The confesairo is the most biographical of the two.  It was written in Latin and the language suggest a date of the Early 5th Century and other details confirm that.    That is about as firm as we can be certain.    

Patrick, was also not Irish.    It is fairly certain his parents had latin connections.  Again, there is debate if they were of foreign birth and came to Brittian or were born there.  Either way they were educated in Latin and may have been part of the Roman Government.     Exactly where in Britian is another point of question.    All we can be certain of, his village was Roman-influenced and somewhere along the west coast of Modern England, Wales or Southern Scotland.  

His village was raided when Patrick was 16 and he was taken to Ireland as a slave. There he spent seven years tending sheep before he managed to escape.   It was during this period his faith was established in solitude on the Irish hills.  One of the legends is he was told in a dream or vision that his ship awaited for his escape.   But did he return to England or did he spend some time in France.   Either way there was a period of religious study. But in time he did return to his home in Britian, before beginning his preaching in Ireland about the year 433.  

Also of debate is the point, Was Patrick Catholic?  While that question would seem obvious, we need to look at the subject very closely.   Prior to the 4th Century,  there was no central Church organization or government.    That idea began to coalesce in 325,   and took almost three more centuries to solidify.     Patrick lived roughly from 370 to 461.   It would be hard to classify very few Christians as Catholic in that time period.   Especially if we use the image that has existed since the middle ages.   With that logic we could also argue if Peter and Paul were Catholic.   

There is so much in American Society that has been influenced by the massive Irish immigration in the mid 19th Century and its continual affect on our larges Eastern Cities.    The term Paddy Wagon for a police vehicle is one.   Again, we are in the realm of debate.   Paddy is a shortened form of the Gaelic name Padrig from which we get Patrick.   There is an antedote that the Jails in the large cities were build by Irish labor and then filled by them.    That last point has a double meaning as the Irish were often the police and the criminals.   

One thing that is certain,   The Irish in America have a reputation for being gregarious and rowdiness.  They also have a long history of suppression and social disdain.    The placard “NO Irish, Need Apply” was common. 

A few very notable folks in American History are of Irish decent.    Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Billy the Kid and President John F. Kennedy may top the list.    Billy the Kidd, is a First Generation American, his parents were both Irish Immigrants and some accounts note that Billy, was bilingual in Irish and English.   His birth name was Henry McCarty.   And combined with his ancetrial connections to Country Antrim,   might suggest a Scots-Irish lineage.   The Prefix Mc or Mac is the Scots version of the more Irish O’ , both mean son of.   But the fact his parents were Catholic as were many of his associates, almost certainly rules that out.   

Then there was the point that President Obama claimed Irish roots.    To that point,   pick a story and stick to it.    It brings up the parody Paul Shanklin produced for Rush Limbaugh.   I will not take the time to play it, so I will post a link.    Folks if you are not following this program on Facebook you will miss a few tidbits.   And with all social media, like and share it often.   If you are looking just search facebook for Doug Terrell – History and Comment. 

I might post links to a couple of my favorite irish songs later today. 

It really is impressive how an island that is very similar in size and population to Indiana has had such an impact on American Society.

IN 1776, Boston was not quite as Irish as it is today.   That trend began in the 1820s and swelled in the 1850s and 60’s with the Potato Famine.   When Boston was  a major port of entry.   On this day that year the British Army evacuates the city after Colonials placed heavy artillery prices on the high ground overlooking the city.   

The US launches the first solar powered satellite in 1958.   Yes, we have had photo-voltaic panels for decades.  The question has always been can it be cost effective compared to fossil fuels.    In space, that is not a option and solar is.   

In that realm, the technology is becoming more practical.    For the present, it still has a few issues. One that is often in the news, in the Spring,  Solar panels are fragile and easily damaged during wind and storm events.  

1960, President Eisenhower signs a directive on an Anti-Cuban covert action plan. We were not happy with the political balance or inbalance in our

 island neighbor.   The plan will lay the ground work for the Bay of Pigs invastion during the next Presidential admistration.   

Golda Meir become the first female Prime Minister of israel in 1969.   She will serve in that position for the next five years.  A native of Kiev, Russia at the time,  Ukraine today.   She immigrated to the United State as a child and was part of the earliest Zionist plans to relocated back to Israel.   

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