History & Comment for September 24, 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 Wednesday, the 24th of September 2025. 

Modern Wars often get a lot of criticism.  The Mexican-American War was no exception.   On this day in 1846,  General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey.     Of course Taylor will later be elected US President.    The war was generally over territory.  The US wanted to purchase a vast amount of land in the West that was controlled by Mexico.    Mexico was reluctant to give it up.  Texas was a big part of the issue.   Mexico hoped to get them back and did not fully consent to their independence. President Polk had ran on a platform of increasing US holdings in the West including Texas at any cost.   That cost included inciting a war with Mexico over the issue.      In the end the US got the land for a lesser price than they had originally offered Mexico.   

Airships are a couple of stories of the day.  In 1852 the first powered craft to carry passengers travels 17 miles from Paris to Trappes.   The idea of an airfoil was still crude in the mid-18th Century and the development of flight was concentrated on balloons. Airships were the next step, a more rigid craft that could be powered to offer more control, rather then drift on wind currents.    The downside wase the ships were very large for their weight and susceptable to damage from strong winds.   That was the fate of the HMS Airship No 1 in 1911. Britian’s first rigid airship was wrecked before her maiden flight.  

Gold Prices plummet in 1869 and lead to a financial crisis in the United States that included the US President.   President Grant by all accounts was a reasonable President but his cabinet and those around him kept the newspapers filled with stories of scandal and corruption.    That was the case in the Gold market.  The US Government was selling off Gold at regular intervals to pay off debts.    Then a couple of speculators including railroad baron Jay Gould tried to corner the market.  Part of the scheme was to get the Presidents brother in Law in on the deal and gain access to the President and insider information on future gold sales.   The plan partially worked, but when discovered Grant order a large sale of Gold to drive down prices and thwart the scheme.   

One of the major issues in the first few decades of the Mormon Church was they held some beliefs that greatly offended their neighbors.    Principal of those was the idea of polygamy.   This is one of the reason for the move to Utah. That territory was outside of the United States.   At least that was the case in the Summer of 1847, when the first Mormon settlers arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley.  40 years later, the region was under the control of the United States.   Partly due to the Mexican War.     Utah wanted to become a State and the Polygamy issue was a major roadblock.   Congress was putting a lot of pressure on the church to comply.    On this day in 1890, they official renounce the practice.   Despite the official position of the church and the State, pockets still observe the practice.     One has to wonder what the motivations are? The population is roughly 50/50 male/female.   How is a setting where one man has several wives and families make any sense? And why is it always in one direction?

President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower in Wyoming the nation’s first National Monument.    National Monuments are much like National Parks but with different focus. Monuments have significant cultural, biological, or scientific value. While Parks focus on broad scenic, natural, educational, and recreational value.   Parks can only be established by Congress, while the President can proclaim a Monument as can Congress. 

Today there are 138 National Monuments managed by nine different Federal Agencies. 

Jimmy Doolittle was an aviation pioneer who saw his first airplane at the age of 13.  Like many of the period when flight was a novelty, he was hooked.   This was in 1911.   He took leave of college to enlist in the Signal Corp during WW I where he got his change to fly.  He spent WW I as a flight instructor and stayed in the Army after the war.   On this day in 1929,  He preforms the first flight without a window.    Taking off, flying and landing strictly on his instruments alone.  A very significant feat.  

The first outdoor rodeo under electric lights is held in 1935.  

The Honda Motor Company is formed in 1946.  Soichiro Honda was forty years old and had a suffered major set backs during WW II.    The was trained as a mechanic, with some education as an engineer.    His first company had a rough start, machining piston rings for Toyota.  Bombing in 1944 and an earthquake in 1945 had left his company in ruins.   What was left was sold to Toyota.  With the cash in hand he began Honda Motors focusing on engine development.  The first was the Type-A, which was attached to bicycles.  The Type D, introduced in 1949, will essentially be the first true motorcycle.  In post-war Japan motorized bicycles were a preferred method of transportation.  There was practically a manufacture on every corner, with their numbers reaching as many as 200.  It will be the Type E in the early 1950’s that will set Honda apart, it featured a 4-stroke engine.    Soichiro preferred the more complex, but reliable 4-stroke.   This disdain will create an issue when Honda began racing dirt bikes in Southern California in the early 190’s.   The 4-strokes were just not competitive.    Engineers at Honda began experimenting with 2-stroke designs, behind the back of the Big Man.    When confronted with the reality of loosing in an American Market and the efforts of his engineers, he relented,  but insisted they build the best 2-stroke possible.  The result was the Elsinore model, which ruled the American Races for a number of years and remains a claissic. 

The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, the sixth US Ship to carry that name is launched in 1960.  She is the worlds first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.   The year before the NS Savannah had been launched as a test ship.  The Russians had a nuclear powered ice breaker earlier in 1959.  

Despite the success of nuclear powered military ships, they have not been adopted for civilian use.  While the military ship have a long history of safety and reliability, the spector of liability in the event of a nuclear accident has prevented insurance companies from covering the concept in the civilian market.   

Birthdays today.   Sports caster Jim McKay in 1921.  McKay was a key figure in ABCs Wide World of Sports beginning in the 1960’s.  He was the voice for their classic Sports Intro.  Prior to his move to ABC he had called Sports for CBS and a Game Show on NBC.   

Puppeteer Jim Henson in 1936.  While he is known for the Muppets.   Rolf the Dog made an early appearance in a Canadian Dog Food Commercial and a Network run from 1963 to 1966 on the Jimmy Dean Show.  Henson was so grateful for the exposure that he offered Dean a 40% stake in the Henson Company,  Dean turned it down claiming he did not earn it. 

Journalist Lou Dobbs in 1946.

Football player Joe Greene is 79, today.    Greene has a stelar career in the 1970’s as a key part of the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line.    But is was a 60-second Coca-Cola ad in 1979 that may have cemented his name in History. 

We could have a long discussion about classic advertisements.   Coca-Cola certainly has had their share.    The Polar Bear is near the top of the list, but it was their early 20th century graphics that helped to create our image of Santa Claus.   Then you cannot have this conversation without mentioning the Super Bowl ads that feature an 8-horse hitch. Those strike a chord with very little mention of the product.