A “Tom Swifty” is a joke in which a phrase is linked to a person with a punning adverb or other word that modifies the manner in which the statement was related. E.g., “I have no idea,” said Tom thoughtlessly.
Everett Eugene Grunz, born in Owatonna, Minnesota, took the stage name of E.G. Marshall. Best noted for his roles on The Defenders, The Bold Ones and Twelve Angry Men, the actor never divulged fully what the two initials stood for, telling most people it stood for “Everybody’s Guess.”
William Conrad played the role of Marshall Matt Dillon on the radio. When they went to make a TV series, Conrad was not considered for the role because of his weight, so it was first offered to John Wayne, who refused but suggested James Arness. Conrad didn’t make it onscreen on TV until 1973 as Cannon, though in the interim, he did voice work, including the narrator for Rocky and Bullwinkle.
During the siege of Constantinople in 1453 the Emperor Mehmet II commissioned the largest cannon the world would see for centuries- the barrel was 27 feet long, solid bronze, 30 inches in diameter and capable of firing a 1200 pound projectile a mile and brought from the foundry by 60 oxen and 200 men. After several shots that landed far away from where intended a shot finally hit the walls and did great damage, but the cannon ultimately killed far more Turks than Greeks when it blew up and sent tons of debris flying into the Turkish camp. (Smaller cannons did far more damage to the walls of the city.)
Turkish military leader Kemal Ataturk (who later became president of Turkey) is quoted on a World War I memorial in Australia for his gracious words about the Aussie soldiers who died in Turkey during the Gallipoli campaign: http://www.skp.com.au/memorials2/pages/00012.htm
Among the many reforms undertaken by Atatürk was the introduction of a Latin-based alphabet for his country. In this and other learning-related matters, Atatürk solicited the aid of American educator John Dewey.
When the American fleet, commanded by George Dewey, sailed into Manila harbor during the Spanish American War, the Spanish fleet was so sure of the outcome that they positioned their ships near the shore, so fewer sailors would die when they were sunk.
George Dewey was born in Montpelier, state capital of Vermont, and served as a young naval officer in the Civil War. He is the only American sailor ever to be promoted to the rank of “Admiral of the Navy,” one level up from a five-star Fleet Admiral (although Dewey never wore more than four stars on his uniform).
Joseph Wheeler, aka “Fightin’ Joe” and “Warchild”, became commander of all Confederate cavalry in the Army of Tennessee at the age of 26 in spite of flunking cavalry tactics twice at West Point. During the Spanish-American War he joined the U.S. Volunteers and became the only Confederate general to be commissioned a general in the U.S. service. Though 61 and suffering from a tropical fever he participated in the Battle of San Juan Hill, where by some accounts when the Spanish forces were routed he yelled out “Give chase boys! We got the Yankees on the run!”
Scratch the above- playing off the one before:
Montpelier was the Orange County, Virginia estate of James and Dolley Madison. After her husband’s death Dolley had to sell his papers to Congress for $30,000 and then Montpelier, its furnishings and ultimately the slaves at auction to pay the debts of her wastrel alcoholic son, returning to D.C. where she lived in a very modest rented house dependent on friends for groceries for her remaining years.
Montpelier is the capital of Vermont
In 2006 Bernie Sanders of Vermont, formerly a Congressman and mayor of Burlington, became the first self-described socialist ever elected to the U.S. Senate (though he ran as an Independent).
Sanders, born to Jewish Polish immigrants in Brooklyn, N.Y., is one of only two Independents in the U.S. Senate today. Both he and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut caucus with the Democratic majority.
Joe Lieberman was Al Gore’s running mate, almost becoming the first Jewish Vice-President.
Nancy Lieberman, at 18 the youngest basketball player ever to win an Olympic medal, was also the first woman to play for the Washington Generals, perennial patsies of the Harlem Globetrotters. She was later one of the early stars of the WNBA, then a coach and GM, and later its oldest player ever. She is now the first female head coach in the NBA Development League.
Hadassah Lieberman, wife of Joe Lieberman, was born in a refugee camp in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1948. Her parents were both Holocaust survivors.
Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, was established in 1912 to improve the lives and health of Jews in the Palestine region of the Ottoman Empire. The Hadassah Hospitals in both sides of Jerusalem continue the work.
The organization was one of the few to make a major cash profit in Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
The year 1912 also saw the sinking of RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage to New York City, and the election of Woodrow Wilson, Democrat of New Jersey, to the Presidency as he defeated both incumbent William Howard Taft, Republican of Ohio, and former President Theodore Roosevelt, Progressive (Bull Moose) of New York.
Financier J(ohn) P(ierpont) Morgan planned to sail home on the Titanic but had to remain in London due to a flu; footage of the ruins of his suite (which he never set foot in obviously) was used in the James Cameron movie.
Singer Johnny Cash was actually christened J. R. Cash.