1920

1920

By any measure, 1920 seems like a long time ago. 1920 was before the War in Iraq, the Vietnam War, the Korean War and World War II. It was before Bush and Clinton and Bush and Reagan and Carter and Ford and Nixon and Johnson and Kennedy and Eisenhower and Truman and Roosevelt and Hoover and Coolidge and Harding (Woodrow Wilson was president). The Berlin Wall hadn't been built much less knocked down. Prohibition began that year. Babe Ruth was traded by Boston to the NY Yankees and a curse was put on the Red Sox (it lasted until 2004). The Pope was Benedict XV (the current one is Benedict XVI). Women were guaranteed the right to vote that year by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The Russians were having a civil war. Poland was at war with the Soviets. The Irish were fighting with Great Britain(yes, even back then). In February, the Reds were the reigning World Series Champions. The first radios came on the market to consumers (Westinghouse for $10). Movies had no sound. Lindbergh had not flown across the Atlantic yet. The new Ford Model T was very popular with the rich (Half of all autos sold were Ford model T and they only came in black). First class postage was 2 cents (postcards were not yet invented). The first dial telephone was just introduced. The country was yet to experience the Great Depression.

February 12 of that year, on Paradrome Street in the Mount Adams neighborhood of Cincinnati, my father was born to second generation Irish Americans. He was the last of twelve and is today the only surviving child. Praise God.