Cinco de Mayo

On July 17, 1861, with Mexico crippled in a financial crisis, President Benito Juarez signed a law suspending payments to France on debts owed to it.  The following November 11, Emperor Napoleon III of France ordered his navy to occupy Mexican port cities on the Gulf until the debts were repaid.

In January of 1862, about 2,500 French troops, the first of a much larger expedition, arrived in Mexico at the port of Vera Cruz.  Three months later, on April 19, the first military confrontation between Mexican and French armies occurred.  The following day, France declared war on Mexico.

On May 5 (Cinco de Mayo) of 1862, 5,000 French soldiers attacked the City of Puebla (between Vera Cruz and Mexico City) defended by 12,000 Mexican troops, led by General Ignacio Zaragoza.  The attack failed and the French were forced to retreat, having suffered 476 casualties, twice as many as their adversaries.  Mexicans felt a moment of national pride that is remembered to the present day.

The war continued with more and more French soldiers arriving in Mexico.  In 1863, the French again tried to capture Puebla.  On May 19, the Mexican Army, badly outnumber, surrendered the city.  The invaders then turned their attention to the capital.

On June 3, 1863, the French Army entered Mexico City and proclaimed a Mexican Empire, headed by an Austrian prince, Maximilian, who was told by the French that the majority of the Mexican people wanted him as their ruler.  It was really only the Mexican aristocracy that did.

The French Army supported Maximilian against Juarez forces until May of 1866 when Napoleon III (encouraged to do so by the USA after the American Civil War ended) ordered it home.  Maximilian was captured and executed in 1867.  The war was over.

I think the first time I heard the expression Cinco de Mayo was ten years ago when I was driving down East Franklin Street (near Estes Drive) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and noticed a new restaurant named Cinco de Mayo.  I knew it had something to do with Mexico, but I didn't know exactly what.

Cinco de Mayo is celebrated as a significant military victory in the Mexican State of Puebla, but it is not a national Mexican holiday.  Mexicans living in the U.S. State of California have been celebrating Cinco de Mayo since 1862 when news of the Mexican defeat of the French first arrived.

In the 1980s, Cinco de Mayo became more popular in the USA when Mexican beer company marketers started using it in their commercials.  Since then, Cinco de Mayo has come to represent Mexican culture in the USA.  As of 2006, there were more than 150 official Cinco de Mayo events held across the 50 states, especially in areas with high concentrations of Mexican Americans.  

Both U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama celebrated Cinco de Mayo at the White House during their entire eight-years there (2001-2016).  In 2017 and 2018, President Trump said no.                

The Real Ben Johnson

Last Sunday, I ended the saga (Best of Intentions) of Ben Johnson, history teacher from Oswego, New York, who lost his son, Frank, in a hunting accident, his first wife, Paula, in a traumatic divorce stemming from the loss of their son, and his second wife, Rita, as a result of a tragic mistake that sometimes happens during war.  

I chose the name Johnson because the British commissioner, Sir William Johnson, went to Oswego in the mid Eighteenth Century to enter into a peace treaty with Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa Tribe.  I chose the name Ben because Ben Johnson is one of my favorite actors.

The actor Ben Johnson, of Irish and Cherokee ancestry, was born in Oklahoma in 1918.  Through his father, he developed an interest in horses.  Ben's film career began with the 1943 Howard Hughes western, The Outlaw, when he was hired to bring the horses Hughes bought for the film from Oklahoma to Hollywood.  Once in California, Ben got stunt work because of his ability riding horses.  

The director John Ford hired Ben to be the stunt double for Henry Fonda in his 1948 film, Fort Apache.  So impressed was Ford with Ben's horseback riding that he signed him to a seven-year acting contract.

Ben Johnson's first credited role was in the 1949 John Ford/John Wayne movie, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.  In 1950, he worked again with the two Johns in Rio Grande.  In 1953, Ben had a famous barroom fist fight with Alan Ladd in the classic, Shane.  

In the early 1960s, Ben was in three episodes of Have Gun Will Travel with Richard Boone.  In 1961, he worked with Marlon Brando in One Eyed Jacks.  In 1968, Ben appeared in the Charlton Heston movie, Will Penny, and the Clint Eastwood film, Hang 'Em High.  In 1969, he was one of The Wild Bunch, along with William Holden, Ernest Borgnine and Warren Oates.

 In 1971, Ben was cast in the film The Last Picture Show, directed and co-written by Peter Bogdanovich.  It is a coming of age story of two teenage boys living in a dying small town in north Texas in 1951.  It received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.  All three awards were won by The French Connection.    

In The Last Picture Show, Ben Johnson plays Sam the Lion, the owner of the local pool hall, movie theater and cafe.  There is one touching scene in which he takes the two boys, Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges) on a fishing trip.  While there, Sam the Lion recalls a time in his past when he took a young woman to the same place. 

"I brought a young lady swimming out here once.  More than twenty years ago.  It was after my wife had lost her mind and my boys was dead.  Me and this young lady was pretty wild, I guess.  In pretty deep!  We used to come here horse back and go swimming with no bathing suit.  One day, she wanted to swim the horses across this tank.  A kind a crazy thing to do, but we done it anyway.   She bet me a silver dollar she could beat me across.  She did.  The horse I was riding didn't want to take the water.  But, she was always looking for something to do like that.  Something wild!  I bet she's still got that silver dollar."

Ben Johnson received the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as Sam the Lion.  He died of a heart attack in 1996 at the age of seventy-seven, mimicking the death of Sam the Lion in The Last Picture Show.                   

Best of Intentions, Chapter 22

Landing craft full of soldiers leave the U.S. Navy destroyer and head towards land as intense firing from both sides continues.  Finally, they hit the beach in front of Maria's and Ben's cottage.  One of the first soldiers to disembark is Private Harry Johnson from Syracuse.  He and the others charge ahead looking for cover from Mexican gunfire.  Once in the brush, the Americans wind their way towards the enemy.  Finally, Harry comes to the area where the cottage had been.  It is completely leveled.  He is about to pass over it when he hears human moaning causing him to stop.  

"Help...help."

Harry pulls off layers of debris until he discovers the blackened body of a naked woman.  Underneath her he sees the tortured face of his uncle, whom he doesn't recognize.  Realizing they are both injured, Harry calls for a medic and then continues on his way.  After the medic arrives, he checks out Rita and then gently rolls her body off Ben's so he can examine him.

The medic asks, "Speak English, sir?"

Ben mumbles, "Yes!"

"American, sir?"

"Yes!"

"Your wife, sir?"

"Yes!"

"I'm afraid she's dead, sir."

At this horrific news, Ben's goes into shock.  He's in too much pain from his bodily injuries to move.  The medic gives him an injection.  Tears run down Ben's bloody face until he passes out.  As the battle continues, an unconscious Ben is placed on a stretcher and removed from the area, leaving Rita's body behind.

Some time later, Ben wakes up in a hospital ward on a U.S. Navy ship.  He is still groggy as a nurse approaches.

"Hello, sir.  I'm Lieutenant Anderson.  What were you doing in the middle of a battle zone?"

"Where's Rita?  Where's my wife?  What are you talking about, a battle zone?  I don't understand any of this."

"Didn't you know the president ordered an invasion of Mexico to stop them from making a super bomb they were going to use against us?"

Ben shakes his head in the negative.  "My wife?"

"I'm sorry.  I've no report of any woman found in the area.  Please rest, sir."

She leaves.  Ben starts to cry out, but his injuries limit his response.

"Rita...Rita."

Days later, Ben's been transferred to a U.S. Navy hospital in Key West, Florida.  It's difficult for him to get around as his ankle was broken.  Ben phones his brother Dave from an administrative area.

"Dave, it's me...I'm at a Navy hospital in Key West.  I'm recovering from some injuries I suffered at Vera Cruz when all hell broke loose.  Rita and I were there honeymooning.  We had no idea what was about to happen.  Now Rita's gone.  The moment before was the happiest of my life.  And now...I don't know what to do.  The Navy wants to get rid of me and I've no where to go.  Can I come up to your place to finish my recuperation?  My ankle's busted...Thanks.  I'll let you know when my plane'll arrive...Bye."

A week later at the Miami Airport, an attendant pushes Ben's wheelchair to his gate.  Once there, with help, he transfers to a regular chair.  Ben waits by himself for his flight to Syracuse.  His foot is in a cast and he has crutches.  Ben looks straight ahead without emotion.  There's a radio nearby broadcasting news.

The announcer says, "The president has reported that Operation Segundo is a success.  In a relatively short time, U.S. forces have crushed the Mexican Army and its government is in hiding.  However, there appears to be a growing insurgency that's causing problems for our troops.  As has been previously reported by Washington, the reason for the invasion was Julius Karchevsky, a notorious scientist who was working on the creation of a super bomb to use against the United States.  Unfortunately, he has not yet been captured.  However, President Roosevelt has assured the American people that he will be soon and this threat from the south will be over."

Meanwhile, in front of a house on Lyell Avenue in Rochester, New York, a short, elderly man with grey hair, a mustache, and a pot belly sits on his porch while interviewed by reporters.

Ben is still listening to the radio back in Miami.

"In another report, a man calling himself Julius Karchevsky, a salesman from Rochester, New York, claims to be the man the government is looking for in Mexico.  He said he lived there before the war, but then moved to the United States.  He says he knows nothing about any super bomb.  Washington is looking into this report, but so far has discounted its authenticity.  The War Department said that, even if it is true, we went into Mexico with the best of intentions, to protect the American people."

Ben sits and waits with no expression on his face.  He wonders what happened to Rita's body, to Patricia, to Miguel, and to their beautiful house in Mexico City.

A smile then appears on Ben's face.  He remembers when he first met Rita in the corridor at the hotel in New York.

Rita said, "Well, here I am.  It was nice talking to you, Mr..."

"Johnson.  Ben Johnson.  The pleasure was all mine, miss uh..."

"My name is Senora Ramirez, Rita Chavez Ramirez.  Good night."

"Good night."

Rita puts her key in the lock.  She steps through the open doorway and turns to look back at Ben.  She studies his face for a brief moment with a calm expression and then gives him a warm, friendly smile.  Finally, she closes the door.

Ben's flight to Syracuse has just arrived at Hancock Airport.  As an injured passenger, he's the last one off the plane.  Ben slowly hobbles down the stairway assisted by a stewardess.  An attendant with a wheelchair awaits him at the bottom.  Ben sits down holding his crutches.  He is wheeled across the tarmac to the gate.  Ben looks for his brother, but he doesn't see him.  Instead, he sees the silhouette of an unknown woman.  As he gets closer, he recognizes his ex-wife.  Ben sits straight up, starring at her, startled by her presence.  As the wheelchair reaches the gate, Paula motions to the attendant that she will take over.  She reaches over and touches Ben's left hand.

"I'm sorry."

Ben nods.  Paula pushes the wheelchair into the terminal and down a long corridor towards the exit.  The attendant keeps watching them until they turn a corner and disappear from his view. 
__________

IN THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE OF SEPTEMBER 24, 2004, SENATOR JOHN KERRY QUOTED RICHARD CLARKE, THE FORMER WHITE HOUSE TERRORISM CZAR, AS SAYING "INVADING IRAQ IN RESPONSE TO 9/11 WOULD BE LIKE FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT INVADING MEXICO IN RESPONSE TO PEARL HARBOR."

The End.

Penicillin

In 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming (British physician and scientist) named the wonder drug he discovered Penicillin, the world's first antibiotic, used to destroy bacteria that invades the human body.  Before penicillin's discovery, "there was no effective treatment for infections such as pneumonia, gonorrhea or rheumatic fever.  Hospitals were full of people with blood poisoning contracted from a cut or a scratch and doctors could do little for them."

"Returning from holiday on September 3, 1928, Fleming noticed...a blob of mold growing (on a petry dish that he had left).  The mold had secreted something that inhibited bacterial growth.  Fleming found that (this substance) was capable of killing a wide range of harmful bacteria."

However, it wasn't until March of 1942 that Penicillin was first used on a patient, Mrs. Ann Miller of New Haven, Connecticut.  Merck & Co., Inc., the pharmaceutical company, then started mass producing Penicillin to cure more and more patients.

Ten years later, in December of 1952, my family and I (mother, father and four sons) were about to embark on a holiday vacation trip from Oswego, New York to Miami Beach, Florida.  The six of us would travel 1,461 miles in two cars.

The night before we left I took a bath.  On leaving the tub, I fell on the wooden floor cutting my right knee.  A sliver of wood entered the cut.  My mother tried unsuccessfully to remove it.

We left the next morning and the trip took us the better part of a week.  Each day ended in a frightening ordeal for me.  In our hotel room before going to bed, my mother would use a tweezer to attempt to remove the sliver.  She couldn't.  

I had been especially looking forward to climbing the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. to stand in front of the greatest president in American history.  Even at seven years of age, I was already in awe of Abraham Lincoln.  Because of my problem with my right knee, the best I could do was to stand in front of the steps.  Since then, I have made the climb several times.  

Days later we were having dinner at a restaurant in St. Augustine, in northeast Florida, "the oldest (since 1565) continuously occupied European-established (Spanish) settlement within the borders of the continental United States."  It turned out to be the city where one of my favorite actors, Richard Boone (Have Gun Will Travel), lived during his final years.  

Upon leaving the restaurant, I noticed that my right knee felt very warm.  I pulled up my pant leg and saw pus coming out of my now infected wound.  My mother, my twenty year old brother Joel and I went directly to the emergency room at the local hospital.  There, medical personnel took me into a private examining room.  

Initially, I was not nervous.  However, that changed when a nurse entered the room with the biggest hypodermic needle I have ever seen.  I asked Joel for whom was that for.  He responded with one word, "Guess."  Realizing the correct answer, I became hysterical.  It took four people, including Joel, to hold me down so that someone could inject me with Penicillin in my buttock.

The following morning, we returned to the hospital for a second injection of the wonder drug.  By then my right knee was much better and I took the shot like a pro.  The family then proceeded on our trip to Miami Beach.

Who knows what might have happened to me had Dr. Fleming not made his accidental discovery.  Could I have lost my leg or even died?  This is what I think about life, one accident after another.  

      

          

Death of Lincoln

On Monday, April 3, 1865, after the evacuation of the Confederate government from their capital city, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln made a triumphant visit to Richmond, Virginia.  The American Civil War (or as I prefer to call it, the War of the Rebellion) was almost over.  

On Sunday, April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee of the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to his counterpart, Ulysses S. Grant, Commanding General of all Union forces, at Appomattox Court House, Virgina, effectively ending the war.

On Friday, April 14, 1865, President Lincoln could afford to relax and enjoy an evening of entertainment at Washington's Ford's Theater.  He was accompanied by his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancee, Clara Harris.  The four sat in the presidential box, above the main level of seating and to the left from the point of view of the actors on stage.

During the years of his presidency which overlapped the Civil War, Lincoln was a visitor at both Grover's (1321 Pennsylvania Avenue NW) and Ford's (511 10th Street NW) theaters more than a hundred times.  He "delighted at the chance to sink into his seat as the gaslights dimmed and the action on the stage began."

On Lincoln's last visit, Ford's was presenting the comedy, Our American Cousin.  At about 10:15 PM, the actor Harry Hawk, alone on stage, delivered the following line which drew great laughter, "Don't know the manners of good society, eh?  Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal-you sockdologizing old mantrap."

At that moment, the well-known actor, John Wilkes Booth, a southern sympathizer, shot Lincoln with a single bullet to the back of his head, near his left ear.  Booth had entered the presidential box left unprotected when the policeman (John Parker) assigned to protect Lincoln went to get a drink at the bar (Star Saloon) across the street.

After shooting Lincoln, Booth jumped down to the stage, breaking his leg and shouted, "Sic semper tyrannis (Thus always to tyrants)."  He ran, as best he could, to the rear of the theater where an accomplice was waiting for him with a horse.  The two escaped into the Maryland country side.  Twelve days later, Booth was killed by Union soldiers at a farm in Virginia.  

The Lincoln assassination was part of a conspiracy to disrupt the Union government, a last ditch attempt to save the Confederacy.  Booth, the mastermind, had assigned accomplices to kill both Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward.  The two failed in their missions, although Seward was badly wounded from a knife attack.  The conspiracy failed.  

Lincoln, not yet dead, was carried unconscious across the street to a boarding house, the Peterson House, where he died the next morning, Saturday, April 15, 1865,  153 years ago today.  As Secretary of War Edwin Stanton said, "Now he belongs to the ages."  

My son Bret and I once visited both Ford's Theater and the Peterson House, still preserved in Washington, D.C.  Fascinating!     

    

The 2000 Census

Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the U. S. Constitution states that "Representatives (members of the lower chamber of the United States Congress)...shall be apportioned among the several States...according to their respective numbers.  The actual enumeration (a census) shall be made...every...ten years."  

Some time after my retirement from Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc. on June 30, 1999, I got temporary employment with the federal government working on the 2000 Census.  The office where I reported to work was located near Main Street in Flushing, New York, between Northern and Kissena Boulevards.  

However, most of the time I was in the field in various areas of Queens County canvasing homes of people who did not respond to the mailed request to fill out the census form voluntarily.  Typical questions on the form included how many people lived in the home, was the home owned or rented, what was the name of the owner/renter, what was their phone number, what was their gender, what was their age and what was their date of birth.  It also asked if the owner/renter was Hispanic and what was their race.

Some of the occupants of the homes I went to did not respond because they had forgotten to do so.  However, some were very concerned about the nature of the questions and felt the answers were none of the government's business.  These tended to be uncooperative with me as well.

One thing I learned about working for the federal government was that once money is allocated to a project, such as the 2000 Census, the project managers tend to spend any excess money rather than return it to Washington.  For example, near the end of the census, I was sent back to the same homes that some of my colleagues had been to allegedly as a "double check."  I believe it was rather a way to spend money previously allocated.  And the occupants were very angry about a census taker coming a second time.

Doing my job, I came in contact with group homes where unrelated adults who were mentally challenged lived with supervision provided by the city government.  I also went to homes (Chinatown in Queens) where no one spoke English.  Here, I was challenged.  

Two of my colleagues working for the 2000 Census were the first Muslims I ever had contact with.  One was a young mother who had emigrated with her family from Pakistan.  She was a very pleasant woman who one day came to work wearing traditional clothing.

The other was a young man from Afghanistan.  Several times he gave me rides to and from work where we engaged in lively conversation about his country.  This was before 9/11 after which Afghanistan became more well known.

Near the Census Office, on Main Street, was a Wendy's fast food restaurant.  I'm sure I went there to eat at least once.  On the night of May 24, 2000 (during the period of my employment), just after closing time, five Wendy's employees were shot and killed during a robbery of $2,400 by a former employee and an accomplice.  Two others were shot but survived.  One called 911.  

The two assassins were arrested within 48 hours.  They were tried, convicted and will spend the rest of their lives in prison.  Because of what happened at Wendy's, the restaurant on Main Street never reopened.                        

Splendor in the Grass

"What though the radiance which was once so bright, be now for ever taken from my sight, though nothing can bring back the hour of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower, we will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind."   These are the immortal words of William Wordsworth, the Eighteenth-Nineteenth Century English poet.  

The above phrase was co-opted into the 1961 film Splendor in the Grass directed by Elia Kazan and which starred Natalie Wood (nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, but lost to Sophia Loren in Two Women) and Warren Beatty (screen debut).  William Inge won the Academy Award for Best Writing-Story and Screenplay, Written Directly for the Screen.

Splendor in the Grass is the story of Deanie (Wood), a teenage girl growing up in a small town in Kansas in the 1920s.  She is conflicted by her passionate feelings towards her boyfriend, Bud (Beatty), and the sexual repression passed down to her by her mother and the community she lives in.  After much turmoil, Deanie and Bud do not live together happily ever after.

There is an interesting scene near the end where Deanie's mother apologizes for whatever mistakes she made raising her daughter.  She said she raised her daughter the same as her mother raised her and perhaps as her grandmother raised her mother as well.  At the time, how else did anyone know how to raise a child? 

As my high school classmates and I were growing up in a small town in New York State forty years after Deanie and Bud, we perhaps experienced the same feelings they did.  I remember hotly debating the film's point of view with one of my female classmates.  I forget what I thought at the time, but I felt it strongly.

Natalie Wood was born in San Francisco in July of 1938.  Her parents were immigrants from Russia and the Ukraine.  Natalie's first credited movie role was in 1946 at eight years of age (Tomorrow is Forever as Orson Welles' daughter).  Her first starring role was the following year in the unforgettable Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street (at Macy's Department Store) as Maureen O'Hara's daughter.  

In 1955, Natalie Wood appeared with James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (she was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Actress in a Supporting Role, but lost to Jo Van Fleet in East of Eden, also a James Dean movie).  In 1956, Natalie was kidnapped by Comanches in my favorite John Wayne film, The Searchers.  In 1961, she played the lead, Maria, in the movie musical, West Side Story.  

In 1963, Natalie Wood starred opposite Steve McQueen in the romantic film, Love With The Proper Stranger.  She was nominated for the third and last time for an Academy Award (Best Actress), but lost to Patricia Neal in Hud.  I remember the final scene which was shot at the intersection of West Thirty-Fourth Street and Seventh Avenue in New York City, near Macy's Department Store.  Cristina and I have frequently passed by where Natalie and Steve once stood.

Natalie Wood died in November 1981 at the age of forty-three.  She was on board her yacht (Splendour) near Santa Catalina Island (southwest of Los Angeles) with her husband, the actor Robert Wagner, and another actor Christopher Walken, with whom she was making a movie (Brainstorm).  While Natalie was presumably alone late at night she wound up in the Pacific Ocean (she once said, "I've always been terrified of the water") under unclear circumstances.  Her body was found the following day.  The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled that Natalie died as a result of accidental drowning and hypothermia.

After thirty-six years, Natalie Wood's death has recently been reclassified as "suspicious" by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.  Apparently, she quarreled with her husband shortly before she disappeared into the water.  Robert Wagner (now eighty-eight years old) is currently listed as a "person of interest."  

What ever happened that night, it was a shame as Natalie Wood was a beautiful woman and a wonderful actress who was taken from us too soon.