Cal Thomas: New year, 1924

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, December 28th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Up next: WORLD commentator Cal Thomas skips predictions for 2024 and instead looks back in time for lessons from history.

CAL THOMAS: At the end of every year, we hear predictions about the future, many of which have been proven wrong. Predictions the world will end on such and such a date for example. All wrong. Forecasts about how we would be living life today. Wrong again.

If we look back a hundred years ago, the ’20s are roaring and President Calvin Coolidge does things the current president and Congress would do well to emulate. Coolidge wins a landslide victory running on a platform of limited government, reduced taxes, and less regulation. He follows through on all three, creating an economic boom.

In 1924, Coolidge also signs an immigration law that regulates the number of foreigners who could come to America—especially those from Asian countries. Yes, racism played a role, but so does international politics. And Coolidge himself promotes the idea that immigrants who learn English and contribute to the country are truly American.

A lot happens in 1924.

Vladimir Lenin dies at age 53 after a number of strokes. The communist leader’s body is embalmed and put on display in Red Square for public viewing. It’s still there…though in our day, Lenin’s authoritarian beliefs seem reincarnated in Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch. He is released after just nine months, but uses his time while incarcerated to write Mein Kampf, which, among other things, describes how he became anti-Semitic. His poison still infects us.

J. Edgar Hoover is named head of the FBI.

George H.W. Bush is born in Milton, Massachusetts. Woodrow Wilson dies. Jimmy Carter is born in Plains, Georgia. Actor Marlon Brando, who would change the way many actors performed, is born in Omaha, Nebraska. Also born this year are American writers James Baldwin and Truman Capote.

The comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” debuts in the New York Daily News. In 1977 it would become a hit musical on Broadway and later a movie.

The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is held in New York.

In sports news, future Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry is born, and the Washington Senators win their first World Series. It will be 95 years until they win another one under a different name, the Washington Nationals.

Carol Taylor patents the ice cream cone rolling machine. Yum. And at the end of 1924, Judy Garland makes her acting debut as a 2-½-year-old.

As with any other year, 1924 contained the good, the bad and the ugly, but it also contained lessons we should learn. May those good lessons lead us to a happier, peaceful and prosperous 2024.

Happy New Year!

I’m Cal Thomas.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.