History Book - A new monument in Washington

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Monday, May 30th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Next up the WORLD History Book. Today Dr. Death is released from prison. And NATO welcomes a member for the first time in a quarter century. But first, one of America’s most recognized memorials celebrates a milestone. Here’s Paul Butler.

PAUL BUTLER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR: We begin today in Washington D.C.

NEWSREEL: Every American has two hometowns. His own and Washington. The nation’s capital is a reminder of the history we share in common and the men whose dreams made a great nation. The Lincoln Memorial…it’s graceful columns represent the states of the union…

The Lincoln Memorial sits on the western end of the National Mall in Washington D.C. It celebrates its 100th birthday this week. On May 30th, 1922, U.S. Chief Justice William Howard Taft dedicated the memorial in front of a crowd of 50,000 onlookers. The large neoclassical marble memorial is made up of stone from across the country.

Mike Litterst is the National Mall Spokesman for the National Park Service. Audio here from the Associated Press:

LITTERST: Massachusetts granite is used on the stairs. There is marble from Georgia that used to construct the statue itself. The ceiling tiles are from Alabama, all of those from across the country, from states north and south. joining together to build this great memorial to Abraham Lincoln, just as Lincoln himself reunified the states at the end of the Civil War.

In the 100 years since its completion, the Lincoln Memorial has been the site of many significant civil rights events and protests. The first took place on Easter Sunday, 1939.

NEWSREEL: The nation’s most impressive Easter demonstration. 75,000 amass before the Lincoln Memorial to hear Marian Anderson…make her capital debut at the great emancipator shrine. Refusal of the DAR to let her use their hall fanned a countrywide controversy with this great gathering as the climax…here to listen to the voice claimed by many as the finest within a century.

The concert lasted less than an hour, but it cemented the site as a symbolic memorial to the nation’s foundational truth: that all people are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights including Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Next, May 30th, 1982—NATO welcomes its newest member. Audio here from the opening ceremony held 10 days later at the NATO summit in Germany:

CEREMONY: Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great moment in NATO history because we are celebrating the alliance’s 16th member: Spain.

High ranking government officials from each of the other 15 NATO nations attend the ceremony. Including United States President Ronald Regan, the first lady, and British Prime Minister Maragret Thatcher. It had been 27 years since a country joined the alliance.

THATCHER: While the accession of Spain to the North Atlantic Treaty offers fresh and convincing cause for a renewed faith in the future of the Alliance we must not be complacent…

Internal tensions within Spain delayed its planned entry into NATO. Both the Spanish Socialist and Communist parties opposed the move.

AUDIO: [PROTESTS]

Some NATO members also doubted whether the young democracy was really ready to enter. But many nations within the alliance believed admitting Spain would be a strategic step to stabilizing the region. It also proved an important step toward the eventual creation of the European Union.

And finally, June 1st, 2007:

NEWSCAST: Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the man who claims to have helped 130 people die, is leaving prison a happy man…

Eight years earlier, a Michigan jury found Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder after he ended the life of Thomas Youk—a 52-year old man with ALS. Kevorkian videotaped Youk’s death. CBS’s 60 Minutes program aired portions of that video.

60 MINUTES: First the doctor gave him seconal to put him to sleep quickly. Then he injected a muscle relaxant to stop his breathing.

INSIDE EDITION: [KEVORKIAN] My intent was not to murder Thomas Youk. [ANCHOR] In 1999 he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison—but was released after 8 years on the condition that he would no longer help people end their lives…

After his release for good behavior, Kevorkian quickly became a sought after speaker on the lecture circuit. He was a frequent guest on television news programs and documentaries as doctor assisted suicide bills worked their way through various state legislatures. He even ran for Congress in 2008.

A year before his own death, he sat down for an interview with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

GUPTA: For many people, life is a gift. KEVORKIAN: It’s a gift? Who gave it to you?

Jack Kevorkian learned the answer to that question on June 3rd, 2011—when at 83 years old, the days of his life were complete and he met his maker.

KEVORKIAN: I am for absolute autonomy. You got that? There’s nobody who’s got more autonomy in mind than I have. That’s what’s wrong with this life…

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book, I’m Paul Butler.

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