History Book: Republicans nominate Calvin Coolidge

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, June 10th, 2024. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next, the WORLD History Book. Today, a baseball great addresses the U.S. House. And, legal accountability for an oil spill disaster lingers in a courtroom for almost 20 years.

EICHER: But first, the Republican National Convention is held in Cleveland, Ohio, 100 years ago. Here’s WORLD Radio Reporter Emma Perley:

EMMA PERLEY: On June 10th, 1924, thousands of people cram into a public auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio.

They are eager to find out who will be named the presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention, or RNC—although they know that there’s no competition. At home, families gather around their radios to tune in as the event will be broadcast through local radio stations for the first time…though no recording exists of the event.

Republican representative Theodore Burton delivers a keynote address endorsing presidential candidate Calvin Coolidge. Voice actor Ed Phillips reads from his speech.

BURTON/PHILLIPS: The People—and all the people— have confidence in Calvin Coolidge. In the great array of rulers, kings and prime ministers entrusted with power, there is none who can surpass him in honesty of purpose, in courage, or in high devotion to the welfare of his country.

After the death of former president Warren G. Harding in August of 1923, vice president Calvin Coolidge took office. Known as “Silent Cal” for his quiet demeanor, Coolidge kept a low profile as president and continued to implement Harding’s policies. Once again, Ed Phillips reading from Coolidge’s State of the Union broadcast address in December of 1923.

COOLIDGE/PHILLIPS: The world has had enough of the curse of hatred and selfishness, of destruction and war. It has had enough of the wrongful use of material power. For the healing of the nations there must be good will and charity, confidence and peace. The time has come for a more practical use of moral power, and more reliance upon the principle that right makes its own might.

During his presidential campaign, Coolidge did not attend the RNC but insisted that it be held in Ohio in honor of former president Harding.

Coolidge won the nomination by a landslide, and was elected president by 54% of the popular vote. He soon established himself as a radio pioneer, and “Silent Cal” made more than 60 radio broadcasts during his presidency. Audio from his 1924 speech on taxation and the economy on the White House lawn.

COOLIDGE: I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry. This is the chief meaning of freedom.

Next, fifty years ago, baseball star Henry “Hank” Aaron rises to speak at the House of Representatives on June 13th, one day before National Flag day. Members burst into applause and give a standing ovation as he takes the floor. Audio here from Old Radio World.

HANK AARON: To me the flag has been more than merely an inspiration …

Alabama-born “Hammerin’ Hank” grew up in a poor neighborhood and began his foray into baseball by hitting bottle caps with a broom handle. The Boston Braves signed him at just 18 years-old after several months in the minor leagues.

AARON: God had given me the ability to play baseball, and he had given me something that lots of players, I mean lots of ‘em, black and white, was hoping that they could do the same thing that I was doing.

Aaron in an interview with Atlanta News First three years ago. Hank batted his 715th homer against the L.A. Dodgers in April 1974, cementing him as the record holder for the next 30 years. Audio courtesy of Major League Baseball.

ANNOUNCER: One ball and no strikes, Aaron waiting, the outfield deep and straight away, fastball is a high drive into deep left center field, Butler goes back to the fence, it is gone! [crowd cheering]

At the House of Representatives, Aaron reflects on how Congressmen and baseball players have something in common: the question of what they can do for the country—and for fans—in the years to come.

AARON: Ever since my first game at Oakland in the Northern League in 1952, I have been aiming at the flag, in more ways than one.

The next day, on National Flag Day, Aaron leads the Braves to victory against the St. Louis Cardinals. He is also eventually inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom before his death in 2021.

Finally, June 14th, 1994, a Federal jury moves to deliver a verdict on the Exxon Valdez oil spill, one of the worst in history. They find that Exxon recklessly caused the spill with an inebriated captain at the helm. The class action lawsuit began 5 years earlier in 1989. Audio from Project Jukebox.

CLIP: Officials are trying to contain a major oil spill in central Alaska. Over 100,000 gallons of north slope crude oil spilled into the port of Valdez last night after a tanker ran aground…

On the morning of March 23rd of that year, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker sets sail from Valdez, Alaska, to California carrying 53 million gallons of crude oil. The tanker cruises through Prince William Sound when it crashes into Bligh Reef at midnight. Captain Joseph Hazelwood radios in the disaster. Audio from Project Jukebox.

CLIP: Exxon-Valdez, this is the captain of the fourth command, do you have any more of an estimate as to your situation at this time, over?

Though Hazelwood appears calm on the radio, the extent of the damage is far worse than he lets on. Almost 11 million gallons of oil flow through the battered hull of the ship into the ocean, spreading as far as 1,300 miles. Many Alaskan fishermen lose their livelihoods as the fish population rapidly dwindles. And Hazelwood is accused of drinking heavily that night, resulting in poor judgment. Audio here from an interview with attorney Brian O’Neill from C-SPAN.

BRIAN O’NEILL: If you put a drunk in charge of a supertanker, what’s going to happen? He’s going to run aground. There’s a great Emerson line, that, ‘drunken captains trust in God, but God runs drunken captains aground.’

Hazelwood is eventually only charged for a misdemeanor, and still denies that he was intoxicated that fateful evening.

And a 2008 Supreme Court settlement awards $500 million in punitive damages to the victims of the spill. The shoreline along Prince William Sound recovered in several years, but some marine life populations are still slowly climbing back to normal numbers since the accident.

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. I’m Emma Perley.

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