History & Celebrations Today – May 7

Celebrations Today – May 7

Holidays and observances

Celebrations Today – USA: May 7

National Barrier Awareness Day
National Packaging Design Day
National Paste-Up Day
National Roast Leg of Lamb Day
National Homebrew Day
Free Comic Book Day
National Lemonade Day – First Sunday in May
International No Diet Day
National Joseph Brackett Day
National Crêpe Suzette Day
National Tourist Appreciation Day

Today in US History: May 7

The Poet Librarian

The first duty of the Library of Congress is to serve the Congress and the officers and agencies of government. Its second duty is to serve the world of scholarship and letters. Through both it endeavors to serve the American people to whom it belongs and for whom it exists.Statement of Archibald MacLeish
Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions, inaugural issue, 1943.

Archibald MacLeish
Archibald MacLeish,
Ninth Librarian of Congress, 1939-1944.

From “Librarians of Congress” in
Jefferson’s Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress

Archibald MacLeish, poet, dramatist, and ninth Librarian of Congress, was born on May 7, 1892, in Glencoe, Illinois. He attended Yale University where he chaired the Yale Literary Magazine. After service in World War I, he graduated from Harvard Law School. MacLeish practiced law for three years before resigning and moving his family to Paris.

Like American expatriates Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway, MacLeish found Paris of the 1920s a creative haven. He produced several volumes of poetry during his years in France including The Happy Marriage, and Other Poems (1924), The Pot of Earth (1925), and Streets in the Moon (1926).

In 1928, MacLeish returned to the United States to research and write his epic poem Conquistador. This long narrative work about the Spanish conquest of Mexico received the 1933 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. The social awareness manifest in Conquistador continued to inform his work.

Reading Room in Adams Building, Library of Congress
Reading Room in Adams Building, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.,
Theodor Horydczak, photographer, circa 1920-1950.
Washington as It Was: Photographs by Theodor Horydczak, 1923-1959

MacLeish’s combined interests in literature and public policy led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to appoint him Librarian of Congress in 1939.

The Library of Congress’ John Adams Building, originally called the “Annex,” had been completed only a few months before MacLeish’s appointment. MacLeish commissioned artist Ezra Winter to decorate the Jefferson Reading Room in the new building with four murals inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s thoughts on freedom, labor, the “living generation,” education, and democratic government.

Macleish faced the challenge of moving collections and of updating the administrative structure of the institution to fulfill its mission to Congress, to the American government, to scholarship, and to the American people. During his tenure as Librarian, MacLeish successfully reorganized the Library and extended the Library’s connections to American writers and scholars.

Archibald MacLeish examining Thomas Jefferson's Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence
Archibald MacLeish, Librarian of Congress,
Librarian of Congress MacLeish joins Reference Department Director David C. Mearns and Verner W. Clapp of the Acquisitions Department, in examining Thomas Jefferson’s rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, September 1944.
Jefferson’s Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress

Equally important, MacLeish mobilized the Library of Congress for war. Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, American treasures, including the original copies of the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Magna Carta, and the Gutenberg Bible were transported to Fort Knox for safekeeping. Other irreplaceable works were deposited in libraries around the nation. Made available around-the-clock, the Library’s collections proved a valuable resource for U.S. military intelligence.

After five years at the helm, MacLeish left the Library of Congress to become assistant secretary of state. During the 1950s, MacLeish published additional poetic works and the well-known J. B. : A Play in Verse. Based on the biblical story of Job, this successfully-staged play won the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Archibald MacLeish died in 1982.

Ainsworth Rand Spofford
Ainsworth Rand Spofford, Sixth Librarian of Congress, 1864-1897.

Herbert Putnam
Herbert Putnam, Eighth Librarian of Congress, 1899-1939.

L. Quincy Mumford
L. Quincy Mumford, Eleventh Librarian of Congress, 1954-1974.

Jefferson’s Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress

Lusitania Lost!

The Lusitania
The Lusitania At End of Record Voyage, copyright 1907.
Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991

On May 7, 1915, the German U-20 (submarine) sank the British ocean liner Lusitania. Approximately 1,200 civilians died; more than 100 were U.S. citizens.

In reply to President Woodrow Wilson’s protest, Germany justified the attack on grounds that the British government intended to arm merchant ships. Prior to the Lusitania‘s departure, the German government had warned that ships entering the war zone could be fired upon.

The Lusitania carried both passengers and ammunition that had been manufactured in the United States. Theincident illustrated the difficulty of maintaining American neutrality. Appalled at Wilson’s willingness to criticize Germany while ignoring British transgressions, Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigned.

The sinking of the Lusitania also highlighted the changing nature of war. Traditional rules of naval engagement mandated warning commercial vessels before firing upon them. However, surfacing to do so would place a U-boat in grave danger of destruction.

Public outrage over the loss of civilian life hastened the U.S. entry into World War I. Although the cargo list of the Lusitania stated that she carried approximately 170 tons of munitions and war materiél, this fact was not revealed to the U.S. public at the time. The emotional appeal of this wartime speech, in which Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane evoked the Lusitania to explain U.S. involvement in the war, would have been unadulterated by an issue such as the appropriateness of using a passenger vessel to transport arms:

The Nation in Arms“, Franklin K. Lane.
American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election, 1918-1920

Real Audio Format

wav Format, 2160 Kb

We still hear the piteous cries of children coming out, out of the sea where the Lusitania went down, and Germany has never asked forgiveness of the world. We saw the Sussex sunk crowded with the sons and daughters of neutral nations. We saw ship after ship sent to the bottom—ships of mercy bound out of America for the Belgian’s starving—ships carrying the Red Cross, and laden with the wounded of all nations—ships carrying food and clothing to friendly, harmless, terrorized people—ships flying the stars and stripes sent to the bottom hundred of miles from shore, manned by American seamen, murdered against all law, without warning.”The Nation in Arms,” between 1917-1918.
American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election, 1918-1920

Learn more about World War I in American Memory:

Today in History – May 7-External Links

Today’s Weather in History
Today in Earthquake History
This Day in Naval History
Today’s Document from the National Archives
Today’s Events, Births & Deaths –Wikipedia
Today in History by AP
On this Day -1950 to 2005 – Today’s Story–BBC
On This Day: The New York Times
This Day in History –History.com
Today in Canadian History – Canada Channel
History of Britain that took place On This Day
Russia in History –Russiapedia