GUSTAVE EIFFEL b. December 15, 1832

ALEXANDRE GUSTAVE EIFFEL

December 15, 1832-December 27, 1923

THE EIFFEL TOWER, PARIS, FRANCE

GUSTAVE EIFFEL'S MASTERPIECE

COMPLETED 1889

Kid's Eye View

PHOTOGRAPHED SEVENTY YEARS LATER

Gustave Eiffel, an engineer and "constructor," specialized in metallic structures. He designed the iron skeleton frame for the Statue of Liberty for the 1876 U.S. Centennial Exposition (see here and here). He built the Eiffel Tower -- the tallest structure in the world at the time -- for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris -- 1889 being the centenary of the French Revolution. Eiffel's work also seems to have been revolutionary; he is said to have been "one of the first engineers to recognize the importance of wind forces on tall structures. He designed the surface of his Tower to be so minimal that the wind has virtually nothing to grab onto."

Now a French firm, Ginger, wants to turn the Eiffel Tower into a "green jungle" or a "something akin to a very tall, and growing, Christmas tree" -- the world's largest tree. It would be covered by six hundred thousand plants -- and all the infrastructure needed to keep them growing.

There is a incredible three-part visualization of what the Eiffel Tower would come to look like if the scheme went through, here. The proposal's authors are touting this as a visionary ecological project. See for yourselves.

JUVENILIA

THE EURO-CRISIS GIVES JOSÉ MANUEL BARROSO HIS MOMENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT

"NOT SEVENTEEN PLUS,

BUT TWENTY-SEVEN MINUS."

OR NOT.

JOSÉ MANUEL BARROSA &

HIS WIFE MARGARIDA SOUSA UVA

On December 13, 2011, European Commission President José Manuel Barrosa rose to address the European Parliament in Strasbourg and dished some dirt on British Prime Minister David Cameron. What ruined the harmonious working of last week's Eurozone crisis summit? The British veto, and why? As The Guardian put it, "In comments which appeared to show exasperation with David Cameron's negotiating tactics, Barroso told MEPs that talks dragged on into the early hours not because of any dispute over the content of the new 'fiscal compact' for the eurozone but because Britain would not accept amendments to the Lisbon Treaty." Not too clear on the purpose -- and urgency -- of the summit, apparently. "The United Kingdom," The Independent reported Barroso as saying, "in exchange for giving its agreement, asked for a specific protocol on financial services which, as presented, was a risk to the integrity of the internal market." As der Spiegel puts it more plainly, Cameron "wanted the British financial sector not to be subject to European supervision." Barroso tried suggesting a compromise, but Cameron was not having any.

Still, as the BBC reported, Barroso "said the 'greatest' risk of the summit, a split between the 17 euro states and the other 10, had been avoided." To wit, according to the EC president, "This is not an agreement at 17-plus, but an agreement at 27-minus."

The commentators piled on. The Tory prime minister, Cameron, was seeking to protect the City of London. The European Commission president, Barroso, aimed at aggrandizing Brussels, his power base, or even dreamed being part of a ruling troika with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy. But then there is the quote from the man of the hour himself: According to Barroso, it is said, "Merkel and Sarkozy are trying to impose their views on everyone else, even though they themselves can hardly agree on any issue."

U.S.-IRAQ, IRAQ-U.S.: December 12, 2000-December 12, 2011

U.S. SUPREME COURT

HANDS GEORGE W. BUSH

THE PRESIDENCY

December 12, 2000

GEORGE W. BUSH

TAKES THE U.S.

INTO WAR WITH IRAQ

George W. Bush makes his last trip to Iraq as President; holds a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, December 14, 2008.

Al-Baghdadia TV Correspondent Muntadar al-Zeidi throws first one shoe, then the other, at the American president, shouting, "This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is a farewell kiss." The president ducks; both shoes miss him; the reporter is instantly apprehended.

IRAQI PRIME MINISTER NOURI AL-MALIKI MEETS WITH

U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AT THE WHITE HOUSE

December 12, 2011

THE U.S. MILITARY IS OFFICIALLY ON ITS WAY OUT

DUELING TVs #6

BIG MAMA THORNTON b. December 11, 1926

WILLIE MAE

("BIG MAMA") THORNTON

December 11, 1926-July 25, 1984)

BIG MAMA THORNTON

Back in the Day

Big Mama Thornton was a "blues queen" who had a career more than four decades long, from her start as a teenager until a heart attack took her in 1984, the same year she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. She has been called "a big, brawny belter," with a "robust, powerful voice." She also wrote songs and played multiple instruments.

As the BILLBOARD biography has it, "Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton only notched one national hit in her lifetime, but it was a true monster," to wit, "Hound Dog," which went to No. 1 on the R&B charts for her. (Elvis Presley "made an even bigger hit of it in 1956.") Her version sold two million copies; "Thornton received only $500."

One of Big Mama's own compositions, "Ball and Chain," was covered by Janis Joplin, who was a "great admirer."

There is a well-packed short-long biography in THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALABAMA, here. I have a photograph of Big Mama Thornton and Buddy Guy performing together here, and one of Janis Joplin which has a bit about a lesson learned by Joplin from Thornton, here.

Finally, you can hear Thornton's "Hound Dog" here, and her "Ball and Chain" here, in what is said to have been her last performance.

WILLIAM McGOWAN b. December 10, 1927

WILLIAM G. McGOWAN

December 10, 1927-June 8, 1992

WILLIAM McGOWAN

on the roof of the then MCI Building

Washington, D.C.

Two items in the news this year have particularly brought the late MCI Chair William McGowan back to public attention. One was AT&T's attempt to purchase T-Mobile, and the other was the broadcast of the film about McGowan, LONG DISTANCE WARRIOR. MCI took on the telephone monopoly -- successfully -- and McGowan was called the "man who beat AT&T" (see here). LONG DISTANCE WARRIOR curiously bills its subject "the most famous business leader you’ve never heard of" -- curiously for those of us who remember when McGowan was a real mover and shaker in Washington and in the communications industry. It is good to see him back in the spotlight, as here.

The photograph above is featured in the film.

Much more about Bill McGowan and the upstart MCI can be found here.

TIP O'NEILL b. December 9, 1912

THOMAS P. ("TIP") O'NEILL, Jr.

December 9, 1912-January 5, 1994

SPEAKER TIP O'NEILL

WORKS THE MICROPHONE

AND THE ROOM

For more on the longest continuously-serving Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, born ninety-nine years ago today, see here and here and here and here and here and here.

TWENTY YEARS SINCE THE COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES WAS FOUNDED, AND THE SOVIET UNION DOOMED

THE COMMONWEALTH

OF INDEPENDENT STATES

(CIS) FOUNDED

December 8, 1991

THE LEADERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF

INDEPENDENT STATES MEET IN MOSCOW

A COUPLE OF YEARS AFTER THE FOUNDING

On December 8, 1991, the leaders of the three Slavic republics of the Soviet Union -- Boris Yeltsin of Russia, Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine, and Stanislav Shushkevich of Belarus -- met in the Belavezha Woods government retreat to sign the USSR out of existence. The independence of the three Baltic republics had already been internationally recognized after the failed August coup. That left nine of the fifteen republics in limbo. Eight of the nine -- all but Georgia -- signed on to the new "Commonwealth of Independent States" (CIS) on December 21; and on December 25 Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union, bowed to the inevitable. A contemporary account can be found here. A retrospective with video footage of the December 8 signing can be found here.

By the time of the Moscow CIS leaders meeting photograph above, there had been two noticeable developments. Georgia had joined; its president, Eduard Shevardnadze, is fourth from the right. One of the original signers of the Belavezha Accords, Stanislav Shushkevich of Belarus, had already been replaced by Alexander Lukashenko (he is fifth from the left, turning towards Boris Yeltsin). Yeltsin is seated in the middle of the table. Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine, the third member of the Belavezha troika, is first on the left.

All of the original three have left their posts, and Yeltsin has died. Lukashenko is still president of Belarus.

RICHARD GOODWIN TURNS EIGHTY

RICHARD N. GOODWIN

b. December 7, 1931

RICHARD GOODWIN

Back in the Day

-- about a decade after his work as first a speechwriter and special counsel to President John F. Kennedy and then special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson, and a few years after his speechwriting for Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was cut short by RFK's assassination (more on Goodwin's career here) --

IN HONOR OF HELEN ELIZABETH STEWART

for

HELEN ELIZABETH STEWART

whose birthday was December 6

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Lord, I told the undertaker,

"Undertaker please drive slow

For this body you are hauling,

Lord I hate to see her go"

"CAN THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN?"

STROM THURMOND b. December 5, 1902

JAMES STROM THURMOND

December 5, 1902-June 26, 2003

SENATOR STROM THURMOND

(R-South Carolina)

At age one hundred in 2002, Strom Thurmond was the oldest person ever to serve in the U.S. Senate. First appointed (in 1954), and then elected, Senator from South Carolina as a Democrat, he switched to the Republican party on September 16, 1964. As Governor of South Carolina (1947-1951), he had run against the Democratic President Harry S Truman in 1948 as a segregationist States Rights ("Dixiecrat") candidate. In August 1957 he conducted a record 24-hour, 18-minute filibuster against a civil rights bill. (Information about his congressional career can be found here.)

After his death, a new detail of Thurmond's personal history was revealed: at twenty-two, he became a father for the first time. His daughter's mother was a sixteen-year-old maid in the Thurmond family home, and his daughter, ultimately named Essie Mae Washington-Williams, is, as some put it, "bi-racial" (as Barack Obama is "bi-racial"); her mother was African-American.

Ms. Washington-Williams has been officially recognized as the Senator's eldest. As his official biography at the Strom Thurmond Institute (Clemson University) states: "Thurmond's first and oldest child, Essie Mae Washington-Williams (1925- ), was the daughter of Carrie Butler (1909-1947) who worked as a maid in the Thurmond family home in Edgefield, SC. Butler's aunt and uncle, Mr. & Mrs. Washington, adopted Essie Mae and took her to live with them in Pennsylvania when she was six months old." She tells her own story here.

Senator Thurmond did have four more children with his second wife, Nancy Janice Moore (Miss South Carolina of 1965), whom he married when he was sixty-five and she twenty-two: Nancy Moore (1971-1993), James Strom II (1972- ), Juliana 'Julie' Gertrude (1974- ) and Paul Reynolds (1976- ).

Sometimes the personal is political.