The Last Post on GrandCentral: Thanks For the Memories, Until We Meet Again on Facebook, Twitter

We didn't quite make 500 posts - 478 to be exact - but the GrandCentral Blog resulted from the dedication and diligence of library employees who truly cared and care about what YOU know about the library and the world around you. Because we still care, we are migrating our content from GrandCentral to both twitter and facebook - same wine, different bottles. Our address at twitter is http://twitter.com/saclib_Central, while our Facebook content can also be found at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/saclibrary.

Not only did GrandCentral benefit from a variance of library talents, it was seasoned by the talents of YOU, the reader and the mindful comments that you've been posting on GrandCentral since 2007. So...thanks for the memories, dear friends, until we meet again at Facebook and Twitter. We're never more than a click away.

Signing Off,

Danskabeaver

Sometimes the library writes Its own books; In this case, about one of Sacramento's great neighborhoods: Meet Alkali Flat

The Images of America series from Arcadia Publishing has availed Americans, coast-to-coast, to the imagery and lore that makes our neighborhoods so great and so rich in history. Recently, the Sacramento Room of the Sacramento Public Library put pen to paper, publishing an ode to the oldest residential neighborhood in the city: Sacramento's Alkali Flat.

The Alkali rests near a busy downtown Sacramento and is bordered by the rail yard, river, and thoroughfares that helped form its identity over a century ago. Named for the crusted alkali deposits that were left by seasonal flooding, the neighborhood has, over time, attracted governors, legislators, artists, and pioneering physicians to take up residence in some of the most exquisitely crafted homes in the American West. Neighborhood lore includes the gradual conquest of the odiferous China Slough and Federal troops billeting there during 1894's Pullman Strike, while the haunting story of little May Woolsey and a tragic tale of crime are the stories spoken of today. Boasting mills, dairies, railroads, and media as well as schools, hospitals, multiethnic churches, and local businesses in its heyday, Alkali Flat's history is characterized by contrasts-old landmarks have fallen or adapted to other uses, but the future holds promise for one of Sacramento's most unique neighborhoods.

The Sacramento Room is happy to have produced its second book in three years (see also Historic Photos of Sacramento). The best part is that partial proceeds from the book will go back to the library. Copies will appear in bookstores and other businesses around the Alkali and the greater Sacramento area starting on January 11 of 2010, with a price of $21.99. Isn't it good to know that picking up a copy will not only expand your knowledge of this great city's history, but also put much needed funding into the hands of your public library.

Sacramento history photo of the week number 33!

The two mosaic-clad obelisks on Twelfth Street, one upon entering Alkali Flat and one when exiting, were designed in 1990 by landscape architect John Nicolaus as part of the 12th Street Beautification Plan. The structure at the corner of Twelfth and "H" Streets is pictured above. Longtime Alkali Flat resident and Royal Chicano Air Force member, Juanishi Orosco, was responsible for the artistic concept on the ornamented tiles. The project was funded by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.

The above photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

Make sure to also checkout, "Sacrachicano," showcasing historical and current works by some of the RCAF's major artists as well as emerging artists who are carrying on the cooperative's tradition. The exhibit is in partnership with Galeria Posada and is curated by Gloria Burt and the same Juanishi Orosco who created the obelisk above. View the exhibit during library open hours through January 3, 2010.

Sacramento History Photo of the Week Number 32!

In 1913, the Sacramento Lumber Company and its fifty employees opened at Twelfth and “B” Streets, where its proximity to the Sacramento River and Southern Pacific facilities kept handling costs low and profit margins wide. Pictured here are two modes of transport within the mill, horse-drawn wagon and, as evidenced by tracks, narrow-gauge engines. In the background is a shed which was designed to hold up to 1,000,000 feet of lumber. The mill was hit by fire in July of 1921, leading to the destruction of well over $30,000 in material. The warehouse, pictured above, was completely destroyed.

The company's primary timber stands, entirely virgin, enveloped Coos Bay, Oregon. The company's specialty was Port Orford cedar, which was brought by boat from Oregon to Sacramento. Similar stands in the Sacramento area had been denuded by the end of the nineteenth-century.

The above photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

The Sacramento History Photo of the Week, Number 31. Childhood Recollections of Weinstocks...

Weinstock's department store was a social and retail institution in Sacramento for well over 100 years. Along the way, children - who are now adults - remember a lot of things about the warm and cozy store. However, one of the the most common recollections involves the Milk Bar. Pictured below, it was a spot reserved for kids to belly up to the bar while their parents were off shopping.

One such kid was Nancy Phillips, who grew up in Sacramento amidst the innocence of the 1940s and 50s. Part and parcel was this magical destination of Weinstock’s, a Capital city-based super business that created a reputation for excellence and family friendliness all along the West Coast. From the newness of the escalator to the flattering grown-up-ness of the Milk Bar, Weinstock’s is a spot not easily forgotten from the childhood memories of thousands of native Sacramentans. To watch a short video of Nancy's recollections of Weinstock's click the image below:

The above "Milkbar" photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

Sacrachicano, the Royal Chicano Air Force and Sacramento History Photos of the Week, Numbers 29 and 30...

The Rebel Chicano Art Front, more commonly known as the Royal Chicano Air Force, proved to be one of Sacramento and the nation’s more influential art cooperatives during the 60s, 70s and 80s. Founded in 1969, and germinating from downtown Sacramento’s Alkali Flat neighborhood, the group’s crafting of posters, T-shirt designs, flags and boycott signs helped promote the Chicano movement's struggle for civil rights, labor organizing and self-definition.

Pictured above is a work done by the RCAF’s Ricardo Favela and offers a composite of imagery far beyond the overt message of a Mother’s Day 1976 dinner and dance at St. Joseph’s School at Ninth and “G.” Familiar symbols and “unifiers” of the Chicano liberation movement, the Virgin of Guadalupe and the “Eagle,” representing the United Farm Workers, are blended with encouragement to boycott the Gallo Winery.

Ramiro Martinez's rollicking Club Artistico Reno at 415 12th Street served as a cultural hothouse for Alkali Latinos for over twenty-five years. Over that span, three Spanish-language movies were filmed there and its stage was graced by Latin American singers and actors alike. To make way for 12th Street redevelopment, the Club was razed in the spring of 1987. Below, this exquisite RCAF poster, and crafted by Juanishi Orozco, promotes a music and poetry event at the Reno.

These photos and many more like them can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

Make sure to also checkout, "Sacrachicano," showcasing historical and current works by some of the RCAF's major artists as well as emerging artists who are carrying on the cooperative's tradition. An important aspect of Sacrachicano is a traditional El Dia de los Muertos altar for Armando Cid and other deceased RCAF artists. The exhibit is in partnership with Galeria Posada and is curated by Gloria Burt and Juanishi Orosco. View the exhibit during library open hours through January 3, 2010.

Book Review: Vincent Bugliosi's "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy."

The assassination of John F. Kennedy sits like a big, ugly scar upon the cheek of Lady Liberty. She remains beautiful, inspiring and entirely imperfect. But that scare – it’s there and rests in the nation’s craw like an unmade bed. It’s hard for many of us, whether alive at the time of the assassination or not, to accept the fact that a twisted, unfocused, malcontent could harm, let alone, kill, the most powerful man in the world and arguably one of the more inspirational political leaders in world history. Certainly, a Presidency, based on a new optimism and appeal to the best of humanity could never end this way. Unthinkable.

This sustained mourning and shock, spanning decades and generations, might have something to do with the fact that 7 in 10 of us think that there was something nefarious afoot, an evil plot spawned by the CIA, FBI, LBJ, the Mafia, the Castro brothers, and/or the Soviets.

Vincent Bugliosi of Charles Manson, Helter Skelter and OJ fame, takes on the issue of the assassination with this Reclaiming History: the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. While not nice to conspiracy theorists, the attorney, who actually prosecuted Lee Harvey Oswald in a 1986 mock court, facilitated by an English television channel, lays out – clearly and meticulously – a defense of the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Oswald did it by himself. I’m not sure that there’s a lasting argument that Oswald “participated,” firing shots from the 6th floor window of the depository. It seems to now come down to the other guy – a “badge man” or clean-shaven “hobo” from beyond the picket fence. Here are a few of the arguments that Bugliosi proffers.

1) Counsel for the Commission, Burt Griffin, was hell bent on finding a conspiracy. Like so many of the younger members of the group (including Arlen Specter), they wanted to be heroes. They wanted to find something that would enable a springboard effect for their political careers. Yet, there was nothing.
2) The members of the Commission had little motivation to facilitate a conspiracy. Why would they fetter their careers and sully their legacies with conspiring to kill the Commander-in-Chief?
3) Why would an ardent Marxist join forces with the CIA, the actual agency that planned the botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs?
4) The Warren Commission took 10 months to compile its report, conducting tests, interviews and research all on its own, without using much at all of the FBI’s - thought my many to be dubious - investigative conclusions. J. Edgar Hoover, suspected to be an enabler for conspiracy, was a scoundrel all on his own and didn’t need to add coup d’état to his resume.

There’s a whole lot more to Bugliosi’s argument than this. Plus, as someone whose read a few assassination treatises, his layout and narrative of the events in Dallas is impressive. Also, for those of us who are medically-minded, his description of the treatment of both the President and assassin are unprecedented in their detail. He also produces myriad facts about the assassination, so easily lost.

1) Jack Ruby thought Lee Harvey Oswald was handsome – thought he looked a lot like Paul Newman.
2) At a funeral where Oswald’s pallbearers were newsmen, the lone floral arrangements were donated by a mysterious figure named Virginia Leach.
3) In spite of numerous appeals from a jumpy Secret Service, LBJ refused to ride in a covered limo during the funeral procession to Arlington, stating that he’d “rather die than be afraid to die.”
4) Kennedy’s longtime aid, Ken O’Donnell, and the Secret Service, bull rushed the Dallas County Coroner and several Dallas city police officers to get the President’s body out of Parkland Hospital. When the coroner said that he had no interest in the person in the coffin, but that Texas state law required an autopsy be done, O’Donnell exclaimed “go ---- yourself” and the group tore off to Love Field to return to Washington.

If you think something smelled rotten that day in Dallas (I continue to), then I still recommend reading Bugliosi’s work. A sharp study of the Kennedy assassination should include a strong dialectic of ideas – if you care enough to read about the assassination, you owe the fallen President and the truth that much. The 46th anniversary of JFK's death falls on Sunday, the 22nd of November at 10:30 AM PDT.

Got Doughboy? The Great War in the Great Valley and Sacramento History Photo of the Week, Number 28...

Think about it. Not since the 14th century's Black Death had Europe experienced such a monumental loss of life. The plague claimed one of every three European. Worldwide, the Great War One killed 16 million people. It also formed the nexus of where the time-tested tactics and strategies of the Little Corporal met the buzzsaw of technology.

And though an ocean and continent away, the War touched Sacramento in so many ways. On Thursday night at the Central Library, a few days before Veterans' Day, on November 5, from 6:00 to 8:00, we will talk about World War One and how it came to claim a spot in the Sacramento Valley for nearly two years. The ways in which we ate, worked, learned, spent and related to one another were all affected.

The photo above is of the 1917 Cadet Corps at Sacramento High School. In the spring of 1918, Sac High and several other area high schools, gathered their forces at Del Paso Park near present day Auburn and Watt Avenues to learn how to make war. The exercises lasted for a week.

This photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

Sacramento History Photo of the Week Number 27!

Pictured above, in the fall of 1917, are Helen and Janet Kay, the daughters of David and Janet Kay. The picture was taken at a rally, held at the State Armory, located underneath what is today Interstate Highway 50.

As soon as the Great War started, interest in the Red Cross (ICRC) grew – folks who couldn’t pick up a rifle, because of age, gender or disability wanted an army to join and the ICRC was there. And, by the end of April, a headquarters had been established at Fourth and “J.”

What was required of Sacramento members early on was the ability to type, lift, sterilize and prepare surgical equipment, and drive (especially if you had your own car) so as to collect supplies and donations. Sewing was also in demand and Sac High offered 125 female pupils to do as much.

The Southern Pacific shops immediately signed up 1,700 members. And while the capital city had formed its own chapter, Walnut Grove, North Sacramento, Auburn, Loomis, Newcastle and Stockton were all quick to establish chapters as well.

Fund drives were organized around the ICRC – in early May, county employees had raised $600.00 while Weinstock-Lubin had donated $3,034. The earliest goal for the IRC in Sacramento was $30,000.

The city also voted to levy a property value tax of two cents, just to fund the local chapter – for a total of $14,000. An additional method of funding came from a Red Cross thrift shop on Front Street. Clothing, books, scrap iron, even bones, donated by a local butcher shop, brought in funding for the organization.

Learn more about the Sacramento Red Cross as, on November 5 at 6:30, the Central Library will be presenting The Great War in the Great Valley: Sacramento During the First World War. The program will include discussion on the city and War and a presentation of photos of Sacramento during World War I.

This photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

Sacramento history photo of the week number 26!

In April 1917, America was still a nation of the perpetual stand down, using a small volunteer army and then calling on the citizen soldier when needed. On the eve of the Great War, the regular army numbered 97,000. By the end of the War 4.5 million Americans had been mobilized to military service.

Now, contrary to what you may think, with this Great War to make the world safe for democracy, soldiers weren’t blazing their way to the recruiting office to sign up. The Sacramento Naval recruiting office had 12 recruits in the first week. The Marine office averaged 2 a day for the first week and the Army office had similar numbers. By the end of April, the voluntary option had enabled California to fill 21percent of its quota of 4,700 recruits. Nationwide, the figure was abysmal – 17 percent. Nevada led the country at an astonishing 97 percent.

The only solution would be a draft bill, which President Wilson signed on 28 May, 1917. So, the draft was now law and all able-bodied men between 21 and 30 were required to register. Governor Stephens, in line with this, created a statewide registration holiday which would close businesses and free up these fellows to do their legal duty. This meant that major businesses closed – Weinstock-Lubin, Lavenson’s Shoes, and Breuner’s Furniture were a few.
That day would be June 5.

Overnight 10,000,000 Americans would be eligible to be drafted. In Sacramento County, it was estimated that between 8,000 and 10,000 men registered. However, over half of those claimed exemption – in most cases, for dependency. By July 12, it was determined that Sacramento City would be required to provide roughly 507 men for service, the county 196, while the entire state would have to provide a total of 23,000.

On the morning of August 4, Karl Oehler, a bank teller at the Fort Sutter National Bank and the son of a German-immigrant pastor was the first Sacramentan to take a physical examination under the draft. He claimed exemption on grounds of having a dependent wife. Didn’t matter – Oehler didn’t pass the physical because he didn’t weight enough according to his 5’11” height – 8 pounds short.

Learn more about the WWI Draft as, on November 5 at 6:30, the Central Library will be presenting The Great War in the Great Valley: Sacramento During the First World War. The program will include discussion on the city and War and a presentation of photos of Sacramento during World War I.

This photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

Sacramento history photo of the week number 25!

Pictured above in 1918 is Mather Field's first graduating class of airmen.

In January of the same year, a group of Army officers traveled to the Sacramento area to view prospective sites for aviation school. Although North Sacramento lobbied hard for the field, the military opted for a spot 12 miles southeast of Sacramento known as Mills Station, right on the Southern Pacific line. In its original form, the base would encompass over 700 acres and include over 50 buildings, a machine shop for repairs, a PX, a 100 foot “swimming tank,” and a machine gun target range. Once completed, it would service roughly 1,000 aviation cadets. The construction project immediately brought 2,500 jobs to the area’s economy with the contract went to McDonald and Kahn. Overall, the base was projected to produce an annual payroll of $200,000 and construction was complete in 70 days!

Apparently, upon arriving, the first thing the first cadets did - having just graduated from the UC Berkeley 'ground school' - was build a baseball diamond. Other diversions to follow were a field band and a football team that was good enough to beat the big, bad Presidio 45-0 at Buffalo Park in October 1918. Boxing was also big on base. The many vineyards that surrounded the base also provided a ready source for jam. The base newspaper was originally called the “Fly Paper,” but was soon changed to “Air Currents.”

The specter of Mather for Sacramentans was enormous – how many Sacramentans had actually seen an airplane (ship) before let alone be close to an airport? The first official flight from Mather – conducted by Lieutenant John F. Buffington - took place on the evening of June 12th – in a plane built at North Sacramento's Liberty Iron Works, a JN-4 or "Jenny". Weeks later, during 4th of July festivities in Sacramento, a squadron of planes from Mather was armed with hundreds of small, American flags which they dropped over business and residential sections of the city.

Learn more about Mather Field as, on November 5 at 6:30, the Central Library will be presenting The Great War in the Great Valley: Sacramento During the First World War. The program will include discussion on the city and War and a presentation of photos of Sacramento during World War I.

This photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

Sacramento history photo of the week number 24!

In January of 1918, as America's involvement in the First World War was ratcheting up, bond drives were a common sight around the nation. In the case of Sacramento, millions of dollars were accrued. Motivational tools would abound as bond-buyers had their names printed in city papers while it was the community's responsibility to build this "Soldier of Freedom," as he stood against the wall of Sacramento's first and only (at the time) Federal building, the U.S. Post Office. Each section of the body represents a county within the Sacramento Valley. Sacramento County was represented by the soldier's rifle. The trick was simple - the more bond monies won by the county, the faster the respresentative body-part or accessory were placed on the soldier.

Mark your calendar as, on November 5 at 6:30, the Central Library will be presenting The Great War in the Great Valley: Sacramento During the First World War. The program will include discussion on the city and War and a presentation of photos of Sacramento during World War I.

This photo and many more like it can be found on the Central Library's Third Floor, which is where one can view both the Sacramento Bee and Union back into the mid-nineteenth century.

Sacramento history photo of the week number 23!

In the Fall of 1918, Sacramento and the country were at War with Germany and Austro-Hungary. Area farms were mobilized to double their crop production, high school boys were pulled from Valley cities to pick crops, Sacramento women were immersed in one of the largest Red Cross chapters in the State, and the county's Southern Pacific routes and tressels were being guarded against "Teuton" espionage.

The following advertisement for Weinstock, Lubin and Co. Department Store was taken from a late October Sacramento Bee. With the capital city in a warmaking mood, even a jolly Saint Nick's depiction with a doughboy helmet seemed okay.

Mark your calendar as, on November 5 at 6:30, the Central Library will be presenting The Great War in the Great Valley: Sacramento During the First World War. The program will include discussion on the city and War and a presentation of photos of Sacramento during World War I.

This photo and many more like it can be found on the Central Library's Third Floor, which is where one can view both the Sacramento Bee and Union back into the mid-nineteenth century.

Dear customer, pardon the delay in posting this serial.

Sacramento Squeaked in 1975 - One Journalist's Back Story at the Central Library

Longtime Central librarians remember Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme wandering, aimlessly through the Central Library's old reference room. It was soon after, in September 1975, that Fromme tried to shoot then-President Gerald Ford as he moved from car to building on Sacramento's Capitol Grounds. Last year, ex-City Editor for the Sacramento Bee, Art Nauman, recounted his experiences with Squeaky as part of the California Past Digital Story Project. Click on the screen below to view this short movie starring Nauman:



For more stories from the California of the Past and Sacramento Stories Project, go to blip.tv: http://sacramentolibrary.blip.tv/

After 34-years in prison, Fromme is scheduled for release on August 16, 2009.

Artful Stories to Be Heard and Seen on Second Saturday!

The Central Library's second cycle of digital stories will be premiered during Sacramento's hallowed "Second Saturday" festivities on the 8th of August. Ten Sacramentens - oral historian to former California State Librarian - offered up their time over the spring and summer to put together an satisfying volume of tales.

The program's emcee, and Sacramento Stories project manager, will be Karl Alexander of Sacramento's own Kinetic Illusions Creative Studio. If you should miss the event, look for the stories to be posted shortly after the premier at http://sacramentolibrary.blip.tv/.

Sacramento History Photo(s) of the Week: Issue No. 22!

This promotional photo for the Bercut-Richards Cannery was taken in 1942. The model is shrouded in one of Sacramento’s most lucrative cash crops – peaches. By the time of the photo, “Orchard and Vineyard” crops were Sacramento County’s third largest agricultural money-maker at $2,119,000, behind field crops at $3,443,000 and live stock at $3,340,000. Bercut-Richards, located at Seventh and Richards, was Sacramento’s highest-profile cannery. It opened in 1928 under the dynamic management of Thomas Richards, and, as War approached, in 1942, the cannery morphed into one of the West Coast's primary military depots. Sacramento’s inland location and access to major rail lines made it safe from air attack and ideal for shipping military goods toward the Pacific Theater. What's more, by the end of the War, nearly 540 prisoners-of-war from Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps were working within the warehouses of the depot and the cannery.

This photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

Sacramento History Photo(s) of the Week: Issue No. 21!

In 1950, men still wore hats, ties were bold and wide, and women's dresses were long. In order to display ties in line with the merchandising methods of the day, the manager of the largest Dobbs Hat Shop in Northern California designed the "Ty-namic." It could showcase up to six-dozen ties at the same time while also being able to display matching tie bars, tie tacs and cuff links.

As a senior in high school, Mary Louise Waggoner posed with the "Ty-namic" for this promptional photograph. One year later, she would marry her high school sweetheart, Al Babayco, who also worked at the store.

This photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

Sacramento History Photo(s) of the Week: Issue No. 20!

In August 1903, Edward and Augusta Sullivan gave birth to a child at 1100 “E” Street, deciding to name her Helen. Above is Helen Sullivan in her 1922 graduation photo from Sacramento High School. Following school, she spent the next ten years working as a telephone operator and stenographer for the State of California, and was married in 1933 to Tipton Randolph. Helen lived at both 1100 and 1110 at different times from birth through her late-20s.

Helen’s father, Edward, was a blacksmith for Southern Pacific. Her grandmother and grandfather, Peter and Mary, moved to Sacramento from New York state. All of the Sullivan boys, a total of three, and the senior Sullivan, worked for the railroad. Edward and Peter died within five months of one another in 1915, Edward of typhoid fever in August and Peter of a stroke in April. Both are buried at the Old City Cemetery. Etched on Edward’s grave is the word “Papa.”

Helen spent her latter years living in East Sacramento after residing for nearly two decades just outside the Alkali at Seventeenth and “G.” She died in May 1990.

This photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

Sacramento History Photo of the Week: Issue No. 19!

By 1915, the City Brewery had grown to occupy nearly an entire city block with storage, coopering, racking, washing, bottling, and transportation facilities. So noisy had the complex and its hearty denizens gotten, that Alkali residents like Fannie Goddard of 1227 “H” Street found it a nuisance and went so far as to sue for $5,000 in damages. She also told the Sacramento Bee in March 1912 that the brewery’s crew used “obscene and common swearing and cursing which assails the site and hearing of my family and visitors.” These fellows hardly look concerned.

This photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

A Finer Focus: Robert McNamara - The Face of Contrition

It was amidst the highest of expectations that a young Bob McNamara came out of Cal-Berkeley and Harvard. During the Second World War, he did not carry a rifle, summon stretchers or drive Higgins boats. He was given the charge of making daylight bombing more efficient - numbers applied to bombs, being dropped from 20,000 feet, and a chillingly impersonal way to contribute to the effort.

After World War II, he became President of Ford Motors. He would be credited with a applying an innovative number of approaches to production. His prescience, especially with the Edsel, earned him a position that had only previously been held by Ford family members. He was a McNamara, a so called "Whiz Kid," and Midas with every touch, so off to Washington he would soon go.

JFK tabbed him as Secretary of War. LBJ kept him on. If Ford made his name, Vietnam sullied it. Heretofore, his life would never be the same. Some argue that despite its preceived failure, the Vietnam War - along with several other proxy conflicts - was enough keep the Soviet Union off balance and more than contribute to its eventual bankruptcy. Most will agree that war-making during Vietnam was as dated as the use of Napoleonic tactics during the First World War. McNamara concedes this - he knew that he and his colleagues were trapped in a wicked trend of 'group think.' All of this is fully explained in McNamara's electronic letter to America - 'The Fog of War.'

Yesterday, McNamara died at the age of 93, sealing a long life and a lot of time to think about mistakes that were made between 1961 to 1968. However, rather than crawling into a cave, he became an advocate for the liquidation of nuclear arsenals and channeled the World Bank in a more activist stance, especially when it came to fighting poverty.

In a May/June 2005 article called "Apocolypse Soon" in Foreign Policy, McNamara wrote:

It is time—well past time, in my view—for the United States to cease its Cold War-style reliance on nuclear weapons as a foreign-policy tool. At the risk of appearing simplistic and provocative, I would characterize current U.S. nuclear weapons policy as immoral, illegal, militarily unnecessary, and dreadfully dangerous. The risk of an accidental or inadvertent nuclear launch is unacceptably high. Far from reducing these risks, the Bush administration has signaled that it is committed to keeping the U.S. nuclear arsenal as a mainstay of its military power—a commitment that is simultaneously eroding the international norms that have limited the spread of nuclear weapons and fissile materials for 50 years. Much of the current U.S. nuclear policy has been in place since before I was secretary of defense, and it has only grown more dangerous and diplomatically destructive in the intervening years.

To delve deeper into the life of one the more scorned public figures in American history, take a look at the following list of offerings from the Sacramento Public Library:

The fog of war [videorecording] : eleven lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara /cSony Pictures Classics presents @radical.media & SenArt Films production in association with the Globe Department Store ; producers, Michael Williams, Julie Ahlberg ; produced & directed by Errol Morris. (DVD 973.92 FOG 2004)

The living and the dead : Robert McNamara and five lives of a lost war /cPaul Hendrickson. (959.70433 M1692zh 1996)

McNamara /cHenry L. Trewhitt. (355.033 M169zt 1971)

Promise and power : the life and times of Robert McNamara /cby Deborah Shapley. (973.92092 M169zs 1993)

Argument without end : in search of answers to the Vietnam tragedy /cRobert S. McNamara, James G. Blight, and Robert K. Brigham ; with Thomas J. Biersteker and
Herbert Y. Schandler. (959.70433 M169a 1999)

The essence of security: reflections in officec[by] Robert S. McNamara. (353.6 M169)

In retrospect : the tragedy and lessons of Vietnam /cRobert S. McNamara with Brian VanDeMark. (959.70433 M1692 1996)

Out of the cold : new thinking for American foreign and defense policy in the 21st century /cRobert S. McNamara. (327.73047 M169 1989)

Wilson's ghost : reducing the risk of conflict, killing, and catastrophe in the 21st century /cRobert S. McNamara and James G. Blight. (327.17 M169 2001)