The 10 Best and Worst Days in the History of the United States
Since more than 100,000 people have now read Media Orchard's "10 Greatest Countries" post -- and more than 1,200 people have commented on this blog and others -- we figured a sequel was in order. Let's hope it's more Godfather: Part II than Teen Wolf Too.
In honor of America's Independence Day, we decided to produce lists of the 10 best -- and 10 worst -- days in U.S. history. None of them, in our view, occurred on the Fourth of July.
You'll note that with countries, as with people, sometimes our greatest moments are the result of hard work -- and other times of good fortune. And sometimes our worst moments are caused by others, and other times by ourselves.
As in our previous post, our own commentary is mixed with direct pulls from Wikipedia in most cases; we didn't demarcate which was which so it would be easier to read. Just assume it's all borrowed if you'd like.
The 10 Best Days in U.S. History
1. Victory at Saratoga, Oct 17, 1777. The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the American Revolutionary War as well as one of the most decisive battles in history judging from its consequences. The defeat of the British secured the northern American colonies from Canadian attack, while convincing France that it was worth extending military support to the rebel American colonies. What had seemed an improbable feat for the colonies before Saratoga now appeared an inevitability.
2. Bill of Rights Ratified, Dec. 15, 1791. These 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution define what makes America the greatest country in the world -- the protection of individual freedoms. George Washington said the Bill of Rights gave "the rights of man a full and fair discussion, and explained them in so clear and forcible a manner as cannot fail to make a lasting impression."
3. First Man on the Moon, July 20, 1969. In helping America to win the space race over the Soviet Union, Neil Armstrong opened a new frontier that the U.S., unfortunately, has failed to explore as aggressively since. One of the most celebrated scientists in the world, Stephen Hawking, recently warned: "It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species."
4. Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865. In asserting near the Civil War's end that the Union would be willing to fight "until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword," Lincoln's speech marked the first time a U.S. president had equated the lives of white men with those of black men -- something that would have been unthinkable even a few years before.
5. The Marshall Plan Announced, June 5, 1947. Named for U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall, this visionary reconstruction plan literally resurrected Western Europe after the devastation of World War II. During a four-year period, the U.S. contributed $13 billion of economic and technical assistance -- equivalent to around $130 billion in 2006. Over the next two decades, Western Europe enjoyed unprecedented prosperity -- while Eastern Europe stagnated under Soviet domination.
6. Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, Jan 8, 1918. With this remarkable document, Wilson set out a blueprint for a just and lasting peace in Europe after World War I -- aiming to reform foreign policy on moral and ethical grounds. Wilson's idealism gave him moral leadership among the Allies, and encouraged Germany to surrender. Unfortunately, after the war Wilson was betrayed -- first by the French, who demanded outrageous concessions from Germany at Versailles, and ultimately by Congress, which refused to endorse Wilson's most important achievement, the League of Nations.
7. Brown v. Board of Education, May 17, 1954. This landmark Supreme Court decision explicitly outlawed racial segregation of public education facilities, ruling so on the grounds that the doctrine of "separate but equal" public education could never truly provide black Americans with facilities of the same standards available to white Americans.
8. First Integrated Circuit Patent Filed, Feb. 6, 1959. Jack Kilby's "solid circuit" led to the age of the microprocessor. Since then, America's technological dominance has been the single most important factor in its economic growth and prosperity over the past 50 years.
9. Victory at Ardennes, Jan. 15, 1945. American forces suffered 80,000 casualties in the largest land battle in U.S. history, but ultimately perservered to defeat Germany in Hitler's last-gasp offensive at Ardennes -- popularly known as the Battle of the Bulge.
10. The Fall of the Berlin Wall, Nov. 9, 1989. The East German government claimed that the Wall was an "anti-fascist protection barrier," intended to dissuade aggression from the West. However, the Wall was a propaganda disaster for East Germany and for the communist bloc as a whole. It became a key symbol of Communist tyranny -- and in November 1989, a symbol of that tyranny's defeat.
The 10 Worst Days in U.S. History
1. Battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862. The bloodiest single-day battle in U.S. history, with almost 23,000 casualties, including 3,700 dead. The Union and Confederate forces fought to a draw. In the four years of the U.S. Civil War, more than 600,000 Americans died.
2. 9/11, Sept. 11, 2001. The worst foreign attack on U.S. soil, made more horrific by its targeting of civilians; approximately 3,000 were killed. The attack spurred a new, uncertain era in U.S. foreign policy and led to the declaration of a "War on Terror" -- not a conflict between nation states, but a worldwide police action against disparate non-state actors.
3. Black Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1929. The stock market collapse that began the Great Depression. By 1933, the value of NYSE stock was less than a fifth of what it had been at its peak in 1929, and one out of four Americans was unemployed.
4. Trail of Tears, May 23, 1838. The forced relocation of the Cherokees to the Western United States. About 17,000 Cherokees across the South -- along with approximately 2,000 black slaves owned by wealthy Cherokees -- were removed at gunpoint from their homes over three weeks and gathered together in camps, often with only the clothes on their backs. By the end of their journey west, more than 4,000 had died.
5. Cotton Gin Patented, March 14, 1794. The invention of the cotton gin revolutionized the cotton-growing industry because it increased fiftyfold the quantity of cotton that could be processed in a day. But for this invention and the greed it inspired, slavery might have withered away in the U.S. as it did in England -- without need for war.
6. Fall of Saigon, April 30, 1975. The low point for the U.S. during the Cold War. In addition to the flawed policy of intervening in what was essentially a civil war, the U.S. government stayed in Vietnam well after it had acknowledged -- internally -- that the war was unwinnable in order to save political face. Nixon's protracted efforts to "Vietnamize" the conflict failed to create a self-sustaining South Vietnamese military and cost more than 15,000 American lives. In all, more than 58,000 U.S. troops died in the war.
7. Mexican-American War Declared, May 13, 1846. A naked land grab, with the U.S. ultimately acquiring half of Mexico's territory. The war also contributed to North-South hostilities that led to the Civil War. Said Ulysses S. Grant: "The Southern rebellion was largely the outgrowth of the Mexican war. Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions. We got our punishment in the most sanguinary and expensive war of modern times."
8. The Dred Scott Decision, March 6, 1857. In this infamous case, the U.S. Supreme Court held that no one descended from Africans, slave or free, can be a citizen of the United States, according to the U.S. Constitution. In effect, the court ruled that slaves had no claim to freedom and could not bring suit. The court also ruled that the federal government could not revoke a white slave owner's right to own a slave based on where they lived, thus nullifying the Missouri Compromise.
9. The Bombing of Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. Imperial Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii, was aimed at the Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy and its defending Army Air Corps and Marine defensive squadrons. The attack severely damaged or destroyed twelve American warships, destroyed 188 aircraft, and killed 2,403 American servicemen and 68 civilians.
10. The Invasion of Iraq, March 20, 2003. Like the Spanish-American War of 1898, a "war of choice" initiated by the U.S. under false pretenses in order to promote an imperialist policy. As acknowledged by Retired U.S. General Jay Garner, the war's objectives include the establishment of permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq as a way of projecting power to the oil-rich Gulf region and the Middle East generally -- a throwback to 19th-century European foreign policy that Americans will, in all likelihood, regret for years to come.
posted by Scott Baradell at
6:00 AM
17 Comments:
Worst Days
Scott, I have to take issue with your No. 1. Antietam (or Sharpsburg, as the South calls it) was horrible. However...
1. December 20, 1860: South Carolina ratifies an Ordinance of Secession, sparking the US Civil War. Yeah, Antietam (Sharpsburg) was bad, but this is what caused it (and Shiloh, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, etc.)
Your No. 2? Pearl Harbor belongs there. 9/11 still terrifies me, but Pearl Harbor changed everything. 9/11 didn't. And while 9/11 was the "worst attack on American soil", Pearl Harbor seriously crippled America's military reach. There's no comparing the two.
November 7, 1917... October Revolution in Russia... boy, wasn't that a pain in the neck for 70+ years?
Best days?
July 2, 1776 must be No 1. If they hadn't had the stones to sign, there would have been no #1-10 on your list (yes, I know they did not all sign that day).
April 9, 1865. Lee surrenders to generous terms from Grant. We could have moved on from then. We didn't, but few nations get such golden opportunities. I'd rank it at 7 - 10.
April 6, 1917: US declares war on Germany. The US decides its international commerce cannot allow isolationist diplomacy. Makes Wilson's 14 Points possible.
By
Allan Jenkins, at 7/03/2006
Not sure (yet) where it ranks in the Worst Days, but December 12, 2000, certainly ranks among the bottom 10. That's the day the Supreme Court handed down its 5-4 ruling in Bush v. Gore, sneding George W. to Washington.
By
Kirk, at 7/03/2006
Kirk, I know you meant "sending," but somehow "sneding" seems more appropriate. There needs to be a special word for what the Supreme Court did that day.
By
SB, at 7/03/2006
Allan -- I know you just want S.C. to be No. 1 because that's where you grew up!
By
SB, at 7/03/2006
"sneaking" is more like it!
By
Kirk, at 7/03/2006
Uh oh, I smell a digg storm coming!
By
Paul McEnany, at 7/03/2006
Since the Soviets were the first to successfully send an astronaut into space and back, I don't think it's entirely accurate to say the Americans won "the" space race. They won "a" space race, after having lost the first one. ;-)
By
Eric Eggertson, at 7/03/2006
I hafta throw this one out there for consideration:
April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing of the Murrah Federal Building.
Prior to 9/11 and besides Pearl Harbor, that event made people afraid of being attacked from their own neighbors, because that’s basically what happened. An American milita group who hated the government and didn’t care who got in the way. And they could be living right next door to you.
Allan, I have to take issue on one point:
While I think all these events are Top-10 worthy regardless of their order, look at what we did militarily four years after Pearl Harbor, completely doing a 180, mustering a full population behind the war effort and dominating a country, then ending a war.
Pearl Harbor though, while a blow to the military, wasn’t an immediate direct threat to citizens on the order of 9/11. Our military has suffered large losses like that in previous wars/battles.
(Not to mention, Hawaii wasn’t even a state yet, so I question what real connection people felt to it besides being a naval port for us.)
Contrast that with what we haven’t finished yet five years out from 9/11 and a nation divided on the solution, (although in agreement that 9/11 hurt us deep).
And I argue that Bush would have had more support longer if he had played a 'we want some payback' card as was done after Pearl Harbor. Instead, the message changed and got diluted, now we’re divided.
For scale alone, it was more shocking to the nation because it was a direct attack on us and our symbols on American soil, not the military, and not some far-off paradise.
But I digress. There is another one that I’m not sure doesn’t fit both categories actually:
Al Gore’s invention of the internet.
;-p
By
Make the logo bigger, at 7/03/2006
I agree the invasion of Iraq was a sorry day in American history. Did we do this for imperialist reasons? If we did, then we should just take the damn oil since that's why everyone seems to think that we went. If it was truly for Imperialist reasons,then we should allow Iraq to devolve into Civil War, then they would be killing each other while we took what we wanted. This stupid war has cost us hundreds of billions of dollars and wasted international good will as well as given true enemies points to use against us. It has proven to be a colosal error. This on top of the thousands of wounded or killed Americans and the families destroyed becuase of this.
By
Anonymous, at 7/03/2006
This is a really interesting list. And I've enjoyed reading the thoughtful comments.
I have one more for the worst list. I don't see how our bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki can be overlooked. I suspect some would want it on the list of best days. But that just doesn't feel right.
By
Christie Goodman, at 7/03/2006
Bill,
I left OKC off just because, while it was a horrible human tragedy, it was not part of a larger cultural phenonemon...the McVeighs of the world are isolated and not gaining in strength as a movement.
By
SB, at 7/04/2006
I ranked Pearl Harbor over 9/11 not because of the casualty count, but because of both the immediate and the far reaching effects (granted, those effects have had 65 years to accumulate):
1) internationalist foreign policy: from 1948-1976, every US President was influenced profoundly by WWII.
2) enormous advances in industrial automation and production.
3) Widespread introduction of women and blacks into the industrial workforce.
4) heightened US interest in the Pacific (an interest that still instructs our China-Korea-Japan policy, and which certainly led to our Vietnam policy).
9/11, in contrast, doesn't seem to be as influential. But, again, in 60 years, I might have a different view.
Scott, my suggestion of 20 December 1860 was, as you swiftly spotted, a plug for the South Carolina Department of Tourism, whose check is in the mail (to me, not you).
By
Allan Jenkins, at 7/05/2006
Christie:
I considered four different WWII acts by the U.S. and the Allied Powers for the Worst list:
1. Hiroshima
2. Nagasaki
3. The firebombing of Tokyo
4. The destruction of Dresden
I left them off the list for the following reasons:
1. Before Hiroshima, Japan's leaders had committed to fighting to the last man.
2. Arguably, the U.S. should have given Japan more time to surrender before bombing Nagasaki. However, Japan was warned to surrender immediately.
3. The firebombing of Tokyo killed 50,000 people -- nearly all civilians. Again, after the war, Japanese and American commentators agreed that the tragedy helped bring Japan closer to surrender.
4. Dresden was the worst atrocity by the Allies in Europe, but again, there were fairly reasonable strategic reasons for doing it.
Ultimately, I put all of these in the "war is hell" category. The U.S. did not act alone in any of these instances, either.
By
SB, at 7/05/2006
Allan,
I like your comments, but I'd say a couple things:
1. Pearl Harbor was more or less a simple act of war -- granted, it was a sneak attack, and it pulled the U.S. on the world stage in a big way. But we were going to enter WWII anyway at that point; it was just a matter of the timing. 9/11, on the other hand, signaled a whole new era in international conflict.
2. I'd also put the 14 points above the U.S. entering the war. Countries go to war all the time. But for a brief shining moment, the U.S. -- through the 14 points -- stood as an idealistic beacon for the rest of the world. We denounced European-style colonialism and lots of other cynical foreign policy practices. It's a big part of why we were held in such high regard around the world for many years ... until we were sucked into cynical interventionism during the Cold War and afterwards.
By
SB, at 7/05/2006
Just a thought (maybe we could add towards ten best?)
Treaty of Ghent- December 24, 1814? (in conjunction with the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815... news took longer back then) Winning the war of 1812 was important in reaffirming our independence and showing the world (Europe) we were for real.
By
Anonymous, at 9/11/2007
I'm afraid the Iraq War is moving higher on the list every day.
By
Christian, at 9/16/2007
Re "Victory at Saratoga 1777": The term 'Canadian' is inappropriate in this context. The war was between Britain and the American Colonies. Canada did not become a country until 1857. Those northern territories (now Canada) were being contested by England and France during the 1700's. There has never been a Canadian attack on the USA.
By
Anonymous, at 12/13/2007
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