On this day #1
On this day in 1988, President Ronald Reagan halted construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow, because Soviet listening devices had been found built right into the building's structure.
Think about that for a second. These weren't tiny gadgets slipped under a desk. The walls and bones of the place were doing the listening. That was the Cold War, when even concrete couldn't be trusted.
This photo isn't from that building. It's a 1946 picture of the staff of the U.S. Military Attaché at the American Embassy in Moscow, people who worked in that same city long before.
The story still feels close to home. Most of us have wondered now and then who might be listening, whether it's a phone, a speaker on the kitchen counter, or just thin apartment walls. And with Halloween a few days away, a house whose walls listen back is about as spooky as a true story gets.
Photo: Unknown artist, 1946. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
Unknown artist, 1946 · Wikimedia Commons, Public domain · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Staff_of_the_United_States_Military_Attache,_American_Embassy,_Moscow.jpg
Sources:
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Staff_of_the_United_States_Military_Attache,_American_Embassy,_Moscow.jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy_of_the_United_States%2C_Moscow
On this day #2
On this day in 1954, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. became the first African-American general in the United States Air Force.
The picture you're looking at is Davis himself, taken years before that day. He's in uniform and looks steady and serious, like a man who knows exactly where he's headed. It's a little moving to look at it now, knowing what was still ahead of him.
A "first" like that is more than a line in a history book. It shows the people who come next what's possible. Somebody had to be first so that it wouldn't stay a first forever. Think about the young people you know who are working their way up in a job, a school or a team. They're walking a road that people like Davis helped open.
So today, I'm thinking about everyone who had to be first in a room. Who was a first in your own family, or in your own town?
Photo: Office of War Information, 1942. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
Office of War Information, 1942 · Wikimedia Commons, Public domain · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_o_davis_jr_(cropped).jpg
Sources:
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_o_davis_jr_(cropped).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_O._Davis_Jr.
