The Republican mayor of New York City Fiorello La Guardia (1934-45), known as the “Little Flower,” was five feet two inches tall.
John Hancock’s (1737-93) most distinctive contribution to the rebel cause was money which earned him a place as president of the Continental Congress. Hancock was a merchant who had inherited a fortune from a smuggler uncle. He used his wealth to help finance the revolution. He is best remembered now for his flamboyant signature on…
President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1904 corollary to the Monroe Doctrine said that the U.S. could itself intervene in Latin America to correct what it considered “chronic wrongdoing.”
“What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar” was uttered by Thomas R. Marshall, vice-president under Woodrow Wilson (1913-21), in response to a senator’s long speech about the country’s needs.
The first World Series between the American and National Leagues was played in 1903. The Boston Red Sox (AL) beat the Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) five games to three in a best-of-nine series.
Dick Beals, himself only four-and-a-half feet tall, did the voice of the singing animated Alka-Seltzer puppet in over 200 TV commercials from 1954 to 1964. Speedy, who had an Alka-Seltzer tablet for a hat and another for his torso, was designed by Robert Watkins for Wade Advertising of Chicago.