On This Day in MISRYOUM: From Reagan’s Bitburg rumor to Obama’s birther jab
Sat, April 11—today’s date reads like someone dumped a stack of history notes onto the newsroom desk and said “sort it out later.”
The modern headline moment is at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where Pres. B. Obama mocks birther Donald Trump. It’s the kind of joke that lands fast in the room, then follows you after—like a chant you can’t unhear. And around the same date in memory, the politics get sharper, because 2006 brings Veep Dick “Dick” Cheney’s first pitch at the Nationals’ home opener, drawing jeers and catcalls.
But the day doesn’t stay in one era. In 2002, Venezuelan generals replace elected President Hugo Chavez with CIA-approved Pedro Carmona. Misryoum newsroom reporting treats the placement like it matters: it’s not just “a regime change,” it’s the official swap of one leader for another, backed by outside approval. Actually, the details feel cold even before you get to the names—like the file was already stamped.
Two decades worth of distance still won’t stop the flicker of rumor. 1985: Reagan, it’s said, will lay a wreath at Bitburg, where American and German soldiers lie buried. Nope—that’s Waffen SS-only. And that “it’s said” tag in Misryoum’s timeline is important. It reminds you how quickly a political gesture can turn into a headline, then into a controversy you can’t fully walk back.
There’s also the Vietnam-era thread that turns ugly fast. 1966—Set out as bait at Xa Cam My by the CO of the Big Red One, Charlie Co., 2/16th Inf., 134 strong, is ambushed. Relief plans go awry, friendly fire happens; 36 KIA, 71 WIA. The phrasing is stark, almost administrative, but you can still feel the chaos behind it—like the moment before the next report comes in.
Moving backward again, Misryoum’s list jumps to 1968, when Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968 into law. Then, in 1955, Chiang Kai-shek, the GOP’s pet warlord, bombs an airliner—target Zhou Enlai is not on board, though. In a way, the sequence is a mood shift: legal progress on one line, sudden violence on the next. Or maybe it’s the same story told by different paperwork.
The earlier entries keep swinging between big decisions and brutal accidents: 1951—President Truman fires General MacArthur for insubordination. 1950—A nuclear weapon’s high explosives go off when a B-29 crashes near Albuquerque. Luckily no fissile core had been installed. 1938—Richard Whitney, President of the New York Stock Exchange, gets five to 10 for larceny. 1913—President Wilson orders federal agencies to segregate by race. And 1862—An errant balloon takes Portsmouth’s own Gen. Fitz John Porter over Confederate lines, then back to safety during the Seige of Yorktown. Sort of wild how one date can hold jokes, firings, lawmaking, bombs, and even balloon mishaps—then you blink and realize it’s all still connected by human choices, failures, and the stories we keep retelling, even when they don’t quite settle.