October 31, 1941: The Sinking of the Reuben James

October 31, 1941: The destroyer USS Reuben James is sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Iceland. There were 100 deaths, and only 44 survivors.

This was an act of war, as America had not yet entered World War II, but it did not move Congress to declare war on Nazi Germany, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew he couldn't ask them. Still.

Folksinger Woody Guthrie wrote "The Sinking of the Reuben James" about it:

Tell me: what were their names?
Tell me: what were their names?
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?

Woody's guitar reads, "This machine kills fascists."

Reuben James (1776-1838) was a boatswain's mate from Delaware, famous for his heroism in saving the life of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, during the Gunboat Battle of August 3, 1804, in the First Barbary War -- although there is dispute as to whether he was the sailor who saved Decatur.

On April 1, 1943, a new destroyer named Reuben James was christened. It was decommissioned only 4 years later, after the War ended. A 3rd ship with the name, a frigate, served from 1982 to 2013.

*

October 31, 1941 was a Friday. It was also Halloween. This was also the day that Mount Rushmore was declared "finished." I have a separate entry for that event. Actress Sally Kirkland was born on this day.

Baseball season was over. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And the NHL season didn't start until the next day. But there were 4 college football games that night:

* Penn State beat New York University, 42-0 at the Polo Grounds.

* Clemson beat George Washington University, 19-0 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* South Carolina beat The Citadel, 13-6 at the County Fairgrounds in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

* And the University of Miami beat Texas Tech, 6-0 at Burdine Stadium in Miami. Burdine Stadium was renamed the Orange Bowl in 1959.

September 1, 1945: Woody Guthrie Publishes "This Land Is Your Land"

September 1, 1945: Woody Guthrie publishes "This Land Is Your Land." It becomes one of America's most familiar songs.

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma. By the 1930s, he was already known as a folksinger, and his 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads was immediately hailed as a landmark of the genre. An ardent anti-Nazi, he put a sticker on his guitar, reading, "THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS."

Angered by the fluffy patriotism of Kate Smith's recording of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," Guthrie wrote "This Land Is Your Land" on February 23, 1940, in his room at the Hanover House Hotel at 101 West 43rd Street, just off New York's Times Square. According to journalist Joe Klein, "He completely forgot about the song, and didn't do anything with it for another 5 years."

More like 4 years. In March 1944, he recorded it for the 1st time. But he didn't publish it until September 1, 1945 -- 18 days after V-J Day ended World War II.

Pretty much everyone knows the Chorus:

This land is your land, and this land is my land.

From California to the New York island.
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

Fewer people know the verses:

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
And I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and rambled, and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
All around me, a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me.

This verse proved to be controversial, and was often dropped when the song appeared in publications, for fear of being accused of Communism:

There was a big, high wall there that tried to stop me.
A sign was painted, said "Private Property."
But on the backside, it didn't say nothing.
That side was made for you and me.

When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving, and the dust clouds rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me.

This land is your land, and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

After years of suffering from a neurological condition called Huntington's disease, which rendered him unable to perform live from the 1950s onward, Woody Guthrie died on October 3, 1967. That same year, Jack Newfield was covering Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York for the New York Post. RFK was wondering if he should run for President. Newfield wanted 2 things if he won: "End the war in Vietnam, and make 'This Land Is Your Land' the National Anthem." Bobby said, "Done." Of course, he never got the chance.

*

September 1, 1945 was a Monday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Washington Senators, 3-0 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Alex Carrasquel pitched a 5-hit shutout, outpitching Red Ruffing.

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, 5-4 at the Polo Grounds. Player-manager Mel Ott and Billy Jurges hit home runs for the Jints, and Ed Stevens hit one for Dem Bums.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Boston Braves, 8-3 at Braves Field in Boston.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 7-1 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-4 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Hank Greenberg had returned from The War, and went 1-for-4 with a walk for the Tigers. Bob Feller had also returned from The War, and started for the Indians, but was not involved in the decision. Rudy York singled home Red Borom to win the game in the bottom of the 9th inning. The Tigers would edge the Senators for the American League Pennant by 1 game.

* A doubleheader was split at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Chicago White Sox won the opener, 5-3. The St. Louis Browns won the nightcap, 3-0. Nelson Potter pitched a 6-hit shutout.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Nevertheless, the Cubs would win the National League Pennant. This was the only season between 1942 and 1946 when the Cards didn't. It was also the only season in that stretch when Stan Musial was unavailable due to military service. That is not a coincidence. The Cubs lost the World Series to the Tigers, and didn't win another Pennant for 71 years.

* And the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates were not scheduled.

April 26, 1940: Woody Guthrie Records "Dust Bowl Ballads"

April 26, 1940: Woody Guthrie records the album Dust Bowl Ballads at RCA Victor studios, at 155 East 24th Street in Manhattan.

The "Dust Bowl" was a series of wind storms that produced "black blizzards" across the entire sweep of the Great Plains, from Canada south to Texas. The dust storms caused extensive damage, and appeared to turn the day to night. Witnesses reported that they could not see 5 feet in front of them at certain points.

Dust Bowl conditions fomented an exodus of the displaced from the Texas Panhandle, the adjoining Oklahoma Panhandle, and the surrounding Great Plains to adjacent regions. More than 500,000 Americans were left homeless. More than 350 houses had to be torn down after one storm alone. The severe drought and dust storms had left many homeless; others had their mortgages foreclosed by banks, or felt they had no choice but to abandon their farms in search of work.

Many Americans migrated west looking for work. Parents packed up "jalopies" with their families and a few personal belongings, and headed west in search of work. In particular, residents of Oklahoma and Arkansas -- "Okies" and "Arkies" -- headed west on U.S. Route 66, which became known as "The Mother Road," for California, "the land of milk and honey," hearing of jobs available picking fruits and vegetables. These jobs proved to be worse than farming, as they were no longer their own bosses, and the bosses were brutal until the labor unions came in.

The Plains States lost about 3.5 million people in the 1930s. More migrants arrived in California in 1936 than in any other year, including the Gold Rush year of 1849.

Guthrie, a native of Okemah, Oklahoma, then 27 years old, recorded Dust Bowl Ballads, one of the earliest "concept albums." It was 12 songs, 6 songs to a side, and if that wasn't enough symmetry -- not that he was going for it, on purpose -- the total length is 36 minutes and 36 seconds.

Side 1: "Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues," "Blowing Down This Road," "Do Re Mi" (not the traditional "scales" song, or the song that would later appear in the musical The Sound of Music), "Dust Can't Kill Me," "Tom Joad-Part 1" and "Tom Joad-Part 2," tributes to the lead character of John Steinbeck's novel about the Dust Bowl, The Grapes of Wrath, whose film version had been released 3 months earlier.

Side 2: "The Great Dust Storm," "Dusty Old Dust" (a.k.a. "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh"), "Dust Bowl Refugee," "Dust Pneumonia Blues," "I Ain't Got No Home In This World Anymore," and "Vigilante Man."

All songs were written by Guthrie himself, although he got help on "Blowing Down This Road" from Lee Hays of The Weavers.

Recorded for the album, but not included on it until a 1964 reissue, was "Pretty Boy Floyd," which recasts the vicious bank robber Charles Arthur Floyd, gunned down by FBI agents in 1934, as a misunderstood hero of poor people, a Robin Hood type. In that song, Woody wrote:

Yes, as through this world I've wandered

I've seen lots of funny men.

Some will rob you with a six-gun

and some with a fountain pen.

In 1969, Mario Puzo would agree with him, writing in The Godfather, "A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns."

But Woody followed with:

And as through your life you travel

yes, as through your life you roam

you won't never seen an outlaw

drive a family from its home.

In 1981, Bruce Springsteen, heavily influenced by Guthrie, would disagree with him, writing in "Atlantic City":

Well, they blew up the Chicken Man in Philly last night.

And they blew up his house, too. 

*

April 26, 1940 was a Friday. It turned out to be a big day in music for another reason: Giorgio Moroder was born. Unfortunately, he turned his music production talents to a form of music I can't stand, becoming known as "The Father of Disco."

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 8-1 at Fenway Park. Emerson Dickman outpitched Monte Pearson. Jimmie Foxx went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Ted Williams went 0-for-4 with a walk. Joe DiMaggio did not play.

* The New York Giants beat the Boston Bees, 5-3 at the Polo Grounds. Cliff Melton was the winning pitcher, in relief of Carl Hubbell. Mel Ott went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. The next season, the Bees went back to their 1912-1935 name, the Boston Braves.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-0 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Freddie Fitzsimmons pitched a 7-hit shutout. Harry "Cookie" Lavagetto went 3-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and 4 RBIs.

* The Washington Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 8-6 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-4 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Paul Waner went 1-for-3 with a walk. Lloyd Waner went 1-for-5.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 11-1 at League Park in Cleveland.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* And the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Browns were rained out at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 29. The Tigers won the opener, 9-5. The nightcap was called due to darkness after 9 innings, tied 9-9. Over the 2 games, Hank Greenberg went 2-for-7 with a home run, 3 walks, and 5 RBIs.