Person.
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. Neither his election nor his nomination by the fledgling Republican Party were assured. Most politicians had dismissed Lincoln as a backwoods country bumpkin, a joke instead of a nominee or President. At the Republican convention, however, Lincoln had shrewdly maneuvered to get himself nominated over several much more polished and experienced political rivals. Once elected, he showed even more brilliance by mending bridges with his doubters, even putting several on his cabinet and as informal advisors. Doris Kearns Goodwin's great book, Team of Rivals, explores that brilliance.
William Seward (1801-1872) was one of three men in Lincoln's cabinet who had been Lincoln's opponent in the campaign, serving as Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869. He had served as Governor of New York and US Senator, and was one of the most prominent figures in the founding of the Republican party and a nationally known politician. He was an adamant opponent of the spread of slavery and the institution, although his father had been an enslaving farmer in New York before state abolition. As governor of New York, Seward signed laws advancing rights and opportunities for black New Yorkers, guaranteeing jury trials for fugitive slaves in New York, and protecting abolitionists. He also intervened several times in cases of freed black people who were kidnapped and enslaved in the South. He also supported immigrants and Catholics at a time when anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic fervor was strong.
He became one of Lincoln's most trusted advisors and, even before becoming Secretary of State, he worked hard to keep southern states from seceding. As the Civil War commenced, one of his priorities was to keep the UK and France out of the war. He miraculously survived assassination by one of John Wilkes Booth's associates, and continued serving in Andrew Johnson's cabinet, negotiating the purchase of Alaska in 1867.
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On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. Neither his election nor his nomination by the fledgling Republican Party were assured. Most politicians had dismissed Lincoln as a backwoods country bumpkin, a joke instead of a nominee or President. At the Republican convention, however, Lincoln had shrewdly maneuvered to get himself nominated over several much more polished and experienced political rivals. Once elected, he showed even more brilliance by mending bridges with his doubters, even putting several on his cabinet and as informal advisors. Doris Kearns Goodwin's great book, Team of Rivals, explores that brilliance.
Lincoln's White House, or Executive Mansion as it was then called, was very different in 1861 from what we in 2022 might picture.
In fact, it was quite run down when Mary Todd Lincoln moved in, and she immediately launched a massive redecorating project, purchasing new carpets, wallpaper, draperies, furnishings, and china, along with modernizing plumbing, heating, and lighting. Unfortunately, she soon exceeded the budget, causing great strain on President Lincoln and the relationship between the President and the Congress.
The most shocking thing to us in 2022, though, might be that, in spite of the Civil War, the White House corridors were constantly full of strangers seeking meetings with the President or other government officials about jobs, government contracts, or wild ideas. No background checks, no badges, no security details to speak of, no appointments. Complete and total strangers spent the day in corridors and stairwells, so crowded that actual White House staffers had to literally push their way through, coming and going. As incredible as it sounds to us today, it's the way the White House had almost always functioned prior to Lincoln's assassination.
Thing.
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. Neither his election nor his nomination by the fledgling Republican Party were assured. Most politicians had dismissed Lincoln as a backwoods country bumpkin, a joke instead of a nominee or President. At the Republican convention, however, Lincoln had shrewdly maneuvered to get himself nominated over several much more polished and experienced political rivals. Once elected, he showed even more brilliance by mending bridges with his doubters, even putting several on his cabinet and as informal advisors. Doris Kearns Goodwin's great book, Team of Rivals, explores that brilliance.
I had no idea this existed until today: The “Hairy Eagle,” as it was dubbed more than 150 years ago, stuns all who see it, probably because the wreath is made entirely from human hair. And not just any hair. It was woven with tresses provided by President Abraham Lincoln, his vice president and cabinet members, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and numerous United States senators, as well as First Lady Mary Lincoln and three cabinet members’ wives—37 people in all. Measuring roughly a foot in diameter, the eagle-adorned artwork is accompanied by an index showing exactly whose hair was used for each section of the sculpture. It was created as a fundraiser in 1864. People paid $1 to sign their name in the accompanying book. It belongs to the Onondaga Historical Association in New York and is rarely exhibited.
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Nobel laureate Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 in French Algeria to French parents born in Algeria. He studied philosophy at the University of Algiers. In Paris when the Germans invaded in 1940, he attempted to join the military but was rejected due to his tuberculosis.Instead, he joined the French Resistance, serving as editor-in-chief of a Resistance newspaper called Combat.
During the war, he became friends with Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, and some literary historians have called his work existentialist, but he rejected that label. Others name him as a pioneer of the absurdist movement. He was quite politically active after the war, speaking out against Stalin and communism, which led to the end of his friendship to Sartre. He claimed neutrality in the Algerian War for Independence, 1954-1962, advocating for a multicultural and pluralistic Algeria. He leaned towards anarcho-syndicalism, a supporter of strong labor unions and strengthening workers' rights through collective action. He was also a strong proponent of European integration, calling for the creation of a European federation.
In 1960, he was a passenger in a car driven by his publisher that left the road and hit a tree near Sens, in northern central Paris. Camus died instantly at age 46.
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Nobel laureate, novelist, and philosopher Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 in French Algeria to French parents born in Algeria. He studied philosophy at the University of Algiers.
Algeria has been the largest country in Africa since the creation of South Susan in 2011, 10th in area in the world. Its population makes it 32nd in the world.
From 1830 to 1962, Algeria was claimed by France. From 1954 to 1962, Algerians revolted against French rule, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced persons.
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Nobel laureate, novelist, and philosopher Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 in French Algeria to French parents born in Algeria.
The Code de l'indigénat ( "native code"), called régime de l'indigénat or simply indigénat by modern French historians, were diverse and fluctuating sets of laws and regulations characterized by arbitrariness which created in practice an inferior legal status for natives of French colonies from 1881 until 1944–1947. (Wikipedia)
The indigenat code was based on a very complex system put into place in French territorial possessions. Ostensibly, the system was designed to facilitate assimilation and French citizenship for native populations. In reality, it created strictly defined castes, with French-born citizens at the top of the social period.
Camus' parents were French, born in Algeria. In Algeria, such people were known as Pieds-Noirs (French for "black feet"). Camus' family struggled financially. His father died at the Battle of the Marne before he was born, and Camus' family was very poor. Yet, as a full-blooded French citizen, Camus' recognized at an early age that he enjoyed privileges of full citizenship that the Arab and Berber majority of Algeria did not enjoy, because of the indigenat code. This inequity led to the bloody war for Independence from 1954 to 1962.
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Appropriately enough as today is Election Day, "All the King's Men," based on Robert Penn Warren's novel and starring Broderick Crawford, premiered on November 8, 1949 and went in to win the Best Picture Oscar in 1950. Warren's lead character, Willie Stark, was inspired by and modeled on Louisiana governor and US Senator Huey P. Long, nicknamed "the Kingfish," although Warren vehemently denied that the book was political.
He began his legal career in 1915, usually defending poor plaintiffs in workmen's comp cases and other cases against corporations. He began his political career on Louisiana's Railroad Commission - later called the Public Service Commission. He ran for governor in 1924 and 1928, using new tactics like sound trucks and radio ads. Unlike every other southern population, he rarely used race baiting and "the Lost Cause" ideology, appealing to rural poor voters by campaigning against big business. In 1928, he became the youngest elected Louisiana governor in history at 35. After surviving an impeachment, he he ran for US Senator in 1930. He won despite voter fraud allegations. (Apparently, Louisianans voted in alphabetical order in some places, and he earned votes from Charlie Chaplin, Jack Dempsey, Babe Ruth, and other non-Louisianan celebrities.)
He became an opponent of FDR's New Deal, arguing it didn't go far enough and laying groundwork for a run against FDR in 1936, but he was assassinated on September 8, 1935 in the Baton Rouge State Capitol building.
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Appropriately enough as today is Election Day, "All the King's Men," based on Robert Penn Warren's novel and starring Broderick Crawford, premiered on November 8, 1949 and went in to win the Best Picture Oscar in 1950. Warren's lead character, Willie Stark, was inspired by and modeled on Louisiana governor and US Senator Huey P. Long, nicknamed "the Kingfish," although Warren vehemently denied that the book was political.
As governor, long began the construction of a new state capitol building in Baton Rouge. He wanted, and got, a huge skyscraper, a symbol of Louisiana rising from the lowlands and into modernity. While he never served as governor in the building ( becoming Senator two years after he was elected governor), he made frequent visits, and he died as the result of an assassin's attack in the building. He is buried on the grounds.
From Wikipedia:
The Louisiana State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Louisiana and is located in downtown Baton Rouge. The capitol houses the chambers for the Louisiana State Legislature, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as the office of the Governor of Louisiana. At 450 feet (137 m) tall and with 34 stories, it is the tallest skyscraper in Baton Rouge, the seventh tallest building in Louisiana, and tallest capitol in the United States. It is located on a 27-acre tract, which includes the capitol gardens. The Louisiana State Capitol is often thought of as "Huey Long's monument" due to the influence of the former Governor and U.S. Senator in getting the capitol built. The building's construction was completed in 1931. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982.
Thing.
Appropriately enough as today is Election Day, "All the King's Men," based on Robert Penn Warren's novel and starring Broderick Crawford, premiered on November 8, 1949 and went in to win the Best Picture Oscar in 1950. Warren's lead character, Willie Stark, was inspired by and modeled on Louisiana governor and US Senator Huey P. Long, nicknamed "the Kingfish," although Warren vehemently denied that the book was political.
first proposed in a national radio address. To stimulate the economy, the Share Our Wealth program called for massive federal spending, a wealth tax and wealth redistribution. These proposals drew wide support, with millions joining local Share Our Wealth clubs. Roosevelt adopted many of these proposals in the Second New Deal.
In March 1933, Long offered a series of bills collectively known as "the Long plan" for the redistribution of wealth. The first bill proposed a new progressive tax code designed to cap personal fortunes at $100 million (about $2 billion in 2022 dollars). Fortunes above $1 million ($20 million in 2022) would be taxed at 1 percent; fortunes above $2 million ($40 million in 2022) would be taxed at 2 percent, and so forth, up to a 100 percent tax on fortunes greater than $100 million. The second bill would limit annual income to $1 million ($20 million in 2022), and the third bill would cap individual inheritances at $5 million ($99 million in 2022). (Wikipedia)
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Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, aka Hedy Lamarr, was born in November 9, 1914 (died 2000) in Vienna to Jewish-born parents who had converted to Catholicism. From her mother, a pianist, she got an interest in performance specifically acting. From her father, she got scientific curiosity and inventiveness. She won a beauty contest at age 12, started taking acting classes, and went to work at the largest Austrian film studio at the time as a script girl. She got a role as an extra and then a small speaking part before moving to Berlin.
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At 18, she was cast in a Czech film called Ecstasy, banned in the US and Germany because of several nude scenes. While acting on stage, she was noticed by a fascist Austrian arms dealer with close ties to both Hitler and Mussolini. He was 33; she was 18. They married. He was extremely controlling and tried to end her acting career. He insisted that she sit in on his meetings with scientists and weapons developers, hence "The Only Woman in the Room," to keep her in his sight. She chafed under his control and despised his politics, leaving him in 1937 and making her way to Hollywood where she immediately went to work.
While acting and selling war bonds, she also began tinkering with inventions. Together with her friend and composer George Antheil, she developed a new way of using frequency-hopping to keep radio-controlled torpedoes on target. The idea was not adopted until the 1960s, but the principles are considered the basic principles of Bluetooth, GPS, and wifi technology.
The Only Woman in the Room is based on Hedy Lamarr's remarkable life.
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Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, aka Hedy Lamarr, was born in November 9, 1914 (died 2000) in Vienna to Jewish-born parents who had converted to Catholicism. From her mother, a pianist, she got an interest in performance specifically acting. From her father, she got scientific curiosity and inventiveness. She won a beauty contest at age 12, started taking acting classes, and went to work at the largest Austrian film studio at the time as a script girl. She got a role as an extra and then a small speaking part before moving to Berlin. She always tinkered with inventing though. During WWII, she and a friend, George Antheil, invented a feequency-hopping technology that paved the way for Bluetooth, GPS, and Wi-Fi.
Lamarr's acting career faded in the 1960s, and her subsequent private life, is frankly quite sad, but in recent years, she has gained recognition for her forward thinking inventions.
In 2014, the pair were posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, a museum in Alexandria Virginia. Lamarr has also been inducted into the Jewish-American Hall of Fame, a digital collection online with elements physically houses at both the Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond and the Skirball Museum in Cincinnati. In 2019, she was inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame, also a digital collection, but it has a physical presence on the the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa.
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The Only Woman in the Room is an historical fiction work about her life.
Thing.
Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, aka Hedy Lamarr, was born in November 9, 1914 (died 2000) in Vienna to Jewish-born parents who had converted to Catholicism. From her mother, a pianist, she got an interest in performance specifically acting. From her father, she got scientific curiosity and inventiveness. She won a beauty contest at age 12, started taking acting classes, and went to work at the largest Austrian film studio at the time as a script girl. She got a role as an extra and then a small speaking part before moving to Berlin. She always tinkered with inventing though. During WWII, she and a friend, George Antheil, invented a feequency-hopping technology that paved the way for Bluetooth, GPS, and Wi-Fi.
Lamarr made her great breakthrough in the early years of World War II when trying to invent a device to block enemy ships from jamming torpedo guidance signals. No one knows what prompted the idea, but Antheil confirmed that it was Lamarr’s design, from which he created a practical model. They found a way for the radio guidance transmitter and the torpedo’s receiver to jump simultaneously from frequency to frequency, making it impossible for the enemy to locate and block a message before it had moved to another frequency. This approach became known as “frequency hopping.”
However, when Lamarr and Antheil offered their creation to the U.S. Navy, engineers rejected it, saying it was too cumbersome. During the mid-1950s, with the availability of lightweight transistors, the Navy shared Lamarr’s concept with a contractor assigned to create a sonobuoy, which could be dropped into the water from an airplane to detect submarines.
Neither made any money from their invention, but it is recognized as an early step to Bluetooth, GPS, and Wifi technology, and Lamarr has been called "the mother of wifi."
The Only Woman in the Room is an historical fiction work about her life.
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Persons.
On November 10, 1871, writer and explorer Henry Stanley met Scottish physician David Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" (Most likely a later embellishment by Stanley.)
Henry Morton Stanley was born in Wales in 1841 to an 18 year old mother who abandoned him. He never knew his father, a John Rowlands according to birth records. He was raised by his maternal relatives for a few years and then sent to a Workhouse for the Poor. He emigrated to the US at 18, arriving in New Orleans in 1859. He met a new father figure, Henry Hope Stanley and took his name. He served on both sides in the Civil War, first Confederate, then Union -a "Galvanized Yankee," a Confederate prisoner who joined the Union army to get out of prison.
After the war, he became a journalist for the New York Herald, traveling extensively in the Middle East and Black Sea region. In 1871, he made the famous trip into Africa to contact David Livingstone. Livingstone, born in Scotland in 1813, became a physician, Christian missionary, and explorer obsessed with finding the source of the Nile. He spent decades exploring Africa, and while wrong about the source of the Nile, he is credited with identifying several features for European geographers. In the mid 1860s, he totally lost contact with the outside world. Stanley was sent to find him.
In 1874, Stanley made his own expedition to map the Congo River. In 2008, journalist Tim Butcher published Blood River, in which he followed Stanley's route, finding it as rugged and dangerous, in new ways, as it was over 130 years before. It's a great adventure story and a snapshot of 21st century central Africa.
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On November 10, 1871, writer and explorer Henry Stanley met Scottish physician David Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" (Most likely a later embellishment by Stanley.)
From Wikipedia:
The Congo River (Kongo: Nzâdi Kôngo, French: Fleuve Congo, Portuguese: Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge volume, following only the Amazon. It is also the world's deepest recorded river, with measured depths around 219.5 m (720 ft). The Congo-Lualaba-Chambeshi River system has an overall length of 4,700 km (2,920 mi), which makes it the world's ninth-longest river. The Chambeshi is a tributary of the Lualaba River, and Lualaba is the name of the Congo River upstream of Boyoma Falls, extending for 1,800 km (1,120 mi).
Measured along with the Lualaba, the main tributary, the Congo River has a total length of 4,370 km (2,715 mi). It is the only major river to cross the Equator twice. The Congo Basin has a total area of about 4,000,000 km2 (1,500,000 sq mi), or 13% of the entire African landmass.
In 1874, Stanley made his own expedition to map the Congo River. In 2008, journalist Tim Butcher published Blood River, in which he followed Stanley's route, finding it as rugged and dangerous, in new ways, as it was over 130 years before. It's a great adventure story and a snapshot of 21st century central Africa.
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On November 10, 1871, writer and explorer Henry Stanley met Scottish physician David Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" (Most likely a later embellishment by Stanley.)
Livingstone's official diary was published in 1874, shortly after his death, but the original volume written between 1871 and 1873 was thought lost for over a century. It was shipped back to the UK with his body, but it was written with an ink made from berry juice on old newspapers, and it had started to fade even then. It was illegible. Beginning in 2000, though, archivists began using computer technology and special blue tinting (lower photo), and it became legible.
Some new, possibly unflattering, opinions were discovered in the process. Livingstone had been forced to accept aid from Muslim slave traders, causing him great moral distress because he had campaigned against slavery his entire life. In his diary, he actually wrote about how he was coming to respect the slave traders. However, that didn't last long. He also wrote about witnessing some brutal atrocities that his saviors committed.
In 1874, Stanley made his own expedition to map the Congo River. In 2008, journalist Tim Butcher published Blood River, in which he followed Stanley's route, finding it as rugged and dangerous, in new ways, as it was over 130 years before. It's a great adventure story and a snapshot of 21st century central Africa.
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Veterans Day in the US. Armistice Day in the UK and France. November 11 is a day set aside now to honor those who serve or have served their country in the military, marking the end of World War I.
Thanks to all who have served.
In 1938, Dalton Trumbo, a Hollywood screenwriter and long time member of the Communist Party USA was, like many Americans, a firm believer in US neutrality in the growing European conflict. He wrote a strong anti-war novel called Johnny Got His Gun. In it, Joe Bonham is horribly injured in WWI, having list arms, legs, and even his face, but still alive and alone with his thoughts, totally unable to communicate anything to the nurses and doctors. The book is basically his thoughts and memories as he lays there in his bed. The book became a powerful statement against war and was widely read, but went out of print when the US did go to war.
Trumbo himself (1905-1976) continued working in Hollywood, writing classic films until he became one of the Hollywood Ten, caught up in the anti-communist investigations if the House Un-American Activities Committee if the late 1949s and early 1950s. Refusing to testify, Trumbo was one of several convicted and jailed for contempt of Congress and blacklisted. Unable to work in Hollywood under his own name, he continued writing under assumed names. The blacklist weakened, and he was able to use his name in credits finally in 1960.
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Veterans Day in the US. Armistice Day in the UK and France. November 11 is a day set aside now to honor those who serve or have served their country in the military, marking the end of World War I.
Thanks to all who have served.
In 1938, Dalton Trumbo, a Hollywood screenwriter and long time member of the Communist Party USA was, like many Americans, a firm believer in US neutrality in the growing European conflict. He wrote a strong anti-war novel called Johnny Got His Gun. In it, Joe Bonham is horribly injured in WWI, having list arms, legs, and even his face, but still alive and alone with his thoughts, totally unable to communicate anything to the nurses and doctors. The book is basically his thoughts and memories as he lays there in his bed. The book became a powerful statement against war and was widely read, but went out of print when the US did go to war.
Trumbo famously did his best writing in his bathtub. When Bryan Cranston played him in the 2015 biopic "Trumbo," bathtub scenes were obligatory. But the most unique tribute to Trumbo appeared on the streets of Grand Junction, Colorado, his hometown, on October 13, 2007. It’s a bronze antique bathtub with a naked 62-year old man lounging with coffee at the ready and cigarette in hand while working on a script. (He consumed six packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day, which ultimately killed him.)
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Veterans Day in the US. Armistice Day in the UK and France. November 11 is a day set aside now to honor those who serve or have served their country in the military, marking the end of World War I.
Thanks to all who have served.
In 1938, Dalton Trumbo, a Hollywood screenwriter and long time member of the Communist Party USA was, like many Americans, a firm believer in US neutrality in the growing European conflict. He wrote a strong anti-war novel called Johnny Got His Gun. In it, Joe Bonham is horribly injured in WWI, having list arms, legs, and even his face, but still alive and alone with his thoughts, totally unable to communicate anything to the nurses and doctors. The book is basically his thoughts and memories as he lays there in his bed. The book became a powerful statement against war and was widely read, but went out of print when the US did go to war.
There have been many adaptations of the novel and works inspired by it. In 1988, Metallica released the studio album ...And Justice for All, which includes the song "One", heavily based on the book's events and depiction of Joe Bonham's condition. The music video for the song features several clips from the 1971 film adaptation, directed by Trumbo himself.
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Person.
Stanley Martin Lieber, born in Manhattan in 1922, died on November 12, 2018, aged 95. You know him better as Stan Lee, by his accounting the creator of dozens, if not hundreds, of superheroes, and the man who singlehandedly kept the comic book industry alive. For all of his claims, it's hard to deny that he did have an extremely significant role in taking comic books from the kiddies and making them the base of a multi-million dollar worldwide entertainment Juggernaut (See what I did there?)
Lee was born into a Romanian Jewish immigrant family, and his father worked in the garment industry. Writing was always a childhood hobby while he worked numerous odd jobs. Winning a high school essay contest apparently led eventually to a newspaper writing job. In 1939, he got a job at Timely Comics, as a general office flunkey, writing small things here and there. In 1941, due to a split in leadership at Timely, Lee became interim editor of Timely, doing his job by mail because he also joined the Army Signal Corps and then Training Film Division, writing manuals and films.
In the late 1950s, DC was the big name in Comics, and Timely was definitely small fry. Lee started collaborating with other writers and artists to create new characters, and Timely started gaining readers. By the 1960s, Lee scripted, art-directed, and edited most of the series put out by Marvel Comics, the new name of Timely. He continued at the helm for decades, expanding Marvel into much more than comics.
Always a self-promoter eager to take credit for everything, there have been disputes over what he exactly created and just how big his role was. In his last year's, there were also sad stories of possible dementia and elder abuse. The bio True Believer delves into all those stories and more in an effort to get to the real Lee.
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Stanley Martin Lieber, born in Manhattan in 1922, died on November 12, 2018, aged 95. You know him better as Stan Lee, by his accounting the creator of dozens, if not hundreds, of superheroes, and the man who singlehandedly kept the comic book industry alive. For all of his claims, it's hard to deny that he did have an extremely significant role in taking comic books from the kiddies and making them the base of a multi-million dollar worldwide entertainment Juggernaut (See what I did there?)
Lee started work at Timely Comics as a teenager, and would take over as Timely became Marvel in the 1960s.
From Wikipedia:
"Founded in 1939, during the era called the Golden Age of comic books, "Timely" was the umbrella name for the comics division of pulp magazine publisher Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities all producing the same product. The company's first publication in 1939 used Timely Publications, based at his existing company in the McGraw-Hill Building at 330 West 42nd Street in New York City. In 1942, it moved to the 14th floor of the Empire State Building, where it remained until 1951. In 2016, Marvel announced that Timely Comics would be the name of a new imprint of low-priced reprint comics."
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Stanley Martin Lieber, born in Manhattan in 1922, died on November 12, 2018, aged 95. You know him better as Stan Lee, by his accounting the creator of dozens, if not hundreds, of superheroes, and the man who singlehandedly kept the comic book industry alive. For all of his claims, it's hard to deny that he did have an extremely significant role in taking comic books from the kiddies and making them the base of a multi-million dollar worldwide entertainment Juggernaut (See what I did there?)
If you grew up with comics like I did, you probably saw this seal regularly, indicating that the comic book adhered to the moral standards of the Comics Code Authority. The Authority was around from the early 1950s, when "experts" started sounding the alarm that comic books were major contributors juvenile delinquency and warped young minds. Comics publishers decide to create a voluntary authority so that they could say that they were policing themselves. Not every comic sought the seal of approval, and Stan Lee's Marvel regularly challenged the Authority. By 2001, the Comics Code Authority essentially ended.
Comic books were regularly targeted by child psychologists, criminologists, educators, and preachers as dangerous and immoral in the 1950s and 1960s. Personal story: my first grade teacher was the wife of our Southern Baptist pastor. One day when my mother picked me up at school, I proudly told her that Mrs. Jordan had complimented my reading ability and asked how I learned to read so well. I told her it was due to reading comic books. My mother was horrified. I don't know if the subject ever came up again in their conversations.
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