Interesting Facts From Our Past — by John Devoti
Last month, I described the anti-Catholic forgeries that encouraged American Catholics to reject the English language, public schools, and even to kill non-Catholic heathens. There was also an antisemitic version called the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The first version of the Protocols was printed as a serial in the Znamia (The Banner) in St. Petersburg, Russia. It appears the Protocols were a reworking of Dialogue aux enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu (The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu) by Maurice Jody, first written in 1864 as a criticism of Napoleon III of France’s authoritarian tactics. Russian secret police took the treatise and transformed it into an antisemitic diatribe. The main argument was that Jews were running the world banking system, using it to control the world.
The Protocols first appeared in Germany in 1919, but soon arrived in America. Henry Ford had them translated and published in serial form as The International Jew in the Dearborn Independent (Michigan) in 1920, and in book form in four volumes from 1920 to 1922. Although The Times of London newspaper exposed the Protocols as fake, as with most conspiracy theories, believers simply said that the denials only proved their truth. Adolf Hitler used them to justify his "Final Solution," and many people in Europe and America still refer to them. After the 9/11 attacks and during the COVID-19 pandemic, many conspiracy theorists claimed the Protocols exposed the Jewish forces behind these catastrophes.
Seventy-five years ago, on April 17, 1951, the Peak District in central England became the United Kingdom’s first National Park. The Peak District has been inhabited by humans since they first arrived about 10,000 years ago. The area lies at the southern end of the Pennine Mountain chain in central England and is one of the country’s scenic wonders. It also has a long history of agriculture, and, with the coming of the Industrial Revolution, saw the development of coal and iron mining, and cotton and ironworking mills. After World War II, several conservation groups, inspired by America’s national parks, began petitioning Parliament to create British parks. Reports by John Dower (1945) and Arthur Hobhouse (1947) identified several areas for public use, and the 1949 National Parks Act created the establishment framework. Today, Great Britain has fifteen national parks.
Fifty years ago, on April 4, 1976, the April Fifth Movement led to the first Tiananmen incident in China. Many remember the major anti-Communist protests of 1989 in Tiananmen Square, but not the earlier protest. In January 1976, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai died. Possibly more popular than the Communist Party’s founder, Mao Zedong, Zhou represented the party’s more moderate wing. Radical leaders in the party did not want Zhou’s death remembered, so they took down any memorials to the premier. The people decided to save any memorials for the Qingming festival, when all who had died that year would be celebrated. The day before the festival, on April 4, over a million people brought wreaths and flowers to Tiananmen Square. They also passed out pamphlets and handbills criticizing the radicals. Overnight, authorities removed all evidence of the memorial. Thousands returned to the square and angrily demanded the return of the wreaths. The crowd turned over a police vehicle and stormed government buildings. The Politburo decided to forcibly remove the protesters. That evening, police stormed the square and beat any remaining protesters. By the next day, the protesters were gone. In response to the protest, the radical faction removed Zhou’s protege Deng Xiaoping from the Politburo. However, after Mao’s death later that year, Deng returned and, by 1978, had consolidated full power. Ironically, Deng’s moderate, although still authoritarian, reforms were not enough for many, leading to the second, much more violent Tiananmen protest in which Deng ordered an extreme military response, killing hundreds.
Fifty years ago, on April 4, 1976, British Parliament member John Stonehouse resigned from the Labour Party after being arrested. In 1969, Great Britain’s Security Service, MI5, accused Stonehouse of spying for Czechoslovakia. Insufficient evidence helped Stonehouse avoid charges, and in 1980, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher classified the files. In November 1974, Stonehouse faked his death by leaving clothes on a Miami beach, suggesting that he had committed suicide. In reality, he traveled to Australia with his mistress. However, bank accounts he used to cover his tracks and fund his new life came under suspicion and were traced back to Stonehouse. He was arrested in December 1974 but did not resign from the party until more than a year later. Stonehouse continued to serve in Parliament as a member of the English National Party until he resigned in August 1976 following his conviction. Although he never returned to Parliament, Stonehouse did profit from his notoriety, publishing three novels and giving several TV interviews.
Finally, many of you have probably traveled to Denver International Airport. However, did you know that some believe this airport is a hub for Masonic, Illuminati, and extraterrestrial activity? It’s even claimed to be the headquarters for a global genocide that will trigger the New World Order. Questions about the airport began during its planning phase. Why did Denver need a new airport with fewer runways than the existing Stapleton Airport? What are the eight levels of underground tunnels leading nowhere? Why are the runways laid out in the pattern of a swastika? There are many theories, but no facts to support those theories. As with many conspiracy theories, these claims are based on deliberate misrepresentation of actual facts. For example, inside the finished terminal, two murals located by the baggage claim depict images of conflict and stormtroopers. These murals, titled "In Peace and Harmony with Nature" and "Children of the World Dream of Peace," were actually designed to convey messages of optimism. The first mural shows children ultimately rebuilding the land, while the second depicts a scene of peaceful harmony overcoming war. But one theory suggests that these murals show children being forced to work as slaves below the airport for reptilian extraterrestrials (possibly using those extra tunnels). As is typical with many conspiracy theories, proponents never explain why no evidence of these extraterrestrials exists, despite claims of thousands of child slaves working beneath our feet, or why the aliens would so openly display their presence through public murals.
About the Author
In the early 1990s, John Devoti had a midlife crisis. He did not want a motorcycle (those things are dangerous) or a new wife (his was very cute). Instead, he quit his auditing job and returned to school for his history doctorate. He wrote The Patriotic Business of Seeking Office: James K. Polk and the Patronage. It was not a bestseller. He taught college history for almost twenty years before retiring, and still dabbles by volunteering as a docent at the Roebling Museum in South Jersey. By the way, his wife and editor, Judy, is still very cute.
📖 John’s columns are collected in Tidbits of History: 25 Years of Historical Morsels — available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at the Roebling Museum.
Central New Jersey Mensa 