“Pages of history” features excerpts from The News Journal archives including the Wilmington Morning News, The Morning News, the Every Evening and the Evening Journal.
Jan. 2, 1959, Journal – Every Evening
Rebel troops enter Havana; truckloads of Castro fighters roll into capital
Advance spearheads of Fidel Castro’s revolutionary forces entered the city of Havana today.
Truckloads of bearded guerrilla fighters rolled in over the main central highway from the eastern provinces of Matanzas and Las Villas, and sped along the Malecón Sea Boulevard toward the former military headquarters of deposed President Fulgencio Batista at Camp Columbia.
As the Castro forces advanced, Cuba’s 6,300,000 war-weary people had two provisional presidents. Neither occupied the chair vacated by the dictator Batista, who fled in the darkness in the early morning New Year’s Day.
The streets of Havana were tense and alive with expectation. The triumphant Castro partisans, who had seemed to emerge armed from nowhere yesterday to take over control of the capital, kept a tight lid on the situation to prevent pent-up public emotion from creating a chaotic situation.
Youthful, bearded Castro early today proclaimed ex-judge Manuel Urrutia of Oriente Province as provisional president of the republic with his temporary government in Castro’s native Santiago de Cuba. Castro apparently intends to move the government to Havana….
CATCH UP ON HISTORY:The News Journal archives, week of Sept. 26
Jan. 3, 1923, The Evening Journal
Governor calls for more lawmakers from Wilmington
Gov. William D. Denney this morning read his biennial message to members of the Legislature assembled in joint session, and submitted the customary reports of state departments and commissions….
Gov. Denney came out unqualifiedly for increased representation for Wilmington in the Legislature. He said it was an “admitted right,” because of the population of Wilmington and the importance of the city….
“Taxation without representation is one of the things the city of Wilmington justly complains of,” says the governor.
He urges an amendment in the Constitution that will give Wilmington at least four more Representatives and two additional Senators….
Cases of measles and influenza growing
The number of contagious diseases in Wilmington has increased during the past 24 hours, with 19 new cases being reported to the Board of Health….
The cases are as follows: measles, 70; influenza, 34; scarlet fever, 31; chickenpox, 23; whooping cough, 15; diphtheria, 3; total, 186.
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Jan. 5, 2007, The News Journal
Bush officials have given up on Iraq war, Biden charges
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Thursday he believes top officials in the Bush administration have privately concluded they have lost Iraq and are simply trying to postpone disaster so the next president will “be the guy landing helicopters inside the Green Zone, taking people off the roof,” in a chaotic withdrawal reminiscent of Vietnam.
“I have reached the tentative conclusion that a significant portion of this administration, maybe even including the vice president, believes Iraq is lost,” Biden said. “They have no answer to deal with how badly they have screwed it up. I am not being facetious now. Therefore, the best thing to do is keep it from totally collapsing on your watch and hand it off to the next guy – literally, not figuratively.”
Biden made the comments as he outlined an ambitious agenda for the committee, including holding four weeks of hearings focused on every aspect of U.S. policy in Iraq….
Pelosi makes U.S. history as first woman Speaker of the House
Surrounded by children as well as cheering lawmakers Thursday, Rep. Nancy Pelosi marveled aloud at her long journey “from the kitchen to the Congress.”
Six times a grandmother, now second in line to the presidency, Pelosi said her ascension to become the first female House speaker in history was the culmination of 200 years of struggle for women as well as a personal victory.
“We have made history. Now let us make progress for the American people,” she said.
Pelosi, 66, sought to introduce herself not only as the San Francisco liberal decried by Republicans, but as Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, Italian-American-Catholic, mother of five and native of gritty Baltimore, where her father was mayor….
MORE HISTORICAL FIRSTS FOR WOMEN:Former Gov. Ruth Ann Minner through the years
Jan. 8, 1912, The Evening Journal
Snow and more cold this week; mercury dips to 8 degrees
The cold weather continues and the outlook for the present week is anything but encouraging. A week of storms is predicted, with snow and sleet on the program for this afternoon and evening.
The cold has been intense but it moderated somewhat today, to prepare for the predicted storm. At 2 o’clock this morning, the thermometer registered 8 degrees. It reached 19 at 12 o’clock….
Evidence of how cold the weather has been was shown today at Seventh and Market streets today. Workmen are excavating there and it was necessary to build a fire to thaw the ground sufficiently to get a pick into it. One of the men said the ground was frozen to a depth of 15 inches.
The pangs of the biting weather have not halted the labors of the ironworkers on the duPont hotel. They were at work this morning as if the sun shown warmly upon them and clambered about the seventh and eighth floors, placing uprights and girders in position.
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
