We all know the basics of what happened in American history in the 20th century; Roaring 20’s, Great Depression, Civil Rights Movements, burning bras and a lot of wars. However, there are some things that happened in America that were not mentioned in our history books. Maybe it was for the better, but here is a short list of six things that happened in the 20th century that aren’t mentioned in the history books.
1. Cocaine in Coca-Cola 1886-1903
When Coca-Cola was established in 1886 by a pharmacist named John Pemberton, he wanted to create a beverage similar to “coca wine,” which is made with coca leaf. It wasn’t until 1903 that people become aware of the “secret” ingredient and it was removed from the drink. However, it was rumored that there was still non-narcotic coca extract in the drink until the 1980s. Moreover, the replacement ingredient has never been released to this day. Let’s not worry, have a coke and a smile!
2. Eugenics in America 1880-1976
In the 1880s, Sir Francis Galton came with the concept of “improving” the genetic quality of the human population. With funding from J.H. Kellogg (of Kellogg’s cereal), Carnegie Institution, Rockefeller Foundation, and other companies that are prevalent today. This was done by sterilizing those who were deemed the “unfit.” Those who were deemed “unfit” were imbeciles, criminals, races who were not White and women who were promiscuous. This was such an idea that the Nazis in Germany decided to also practice the concept of Eugenics. Fortunately, this ended in the year 1976 when the last sterilization was practiced.
3. Battle of Los Angeles 1942
Also known as the “Great Los Angeles Air Raid,” there was unidentifiable aircraft discovered in the clouds of Los Angeles. With paranoia caused by World War II, the first assumption was that enemy aircraft was invading the town of Los Angeles. However, it is also believed that the aircraft belong to extraterrestrial beings.
4. Rosemary Kennedy’s Lobotomy 1942
The sister of John F. Kennedy, Rosemary Kennedy, was applauded for her beauty. Although she had good looks they believed that she was intellectually disabled with an IQ of someone aged 8-12. Rosemary Kennedy had grown up to be rebellious and would frequently have (violent) mood swings. This urged her father, John F. Kennedy Sr., to have a procedure called a lobotomy performed on her in order to correct her behaviors without her mother’s knowledge. The lobotomy was unsuccessful and it caused mental deterioration and she was basically “hid out” from the public eye.
5. The Burglary 1971
Eight peace demonstrators who wanted disclosure of FBI investigations and tactics decided to Burglarize the FBI agency in Media, Pennsylvania. The eight discovered that the philosophy of the agency is to “enhance paranoia to make people feel there’s an FBI agent behind every mailbox” and that agents were used to infiltrate churches and schools in the Black community to get them to turn on one another. However, the information was not revealed until 40 years later after the group broke their vow of silence.
6. Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” 1984
We all know of the George Lucas films “Star Wars,” but what a lot of people do not know is that Ronald Reagan also had a missile defense system called Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) that was nicknamed “Star Wars.” There are missiles that are strategically put in space so in case of a crisis it is ready to aim at its targets down on Earth. There is also an underwater version of this but I don’t think they could’ve come up with a better name than “Star Wars.”
