On This Day: August 25

On This Day, August 25, for Britannica.

I’m Kurt Heintz. Today we have stories on:

• a case of “not getting the joke,”
• a Parisian parade
• and one trial that encouraged many, many more.

For our first segment today we’re looking at—

“Extra, extra, read all about it!

—Wait, what?

Extra, extra, read all about it! Life discovered on the Moon!”

What? Hey… Hey! I’m running this show!

[record needle scratch as music stops]

Geez, what you have to do to stick to the facts these days… Let’s dial this down a bit. On this day in 1835, the first of six articles appeared in the New York Sun newspaper announcing the discovery of life on the Moon.

Supposedly the series was the work of a Dr. Andrew Grant, who was writing about the discoveries of real astronomer Sir John Herschel. “Grant” claimed that Herschel had used his new super-powerful telescope to look a little bit closer at the Moon—and saw unicorns, two-legged beavers, and furry bat-like humans running amok over a lush landscape covered in canyons, crystals, and rivers.

Whatever “Grant” claimed, a number of readers believed. Even a few Yale University scientists allegedly were fooled and rushed to New York to glimpse the evidence for themselves. A few weeks later the articles were exposed as a hoax. Or, as the newspaper claimed, they were a satire that the public hadn’t understood as such.

The real author of the articles was probably Sun reporter Richard Adams Locke, a Cambridge graduate ridiculing earlier, earnest speculations about life on the Moon. But then the popular science writer Reverend Thomas Dick, for instance, had recently written that the Moon had 4.2 billion inhabitants, so it could’ve been about him.

Whether it was satire or just a lie, it didn’t matter to the New York Sun. Sales of the paper massively increased when the Moon stories were printed… and they didn’t fall off once the public learned the truth. The Sun continued publication, successfully, until 1950. So, do you think this is an early example of fake news? Do you think it paid off? You be the judge.

On this day in 1944, Paris, France, was liberated from German occupiers. The Free French 2nd Armored Division, which had fought in a campaign led by U.S. Army General George S. Patton and was now backed by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division, entered the city to little German resistance. German commander General Dietrich von Choltitz even defied Adolf Hitler’s order to destroy the city before its recapture, leaving most of Paris’s landmarks intact. When the city was safe, French General Charles de Gaulle led a celebratory march down the Champs-Élysées. After his death in 1970, the Place de l'Étoile—where 12 avenues including the Champs-Élysées radiate as a star around the Arc de Triomphe—was renamed the Place Charles de Gaulle.

De Gaulle delivered his “Paris Liberated” speech on this day in 1944 too, standing at City Hall in Paris.

“These are the minutes which go beyond each of our poor lives. Paris! Paris outraged! Paris broken! Paris martyred! But Paris liberated! Liberated by itself, liberated by its people with the help of the French armies, with the support and help of all France, of the France that fights, of the only France, of the real France, of the eternal France!”

Without question, the liberation of Paris was a triumph for France in World War II. De Gaulle was a politician as well as a soldier, and he used his speech to celebrate the restoration of France as a nation that could defend itself. For the record, aside from a passing reference to “dear and admirable allies,” de Gaulle’s speech didn’t refer to any other forces who fought to liberate Paris. D-Day, which had turned the tide of the war for France, wasn’t mentioned at all. We’ve seen evidence of the French people’s gratitude for all the sacrifices made for their liberation, and we certainly acknowledge them. We all love Paris. So … we’ll let de Gaulle’s oversight slide.

I’m Emily Goldstein with some Fast Facts for August 25.

Elton John made his first United States appearance on this day in 1970 in Los Angeles, California.

British actor Sean Connery, best known for his portrayal of “Bond, James Bond,” was born on this day in 1930.

Another happy birthday goes out to Elvis—no, not Presley, at least not on this day. Today’s Elvis is the British singer-songwriter named Elvis Costello, who extended the musical and lyrical range of the punk and new wave movements and was born this day in 1954.

On this day in 2018, American politician John McCain—who developed a reputation as a political maverick while serving in Congress for some 35 years and during his failed bid for the presidency in 2008—died at age 81. McCain spent the last few years of his life and political career at odds with a president from his own party, Donald Trump, who controversially maligned McCain’s military record due to his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

German Classical scholar, philosopher, and cultural critic Friedrich Nietzsche died at age 55 on this day in 1900. Nietzsche famously said, “God is dead,” in his philosophical writing, which has often been misquoted and mis-contextualized. Yet, some believe God would say, “Nietzsche is dead.” We leave you to judge for yourself.

Ivan IV—otherwise known as Ivan the Terrible—was born on this day in 1530. As the first tsar of Russia, Ivan used his reign to complete the construction of a centrally governed Russian state—and institute a reign of terror against the hereditary nobility.

The first person to set foot on the Moon died on this day in 2012. Neil Armstrong was an American astronaut and, later, a cultural figure, immortalized by his description of the Moon landing as “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

On this day in 1948, in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, former State Department official Alger Hiss denied charges of being a communist after being accused by former communist Whittaker Chambers.

Alger Hiss’s case came at a time when Americans were growing uneasy about the domestic influence of communism. To the public, his trial and conviction seemed to lend substance to Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy’s sensational charges of communist infiltration into the State Department. The Soviet Union’s detonation of an atomic bomb in 1949 pushed American fears, and particularly of communism, to a new peak.

McCarthyism, as the culture of communist accusations came to be called, held a tight grip on America for much of the early 1950s and even afterward. In February 1950 McCarthy claimed that 205 communists had infiltrated the State Department and that he could name names. Though testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations proved he could not actually point out any of these “card-carrying communists,” his fearmongering was, to some, irresistible. McCarthy accused innumerable people of communist activity, including public figures like Langston Hughes, Orson Welles, Lena Horne, and Dorothy Parker. Some of the people he accused, especially celebrities, ended up on a “blacklist” that made it difficult for them to find work or travel overseas. Some, like composer Leonard Bernstein, were denied the ability to renew their passports.

Though Hiss denied communist involvement unequivocally, he was convicted in 1950 with significant evidence collected by the FBI. This, with the rise of fear in American culture, set the stage for a new public drama: the Army-McCarthy hearings, where Senator McCarthy would investigate communist infiltration into the U.S. Army. Television revealed McCarthy’s nature to a much wider public in 1954 than was possible during the trial of Alger Hiss, and it played a role in this story. These hearings will be the subject of another On This Day program, so stay with us.

That’s it for today’s episode of On This Day. If you’re still curious about fake Moon men, the liberation of Paris, or McCarthyism, look it up at Britannica.com. We have the balanced and researched stories.

Thanks for listening. The voice of Charles de Gaulle was Henry Bolzon. Today's program was written by Meg Matthias and edited by yours truly. For Britannica, I’m Kurt Heintz. And I am Emily Goldstein.

This program is copyrighted by Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.