For information on hours and events at Cantigny, call 630-668-5161. The museum complex is at Winfield Road in Wheaton, Illinois, about thirty miles west of downtown Chicago on I-290 and I-88. For nearby hotels and restaurants, contact the DuPage Convention & Visitors Bureau, 800-232-0502.
In “Letter From the Editor” for the February/March issue, which told about the American Heritage -sponsored tour of the Normandy-invasion beaches, I quoted from a book that Ray Pfeiffer, the tour leader, was reading. Capt. Rory J. Aylward wrote, “Why not do the author a courtesy he has surely earned and mention the book you were reading, Jonathan Gawne’s Spearheading D-Day .” Captain Aylward is quite right. The fact is that I had misplaced the name of the book. I’m delighted to set the record straight, for Spearheading D-Day: American Special Units in Normandy —of which I have now acquired a copy of my own—is an extraordinary work. The historian Jonathan Gawne has assembled a thorough and absorbing account of the units—the Navy beach battalions, the combat demolition men, joint assault signal companies, dozens more—that were the first ashore on June 6, the very edge of the chisel that cracked Hitler’s Fortress Europe.
Your article “Capsule History” in the November 1999 issue reminded me that when on February 24, 1966, E. F. Hutton & Co. opened its fiftyfirst office, in Chicago, I—as manager of that office—decided to bury a tenyear time capsule. Questionnaires were mailed to prominent businesspeople with some twenty questions, among them: What would the Dow Jones Average be?; would the Chicago Cubs have won a World Series?; and who would be President of the United States?
When we opened the capsule on February 24,1976, we discovered that almost everyone had missed the Dow by at least 100 percent, while almost everyone was correct about the Chicago Cubs. However, one person did predict that Gerald Ford would be President. That was my friend Glint Frank. He was the 1937 Heisman Award winner from Yale, and when I asked him how he’d come to make his prediction, he said, “I met Ford when he was an assistant coach at Yale, so I gave him a vote.” Glint was perhaps the only person, including the President himself, who in 1966 had such prescience.
Inquiring minds want to know. Are the mathematical symbols pictured on the strip of paper held by John Von Neumann on the cover and on pages 84-85 of the November issue a real formula or just random symbols?
Reighard’s Gas and Oil, which stands at 3205 Sixth Avenue in Altoona, Pennsylvania, looks pretty much like a thousand—or twenty thousand—other service stations across the country. You can buy a tankful of gasoline there, of course, and put air in your tires once you’ve fed a quarter into the machine (because nobody gives away free air anymore). What sets it apart from many of its fellows is the fact that the employees there still check your oil and water and clean your windshield. “They’re a particular breed,” says the former service manager Jan Martin, “sporting uniforms and nametags, and they make it a point to call their customers by name.” This is as it should be, for they are the keepers of a historic shrine of considerable importance. Reighard’s is the oldest operating gas station in America.
Leadville lies seventy-five miles west-southwest of Denver. The Greater Leadville Area Chamber of Commerce has a good Web site, with information on historic sights as well as lodging, dining, and upcoming events. Contact them at www.leadville.com or by phone at 888- LEADVILLE . A Web site run by the local newspaper ( leadvilleherald.com ) offers a richly detailed walking tour of town landmarks.
If you visit Leadville, take the time to drive around the Mining District on East Fifth and Seventh Streets. Away from the hurry of summer or winter activities rest remnants of the hard-rock silver mines. This is a landscape rarely seen in the United States. Respect private property signs, and leave all historical sites as you find them. Rather than drive, try snowshoeing or bicycling (depending upon the season) along the Mineral Belt Trail, which takes you through the city and the Mining District.
Edward Sorel’s “People of Progress” (November 1999) was very interesting, but I must protest citing Willis Carrier as the inventor of air conditioning. Students of Florida history will tell you that Dr. John Gorrie invented air conditioning in the eighteen forties! Willis Carrier is considered the father of modern air conditioning.