Ten Days of Tragedy in April (11-20)-- Part 1: Civil War and Presidential Deaths

From the April 18, 2021 Fox 4 Kansas City, Mo.  "10 days of tragedy:  15 historic  disasters occurred over these days in April" by Brian Dulle.

The middle of April has proven to be a calamitous time in human history.

**  APRIL 11, 1965:  Palm Sunday tornado out break over six Midwestern states killed 271 people.

**  APRIL 12, 1861:  The Civil War begins with the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, S.C.

**  APRIL  12, 1945--  President Roosevelt dies in his 4th term.  World War II was still underway.

**  APRIL  13, 2014:  Jewish Community Center shootings in Kansas City  (3 killed)

**  APRIL  14, 1912:  Sinking of the RMS Titanic

**  APRIL  14, 1865:  Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln

**  APRIL  15, 2013:  Boston Marathon bombing  (3 dead and more than 260 wounded)

--Cooter

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

From their site.

The museum is in Kansas City, Missouri and was formed in 1990.  They have photographs and artifacts from the late 1800s through the 1960s.

Its permanent 10,000 square foot facility opened in 1997, sharing the new 18th and Vine museum complex with the American Jazz Museum.

--Cooter

Thousands At Liberty Memorial Tower for Centennial Observance-- Part 1

From the April 7, 2017, Chicago Tribune "Thousands at U.S. monument pause for WWI observance" by Jim Suhr, AP.

A flyover by eight planes trailing colored smoke and thousands of attendees paused to remember that day 100 years ago, April 6, 1917, when the United States entered the war that had been going on since 1914.   That was a good day for the Allies like Britain and France and a bad one for Germany.

The commemoration, titles "In Sacrifice For Liberty and Peace" was essentially a multimedia time warp back 100 years ago.

A dew thousand ticket holders and dozens of foreign ambassadors (evidently no President Trump) were in attendance as a color guard dressed as WWI "Doughboys" presented the colors and and short films were shown.

--Cooter

National World War I Museum in Kansas City-- Part 1

From the April 6, 2014, Chicago Tribune "Museum puts WWI into focus" by Jay Jones.

President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed it as "The War to End All Wars."  Unfortunately, he was wrong, but some 9 million soldiers died between 1914 and the time the Armistice went into effect November 11, 1918.
The National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, puts a human face on the war.  The museum sits at the foot of the 217-foot Liberty Memorial tower.  Within ten days of the end of the war, the citizens of Kansas City had raised $2.5 million to build the tower as a tribute to those who had died.  It was dedicated on Nov. 11, 1926.

You reach the museum by crossing a glass bridge over a "field" covered with 9,000 red poppies, a traditional symbol of the war.  You learn that each poppy represents 1,000 killed in the war.  You then see a 12-minute film setting the stage for the war, three years before the United States entered it.

--Cooter

Kansas City's Liberty Memorial Readies for World War Centennial

From the Jan. 10, 2014, Kansas City (Mo) State "As World War I centennial approaches, Liberty Memorial museum will take center stage" by Matt Campbell.

The Liberty Museum is the largest repository of Great War items other than London's Imperial War Museum.

The Society for Military History will have 600 in attendance for their annual meeting at the museum in April. The World War I Centennial Commission, created by Congress, is anchored at the Liberty Memorial and will hold a conference in August which will be streamed online under the heading "Guns of August."

World War I was the first modern mechanized war and led to the collapse of empires. The beginning of the war will be marked this August, but another peak interest will be in 2017, the 100th anniversary of the United States' entry into it.

The Liberty Memorial Association is a private group, but manages the publicly-owned monument and will also be striving to raise money with the increased interest. It had its inception back in 1919, when Kansas City raised $2.5 million to create the Liberty Memorial which was dedicated in 1925.

A Place I'd Sure Like to Visit This Year. --DaCot

Movie "War Horse" Sparks Interest in World War I

From the Feb. 18, 2012, Kansas City Star "Interest in WW sparks attendance at Kansas City museum" by Nicholas Swan.

The movie "War Horse" has sparked an increase in World War I judging by more people visiting the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City. Attendance in 2010 was 133,355 and in 2011 climbed to 141,327.

During the war, Boy Scouts looked for subversives. Hamburgers became Liberty Patties and frankfurters Liberty Sausages because of their German connection.

German-Americans were locked up in prisons.

--Cooter