This Week in History | A Thanksgiving Special

As the holiday season approaches, we all have much to be thankful for—more than anything else, the fact that 2020 is almost over! Last year, Joe wrote a magnificent piece about the art of being thankful. You should all go back and listen to it; seriously, it's one of his best episodes. Rather than try to match or mimic what he wrote, today I want to give you a survey of some major events that occurred this week in history. We'll return to our regular schedule of podcasts and discussions next week. Enjoy!

November 23, 1890

One hundred thirty years ago, Princess Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria became Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands at the age of ten. Her father, King William III, had reigned over a long period of peace and prosperity for the country, but the new queen was destined to lead her small nation through the most difficult time in their history. Her strength reflected that of the Dutch people and surprised many of her fellow European rulers, who underestimated the queen because of her gender. When Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany told her in the years before the First World War that "my guards are seven feet tall and yours are only shoulder-high to them," Wilhelmina replied graciously, "Quiet true, Your Majesty, your guards are seven feet tall. But when we open our dikes, the water is ten feet deep." According to some German accounts, this was one reason why the German armies did not invade the Netherlands in 1914 even though its war plans called for an attack on the small country.

Two decades later, however, another German ruler was less intimidated by the threat of the Dutch inundating his armies by opening the dikes that kept their waterlogged nation dry. Adolf Hitler conquered the Netherlands in only a few days in 1940 after destroying the city of Rotterdam with a terrifying display of air power. Queen Wilhelmina and her family left the country aboard a British destroyer, and she took charge of the government-in-exile and inspired her people to resist Nazi rule with her broadcasts to those living under Hitler's iron jackboot. Winston Churchill called her, "the only real man among the governments-in-exile"—an admittedly sexist description of the queen but one that showed respect in Churchill's inimitable style. She traveled to many Allied capitals during the war and spoke of the cause of world peace and international law. When the war ended, she returned to her kingdom and presided over the rapid disintegration of the Dutch overseas empire. Her health began to fail, likely due to the stresses put upon her by the many crises of her reign, and she abdicated on September 4, 1948.

November 24, 1859

One hundred sixty-one years ago, the British naturalist Charles Darwin published his seminal work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. The book was the culmination of two decades of research on evolutionary biology that began when Darwin had visited the Galapagos Islands. It caused a firestorm in the Western scientific community, which at the time was still dominated by Christians who believed in the biblical account of Creation. Darwin hoped to make biology "objective" by removing God from it and encouraging his colleagues to examine the evidence of natural selection and drawing the conclusion that all life had descended from common ancestors. Later discoveries about the nature of biology, and especially the development of cell theory, proved some of Darwin's assertions wrong, and Darwinism slowly morphed into the modern theory of evolution that still dominates the world's scientific community today. The Origin of Species also sparked debates in political, religious, and economic circles and led to the development of many new ideas in those fields. Critics of Darwin claim that his work inspired many tragedies of the 20th century, though the evidence on that point is lacking. Nevertheless, The Origin of Species remains one of the most important books ever published and a cornerstone of the modern scientific establishment.

November 25, 1783

Two hundred thirty-seven years ago, the people of New York City witnessed an event which many had believed impossible just a few years ago. General Sir Guy Carleton, British commander-in-chief in North America, led the last regiments of King George III's army aboard Royal Navy warships in the harbor and departed the newly-established United States of America. The British took with them over thirty thousand Loyalists, most of whom settled in Canada, and handed the city over to American forces led by General Henry Knox, one of George Washington's field commanders. Washington then entered the city, which he had been forced to evacuate in August 1776, in a triumphant parade alongside Governor George Clinton of New York. The two then held a public banquet that evening at a local tavern and led the assembled crowd in thirteen toasts: to the United States of America, to King Louis XVI of France, to the kings of the Netherlands and Sweden, to the Continental Army, to the armies and navy of France, to the fallen heroes, to the veterans of the war, to justice and courage, to future revolutionary movements (a forecast of the bloody events in France six years later), to America as a refuge to persecuted individuals, to the cause of union among the States, and to the memory of this day as a warning to tyrants everywhere.

November 26, 1789

Two hundred thirty-one years ago, President George Washington issued this proclamation to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday in the United States:

"Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness. Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks, for His kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best. Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789."

November 27, 1874

One hundred forty-six years ago, Chaim Azriel Weizmann was born in the village of Motal in White Russia. He spent his early years in Russia and Germany, where he became a passionate Zionist and advocate for a Jewish national homeland. He became an accomplished chemist and moved to the United Kingdom in 1904, where Home Secretary Winston Churchill signed his immigration papers. He played an integral part in the British war effort during the First World War and helped Churchill, who was then Minister of Munitions, find new ways to provide shells for the artillery batteries at the front in France.

Weizmann is best known as the man who convinced the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Arthur Balfour to issue the declaration that bears his name in November 1917. On the conclusion of the war with the Ottoman Empire, the Balfour Declaration states, it was the policy of the British government to establish a "national home" for the Jewish people in Palestine. It took more than three decades for the Balfour Declaration to become a reality, and only the trauma of the Second World War pushed worldwide public support for a Jewish national homeland across the finish line. In May 1948, the Zionists' dream became a reality when the State of Israel was established upon Britain's withdrawal from its mandate in Palestine, and Weizmann became the first President of Israel and led the country through its war of independence.

November 28, 1919

One hundred one years ago, Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor was elected the second female member of the British Parliament and the first to take her seat—an Irish MP, Constance Markievicz, refused to be seated because she was a member of the separatist party Sinn Féin. Born in Virginia forty years earlier, Lady Astor quickly made her voice known in Parliament and was rebuked by the Speaker on several occasions for speaking out of turn. Her legislative career was unremarkable, but she made several important speeches and drew attention to women's issues at a time when women were just starting to enter public life in the United Kingdom. Her greatest accomplishment on the floor of Parliament was her support of a bill to investigate sexual crimes committed against youths in Great Britain.

During the 1930s, she became embroiled in many controversies, and many MPs condemned her open antisemitism and anti-Catholicism in comments made in the House smoking room. She was a close confidante of American Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, a well-known antisemite, and made favorable comments about Adolf Hitler during his rise to power. She supported the British appeasement efforts in the years before the Second World War, and during the war she was so critical of Prime Minister Winston Churchill that the pro-Soviet Labour MP Sir Stafford Cripps called her "the Member for Berlin." She clashed openly with Churchill on several occasions, most famously when she commented, "Oh, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea." Churchill's legendary wit led him to respond, "Madame, if I were your husband, I'd drink it."

Her parliamentary career ended in 1945 when the Conservative Party deselected her as its candidate for her constituency. She traveled widely after leaving Westminster and often made controversial and racist remarks in public, leading to widespread condemnation. Her family life was equally tragic; she was divorced from her first husband in 1903 and lost her second in 1952. She also outlived her seven siblings and several close friends. Her son Bobby, with whom she was the closest, took his own life six years after her death in 1964. Her legacy in Great Britain is mixed, as she was a passionate champion of women's rights, but her vitriol spewed toward all those who were unlike her made her one of the most controversial figures in twentieth-century British political history.

November 29, 1898

One hundred twenty-two years ago, Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland. After serving in the Great War, he became a professor of English literature at Magdalen College, Oxford in 1925, a post he would hold for almost three decades. His academic career was distinguished by his booming voice and exciting lectures—crowds would form outside the hall where he was teaching so that students not enrolled in his tutorials could listen to him speak. In 1954, he took a professorship at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he spent the rest of his life.

CS Lewis, or "Jack" as he preferred to be called since he disliked the name "Clive," is probably best known to this audience as an author rather than a teacher. He was baptized into the Church as a boy but fell away from his faith during his teen years. When he returned to Christianity at the age of 32, he began to write about religious and philosophical topics. His spiritual works include Mere Christianity, a summary of the most common views held by Christians of various denominations; Miracles, a defense of the miraculous accounts in Scripture; and The Problem of Pain, a treatise on what St. Thomas Aquinas called the "problem of evil." Lewis also wrote fictional books, most famously the beloved Chronicles of Narnia about four children who enter a wondrous world, meet Jesus Christ in the figure of a lion called Aslan, and battle evil forces to save Narnia from harm. He also wrote a series of demonic letters called The Screwtape Letters, which provide a hellish account of Satan's efforts to corrupt mankind, and the masterpiece Til They Have Faces, a Christian reinterpretation of Greek mythology. Lewis' work was strongly influenced both by his faith and the friendships he developed with other writers in a group called "The Inklings," which included the other great figure in twentieth-century British fantasy literature, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Lewis spent most of his life a bachelor living with his older brother Warren, or "Warnie," in a house outside Oxford. In 1956, he married the American author Joy Davidman, whom he had met several years earlier while she was traveling in England. Tragically, Joy died four years later of cancer. Her death shattered Lewis' life, and he penned another work of genius called A Grief Observed shortly afterward. Lewis spent his final years teaching and caring for his brother, who suffered from alcoholism. He died on November 22, 1963, the same day as John F. Kennedy half a world away, and few marked his passing because of the events in Dallas, TX. His legacy is one of the greatest in the past century, and his writings are still some of the most-read works of spirituality and literature in the world even today.

Thank you for joining me in this special bonus episode of "15-Minute History." Joe and I appreciate each one of you listening to our podcast each week and are incredibly grateful for you all. We hope that you enjoy these episodes as much as we enjoy writing and discussing the topics. But more than that, we hope you will take some time during this special week in the midst of a trying year to make some moments in your own history. Cherish this time with loved ones and friends. Create memories with them. In a world plagued by disease and distractions, remember what truly matters.

From all of us at "15-Minute History," have a Happy Thanksgiving, and we will see you next week.