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Wildly Bizarre Decisions that Shaped Early America

Khalid Elhassan October 26, 2023 33 min

America - Abraham Lincoln said "no" to populating America with wild elephants — Abraham Lincoln said "no" to populating America with wild elephants. PETA

The Kaiser is Why Tourists Can’t Access the Statue of Liberty’s Torch

America - The Statue of Liberty in 1912, with Black Tom Island in the background, to the right — The Statue of Liberty in 1912, with Black Tom Island in the background, to the right. New York Public Library

Technically, both sides in WWI were equally free to buy American munitions. In practice, however, only the Entente, whose navies controlled the sea lanes, could ship munitions from America to their armies. So the Germans sent saboteurs to America to disrupt the delivery of munitions. On the night of July 30^th, 1916, Black Tom Island had about two million pounds of artillery and small arms munitions in freight trains and barges. Sometime after midnight, guards noticed a series of small fires on the piers. Aware of the risk of explosion, they took to their heels.

Aftermath of the Black Tom Island explosion. National Park Service

At 2:08 AM, July 30^th, 1916, a massive explosion rocketed debris for over a mile, shattered windows up to 25 miles away, and caused about half a billion dollars in damages. The actual death toll is unknown, as there were many housing barges nearby, and many victims were probably incinerated. The blast and debris struck the Statue of Liberty, and popped rivets in its upraised arm holding the torch. That part of the statue has been closed to the public ever since.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.