PRINCETON AREA: SPOTLIGHT: In 1909, well, a lot of interesting stuff happened

By Michael Redmond Lifestyle Editor
    William Howard Taft (R), a “trust-buster” and peace advocate, becomes the 27th president of the United States (1909-1913) — and at 5 feet, 11 inches, 340 pounds, the portliest by far. Fact check: President Taft never got stuck in the White House bathtub, as folklore has it.
    John Frankin Fort (R) — hard- working, honest and reform-minded, but not notably effective due to the strength of special interests — is the 33rd governor of The State of New Jersey (1908-1911). Governor Fort succeeded in paying down the state government’s debt and laid the groundwork for the progressive policies of his successor, Woodrow Wilson.
    It’s a big year for polar exploration. Shackleton finds the magnetic South Pole. Robert E. Peary, Matthew A. Henson (an African American) and four Inuits become the first men to reach the North Pole. (Disputed by skeptics, the claim was upheld in 1989 by the Navigation Foundation.)
    Aviator Orville Wright sets an altitude record, flying at 1,600 feet, exceeding the previous record of 508 feet.
    The Age of Plastics: Dr. Leo Hendrik Baekeland, Belgian-born inventor, patents Bakelite, the first completely synthetic thermosetting plastic.
    The United States invades Nicaragua “to protect American interests.”
    The first kibbutz, Deganya Alef, a collective agricultural settlement, is founded in British Palestine.
    Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), Italian engineer, wins the Nobel Prize for physics for his invention of wireless telegraphy. In 1943, however, the Supreme Court of the United States rules that Nikola Tesla’s patent precedes Marconi’s, thereby establishing the Serbian-American inventor as the father of wireless communications, as far as U.S. law is concerned. The issue is still hotly contested.
    Sigmund Freud lectures on psychoanalysis in the United States, his only visit here.
    Gustav Mahler works on his Symphony No. 9 in D Major, the last symphony he was to complete, and makes his conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic; Henry Matisse paints “La Danse,” a milestone in 20th century art; Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes explode onto the Parisian stage, revolutionizing dance, music, theater, décor, fashion.
    New arrivals: Francis Bacon, painter (d. 1992); Victor Borge, comic (d. 2000); Errol Flynn, actor (d. 1959); Barry Goldwater, Republican presidential nominee (d. 1998); Benny Goodman, “the King of Swing,” (d. 1986); Ethel Merman, show woman (d. 1984); Eugene Ionesco, playwright (d. 1994); Elia Kazan, director (d. 2003); U Thant, U.N. secretary general (d. 1974); Anthony Tudor, choreographer (d. 1987); Eudora Welty, writer (d. 2001).
    The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
    California adopts a law segregating Japanese schoolchildren and legalizes the sterilization of “sodomites.” The first federal law to outlaw narcotics targets opium.
    The Pittsburgh Pirates, led by pitcher Honus Wagner, defeats the Detroit Tigers 4-3 in the World Series. This marked the last World Series appearance by Ty Cobb.
    Lincoln head pennies are minted, the first U.S. coin to depict the likeness of a president.
    Federal taxes are first imposed on corporate income; Congress approved the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which proposed an income tax. The amendment was ratified in 1916.
    Wilhelm Johanssen, Danish botanist, coins the word “gene.”
    Francis Hodgson Burnett writes the children’s classic “The Secret Garden.”
    Apache chief Geronimo dies of pneumonia at age 80, while still in captivity at Fort Sill, Okla.
    English prison officials begin force-feeding suffragette Marion Dunlop, who was on a hunger strike, fearing she might die and become a martyr to her cause — then they release her. The hunger strike becomes one of the most formidable weapons in the women’s suffrage movement.
    Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.
    In movie theaters, the first newsreels are screened.
— Compiled from a variety of sources, including the New Jersey State Library.