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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class as a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey guys, I hope you enjoy these classic

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Speaker 1: episodes from the t D I h C Vault. I'm

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Speaker 1: currently researching a new crop of stories for next year,

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Speaker 1: so be sure to join me on January two when

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Speaker 1: we return with all new episodes. Talk to you soon.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to This Day in History Class from how Stuff

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Speaker 1: Works dot Com and from the desk of Stuff You

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Speaker 1: Missed in History Class. It's the show where we explore

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Speaker 1: the past one day at a time with a quick

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Speaker 1: look at what happened today in history. Hi, I'm Holly Fry.

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Speaker 1: This week I am sitting in for Tracy V. Wilson.

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Speaker 1: Today is December and it is the day that Silent

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Speaker 1: Night was performed for the first time in eighteen Steally Knocked,

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Speaker 1: known in English speaking places as Silent Night, has of

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Speaker 1: course become a standard at Christmas celebrations. This song was

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Speaker 1: originally written not as a song but as a poem

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Speaker 1: by an assistant priest named Joe of Moore in eighteen sixteen. More,

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Speaker 1: who was born in Salzburg, was ordained in eighteen fifteen,

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Speaker 1: and he moved to marry a far in Lungau in

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Speaker 1: the Austrian Alps the following year. The words of stud

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Speaker 1: Nacht were written by More at a time when the

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Speaker 1: occupation of the area by Bavarian troops was ending, which

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Speaker 1: may have contributed to the song's themes of salvation and peace.

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Speaker 1: In eighteen eighteen, More moved to Obendorf by Salzburg, one

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Speaker 1: and thirty kilometers northwest of where he had been staying

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Speaker 1: on the Austrian border, and he served at the Church

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Speaker 1: of St. Nicholas there. And the church of St. Nicholas

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Speaker 1: had an organist named Franz Gruber who worked primarily as

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Speaker 1: a teacher, but he had other side jobs in addition

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Speaker 1: to playing music at St. Nicholas, including as a church

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Speaker 1: caretaker and also as an organist for another church. More

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Speaker 1: still had this poem that he had written while he

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Speaker 1: was living in the Austrian Alps, and he had an

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Speaker 1: idea that it could be set to music, and he

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Speaker 1: also wanted something that the choir could sing with a

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Speaker 1: couple of solo parts, preferably accompanied by guitar, and so

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Speaker 1: to accomplish this task, More asked Gruber to write music

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Speaker 1: for the poem. He had made this request on Christmas

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Speaker 1: Eve of eighteen eighteen, and Gruber was very very fast.

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Speaker 1: He had this whole thing turned around the very same day,

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Speaker 1: and so later again that same day, when Gruber showed

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Speaker 1: More the simple composition, as he called it, of music

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Speaker 1: that he had come up with to go with the

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Speaker 1: words of steely Knocht, More was really pleased with it.

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Speaker 1: He thought it was lovely, so much so that he

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Speaker 1: decided that it should just be part of the mass

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Speaker 1: that evening. And beyond the fact that the performance at

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Speaker 1: the Church of St. Nicholas in eighteen was well received,

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Speaker 1: we really don't know much about it, but that was

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Speaker 1: the first time it was performed at a Christmas Eve Mass,

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Speaker 1: and it continued to be performed after that debut, first

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Speaker 1: in the surrounding area in Austria and then slowly spreading

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Speaker 1: through a progressively wider geographical foot rent. In just a

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Speaker 1: little more than a decade after the poem was first

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Speaker 1: set to song, steele Nacht was being performed outside of Austria.

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Speaker 1: From there it traveled with performers not only across Europe,

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Speaker 1: but beyond Europe. It was sung by a family singing

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Speaker 1: group called the Rayner Family Singers in North America on

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Speaker 1: Christmas Day in eighteen thirty nine, but as the song

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Speaker 1: gained popularity, its origin was obscured after a number of years. Eventually,

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Speaker 1: at the end of eighteen fifty four, Franz Gruber, who

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Speaker 1: had heard that attribution had been lost as this song

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Speaker 1: took flight and spread around the world, actually wrote down

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Speaker 1: the story of its inception in a document which he

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Speaker 1: titled Authentic Account of the Origin of the Christmas carol

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Speaker 1: Silent Night, Holy Night. At this point, stele Knot has

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Speaker 1: been translated into more than three hundred languages and dialects.

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Speaker 1: It is on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List. More than

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Speaker 1: one hundred years after steele Knock was first performed, Bing

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Speaker 1: Crosby recorded the English language version Silent Night in that

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Speaker 1: is reportedly the number three all time best selling single.

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Speaker 1: And it all started on Christmas Eve eighteen with a

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Speaker 1: song written and performed by an assistant priest and a

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Speaker 1: church organist in Bavaria. If you want to learn a

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Speaker 1: slightly longer version of this story, you can get that

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Speaker 1: on Stuff You Missed in History Class, which has a

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Speaker 1: new episode out called Christmas Triple Feature Steely Knock, st

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Speaker 1: Nick and Scrooge. Today's episode was researched by Tracy Wilson,

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Speaker 1: who deserves thanks. It was handled on the audio end

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Speaker 1: by Casey Pegram and Chandler Maze. Tomorrow, you should hang

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Speaker 1: back out with us because they're going to talk a

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Speaker 1: little bit about some astronomical fun And if you would

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Speaker 1: like to subscribe to This Day in History Class, you

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Speaker 1: can do that on Apple Podcasts, the I Heart Radio app,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you get podcasts. Greetings, I'm Eves and welcome

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Speaker 1: to This Day in History Class, a show that believes

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Speaker 1: no day in history is a slow day. The day

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Speaker 1: was December eight A drunken Christmas party at the United

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Speaker 1: States Military Academy, also known as West Point, turned into

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Speaker 1: a conflict known as the Eggnog Riot. West Point opened

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Speaker 1: in eighteen o two. Up until the War of eighteen twelve,

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Speaker 1: the school was pretty lax. Students were admitted throughout the year,

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Speaker 1: and admission standards weren't the highest. Drinking was a big

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Speaker 1: part of the culture. Eggnog was often the drink of

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Speaker 1: choice at holiday celebrations in the US, especially from the

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Speaker 1: eighteenth century on, and that was the case at West Point.

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Speaker 1: But after the War of eighteen twelve, Congress was inspired

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Speaker 1: to funnel more money into the academy. In eighteen seventeen,

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Speaker 1: Colonel Sylvanus There became the superintendent of west Point. They

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Speaker 1: are earned the Moniker father of West Point. He was

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Speaker 1: strict about discipline and academics at the school. He banned

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Speaker 1: playing cards, tobacco, and novels, and students could not leave campus,

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Speaker 1: cooking their dorms or duel. There did not allow cadets

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Speaker 1: to drink, purchase, or store alcohol except on the fourth

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Speaker 1: of July and on Christmas. That is, until that July

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Speaker 1: four cadets carried the school's commandant to their barracks. After that,

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Speaker 1: they are banned the possession of alcohol, But instead of

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Speaker 1: following there's new rule, some of the cadets snuck in

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Speaker 1: gallons of whiskey, brandy, rum, and wine from nearby taverns

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Speaker 1: for the holiday party. Benny Haven's tavern, where cadets could

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Speaker 1: barter for alcohol, was too expensive for the amount of

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Speaker 1: liquor they needed, so several nights before Christmas, three cadets

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Speaker 1: crossed the Hudson River to visit Martin's t Burn. After

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Speaker 1: drinking at the tavern, they took liquor back to the

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Speaker 1: academy with them, paying off a guard on the way back.

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Speaker 1: One of the cadets who took part in the revelry

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Speaker 1: was Jefferson Davis, future President of the Confederacy. Sayer knew

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Speaker 1: that the cadets might try to smuggle in alcohol since

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Speaker 1: they had done so before, so he sent two officers,

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Speaker 1: Captain Ethan Allen Hitchcock and Lieutenant William A. Thornton to

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Speaker 1: keep watch on the North barracks. The officers went to

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Speaker 1: bed around midnight. At that point things were pretty quiet,

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Speaker 1: but several hours later, Hitchcock woke up to the sound

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Speaker 1: of a party floors above him. When he went upstairs,

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Speaker 1: he found several drunk cadets and told them to go

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Speaker 1: to their rooms. He left to go back to his

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Speaker 1: own room, but he realized there was another party happening

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Speaker 1: in a nearby bedroom. When he attempted to break that

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Speaker 1: one up, too, he got into a spat with a

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Speaker 1: cadet who was trying to hide his identity. Hitchcock left,

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Speaker 1: but the cadets were still upset at the exchange, so

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Speaker 1: they turned to violence and called for the cadets to

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Speaker 1: arm themselves and murder Hitchcock, and the riot began. About

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Speaker 1: a third of the cadets, or ninety of them, were

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Speaker 1: involved in the riot. Another party popped up on a

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Speaker 1: lower floor, and as Hitchcock went to break it up,

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Speaker 1: he ran into Jefferson Davis. Davis ended up going back

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Speaker 1: to his room, but Lieutenant Thornton was also up and

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Speaker 1: trying to put an end to the commotion. A cadet

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Speaker 1: threatened him with a sword, and another hit him with

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Speaker 1: a piece of wood. A cadet tried to shoot Hitchcock

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Speaker 1: with his pistol, but missed when another cadet threw off

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Speaker 1: the aim. When Hitchcock called for the Common Dot of cadets,

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Speaker 1: the cadets mistakenly thought he was summoning the artillery men,

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Speaker 1: so they got even more rowdy. They broke windows, dishes,

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Speaker 1: and furniture, and generally tore up the barracks. Eventually, the

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Speaker 1: Common Dot showed up and the conflict came to an end.

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Speaker 1: After the riot, twenty two cadets were so on immediate restriction.

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Speaker 1: Nineteen cadets in one soldier were court martialed. In the end,

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Speaker 1: many of the cadets were allowed to stay at West Point,

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Speaker 1: though some left anyway and some were dismissed. I'm eve

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Speaker 1: Deeffcote and hopefully you know a little more about history

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Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. If you'd like to learn

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Speaker 1: more about the riot, you can listen to the episode

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Speaker 1: of Stuff you Missed in History Class called Eggnog Riot.

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Speaker 1: If you'd like to follow us on social media, you

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Speaker 1: can do so at T D I h C Podcast

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Speaker 1: on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you prefer something a

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Speaker 1: little bit more formal, then you can write us at

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Speaker 1: this Day at I heart media dot com. Thanks for listening,

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Speaker 1: and I hope you'll be back tomorrow. Hello, and welcome

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Speaker 1: to This Day in History Class, a show that shines

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Speaker 1: a light on the overlooked moments of everyday history. I'm

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Speaker 1: Gabe Louzier, and today we're looking at the origin of

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Speaker 1: a holiday tradition in the US capital, the lighting of

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Speaker 1: the National Christmas Tree. The day was December three. President

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Speaker 1: Calvin Coolidge pushed a button to light the first National

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Speaker 1: Christmas Tree of the United States. The ceremony was held

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Speaker 1: at the Ellipse, a small park just south of the

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Speaker 1: White House fence that's often used for public events involving presidents.

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Speaker 1: Coolidge's involvement lent a sense of validity to the event,

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Speaker 1: but the idea for a national tree didn't come from

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Speaker 1: the White House. The initial proposal came from Lucretia Walker Hardy,

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Speaker 1: the acting director of the Community Center Department for d

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Speaker 1: C Public Schools. Hardy sent a letter to the White

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Speaker 1: House in late November of ninety three proposing that a

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Speaker 1: lighted Christmas tree be placed on the south lawn of

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Speaker 1: the White House on Christmas Eve. She believed that the

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Speaker 1: lighting of the tree could serve as a winter event

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Speaker 1: of quote national character, similar to that of the White

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Speaker 1: House Easter egg Roll that takes place each spring. First

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Speaker 1: Lady Grace Coolidge liked the idea, but not the location.

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Speaker 1: She had already committed to a caroling event on the

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Speaker 1: north lawn and didn't want to have dueling Christmas ceremonies

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Speaker 1: on the White House grounds. Mrs Coolidge suggested the tree

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Speaker 1: be placed at the Ellipse instead. Hardy pushed back, sing

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Speaker 1: that holding the event on the White House grounds would

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Speaker 1: grant the celebration quote a national significance that it would

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Speaker 1: not have otherwise. When the First Lady still wouldn't budge,

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Speaker 1: Hardy back down and accepted the Ellipse, perhaps as a compromise,

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Speaker 1: the President agreed to participate in the event, thus lending

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Speaker 1: it the national appeal that Hardy had hoped for. Notably,

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Speaker 1: she wasn't alone in her desire to establish a national

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Speaker 1: Christmas tree and to have the President light it, and

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Speaker 1: not everyone's motives were altruistic. The dream was shared by

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Speaker 1: the Society for Electrical Development in New York City. The

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Speaker 1: group was very interested in the prospect of having the

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Speaker 1: President show off the wonders of electricity on a national stage.

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Speaker 1: They hoped it would spur a greater use of electricity

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Speaker 1: throughout the country. It would also be a chance to

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Speaker 1: demonstrate that a electric Christmas lights could be made safe

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Speaker 1: for outdoor use. Outdoor lights wouldn't be made widely available

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Speaker 1: to the public until nineteen seven, so the lighting ceremony

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Speaker 1: in ninety three was something of a glimpse into the

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Speaker 1: not too distant future of outdoor decorating. Several prominent members

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Speaker 1: of the Society for Electrical Development attended the lighting that year,

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Speaker 1: and at least one continued to serve on the events

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Speaker 1: organizing committee for years to come. That man, Frederick M. Fiker,

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Speaker 1: later took credit for the whole event. In nineteen thirty two,

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Speaker 1: he wrote a letter to his daughter Janet, saying, quote,

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Speaker 1: I thought of this idea of having the National Christmas

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Speaker 1: Tree at Washington, which would stimulate other people to have

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Speaker 1: outdoor Christmas trees. In order to get this started, we

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Speaker 1: had to get the President of the United States to

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Speaker 1: light the tree. If you get the President of the

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Speaker 1: United States two years in succession to do a thing,

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Speaker 1: he will always do it. In the end, the group

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Speaker 1: raised five thousand dollars or nearly seventy five thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: today to install underground lighting cables for the tree's bulbs,

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Speaker 1: and the ceremony went on just as Fiker had planned.

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Speaker 1: At five pm on that Christmas Eve, President Coolidge walked

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Speaker 1: from the Oval office to the ellipse, then pushed a

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Speaker 1: button and lit up a strand of twenty hundred red, white,

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Speaker 1: and green Christmas lights. The tree itself was a forty

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Speaker 1: eight foot tall balsam fur, although some reports put the

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Speaker 1: height at sixty ft. It had been donated for the

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Speaker 1: event by Paul D. Moody, the president of Middlebury College

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Speaker 1: in Vermont, which happened to be the president's home state.

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Speaker 1: The tree had been shipped express from Vermont, and the

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Speaker 1: branches on the lower ten feet had and damaged during

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Speaker 1: the journey. To help even things out, some branches were

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Speaker 1: cut from a nearby evergreen and then tied to the

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Speaker 1: balsam fur. The lighting was followed with performances by the

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Speaker 1: Epiphany Church Choir and the U. S Marine Band Quartet.

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Speaker 1: More than five thousand spectators gathered for the ceremony, and

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Speaker 1: it should be noted that nearly all of them were white.

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Speaker 1: At the time, the city's public facilities were racially segregated.

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Speaker 1: As a result, Black residents were only permitted on park

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Speaker 1: grounds to see the National Christmas Tree after the white

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Speaker 1: residents had dispersed for the evening, which wasn't until just

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Speaker 1: before midnight. This discrimination undermined the unifying spirit of a

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Speaker 1: national Christmas Tree, but African American residents were still able

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Speaker 1: to find meaning in the flawed symbol. Undaunted, they held

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Speaker 1: an outdoor worship service early that Christmas morning, and acquire

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Speaker 1: composed of singing groups from local community centers sang carols.

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Speaker 1: The idea of a National Christmas Tree was a hit

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Speaker 1: with the public, so the ceremony was held again the

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Speaker 1: following year, although the tree's title was slightly altered to

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Speaker 1: become the national community Christmas tree. Coolidge, whom the press

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Speaker 1: had nicknamed Silent Cow, had refused to speak at the

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Speaker 1: first lighting ceremony, but in nineteen twenty four he agreed

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Speaker 1: to give the briefest of statements, saying quote, I accept

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Speaker 1: this tree, and I will now light it, which he did.

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Speaker 1: Coolidge had almost scrapped the second year's ceremony because he

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Speaker 1: didn't like the idea of cutting down a new tree

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Speaker 1: every year. He changed his mind when it was suggested

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Speaker 1: they could use a living tree instead. The event alternated

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Speaker 1: between living trees and cut trees donated from different states

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Speaker 1: from nineteen twenty four until nineteen seven d three. From

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Speaker 1: that point on, a living Christmas tree planted in the

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Speaker 1: Ellipse has been used for the celebration, although the tree

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Speaker 1: has been replaced from time to time due to fungal disease.

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Speaker 1: Beginning in nineteen twenty four, the lighting ceremony was held

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Speaker 1: in various locations on and around the White House grounds. Finally,

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Speaker 1: the ceremony returned to the Ellipse for good in nineteen

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Speaker 1: fifty four, when the event was greatly expanded to include

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Speaker 1: a whole assortment of Christmas trees as times changed, the

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Speaker 1: ceremony gradually became the inclusive event that it always should

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Speaker 1: have been, welcoming visitors from all backgrounds without restriction. When

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Speaker 1: Coolidge lit the first outdoor national Christmas tree, he kicked

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Speaker 1: off a holiday tradition that's been followed by each succeeding

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Speaker 1: president since nineteen twenty three. Justice Fiker had hoped through

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Speaker 1: periods of unity and division, through good times and bad,

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Speaker 1: the event has served as a yearly reminder to practice

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Speaker 1: peace and goodwill, and of course, to use lots and

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Speaker 1: lots of electricity while you're at it. I'm Gabeluesier, and

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Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today

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Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you enjoy today's show, consider

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Speaker 1: following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d

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Speaker 1: I HC Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions,

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Speaker 1: feel free to send them my way at this Day

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Speaker 1: at I heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays

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Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll

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Speaker 1: see you back here again tomorrow for another Day in

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Speaker 1: History class. For more podcasts from my heart rate Adio,

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Speaker 1: visit the i heeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows,