10 th March

1862 The U. S. government issued its first paper money.

1946 Italian women voted for the first time.

1948 Jan Masaryk was defenestrated.

1949 Mildred Gillars was convicted of treason.

1975 Carla Hills became the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

You all know how difficult it is toting a pocketful of change around. Imagine what it was like when you had to lug your dollars around in the same fashion. This is the anniversary of a truly ingenious solution. In 1862, the U. S. government issued its first paper money. Instead of carrying bags of five, ten, and twenty dollar coins, the government made it easier to transport and conceal the very same amount.

History is filled with mysteries that can throw considerable light on larger matters when and if they are ever solved. For example, a question still mark hangs over this particular day. It goes back to 1948, when the late Jan Masaryk, son of Czechoslovakia’s founder and a champion of democratic self-government fell from a window in Prague and died. Masaryk was his nation’s anti-communist Foreign Minister. Many believe he

Was pushed; and his tragic death did make it easier for the Communists to consolidate their control.

The world’s view of women has changed on this day a number of times in recent history. In 1946, Italian women were allowed to vote for the first time. Their influence was limited to local elections, but that first step was a major one. In 1949, Mildred Gillars was convicted of treason. During the Second World War, Gillars was known as Axis Sally. She applied a woman’s touch to her Nazi propaganda broadcasts, reminding Allied soldiers that their sweethearts might not wait for them so they should give up the battle and go home. In 1975, the third woman to hold a U. S. cabinet position was appointed. Carla Hills became the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.