1100 Words You Need to Know

THE EFFECTS OF THE ESCOBEDO DECISION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- After Danny Escobedo’s release from prison, hundreds of inmates began suits for their freedom on the grounds that their rights had been violated, too. Each case was heard on its merits, and in numerous instances people who had been convicted of serious offenses were freed because of the new standards established in the Escobedo case. After getting out, Danny was not a paragon of virtue, according to the police. He led a nomadic existence, drifting from job to job, and was arrested frequently. With asperity, and a few choice epithets, Danny referred to police harassment.* Although the Escobedo case was a controversial one, most agree that it inspired better police training, better law enforcement procedures, and improved scientific crime detection.

AN HISTORIC SUPREME COURT RULING ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Lawyer Kroll persevered in his defense of Danny Escobedo. The case was argued before the Supreme Court, and in 1964, in a landmark decision, the Court reversed Danny’s conviction. Legal aid, said the judges, must be instantly available to a suspect. “A system of law enforcement that comes to depend on the confession,” one Justice declared, “will, in the long run, be less reliable than a system that depends on extrinsic evidence independently secured through skillful investigation.” A Justice who declaimed against the decision said, however, “I think the rule is ill-conceived and that it seriously fetters perfectly legitimate methods of criminal enforcement.”

ESCOBEDO’S LAWYER APPEALS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Barry Kroll, a Chicago lawyer, took an interest in Danny Escobedo’s case. Kroll felt that his client’s rights under the Constitution had been abrogated. Since the alleged accomplice,* Escobedo, had been denied access to an attorney, Kroll asked the courts to invalidate the conviction. He proposed that lawyers be entitled to sit in when the police question a suspect but the Illinois courts rejected that on the grounds that it would effectively preclude all questioning by legal authorities. If such a law were upheld, the police felt that it would play havoc* with all criminal investigations.

DANNY ESCOBEDO GOES TO JAIL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In 1960, a young Chicagoan, Danny Escobedo, was given a 20-year jail sentence for firstdegree murder. Danny had confessed to complicity in the killing of his brother-in-law after the police had refused to allow him to see his lawyer. Actually, Danny was tricked into blaming a friend for the liquidation of his sister ’s husband, thereby establishing himself as an accomplice. Despite the fact that Danny later recanted his confession, he was found culpable and jailed. Danny had been stereotyped* as a hoodlum and nobody raised an eyebrow over the hapless* felon’s* troubles.

“FOR DISTINGUISHED DEVOTION TO DUTY” ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Some months later Dorie Miller was serving on an aircraft carrier when Admiral Chester Nimitz, the Commander of the Pacific Fleet, came aboard to preside over a special awards ceremony. In stentorian tones the Admiral presented Miller with the prestigious* Navy Cross, commending him for a singular act of valor and “disregard for his own personal safety.” Miller ’s heroism helped to shatter the bias against African-Americans in the armed forces. Although he could have accepted a sinecure at a U.S. naval base, Dorie chose to remain in the combat zone where he was killed in action in December, 1943.

THE HEROISM OF DORIE MILLER ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Men all around Miller were succumbing* to the lethal spray of Japanese bullets. He dragged his captain to safety and turned back to see that the machine-gunner had been killed. Dorie took the big gun and trained it on the incoming bombers. Within the space of ten minutes he was credited with destroying four bombers while dodging the bullets of their fighter escorts. The enemy scurried away, having struck the incisive blow that precipitated U.S. entrance into World War II. Amidst the dead bodies and the ruined fleet were the heroes such as Dorie Miller. The Navy had told him that he did not have to fight but he hadn’t listened. The Navy had attempted to stereotype him, but Dorie changed all that.

THE INFAMOUS* ATTACK ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The coffee cups suddenly went spinning as an explosion knocked Dorie Miller flat on his back. Jumping up from his supine position, the powerfully built messman from Waco, Texas, headed for the deck. Everywhere that Dorie looked he saw smoke and mammoth warships lying on their sides. Overhead, dozens of Japanese dive bombers controlled the skies without a U.S. plane to repulse their attack. The havoc was enormous. Without hesitating, Dorie joined a team that was feeding ammunition to a machine gunner who was making an ineffectual* attempt to protect their battleship from being razed by the torpedo planes.

SUNDAY MORNING AT PEARL HARBOR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At breakfast time on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, Dorie Miller was serving coffee aboard the battleship West Virginia. Dorie was black, and the highest job to which he could then aspire in the U.S. Navy was that of messman. While Dorie was technically a member of a great fighting fleet, he was not expected to fight. Most Army and Navy officers inveighed against blacks as fighting men. Although blacks were nettled by such overt prejudice, Dorie Miller apparently accepted being relegated to the role of a messhall servant. Now, as he poured the coffee, Dorie was wondering why the airplanes above were making so much noise on a peaceful Sunday morning.

THE ITALIAN NAVIGATOR LANDS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The chain reaction took place precisely as Enrico Fermi had surmised. After twenty-eight minutes he curtailed the experiment, giving the signal to replace the control rod. The normally reserved scientists, unable to repress their excitement, let out a tremendous cheer and gathered around Fermi to shake his hand. Although it was time to celebrate, some of the men remarked soberly that “the world would never be the same again.” On December 2, 1942, the news of Fermi’s achievement was relayed in a cryptic telephone message: -“The Italian Navigator has reached the New World.” -“And how did he find the natives?” -“Very friendly.” -The Atomic Age was inchoate—but truly here!

THE SQUASH COURT EXPERIMENT ---------------------------------------------------------------------- As the pile grew, so did the entire project. Fermi moved his materials to an abandoned squash court under a football stadium at the University of Chicago. His pace accelerated because they were proceeding on the premise that the Germans were close to atomic success. Six weeks after the pile had been started, its critical size was reached. Three brave young men jeopardized their lives by ascending* the pile, ready to cover it with liquid cadmium if anything went wrong. Almost fifty scientists and several incredulous observers mounted a balcony to watch. One physicist remained on the floor; it was his job to extract the final cadmium control rod. Unbearable tension permeated the atmosphere. Fermi completed his calculations, waited for a propitious moment, and then gave the signal.

THE ULTIMATE WEAPON TAKES SHAPE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Enrico Fermi designed a device that could eventuate in a chain reaction. It consisted of layers of graphite, alternated with chunks of uranium. The uranium emitted neutrons, and the graphite slowed them down. Holes were left for long cadmium safety rods. By withdrawing those control rods Fermi could speed up the production of neutrons, thus increasing the number of uranium atoms that would be split (fission). When the rods were withdrawn to a critical point, then the neutrons would be produced so fast that the graphite and cadmium could not absorb them. In that manner a chain reaction would result. Slowly, Fermi’s first atomic pile began to grow in a subterranean room at Columbia University. The big question remained—was it viable?

A VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT In the winter of 1941, Enrico Fermi and a number of other distinguished scientists importuned President Franklin Roosevelt for authorization to begin an all-out effort in atomic energy research. The scientists were alarmed by incontrovertible evidence of surreptitious German experiments, and they asked for speedy approval. Italian-born Enrico Fermi was the ideal man to lead the atomic research. Already in 1938 he had won the Nobel Prize for work with radioactive elements and neutron bombardment. Fermi had found a haven from the Fascists (his wife was Jewish) and he knew that if the Germans were the first to develop an atomic bomb it would mean that Hitler could subjugate the entire world. The international race for atomic supremacy was on.

IRONY FOR MERRYWEATHER ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At last, Monte’s chance to perform came. He had played the timorous Lion in a truncated version of “The Wizard of Oz,” which the apprentices had staged. But now there was an open audition to cast the final show of the season. It was to be a jaunty original comedy, given a summer tryout prior to a Broadway opening. Monte, who by now had adopted the stage name of Monte Merryweather, read for the producers, hoping to get the part of the hero’s fractious landlord. Unfortunately, the competition was too rough—but the director assigned Monte to a less ostentatious part. And so for the first two weeks in September the stage-struck accountant had a two-minute, two-line part. What was his role? The hero’s accountant!

FROM LEDGERS TO SCRIPTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- During the first weeks of the summer, Monte Ziltch didn’t even have time to consider whether he had made an egregious* mistake. He was too engrossed* with his work, performing a thousand and one odd jobs around the theater. First there was the opening production of A Chorus Line, then two weeks of The Fantasticks, followed by a poignant* Diary of Anne Frank, which did excellent business. All through those weeks, Monte painted, carried, nailed, collected, ran, studied, and perspired. He had expunged all traces of debits and credits from his mind, burying himself in the more flamboyant world of the theater. Accounting became anathema to him as the schism between his present utopia and his former drudgery* widened.

AN ALL-ROUND MAN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The need for a decision came about when Monte was invited to join a prestigious summer stock company, starting in mid-June. As a mature “apprentice,” he would be required to take tickets, paint scenery, prepare placards, assist with lighting, costumes, and props, and carry an occasional spear in a walk-on role. Since the company would stage five major plays during the summer, as well as a half-dozen shows for children, there was a chance that Monte might actually get a part before too many weeks had elapsed.* In addition, he would be attending the drama classes that were an integral part of the summer theater. The remuneration would be nominal but at last Monte Ziltch would be fulfilling a life-long ambition.

OFF BROADWAY ---------------------------------------------------------------------- When Monte Ziltch told his boss, Mr. Foy, that he was quitting as an accountant to become an actor, the man was convulsed with laughter. After Mr. Foy realized that Monte was obsessed* with the idea, he became quite serious, launching into a diatribe on the importance of responsibility in the younger generation. Monte confessed that he had been developing ulcers as an accountant, and when his psychiatrist suggested that the sickness was a result of inhibitions, Monte agreed. Now a fortuitous opportunity to get into show business required Monte to make an immediate decision. Mr. Foy stormed out of the office, muttering incoherently about hippies, beatniks, and others of that ilk.

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL The Harts were greatly relieved to learn that the rash conjecture about the dog was not true. Because the German shepherd was not rabid, the necessity for the painful treatment was obviated. The police gave the dog’s owner a summons for allowing the animal to go unmuzzled. Little Bobby was treated to an ice cream sundae and a Walt Disney double feature. The neighbors searched for other lurid happenings, and Jerry Hart went back to his office. “What kind of dog was that?” his secretary asked. “Oh, his bark was worse than his bite,” quipped Jerry.

THE POLICE FIND THE DOG Forty hours had elapsed before the police work and the publicity paid off. By meticulously checking the registrations of every red station wagon in the neighborhood and then crosschecking dog licenses, the police narrowed the search to four owners. After a few telephone calls, the apologetic owner was located and directed to bring her muzzled German shepherd to the Hart domicile. Bobby identified the dog, and the animal was taken to a veterinary’s clinic to have the necessary tests performed. The lax owner, Mrs. McGraw, admitted that the dog had a sporadic mean streak, but she scoffed* at the idea of rabies. Jerry Hart noticed for the first time in two days that his uneasy feeling had departed.

NO RELIEF The normally phlegmatic Jerry Hart was deeply upset. Twenty-four hours had passed without result, and even if the rabies could not be corroborated, Jerry was determined to see that his son received the vaccine. At the suggestion of some friends, he organized a comprehensive search party, zealously fanning out in circles around the supermarket. They knocked on every door, inspected every dog, and came back empty-handed. Although the Harts were sick with worry (they had to be coerced into going to sleep), little Bobby seemed to be in great spirits. The excruciating* vigil continued.

THE SEARCH FOR THE DOG (CONTINUED) Meanwhile, the Harts had notified the local radio stations to broadcast a poignant appeal for the dog’s owner to come forward. The station was inundated with phone calls but all leads were fruitless. From what Bobby had told them, a huge dog had leaped out from a red station wagon in the supermarket’s parking lot. After biting Bobby it vanished. The six-year-old was too concerned with the bites he had received to see where the dog disappeared to. The boy’s story was garbled, but he did remember that the animal was gray and had a collar. There was little tangible* evidence to go on, but the police remained sanguine.