Caterina Blefari (1891 - 1973)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Caterina's lifetime.

In 1891, in the year that Caterina Blefari was born, James Naismith, at the Springfield Massachusetts YMCA, invented the game of basketball. Originally using two peach baskets and a soccer ball, he created the game to keep his students active during the long, harsh New England winters.

In 1906, she was just 15 years old when author Upton Sinclair exposed the public-health threat of the meat-packing industry in his book The Jungle. While his intent was to show the lives of exploited lives of immigrants in Chicago and other industrialized cities, most people were horrified by how the meat that ended up on their tables was handled. There was such an outcry that legislation was passed to regulate meat packing. Sinclair said " "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."

In 1921, she was 30 years old when on March 4, Warren G. Harding became President. Previously a U.S. Senator, Lieutenant Governor, and Ohio State Senator, Harding was a popular President. But many scandals plagued his short administration (he died in office after 2 and a half years), including the revelations of one of his mistresses and the Teapot Dome scandal. Historically, Harding is rated as one of the worst Presidents.

In 1969, she was 78 years old when in August, a previously planned small concert turned into a (free) more than 400,000 strong gathering of attendees and bands at Max Yasgur's farm in upstate New York - now called Woodstock. Just some of the 32 acts: Richie Havens, Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Joan Baez, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe, Santana, The Band, and Sly and the Family Stone.

In 1973, in the year of Caterina Blefari's passing, on January 28th, the Paris Peace Accord was signed - supposedly ending the Vietnam War. Hostilities continued between North and South Vietnam and the U.S. continued to bomb. But by August 15, 1973, 95% of American troops had left Vietnam. The war ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon.