James Gustaf Albert Cameron-Smith (1897 - 1940)

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

In 1897, in the year that James Gustaf Albert Cameron-Smith was born, on September 21st, editor and publisher Francis P. Church responded to a letter to the editor from Virginia O'Hanlon, 8 years old. Virginia's father had told her that "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." So she wrote to the Sun, asking if there was a Santa Claus. Church responded with the now famous editorial "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus".

In 1911, when he was merely 14 years old, the United States Supreme Court broke up Standard Oil in May. John D. Rockefeller established Standard Oil in 1870 and it was the largest oil refinery at the time. The Supreme Court found that Standard Oil of New Jersey (one of the many iterations of Standard Oil) was guilty of "monopolizing the petroleum industry through a series of abusive and anticompetitive actions". The Court broke up the several entities that comprised Standard Oil and they eventually became competing firms.

In 1928, James was 31 years old when aviatrix Amelia Earhart, age 31, became the first woman to fly solo across North America and back in August. In June, she had been part of a 3 man crew that flew the Atlantic Ocean but since she had no instrument training, she couldn't fly the plane - she kept the flight log. The North American flight became one of her many "firsts" as a female pilot.

In 1931, James was 34 years old when in March, “The Star Spangled Banner” officially became the national anthem by congressional resolution. Other songs had previously been used - among them, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", "God Bless America", and "America the Beautiful". There was fierce debate about making "The Star Spangled Banner" the national anthem - Southerners and veterans organizations supported it, pacifists and educators opposed it.

In 1940, in the year of James Gustaf Albert Cameron-Smith's passing, on September 16th, the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, was enacted - the first peacetime draft in U.S. history. Men between 21 and 36 were required to register with their draft boards. When World War II began, men between 18 and 45 were subject to service and men up to 65 were required to register.