James P Whitaker (1909 - 1992)

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

In 1909, in the year that James P Whitaker was born, the New York Times published the first movie review. It was a report on D.W. Griffith's movie "Pippa Passes" also called "The Song of Conscience", a silent film. The review said that this work was moving away from "lurid material that attracted the wrath of censors and concerned citizens and toward more respectable ends. The movie was the story of a young female factory worker, on her day off, wandering and singing - thus changing the hearts of those around her towards good.

In 1912, by the time he was only 3 years old, Arizona was admitted to the United States in February (on Valentine's Day). It became the 48th state in the Union. Previously a Spanish - then Mexican - territory, the U.S. paid $15 million dollars for the area in 1848. Arizona was the last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the United States.

In 1947, at the age of 38 years old, James was alive when in June, the Marshall Plan was proposed to help European nations recover economically from World War II. It passed the conservative Republican Congress in March of 1948. After World War I, the economic devastation of Germany caused by burdensome reparations payments led to the rise of Hitler. The Allies didn't want this to happen again and the Marshall Plan was devised to make sure that those conditions didn't arise again.

In 1958, James was 49 years old when on January 1st, the European Economic Community (Common Market) came into operation. The first members were France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The Common Market was formed as a way to strengthen members' economies and deter wars in Europe.

In 1992, in the year of James P Whitaker's passing, on April 29th, riots began in Los Angeles after the "Rodney King" verdict was issued. Four LAPD officers had been accused of using excessive force (assault) on African-American Rodney King, who had been stopped for drunk driving. The beating had been videotaped. Their acquittal sparked a 6 day riot in Los Angeles.