Melvin Fitzgerald (1904 - 1976)

Melvin's immediate relatives including parents, siblings, partnerships and children in the Fitzgerald family tree.

Melvin's Family

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We currently do not have photos of Melvin Fitzgerald. Below are potential family photos that share Melvin's last name or surname. Pictures really do say a thousand words. Add photos of Melvin during various points of his life

Margaret Fitzgerald

Christopher Henry Fitzgerald

Agnes Patricia (Bracken) Mann and Minnie (Fitzgerald) Bracken

Alene Fitzgerald

Alene Fitzgerald

Alene Fitzgerald

Milo O'Shea, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Michael O'Keefe

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe

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

In 1904, in the year that Melvin Fitzgerald was born, the United States acquired the Panama Canal Zone. Now an unincorporated territory of the U.S., the Canal Zone had been previously held by the French, who were constructing a canal. The U.S. took over the construction of the Panama Canal and it was finally finished in 1914, when it was opened to commercial shipping. The United States held the Canal Zone until 1979.

In 1916, when he was only 12 years old, in June, the U.S. Congress authorized a plan to expand the armed forces over the next five years. Called the National Defense Act of 1916, the national law expanded the National Guard and Army (the Army added an aviation unit), created the Reserves, and gave the President expanded authority to federalize the National Guard. It also allowed the government to stockpile, in advance, materiel to be used in wartime.

In 1931, at the age of 27 years old, Melvin was alive when on May 1st, the Empire State Building opened in New York City. At 1,454 feet (including the roof and antenna), it was the tallest building in the world until the World Trade Center's North Tower was built in 1970. (It is now the 34th tallest.) Opening at the beginning of the Great Depression, most of the offices in the Empire State Building remained unoccupied for years and the observation deck was an equal source of revenue and kept the building profitable.

In 1966, Melvin was 62 years old when on July 1st, Medicare became available after President Johnson signed into law the Medicare Act in 1965. President Truman had received the first Medicare card since he had been the first to propose national healthcare law. insurance.

In 1976, in the year of Melvin Fitzgerald's passing, on August 4th, a mysterious illness struck an American Legion convention in Philadelphia. Within a week, 25 people had died and 130 people had been hospitalized. It was the first known instance of what came to be called "Legionnaires Disease."