Time Flies

Anniversaries can be full of joy – births, weddings, and happy times, but they can also mark terrible atrocities, accidents and days that forever remain in the memory as a sobering reminder of what can go wrong. Over the past few weeks, a number of significant anniversaries have come to my attention.

When my grandfather was born, the US President of the day was Abraham Lincoln.

After only four years since he took office in March 1861, the 16th President of the United States was assassinated on April 15, 1865 at the theatre. This month marks the 150th anniversary of his death.

His presidency reigned over a vital period in US history – the Civil War – where he became famous for abolishing slavery, strengthening the federal government and modernising the economy through banks, tariffs and railroads.

As an astute political operator, Lincoln demonstrated his oratory skill to unite the feuding states. The now famous Gettysburg Address of 1863 – a mere 273 words - outlined the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty and democracy which remain part of the political rhetoric in the US today. Lincoln is now considered among the greatest of US Presidents.

As with Lincoln, anniversaries can have their ties to political change. Fifty years ago this month in 1960, students in South Korea held a nationwide pro-democracy protest against President Syngman Rhee, which eventually forced him to resign. The ‘April Revolution’ was led by labour and student groups and succeeded in overthrowing the autocratic First Republic of South Korea.

Fast forward to even more recently, and the end of this month marks the 29th anniversary of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine – the world’s worst nuclear accident.

from Wikipedia

In April 1986, one of the four nuclear reactors at the Chernobyl power station exploded killing two plant workers on the night of the accident, and 28 within a few weeks, following acute radiation poisoning.

It was decided that the incident was caused by a flawed Soviet reactor design, coupled with serious mistakes made by the plant operators. It was considered to be a direct consequence of Cold War isolation and the resulting lack of any safety culture.

Since the disaster, the safety of all Soviet-designed reactors has improved considerably, largely due to increased working between East and West since 1989 which has improved safety standards.

Safety was also the lesson learned 103 years ago in April when the passenger liner RMS Titanic sank around two hours and 40 minutes after colliding with an iceberg, killing more than 1500 people. Public inquiries in Britain and the US that followed the disaster led to major improvements in maritime safety and in 1914, the start of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) which still governs maritime safety today.

History can be made at any time, and with the General Election of 2015 just around the corner we’ll have to wait to see how it is remembered.