Lesser-known Giants of the 20th Century is a new book by Charles M. Aulino, published by BookSurge. A collection of 11 biographes of men and women, it has been highly recommended by the National History Club. The author penned the following for GreatHistory about how he came to write the book.
Lesser-known Giants of the 20th Century examines the lives of 11 important men and women who experienced and influenced the 20th century. It is the result of an “ah-ha” moment. While visiting the Palace of Versailles near Paris, my wife and I spotted a larger-than-life reproduction of the signature pages of the treaty signed at the end of World War I. You could easily recognize the names of some famous statesmen of their day, including Lloyd George and Clemenceau. Among them, written in beautiful script, was “I J Paderewski.” I thought of my mother’s words of encouragement when, as a young boy, I was given piano lessons: “If you practice every day, you’ll grow up to play like Paderewski” she assured me. There in the Palace of Versailles, in my ignorance I wondered, “Why would a pianist have signed the Versailles Treaty?”
The episode inspired me to learn about the life of a man who, by the turn of the 20th century, had become a rock star to the classical music world. On his U.S. tours, ordinary people walked the length and breadth of counties for the lifetime memory of attending a performance by the great artist. Paderewski’s devotion to the cause of freedom of his Polish homeland inspired him to political activism. Using the advantage of his celebrity, he was able to inveigle his way into the inner circle of Woodrow Wilson and lobby for the inclusion of the freedom of Poland in Wilson’s Fourteen Point Plan. Returning home at the end of the war, Paderewski was swept into office as prime minister and became one of the two Polish representatives to the Versailles treaty convention.
My discovery of Paderewski’s story made me realize that Giants have always inhabited the earth and are all around us. This does not refer to physical gargantuans, but to people from all walks of life, who achieve greatness and use their celebrity to do some good in this world, only to be forgotten by history. What a pity that their stories fade from the collective memory so that the life lessons and inspiration they offer are lost to future generations. I wanted to re-tell the stories of a group whose lives overlapped and spanned The American Century. They include people from the fields of professional sports, politics, journalism, academe and banking. They were Polish, Italian, Jewish, German, African American and Palestinian. Diversity, however, was a happy by-product. I was looking for stories that amaze, and I found them.
How many major league baseball players can you name who graduated magna cum laude from Princeton, spoke seven languages and attended the Sorbonne and Columbia University in the off season? I became interested in Moe Berg’s story because of an urban legend. While visiting Japan in 1934, he secretly shot some panoramic movie footage of Tokyo. According to the story, the film was used to help Jimmy Doolittle plan his famous air raid a few years later. Far more remarkable were Berg’s actual exploits as a spy for the OSS during World War II.
There is the story of Sen. Margaret Chase Smith who won a special election to the House of Representatives in 1940 to complete the term of her husband, who had died in office. She won reelection on her own four times, then “promotion” by the voters of Maine to the U.S. Senate where she served for more than 20 years. Smith was the only member of the upper chamber who showed the courage to stand in vocal opposition to the tactics of Sen. Joseph McCarthy when, on June 1, 1950, she gave her “Declaration of Conscience” address on the Senate floor. She later became the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for President of the United States at the national convention of a major political party.
Several of the true-life stories involve the civil rights struggle. The life of boxer Joe Louis is juxtaposed with that of Max Schmeling. While serving in the U.S. Army during WWII, Louis pulled strings to get a newly commissioned African- American out of serious trouble. In doing so, he may have saved the future baseball career of Lt. Jackie Robinson. Branch Rickey, the father of baseball’s farm team system and many other innovations, made the decision to sign Robinson for the Brooklyn Dodgers, thereby ending segregation in major league baseball. There is also the story of Medgar Evers, “servant-leader” of the movement, who enlisted Thurgood Marshall to help James Meredith break the color line at Ole Miss. Evers also risked his own life by investigating racist murders, including that of an African American teenager visiting Mississippi from Chicago, named Emmett Till.
At a time when we face so many challenges and fears, it may be comforting to reflect on the achievements of those who overcame adversity and made important contributions to America and the world. If you decide to read these stories, when you finish please pass the book along to a high school or college student. Young people are the least likely to know anything about these giants and are the most likely to draw inspiration from their stories. You can find thumbnail sketches of all 11 stories on my Website, www.charlesaulino.com.
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