Friday, December 31, 1999
Readers suggest more milestones
Gay rights, church on their lists
BY MARK WERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The ballots are back, and it turns out Tristaters' picks for the most important events of the century aren't all that different from those of people in the rest of the country.
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HOW READERS VOTED
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WORLD EVENT
1. World War II
2. Bombing of Hiroshima
3. Great Depression
4. The Holocaust
5. Man on the moon
6. JFK assassination
7. Women gain the vote
8. Vietnam War
9. Civil Rights Act
10. World War I
11. Fall of Berlin Wall
12. U.S.S.R. breakup
13. Korean War
14. Lindbergh's flight
15. Sputnik
16. Watergate
17. Persian Gulf War
18. Clinton impeachment LOCAL EVENT
1. Polio vaccine developed by Sabin
2. Great Flood of 1937
3. Beverly Hills Supper Club
4. Fire kills 165
5. 11 die at Riverfront Coliseum Who concert
6. First expressway opens in 1959
7. Race riots, 1967-68
8. Home State Savings collapse
9. Crosley Field, 1912-1970
10. The Big Red Machine rules in the 70s
11. W.H. Taft elected president
12. Unfinished subway leads to Charter Committee reform
13. Vocational education starts goes national
14. American Airlines crash 13 kills 58 in 1965
15. Pete Rose's trials
16. Controversy over Mapplethorpe
17. exhibit at CAC
18. People vs. Larry Flynt
20. Voters OK 2 new stadiums
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But when The Enquirer recently asked readers to rank the events — as based on a Gallup Poll — some of the 274 people who responded had interesting additions to the list.
A few people gave conditional rankings. Reader John Teufel of Mount Healthy, for example, would have ranked the Persian Gulf War as the most important event of the century “if (Iraqi leader Saddam) Hussein was eliminated.”
Some of other additions:
• The assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., suggested by Helen Linz of North College Hill (who ranked it third) and others.
Still others, such as Robert Williams of Price Hill, suggested Dr. King's “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington. Mr. Williams ranked it the second most important event.
• The Stonewall riot of 1969, marking the start of the modern gay rights movement, was suggested by Kevin Hines of Oakley, who ranked it 12th.
• The Vatican II reforms were suggested by Kathleen Kamp of Wyoming as the most important event because they caused the “subsequent collapse of the Catholic Church.”
• The works of Pope John Paul II were suggested by Ralph Patsfall of Columbia Township, who ranked them most important.
• The crimes of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin were suggested by Barbara Hayden of Middletown. She ranked them 18th.
• The invention of air conditioning was suggested by Richard Weis of Anderson Township, who ranked it as the sixth most important event. (Various methods to cool indoor air had been tried since the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians, but a scientific system to do so wasn't developed until 1903.)
• The Wright brothers' flight was suggested by Diane Hofmann of Clifton and others. Ms. Hofmann ranked it sixth. (The Associated Press made it Ohio's top story of the century.)
• The emergence of the HIV epidemic in the late 1970s was suggested by Richard Fischer of Hamilton, who ranked it fifth.
• The creation of the Internet was suggested by Dorinda Giles of Cold Spring. She ranked it 18th.
• The death of Elvis Presley was suggested by Ruby Copley of Union Township, Butler County, who ranked it 18th.
Here are some suggested additions to our list of the top Tristate events of the century:
• Issue 3, which prevents Cincinnati from extending civil rights protection to gay people as a separate group, suggested by Mr. Hines (who ranked it 11th) and others.
• The arrival of pro football, suggested by Rich Forbes of Kenwood, who ranked it fifth.
• The transformation of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport into a major hub, suggested by Anthony Eversole of Elmwood Place, who ranked it 18th.
• The invention of the Heimlich maneuver by Cincinnati's Dr. Henry Heimlich, suggested anonymously by several people.
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