President Harding dies, Medicare law passes: News Journal archives July 28 to Aug. 3

“Pages of history” features excerpts from The News Journal archives including The Morning News and The Evening Journal.

July 28, 2024, The News Journal

Fewer left to fight fires; volunteer companies drained

There could be a night when a fire breaks out in Elsmere and the town’s firefighters pay it no mind. But they would not be neglecting their duty.

The Elsmere Fire Company has teamed with fire departments in nearby Cranston Heights and Belvedere to rotate overnight shifts. They take turns stamping out fires in all three areas.

The arrangement, which started in May, is designed to help volunteer fire departments cope with fewer firefighters….

A steady decline in volunteer firefighters is a national trend that started 20 years ago, with ranks thinning from 880,000 to 790,000 nationwide, or about 10%, according to the International Association of Fire Chiefs….

In Delaware, 60 volunteer fire departments rely on members to drop whatever they are doing and respond, mostly by pager, to emergencies. Wilmington firefighters are paid and work regular shifts…

In addition to a small state pension, volunteers get a uniform, equipment and training, the use of recreational facilities at the firehouse, a $400 state tax credit and free annual picnics and banquets….

The service saved taxpayers more than $140 million last year, according to state auditor Tom Wagner….

Recent firefighting news: Federal lawmakers keep grant funding for Delaware fire departments, EMS available

July 30, 1923, The Evening Journal

At 60 years, Ford is world’s richest man

Henry Ford, maker of automobiles and the world’s richest man, is 60 years old today.

Twenty years ago on his 40th birthday he was a poor man. He had just quit a job with the Detroit Edison Company, where he had worked for seven years, to organize Ford Motor Company.

While he was working as a master mechanic in the Edison Electric Power plant, carrying his dinner pail to work and drawing a salary of $125 a month, Ford was spending his nights and holidays working on his “horseless carriage.”

He established the foundation of his success – success in becoming the world’s richest man with a personal fortune of $750 million as head of the world’s largest automobile business.

Ford acknowledged that had it not been for the devotion and faith of his wife he could not have succeeded.

Although today marks Ford’s passing of the 60-year mark, it was observed only as other days in his life, without ceremony.

July 31, 1965, Wilmington Morning News

LBJ, Truman bask in Medicare triumph

President Johnson signed his $6.5 billion Medicare bill yesterday after journeying more than 1,000 miles to share “this time of triumph” with former President Harry S. Truman.

The new law, said the 81-year-old former president, will mean dignity, not charity “for those of us who have moved to the sidelines.”

Then, one hand on his cane, Truman stepped aside and listened as Johnson said the vast program of medical insurance for the elderly will bring “the light of hope and realization” to millions of Americans….

Truman went on to recall that there had been much debate within his administration about the wisdom of proposing medical insurance legislation. He said he finally told his associates: “We’re gonna do it boys, we’re gonna do it. We may not make it but someday we will.”

Catch up on history: First US woman in space, O.J. Simpson's arrest: News Journal archives, June 16-22

Aug. 3, 1923, Wilmington Morning News

President Harding dead

SAN FRANCISCO – “That’s good; go on; read some more.”

These were the last words uttered by the President to Mrs. Harding. The President’s hand raised as he asked Mrs. Harding to continue reading. Instantly his expression changed. He was dead.

Warren G. Harding, President of the United States, died instantaneously and without warning at 7:30 o’clock last night, a victim of stroke by apoplexy, which struck him down in his weakened condition after an illness of exactly a week.

The Chief Executive of the nation, and by virtue of his office and personality, one of the world’s leading figures, passed away at the time when his physicians, his family and his people thought that medical skill, hope and prayer had won the battle against disease….

He was definitely on the road to recovery from ptomaine poisoning, acute indigestion, and pneumonia which followed them….

The disease had been conquered, the fire was out, but seven days of silent, though intense, suffering had left their mark, and before physicians could be called, members of his party summoned, or remedial measures taken, he passed from life’s stage after having for nearly two and a half years served his nation and for many years his native state of Ohio.

With the passing of Mr. Harding, the office of President devolves upon Calvin Coolidge, Vice President of the United States, a man silent in nature, but demonstrated as strong in emergencies. He was notified of the death of Mr. Harding at his home in Plymouth, Vermont….

The body of President Harding will leave San Francisco on a special train at about 7 o’clock Friday evening and go direct to Washington, by way of Reno, Ogden, Cheyenne, Omaha and Chicago….

Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: News Journal archives July 28 to Aug. 3: Harding dies, Medicare passes