Tag: History

Bay of Pigs

LORELAI: And the plan was that [Jess] calls you whenever because his work time varies?
RORY: Yes.
LORELAI: Good plan. Bay of Pigs, was that yours, too?

Lorelai refers to the bay of Pigs Invasion, a failed military landing operation on the coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly financed and directed by the United States. It was aimed at overthrowing Fidel Castro’s communist government. The operation took place at the height of the Cold War, and its failure widened the division between the US and Cuba, while pushing Cuba closer to the Soviets.

Levittown

LUKE: Oh, what show?
LORELAI: Levittown, it’s a new musical.

The musical that Lorelai is going to see with Alex, Sookie, and Jackson is fictional. Levittown is a hamlet on Long Island, New York, built by Levitt & Sons as a planned community for returning World War II veterans between 1947 and 1951.

It was the first mass-produced suburb, and became a symbol of the American Dream, and of racial discrimination – the Levitts would only allow whites to buy in the suburb, and as late as the 1990s, only a tiny portion of the community were non-white. They built other Levittowns in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico.

Oddly enough, a real play called Levittown – a drama, not a musical – opened off-Broadway in 2009, to lukewarm response, although successful enough to be staged a few times since then.

In real life, there weren’t any new musicals debuting in New York in February 2003.

Salt Mines

In slang, the term salt mines, and especially the phrase back to the salt mines, refers ironically to one’s workplace, or a dull, tedious task. This phrase originates from the early 19th century in reference to the Russian practice of sending prisoners to forced labour in Siberian salt mines.

Memorial to Casimir Pulaski

In the background in the town square is a memorial to Casimir Pulaski (1745-1779), Polish nobleman, soldier, and military commander who has been called the “father of the American cavalry.”

Driven into exile after a failed uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, he came to North America to help in the American Revolutionary War, following a recommendation by Benjamin Franklin. He distinguished himself throughout the revolution, most notably when he saved the life of George Washington.

Pulaski became a general in the Continental Army, and he created the Pulaski Cavalry Legion, reforming the American cavalry as a whole. He was killed at the Battle of Savannah, and is remembered as a hero who fought for independence and freedom in Poland and the US.

Numerous places and events are named in his honour, and he is one of only eight people to be awarded honorary United States citizenship. There is a very fine statue in his honour in Hartford, and the memorial in Stars Hollow may be an attempt to provide a fictional counterpart.

Lyndon Johnson with the Senate

LORELAI: Man, that was some stealthy little maneuver she pulled there, huh? Applying the guilt over not knowing about the Dean breakup and making you all weak, and then using that to get Jess to come to dinner on Friday. She’s like Lyndon Johnson with the Senate, effortless.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, the 36th president of the US from 1963 to 1969. Elected to the US Senate in 1948, he was appointed Senate Majority Whip in 1951, and Majority Leader of the Senate in 1954.

Lyndon Johnson is considered the most effective Senate majority leader in history. He was unusually proficient at gathering information, discovering exactly where every senator stood on issues, his philosophy and prejudices, his strengths and weaknesses and what it took to get his vote.

Central to his control of the Senate was what was called “The Treatment”, his way of emotionally manipulating, intimidating, or bullying people into doing what he wanted. Lorelai is suggesting that Emily uses similar techniques to get her own way.

Korean War

[Students are gathered in a meeting room]
MADELINE: I called last night and I asked [Paris] to talk me through the Korean War and she said she was busy.
LOUISE: Oh, she’s definitely got a boyfriend.

The Korean War was fought between North Korea and South Korea from 1950 to 1953. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following clashes along the border and rebellions in South Korea. North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union while South Korea was supported by the US and allied countries. The fighting ended with an armistice on 27 July 1953, although the war itself technically has never come to an end.

Napoleon III and Chagall

LORELAI: Okay, then, it’s settled. We’re not staying at any place that wasn’t built for Napoleon the Third’s doctor or doesn’t have a Chagall in the bathroom.

Napoleon III, born Charles Napoléon Bonaparte (1808-1873) the first President of France from 1848 to 1852, and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew of Napoleon I, he was a popular monarch who oversaw the modernisation of the French economy and filled Paris with new boulevards and parks. One of his doctors was the surgeon Félix-Hippolyte Larrey; he owned a small castle, but I have been unable to learn if he had a house built for him.

Marc Chagall [pictured], born Moishe Shagal (1887-1985), Russian-French artist. An early modernist, he was associated with several major artistic styles and created works in a wide range of artistic formats, including painting, drawings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints.

Berlin Wall

LORELAI: Wow, these will be an enormous help in planning our trip. Hey, you wanna go see the Berlin Wall?
RORY: Sounds great.

The Berlin Wall, a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany. It included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the “death strip”) that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses.

You can actually see the Berlin Wall today – at least part of it. The remains of the wall have been left up as an exhibition, and it is one of Berlin’s top tourist sites.

Impeachment

PARIS: I move to put to a vote the impeachment of Rory Gilmore.

Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. In the US, impeachment at the federal level is limited to those who may have committed “Treason, Bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors”—the latter phrase referring to offenses against the government or the constitution, grave abuses of power, violations of the public trust, or other political crimes, even if not indictable criminal offenses.

The US House of Representatives has impeached an official 21 times since 1789: four times for presidents, 15 times for federal judges, once for a Cabinet secretary, and once for a senator. Of the 21, the Senate voted to remove 8 (all federal judges) from office.

The four impeachments of presidents were: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998, Donald Trump in 2019 and again in 2021. All four impeachments were followed by acquittal in the Senate. An impeachment process was also commenced against Richard Nixon, but he resigned in 1974 to avoid likely removal from office.

As the student advisor says, school councils don’t have the authority to impeach anyone.