Historical Note
On this date in 1945, fifty-nine years ago, as World War II was coming to an end, an American B-25 bomber got lost in the fog above New York City. At 9:49 AM it crashed into the Empire State Building, damaging the 78th and 79th floors. Although it was a Saturday morning, there were people working in the building. Fourteen people were killed and twenty-six sustained injuries.
By the next week, the building was repaired and the floors were usable again.
It was this incident that prompted E.B. White in his now much more famous essay "Here is New York" to note the following:
"The city, for the first time in its long history, is destructible. A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers, cremate the millions."
Let us hope such events can stay in the past.
By the next week, the building was repaired and the floors were usable again.
It was this incident that prompted E.B. White in his now much more famous essay "Here is New York" to note the following:
"The city, for the first time in its long history, is destructible. A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers, cremate the millions."
Let us hope such events can stay in the past.
This is not true, is it? The place almost burned down in the nineteenth century.
At least, that's my guess. You'd probably have to go back to the whole essay to get a better idea.