Although not an everyday segment, the Standards and Grudges blog occasionally points out days in which there were numerous historical events. Journalist Steven A. Stehling is often the man behind these reports and lists the most important events that occurred on a single day. One day that stuck out because of its importance was February 11th. Stehling wrote about many of the occurrences that happened on this day in history.

1752 - The opening of the first hospital in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Hospital welcomed the first patients on this day. 1812 - Elbridge Gerry used a political tactic for the first time and it still bears his name. Gerrymandering or tampering with the electoral districts is an unfair advantage in a political campaign and is considered to be illegal. Gerry, the Governor of the state of the Massachusetts was the first to use this particular trick. 1847 - The birthday of inventor Thomas Edison. 1936 - The birthday of actor Burt Reynolds. 1937 - With a large scale strike in place, the automaker General Motors made a decision to recognize the United Auto Workers Union and effectively put an end to the protest. The modern amount of money spent on health care for the members of the United Auto Workers Union amount to approximately $1,500 for each car that GM sells. Only 7 percent of this amount is paid by the Union and the workers often pay as much as 32 percent for their health care needs. 1945 - The end of the Yalta Conference. 1962 - The birthday of singer Sheryl Crow. 1963 - The birthday of Diana Franklin, a film actress. Her most well known role was as an exchange student from France in the John Cusack movie, Better Off Dead. 1964 - The British band, The Beatles, made their first United States appearance at a concert in Washington, D.C. 1969 - The birthday of actress Jennifer Aniston. Her best known role is from the Friends television show. 1973 - The first American prisoners of war were released from their prison in North Vietnam. 1979 - The Ayatollah Khomeini rose to power and headed the state of Iran. 1990 - Civil rights activist Nelson Mandela finally was released from custody in prison. In total, the man spent over 27 years behind bars in South Africa.

In the United States, February 11th is celebrated as the National Inventors’ Day. Mostly due to the birthday of Thomas Edison, this day has been used to mark the contributions that American inventors have been able to give the general population of the country and to the world.

The writer of the Standards and Grudges piece addressed most of his attention towards the General Motors strike and the acceptance of the United Auto Workers Union. In his mind, this was a mistake and ushered in a new era where even menial jobs were given basic minimum pay wages and benefits that came with the job. Stehling’s opinion is that this decision by GM gave untold power to the unions and prevented workers from having any incentive to learn additional skills or become able to do more complex jobs. With the union standing behind their back, they were now able to do the bare minimum of work and still receive the same pay as a skilled employee that had worked years to perfect a trade. In this manner, the workers could rely on the unions to put pressure on the automaking and other industries to increase their pay. Stehling’s prediction is that the auto industry will soon reap the results from this path and will follow the footsteps of the steel industry in the United States.