← The World and Everything In It
The World and Everything In It
3.30.26 Supreme Court justices consider limits on mail-in ballots, the economy’s mixed signs, and Hank Aaron’s 715th home run
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- [00:06]
Jenny Ruff
Good morning. Today on legal docket considering mail in voting and the question, have we lost any practical meaning of the phrase election day?
- [00:15]
Justice Brett Kavanaugh
We don't have election day anymore. We have election month or we have election months.
- [00:20]
Nick Iger
Also today, the Monday money beat, David Bonson standing by. And later, the world history book, the home run that rewrote baseball history.
- [00:29]
Baseball Announcer
What a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A black man is getting a standing ovation in the deep south for breaking a record of an all time baseball idol.
- [00:48]
Jenny Ruff
It's Monday, March 30th. This is the world and everything in it. From listener supported world radio. I'm Jenny Ruff.
- [00:54]
Nick Iger
And I'm Nick Einker.
- [00:55]
Randy Lewis Cox
Good morning.
- [00:58]
Jenny Ruff
Up next, Mark Mellinger with today's News.
- [01:02]
Mark Mellinger
More than 2,500 Marines have arrived in the Middle east as part of the month long U. S. Israeli conflict with Iran known as Operation Epic Fury. And as U.S. attacks on Iranian infrastructure continue, the Pentagon is reportedly weighing sending 10,000 more troops to the Middle East. Arkansas Republican Congressman Rick Crawford tells FOX News sending the additional Marines is a good move.
- [01:29]
David Bonson
What this does is provide the president with more options and it should send a pretty clear message to the Iranians that this is not the time to be mocking and tempting fake.
- [01:38]
Mark Mellinger
Meantime, Iran's parliament speaker says his country is waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground, quote, to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever. President Trump has previously said he does not intend to send in ground forces, though he hasn't ruled it out. Washington Democratic Congressman Adam Smith is concerned, concerned Epic Fury isn't achieving its objectives.
- [02:04]
Legal Expert/Historian
We've paid an enormous cost to basically somewhat reduce the threat from Iran, not to eliminate it.
- [02:11]
Mark Mellinger
A Washington Post report Sunday tells another story quoting experts who say Epic Fury has significantly damaged Iran's ballistic missile capabilities. More than 3,000 people have died in the conflict this weekend. Roughly a dozen American troops were hurt when Iran struck a US Base in Saudi Arabia. And Pakistan says it will be hosting U. S Iran peace talks this week. One major impact here in the US of the conflict in the Middle east, skyrocketing prices at the pump. The average price of a gallon of gas is up more than a dollar from where it was before Epic Fury and it's still rising. Analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg survey.
- [02:53]
Myrna Brown
Gasoline prices are up another 46 cents
- [02:56]
David Bonson
per gallon in the past two weeks. The new average is $4.06 per gallon.
- [03:03]
Mark Mellinger
If oil prices don't stabilize, Lundberg says the cost of gas could shoot up to over $5 a gallon, though she adds moves like easing oil sanctions on Russia and Venezuela could help the US avoid that. Gas prices are 90 cents a gallon higher right now than they were a year ago. Transportation Security Administration workers will finally be getting paid this week, despite the ongoing logjam in Congress that's been holding up their paychecks for a month. And a President Trump issued an executive action Friday giving TSA workers emergency pay. That could mean TSA workers will start receiving back pay as soon as today. TSA officer Carlos Rodriguez people still need gas, people still need to buy lunch, people's families still have needs. And the financial situation for the workers in some of these airports is really bad. Hundreds of TSA workers have quit and thousands have not shown up for work in recent weeks, leading to hours long security lines at airports across the country. There are hopes that restarting pay could alleviate that, but large airports are still asking flyers to arrive several hours early. TSA employees have been working without pay since Valentine's Day. As Democrats in Congress refuse to fund TSA's parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, Democrats want reforms to another DHS agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement ice, before they'll agree to fund dhs. In January, two US Citizens died in confrontations with ice, sparking the political standoff. Meantime, it doesn't look like any break in the DHS funding impasse is coming soon. House Republicans passed a bill Friday that would fund DHS for 60 days, but Senate Democrats say it's dead on arrival. The Democratic Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut tells CBS has faced the nation his party's not backing down from its position.
- [05:09]
David Bonson
Vast majority of Americans look at the way ICE behave. They say that is not okay and that's our position. We want ICE to act like the police force that they are and that fight is not won yet.
- [05:21]
Mark Mellinger
President Trump says the Republican controlled Senate should end the procedural move known as the filibuster in order to get DHS funding and other bills through. The filibuster requires 60 votes for any legislation to proceed, giving the minority party the ability to frequently block bills backed by the majority, Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson tells fox's Sunday Morning Futures he agrees it's time for the filibuster to go. How much broken can the United States Senate get? It's always been described as the saucer beneath the cup of tea to cool the passions. I'm describing as no, it's more like the plaque in the arteries that are
- [06:00]
David Bonson
causing a heart attack.
- [06:02]
Mark Mellinger
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has suggested there aren't enough votes to end the filibuster. Another round of so called no Kings protests against the Trump administration drew large crowds across the US this weekend and there was some violence in la. Rioters threw bottles, rocks and pieces of cement blocks, hitting and hurting two DHS officers. The the LAPD used tear gas and pepper spray on people in the crowd who wouldn't disperse and made 75 arrests. Protests in other cities were peaceful, including the flagship demonstration in Minneapolis, home of all the recent unrest. Democratic Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was among the speakers.
- [06:45]
Myrna Brown
In the United States of America, we pledge allegiance to the Constitution and the flag, not to a person or a king.
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Mark Mellinger
Other speakers included left wingers like Bruce Springsteen, Bernie Sanders and Joan Baez. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller dismissed the protesters, calling them elderly hippies. A private aircraft got too close for comfort to President Trump and his plane Sunday afternoon, leading to a short lived security scare in Palm Beach, Florida. The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, dispatched F16 fighter jets to get the pilot out of the no fly zone. The F16s had to fire off some flares to get that pilot's attention. There was a brief ground stop for all flights at Palm Beach International Airport where Air Force One was parked, but the situation was resolved without incident and all operations were quickly back to normal. The Secret Service says the President was never in any danger. I'm Mark Mellinger. Straight ahead, does the phrase Election Day have any practical meaning anymore? We'll explore in today's legal docket and later the legacy of Hank Aaron and his record breaking home run through the eyes of his last surviving sibling. This is the world and everything in it.
- [08:20]
Nick Iger
It's Monday 30th March. Glad to have you along for today's edition of the World and Everything In It. Good morning, I'm Nick Iger.
- [08:27]
Jenny Ruff
And I'm Jenny Ruff. Time now for legal docket. If you mail your ballot by Election Day but it doesn't arrive until days later, should it still count? That's the surprisingly simple question before the Supreme Court and Watson v. Republican National Committee.
- [08:42]
Justice Samuel Alito
And it really goes to just thinking about what election day or day of election means.
- [08:47]
Jenny Ruff
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, his colleague Justice Samuel Alito had the same concern.
- [08:52]
Justice Brett Kavanaugh
We don't have a whole lot to go on here. We have the phrase Election Day and we have history. If we looked just at the phrase election Day, what would we take from that? I think you've been saying, and we're moving in this direction. We don't have Election Day anymore We have election month or we have election months. I mean, the early voting can start a month before the election. The ballots can be received a month after the election.
- [09:26]
Nick Iger
At least 14 states and the District of Columbia seem to think that's about right in this case. A Mississippi state law says a mail in ballot counts as long as it's received no more than five business days after the election. But federal law preempts state law, and the Republican National Committee and others argue that federal law does not allow a grace period. That is the fight in this case, and it's a good bit more complicated than it originally sounds.
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Jenny Ruff
It is. The Constitution grants the states broad authority over setting the time, place and manner of federal elections, but Congress can set limits on them. Here's how Justice Sonia Sotomayor paraphrased it at oral arguments.
- [10:08]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
The Constitution vests the issue of elections in the states unless superseded by Congress. And absent a law in federal law that suggests that absentee ballots must be received by a certain time, then in
- [10:27]
Jenny Ruff
that case, the state rule controls. For decades, no designated election day existed. But starting in 1845, Congress passed a series of statutes that set a uniform day for federal elections. The Tuesday next, after the first Monday in November. Mississippi was one of a number of states that changed its election rules during the COVID 19 pandemic to allow late arrival ballots. But absentee ballots opened the door to more fraud and the rules came under suspicion. After the height of the pandemic, some states retreated. Mississippi left its rule in place.
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Nick Iger
During oral arguments, Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart defended the state law. Stewart argued that federal election day statutes set a deadline to cast ballots. It's a final choice day.
- [11:15]
Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart
And I think a very simple rule is everybody must cast their ballot by election day. I mean, that's quite administrable. I mean.
- [11:21]
Nick Iger
But he argued, the federal laws are silent on the ballot receipt deadline.
- [11:25]
Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart
And I think a state could say, hey, look, federal law didn't wall us off from doing this. We get that it has some things about it that other states might weigh differently, but we want to allow that for our voters.
- [11:35]
Jenny Ruff
The justices asked hard questions and painted difficult hypotheticals about how various states might allow a mail in framework. Justice Alito, aren't there eight states that
- [11:45]
Justice Brett Kavanaugh
do not require a postmark for late ballots?
- [11:48]
Jenny Ruff
And how long can a grace period last?
- [11:51]
Justice Brett Kavanaugh
Isn't it the case that some state will count ballots that are received 21 days after election day?
- [11:57]
Jenny Ruff
Also, to whom and by what means does casting a vote become a final choice? Mississippi accepts ballots through the private carrier FedEx. So what about other non state officials?
- [12:08]
Justice Brett Kavanaugh
If I, Justice Clarence Thomas, give my
- [12:12]
David Bonson
mail in ballot to my neighbor, is that a choice?
- [12:14]
Nick Iger
Justice Amy Coney Barrett if I have someone in my HOA who says, listen,
- [12:20]
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
I'm going to take everybody's votes in
- [12:21]
David Bonson
what if the state, if you've cast
- [12:24]
Justice Neil Gorsuch
well, how about a Justice of the
- [12:25]
Nick Iger
United States, Supreme Court, Justice Neil Gorsuch? And he had another question. Can a voter who mailed a ballot recall that ballot?
- [12:35]
Justice Neil Gorsuch
So here's the hypo. Let's say you have a state where a large portion of the electorate mails in their ballots on or close to Election Day. Not far fetched. Many states are like that. Then the day after the election, a story breaks that one of the lead candidates engaged in an inappropriate sexual escapade or perhaps is concluding with a foreign power. Again, not far fetched, I think. And the competing candidate immediately goes on the airwaves and urges voters to recall their ballots and to tell the common carriers not to deliver them. And many common carriers will do that. FedEx. You just call them up and, and say I want it back. In that hypothetical, did the election happen on Election day? Oh, by the way, it swings the election.
- [13:21]
Jenny Ruff
On that note, what about the risk of destabilizing an election? An apparent winner who ends up losing because late arriving ballots put his opponent over the top. Justice Kavanaugh quoted a friend of the court brief to ask about that.
- [13:34]
Justice Samuel Alito
The longer after Election Day, any significant changes in vote totals take place, the greater the risk that the losing side will cry that the election has been stolen.
- [13:43]
Justice Neil Gorsuch
And.
- [13:43]
Nick Iger
But Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson brought the attention back to the legal question in this case.
- [13:48]
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
I mean, there are a lot of policy questions, but the question, I think is whether Congress has precluded the states from making those calls, drawing those lines. And your position, as I understand it, is no?
- [14:07]
Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart
That's correct, you, Honor.
- [14:08]
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
That the scantness of Election Day in the federal statutes actually is a point in your favor because it indicates that Congress was leaving it to the states to draw the various lines that might arise in this circumstance, Is that right?
- [14:23]
Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart
That's right, you, Honor.
- [14:24]
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
So if we were focused, really focused on what we're asked to answer here, which is, is are the states preempted by federal law from having post Election day ballot deadlines, you would say no.
- [14:42]
Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart
No.
- [14:42]
Jenny Ruff
The Justices also looked to history for answers. Famed Supreme Court litigator Paul Clement argued for the challengers and said history predominantly favors their position. In the mid 19th century, everybody voted in person but by the Civil War, states had begun to deviate from that to allow soldiers serving away from home to vote. Justice Thomas asked Clement about that.
- [15:04]
Justice Brett Kavanaugh
Would you spend a few more minutes
- [15:07]
David Bonson
on the voting during Civil War?
- [15:12]
Legal Expert/Historian
So proxy voting is the thing that happened in the Civil War that is
- [15:16]
Nick Iger
most analogous to absentee voting, proxy style voting. Soldiers mailed a ballot home to be cast along with civilian votes.
- [15:24]
Legal Expert/Historian
And the thing that is most striking is I think five states had proxy voting. Every one of those five states required the votes, the ballots, to be received by election officials back home by election day. Now that's an incredibly inconvenient thing that was done in the Civil War to ensure the ballots were received by election Day.
- [15:45]
Nick Iger
Another method, field voting. Election officials came to the barracks so soldiers could vote on site.
- [15:51]
Legal Expert/Historian
There were like maybe a dozen states that did field voting. And of course, most of the states went to enormous efforts to replicate the machinery of the ballot box and everything else in the field. And some variation in that. But the one thing that didn't vary at all was the ballots had to be received into official custody by election day.
- [16:12]
Nick Iger
So is election day a deadline or a duration? Justice Alito weighed in by putting the holiday on par with some of the most fixed dates on the American calendar.
- [16:22]
Justice Brett Kavanaugh
Labor Day, Memorial Day, George Washington's birthday, Independence Day, birthday and Election Day. And they're all particular days. So if we start with that, if I have nothing more to look at than the phrase election Day, I think this is the day in which everything is going to take place.
- [16:45]
Nick Iger
The original public meaning. But he acknowledged it is true that different practices took place during the Civil War. Did that change things?
- [16:55]
Justice Brett Kavanaugh
And a big exception was made. Wasn't everybody going to a particular polling place and voting? So what then can we take from that? Should we just take from that? Well, this was an incredible national emergency where extraordinary measures had to be taken.
- [17:12]
Legal Expert/Historian
I think the thing that would have impressed them is that even at a time of great national emergency, every one of the states insisted that the ballots were be received into official custody by election Day. Nobody said, well, you know, it's a civil war, let's give them a month. If you told anybody, hey, all this means is you gotta cast your ballot, but the state can receive it for up to 21 days later with or without a postmark. I think they would have thought that you were talking about a different country.
- [17:44]
Jenny Ruff
Let's take the last but one big problem for those who want to be ban grace periods. If votes don't count after election Day, it should reason that they don't count before election day either. Justice ELENA kagan.
- [17:55]
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Because every time I sort of try to state what your rule is, it seems to me it's a rule that prevents early voting because you're basically saying there are two things that have to happen and they have to happen on election day. And it's the voting and, you know, the casting of the vote and the receipts, seat of the vote. And both of those things have to be on election day. And just like a normal person says, okay, well, when I early vote, I'm not doing that on that first Tuesday.
- [18:24]
Jenny Ruff
Finally, Justice Kavanaugh brought up an important doctrine known as the Purcell principle. Federal courts should not interfere with state election rules close to an election.
- [18:34]
Justice Neil Gorsuch
Last one.
- [18:34]
Justice Samuel Alito
If you were to prevail here and say our decision was issued in June, Purcell issues with the states for the upcoming fall elections.
- [18:46]
Legal Expert/Historian
I don't, I don't think so. I think June would give them plenty of time. And remember, it only affects the, this, this issue only affects the general election. It doesn't affect primaries. So there's plenty of time. I don't think there's a Purcell problem.
- [18:57]
Justice Samuel Alito
Thank you.
- [18:58]
Jenny Ruff
There's something to be said for uniform federal election procedures, but the Constitution does grant states broad authority. The court will have to decide if Congress's election day statutes have already set a limit here or if Congress has to do more if it wants to.
- [19:14]
Nick Iger
Before we go, very quickly, two rulings for you to know. The court last week sided with Internet providers in a big copyright case, ruling unanimously that providers having mere knowledge of their customers pirating music does not expose the providers to liability. The court also limited the government's power to extend supervised release. In an 8 to 1 vote, the majority decided that even if a defendant goes into hiding, her supervision term does not automatically get extended under federal law.
- [19:46]
Jenny Ruff
And that's this week's legal docket.
- [19:53]
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- [20:37]
Jenny Ruff
Coming up next on the world and everything in it, the Monday Money beat.
- [20:43]
Nick Iger
Time now to talk business, markets and the economy with financial analyst and advisor David Bonson. David heads up the wealth management firm the Bonson Group and he is here now. Good morning, David.
- [20:54]
David Bonson
Well, good morning, Nick. Good to be with you.
- [20:56]
Nick Iger
All right, David. Well, let me start with the way last week was kind of being framed in the major media. The New York Times says investors are quote unquote losing patience with the Iran war. Another piece in the Times asks whether we may be looking at a 1970s style oil shock. Over at the Wall Street Journal you read stories about growing alarm on Wall street about the Iran war. When you see headlines like that and than nearing correction territory, are we looking at real deterioration or is it more of a temporary sentiment shift? What do you think?
- [21:35]
David Bonson
Well, there's a couple different things. The language itself, I expect, whether or not it is true, the language doesn't create the environment. And then it sometimes might be accurately describing and other times might not be, but that media language is pretty much assured to be hyperbolic and, and then it can sometimes be accidentally or coincidentally correct. And I guess that's indicting of the media. But it is also my opinion of the sensationalism by which financial media's business model operates. In this particular case, it is rather descriptive that if oil prices stay above 90 around 100 for a period of time, that it becomes very contractionary to the economy. And in terms of what we see on market prices, saying that market indices are down 10% and that's what we call a correction is just descriptive. I think that the problem I have though is the predicting where it goes from here in the economy, in the market, in commodity prices, when it is based on a particular military or geopolitical outlook, that I think is much harder to do. There isn't anyone writing in the media that knows exactly where things are going. So if all the language was Nick, was, hey, there is going to be a problem in the economy if oil prices stay this high for too much longer. That's a pretty fair thing to say. Beyond that, some of the more doomsdayish predictions I think are a little lacking in foundation.
- [23:14]
Nick Iger
All right, well, David, take us a level deeper because when you look at the main drivers that you tend to focus on, the labor market, the condition of the financial markets and corporate profits, what are those things telling you right now?
- [23:29]
David Bonson
Well, I think that there is a very mixed bag in all three. I think that for whatever reason, we have a very bizarre time right now with data that I referred to in Dividend Cafe as data purgatory. There's, there's stuff that just looks really concerning and other stuff that is frankly stubbornly not confirming it. And so the weekly jobless claims is a data point you and I have talked about a lot over the years. It's really quite benign. It's coming in about 210,000 or so per week. And yet the ADP number, the BLS number, the quits rate, the job openings, there's all sorts of other data points that are either problematic or indicative of something problematic coming. So the labor markets are probably what I'm watching most intently because it is so confusing. And I would add to that the financial conditions in terms of just how loose and available accessible money and the flow of money and particularly lending is in the economy. Tightening financial conditions is a term we use in finance to refer to banks that are wanting to hoard money instead of lend money because they're getting more risk constrained. There's less liquidity in the financial system and less appetite to lend it out, either because people are concerned about creditworthiness and concerned about the economy, or just because there's less creditworthy borrowers and creditworthy projects to lend to. And again, the data is quite mixed. There's some indications of financial conditions that are fine, but they are certainly less fine than they were the credit spreads, which is kind of the, the rate above the risk free rate that certain riskier things cost to borrow money, whether it be structured credit, corporate credit, et cetera. These spreads have widened in the last couple months, but they are not as wide as they would be in a period of extreme distress. So that purgatory word just kind of caught between both levels and waiting to see what happens next. And that to me is the honest answer right now in an economic assess. And if one has a strong opinion that it's going to break this way or break the other way, somebody can end up being right about that. But that is a prediction of what will come. It is not a description of what is.
- [26:02]
Nick Iger
So, David, if the fundamentals are mixed, what is it that's actually moving markets day to day right now?
- [26:10]
David Bonson
The volatility right now, is that because of Iran, I mean, and oil prices? There's no question this enhanced intraday volatility escalated. And though the right description is what you said, that things will be down more in the middle of a day and maybe not close as much down, or it could be vice versa. You know, you're having some bigger updates too. So the average intraday movement from whatever the peak of the day is to whatever the trough of the day is has about tripled since the Iran war started. And yet the total market movement of daily prices is thousands upon thousands of points. And yet the net net movement from where we were to where we are is down a little less than 5,000 points, right, at about 10%. So it had been only 5% and it worsened in the week that just was. Look, I think that enhanced volatility is because there's some investors that are nervous and skittish and that usually is going to lead to a lower place, but not as low as the volatility itself. There are some people trying to time their way in and out of this and it's not going very well for them.
- [27:28]
Nick Iger
So if we step back from the day to day volatility we see. What would you say, David, is at the root of the uncertainty in the economy?
- [27:36]
David Bonson
Well, I'm concerned where the economy is headed in the sense that I've been concerned for some time. Uncertainty means by definition that it is not a certain outcome, good or bad. And I don't think that generally speaking, the US economy rooted to a market orientation should ever have to be uncertain. Right? I mean, at a high level, often uncertainty is a choice. And I really believe that the uncertainty of the economy, apart from the Iran issues that are in the last four weeks, have been there for about a year because of Liberation Day and the tariff oriented policies. You could get certainty, okay, around corporate tax advantages in the new tax bill. That's a positive certainty. You could get certainty about a more favorable US Energy policy or deregulation. There's things in the policy framework that could create more certainty. But what happened with tariffs is there is just this really big ambiguity about what companies are willing to do with hiring and with capital spending. And that's been going on for some time. But that doesn't mean that it bled through into a really bad outcome, but it certainly bled through into an uncertain one. And that's where I've had the uncertainty certainty for some time. And right now most of the data points I look at indicate that I've been right. Now keep in mind, Nick, and it's important for listeners to hear this when you hear about certain positive things. There is a very big positive in data center spending. The total aggregate economic metrics across the country include what's happening with AI. And a few companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on their investment into the computing power necessary for artificial intelligence. So maybe that ends up being the great savior here. But it is incredibly rare that one industry can lift to the entire economy and it can offset when a lot of other things are dropping. I've said this on the podcast before. I've written about it. I want to elaborate on it more, more. But the best analogy I have is what took place with the hydraulic fracturing moment, what we referred to as fracking in the early 2010s and that is that we had a significant lift in activity in that one sector, but then almost no activity in any other sector out of, in the recession. That was the financial crisis. And I feel like that's happening in a lot of ways right now.
- [30:23]
Nick Iger
All right. David Bonson is founder, managing partner and chief investment officer at the Bonson Group. He writes each week@dividendcafe.com and regularly for us at World Opinions. David, have a great week.
- [30:35]
David Bonson
Well, thanks so much. Good to be with you.
- [30:56]
Nick Iger
Good morning. This is the world and everything in it. From listener supported World Radio, I'm Nick Iger.
- [31:01]
Jenny Ruff
And I'm Jenny Ruff. Finally today, the world history book. Baseball legend Babe Ruth finished his career with 714 home runs, a record that stood for nearly four decades.
- [31:13]
Nick Iger
That is until a 40 year old right fielder from Alabama tied and then broke that record. World's Myrna Brown takes us back to a week that changed baseball and revealed something deeper about our country.
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Mark Mellinger
Three, one pitch.
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Baseball Announcer
There's a drive into left field. That ball is going, going and out of here.
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Myrna Brown
April 4, 1974, Cincinnati.
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Baseball Announcer
The crowd has given Aaron a tremendous ovation here. 7:14 has been hit.
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Myrna Brown
Hank Aaron had finally done it.
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Hank Aaron
Thank you very much and I'm just glad it's almost over with. Thank you.
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Myrna Brown
Henry Lewis. Aaron's teammates and fans knew him as Hank, but his family in Mobile, Alabama called him Maine.
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Alfredia Scott
My godmother called him Maine when he was born because he was so big, close to 13 pounds. And because he was that big, they called him Maine. He's like a man. That's what they studied there.
- [32:16]
Myrna Brown
78 year old Alfredia Scott is Aaron's last surviving sister.
- [32:21]
Alfredia Scott
My mother had eight children. Hank was number three.
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Myrna Brown
As a boy, Erin played unorganized ball in the neighborhood sandlots. Scott says even then her parents knew Aaron had talent. So when he couldn't play the game he loved because they couldn't afford, his mother made one out of sackcloth.
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Alfredia Scott
They were made out of the material that contained the cloth that you went and got your flour and meal and corn and put little ribbons down the side to make it look like a baseball suit.
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Myrna Brown
Still in high school, Aaron played for the Mobile Black Bears, a semi pro baseball team. A year later in 1951, he made brief stops in the Negro leagues and the minor leagues before settling in with the Milwaukee Braves in 1954. In a 1991 interview, Aaron recalled a decades old conversation with his father.
- [33:17]
Hank Aaron
He always felt like although baseball was there and some days somebody's going to come along to prove that blacks can play it as well as whites if given the same opportunity. But he never did think that. He didn't know whether that day was going to come soon enough for his son to play baseball.
- [33:36]
Myrna Brown
Aaron was a consistent producer both at the plate and in the field. 1957 was one of his best seasons. He captured the National League MVP award and led the Braves to their first World Series championship. But it wasn't until the mid-1970s that Aaron grabbed the national spotlight. Elfride Scott says some people were angry about the prospect of a black athlete surpassing one of sports most cherished records.
- [34:07]
Alfredia Scott
Although my brother was highly respected, there was still racism that was going on.
- [34:12]
Myrna Brown
Aaron received thousands of letters, including hate mail.
- [34:17]
Alfredia Scott
Somebody always having to guard him. I could hear my mother, them talking on the phone, talking about the fact that she was scared for him.
- [34:27]
Myrna Brown
Then his moment arrived. April 8, 1974.
- [34:31]
Baseball Announcer
Once again a standing ovation for Henry Aaron.
- [34:35]
Myrna Brown
Fans packed the Atlanta Fulton County Stadium.
- [34:38]
Randy Lewis Cox
I was working as a sports editor of the Valley Times News. That was in Lynette, Alabama, about 90 miles from the stadium.
- [34:49]
Myrna Brown
Randy Lewis Cox, a 20 something year old rookie, says the crowd seemed excited to be part of history.
- [34:56]
Randy Lewis Cox
All these celebrities were there. Sammy Davis Jr. Red Fox, Jimmy Carter.
- [35:07]
Baseball Announcer
Downing has to ignore the sound effects.
- [35:10]
Myrna Brown
Not far from Cox near the dugout, Alfredia Scott sat between her mother and her father.
- [35:16]
Alfredia Scott
I have to tell you that I was very frightened. And then here's the pitch by swinging.
- [35:24]
Baseball Announcer
There's a drive into left center field. That ball is going to be out of here. It's gone. It's 7:15.
- [35:33]
Myrna Brown
After Atlanta Braves announcer Milo Hamilton made the dramatic call, the stands erupted with applause. That's when Scott says her elderly mother bolted towards her son on the field.
- [35:48]
Alfredia Scott
I wondered how in the world that woman got out of that seat. She jumped over the rails and she ran toward first base.
- [35:58]
Myrna Brown
Scott says the threats against her son's life propelled her mother into action.
- [36:03]
Alfredia Scott
If you break this record, you will never touch home plate. And that's what stuck in my mother's mind.
- [36:10]
Myrna Brown
As Aaron rounded the bases, Dodgers broadcaster Vince Scully provided the memorable Play by
- [36:17]
Baseball Announcer
play, he threw his arms around his father. And as he left the home plate area, his mother came running across the grass, threw her arms around his neck, kissed him for all she was worth. A black man is getting a standing ovation in the deep south for breaking a record of an all time baseball idol.
- [36:40]
Myrna Brown
Randy Lewis cox took about 100 photographs that night and made front page news.
- [36:45]
Randy Lewis Cox
Aaron Swatz Number 715 to break Bruce record. That was, that was my headline today.
- [36:51]
Myrna Brown
76 year old Cox is a retired author. He kept all of those photographs and wrote a book about Henry Aaron's big night in baseball. Aaron hit his final 755th home run in 1976. He was elected to the hall of Fame six years later. Henry Aaron passed away in 2021 at the age of 86 and was often regarded as a model of humility, dignity and quiet competence.
- [37:20]
Hank Aaron
And I'm certainly not going to sit here and tell you or tell anybody else that I was as great a ballplayer as Babe Ruth. That's for other people to judge me by. I think only time and history would put me in my proper place. I think eventually people going to say well you know, he belongs where he's supposed to be, on top or second or third. That's where he's supposed to be.
- [37:42]
Myrna Brown
That's this week's world history book. I'm Myrna Brown.
- [38:10]
Nick Iger
Tomorrow the Houthis in Yemen escalate in the Iran conflict. We'll talk with an expert about what it could mean for the US and acoustics in how to make worship sound its best. That and more tomorrow. I'm Nick Iger.
- [38:25]
Jenny Ruff
And I'm Jenny Ruff. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires. The Bible says God has taken his place in the divine council. In the midst of the gods, he holds judgment. How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the fatherless? Maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy. Deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Verses 1 through 4 of Psalm 82. Go now in grace and peace.