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14 February 2004
st. valentine's day
Valentine's Day is many things to many people, but with Chicago on my mind this week my 14 February thoughts turn to...the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. If you're not keen to review the FBI's file on the event, Wikipedia offers a tidy synopsis.
Because it was a local crime, the FBI didn't have much at all to do with the investigation, but still got tangled up in matters because it seemed like an investigation they would have been a part of, given the presumed involvement of organized crime. But I love the concern expressed by J. Edgar Hoover in his memorandum dated 24 January 1935 [page 11 of the first .pdf on the FBI site] in which he notes, "I stated that if we caught the Chicago American wire tappers tapping our wires, it was my intention to prosecute them." Ah, good ol' J. Edgar: he could dish it out, but couldn't take it.
Lots of other things happened on 14 February, too. If the Wikipedia folks are correct, Jimmy Hoffa's birthday was the 14th; it's both Carl Bernstein's birthday (1944) and the anniversary of John Ehrlichman's death (1999). Isn't that interesting...
Whatever your reason for celebrating--love or something less traditional--enjoy!