Today -100: April 16, 1916: I could have blown the White House and Capitol off the map

Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing reports on the Parral battle. He says US soldiers entered the town unarmed in order to buy food and the attack on them was unprovoked. He says 2 US soldiers and 40 Mexicans were killed.

DeLloyd Thompson, an aviator who once held the altitude record, flies over Washington DC, trailing pyrotechnics of some sort, and drops fireworks on the Washington Monument, to demonstrate American vulnerability to air attack and the need for anti-aircraft guns, of which the US has none. “I could have blown the White House and Capitol off the map had I been armed with the most deadly explosives instead of fireworks bombs”.

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