History Book: Confronting evil

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, May 13th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

JENNY ROUGH, HOST: And I’m Jenny Rough.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: the WORLD History Book. Today, the Tiananmen Square massacre destroys hopes for democracy in China.

And, a Supreme Court decision 70 years ago helps to kickstart the civil rights movement.

EICHER: But first, the Queen of the Netherlands becomes a radio personality. Here’s WORLD Reporter Emma Perley.

EMMA PERLEY: During the early morning hours on May 13th, 1940, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands receives some troubling news. German troops have invaded the country and Wilhelmina’s life is at risk. Though the almost 60 year-old matriarch resists leaving her people at first, she finally agrees to board the HMS Hereward of the British Royal Navy. And they set sail for England. Audio here from Internet Archive.

AUDIO: Ik wek mijn landgenoten in het vaderland en overal waar zij zich bevinden op om hoe donker en moeilijk de tijden ook zijn, te blijven vertrouwen in de eindoverwinning van onze zaak, die niet alleen sterk staat door de kracht van wapenen, maar niet minder door het besef dat het gaat om onze heiligste goederen.

["I urge my compatriots in our homeland and wherever they find themselves to keep believing, no matter how dark and difficult the times, in our ultimate victory. Our cause is strong not only because of the strength of weapons, but no less so because we know it concerns our most sacred goods."]

Wilhelmina’s first broadcast from England, transmitted to the Netherlands through the BBC. She begins late-night radio segments encouraging her people to resist the German occupation. The Nazi regime outlaws radio, but the Dutch secretly tune in anyway. Audio courtesy of BBC Ottringham.

WILHELMINA: Al heeft ook de vijand dan vaderlandse bodem bezet. Nederland zal den strijd volhouden, zoolang tot voor ons eene vrije en gelukkige toekomst opdaagt.

["Even though the enemy has occupied our homeland, the Netherlands will continue to fight until a free and happy future arrives for us."]

Wilhelmina’s strong, lifelong Protestant beliefs fuel her rousing speeches of eventual victory against Adolf Hitler’s tyranny.

WILHELMINA: Voor ons een strijd tussen het goede en het kwade. Een strijd tussen God en ons geweten enerzijds en anderzijds de duistere machten die in deze wereld hoogtij vieren.

["Before us is a battle between good and evil. A battle between God and our conscience on one side and the forces of darkness that rule in this world on the other side."]

The Queen organizes a Dutch government while in exile. After the war is over, she immediately returns to the Netherlands to rebuild her country.

Wilhelmina remained a strong symbol of national unity until her abdication due to poor health in 1948, marking the end of a 58 year long reign.

Linda Brown Smith in front of the Sumner School in Topeka, Kan., May 8, 1964 Associated Press photo, File

Next, in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down a landmark decision for desegregation. And at the center of it all is a young girl named Linda Brown.

AUDIO: It all started for me on a balmy day in the fall of 1950, in the quiet Kansas town of Topeka, when a mild-mannered black man took his plump 7 year old daughter by the hand and walked briskly, four blocks from their home, to the all-white school, and tried without success to enroll his child.

Linda speaking at the 50th Anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education court case. Her father, Oliver Brown, and the plaintiff in the case, became upset over having to take Linda back and forth from an all-black school miles away from their home.

AUDIO: My father pondered, ‘Why? Why should our children have to travel so far to school, facing unbearable winter weather, when there is a school only four blocks from our home?”

He partnered with the NAACP, using the 14th Amendment to claim his daughter had the right to go to a closer school. Four other similar lawsuits joined Brown and formed one large set of arguments, led by prominent NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall. The Supreme Court released its verdict on May 17th.

AUDIO: At 12:52 p.m., the announcement came. The court’s decision on ending segregation was unanimous. That evening in our home was much rejoicing.

The decision overturns the “separate but equal” precedent set almost 60 years before.

A Chinese man blocks a line of tanks in Tiananmen Square. Associated Press/Photo by Jeff Widener, File

And finally, on May 4th, 1989, thousands of students gather in Tiananmen Square in Beijing to protest against a corrupt Chinese government. Since the collapse of Mao Zedong’s Communist regime in 1976, China faced a weak economy, widespread poverty, and political turmoil. This is one of many protests from an unhappy people.

AUDIO: There has never been a challenge to the leadership of Communist China like this one. In cities all across the country, crowds are taking to the streets to demand democracy and freedom.

The people are particularly angry that their liberal political leader, Hu Yaobang, was forced out of office by Communists. From April to May, the government remains silent as nearly one million protesters set up demonstrations in the Square. When they declare a hunger strike on May 13th, 400 cities around China also take up the cause. Finally, the government declares martial law. Audio from the 2019 documentary Tremble and Obey.

AUDIO: On the night of June 3, 1989, the People’s Liberation Army turned its guns on the people.

The army storms the square and opens fire. Some protestors fight back, setting fire to army vehicles and throwing stones. Audio from CBC News.

NEWSCAST: In all, the army put on a vicious show of brute force. Midnight Beijing time, Saturday night, it began its attack. It moved towards the Square from both the East and the West.

The next morning, the army rolls through Beijing in victory with gunshots still ringing out—when suddenly an unknown man walks in front of a tank to halt its advance. CBS News reports.

NEWSCAST: The man was alone, the tank was not. It wasn’t just a single tank he stopped, there were 18 tanks and armored carries in this convoy, and while he talked to the crew and ignored the gunfire, he stopped all of them.

The tank tries to maneuver around him, but he continues to stand in its way. People cheer for his show of resistance. Never identified, he famously becomes known as Tank Man for his refusal to back down.

NEWSCAST: One man alone, of course, can’t stop an army. Except for a moment, that’s exactly what happened here. For three minutes, in the middle of the day, an army was stopped by a man who stood still.

Tank Man’s fate remains unknown. China suppresses information about and reminders of the Tiananmen Square incident to this day, though Hong Kong regularly held a vigil for the protestors until they were forced to stop by the government in 2020.

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. I’m Emma Perley.

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