On this date in 1974, Marshall Fields crashed his Chevy Impala through the Northwest gate of the White House in Washington, DC. Fields, who was dressed in Arab clothing, claimed he was the Messiah. He displayed what appeared to be a bomb strapped to his body and threatened to detonate it. After a four hour standoff with police, Fields surrendered. After his surrender, police discovered that his bomb was really made up of common road flares. They also discovered he was not really the Messiah. I guess you just can’t believe a raving lunatic. Not even on Christmas.
Further reading:
Wikipedia – Marshall Fields
Yonkers, NY Herald Statesman – “Break-in sparks review”
History.com – A History of White House Attacks
John D.:
That happened on CHRISTMAS day?
(plumb forgot that it was)
I guess police IOPTICS weren’t as good back then, because if they would have noticed the “TNT” was actually roiad flares, they COULD have called his bluff…and dare him to set THOSE off.
(be a bugger to blow out even if it was a birthday)
BTW, they never DID ban Chevys, did they?
Wonder how the Marshall Fields stores stock managed in the following weeks.
😉
Good story.
Roll safe out there!
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They didn’t ban Chevys, but Ralph Nader took a run at banning the Chevy Corvair.
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Bomb strapped to his body, you say? I wonder where he got that idea…
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Maybe he got it from DB Cooper. Of course Coop got away with a bunch of cash. Fields just got a ride to the rubber room. 🙂
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