By Cate Plys
The British Public Record Office finally released 57-year-old documents showing that Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt couldn’t stand Charles de Gaulle. Churchill tried persuading his war cabinet to dump de Gaulle, then leader of the French resistance. At one point, Roosevelt telegrammed Churchill, “Possibly you could make him governor of Madagascar.”
February 11
John Christopher, the undercover mole from the federal Operation Silver Shovel investigation that sent six Chicago aldermen to prison, was finally sentenced himself for various illegal shenanigans committed while he was working with the FBI. Christopher was surprised when U.S. district court judge Elaine Bucklo gave him 39 months in prison. So he turned to his attorney and asked, “What is this shit?”
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The Philadelphia Inquirer made a slip when it accidentally printed this note, mocked up for an in-house gag, on its editorial page: “To comment briefly on editorials, call 215-854-5060. The Editorial Board members will roll their eyes and chuckle at your remarks.”
March 8
The race to succeed retiring U.S. Representative John Porter was already getting ugly during the primary. One Republican candidate sent out a mailing claiming support from Al Salvi and his wife, Kathy, but Kathy Salvi denied ever giving permission to use her name. Another Republican candidate, former state representative Tom Lachner, didn’t much care if Al Salvi endorsed his opponent or not. As he put it, “The only thing Al Salvi and I agree on is maybe we should have a Republican in the White House. If Salvi endorsed me, I’m screwed.”
