Steinbeck Dies: Voice of America's Forgotten Workers
John Steinbeck died in December 1968 in New York, sixty-six years old. The FBI had kept a file on him for thirty years. His novels made powerful people uncomfortable — not just in the abstract, but specific powerful people, the ones who ran the camps where Dust Bowl migrants worked for pennies. "The Grapes of Wrath" won the Pulitzer in 1940. California growers tried to ban it. Eleanor Roosevelt publicly defended it. Steinbeck got the Nobel in 1962, which surprised him and irritated some critics. He never quite believed he deserved it.
December 20, 1968
58 years ago
What Else Happened on December 20
Antonius Primus marched his legions into Rome, slaughtering the supporters of Vitellius to secure the throne for Vespasian. This violent takeover ended the chao…
Vespasian marched into Rome to claim the imperial throne, ending the chaotic Year of the Four Emperors. By establishing the Flavian dynasty, he restored stabili…
Callixtus I became pope over the dead body of theological purity — at least according to Hippolytus, who refused to acknowledge him. The fight wasn't about powe…
Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos lost his throne when his own sons, Stephen and Constantine, arrested him and forced his abdication. This palace coup ended…
Three popes. All claiming St. Peter's throne. None backing down. Henry III rode into Rome with an army and a plan: call a council at Sutri, twenty miles north,…
Leopold V of Austria seized Richard I while the English king returned from the Third Crusade, turning a triumphant homecoming into a decade-long captivity that …
Talk to History
Have a conversation with historical figures who witnessed this era. Ask questions, explore perspectives, and bring history to life.