Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives, 75 years ago

About 70 men filed applications to become Spokane police officers in 1936 – including a generous scattering of “bartenders, pool hall bouncers and men with court records.”

The form asks applicants to review their lives for “10 to 15 years back” and apparently some of the applicants duly noted their past lives as bootleggers and criminals. The men were apparently told that they might as well disclose everything, since their fingerprints were headed to the “office of J. Edgar Hoover at Washington” for screening.

Yet the man in charge of the applications took pains to point out that “there are also a number of good men in the class,” with sterling backgrounds and good characters. He said that they will make fine officers, as long as they survive the next step, a physical exam.

As many as 75 percent of the candidates were typically rejected for physical reasons. All candidates had to be between 23 and 35, weigh more than 155 pounds and be at least 5 foot 10 inches tall.

One recent candidate was rejected because he had multiple broken ribs. His previous occupation was “pugilist.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1954: A formal peace took hold in Indochina, ending more than seven years of fighting between the French and Communist Viet Minh.