Place de la Bastille many worse prisons in France, including the dreaded Bicêtre, also in Paris. However, in terms of popular literary accounts, the Bastille was a place of horror and oppression, a symbol of autocratic cruelty. The confrontation between the commoners and the Ancien Régime ultimately led to the people of Paris storming the Bastille on July 14, 1789, following several days of disturbances. At this point, the prison was nearly empty, with only seven inmates: four counterfeiters, two madmen, and a young aristocrat who had displeased his father. The regular garrison consisted of about 80 'invalides' (veteran soldiers no longer capable of
Locked in the Poorhouse Locked in the Poorhouse Locked in the Poorhouse is a 30-year update of the final report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Commission), co-authored by former Kerner Commissioner, Senator and Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation Chairman Fred R. Harris and Eisenhower Foundation President Alan Curtis. The book was released in 1998 with a companion volume, The Millennium Breach. The Kerner Commission The Kerner Commission was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967 after the 1960s protests in Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Newark and many other cities. The Kerner Commission’s final report was released on February 29,