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Post by dreamer on May 1, 2012 5:40:46 GMT -5
May 1stAmerican Revolution President Eisenhower proclaims Law Day, 1958 Automotive Ford factory workers get 40-hour week, 1926 Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville begins, 1863 Cold War American U-2 spy plane shot down, 1960 Crime Former NBA All-Star indicted, 2002 Disaster Record-breaking tornado wave begins, 2003 General Interest Great Exhibition opens, 1851 The Battle of Manila Bay, 1898 Empire State Building dedicated, 1931 An American tops Everest, 1963 Labour party returns to power in Britain, 1997 Hollywood Citizen Kane released, 1941 Literary Joseph Heller is born, 1923 Music Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro premieres in Vienna, 1786 Old West Calamity Jane is born, 1852 Presidential Herbert Hoover dedicates Empire State Building, 1931 Sports Rickey Henderson breaks stolen base record, 1991 Vietnam War Senator criticizes Nixon's handling of the war, 1969 North Vietnamese troops capture Quang Tri, 1972 World War I International Congress of Women adopts resolutions, 1915 World War II Alan G. Cunningham, British liberator of Ethiopia, is born, 1887 ******************** 1931: Empire State Building dedicatedOn this day in 1931, President Herbert Hoover officially dedicates New York City's Empire State Building, pressing a button from the White House that turns on the building's lights. Hoover's gesture, of course, was symbolic; while the president remained in Washington, D.C., someone else flicked the switches in New York. The idea for the Empire State Building is said to have been born of a competition between Walter Chrysler of the Chrysler Corporation and John Jakob Raskob of General Motors, to see who could erect the taller building. Chrysler had already begun work on the famous Chrysler Building, the gleaming 1,046-foot skyscraper in midtown Manhattan. Not to be bested, Raskob assembled a group of well-known investors, including former New York Governor Alfred E. Smith. The group chose the architecture firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon Associates to design the building. The Art-Deco plans, said to have been based in large part on the look of a pencil, were also builder-friendly: The entire building went up in just over a year, under budget (at $40 million) and well ahead of schedule. During certain periods of building, the frame grew an astonishing four-and-a-half stories a week. At the time of its completion, the Empire State Building, at 102 stories and 1,250 feet high (1,454 feet to the top of the lightning rod), was the world's tallest skyscraper. The Depression-era construction employed as many as 3,400 workers on any single day, most of whom received an excellent pay rate, especially given the economic conditions of the time. The new building imbued New York City with a deep sense of pride, desperately needed in the depths of the Great Depression, when many city residents were unemployed and prospects looked bleak. The grip of the Depression on New York's economy was still evident a year later, however, when only 25 percent of the Empire State's offices had been rented. In 1972, the Empire State Building lost its title as world's tallest building to New York's World Trade Center, which itself was the tallest skyscraper for but a year. Today the honor belongs to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa tower, which soars 2,717 feet into the sky. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 2, 2012 18:48:05 GMT -5
May 2ndAmerican Revolution Elias Boudinot is born, 1740 Automotive GM buys Chevrolet, 1918 Civil War Confederates deliver blow to Union at Chancellorsville, 1863 Cold War Joseph McCarthy dies, 1957 Crime A grisly crime leads to rubber gloves, 1924 Disaster Sandstorm in Egypt kills 12, topples buildings, 1997 General Interest Hudson's Bay Company chartered, 1670 Madrid revolts against French rule, 1808 Loch Ness Monster sighted, 1933 End of an era at the FBI, 1972 Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. forces, 2011 Hollywood Iron Man released, 2008 Literary Manuscript of Edna St. Vincent Millay's Conversations at Midnight destroyed in hotel fire, 1936 Music Dick Clark survives the Payola scandal, 1960 Old West John B. Jones becomes major in Texas Rangers, 1874 Presidential George W. Bush forms commission on Social Security, 2001 Sports Gehrig ends streak, 1939 Vietnam War U.S. ship sunk in Saigon port, 1964 Joint forces continue attack into Cambodia, 1970 World War I Allies argue over U.S. troops joining battle on Western Front, 1918 World War II German troops in Italy surrender to the Allies, while Berlin surrenders to Russia's Zhukov., 1945 ******************** 1933: Loch Ness Monster sightedAlthough accounts of an aquatic beast living in Scotland's Loch Ness date back 1,500 years, the modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster is born when a sighting makes local news on May 2, 1933. The newspaper Inverness Courier related an account of a local couple who claimed to have seen "an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface." The story of the "monster" (a moniker chosen by the Courier editor) became a media phenomenon, with London newspapers sending correspondents to Scotland and a circus offering a 20,000 pound sterling reward for capture of the beast. Loch Ness, located in the Scottish Highlands, has the largest volume of fresh water in Great Britain; the body of water reaches a depth of nearly 800 feet and a length of about 23 miles. Scholars of the Loch Ness Monster find a dozen references to "Nessie" in Scottish history, dating back to around A.D. 500, when local Picts carved a strange aquatic creature into standing stones near Loch Ness. The earliest written reference to a monster in Loch Ness is a 7th-century biography of Saint Columba, the Irish missionary who introduced Christianity to Scotland. In 565, according to the biographer, Columba was on his way to visit the king of the northern Picts near Inverness when he stopped at Loch Ness to confront a beast that had been killing people in the lake. Seeing a large beast about to attack another man, Columba intervened, invoking the name of God and commanding the creature to "go back with all speed." The monster retreated and never killed another man. In 1933, a new road was completed along Loch Ness' shore, affording drivers a clear view of the loch. After an April 1933 sighting was reported in the local paper on May 2, interest steadily grew, especially after another couple claimed to have seen the beast on land, crossing the shore road. Several British newspapers sent reporters to Scotland, including London's Daily Mail, which hired big-game hunter Marmaduke Wetherell to capture the beast. After a few days searching the loch, Wetherell reported finding footprints of a large four-legged animal. In response, the Daily Mail carried the dramatic headline: "MONSTER OF LOCH NESS IS NOT LEGEND BUT A FACT." Scores of tourists descended on Loch Ness and sat in boats or decks chairs waiting for an appearance by the beast. Plaster casts of the footprints were sent to the British Natural History Museum, which reported that the tracks were that of a hippopotamus, specifically one hippopotamus foot, probably stuffed. The hoax temporarily deflated Loch Ness Monster mania, but stories of sightings continued. A famous 1934 photograph seemed to show a dinosaur-like creature with a long neck emerging out of the murky waters, leading some to speculate that "Nessie" was a solitary survivor of the long-extinct plesiosaurs. The aquatic plesiosaurs were thought to have died off with the rest of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Loch Ness was frozen solid during the recent ice ages, however, so this creature would have had to have made its way up the River Ness from the sea in the past 10,000 years. And the plesiosaurs, believed to be cold-blooded, would not long survive in the frigid waters of Loch Ness. More likely, others suggested, it was an archeocyte, a primitive whale with a serpentine neck that is thought to have been extinct for 18 million years. Skeptics argued that what people were seeing in Loch Ness were "seiches"--oscillations in the water surface caused by the inflow of cold river water into the slightly warmer loch. Amateur investigators kept an almost constant vigil, and in the 1960s several British universities launched expeditions to Loch Ness, using sonar to search the deep. Nothing conclusive was found, but in each expedition the sonar operators detected large, moving underwater objects they could not explain. In 1975, Boston's Academy of Applied Science combined sonar and underwater photography in an expedition to Loch Ness. A photo resulted that, after enhancement, appeared to show the giant flipper of a plesiosaur-like creature. Further sonar expeditions in the 1980s and 1990s resulted in more tantalizing, if inconclusive, readings. Revelations in 1994 that the famous 1934 photo was a hoax hardly dampened the enthusiasm of tourists and professional and amateur investigators to the legend of the Loch Ness Monster. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 3, 2012 5:47:58 GMT -5
May 3rd American Revolution Dartmouth tells Martin to organize North Carolina Loyalists, 1775 Automotive MADD founder's daughter killed by drunk driver, 1980 Civil War Confederates take Hazel Grove at Chancellorsville, 1863 Cold War Congressional hearings on General MacArthur, 1951 Crime Exxon executive is murdered, 1992 British girl goes missing in Portugal, 2007 Disaster Trains collide near Tokyo, 1962 General Interest Niccolo Machiavelli born, 1469 Japanese war crimes trial begins, 1946 New Japanese constitution goes into effect, 1947 Fletcher lands on the North Pole, 1952 Hollywood U.S. Supreme Court decides Paramount antitrust case, 1948 Literary Lord Byron swims the Hellespont, 1810 Music James Brown is born, 1933 Old West Cowboy author Andy Adams is born, 1859 Presidential FDR addresses thousands of Democratic women, 1940 JFK receives honorary degree, 1961 Sports Shoemaker becomes oldest man to win Kentucky Derby, 1986 Vietnam War 173rd Airborne Brigade deploys to South Vietnam, 1965 Paris is chosen as site for peace talks, 1968 World War I Austro-German forces drive Russians out of the Carpathians, 1915 World War II The Battle of the Coral Sea begins, 1942 ******************** 1469: Niccolo Machiavelli bornOn this day in 1469, the Italian philosopher and writer Niccolo Machiavelli is born. A lifelong patriot and diehard proponent of a unified Italy, Machiavelli became one of the fathers of modern political theory. Machiavelli entered the political service of his native Florence by the time he was 29. As defense secretary, he distinguished himself by executing policies that strengthened Florence politically. He soon found himself assigned diplomatic missions for his principality, through which he met such luminaries as Louis XII of France, Pope Julius II, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, and perhaps most importantly for Machiavelli, a prince of the Papal States named Cesare Borgia. The shrewd and cunning Borgia later inspired the title character in Machiavelli's famous and influential political treatise The Prince (1532). Machiavelli's political life took a downward turn after 1512, when he fell out of favor with the powerful Medici family. He was accused of conspiracy, imprisoned, tortured and temporarily exiled. It was an attempt to regain a political post and the Medici family's good favor that Machiavelli penned The Prince, which was to become his most well-known work. Though released in book form posthumously in 1532, The Prince was first published as a pamphlet in 1513. In it, Machiavelli outlined his vision of an ideal leader: an amoral, calculating tyrant for whom the end justifies the means. The Prince not only failed to win the Medici family's favor, it also alienated him from the Florentine people. Machiavelli was never truly welcomed back into politics, and when the Florentine Republic was reestablished in 1527, Machiavelli was an object of great suspicion. He died later that year, embittered and shut out from the Florentine society to which he had devoted his life. Though Machiavelli has long been associated with the practice of diabolical expediency in the realm of politics that was made famous in The Prince, his actual views were not so extreme. In fact, in such longer and more detailed writings as Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy (1517) and History of Florence (1525), he shows himself to be a more principled political moralist. Still, even today, the term "Machiavellian" is used to describe an action undertaken for gain without regard for right or wrong. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 4, 2012 5:46:00 GMT -5
May 4thAmerican Revolution Rhode Island declares independence, 1776 Automotive Bruce Springsteen releases "Pink Cadillac", 1984 Civil War Army of the Potomac crosses the Rapidan, 1864 Cold War Tito dies, 1980 Crime A riot breaks out in Haymarket Square, 1886 An inhumane execution, 1990 Disaster Nigerian aircraft crashes in crowded city, 2002 General Interest The Haymarket Square Riot, 1886 National Guard kills four at Kent State, 1970 Margaret Thatcher sworn in, 1979 Rabin and Arafat sign accord for Palestinian self-rule, 1994 Hollywood Audrey Hepburn born, 1929 Literary Norman Mailer's first novel, The Naked and the Dead, is published, 1948 Music Gene Vincent records "Be-Bop-A-Lula", 1956 Old West Jack Slade joins the army, 1847 Presidential Lincoln is buried in Springfield, Illinois, 1865 David Frost interviews Richard Nixon, 1977 Sports Willie Mays breaks National League home run record, 1965 Vietnam War Rusk reports on Viet Cong strength, 1961 Four students killed at Kent State, 1970 World War I Germany agrees to limit its submarine warfare, 1916 World War II As the Nazi threat dies, the Red Army rises, 1945 ******************** 1970: Four students killed at Kent StateAt Kent State University, 100 National Guardsmen fire their rifles into a group of students, killing four and wounding 11. This incident occurred in the aftermath of President Richard Nixon's April 30 announcement that U.S. and South Vietnamese forces had been ordered to execute an "incursion" into Cambodia to destroy North Vietnamese bases there. In protest, a wave of demonstrations and disturbances erupted on college campuses across the country. At Kent State University in Ohio, student protesters torched the ROTC building on campus and Ohio Governor James Rhodes responded by calling on the National Guard to restore order. Under harassment from the demonstrators, the Guardsmen fired into the crowd, killing four and wounding 11. The Guardsmen were later brought to trial for the shootings, but found not guilty. President Nixon issued a statement deploring the Kent State deaths, but said that the incident should serve as a reminder that, "When dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy." The shooting sparked hundreds of protests and college shutdowns, as well as a march on Washington, D.C., by 100,000 people. The National Student Association and former Vietnam Moratorium Committee leaders called for a national university strike of indefinite duration, beginning immediately, to protest the war. At least 100 colleges and universities pledged to strike. The presidents of 37 universities signed a letter urging President Nixon to show more clearly his determination to end the war. www.history.com/this-day-in-history/four-students-killed-at-kent-state
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Post by dreamer on May 5, 2012 4:44:07 GMT -5
May 5th American Revolution Clinton excludes Howe and Harnett from amnesty offer, 1776 Automotive Driving pioneer Bertha Benz dies, 1944 Civil War Grant and Lee clash in the Wilderness forest, 1864 Cold War Allies end occupation of West Germany, 1955 Crime Human remains found in suitcase near Virginia Beach, 2004 Disaster Hail storm surprises Dallas residents, 1995 General Interest Napoleon dies in exile, 1821 Cinco de Mayo, 1862 Six killed in Oregon by Japanese bomb, 1945 The first American in space, 1961 IRA militant Bobby Sands dies, 1981 Hollywood Spider-Man is first movie to top $100 million in opening weekend, 2002 Literary The Examiner publishes John Keats' first poem, 1816 Music Peaches and Herb top the pop charts with "Reunited", 1979 Old West Sitting Bull leads his people into Canada, 1877 Presidential Reagan visits concentration camp and war cemetery, 1985 Sports Cy Young throws perfect game, 1904 Vietnam War U.S. forces capture Snoul, Cambodia, 1970 North Vietnamese turn back South Vietnamese relief column, 1972 World War I Italian delegates return to Paris peace conference, 1919 World War II Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie returns to his capital, 1941 ******************** 1961: The first American in spaceFrom Cape Canaveral, Florida, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space. The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere, was a major triumph for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA was established in 1958 to keep U.S. space efforts abreast of recent Soviet achievements, such as the launching of the world's first artificial satellite--Sputnik 1--in 1957. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the two superpowers raced to become the first country to put a man in space and return him to Earth. On April 12, 1961, the Soviet space program won the race when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched into space, put in orbit around the planet, and safely returned to Earth. One month later, Shepard's suborbital flight restored faith in the U.S. space program. NASA continued to trail the Soviets closely until the late 1960s and the successes of the Apollo lunar program. In July 1969, the Americans took a giant leap forward with Apollo 11, a three-stage spacecraft that took U.S. astronauts to the surface of the moon and returned them to Earth. On February 5, 1971, Alan Shepard, the first American in space, became the fifth astronaut to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 8, 2012 4:55:00 GMT -5
May 6thAmerican Revolution William Franklin warns Dartmouth of repercussions from Lexington and Concord, 1775 Automotive Harry Gant is oldest NASCAR winner -- again, 1991 Civil War Grant and Lee continue fighting in the Wilderness, 1864 Cold War Gorbachev reviews the Cold War, 1992 Crime The theft of Duchess of Devonshire stirs interest, 1876 Disaster Hindenburg explodes in New Jersey, 1937 General Interest The Hindenburg disaster, 1937 First four-minute mile, 1954 English Channel tunnel opens, 1994 Hollywood Final episode of Friends airs on NBC, 2004 Literary John Steinbeck wins a Pulitzer for The Grapes of Wrath, 1940 Music Spinal Tap stages a "comeback" at CBGB's in New York City, 1984 Old West Hangman George Maledon dies, 1911 Presidential FDR creates the WPA, 1933 Sports Roger Bannister breaks four-minutes mile, 1954 Vietnam War Students launch nationwide protest, 1970 South Vietnamese defenders hold on to An Loc, 1972 World War I Second Battle of Krithia, Gallipoli, 1915 World War II All American forces in the Philippines surrender unconditionally, 1942 ******************** 1994: English Channel tunnel opensIn a ceremony presided over by England's Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterand, a rail tunnel under the English Channel was officially opened, connecting Britain and the European mainland for the first time since the Ice Age. The channel tunnel, or "Chunnel," connects Folkstone, England, with Sangatte, France, 31 miles away. The Chunnel cut travel time between England and France to a swift 35 minutes and eventually between London and Paris to two-and-a-half hours. As the world's longest undersea tunnel, the Chunnel runs under water for 23 miles, with an average depth of 150 feet below the seabed. Each day, about 30,000 people, 6,000 cars and 3,500 trucks journey through the Chunnel on passenger, shuttle and freight trains. Millions of tons of earth were moved to build the two rail tunnels--one for northbound and one for southbound traffic--and one service tunnel. Fifteen thousand people were employed at the peak of construction. Ten people were killed during construction. Napoleon's engineer, Albert Mathieu, planned the first tunnel under the English Channel in 1802, envisioning an underground passage with ventilation chimneys that would stretch above the waves. In 1880, the first real attempt was made by Colonel Beaumont, who bore a tunnel more than a mile long before abandoning the project. Other efforts followed in the 20th century, but none on the scale of the tunnels begun in June 1988. The Chunnel's $16 billion cost was roughly twice the original estimate, and completion was a year behind schedule. One year into service, Eurotunnel announced a huge loss, one of the biggest in United Kingdom corporate history at the time. A scheme in which banks agreed to swap billions of pounds worth of loans for shares saved the tunnel from going under and it showed its first net profit in 1999. Freight traffic was suspended for six months after a fire broke out on a lorry in the tunnel in November 1996. Nobody was seriously hurt in the incident. In 1996, the American Society of Civil Engineers identified the tunnel as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. www.history.com/this-day-in-history/english-channel-tunnel-opens
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Post by dreamer on May 8, 2012 4:57:36 GMT -5
May 7th Munch's The Scream recovered, 1994 American Revolution Pontiac's plot is foiled, 1763 Automotive Daimler-Benz announces purchase of Chrysler Corp., 1998 Civil War Grant leaves the Wilderness for Spotsylvania, 1864 Cold War Brezhnev becomes president of the USSR, 1960 Crime A serial killer is hanged, 1896 Disaster Volcanic eruption buries Caribbean city, 1902 General Interest Pontiac's Rebellion begins, 1763 Lusitania sinks, 1915 French defeated at Dien Bien Phu, 1954 Hollywood Gary Cooper born, 1901 Literary Robert Browning is born, 1812 Music "Satisfaction" comes to Keith Richards, 1965 Old West Gary Cooper is born, 1901 Presidential George Washington attends inaugural ball, 1789 Sports Reggie Miller leads Pacers to victory over Knicks, 1995 Vietnam War French fall to Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu, 1954 World War I German submarine sinks Lusitania, 1915 World War II Germany surrenders unconditionally to the Allies at Reims, 1945 ******************** 1994: Munch's The Scream recoveredOn May 7, 1994, Norway's most famous painting, "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, was recovered almost three months after it was stolen from a museum in Oslo. The fragile painting was recovered undamaged at a hotel in Asgardstrand, about 40 miles south of Oslo, police said. The iconic 1893 painting of a waiflike figure on a bridge was stolen in only 50 seconds during a break-in on February 12, the opening day of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Two thieves broke through a window of the National Gallery, cut a wire holding the painting to the wall and left a note reading "Thousand thanks for the bad security!" A few days after the theft, a Norwegian anti-abortion group said it could have the painting returned if Norwegian television showed an anti-abortion film. The claim turned out to be false. The government also received a $1 million ransom demand on March 3, but refused to pay it due to a lack of proof that the demand was genuine. Eventually, police found four pieces of the painting's frame in Nittedal, a suburb north of Oslo, and what may have been a cryptic messages that the thieves wanted to discuss a ransom. Finally, in January 1996, four men were convicted and sentenced in connection with the theft. They included Paal Enger, who had been convicted in 1988 of stealing Munch's "The Vampire" in Oslo. Enger was sentenced this time to six-and-a-half-years in prison. He escaped while on a field trip in 1999, and was captured 12 days later in a blond wig and dark sunglasses trying to buy a train ticket to Copenhagen. In August 2004, another version of "The Scream" was stolen along with Munch's "The Madonna," this time from the Munch Museum in Oslo. Three men were convicted in connection with that theft in May 2006. Police recovered both works in August with minor marks and tears. Yet another version of "The Scream" remained in private hands and sold on May 2, 2012, for $119.9 million, becoming the most expensive work of art to sell at auction. Munch developed an emotionally charged style that served as an important forerunner of the 20th century Expressionist movement. He painted "The Scream" as part of his "Frieze of Life" series, in which sickness, death, fear, love and melancholy are central themes. He died in January 1944 at the age of 81. www.history.com/this-day-in-history/munchs-the-scream-recovered
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Post by dreamer on May 8, 2012 5:01:43 GMT -5
May 8th American Revolution Militia Act establishes conscription under federal law, 1792 Automotive Henry Ford II leaves post at Ford Foundation, 1956 Civil War Lee beats Grant to Spotsylvania, 1864 Cold War Soviets announce boycott of 1984 Olympics, 1984 Crime Woman convicted for tampering with Excedrin, 1988 Disaster Flash floods in Nebraska kill 23, 1950 General Interest De Soto reaches the Mississippi, 1541 V-E Day is celebrated in American and Britain, 1945 AIM occupation of Wounded Knee ends, 1973 Soviets to boycott L.A. Olympics, 1984 Hollywood Sean Connery stars in his first Bond movie, Dr. No, 1963 Betty White becomes oldest Saturday Night Live host, 2010 Literary Yeats' The Countess Cathleen opens at the Irish Literary Theatre, 1899 Music The theme song from Welcome Back, Kotter is the #1 song in America, 1976 Old West Zachary Taylor fights the Battle of Palo Alto, 1846 Presidential Harry S. Truman is born, 1884 Sports Knicks beat Lakers for NBA title, 1970 Vietnam War Nixon defends invasion of Cambodia, 1970 Mining of North Vietnamese harbors is announced, 1972 World War I New celebration of Armistice Day proposed, 1919 World War II Victory in Europe, 1945 ******************** 1945: V-E Day is celebrated in American and BritainOn this day in 1945, both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine. The eighth of May spelled the day when German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms: In Prague, Germans surrendered to their Soviet antagonists, after the latter had lost more than 8,000 soldiers, and the Germans considerably more; in Copenhagen and Oslo; at Karlshorst, near Berlin; in northern Latvia; on the Channel Island of Sark--the German surrender was realized in a final cease-fire. More surrender documents were signed in Berlin and in eastern Germany. The main concern of many German soldiers was to elude the grasp of Soviet forces, to keep from being taken prisoner. About 1 million Germans attempted a mass exodus to the West when the fighting in Czechoslovakia ended, but were stopped by the Russians and taken captive. The Russians took approximately 2 million prisoners in the period just before and after the German surrender. Meanwhile, more than 13,000 British POWs were released and sent back to Great Britain. Pockets of German-Soviet confrontation would continue into the next day. On May 9, the Soviets would lose 600 more soldiers in Silesia before the Germans finally surrendered. Consequently, V-E Day was not celebrated until the ninth in Moscow, with a radio broadcast salute from Stalin himself: "The age-long struggle of the Slav nations...has ended in victory. Your courage has defeated the Nazis. The war is over." www.history.com/this-day-in-history/v-e-day-is-celebrated-in-american-and-britain
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Post by dreamer on May 9, 2012 4:43:51 GMT -5
May 9th American Revolution Patriot politician and composer Francis Hopkinson dies, 1791 Automotive "Speed Racer" movie released, 2008 Civil War Union troops take Snake Creek Gap, Georgia, 1864 Cold War West Germany joins NATO, 1955 Crime Cunanan continues murder spree, 1997 Disaster Soccer fans trampled in Ghana, 2001 General Interest Captain Blood steals crown jewels, 1671 Byrd flies over the North Pole?, 1926 L. Ron Hubbard publishes Dianetics, 1950 FDA approves the pill, 1960 Aldo Moro found dead, 1978 Former POW is ambassador to Vietnam, 1997 Hollywood Last Honeymooners episode airs, 1971 Literary James Barrie is born, 1860 Music An unlikely challenger ends the Beatles' reign atop the U.S. pop charts, 1964 Old West Buffalo Bill's Wild West show opens, 1887 Presidential Woodrow Wilson proclaims the first Mother's Day holiday, 1914 Sports Johnny Bench hits three home runs off Steve Carlton, 1973 Vietnam War Reporter breaks the news of secret bombing in Cambodia, 1969 Demonstrations held in Washington, 1970 House votes to initiate impeachment proceedings, 1974 World War I Allies launch dual offensive on Western Front, 1915 World War II Herman Goering is captured by the U.S. Seventh Army, 1945 ******************** 1950: L. Ron Hubbard publishes DianeticsOn this day in 1950, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (1911-1986) publishes Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. With this book, Hubbard introduced a branch of self-help psychology called Dianetics, which quickly caught fire and, over time, morphed into a belief system boasting millions of subscribers: Scientology. Hubbard was already a prolific and frequently published writer by the time he penned the book that would change his life. Under several pseudonyms in the 1930s, he published a great amount of pulp fiction, particularly in the science fiction and fantasy genres. In late 1949, having returned from serving in the Navy in World War II, Hubbard began publishing articles in the pages of Astounding Science Fiction, a magazine that published works by the likes of Isaac Asimov and Jack Williamson. Out of these grew the elephantine text known as Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. In Dianetics, Hubbard explained that phenomena known as "engrams" (i.e. memories) were the cause of all psychological pain, which in turn harmed mental and physical health. He went on to claim that people could become "clear," achieving an exquisite state of clarity and mental liberation, by exorcising their engrams to an "auditor," or a listener acting as therapist. Though discredited by the medical and scientific establishment, over 100,000 copies of Dianetics were sold in the first two years of publication, and Hubbard soon found himself lecturing across the country. He went on to write six more books in 1951, developing a significant fan base, and establishing the Hubbard Dianetics Research Foundation in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Despite his fast-growing popularity from books and touring, strife within his organization and Hubbard's own personal troubles nearly crippled his success. Several of his research foundations had to be abandoned due to financial troubles and in-fighting. Also, in late 1950, his second wife filed for divorce, accusing Hubbard of kidnapping their baby and of conducting "systematic torture, beatings, strangulations and scientific torture experiments." By 1953, however, Hubbard was able to rebound from the widespread condemnation beginning to be heaped upon him, and introduced Scientology. Scientology expanded on Dianetics by bringing Hubbard's popular version of psychotherapy into the realm of philosophy, and ultimately, religion. In only a few years, Hubbard found himself at the helm of a movement that captured the popular imagination. As Scientology grew in the 1960s, several national governments became suspicious of Hubbard, accusing him of quackery and brainwashing his followers. Nonetheless, Hubbard built his religion into a multi-million dollar movement that continues to have a considerable presence in the public eye, due in part to its high profile in Hollywood. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 10, 2012 4:13:45 GMT -5
May 10th American Revolution Second Continental Congress assembles as Ticonderoga falls, 1775 Automotive Government gives Chrysler $1.5 billion loan, 1980 Civil War Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson dies, 1863 Cold War China releases Tiananmen Square prisoners, 1990 Crime J. Edgar Hoover begins his legacy with the FBI, 1924 Disaster Death on Mount Everest, 1996 General Interest Jefferson Davis captured, 1865 Transcontinental railroad completed, 1869 Churchill becomes prime minister, 1940 Nelson Mandela inaugurated, 1994 Hollywood Joan Crawford dies, 1977 Literary The final volume of Tom Jones is published, 1749 Music "Mother" Maybelle Carter is born, 1909 Old West First transcontinental railroad is completed, 1869 Presidential Hayes has first phone installed in White House, 1877 Sports Bobby Orr leads Bruins to Stanley Cup title, 1970 Vietnam War Operation Apache Snow is launched, 1969 Intense air war continues over North Vietnam, 1972 World War I Treaty of Frankfurt am Main ends Franco-Prussian War, 1871 World War II As Germany invades Holland and Belgium, Winston Churchill becomes prime minister of Great Britain, 1940 ******************** 1869: Transcontinental railroad completedOn this day in 1869, the presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah, and drive a ceremonial last spike into a rail line that connects their railroads. This made transcontinental railroad travel possible for the first time in U.S. history. No longer would western-bound travelers need to take the long and dangerous journey by wagon train, and the West would surely lose some of its wild charm with the new connection to the civilized East. Since at least 1832, both Eastern and frontier statesmen realized a need to connect the two coasts. It was not until 1853, though, that Congress appropriated funds to survey several routes for the transcontinental railroad. The actual building of the railroad would have to wait even longer, as North-South tensions prevented Congress from reaching an agreement on where the line would begin. One year into the Civil War, a Republican-controlled Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act (1862), guaranteeing public land grants and loans to the two railroads it chose to build the transcontinental line, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific. With these in hand, the railroads began work in 1866 from Omaha and Sacramento, forging a northern route across the country. In their eagerness for land, the two lines built right past each other, and the final meeting place had to be renegotiated. Harsh winters, staggering summer heat, Indian raids and the lawless, rough-and-tumble conditions of newly settled western towns made conditions for the Union Pacific laborers--mainly Civil War veterans of Irish descent--miserable. The overwhelmingly immigrant Chinese work force of the Central Pacific also had its fair share of problems, including brutal 12-hour work days laying tracks over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. On more than one occasion, whole crews would be lost to avalanches, or mishaps with explosives would leave several dead. For all the adversity they suffered, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific workers were able to finish the railroad--laying nearly 2,000 miles of track--by 1869, ahead of schedule and under budget. Journeys that had taken months by wagon train or weeks by boat now took only days. Their work had an immediate impact: The years following the construction of the railway were years of rapid growth and expansion for the United States, due in large part to the speed and ease of travel that the railroad provided. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 11, 2012 6:06:00 GMT -5
May 11th American Revolution Washington recommends using German-American troops to Congress, 1776 Automotive B.F. Goodrich Co. announces development of tubeless tire, 1947 Civil War Confederate Cavalry General J.E.B. Stuart is mortally wounded, 1864 Cold War Kim Philby dies, 1988 Crime The Queen of Poisoners takes her toll, 1949 Disaster Fire kills 50 at soccer stadium, 1985 General Interest British prime minister assassinated, 1812 Minnesota enters the Union, 1858 Dust storm sweeps from Great Plains across Eastern states, 1934 Butcher of Lyon on trial, 1987 Deep Blue beats Kasparov, 1997 Hollywood George Clooney makes return appearance on ER, 2000 Literary Go Down, Moses, by William Faulkner, is published, 1942 Music Bob Marley dies, 1981 Old West Western writer Mari Sandoz is born, 1896 Presidential President Carter puts in a long day at the office, 1977 Sports Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess match, 1997 Vietnam War President Kennedy orders more troops to South Vietnam, 1961 Paratroopers battle for "Hamburger Hill", 1969 World War I Germans prepare to protest Versailles Treaty terms, 1919 World War II Allies attack the Gustav line in drive for Rome, 1944 ******************** 1934: Dust storm sweeps from Great Plains across Eastern statesOn this day in 1934, a massive storm sends millions of tons of topsoil flying from across the parched Great Plains region of the United States as far east as New York, Boston and Atlanta. At the time the Great Plains were settled in the mid-1800s, the land was covered by prairie grass, which held moisture in the earth and kept most of the soil from blowing away even during dry spells. By the early 20th century, however, farmers had plowed under much of the grass to create fields. The U.S. entry into World War I in 1917 caused a great need for wheat, and farms began to push their fields to the limit, plowing under more and more grassland with the newly invented tractor. The plowing continued after the war, when the introduction of even more powerful gasoline tractors sped up the process. During the 1920s, wheat production increased by 300 percent, causing a glut in the market by 1931. That year, a severe drought spread across the region. As crops died, wind began to carry dust from the over-plowed and over-grazed lands. The number of dust storms reported jumped from 14 in 1932 to 28 in 1933. The following year, the storms decreased in frequency but increased in intensity, culminating in the most severe storm yet in May 1934. Over a period of two days, high-level winds caught and carried some 350 million tons of silt all the way from the northern Great Plains to the eastern seaboard. According to The New York Times, dust "lodged itself in the eyes and throats of weeping and coughing New Yorkers," and even ships some 300 miles offshore saw dust collect on their decks. The dust storms forced thousands of families from Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico to uproot and migrate to California, where they were derisively known as "Okies"--no matter which state they were from. These transplants found life out West not much easier than what they had left, as work was scarce and pay meager during the worst years of the Great Depression. Another massive storm on April 15, 1935--known as "Black Sunday"--brought even more attention to the desperate situation in the Great Plains region, which reporter Robert Geiger called the "Dust Bowl." That year, as part of its New Deal program, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration began to enforce federal regulation of farming methods, including crop rotation, grass-seeding and new plowing methods. This worked to a point, reducing dust storms by up to 65 percent, but only the end of the drought in the fall of 1939 would truly bring relief. www.history.com/this-day-in-history |
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Post by dreamer on May 12, 2012 4:34:46 GMT -5
May 12thAmerican Revolution Americans suffer worst defeat of revolution at Charleston, 1780 Automotive Fourth-generation NASCAR driver Adam Petty dies in crash, 2000 Civil War North and South see bloody day at the Bloody Angle, 1864 Cold War American ship Mayaguez seized, 1975 Crime Body of Lindbergh baby found, 1932 Disaster Forest fire sweeps across China, 1987 General Interest George VI crowned at Westminster, 1937 Berlin blockade lifted, 1949 Race car driver A.J. Foyt gets first pro victory, 1957 Blackmun confirmed to Supreme Court, 1970 Hollywood Katharine Hepburn born, 1907 Literary Poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti is born, 1828 Music Bob Dylan walks out on The Ed Sullivan Show, 1963 Old West Fur trader William Sublette heads west, 1832 Presidential Teddy Roosevelt's trip to San Francisco is captured on film, 1903 Sports Ernie Banks hits 500th home run, 1970 Vietnam War Lyndon B. Johnson visits South Vietnam, 1961 Heavy fighting erupts in A Shau Valley, 1971 World War I Germany and Austria-Hungary sign pact to exploit Ukraine, 1918 World War II Hitler backs Rashid Ali in his fight against Britain, 1941 ******************** 1957: Race car driver A.J. Foyt gets first pro victoryOn this day in 1957, race car driver A.J. Foyt (1935- ) scores his first professional victory, in a U.S. Automobile Club (USAC) midget car race in Kansas City, Missouri. A tough-as-nails Texan, Anthony Joseph Foyt, Jr. raced midget cars--smaller vehicles designed to be driven in races of shorter distances--and stock cars before moving up to bigger things in 1958, when he entered his first Indianapolis 500 race. Foyt won his first Indy 500 crown in 1961, when rival Eddie Sachs was forced to make a tire change in the final laps, giving Foyt the chance to overtake him and win with a then-record average speed of 139.13 mph. The 1964 season saw Foyt earn a record-setting winning percentage of .769 with 10 wins in 13 races. His most important win that year came in the Indy 500, which he finished with an average speed of 147.45 mph. After a near-fatal crash in a stock car race in 1965--in which he broke his back, fractured his ankle and suffered severe chest injuries--Foyt came back to continue his string of impressive achievements. In 1967, he won his third Indy 500 in a car he had designed himself, with his father Tony as chief mechanic. Two weeks later, he traveled to France and won the 24 Hours of LeMans international competition with teammate Don Gurney. With a win at the Daytona 500 in 1972, Foyt became the first driver to win all three major races in motor sports: the Indy 500, the Daytona 500 and the 24 Hours of LeMans. In addition to the records for most total victories (67), most national championships (7) and most victories in one season (10), Foyt also has the most consecutive Indy 500 starts: He competed in the race for 35 straight years. His fourth win came in 1977, when the 42-year-old Foyt screamed around the track at an average speed of 161.331 mph. Only two other men have equaled his record of four Indy 500 wins. In 1989, Foyt became the first driver inducted into the brand-new Motor Sports Hall of Fame in Novi, Michigan. He practiced at the Indy 500 track in 1993, but retired on the first day of qualifying races. Apart from auto racing teams, Foyt's later business interests have included car dealerships, funeral homes, oil investments and thoroughbred racehorses. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 13, 2012 7:27:40 GMT -5
May 13thAmerican Revolution Connecticut Patriot Eliphalet Dyer dies, 1807 Automotive Autoworkers union head joins Chrysler board, 1980 Civil War Grant moves on Jackson, Mississippi, 1863 Cold War Vice President Nixon is attacked, 1958 Crime Pope John Paul II is shot, 1981 A raid is set for MOVE headquarters, 1985 Disaster Fire breaks out at club in Japan, 1972 General Interest Mary Queen of Scots defeated, 1568 Jamestown founded, 1607 President Polk declares war on Mexico, 1846 Pope John Paul II shot, 1981 Hollywood Edison sues over new motion-picture technology, 1898 Literary Daphne Du Maurier, author of Rebecca, is born, 1907 Music Stevie Wonder comes of age, 1971 Old West The inventor of western swing dies, 1975 Presidential Nixon attacked by angry Venezuelans, 1958 Sports First Battle of the Sexes, 1973 Vietnam War Paris peace talks at standstill, 1971 Heavy fighting continues at Quang Tri and Kontum, 1972 World War I Edith Wharton writes of the war's effect on France, 1915 World War II Churchill announces: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.", 1940 ******************** 1846: President Polk declares war on MexicoOn May 13, 1846, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly votes in favor of President James K. Polk's request to declare war on Mexico in a dispute over Texas. Under the threat of war, the United States had refrained from annexing Texas after the latter won independence from Mexico in 1836. But in 1844, President John Tyler restarted negotiations with the Republic of Texas, culminating with a Treaty of Annexation. The treaty was defeated by a wide margin in the Senate because it would upset the slave state/free state balance between North and South and risked war with Mexico, which had broken off relations with the United States. But shortly before leaving office and with the support of President-elect Polk, Tyler managed to get the joint resolution passed on March 1, 1845. Texas was admitted to the union on December 29. While Mexico didn't follow through with its threat to declare war, relations between the two nations remained tense over border disputes, and in July 1845, President Polk ordered troops into disputed lands that lay between the Neuces and Rio Grande rivers. In November, Polk sent the diplomat John Slidell to Mexico to seek boundary adjustments in return for the U.S. government's settlement of the claims of U.S. citizens against Mexico and also to make an offer to purchase California and New Mexico. After the mission failed, the U.S. army under Gen. Zachary Taylor advanced to the mouth of the Rio Grande, the river that the state of Texas claimed as its southern boundary. Mexico, claiming that the boundary was the Nueces River to the northeast of the Rio Grande, considered the advance of Taylor's army an act of aggression and in April 1846 sent troops across the Rio Grande. Polk, in turn, declared the Mexican advance to be an invasion of U.S. soil, and on May 11, 1846, asked Congress to declare war on Mexico, which it did two days later. After nearly two years of fighting, peace was established by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848. The Rio Grande was made the southern boundary of Texas, and California and New Mexico were ceded to the United States. In return, the United States paid Mexico the sum of $15 million and agreed to settle all claims of U.S. citizens against Mexico. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 14, 2012 4:47:07 GMT -5
May 14thAmerican Revolution Constitutional Convention delegates begin to assemble, 1787 Automotive DaimlerChrysler sells most of Chrysler for $7.4 billion, 2007 Civil War The Battle of Resaca, Georgia, begins, 1864 Cold War The Warsaw Pact is formed, 1955 Crime A brutal murder begins an unusual investigation, 1948 Disaster Two trains crash in Japan, 1991 General Interest Jenner tests smallpox vaccine, 1796 Lewis and Clark depart, 1804 First American Olympiad, 1904 State of Israel proclaimed, 1948 Skylab launched, 1973 Hollywood Frank Sinatra dies, 1998 Literary Alfred, Lord Tennyson, publishes his popular volume Poems, 1842 Music Bobby Darin is born, 1936 Old West William Fetterman joins the U.S. Army, 1861 Presidential Clinton apologizes to Chinese leader for embassy bombing, 1999 Sports Scoreless inning streak ends, 1913 Vietnam War President Nixon responds to National Liberation Front proposal, 1969 South Vietnamese sustain second highest casualties of war, 1970 World War I London Times article sparks "Shells Crisis", 1916 World War II United States and Britain plan Operation Pointblank, 1943 ******************** 1804: Lewis and Clark departOne year after the United States doubled its territory with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition leaves St. Louis, Missouri, on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Even before the U.S. government concluded purchase negotiations with France, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned his private secretary Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, an army captain, to lead an expedition into what is now the U.S. Northwest. On May 14, the "Corps of Discovery"--featuring approximately 45 men (although only an approximate 33 men would make the full journey)--left St. Louis for the American interior. The expedition traveled up the Missouri River in a 55-foot long keelboat and two smaller boats. In November, Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trader accompanied by his young Native American wife Sacagawea, joined the expedition as an interpreter. The group wintered in present-day North Dakota before crossing into present-day Montana, where they first saw the Rocky Mountains. On the other side of the Continental Divide, they were met by Sacagawea's tribe, the Shoshone Indians, who sold them horses for their journey down through the Bitterroot Mountains. After passing through the dangerous rapids of the Clearwater and Snake rivers in canoes, the explorers reached the calm of the Columbia River, which led them to the sea. On November 8, 1805, the expedition arrived at the Pacific Ocean, the first European explorers to do so by an overland route from the east. After pausing there for the winter, the explorers began their long journey back to St. Louis. On September 23, 1806, after almost two and a half years, the expedition returned to the city, bringing back a wealth of information about the largely unexplored region, as well as valuable U.S. claims to Oregon Territory. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 15, 2012 5:24:02 GMT -5
May 15thAmerican Revolution Continentals capture Fort Granby, South Carolina, 1781 Automotive Seventeen states put gasoline rationing into effect, 1942 Civil War VMI cadets fight in Battle of New Market, 1864 Cold War Soviets begin withdrawal from Afghanistan, 1988 Crime A young woman and her married lover kill her family, 1976 Disaster Tornado decimates Texas town, 1896 General Interest The Seven Years War begins, 1756 Madeleine Albright is born, 1937 First Allied jet flies, 1941 The flight of Faith 7, 1963 Governor George Wallace shot, 1972 Hollywood Celebrity private detective Anthony Pellicano found guilty, 2008 Literary Katherine Anne Porter is born, 1890 Music "Ebony And Ivory" begins a seven-week run at #1 on the pop charts, 1982 Old West Second vigilante committee organizes in San Francisco, 1856 Presidential President John Adams orders federal government to Washington, D.C., 1800 Ronald Reagan applies for transfer to Army Air Force, 1942 Sports Nolan Ryan pitches first no-hitter, 1973 Vietnam War U.S. positions south of the DMZ come under heavy fire, 1967 Air Force sergeant awarded Medal of Honor, 1970 World War I Austrians launch massive offensive on Trentino Front, 1916 World War II Legislation creating the Women's Army Corps becomes law, 1942 ******************** 1942: Seventeen states put gasoline rationing into effectOn this day in 1942, gasoline rationing began in 17 Eastern states as an attempt to help the American war effort during World War II. By the end of the year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ensured that mandatory gasoline rationing was in effect in all 50 states. America had been debating its entrance into World War II until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The following day, Congress almost unanimously approved Roosevelt's request for a declaration of war against Japan and three days later Japan's allies Germany and Italy declared war against the United States. On the home front, ordinary Americans almost immediately felt the impact of the war, as the economy quickly shifted from a focus on consumer goods into full-time war production. As part of this transformation, women went to work in the factories to replace enlisted men, automobile factories began producing tanks and planes for Allied forces and households were required to limit their consumption of such products as rubber, gasoline, sugar, alcohol and cigarettes. Rubber was the first commodity to be rationed, after the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies cut off the U.S. supply; the shortage of rubber affected the availability of products such as tires. Rationing gasoline, it was reasoned, would conserve rubber by reducing the number of miles Americans drove. At first, the government urged voluntary gasoline rationing, but by the spring of 1942 it had become evident that these efforts were insufficient. In mid-May, the first 17 states put mandatory gasoline rationing into effect, and by December, controls were extended across the entire country. Ration stamps for gasoline were issued by local boards and pasted to the windshield of a family or individual's automobile. The type of stamp determined the gasoline allotment for that automobile. Black stamps, for example, signified non-essential travel and mandated no more than three gallons per week, while red stamps were for workers who needed more gas, including policemen and mail carriers. As a result of the restrictions, gasoline became a hot commodity on the black market, while legal measures of conserving gas--such as carpooling--also flourished. In a separate attempt to reduce gas consumption, the government passed a mandatory wartime speed limit of 35 mph, known as the "Victory Speed." www.history.com/this-day-in-history/seventeen-states-put-gasoline-rationing-into-effect
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Post by dreamer on May 16, 2012 4:46:21 GMT -5
May 16thAmerican Revolution Georgia Patriot Button Gwinnett receives fatal wound in duel, 1777 Automotive GM dedicates new technical center, 1956 Civil War Union wins the Battle of Champion Hill, 1863 Cold War U.S.-Soviet summit meeting collapses, 1960 Crime A nurse steals another woman's unborn baby, 1975 Disaster New York City establishes hospital for cholera victims, 1849 General Interest Louis marries Marie Antoinette, 1770 First Academy Awards ceremony, 1929 Warsaw Ghetto uprising ends, 1943 Protests mount in France, 1968 Japanese woman scales Everest, 1975 Hollywood First Academy Awards ceremony, 1929 Literary Voltaire is imprisoned in the Bastille, 1717 Music Mary Wells gives Motown Records its first #1 hit with "My Guy", 1964 Old West Outlaw Dick Fellows is released, 1881 Presidential Senate acquits Johnson of high crimes and misdemeanors, 1868 Sports Magic plays center as a rookie, wins championship, 1980 Vietnam War Accident at Bien Hoa kills 27 U.S. servicemen, 1965 Navy Corpsman receives Medal of Honor for action, 1968 U.S. bombing destroys main fuel line, 1972 World War I U.S. Congress passes Sedition Act, 1918 World War II As Brits launch Operation Chastise, Germans launch Operation Gypsy Baron, 1943 ******************** 1929: First Academy Awards ceremonyOn this day in 1929, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hands out its first awards, at a dinner party for around 250 people held in the Blossom Room of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California. The brainchild of Louis B. Mayer, head of the powerful MGM film studio, the Academy was organized in May 1927 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and improvement of the film industry. Its first president and the host of the May 1929 ceremony was the actor Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Unlike today, the winners of the first Oscars--as the coveted gold-plated statuettes later became known--were announced before the awards ceremony itself. At the time of the first Oscar ceremony, sound had just been introduced into film. The Warner Bros. movie The Jazz Singer--one of the first "talkies"--was not allowed to compete for Best Picture because the Academy decided it was unfair to let movies with sound compete with silent films. The first official Best Picture winner (and the only silent film to win Best Picture) was Wings, directed by William Wellman. The most expensive movie of its time, with a budget of $2 million, the movie told the story of two World War I pilots who fall for the same woman. Another film, F.W. Murnau's epic Sunrise, was considered a dual winner for the best film of the year. German actor Emil Jannings won the Best Actor honor for his roles in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh, while 22-year-old Janet Gaynor was the only female winner. After receiving three out of the five Best Actress nods, she won for all three roles, in Seventh Heaven, Street Angel and Sunrise. A special honorary award was presented to Charlie Chaplin. Originally a nominee for Best Actor, Best Writer and Best Comedy Director for The Circus, Chaplin was removed from these categories so he could receive the special award, a change that some attributed to his unpopularity in Hollywood. It was the last Oscar the Hollywood maverick would receive until another honorary award in 1971. The Academy officially began using the nickname Oscar for its awards in 1939; a popular but unconfirmed story about the source of the name holds that Academy executive director Margaret Herrick remarked that the statuette looked like her Uncle Oscar. Since 1942, the results of the secret ballot voting have been announced during the live-broadcast Academy Awards ceremony using the sealed-envelope system. The suspense--not to mention the red-carpet arrival of nominees and other stars wearing their most beautiful or outrageous evening wear--continues to draw international attention to the film industry's biggest night of the year. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 17, 2012 4:18:30 GMT -5
May 17thAmerican Revolution Washington criticizes "taxation without representation", 1769 Automotive Toyota announces plans for hybrid Camry, 2005 Civil War Confederates defeated at the Battle of Big Black River, 1863 Cold War Gorbachev meets with Lithuanian prime minister, 1990 Crime LAPD raid leaves six SLA members dead, 1974 Disaster Fire engulfs Honduras prison, 1994 General Interest Brown v. Board of Ed is decided, 1954 Heyerdahl sails papyrus boat, 1970 Televised Watergate hearings begin, 1973 First legal same-sex marriage performed in Massachusetts, 2004 Hollywood Final episode of Beverly Hills 90210 airs, 2000 Literary Dorothy Richardson, pioneer of stream of consciousness, is born, 1873 Music The FBI Laboratory weighs in on the "dirty" lyrics of "Louie Louie", 1965 Old West Geronimo flees Arizona reservation, 1885 Presidential Andrew Johnson marries Eliza McCardle, 1827 Sports Islanders win fourth consecutive Stanley Cup, 1983 Vietnam War Operations continue in Cambodia, 1970 South Vietnamese reinforcements near An Loc, 1972 World War I Henri Barbusse is born, 1873 World War II The Memphis Belle flies its 25th bombing mission, 1943 ******************** 1954: Brown v. Board of Ed is decidedIn a major civil rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down an unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, ruling that racial segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional. The historic decision, which brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, specifically dealt with Linda Brown, a young African American girl who had been denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin. In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that "separate but equal" accommodations in railroad cars conformed to the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. That ruling was used to justify segregating all public facilities, including elementary schools. However, in the case of Linda Brown, the white school she attempted to attend was far superior to her black alternative and miles closer to her home. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) took up Linda's cause, and in 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka reached the Supreme Court. African American lawyer (and future Supreme Court justice) Thurgood Marshall led Brown's legal team, and on May 17, 1954, the high court handed down its decision. In an opinion written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the nation's highest court ruled that not only was the "separate but equal" doctrine unconstitutional in Linda's case, it was unconstitutional in all cases because educational segregation stamped an inherent badge of inferiority on African American students. A year later, after hearing arguments on the implementation of their ruling, the Supreme Court published guidelines requiring public school systems to integrate "with all deliberate speed." The Brown v. Board of Education decision served to greatly motivate the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and ultimately led to the abolishment of racial segregation in all public facilities and accommodations. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 18, 2012 6:12:45 GMT -5
May 18thAmerican Revolution United Empire Loyalists reach Canada, 1783 Automotive Lotus makes Formula One debut, 1958 Civil War The siege of Vicksburg commences, 1863 Cold War One million protesters take to the streets in Beijing, 1989 Crime Popular evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears, 1926 Disaster Mount St. Helens erupts, 1980 General Interest Lincoln nominated for presidency, 1860 Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 Pope John Paul II born, 1920 India joins the nuclear club, 1974 Mount St. Helens erupts, 1980 Hollywood Shrek released, 2001 Literary Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe, 1593 Music Ian Curtis of Joy Division commits suicide, 1980 Old West Chief Satanta massacres teamsters, 1871 Presidential Newspaper report criticizes Mrs. Lincoln, 1861 Sports Randy Johnson throws perfect game at 40, 2004 Vietnam War Laird charges, 1966 Communists attack Xuan Loc, 1969 World War I U.S. Congress passes Selective Service Act, 1917 World War II Hitler gives the order for Operation Alaric, 1943 Polish Corps takes Monte Cassino, 1944 ******************** 1974: India joins the nuclear clubIn the Rajasthan Desert in the state of Pokhran, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon, a fission bomb similar in explosive power to the U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. The test fell on the traditional anniversary of the Buddha's enlightenment, and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi received the message "Buddha has smiled" from the exuberant test-site scientists after the detonation. The test, which made India the world's sixth nuclear power, broke the nuclear monopoly of the five members of the U.N. Security Council--the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, China, and France. India, which suffered continuing border disputes with China, refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968. Fearing a second war with China and a fourth war with Pakistan, India actively sought the development of a nuclear deterrent in the early 1970s. The successful detonation of its first bomb on May 18, 1974, set off an expanded arms race with Pakistan that saw no further nuclear tests but the development of lethal intermediate and long-range ballistic missiles by both countries. On May 11, 1998, India resumed nuclear testing, leading to international outrage and Pakistan's detonation of its first nuclear bomb later in the month. www.history.com/this-day-in-history/india-joins-the-nuclear-club
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Post by dreamer on May 19, 2012 5:52:56 GMT -5
May 19th American Revolution New Hampshire Patriot Josiah Bartlett dies, 1795 Automotive Smart launches U.S. road show to introduce its microcar, 2007 Civil War Battle of Spotsylvania concludes, 1864 Cold War Soviets ratify treaty banning nuclear weapons from outer space, 1967 Crime The early years of species protection, 1715 Disaster Avian flu kills young boy, 1997 General Interest Spanish Armada sets sail, 1588 Ohio Company chartered, 1749 Lawrence of Arabia dies, 1935 Hollywood The Da Vinci Code opens, 2006 Literary Oscar Wilde is released from jail, 1897 Music Pete Townshend writes "My Generation" on his 20th birthday, 1965 Old West Cynthia Ann Parker is kidnapped, 1836 Presidential Lincoln proposes equal treatment of soldiers' dependents, 1864 Sports Gretzky and Messier lead Oilers to championship, 1984 Vietnam War U.S. Air Force begins Operation Yankee Team, 1964 South Vietnamese fight to open road to An Loc, 1972 World War I Britain and France conclude Sykes-Picot agreement, 1916 World War II Churchill and FDR plot D-Day, 1943 ******************** 1935: Lawrence of Arabia dies.E. Lawrence, known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia, dies as a retired Royal Air Force mechanic living under an assumed name. The legendary war hero, author, and archaeological scholar succumbed to injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident six days before. Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in Tremadoc, Wales, in 1888. In 1896, his family moved to Oxford. Lawrence studied architecture and archaeology, for which he made a trip to Ottoman (Turkish)-controlled Syria and Palestine in 1909. In 1911, he won a fellowship to join an expedition excavating an ancient Hittite settlement on the Euphrates River. He worked there for three years and in his free time traveled and learned Arabic. In 1914, he explored the Sinai, near the frontier of Ottoman-controlled Arabia and British-controlled Egypt. The maps Lawrence and his associates made had immediate strategic value upon the outbreak of war between Britain and the Ottoman Empire in October 1914. Lawrence enlisted in the war and because of his expertise in Arab affairs was assigned to Cairo as an intelligence officer. He spent more than a year in Egypt, processing intelligence information and in 1916 accompanied a British diplomat to Arabia, where Hussein ibn Ali, the emir of Mecca, had proclaimed a revolt against Turkish rule. Lawrence convinced his superiors to aid Hussein's rebellion, and he was sent to join the Arabian army of Hussein's son Faisal as a liaison officer. Under Lawrence's guidance, the Arabians launched an effective guerrilla war against the Turkish lines. He proved a gifted military strategist and was greatly admired by the Bedouin people of Arabia. In July 1917, Arabian forces captured Aqaba near the Sinai and joined the British march on Jerusalem. Lawrence was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In November, he was captured by the Turks while reconnoitering behind enemy lines in Arab dress and was tortured and sexually abused before escaping. He rejoined his army, which slowly worked its way north to Damascus, which fell in October 1918. Arabia was liberated, but Lawrence's hope that the peninsula would be united as a single nation was dashed when Arabian factionalism came to the fore after Damascus. Lawrence, exhausted and disillusioned, left for England. Feeling that Britain had exacerbated the rivalries between the Arabian groups, he appeared before King George V and politely refused the medals offered to him. After the war, he lobbied hard for independence for Arab countries and appeared at the Paris peace conference in Arab robes. He became something of a legendary figure in his own lifetime, and in 1922 he gave up higher-paying appointments to enlist in the Royal Air Force (RAF) under an assumed name, John Hume Ross. He had just completed writing his monumental war memoir, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and he hoped to escape his fame and acquire material for a new book. Found out by the press, he was discharged, but in 1923 he managed to enlist as a private in the Royal Tanks Corps under another assumed name, T.E. Shaw, a reference to his friend, Irish writer George Bernard Shaw. In 1925, Lawrence rejoined the RAF and two years later legally changed his last name to Shaw. In 1927, an abridged version of his memoir was published and generated tremendous publicity, but the press was unable to locate Lawrence (he was posted to a base in India). In 1929, he returned to England and spent the next six years writing and working as an RAF mechanic. In 1932, his English translation of Homer's Odyssey was published under the name of T.E. Shaw. The Mint, a fictionalized account of Royal Air Force recruit training, was not published until 1955 because of its explicitness. In February 1935, Lawrence was discharged from the RAF and returned to his simple cottage at Clouds Hill, Dorset. On May 13, he was critically injured while driving his motorcycle through the Dorset countryside. He had swerved to avoid two boys on bicycles. On May 19, he died at the hospital of his former RAF camp. All of Britain mourned his passing. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 22, 2012 6:11:57 GMT -5
May 20thAmerican Revolution Battle of Barren Hill, Pennsylvania, 1778 Automotive Street in front of the White House closed to traffic, 1995 Civil War Union Congress passes the Homestead Act, 1862 Cold War United States drops hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll, 1956 Crime Mary Kay Letourneau marries former victim, 2005 Disaster Plane crashes at Cairo airport, 1965 General Interest Vasco da Gama reaches India, 1498 Christopher Columbus dies, 1506 The Homestead Act, 1862 Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive patent for blue jeans, 1873 Spirit of St. Louis departs, 1927 Battle for Hamburger Hill ends, 1969 Supreme Court defends rights of homosexuals, 1996 Hollywood The Simpsons airs 400th episode, 2007 Literary W.H. Auden becomes a U.S. citizen, 1946 Music Frank Sinatra is laid to rest, 1998 Old West Levi Strauss patents copper-riveted jeans, 1873 Presidential Lincoln signs Homestead Act, 1862 Sports Sunday Silence wins Preakness by a nose, 1989 Vietnam War French see "light at the end of the tunnel" in Vietnam, 1953 Kennedy criticizes the "Hamburger Hill" battle, 1969 World War I British renew attacks in Battle of Festubert, 1915 World War II Germans break through to English Channel at Abbeville, France, 1940 ******************** 1873: Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive patent for blue jeansOn this day in 1873, San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss and Reno, Nevada, tailor Jacob Davis are given a patent to create work pants reinforced with metal rivets, marking the birth of one of the world's most famous garments: blue jeans. Born Loeb Strauss in Buttenheim, Bavaria, in 1829, the young Strauss immigrated to New York with his family in 1847 after the death of his father. By 1850, Loeb had changed his name to Levi and was working in the family dry goods business, J. Strauss Brother & Co. In early 1853, Levi Strauss went west to seek his fortune during the heady days of the Gold Rush. In San Francisco, Strauss established a wholesale dry goods business under his own name and worked as the West Coast representative of his family's firm. His new business imported clothing, fabric and other dry goods to sell in the small stores opening all over California and other Western states to supply the rapidly expanding communities of gold miners and other settlers. By 1866, Strauss had moved his company to expanded headquarters and was a well-known businessman and supporter of the Jewish community in San Francisco. Jacob Davis, a tailor in Reno, Nevada, was one of Levi Strauss' regular customers. In 1872, he wrote a letter to Strauss about his method of making work pants with metal rivets on the stress points--at the corners of the pockets and the base of the button fly--to make them stronger. As Davis didn't have the money for the necessary paperwork, he suggested that Strauss provide the funds and that the two men get the patent together. Strauss agreed enthusiastically, and the patent for "Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings"--the innovation that would produce blue jeans as we know them--was granted to both men on May 20, 1873. Strauss brought Davis to San Francisco to oversee the first manufacturing facility for "waist overalls," as the original jeans were known. At first they employed seamstresses working out of their homes, but by the 1880s, Strauss had opened his own factory. The famous 501 brand jean--known until 1890 as "XX"--was soon a bestseller, and the company grew quickly. By the 1920s, Levi's denim waist overalls were the top-selling men's work pant in the United States. As decades passed, the craze only grew, and now blue jeans are worn by men and women, young and old, around the world. www.history.com/this-day-in-history/levi-strauss-and-jacob-davis-receive-patent-for-blue-jeans
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Post by dreamer on May 22, 2012 6:15:33 GMT -5
May 21stAmerican Revolution Lenape Indians abduct Mary Campbell from western Pennsylvania, 1758 Automotive Connecticut enacts first speed-limit law, 1901 Civil War The Siege of Port Hudson begins, 1863 Cold War Gorbachev consolidates power, 1988 Crime Leopold and Loeb gain national attention, 1924 Long Island Lolita is arrested, 1992 A veteran's flashback defense doesn't hold up in court, 1996 Disaster Huge earthquake hits Chile, 1960 General Interest De Soto dies in the American wilderness, 1542 American Red Cross founded, 1881 Lindbergh lands in Paris, 1927 Earhart completes transatlantic flight, 1932 Hollywood Soap star Susan Lucci wins first Emmy after 19 nominations, 1999 Literary Serialization of Colette's The Vagabond begins, 1910 Music Chuck Berry records "Maybellene", 1955 Old West Black Spanish explorer Estevan is reported killed, 1539 Presidential Garfield's spine on display at museum, 2000 Sports Nancy Lopez wins her first Coca-Cola Classic, 1978 Vietnam War Military spokesman defends "Hamburger Hill", 1969 World War I Second Moroccan Crisis, 1911 World War II Nazis kill "unfit" people in East Prussia, 1940 Thousands of Jews die in Nazi gas chambers; IG Farber sets up factory, 1942 ******************** 1881: American Red Cross foundedIn Washington, D.C., humanitarians Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons found the American National Red Cross, an organization established to provide humanitarian aid to victims of wars and natural disasters in congruence with the International Red Cross. Barton, born in Massachusetts in 1821, worked with the sick and wounded during the American Civil War and became known as the "Angel of the Battlefield" for her tireless dedication. In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln commissioned her to search for lost prisoners of war, and with the extensive records she had compiled during the war she succeeded in identifying thousands of the Union dead at the Andersonville prisoner-of-war camp. She was in Europe in 1870 when the Franco-Prussian War broke out, and she went behind the German lines to work for the International Red Cross. In 1873, she returned to the United States, and four years later she organized an American branch of the International Red Cross. The American Red Cross received its first U.S. federal charter in 1900. Barton headed the organization into her 80s and died in 1912. www.history.com/this-day-in-history/american-red-cross-founded
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Post by dreamer on May 22, 2012 6:19:18 GMT -5
May 22ndAmerican Revolution Patriot siege of Ninety Six, South Carolina, begins, 1781 Automotive "Winning" released, stars Paul Newman as a race car driver, 1969 Civil War Southern congressman attacks Northern senator, 1856 Cold War Jimmy Carter reaffirms his commitment to human rights, 1977 Crime Atlanta child murderer is questioned, 1981 Chandra Levy's remains found, 2002 Disaster Belgian department store burns, 1967 General Interest The War of the Roses, 1455 Great Emigration departs for Oregon, 1843 President Nixon in Moscow, 1972 Yemen united, 1990 Hollywood Controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 wins Palme d’Or, 2004 Literary Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is born, 1859 Music Jerry Lee Lewis drops a bombshell in London, 1958 Old West A thousand pioneers head West on the Oregon Trail, 1843 Presidential Martha Washington dies, 1802 Sports Sorenstam makes history, 2003 Vietnam War Rusk warns North Vietnamese, 1964 Negotiators differ on diplomatic exchange, 1969 World War I Crisis in Austria-Hungary, 1917 World War II The Pact of Steel is signed; the Axis is formed, 1939 Operation Chattanooga Choo-Choo is launched, 1944 ******************** 1843: Great Emigration departs for OregonA massive wagon train, made up of 1,000 settlers and 1,000 head of cattle, sets off down the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri. Known as the "Great Emigration," the expedition came two years after the first modest party of settlers made the long, overland journey to Oregon. After leaving Independence, the giant wagon train followed the Sante Fe Trail for some 40 miles and then turned northwest to the Platte River, which it followed along its northern route to Fort Laramie, Wyoming. From there, it traveled on to the Rocky Mountains, which it passed through by way of the broad, level South Pass that led to the basin of the Colorado River. The travelers then went southwest to Fort Bridger, northwest across a divide to Fort Hall on the Snake River, and on to Fort Boise, where they gained supplies for the difficult journey over the Blue Mountains and into Oregon. The Great Emigration finally arrived in October, completing the 2,000-mile journey from Independence in five months. In the next year, four more wagon trains made the journey, and in 1845 the number of emigrants who used the Oregon Trail exceeded 3,000. Travel along the trail gradually declined with the advent of the railroads, and the route was finally abandoned in the 1870s. www.history.com/this-day-in-history/great-emigration-departs-for-oregon
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Post by dreamer on May 23, 2012 5:19:08 GMT -5
May 23rd American Revolution Meigs Expedition claims sole Patriot victory on Long Island, 1777 Automotive Outlaws Bonnie and Clyde shot to death in stolen Ford, 1934 Civil War Fighting begins on the North Anna River, Virginia, 1864 Cold War Federal Republic of Germany is established, 1949 Crime Bonnie and Clyde are killed by police, 1934 Disaster Tsunami hits Hawaii, 1960 General Interest Captain Kidd walks the plank, 1701 Forgotten Civil War hero honored, 1900 New York Public Library dedicated, 1911 Police kill famous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde, 1934 Eichmann captured, 1960 Hollywood Joan Collins is born, 1933 Literary Margaret Fuller is born, 1810 Music Tom Petty defies his record label and files for bankruptcy, 1979 Old West Curley is buried at Little Big Horn, 1923 Presidential George W. Bush recovers from bicycle accident, 2004 Sports Joe Louis beats Buddy Baer to retain heavyweight title, 1941 Vietnam War Congressman claims M-16 is defective, 1967 North Vietnamese infiltrators attack U.S. base, 1971 United States widens aerial campaign, 1972 World War I Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary, 1915 World War II Lord Mountbatten, cousin to a king, sunk by German dive-bombers, 1941 Himmler commits suicide, 1945 ******************** 1934: Police kill famous outlaws Bonnie and ClydeOn this day in 1934, notorious criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are shot to death by Texas and Louisiana state police while driving a stolen car near Sailes, Louisiana. Bonnie Parker met the charismatic Clyde Barrow in Texas when she was 19 years old and her husband (she married when she was 16) was serving time in jail for murder. Shortly after they met, Barrow was imprisoned for robbery. Parker visited him every day, and smuggled a gun into prison to help him escape, but he was soon caught in Ohio and sent back to jail. When Barrow was paroled in 1932, he immediately hooked up with Parker, and the couple began a life of crime together. After they stole a car and committed several robberies, Parker was caught by police and sent to jail for two months. Released in mid-1932, she rejoined Barrow. Over the next two years, the couple teamed with various accomplices to rob a string of banks and stores across five states--Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, New Mexico and Louisiana. To law enforcement agents, the Barrow Gang--including Barrow's childhood friend, Raymond Hamilton, W.D. Jones, Henry Methvin, Barrow's brother Buck and his wife Blanche, among others--were cold-blooded criminals who didn't hesitate to kill anyone who got in their way, especially police or sheriff's deputies. Among the public, however, Parker and Barrow's reputation as dangerous outlaws was mixed with a romantic view of the couple as "Robin Hood"-like folk heroes. Their fame was increased by the fact that Bonnie was a woman--an unlikely criminal--and by the fact that the couple posed for playful photographs together, which were later found by police and released to the media. Police almost captured the famous duo twice in the spring of 1933, with surprise raids on their hideouts in Joplin and Platte City, Missouri. Buck Barrow was killed in the second raid, and Blanche was arrested, but Bonnie and Clyde escaped once again. In January 1934, they attacked the Eastham Prison Farm in Texas to help Hamilton break out of jail, shooting several guards with machine guns and killing one. Texan prison officials hired a retired Texas police officer, Captain Frank Hamer, as a special investigator to track down Parker and Barrow. After a three-month search, Hamer traced the couple to Louisiana, where Henry Methvin's family lived. Before dawn on May 23, Hamer and a group of Louisiana and Texas lawmen hid in the bushes along a country road outside Sailes. When Parker and Barrow appeared, the officers opened fire, killing the couple instantly in a hail of bullets. All told, the Barrow Gang was believed responsible for the deaths of 13 people, including nine police officers. Parker and Barrow are still seen by many as romantic figures, however, especially after the success of the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 24, 2012 5:47:02 GMT -5
May 24thAmerican Revolution John Hancock becomes president of Congress, 1775 Automotive "Thelma and Louise," featuring 1966 Ford Thunderbird, released, 1991 Civil War Battle of North Anna continues, 1864 Cold War John Foster Dulles dies, 1959 Crime Lori Ann Auker disappears from a parking lot, 1989 Disaster Riot erupts at soccer match, 1964 General Interest Copernicus dies, 1543 What hath God wrought?, 1844 Brooklyn Bridge opens, 1883 Hollywood sex, lies and videotape wins top prize at Cannes, 1989 Literary Joseph Brodsky is born, 1940 Music Duke Ellington dies, 1974 Old West Henry Plummer is elected sheriff of Bannack, Montana, 1863 Presidential Thomas Jefferson inquires about a former flame, 1797 Sports MLB holds first night game, 1935 Vietnam War Goldwater suggests using atomic weapons, 1964 Soldiers place controversial ad in antiwar newspaper, 1971 World War I British naval convoy system introduced, 1917 World War II The Bismarck sinks the Hood, 1941 Auschwitz gets a new doctor: "the Angel of Death", 1943 ******************** 1883: Brooklyn Bridge opensAfter 14 years and 27 deaths while being constructed, the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River is opened, connecting the great cities of New York and Brooklyn for the first time in history. Thousands of residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan Island turned out to witness the dedication ceremony, which was presided over by President Chester A. Arthur and New York Governor Grover Cleveland. Designed by the late John A. Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge was the largest suspension bridge ever built to that date. John Roebling, born in Germany in 1806, was a great pioneer in the design of steel suspension bridges. He studied industrial engineering in Berlin and at the age of 25 immigrated to western Pennsylvania, where he attempted, unsuccessfully, to make his living as a farmer. He later moved to the state capital in Harrisburg, where he found work as a civil engineer. He promoted the use of wire cable and established a successful wire-cable factory. Meanwhile, he earned a reputation as a designer of suspension bridges, which at the time were widely used but known to fail under strong winds or heavy loads. Roebling is credited with a major breakthrough in suspension-bridge technology: a web truss added to either side of the bridge roadway that greatly stabilized the structure. Using this model, Roebling successfully bridged the Niagara Gorge at Niagara Falls, New York, and the Ohio River at Cincinnati, Ohio. On the basis of these achievements, New York State accepted Roebling's design for a bridge connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan--with a span of 1,595 feet--and appointed him chief engineer. It was to be the world's first steel suspension bridge. Just before construction began in 1869, Roebling was fatally injured while taking a few final compass readings across the East River. A boat smashed the toes on one of his feet, and three weeks later he died of tetanus. He was the first of more than two dozen people who would die building his bridge. His 32-year-old son, Washington A. Roebling, took over as chief engineer. Roebling had worked with his father on several bridges and had helped design the Brooklyn Bridge. The two granite foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge were built in timber caissons, or watertight chambers, sunk to depths of 44 feet on the Brooklyn side and 78 feet on the New York side. Compressed air pressurized the caissons, allowing underwater construction. At that time, little was known of the risks of working under such conditions, and more than a hundred workers suffered from cases of compression sickness. Compression sickness, or the "bends," is caused by the appearance of nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream that result from rapid decompression. Several died, and Washington Roebling himself became bedridden from the condition in 1872. Other workers died as a result of more conventional construction accidents, such as collapses and a fire. Roebling continued to direct construction operations from his home, and his wife, Emily, carried his instructions to the workers. In 1877, Washington and Emily moved into a home with a view of the bridge. Roebling's health gradually improved, but he remained partially paralyzed for the rest of his life. On May 24, 1883, Emily Roebling was given the first ride over the completed bridge, with a rooster, a symbol of victory, in her lap. Within 24 hours, an estimated 250,000 people walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, using a broad promenade above the roadway that John Roebling designed solely for the enjoyment of pedestrians. The Brooklyn Bridge, with its unprecedented length and two stately towers, was dubbed the "eighth wonder of the world." The connection it provided between the massive population centers of Brooklyn and Manhattan changed the course of New York City forever. In 1898, the city of Brooklyn formally merged with New York City, Staten Island, and a few farm towns, forming Greater New York. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on May 25, 2012 5:09:50 GMT -5
May 25th American Revolution Constitutional Convention convenes in Philadelphia, 1787 Automotive Pennsylvania man buried with his beloved Corvette, 1994 Civil War Confederates score a victory at First Battle of Winchester, 1862 Cold War Chinese government removes ban on Shakespeare, 1977 Crime President Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War, 1861 Oscar Wilde is sent to prison for indecency, 1895 Disaster DC-10 crashes, killing all aboard, 1979 General Interest The English Restoration, 1660 Constitutional Convention begins, 1787 Catholic priest ordained in America, 1793 Star Wars opens, 1977 Worst air crash in U.S. history, 1979 Hollywood Star Wars released, 1977 Literary Thomas Mann visits the Lido in Venice, 1911 International best-selling thriller writer Robert Ludlum is born, 1927 Music HMS Pinafore premieres in London, 1878 Old West Grizzly bear is classified as a "threatened" species, 1975 Presidential JFK asks Congress to support the space program, 1961 Sports Babe Ruth hits last home run, 1935 Vietnam War Communist launch new offensive, 1968 National Democratic Front formed in Saigon, 1969 World War I Large-scale deportations of Armenians begin in Turkey, 1915 World War II Operation Knight's Move is launched, 1944 ******************** 1977: Star Wars opensOn this day in 1977, Memorial Day weekend opens with an intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas' blockbuster Star Wars movies hits American theaters. The incredible success of Star Wars--it received seven Oscars, and earned $461 million in U.S. ticket sales and a gross of close to $800 million worldwide--began with an extensive, coordinated marketing push by Lucas and his studio, 20th Century Fox, months before the movie's release date. "It wasn't like a movie opening," actress Carrie Fisher, who played rebel leader Princess Leia, later told Time magazine. "It was like an earthquake." Beginning with--in Fisher's words--"a new order of geeks, enthusiastic young people with sleeping bags," the anticipation of a revolutionary movie-watching experience spread like wildfire, causing long lines in front of movie theaters across the country and around the world. With its groundbreaking special effects, Star Wars leaped off screens and immersed audiences in "a galaxy far, far away." By now everyone knows the story, which followed the baby-faced Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) as he enlisted a team of allies--including hunky Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and the robots C3PO and R2D2--on his mission to rescue the kidnapped Princess Leia from an Evil Empire governed by Darth Vader. The film made all three of its lead actors overnight stars, turning Fisher into an object of adoration for millions of young male fans and launching Ford's now-legendary career as an action-hero heartthrob. Star Wars was soon a bona-fide pop culture phenomenon. Over the years it has spawned five more feature films, five TV series and an entire industry's worth of comic books, toys, video games and other products. Two big-screen sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1983), featured much of the original cast and enjoyed the same success--both critical and commercial--as the first film. In 1999, Lucas stretched back in time for the fourth installment, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, chronologically a prequel to the original movie. Two other prequels, Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) followed. The latter Star Wars movies featured a new cast--including Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen--and have generally failed to earn the same amount of critical praise as the first three films. They continue to score at the box office, however, with Revenge of the Sith becoming the top-grossing film of 2005 in the United States and the second worldwide. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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