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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 5:20:45 GMT -5
Dec. 1st American Revolution Washington establishes winter quarters at Morristown, 1779 Automotive Ford's assembly line starts rolling, 1913 Civil War Lincoln gives State of the Union address, 1862 Cold War Antarctica made a military-free continent, 1959 Crime Defense presents its case in Hamptons murder trial, 2004 Disaster Students die in Chicago school fire, 1958 General Interest Presidential election goes to the House, 1824 Sergey Kirov murdered, 1934 Rosa Parks ignites bus boycot, 1955 Chunnel makes breakthrough, 1990 Hollywood Trailblazing comic Richard Pryor born, 1940 Literary Due date for Victor Hugo, 1830 Music Bette Midler is born in Honolulu, Hawaii, 1945 Old West Elfego Baca battles Anglo cowboys, 1884 Presidential Congress decides outcome of presidential election, 1824 Sports Lee Trevino is born, 1939 Vietnam War Johnson Administration makes plans to bomb North Vietnam, 1964 Situation in Cambodia worsens, 1971 World War I New state declared in the Balkans, 1919 World War II Stettinius succeeds Hull as secretary of state, 1944 ******************** 1955: Rosa Parks ignites bus boycottIn Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks is jailed for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man, a violation of the city's racial segregation laws. The successful Montgomery Bus Boycott, organized by a young Baptist minister named Martin Luther King, Jr., followed Park's historic act of civil disobedience. "The mother of the civil rights movement," as Rosa Parks is known, was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1913. She worked as a seamstress and in 1943 joined the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). According to a Montgomery city ordinance in 1955, African Americans were required to sit at the back of public buses and were also obligated to give up those seats to white riders if the front of the bus filled up. Parks was in the first row of the black section when the white driver demanded that she give up her seat to a white man. Parks' refusal was spontaneous but was not merely brought on by her tired feet, as is the popular legend. In fact, local civil rights leaders had been planning a challenge to Montgomery's racist bus laws for several months, and Parks had been privy to this discussion. Learning of Parks' arrest, the NAACP and other African American activists immediately called for a bus boycott to be held by black citizens on Monday, December 5. Word was spread by fliers, and activists formed the Montgomery Improvement Association to organize the protest. The first day of the bus boycott was a great success, and that night the 26-year-old Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., told a large crowd gathered at a church, "The great glory of American democracy is the right to protest for right." King emerged as the leader of the bus boycott and received numerous death threats from opponents of integration. At one point, his home was bombed, but he and his family escaped bodily harm. The boycott stretched on for more than a year, and participants carpooled or walked miles to work and school when no other means were possible. As African Americans previously constituted 70 percent of the Montgomery bus ridership, the municipal transit system suffered gravely during the boycott. On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Alabama state and Montgomery city bus segregation laws as being in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. On December 20, King issued the following statement: "The year old protest against city buses is officially called off, and the Negro citizens of Montgomery are urged to return to the buses tomorrow morning on a non-segregated basis." The boycott ended the next day. Rosa Parks was among the first to ride the newly desegregated buses. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his nonviolent civil rights movement had won its first great victory. There would be many more to come. Rosa Parks died on October 24, 2005. Three days later the U.S. Senate passed a resolution to honor Parks by allowing her body to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rosa-parks-ignites-bus-boycot
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:03:54 GMT -5
Dec. 2nd Enron files for bankruptcy, 2001 American Revolution Philadelphia nurse overhears British plans to attack Washington, 1777 Automotive Toyota's first hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles arrive in California, 2002 Civil War Confederate General Gracie killed at Petersburg, 1864 Cold War Castro declares himself a Marxist-Leninist, 1961 Crime Kennedy cousin rape trial begins, 1991 Disaster Dam collapses in France, killing 412, 1959 General Interest Napoleon crowned emperor, 1804 Monroe Doctrine declared, 1823 John Brown hanged, 1859 McCarthy condemned by Senate, 1954 Hollywood Affleck and Damon’s Good Will Hunting debuts, 1997 Literary Coleridge joins the cavalry, 1793 Music The Temptations earn their final #1 hit with "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", 1972 Old West Polk affirms Monroe Doctrine, 1845 Presidential Monroe introduces bold new foreign policy, 1823 Sports Archie Griffin wins second consecutive Heisman Trophy, 1975 Vietnam War Senator Mansfield pronounces American aid to South Vietnam wasted, 1962 South Vietnamese leaders order a temporary halt to the strategic hamlet program, 1963 World War I Russia reaches armistice with the Central Powers, 1917 World War II Fermi produces the first nuclear chain reaction, 1942 *************** 2001: Enron files for bankruptcyOn this day in 2001, the Enron Corporation files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a New York court, sparking one of the largest corporate scandals in U.S. history. An energy-trading company based in Houston, Texas, Enron was formed in 1985 as the merger of two gas companies, Houston Natural Gas and Internorth. Under chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay, Enron rose as high as number seven on Fortune magazine's list of the top 500 U.S. companies. In 2000, the company employed 21,000 people and posted revenue of $111 billion. Over the next year, however, Enron's stock price began a dramatic slide, dropping from $90.75 in August 2000 to $0.26 by closing on November 30, 2001. As prices fell, Lay sold large amounts of his Enron stock, while simultaneously encouraging Enron employees to buy more shares and assuring them that the company was on the rebound. Employees saw their retirement savings accounts wiped out as Enron's stock price continued to plummet. After another energy company, Dynegy, canceled a planned $8.4 billion buy-out in late November, Enron filed for bankruptcy. By the end of the year, Enron's collapse had cost investors billions of dollars, wiped out some 5,600 jobs and liquidated almost $2.1 billion in pension plans. Over the next several years, the name "Enron" became synonymous with large-scale corporate fraud and corruption, as an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Justice Department revealed that Enron had inflated its earnings by hiding debts and losses in subsidiary partnerships. The government subsequently accused Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling, who served as Enron's CEO from February to August 2001, of conspiring to cover up their company's financial weaknesses from investors. The investigation also brought down accounting giant Arthur Anderson, whose auditors were found guilty of deliberately destroying documents incriminating to Enron. In July 2004, a Houston court indicted Skilling on 35 counts including fraud, conspiracy and insider trading. Lay was charged with 11 similar crimes. The trial began on January 30, 2006, in Houston. A number of former Enron employees appeared on the stand, including Andrew Fastow, Enron's ex-CFO, who early on pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy and agreed to testify against his former bosses. Over the course of the trial, the defiant Skilling--who unloaded almost $60 million worth of Enron stock shortly after his resignation but refused to admit he knew of the company's impending collapse--emerged as the figure many identified most personally with the scandal. In May 2006, Skilling was convicted of 19 of 35 counts, while Lay was found guilty on 10 counts of fraud and conspiracy. When Lay died from heart disease just two months later, a Houston judge vacated the counts against him. That October, the 52-year-old Skilling was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 4:52:35 GMT -5
Dec. 3rd American Revolution Washington arrives at the banks of the Delaware, 1776 Automotive Last AMC Pacer rolls off assembly line, 1979 Civil War Union General George McClellan is born, 1826 Cold War Bush and Gorbachev suggest Cold War is coming to an end, 1989 Crime The clothes make the man . . . guilty, 1989 Disaster Explosion kills 2,000 at pesticide plant, 1984 General Interest First Balkan War ends, 1912 A Streetcar Named Desire opens on Broadway, 1947 First human heart transplant, 1967 The Bhopal-Union Carbide disaster, 1984 Hollywood Heavy-metal legend Ozzy Osbourne born, 1948 Literary Joseph Conrad's birthday, 1857 Music Eleven people killed in a stampede outside Who concert in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1979 Old West Illinois becomes the 21st state, 1818 Presidential Lincoln reaches legal milestone, 1839 Sports Indian field hockey gold medalist Dhyan Chand dies, 1979 Vietnam War Report maintains that Viet Cong are prepared for a long war, 1962 Memorandum outlines terms for bombing halt, 1965 World War I Nivelle replaces Joffre as French commander, 1916 World War II Civil war breaks out in Athens, 1944 ******************** 1947: A Streetcar Named Desire opens on BroadwayOn this day in 1947, Marlon Brando's famous cry of "STELLA!" first booms across a Broadway stage, electrifying the audience at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre during the first-ever performance of Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire. The 23-year-old Brando played the rough, working-class Polish-American Stanley Kowalski, whose violent clash with Blanche DuBois (played on Broadway by Jessica Tandy), a Southern belle with a dark past, is at the center of Williams' famous drama. Blanche comes to stay with her sister Stella (Kim Hunter), Stanley's wife, at their home in the French Quarter of New Orleans; she and Stanley immediately despise each other. In the climactic scene, Stanley rapes Blanche, causing her to lose her fragile grip on sanity; the play ends with her being led away in a straitjacket. Streetcar, produced by Irene Mayer Selznick and directed by Elia Kazan, shocked mid-century audiences with its frank depiction of sexuality and brutality onstage. When the curtain went down on opening night, there was a moment of stunned silence before the crowd erupted into a round of applause that lasted 30 minutes. On December 17, the cast left New York to go on the road. The show would run for more than 800 performances, turning the charismatic Brando into an overnight star. Tandy won a Tony Award for her performance, and Williams was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In 1951, Kazan made Streetcar into a movie. Brando, Hunter and Karl Malden (as Stanley's friend and Blanche's love interest) reprised their roles. The role of Blanche went to Vivien Leigh, the scenery-chewing star of Gone with the Wind. Controversy flared when the Catholic Legion of Decency threatened to condemn the film unless the explicitly sexual scenes--including the climactic rape--were removed. When Williams, who wrote the screenplay, refused to take out the rape, the Legion insisted that Stanley be punished onscreen. As a result, the movie (but not the play) ends with Stella leaving Stanley. A Streetcar Named Desire earned 12 Oscar nominations, including acting nods for each of its four leads. The movie won for Best Art Direction, and Leigh, Hunter and Malden all took home awards; Brando lost to Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 4, 2011 5:06:58 GMT -5
American Revolution Washington's cousin tricks Loyalists, 1780 Automotive "Irish Godfather" killed by car bomb in St. Paul, 1928 Civil War North and South skirmish at Waynesboro, Georgia, 1864 Cold War Senate approves U.S. participation in United Nations, 1945 Crime Police kill two members of the Black Panther Party, 1969 Amanda Knox convicted of murder in Italy, 2009 Disaster Smog kills thousands in England, 1952 General Interest The mystery of the Mary Celeste, 1872 President Wilson travels to Europe, 1918 Hostage Terry Anderson freed in Lebanon, 1991 Bush orders U.S. troops to Somalia, 1992 Hollywood Warren Beatty writes, directs, stars in Oscar-winning Reds, 1981 Literary Somerset Maugham sails for Pago Pago, 1916 Music The "Million Dollar Quartet" convenes at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, 1956 Old West Oliver Kelley organizes the Grange, 1867 Presidential Washington bids farewell to his officers, 1783 Sports NBA suspends Latrell Sprewell for attacking coach, 1997 Vietnam War Viet Cong attack Tan Son Nhut airport, 1966 Riverine force surrounds Viet Cong battalion, 1967 World War I Psychiatrist reports on the phenomenon of shell shock, 1917 World War II Polish Christians come to the aid of Polish Jews, 1942 ******************** 1952: Smog kills thousands in EnglandHeavy smog begins to hover over London, England, on this day in 1952. It persists for four days, leading to the deaths of at least 4,000 people. It was a Thursday afternoon when a high-pressure air mass stalled over the Thames River Valley. When cold air arrived suddenly from the west, the air over London became trapped in place. The problem was exacerbated by low temperatures, which caused residents to burn extra coal in their furnaces. The smoke, soot and sulfur dioxide from the area's industries along with that from cars and consumer energy usage caused extraordinarily heavy smog to smother the city. By the morning of December 5, there was a visible pall cast over hundreds of square miles. The smog became so thick and dense that by December 7 there was virtually no sunlight and visibility was reduced to five yards in many places. Eventually, all transportation in the region was halted, but not before the smog caused several rail accidents, including a collision between two trains near London Bridge. The worst effect of the smog, however, was the respiratory distress it caused in humans and animals, including difficulty breathing and the vomiting of phlegm. One of the first noted victims was a prize cow that suffocated on December 5. An unusually high number of people in the area, numbering in the thousands, died in their sleep that weekend. It is difficult to calculate exactly how many deaths and injuries were caused by the smog. As with heat waves, experts compare death totals during the smog to the number of people who have died during the same period in previous years. The period between December 4 and December 8 saw such a marked increase in death in the London metropolitan area that the most conservative estimates place the death toll at 4,000, with some estimating that the smog killed as many as 8,000 people. On December 9, the smog finally blew away. In the aftermath of this incident, the British government passed more stringent regulations on air pollution and encouraged people to stop using coal to hear their homes. Despite these measures, a similar smog 10 years later killed approximately 100 Londoners. www.history.com/this-day-in-history/smog-kills-thousands-in-england
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Post by dreamer on Dec 5, 2011 5:38:27 GMT -5
Dec. 5th American Revolution Phi Beta Kappa is founded while army flounders, 1776 Automotive Last segment of the Dan Ryan Expressway opens in Chicago, 1970 Civil War Union General George Custer is born, 1839 Cold War USSR and Afghanistan sign "friendship treaty", 1978 Crime The Boston Belfry Murderer kills his first victim, 1873 Disaster Hundreds die in Brooklyn theater fire, 1876 General Interest Prohibition ends, 1933 Aircraft squadron lost in the Bermuda Triangle, 1945 Hollywood Eddie Murphy stars in Beverly Hills Cop, 1984 Literary Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez is published, 1941 Music O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack released, 2000 Old West Rodeo star Bill Pickett born in Texas, 1871 Presidential Van Buren is born, 1782 Sports Roone Arledge dies, 2002 Vietnam War Army Captain awarded first Medal of Honor for action in Vietnam, 1964 North Vietnam announces it will not be intimidated by U.S. bombing, 1970 World War I Siege of British-occupied Kut, Mesopotamia begins, 1915 World War II American carrier Lexington heads to Midway, 1941 ******************** 1945: Aircraft squadron lost in the Bermuda TriangleAt 2:10 p.m., five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers comprising Flight 19 take off from the Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida on a routine three-hour training mission. Flight 19 was scheduled to take them due east for 120 miles, north for 73 miles, and then back over a final 120-mile leg that would return them to the naval base. They never returned. Two hours after the flight began, the leader of the squadron, who had been flying in the area for more than six months, reported that his compass and back-up compass had failed and that his position was unknown. The other planes experienced similar instrument malfunctions. Radio facilities on land were contacted to find the location of the lost squadron, but none were successful. After two more hours of confused messages from the fliers, a distorted radio transmission from the squadron leader was heard at 6:20 p.m., apparently calling for his men to prepare to ditch their aircraft simultaneously because of lack of fuel. By this time, several land radar stations finally determined that Flight 19 was somewhere north of the Bahamas and east of the Florida coast, and at 7:27 p.m. a search and rescue Mariner aircraft took off with a 13-man crew. Three minutes later, the Mariner aircraft radioed to its home base that its mission was underway. The Mariner was never heard from again. Later, there was a report from a tanker cruising off the coast of Florida of a visible explosion seen at 7:50 p.m. The disappearance of the 14 men of Flight 19 and the 13 men of the Mariner led to one of the largest air and seas searches to that date, and hundreds of ships and aircraft combed thousands of square miles of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and remote locations within the interior of Florida. No trace of the bodies or aircraft was ever found. Although naval officials maintained that the remains of the six aircraft and 27 men were not found because stormy weather destroyed the evidence, the story of the "Lost Squadron" helped cement the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, an area of the Atlantic Ocean where ships and aircraft are said to disappear without a trace. The Bermuda Triangle is said to stretch from the southern U.S. coast across to Bermuda and down to the Atlantic coast of Cuba and Santo Domingo. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 6, 2011 5:16:01 GMT -5
Dec. 6th American Revolution Whitemarsh skirmishes turn in Americans' favor, 1777 Automotive Deaf stuntwoman Kitty O'Neil sets women's land-speed record, 1976 Civil War The 13th Amendment is ratified, 1865 Cold War Protests against Soviet treatment of Jews take place in Washington and Moscow, 1987 Crime Train robbers reach the end of the line, 1868 Disaster Ships explode in Canadian harbor, 1917 General Interest Washington Monument completed, 1884 The Monongah coal mine disaster, 1907 The Great Halifax Explosion, 1917 Irish Free State declared, 1921 Hollywood Brokeback Mountain premieres, 2005 Literary Ulysses is ruled not obscene, 1933 Music The Altamont Festival brings the 1960s to a violent end, 1969 Old West French-Canadian explorer La Verendrye dies, 1749 Presidential Monument to Washington completed, 1884 Sports Jerry Rice scores record-breaking touchdown, 1992 Vietnam War Operation Farm Gate combat missions authorized, 1961 Fighting continues in South Vietnam while negotiators talk in Paris, 1972 World War I Munitions ship explodes in Halifax, 1917 World War II Roosevelt to Japanese emperor: "Prevent further death and destruction", 1941 ******************** 1884: Washington Monument completedOn this day in 1884, in Washington, D.C., workers place a nine-inch aluminum pyramid atop a tower of white marble, completing the construction of an impressive monument to the city's namesake and the nation's first president, George Washington. As early as 1783, the infant U.S. Congress decided that a statue of George Washington, the great Revolutionary War general, should be placed near the site of the new Congressional building, wherever it might be. After then-President Washington asked him to lay out a new federal capital on the Potomac River in 1791, architect Pierre L'Enfant left a place for the statue at the western end of the sweeping National Mall (near the monument's present location). It wasn't until 1832, however--33 years after Washington's death--that anyone really did anything about the monument. That year, a private Washington National Monument Society was formed. After holding a design competition and choosing an elaborate Greek temple-like design by architect Robert Mills, the society began a fundraising drive to raise money for the statue's construction. These efforts--including appeals to the nation's schoolchildren--raised some $230,000, far short of the $1 million needed. Construction began anyway, on July 4, 1848, as representatives of the society laid the cornerstone of the monument: a 24,500-pound block of pure white marble. Six years later, with funds running low, construction was halted. Around the time the Civil War began in 1861, author Mark Twain described the unfinished monument as looking like a "hollow, oversized chimney." No further progress was made until 1876--the centennial of American independence--when President Ulysses S. Grant authorized construction to be completed. Made of some 36,000 blocks of marble and granite stacked 555 feet in the air, the monument was the tallest structure in the world at the time of its completion in December 1884. In the six months following the dedication ceremony, over 10,000 people climbed the nearly 900 steps to the top of the Washington Monument. Today, an elevator makes the trip far easier, and more than 800,000 people visit the monument each year. A city law passed in 1910 restricted the height of new buildings to ensure that the monument will remain the tallest structure in Washington, D.C.--a fitting tribute to the man known as the "Father of His Country." www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 7, 2011 5:05:45 GMT -5
Dec. 7th American Revolution Delaware ratifies the Constitution, 1787 Automotive NYC officials revive Lower Manhattan Expressway, 1964 Civil War Yankess and Rebels clash at the Battle of Prairie Grove, 1862 Cold War Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in United States for summit with Ronald Reagan, 1987 Crime Commute of terror, 1993 Disaster Earthquakes wreak havoc in Armenia, 1988 General Interest The First State, 1787 Pearl Harbor bombed, 1941 Indonesia invades East Timor, 1975 First execution by lethal injection, 1982 Earthquake devastates Armenia, 1988 Hollywood Clooney stars in Sinatra role in Ocean’s Eleven remake, 2001 Literary Willa Cather is born, 1873 Music The Singing Nun reaches #1 on the U.S. pop charts with "Dominique", 1963 Old West Lewis and Clark temporarily settle in Fort Clatsop, 1805 Presidential FDR reacts to news of Pearl Harbor bombing, 1941 Sports Sugar Ray Leonard fights Roberto Duran for the third and final time, 1989 Vietnam War Situation deteriorates in South Vietnam, 1964 McNamara predicts that more U.S. troops will be needed, 1965 World War I David Lloyd George becomes prime minister of Britain, 1916 World War II "A date which will live in infamy", 1941 ******************** 1941: Pearl Harbor bombedAt 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II. With diplomatic negotiations with Japan breaking down, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his advisers knew that an imminent Japanese attack was probable, but nothing had been done to increase security at the important naval base at Pearl Harbor. It was Sunday morning, and many military personnel had been given passes to attend religious services off base. At 7:02 a.m., two radar operators spotted large groups of aircraft in flight toward the island from the north, but, with a flight of B-17s expected from the United States at the time, they were told to sound no alarm. Thus, the Japanese air assault came as a devastating surprise to the naval base. Much of the Pacific fleet was rendered useless: Five of eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged, and more than 200 aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded, many while valiantly attempting to repulse the attack. Japan's losses were some 30 planes, five midget submarines, and fewer than 100 men. Fortunately for the United States, all three Pacific fleet carriers were out at sea on training maneuvers. These giant aircraft carriers would have their revenge against Japan six months later at the Battle of Midway, reversing the tide against the previously invincible Japanese navy in a spectacular victory. The day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, President Roosevelt appeared before a joint session of Congress and declared, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941--a date which will live in infamy--the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." After a brief and forceful speech, he asked Congress to approve a resolution recognizing the state of war between the United States and Japan. The Senate voted for war against Japan by 82 to 0, and the House of Representatives approved the resolution by a vote of 388 to 1. The sole dissenter was Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, a devout pacifist who had also cast a dissenting vote against the U.S. entrance into World War I. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war against the United States, and the U.S. government responded in kind. The American contribution to the successful Allied war effort spanned four long years and cost more than 400,000 American lives. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 8, 2011 6:43:37 GMT -5
Dec. 8th American Revolution Americans begin siege of Quebec, 1775 Automotive Auto-factory architect Albert Kahn dies, 1942 Civil War Lincoln issues Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, 1863 Cold War Chinese Nationalists move capital to Taiwan, 1949 Crime John Lennon is murdered, 1980 Disaster Theater fire kills hundreds in Vienna, 1881 General Interest Mary Queen of Scots born, 1542 John Lennon shot, 1980 Superpowers agree to reduce nuclear arsenals, 1987 NAFTA signed into law, 1993 Hollywood Meryl Streep stars in Sophie’s Choice, 1982 Literary James Thurber is born, 1894 Music John Lennon is assassinated in New York City, 1980 Old West Jeanette Rankin casts sole vote against WWII, 1941 Presidential Roosevelt asks Congress to declare war on Japan, 1941 Sports Bears beat Redskins 73-0 in NFL Championship game, 1940 Vietnam War Operation Tiger Hound launched, 1965 North Vietnam rejects Johnson's prisoner exchange proposal, 1966 Nixon declares Vietnam War is ending, 1969 World War I The Battle of the Falkland Islands, 1914 World War II The United States declares war on Japan, 1941 ******************** 1980: John Lennon shotJohn Lennon, a former member of the Beatles, the rock group that transformed popular music in the 1960s, is shot and killed by an obsessed fan in New York City. The 40-year-old artist was entering his luxury Manhattan apartment building when Mark David Chapman shot him four times at close range with a .38-caliber revolver. Lennon, bleeding profusely, was rushed to the hospital but died en route. Chapman had received an autograph from Lennon earlier in the day and voluntarily remained at the scene of the shooting until he was arrested by police. For a week, hundreds of bereaved fans kept a vigil outside the Dakota--Lennon's apartment building--and demonstrations of mourning were held around the world. John Lennon was one half of the singing-songwriting team that made the Beatles the most popular musical group of the 20th century. The other band leader was Paul McCartney, but the rest of the quartet--George Harrison and Ringo Starr--sometimes penned and sang their own songs as well. Hailing from Liverpool, England, and influenced by early American rock and roll, the Beatles took Britain by storm in 1963 with the single "Please Please Me." "Beatlemania" spread to the United States in 1964 with the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," followed by a sensational U.S. tour. With youth poised to break away from the culturally rigid landscape of the 1950s, the "Fab Four," with their exuberant music and good-natured rebellion, were the perfect catalyst for the shift. The Beatles sold millions of records and starred in hit movies such as A Hard Day's Night (1964). Their live performances were near riots, with teenage girls screaming and fainting as their boyfriends nodded along to the catchy pop songs. In 1966, the Beatles gave up touring to concentrate on their innovative studio recordings, such as 1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band, a psychedelic concept album that is regarded as a masterpiece of popular music. The Beatles' music remained relevant to youth throughout the great cultural shifts of the 1960s, and critics of all ages acknowledged the songwriting genius of the Lennon-McCartney team. Lennon was considered the intellectual Beatle and certainly was the most outspoken of the four. He caused a major controversy in 1966 when he declared that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus," prompting mass burnings of Beatles' records in the American Bible Belt. He later became an anti-war activist and flirted with communism in the lyrics of solo hits like "Imagine," recorded after the Beatles disbanded in 1970. In 1975, Lennon dropped out of the music business to spend more time with his Japanese-born wife, Yoko Ono, and their son, Sean. In 1980, he made a comeback with Double-Fantasy, a critically acclaimed album that celebrated his love for Yoko and featured songs written by her. On December 8, 1980, their peaceful domestic life on New York's Upper West Side was shattered by 25-year-old Mark David Chapman. Psychiatrists deemed Chapman a borderline psychotic. He was instructed to plead insanity, but instead he pleaded guilty to murder. He was sentenced to 20 years to life. In 2000, New York State prison officials denied Chapman a parole hearing, telling him that his "vicious and violent act was apparently fueled by your need to be acknowledged." He remains behind bars at Attica Prison in New York State. John Lennon is memorialized in "Strawberry Fields," a section of Central Park across the street from the Dakota that Yoko Ono landscaped in honor of her husband. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 10, 2011 4:51:58 GMT -5
Dec. 9th American Revolution Patriots gain control of Virginia, 1775 Automotive GM engineers discover that leaded gas reduces "knock" in auto engines, 1921 Civil War Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War created, 1861 Cold War Harry Gold sent to prison for his role in atomic espionage, 1950 Crime Policeman Daniel Faulkner found dead, 1981 Disaster Cold spell leads to tragedy in Iran, 2003 General Interest John Birch Society founded, 1958 Intifada begins on Gaza Strip, 1987 Walesa elected president of Poland, 1990 Separation of Charles and Diana announced, 1992 U.S Marines storm Mogadishu, Somalia, 1992 Hollywood Pacino stars in Scarface, 1983 Literary "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson is published, 1854 Music "I Am Woman" by Helen Reddy tops the U.S. pop charts, 1972 Old West The Texan Army captures San Antonio, 1835 Presidential Johnson discusses daughters, 1967 Sports Reds trade Frank Robinson to Orioles, 1965 Vietnam War Newspaper reports on bombing over North Vietnam, 1965 Paris peace talks break down, 1971 World War I Jerusalem surrenders to British troops, 1917 World War II Brits launch offensive against Italians in North Africa, 1940 ******************** 1992: U.S Marines storm Mogadishu, SomaliaOn this day in 1992, 1,800 United States Marines arrive in Mogadishu, Somalia, to spearhead a multinational force aimed at restoring order in the conflict-ridden country. Following centuries of colonial rule by countries including Portugal, Britain and Italy, Mogadishu became the capital of an independent Somalia in 1960. Less than 10 years later, a military group led by Major General Muhammad Siad Barre seized power and declared Somalia a socialist state. A drought in the mid-1970s combined with an unsuccessful rebellion by ethnic Somalis in a neighboring province of Ethiopia to deprive many of food and shelter. By 1981, close to 2 million of the country's inhabitants were homeless. Though a peace accord was signed with Ethiopia in 1988, fighting increased between rival clans within Somalia, and in January 1991 Barre was forced to flee the capital. Over the next 23 months, Somalia's civil war killed some 50,000 people; another 300,000 died of starvation as United Nations peacekeeping forces struggled in vain to restore order and provide relief amid the chaos of war. In early December 1992, outgoing U.S. President George H.W. Bush sent the contingent of Marines to Mogadishu as part of a mission dubbed Operation Restore Hope. Backed by the U.S. troops, international aid workers were soon able to restore food distribution and other humanitarian aid operations. Sporadic violence continued, including the murder of 24 U.N. soldiers from Pakistan in 1993. As a result, the U.N. authorized the arrest of General Mohammed Farah Aidid, leader of one of the rebel clans. On October 3, 1993, during an attempt to make the arrest, rebels shot down two of the U.S. Army's Black Hawk helicopters and killed 18 American soldiers. As horrified TV viewers watched images of the bloodshed—-including footage of Aidid's supporters dragging the body of one dead soldier through the streets of Mogadishu, cheering—-President Bill Clinton immediately gave the order for all American soldiers to withdraw from Somalia by March 31, 1994. Other Western nations followed suit. When the last U.N. peacekeepers left in 1995, ending a mission that had cost more than $2 billion, Mogadishu still lacked a functioning government. A ceasefire accord signed in Kenya in 2002 failed to put a stop to the violence, and though a new parliament was convened in 2004, rival factions in various regions of Somalia continue to struggle for control of the troubled nation. www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-marines-storm-mogadishu-somalia
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Post by dreamer on Dec 10, 2011 4:54:53 GMT -5
Dec. 10th First Nobel Prizes awarded, 1901 American Revolution John Jay is elected president of the Continental Congress, 1778 Automotive Ford builds its 1 millionth car, 1915 Civil War Sherman arrives in front of Savannah, 1864 Cold War Soviets arrest dissidents on United Nations Human Rights Day, 1977 Crime Frank Sinatra Jr. endures a frightening ordeal, 1963 Disaster Music star dies in Wisconsin plane crash, 1967 General Interest Treaty of Paris ends Spanish-American War, 1898 Bunche receives Nobel Peace Prize, 1950 Sex scandal involving Arkansas politician, 1974 Hollywood Mike Myers stars in Wayne's World 2, 1993 Avatar makes its world premiere, 2009 Literary Emily Dickinson is born, 1830 Music Soul legend Otis Redding dies in a plane crash near Madison, Wisconsin, 1967 Old West Wyoming grants women the vote, 1869 Presidential Wilson awarded Nobel Peace Prize, 1920 Sports LaDainian Tomlinson breaks single-season touchdown record, 2006 Vietnam War Calley trial defense begins, 1970 Breakthrough appears near in Paris peace talks, 1972 World War I Red Cross is awarded Nobel Peace Prize, 1917 World War II Japan becomes master of the Pacific and South China Sea, 1941 ******************** 1901: First Nobel Prizes awardedThe first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. The ceremony came on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and other high explosives. In his will, Nobel directed that the bulk of his vast fortune be placed in a fund in which the interest would be "annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind." Although Nobel offered no public reason for his creation of the prizes, it is widely believed that he did so out of moral regret over the increasingly lethal uses of his inventions in war. Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Stockholm in 1833, and four years later his family moved to Russia. His father ran a successful St. Petersburg factory that built explosive mines and other military equipment. Educated in Russia, Paris, and the United States, Alfred Nobel proved a brilliant chemist. When his father's business faltered after the end of the Crimean War, Nobel returned to Sweden and set up a laboratory to experiment with explosives. In 1863, he invented a way to control the detonation of nitroglycerin, a highly volatile liquid that had been recently discovered but was previously regarded as too dangerous for use. Two years later, Nobel invented the blasting cap, an improved detonator that inaugurated the modern use of high explosives. Previously, the most dependable explosive was black powder, a form of gunpowder. Nitroglycerin remained dangerous, however, and in 1864 Nobel's nitroglycerin factory blew up, killing his younger brother and several other people. Searching for a safer explosive, Nobel discovered in 1867 that the combination of nitroglycerin and a porous substance called kieselguhr produced a highly explosive mixture that was much safer to handle and use. Nobel christened his invention "dynamite," for the Greek word dynamis, meaning "power." Securing patents on dynamite, Nobel acquired a fortune as humanity put his invention to use in construction and warfare. In 1875, Nobel created a more powerful form of dynamite, blasting gelatin, and in 1887 introduced ballistite, a smokeless nitroglycerin powder. Around that time, one of Nobel's brothers died in France, and French newspapers printed obituaries in which they mistook him for Alfred. One headline read, "The merchant of death is dead." Alfred Nobel in fact had pacifist tendencies and in his later years apparently developed strong misgivings about the impact of his inventions on the world. After he died in San Remo, Italy, on December 10, 1896, the majority of his estate went toward the creation of prizes to be given annually in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. The portion of his will establishing the Nobel Peace Prize read, "[one award shall be given] to the person who has done the most or best work for fraternity among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." Exactly five years after his death, the first Nobel awards were presented. Today, the Nobel Prizes are regarded as the most prestigious awards in the world in their various fields. Notable winners have included Marie Curie, Theodore Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, Martin Luther King, Jr., the Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Nelson Mandela. Multiple leaders and organizations sometimes receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and multiple researchers often share the scientific awards for their joint discoveries. In 1968, a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science was established by the Swedish national bank, Sveriges Riksbank, and first awarded in 1969. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decides the prizes in physics, chemistry, and economic science; the Swedish Royal Caroline Medico-Surgical Institute determines the physiology or medicine award; the Swedish Academy chooses literature; and a committee elected by the Norwegian parliament awards the peace prize. The Nobel Prizes are still presented annually on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death. In 2006, each Nobel Prize carried a cash prize of nearly $1,400,000 and recipients also received a gold medal, as is the tradition. www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-nobel-prizes-awarded
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Post by dreamer on Dec 11, 2011 5:48:47 GMT -5
Dec. 11th American Revolution British delay Washington's march to Valley Forge, 1777 Automotive NYC authorities jettison plans for expressway across Lower Manhattan, 1962 Civil War The Federals occupy Fredericksburg, 1862 Cold War Soviets declare nudity a sign of "western decadence", 1969 Crime Billionaire conman Bernard Madoff arrested, 2008 Disaster Toronto endures record snowstorm, 1944 General Interest Edward VIII abdicates, 1936 UNICEF founded, 1946 Yeltsin orders Russian forces into Chechnya, 1994 Hollywood Tootsie actress Teri Garr born, 1944 Literary Alexander Solzhenitsyn is born, 1918 Music Sam Cooke dies under suspicious circumstances in LA, 1964 Old West Buffalo Bill Cody makes his first stage appearance, 1872 Presidential Madison presents trade agreement to Congress, 1815 Sports Muhammad Ali vs. Trevor Berbick, 1981 Vietnam War First U.S. helicopters arrive in South Vietnam., 1961 Paratroopers depart South Vietnam, 1969 World War I Yuan Shih-kai accepts Chinese throne, 1915 World War II Germany declares war on the United States, 1941 ******************** 1936: Edward VIII abdicatesAfter ruling for less than one year, Edward VIII becomes the first English monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne. He chose to abdicate after the British government, public, and the Church of England condemned his decision to marry the American divorcée Wallis Warfield Simpson. On the evening of December 11, he gave a radio address in which he explained, "I have found it impossible to carry on the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge the duties of king, as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love." On December 12, his younger brother, the duke of York, was proclaimed King George VI. Edward, born in 1894, was the eldest son of King George V, who became the British sovereign in 1910. Still unmarried as he approached his 40th birthday, he socialized with the fashionable London society of the day. By 1934, he had fallen deeply in love with American socialite Wallis Warfield Simpson, who was married to Ernest Simpson, an English-American businessman who lived with Mrs. Simpson near London. Wallis, who was born in Pennsylvania, had previously married and divorced a U.S. Navy pilot. The royal family disapproved of Edward's married mistress, but by 1936 the prince was intent on marrying Mrs. Simpson. Before he could discuss this intention with his father, George V died, in January 1936, and Edward was proclaimed king. The new king proved popular with his subjects, and his coronation was scheduled for May 1937. His affair with Mrs. Simpson was reported in American and continental European newspapers, but due to a gentlemen's agreement between the British press and the government, the affair was kept out of British newspapers. On October 27, 1936, Mrs. Simpson obtained a preliminary decree of divorce, presumably with the intent of marrying the king, which precipitated a major scandal. To the Church of England and most British politicians, an American woman twice divorced was unacceptable as a prospective British queen. Winston Churchill, then a Conservative backbencher, was the only notable politician to support Edward. Despite the seemingly united front against him, Edward could not be dissuaded. He proposed a morganatic marriage, in which Wallis would be granted no rights of rank or property, but on December 2, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin rejected the suggestion as impractical. The next day, the scandal broke on the front pages of British newspapers and was discussed openly in Parliament. With no resolution possible, the king renounced the throne on December 10. The next day, Parliament approved the abdication instrument, and Edward VIII's reign came to an end. The new king, George VI, made his older brother the duke of Windsor. On June 3, 1937, the duke of Windsor and Wallis Warfield married at the Château de Cande in France's Loire Valley. For the next two years, the duke and duchess lived primarily in France but visited other European countries, including Germany, where the duke was honored by Nazi officials in October 1937 and met with Adolf Hitler. After the outbreak of World War II, the duke accepted a position as liaison officer with the French. In June 1940, France fell to the Nazis, and Edward and Wallis went to Spain. During this period, the Nazis concocted a scheme to kidnap Edward with the intention of returning him to the British throne as a puppet king. George VI, like his prime minister, Winston Churchill, was adamantly opposed to any peace with Nazi Germany. Unaware of the Nazi kidnapping plot but conscious of Edward's pre-war Nazi sympathies, Churchill hastily offered Edward the governorship of the Bahamas in the West Indies. The duke and duchess set sail from Lisbon on August 1, 1940, narrowly escaping a Nazi SS team sent to seize them. In 1945, the duke resigned his post, and the couple moved back to France. They lived mainly in Paris, and Edward made a few visits to England, such as to attend the funerals of King George VI in 1952 and his mother, Queen Mary, in 1953. It was not until 1967 that the duke and duchess were invited by the royal family to attend an official public ceremony, the unveiling of a plaque dedicated to Queen Mary. Edward died in Paris in 1972 but was buried at Frogmore, on the grounds of Windsor Castle. In 1986, Wallis died and was buried at his side. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 12, 2011 1:32:12 GMT -5
Dec. 12th Da Vinci notebook sells for over 5 million, 1980 American Revolution Pennsylvania ratifies the Constitution, 1787 Automotive GM announces phase-out of Oldsmobile, 2000 Civil War Cherokee leader and Confederate General Stand Watie is born, 1806 Cold War Shultz calls on European allies to increase defense spending, 1987 Crime The Queen of Mean is sentenced to the slammer, 1989 A young murderer is indicted, 1997 Disaster French soldiers killed in train accident, 1917 General Interest Marconi sends first Atlantic wireless transmission, 1901 Mona Lisa recovered in Florence, 1913 Father Flanagan establishes Boys Town, 1917 USS Panay sunk by Japanese, 1937 Hollywood Hepburn, Tracy and Poitier star in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1967 Literary Flaubert is born, 1821 Music "Tears Of A Clown" gives Smokey Robinson & The Miracles their first #1 pop hit, finally, 1970 Old West Cattle pioneer Charles Goodnight dies, 1929 Presidential JFK memorial album sets record for sales, 1963 Sports NFL rookie Gale Sayers ties single-game TD record, 1965 Vietnam War Procedural questions cause difficulty at the peace talks, 1968 Philippine soldiers depart South Vietnam, 1969 World War I Stocks tank as NYSE trading resumes, 1914 World War II United States seizes French liner Normandie, 1941 ******************** 1980: Da Vinci notebook sells for over 5 millionOn this day in 1980, American oil tycoon Armand Hammer pays $5,126,000 at auction for a notebook containing writings by the legendary artist Leonardo da Vinci. The manuscript, written around 1508, was one of some 30 similar books da Vinci produced during his lifetime on a variety of subjects. It contained 72 loose pages featuring some 300 notes and detailed drawings, all relating to the common theme of water and how it moved. Experts have said that da Vinci drew on it to paint the background of his masterwork, the Mona Lisa. The text, written in brown ink and chalk, read from right to left, an example of da Vinci's favored mirror-writing technique. The painter Giuseppi Ghezzi discovered the notebook in 1690 in a chest of papers belonging to Guglielmo della Porto, a 16th-century Milanese sculptor who had studied Leonardo's work. In 1717, Thomas Coke, the first earl of Leicester, bought the manuscript and installed it among his impressive collection of art at his family estate in England. More than two centuries later, the notebook--by now known as the Leicester Codex--showed up on the auction block at Christie's in London when the current Lord Coke was forced to sell it to cover inheritance taxes on the estate and art collection. In the days before the sale, art experts and the press speculated that the notebook would go for $7 to $20 million. In fact, the bidding started at $1.4 million and lasted less than two minutes, as Hammer and at least two or three other bidders competed to raise the price $100,000 at a time. The $5.12 million price tag was the highest ever paid for a manuscript at that time; a copy of the legendary Gutenberg Bible had gone for only $2 million in 1978. "I’m very happy with the price. I expected to pay more," Hammer said later. "There is no work of art in the world I wanted more than this." Lord Coke, on the other hand, was only "reasonably happy" with the sale; he claimed the proceeds would not be sufficient to cover the taxes he owed. Hammer, the president of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, renamed his prize the Hammer Codex and added it to his valuable collection of art. When Hammer died in 1990, he left the notebook and other works to the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Several years later, the museum offered the manuscript for sale, claiming it was forced to take this action to cover legal costs incurred when the niece and sole heir of Hammer's late wife, Frances, sued the estate claiming Hammer had cheated Frances out of her rightful share of his fortune. On November 11, 1994, the Hammer Codex was sold to an anonymous bidder--soon identified as Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft--at a New York auction for a new record high price of $30.8 million. Gates restored the title of Leicester Codex and has since loaned the manuscript to a number of museums for public display. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 13, 2011 5:16:31 GMT -5
Dec. 13th American Revolution General Charles Lee leaves his troops for Widow White's tavern, 1776 Automotive Seattle's Hat 'n' Boots finds a new home, 2003 Civil War Rebels repel Yankees at the Battle of Fredericksburg, 1862 Cold War John S. Service dismissed from State Department, 1951 Crime Texas Seven prison break, 2000 Disaster Soldiers perish in avalanche as World War I rages, 1916 General Interest Drake sets out, 1577 First export of American furs, 1621 Tasman discovers New Zealand, 1642 The Rape of Nanking, 1937 Al Gore concedes presidential election, 2000 Saddam Hussein captured, 2003 Hollywood Dick Van Dyke born, 1925 Literary Mystery writer Ross Macdonald is born, 1915 Music Kenny Rogers' Greatest Hits goes to #1, 1980 Old West Joseph Walker born in Tennessee, 1798 Presidential Wilson arrives in France, 1918 Sports Pistons and Nuggets play record-breaking game, 1983 Vietnam War Peace negotiations in Paris deadlocked, 1972 North Vietnamese commence attack on Phuoc Long Province, 1974 World War I President Wilson makes first U.S. presidential trip to Europe, 1918 World War II Goebbels complains of Italians' treatment of Jews, 1942 ******************** 2000: Al Gore concedes presidential electionVice President Al Gore reluctantly concedes defeat to Texas Governor George W. Bush in his bid for the presidency, following weeks of legal battles over the recounting of votes in Florida, on this day in 2000. In a televised speech from his ceremonial office next to the White House, Gore said that while he was deeply disappointed and sharply disagreed with the Supreme Court verdict that ended his campaign, ''partisan rancor must now be put aside.'' "I accept the finality of the outcome, which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College'' he said. "And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession.'' Gore had won the national popular vote by more than 500,000 votes, but narrowly lost Florida, giving the Electoral College to Bush 271 to 266. Gore said he had telephoned Bush to offer his congratulations, honoring him, for the first time, with the title ''president-elect.'' ''I promised that I wouldn't call him back this time'' Gore said, referring to the moment on election night when he had called Bush to tell him he was going to concede, then called back a half hour later to retract that concession. Gore only hinted at what he might do in the future. ''I've seen America in this campaign and I like what I see. It's worth fighting for—and that's a fight I'll never stop.'' Among the friends and family beside Gore were his wife, Tipper, and his running mate, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, and his wife, Hadassah. A little more than an hour later, Bush addressed the nation for the first time as president-elect, declaring that the "nation must rise above a house divided." Speaking from the podium of the Texas House of Representatives, Bush devoted his speech to themes of reconciliation following one of the closest and most disputed presidential elections in U.S. history. ''I was not elected to serve one party, but to serve one nation,'' Bush said. Bush and his running mate, Dick Cheney, took office on January 20, 2001. They were re-elected in 2004 over Democrats John Kerry and John Edwards. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 14, 2011 6:58:50 GMT -5
Dec. 14th Amundsen reaches South Pole, 1911 American Revolution Thomas Conway is named inspector general, 1777 Automotive Indy "Brickyard" is completed, 1909 Civil War President Lincoln pardons his sister-in-law, 1863 Cold War CIA issues warning about Soviet arms sales to Third World nations, 1980 Crime An unsatisfactory end to a kidnapping, 1874 Disaster Blizzard ravages Navajo reservation, 1967 General Interest George Washington dies, 1799 The birth of quantum theory, 1900 Hollywood King Kong remake debuts, 2005 Literary Aphra Behn is baptized, 1640 Music Saturday Night Fever gets its world premiere and launches a musical juggernaut, 1977 Old West George Washington dies at Mount Vernon, 1799 Presidential First U.S. President George Washington dies, 1799 Sports Stan Smith is born, 1946 Vietnam War Kennedy announces intent to increase aid to South Vietnam, 1961 Operation Barrel Roll begins, 1964 World War I New king renounces Finnish throne, 1918 World War II USSR expelled from the League of Nations, 1939 ********************* 1911: Amundsen reaches South PoleNorwegian Roald Amundsen becomes the first explorer to reach the South Pole, beating his British rival, Robert Falcon Scott. Amundsen, born in Borge, near Oslo, in 1872, was one of the great figures in polar exploration. In 1897, he was first mate on a Belgian expedition that was the first ever to winter in the Antarctic. In 1903, he guided the 47-ton sloop Gjöa through the Northwest Passage and around the Canadian coast, the first navigator to accomplish the treacherous journey. Amundsen planned to be the first man to the North Pole, and he was about to embark in 1909 when he learned that the American Robert Peary had achieved the feat. Amundsen completed his preparations and in June 1910 sailed instead for Antarctica, where the English explorer Robert F. Scott was also headed with the aim of reaching the South Pole. In early 1911, Amundsen sailed his ship into Antarctica's Bay of Whales and set up base camp 60 miles closer to the pole than Scott. In October, both explorers set off--Amundsen using sleigh dogs, and Scott employing Siberian motor sledges, Siberian ponies, and dogs. On December 14, 1911, Amundsen's expedition won the race to the Pole and returned safely to base camp in late January. Scott's expedition was less fortunate. The motor sleds broke down, the ponies had to be shot, and the dog teams were sent back as Scott and four companions continued on foot. On January 18, 1912, they reached the pole only to find that Amundsen had preceded them by over a month. Weather on the return journey was exceptionally bad--two members perished--and a storm later trapped Scott and the other two survivors in their tent only 11 miles from their base camp. Scott's frozen body was found later that year. After his historic Antarctic journey, Amundsen established a successful shipping business. He later made attempts to become the first explorer to fly over the North Pole. In 1925, in an airplane, he flew within 150 miles of the goal. In 1926, he passed over the North Pole in a dirigible just three days after American explorer Richard E. Byrd had apparently done so in an aircraft. In 1996, a diary that Byrd had kept on the flight was found that seemed to suggest that the he had turned back 150 miles short of its goal because of an oil leak, making Amundsen's dirigible expedition the first flight over the North Pole. In 1928, Amundsen lost his life while trying to rescue a fellow explorer whose dirigible had crashed at sea near Spitsbergen, Norway. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 15, 2011 6:35:26 GMT -5
Dec. 15th American Revolution The Bill of Rights becomes law, 1791 Automotive Stephen M. Balzer patents rotary-engine auto, 1896 Civil War Yankees and Rebels clash at the Battle of Nashville, 1864 Cold War United States announces that it will recognize communist China, 1978 Crime James Brown begins his prison sentence, 1988 Disaster Heavy rain leads to mudslides in Venezuela, 1999 General Interest Bill of Rights is finally ratified, 1791 Architect of the Holocaust sentenced to die, 1961 Billionaire's kidnapped grandson found in Italy, 1973 Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens, 2001 Hollywood Schindler’s List opens, wins Spielberg his first Oscar, 1993 Literary George Orwell delivers the manuscript for The Road to Wigan Pier, 1936 Music Legendary bandleader Glenn Miller disappears over the English Channel, 1944 Old West Sitting Bull killed by Indian police, 1890 Presidential U.S. House of Representatives recommends impeaching Clinton, 1998 Sports Jockey Sandy Hawley wins record 500th race, 1973 Vietnam War U.S. bombers strike industrial targets in North Vietnam, 1965 Nixon announces additional U.S. troop withdrawals, 1969 World War I British begin evacuation of Gallipoli, 1915 World War II MacArthur orders end of Shinto as Japanese state religion, 1945 ******************** 1791: Bill of Rights is finally ratifiedFollowing ratification by the state of Virginia, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, become the law of the land. In September 1789, the first Congress of the United States approved 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution and sent them to the states for ratification. The amendments were designed to protect the basic rights of U.S. citizens, guaranteeing the freedom of speech, press, assembly, and exercise of religion; the right to fair legal procedure and to bear arms; and that powers not delegated to the federal government would be reserved for the states and the people. Influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689, the Bill of Rights was also drawn from Virginia's Declaration of Rights, drafted by George Mason in 1776. Mason, a native Virginian, was a lifelong champion of individual liberties, and in 1787 he attended the Constitutional Convention and criticized the final document for lacking constitutional protection of basic political rights. In the ratification struggle that followed, Mason and other critics agreed to support the Constitution in exchange for the assurance that amendments would be passed immediately. On December 15, 1791, Virginia became the 10th of 14 states to approve 10 of the 12 amendments, thus giving the Bill of Rights the two-thirds majority of state ratification necessary to make it legal. Of the two amendments not ratified, the first concerned the population system of representation, while the second prohibited laws varying the payment of congressional members from taking effect until an election intervened. The first of these two amendments was never ratified, while the second was finally ratified more than 200 years later, in 1992. www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bill-of-rights-is-finally-ratified
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Post by dreamer on Dec 16, 2011 1:47:40 GMT -5
Dec. 16th American Revolution Sons of Liberty dump British tea, 1773 Automotive OPEC states raise oil prices, 1979 Civil War Johnston named commander of Army of Tennessee, 1863 Cold War Truman declares state of emergency, 1950 Crime A terrorist bomber begins his deadly rampage, 1989 Disaster Two airplanes collide over New York City, 1960 General Interest The Boston Tea Party, 1773 Earthquake rocks the American wilderness, 1811 Earthquake devastates Gansu province of China, 1920 Battle of the Bulge begins, 1944 Pakistani forces defeated in Bangladesh, 1971 Hollywood Saturday Night Fever turns Travolta into movie star, 1977 "Larry King Live" ends after 25 years on CNN, 2010 Literary Jane Austen's birthday, 1775 Music Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony" receives its world premiere in New York City, 1893 Old West Edwards declares the Texas Republic of Fredonia, 1826 Presidential Clinton orders air attack on Iraq, 1998 Sports OJ Simpson rushes record 2,000 yards in a season, 1973 Vietnam War Westmoreland asks for more troops, 1965 Kissinger announces that North Vietnamese left negotiations, 1972 World War I Germans bombard English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough, 1914 World War II Battle of the Bulge, 1944 ******************** 1773: The Boston Tea Party In Boston Harbor, a group of Massachusetts colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians board three British tea ships and dump 342 chests of tea into the harbor. The midnight raid, popularly known as the "Boston Tea Party," was in protest of the British Parliament's Tea Act of 1773, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and granting it a virtual monopoly on the American tea trade. The low tax allowed the East India Company to undercut even tea smuggled into America by Dutch traders, and many colonists viewed the act as another example of taxation tyranny. When three tea ships, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, arrived in Boston Harbor, the colonists demanded that the tea be returned to England. After Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused, Patriot leader Samuel Adams organized the "tea party" with about 60 members of the Sons of Liberty, his underground resistance group. The British tea dumped in Boston Harbor on the night of December 16 was valued at some $18,000. Parliament, outraged by the blatant destruction of British property, enacted the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts, in 1774. The Coercive Acts closed Boston to merchant shipping, established formal British military rule in Massachusetts, made British officials immune to criminal prosecution in America, and required colonists to quarter British troops. The colonists subsequently called the first Continental Congress to consider a united American resistance to the British. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 17, 2011 2:00:09 GMT -5
Dec. 17th American Revolution France formally recognizes the United States, 1777 Automotive Stuntman Stan Barrett breaks the sound barrier, 1979 Civil War Grant expels Jews from his military district, 1862 Cold War Yeltsin supporters announce Soviet Union will cease to exist by New Year's Eve, 1991 Crime "Operation Iceman" nabs the culprit, 1986 Disaster Circus catches fire in Brazil, 1961 General Interest First airplane flies, 1903 U.S. approves end to internment of Japanese Americans, 1944 "Squeaky" Fromme sentenced to life, 1975 Aristide wins Haiti's first free election, 1990 Peruvian rebels seize Japanese ambassador's home, 1996 Hollywood Third and final Lord of the Rings movie opens, 2003 Literary A Christmas Carol is published, 1843 Music A federal court puts its stamp on hip-hop, 1991 Old West "Silver Dollar" Tabor born in Denver, 1889 Presidential Grant expels Jews from Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi, 1862 Sports Terrell Owens makes record-breaking 20 catches, 2000 Vietnam War Cambodian forces under heavy pressure, 1971 World War I Ford Madox Ford is born, 1873 World War II Commander at Pearl Harbor canned, 1941 ******************** 1903: First airplane fliesNear Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft. Orville piloted the gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, which stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight. Orville and Wilbur Wright grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and developed an interest in aviation after learning of the glider flights of the German engineer Otto Lilienthal in the 1890s. Unlike their older brothers, Orville and Wilbur did not attend college, but they possessed extraordinary technical ability and a sophisticated approach to solving problems in mechanical design. They built printing presses and in 1892 opened a bicycle sales and repair shop. Soon, they were building their own bicycles, and this experience, combined with profits from their various businesses, allowed them to pursue actively their dream of building the world's first airplane. After exhaustively researching other engineers' efforts to build a heavier-than-air, controlled aircraft, the Wright brothers wrote the U.S. Weather Bureau inquiring about a suitable place to conduct glider tests. They settled on Kitty Hawk, an isolated village on North Carolina's Outer Banks, which offered steady winds and sand dunes from which to glide and land softly. Their first glider, tested in 1900, performed poorly, but a new design, tested in 1901, was more successful. Later that year, they built a wind tunnel where they tested nearly 200 wings and airframes of different shapes and designs. The brothers' systematic experimentations paid off--they flew hundreds of successful flights in their 1902 glider at Kill Devils Hills near Kitty Hawk. Their biplane glider featured a steering system, based on a movable rudder, that solved the problem of controlled flight. They were now ready for powered flight. In Dayton, they designed a 12-horsepower internal combustion engine with the assistance of machinist Charles Taylor and built a new aircraft to house it. They transported their aircraft in pieces to Kitty Hawk in the autumn of 1903, assembled it, made a few further tests, and on December 14 Orville made the first attempt at powered flight. The engine stalled during take-off and the plane was damaged, and they spent three days repairing it. Then at 10:35 a.m. on December 17, in front of five witnesses, the aircraft ran down a monorail track and into the air, staying aloft for 12 seconds and flying 120 feet. The modern aviation age was born. Three more tests were made that day, with Wilbur and Orville alternately flying the airplane. Wilbur flew the last flight, covering 852 feet in 59 seconds. During the next few years, the Wright brothers further developed their airplanes but kept a low profile about their successes in order to secure patents and contracts for their flying machines. By 1905, their aircraft could perform complex maneuvers and remain aloft for up to 39 minutes at a time. In 1908, they traveled to France and made their first public flights, arousing widespread public excitement. In 1909, the U.S. Army's Signal Corps purchased a specially constructed plane, and the brothers founded the Wright Company to build and market their aircraft. Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever in 1912; Orville lived until 1948. The historic Wright brothers' aircraft of 1903 is on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 18, 2011 7:00:20 GMT -5
Dec. 18th American Revolution States give thanks, 1777 Automotive "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" opens in New York, 1968 Civil War Rebles rout Yankees in western Tennessee, 1862 Cold War Nixon announces start of "Christmas Bombing" of North Vietnam, 1972 Crime The death of Molly-ism, 1878 Disaster Power plant burns in Venezuela, 1982 General Interest Mayflower docks at Plymouth Harbor, 1620 Slavery abolished in America, 1865 Piltdown Man discovered, 1912 Hollywood Director Steven Spielberg born, 1946 Literary Short story writer H.H. Munro is born in Burma, 1870 Music The Tokens earn a #1 hit with "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", 1961 Old West Wetherill and Mason discover Mesa Verde, 1888 Presidential Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Bolling Galt, 1915 Sports Ty Cobb is born, 1886 Vietnam War Nixon orders the initiation of Operation Linebacker II, 1972 World War I Battle of Verdun ends, 1916 World War II Japan invades Hong Kong, 1941 ******************** 1620: Mayflower docks at Plymouth HarborOn December 18, 1620, the British ship Mayflower docked at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and its passengers prepared to begin their new settlement, Plymouth Colony. The famous Mayflower story began in 1606, when a group of reform-minded Puritans in Nottinghamshire, England, founded their own church, separate from the state-sanctioned Church of England. Accused of treason, they were forced to leave the country and settle in the more tolerant Netherlands. After 12 years of struggling to adapt and make a decent living, the group sought financial backing from some London merchants to set up a colony in America. On September 6, 1620, 102 passengers–dubbed Pilgrims by William Bradford, a passenger who would become the first governor of Plymouth Colony–crowded on the Mayflower to begin the long, hard journey to a new life in the New World. On November 11, 1620, the Mayflower anchored at what is now Provincetown Harbor, Cape Cod. Before going ashore, 41 male passengers–heads of families, single men and three male servants–signed the famous Mayflower Compact, agreeing to submit to a government chosen by common consent and to obey all laws made for the good of the colony. Over the next month, several small scouting groups were sent ashore to collect firewood and scout out a good place to build a settlement. Around December 10, one of these groups found a harbor they liked on the western side of Cape Cod Bay. They returned to the Mayflower to tell the other passengers, but bad weather prevented them from docking until December 18. After exploring the region, the settlers chose a cleared area previously occupied by members of a local Native American tribe, the Wampanoag. The tribe had abandoned the village several years earlier, after an outbreak of European disease. That winter of 1620-1621 was brutal, as the Pilgrims struggled to build their settlement, find food and ward off sickness. By spring, 50 of the original 102 Mayflower passengers were dead. The remaining settlers made contact with returning members of the Wampanoag tribe and in March they signed a peace treaty with a tribal chief, Massasoit. Aided by the Wampanoag, especially the English-speaking Squanto, the Pilgrims were able to plant crops–especially corn and beans–that were vital to their survival. The Mayflower and its crew left Plymouth to return to England on April 5, 1621. Over the next several decades, more and more settlers made the trek across the Atlantic to Plymouth, which gradually grew into a prosperous shipbuilding and fishing center. In 1691, Plymouth was incorporated into the new Massachusetts Bay Association, ending its history as an independent colony. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 19, 2011 6:13:49 GMT -5
Dec. 19th American Revolution Thomas Paine publishes American Crisis, 1776 Automotive "Bullitt" hits the silver screen in Sweden, 1968 Civil War Confederate General James Archer is born, 1817 Cold War Gorbachev releases Sakharov from internal exile, 1986 Crime World Series parachutist sentenced, 1986 Disaster Pennsylvania miners perish in coal mine explosion, 1907 General Interest Continental Army enters winter camp at Valley Forge, 1777 Last lunar-landing mission ends, 1972 Britain agrees to return Hong Kong to China, 1984 President Clinton impeached, 1998 Hollywood Titanic sails into theaters, 1997 Literary Poor Richard's Almanack is published, 1732 Music Ahmadinejad bans all Western music in Iranian state television and radio broadcasts, 2005 Old West John Ford's Cheyenne Autumn released, 1964 Presidential Washington leads troops into winter quarters at Valley Forge, 1777 Sports National Hockey League (NHL) opens its first season, 1917 Vietnam War Another bloodless coup topples the government in Saigon, 1964 North Vietnam condemns Linebacker raids, 1972 World War I Haig becomes commander-in-chief of the British army in France, 1915 World War II Hitler takes command of the German army, 1941 ******************** 1998: President Clinton impeachedAfter nearly 14 hours of debate, the House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton, the second president in American history to be impeached, vowed to finish his term. In November 1995, Clinton began an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a 21-year-old unpaid intern. Over the course of a year and a half, the president and Lewinsky had nearly a dozen sexual encounters in the White House. In April 1996, Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon. That summer, she first confided in Pentagon co-worker Linda Tripp about her sexual relationship with the president. In 1997, with the relationship over, Tripp began secretly to record conversations with Lewinsky, in which Lewinsky gave Tripp details about the affair. In December, lawyers for Paula Jones, who was suing the president on sexual harassment charges, subpoenaed Lewinsky. In January 1998, allegedly under the recommendation of the president, Lewinsky filed an affidavit in which she denied ever having had a sexual relationship with him. Five days later, Tripp contacted the office of Kenneth Starr, the Whitewater independent counsel, to talk about Lewinsky and the tapes she made of their conversations. Tripp, wired by FBI agents working with Starr, met with Lewinsky again, and on January 16, Lewinsky was taken by FBI agents and U.S. attorneys to a hotel room where she was questioned and offered immunity if she cooperated with the prosecution. A few days later, the story broke, and Clinton publicly denied the allegations, saying, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky." In late July, lawyers for Lewinsky and Starr worked out a full-immunity agreement covering both Lewinsky and her parents, all of whom Starr had threatened with prosecution. On August 6, Lewinsky appeared before the grand jury to begin her testimony, and on August 17 President Clinton testified. Contrary to his testimony in the Paula Jones sexual-harassment case, President Clinton acknowledged to prosecutors from the office of the independent counsel that he had had an extramarital affair with Ms. Lewinsky. In four hours of closed-door testimony, conducted in the Map Room of the White House, Clinton spoke live via closed-circuit television to a grand jury in a nearby federal courthouse. He was the first sitting president ever to testify before a grand jury investigating his conduct. That evening, President Clinton also gave a four-minute televised address to the nation in which he admitted he had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky. In the brief speech, which was wrought with legalisms, the word "sex" was never spoken, and the word "regret" was used only in reference to his admission that he misled the public and his family. Less than a month later, on September 9, Kenneth Starr submitted his report and 18 boxes of supporting documents to the House of Representatives. Released to the public two days later, the Starr Report outlined a case for impeaching Clinton on 11 grounds, including perjury, obstruction of justice, witness-tampering, and abuse of power, and also provided explicit details of the sexual relationship between the president and Ms. Lewinsky. On October 8, the House authorized a wide-ranging impeachment inquiry, and on December 11, the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment. On December 19, the House impeached Clinton. On January 7, 1999, in a congressional procedure not seen since the 1868 impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, the trial of President Clinton got underway in the Senate. As instructed in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (William Rehnquist at this time) was sworn in to preside, and the senators were sworn in as jurors. Five weeks later, on February 12, the Senate voted on whether to remove Clinton from office. The president was acquitted on both articles of impeachment. The prosecution needed a two-thirds majority to convict but failed to achieve even a bare majority. Rejecting the first charge of perjury, 45 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted "not guilty," and on the charge of obstruction of justice the Senate was split 50-50. After the trial concluded, President Clinton said he was "profoundly sorry" for the burden his behavior imposed on Congress and the American people. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 20, 2011 5:51:45 GMT -5
Dec. 20th American Revolution Virginia cedes western land to federal government, 1783 Automotive "Roger & Me" opens in U.S. theaters, 1989 Civil War Rebels raid Union supply depot at Holly Springs, Mississippi, 1862 Cold War Berlin Wall opened for first time, 1963 Crime Man chased to his death in Howard Beach hate-crime, 1986 Disaster Ferry collides with oil tanker near Manila, 1987 General Interest French crack down on Vietnamese rebels, 1946 Elvis Presley is drafted, 1957 The U.S. invades Panama, 1989 NATO assumes peacekeeping duties in Bosnia, 1995 Hollywood Michael Moore's Roger & Me opens, 1989 Literary John Fletcher is baptized, 1579 Music "Funky Drummer" is recorded, 1969 Old West The French surrender Orleans to the U.S., 1803 Presidential Jackson submits Indian treaty to Congress, 1836 Sports Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt get landmark goals in same game, 1983 Vietnam War National Liberation Front formed, 1960 President Johnson visits Australia, Thailand, and Vietnam, 1967 World War I First Battle of Champagne begins, 1914 World War II Hitler to Halder: No retreat!, 1941 ******************** 1957: Elvis Presley is draftedOn this day in 1957, while spending the Christmas holidays at Graceland, his newly purchased Tennessee mansion, rock-and-roll star Elvis Presley receives his draft notice for the United States Army. With a suggestive style--one writer called him "Elvis the Pelvis"--a hit movie, Love Me Tender, and a string of gold records including "Heartbreak Hotel," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel," Presley had become a national icon, and the world's first bona fide rock-and-roll star, by the end of 1956. As the Beatles' John Lennon once famously remarked: "Before Elvis, there was nothing." The following year, at the peak of his career, Presley received his draft notice for a two-year stint in the army. Fans sent tens of thousands of letters to the army asking for him to be spared, but Elvis would have none of it. He received one deferment--during which he finished working on his movie King Creole--before being sworn in as an army private in Memphis on March 24, 1958. After six months of basic training--including an emergency leave to see his beloved mother, Gladys, before she died in August 1958--Presley sailed to Europe on the USS General Randall. For the next 18 months, he served in Company D, 32nd Tank Battalion, 3rd Armor Corps in Friedberg, Germany, where he attained the rank of sergeant. For the rest of his service, he shared an off-base residence with his father, grandmother and some Memphis friends. After working during the day, Presley returned home at night to host frequent parties and impromptu jam sessions. At one of these, an army buddy of Presley's introduced him to 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, whom Elvis would marry some years later. Meanwhile, Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, continued to release singles recorded before his departure, keeping the money rolling in and his most famous client fresh in the public's mind. Widely praised for not seeking to avoid the draft or serve domestically, Presley was seen as a model for all young Americans. After he got his polio shot from an army doctor on national TV, vaccine rates among the American population shot from 2 percent to 85 percent by the time of his discharge on March 2, 1960. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 21, 2011 6:31:34 GMT -5
Dec. 21stAmerican Revolution Patriot Robert Barnwell is born, 1761 Automotive "The Graduate" opens in New York; makes Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider famous, 1967 Civil War Trent crisis escalates, 1861 Cold War Soviet republics proclaim the Commonwealth of Independent States, 1991 Crime Sunny von Bulow is found comatose, 1980 Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, 1988 Disaster Earthquake sends tsunami toward Japan, 1946 General Interest De Gaulle elected, 1958 Apollo 8 departs for moon's orbit, 1968 Carlos the Jackal attacks OPEC headquarters, 1975 Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Scotland, 1988 Hollywood Russell Crowe stars in A Beautiful Mind, 2001 Literary William Wordsworth moves into Dove Cottage, 1799 Curious George co-creator Margret Rey dies, 1996 Music Harry Chapin earns a #1 hit with "Cat's In The Cradle", 1985 Old West Indians massacre Fetterman and eighty soldiers, 1866 Presidential Nixon meets Elvis Presley, 1970 Sports Hobey Baker killed in plane crash, 1918 Vietnam War Thailand announces plans to withdraw troops, 1969 Defense Department reports eight B-52s lost during Linebacker II, 1972 World War I Sir William Robertson is appointed chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1915 World War II "Old Blood and Guts" dies, 1945 ******************** 1988: Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over ScotlandOn this day in 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members aboard, as well as 11 Lockerbie residents on the ground. A bomb hidden inside an audio cassette player detonated in the cargo area when the plane was at an altitude of 31,000 feet. The disaster, which became the subject of Britain's largest criminal investigation, was believed to be an attack against the United States. One hundred eighty nine of the victims were American. Islamic terrorists were accused of planting the bomb on the plane while it was at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany. Authorities suspected the attack was in retaliation for either the 1986 U.S. air strikes against Libya, in which leader Muammar al-Qaddafi's young daughter was killed along with dozens of other people, or a 1988 incident, in which the U.S. mistakenly shot down an Iran Air commercial flight over the Persian Gulf, killing 290 people. Sixteen days before the explosion over Lockerbie, the U.S. embassy in Helsinki, Finland, received a call warning that a bomb would be placed on a Pan Am flight out of Frankfurt. There is controversy over how seriously the U.S. took the threat and whether travelers should have been alerted, but officials later said that the connection between the call and the bomb was coincidental. In 1991, following a joint investigation by the British authorities and the F.B.I., Libyan intelligence agents Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah were indicted for murder; however, Libya refused to hand over the suspects to the U.S. Finally, in 1999, in an effort to ease United Nations sanctions against his country, Qaddafi agreed to turn over the two men to Scotland for trial in the Netherlands using Scottish law and prosecutors. In early 2001, al-Megrahi was convicted and sentenced to life in prison and Fhimah was acquitted. In 2003, Libya accepted responsibility for the bombing, but didn't express remorse. The U.N. and U.S. lifted sanctions against Libya and Libya agreed to pay each victim's family approximately $8 million in restitution. In 2004, Libya's prime minister said that the deal was the "price for peace," implying that his country only took responsibility to get the sanctions lifted, a statement that infuriated the victims' families. Pan Am Airlines, which went bankrupt three years after the bombing, sued Libya and later received a $30 million settlement. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 22, 2011 7:01:32 GMT -5
Dec. 22ndAmerican Revolution Continental Congress creates a Continental Navy, 1775 Automotive First "Mercedes" is delivered to its buyer, 1900 Civil War Sherman presents Lincoln with a Christmas gift, 1864 Cold War Lech Walesa sworn in as president of Poland, 1990 Crime John Wayne Gacy confesses, 1978 Disaster Express trains collide in Germany, 1939 General Interest Dreyfus affair begins in France, 1894 First gorilla born in captivity, 1956 Waldheim elected U.N. secretary-general, 1971 The Bernhard Goetz subway shooting, 1984 Romanian government falls, 1989 Hollywood Hollywood mogul Darryl Zanuck dies, 1979 Literary Dostoevsky reprieved at last minute, 1849 Music Beethoven's Fifth Symphony given world premiere in Vienna, 1808 Old West John Chisum dies in Arkansas, 1884 Presidential Julie Nixon marries David Eisenhower, 1968 Sports L.A. Lakers break pro sports winning streak record, 1971 Vietnam War Soviet Union attacks Chinese policy toward Vietnam, 1971 Washington announces Linebacker II raids will continue, 1972 World War I Russian-German peace talks begin at Brest-Litovsk, 1917 World War II Churchill and Roosevelt discuss war and peace, 1941 ******************** 1956: First gorilla born in captivityOn this day in 1956, a baby gorilla named Colo enters the world at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio, becoming the first-ever gorilla born in captivity. Weighing in at approximately 4 pounds, Colo, a western lowland gorilla whose name was a combination of Columbus and Ohio, was the daughter of Millie and Mac, two gorillas captured in French Cameroon, Africa, who were brought to the Columbus Zoo in 1951. Before Colo's birth, gorillas found at zoos were caught in the wild, often by brutal means. In order to capture a gorilla when it was young and therefore still small enough to handle, hunters frequently had to kill the gorilla's parents and other family members. Gorillas are peaceful, intelligent animals, native to Africa, who live in small groups led by one adult male, known as a silverback. There are three subspecies of gorilla: western lowland, eastern lowland and mountain. The subspecies are similar and the majority of gorillas in captivity are western lowland. Gorillas are vegetarians whose only natural enemy is the humans who hunt them. On average, a gorilla lives to 35 years in the wild and 50 years in captivity. At the time Colo was born, captive gorillas often never learned parenting skills from their own parents in the wild, so the Columbus Zoo built her a nursery and she was reared by zookeepers. In the years since Colo's arrival, zookeepers have developed habitats that simulate a gorilla's natural environment and many captive-born gorillas are now raised by their mothers. In situations where this doesn't work, zoos have created surrogacy programs, in which the infants are briefly cared for by humans and then handed over to other gorillas to raise. Colo, who generated enormous public interest and is still alive today, went on to become a mother, grandmother, and in 1996, a great-grandmother to Timu, the first surviving infant gorilla conceived by artificial insemination. Timu gave birth to her first baby in 2003. Today, there are approximately 750 gorillas in captivity around the world and an estimated 100,000 lowland gorillas (and far fewer mountain gorillas) remaining in the wild. Most zoos are active in captive breeding programs and have agreed not to buy gorillas born in the wild. Since Colo's birth, 30 gorillas have been born at the Columbus Zoo alone. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 23, 2011 6:22:47 GMT -5
Dec. 23rd American Revolution George Washington resigns as commander in chief, 1783 Automotive Road contamination prompts evacuation of town, 1982 Civil War Confederacy's President Davis declares Union general a felon, 1862 Cold War Crew of USS Pueblo released by North Korea, 1968 Crime Bernhard Goetz goes on the lam, 1984 "Balloon Boy" parents sentenced in Colorado, 2009 Disaster Earthquake rocks Managua, 1972 General Interest Construction of Plymouth settlement begins, 1620 Van Gogh chops off ear, 1888 Japanese war criminals hanged in Tokyo, 1948 Voyager completes global flight, 1986 Hollywood Hanks stars in first major Hollywood movie about AIDS, 1993 Literary French magazine rejects Remembrance of Things Past, 1912 Music Chuck Berry is arrested on Mann Act charges in St. Louis, Missouri, 1959 Old West Prince Wurttemberg explores the West, 1829 Presidential Truman considers amnesty for draft dodgers, 1946 Sports Harris makes Immaculate Reception, 1972 Vietnam War Francis Cardinal Spellman visits South Vietnam, 1966 Operation Linebacker II continues, 1972 World War I Vera Brittain loses fiance at Western Front, 1915 World War II The execution of Eddie Slovik is authorized, 1944 ******************** 1888: Van Gogh chops off earOn this day in 1888, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, suffering from severe depression, cuts off the lower part of his left ear with a razor while staying in Arles, France. He later documented the event in a painting titled Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear. Today, Van Gogh is regarded as an artistic genius and his masterpieces sell for record-breaking prices; however, during his lifetime, he was a poster boy for tortured starving artists and sold only one painting. Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in the Netherlands. He had a difficult, nervous personality and worked unsuccessfully at an art gallery and then as a preacher among poor miners in Belgium. In 1880, he decided to become an artist. His work from this period--the most famous of which is The Potato Eaters (1885)--is dark and somber and reflective of the experiences he had among peasants and impoverished miners. In 1886, Van Gogh moved to Paris where his younger brother Theo, with whom he was close, lived. Theo, an art dealer, supported his brother financially and introduced him to a number of artists, including Paul Gauguin, Camille Pisarro and Georges Seurat. Influenced by these and other painters, Van Gogh's own artistic style lightened up and he began using more color. In 1888, Van Gogh rented a house in Arles in the south of France, where he hoped to found an artists' colony and be less of a burden to his brother. In Arles, Van Gogh painted vivid scenes from the countryside as well as still-lifes, including his famous sunflower series. Gauguin came to stay with him in Arles and the two men worked together for almost two months. However, tensions developed and on December 23, in a fit of dementia, Van Gogh threatened his friend with a knife before turning it on himself and mutilating his ear lobe. Afterward, he allegedly wrapped up the ear and gave it to a prostitute at a nearby brothel. Following that incident, Van Gogh was hospitalized in Arles and then checked himself into a mental institution in Saint-Remy for a year. During his stay in Saint-Remy, he fluctuated between periods of madness and intense creativity, in which he produced some of his best and most well-known works, including Starry Night and Irises. In May 1890, Van Gogh moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris, where he continued to be plagued by despair and loneliness. On July 27, 1890, he shot himself and died two days later at age 37. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 24, 2011 7:06:46 GMT -5
Dec. 24th American Revolution Benjamin Rush is born, 1745 Automotive Richard Trevithick introduces his "Puffing Devil", 1801 Civil War Bombardment of Fort Fisher begins, 1864 Cold War McCarren-Walter Act goes into effect, 1952 Crime Islamic terrorists hijack a French plane, 1994 Disaster Volcanic eruption sweeps away train, 1953 General Interest War of 1812 ends, 1814 Fire ravages Library of Congress, 1851 KKK founded, 1865 Soviet tanks roll into Afghanistan, 1979 Hollywood Woody Allen marries Soon-Yi Previn, 1997 Literary Stephenie Meyer, best-selling author of vampire novels, is born, 1973 Music "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" puts Poison atop the charts, 1988 Old West Kit Carson born in Kentucky, 1809 Presidential Fire destroys Jefferson library, 1851 Coolidge lights first national Christmas tree, 1923 Sports Curt Flood challenges MLB reserve clause, 1969 Vietnam War Viet Cong bomb Brinks Hotel, 1964 Bob Hope gives his last show in Vietnam, 1972 World War I American soldier John Douglas writes home from post-armistice France, 1918 World War II French Admiral Jean Darlan is assassinated, 1942 ******************* 1979: Soviet tanks roll into AfghanistanOn December 24, 1979, the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, under the pretext of upholding the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978. As midnight approached, the Soviets organized a massive military airlift into Kabul, involving an estimated 280 transport aircraft and three divisions of almost 8,500 men each. Within a few days, the Soviets had secured Kabul, deploying a special assault unit against Tajberg Palace. Elements of the Afghan army loyal to Hafizullah Amin put up a fierce, but brief resistance. On December 27, Babrak Karmal, exiled leader of the Parcham faction of the Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), was installed as Afghanistan’s new head of government. And Soviet ground forces entered Afghanistan from the north. The Soviets, however, were met with fierce resistance when they ventured out of their strongholds into the countryside. Resistance fighters, called mujahidin, saw the Christian or atheist Soviets controlling Afghanistan as a defilement of Islam as well as of their traditional culture. Proclaiming a "jihad"(holy war), they gained the support of the Islamic world. The mujahidin employed guerrilla tactics against the Soviets. They would attack or raid quickly, then disappear into the mountains, causing great destruction without pitched battles. The fighters used whatever weapons they could grab from the Soviets or were given by the United States. The tide of the war turned with the 1987 introduction of U.S. shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles. The Stingers allowed the mujahidin to shoot down Soviet planes and helicopters on a regular basis. New Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev decided it was time to get out. Demoralized and with no victory in sight, Soviet forces started withdrawing in 1988. The last Soviet soldier crossed back across the border on February 15, 1989. It was the first Soviet military expedition beyond the Eastern bloc since World War II and marked the end of a period of improving relations (known as détente) in the Cold War. Subsequently, the SALT II arms treaty was shelved and the U.S. began to re-arm. Fifteen thousand Soviet soldiers were killed. The long-term impact of the invasion and subsequent war was profound. First, the Soviets never recovered from the public relations and financial losses, which significantly contributed to the fall of the Soviet empire in 1991. Secondly, the war created a breeding ground for terrorism and the rise of Osama bin Laden. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Dec 24, 2011 22:34:41 GMT -5
Dec. 25th American Revolution Washington crosses the Delaware, 1776 Automotive Layne Hall is born; will become oldest licensed driver in United States, 1880 Civil War Union soldier Elisha Hunt Rhodes writes about Christmas, 1862 Cold War Gorbachev resigns as president of the USSR, 1991 Crime Young JonBenet Ramsey is murdered, 1996 Disaster Christmas party in China turns deadly, 2000 General Interest Christ is born?, 6 B.C. The Christmas Truce, 1914 Hollywood To Kill a Mockingbird debuts, 1962 Literary Jimmy Buffett departs on a cruise that inspires A Pirate Looks at Fifty, 1996 Music Bing Crosby introduces "White Christmas" to the world, 1941 Old West John Wesley Hardin kills over a card game, 1869 Presidential Washington leads troops on raid at Trenton, New Jersey, 1776 Sports Katie Hnida is first woman to play in Division I football game, 2002 Vietnam War Harrison Salisbury reports on damage caused by U.S. bombing, 1966 Linebacker II resumes after Christmas pause, 1972 World War I Enemies exchange Christmas greetings, 1914 World War II British surrender Hong Kong, 1941 ******************** 1941: Bing Crosby introduces "White Christmas" to the world"White Christmas," written by the formidable composer and lyricist Irving Berlin receives its world premiere on this day in 1941 on Bing Crosby's weekly NBC radio program, The Kraft Music Hall. It went on to become one of the most commercially successful singles of all time, and the top-selling single ever until being surpassed by Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997." "White Christmas" took its first steps toward becoming a bedrock standard in the American songbook when Crosby first performed it publicly on Christmas Day, 1941. The song's success couldn't have surprised Berlin, who despite having already written such songs as "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Cheek To Cheek" and "God Bless America," had raced into his Manhattan office in January 1940 and asked his musical secretary to transcribe "The best song I ever wrote...the best song anybody ever wrote." It was nearly two years later, however, that Crosby finally premiered the song on live radio, and a year after that that Crosby's recording of "White Christmas" became a smash pop hit. Crosby's October 1942 recording of "White Christmas" received heavy airplay on Armed Forces Radio as well as on commercial radio during its first Christmas season, becoming an instant #1 pop hit. It also returned to the Hit Parade pop chart in every subsequent Christmas season for the next 20 years. Unlike other perennial holiday hits, however, "White Christmas" strikes a mood that isn't necessarily jolly. As Jody Rosen, author of the 2002 book White Christmas: The Story of an American Song, told National Public Radio, "It's very melancholy....And I think this really makes it stand out amongst kind of chirpy seasonal standards [like] 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' or 'Let It Snow.'....I think that's one of the reasons why people keep responding to it, because our feelings over the holiday season are ambivalent." This was certainly true of the immigrant Russian Jewish songwriter Irving Berlin. Though he did not celebrate Christmas, it was a day that held special meaning to Berlin, who had spent each Christmas Day visiting the grave of his late son, Irving Berlin, Jr., who died at just 3 weeks old on December 25, 1928. As Jody Rosen has suggested about a beloved song of great emotional complexity, "The kind of deep secret of ["White Christmas"] may be that it was Berlin responding in some way to his melancholy about the death of his son." www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bing-crosby-introduces-quotwhite-christmasquot-to-the-world
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