Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Blogs | Writers | Paid | My Orble | Login

Daily History - by Craig Hill

20th Century - Daily History

February 6 1952 Elizabeth Becomes Queen

February 6th 2012 00:01
On February 6th 1952, after a long illness, King George VI of Great Britain and Northern Ireland died in his sleep at the royal estate at Sandringham. Princess Elizabeth, the oldest of the king's two daughters and next in line to succeed him, was in Kenya at the time of her father's death; she was crowned Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953, at age 27.

King George VI, the second son of King George V, ascended to the throne in 1936 after his older brother, King Edward VIII, voluntarily abdicated to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. During World War II, George worked to rally the spirits of the British people by touring war zones, making a series of morale-boosting radio broadcasts (for which he overcame a speech impediment) and shunning the safety of the countryside to remain with his wife in bomb-damaged Buckingham Palace. The king's health deteriorated in 1949, but he continued to perform state duties until his death in 1952.

Read more...

Queen Elizabeth II


41
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 4 1976 Earthquake Rocks Guatemala City

February 4th 2012 00:01
On February 4th 1976, in the very early morning hours, a massive earthquake leveled much of Guatemala City, killing 23,000 people and leaving 1 million others homeless.

It was 3:04 a.m. when the first large tremor, centered six miles under the Earth’s surface 120 miles northwest of Guatemala City, struck. The 7.5 magnitude quake was the result of a clash between the Caribbean and North American plates on the Motagua Fault. In a matter of minutes, about one third of the city was destroyed. All over the city, sleeping residents were crushed and killed when their weak adobe homes collapsed on top of them.

Read more...

Earthquake Rocks Guatemala City

52
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 31 1968 Viet Cong Attack US Embassy

January 31st 2012 00:01
On January 31st 1968, as part of the Tet Offensive, a squad of Viet Cong guerillas attacked the US Embassy in Saigon. The soldiers seized the embassy and held it for six hours until an assault force of US paratroopers landed by helicopter on the building's roof and routed the Viet Cong.

The Tet Offensive was planned as a massive, simultaneous attack on the major cities and provincial capitals of South Vietnam. It was scheduled to take place during Tet, the Vietnamese lunar New Year celebration, which was traditionally a time of decreased fighting. In December 1967, following an attack on the US Marine base at Khe Sanh, 50,000 American troops were sent in to defend the area, thereby weakening US positions elsewhere.

Read more...

1968 Tet Offensive


46
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 30 1948 Mahatma Gandhi Assassinated

January 30th 2012 00:01
On January 30th 1948, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the political and spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement, was assassinated in New Delhi by a Hindu fanatic.

Born the son of an Indian official in 1869, Gandhi's Vaishnava mother was deeply religious and early on exposed her son to Jainism, a morally rigorous Indian religion that advocated nonviolence. Gandhi was an unremarkable student but in 1888 was given an opportunity to study law in England. In 1891, he returned to India, but failing to find regular legal work he accepted in 1893 a one-year contract in South Africa.

Settling in Natal, he was subjected to racism and South African laws that restricted the rights of Indian laborers. Gandhi later recalled one such incident, in which he was removed from a first-class railway compartment and thrown off a train, as his moment of truth. From thereon, he decided to fight injustice and defend his rights as an Indian and a man.

Read more...

Mahatma Gandhi


72
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 29 1979 School Shooting In San Diego (I Don't Like Mondays)

January 29th 2012 00:01
On January 29th 1979, Brenda Spencer killed two men and wounded nine children as they entered the Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. Spencer blazed away with rifle shots from her home directly across the street from the school. After 20 minutes of shooting, police surrounded Spencer's home for six hours before she surrendered. Asked for some explanation for the attack, Spencer allegedly said, "I just don't like Mondays. I did this because it's a way to cheer up the day. Nobody likes Mondays."

Spencer was only 16 years old at the time of her murderous attack. She was a problem child who was widely known as a drug abuser with a violent streak. She repeatedly broke the windows at the Cleveland school with her BB gun. Still, her father gave her a .22 semi-automatic rifle and ammunition as a Christmas gift at the end of 1978.

Read more...

Brenda Spencer I Don't Like Mondays

50
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 28 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger Explodes

January 28th 2012 00:01
On January 28th, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Christa McAuliffe is on her way to becoming the first ordinary US civilian to travel into space. McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies teacher from New Hampshire, won a competition that earned her a place among the seven-member crew of the Challenger. She underwent months of shuttle training but then, beginning January 23, was forced to wait six long days as the Challenger's launch countdown was repeatedly delayed because of weather and technical problems. Finally, on January 28, the shuttle lifted off.

Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including Christa's family, stared in disbelief as the shuttle exploded in a forking plume of smoke and fire. Millions more watched the wrenching tragedy unfold on live television. There were no survivors.

Read more...

Space Shuttle Challenger

76
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 25 1919 The League Of Nations Formed

January 25th 2012 00:01
On January 25th 1919, the League of Nations, the forerunner to the United Nations, was formed. The league was formed out of the reconciliation process of World War I at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The use of such a league marked a significant departure from the inter-national relations of the previous 100 years, trading military force for peaceful diplomacy in order to fulfill goals like disarmament and peaceful international relations.

Read more...

19
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 24 1925 Alfred Hitchcock's First Film Released

January 24th 2012 00:01
On January 24th 1925, Alfred Hitchcock’s first feature film, The Pleasure Garden. The film was a commercial failure, however it propelled the aspiring director into the thriller genre, which would make him one of the most influential directors of the 20th century. Hitchcock landed the film after being turned down for another film, The Rat, by Graham Cutts.

19
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 23 1943 First Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Ends

January 23rd 2012 00:01
On January 23rd 1943, the first armed insurgency orchestrated by the Jewish, as part of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, came to an end. The Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland had been in existence since 1939 and was the largest such ghetto formed by the German government under Nazi administration. With the beginning of deportations to death camps throughout 1942, the Jewish began to collaborate in an attempt to rebel against the SS and inhibiting forces.

Read more...

19
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 21 1977 President Carter Pardons Draft Dodgers

January 21st 2012 00:01
On January 21st 1977, US President Jimmy Carter granted an unconditional pardon to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War. In total, some 100,000 young Americans went abroad in the late 1960s and early 70s to avoid serving in the war. Ninety percent went to Canada, where after some initial controversy they were eventually welcomed as immigrants.

Still others hid inside the United States. In addition to those who avoided the draft, a relatively small number, about one thousand, of deserters from the US armed forces also headed to Canada. While the Canadian government technically reserved the right to prosecute deserters, in practice they left them alone, even instructing border guards not to ask too many questions.

Read more...

Jimmy Carter Pardons Draft Dodgers
President Jimmy Carter Announces Pardon Of US Draft Dodgers

49
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 18 1919 Post World War I Peace Conference Begins In Paris

January 18th 2012 00:01
On January 18th 1919, in Paris, France, some of the most powerful people in the world met to begin the long, complicated negotiations that would officially mark the end of the First World War.

Leaders of the victorious Allied powers (France, Great Britain, the United States and Italy) would make most of the crucial decisions in Paris over the next six months. For most of the conference, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson struggled to support his idea of a "peace without victory" and make sure that Germany, the leader of the Central Powers and the major loser of the war, was not treated too harshly.

On the other hand, Prime Ministers Georges Clemenceau of France and David Lloyd George of Britain argued that punishing Germany adequately and ensuring its weakness was the only way to justify the immense costs of the war. In the end, Wilson compromised on the treatment of Germany in order to push through the creation of his pet project, an international peacekeeping organisation called the League of Nations.

Read more...

Big 4 Versailles George Orlando Clemenceau Wilson
(Left to right) The “Big Four”: David Lloyd George of Britain, Vittorio Orlando of Italy, Georges Clemenceau of France, and Woodrow Wilson of the United States, the principal architects of the Treaty of Versailles.


53
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 17 1950 Boston Thieves Commit Historic Robbery

January 17th 2012 00:01
On January 17th 1950, 11 men stole more than $2 million from the Brinks Armored Car depot in Boston, Massachusetts. It was almost the perfect crime, as the culprits weren't caught until January 1956, just days before the statute of limitations for the theft expired.

The robbery's mastermind was Anthony "Fats" Pino, a career criminal who recruited a group of 10 other men to stake out the depot for 18 months to figure out when it held the most money. Pino's men then managed to steal plans for the depot's alarm system, returning them before anyone noticed they were gone.

Read more...

The Brinks Job
From the movie "The Brinks Job


62
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 16 1919 Prohibition Takes Effect

January 16th 2012 00:01
On January 16th 1919, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, prohibiting the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes," is ratified, and becomes the law of the land.

The movement for the prohibition of alcohol began in the early 19th century, when Americans concerned about the adverse effects of drinking began forming temperance societies. By the late 19th century, these groups had become a powerful political force, campaigning on the state level and calling for total national abstinence. In December 1917, the 18th Amendment, also known as the Prohibition Amendment, was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification.

Read more...

Prohibition


41
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 15 1967 Packers Face Chiefs In First Super Bowl

January 15th 2012 00:01
On January 15th 1967, at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the first-ever world championship game of American football.

In the mid-1960s, the intense competition for players and fans between the National Football League (NFL) and the upstart American Football League (AFL) led to talks of a possible merger. It was decided that the winners of each league's championship would meet each year in a single game to determine the "world champion of football."

Read more...

Green Bay Packers Defeat Kansas City Chiefs 1967


49
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 12 1926 Amos N Andy On Chicago Radio

January 12th 2012 00:01
On January 12th 1926, the two-man comedy series "Sam 'n' Henry" debuted on Chicago's WGN radio station. Two years later, after changing its name to "Amos 'n' Andy," the show became one of the most popular radio programs in American history. Later, it was also one of the most controversial.

Though the creators and the stars of the new radio program, Freeman Gosden and Charles Carrell, were both white, the characters they played were two black men from the Deep South who moved to Chicago to seek their fortunes during the Great Depression. By that time, white actors performing in dark stage makeup--or "blackface"--had been a significant tradition in American theater for over 100 years. Gosden and Carrell, both vaudeville performers, were doing a Chicago comedy act in blackface when an employee at the Chicago Tribune suggested they create a radio show.

Read more...

Amos N Andy


41
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 11 1908 Grand Canyon Becomes National Monument

January 11th 2012 00:01
On January 11th 1908, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt declared the massive Grand Canyon in northwestern Arizona a national monument.

Though Native Americans lived in the area as early as the 13th century, the first European sighting of the canyon wasn't until 1540, by members of an expedition headed by the Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. Because of its remote and inaccessible location, several centuries passed before North American settlers really explored the canyon. In 1869, geologist John Wesley Powell led a group of 10 men in the first difficult journey down the rapids of the Colorado River and along the length of the 277-mile gorge in four rowboats.

Read more...

Grand Canyon


43
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 10 1901 American Oil Industry Starts

January 10th 2012 00:01
On January 10th 1901, a drilling derrick at Spindletop Hill near Beaumont, Texas, produced an enormous gusher of crude oil, coating the landscape for hundreds of feet and signaling the advent of the American oil industry. The geyser was discovered at a depth of over 1,000 feet, flowed at an initial rate of approximately 100,000 barrels a day and took nine days to cap. Following the discovery, petroleum, which until that time had been used in the U.S. primarily as a lubricant and in kerosene for lamps, would become the main fuel source for new inventions such as cars and airplanes; coal-powered forms of transportation including ships and trains would also convert to the liquid fuel.

Read more...

Spindletop Hill

27
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 5 1918 Nazi Party Foundation Formed

January 5th 2012 00:01
On January 5th 1918, the formation of the German political party, “Freier Ausschuss für einen deutschen Arbeiterfrieden” took place. Translated, it means “Free Committee for a German Workers’ Peace.” While the name may not be of much significance by itself, it is historically significant in that it was the foundation for what would in the 1920s become the NSDAP, and later the infamous Nazi Party.

Read more...


19
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 3 1990 Noriega Surrenders To US

January 3rd 2012 00:01
On January 3rd 1990, Panama's General Manuel Antonio Noriega, after holing up for 10 days at the Vatican embassy in Panama City, surrendered to U.S. military troops to face charges of drug trafficking. Noriega was flown to Miami the following day and crowds of citizens on the streets of Panama City rejoiced. On July 10, 1992, the former dictator was convicted of drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Noriega, who was born in Panama in 1938, was a loyal soldier to General Omar Torrijos, who seized power in a 1968 coup. Under Torrijos, Noriega headed up the notorious G-2 intelligence service, which harassed and terrorised people who criticised the Torrijos regime. Noriega also became a C.I.A. operative, while at the same time getting rich smuggling drugs.

Read more...

Panamanian President General Manuel Antonio Noriega In Florida Prison
Panamanian President General Manuel Antonio Noriega In Florida Prison

49
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 2 1980 Carter Postpones Nuclear Treaty With USSR

January 2nd 2012 00:01
On January 2nd 1980, in a strong reaction to the December 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter asked the Senate to postpone action on the SALT II nuclear weapons treaty and recalled the U.S. ambassador to Moscow. These actions sent a message that the age of detente and the friendlier diplomatic and economic relations that were established between the United States and Soviet Union during President Richard Nixon's administration (1969-74) had ended.

Carter feared that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, in which an estimated 30,000 combat troops entered that nation and established a puppet government, would threaten the stability of strategic neighboring countries such as Iran and Pakistan and could lead to the USSR gaining control over much of the world's oil supplies.

Read more...

Jimmy Carter SALT II
Jimmy Carter Postponed The SALT II Nuclear Treaty With USSR

43
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 1 1959 Batista Outed By Castro

January 1st 2012 00:01
On January 1st 1059, facing a popular revolution spearheaded by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista fled the island nation. Amid celebration and chaos in the Cuban capitol of Havana, the U.S. debated how best to deal with the radical Castro and the ominous rumblings of anti-Americanism in Cuba.

The U.S. government had supported Batista, a former soldier and Cuban dictator from 1933 to 1944, who seized power for a second time in a 1952 coup. After Castro and a group of followers, including the South American revolutionary Che Guevara (1928-1967), landed in Cuba to unseat the dictator in December 1956, the U.S. continued to back Batista.

Read more...

Cuban Dictator Fulgencio Batista
Cuban Dictator Fulgencio Batista

42
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 31 1999 Panama Canal Handover

December 31st 2011 00:01
On December 31st 1999, the United States, in accordance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, officially handed over control of the Panama Canal, putting the strategic waterway into Panamanian hands for the first time. Crowds of Panamanians celebrated the transfer of the 50-mile canal, which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and officially opened when the SS Arcon sailed through on August 15, 1914. Since then, over 815,000 ships have used the canal.

Read more...

Panama Canal Handover Jimmy Carter Mireya Moscoso
Jimmy Carter Hands Over Panama Canal To Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso

43
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 29 1960 Australian Writer Craig Hill Born

December 29th 2011 04:13
On 29th December 1960, Australian writer Craig Hill came kicking and screaming into the world. Today, nothing much has changed; still kicking and screaming. Today also marks his 51st birthday.

Hill was born in Goulburn, Australia, and attended North Goulburn and Bradfordville Public Schools. Later, his family moved to Sydney, where he attended Heathcote High School.

Over the next 30 years, he attended several universities, and completed a Degree in Training and Development, Associate Degree in Adult Education, Diploma in Secondary Education, Diploma in Journalism and Diploma in Accounting.

He became a volunteer with the Bush Fire Brigade, State Emergency Services (SES) and St John Ambulance. Later, he was employed by the SES to train Controllers and Training Officers from various towns in southern NSW.

Hill first worked in the National Bank of Australasia Limited (now National Australia Bank), before embarking on a three year journey around Australia. It was during this time that his love of travel and writing took hold, which is still evidenced in his work today.

Returning to Goulburn, he accepted an offer to work as a prison guard at Australia's toughest maximum security jail in that city. It was during this time that he became aware of the injustices inflicted on Australia's Indigenous population, which influenced much of his later work.

After four years working there, Hill again travelled Australia, then returned to Goulburn where he became Chairman and Coordinator of the local Red Cross. He also organised the formation of a local branch of Australians For Reconciliation, of which he became Chairman, and the city's representative at the Canberra Reconciliation Council. he had a weekly column in the Goulburn Post about the Reconciliation matters in the district.

Suffering persecution from some authorities in his home town, Hill moved to the Aboriginal Community of Woorabinda, in Central Queensland, where he worked as Deputy Headmaster and TAFE Program Coordinator at Wadja Wadja Aboriginal High School. During this time, he was approached by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation (ATSIC). He helped ATSIC expose corruption within management at the school, before moving to Rockhampton to work with Aboriginal street kids.

Whilst in Rockhampton, Hill was approached by ATSIC again to investigate possible frauds in the NSW town of Tingha. He was appointed Manager of the Mrangalli Aboriginal Corporation. His investigations helped Government agencies force the bankruptcy and closure of the organisation.

In 2003, Hill made the first of his many trips to China, to lecture on Aboriginal Education at 30 universities in nine cities. Developing a fondness for the country, he took a permanent post teaching in Jiangdu, Jiangsu Province, a small city that had a friendship agreement with his home town of Goulburn.

In 2005, inspired by his work with the homeless in Rockhampton, Hill joined the staff of Big Issue Australia Magazine, as a journalist and social worker. He was also invited by Australian Democrats Deputy Leader, Senator Andrew Bartlett, to work on a casual basis as a writer and researcher, particularly into homelessness issues.

In 2006, he was recognised for his success in providing housing for the homeless by being invited to participate in the Vodafone World of Difference Program, a national social responsibility program. He was one of four people invited, from almost 500 nominations around Australia. However, due to a work related injury, he was unable to complete the work for the program.

Hill travelled to Honolulu, USA for six months in 2007, and assisted with research and advice about the homelessness and racial problems in Honolulu.

In 2009, Hill returned to China, where he still resides today. In this time, he has written professionally for eChinacities online magazine, and China Trade Mag. He also works as a Corporate Trainer and Program Designer for Fortune 500 companies and Private Educational organisations.


Click here for Craig Hill's Wikipedia Profile
6
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Paladin - Category: 20th Century
   


December 27 1932 Radio City Music Hall Opens

December 27th 2011 00:01
On December 27th 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, thousands turned out for the opening of Radio City Music Hall, a magnificent Art Deco theatre in New York City. Radio City Music Hall was designed as a palace for the people, a place of beauty where ordinary people could see high-quality entertainment. Since its 1932 opening, more than 300 million people have gone to Radio City to enjoy movies, stage shows, concerts, and special events.

Radio City Music Hall was the brainchild of the billionaire John D. Rockefeller Jr, who decided to make the theatre the cornerstone of the Rockefeller Complex he was building in a formerly derelict neighbourhood in midtown Manhattan. The theater was built in partnership with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and designed by Donald Deskey.

Read more...

Radio City Music Hall Opening Night
Radio City Music Hall Opening Night

39
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 26 1946 Bugsy Siegel Opens Flamingo Hotel

December 26th 2011 00:01
On December 26, 1946, in Las Vegas, Nevada, mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel opens The Pink Flamingo Hotel & Casino at a total cost of $6 million. The 40-acre facility wasn’t complete and Siegel was hoping to raise some revenue with the grand opening.

Well-known singer and comedian Jimmy Durante headlined the entertainment, with music by Cuban band leader Xavier Cugat. Some of Siegel’s Hollywood friends, including actors George Raft, George Sanders, Sonny Tufts and George Jessel were in attendance.

Read more...

Bugsy Siegel
Bugsy Siegel

49
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 25 1914 Christmas Truce

December 25th 2011 00:01
On December 25th 1914, just after midnight on Christmas morning, the majority of German troops engaged in World War I ceased firing their guns and artillery and commenced to sing Christmas carols. At certain points along the eastern and western fronts, the soldiers of Russia, France, and Britain even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn, many of the German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man's-land, calling out "Merry Christmas" in their enemies' native tongues.

Read more...

1914 Christmas Truce WWI
1914 Christmas Truce WWI


36
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 24 1979 Soviet Tanks Roll Into Afghanistan

December 24th 2011 00:01
On December 24th 1979, the Soviet Union invaded 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.

Read more...

Soviet Tank Enters Afghanistan
Soviet Tank Enters Afghanistan


27
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 22 1989 Nicolae Ceausescu’s Romanian Dictatorship Ends

December 22nd 2011 00:01
December 22nd 1989 saw the end of Nicolae Ceausescu’s dictatorship in Romania, after politician Ion Iliescu became the new President. It was also the official end of Communism within Romania, after 42 years of Communist rule under leaders Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Nicolae Ceausescu. While Gheorghiu-Dej is often condemned as a neo-Stalinist ruler, despite his attempts to abandon such labels, most of the negative light is dispensed by historians onto the second leader, Ceausescu, who took over in 1965.

Nicolae Ceaucescu and his wife, Elena, were held under trial before being found guilty and executed.

Read more...

10
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 20 1917 Russia’s Cheka Security Service

December 20th 2011 00:01
On December 20th 1917, the first Soviet security organisation, Cheka, was founded. While the KGB is the stereotypical Soviet secret police in modern society, the Cheka were the first of its kind, created by Lenin in 1917 in order to stabilise Russian society after the Bolshevik Revolution and the dismantling of the Russian monarchy.

19
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 19 1984 Hong Kong Return Agreement Signed

December 19th 2011 00:01
On December 19th 1984, in the Hall of the People in Beijing, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang signed an accord committing Britain to give Hong Kong back to China in 1997. In return, China incorporated terms pledging a 50 year continuation of Britain’s capitalist system. Hong Kong, a small peninsula and group of islands extending out from China’s Kwangtung province, was leased by China to Great Britain in 1898 for 99 years.

19
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 18 1961 “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” Hits Number 1

December 18th 2011 00:01
On December 18th 1961, The Lion Sleeps Tonight hit number one on the Billboard Charts. It was an instant classic that endured to become one of the most successful pop songs of all time. Few realise, however, that its true originator saw only a minuscule portion of the song’s massive profits.

Prior to reaching an undisclosed settlement in 2006, his heirs received only a tiny portion of the millions of dollars they might have been due had Linda retained his songwriting credit on what Malan rightly calls “The most famous melody ever to emerge from Africa.”

28
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 17 1903 First Powered Flight

December 17th 2011 00:01
On December 17th 1903, the first succesful flight of the Wright Flyer took place. One of the biggest milestones in the evolution of commercial airflight, the Wright Flyer was the first powered aircraft, and the result of the Wright Brothers’ decade-long interest in aeronautical flight. The Wright Flyer underwent two separate flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 14, and December 17.

28
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 14 1977 Saturday Night Fever Premieres

December 14th 2011 00:01
On December 14th 1977, Saturday Night Fever had its world premiere at Mann’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. The film made a star out of 23 year old John Travolta, and propelled the already famous Bee Gees to superstardom that had rarely or has since been achieved.

Well-cast, well-acted and well-directed, Saturday Night Fever received positive reviews from many critics. While it had many cinematic merits, it was the pulsing disco soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever that made it a work of lasting historical significance. From its iconic opening sequence featuring John Travolta swaggering down a Brooklyn sidewalk to the tune of the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive,” to its remarkable dance numbers set in the imaginary 2001 Odyssey discotheque, the music balanced the action in Saturday Night Fever as absolutely as if it were written for the movie, even though most of it wasn’t.

27
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 13 1925 Dick Van Dyke Is Born

December 13th 2011 00:01
On December 13th 1925, Dick Van Dyke, was born in West Plains, Missouri. The classic “nice guy” actor would became famous for his roles in such movie classics as Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as the popular 1960s TV sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Van Dyke, who was reared in Danville, Illinois, served in the military during World War II and in the 1950s took various acting jobs and hosted a series of TV game shows. In 1960, he starred on Broadway in Bye Bye Birdie, a role which won him a Tony Award. The following year, he signed to play comedy writer Rob Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show. The Dick Van Dyke Show featured a strong ensemble cast that included Mary Tyler Moore as Rob’s wife Laura, Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie as Rob’s colleagues Buddy and Sally and Larry Matthews as the Petries’ son, Ritchie. In the show’s opening credits, Van Dyke was famously seen tripping over an ottoman in the family’s home in New Rochelle, New York, where, in keeping with the conservative broadcasting standards of the time, Rob and Laura Petrie slept in separate beds. After The Dick Van Dyke Show went off the air in 1966, Mary Tyler Moore starred in her own successful TV sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which originally aired from 1970 to 1977.

27
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 12 1901 Marconi Sent First Trans Atlantic Radio Broadcast

December 12th 2011 00:01
On December 12th 1901, Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi was successful in sending the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean, refuting detractors who told him that the curvature of the earth would limit transmission to 200 miles or less. The message, simply the Morse-code signal for the letter “s”, travelled more than 2,000 miles from Poldhu in Cornwall, England, to Newfoundland, Canada.

Read more...


26
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 11 1936 Edward VIII Abdicates British Throne

December 11th 2011 00:01
On December 11th 1936, after ruling for less than one year, Edward VIII was the first English monarch to freely abdicate the throne. He chose to abdicate after the British government, public, and the Church of England condemned his choice to marry the American divorcée Wallis Warfield Simpson. On the evening of December 11, he gave a radio address in which he made clear, “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.

18
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 10 1901 First Nobel Prizes Awarded

December 9th 2011 17:35
The 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.

18
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 9 1992 Prince Charles and Princess Diana Announce Seperation

December 9th 2011 01:36
On December 9th 1992, British Prime Minister John Major announced the formal separation of the egotistical and big-eared Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne, and his wife, the overwhelmingly more gracious and popular Princess Diana had been the subject of years of speculation by the tabloid press that the marriage was in peril. Evidence had been frequentyly cited that Diana and Charles spent vacations apart and official visits in separate rooms. Major explained that the royal couple were separating "amicably."



27
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 8 1980 John Lennon Murdered

December 8th 2011 08:07
On December 8th 1980, John Lennon, a former member of the Beatles rock group that transformed popular music in the 1960s, was 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.

9
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 7 1941 Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor

December 7th 2011 07:53
On December 7th 1941, at 7:55 am Hawaii time, a swarm of 360 Japanese war planes appeared out of the clouds above the island of Oahu, in Hawaii. then descended 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.

Diplomatic negotiations with Japan were breaking down, and 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 am, 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.

10
Vote
Comments (2)Comments (2) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 6 1976 Kitty O’Neil New Women’s Land Speed Record

December 6th 2011 04:32
On December 6 1976, professional and deaf stuntwoman Kitty O’Neil set the land-speed record for female drivers at the Alvord Desert in southeastern Oregon,. The record hovered around 400 mph; O’Neil’s two-way average speed was 512.710 mph. (The rules that govern land-speed records require that a driver make two passes across a measured course, one out and one back; officials then average the two speeds.) Observers reported that O’Neil’s car actually reached a top speed of more than 618 miles per hour on her first pass, but she ran out of fuel and had to coast to the end of the course.

18
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 5 1945 Flight 19 Disappears Over Bermuda Triangle

December 5th 2011 07:50
On December 5th 1945, at about 2:00 pm, Flight 19, comprising five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers, left the Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida on a routine three-hour training mission. 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.

9
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 22 1973 Supreme Court Legalizes Abortion

January 22nd 2011 01:26
On January 22nd 1973, the US Supreme Court ruled in Roe v Wade that women, as part of their constitutional right to privacy, can terminate a pregnancy during its first two trimesters. Only during the last trimester, when the fetus can survive outside the womb, would states be permitted to regulate abortion of a healthy pregnancy.

The controversial ruling, essentially reversing a century of anti-abortion legislation in the United States, was the result of a call by many American women for control over their own reproductive processes. Although defended by the Supreme Court on several occasions, the legalization of abortion became a divisive and intensely emotional public issue. The debate intensified during the 1980s, and both pro-choice and pro-life organizations strengthened their membership and political influence.

Read more...

Supreme Court Legalizes Abortion

41
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 20 1981 Iran Hostage Crisis Ends

January 20th 2011 03:45
On January 20th 1981, minutes after Ronald Reagan's inauguration as the 40th president of the United States, the 52 US captives held at the US embassy in Teheran, Iran, were released, ending the 444-day Iran Hostage Crisis.

On November 4, 1979, the crisis began when militant Iranian students, outraged that the U.S. government had allowed the ousted shah of Iran to travel to New York City for medical treatment, seized the US embassy in Teheran. The Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's political and religious leader, took over the hostage situation, refusing all appeals to release the hostages, even after the UN Security Council demanded an end to the crisis in an unanimous vote. However, two weeks after the storming of the embassy, the Ayatollah began to release all non-US captives, and all female and minority Americans, citing these groups as among the people oppressed by the government of the United States. The remaining 52 captives remained at the mercy of the Ayatollah for the next 14 months.

Read more...

Iran Hostage Crisis
US Hostages Paraded Before Cameras In November 1979

62
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 5 1933 Golden Gate Bridge Construction Begins

January 5th 2011 08:30
In 1933, construction started on the Golden Gate Bridge, as workers began excavating 3.25 million cubic feet of dirt for the structure’s huge anchorages.

Following the Gold Rush boom that began in 1849, speculators realized the land north of San Francisco Bay would increase in value in direct proportion to its accessibility to the city. Soon, a plan was hatched to build a bridge that would span the Golden Gate, a narrow, 400-foot deep strait that serves as the mouth of the San Francisco Bay, connecting the San Francisco Peninsula with the southern end of Marin County.

Read more...

Golden Gate Bridge


31
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 4 1999 Euro Becomes European Currency

January 4th 2011 08:23
In 1999, for the first time since Charlemagne's reign in the ninth century, Europe had a common currency, when the "euro" debuts as a financial unit in corporate and investment markets. Eleven European Union (EU) nations , representing some 290 million people, launched the currency in the hopes of increasing European integration and economic growth.

The original eleven countries were: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

Closing at a robust 1.17 U.S. dollars on its first day, the euro promised to give the dollar a run for its money in the new global economy. Euro cash, decorated with architectural images, symbols of European unity and member-state motifs, went into circulation on January 1, 2002, replacing the Austrian schilling, Belgian franc, Finnish markka, French franc, German mark, Italian lira, Irish punt, Luxembourg franc, Netherlands guilder, Portugal escudo and Spanish peseta. A number of territories and non-EU nations including Monaco and Vatican City also adopted the euro.

Read more...

Euro Notes


32
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 9 1953 General Electric Sacks All Communist Employees

December 9th 2010 13:34
On December 9th 1953, General Electric, announced that all communist employees would be discharged from the company. The act is part of the period of US history known as the Second Red Scare, when US society and particularly the government was afraid of a Communist invasion of the US. The period is also widely known as the McCarthy Era, a name derived from one of the movement’s biggest spokespersons, US Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Read more...


10
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


March 12 1969 London Police Drug Raid On George Harrison

March 12th 2009 00:01
On March 12th 1969, the London drug squad appeared at house of George Harrison and Pattie Boyd with a warrant and drug-sniffing canines. Boyd immediately used the direct hotline to Beatles headquarters, and George returned to find his home turned upside down. He is reported to have told the officers "You needn't have turned the whole bloody place upside down. All you had to do was ask me and I would have shown you where I keep everything."

Without his assistance, the constables, including Sergeant Pilcher who had directed the drug-related arrest of John Lennon the previous year, had already found a considerable amount of hashish. Harrison and Boyd were arrested and as they were being escorted to the police station, a photographer began shooting pictures of the famous couple. Harrison chased after the photographer, with the cops trailing right behind him down the London street. Finally, the man dropped his camera and George stomped on it before the officers subdued him.

George Harrison Pattie Boyd
George Harrison and Pattie Boyd


Harrison and his model wife, who missed Paul and Linda McCartney's wedding that same day because of the arrest, were released on bail. A few weeks later, Harrison and Boyd were allowed to plead guilty. Despite the rather prodigious amount of hash recovered from their home, the authorities were satisfied that it was all for their personal use. They were fined 250 pounds each, and even had a confiscated pipe returned to them. Ten years later, Boyd married guitarist Eric Clapton and Harrison sang and played at their wedding.

Sergeant Pilcher, the man behind the raid, was convicted of planting drugs in other cases and went to jail in 1972.

George Harrison died in November 2001 after a struggle with cancer.

78
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


March 11 1997 Paul McCartney Knighted

March 11th 2009 00:01
On March 11th 1997, Paul McCartney, a former member of the most successful rock band in history, The Beatles, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his "services to music." The 54-year-old lad from Liverpool became Sir Paul in a centuries-old ceremony of pomp and solemnity at Buckingham Palace in central London.

Fans waited outside in a scene reminiscent of Beatlemania of the 1960s. Crowds screamed as McCartney swept through the gates in his chauffeur-driven limousine and he answered with a thumbs-up. McCartney's wife, Linda, who was fighting breast cancer, did not accompany him, but three of their four children were at the palace. "I would have loved the whole family to be here, but when we heard there were only three tickets, we had to draw straws,"McCartney said.

Paul McCartney


Linda McCartney would succumb to cancer 13 months later on April 17, 1998. As for the surviving Beatles, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, Sir Paul said that since they learned that he would be knighted, "They call me 'Your Holiness'." McCartney dedicated his knighthood to fellow Beatles George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon and the people of the northwestern port of Liverpool.

In October 1965, McCartney, along with fellow band members John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, collected MBE (Member of the British Empire) medals, much to the shock of the British establishment. Lennon, who returned his MBE in 1969 as a war protest, was assassinated in New York in 1980. Harrison would also succumb to cancer, passing away on November 29, 2001.

McCartney admitted he was very nervous before the ceremony but said it had been a great experience. "Proud to be British, wonderful day and it's a long way from a little terrace (street) in Liverpool," he told reporters. Aides said he won't be calling himself "Sir Paul," the title conferred when the queen tapped him on each shoulder with a naked sword as he knelt on the investiture stool.

McCartney's knighthood was considered long overdue even by the conservative standards used in Britain, which sees most such honors going to judges, scientists and politicians. McCartney formed the group Wings after the Beatles split up in 1970, and made records with stars like Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder before trying his hand at composing classical music.

"The first time I really ever felt a tingle up my spine was when I saw Bill Haley and The Comets on the telly," McCartney once said. "Then I went to see them live. The ticket was 24 shillings, and I was the only one of my mates who could go as no one else had been able to save up that amount. But I was single-minded about it&.I knew there was something going on here."

92
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


March 10 1959 Tibetans Revolt Against China

March 10th 2009 00:01
On March 10th 1959, Tibetans banded together in revolt, surrounding the summer palace of the Dalai Lama in defiance of Chinese occupation forces.

China's occupation of Tibet began nearly a decade before, in October 1950, when troops from its People's Liberation Army (PLA) invaded the country, barely one year after the Communists gained full control of mainland China.

The Tibetan government gave into Chinese pressure the following year, signing a treaty that ensured the power of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the country's spiritual leader, over Tibet's domestic affairs.

Dalai Lama 1959
The Dalai Lama In 1959


Resistance to the Chinese occupation built steadily over the next several years, including a revolt in several areas of eastern Tibet in 1956. By December 1958, rebellion was simmering in Lhasa, the capital, and the PLA command threatened to bomb the city if order was not maintained.

The March 1959 uprising in Lhasa was triggered by fears of a plot to kidnap the Dalai Lama and take him to Beijing. When Chinese military officers invited His Holiness to visit the PLA headquarters for a theatrical performance and official tea, he was told he must come alone, and that no Tibetan military bodyguards or personnel would be allowed past the edges of the military camp.

On March 10, 300,000 loyal Tibetans surrounded Norbulinka Palace, preventing the Dalai Lama from accepting the PLA's invitation. By March 17, Chinese artillery was aimed at the palace, and the Dalai Lama was evacuated to neighboring India. Fighting broke out in Lhasa two days later, with Tibetan rebels hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned.

Early on March 21, the Chinese began shelling Norbulinka, slaughtering tens of thousands of men, women and children still camped outside. In the aftermath, the PLA cracked down on Tibetan resistance, executing the Dalai Lama’s guards and destroying Lhasa's major monasteries along with thousands of their inhabitants.

China's stranglehold on Tibet and its brutal suppression of separatist activity has continued in the decades following the unsuccessful uprising. Tens of thousands of Tibetans followed their leader to India, where the Dalai Lama has long maintained a government-in-exile in the foothills of the Himalayas.

89
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


March 9 1959 First Barbie Doll

March 9th 2009 00:01
On March 9th 1959, the first Barbie doll went on display at the American Toy Fair in New York City.

Eleven inches tall, with a waterfall of blond hair, Barbie was the first mass-produced toy doll in the United States with adult features. The woman behind Barbie was Ruth Handler, who co-founded Mattel, Inc. with her husband in 1945. After seeing her young daughter ignore her baby dolls to play make-believe with paper dolls of adult women, Handler realized there was an important niche in the market for a toy that allowed little girls to imagine the future.

Barbie's appearance was modeled on a doll named Lilli, based on a German comic strip character. Originally marketed as a racy gag gift to adult men in tobacco shops, the Lilli doll later became extremely popular with children. Mattel bought the rights to Lilli and made its own version, which Handler named after her daughter, Barbara.

Barbie 1959
1959 Barbie


With its sponsorship of the "Mickey Mouse Club" TV program in 1955, Mattel became the first toy company to broadcast commercials to children. They used this medium to promote their new toy, and by 1961, the enormous consumer demand for the doll led Mattel to release a boyfriend for Barbie. Handler named him Ken, after her son. Barbie's best friend, Midge, came out in 1963; her little sister, Skipper, debuted the following year.

Over the years, Barbie generated huge sales--and a lot of controversy. On the positive side, many women saw Barbie as providing an alternative to traditional 1950s gender roles. She has had a series of different jobs, from airline stewardess, doctor, pilot and astronaut to Olympic athlete and even U.S. presidential candidate. Others thought Barbie's never-ending supply of designer outfits, cars and "Dream Houses" encouraged kids to be materialistic. It was Barbie's appearance that caused the most controversy, however. Her tiny waist and enormous breasts--it was estimated that if she were a real woman, her measurements would be 36-18-38--led many to claim that Barbie provided little girls with an unrealistic and harmful example and fostered negative body image.

Despite the criticism, sales of Barbie-related merchandise continued to soar, topping 1 billion dollars annually by 1993. Since 1959, more than 800 million dolls in the Barbie family have been sold around the world and Barbie is now a bona fide global icon.

94
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


March 5 1963 Hula-hoop Patented

March 5th 2009 00:01
On March 5th 1963, the Hula-Hoop was patented by Wham-O co-founder Arthur "Spud" Melin. The hip-swiveling toy became a huge fad across America when it was first marketed in 1958, and sold an estimated 25 million in its first four months of production alone.

In 1948, friends Arthur Melin and Richard Knerr founded a company in California to sell a slingshot they created to shoot meat up to falcons they used for hunting. The company’s name, Wham-O, came from the sound the slingshots supposedly made. Wham-O eventually branched out from slingshots, selling boomerangs and other sporting goods. Its first hit toy, a flying plastic disc known as the Frisbee, debuted in 1957. The Frisbee was originally marketed under a different name, the Pluto Platter, in an effort to capitalize on America's fascination with UFOs.

Hula Hoops


Melina and Knerr were inspired to develop the Hula-Hoop after they saw a wooden hoop that Australian children twirled around their waists during gym class. Wham-O began producing a plastic version of the hoop, dubbed "Hula" after the hip-gyrating Hawaiian dance of the same name, and demonstrating it on Southern California playgrounds. Hula-Hoop mania took off from there.

The enormous popularity of the Hula-Hoop was short-lived and within a matter of months, the masses were on to the next big thing. However, the Hula-Hoop never faded away completely and still has its fans today. According to Ripley's Believe It or Not, in April 2004, a performer at the Big Apple Circus in Boston simultaneously spun 100 hoops around her body. Earlier that same year, in January, according to the Guinness World Records, two people in Tokyo, Japan, managed to spin the world's largest hoop, at 13 feet, 4 inches, around their waists at least three times each.

Following the Hula-Hoop, Wham-O continued to produce a steady stream of wacky and beloved novelty items, including the Superball, Water Wiggle, Silly String, Slip 'n' Slide and the Hacky Sack.

98
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


March 4 1952 Ernest Hemingway Completes The Old Man and the Sea

March 4th 2009 00:01
On March 4th 1952, Ernest Hemingway completed his short novel The Old Man and the Sea. He wrote his publisher the same day, saying he had finished the book and that it was the best writing he had ever done. The critics agreed: The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and became one of his bestselling works.

The novella, which was first published in Life magazine, was an allegory referring to the writer's own struggles to preserve his art in the face of fame and attention. Hemingway had become a cult figure whose four marriages and adventurous exploits in big-game hunting and fishing were widely covered in the press. But despite his fame, he had not produced a major literary work in a decade before he wrote The Old Man and the Sea. The book would be his last significant work of fiction before his suicide in 1961.

Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway


Hemingway, born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois, started working as a reporter for the Kansas City Star in 1917. When World War I broke out, he volunteered as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross and was severely wounded in 1918 on the Austro-Italian front while carrying a companion to safety. He was decorated and sent home to recuperate.

Hemingway married the wealthy Hadley Richardson in 1920, and the couple moved to Paris, where they met other American expatriate writers, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound. With their help and encouragement, Hemingway published his first book of short stories, in the U.S. in 1925, followed by the well-received The Sun Also Rises in 1926.

During the 1930s and 40s, the hard-drinking Hemingway lived in Key West and then in Cuba while continuing to travel widely. He was wounded in a plane crash in 1953, after which he became increasingly anxious and depressed. Like his father, he committed suicide, shooting himself in 1961 in his home in Idaho.

68
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


March 2 1904 Dr Seuss Born

March 2nd 2009 00:01
On March 2nd 1904, Theodor Geisel, better known to the world as Dr Seuss, the author and illustrator of such beloved children's books as "The Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham," was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Geisel, who used his middle name (which was also his mother's maiden name) as his pen name, wrote 48 books, including some for adults, that have sold well over 200 million copies and been translated into multiple languages. Dr Seuss books are known for their whimsical rhymes and quirky characters, which have names like the Lorax and the Sneetches and live in places like Hooterville.

Geisel, who was born on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts, graduated from Dartmouth College, where he was editor of the school's humor magazine, and studied at Oxford University. There he met Helen Palmer, his first wife and the person who encouraged him to become a professional illustrator. Back in America, Geisel worked as a cartoonist for a variety of magazines and in advertising.

Dr Seuss Cat In The Hat


The first children's book that Geisel wrote and illustrated, "And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street," was rejected by over two dozen publishers before making it into print in 1937. Geisel's first bestseller, "The Cat in the Hat," was published in 1957. The story of a mischievous cat in a tall striped hat came about after his publisher asked him to produce a book using 220 new-reader vocabulary words that could serve as an entertaining alternative to the school reading primers children found boring.

Other Dr Seuss classics include "Yertle the Turtle," "If I Ran the Circus," "Fox in Socks" and "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish."

Some Dr Seuss books tackled serious themes. "The Butter Battle Book" (1984) was about the arms buildup and nuclear war threat during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. "Lorax" (1971) dealt with the environment.

Many Dr Seuss books have been adapted for television and film, including "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" and "Horton Hears a Who!" In 1990, Geisel published a book for adults titled "Oh, the Places You'll Go" that became a hugely popular graduation gift for high school and college students.

Geisel, who lived and worked in an old observatory in La Jolla, California, known as "The Tower," died September 24, 1991, at age 87.

34
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 28 1993 ATF Raid Branch Davidian In Waco Texas

February 28th 2009 00:01
On February 28th 1993, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raided the Branch Davidian cult compound in Waco, Texas, prompting a gun battle in which four agents and six cult members were killed. The federal agents were attempting to arrest the leader of the Branch Davidians, David Koresh, on information that the religious sect was stockpiling weapons. A nearly two-month standoff ensued after the unsuccessful raid.

The roots of the confrontation between the federal government and the Branch Davidians went back 10 years before the Waco siege. In 1983, a young man named Vernon Howell showed up at the Mt Carmel headquarters of the sect. Lois Roden and her son, George, were competing for leadership of the commune at the time. Lois had an affair with Howell, but died shortly thereafter. George Roden attempted to take charge of Mt. Carmel, but Howell challenged his leadership, claiming that he was the Lamb from Revelation, and that his children would be descended from God.

David Koresh Branch Davidian
David Koresh Branch Davidian


Roden responded by posing a contest to Howell: Whoever could resurrect an exhumed corpse would prove their worthiness to rule the cult. Howell declined the challenge, going instead to the sheriff to have Roden arrested for illegally digging up a body. When the police wanted no part of it, Howell and Roden ended up in a gunfight that left Roden injured. While Howell was awaiting trial for attempted murder, Roden was jailed for contempt for filing "the most obscene and profane motions that probably have ever been filed in a federal courthouse" in an unrelated case. Howell took over the cult and the Mt. Carmel compound in Roden's absence, and later got a mistrial on the attempted murder charge.

Soon, Howell started his own harem, declaring himself the only one allowed to have wives. Reportedly his many wives included girls as young as 12. Howell changed his name to David Koresh in 1990. Not long after, he began filling the cult member's heads with apocalyptic warnings and insisting that they arm themselves. In 1992, a deliveryman accidentally dropped a package and saw that it was filled with grenades.

It was against this background that the federal government obtained a warrant for Koresh's arrest. To Koresh, the failed raid served as proof that he really was being persecuted. When federal agents moved in to end the siege on April 19 with tear gas, a fire broke out. Koresh and about two dozen others shot themselves to death or were shot before the fire engulfed the entire compound. Others died in the fire or the rubble of collapsing buildings, bringing the death toll to 80 Branch Davidians. Only 11 Branch Davidians escaped with their lives. Ultimately, eight cult members were convicted of charges ranging from manslaughter to weapons violations.

46
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 26 1919 and 1929 Grand Canyon and Grand Tetons National Parks Established

February 26th 2009 00:01
On February 26th 1919 and 1929, two national parks were established in the United States 10 years apart, the Grand Canyon in 1919 and the Grand Tetons in 1929.

Located in northwestern Arizona, the Grand Canyon is the product of millions of years of excavation by the mighty Colorado River. The chasm is exceptionally deep, dropping more than a mile into the earth, and is 15 miles across at its widest point. The canyon is home to more than 1,500 plant species and over 500 animal species, many of them endangered or unique to the area, and it's steep, multi-colored walls tell the story of 2 billion years of Earth's history.

In 1540, members of an expedition sent by the Spanish explorer Coronado became the first Europeans to discover the canyon, though because of its remoteness the area was not further explored until 300 years later. American geologist John Wesley Powell, who popularized the term "Grand Canyon" in the 1870s, became the first person to journey the entire length of the gorge in 1869. The harrowing voyage was made in four rowboats.

Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon National Park


In January 1908, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt designated more than 800,000 acres of the Grand Canyon a national monument; it was designated a national park under President Woodrow Wilson on February 26, 1919.

Ten years later to the day, President Calvin Coolidge signed into law a bill passed by both houses of the U.S. Congress establishing the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

Home to some of the most stunning alpine scenery in the United States, the territory in and around Grand Teton National Park also has a colorful human history. The first Anglo-American to see the saw-edged Teton peaks is believed to be John Colter. After traveling with Lewis and Clark to the Pacific, Colter left the expedition during its return trip down the Missouri in 1807 to join two fur trappers headed back into the wilderness. He spent the next three years wandering through the northern Rocky Mountains, eventually finding his way into the valley at the base of the Tetons, which would later be called Jackson Hole.

Other adventurers followed in Colter's footsteps, including the French-Canadian trappers who gave the mountain range the bawdy name of "Grand Tetons," meaning "big breasts" in French. For decades trappers, outlaws, traders and Indians passed through Jackson Hole, but it was not until 1887 that settlers established the first permanent habitation. The high northern valley with its short growing season was ill suited to farming, but the early settlers found it ideal for grazing cattle.

Tourists started coming to Jackson Hole not long after the first cattle ranches. Some of the ranchers supplemented their income by catering to "dudes," eastern tenderfoots yearning to experience a little slice of the Old West in the shadow of the stunning Tetons. The tourists began to raise the first concerns about preserving the natural beauty of the region.

In 1916, Horace M. Albright, the director of the National Park Service, was the first to seriously suggest that the region be incorporated into Yellowstone National Park. The ranchers and businesses catering to tourists, however, strongly resisted the suggestion that they be pushed off their lands to make a "museum" of the Old West for eastern tourists.

Finally, after more than a decade of political maneuvering, Grand Teton National Park was created on February 26, 1929. As a concession to the ranchers and tourist operators, the park only encompassed the mountains and a narrow strip at their base. Jackson Hole itself was excluded from the park and designated merely as a scenic preserve. Albright, though, had persuaded the wealthy John D. Rockefeller to begin buying up land in the Jackson Hole area for possible future incorporation into the park. In 1949, Rockefeller donated his land holdings in Jackson Hole to the federal government that then incorporated them into the national park.
Today, Grand Teton National Park encompasses 309,993 acres. Working ranches still exist in Jackson Hole, but the local economy is increasingly dependent on services provided to tourists and the wealthy owners of vacation homes.
42
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 25 1964 Cassius Clay Knocks Out Sonny Liston

February 25th 2009 00:01
On February 25th 1964, 22-year-old Cassius Clay shocked the odds-makers by dethroning world heavyweight boxing champ Sonny Liston in a seventh-round technical knockout. The dreaded Liston, who had twice demolished former champ Floyd Patterson in one round, was an 8-to-1 favorite. However, Clay predicted victory, boasting that he would "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" and knock out Liston in the eighth round. The fleet-footed and loquacious youngster needed less time to make good on his claim; Liston, complaining of an injured shoulder, failed to answer the seventh-round bell. A few moments later, a new heavyweight champion was proclaimed.

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1942. He started boxing when he was 12 and by age 18 had amassed a record of over 100 wins in amateur competition. In 1959, he won the International Golden Gloves heavyweight title and in 1960 a gold medal in the light heavyweight category at the Summer Olympic Games in Rome. Clay turned professional after the Olympics and went undefeated in his first 19 bouts, earning him the right to challenge Sonny Liston, who had defeated Floyd Patterson in 1962 to win the heavyweight title.

Cassius Clay


On February 25, 1964, a crowd of 8,300 spectators gathered at the Convention Hall arena in Miami Beach to see if Cassius Clay, who was nicknamed the "Louisville Lip," could put his money where his mouth was. The underdog proved no bragging fraud, and he danced and backpedaled away from Liston's powerful swings while delivering quick and punishing jabs to Liston's head. Liston hurt his shoulder in the first round, injuring some muscles as he swung for and missed his elusive target. By the time he decided to discontinue the bout between the sixth and seventh rounds, he and Clay were about equal in points. A few conjectured that Liston faked the injury and threw the fight, but there was no real evidence, such as a significant change in bidding odds just before the bout, to support this claim.

To celebrate winning the world heavyweight title, Clay went to a private party at a Miami hotel that was attended by his friend Malcolm X, an outspoken leader of the African American Muslim group known as the Nation of Islam. Two days later, a markedly more restrained Clay announced he was joining the Nation of Islam and defended the organisation's concept of racial segregation while speaking of the importance of the Muslim religion in his life. Later that year, Clay, who was the descendant of a runaway Kentucky slave, rejected the name originally given to his family by a slave owner and took the Muslim name of Muhammad Ali.

Muhammad Ali would go on to become one of the 20th century's greatest sporting figures, as much for his social and political influence as his prowess in his chosen sport. After successfully defending his title nine times, it was stripped from him in 1967 after he refused induction into the U.S. Army on the grounds that he was a Muslim minister and therefore a conscientious objector. That year, he was sentenced to five years in prison for violating the Selective Service Act but was allowed to remain free as he appealed the decision. His popularity plummeted, but many across the world applauded his bold stand against the Vietnam War.

In 1970, he was allowed to return to the boxing ring, and the next year the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Ali's draft evasion conviction. In 1974, he regained the heavyweight title in a match against George Foreman in Zaire and successfully defended it in a brutal 15-round contest against Joe Frazier in the Philippines in the following year. In 1978, he lost the title to Leon Spinks but later that year defeated Spinks in a rematch, making him the first boxer to win the heavyweight title three times. He retired in 1979 but returned to the ring twice in the early 1980s. In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with pugilistic Parkinson's syndrome and has suffered a slow decline of his motor functions ever since. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. In 1996, he lit the Olympic flame at the opening ceremonies of the Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia. Ali's daughter, Laila, made her boxing debut in 1999.

At a White House ceremony in November 2005, Ali was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

58
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 23 1940 Woody Guthrie Writes "This Land Is Your Land"

February 23rd 2009 00:01
On February 23rd 1940, folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote one of his best-known songs, "This Land is Your Land."

Born in Okemah, Oklahoma, in 1912, Guthrie lived and wrote of the real West, a place of hard-working people and harsh environments rather than romantic cowboys and explorers. Though he was a son of a successful politician and businessman, during his early teens his mother fell ill and the family split apart. For several years, Guthrie spent his summers working as a migrant agricultural laborer. When he was 15, he left home to travel the country by freight train. Among his meager possessions were a guitar and harmonica. Guthrie discovered an eager audience among the hobos and migrant workers for the country-folk songs he had learned in Oklahoma.

In 1937, he traveled to California where he hoped to become a successful western singer. He appeared on several West Coast radio shows, mostly performing traditional folk songs. Soon, though, he began to perform his own pieces based on his experiences living among the vast armies of the poor and dispossessed created by the Great Depression. While in California he also came into contact with the Communist Party and became increasingly sympathetic to its causes. Many of his songs reflected a strong commitment to the common working people, and he became something of a musical spokesman for populist sentiments.

Woody Guthrie


"This Land is Your Land," reflected not only Guthrie's support for the common folk, but also his deep love for his country. The verse celebrated the beauty and grandeur of America while the chorus drove home the populist sentiment that the nation belonged to all the people, not merely the rich and powerful. Probably the most famous of his more than 1,000 songs, "This Land is Your Land" was also one of his last. Later that year Guthrie moved to New York where his career was soon after interrupted by World War II. After serving in the Merchant Marines, he returned to New York, where he continued to perform and record his old material, but he never matched his earlier prolific output.

Guthrie's career was cut short in 1954, when he was struck with Huntington's Disease, a degenerative illness of the nervous system that had killed his mother. His later years were spent in a New York hospital where he received visitors like the adoring young Bob Dylan, who copied much of his early style from Guthrie. Guthrie died in 1967, having lived long enough to see his music inspire a whole new generation and "This Land is Your Land" become a rallying song for the Civil Rights movement.

64
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 20 1962 John Glenn First American To Orbit Earth

February 20th 2009 00:01
On February 20th 1962, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, John Hershel Glenn Jr was successfully launched into space aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft on the first orbital flight by an American astronaut.

Glenn, a lieutenant colonel in the US Marine Corps, was among the seven men chosen by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1959 to become America's first astronauts. A decorated pilot, he flew nearly 150 combat missions during World War II and the Korean War. In 1957, he made the first nonstop supersonic flight across the United States, flying from Los Angeles to New York in three hours and 23 minutes.

Glenn was preceded in space by two Americans, Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and two Soviets, Yuri A. Gagarin and Gherman S. Titov. In April 1961, Gagarin was the first man in space, and his spacecraft Vostok 1 made a full orbit before returning to Earth. Less than one month later, Shepard was launched into space aboard Freedom 7 on a suborbital flight. In July, Grissom made another brief suborbital flight aboard Liberty Bell 7. In August, with the Americans still having failed to make an orbital flight, the Russians sprinted further ahead in the space race when Titov spent more than 25 hours in space aboard Vostok 2, making 17 orbits. As a technological power, the United States was looking very much second-rate compared with its Cold War adversary. If the Americans wanted to dispel this notion, they needed a multi-orbital flight before another Soviet space advance arrived.

John Glenn Friendship 7
John Glenn and Friendship 7


It was with this responsibility in mind that John Glenn lifted off from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral at 9:47 a.m. on February 20, 1962. Some 100,000 spectators watched on the ground nearby and millions more saw it on television. After separating from its launching rocket, the bell-shaped Friendship 7 capsule entered into an orbit around Earth at a speed of about 17,500 miles per hour. Smoothing into orbit, Glenn radioed back, "Capsule is turning around. Oh, that view is tremendous."

During Friendship 7's first orbit, Glenn noticed what he described as small, glowing fireflies drifting by the capsule's tiny window. It was some time later that NASA mission control determined that the sparks were crystallized water vapor released by the capsule's air-conditioning system. Before the end of the first orbit, a more serious problem occurred when Friendship 7's automatic control system began to malfunction, sending the capsule into erratic movements. At the end of the orbit, Glenn switched to manual control and regained command of the craft.

Toward the end of Glenn's third and last orbit, mission control received a mechanical signal from the spacecraft indicating that the heat shield on the base of the capsule was possibly loose. Traveling at its immense speed, the capsule would be incinerated if the shield failed to absorb and dissipate the extremely high reentry temperatures. It was decided that the craft's retrorockets, usually jettisoned before reentry, would be left on in order to better secure the heat shield. Less than a minute later, Friendship 7 slammed into Earth's atmosphere.

During Glenn's fiery descent back to Earth, the straps holding the retrorockets gave way and flapped violently by his window as a shroud of ions caused by excessive friction enveloped the spacecraft, causing Glenn to lose radio contact with mission control. As mission control anxiously waited for the resumption of radio transmissions that would indicate Glenn's survival, he watched flaming chunks of retrorocket fly by his window. After four minutes of radio silence, Glenn's voice crackled through loudspeakers at mission control, and Friendship 7 splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean. He was picked up by the USS destroyer Noa, and his first words upon stepping out of the capsule and onto the deck of the Noa were, "It was hot in there." He had spent nearly five hours in space.

Glenn was hailed as a national hero, and on February 23 President John F. Kennedy visited him at Cape Canaveral. He later addressed Congress and was given a ticker-tape parade in New York City.

Out of a reluctance to risk the life of an astronaut as popular as Glenn, NASA essentially grounded the "Clean Marine" in the years after his historic flight. Frustrated with this uncharacteristic lack of activity, Glenn turned to politics and in 1964 announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate from his home state of Ohio and formally left NASA. Later that year, however, he withdrew his Senate bid after seriously injuring his inner ear in a fall. In 1970, following a stint as a Royal Crown Cola executive, he ran for the Senate again but lost the Democratic nomination to Howard Metzenbaum. Four years later, he defeated Metzenbaum, won the general election, and went on to win reelection three times. In 1984, he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president.

In early 1998, NASA announced it had approved Glenn to serve as a payload specialist on the space shuttle Discovery. On October 29, 1998, nearly four decades after his famous orbital flight, the 77-year-old Glenn became the oldest human ever to travel in space. During the nine-day mission, he served as part of a NASA study on health problems associated with aging. In 1999, he retired from his U.S. Senate seat after four consecutive terms in office, a record for the state of Ohio.

51
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 19 1945 US Marines Invade Iwo Jima

February 19th 2009 00:01
On February 19th 1945, Operation Detachment, the US Marines' invasion of Iwo Jima, was launched. Iwo Jima was a barren Pacific island guarded by Japanese artillery, but to American military minds, it was prime real estate on which to build airfields to launch bombing raids against Japan, only 660 miles away.

The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese defense of the island in February 1944, when B-24 and B-25 bombers raided the island for 74 days. It was the longest pre-invasion bombardment of the war, necessary because of the extent to which the Japanese, 21,000 strong, fortified the island, above and below ground, including a network of caves. Underwater demolition teams ("frogmen") were dispatched by the Americans just before the actual invasion. When the Japanese fired on the frogmen, they gave away many of their "secret" gun positions.

The amphibious landings of Marines began the morning of February 19 as the secretary of the navy, James Forrestal, accompanied by journalists, surveyed the scene from a command ship offshore. As the Marines made their way onto the island, seven Japanese battalions opened fire on them. By evening, more than 550 Marines were dead and more than 1,800 were wounded. The capture of Mount Suribachi, the highest point of the island and bastion of the Japanese defense, took four more days and many more casualties. When the American flag was finally raised on Iwo Jima, the memorable image was captured in a famous photograph that later won the Pulitzer Prize.

Flag Raising Iwo Jima Marines
91
Vote
Comments (2)Comments (2) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 17 1904 Madame Butterfly Premieres

February 17th 2009 00:01
On February 17th 1904, Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly premiered at the La Scala theatre in Milan, Italy. It was not received well, and lasted only one pereformance.

The young Puccini had decided to dedicate his life to opera after seeing a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida in 1876. In his later life, he would write some of the best-loved operas of all time: La Boheme (1896), Tosca (1900), Madame Butterfly (1904) and Turandot (left unfinished when he died in 1906). Not one of these, however, was an immediate success when it opened. La Boheme, the now-classic story of a group of poor artists living in a Paris garret, earned mixed reviews, while Tosca was downright panned by critics.

While supervising a production of Tosca in London, Puccini saw the play Madame Butterfly, written by David Belasco and based on a story by John Luther Long. Taken with the strong female character at its center, he began working on an operatic version of the play, with an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. Written over the course of two years--including an eight-month break when Puccini was badly injured in a car accident--the opera made its debut in Milan in February 1904.

Madame Butterfly Puccini


Set in Nagasaki, Japan, Madame Butterfly told the story of an American sailor, B.F. Pinkerton, who marries and abandons a young Japanese geisha, Cio-Cio-San, or Madame Butterfly. In addition to the rich, colorful orchestration and powerful arias that Puccini was known for, the opera reflected his common theme of living and dying for love. This theme often played out in the lives of his heroines, women like Cio-Cio-San, who live for the sake of their lovers and are eventually destroyed by the pain inflicted by that love.

Perhaps because of the opera's foreign setting or perhaps because it was too similar to Puccini's earlier works, the audience at the premiere reacted badly to Madame Butterfly, hissing and yelling at the stage. Puccini withdrew it after one performance. He worked quickly to revise the work, splitting the 90-minute-long second act into two parts and changing other minor aspects.

Four months later, the revamped Madame Butterfly went onstage at the Teatro Grande in Brescia. This time, the public greeted the opera with tumultuous applause and repeated encores, and Puccini was called before the curtain 10 times. Madame Butterfly went on to huge international success, moving to New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1907.
71
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 16 1923 King Tut's Tomb Opened

February 16th 2009 00:01
On February 16th 1923, in Thebes, Egypt, English archaeologist Howard Carter entered the sealed burial chamber of the ancient Egyptian ruler King Tutankhamen.

Because the ancient Egyptians saw their pharaohs as gods, they carefully preserved their bodies after death, burying them in elaborate tombs containing rich treasures to accompany the rulers into the afterlife. In the 19th century, archeologists from all over the world flocked to Egypt, where they uncovered a number of these tombs. Many had long ago been broken into by robbers and stripped of their riches.

When Carter arrived in Egypt in 1891, he became convinced there was at least one undiscovered tomb--that of the little known Tutankhamen, or King Tut, who lived around 1400 B.C. and died when he was still a teenager. Backed by a rich Brit, Lord Carnarvon, Carter searched for five years without success. In early 1922, Lord Carnarvon wanted to call off the search, but Carter convinced him to hold on one more year.

In November 1922, the wait paid off, when Carter's team found steps hidden in the debris near the entrance of another tomb. The steps led to an ancient sealed doorway bearing the name Tutankhamen.

King Tutankhamen Tomb Opened


When Carter and Lord Carnarvon entered the tomb's interior chambers on November 26, they were thrilled to find it virtually intact, with its treasures untouched after more than 3,000 years. The men began exploring the four rooms of the tomb, and on February 16, 1923, under the watchful eyes of a number of important officials, Carter opened the door to the last chamber.

Inside lay a sarcophagus with three coffins nested inside one another. The last coffin, made of solid gold, contained the mummified body of King Tut. Among the riches found in the tomb were golden shrines, jewelry, statues, a chariot, weapons and clothing, The perfectly preserved mummy was the most valuable, as it was the first one ever to be discovered. Despite rumors that a curse would befall anyone who disturbed the tomb, its treasures were carefully catalogued, removed and included in a famous traveling exhibition called the "Treasures of Tutankhamen." The exhibition's permanent home is the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
70
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 15 1965 Canada Adopts Maple Leaf Flag

February 15th 2009 00:01
On February 15th 1965, in accordance with a formal proclamation by Queen Elizabeth II of England, a new Canadian national flag was raised above Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the capital of Canada.

Beginning in 1610, Lower Canada, a new British colony, flew Great Britain's Union Jack, or Royal Union Flag. In 1763, as a result of the French and Indian Wars, France lost its sizable colonial possessions in Canada, and the Union Jack flew all across the wide territory of Canada. In 1867, the Dominion of Canada was established as a self-governing federation within the British Empire, and three years later a new flag, the Canadian Red Ensign, was adopted. The Red Ensign was a solid red flag with the Union Jack occupying the upper-left corner and a crest situated in the right portion of the flag.

The search for a new national flag that would better represent an independent Canada began in earnest in 1925 when a committee of the Privy Council began to investigate possible designs. Later, in 1946, a select parliamentary committee was appointed with a similar mandate and examined more than 2,600 submissions. Agreement on a new design was not reached, and it was not until the 1960s, with the centennial of Canadian self-rule approaching, that the Canadian Parliament intensified its efforts to choose a new flag.

In December 1964, Parliament voted to adopt a new design. Canada's national flag was to be red and white, the official colors of Canada as decided by King George V of Britain in 1921, with a stylized 11-point red maple leaf in its center. Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed February 15, 1965, as the day on which the new flag would be raised over Parliament Hill and adopted by all Canadians.

Today, Canada's red maple leaf flag is one of the most recognizable national flags in the world.

Canadian Flag

54
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 12 1912 Last Emperor Of China Abdicates

February 12th 2009 00:01
On February 12th 1912, Hsian-T'ung, the last emperor of China, was forced to abdicate following Sun Yat-sen's republican revolution. A provisional government was established in his place, ending 267 years of Manchu rule in China and 2,000 years of imperial rule. The former emperor, only six years old, was allowed to keep up his residence in Beijing's Forbidden City, and he took the name of Henry Pu Yi.

Pu Yi was enthroned as emperor in 1908 after his uncle, the Kuang-hsu emperor, died. He reigned under a regency and underwent training to prepare him for his coming rule. However, in October 1911, his dynasty fell to Sun Yat-sen's revolution, and four months later he abdicated. The new Chinese government granted him a large government pension and permitted him to live in the imperial palace until 1924, when he was forced into exile.

After 1925, he lived in Japanese-occupied Tianjin, and in 1932 Japan created the puppet state of Manchukuo in Manchuria under his rule. In 1934, Henry Pu Yi was enthroned as K'ang Te, emperor of Manchukuo. Despite guerrilla resistance against his puppet regime, he held the emperor's title until 1945, when he was captured by Soviet troops.

Hsian T'ung


In 1946, Pu Yi testified before the Tokyo war crimes tribunal that he had been an unwilling tool of the Japanese and not, as they claimed, an instrument of Manchurian self-determination. Manchuria and the Rehe province were returned to China, and in 1950 Pu Yi was handed over to the Chinese communists. He was imprisoned at Shenyang until 1959, when Chinese leader Mao Zedong granted him amnesty. After his release, he worked in a mechanical repair shop in Peking.
93
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 11 1990 Nelson Mandela Released From Prison

February 11th 2009 00:01
On February 11th 1990, Nelson Mandela, leader of the movement to end South African apartheid, was released from prison after 27 years.

In 1944, Mandela, a lawyer, joined the African National Congress (ANC), the oldest black political organization in South Africa, where he became a leader of Johannesburg's youth wing of the ANC. In 1952, he became deputy national president of the ANC, advocating nonviolent resistance to apartheid, South Africa's institutionalized system of white supremacy and racial segregation. However, after the massacre of peaceful black demonstrators at Sharpeville in 1960, Nelson helped organize a paramilitary branch of the ANC to engage in guerrilla warfare against the white minority government.

In 1961, he was arrested for treason, and although acquitted he was arrested again in 1962 for illegally leaving the country. Convicted and sentenced to five years at Robben Island Prison, he was put on trial again in 1964 on charges of sabotage. In June 1964, he was convicted along with several other ANC leaders and sentenced to life in prison.

Nelson Mandela In Prison


Mandela spent the first 18 of his 27 years in jail at the brutal Robben Island Prison. Confined to a small cell without a bed or plumbing, he was forced to do hard labor in a quarry. He could write and receive a letter once every six months, and once a year he was allowed to meet with a visitor for 30 minutes. However, Mandela's resolve remained unbroken, and while remaining the symbolic leader of the anti-apartheid movement, he led a movement of civil disobedience at the prison that coerced South African officials into drastically improving conditions on Robben Island. He was later moved to another location, where he lived under house arrest.

In 1989, F.W. de Klerk became South African president and set about dismantling apartheid. De Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC, suspended executions, and in February 1990 ordered the release of Nelson Mandela.

Mandela subsequently led the ANC in its negotiations with the minority government for an end to apartheid and the establishment of a multiracial government. In 1993, Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. One year later, the ANC won an electoral majority in the country's first free elections, and Mandela was elected South Africa's president.
75
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 10 1962 Francis Gary Powers Spy Swap

February 10th 2009 00:01
On February 10th 1962, American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers was released by the Soviets in exchange for Soviet Colonel Rudolf Abel, a senior KGB spy who was caught in the United States five years earlier. The two men were brought to separate sides of the Glienicker Bridge, which connects East and West Berlin across Lake Wannsee.

As the spies waited, negotiators talked in the center of the bridge where a white line divided East from West. Finally, Powers and Abel were waved forward and crossed the border into freedom at the same moment--8:52 a.m., Berlin time. Just before their transfer, Frederic Pryor--an American student held by East German authorities since August 1961--was released to American authorities at another border checkpoint.

In 1957, Reino Hayhanen, a lieutenant colonel in the KGB, walked into the American embassy in Paris and announced his intention to defect to the West. Hayhanen had proved a poor spy during his five years in the United States and was being recalled to the USSR, where he feared he would be disciplined. In exchange for asylum, he promised CIA agents he could help expose a major Soviet spy network in the United States and identify its director. The CIA turned Hayhanen over to the FBI to investigate the claims.

Francis Gary Powers


During the Cold War, Soviet spies worked together in the United States without revealing their names or addresses to each other, a precaution in the event that one was caught or, like Hayhanen, defected. Thus, Hayhanen initially provided the FBI with little useful information. He did, however, remember being taken to a storage room in Brooklyn by his superior, whom he knew as "Mark." The FBI tracked down the storage room and found it was rented by one Emil R. Goldfus, an artist and photographer who had a studio in Brooklyn Heights.

Emil Goldfus was Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, a brilliant Soviet spy who was fluent in at least five languages and an expert at the technical requirements of espionage. After decorated service as an intelligence operative during World War II, Abel assumed a false identity and entered an East German refugee camp where he successfully applied for the right to immigrate to Canada. In 1948, he slipped across the Canadian border into the United States, where he set about reorganizing the Soviet spy network.

After learning of Hayhanen's defection, Abel fled to Florida, where he remained underground until June, when he felt it was safe to return to New York. On June 21, 1957, he was arrested in Manhattan's Latham Hotel. In his studio, FBI investigators found a hollow pencil used for concealing messages, a shaving brush containing microfilm, a code book, and radio transmitting equipment. He was tried in a federal court in Brooklyn and in October was found guilty on three counts of espionage and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. He was sent to the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia.

Less than three years later, on May 1, 1960, Francis Gary Powers took off from Peshawar, Pakistan, at the controls of an ultra-sophisticated Lockheed U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. Powers, a CIA-employed pilot, was to fly over some 2,000 miles of Soviet territory to Bodo military airfield in Norway, collecting intelligence information en route. Roughly halfway through his journey, he was shot down over Sverdlovsk in the Ural Mountains. Forced to bail out at 15,000 feet, he survived the parachute jump but was promptly arrested by Soviet authorities.

On May 5, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced that the American spy aircraft had been shot down and two days later revealed that Powers was alive and well and had confessed to being on an intelligence mission for the CIA. On May 7, the United States acknowledged that the U-2 had probably flown over Soviet territory but denied that it had authorized the mission.

On May 16, leaders of the United States, the USSR, Britain, and France met in Paris for a long-awaited summit meeting. The four powers were to discuss tensions in the two Germanys and negotiate new disarmament treaties. However, at the first session, the summit collapsed after President Dwight D. Eisenhower refused to apologize to Khrushchev for the U-2 incident. Khrushchev also canceled an invitation for Eisenhower to visit the USSR.

In August, Powers pleaded guilty to espionage charges in Moscow and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment--three in prison and seven in a prison colony.

At the end of his 1957 trial, Rudolf Abel escaped the death penalty when his lawyer, James Donovan, convinced the federal judge that Abel might one day be used either as a source of intelligence information or as a hostage to be traded with the Soviets for a captured U.S. agent. In his five years in prison, Abel kept his silence, but the latter prophecy came true in 1962 when he was exchanged for Powers in Berlin. Donovan had played an important role in the negotiations that led to the swap.

Upon returning to the United States, Powers was cleared by the CIA and the Senate of any personal blame for the U-2 incident. In 1970, he published a book, Operation Overflight, about the incident and in 1977 was killed in the crash of a helicopter that he flew as a reporter for a Los Angeles television station.

Abel returned to Moscow, where he was forced into retirement by the KGB, who feared that during his five years of captivity U.S. authorities had convinced him to become a double agent. He was given a modest pension and in 1968 published KGB-approved memoirs. He died in 1971.
43
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


February 9 1900 Davis Cup Competition Established

February 9th 2009 00:01
On February 9th 1900, the solid silver trophy known today as the Davis Cup was first put up for competition when American collegian Dwight Filley Davis challenged British tennis players to come across the Atlantic and compete against his Harvard team.

Davis, born in St Louis, Missouri, won the intercollegiate tennis singles championship in 1899. In the summer of that year, he and his Harvard teammates traveled to the West Coast to play against some of California's best players. Impressed by the enthusiasm with which spectators greeted the national competition, Davis decided to propose an international tennis event. He won the support of the U.S. National Lawn Tennis Association and personally spent $750 on the construction of an elegant silver trophy bowl, 13 inches high and 18 inches in diameter. In February 1900, Davis put the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy up for competition.

Great Britain, regarded as the world's leading tennis power, answered Davis' challenge, and on August 8, 1900, three top British players came to the Longwood Cricket Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, to compete against Davis and his all-Harvard team.

Davis Cup


Davis had devised a three-day format for the event that still exists today: two singles matches on the first and third days, and a doubles match on the second day. He was captain of the U.S. team and on August 8 received serve on the very first Davis Cup point, which he hit out. He ended up triumphing in the singles match, however, and the next day with Holcombe Ward defeated the British doubles team. Rain forced the cancellation of two of the singles matches, and the first Davis Cup ended with a 3-0 Harvard sweep.

Davis was famous for his powerful left-handed serve and concentrated on a risky net play strategy that won him brilliant victories and unexpected defeats. With Ward, he won the U.S. doubles title in 1900 and 1901, and he was ranked fourth nationally in 1902. That year, the British returned for a Davis Cup rematch in New York, and the star American doubles team succumbed to the ascendant Doherty brothers--Laurie and Reggie. The United States pulled ahead in singles, however, and kept the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy with a 3-2 overall victory.

The next year, the Doherty brothers helped take the trophy back to England for the first time. In 1904, Belgium and France entered the Davis Cup competition, and soon after, Australia and New Zealand, whose players played collectively as Australasia. The trophy did not return to the U.S. until 1913 and then stayed only for a year before departing for Australasia.

After receiving a law degree, Dwight Davis returned to St. Louis and became involved in local politics. Beginning in 1911, he served as public parks commissioner and built the first municipal tennis courts in the United States. He fought in World War I and earned the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery. In 1920, he made an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate but the next year traveled to Washington nonetheless as director of the War Finance Corporation. Beginning in 1923, he served as assistant secretary of war under President Calvin Coolidge and in 1925 was made secretary of war proper. In 1929, President Herbert Hoover appointed him governor-general of the Philippines, and he served in this post--which essentially made him the ruler of the Philippines--for the next four years.

Throughout his distinguished career as a statesman, Davis remained involved in tennis as both an avid recreational player and an administrator. In 1923, he served as president of the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association. When the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy ran out of room for names, he donated a large silver tray to go with the bowl.

Today, the Davis Cup, as the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy is commonly known, is the premier trophy of international team tennis. Each year, dozens of nations compete for the right to advance to the finals. Shortly before his death in 1945, David said of the growing prestige of the Davis Cup, "If I had known of its coming significance, it would have been cast in gold."
44
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 25 1905 World's Largest Diamond Found

January 25th 2009 00:01
On January 25th 1905, at the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa, a 3,106-carat diamond was discovered during a routine inspection by the mine's superintendent. Weighing 1 1/3 pounds, and christened the "Cullinan," it was the largest diamond ever found.

Frederick Wells was 18 feet below the earth's surface when he spotted a flash of starlight embedded in the wall just above him. His discovery was presented that same afternoon to Sir Thomas Cullinan, who owned the mine. Cullinan then sold the diamond to the Transvaal provincial government, which presented the stone to Britain's King Edward VII as a birthday gift. Worried that the diamond might be stolen in transit from Africa to London, Edward arranged to send a phony diamond aboard a steamer ship loaded with detectives as a diversionary tactic. While the decoy slowly made its way from Africa on the ship, the Cullinan was sent to England in a plain box.

Cullinan Diamond World's Largest


Edward entrusted the cutting of the Cullinan to Joseph Asscher, head of the Asscher Diamond Company of Amsterdam. Asscher, who had cut the famous Excelsior Diamond, a 971-carat diamond found in 1893, studied the stone for six months before attempting the cut. On his first attempt, the steel blade broke, with no effect on the diamond. On the second attempt, the diamond shattered exactly as planned; Asscher then fainted from nervous exhaustion.

The Cullinan was later cut into nine large stones and about 100 smaller ones, valued at millions of dollars all told. The largest stone is called the "Star of Africa I," or "Cullinan I," and at 530 carats, it is the largest-cut fine-quality colorless diamond in the world. The second largest stone, the "Star of Africa II" or "Cullinan II," is 317 carats. Both of these stones, as well as the "Cullinan III," are on display in the Tower of London with Britain's other crown jewels; the Cullinan I is mounted in the British Sovereign's Royal Scepter, while the Cullinan II sits in the Imperial State Crown.
39
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 24 1935 First Canned Beer Goes On Sale

January 24th 2009 05:35
On January 24th 1935, canned beer made its debut. In partnership with the American Can Company, the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company delivered 2,000 cans of Krueger's Finest Beer and Krueger's Cream Ale to faithful Krueger drinkers in Richmond, Virginia. Ninety-one percent of the drinkers approved of the canned beer, driving Krueger to give the green light to further production.

By the late 19th century, cans were instrumental in the mass distribution of foodstuffs, but it wasn't until 1909 that the American Can Company made its first attempt to can beer. This was unsuccessful, and the American Can Company would have to wait for the end of Prohibition in the United States before it tried again. Finally in 1933, after two years of research, American Can developed a can that was pressurized and had a special coating to prevent the fizzy beer from chemically reacting with the tin.

Gottfried Krueger Beer


The concept of canned beer proved to be a hard sell, but Krueger's overcame its initial reservations and became the first brewer to sell canned beer in the United States. The response was overwhelming. Within three months, over 80 percent of distributors were handling Krueger's canned beer, and Krueger's was eating into the market share of the "big three" national brewers, Anheuser-Busch, Pabst and Schlitz. Competitors soon followed suit, and by the end of 1935, over 200 million cans had been produced and sold.

The purchase of cans, unlike bottles, did not require the consumer to pay a deposit. Cans were also easier to stack, more durable and took less time to chill. As a result, their popularity continued to grow throughout the 1930s, and then exploded during World War II, when U.S. brewers shipped millions of cans of beer to soldiers overseas. After the war, national brewing companies began to take advantage of the mass distribution that cans made possible, and were able to consolidate their power over the once-dominant local breweries, which could not control costs and operations as efficiently as their national counterparts.

Today, canned beer accounts for approximately half of the $20 billion U.S. beer industry. Not all of this comes from the big national brewers: Recently, there has been renewed interest in canning from microbrewers and high-end beer-sellers, who are realizing that cans guarantee purity and taste by preventing light damage and oxidation.
39
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


January 23 1957 Wham-O Produces First Frisbees

January 23rd 2009 01:57
On January 23rd 1957, machines at the Wham-O toy company rolled out the first batch of their aerodynamic plastic discs, now known to millions of fans all over the world as Frisbees. The story of the Frisbee began in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where William Frisbie opened the Frisbie Pie Company in 1871. Students from nearby universities would throw the empty pie tins to each other, yelling "Frisbie!" as they let go.

In 1948, Walter Frederick Morrison and his partner Warren Franscioni invented a plastic version of the disc called the "Flying Saucer" that could fly further and more accurately than the tin pie plates. After splitting with Franscioni, Morrison made an improved model in 1955 and sold it to the new toy company Wham-O as the "Pluto Platter", an attempt to cash in on the public craze over space and Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).

Walter Fred Morrison and Frisbee
Walter "Fred


In 1958, a year after the toy's first release, Wham-O, the company behind such top-sellers as the Hula-Hoop, the Super Ball and the Water Wiggle--changed its name to the Frisbee disc, misspelling the name of the historic pie company. A company designer, Ed Headrick, patented the design for the modern Frisbee in December 1967, adding a band of raised ridges on the disc's surface, called the Rings, to stabilize flight. By aggressively marketing Frisbee-playing as a new sport, Wham-O sold over 100 million units of its famous toy by 1977.

High school students in Maplewood, New Jersey, invented Ultimate Frisbee, a cross between football, soccer and basketball, in 1967. In the 1970s, Headrick himself invented Frisbee Golf, in which discs are tossed into metal baskets; there are now hundreds of courses in the U.S., with millions of devotees. There is also Freestyle Frisbee, with choreographed routines set to music and multiple discs in play, and various Frisbee competitions for both humans and dogs--the best natural Frisbee players.

Today, at least 60 manufacturers produce the flying discs, generally made out of plastic and measuring roughly 20-25 centimeters (8-10 inches) in diameter with a curved lip. The official Frisbee is owned by Mattel Toy Manufacturers, who bought the toy from Wham-O in 1994.
41
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


Dec 30 USSR Established

December 30th 2008 14:14
In 1922, in post-revolutionary Russia, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was established, comprising a confederation of Russia, Belorussia, Ukraine, and the Transcaucasian Federation (divided in 1936 into the Georgian, Azerbaijan, and Armenian republics). Also known as the Soviet Union, the new communist state was the successor to the Russian Empire and the first country in the world to be based on Marxist socialism.

During the Russian Revolution of 1917 and subsequent three-year Russian Civil War, the Bolshevik Party under Vladimir Lenin dominated the soviet forces, a coalition of workers' and soldiers' committees that called for the establishment of a socialist state in the former Russian Empire.

Lenin Establishes USSR
Lenin Establishes USSR


In the USSR, all levels of government were controlled by the Communist Party, and the party's politburo, with its increasingly powerful general secretary, effectively ruled the country. Soviet industry was owned and managed by the state, and agricultural land was divided into state-run collective farms.

In the decades after it was established, the Russian-dominated Soviet Union grew into one of the world's most powerful and influential states and eventually encompassed 15 republics--Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Belorussia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. In 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved following the collapse of its communist government.
33
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


Dec 22 First Gorilla Born In Captivity

December 22nd 2008 12:05
On this day in 1956, a baby gorilla named Colo entered 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. He 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.

Colo First Gorilla Born In Captivity
Colo - First Gorilla Born 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.
29
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


Dec 21 Pan Am Flight 103 Explodes Over Lockerbie

December 21st 2008 11:58
On 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.

Lockerbie Scotland


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.
28
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


December 10 Historical Events & Birthdays

December 10th 2008 08:34
Historical Events

1869: Wyoming becomes the first state to adopt woman suffrage.

1898: In France, the Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Spanish-American War and granting the United States its first overseas empire.

1901: The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace.

1902: The Aswan Dam on the Nile in Egypt officially opens, having been started in 1898. It is the largest dam in the world.

1948: The United Nations adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, marking the birth of the modern human rights movement.

Emily Dickinson American Poet
Emily Dickinson - American Poet


Birthdays

Emily Dickinson 1830
Melvil Dewey 1851
Dorothy Lamour 1914
Harold Gould 1923
Dan Blocker 1928
Mako 1930
Chad Stuart (Chad and Jeremy) 1943
Gloria Loring 1946
Walter "Clyde" Orange (The Commodores) 1948
Johnny Rodriguez 1951
Kenneth Branagh 1960
Nia Peeples 1961
Michael Clarke Duncan 1963
J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) 1965
Scot Alexander (Dishwalla) 1971
Raven-Symone 1985
38
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: KC Hill - Category: 20th Century
   


May 13: That changed Malaysia

May 13th 2008 05:20
Today marks the historical day when it changed the course of Malaysia when blood was shed in the streets...


Image extracted from www.kinibooks.com

Article extracted from Wikipedia
The May 13 Incident is a term for the Sino-Malay race riots in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which began on May 13, 1969. These riots continued for a substantial period of time, leading the government to declare a state of national emergency and suspend Parliament until 1971.

Officially, 196 people were killed between May 13 and July 31 as a result of the riots, although journalists and other observers have stated much higher figures. The government cited the riots as the main cause of its more aggressive affirmative action policies, such as the New Economic Policy (NEP), after 1969.

Formation of Malaysia
On its formation in 1963, Malaysia suffered from a sharp division of wealth between the Chinese, who were perceived to control a large portion of the Malaysian economy, and the Malays, who were perceived to be more poor and rural. This was the common perception even though the British left all of their conglomerates (mostly plantation sectors) into the hands of the ruling Malays. These already successful companies started by the former colonial masters were the economy of this new born nation which are still going strong till this day.

The 1964 Race Riots in Singapore contributed to the expulsion of that state from Malaysia on 9 August 1965, and racial tension continued to simmer, with many Malays dissatisfied by their newly independent government's perceived willingness to placate the Chinese at their expense.

The events of 13 May
Members of UMNO Youth gathered in Kuala Lumpur at the residence of Selangor Menteri Besar, Dato' Harun bin Haji Idris, on 13 May and demanded that they too should hold a victory celebration; at the national level the Alliance had gained a majority in Parliament, albeit a reduced one, and in Selangor it had gained the majority by cooperating with the sole independent candidate.

1969 riots
In the May 10, 1969 general elections, the ruling Alliance coalition headed by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) suffered a large setback in the polls. The largely Chinese opposition Democratic Action Party and Gerakan gained in the elections, and secured a police permit for a victory parade through a fixed route in Kuala Lumpur. However, the rowdy procession deviated from its route and headed through the Malay district of Kampung Baru, jeering at the inhabitants. Some demonstrators carried brooms, later alleged to symbolise the sweeping out of the Malays from Kuala Lumpur, while others chanted slogans about the "sinking" of the Alliance boat — the coalition's logo.

While the Gerakan party issued an apology the next day, UMNO announced a counter-procession, which would start from the Selangor Chief Minister Harun bin Idris' home in Jalan Raja Muda. Tunku Abdul Rahman would later call the retaliatory parade "inevitable, as otherwise the party members would be demoralised after the show of strength by the Opposition and the insults that had been thrown at them."

Shortly before the procession began, the gathering crowd was reportedly informed that Malays on their way to the procession had been attacked by Chinese in Setapak, several miles to the north. The angry protesters swiftly wreaked revenge by killing two passing Chinese motorcyclists, and the riot began.

* * *
Although there were a lot of accusation from many magazines, such as Times magazine, but still what the truth started only a few locals who survived until this date and witnessed everything knows how brutal and scary it had been - during curfew time when the police and military tried to protect the public, and riots with motorcycles howling outside and teasing any Chinese they have their eyes on.

Indeed, bloodshed was more than it has notified officially, because there a lot who were at the wrong place and the wrong time, slaughtered in secluded areas where the bodies might not have been found - and could never be...

Those who have survived has constantly reminded the younger generations never to forget the bloodshed - the consequences of being un-united - and not to repeat again.
88
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jessicca - Category: 20th Century
   


22 April – Earth Day

April 22nd 2008 06:26
Today marks the day where the world celebrates in remembering and loving our beloved home that we are staying on –Earth Day.

I almost forgotten about this until my high-school best friend sent me a really adorable email in how Singapore is promoting and encouraging its people to thread on the Earth lightly, especially today.

Earth Day is a name used for two different observances, both held annually during spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern hemisphere. These are intended to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's environment. The United Nations celebrates Earth Day, which was founded by John McConnell in 1969, each year on the March equinox, while a global observance originated by Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in, and since January 1970 also called Earth Day, is celebrated in many countries each year on April 22, including the U.S. (wikipedia)

To read more about this day on Wikipedia please click below:
Wikipedia Earth Day

So what would you do for our beloved Mother Earth today? Perhaps some quotes and suggestions (sent my by high-school best friend) might be helpful for you:

Go Green Be Mindfully Green This Earth Day

22 April is Earth Day; let us do our part to care for Earth and care for one another.
We are all interdependent, all living on this one and only Earth.
May all living beings big or small, be free from ill-willed, free from suffering?
May all living beings big or small, be well and happy and rejoice in happiness.

Compassion to the Earth is Compassion for All,
Treasure Our Resources; We Can Create a Better World.
117
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jessicca - Category: 20th Century
   


The History of Candy Cane

December 18th 2007 08:22


Since Christmas is almost here, and I haven't been able to compile many post for the last few months I'd like to touch the subject of the Candy Cane where we often see during this festive season.

Many who doesn't understand the meaning would have just thought that the candies were twisted for the sake of easier to hang around the Christmas tree. I must admit that I once thought of it. But there is more to it.

The development of the candy cane took a few hundred years. Before the invention of the modern pacifier, parents used to give their babies unflavoured white sugar sticks to suck on. During the 1670's a German choirmaster had the sugar sticks bent into a shepherd's staff and passed out to children attending the Christmas services.

This holiday custom spread throughout Europe and fancy canes, decorated with roses, were used as Christmas decorations in many homes. About 1900 the white candy cane received its traditional red stripes and peppermint flavouring. At the same time the legend of the candy cane came into being. According to this legend, a candy maker in Indiana designed the candy cane to tell the true story of Christmas - a story about a virgin giving birth to a shepherd who would give up His life for the sheep.

Now take a look at the details of this candy. Turned one way, it looks like a "J" for Jesus. The newborn Lamb of God was named Jesus, meaning Saviour, because He was destined to "save His people from their sins"
Matt 1:21
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." (The Bible - New International Version)

Turned the other way, candy canes remind us of the shepherd's staff. The first people to hear of Christ's birth were shepherds guarding their flocks at night (Lk 2:8-20).
Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd and the Bible frequently compares the actions of the Messiah to those of a shepherd searching for his lost sheep, feeding them, gently leading them, and carrying them in his bosom (Ps 23; Jn 10:1-18; Is 40:11; Jer 31:10; Micah 5:4; Heb 13:20)

The sweetness of the candy reminds us that we are fed on the sweet milk of the Gospel of our salvation and peace (Eph 1:13; 6:15).

The hardness of the candy remind us that Jesus is our rock of refuge (Deu 32:4, 15, 18; 1 Sam 2:2; 2 Sam 22:32, 47; 23:3; Psa 18:2, 31; 28:1; 92:15; 94:22; 95:1; Is 44:8). In rocky lands like Israel, people often sought shelter from their enemies in the caves or rocky crags of cliffs. Rocks also remind us of the solidness of the promises of Christ who is a precious cornerstone and sure foundation to those who follow Him, but a "stone of stumbling and a rock of offence" to those who reject His gift of peace (1 Pet 2:6-8).

The whiteness of the candy brings to mind the Virgin Birth and the sinless life of Christ (Mt 1:23; Lk 1:34-35). We also are made as pure as the snow through the cleansing action of His blood (Rev 7:9, 14; Is 1:18).

The traditional candy cane has 3 small red stripes to remind us of the soldiers' stripes by which we are healed and a larger stripe which represents the blood shed by Christ on Calvary's tree (Is 53:5; Mt 27:32-50). Some people say that the 3 small stripes honour the Holy Trinity while the larger stripe reminds us of the one true God. Others claim that the small stripes represent our mini-passions or sufferings and the great stripe symbolizes Christ's Passion. A green stripe is sometimes placed on candy canes to remind us that Jesus is God's gift to us. (Green is the colour of giving.)

The peppermint flavour of modern candy canes is said to be similar to hyssop. In Old Testament times, hyssop was associated with purification and sacrifice. During the first Passover celebrations, a bundle of hyssop was used to smear the blood of Passover lambs upon the doorpost of houses so that the Angel of Death would pass over their occupants (Ex 12:22). Bundles of hyssop were also used to sprinkle blood on worshippers and objects during Mosaic purification rituals (Ex 24:6-8; Lev 14:4, 49-52). After his affair with Bathsheba, King David appealed to God's mercy crying, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow" (Ps 51:7). Peppermint reminds us that Jesus is our Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7). His blood cleanses us from sin and destroys the power of death (Hosea 13:14; 1 Cor 15:54-57; Heb 2:14-15; Rev 20:6).

Therefore a small sweet little design that gives a lot more meaning that we can imagine. Those who are believers remember God's grace and love to us.

Merry Christmas to all Orblers and visitors!

I'll be busy with the Christmas Production here so I'll most probably see you all in 2008

Have a blessed holiday
Jessicca
References: ww2.netnitco.net, The Bible, www.novelty-gifts-heaven.com
110
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jessicca - Category: 20th Century
   


A Day after Thanksgiving: Black Friday

November 23rd 2007 02:36


Today celebrates the day of Black Friday - a day after Thanksgiving.

This day usually differs and only happens on the 4th Friday of November, and this year it hits today - 23 November 2007.

How did it start?

The earliest uses of "Black Friday" refer to the heavy traffic on that day, an implicit comparison to the extremely stressful and chaotic experience of Black Tuesday (the 1929 stock-market crash) or other black days. The earliest known references to "Black Friday" (in this sense) are from two newspaper articles from November 29, 1975, that explicitly refer to the day's hectic nature and heavy traffic. The first reference is in an article entitled "Army vs. Navy: A Dimming Splendor," in The New York Times:

Philadelphia police and bus drivers call it "Black Friday" - that day each year between Thanksgiving Day and the Army-Navy game. It is the busiest shopping and traffic day of the year in the Bicentennial City as the Christmas list is checked off and the Eastern college football season nears conclusion.

The derivation is made even more explicit in an Associated Press article entitled "Folks on Buying Spree Despite Down Economy," which ran in the Titusville Herald on the same day:

Store aisles were jammed. Escalators were nonstop people. It was the first day of the Christmas shopping season and despite the economy, folks here went on a buying spree. . . . . "That's why the bus drivers and cab drivers call today 'Black Friday,'" a sales manager at Gimbels said as she watched a traffic cop trying to control a crowd of jaywalkers. "They think in terms of headaches it gives them."

Both articles have a Philadelphia dateline, suggesting the term may have originated in that area. (Wikipedia)

So now we can all officially start preparing Christmas presents. I know I lost Lilla and katyzzz's presents while I was moving to a new place so you both have to bear with me until I redo the presents and send to you...

Happy shopping!
91
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jessicca - Category: 20th Century
   


Whats up Doc?

July 11th 2007 04:09
Fifty years ago this week a certain rabbit premiered for the first time.

124
Vote
Comments (4)Comments (4) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Ahmed - Category: 20th Century
   


Massacre of Lwów professors

July 4th 2007 12:41
It's known as the Massacre of Lwow Professors, 45 Lwow University Professors were killed, alongside with their families and friends, by either being beaten to death, bayoneted, witha hammar or shot to death.

From Wikipedia:

After World War II the government of the Soviet Union, which now controlled the city, tried to erase the Polish history of the city of Lwów. Because of that the crimes committed by the Germans and Ukrainians east of the so-called Curzon line were not prosecuted by the Polish courts and the information on Polish universities in Lwów was censored. However, in 1960 Dr. Helena Krukowska, the widow of Prof. Dr. Włodzimierz Krukowski, managed to appeal to the court in Hamburg. After five years the German court closed the judicial proceeding. Public prosecutor von Beelow argued that the people responsible for the crime were already dead. However, this was not true since at the same time SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Krüger, commander of the Gestapo unit supervising the massacres in Lwów in 1941, was being held in Hamburg prison (he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the mass murder of Jews and Poles in Stanisławów, committed several weeks after his unit was transferred from Lvov). No person was ever held responsible for the massacre.

In the 1970s Abrahamowicz Street in Lviv was renamed Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński Street. However, the pleas of various Polish organisations to commemorate the victims of the massacre with a monument or a symbolic grave in Lvov have been rejected ever since. The case of the murder of the professors is currently under investigation by the Institute of National Remembrance.

Source
72
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Ahmed - Category: 20th Century
   


Daily History: Creation of Ant Farm

March 4th 2007 06:19
Today marks one of the most popular educational toy invented in 1956, which is the ant farm.



The classic "ant farm" educational toy, a live ant habitat enabling children to have fun and learn while observing ants, was invented by Milton Levin in 1956. He dreamed up the idea for the ant farm after observing busy ants at a family picnic, and "Uncle Milton's Ant Farm" became an instant icon of American pop culture. After sales of more than 25 million, the toy remains popular. The scientific term for an ant farm is formicarium.

Antarctica is the only continent that does not have ants, apart from those in ant farms.
97
Vote
Comments (2)Comments (2) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jessicca - Category: 20th Century
   


This Day Jan 31 - Explorer 1

January 31st 2007 09:21
information extracted from Reference.com

This day marks the day where the United States entered the Space Age with its first successful launch of a satellite into orbit, Explorer I.

Explorer-I, officially name Satellite 1958 Alpha (and sometimes referred to as Explorer 1), was the first Earth satellite of the United States, having been launched at 10:48pm EST on January 31 (03:48 on 1 February in GMT), 1958, as part of the United States program for the International Geophysical Year. The satellite was launched from LC-26 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida onboard a Juno I rocket.

It's Mission
Following the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik I on October 4, 1957, there was a frenzied effort by the United States to launch a satellite of its own, beginning the Space Race. Explorer-I was designed and built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), while the Jupiter-C rocket was modified by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) to accommodate a satellite payload, the resulting rocket becoming known as the Juno I. Working closely together, ABMA and JPL completed the job of modifying the Jupiter-C and building the Explorer-I in 84 days. Before work was completed, however, the Soviet Union launched a second satellite, Sputnik 2, on November 3, 1957.
86
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jessicca - Category: 20th Century
   


January 25 - The League of Nations

January 24th 2007 20:32

The League of Nations


January 25, 1919


Today marks the formation of the League of Nations, the forerunner to the United Nations. The league was formed out of the reconciliation process of World War I at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The use of such a league marked a significant departure from the inter-national relations of the previous 100 years, trading military force for peaceful diplomacy in order to fulfil goals like disarmament and peaceful international relations.

The League was largely successful during the 1920s, especially in the face of a socialist Weimar Germany. However, the rise of the Nazi party and Mussolini during the 1930s began to unveil failings in the diplomatic basis of the League of Nations. The ultimate outbreak of World War II saw the dismantling of the League, later replaced after the war by the United Nations which has existed until today.
84
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


January 24 - Alfred Hitchcock

January 23rd 2007 20:10

Alfred Hitchcock


January 24, 1925

Today marks the release of Alfred Hitchcock's first feature film, The Pleasure Garden. The film was a commercial failure, however it propelled the aspiring director into the thriller genre, which would make him one of the most influential directors of the 20th century. Hitchcock landed the film after being turned down for another film, The Rat, by Graham Cutts.

Hitchcock's second film, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, was his first thriller and the director had already begun to exhibit trademarks which he is famous for, including the use of Expressionist techniques and the concept of "the wrong man." Between 1926 and 1976, Hitchcock made close to 65 films, among them the infamous Psycho.

Alfred Hitchcock died in 1980, having established himself as one of the greatest thriller directors.
90
Vote
Comments (3)Comments (3) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


January 23 - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

January 22nd 2007 20:16

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
SS soldiers during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising


January 23, 1943

Today marks the end of the first armed insurgency orchestrated by the Jewish as part of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland had been in existence since 1939 and was the largest such ghetto formed by the German government under Nazi administration. With the beginning of deportations to death camps throughout 1942, the Jewish began to collaborate in an attempt to rebel against the SS and inhibiting forces.

After a largely successful uprising begun on January 18, the Jewish gained control of the ghetto. Facing the possibility of a German resurgence, the inhabitants of the Warsaw ghetto constructed defenses and over the next three months, both forces built up military strength. The final face-off took place on April 19th, between 3000 German soldiers and the inhabitants of the ghetto. The faceoff lasted another month, with German soldiers slowly advancing throughout the ghetto, burning houses along the way.

By May 8, the Germans had routed out the main leaders of the Jewish insurgency and the insurgency officially ended on May 16. Approximately 7,000 ghetto residents were killed during the fighting, as opposed to 16 SS soldiers along with a further 86 wounded. The majority of survivors were exterminated on the spost or sent to Treblinka extermination camp.
65
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


January 9 - General Electric and McCarthyism

January 8th 2007 20:20
December 9, 1953

Senator McCarthy
Senator Joseph McCarthy


Today marks the announcement from company General Electric, that all communist employees will be discharged from the company. The act is part of the period of US history known as the Second Red Scare, when US society and particularly the government was afraid of a Communist invasion of the US. The period is also widely known as the McCarthy Era, a name derived from one of the movement's biggest spokespersons, US Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Despite the alliance between the USSR and the US during the Second World War, tensions between the two countries emerged toward the end of the war. The tensions centered around the opposing social ideologies which signified the countries - the US symbolised capitalism and democracy, whereas the USSR was a firmly communist society. The USSR's influence on Eastern Europe became a specific issue of tension, best defined when Winston Churchill described the ideological border between East and West Europe as an "iron curtain."

The possibility that communist sympathies could arise within the US worried the government. In an attempt to root out Communist and socialist ideology within the US, the government enforced counter-measures. These ranged from loyalty and security reviews within the government itself, along with senate communities, and blacklists of people and companies suspected of communist ideology.

What began as a government action quickly became a country-wide search for communists. During the fifties it was common practice for people to accuse each of being communists, with no real evidence. The social epidemic was even compared to the Salem witch trials, based upon the idea that once someone was accused of being a Communist, they had no real chance for exoneration from the claim. McCarthyism was widespread throughout the late forties and fifties, but slowly came to a close in the late fifties with changing public sentiments.
96
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


January 5 - The Origins of the Nazi Party

January 4th 2007 20:48
January 5, 1918
NSDAP Nazi Party


Today marks the formation of the German political party, "Freier Ausschuss für einen deutschen Arbeiterfrieden," which is translated to "Free Committee for a German Workers' Peace." While the name may not be of much significance by itself, it is historically significant in that it was the foundation for what would in the 1920s become the NSDAP, and later the Nazi Party.

The party was founded in Bremen, Germany and soon caused widespread sproutings of similar parties, among those one started in Munich by Antony Drexler. The party was part of a growing number of volkisch movements, which were based on a Romantic nationalistic pride for Germany, and a focus on German history and folklore in the face of the declining power of Emperor Wilhelm II. While many were generally peaceful, some had extremist roots, a key characteristic of the NSDAP.

In the face of German surrender in late 1918, Drexler formed the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or the DAP. Into the 1920s, the party was a key player in the formation and spreading of the "stab in the back myth," planted in German culture to suggest that politically powerful socialist parties like the SPD were reponsible for the loss of the war. The creation of the post-war German democracy, and the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II, saw socialist parties rise to prominence within the government and gain key seats in the German Parliament. The DAP, on the other hand, were of no real political significance until later on.

Adolf Hitler's involvement in the party came out of pure irony when, as a corporal, he was sent by Army Intelligence to investigate the party due to the suspicions of the party's extremist acts. While attending party meetings, he was noticed for his oratory skills and invited to join the party. The future dictator became the 55th member of the DAP, which became the NSDAP in 1920 in an attempt to gain greater political signficance. Hitler's quick rise to power within the party made no real impact on the party's success in the German political framework until 1930, mainly due to the influence of powerful right-wing supporters the likes of President Hindenberg.
60
Vote
Comments (2)Comments (2) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


January 5 - The Origins of the Nazi Party

January 4th 2007 20:48
January 5, 1918
NSDAP Nazi Party


Today marks the formation of the German political party, "Freier Ausschuss für einen deutschen Arbeiterfrieden," which is translated to "Free Committee for a German Workers' Peace." While the name may not be of much significance by itself, it is historically significant in that it was the foundation for what would in the 1920s become the NSDAP, and later the Nazi Party.

The party was founded in Bremen, Germany and soon caused widespread sproutings of similar parties, among those one started in Munich by Antony Drexler. The party was part of a growing number of volkisch movements, which were based on a Romantic nationalistic pride for Germany, and a focus on German history and folklore in the face of the declining power of Emperor Wilhelm II. While many were generally peaceful, some had extremist roots, a key characteristic of the NSDAP.

In the face of German surrender in late 1918, Drexler formed the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or the DAP. Into the 1920s, the party was a key player in the formation and spreading of the "stab in the back myth," planted in German culture to suggest that politically powerful socialist parties like the SPD were reponsible for the loss of the war. The creation of the post-war German democracy, and the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II, saw socialist parties rise to prominence within the government and gain key seats in the German Parliament. The DAP, on the other hand, were of no real political significance until later on.

Adolf Hitler's involvement in the party came out of pure irony when, as a corporal, he was sent by Army Intelligence to investigate the party due to the suspicions of the party's extremist acts. While attending party meetings, he was noticed for his oratory skills and invited to join the party. The future dictator became the 55th member of the DAP, which became the NSDAP in 1920 in an attempt to gain greater political signficance. Hitler's quick rise to power within the party made no real impact on the party's success in the German political framework until 1930, mainly due to the influence of powerful right-wing supporters the likes of President Hindenberg.
55
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


January 5 - The Origins of the Nazi Party

January 4th 2007 20:48
January 5, 1918
NSDAP Nazi Party


Today marks the formation of the German political party, "Freier Ausschuss für einen deutschen Arbeiterfrieden," which is translated to "Free Committee for a German Workers' Peace." While the name may not be of much significance by itself, it is historically significant in that it was the foundation for what would in the 1920s become the NSDAP, and later the Nazi Party.

The party was founded in Bremen, Germany and soon caused widespread sproutings of similar parties, among those one started in Munich by Antony Drexler. The party was part of a growing number of volkisch movements, which were based on a Romantic nationalistic pride for Germany, and a focus on German history and folklore in the face of the declining power of Emperor Wilhelm II. While many were generally peaceful, some had extremist roots, a key characteristic of the NSDAP.

In the face of German surrender in late 1918, Drexler formed the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or the DAP. Into the 1920s, the party was a key player in the formation and spreading of the "stab in the back myth," planted in German culture to suggest that politically powerful socialist parties like the SPD were reponsible for the loss of the war. The creation of the post-war German democracy, and the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II, saw socialist parties rise to prominence within the government and gain key seats in the German Parliament. The DAP, on the other hand, were of no real political significance until later on.

Adolf Hitler's involvement in the party came out of pure irony when, as a corporal, he was sent by Army Intelligence to investigate the party due to the suspicions of the party's extremist acts. While attending party meetings, he was noticed for his oratory skills and invited to join the party. The future dictator became the 55th member of the DAP, which became the NSDAP in 1920 in an attempt to gain greater political signficance. Hitler's quick rise to power within the party made no real impact on the party's success in the German political framework until 1930, mainly due to the influence of powerful right-wing supporters the likes of President Hindenberg.
53
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


December 22 - The End of Romanian Communism

December 22nd 2006 03:48

Nicolae Ceaucescu


December 22, 1989


Today is seen as the end of Nicolae Ceaucescu's dictatorship in Romania, after politician Ion Iliescu becomes the new President. It is also the official end of Communism within Romania, after 42 years of Communist rule under leaders Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Nicolae Ceaucescu. While Gheorghiu-Dej is often condemned as a neo-stalinist ruler (despite his attempts to abandon such labels), most of the negative light is poured by historians onto the second leader, Ceaucescu, who took over in 1965.

A reluctance to become involved in foreign affairs is a key characteristic of the political careers of both Gheorghiu-Dej and Ceaucescu, contributing to a tense relationship with the USSR. While they complied somewhat with the Warsaw Pact, they inevitably refused to become involved in any direct action affiliated with the Pact, and as such the relationship between Romania and the USSR was never strong, something which became a problem during the later years of Romanian Communism. Ceaucescu effectively ended Romania's active participation in the Warsaw Pact when he refused to send Romanian troops to fight in the USSR invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Nevertheless, Caeucescu's attitude towards internal affairs were in some ways even more dire.

From 1966 onwards, the Romanian leader began to carry out various policies that adversely affected the life of Romanian citizens, beginning with a ban on all contraception and abortion. At the same time, Ceaucescu began to slowly invoke a personality cult amongst Romanian culture, claiming himself to be the "Genius of the Carpathians," all the while covering up the building foreign debt due to Romania's political separation from the USSR. Extreme food shortages in Romania became apparent in 1989, despite government propaganda that suggested otherwise. Despite constant propaganda endorsed by Ceaucescu, political unrest was building amongst Romanian civilians.

His introverted view on foreign affairs was his eventual downfall, when the Hungarian majority of Romanian town Timisoara revolted in support of Hungarian minister Laszlo Tokes. Those in the revolt - mainly students - began to attack the Romanian Securitate police forces, leading to a violent response from the Securitate. News of the revolt and the revolt itself soon spread to the Romanian capital of Bucharest, forcing Ceaucescu to retreat. Ceaucescu was finally caught on December 22, after a riot the day before which is seen as one of the defining moments of the end of Communism in Eastern Europe.

Nicolae Ceaucescu and his wife, Elena, were held under trial before being found guilty and executed.
77
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


December 20 - Cheka

December 19th 2006 22:02

Cheka


December 20, 1917


Today marks the founding of Cheka, the first Soviet security organisation. While the KGB is the stereotypical Soviet secret police in modern society, the Cheka were the first of its kind, created by Lenin in 1917 in order to stabilise Russian society after the Bolshevik Revolution and the dismantling of the Russian monarchy.

Cheka's full translated name is "All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage." The organisation was originally led by Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, a Polish Communist revolutionary who spent the majority of the twenty years previous to the Bolshevik Revolution in various prisons. Apart from being a leader of the Cheka, he is also known for several scientific advancements, among them a Soviet camera known as "FED."

While not necessarily secret in its functioning, the Cheka were methodical and sought out bourgeious members of post-Bolshevik Russian society. Many were found guilty without proper trials, and the Chekas performed many mass arrests, imprisonments and even executions of those considered to be a threat to society.
77
Vote
Comments (2)Comments (2) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


December 14 - Wright Brothers invent powered flight

December 14th 2006 01:09

Wright Flyer


December 14. 1903


Today marks the anniversary of the first flight of the Wright Flyer. One of the biggest milestones in the evolution of commercial airflight, the Wright Flyer was the first powered aircraft, and the result of theWright Brothers' decade-long interest in aeronautical flight. The Wright Flyer underwent two separate flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 14, and December 17.

The Wright Brothers created several gliders between 1900 and 1902, refining the process of flight control each time, until 1903 when they filed for a patent on the process. In 1903, they created the Wright Flyer with a custom-made engine that had a high enough power-to-weight ratio in order to power an aircraft. The engine mechanics borrowed heavily from their knowledge of bicycles, which they gained from owning a bicycle shop and their own brand of bicycles.

The flight on December 14 was piloted by Wilbur, who won the toss. The Flyer managed to get into the air, however he failed to properly control it, and the flight didn't last long. Three days later, on December 17, both the Wright Brothers piloted separate flights, the best of which lasted 59 seconds and covered 260 metres, though this was during optimal conditions.

Flyer I was soon replaced by Flyers II and III in 1904 and 1905 respectively. On October 5, 1905, Wilbur piloted Flyer III for a 39 minute flight which covered 38km. Nevertheless, Flyer I remained an important milestone in the Wright Brothers' exploration of aeronautical flight.
68
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


December 13 - Malta becomes a Republic

December 13th 2006 01:50

Malta


December 13, 1974


Today marks Malta becoming a republic. While the European island had already been independent for a decade, the transformation into a republic signified overcoming one of the biggest obstacles in achieving some form of consiliation with Britain. Nevertheless, it would be a further five years before British forces would leave the island and allow Malta to be a self-governing country.

Malta, like Sicily, has over thousands of years been occupied by several superpowers, including the Carthaginians, Byzantines, Arabs, Spanish and French. Another parallel to Sicily, Malta has at several points been a significant Mediterranean port, bridging North Africa, Middle East and Southern Europe, and as such being a key trade port.

Its geographical significance remains today. Though only retaining a population of around 400, 000 people, it is one of the more lenient countries in terms of migration policy. All European nationals and those citizens of several other countries need no visas in order to visit the country, for a period of up to three months. Even those illegal immigrants which reach Malta's shores have a high chance of being granted refugee of protected humanitarian status.

There is also a high rate of emigration - Australia has the largest Maltese population in the world, higher than that of Malta.
69
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


December 12 - Batang Kali Massacre

December 12th 2006 00:14

December 12, 1948

Today marks the anniversary of the Batang Kali Massacre, when fourteen members of the Scots Guard massacred twenty-four Malaysian civilians and set fire to their village. The massacre is commonly seen as part of the Malayan Emergency which lasted from June 1960 to July 1960.

The Malayan Emergency was essentially a Chinese-sponsored communist insurgency. While the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) was at first granted legal recognition by Britain in the early post-war years, the MCP began to disagree with Britain's plans for a Malayan Federation, which they saw as an anti-communist strategy. The Malayan Communist Party created the Malayan Races Liberation Army (MRLA), a communist guerilla force with the objective of battling British supremacy.

On June 16, 1948, the MRLA force killed three British rubber planters at Sungai Siput in Perak. Britain responded with a state of emergency, beginning the twelve year Malayan emergency. The Batang Kali Massacre caused much controversy inititally. Several reports circulated about what actually happened, ranging from "the dead ran into the soldiers' guns" to "the soldiers gave chase and opened fire." An official account was released from the British government, saying that the twenty four villagers were killed after failing to comply with orders from the Scots Guard.

Though an inquiry was originally launched to explore the incident, no one was every charged, and the inquiry was closed in 1970.
75
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


December 7 - Attack on Pearl Harbour

December 6th 2006 23:18

Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo
Japanese Prime MInister Hideki Tojo


December 7, 1941

Today marks the most memorable moment of World War II - The Attack on Pearl Harbour. A surprise Japanese aerial attack on the US port of Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, the moment is seen as the entry point of the United States into World War II, which at that point had been an ongoing conflict for two years between the Western European Coalition agains the Axis - Japan, Germany and Italy.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour stemmed from a long and hostile relationship between the Japanese and the US. Japan's planned invasion of mainland China in 1937 was condemned by the League of Nations, but when the now formidable military power refused to cease offensive actions against China, the United States placed an embargo of all scrap metal and oil to Japan, as well as closing the Panama Canal to Japanese naval traffic.

Contrary to popular belief, it was a well-known fact that the Japanese government and inner cabinets were contemplating an attack on Pearl Harbour. Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo was concerned with the idea of "losing face" and honour if forced to comply with international demands. As such, they demanded that, if Japan's demands were not met by early October, Japan would initiate hostilities against the US, Britain and Netherlands. Pearl Harbour was already known to be a key US port, and there are many reports that the US government knew of a possible attack agains the port.

A Japanese military contingent left Japan on November 26, 1941, armed with six aircraft carriers, and 441 planes among numerous other ships and submarines, all under radio silence. Japan had planned to halt all negotiations with the US thirty minutes before the attack, but due to decryption times and administrative failures, the last message did not reach the US until hours after the attack began.

The attack began at 7.53am Hawaii time on December 7, and lasted an hour and half. The Japanese contingent had eight American battleships to contend with, of which one was destroyed, a further two sunk, and the remaining five damaged to some extent. Two thousand, four hundred and three American soldiers and civilians died in the attack, as opposed to sixty-four Japanese soldiers. The harbour only faced two air strikes, after which the US base was too prepared and ready in order to warrant a third Japanese strike on the base.

US President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941. Germany and Italy subsequently declared war on the US on December 11, 1941, in concordance with the Axis Agreement between the three countries. The Pearl Harbour was the first in many attacks by the Japanese on Pacific harbours, ports and land bases that led to Japanese expansion in the pacific as far south as Papa New Guinea. The US began to take back Pacific territory with key attacks on the Phillipines and various other islands in late 1944, until Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945.
98
Vote
Comments (8)Comments (8) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


This Day Entertainment - Dec.06

December 6th 2006 10:00
This article was extracted from reference.com

Concert Poster


December 06, 1969 - Altamont Concert

On December 6, 1969, about 300,000 people showed up for a rock-and-roll concert at the Altamont Speedway in Livermore, California.

The free concert was set up by the Rolling Stones as a Woodstock-type show and included Santana, Tina Turner, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

However, violence at the concert caused by very poor planning, overcrowding, and security problems (the Hells Angels motorcycle gang was in charge of crowd and stage security) resulted in 850 people being hurt and one man beaten and stabbed to death. The Altamont Concert, considered "the day the 60s died," represents the end of the culture of the 60s.
67
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jessicca - Category: 20th Century
   


December 6 - Irish War of Independence

December 5th 2006 22:33

Irish War of Independence


December 6, 1921

The Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 effectively seperated Ireland from the United Kingdom. The treaty ended the three-year war for independence that gave birth not only to Ireland as a free state, but also the infamous IRA, which still continues today in a more unofficial form.

The Irish War of Independence was a guerilla campaign that began in 1919, after the creation of the "First Dail," the first Irish parliament that declared itself separate from Britain. The parliament ordered the formation of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) whose mandate it was to fight the "Dublin Castle British Administration" in pursuit of true freedom.

Over the course of the next two years, the IRA launched numerous attacks on key British forces, the major target being the Royal Irish Constabulary, who were seen as the incarnation of the British government in Ireland. Apart from some minor police presence, the British government didn't respond militarily until March of 1920, with the deployment of seven thousand British World War I paramilitary veterans.

Violence continued, with attacks reaching as far as Glasgow, until 1921, when the battle effectively came to a standstill. A truce began on July 11 in 1921, and peace talks began, which led to the Anglo-Irish treaty. Under the treaty, Ireland received independence from the British government, though under the terms that Northern Ireland would be allowed to withdraw from the Irish Free State.

Despite some opposition, the treaty was agreed to, and signed on December 6 1921. Ireland, with the exception of Northern Ireland, became a unified Free State one year after, on December 6 1922.
60
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


December 5 - The Battleship Potemkin

December 4th 2006 22:10

Battleship Potemkin


December 5, 1925

Today marks the anniversary for the release of the silent Russian film, The Battleship Potemkin. It has been recognised as a hugely influencial film, not only on contextual Russian - and at the time Communist - society, but also on filmmakers, with homages and references to it found in movies like The Godfather and The Untouchables.

The film depicts the Battleship Potemkin uprising in 1905, when the crew of the battleship rebelled against officers. The rebellion came at a time when Russian society was becoming unsettled with the Tsarist regime, particularly after the embarrassing defeat of the Russo-Japanese war. The Black Sea battleship was taken over by the mutineering crew, and they sailed to the Russian port of Odessa flying a red flag, signifying the first step towards a Communist revolution that would come twelve years later during the Bolshevik Revolution.

The film's release in 1925 was strategically brilliant, justifying the new Leninist-Marxist system, and allowing for the continuing adjustment to a Communist government. In a social sense, it was a genius effort of propaganda, even praised by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels as "a marvellous film without equal in the cinema ... anyone who had no firm political conviction could become a Bolshevik after seeing the film."

From a filmmaking perspective, the film was the first of its kind to truly experiment with the idea of editing in a way to produce the greatest emotional response from the audience. It was also one of the most violent films of its time, particularly the infamous Odessa Steps sequence in which the Tsarist Cossacks massacred civilians in response to the Odessa uprising.

The film has since been re-released on DVD, with some forms accompanied by classical music by Shostakovich. The 2004 release of the film features an entirely new soundtrack by the Pet Shop Boys, in an attempt to make the film more relevant for 21st century audiences.
84
Vote
Comments (3)Comments (3) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   


December 4 - The Great Smog

December 4th 2006 00:30

The Great Smog of 1952


December 4th, 1952


Today marks the 54th anniversary of the Great Smog of 1952, the cause of up to 12, 000 deaths in London, and the motivator behind a string of passed Laws in Britain restricting the use of various fossil fuels hazardous to the atmosophere. The distinct fogginess of London has been around since the Industrial Revolution of the late 17th century, and has become one of the city's unique characteristics, referred to as the "London particular" by many in the 19th century, and even noted in Charles Dickens' Bleak House.

The great smog of 1952 was a result of an unusually cold fog descended on London in early December, causing many London citizens to burn more coal and other "dirty fuels" than usual. Like power outages when everyone turns on their air-conditioners at the beginning of summer, there was an overloading of power in London, causing the atmospher to be bombarded with black smoke and by December 5th, a thick smog that lasted until December 9th.

The five days that the smog lasted, roughly four thousand people died, and a further eight thousand are suspected to have died as a result of the continuing dense atmosphere even after the majority of the smog subseded. While it was too late for those who had already died, the British government attempted to ensure that the same thing did not occur again, passing the City of London (Various Powers) Act of 1954 and the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968. The legislation banned emissions of black smoke and forced the used of smokeless fuels.

The effects of the "Londong particular" were felt as late as 1962, when a further 750 London citizens died due to smog, however due to legislation, the Great Smog has never reoccured on such a large scale.
81
Vote
Comments (2)Comments (2) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Jimbo - Category: 20th Century
   




[ Daily History Home ] [ Create A New Post ]

KC Hill's Blogs

17567 Vote(s)
119 Comment(s)
230 Post(s)
827 Vote(s)
6 Comment(s)
7 Post(s)
260 Vote(s)
46 Comment(s)
26 Post(s)
19720 Vote(s)
666 Comment(s)
256 Post(s)
29190 Vote(s)
351 Comment(s)
389 Post(s)
2531 Vote(s)
14 Comment(s)
23 Post(s)
Moderated by KC Hill
Copyright © 2012 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]