This Day in History

[Amnorix]

Today...

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

1939. Physicist Albert Einstein signs a letter primarily written by physicist Leo Szilard and addressed to President Franklin Roosevelt urging him to begin research into the weapon potential of atomic power.

And later, both he and Szilard regretted doing so.

[Hydrae]

Originally Posted by Oucho Cinco

Basically you are picking a day in history that has little historic value and expect big things?

I'm more inclined to say your whole concept falls into the epic fail category. My bet is that posted your weak thread just to start an arguement. Have one with yourself. I think you are the only one that cares.

Some people (ME!) appreciate this thread. If you have a problem with it, stay out. Pretty simple concept.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Oucho Cinco

Basically you are picking a day in history that has little historic value and expect big things?

I'm more inclined to say your whole concept falls into the epic fail category. My bet is that posted your weak thread just to start an arguement. Have one with yourself. I think you are the only one that cares.

errr....I'm picking every day of the year and posting whatever I think is significant, interesting or unusual about that day.

If you don't find any of my items to be of interest, then you of course can just ignore this thread. If you want to stick around, you might just learn something.









but I doubt it.

[Amnorix]

August 3

1492. The Genoese captain made his final checks. 41 years of age he had finally, FINALLY received the financial backing and royal support needed for his long-planned expedition. He had approached, personally or through intermediaries, and been rejected by the leaders of Portugal, England, Venice, and Genoa. Spain, however, had by the grace of God seen the brilliance of his plan. That Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castille were wise was without question. Their marriage had cemented together a significant portion of the Iberian peninsula and were now ruling their combined new country, Spain, together.

With their backing, he had been loaned three ships, and had their expedition partially financed by the locals of Palos de la Frontera, the portside town from which they would sail. Now he had all he needed to set sail from Europe today, first to the Canary Islands, owned by Castile, for resupplies. Then Christiopher Columbus would take his three ships to the west, over the horizon, to find a water route to the Indies.

1492. The Catholic Monarchs of Spain on this same date order the expulsion of all Jews from Spain.

1852. The first boat race between Harvard and Yale. Harvard won.

1914. Germany declares war on France.

1916. The Battle of Romani. Allied forces defeat an Ottoman force at the Suez canal, and the Ottomans begin retreating back across the Sinai peninsula.

1934. Adolf Hitler joins the offices of President and Chancellor, becoming the Fuhrer. The word in German means not only "leader", but also "guide", being derived from the Old English words Faran ("to make one's way") and "faer" ("road" or "journey"). It is thus derived from the same words that became in English seafarer, wayfare, or even to pay a fare in transit. The word fuhrer is still used in German in the sense of "guide", but because of the negative connotations of a certain short Bavarian corporal, the word "Leiter" is used pretty much exclusively for leader.

1936. Jesse Owns wins the 100 meter dash at the Berlin Olympics.

1949. The NBA is founded.

[Sofa King]

That's a busy day.

[Amnorix]

August 4

1693. The date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon's invention of champagne.

1790. The recently passed federal Tariff Act gives rise to the creation of the Revenue Cutter Service, which will eventually become known as the Coast Guard.

1892. The father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found murdered in their Fall River home. They had been killed with a hatchet -- in the case of the father, Andrew Borden, the blows had crushed his skull and split his left eyeball. The murders and eventual trial are the late 1800s equivalent of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and the OJ Simpson trial. Eventually, Lizzie is acquitted, though no one else was ever arrested or tried for the murders, and the controversy over who committed the murders continues to this day.

1914. Germany invades Belgium. In response, England declares war on Germany.

1964. The bodies of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi. They had disappeared on June 21.

Their efforts, and the efforts of all civil rights workers involved in integration and civil rights, were strongly opposed by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, a state agency reporting directly to the governor which had as its stated objective the protection of the state and her sister states from federal encroachment. Primarily, it's aims were to resist such laws as the Civil Rights Act and the integration of schools. It also served to pass information regarding civil rights workers to others, including the Ku Klux Klan. The members of the Commission were the governor and lieutenant governor of the state, the speaker of the state house of representatives, and the attorney general. The staff also secretly worked with, and funded, the White Citizens Council, a white supremacist organization. The organziation was disbaned in 1978. In 1989 a federal judge ordered the Commission's records opened to the public, which did not occur until 1999 due to legal challenges. The records indicated hte Commission's involvement in the murder of the three civil rights workers, as the Commission had passed information regarding them, and their newly issued Mississippi license plate, to the sheriff of Neshoba County, who had been implicated in the murders.

Their story is memorialized in the film Mississippi Burning, and Andrew Goodman was the inspiration for the Simon & Garfunkel song "He Was My Brother".

Originally Posted by Simon & Garfunkel

He was my brother
Five years older than I
He was my brother
Twenty-three years old the day he died

Freedom writer
They cursed my brother to his face
Go home outsider
This town's gonna be your buryin' place

He was singin' on his knees
An angry mob trailed along
They shot my brother dead
Because he hated what was wrong

He was my brother
Tears can't bring him back to me
He was my brother
And he died so his brothers could be free
He died so his brothers could be free

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd9VP966QnM

[Hydrae]

Lizzie Borden took an axe,
And gave her mother forty whacks,
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Hydrae

Lizzie Borden took an axe,
And gave her mother forty whacks,
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.

I had heard that before but I had completely forgotten it.

[Amnorix]

August 5

1305. William Wallace of Scotland is captured by English forces, and will be transported to London, put on trial, and executed.

1861. In an effort to help finance the Civil War, the federal government levies the first income tax -- 3% of income above $800 per year. The law will be rescinded in 1872.

1864. The Battle of Mobile Bay begins. As part of the Union plan to beat the Confederacy, it had implemented a blockade to prevent ships from leaving or arriving along the Confederate coast, blocking most particularly exports of cotton (which could be sold for hard currency in England and elsewhere), and imports of weapons (the South had very mediocre manufacturing capability, especially regarding weapons). On this day Admiral Farragut determined to seize one of the last remaining large Southern Ports -- Mobile Bay. When another federal ship slowed her charge, Admiral Farragut was reported to have inquired as to why she was doing so. When he learned that it was due to torpedoes (underwater mines, really, in this day and age), he reportedly ordered "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead". More than likely, he never actually said these exact words, but the spirit of charging ahead into the teeth of danger was certainly in keeping with what happened.

1884. The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island, subsequently renamed Liberty Island.

1914. The first electric traffic light is installed, in Cleveland, Ohio.

1962. Nelson Mandela is imprisoned, where he will remain until 1990.

[Amnorix]

August 6.

1945.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

August 6.

1945.

That isn't Little Boy, but I get what you mean.

[Hydrae]

Originally Posted by Donger

That isn't Little Boy, but I get what you mean.

I have my doubts there are pictures of that specific explosion.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Hydrae

I have my doubts there are pictures of that specific explosion.

Wrong!

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Donger

Wrong!

Yeah, I debated it briefly. I decided the symbolism was more important than the specifics, since the specific photo could just as easily be an ash cloud off a volcano, pretty much.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Yeah, I debated it briefly. I decided the symbolism was more important than the specifics, since the specific photo could just as easily be an ash cloud off a volcano, pretty much.