This Day in History

[Amnorix]

Today...

[Jenson71]

Okay, it's not the ceiling, but it is Michelangelo, and it is the Sistine Chapel, and it is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard, so it is worth sharing:

[Amnorix]

November 2

1895. The first gasoline powered race in US history. Prize? $2,000.

1917. The controversial Balfour Declaration is issued by Great Britain, supporting the concept of the return of Jews to Palestine.

1920. KDKA, in Pittsburgh, begins broadcasting results of the Presidential election. It is the first commercial radio broadcast in the world.

1936. Benito Mussolini proclaims the Rome-Berlin "Axis", in describing a recent agreement signed by Italy and Germany, marking the first public use of the phrase in relation to what will become formally known as the "Axis Powers". In May 1939 the two countries will sign an alliance, which Mussolini will call the Pact of Steel. In 1940, Germany, Italy and Japan will sign the Tripartite Pact.

1947. Designer and eccentric Howard Hughes flies the Spruce Goose, the largest fixed wing aircraft ever built, on its maiden and only flight. It is the largest flying boat ever built, and has the largest wingspan of any plane. Despite its nickname, it was actually built mostly of birch, not spruce, due to wartime raw material restrictions on the use of aluminum. It wasn't finished, however, until the war was over.



1959. Twenty-One contestant Charles van Doren admits in Congressional testimony that he'd been given questions and answers in advance.

1963. South Vietnamese President, and former CIA toady, Ngo Diem is assassinated in a military coup. Unquestionably corrupt, Diem had stopped being sufficiently toadying, if you will, and so the CIA didn't thwart his removal, and he was ruthlessly executed by the military. North Vietnam, however, had a much keener insight on the ramifications of this decision, given that Diem was a strident anti-communist and, though corrupt, able leader.

Originally Posted by Ho Chi Minh

I can scarcely believe the Americans would be so stupid

And indeed, South Vietnam never had a truly stable government again, despite persistent US efforts and investments to help the situation. Instead, the North Vietnamese claims that South Vietnam was just another exercise in Western colonial gained traction by the perception that Diem was whacked for being too independent of the US.

[Amnorix]

November 3

1783. After George Washington's farewell address of a few days earlier, the Continental Army is disbanded.

1903. After intensive machinations by the United States, Panama, formerly a part of the country of Colombia, breaks away and declares independence, paving the way for the US to build a canal there.

1913. The US introduces the income tax. BEP's great-grandfather screams in outrage.

1918. Austria-Hungary enters into an armistice, and the Empire dissolves. Poland declares its independence from Russia.

1986. The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the US has been secretly selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of American hostages held in Lebanon. This leads to the Reagan Administration's arms-for-hostages and wider Iran-Contra scandal. The investigation will be impeded by the destruction of, and/or refusal to produce, documents. Ultimately 14 members of the Administration will be indicted, and 11 convicted, and the affair claims the head of Secretary of Defense Casper (Cap) Weinberger. Eventually, then Vice President, later President, George H.W. Bush will pardon the 11 convicted men at the end of his administration.

[Amnorix]

November 4

1677. The future Mary II of England marries William of Orange, future King William III. In 1693 they will charter a college, the second in the American colonies, in their name, located at Williamsburg, Virginia. It will go on to educate Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Chief Justice Marshall, Henry Clay and 16 signers of the Declaration of Independence.

1921. Hitler forms the SA, more commonly known as the brownshirts, a paramilitary organization that will be essential to his rise to power only to be brutally suppressed once that rise is complete and their fanaticism is a thorn in his side.

1922. British archeologist Howard Carter finds the entrace to the tomb of King Tut. He died of cancer in 1939, at age 64, seemingly unaffected by any curses.

1952. The National Security Agency (NSA) is established.

1956. Soviet troops enter Hungrary and suppress the revolution against Communist rule that had started some weeks earlier.

1970. Genie, a 13 year old girl, a feral child, is discovered. She had spent most of her life strapped to a potty chair locked in her room, and as such one of the worst cases of social isolationism known to history, is discovered by authorities in Los Angeles when her mother left her father and brought her to a welfare office seeking benefits. Indications were that her father beat her with a stick if she vocalized, and only barked or growled at her. By age 13, she had a rudimentary vocabulary of 20 words. Though she could walk, she had an unusual "bunny walk" in which she held up her hands in front of her, like paws, and she constantly sniffed, spat and clawed. She later moved out of the hospital to which she was committed, and after one failed foster home experiment, moved in with a therapist, his wife and children, where she lived for four years. While she had made some progress, lack of keeping good data led to a cutoff of funds from the National Institute of Mental Health. By the end of the four years, she had learned to smile and say very simple sentneces such as "applesauce buy store". Work with her led to theories that there was a critical time to learn language past which it became exceedingly difficult. In new foster homes she regressed, becoming silent and acting out. She currently lives in a sheltered and undisclosed accomodation.

1979. The Iranian hostage crisis begins when a group of Iranians, mostly students, storm the US embassy in Teheran.

[Amnorix]

November 5

1838. The Federal Republic of Central America, aka the United Provinces of Central America and sometimes mistakenly aka the United States of Central America, begins to break up when Nicaragua withdraws. The Republic had consisted of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica and El Salvador.

1862. Abraham Lincoln discharges General McClellan for the second and final time.

2006. Saddam Hussein and two co-defendants are sentenced to death by an Iraqi court.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

1921. Hitler forms the SA, more commonly known as the brownshirts, a paramilitary organization that will be essential to his rise to power only to be brutally suppressed once that rise is complete and their fanaticism is a thorn in his side.

You simply can't trust Hitler.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

You simply can't trust Hitler.

Nor Roehm, especially in the shower.

[Amnorix]

November 6

1528. The first known European steps foot in Texas -- a shipwrecked Conquistador.

1860. Abraham Lincoln is elected President. The South is unthrilled by this development.

1861. Jefferson Davis is elected President of the Confederate States of America. The North is unthrilled by this development.

1865. The last Confederate military unit surrenders -- the CSS Shenendoah, a ship that had circumnavigated the globe and sank or captured 37 vessels.

1869. In what will become known as the first official Intercollegiate college football game, Rutgers beats the College of New Jersey (later Princeton), by a score of 6-4. The game would not be recognizable today as "football", but rather was a mix of rugby and soccer rules. It was, however, the father of what would become football.

1935. Parker Brothers obtains the patents for what will become Monopoly.

1941. Josef Stalin addresses the people of the Soviet Union for only the second time, despite having ruled since the mid 1920s. He states that although 350,000 Soviet troops have died as a result of the German invasion, they have killed 4.5 million German troops and victory is near.

[Amnorix]

November 7

1811. The Battle of Tippecanoe is fought between the US and Tecumseh's growing Indian federation. William Henry Harrison will ride the (overstated) success of this battle to the Presidency, being elected in 1840 on the famous ticket of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too". It turns out to be very little Tippecanoe and alot of Tyler, as his inaugural speech, given March 4, 1841 on a wet cold day, leads to his death by pneumonia. He wanted to show he was still a war hero, so he read his two hour address (one of the longest ever), without a topcoat or hat. As a result, he had the shortest Presidency ever, being in office only one month before he died.

1910. The first air freight shipment is made, by the Wright Brothers, between Dayton and Columbus Ohio.

1917. The "October Revolution", when the Bolsheviks storm the Winter Palace and seize power in Russia. It is called the October Revolution because, under the old Julian calendar then still used in Russia, it was only October 25.

1919. On the second anniversary of the October Revolution, the first Palmer raid is conducted in America. Named after the then-Attorney General, the mastermind behind the wide-ranging sweeps of suspected Communists is the very young J. Edgar Hoover. Over 10,000 suspected Communists and anarchists are arrested in 23 cities.

1929. The Museum of Modern Art opens to the public.

1973. Congress overrides Nixon's veto, passing the War Powers Act, which limits a President's ability to wage war without Congressional approval.

1991. Magic Johnson announces he has HIV, and retires from the NBA.

[Amnorix]

November 8

1519. Cortes enters Tenochtitlan, captial of the Aztecs. Moctezuma welcomes him with a great celebration. After the conquest, Cortes will oversee the destruction and levelling the city.

1793. The Louvre is opened as a museum by French Revolutionary forces. Originally built as a fortress in the 12th century, it later served as a palace for the King, and was subsequently renovated. AFter Louis XIX chose Versailles as his palace, the Louvre apparently housed artists. Until the Revolution, there had been much debate about its future use.

1861. A US warship stops the British mail ship Trent, and takes two Confederate envoys off the ship, sparking the "Trent Affair", which comes close to bringing the US to war with Britain while its hands are already full with the Confederate rebellion. Eventually, Lincoln, to the great outrage of many in the NOrth, returns the two Confederate envoys and possession of the Trent, defusing the crisis.

1917. The People's Commissars in Russia give authority to Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and Josef Stalin.

1923. The Beer Hall Putsch is carried out in Munich, landing Hitler in jail for his failed attempt to overthrow the German government. The Putsch was inspired by Mussolini's successful March on Rome, and was carried out with the active support of former German general Erich Ludendorff.

The Defendants at trial.



While in jail, Hitler will babble, err, write, Mein Kampf. The failed Putsch also convinces Hitler he must seize power legally, within the framework of the government, rather than by militant acts.

Also noteworthy is that Hermann Goring is shot by police in the leg and groin, beginning his long addiction to morphine which would only be broken when he was imprisoned at Nuremburg.

1960. Kennedy defeats Nixon.

1965. The United Kingdom abolishes the death penalty.

1973. The right ear of John Paul Getty III (then 16 years of age) is delivered along with a ransom note, convincing his father to pay $2.9 million. The young boy was so rebellious that at first the family thought it a ploy for him to extract money from his fantastically wealthy grandfather. Once the ear arrived, everything changed, and the boy's grandfather agreed to loan his son (the kidnapped boy's father) the money to pay the ransom, at 4% interest. The kidnappers were never caught.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

1941. Josef Stalin addresses the people of the Soviet Union for only the second time, despite having ruled since the mid 1920s. He states that although 350,000 Soviet troops have died as a result of the German invasion, they have killed 4.5 million German troops and victory is near.

The nice thing about being a dictator is that you don't have to retract statements later.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

The nice thing about being a dictator is that you don't have to retract statements later.

"Mr. Stalin? Mr. Stalin?"

"Da? Ze gentleman in ze corner..." [points]

"You said four years ago that while 350,000 soldiers had died defending the Motherland, we had killed 4.5 million Germans and that victory was near. Latest estimates put Soviet deaths at well over ten million, though your ministries seem to be suppressing the.....wait.....who are you, what are you doi..........gaaaaaaaaaaaa."

"Any vurther qestons?"

[silence]

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

1860. Abraham Lincoln is elected President. The South is unthrilled by this development.

1861. Jefferson Davis is elected President of the Confederate States of America. The North is unthrilled by this development.

[Amnorix]

November 9

1620. Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sight land. Cape Cod.

1799. Napoleon leads a coup d'etat overthrowing the Directory and becoming one of three Consuls.

1862. The overmatched Ambrose Burnside accepts command of the Army of the Potomac following McClellan's dismissal. A good man and a good soldier, Burnside actually knew that he wasn't really fit for the command of the entire army, but accepted it in lieu of seeing it go to his rival, Joseph Hooker. He would fail, spectacularly, at the Battle of Fredericksburg, and then begin (and fail) to achieve anything in what would become known as the Mud March. He will be relieved in late January, having accomplished nothing to further the Union cause.

1887. The US receives the rights to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

1888. Ex-soldier Thomas Bowyer stood outside the small apartment and politely knocked. He was there to collect rent for his employer, a landlord. The tenant was six weeks behind, and owed 29 shillings. If the tenant still couldn't pay, she would need to be evicted. Hearing no answer, he noted a hole in the window next to the door, and put his hand through to push aside the coat being used as a curtain. He then saw the horribly mutilated body of the tenant, Mary Jane Kelly. Jack the Ripper had struck again.

A small minority of scholars believe it is possible that this was not the work of the same killer as the prior victims. This victim was considerably younger than the other victims, being only 25. The scene of the crime was inside an apartment, as opposed to in the streets. Finally, the significant delay between the prior murders and this one, and the fact that this was the last, and by far the worst, suggests the possibility of a different killer. The majority of those who have studied the matter, however, deem this to be the work of the same man.

The killer would have had more time in the privacy of the room to commit his crime, leading to the far worse mutliation he inflicted on the body. This woman, too, was a prostitute like the others, and was in the Whitechapel district of London. And besides, how many truly grisly murderers could operate in the same area? The details are lengthy and fantastically grisly, but (in brief) the entire abdomen and thighs had been cut away, the abdominal cavity emptied, and hte breasts removed. The removed body parts had been rearranged, with the uterus, kidneys and one breast under the head, etc.

Thankfully, so far as anybody knows, Jack the Ripper had performed his last murder.

1906. For the first time in history, a sitting President leaves the country on an official trip when Teddy Roosevelt goes to visit the Panama Canal, which is in the process of being built.



1918. Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates, and Germany is declared a Republic.

1967. The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine.

1989. The Berlin Wall "falls" when East Germany opens the checkpoints. This will rapidly lead to reunification.

[Bugeater]

Nov 10, 1975