Today In History

[GiGi]

May 27, 1926
Hannibal, Missouri, erected the first statue of literary characters. The bronze figures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer were hoisted above a red granite base.

May 27, 1647 - The first recorded American execution of a "witch" took place in Massachusetts.

May 27, 1995 - Ukraine and a consortium of Western firms signed a memorandum to plan by 2000 the closing of the Chernobyl nuclear power station, site of the world's worst nuclear accident nine years before.

[Joan]

Interesting reading GiGi :)

[Peri]

-thumbs-

[GiGi]

May 28, 1959 Abel and Baker were two monkeys who survived a trip into space from a launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

May 28, 1940 - Evacuation of the defeated Allied armies from Dunkirk began. By its completion on the night of June 2, a total of 224,585 British and 112,546 French and Belgian troops had been saved.

May 28, 1985 - Gay Mullins, a retiree from Seattle, Washington, founded The Old Cola Drinkers of America. This was an effort to bring back the original Coca-Cola, instead of the New Coke that the Atlanta-based company had foisted on the American cola-drinking market. By July of 1985, with arms firmly twisted behind their backs, Coca-Cola Company executives relented and returned the old formula to colaholics and with a new name: Classic Coke.

[~*~TiGgY~*~]

May 29th 0526 Antioch struck by Earthquake; about 250,000 die

May 29th 0757 St Paul I begins his reign as Catholic Pope

May 29th 1138 Anti-Pope Victor IV (Gregorio) overthrows self for Innocentius II

May 29th 1167 Lombard League defeat Frederick Barbarossa at Battle of Legnano

May 29th 1176 Battle at Legnano: Lombardi League beats Frederik Barbarossa

May 29th 1415 Council of Konstanz

May 29th 1453 Constantinople falls to Muhammad II (Turks); ends Byzantine Empire

May 29th 1453 French banker Jacques Coeurs possessions confiscated

May 29th 1506 Earl Willem I van Nassau-Dillenburg weds countess Walburg van Egmont

May 29th 1576 Spanish army under Mondrag¢n conquerors Zierik sea

May 29th 1630 Gov John Winthrop begins "History of New England"

May 29th 1652 English Admiral Robert Blake drives out Dutch fleet under lt-adm Tromp

May 29th 1660 Charles II restored to English throne after Puritan Commonwealth

May 29th 1692 Battle at La Hogue: English & Dutch fleet beat France

May 29th 1692 Royal Hospital Founders Day 1st celebrated

[GiGi]

May 29, 1910 - An airplane raced a train - and won. The race, from Albany, New York to New York City was worth a $10,000 prize for aviator Glenn Curtiss. It was sponsored by those promotion wizards at the New York "World" newspaper.

May 29, 1953 - The summit of Mount Everest was reached for the first time. Everest is the highest mountain in the world, with a summit altitude of 29,028 feet (8,850 meters) above sea level. The summit was reached by Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Edmund Hillary. Sherpa culture was changed as a result of Norgay's feat.

May 29, 1942 - "White Christmas", the biggest selling record of all time was recorded by Bing Crosby for Decca Records. The song was written for the film "Holiday Inn". More than 30-million copies of Crosby’s most famous, hit song have been sold and a total of nearly 70-million copies, including all versions of the standard, have been sold.

[Joan]

Today is Monday, June 1, the 152nd day of 2009. There are 213 days left in the year.

[GiGi]

June 6, 1816 - In one of the latest snowfalls ever, ten inches of snow fell on New England.

June 6, 1960 - Singer Bing Crosby was presented a platinum disc to commemorate his 200,000,000th record sold. He achieved this from his 2,600 recorded singles and 125 albums. Ten years later, he received a second platinum disc when 300,650,000 records had been sold by Decca. Crosby's global lifetimes sales on 179 labels in 28 countries totaled 400,000,000 records.

June 6, 1999 - Bob Dylan and Paul Simon - two of the most influential and prolific songwriters of the last half century - hit the road together for the first time for a historic tour beginning on this date in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Performing some the of most memorable and cherished songs of our time, Dylan and Simon - supported by their respective bands - had never performed together in public.

[GiGi]

June 11, 1912 - Silas Christoferson became the first airplane pilot to take off from the roof of a hotel. He did this from atop the Multnomah Hotel in Portland, Oregon.

June 11, 1939 - The King and Queen of England came tp America to visit with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife. Befitting such an event, the King and Queen were fed some of the United States' gourmet foods. As a result, it was the first time that both the King and Queen had tasted hot dogs.


June 11, 1961 - Roy Orbison finished a week at number one on the "Billboard" record chart with his first number one hit "Running Scared." Orbison recorded 23 hits for the pop charts, but had only one other song make it to number one, "Oh Pretty Woman" in 1964. He did manage to come close with a number two effort, "Crying", number four with "Dream Baby" and number five with "Mean Woman Blues". In 1987, Orbison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; but sadly suffered a fatal heart attack just one year later.

[Peri]

In 1812, the United States declared war on Britain.

In 1815, England's Duke of Wellington and Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium.

In 1975, Saudi Arabian Prince Museid was publicly beheaded in Riyadh for the assassination of King Faisal.

In 1979, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed a strategic arms control treaty in Vienna, Austria.

In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space as the space shuttle Challenger was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

In 1990, James Edward Pough, 42, whose car had been repossessed, killed eight people and wounded five more before committing suicide at a General Motors Acceptance Corp. loan office in Jacksonville, Fla. He was believed to have killed two others a day earlier.

In 1993, eight U.S. military officers arrived in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia to help plan the deployment of a U.N. force that would seek to prevent the Bosnia conflict from spreading.

In 1996, the U.S. Senate issued its Whitewater reports. The Republican report accused first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton of obstruction of justice.

Also in 1996, Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski was charged with two killings in California; he pleaded innocent. Charges from New Jersey would come later.

In 1997, Turkish Premier Necmettin Erbakan resigned under pressure after his governing coalition lost its majority in Parliament.

In 2000, Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a cease-fire, ending their monthlong war.

In 2002, a suicide bomber killed himself and 19 others when he detonated explosives aboard a bus in Jerusalem.

In 2003, two nights of rioting left the Lake Michigan community of Benton Harbor, Mich., covered with smoldering ruins and broken glass in the aftermath of a deadly police motorcycle chase.

In 2004, U.S. hostage Paul Johnson Jr., 49, was killed by his Saudi captors despite pleas from senior Muslim clerics.

In 2006, North Korea appeared poised to test a missile after reports that satellite imagery showed fueling had been completed. The pending test drew sharp criticism from the United States and others.

Also in 2006, some 800 U.S. National Guard troops began working along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border as part of a federal plan to slow illegal immigration.

In 2007, the United States and the European Union announced they would resume aid to Palestinians. Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians waited at the Israeli border trying to escape from Hamas-controlled Gaza.

In 2008, Congress overrode a presidential veto of the $290 billion farm bill, providing agricultural subsidies, federal food stamps, foreign food aid and other programs for a 5-year period.

Also in 2008, U.S. President George W. Bush urged Congress to rescind a law, signed by his father, the first President Bush, that prohibits offshore drilling for oil.

[Peri]

In A.D. 325, the early Christian church opened the general council of Nicaea, which settled on rules for computing the date of Easter.

In 1787, the U.S. Constitutional Convention voted to strike down the Articles of Confederation and form a new government.

In 1846, two amateur baseball teams played under new rules at Hoboken, N.J., planting the first seeds of organized baseball. The New York Nine beat the Knickerbockers, 23-1.

In 1856, the first Republican national convention ended in Philadelphia with the nomination of explorer John Charles Fremont of California for president. James Buchanan, a Federalist nominated by the Democrats, was elected.

In 1867, Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, installed as emperor of Mexico by French Emperor Napoleon III in 1864, was executed on the orders of Benito Juarez, the president of the Mexican Republic.

Also in 1867, the first running of the Belmont Stakes took place at Jerome Park, N.Y.

In 1905, Pittsburgh showman Harry Davis opened the world's first nickelodeon, showing the silent Western film "The Great Train Robbery." The storefront theater boasted 96 seats and charged 5 cents and prompted the advent of movie houses across the United States.

In 1943, World War II's Battle of the Philippine Sea began, as Japan tried unsuccessfully to prevent further Allied advancement in the South Pacific.

In 1953, convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed.

In 1977, Elvis Presley made his final live concert recordings, at a series of appearances in Nebraska. He died two months later.

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the 1981 Louisiana law that required schools to teach the creationist theory of human origin espoused by fundamentalist Christians.

In 1991, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a plan to prohibit the export of military supplies to Iraq.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prayers led by students at public high school football games are not permitted under the constitutional separation of church and state.

In 2005, a suicide bomber killed at least 23 people, including some Iraqi police officers, in a crowded Baghdad restaurant. The next day saw suicide car bombers kill a reported 26 policemen and security forces in Baghdad and Irbil.

Also in 2005, opponents of Syrian domination won a majority of seats in the final round of Lebanon's parliamentary elections.

In 2006, Japan threatened "severe action" if North Korea launches a long-range missile as it was believed preparing to do.

In 2007, 10,000 U.S. and 3,000 Iraqi troops launched a major offensive targeting the Sunni jihadist terrorist group known as al-Qaida in Iraq in Iraq's Baquba area.

In 2008, Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, became the first at that level to bypass public financing since the program was established. Obama said he believed the move would provide better resources to defend his campaign from attacks by Republicans.

[GiGi]

June 19th 240 BC - The Greek mathematician Eratosthenes was the first to estimate accurately the diameter and circumference of the Earth. He compared the lengths of the noon shadows in Syene (now Aswan) and Alexandria in Egypt. He derived his calculation by knowing the distance between the two cities and correctly assuming that the sun was so far away that its rays were essentially parallel when they reach the Earth.

June 19th 1953 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed under charges of espionage at Sing Sing Prison in New York. The married couple had been accused and convicted of stealing information about the atomic bomb for the Soviet Union. The execution proceeded despite several appeals and a worldwide campaign for mercy.

June 19th 1961 - The Supreme Court struck down a provision in Maryland's Constitution requiring state officeholders to profess a belief in God.

[GiGi]

June 20th

1756
British soldiers were thrown into the cell known as the "Black Hole of Calcutta."

1782
The Great Seal of the United States was adopted.

1819
The 320-ton Savannah became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic.

1837
Queen Victoria ascended the British throne.

1863
West Virginia became the 35th state in the United States.

1893
Lizzie Borden, accused of murdering her parents, was found innocent by a jury in New Bedford, Mass.

1967
Muhammad Ali was convicted of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted.

[GiGi]

June 23, 1683 - Chief Tamanend of the Leni-Lenape tribe and William Penn signed a friendship treaty at Shackamaxon, near what is now the Kensington district of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The French philosopher Voltaire, an admirer of Penn, hailed this as "the only treaty between Indians and Christians that was never broken." The Leni-Lenape lived along the shores of the Delaware river and its tributaries.

June 23, 1961 - The Antarctica Treaty, which made the Antarctic continent a demilitarized zone to be preserved for scientific research, went into effect. The original treaty, signed by 12 nations two years earlier, was revised in 1991 to include a ban on mineral and oil exploration for 50 years. The Australian Mawson Station is one of many research centers located in Antarctica.

June 23, 1945 - Japanese commander Lt. Gen. Ushijima committed suicide at Okinawa, site of the bloodiest battle of the Pacific theater of World War II; 234,183 people were officially recorded as killed in the battles.

[Peri]

This Day in History, June 28

On June 28th, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending World War I.