On this day in 1540, Spanish soldier-turned-priest Ignatius Loyola and six of his students form the Society of Jesus, dedicated to the conversion of Muslims to Christianity. The Jesuits, as they will come to be known, will become one of the most influential missionary movements in Roman Catholicism. On this day in 1939, 140,000 Polish soldiers are taken prisoner as Warsaw surrenders to the invading German army. Exactly one year late - on this day in 1940 - representatives of Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact in Berlin, creating the Axis Powers alliance. The pact's specific role is to discourage the United States, situated in a geographically "neutral" position between Europe and Asia, from joining forces with the Allies. On this day in 1964, the Warren Commission releases its findings to the public, stating that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone 10 months earlier in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
On this day in 1781, a force of 17,000 Continental and French soldiers under the command of General George Washington begin the seige of the British stronghold of Yorktown. 19 days later, British General Cornwallis sent his second in command onto the field to surrender. On this day in 1928, bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin On this day in 1960, Ted Williams hits a home run in the last at-bat of his career. Its also the anniversary of the final day of the 1941 season, which Williams completed with a batting average of .406. No player has hit .400 or better since. I'm including this one, but historians have never concluded if its actually true. On this day in 1918, the British seize the French village of Marcoing from German troops. In the final moments of the battle, British private Henry Tandey sees a wounded German soldier crossing the battlefield at point-blank range. The eyes of the 2 soldiers meet, and Tandey decides he can not kill the wounded man. He lowers his gun, the German nods a silent thank you and limps away. There is anecdotal evidence that the wounded soldier was Lance Corporal Adolph Hitler.
On this day in 1941, the Babi Yar massacre begins. Adolph Hitler orders Nazi troops occupying the Ukraine to exterminate Jews living there. In small groups, more than 30,000 Jews living in Kiev are marched to a nearby ravine called Babi Yar, ordered to strip naked and are then machine gunned, their bodies buried in a mass grave. On this day in 1954, Willie Mays ensures his place in baseball immortality with The Catch, robbing Cleveland's Vic Wertz of a certain extra base hit in game 1 of the World Series. On this day in 1982 , the first of 7 people die in the Chicago area under mysterious circumstances, and several others fall ill. Investigators soon learn that all of the victims had recently taken Extra Strength Tylenol, and further investigation finds that several bottles sold in the Chicago area had been laced with cyanide. The perpetrator is never found, but the incident leads to sweeping changes in the way over-the-counter medication is packaged to ensure safety. The incident also leads to a number of other deaths in copycat crimes, and blackmail attempts on some pharmaceutical companies with alleged poisoning schemes.
OK, so we had the week-long absence when the site went down earlier this month. I spent some time on lsufans.com during the down time, and started a history thread in there. So here's what we missed during the lull.... September 13.....On this day in 335 Constantine the Great consecrated the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jersusalem's Christian Quarter. The church stands over what are believed to the sites of Jesus' crucifixion and burial, and is one of 9 sites in Israel protected by the Status Quo agreements of the 16th and 17th centuries. On this day in 1848, Phineas Gage, a Vermont railroad worker, is on the job when a premature blast drives a 3 and a half foot steel rod completely through his skull and destroys much of his frontal lobe. Gage's bad luck is medicine's gain: he lived 12 years after the explosion, but his personality is irreversable changed. His case essentially rewrites much of what doctors know about neuroscience and psychology. On this day in 1990, Law and Order debuts on NBC. It will become the longest running crime drama in US history (20 years) and spawn several spinoffs. September 14.... On this day in 1812, fire broke out and destroyed much of the city of Moscow as Napoleon and his conquering army were entering the city. Most of its residents had evacuated in front of Napoleon's advance over the preceeding month, and the fires left the invaders little supplies to replenish, leading to the disastrous winter march out of Russia. The cause of the fire has never been conclusively determined. On this day in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt is sworn in as president in the wake of William McKinley's death from a gunshot wound. At age 42, Roosevelt was - and may always be - the youngest president ever. On this day in 1959, the Soviet-launched space probe Luna 2 crash lands on the moon. It is the first manmade object to contact a celestial body. September 15.... On this day in 1950, about 75,000 United Nations troops, mostly American and under the command of Gen. Douglas McArthur, landed at Inchon, South Korea. The landing force recaptured Seoul, the South Korean capitol, from the North Korean invaders 2 weeks later. On this day in 1963, a bomb detonated in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing 4 young girls and injuring 22 people. Investigators linked the bomb, which was consisted of at least 15 sticks of dynamite, to the KKK in the deadliest act of the civil rights era. On this day in 1978, Muhammad Ali scored a unanimous decision win over Leon Spinks in the Louisiana Superdome, to claim the World's Heavyweight Championship for an unprecedented 3rd time. September 16.....On this day in 1620, the Mayflower, with about 130 people on board, including its crew and 102 Puritan pilgrims, set sail from Plymouth, England. They would reach the New World after a 60-day journey across the Atlantic. On this day in 1810, a Catholic priest incites the residents of Dolores, Mexico to revolt against the Spanish rulers. It is considered the beginning of the War for Mexican Independence, a conflict that lasted 11 years. On this day in 1920, 38 people were killed and hundreds were injured when a horse drawn cart loaded with more than 100 pounds of dynamite exploded outside the J.P. Morgan Bank on NYC's Wall Street. Italian anarchists are blamed for the attack. On this day in 1964, The Beatles made their one and only appearance in New Orleans, playing in City Park. A current New Orleans radio journalist who was in attendance says the girl screams - including her own - were so loud, she has no memory of actually hearing any music. September 17..... On this day in 1787, The U.S. Constitution is signed by 38 of the 42 delegates of the Constitutional Convention. 12 of the 13 states are represented, Rhode Island having elected not to participate. On this day in 1862, Union forces under George McLellan meet and turn back Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army at Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, Maryland. The victory stops the first of Lee's 2 attempted incursions into the north, but - with 22,000 killed on both sides - it is the single bloodiest day in US military history. On this day in 1976, NASA rolls out the Enterprise, the flying blueprint for its first reusable space craft. The Enterprise has no engines or heat shield, so its incapable of space flight, but it will be launched from the back of a 747 in a series of flight tests of the design before the 1st actual space shuttle, Columbia, is prepared for launch in 1981. On this day in 1859, San Fransisco businessman Joshua Norton declares himself, Norton I, Emperor of the United States. Norton was frustrated with the political inadequacies he saw in the US government. Over the next 21 years, he would issue proclamations and make numerous civic proposals, including the construction of a tunnel connecting SF with Oakland. He also declared himself "Protector of Mexico" at one point. The US government ignored him, but he was accorded celebrity status in San Fransisco throughout his "reign" which ended with his death in 1880. Merchants sold so many souvenirs bearing his name that a biographer once wrote that the city lived off Norton, rather than the reverse. Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson are among the authors who would base characters on Norton in their literature, and in the 1950s and 60s, the TV shows Death Valley Days and Bonanza would produce episodes that featured Norton as a character.
On this day in 1927, Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the season breaking his own single season record. The new home run mark will stand for 34 years. On this day in 1938, Germany, Italy, France and England sign The Munich Pact, which cedes the Sudetenland, a region of Czechoslovakia where 3 million ethnic Germans live, over to Germany. The Germans in exchange agree to not invade Czechoslovakia. British PM Neville Chamberlain declares the pact will give Europe "peace in our time." In reality, all it did was give Czechoslovakia, a small nation rich in natural resources for war material, to Hitler. The official beginning of World War II is about a year away. On this day in 1960, ABC debuts The Flintstones, the first animated series made for prime time. The show runs for 6 seasons, but lives on to this day in children's vitamins. Check the LKF thread for more.
October 1 is a very busy day in history.... On this day in 1890, an act of Congress creates Yosemite National Park. On this day in 1908, the first Model T rolls off the assembly line at the Ford Motor Company plant in Detroit. It has a 4-cylinder, 22hp engine, a top speed of 40 mph, and can run on gasoline or hemp-based fuel. All for a price tag of $825. On this day in 1918, British and Arab forces under the command of T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) liberate the city of Damascus from the Turks. On this day in 1946 at Nuremburg, Germany, the International War Crimes Tribunal sentences 12 high ranking Nazi Party members to death, most notably Hermann Goering, founder of the Gestapo and head of the Luftwaffe, the German air Force. Nazi Party leader Martin Bormann is sentenced in abstentia, but it is later determined that he was already dead. On this day in 1949, years of battle between communists and Chinese nationals comes to an end as Mao Zedong proclaims the existence of the People's Republic of China, with himself as head of state. Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek escapes to the island of Taiwan, which he will later declare to be the Republic of China, with U.S. support. On this day in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) becomes operational, replacing the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. On this day in 1961, Roger Maris hits his 61st home run of the season. But many, including major league baseball commissioner Ford Frick, do not recognize the home run as breaking Babe Ruth's single season record, because the regular season had been expanded to 162 games a few years earlier, and #61 came on the final day of the season. Ruth's 60-mark was accomplished in a 154-game season. On this day in 1962, Johnny Carson replaces Jack Paar as host of NBC's The Tonight Show. Excluding vacations, Carson will host the show uninterrupted for the next 30 years.
On this day in 1780, British Major John Andre is hanged for his part in Benedict Arnold's plot to surrender the fort at West Point, NY, to the British. The hanging is insult along with injury: after being sentenced, Arnold wrote to General Washington to request that he die by firing squad, which in the European military tradition is considered more "gentlemanly." Washington, who actually admired Andre's courage, wrote a letter to Andre's commander, General Henry Clinton, offering to trade him for Arnold, who was in the hands of the British. Clinton never responded to the offer, and Andre was executed as a spy. On this day in 1835, residents of the village of Gonzales, in the Tejas territory of Mexico, hastily form a militia to repel Mexican troops who have come to confiscate a cannon from the citizens. The Mexicans retreat, and the War of Texas Independence is officially underway. On this day in 1959.....'The place is here, the time is now, and the journey into the shadows that we're about to watch could be our journey.' These are Rod Serling's opening lines as CBS premieres The Twilight Zone, a sci-fi/fantasy anthology series. The tones of the episodes range from tragic to horrific to comic, and usually center on ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. The show will last 5 seasons and win 3 Emmys, a Golden Globe and 3 Hugo Awards.
