On August 19, 1953, the CIA-backed Iranian military overthrows Premier Mohammad Mosaddeq and reinstates Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi. Mosaddeq had been nationalizing Iran's rich oil fields over the previous two years. During that time, the CIA developed intelligence that indicated Mossadeq was falling under the influence of the Soviets. A first attempt to overthrow him (with CIA and British backing) resulted in public riots, and the Shah fled the country "for health reasons." The Brits washed their hands of the Iranian situation at that point, but the CIA continued to cajole and barter public support for the Shah, leading to the second, successful overthrow. The Shah quickly signed rights to about 40% of Iranian oil production over to American companies, and remained a close ally of the U.S. in the region until being ousted by militant supporters of the Ayatollah Khomeini. On August 19, 1895, 42-year old John Wesley Hardin is murdered by an off-duty policeman in El Paso, TX. Hardin was the embodiment of the stereotypical bloodthirsty Old West-era gunmen, putting his first notch in his gun at age 15 and killing anywhere from 20 to 40 men in his career. Some days before the fateful night, a lawman named John Selman, Jr. arrested Hardin's girlfriend for violating the city's no-firearms-within-city-limits ordinance. Hardin confronted Selman and allegedly pistol-whipped the younger man. On the 19th, Hardin and Selman's father, John Sr., exchanged words. That night Selman Sr., a city constable, learned Hardin was shooting dice at the Acme Saloon. He entered the saloon, walked up behind Hardin and shot him in the head at point blank range, killing him instantly. Selman was charged with murder but died in a argument-turned-gunfight before going to trial.
On August 20, 1968, the Rompin', Stompin' Red Army rolls into Czechoslovakia and ends Prague Spring. Soviet-backed communists had taken control of the Democratic Czech government in 1948, and the nation lived under the Iron Curtain until liberal reformers began to gain power in 1964. In April of '68, First Secretary Alexander Dubcek (below) introduced a number of reforms, including an end to media censorship, and the Czech people responded with overwhelming approval. Fearing the loss of a satellite communist country, Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev organized an invading army of 200,000 troops from 5 neighboring communist nations, including Russia. The Czech population turned out to meet the invaders, but they were no match for the 5,000 Soviet tanks that supported the infantry. Though casualties were relatively light, within a week Dubcek was forced to roll back his reforms. On August 20, 1975, NASA launches the unmanned probe Viking 1, destination: Mars. The probe would achieve Martian orbit on June 19, 1976, and after a month of photographing and mapping potential landing sites, releases a lander (on July 20, the 7th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing) that becomes the first man-made craft to set down on the Red Planet. The bottom photo was taken seconds after the lander touched down. On August 20, 1945, Tommy Brown's solo home run keeps the Brooklyn Dodgers from being shut out in an 11-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. But the solo shot is historic as it makes the 17-year old Brown the youngest player to ever homer in the major leagues. The homer comes a little over a year to the day (8/3/44) Brown became the youngest non-pitcher to ever appear in a major league game.
August 21, 2021, and the 24 Hours of LeMans race is currently underway. The following actually took place in June, but as it pertains to this event, I'll drop it here. At the 1967 LeMans, a sports tradition is born. Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt win the race for Ford, the second year in a row Ford wins, but the first (and still only) time it is won by an all-American driving team. As is tradition, each driver is handed a magnum of champagne as he steps onto the podium. Looking down, Gurney spies Ford CEO Henry Ford II and car builder/crew chief Carroll Shelby enjoying the festivities below. Instead of drinking, Gurney spontaneously shakes his bottle and gives his bosses a champagne shower. The celebratory champagne shower is now often seen at major sports championships, but especially in international auto racing.
On September 10, 1897, a 25-year-old London taxi driver named George Smith becomes the first person ever arrested for drunk driving after slamming his cab into a building. Smith later pleaded guilty and was fined 25 shillings. In the United States, the first laws against operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol went into effect in New York in 1910. In 1936, Dr. Rolla Harger, a professor of biochemistry and toxicology, patented the Drunkometer, a balloon-like device into which people would breathe to determine whether they were inebriated. In 1953, Robert Borkenstein, a former Indiana state police captain and university professor who had collaborated with Harger on the Drunkometer, invented the Breathalyzer. Easier-to-use and more accurate than the Drunkometer, the Breathalyzer was the first practical device and scientific test available to police officers to establish whether someone had too much to drink. A person would blow into the Breathalyzer and it would gauge the proportion of alcohol vapors in the exhaled breath, which reflected the level of alcohol in the blood.
The most interesting part of this to me is the year. Benz is credited with inventing cars just 7 years earlier. Were there laws about driving a horse and buggy drunk then that were used for this? Or was this just a new thing?
I have a friend (surprised @shane0911 ) who had been working on upgrading the Pentagon. They had finished the part that was hit on 9/11. Part of the work was reinforcing the walls and putting blast curtains throughout. He believes if they hadn’t finished or the plane hit another part the Pentagon would have been destroyed. He was also involved in the rebuild after. He’s a structural engineer specializing in stone work. He was tasked with finding limestone that matched the original. It’s a fascinating story.
