This day in history...

On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman issues Executive Order 9981, ending racial discrimination in the military. By the end of WWII, about 900,000 African-American men and women were in the armed services. They were eligible for veteran's benefits (the GI Bill was of particular interest), but experienced discrimination in accessing those benefits. Grant Reynolds, a black WWII army chaplain who had resigned over what he saw, organized campaigns to end the discrimination. Truman was sympathetic and pushed for reforms, but when Congress refused, did an end run and issued the EO.


On July 26, 1931, a swarm of locusts (grasshoppers) descends on the American breadbasket, destroying millions of acres of crops in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. It was the height of the Dust Bowl drought, and the dry conditions were perfect for the normal grasshopper population to explode. Witnesses say the swarm blocked out the sun; and when they moved off just days later, corn crops in the region had been stripped to bare earth. America has not seen an insect plague of this nature since.


On July 26, 1952, Eva Peron, first lady of Argentina and "Spiritual leader of the nation" dies of cervical cancer at age 33. Born in poverty to unmarried parents (which limited her legal rights under Argentine law), Eva Duarte moved to Buenos Aires to pursue an acting career at age 15. At age 25 (1944) she met Colonel Juan Peron while appearing at a charity benefit event. They married a year later, and in 1946 Peron was elected President; Eva's campaigning was a huge factor in his win. Though despised by the upper class for her background and the military for her influence over her husband, the poor and working classes revered "Evita." She ran the Ministry of Labor and Health, championed women's suffrage and sent poor children to college through her Eva Peron Foundation (the public didn't seem to mind that she evidently skimmed funds from the foundation for her personal use). Twelve different nations awarded her their highest civilian medals, and her funeral was attended by an estimated 3 million citizens. (Eva in a public appearance two months before her death. Her husband to the right is holding her at the waist; by this time she was too weak from cancer to stand on her own)

 

On July 27, 1794, Maximillen Robespierre, architect of France's Reign of Terror, is overthrown by the National Committee. A lawyer and representative of the Third Estate in the Estates General, Robispierre was a leader of the Revolution when the Third Estate (the commoners, who made up more than 95% of the French population) declared itself the National Assembly and revolted against the king. He was elected to the Committee for Public Safety when the king was overthrown in 1793, but fearing civil war, he launched the Reign of Terror, presiding over the arrest of more than 300,000 "enemies of the Revolution", 17,000 of whom would meet the guillotine. But within days of being elected President of the National Committee in June, 1794, Robespierre pushed through a law suspending a suspect's right to trial and legal assistance. Overthrown on July 27, he would face the guillotine himself a day later.


On July 27, 1900, a world leader coins a slur for his own people. The speaker was Wilhelm II, Kaiser (Emperor) of Germany, the occasion; a sendoff speech for one of the German expeditions to China to help quell the Boxer Rebellion. Wilhelm spoke off the cuff without written notes and no transcript was recorded, but several accounts said he told the soldiers that if they were drawn into battle, they should be like the Huns of ancient times in their ferocity, giving no quarter and taking no prisoners. The Deutscher Reichsanzeiger, the national journal of record for Germany, published the remarks and through two following world wars, the term "Hun" would be used as a derogatory expression for Germans by the Allied nations.

 

You're repeating yourself.

 

On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. It is exactly one month since a Serbian nationalist assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife during a tour of Sarajevo (A-H had annexed the territory in 1878 under the surrender terms of the Russo-Turkish War). The A-H government gave Serbia a heavy list of demands in compensation for the murder, and though the Serbians complied nearly in full, diplomatic relations soon fell apart. As feared by most of the European powers, Russia responded to the declaration by mobilizing its forces along its common borders with the A-H Empire. The dominoes were soon falling...within a week, Germany (A-H's ally) declared war on Russia, France (Russia's ally) and Germany declared war on each other, Germany invaded Belgium, and Great Britain declared war on Germany. World War I was on. (Italian newspaper illustration of the assassination)


On July 28, 1942, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin outlaws cowardice. The western region of the USSR was hip-deep in Nazis at the time; the Soviet army had successfully repelled the German siege on Stalingrad, leading Hitler to turn his attention to conquering Leningrad. Stalin felt a motivational gesture to his people was necessary, and issued Order 227: " Panic makers and cowards must be liquidated on the spot. Not one step backward without orders from higher headquarters! Commanders…who abandon a position without an order from higher headquarters are traitors to the Motherland.” It was hardly necessary; on the same day, a German officer sent to "requisition" agricultural products around Leningrad was killed by farmers. (A Soviet postage stamp issued late in 1942. The Cyrillic phrase at the top paraphrases the line from Order 227, "Not a step back")


On July 28, 1978, National Lampoon's Animal House opens in US theaters. It is the tale of a fictional fraternity on a fictional campus who's members are debauching their way through college, while staying ahead of the strict dean of students and an uppity rival frat. Animal House starred John Belushi, who was a regular cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live at the time, starting a long line of SNL cast members making the jump to cinema. Belushi didn't need the vehicle to increase his popularity, but the movie launched the careers of supporting cast members Kevin Bacon, Karen Allen, Tim Matheson and soon-to-be Academy Award winner Tom Hulce (for his portrayal of Mozart in Amadeus). It also spawned a slew of copycat films and a "toga party" craze on US college campuses.

 

On July 29,1967 off the coast of Vietnam, the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal suffers the US Navy's worst loss since WWII. The wound is self-inflicted; the carrier was preparing to launch an air strike when a missile was accidentally launched from one of the planes on the flight deck, striking another plane. The resulting fire detonated several bombs and destroyed 20 more planes on the flight deck, killing 134 sailors and injuring hundreds more. The pilot of the aircraft that was struck by the missile had not yet boarded his plane, and future US Senator John McCain survived the resulting cataclysm. The Forrestal was out of action for nine months.


On July 29, 1914, two related European leaders begin a doomed effort to prevent war. The day after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, German Kaiser Wilhelm II (left) of Germany and his first cousin, Czar Nicholas II of Russia, send each other telegrams expressing their concerns that the situation could escalate. Wilhelm was the first to respond to the initial exchange; he was already committed to supporting A-H and warned Nicholas it would be best if Russia stayed out of the matter. Nicholas assured his cousin Russia would take no provocative action, but each nation continued to elevate its state of military readiness. The diplomatic situation continued to erode, with the last of the "Willy-Nicky" telegrams sent by Wilhelm on August 1, warning Nicholas that his troops were not to enter German territory. Germany would declare war on Russia that same day.


On July 29, 1953, Gary Lee Weinrib is born in Willowdale (a suburb of Toronto), Canada. The son of Polish immigrants (both Holocaust survivors), Gary would form a band with some of his high school friends, who took to imitating Gary's mom's heavy Polish accent and calling him "Geddy." Among those friends was Alexander Živojinović, the son of Serbian immigrants. Gary would eventually drop Weinrib to adopt the name Geddy Lee as his stage name, and later, his legal name. Alexander would take the English translation of his last name ("Son of Life") to create the stage name Alex Lifeson. With John Rutsey and Jeff Jones, he would form the band Rush. A month later, Jones would leave the band and Alex's good friend Geddy would replace him. Rutsey's time with the band was likewise short-lived due to health matters; he would be replaced by Neal Peart (his real name). The newly-established lineup of Weinrib (Lee), Živojinović (Lifeson) and Peart would become the greatest rock band of all time. (Geddy Lee relates his family's Holocaust survival experience)

 

On August 1, 1498 at Lake Paria (present day Venezuela), Christopher Columbus sets foot on the American mainland for the first time. It is his third voyage to the new world, and like the first two, it is sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Columbus sailed with 6 ships (3 filled with colonists and 3 with supplies) and orders to find the still hoped-for Western passage to China and India. After a stop at Trinidad, he continued west until he hit the Paria Peninsula, which for a time he believed to be the Garden of Eden. Eventually he realized he had discovered a new continent. Ferdinand and Isabella were encouraged enough to finance a fourth voyage, this time to look for earthly wealth as long as that elusive western passage.


On August 1, 1943, the Army Air Corps launches Operation Tidal Wave, an ill-fated attack on the oil-producing city of Ploiești, Romania. Nicknamed "Hitler's gas station," Ploiești and its refineries produced 8 and a half million tons of oil for the Axis Powers a year. One hundred seventy-seven B-24's, a high altitude heavy bomber, were used, but in an attempt to avoid Axis radar, the plan called for low-level bombing, 200-800 feet. The element of surprise was lost when one squadron wandered off course, and the results were disastrous. Only 88 planes made it back to their bases; more than 650 men were lost. Though estimates showed damages to the refineries at 40%, repairs were made quickly. Five airmen were awarded the Medal of Honor (last week, the remains of a Ploiesti casualty were buried at the Tallahassee National Cemetery. He had been buried in the "unknowns" section of a military cemetery in Romania, until DNA identified him as Staff Sgt. William Wood of Valdosta, GA)


On August 1, 1961, the Six Flags Over Texas amusement park opens in Arlington, near Dallas. Six Flags was originally to be a temporary venture; landowner Angus Wynne, Jr. was just putting the vacant land to use while seeking industrial investors. He decided to make the park permanent after re-couping his investment in just 18 months. Originally to be named Texas Under Six Flags (representing the flags of Mexico, Spain, France, the Lone Star Republic, the Confederacy and the USA), Wynne changed the name after deciding Texas should not be "under" anything. Six Flags was the first amusement park to charge one all-inclusive fee, instead of a small admission fee and tickets for each attraction. It had the industry's first log flume ride (below left), the first mine train ride (below right), and the first modern parachute-drop ride. Wynne sold the park in 1969; today Six Flags brand features 27 parks in the US and Canada, and is considered the world's largest regional amusement park company.

 

So, not enough farm land to plow some up and build a baseball field?

Congratulations on the retirement!