July 28, 2008

230 years ago
1778

Politics and government
The constitution of the Spanish province of Cantabria was ratified at the Assembly Hall in Bárcena la Puente, Reocín.

200 years ago
1808

Died on this date
Selim III, 46. Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1789-1807. Selim III was the son of Sultan Mustafa III and was designated as his successor, but Selim's uncle Abdul Hamid I took the throne after Mustafa III's death, and Selim had to wait 15 years. Sultan Selim III was a poet and composer, and some of his compositions still exist. He instituted military reforms, but the elite soldiers known as Janissaries eventually deposed Selim III in favour of his cousin Mustafa IV. There was a movement to restore Selim III to the throne, but he was assassinated before this could take place.

150 years ago
1858

Politics and government
Canadian Premier John A. Macdonald and Deputy Premier George-Étienne Cartier announced their resignations after the defeat of George Brown's motion that Ottawa should not be the capital of Canada. Mr. Macdonald declared that the motion was an insult to Queen Victoria (since Ottawa was supposedly her choice). Mr. Brown and Antoine Dorion took office on August 2 in what became known as the "Short Ministry."

140 years ago
1868

Law
U.S. Secretary of State William Seward issued a proclamation certifying without reservation that the Fourteenth Amendment was a part of the United States Constitution. It reads:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

130 years ago
1878

Died on this date
George Law Curry, 58. U.S. politician. Mr. Curry was a newspaper publisher in Missouri before moving to Oregon Territory, continuing in that career before entering politics. A Democrat, he held various territorial offices, including Secretary (1853-1855); acting Governor (May-December 1853); and Governor (1854-1859), with the latter position being abolished upon Oregon receiving statehood. Mr. Curry campaigned for the U.S. Senate in 1860, but lost by one vote in the state legislature. He died 26 days after his 58th birthday.

80 years ago
1928

World events
The Austrian government exiled former Hungarian dictator Bela Kun to the German frontier.

Politics and government
The Soviet Communist Party readmitted Gregory Zinoviev to membership and put him on the managing board of the all-Russian Cooperative Society.

Disasters
Six convicts burned to death in a locked showroom at the Prison Farm near Houston, Texas when a carelessly tossed match caused a movie film to explode.

Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games opened in Amsterdam.

70 years ago
1938

Disasters
The Pan American Airways Martin M-130 flying boat Hawaii Clipper, en route from Guam to Manila with 6 passengers and 9 crew members, disappeared. It was the first loss of an airliner in the trans-Pacific China Clipper service, which had been inaugurated as an airmail service in 1935 and had begun carrying passengers in 1936.

60 years ago
1948

Politics and government
Premier Maurice Duplessis led his Union Nationale to its third consecutive victory in the Quebec provincial election. The UN won 82 of 92 seats in the Legislative Assembly, an increase of 34 from their total in the most recent election in 1944. The Liberals, led by former Premier Adélard Godbout, dropped from 37 seats to 8.

The Peruvian Congress failed to convene when 19 conservative senators refused to attend in protest against the program of the ruling Socialist People's Party.

Labour
A U.S. federal district court in New Haven, Connecticut upheld the consitutionality of the Taft-Hartley Act's ban on union political expenditures.

Disasters
Explosions and fire wrecked an I.G. Farben chemical complex in Ludwigshafen, Germany, causing 184 deaths, 2,500 injuries, and about $15 million in damage.

50 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Hard Headed Woman/Don't Ask Me Why--Elvis Presley (Best Seller--2nd week at #1); Patricia--Perez Prado and his Orchestra (Disc Jockey--1st week at #1; Top 100--1st week at #1)

Billboard discontinued its Disc Jockey chart after this week, and replaced the Top 100 with the Hot 100.

World events
Three former Haitian Army officers and four Americans landed at Deluge and captured the Dessaline barracks in Port-au-Prince in an attempt to seize control of the Haitian government.

Track and field
The U.S.S.R. edged the U.S.A. 172-170 in a dual meet in Moscow.

40 years ago
1968

Died on this date
Otto Hahn, 89. German chemist. Dr. Hahn was known as the "father of nuclear chemistry," and was a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his discovery of the fission of heavy atomic nuclei." When element number 105 was first synthesized in 1970, it was originally called hahnium, but the name was never official, and the element was eventually named dubnium.

Disasters
A typhoon cut across southern Japan, killing 22 people, most of them drowned in flood waters.

Golf
Dan Sikes won the Minnesota Golf Classic with a total score of 272. First prize money was $20,000.

30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Rivers of Babylon--Boney M. (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Rivers of Babylon--Boney M. (15th week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): En chantant--Michel Sardou (2nd week at #1)

At the movies
National Lampoon's Animal House, directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Donald Sutherland, and others, opened in theatres.

War
The Ethiopian government announced that its forces had broken the siege of Asmara, the capital of the province of Eritrea. Diplomatic sources believed that Eritrean secessionists still controlled the area to the north of Asmara and that government forces had merely opened up the highway linking Asmara to the national capital of Addis Ababa in the south.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that consumer prices had risen 0.9% in June, sending the annual inflation rate to 11.4% for the second quarter of 1978. Food prices increased 1.4% in June, led by a 5.6% increase in the price of beef. The price of gold soared above $200 per ounce, reflecting the weakness of the U.S. dollar and the apparent difficulty in holding down inflation.

25 years ago
1983

Hit parade
Canada's top 30
1 Every Breath You Take--The Police
2 Baby Jane--Rod Stewart
3 Never Gonna Let You Go--Sergio Mendes
4 Hot Girls in Love--Loverboy
5 1999--Prince
6 Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)--Eurythmics
7 Wanna Be Startin' Something--Michael Jackson
8 Maniac--Michael Sembello
9 Stand Back--Stevie Nicks
10 Is There Something I Should Know--Duran Duran
11 Come Dancing--The Kinks
12 Change--Tears for Fears
13 Wishing--A Flock of Seagulls
14 China Girl--David Bowie
15 It's a Mistake--Men at Work
16 I'm Still Standing--Elton John
17 Rock and Roll is King--Electric Light Orchestra
18 Human Touch--Rick Springfield
19 Video Kids--Prototype
20 Total Eclipse of the Heart--Bonnie Tyler
21 Moonlight Shadow--Mike Oldfield
22 Stop in the Name of Love--The Hollies
23 She Works Hard for the Money--Donna Summer
24 Best Years of Our Lives--Mens Room
25 Our House--Madness
26 All This Love--Debarge
27 Electric Avenue--Eddy Grant
28 The Haunting--The Front
29 Tell Her About It--Billy Joel
30 Take Me to Heart--Quarterflash

Law
The Polish parliament approved amendments to the penal code that were aimed at the control of political dissent. Prison terms were established for participation in banned organizations or for organizing or leading illegal protests. Another amendment broadened the censorship law.

Defense
The United States House of Representatives voted 228-195 to ban all aid to rebels opposing the Sandanista government of Nicaragua after many members concluded that the U.S.-backed Contra insurgents had not succeeded in interdicting arms from Nicaragua to Salvadoran rebels. Cuban dictator Fidel Castro said that Cuba would withdraw its advisers from Nicaragua as part of a comprehensive withdrawal of other advisers.

Scandal
The United States Justice Department announced that it was ending an inquiry into illegal drug activities on Capitol Hill in Washington and would not bring charges against any members of Congress. Two people, including a former page, had previously pled guilty to conspiring to distribute cocaine to people employed on Capitol Hill.

Football
CFL
Edmonton (2-1) 44 @ Ottawa (1-3) 4

Jim Germany scored 2 touchdowns and Warren Moon quarterbacked an effective offense ass the Eskimos routed the Rough Riders at Lansdowne Park in the best game they played under head coach Pete Kettela. Rookie Matt Dunigan saw his first regular season CFL action at quarterback for the Eskimos, completing a 51-yard bomb to Waddell Smith and handing off to Mr. Germany for a 1-yard touchdown run a few plays later. It was the first touchdown produced by Mr. Dunigan, and the 71st and last of Mr. Germany's CFL career.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Gimme Hope Jo'anna--Eddy Grant (8th week at #1)

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Yé ké yé ké--Mory Kanté (2nd week at #1)

Law
In a free vote, the Canadian House of Commons rejected a government resolution and five amendments in an abortion bill.

Politics and government
Paddy Ashdown, MP for Yeuvil, was elected leader of Britain's new Social and Liberal Democrat Party.

Disasters
Both houses of the United States Congress approved bills to provide relief to drought-stricken areas of the country, including a grant of up to $100,000 to farmers who had lost at least 35% of their crops. The similar bills would be reconciled in a conference committee. Rain in July had eased the drought somewhat.

Football
CFL
British Columbia (2-1) 21 @ Toronto (2-1) 26

10 years ago
1998

Business
Bell Atlantic and GTE announced a $52 billion merger that created Verizon.