June 26, 2008

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Beth Stover and Olga!

210 years ago
1798

Died on this date
James Dickey, 22. Irish rebel. Mr. Dickey was a barrister who took part in the rebellion against British rule in 1798. He was captured and hanged in Belfast.

160 years ago
1848

Protest
French authorities suppressed the June Days uprising in Paris, in which workers rioted in response to plans to close the National Workshops.

130 years ago
1878

Died on this date
Mercedes of Orléans, 18. Queen consort of Spain, 1878. Mercedes married King Alfonso XII on January 23, 1878. She soon fell ill with typhoid fever, and died two days after her 18th birthday.

110 years ago
1898

Born on this date
Lewis "Chesty" Puller. U.S. military officer. Lieutenant General Puller served with the U.S. Marine Corps (1918-1955), fighting guerrillas in Haiti and Nicaragua in the 1920s and '30s, and serving in World War II and the Korean War. He retired after suffering a stroke in 1955, and died on October 11, 1971 at the age of 73. Lt. Gen. Puller remains the most decorated Marine in history, earning five Navy Crosses and one Distinguished Service Cross. His son First Lieutenant Lewis Puller, Jr. suffered severe wounds in the Vietnam War, and his son-in-law Colonel William Dabney earned a Navy Cross for his service in Vietnam.

90 years ago
1918

War
The 26-day Battle of Belleau Wood near the Marne River in France ended with American forces under General John J. Pershing and Brigadier General James Harbord defeated Imperial German forces under Crown Prince Wilhelm, finally clearing the forest of German troops.

80 years ago
1928

Died on this date
Tim Murphy. U.S. gangster. "Big Tim" controlled several major railroad, laundry and dye workers' unions during the 1910s and early 1920s. He served time in prison for the robbery of a Pullman mail train in Chicago in 1920. Mr. Murphy was shot to death as he answered the front door of his home; the murder was never solved.

Nitrophan Poplavsky. U.S. clergyman. Rev. Poplavsky, who was from Ansonia, Connecticut, committed suicide by leaping in to Niagara Falls.

World events
Former Hungarian dictator Bela Kun was convicted in Vienna of conspiracy against the state and was sentenced to three months in prison.

Politics and government
The U.S. Democratic National Convention opened at Sam Houston Hall in Houston.

Crime
A prisoner at the reformatory farm in Elmira, New York wounded a guard, and was shot to death, while another prisoner was wounded.

70 years ago
1938

Died on this date
Daria Pratt, 79. U.S. golfer. Miss Pratt won a bronze medal in the women's golf event at the 1900 Summer Olympic Games in Paris. She married Prince Alexis Karageorgevich, a claimant to the throne of Serbia, in 1913.

James Weldon Johnson, 67. U.S. writer and civil rights activist. Mr. Johnson was a major figure in the "Harlem Renaissance"-- a novelist, poet, songwriter, lawyer, and diplomat. He was involved with the National Assocation for the Advancement of Colored People from 1916 through the 1930s.

60 years ago
1948

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard) (Best Seller): Nature Boy--King Cole (7th week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Nature Boy--King Cole (4th week at #1)
--Dick Haymes with the Song Spinners
--Frank Sinatra
--The Sportsmen
2 You Can't Be True, Dear--Ken Griffin
--Dick Haymes with the Song Spinners
--The Sportsmen
--Vera Lynn
--The Marlin Sisters with Eddie Fisher
3 Little White Lies--Dick Haymes
--Dinah Shore
4 Toolie Oolie Doolie (The Yodel Polka)--The Andrews Sisters
--The Sportsmen
--Vaughn Horton and the Polka Debs
5 Woody Wood-Pecker--Kay Kyser and his Orchestra
6 My Happiness--Jon and Sondra Steele
--The Pied Pipers
--Ella Fitzgerald
7 St. Louis Blues March--Tex Beneke and his Orchestra
8 Because--Perry Como
9 The Dickey-Bird Song--Freddy Martin and his Orchestra
6 Haunted Heart--Perry Como
--Jo Stafford

Singles entering the chart were Tea Leaves, with versions by Jack Smith and the Clark Sisters; and the Emile Cote Serenaders (#24); The Maharajah of Magador by Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra (#26); Caramba! It's the Samba by Peggy Lee (#32); and Blue Bird of Happiness by Art Mooney and his Orchestra (#34).

Literature
Shirley Jackson's short story The Lottery was published in The New Yorker.

World events
U.S. authorities doubled daily cargo flights to Berlin in an effort to keep the city's western sectors supplied despite the Soviet blockade.

Politics and government
The Iraqi cabinet was shuffled, with Muzahim al Pachachi as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

Protest
U.S. Negro civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph called for a nationwide campaign of resistance to the new draft law until racial segregation was eliminated in the armed forces.

Society
The American Medical Association ended a seven-day meeting in Chicago after rejecting a proposal of the New York State delegation to bar racial discrimination in accepting members.

Technology
William Shockley filed the original patent for the grown-junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor.

Economics and finance
Western allies fixed the value of the new Deutsche Mark at 10 old Reichsmarks, leaving the currency's foreign exchange rate to float.

50 years ago
1958

At the movies
Indiscreet, produced and directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, opened in theatres.

Died on this date
George Orton, 85. Canadian-born U.S. runner. Dr. Orton, a native of Strathroy, Ontario, was a graduate student in languages at the University of Pennsylvania, and became the first Canadian to win a medal in the Olympic Games, winning the gold medal in the men's 2,500-metre steeplechase and a bronze medal in the 400-metre hurdles in Paris in 1900 while competing for the United States, as Canada did not send a team. He became a professor and coach at the U of P, and wrote many books and articles on running. Dr. Orton was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1977.

Space
The U.S. Navy failed to place the satellite Vanguard SLV-2 into orbit, when the rocket's second stage lost thrust after only 8 seconds of burning, due to fuel line obstruction.

War
Indonesian Army headquarters in Jakarta announced that government troops had taken the last rebel stronghold in Indonesia.

Terrorism
200 Cuban rebels, reportedly led by Raul Castro, invaded the town of Moa in eastern Cuba, kidnapping 12 engineer employees of a U.S.-owned mining firm and seizing trucks, food, and medical supplies.

Scandal
John Fox, lawyer and publisher of the defunct Boston Post, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Special Committee on Legislative Oversight that industrialist Bernard Goldfine had bestowed lavish favours on presidential aide Sherman Adams.

40 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Jumpin' Jack Flash--The Rolling Stones (2nd week at #1)

Australia's top 10 (Go-Set)
1 The Unicorn--The Irish Rovers (3rd week at #1)
2 Honey--Bobby Goldsboro
3 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly--Hugo Montenegro, his Orchestra and Chorus
4 This Guy's in Love with You--Herb Alpert
5 Lazy Sunday--Small Faces
6 A Man Without Love (Quando M'innamoro)--Engelbert Humperdinck
7 If I were a Carpenter--Four Tops
8 The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp--O.C. Smith
9 Mrs. Robinson--Simon and Garfunkel
10 U.S. Male/Stay Away--Elvis Presley

Singles entering the chart were Angel of the Morning by Merrilee Rush (#19); Yummy Yummy Yummy by Ohio Express (#36); and Mony Mony by Tommy James and the Shondells (#37).

Japanica
The United States returned the Bonin Islands and Iwo Jima to Japan, per the agreement signed in Tokyo in April.

Diplomacy
George Ball replaced Arthur Goldberg as U.S. permanent representative at the United Nations.

Law
U.S. President Lyndon Johnson announced the resignation of Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, 77, who resigned "solely because of age" after 14 years in the position. President Johnson announced the nomination of Supreme Court Associate Justice Abe Fortas, 58, to succeed Chief Justice Warren, and Judge Homer Thornberry of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to succeed Justice Fortas. Chief Justice Warren's resignation was to take effect upon the appointment of his successor.

30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): You're the One that I Want--John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Jikan yo Tomare--Eikichi Yazawa (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Night Fever--Bee Gees (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Salim Rubai Ali, 43 (?). Chairman of the Presidential Council of South Yemen, 1969-1978. Mr. Rubai Ali led the left wing of the National Front for the Liberation of South Yemen (NF), which forced the British to withdraw from South Yemen in November 1967. He served as head of state until he was deposed by Prime Minister Ali Nasir Muhammad and executed after a short battle. Mr. Rubai Ali's execution took place two days after the assassination of Yemeni President Ahmad al-Ghashmi.

Personal
It was this blogger's last day in Yellowknife, and a beautiful and enjoyable day it was. Most of the afternoon was spent with a certain lovely young lady sitting in her back yard. There was nowhere else I would rather have been, and no one else I would rather have been with.

Diplomacy
Two accused Soviet spies were released in Washington on $2 million bail each, in the care of U.S.S.R. Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Dobrynin.

Terrorism
A bomb exploded at the 17th-century palace at Versailles, wrecking three of the 14 ground-floor rooms and causing $1 million in damage to the masonry alone. The Breton Republican Army, a branch of the Breton Liberation Front, claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Journalism
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the press had no "constitutional right of access" to prisons beyond the rights of all citizens.

Disasters
Air Canada Flight 189, a DC-9 flying to Winnipeg from Toronto, overran the runway on takeoff and crashed into the Etobicoke Creek ravine, killing 2 of the 107 passengers on board.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Blue Monday ‘88--New Order

#1 single in Switzerland: Im Nin'Alu--Ofra Haza