June 6, 2008

325 years ago
1683

Britannica
Elias Ashmole opened the first publis museum in England, and possibly the world: The Ashmolean, in Oxford.

200 years ago
1808

Europeana
Joseph Bonaparte, brother of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, was crowned King of Spain.

140 years ago
1868

Born on this date
Robert Falcon Scott. U.K. explorer. Captain Scott was best known for his two expeditions to Antarctica: the Discovery Expedition (1901-1904), which was successful, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition (1910-1913), in which the Scott party was beaten by Roald Amundsen in an attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole, and then froze to death on the way back. Capt. Scott was the last of his party to die, probably on March 29 or 30, 1912 at the age of 48. The bodies were discovered by a search party eight months later.

120 years ago
1888

Baseball
Henry Porter pitched a no-hitter for the Kansas City Blues as they blanked the Baltimore Orioles 4-0 at Union Park in Baltimore.

80 years ago
1928

Diplomacy
Harry Thaw, the wealthy American playboy who had killed architect Stanford White in 1906, arrived in London aboard a steamship, four years after being declared sane and regaining his freedom. The British Home Office refused him permission to land; he went to France; thence to Vienna, and finally back to the United States.

Scandal
Arthur K. Reading resigned as Attorney General of Massachusetts, the day after the state's House of Representatives voted 196-18 to impeach him after he accepted $60,000 worth of bribes, the largest being a $25,000 bribe from Decimo Club, Inc. The vote to impeach was the first such action taken in Massachusetts in 148 years.

Religion
It was reported that the Episcopal Church in Scotland had eliminated the word "obey" from its marriage service. The Provisional Synod, which had been revising the canons and prayer book in use in Scotland, decided by majority vote of the Upper and Lower Houses to substitute the words: "Wilt thou love him and comfort him?" for "Wilt thou obey him and serve him?" They also decided that instead of the woman promising to "love, cherish and obey" she should undertake "to love and to cherish."

Economics and finance
A commercial treaty between the United States and Norway was signed in Washington.

75 years ago
1933

Americana
The world's first drive-in movie theatre opened in Camden, New Jersey.

60 years ago
1948

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring John Stanley and Alfred Shirley, on MBS
Tonight's episode: The Complicated Poisoning at Eel Pie Island

Politics and government
Galo Plaza Lasso, candidate of the National Democratic Civic Movement (MCDN) won a narrow victory in the Ecuadorian presidential election, taking 41.1% of the vote to 39.9% for Conservative Party (PC) candidate Manuel Flor Torres and 19.0% for Socialist Party-Broad Front (PLRE-PSE) candidate Camilo Ponce Enríquez.

A Roper Poll survey indicated that U.S. Army General (Retired) Dwight D. Eisenhower would defeat U.S. President Harry Truman 53%-26% in a current presidential election if he ran as the Republican nominee, and would defeat any Republican candidate if he ran as a Democrat.

50 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Who's Sorry Now--Connie Francis (4th week at #1)

On television tonight
Harbor Command, starring Wendell Corey
Tonight's episode: Lobster Smuggling

War
3,000 Muslim guerrillas attacked Lebanese government forces in the Tripoli-Halba area of northern Lebanon.

Politics and government
French Prime Minister Charles de Gaulle ordered the All-Algeria Committee of Public Safety to withdraw from political activity.

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated John McCone, a Republican businessman from Los Angeles, to succeed Lewis Strauss as chairman of the Atomic Energy Committee.

Economics and finance
Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, in a commencement address at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, proposed a program of U.S.-Canadian economic cooperation, including joint action against unemployment.

Labour
The U.S. Senate Labor Committee approved the Kennedy-Ives labour reform bill, providing for fedeal supervision of contested union elections.

Boxing
Virgil Akins (49-17-1) scored a technical knockout of Vince Martinez (60-6) at 52 seconds of the 4th round to win the world welterweight championship at St. Louis Arena. The title had been vacant since 1957, when Carmen Basilio relinquished the title in order to move up to the middleweight division.

40 years ago
1968

Died on this date
Kâzım Özalp, 87. Turkish military officer and politician. General Özalp served in the Balkan Wars and World War I, and was a leading figure in the Turkish War of Independence. He was Turkey's Minister of National Defence from 1922-1924 and 1935-1939, and was Speaker of the Turkish Parliament from 1935-1939.

Randolph Churchill, 57. U.K. journalist and politician. Mr. Churchill, the son of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, was a reporter and columnist for various London newspapers and wrote the first two volumes of his father's biography. A Conservative, he won an uncontested by-election in Preston and represented the riding in the House of Commons from 1940-1945. Randolph Churchill, however, never won a contested election, in no small part because he could not conceal his dislike of the voters. He was best known for his unpleasant disposition, exacerbated by heavy drinking, which made him many enemies. Randolph Churchill eventually smoked and drank himself to death, dying of a heart attack in his sleep, nine days after his 57th birthday.

Robert F. Kennedy, 42. U.S. politician. Mr. Kennedy, a Democrat and the younger brother of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, was an attorney who worked with Senator Joseph McCarthy (Republican--Wisconsin) in the 1950s, and then served as Attorney General in the administrations of his brother and Lyndon Johnson (1961-1964). Mr. Kennedy was elected to the United States Senate in 1964, representing New York. His opposition to President Johnson's Vietnam policy led him to launch a campaign in March 1968 for the Democratic Party U.S. Presidential nomination. Sen. Kennedy won the California Democratic primary on June 4, and had just finished making his victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles shortly after midnight on June 5 when he took a shortcut through the kitchen on his way out and was shot by Sirhan Sirhan. Sen. Kennedy died about 25 1/2 hours after being shot.





30 years ago
1978

On television tonight
20/20, hosted by Harold Hayes and Robert Hughes, on ABC

This was the first broadcast of the long-running newsmagazine program. It was such as disaster that Messrs. Hayes and Hughes were fired, and Hugh Downs took over as host for the next week's broadcast.



Law
The U.S. Supreme Court voted 7-2 to overturn a 1961 ruling and end the immunity of municipalities from civil rights lawsuits.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): The Flame--Cheap Trick (2nd week at #1)

Labour
About two million black South Africans began a three-day strike in protest against a law before Parliament that would curb wildcat strikes, outlaw sympathy strikes, and possibly open striking unions to lawsuits. The strike was led by the Congress of South African Trade Unions, supported by the National Council of Trade Unions. It was believed to be the biggest strike in South African history.

10 years ago
1998

Horse racing
Canadian-born Victory Gallop, with Gary Stevens up, won the 130th running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park, New York, in a time of 2:29.16, finishing inches ahead of Real Quiet and spoiling the latter horse's bid for the Triple Crown. Victory Gallop had placed second in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.