December 15, 2008

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Rahim Jaffer!

240 years ago
1778

War
British and French fleets clashed in the Battle of St. Lucia in the West Indies.

230 years ago
1788

Politics and government
Voting began in the first U.S. presidential election.

160 years ago
1858

Transportation
The Nova Scotia Railway opened from Halifax to Truro, covering a distance of about 95 miles.

130 years ago
1888

Born on this date
Maxwell Anderson. U.S. journalist and playwright. Mr. Anderson worked with various newspapers before embarking on a successful career as a playwright, with his first success being What Price Glory? (1924). He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Both Your Houses (1933). Mr. Anderson's other plays included Winterset (1935); High Tor (1937); Key Largo (1939); Anne of the Thousand Days (1948); and The Bad Seed (1954). He died at the age of 70 on February 28, 1959, two days after suffering a stroke.

100 years ago
1908

Born on this date
Gualberto Villarroel López. 46th President of Bolivia, 1943-1946. Major Villaroel took power as de facto President of Bolivia in a coup in 1943 that toppled General Enrique Peñaranda. Major Villaroel proclaimed himself a constitutional president in 1944 and instituted economic reforms, but was suspected of Fascist sympathies. Protests from workers led to a government crackdown, and hostilities escalated into a nationwide revolt that culminated in rebels taking control of the Plaza Murillo in La Paz, the location of the Palacio Quemado (Palace of Government). Major Villaroel resigned, but was assassinated anyway, on July 21, 1946 at the age of 37; his body was thrown over the balcony into a public square and hung from a lamppost. The opposition took control of the government for the next six years.

70 years ago
1938

Americana
Ground was broken for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

60 years ago
1948

War
Israel broke off local truce talks with her Arab neighbours, demanding negotiations for a comprehensive Palestine peace settlement.

Diplomacy
The U.S.S.R. cast its 29th United Nations Security Council veto to prevent Ceylon's admission to the UN.

Defense
U.S. Defense Secretary James Forrestal introduced a number of efficiency measures in the armed forces, including consolidation of all military sea transport under the Navy and common use of recruiting facilities by the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

The U.S. Defense Department announced an agreement by the U.S.S.R. to return 28 frigates and 3 icebreakers borrowed under Lend-Lease during World War II.

Politics and government
Poland's Socialist and Communist Parties merged into a United Workers Party.

Crime
A U.S. federal grand jury in New York indicted former U.S. State Department employee Alger Hiss on two counts of perjury, charging that he had lied in swearing that he had never given State Department documents to Whittaker Chambers, and had not seen Mr. Chambers after entering State Department service in 1946.

Energy
The first known chain reacting uranium pile in a non-English-speaking nation began operation at Fort Chatillon, near Paris.

Economics and finance
The U.S.S.R. and C.S.S.R. announced a $360-million trade agreement for 1949, increasing trade between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia by 45%.

Labour
U.S. Congress of Industrial Organizations President Philip Murray asked the CIO Amalgamated Clothing Workers union to take responsibility for organizing the field controlled by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, due to factionalism in the latter organization.

65 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): To Know Him, is to Love Him--The Teddy Bears (3rd week at #1)

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKWX)
1 The Chipmunk Song--The Chipmunks with David Seville
2 I Got Stung/One Night--Elvis Presley
3 Queen of the Hop--Bobby Darin
4 To Know Him is to Love Him--The Teddy Bears
5 I Got a Feeling/Lonesome Town--Ricky Nelson
6 Problems/Love of My Life--The Everly Brothers
7 Tom Dooley--The Kingston Trio
8 Treasure of Your Love--Eileen Rodgers
9 Bimbombey--Jimmie Rodgers
10 Gotta Travel On--Billy Grammer

Singles entering the chart were Peek-a-Boo by the Cadillacs (#40); Manhattan Spiritual by Reg Owen and Orchestra (#43); Don't Pity Me by Dion and the Belmonts (#53); Dónde Está Santa Claus? by Augie Rios (#56); Stagger Lee by Lloyd Price (#58); I Cried a Tear by LaVern Baker (#59); and Lucky Ladybug by Billy and Lillie (#60).

Died on this date
Wolfgang Pauli, 58. Austro-Hungarian-born Swiss physicist. Dr. Pauli was awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the Exclusion Principle, also called the Pauli principle." The discovery involved spin theory, which is the basis of a theory of the structure of matter. Dr. Pauli also gave his name to the "Pauli effect," due to anecdotes about his ability to break experimental equipment just by being in its vicinity. He was a friend of the biggest figures in physics, including Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and Werner Heisenberg, and was known for expressing his ideas in correspondence rather than in published papers. Dr. Pauli died of pancreatic cancer.

Protest
A mob in Baghdad hurled mud, eggs, and stones at U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Rountree as he arrived for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Karim el-Kassem and leaders of the Iraqi military coup.

Economics and finance
The Organization for European Economic Cooperation, meeting in Paris, failed to resolve differences between Common Market members and non-member states on the creation of a 17-nation European free trade zone.

U.S. farmers voted to retain strict marketing quotas on cotton, rice, and tobacco.

Boxing
Pascual Perez (51-0-1) retained his world flyweight title with a 15-round unanimous decision over Dommy Ursua (19-16-1) at Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila.

40 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in Austria (Ö3): Little Arrows--Leapy Lee (5th week at #1)

Died on this date
Jess Willard, 86. U.S. boxer. Mr. Willard, nicknamed the Pottawatomie Giant, stood 6' 6 1⁄2", and didn't start boxing professionally until he was 29. He knocked out Jack Johnson in the 26th round in Havana on April 5, 1915 to win the world heavyweight title, thereby accomplishing what a host of "White Hopes" had failed to achieve since Mr. Johnson had won the title more than six years earlier. Mr. Willard fought just one title bout after that (a 10-round newspaper decision over Frank Moran in 1916) before being knocked out in 3 rounds by Jack Dempsey in Toledo, Ohio on July 4, 1919. Mr. Willard came out of retirement for two fights in 1923, and then retired permanently after compiling a professional record of 25-7-2. He died two weeks before his 87th birthday.

Antonio Barrette, 69. Canadian politician and diplomat. Mr. Barrette, a member of the Union Nationale, represented Joliette in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec from 1936-1960, and served as Minister of Labour in the governments of Premiers Maurice Duplessis and Paul Sauvé from 1944-1960. On January 8, 1960, six days after the sudden death in office of Mr. Sauvé, Mr. Barrette succeeded him as Premier of Quebec, holding the office until the UN were defeated by the Liberals, led by Jean Lesage, in the provincial election six months later. Mr. Barrette resigned from politics on September 15, 1960; he served as Canadian Ambassador to Greece from 1963-1966.

War
U.S. Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford, speaking on a television program, blamed South Vietnam for the impasse in the procedural peace talks in Paris, saying that the United States delegation had expressed its willingness to "sit down at any kind of table."

Boxing
Nino Benvenuti (78-2-1) retained his world middleweight title with a 15-round unanimous decision over Don Fullmer (47-14-3) at Teatro Ariston in San Remo, Italy.



30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): You're the One that I Want--John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (9th week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): Summer Nights--John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Y.M.C.A.--Village People (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): You're the One that I Want--John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (14th week at #1)

Died on this date
Chill Wills, 76. U.S. actor. Mr. Wills portrayed the voice of Francis the Talking Mule in seven movies from 1950-1956, and was a character actor in numerous other movies. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting performance in The Alamo (1960), but his aggressive campaign for the award turned off many people, and hurt his career. Mr. Wills died of cancer.

On the radio
CBS Radio Mystery Theater, on CFCN in Calgary
Tonight's episode: Diary of a Madman

Space
The Telesat Canada television satellite Anik B1 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Abominations
In a nationally-televised speech, U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States and the People's Republic of China would establish diplomatic relations on January 1, 1979. He said that Chinese Deputy Premier Deng Xiaoping would visit the United States in January as part of the agreement, which was worked out after months of secret negotiations, and was based in large part on the 1972 Shanghai Communique drawn up during President Richard Nixon's visit to China. The agreement also called for the United States to sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan on January 1, 1979 and end its 1954 defense treaty with Taiwan by December 31, 1979.

Diplomacy
After five days of shuttling between Egypt and Israel, U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance was recalled by President Jimmy Carter, with Egypt and Israel still deadlocked on some points of their peace process. Egypt favoured a revision of Article VI of the proposed treaty, which gave the Camp David Accord precedence over any other treaty, because Egypt wanted to be able to honour her mutual defense commitments. Israel opposed the definite setting of a definite date for Gaza Strip and West Bank elections. Mr. Carter expressed dismay at the impasse, warning that further delay could have "far-reaching, adverse effects."

Hockey
WHA
The Edmonton Oilers defeated an all-star team from the U.S.S.R. 5-3 at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton in a game that counted in the World Hockey Association standings.

25 years ago
1983

War
The last 190 U.S. combat troops left Grenada, but 300 non-combat troops remained on the Caribbean island. U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz defended the decision to prevent journalists from covering the first few days of the U.S. invasion of Grenada in the last week of October 1983, saying that reporters "are always against us and so they're always seeking to report something that's going to screw things up."

The U.S. battleship New Jersey fired in support of U.S. Marines under attack from Druze positions in hills near Beirut.

Diplomacy
Arms reduction talks between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Warsaw Pact recessed, with no date set for new negotiations. The Warsaw Pact nations declined to set a new date for continuing the decade-long discussions on reducing conventional forces in central Europe.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the U.S. balance of payments showed a record deficit of $11.98 billion in the third quarter of 1983, greater than the entire deficit for 1982. The U.S. Federal Reserve Board announced that industrial production had risen by 0.8% in November.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Smooth Criminal--Michael Jackson

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): Bring Me Edelweiss--Edelweiss (5th week at #1)

Law
The Supreme Court of Canada struck down sections of Quebec's Bill 101 requiring that commercial signs be in French only, calling the law an unreasonable violation of freedom of expression.

Hockey
NHL
Former Montreal Canadiens' head coach Jean Perron was named head coach of the Quebec Nordiques. He replaced Ron Lapointe, who had been fired after the team had started the 1988-89 season with a record of 11-20-2.

10 years ago
1998

Football
CFL
Kay Stephenson's resignation as head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos became effective.