July 2, 2009

1,590 years ago
419

Born on this date
Valentinian III. Roman Emperor in the West, 425-455. Valentinian III was a descendant of several emperors, and succeeded the usurper Joannes, but was under the regency of his mother Galla Placidia until 437, while imperial policy was under the military leadership of Flavius Aetius. The empire faced military threats from Vandals and Huns; they were thwarted, but Aetius was assassinated in 454, and Emperor Valentinian III was assassinated by Optelas and Thraustelas, two Scythian followers of Aetius, on March 16, 455 at the age of 35, with Petronius Maximus succeeding him as Emperor the following day.

530 years ago
1489

Born on this date
Thomas Cranmer. English clergyman. Dr. Cranmer was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1533-1555, during which period the Church of England, led by King Henry VIII, separated from the Roman Catholic Church. He wrote the first two editions of the Book of Common Prayer. Dr. Cranmer was convicted of treason after Queen Mary I, a Roman Catholic, came to the throne in 1553. He recanted his anti-Catholic writings under duress, but was sentenced to death, anyway. Dr. Cranmer recovered his courage on the last day of his life, saying, "And as for the pope, I refuse him, as Christ's enemy, and Antichrist with all his false doctrine." He was then burned at the stake on March 21, 1556, dying at the age of 66.

190 years ago
1819

Born on this date
Charles-Louis Hanon. French composer. Mr. Hanon was best known for his work The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises (1873). He died on March 19, 1900 at the age of 80.

170 years ago
1839

Protest
20 miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 Mende slaves originally from Sierra Leone led by Joseph Cinqué took over the slave ship La Amistad, which was transporting them from Havana to a smaller port in Cuba.

160 years ago
1849

Born on this date
Maria Theresa of Austria-Este. Queen consort of Bavaria, 1913-1918. Maria Theresa, the only child of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este and Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria, married the future King Ludwig III of Bavaria on February 20, 1868. He succeeded his insane cousin Otto on the throne in 1913, but King Ludwig III was forced to abdicate on November 7, 1918, four days before the World War I armistice. Maria Theresa died just three months later, on February 3, 1919, at the age of 69.

100 years ago
1909

Born on this date
Gil English. U.S. baseball player. Mr. English was an infielder with the New York Giants (1931-1932); Detroit Tigers (1936-1937); Boston Bees (1937-1938); and Brooklyn Dodgers (1944), batting .245 with 8 home runs and 90 runs batted in in 240 games. He played at least 1,787 games in at least 16 seasons in the minor leagues from 1930-1946, hitting at least 127 home runs. His best season was 1939, when he batted .343 with 19 home runs in 139 games with the St. Paul Saints of the AA American Association, and was named the AA's Most Valuable Player. Mr. English died on August 31, 1996 at the age of 87.

Baseball
Harry Krause pitched a 4-hitter to win the pitchers' duel over Smoky Joe Wood to improve his 1909 record to 8-1 as the Philadelphia Athletics edged the Boston Red Sox 1-0 before 5,438 fans at Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds in Boston. Eddie Collins' first home run of the season provided the scoring in the 6th inning.

Tom Hughes pitched a 5-hitter for his first win of the season and singled in the game's first 2 runs in the 5th inning to lead the New York Highlanders to a 3-0 win over the Washington Nationals at Hilltop Park in New York. Walter Johnson allowed 6 hits and 2 runs in 7 innings to take the loss, dropping to 8-9 for 1909.

The Detroit Tigers scored a run in the top of the 12th inning to break a 2-2 tie as they defeated the Cleveland Naps 3-2 at League Park in Cleveland. George Mullin allowed 6 hits and 1 run in 5 1/3 innings of relief to get the win, improving his 1909 record to 15-1. Bob Rhoads allowed 10 hits in pitching a complete game for Cleveland, falling to 2-5.

The Chicago White Sox stole 11 bases in defeating the St. Louis Browns 15-3 at South Side Park in Chicago. The White Sox stole home plate 3 times, with one of the thefts of home coming from winning pitcher Ed Walsh. Barney Reilly played part of the game at second base for Chicago, batting 0 for 1, reaching first base when he was hit by a pitch, with a stolen base and a run. He made 4 assists and an error in his first major league game.

The Philadelphia Phillies scored a run in the bottom of the 11th inning to defeat the Boston Doves 5-4 before 4,600 fans in the first of two games at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. Al Mattern pitched a 2-hitter to win the pitchers' duel over Earl Moore, who pitched a 10-hitter, as the Doves won the second game 3-0. Al Froehlich played part of the second game at catcher for the Phillies, batting 0 for 1 with no fielding chances in his only major league game.

Three Finger Brown pitched a 6-hitter to improve his record for the season to 12-4 as the Chicago Cubs shut out the Pittsburg Pirates 8-0 before 15,417 fans in the first of two games at Forbes Field in Pittsburg. The Pirates won the second game 4-2, with Nick Maddox pitching an 8-hitter for his first win of the season.

The St. Louis Cardinals scored a run in the bottom of the 10th inning to defeat the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

80 years ago
1929

Died on this date
Gladys Brockwell, 34. U.S. actress. Miss Brockwell, born Gladys Lindeman, was a popular leading lady and supporting actress in movies in the 1910s and '20s. Her films included Oliver Twist (1922); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923); and Lights of New York (1928). Miss Brockwell died five days after suffering serious injuries in a car accident.

75 years ago
1934

Died on this date
Ernst Roehm, 46. German Nazi figure. Mr. Roehm, leader of the Sturmabteilung (SA), popularly known as Brownshirts, was the most prominent victim of the Night of the Long Knives, in which potential rivals to Chancellor Adolf Hitler were killed. The death toll was at least 85, and may have been several hundred. While being held at Stadelheim Prison in Munich, Mr. Roehm was given the opportunity to commit suicide, but refused. He was then shot dead by SS officer Michel Lippert.

60 years ago
1949

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): (I'd Like to Get You on a) Slow Boat to China--Kay Kyser and his Orchestra (6th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard) (Best Seller): Riders in the Sky (A Cowboy Legend)--Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra (8th week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Riders in the Sky (A Cowboy Legend)--Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra (5th week at #1)
--Burl Ives
2 Again--Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
--Mel Torme
--Vic Damone
--Doris Day and the Mellomen
3 Some Enchanted Evening--Perry Como
--Bing Crosby
4 Baby, it's Cold Outside--Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer
--Dinah Shore and Buddy Clark
--Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five
--Don Cornell and Laura Leslie
5 Forever and Ever--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra
--Perry Como
6 "A" You're Adorable (The Alphabet Song)--Perry Como with the Fontane Sisters
--Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae
7 Careless Hands--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
--Bing Crosby
--Mel Torme
8 Bali Ha'i--Perry Como
--Bing Crosby
9 I Don't See Me in Your Eyes Anymore--The Stardusters with Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
--Perry Como
10 A Wonderful Guy--Margaret Whiting

Singles entering the chart were You're So Understanding by Evelyn Knight (#30) and Two Little New Little Blue Little Eyes by Gordon MacRae (#32).

On the radio
Tales of Fatima, starring Basil Rathbone, on CBS
Tonight’s episode: The Dark Secret

Died on this date
Georgi Dimitrov, 67. Prime Minister of Bulgaria, 1946-1949; General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, 1948-1949. Mr. Dimitrov had a lengthy career in socialist and Communist politics, much of which was spent in exile in Yugoslavia and then in Germany. In 1933 he was charged with complicity in the Reichstag fire in Berlin, but was acquitted after defending himself at his trial, and was elected head of the Comintern in 1934. Mr. Dimitrov returned to Bulgaria in 1946 and became he leader of the country's Communist Party. He attempted to effect a union with Yugoslavia, but was unsuccessful, and died in a sanatorium near Moscow; conspiracy theories abound.

Politics and government
Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Federation of American Scientists issued a statement opposing the loyalty oath requirement for Atomic Energy Commission fellowship applicants.

Health
The World Health Organization ended its second annual meeting in Rome after voting to admit Israel and South Korea as new members.

Tennis
Americans Ted Schroeder and Louise Brough won the men's and women's singles titles, respectively, at Wimbledon in England.

50 years ago
1959

On television tonight
The Lawless Years, starring James Gregory, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Muddy Kasoff Story

Politics and government
West Germany's Christian Democratic Party announced plans to reshape its structure to prevent recurrence of the recent rift between Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard.

40 years ago
1969

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Something in the Air--Thunderclap Newman

War
United States Defense Secretary Melvin Laird said that Vietnam combat had dropped to possibly "the lowest level" during the war. However, military spokesmen said that northern infiltration through Laos and Cambodia was continuing at about 10,000 per month, following an 8-month average.

Defense
Acting on the basis of a report by international scientists, United Nations Secretary General U Thant called upon all governments to ban the development and stockpiling of chemical and biological weapons.

30 years ago
1979

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Hot Stuff--Donna Summer

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Kimi no Asa--Satoshi Kishida (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Born to Be Alive--Patrick Hernández (4th week at #1)

Law
The United States Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold a ruling in Gannett Co. v. DePasquale that allowed a trial judge to close a pretrial hearing if he found that the due process rights of the accused would be jeopardized by publicity. The majority opinion went beyond pretrial hearings and suggested that judges could exclude the press and public from full-scale criminal trials. An agreement among the defendant, judge, and prosecution would have to be reached before closing the court, but as Associate Justice William Rehnquist said in a concurring opinion, "the trial court is not required by the Sixth Amendment to advance any reason whatsoever for declining to open a pretrial hearing or trial to the public." The Sixth Amendment guarantees the accused "the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury," and the Fourteenth Amendment extended the right to all states. The majority opinion held that the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of a right to a public trial belonged only to the defendant himself and not to members of the public, and could be waived by the defendant: "members of the public have no constitutional right under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to attend criminal trials." Justice Harry Blackmun, in a dissenting opinion, wrote that "secret hearings--though they be scrupulously fair--are suspect by nature." Allen Neuharth, chairman of the American Newspaper Publishers Association, called the ruling "another chilling demonstration that the majority of the Burger court is determined to unmake the Constitution."

The United States Supreme Court upheld sweeping desegregation orders for the school systems of Dayton and Columbus, Ohio, reaffirming a doctrine the court had established in 1973 that stated that district-wide busing of students could be ordered even if only part of the district could be proven to be intentionally segregated by a school board. The decision was also a reaffirmation of the court’s commitment to end segregation in northern school systems.

Disasters
At least 24 people were reported dead in a flash flood that hit the town of Valdepenas in south central Spain.

25 years ago
1984

Politics and government
Eden Pastora Gomez, one of the "Contras" opposing the Sandanista regime in Nicaragua, said that he and his allies would end their military fight against the government and participate in elections if the government would assure that the elections would be fair. The announcement followed reports of a split between Mr. Pastora’s faction and other Contras.

20 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Pop Singer--John Cougar Mellencamp

#1 single in Switzerland: The Look--Roxette (6th week at #1)

Died on this date
Andrei Gromyko, 79. Soviet politician. Mr. Gromyko was Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Soviet Union from 1957-1985 and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1987-1988. He died 16 days before his 80th birthday.

Franklin J. Schaffner, 69. Japanese-born U.S. film director. Mr. Schaffner won the Academy Award for Best Director for Patton (1970). His other movies included The Best Man (1964); Planet of the Apes (1968); Nicholas and Alexandra (1971); and Papillon (1973). Mr. Schaffner died of lung cancer.

Politics and government
In elections for the Tokyo metropolitan assembly, the Liberal Democratic Party, which had led Japan since 1955, won only 43 seats, a drop of 20.

10 years ago
1999

Died on this date
Mario Puzo, 78. U.S. author. Mr. Puzo was best known for his novel The Godfather (1969). He won an Academy Award for his adaptation of the novel for the movie (1972), and collaborated with director Francis Ford Coppola on the screenplays of The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Godfather Part III (1990). Mr. Puzo died of heart failure.

Politics and government
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan announced that French Health Minister Bernard Kouchner would head the UN mission in the Yugoslavian province of Kosovo, re-establishing civil government as a prelude to a return to full self-government.