February 25, 2010

440 years ago
1570

Religion
Elizabeth I, Queen of England, was excommunicated by Pope Pius V.

400 years ago
1610

Canadiana
Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt set sail from Dieppe, France for Acadia, to re-occupy the settlement of Port Royal in what is now Nova Scotia. On board was 17-year-old Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour, returning to Acadia for the second time.

140 years ago
1870

Politics and government
Hiram R. Revels (Republican-Mississippi) became the first black member of the United States Senate as he was sworn in to fill a vacancy that had existed since Mississippi's secession from the Union in 1861. Mr. Revels had been elected to the U.S. Senate on January 25 by an 81-15 vote of the Mississippi State Senate, but was opposed by southern Democrats. The Republican-dominated U.S. Senate voted 48-8 in his favour on February 25, whereupon Mr. Revels was sworn in.

130 years ago
1880

Disasters
New Brunswick’s first Legislative Assembly building, Province Hall, was destroyed by fire in Fredericton. Located on the site of the current building, the cornerstone of Province Hall had been laid by Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Carleton in 1799.

100 years ago
1910

Born on this date
Millicent Fenwick. U.S. politician. Mrs. Fenwick, a Republican, represented New Jersey's 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1975-1983 before serving as United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture from 1983-1987. She died on September 16, 1992 at the age of 82.

Died on this date
Worthington Whittredge, 89. U.S. artist. Mr. Whittredge was a landscape painter of the Hudson River School.

70 years ago
1940

On television tonight
The New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6-2 at Madison Square Garden in New York in the world's first televised hockey game, broadcast on Westinghouse station W2XBS-TV in New York.

War
Foreign ministers of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden announced that their countries would act as a unit to gain the belligerents' respect for their neutral rights. Japan began constructing extensive fortifications in the Shanghai and Tsingtao areas, indicating her desire to hold the Chinese sea coast.

Diplomacy
Francis B. Sayre, high commissioner of the Philippines, said that the United States would leave the islands as scheduled in 1946.

Politics and government
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt left his name on the Illinois Democratic primary ballot for President of the United States in 1940, to face Vice President John Nance "Cactus Jack" Garner. In the Republican Party, New York District Attorney Thomas Dewey became the only candidate, as New York Congressman Hamilton Fish and New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia withdrew their names.

Economics and finance
The U.S. National Economy League issued a plan for a balanced federal budget of $7.282 billion.

60 years ago
1950

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): "A" You're Adorable--Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters; Tony Pastor (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy--Red Foley (Best Seller--2nd week at #1; Disc Jockey--1st week at #1; Jukebox--3rd week at #1);

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy--Red Foley
--Bing Crosby
2 Rag Mop--The Ames Brothers
--Ralph Flanagan and his Orchestra
--Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra
--Johnnie Lee Wills and his Boys
3 There’s No Tomorrow--Tony Martin
4 Dear Hearts and Gentle People--Bing Crosby
--Dinah Shore
5 Johnson Rag--Jack Teter Trio
--Jimmy Dorsey and his Original "Dorseyland" Jazz Band
--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra
6 The Old Master Painter--Dick Haymes
--Richard Hayes
--Phil Harris and his Orchestra
7 I Can Dream, Can’t I?--The Andrews Sisters
8 Music! Music! Music!--Teresa Brewer with the Dixieland All Stars
9 The Cry of the Wild Goose--Frankie Laine
10 I Said My Pajamas (And Put on My Pray’rs)--Tony Martin and Fran Warren

Singles entering the chart were Have I Told You Lately that I Love You? by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters (#30); Big Movie Show in the Sky (#37)/The Yodel Blues (#39) by Bing Crosby; and Big Movie Show in the Sky (#37)/The Yodel Blues (#39) by the Modernaires (both sides charting with the versions by Bing Crosby). Have I Told You Lately that I Love You? was the other side of Quicksilver, charting at #17.

On television tonight
The variety program Your Show of Shows, starring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, was broadcast for the first time, as the second half of the two-hour program Saturday Night Review.

Died on this date
George Minot, 64. U.S. physician. Dr. Minot shared the 1934 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with George Whipple and William Parry Murphy "for their discoveries concerning liver therapy in cases of anaemia." Dr. Minot began developing complications associated with diabetes in 1940, and suffered a serious stroke in 1947, which partially paralyzed him.

Defense
The U.S. Defense Department announced plans to buy more B-36 bombers and increase the size of Air Force B-29 groups from 30-65 planes each.

Politics and government
The U.S.S.R. announced the creation of a separate Navy Ministry under Admiral Ivan Yumashev. The Armed Forces Ministry became the Ministry of the Army.

Football
NFL
Doak Walker, who had starred as a halfback for three years at Southern Methodist University, signed a three-year contract with the Detroit Lions for $38,000.

50 years ago
1960

Hit parade
#1 single in Norway (VG-lista): Er du glad i meg ennå, Karl Johan?--Nora Brockstedt (3rd week at #1)

On television tonight
The Untouchables, starring Robert Stack, on ABC
Tonight's episode: The Unhired Assassin: Part 1, with guest stars Joe Mantell, Claude Akins, and Robert Middleton

40 years ago
1970

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): I Want You Back--The Jackson 5

On television tonight
Then Came Bronson, starring Michael Parks, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Still Waters

Diplomacy
French President Georges Pompidou addressed a joint session of the United States Congress, and received a courteous reception and a good turnout, despite a threatened boycott of some members.



War
U.S. Senator Charles Mathias (Republican--Maryland) charged that United States military activities in Laos clearly "violate the spirit" of Congressional measures seeking to bar the use of American ground troops in Laos. Sen. Mathias cited a report that hundreds of former Green Beret troops had been hired by the CIA to serve in Laos. Other Senators, Republican and Democratic, joined in the criticism.

Protest
In a second night of rioting, a student mob protesting the Vietnam war at the Santa Barbara campus of the University of California spread to the adjoining community of Isla Vista and burned down a Bank of America branch, along with other buildings and a police car. They also pelted police with bottles, bricks, and Molotov cocktails. After 26 policemen were injured and 36 people arrested, California Governor Ronald Reagan declared a state of "extreme emergency" and called in the National Guard. Earlier in the day, William Kunstler, chief attorney for the "Chicago Seven," had addressed the students, and Gov. Reagan asked the state’s attorney general to determine whether Mr. Kunstler had crossed state lines to incite a riot. The students said that the riots were in protest against the administration’s failure to reinstate a professor who had been fired and against alleged abuses, such as rent gouging, in the community.

Crime
After 12 days of unruly sessions in the preliminary hearings of 13 Black Panthers charged the previous April with plotting to bomb public places, possession of illegal weapons, attempted murder, and attempted arson, New York Supreme Court Justice John Murtagh ordered a recess until the defendants promised in writing that they would observe proper courtroom behaviour.

After nine hours of deliberation by an all-white jury, three white Detroit policemen and a Negro private guard were acquitted of conspiracy to violate the civil rights of 10 occupants of the Algiers Motel during the Detroit riots in which three Negro men were found dead in the motel annex on July 26, 1967. The acquitted were suspended patrolmen Ronald August, David Senak, and Robert Paille. The guard was Melvin Dismukes. The prosecution had charged the men with use of excessive force in obtaining information about sniping during the riots.

Politics and government
The United States Supreme Court voted 5-3 to require most--and possibly all--elected local governmental units to be elected according to nearly equal population districts. The ruling requiring one-man, one-vote was addressed to school board elections.

30 years ago
1980

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Crazy Little Thing Called Love--Queen

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Daitokai--Crystal King (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Man Gave Names to All the Animals--Bob Dylan (4th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Sun of Jamaica--Goombay Dance Band (3rd week at #1)

Economics and finance
U.S. President Jimmy Carter said that inflation had "reached a crisis stage," and pointed to the failure of Congress to adopt a comprehensive energy policy as a major cause of the situation.

Statistics on the clothing industry in Quebec reported that as of 1977, the province accounted for 64.1% of Canada's output. The sector was mainly concentrated in the Montreal region, and employed mainly a female workforce. In 1979, there were 1,500 establishments in the province of Quebec, providing employment to 61,194 people.

Hockey
NHL
The Edmonton Oilers traded right wing Bobby Schmautz to the Colorado Rockies for forward Don Ashby. Mr. Schmautz had begun the season with the Boston Bruins, and was traded to the Oilers on December 10, 1979. In 29 games with Edmonton he scored 8 goals and 8 assists. The trade reunited Mr. Schmautz with head coach Don Cherry, who had coached Mr. Schmautz with the Bruins from 1974-79. Mr. Ashby had been the Toronto Maple Leafs' first draft choice in 1975, but had never fulfilled the promise that the Maple Leafs had thought that he'd possessed. He had 1 assist in 11 games with the Rockies in 1979-80, and 27 goals and 27 assists in 45 games with the Fort Worth Texans of the Central Hockey League.

20 years ago
1990

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Welcome to Our World--John Grenell (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Nothing Compares 2 U--Sinéad O'Connor

Austria's Top 10 (Ö3)
1 Bakerman--Laid Back (2nd week at #1)
2 All Around the World--Lisa Stansfield
3 Get Up! (Before the Night is Over)--Technotronic
4 Sit and Wait--Sydney Youngblood
5 Rich in Paradise "Going Back to My Roots"--F.P.I. Project
6 Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins
7 Don't Know Much--Linda Ronstadt (featuring Aaron Neville)
8 Got to Get--Rob 'n' Raz featuring Leila K.
9 Leave a Light On--Belinda Carlisle
10 Nothing Compares 2 U--Sinéad O'Connor

The only single entering the chart was Nothing Compares 2 U.

Politics and government
The National Opposition Union (UNO) defeated the Sandanista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in the Nicaraguan general election, ending more than 10 years of Sandanista rule. Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, who belonged to no party, defeated President Daniel Ortega 55%-41%, and the UNO also won more seats in the National Assembly, taking 51 of 92 seats to 39 for the Sandanistas. The 1978 assassination of Mrs. Chamorro’s husband, an editor, had helped to provoke the overthrow of the regime of President Anastasio Somoza by the Sandanistas in 1979, but Mrs. Chamorro, who initially supported the FSLN, turned against them as they shifted more toward Marxism. Dissatisfaction with the economy was regarded as the prime factor in the defeat of the Sandanistas. 2,000 foreign observers monitored the election. A few days before the election, the Edmonton Journal published an editorial warning the United States to abide by the results of the election; the Journal apparently wasn’t expecting the FSLN to lose.

Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa told provincial Liberals at a party general council meeting that Quebec would not return to the Canadian constitutional bargaining table if the Meech Lake accord failed. The party agreed to establish a committee to start examining the province’s options if the accord was not ratified by the June 25 deadline. Although he did not specifically advocate provincial independence if Meech Lake failed, Mr. Bourassa said that Quebec would not "practice federalism on our knees." Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon, whose province had not yet approved the accord, described Mr. Bourassa’s action as "sabre-rattling." Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells said that Mr. Bourassa was bluffing, and that Newfoundland would not be influenced by the action.

Diplomacy
U.S. President George Bush and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl concluded two days of talks. At a press conference they endorsed the concept of a united Germany within NATO. Mr. Bush said that the United States formally recognized the current German-Polish border. Some Poles were concerned that a united Germany might want to regain territory ceded to Poland after World War II.

Protest
Hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets in more than 30 cities in the U.S.S.R.

Hockey
NHL
Calgary 10 Edmonton 4

10 years ago
2000

Crime
A jury of eight whites and four Negroes acquitted four white New York City police officers on all charges in the shooting death of Amadou Diallo in February 1999. Mr. Diallo, an unarmed Negro native of Guinea, was struck by 19 of 41 shots fired at him in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment building. He had begun to remove a wallet from his apartment; police said they thought it was a gun. The policemen were originally charged with two counts of second-degree murder, but lesser charges, including manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, were added during the trial. The prosecution contended that the officers had fired at Mr. Diallo without identifying themselves or giving any verbal warnings. The defense denied this and called the incident a "tragedy, not a crime." The not-guilty verdict prompted demonstrations against the police in the Bronx and elsewhere.

Business
BCE Inc. announced an offer to buy broadcaster CTV for $2.3 billion.