March 11, 2010

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Tim Sproule!

240 years ago
1770

Born on this date
William Huskisson. U.K. politician. Mr. Huskisson, a Tory, was a financier before entering politics, representing various ridings in the House of Commons in a career spanning more than 30 years, and holding offices such as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies (1827-1828). He was 60 and attending the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Parkside station on September 15, 1830 when he stumbled between two trains, and was struck by the locomotive Rocket, suffering injuries that proved fatal several hours later. Mr. Huskisson was the first widely-reported passenger railway fatality.

225 years ago
1785

Born on this date
John McLean. U.S. judge and politician. Mr. McLean was a member of several political parties, and was a Democratic-Republican when he represented Ohio's 1st District in the U.S. House of Representatives (1813-1816). While still a Congressman, he was elected an Associate Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, and resigned his seat, serving on the court from 1816-1822. Mr. McLean subsequently served as Commissioner of the General Land Office (1822-1823); U.S. Postmaster General (1823-1829); and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1829-1861). His opinions favoured economic nationalism and opposed slavery; he was one of the two dissenting justices in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), in which the majority ruled that Negroes were not citizens of the United States and had no rights that white men were bound to respect. Mr. McLean died on April 4, 1861, 24 days after his 76th birthday, and was the last surviving member of the cabinets of U.S. Presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams.

190 years ago
1820

Died on this date
Benjamin West, 81. American-born U.K. artist. Mr. West, a native of Pennsylvania, painted historical scenes; his most notable painting was The Death of General Wolfe (1770). He travelled to Italy in 1760, and settled in England in 1763, adding religious works to his other paintings.

160 years ago
1850

Canadiana
Richard Blanshard arrived on Vancouver Island to take up his post as the colony's first Governor.

140 years ago
1870

Died on this date
Moshoeshoe I, 84 (?). King of Basotho, 1822-1870. Moshoeshoe I, the son of a minor chief, formed his own clan in the early 1820s, reigning in Basutoland (now Lesotho). He ceded much territory in a treaty with Britain in the late 1840s, but never suffered a major military defeat, and retained most of his kingdom and all of his culture. Moshoeshoe I was succeeded on the throne by Letsie I.

130 years ago
1880

Born on this date
Harry H. Laughlin. U.S. eugenicist. Mr. Laughlin was director of the Eugenics Record Office from 1910-1939, and was a key figure in influencing the passage of legislation requiring compulsory sterilization of people deemed "unfit" to have children. The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring passed by Germany's Nazi regime shortly after assuming power in 1933 was based on the model devised by Mr. Laughlin. Ironically, Mr. Laughlin would have qualified for sterilization according to his own standards--he was an epileptic. He died on January 26, 1943 at the age of 62.

120 years ago
1890

Born on this date
Vannevar Bush.. U.S. engineer. Dr. Bush was head of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) during World War II, and thus oversaw almost all military research and development. He co-founded Raytheon Company and devised the memex, a forerunner of the World Wide Web. Dr. Bush died on June 28, 1974 at the age of 84.

80 years ago
1930

Americana
William Howard Taft, who had died three days earlier, became the first U.S. President to be buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.



70 years ago
1940

On the radio



The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on NBC
Tonight’s episode: The Retired Colourman

War
Brazilian President Getulio Vargas announced his nation's neutrality in the European war. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain told the House of Commons that the Allies would immediately help Finland in her war against the U.S.S.R. if asked to do so by the Finnish government. Japanese Foreign Minister Hachiro Arita announced that he had abandoned the idea that he could alter America's attitude toward Japan's aims in China.

Diplomacy
U.S. Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles met in London with King George VI and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

Economics and finance
Diplomatic sources in Buenos Aires indicated that Japan and Argentina would sign a trade treaty within a month.

Politics and government
The United States Senate defeated the proposed Brown amendment to extend coverage of the Hatch Act, whose main provision prohibited most employees in the executive branch of the federal government from engaging in certain political activities.

U.S. Postmaster General James Farley withdrew his name from the Ohio primary for the 1940 Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States.

Law
The United Kingdom announced that it would no longer submit to the judgement of the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned an Alabama court decision to execute David Canty, a Negro, for the murder of a white woman, on the grounds that he had been coerced into confessing.

Labour
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a National Labor Relations Board decision ordering the American Manufacturing Company of New York to dissolve a company union.

Medicine
Doctors at Montefiore Hospital in New York reported the development of a hormone to prevent surgical shock.

60 years ago
1950

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Forever And Ever--Perry Como; Russ Morgan and his Orchestra (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy--Red Foley (Best Seller--4th week at #1; Jukebox--5th week at #1); The Cry of the Wild Goose--Frankie Laine (Disc Jockey--1st week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy--Red Foley (3rd week at #1)
--Bing Crosby
2 Music! Music! Music!--Teresa Brewer with the Dixieland All Stars
3 Rag Mop--The Ames Brothers
--Ralph Flanagan and his Orchestra
--Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra
--Johnnie Lee Wills and his Boys
4 I Said My Pajamas (And Put on My Pray’rs)--Tony Martin and Fran Warren
5 Dear Hearts and Gentle People--Bing Crosby
--Dinah Shore
6 There’s No Tomorrow--Tony Martin
7 The Cry of the Wild Goose--Frankie Laine
8 Daddy’s Little Girl--Dick Todd
--The Mills Brothers
9 Johnson Rag--Jimmy Dorsey and his Original "Dorseyland" Jazz Band
--Jack Teter Trio
--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra
10 Bamboo--Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra

Singles entering the chart were If I Knew You were Comin' (I'd've Baked a Cake) by Eileen Barton with the New Yorkers (#28); It's So Nice to Have a Man Around the House by Dinah Shore (#29); Dearie, with versions by Ray Bolger and Ethel Merman; and Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians; Dearie (#31)/Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (I Love You) (#39) by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae; The Gods were Angry with Me by Margaret Whiting and Jimmy Wakely (#35); Candy and Cake, with versions by Arthur Godfrey; and Mindy Carson (#37); and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (I Love You) by Bill Lawrence (#39, charting with the version by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae). The Gods were Angry with Me was the other side of Broken Down Merry-Go-Round, charting at #22.

Died on this date
Charles Windolph, 98. U.S. soldier. Sergeant Windolph joined the U.S. Army in 1871, and participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876, and earned the Medal of Honor for his actions in the battle, providing cover for his comrades as they went to get water for the wounded. Sgt. Windolph was discharged from the Army in 1883, and worked at the Homestake Mine in South Dakota for 49 years. He was the last surviving white participant in the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Heinrich Mann, 78. German-born author. Mr. Mann, the older brother of novelist Thomas Mann, was also a novelist. He was best known for Der Untertan (1905) and Professor Unrat (1905), the latter of which was adapted into the movie Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel) (1930). He was one of the public figures who signed the "Urgent Call for Unity" in 1932, asking German voters to reject the Nazi Party. Mr. Mann fled Germany shortly after the Nazis came to power in 1933, moving first to France, and eventually settling in the United States. He died in Santa Monica, California, 16 days before his 79th birthday and several months before he was scheduled to move to East Germany to become president of the German Academy of Arts.

Arthur J. Dempster, 63. Canadian-born U.S. physicist. Dr. Dempster, a native of Toronto, taught at the University of Chicago from 1916 until his death. In 1918, he developed the first modern mass spectrometer, a scientific apparatus allowing physicists to identify compounds by the mass of elements in a sample, and determine the isotopic composition of elements in a sample. Dr. Dempster discovered the uranium isotope U-235 in 1935, which led to the development of the atomic bomb; Dr. Dempster worked on the Manhattan Project atomic bomb project during World War II.

Asiatica
West, Central, and East Java, West Sumatra, and Madura and Sabang Islands merged to form a single state within the United States of Indonesia.

Defense
The U.S.A. extended its military aid agreement with the Philippines, due to expire in 1951, to 1953.

A Gallup Poll reported that 23% of Americans opposed any attempt to reach an atomic control agreement with the U.S.S.R.

Archaeology
Archaeologists announced the discovery of a clay tablet recording the oldest known murder trial--a 3,800-year-old case--in the Iraqi ruins of ancient Nippur.

Labour
The International Labor Organization granted consultative status to the International Federation of Free Trade Unions.

An 11-day strike of 4,600 American Airlines ground employees ended after the Congress of Industrial Organizations Transport Workers Union dropped its demand for a 20c hourly wage increase.

50 years ago
1960

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Poor Me--Adam Faith

On television tonight
The Twilight Zone, on CBS
Tonight’s episode: A World of Difference, starring Howard Duff, Eileen Ryan, and David White

Died on this date
Roy Chapman Andrews, 76. U.S. paleontologist and explorer. Dr. Andrews was known for his palentological expeditions to Asia in the 1910s and '20s as a proponent of the "out of Asia" view of man's origin. He was best known for his expeiditons to China and Mongolia in the early 1920s, which resulted in the first known discovery of fossil dinosaur eggs. A fossil species of rhinoceros that he discovered in 1922 was named Andrewsarchus in his honour. Dr. Andrews' books included On The Trail of Ancient Man (1926); The New Conquest of Central Asia (1932); and All About Dinosaurs (1953).

Space
The United States launched the satellite Pioneer 5, whose purpose was to study corpuscular radiation and micrometeoroids.



40 years ago
1970

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Wand'rin' Star--Lee Marvin (2nd week at #1)

On television tonight
Then Came Bronson, starring Michael Parks, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Ninety-Nine Mile Circle

Died on this date
Erle Stanley Gardner, 80. U.S. author. Mr. Gardner was a lawyer who drew on his experience to create his most famous character, the defense lawyer Perry Mason. The Perry Mason novels inspired a series of movies from 1934-1937; a radio series that ran from 1943-1955; and a television series, starring Raymond Burr, that ran from 1957-1966. Mr. Gardner wrote 140 books, with total sales of about 170 million copies in the United States alone by the time of his death. So popular were his novels at one point that he began publishing under the pseudonym A.A. Fair in order both to avoid overexposure and to see if it was his work or just his name that was selling. Mr. Gardner also created Christopher London, a radio detective series starring Glenn Ford that aired on NBC in 1950.

Terrorism
A bomb blew a 30-foot hole in a brisk wall and tore out the corner of the Dorchester County Court House in Cambridge, Maryland, which was originally scheduled to be the site for the trials of H. Rap Brown, who was facing charges of arson and incitement to riot. The trial had already been moved to Bel Air, Maryland. An unidentified white woman was sought in the bombing.

War
Arguing that "the Senate must not remain silent now while the President uses the armed forces of the United States to fight an undeclared and undisclosed war in Laos," U.S. Senator J. W. Fulbright (Democrat--Arkansas) proposed a Senate resolution challenging President Richard Nixon’s authority to commit American forces to combat in or over Laos without "affirmative action" by Congress. Such a resolution would not be binding.

Hockey
NHL
New York 3 @ Montreal 5

Larry Mickey's goal in the 2nd period gave the Canadiens a 4-1 lead, and proved to be the winner as they beat the Rangers at the Montreal Forum in the national Wednesday night Hockey Night in Canada telecast on CTV. Mr. Mickey's goal came 19 seconds after Tim Horton had scored his first goal in a New York uniform to get the Rangers on the scoreboard. Larry Pleau opened the scoring for Montreal with his first National Hockey League goal. Montreal defenceman Serge Savard broke his left leg in two places when he slid into the goal post in an attempt to check Vic Hadfield in the 3rd period on a play that resulted in the last New York goal. Highlights from the game can be seen on the following video from approximately 45:22-49:06.



30 years ago
1980

Died on this date
Chandra Bhanu Gupta, 77. Indian politician. Mr. Gupta, a member of the Indian National Congress Party, served three terms as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (1960-1963, March-April 1967, 1969-1970).

Politics and government
U.S. presidential primaries took place for the Democratic and Republican Parties in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. President Jimmy Carter won 61% of the vote and 74 delegates to the Democratic National Convention to just 23% and 25 delegates for Senator Ted Kennedy. In his native Georgia, Mr. Carter won 88% and 62 delegates to 9% and 1 delegate for Sen. Kennedy. President Carter completed the sweep by taking 82% of the vote and 43 delegates in Alabama to 13% and 2 delegates for Sen. Kennedy. Former California Governor Ronald Reagan won 57% of the vote in Florida and all 51 delegates to the Republican National Convention. George Bush won 30% of the vote and Rep. John Anderson 9%. Mr. Reagan won 73% and 36 delegates in Georgia to 13% for Mr. Bush and 9% for Mr. Anderson. Mr. Reagan completed his sweep by taking 70% of the vote and 18 delegates to 26% and 9 delegates for Mr. Bush.

War
Pakistani military sources said that Soviet troops were continuing their drive to oust Afghan rebels in the eastern province of Kunar, after gaining control of the road along the Kunar River Valley. These sources reported, however, that insurgents remained in control of every mountain pass leading from Kunar into northern Pakistan.

Crime
Jean Harris was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Dr. Herman Tarnower the previous day at his home in Purchase, New York.

Hockey
NHL
The Edmonton Oilers, fighting to make the playoffs in their first season in the National Hockey League, traded their captain, Ron Chipperfield, to the Quebec Nordiques for goalie Ron Low. In 67 games with the Oilers, Mr. Chipperfield scored 18 goals and 19 assists. Mr. Low had split the season between the Nordiques and Syracuse of the American Hockey League. In 15 games with Quebec he posted a goals-against average of 3.70.

25 years ago
1985

Politics and government
Mikhail Gorbachev, who at 54 was the youngest member of the Politburo, succeeded the late Konstantin Chernenko as leader of the U.S.S.R.

20 years ago
1990

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Don't Make Me Over--Sybil

#1 single in Switzerland: Nothing Compares 2 U--Sinéad O'Connor (3rd week at #1)

Austria's Top 10 (Ö3)
1 Nothing Compares 2 U--Sinéad O'Connor (2nd week at #1)
2 Get Up! (Before the Night is Over)--Technotronic
3 Bakerman--Laid Back
4 Sit and Wait--Sydney Youngblood
5 Got to Get--Rob 'n' Raz featuring Leila K.
6 Rich in Paradise "Going Back to My Roots"--F.P.I. Project
7 The Message is Love--Arthur Baker and the Backbeat Disciples featuring Al Green
8 All Around the World--Lisa Stansfield
9 Easy--Ice MC
10 Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins

Singles entering the chart were Fandango by Boris Bukowski (#11); I Don't Know Anybody Else by Black Box (#14); and How am I Supposed to Live Without You by Michael Bolton (#29).

Politics and government
The Supreme Soviet of Lithuania voted 124-0 with 6 abstentions to declare independence from the Soviet Union. Vytautas Landsbergis, a professor of music history, was elected president by the deputies.

General Augusto Pinochet stepped down after 16½ years as dictator of Chile.

10 years ago
2000

Politics and government
Ricardo Lagos was sworn in as President of Chile.