March 6, 2010

1,820 years ago
190

Died on this date
Shao, 13 or 14. Emperor of China, 189. Shao, born Liu Bian, succeeded his father Ling as Emperor of the Han dynasty at the approximate age of 13, reigning under a regency from May 15-September 28, 189. He was deposed by warlord Dong Zhuo, who then installed Emperor Shao's half-brother Liu Xie on the throne as Emperor Xian, with the deposed Shao being given the title Prince of Hongnong. In 190, Dong Zhuo became afraid that rebellious warlords would attempt to restore Shao to the throne; Dong Zhuo thus sent his adviser Li Ru to force the Prince of Hongnong to commit suicide by drinking poisoned wine.

190 years ago
1820

Politics and government
The Missouri Compromise was signed into law by U.S. President James Monroe, three days after being passed by Congress. The compromise allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, brings Maine into the Union as a free state, and made the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free.

140 years ago
1870

Born on this date
Oscar Straus. Austrian composer. Mr. Straus wrote operettas, film scores, and about 500 cabaret songs, as well as orchestral and choral works, and chamber music. He was best known for the operettas Ein Walzertraum (A Waltz Dream) (1907) and Der tapfere Soldat (The Chocolate Soldier) (1908). Mr. Straus died on January 11, 1954 at the age of 83.

110 years ago
1900

Born on this date
Lefty Grove. U.S. baseball pitcher. Robert Moses Grove was one of the greatest pitchers in history, playing with the Philadelphia Athletics (1925-1933) and Boston Red Sox (1934-1941), compiling a record of 300-141. He began his professional career in 1920 with the Martinsburg Mountaineers of the Class D Blue Ridge League, compiling a record of 3-3 in 6 games before joining the Baltimore Orioles of the International League. From 1920-1924, Mr. Grove compiled a 108-36 record as the Orioles won the IL pennant every year. The Orioles weren't a farm team of any major league team in those days, and Baltimore owner Jack Dunn was reluctant to sell his players to major league clubs. Mr. Dunn finally agreed to sell Mr. Grove's contract to the Athletics for the then-record price of $100,600. Mr. Grove became the ace of the staff that helped the Athletics win American League pennants from 1929-1931, winning World Series championships in 1929 and 1930. Mr. Grove's best season may have been 1931, when he was 31-4. In addition to his pitching excellence, Mr. Grove was known for his fiery temper, and intimidated teammates and opponents alike. He led the American League in earned run average for a record 9 seasons, and led the AL in strikeouts for 7 straight seasons. Mr. Grove was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947, his first year of eligibility. He died on May 22, 1975 at the age of 75.

Died on this date
Gottlieb Daimler, 65. German automotive engineer and executive. Mr. Daimler was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines, and invented invented the high-speed liquid petroleum-fuelled engine. He and partner Wilhelm Maybach first attached their engine to a coach in 1886, and built their first independent automobile in 1889; they co-founded Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (Daimler Motors Corporation) (DMG) in 1890. Mr. Daimler died 11 days before his 66th birthday.

100 years ago
1910

Born on this date
Ella Logan. U.K.-born U.S. actress and singer. Miss Logan, born Georgina Allan in Glasgow, began as a band singer in music halls, making her first appearance in London's West End at the age of 20. She moved to the United States in the 1930s, appearing in Broadway shows and several movies, including The Goldwyn Follies (1938). Miss Logan entertained Allied troops in Europe and Africa during World War II, and returned to the United States, where she achieved her greatest success, starring in the Broadway production of the musical Finian's Rainbow (1947). Miss Logan performed in nightclubs in the 1950s and '60s; she died on May 1, 1969 at the age of 59.

90 years ago
1920

Died on this date
Ömer Seyfettin, 35. Turkish military officer and author. First Lieutenant Seyfettin participated in the suppression of the Istanbul Itica uprising in 1909, and was a Greek prisoner of war for about a year (1912-1913) during the Balkan War. He wrote four novels and several short story collections, and was praised for simplifying the Turkish language from the Persian and Arabic words and phrases that were common at the time. Mr. Seyfettin died of diabetes, five days before his 36th birthday.

80 years ago
1930

Protest
International Unemployment Day demonstrations took place globally, including Montreal, organized by the Communist International and coordinated by its various member parties.

Technology
Clarence Birdseye started to sell pre-packaged frozen food for the first time, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

70 years ago
1940

War
Reports from Stockholm indicated that new Soviet peace offers had been made to Finland through the Swedish government. Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced plans to recruit an additional 90,000 men for military service by June 1941.

Diplomacy
Charles Rist of France and Frank Ashton-Gwatkin of the U.K. arrived in Washington for economic conferences with U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull.

Defense
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill providing for increased military plane production by a larger section of industry.

Economics and finance
France and Italy signed a one-year trade agreement.

Agriculture
The wartime Agricultural Supplies Board was founded by the Canadian government of Prime Minister Mackenzie King.

Basketball
NCAA
Stanley Modzeleinski of Rhode Island State University set a new intercollegiate scoring record for a single season with 495 points.

60 years ago
1950

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Strange Case of John Kingman, starring John Newland and Richard Purdy

Died on this date
Albert François Lebrun, 78. President of France, 1932-1940. Mr. Lebrun, a member of the Left Republican Party, was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1900, and held various cabinet posts through 1919. He then joined the Democratic Republican Alliance, and was elected to the Senate in 1920, representing Meurthe-et-Moselle, serving as Vice President (1925-1929) and President (1931-1932) of the Senate. Mr. Lebrun was elected President of France following the assassination of Paul Doumer in May 1932, and was re-elected in 1939, although by then exercising little power. On July 10, 1940, he enacted the Constitutional Law of 10 July 1940 allowing Prime Minister Philippe Pétain to promulgate a new constitution. Mr. Pétain replaced Mr. Lebrun the next day, although Mr. Lebrun never formally resigned. He fled to Vizelle, but was captured by the Nazis in August 1943 and imprisoned in the Tyrol, but was allowed to return to Vizelle, under constant surveillance, six weeks later. When the Allies restored the French government in August 1944, Mr. Lebrun acknowledged the leadership of General Charles de Gaulle. Mr. Lebrun lived in retirement until his death from pneumonia after a long illness.

Defense
Honduras signed an agreement permitting U.S. military advisers to enter the country.

50 years ago
1960

On television tonight
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Craig's Will, starring Dick Van Dyke, Stella Stevens, and Paul Stewart

40 years ago
1970

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Nature--The Fourmyula (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Once Upon a Time in the West--Various Artists

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 Venus--Shocking Blue
2 Pretty Belinda--Chris Andrews
3 Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head--B.J. Thomas
4 All I Have to Do is Dream--Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell
5 Someday We'll Be Together--Diana Ross and the Supremes
6 Whole Lotta Love--Led Zeppelin
7 Holly Holy--Neil Diamond
8 Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)--Edison Lighthouse
9 Reflections of My Life--The Marmalade
10 Don't Cry Daddy--Elvis Presley

Singles entering the chart were Love is a Beautiful Song by Dave Mills (#15); Hitchin' a Ride by Vanity Fare (#16); and Rebecca Stein by the Bats (#20).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 Bridge Over Troubled Water--Simon & Garfunkel (3rd week at #1)
2 Spirit in the Sky--Norman Greenbaum
3 Travelin' Band/Who'll Stop the Rain--Creedence Clearwater Revival
4 Ma Belle Amie--The Tee Set
5 I Must Have Been Blind--The Collectors
6 If I were a Carpenter--Johnny Cash and June Carter
7 Give Me Just a Little More Time--The Chairmen of the Board
8 Kentucky Rain--Elvis Presley
9 I'll Never Fall in Love Again--Dionne Warwick
10 Rainy Night in Georgia--Brook Benton

Singles entering the chart were Instant Karma (We All Shine On) by John Ono Lennon (with the Plastic Ono Band) (#25); If I Never Knew Your Name by Vic Dana (#26); Easy Come, Easy Go by Bobby Sherman (#29); and Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) by Edison Lighthouse (#30).

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 Bridge Over Troubled Water--Simon & Garfunkel (2nd week at #1)
2 Ma Belle Amie--The Tee Set
3 The Rainmaker--Tom Northcott
4 Who'll Stop the Rain/Travelin' Band--Creedence Clearwater Revival
5 Jennifer Tomkins--Street People
6 I Must Have Been Blind--The Collectors
7 Kentucky Rain--Elvis Presley
8 Honey Come Back--Glen Campbell
9 The Rapper--The Jaggerz
10 Instant Karma (We All Shine On)--John Ono Lennon (with the Plastic Ono Band)

I Must Have Been Blind was the last single for The Collectors before the band changed its name to Chilliwack several months later. The Jaggerz were led by Dominic Ierace, who had brief success as a solo artist in 1981-1982 after anglicizing his name to Donnie Iris.

Music
The album Lie: The Love and Terror Cult by Charles Manson was released on Awareness Records. The album was recorded in 1967 and 1968. Mr. Manson was currently in prison awaiting trial for the August 1969 Tate-Labianca murders. Only 2,000 copies of the album were pressed, and only about 300 sold; few record stores were willing to stock it.

Terrorism
Three members of the Weather Underground movement were killed when a bomb they had intended to plant at an army dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey was accidentally detonated in the basement of the town house the Weathermen occupied on West 11th Street in the New York City neighbourhood of Greenwich Village. The dead were Terry Robbins--who had actually built the bomb; Ted Gold; and Diana Oughton. The bomb exploded when Mr. Robbins mistakenly crossed two wires. Miss Oughton’s body was mangled so badly that she was identified with certainty only when two of her fingers were found in the debris. Mr. Robbins was blown into such small pieces that he was identified only by a mole on his back. The four-storey town house was levelled. Two other Weather terrorists, Cathy Wilkerson and Kathy Boudin, survived the blast, fled the house, and hid out at the home of Miss Boudin’s parents. The explosion was the first of six in a period of seven days that spotlighted a nationwide rise in terrorist bombing. Weather members Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, who weren’t at the town house that day, are now among the people pulling the strings of White House occupant B. Hussein Obama. For more on the Weathermen, see pp. 67-119 of Destructive Generation by Peter Collier & David Horowitz (1989).

Sean Holly, a political secretary at the U.S. embassy in Guatemala, was kidnapped from his car on a main street by armed terrorists from the Communist Rebel Forces, who held him hostage in exchange for two jailed guerrillas.

War
Spelling out for the first time details of the American involvement in Laos, U.S. President Richard Nixon appealed to the U.S.S.R. and U.K., co-chairmen of the 1962 Geneva Conference on Laos, to use their influence to help end the clandestine war in that country.

Politics and government
Alexander Dubcek, Czechoslovakia's Ambassador to Turkey and Communist leader during the 1968 "Prague Spring" liberalization of Czechoslovakia, was suspended from the party "pending completion" of an investigation into his conduct at the time. Also expelled with him were a number of other leaders in his regime.

Health
The British government banned the importation of dogs, cats, wolves, lions, tigers, and other animals in the canine and feline categories in an attempt to curb rabies after a second imported dog within a year developed the disease.

Economics and finance
For the first time in four years, more than 4% of the U.S.A.’s labour force was unemployed in February. With layoffs accounting for most of the increase, Labor Department figures showed 3.8 million people (4.2%) out of work. The number out of work for more than 15 weeks also increased.

Disasters
7 children died and 3 were injured when fire swept through a building in Brooklyn, New York.

A truck-bus collision in Lublin, Poland killed 11 and injured 15.

30 years ago
1980

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (Hot Press): Coward of the County--Kenny Rogers (2nd week at #1)

World events
The militants occupying the U.S. embassy in Iran announced that they would turn their hostages over to Iran’s Revolutionary Council due to "intolerable pressures" exerted on them by Iranian authorities.

Terrorism
April 19 Movement guerrillas who had been occupying the Dominican Republic’s embassy in Colombia since February 27 released Austrian Ambassador Edgar Karl Selzer so that he could return home to his sick wife.

Hockey
NHL
Montreal 5 Edmonton 4

20 years ago
1990

Aviation
Ed Yielding and Joseph T. Vida set a transcontinental speed record, flying an SR-71 Blackbird 2,404 miles from Los Angeles to Virginia in 64 minutes, averaging 2,124 mph.

World events
The United States said that poison gas was being produced at a plant at Rabta, Libya, about 50 miles southwest of Tripoli.

Protest
Two days after the president of the South African "homeland" of Ciskei had been overthrown, protests had spread to four other homelands, led by activists sympathetic to the African National Congress. The militants clashed with police in the "homelands."

Diplomacy
Nicaraguan President-elect Violetta Chamorro met with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias in Costa Rica to discuss repatriation of the Nicaraguan Contras. Mrs. Chamorro said after the meeting that she would solve the Contra problem by declaring an amnesty, called for demilitarization of Central America, and said she would reduce Nicaragua’s army to a small police force.

Tennis
13-year-old Jennifer Capriati made her professional debut, defeating 28-year-old Mary Lou Daniels 7-6, 6-1 in Boca Raton, Florida.

10 years ago
2000

Died on this date
John Colicos, 71. Canadian actor. Mr. Colicos, a native of Toronto, appeared in plays, films, and television programs from 1950-1999. He was the first actor to play a Klingon, in the episode Errand of Mercy (1967) in the science fiction television series Star Trek. Mr. Colicos played Thomas Cromwell in the movie Anne of the Thousand Days (1969). He died in Toronto, after a series of heart attacks.