December 11, 2010

1,790 years ago
220

Chinatica
Emperor Xian was forced to abdicate the throne by Cao Cao's son Cao Pi, ending the Han dynasty.

180 years ago
1830

Born on this date
Kamehameha V. King of Hawaii, 1863-1872. Kamehameha V, a grandson of King Kamehameha I and son of Mataio Kekūanāoʻa, Governor of Oahu, served on the Privy Council of State (1852-1855) and in the House of Nobles (1852-1862), where his offices included Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1857-1858). He acceded to the throne upon the death of his younger brother Kamehameha IV, and called a constitutional convention, which resulted in the implementation of a new constitution in 1864. King Kamehameha encouraged the revival of traditional Hawaiian practices, and refused to sign a bill allowing the sale of alcohol to Native Hawaiians. He suddenly took ill and died on Decembe 11, 1872, his 42nd birthday, without naming a successor. Kamehameha V was succeeded on the throne by his cousin Lunalilo.

170 years ago
1840

Died on this date
Kōkaku, 69. Emperor of Japan, 1780-1817. Kōkaku succeeded Go-Momozono on the throne, and abdicated in favour of his son Ninkō. Kōkaku was the first emperor in more than 200 years to remain on the throne past the age of 40.

130 years ago
1880

Died on this date
Oliver Winchester, 70. U.S. businessman and politician. Mr. Winchester bought the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company, a division of Smith and Wesson, in 1855. The repeating rifle's design was improved, and the company was named the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1866. The Winchester rifles were tremendously successful with pioneers in the western United States, making Mr. Winchester a wealthy man. A Republican, he was a City Commissioner in New Haven, Connecticut, and was Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut (1866-1867). Mr. Winchester died 10 days after his 70th birthday.

120 years ago
1890

Born on this date
Carlos Gardel. French-born Argentine singer. Mr. Gardel, born Charles Gardes, was known as the "King of Tango" for his many hit recordings in that genre from 1917 until his death in a plane crash in Medellin, Colombia on June 24, 1935 at the age of 44.

90 years ago
1920

War
In retaliation for a recent Irish Republican Army ambush, British forces burned and looted numerous buildings in the city of Cork. Many civilians reported being beaten, shot at, robbed and verbally abused by British forces.

Football
APFA
Canton (6-4-2) 7 @ (Philadelphia) Union Athletic Association 13

80 years ago
1930

Economics and finance
The Dominion Unemployment Relief Act was passed in Canada, providing money to municipalities to start public works.

70 years ago
1940

War
The Dutch destroyer Van Kingsbergen captured the German freighter Rhein, which had left Mexico on November 29. In a speech read for U.K. Ambassador to the United States Lord Lothian, he said that the outcome of the European war "now depends largely on" American aid.

Transportation
The U.S. State Department announced a formal agreement between the United States and Canada regarding reciprocal treatment in the operation of air services between the two countries.

Economics and finance
The United States Treasury issued $500 million in five-year "national defense notes" bearing 3/4% and subject to federal taxation.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Jesse Jones announced an Export-Import Bank credit of $60 million to Argentina and another credit of $7.5 million to Uruguay for purchases in the United States.

U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull indicated that the United States would not attempt to send food to Nazi-occupied countries, but would aid the destitute in unoccupied France, Spain, and "other free states."

The New York Stock Exchange rejected a request by the Securities and Exchange Commission that it rescind its order prohibiting members from multiple trading on outside or regional exchanges.

Horse racing
Turf and Sports Digest's annual poll named Challeton as Horse of the Year for the second time.

Football
NCAA
The Lambert Trophy, symbolic of Eastern supremacy, was presented to Boston College representatives at a dinner in New York City.

60 years ago
1950

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Masque, starring Lynn Salisbury, Mary Stuart, and Estelle Winwood

At the movies
Watch the Birdie, directed by Jack Donohue, and starring Red Skelton, Arlene Dahl, and Ann Miller, opened in theatres.



War
25,000 U.S. Marines completed a 13-day,50-mile retreat from Changjin Reservoir to the port of Hungnam through northeast Korea's "frozen hell." It was the longest retreat in Marine Corps history and the Marines' worst ordeal since the Tarawa landing in World War II.

Politics and government
Camillien Houde was re-elected Mayor of Montréal, receiving 60,040 votes to 30,111 for Sarto Fournier.

Business
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that businesses could refuse to testify about their Communist activities if they pled that the answers would incriminate them, reasoning that the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited compelling a person to be a witness against himself.

Baseball Major league club owners voted to deny Albert "Happy" Chandler a new term as baseball commissioner.

50 years ago
1960

World events
Two days after the collapse of the neutralist Laotian government of Premier Souvanna Phouma, a pro-Communist cabinet headed by Quinim Polsena assumed power after a military junta had ruled briefly. Army Captain Kong Le, leader of the 1960 coup that had overthrown Laos’s pro-western government, received reinforcement from Pathet Lao units and prepared to defend the capital city of Vientiane, which his troops had seized on December 9. Soviet planes began to deliver howitzers and ammunition to the leftist forces. The South East Asia Treaty Organization Council denounced the Soviet aid as "outside interference" that would only prolong the crisis.

Protest
French forces cracked down in a violent clash with protesters in French Algeria during a visit by French President Charles de Gaulle.

Disasters
An Argentine Air Ministry airliner exploded and crashed near San Andres de Giles, Argentina, killing all 32 aboard.

Three separate sports car crashes during the Argentine Grand Prix in Buenos Aires resulted in the deaths of 17 spectators.

Football
NFL
New York (6-3-2) 17 @ Washington (1-8-2) 3
Philadelphia (9-2) 21 @ Pittsburgh (5-5-1) 27
Chicago (5-5-1) 0 @ Cleveland (7-3-1) 42
Dallas (0-11-1) 14 @ Detroit (6-5) 23
Baltimore (6-5) 3 @ Los Angeles (4-6-1) 10

AFL
Buffalo (5-7-1) 23 @ Houston (9-4) 31
Boston (5-8) 0 @ Dallas (7-6) 34
New York (7-6) 31 @ Oakland (5-8) 28

40 years ago
1970

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Cracklin' Rosie--Neil Diamond (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): New World in the Morning--Roger Whittaker (4th week at #1)

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 Cracklin' Rosie--Neil Diamond (4th week at #1)
2 Looky Looky--Giorgio
3 Woodstock--Matthews Southern Comfort
4 Paranoid--Black Sabbath
5 Indiana Wants Me--R. Dean Taylor
6 Cha-La-La, I Need You--Shuffles
7 Zanzibar--Wanda Arletti
8 Yo Yo--Chris Andrews
9 Burning Bridges--The Mike Curb Congregation
10 All the Tears in the World--Dave Mills

Singles entering the chart were Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow by the Dealians (#18); and I Think I Love You by the Partridge Family (#19).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 My Sweet Lord/Isn't it a Pity--George Harrison
2 The Tears of a Clown--Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
3 Be My Baby--Andy Kim
4 Share the Land/Bus Rider--The Guess Who
5 No Matter What--Badfinger
6 He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother--Neil Diamond
7 One Less Bell to Answer--The 5th Dimension
8 You Don't Have to Say You Love Me--Elvis Presley
9 Black Magic Woman--Santana
10 Domino--Van Morrison

Singles entering the chart were One Man Band by Three Dog Night (#25); Love the One You're With by Stephen Stills (#26); 5-10-15-20 (25-30 Years of Love) by the Presidents (#29); and Stoney End by Barbra Streisand (#30).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKVN)
1 My Sweet Lord--George Harrison
2 No Matter What--Badfinger
3 The Tears of a Clown--Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
4 He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother--Neil Diamond
5 Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is?--Chicago
6 Black Magic Woman--Santana
7 Immigrant Song--Led Zeppelin
8 Domino--Van Morrison
9 Be My Baby--Andy Kim
10 Share the Land/Bus Rider--The Guess Who

Singles entering the chart were Love the One You're With by Stephen Stills (#20); Knock Three Times by Dawn (#23); Stoney End by Barbra Streisand (#28); I Think It's Going to Rain Today by Tom Northcott (#29); and River Deep - Mountain High by the Supremes & Four Tops (#30).

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 My Sweet Lord--George Harrison
2 Gypsy Woman--Brian Hyland
3 He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother--Neil Diamond
4 Silver Moon--Michael Nesmith & the First National Band
5 Fly Little White Dove, Fly--The Bells
6 You Don't Have to Say You Love Me--Elvis Presley
7 Share the Land--The Guess Who
8 I Think I Love You--The Partridge Family
9 See Me, Feel Me--The Who
10 Fire and Rain--James Taylor

On television tonight
The Interns, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Prisoners

At the movies
The Walt Disney Productions animated film The Aristocats, directed and co-produced by Wolfgang Reitherman, and starring the voices of Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Hermione Baddeley, and others, received its premiere screening in Los Angeles.



Diplomacy
Two days after concluding two days of talks with Jordan’s King Hussein, U.S. President Richard Nixon met with Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan in Washington for talks.

Labour
A 24-hour rail strike in the United States ended when Brotherhood of Railway and Airlines Clerks president C.L. Dennis ordered his members back to work.

Disasters
A train crash in Czechoslovakia killed 31 people.

Boxing
Kuniaki Shibata (32-2-2) won the World Boxing Council world featherweight title over Vicente Saldivar (36-2) when Mr. Saldivar, who was making his first defense, seven months after winning the title, failed to come out for the 13th round at Auditorio Municipal in Tijuana, Mexico.





Canadian heavyweight champion George Chuvalo (63-16-2) knocked out Charles Couture (0-1) at 1:30 of the 2nd round at Austintown Fitch High School Gym in Youngstown, Ohio. For Mr. Couture, it appears to have been his only professional fight.

30 years ago
1980

War
Iraq predicted that its war against Iran would go on for a long time.

Politics and government
The Uganda People’s Congress, led by President Milton Obote, took 75 of 126 seats in Parliament in the first Ugandan general election since the overthrow of the dictatorship of Idi Amin the year before. The Democratic Party was second, with 50 seats, with the remaining seat going to the Uganda Patriotic Movement.

U.S. President-elect Ronald Reagan announced his first eight cabinet-level appointments, and they were introduced at a press conference not attended by Mr. Reagan. Those selected were: Donald Regan (Secretary of the Treasury); Caspar Weinberger (Secretary of Defense); William French Smith (Attorney General); Malcolm Baldridge (Secretary of Commerce); Senator Richard Schweiker (Secretary of Health and Human Services); Andrew L. Lewis (Secretary of Transportation); David Stockman (Director of the Office of Management and Budget); and William Casey (Director of the Central Intelligence Agency).

25 years ago
1985

Politics and government
Two months after winning the Progressive Conservative party leadership and becoming Premier of Alberta, Don Getty won a by-election in Edmonton Whitemud to rejoin the legislature after many years away from electoral politics. This blogger voted for him, and it was the last time I voted for that party.

Filipino Senator Salvador Laurel agreed to serve as a vice-presidential candidate on a ticket headed by Corazon Aquino in the election scheduled for February 7, 1986. Mr. Laurel had announced his candidacy for the presidency on December 9, but accepted Mrs. Aquino’s offer in exchange for her agreement to run as a candidate of Mr. Laurel’s party, the United Nationalist Democratic Party (UNIDO). Government corruption, the state of the economy, and the Communist insurgency were expected to be issues in the campaign.

Economics and finance
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished above 1500 for the first time.

Oil
The governments of Great Britain and Norway disappointed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries by saying that they would not reduce their nations’ oil output.

Business
General Electric Company agreed to buy Radio Corporation of America for $6.28 billion in the biggest merger yet to take place outside the oil industry. RCA was the fourth-largest supplier of weapons to the U.S. government, but also led the nation in sales of television sets, and had the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) as part of its empire. GE had helped found RCA in 1919 and the companies had worked together in developing radio technology, but they were separated by a court order in 1933. The U.S. Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission would have to approve the merger.

20 years ago
1990

Diplomacy
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir met with U.S. President George Bush at the White House. Mr. Bush gave assurances that the United States would not tie Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait to any proposal to resolve the issue of Palestinians in the Middle East.

Protest
Demonstrations by students and workers across Albania began, eventually triggering the fall of communism there.

Society
Michael Williams. assistant U.S. secretary of education for civil rights, disclosed that his department regarded college scholarships set aside exclusively for minorities as discriminatory and therefore in violation of federal civil rights law.

Environment
The Canadian government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney unveiled its Green Plan, a five-year, $3 billion effort to clean up the nation’s land, air, and water. The plan was based largely on programs already in place, but the $3 billion was "fresh, new money," according to Environment Minister Robert de Cotret. The goals of the program included reducing air pollution by 40% over the next 10 years; cutting federal waste by 50% over the same period; and developing a joint effort with the United States to prevent pollution in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. Critics charged that the plan was too vague in its goals and allocations and had been announced solely as an attempt to boost Mr. Mulroney’s sagging popularity.

10 years ago
2000

Died on this date
David Lewis, 84. U.S. actor. Mr. Lewis appeared in several movies numerous television programs in a career spanning more than 40 years, but was best known for playing Edward Quartermaine in the television soap opera General Hospital (1978-1993). He died after a long illness.

Space
The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour, with a five-man crew comanded by Brent Jett, landed from Cape Canaveral, Florida to conclude mission STS-97, an 11-day mission aboard the International Space Station.

World events
A four-day meeting of the 15 member nations of the European Union concluded in Nice, France. The conference’s purpose had been to plan for the expansion of the EU to 27 nations, including many former Communist countries. The EU agreed to restructure the commission to include 27 members, one from each country regardless of size. Under a revised formula, the Council of Ministers, the EU’s legislature, would continue to be structured on the basis of proportional representation.

An appeals court in Chile reversed the December 1 order to arrest former dictator General Augusto Pinochet in the kidnapping and murder of political opponents. The appeals court ruled that the lower court judge should have interviewed Gen. Pinochet to determine his fitness to stand trial.

Law
Justice Darlene Acton of Alberta ruled that a law prohibiting the cultivation of marijuana was unconstitutional because it didn’t allow for medical use of the drug. Justice Acton threw out a charge of cultivating marijuana against Grant Krieger, who grew and used marijuana to alleviate the symptoms of his multiple sclerosis.

Business
Shortstop Alex Rodriguez signed the largest contract in sports history, a 10-year deal with the Texas Rangers for $252 million.