March 12, 2011

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Yesenia Barajas!

200 years ago
1811

War
The day after a successful rearguard action, French Marshal Michel Ney once again successfully delayed the pursuing Anglo-Portuguese force in the Battle of Redinha in Portugal.

190 years ago
1821

Born on this date
John Abbott. Prime Minister of Canada, 1891-1892. Sir John, a corporate lawyer from Montreal and a Conservative, was a member of Parliament from 1860-1874 and 1880-1887 and the government leader in the Senate from 1887 until his death. When Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald died in office on June 6, 1891, Mr. Abbott supported Justice Minister Sir John Thompson to succeed Mr. Macdonald, but Mr. Thompson was a Roman Catholic, and anti-Catholic sentiment led Mr. Abbott to reluctantly agree to assume the office of Prime Minister, becoming the first man to hold the position while sitting in the Senate. He resigned as Prime Minister because of ill health on December 5, 1892, and was replaced by Mr. Thompson. Sir John died on October 30, 1893 at the age of 72.

160 years ago
1851

Journalism
Former slave Henry Bibb published the first issue of Voice of the Fugitive, Canada's first Negro newspaper.

130 years ago
1881

Born on this date
Väinö Tanner. Prime Minister of Finland, 1926-1927. Mr. Tanner, born Väinö Thomasson, was a leading figure in the Suomen Sosialidemokraattisen Puolueen (Social Democratic Party). He was a Member of Parliament (1907-1911, 1914-1917, 1919-1927, 1930-1945, 1951-1954, 1958-1962); chairman of the SSP (1918-1926, 1957-1963), and acting President (1927) in relief of Lauri Relander, who was on sick leave. In addition to his one year as Prime Minister, Mr. Tanner was Minister of Finance (1937-1939, 1941-1944); Minister of Trade and Industry (1941-1942); and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1939-1940), holding the latter office during the Winter War against the U.S.S.R. He was one of the Finnish politicians convicted of responsibility for the Continuation War (1941-1944), and was in prison from 1946 until he was pardoned in 1949. Mr. Tanner died on April 19, 1966 at the age of 85.

110 years ago
1901

Education
U.S. industrialist Andrew Carnegie offered the city of New York $5.2 million for the construction of 65 branch libraries.

100 years ago
1911

Born on this date
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Bolaños. 29th President of Mexico, 1964-1970. Mr. Díaz Ordaz, a member of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Institutional Revolutionary Party) (PRI), represented Puebla's 1st District in the Chamber of Deputies from 1943-1946, and represented Puebla in the Chamber of Senators from 1946-1952. He was Mexico's Secretary of the Interior from 1958-1963, and received almost 89% of the vote in the 1964 presidential election. Mr. Díaz Ordaz's presidency was best known for the violent suppression of student protests in Mexico City just prior to the Summer Olympic Games in October 1968. Mr. Díaz Ordaz passed the presidency on to Luis Echeverría in 1969 and retired from public life, with the brief exception of a few months as Ambassador to Spain in 1977, when he resigned after protests against his appointment. He died of colorectal cancer on July 15, 1979 at the age of 68.

75 years ago
1936

Died on this date
David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, 65. U.K. military officer and politician. Lord Beatty joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1884 and served in Sudan in the Mahdist War (1896-1898) and in China after the Boxer Rebellion (1900). He commanded the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, and became commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet in December 1916, receiving the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in November 1918. Lord Beatty served as First Sea Lord from November 1919-July 1927, longer than anyone else in the office. He was involved in negotiating the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. Lord Beatty died after a long battle with influenza.

70 years ago
1941

Defense
Speaking in Parliament, U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill thanked the United States for passing the Lend-Lease bill, while U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt formally asked Congress for $7 billion for Lend-Lease arms aid. The Diplomatisch-Politische Korrespondenz in Berlin denounced Lend-Lease as "flagrant meddling" in the European war.

U.S. Navy Secretary Frank Knox dedicated the Navy's largest air training base in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Diplomacy
The Japanese newspaper Asahi said that Indochina and Thailand had pledged not to enter into any agreement with a third power inimical to Japanese interests.

Agriculture
Canadian Agriculture Minister Jimmy Gardiner cut wartime wheat quotas to 65% of 1940 acreage, with no price increase. There was a $4/acre subsidy for land diverted to summer fallow, and $2 for hay.

Academia
City College of New York President Harry Wright told 3,000 students that Communists could not be tolerated in the schools, and supported the Rapp-Coudert legislative investigation of subversive activities.

Politics and government
The U.S. Temporary National Economic Committee (TNEC) listed nearly 400 organizations that maintained staffs of lobbyists in Washington, and urged that they be periodically registered.

Transportation
Chinese engineers left Chungking to survey a route for a 1,000-mile highway from Ningyuan, China to Sadiya, Assam, India.

60 years ago
1951

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Leda's Portrait, starring John Emery, Felicia Montealegre, and George Reeves

Popular culture
The syndicated cartoon panel Dennis the Menace by Hank Ketcham made its debut in 16 newspapers.

War
U.S. 8th Army commander General Matthew Ridgway stimulated rumours of an early truce in the Korean War when he told war correspondents that it would be a "tremendous victory" for the United Nations if the war ended on the 38th Parallel.

World events
A report from Berlin said that 14 Soviet officers in East Berlin had been hanged for plotting to assassinate U.S.S.R. dictator Josef Stalin.

Defense
Italy urged Yugoslavia to approve a waiver of the World War II peace treaty limit on Italian armament in view of the Eastern European threat.

Politics and government
The Inter-American Conference on Social Security opened in Buenos Aires and elected Eva Peron as chairman.

Crime
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the 1950 perjury conviction of former U.S. State Department employee Alger Hiss.

Medicine
Dr. Philip Levine, the blood research pioneer who first described the Rh factor, reported the discovery of a new blood factor, the "J" or "Jarrell" factor, in the blood of some cancer patients.

Boxing
Roland LaStarza (44-1) won a 10-round unanimous decision over Keene Simmons (8-10-1) in a heavyweight bout at Rhode Island Auditorium in Providence.

50 years ago
1961

Politics and government
After a five-day meeting in Tananarive, Malagasy Republic, 18 Congolese political leaders proclaimed a new confederation of states to replace the central government of the Republic of the Congo. Joseph Kasavubu, President of the central Congolsese government, was named President of the confederation. A communique said the confederal president would conduct its foreign affairs, a Council of States composed of Mr. Kasavubu and the heads of the member states would "determine the general and international policies," and an "executive body called the Coordinating Body between states will carry out the council’s decisions." Among the leaders in attendance were Mr. Kasavubu, Katangan President Moise Tshombe, and Albert Kalonji of South Kasai. Abset was Antoine Gisenga, Premier of the government in Stanleyville, who refused to attend and denounced the conference’s decisions. The conferees sent a series of messages to the United Nations demanding the curtailment of the UN Force in the Congo.

Hockey
IIHF World Championship @ Geneva
Final
Canada 5 U.S.S.R. 1

The Trail Smoke Eaters, representing Canada, became the last club team to win a world championship for Canada and the last Canadian representatives to win the title for 33 years.



40 years ago
1971

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Burning Bridges--The Mike Curb Congregation

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 Knock Three Times--Dawn (4th week at #1)
2 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson
3 No Matter What--Badfinger
4 My Sweet Lord--George Harrison
5 I Hear You Knocking--Dave Edmunds
6 A Summer Prayer for Peace--The Archies
7 Do It--Neil Diamond
8 Immigrant Song--Led Zeppelin
9 Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow--The Dealians
10 Mendocino--Michael Holm

Singles entering the chart were Have You Ever Seen the Rain by Creedence Clearwater Revival (#16); and You and the Looking Glass by Joe Dolan (#20).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 Put Your Hand in the Hand--Ocean
2 Stay Awhile--The Bells
3 Have You Ever Seen the Rain/Hey Tonight--Creedence Clearwater Revival
4 She's a Lady--Tom Jones
5 Me and Bobby McGee--Janis Joplin
6 Watching Scotty Grow--Bobby Goldsboro
7 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson
8 Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted--The Partridge Family
9 Woodstock--Matthews' Southern Comfort
10 Help Me Make it Through the Night--Sammi Smith

Singles entering the chart were What is Life by George Harrison (#23); Another Day/Oh Woman, Oh Why by Paul McCartney (#27); Oye Como Va by Santana (#28); When You Dance I Can Really Love by Neil Young (#29); and You're All I Need to Get By by Aretha Franklin (#30).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKVN)
1 Have You Ever Seen the Rain/Hey Tonight--Creedence Clearwater Revival (3rd week at #1)
2 Woodstock--Matthews' Southern Comfort
3 Me and Bobby McGee--Janis Joplin
4 Oh What a Feeling--Crowbar
5 She's a Lady--Tom Jones
6 What is Life--George Harrison
7 Put Your Hand in the Hand--Ocean
8 Chairman of the Board--Chairmen of the Board
9 Proud Mary--Ike & Tina Turner
10 Theme from Love Story--Henry Mancini, his Orchestra and Chorus

Singles entering the chart were Pushbike Song by the Mixtures (#25); You're All I Need to Get By by Aretha Franklin (#26); Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes by the 5th Dimension (#27); No Love at All by B.J. Thomas (#28); A Country Boy Named Willy by Spring (#29); and Sugar Mountain/When You Dance I Can Really Love by Neil Young (#30).

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 Put Your Hand in the Hand--Ocean
2 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson
3 Stay Awhile--The Bells
4 Have You Ever Seen the Rain--Creedence Clearwater Revival
5 What is Life--George Harrison
6 Amos Moses--Jerry Reed
7 Watching Scotty Grow--Bobby Goldsboro
8 Amazing Grace--Judy Collins
9 Children of the Sun--Mashmakhan
10 Like an Eagle--Miguel Rios

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

World events
In what amounted to a coup d’etat by communique, the Turkish armed forces issued an ultimatum demanding a government strong enough to stop "anarchy," forcing Premier Suleyman Demirel to resign or face a military takeover. The army move came in the wake of months of unrest and violence.

Diplomacy
U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers backed United Nations mediator Gunnar Jarring, who had proposed that Israel withdraw from all occupied territory in order to bring peace in the Middle East.

Protest
3,000 shipyard workers of all faiths marched silently through the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland in sympathy for the families of three U.K. soldiers who had been murdered two days earlier.

Terrorism
The government of Québec announced that it would compensate those who were arrested during the October Crisis in 1970 and not charged, and that it would destroy files and fingerprints.

30 years ago
1981

Hit parade
Edmonton's Top 14 (CHED)
1 Woman--John Lennon
2 Keep on Loving You--REO Speedwagon
3 The Best of Times--Styx
4 Rapture--Blondie
5 Turning Japanese--The Vapors
6 Shaddap You Face--Joe Dolce
7 Hey Nineteen--Steely Dan
8 I Love a Rainy Night--Eddie Rabbitt
9 Just Between You and Me--April Wine
10 A Little in Love--Cliff Richard
11 Every Woman in the World--Air Supply
12 Celebration--Kool & The Gang
13 Treat Me Right--Pat Benatar
14 The Tide is High--Blondie

Space
The Soviet press agency Tass announced that the U.S.S.R. had launched a manned space capsule, Soyuz T-4. Cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalyonok (Commander) and Viktor Savinykh (Fligh Engineer) were to effect a linkup with the orbiting Salyut 6 space station.



Diplomacy
Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau asked U.S. President Ronald Reagan to act to save fish stocks in the Atlantic Ocean, since Mr. Reagan had scrapped the Canadian treaty which had encompassed a plan to manage and share the fish stocks on the Georges Bank. Mr. Reagan was concluding his first visit to Canada since becoming President.

Terrorism
As a concession to three political dissidents who had hijacked a Pakistani jetliner to Kabul, Afghanistan on March 2, Pakistan agreed to free 55 more political prisoners.

25 years ago
1986

Defense
Spanish voters, by a 4-3 margin, approved Spain’s continued membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The referendum endorsed by the voters stipulated that nuclear weapons would not be placed on Spanish soil; that Spain’s forces would continue to operate outside NATO’s integrated command; and that U.S. troop numbers in Spain would be reduced from the current total of 12,500.

Disasters
Reporters at Cape Canaveral, Florida observed a flag-draped container being removed from a salvage ship. The container was presumed to be the crew cabin of the U.S. space shuttle Challenger, which had exploded 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28 and killed all seven astronauts aboard.

20 years ago
1991

Died on this date
Ragnar Granit, 90. Finnish-born Swedish neuroscientist. Dr. Granit, Haldan Keffer Hartline, and George Wald were awarded the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye."

Diplomacy
James Baker, on his first visit to Israel as U.S. Secretary of State, met with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Mr. baker was seeking Israeli concessions, including giving up all or part of the occupied territories as part of a peace settlement with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Israel did not immediately reject Mr. Baker’s proposals. Mr. Baker also met separately with Palestinian leaders.

World events
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic gave in to protesters and released the leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement (the main opposition party), and fired five senior editors of the state-run television network and the editor of the pro-Socialist newspaper.

Society
South African President P.W. Botha introduced a five-piece package of legislation that would end all racial discrimination in land ownership and would allow South Africans to live where they chose. The five bills would overturn 189 laws that prohibited blacks from buying land.

10 years ago
2001

Died on this date
Robert Ludlum, 73. U.S. author. Mr. Ludlum was a theatrical actor and producer before writing 27 thriller novels. He was best known for the Bourne Trilogy (1980-1990), featuring a spy named Jason Bourne. Mr. Ludlum died from the effects of severe burns received in a mysterious fire a month earlier.

Morton Downey, Jr., 68. American singer, songwriter, actor, and television host. Mr. Downey, the son of singer Morton Downey, was a disc jockey in the 1950s and '60s, who wrote songs and made several recordings. He was best known as a talk show host in the 1980s, initially on radio, and then on television. The Morton Downey Jr. Show (1987-1989) pioneered the format known as "trash TV," with the program characterized by shouting matches between host and guest and among guests. The novelty of the program quickly wore off, and increasing difficulties in attracting advertising and good time slots led to its cancellation. Mr. Downey was a longtime smoker, but became an anti-smoking activist after being diagnosed in 1996 with lung cancer, which combined with pneumonia to cause his death.

Politics and government
The Progressive Conservatives, led by Premier Ralph Klein, won a landslide victory in the Alberta provincial election, taking 74 of 83 seats in the legislature. The Liberals, led by Nancy MacBeth, won 7 seats, and the New Democrats, led by Raj Pannu, won 2.

Yoweri Museveni was re-elected President of Uganda with 69% of the vote. His leading opponent, Kizza Besigye, who received 28%, charged that there had been vote fraud.

Health
The first case of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed in central France. New cases were confirmed in Argentina, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Economics and finance
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 436.37 points, a 4.1% decline. The NASDAQ index, loaded with high-technology companies, fell 6.3%, for a cumulative decline of 61% from its March 2000 peak.

Disasters
Four U.S. soldiers and an airman and a New Zealand army major were killed when an errant bomb from a U.S. fighter plane exploded over an observation post in Kuwait. Three Americans were seriously wounded and several Kuwaiti military personnel were also injured.