January 18, 2012

230 years ago
1782

Born on this date
Daniel Webster. U.S. politician. A native of Salisbury, New Hampshire, Mr. Webster was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1813-1817 and 1823-1827; a United States Senator from Massachusetts from 1827-1841 and 1845-1850; and U.S. Secretary of State from 1841-1843 and 1850 until his death on October 24, 1852.

170 years ago
1842

Born on this date
A.A. Ames. U.S. politician. Surgeon Major Albert Alonzo Ames, the son of a physician, received his medical degree in 1862, and served with the Union Army in the American Civil War. He was a Democrat until 1900 and a Republican thereafter, and represented the 5th District in the Minnesota House of Representatives (1867-1868) and then served four terms as Mayor of Minneapolis (1876-1877, 1882-1884, 1886-1889, 1901-1902), which were increasingly characterized by accusations of corruption. Dr. Ames and the Minneapolis police department ran the municipal government as a criminal operation until he resigned and fled the state in 1902 after being indicted for corruption. He was arrested in New Hampshire in 1903 and extradited to Minneapolis, where a conviction, resulting in a prison sentence, was overturned on appeal, and two subsequent trials resulted in mistrials. Dr. Ames practiced medicine in Minneapolis until his sudden death on November 16, 1911 at the age of 69.

150 years ago
1862

Died on this date
John Tyler, 71. 10th President of the United States, 1841-1845. Mr. Tyler, a native of Charles City County, Virginia, was elected Vice-President of the United States in 1840 as the running mate to Whig party candidate William Henry Harrison. When Mr. Harrison died just one month after taking office in 1841, Mr. Tyler became the first vice-president to assume the presidency upon the death of the president. He stood against much of the Whig platform while president, which led to him being the first president to face impeachment proceedings, which were unsuccessful. Mr. Tyler's most notable accomplishments as president included two vetoes of legislation calling for a national banking act, and the annexation of Texas. When Virginia voted to secede from the union in 1861, Mr. Tyler was elected to the House of Representatives of the Confederate Congress, but took ill in Richmond and died shortly before the session of Congress began. Since he was a Confederate at the time of his death, he was the only U.S. President not to be officially mourned by the U.S. government. I have relatives in Virginia, and I've been told that I'm distantly related to Mr. Tyler.

120 years ago
1892

Born on this date
Oliver Hardy. U.S. actor. The fat half of the Laurel and Hardy comedy team was born in Harlem, Georgia. He died on August 7, 1957 at the age of 65 after a heart attack and a series of strokes.

100 years ago
1912

Exploration
A British team lead by Robert Falcon Scott arrived at the South Pole, only to find to their dismay that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had come and gone a month earlier, leaving the Scott expedition as the second party to reach the pole.

70 years ago
1942

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Three Garridebs

60 years ago
1952

On television tonight
Tales of Tomorrow, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Frankenstein, starring Lon Chaney, Jr., Allyn Edwards, and John Newland

This episode almost ended Mr. Chaney's career. Having apparently had a few drinks before the show, he was under the impression that it was a dress rehearsal, and didn't know that it was being broadcast live. Instead of smashing chairs, he gently put them down.



Died on this date
Jerome "Curly" Howard, 48. U.S. actor. Mr. Howard, born Jerome Horwitz in Brooklyn, New York on Ocotber 22, 1903, the most beloved of the Three Stooges comedy team died after a series of strokes.

50 years ago
1962

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): The Young Ones--Cliff Richard and the Shadows (2nd week at #1)

On television tonight
The Untouchables, starring Robert Stack, on ABC
Tonight's episode: The Gang War

40 years ago
1972

World events
Former Southern Rhodesian Prime Minister Garfield Todd and his daughter Judith were arrested after violence erupted over Anglo-Rhodesian plans for independence.

30 years ago
1982

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Down Under--Men at Work (5th week at #1)

Died on this date
Robert Ray. U.S. military officer. Lieutenant Colonel Ray, a military aide, was shot dead outside his Paris home by a single gunman as he was walking to his car. French police said that the assassin appeared to be Middle Eastern, and that only one shot was fired, hitting Lt. Col. Ray in the head. The Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction announced in Beirut that it was responsible for the assassination.

Diplomacy
Israel asked Egypt to alter its border on the Sinai peninsula to avoid splitting the Palestinian town of Rafah when the area was to be turned over to Egypt in April. The Israelis preferred Rafah to be totally inside Israel, but they would accept a proposal to have it inside Egyptian territory, feeling that a divided town would have a potential for terrorist infiltration and arms smuggling from Egypt into the Gaza Strip.

Society
U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced that the Internal Revenue Service would withhold federal tax exemptions from racially imbalanced private schools until Congress acted on the issue. However, tax-exempt status was reinstated for two schools that practiced discrimination: Bob Jones University and Goldsboro Christian Schools.

25 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in France: T'en va pas--Elsa (3rd week at #1)

20 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): Black or White--Michael Jackson (8th week at #1)

#1 single in Italy: Black or White--Michael Jackson (8th week at #1)

#1 single in France: Song of Ocarina--Jean-Philippe Audin and Diego Modena

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Black or White--Michael Jackson (7th week at #1)

U.S. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Black or White--Michael Jackson (4th week at #1)
2 Can't Let Go--Mariah Carey
3 All 4 Love--Color Me Badd
4 It's so Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday--Boyz II Men
5 Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me--George Michael/Elton John
6 No Son of Mine--Genesis
7 Set Adrift on Memory Bliss--PM Dawn
8 Blowing Kisses in the Wind--Paula Abdul
9 Mysterious Ways--U2
10 Keep Coming Back--Richard Marx

Singles entering the chart included Vibeology by Paula Abdul (#54) and Good for Me by Amy Grant (#55).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Black or White--Michael Jackson
2 Mysterious Ways--U2
3 Keep Coming Back--Richard Marx
4 No Son of Mine--Genesis
5 When a Man Loves a Woman--Michael Bolton
6 Broken Arrow--Rod Stewart
7 Blowing Kisses in the Wind--Paula Abdul
8 Can't Let Go--Mariah Carey
9 Set Adrift on Memory Bliss--P.M. Dawn
10 All 4 Love--Color Me Badd

Singles entering the chart were I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred (#64); Addams Groove by Hammer (#71); and It's so Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday by Boyz II Men (#77).

10 years ago
2002

World events
Israeli tanks surrounded the headquarters of Palestinian National Authority leader Yasser Arafat in the West Bank town of Ramallah, effectively putting him under house arrest.

War
Sierra Leonian President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah ceremonially declared that the country’s civil war, which had begun in 1991, was over.

Business
Newport Mining, based in Denver, Colorado, bought Normandy Mining of Australia, making Newmont the largest gold mining concern in the world.