July 2, 2012

75 years ago
1937

Disappeared on this date
Amelia Earhart, 39. U.S. aviatrix. In 1928 Miss Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, and in 1932 she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. On June 1, 1937, she and navigator Fred Noonan flew east from Miami, Florida in an attempt to fly around the world. On July 2, with 7,000 of 29,000 miles remaining, they departed Lae, New Guinea for Howland Island, more than 2,500 miles away. Their last reported position was near the Nukumanu Islands, about 800m miles into the flight. For more, see the Amelia Earhart official website.

60 years ago
1952

On the radio
I Was a Communist for the FBI, starring Dana Andrews
Tonight’s episode: Where the Red Men Roam

On television tonight
The Unexpected, hosted by Herbert Marshall, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Magnificent Lie, starring Raymond Burr, Carol Brannan, and Erville Anderson

50 years ago
1962

Died on this date
Peter Ryan, 22. U.S.-born Canadian skier and auto racing driver. Mr. Ryan won the U.S. National Ski Association's junior downhill event in 1957, but switched to auto racing after breaking both legs in a skiing accident in 1959. A member of the Sports Car Club of America, Mr. Ryan won the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport, Ontario, on September 30, 1961, when it was a sports car event. Eight days later he competed in his only Formula One event, the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, New York, where he finished ninth. Mr. Ryan was killed in a crash at the Coupe Internationale des Juniors Formula Junior race at Rheims, France. He was inducted as one of the charter members of the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1993.

40 years ago
1972

Died on this date
Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., 95. U.S. religious leader. Mr. Smith was the tenth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, better known as the Mormons, from 1970-1972. One of many descendants of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr. was the son of the church's sixth president, who had held the position from 1901-1918. Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr. was a member of the Quoroum of the Twelve Apostles from 1910 until his death. Under his presidency, the church continued its policy of barring Negroes from the priesthood.

Diplomacy
A five-day summit in Simla, India between Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto concluded with an agreement calling for partial troop withdrawal along their 800-mile common border. Meeting for the first time wince the December 1971 war between their countries, the two leaders agreed to return most of the land captured in the 14-day war. The summit accord also called for eventual settlement of the 25-year-old dispute over the status of Kashmir.

Terrorism
A knife-wielding South Vietnamese hijacker, later identified as an anti-war dissident while a student in the United States, was shot and killed by a passenger while struggling with a pilot of a Pan American jumbo jet at Tansonhut Airport in Saigon, after attempting to divert the plane to Hanoi.

30 years ago
1982

Hit parade
Edmonton’s top 10 (CFRN)
1 Rosanna—Toto (4th week at #1)
2 Any Day Now—Ronnie Milsap
3 Six Months in a Leaky Boat—Split Enz
4 Love’s Been a Little Bit Hard on Me—Juice Newton
5 Island of Lost Souls—Blondie
6 Hard to Say I’m Sorry—Chicago
7 Personally—Karla Bonoff
8 Even the Nights are Better—Air Supply
9 Love Over and Over—Kate and Anna McGarrigle
10 Take Me Down—Alabama

Weather
It was one of the dreariest summer days this blogger can remember, with gray skies, low-hanging clouds, and a steady downpour.

Law
The U.S. Supreme Court voted 9-0 to uphold a New York state law prohibiting the use of children in pornographic films, photographs, or performances. The New York law also prohibited the sale of such materials. The New York Court of Appeals had previously declared the law unconstitutional on the grounds that the state could not prohibit materials that were entitled to constitutional protection from government interference, but the Supreme Court ruled that sexual exploitation and abuse of children needed to be prevented. Associate Justice Byron White stated that child pornography was a “category of material outside the protection of the First Amendment,” and therefore could be regulated whether or not it was obscene.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate had held steady in June at 9.5%, the highest level in 40 years. Unemployment had risen among adult men, while factory employment had declined. The unemployment level among Negro teenagers had reached a record 52.6%.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Winnipeg (3-1) 9 @ Edmonton (2-2) 16

Warren Moon rushed 15 yards in the 2nd quarter for the Eskimos’ only touchdown in their win over the Blue Bombers. The heavy rain which had fallen all day kept up throughout the game, and the attendance of approximately 25,000 was the lowest for an Eskimo game since the opening of Commonwealth Stadium in 1978. It was one of the wettest games this blogger has ever attended, and I was lucky not to get pneumonia. Mike Williams, recently acquired from the Toronto Argonauts in a trade for linebacker John Pointer and receiver Mike Smith, got into the game for a few plays at quarterback in the game’s final minutes. It was the final appearance in an Edmonton uniform for safety Pete Lavorato, who had played from 1975-1981. He subsequently played for the British Columbia Lions and Montreal Concordes. Winnipeg players whose careers ended with this game included defensive tackle York Hentschel, who had played with the Eskimos from 1975-1980; and receiver Bob Gaddis, who had played for the Montreal Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts from 1977-1981 before joining the Blue Bombers during the 1981 season.

25 years ago
1987

Crime
U.S. border control agents in Sierra Blanca, Texas, 90 miles southeast of El Paso, found 19 Mexican men—18 of them dead—in a locked railroad boxcar attempting to enter the United States. 17 of the 19 men were reportedly illegal aliens. The men had entered the boxcar on the afternoon of July 1, having agreed to pay $400 each to a smuggler. Tools that the smuggler had given the men could not be used to open a hole. The lone survivor recounted the horror of the fatal entrapment.

Perennial U.S. presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche was charged with conspiring to thwart an investigation of a $1 million credit card fraud. Five organizations and 13 individuals associated with Mr. LaRouche had been indicted in 1986. The alleged fraud involved unauthorized charges to credit cards of persons who had used the cards to purchase Mr. LaRouche’s publications. The new indictment charged that Mr. LaRouche and some of his associates had sought to obstruct a grand jury investigation by destroying records, by attacking the U.S. attorney investigating the case, and by sneaking three of the original defendants out of the United States.

British murderer Ian Brady offered to assist police searches of Saddleworth Moor for bodies of his victims for the first time since being convicted of three murders in 1966.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate had declined from 6.2% in May to 6% in June, the lowest figure since December 1979.

20 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Abba-esque (EP)--Erasure (3rd week at #1)

Politics and government
Israeli President Chaim Herzog asked Labour Party leader Yitzhak Rabin to form a government, nine days after Labour had captured 44 of 120 seats in the Knesset in the country’s general election. Mr. Rabin assembled a coalition including Meretz—a coalition of three parties supporting an independent Palestinian state that had won 12 seats—and Shas, an ultra-Orthodox religious party that had taken 6 seats.

Ali Kafi, a member of Algeria’s High State Council of State, was named Chairman, succeeding Mohammed Boudiaf, who had been assassinated three days earlier. Continued military rule of Algeria seemed likely.

Crime
The Irish Republican Army admitted killing three men whose bodies had been found the previous night in South Armagh in Northern Ireland.

Environment
Canadian Fisheries Minister John Crosbie shut down the Newfoundland cod fishery for two years in an attempt to replenish dwindling stocks. 19,000 fishermen and plant workers lost their jobs for the duration of the shutdown, and they angrily rejected a government offer of $225 per week for 10 weeks as compensation.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate in June had increased to 7.8%. President George Bush said that the figure was “not good news,” but blamed part of the problem on Congress’s failure to pass his economic package.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Ottawa (2-0) 21 @ Winnipeg (1-1) 19
Saskatchewan (1-1) 26 @ Edmonton (0-2) 15
Hamilton (2-0) 31 @ British Columbia (0-2) 24

10 years ago
2002

Adventure
Steve Fossett of the United States became the first person to circumnavigate the globe solo in a balloon.