July 28, 2012

150 years ago
1862

Born on this date
John Ford. U.S. politician and judge. Mr. Ford sat in the New York State Senate from 1896-1900 and on the New York Supreme Court from 1907-1932. He founded the Clean Books League, and died on July 25, 1941, three days before his 79th birthday.

80 years ago
1932

Protest
Police in Washington, D.C. fired tear gas and used bayonets and tanks against members of the Bonus Expeditionary Army. The Bonus marchers were World War I veterans, desiring early payment-—because of Depression conditions--of a bonus that had been promised them, although not due to be paid for a number of years. They had arrived in Washington on May 29, and had set up a camp until their concerns were addressed.

60 years ago
1952

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Death Trap, starring Clare Luce, John McQuade, J. Pat O'Malley, and Leslie Nielsen

50 years ago
1962

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: Stai lontana da me--Adriano Celentano (7th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): I Remember You--Frank Ifield (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Roses are Red (My Love)--Bobby Vinton (3rd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Roses Are Red (My Love)--Bobby Vinton (3rd week at #1)
2 The Wah Watusi--The Orlons
3 Sealed with a Kiss--Brian Hyland
4 Ahab, the Arab--Ray Stevens
5 Breaking Up is Hard to Do--Neil Sedaka
6 Speedy Gonzales--Pat Boone
7 Wolverton Mountain--Claude King
8 I Can't Stop Loving You--Ray Charles
9 The Stripper--David Rose and his Orchestra
10 You'll Lose a Good Thing--Barbara Lynn

Singles entering the chart were You Don't Know Me (#51)/Careless Love (#100) by Ray Charles; Vacation by Connie Francis (#56); Stop the Wedding by Etta James (#81); Devil Woman by Marty Robbins (#82); Goodnight, Irene by Jerry Reed and the Hully Girlies (#89); Baby Elephant Walk by Lawrence Welk and his Orchestra (#96); Jivin' Around by the Al Casey Combo (#97); Silver Threads and Golden Needles by the Springfields (#98); Tear After Tear by the Blue Belles (also #100); and Alley Cat by Bent Fabric (also #100). Baby Elephant Walk was a version of a piece composed by Henry Mancini for the movie Hatari! (1962).

Space
The U.S.S.R. launched the satellite Cosmos 7, which re-entered the atmosphere four days later.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Toronto (2-1) 18 @ British Columbia (1-2) 13

40 years ago
1972

Diplomacy
Indian President V.V. Giri signed the Simla pact, 13 days after it had been endorsed by Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto with the approval of the Pakistan National Assembly. The pact, worked out earlier in the month between Mr. Bhutto and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in Simla, India, called for the return of most of the land captured during the 14-day war between the two countries the previous December. The agreement also called for eventual settlement of the 25-year-old dispute over the status of Kashmir.

Protest
American actress Jane Fonda returned from a trip to North Vietnam, defending her loyalty to the United States. In response to accusations that her Hanoi radio appeals to American pilots to halt their raids were traitorous, Miss Fonda said, “I have no reason to feel that the Vietnamese people are my enemy…the people in this country who are speaking out against this war are the real patriots.”

Labour
A nationwide strike of 42,000 longshoremen closed all major British ports for the second time in two months. The main issue was anger over a new law limiting the right to strike. A threatened larger strike by other unions was called off.

Politics and government
James O. Eastland of Mississippi, a Democrat, was named President pro tempore of the United States Senate, succeeding Allen Ellender of Louisiana, who had died the previous day. The largely honourary position, third in line of the presidency of the United States, is usually held by the longest-serving Senator from the party with the majority in the upper house. Mr. Eastland was selected by a vote when only nine Senators were present.

30 years ago
1982

Died on this date
Nick Lucas, 84. U.S. musician. Mr. Lucas was known as "The Crooning Troubador" and "The Father of the Jazz Guitar." Mr. Lucas was a popular performer from the mid-1920s until the early 1930s. His biggest hit was Tip-Toe Thru' The Tulips With Me, which was the #1 single in the U.S.A. for 10 weeks in 1929. When Tiny Tim had a hit with his own version of the song in 1968, he and Mr. Lucas became friends, and Mr. Lucas performed the song at the wedding of Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki in 1969. Mr. Lucas also sang several songs on the soundtrack of the movie The Great Gatsby (1974).

25 years ago
1987

Died on this date
James Burnham, 81. U.S. political activist and journalist. Mr. Burnham was a Trotskyist who helped to organize the American Workers Party in 1933. In 1940 he broke with Marxism; he later joined the conservative movement and helped William F. Buckley found the magazine National Review in 1955. Mr. Burnham's books included The Managerial Revolution (1941) and Suicide of the West (1964).

Jack Renshaw, 77. Australian politician. Mr. Renshaw, a member of the Labour Party, held various offices before succeeding the retiring Bob Heffron as Premier of New South Wales on April 30, 1964. The Labour Party had been in power since 1941 and was voted out of office on May 1, 1965; Mr. Renshaw officially left office on May 13 and was succeeded by Liberal Party leader Bob Askin. Mr. Renshaw retired as Labour Party leader after another unsuccessful state election in 1968; he died 11 days before his 78th birthday.

Protest
A two-day general strike that had paralyzed major cities in Panama concluded.

20 years ago
1992

Crime
Sheik Kamal Adham, former head of the Saudi Arabian intelligence agency, pled guilty to conspiring with Bank of Credit & Commerce International officials to illegally purchase First American Bankshares Inc., the largest bank in Washington, D.C., in 1982. Sheik Adham agreed to co-operate with U.S. investigators.

Popular culture
Time Warner Inc. announced that it would delete the song Cop Killer from Body Count, the latest album of rap artist Ice-T. Police associations had objected to the lyrics, and police officers had demonstrated against Time Warner and organized boycotts. Actor Charlton Heston had also publicly denounced the song.

10 years ago
2002

Died on this date
Archer Martin, 92. U.K. chemist. Mr. Martin shared the 1952 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with R.M.S. Synge "for their invention of partition chromatography." Mr. Martin died after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.

Disasters
Nine coal miners emerged in good health and spirits upon their rescue after spending 77 hours in a flooded shaft 240 feet underground in Quecreek, Pennsylvania.