March 14, 2013

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Andrea Jameson!

1,700 years ago
313

Died on this date
Huai, 29 (?). Emperor of China, 307-311. An emperor of the Jin Dynasty (265-420), Huai succeeded to the throne after his brother Hui was poisoned. He was captured in 311 when forces under the command of Xun Xi, the military commander of Qing province, attacked the capital city of Luoyang, and was taken to the Xiongnu state of Han Zhao. Huai was executed by order of Han Zhao's ruler Liu Cong.

270 years ago
1743

Americana
The first town meeting was held at Faneuil Hall in Boston.

150 years ago
1863

Born on this date
Casey Jones. U.S. railroad engineer. Jonathan Luther Jones was an engineer with the Illinois Central Railroad who was driving a passenger train from Memphis, Tennessee to Canton, Mississippi on the night of April 29-30, 1900. The train departed at 11:35 P.M. on April 29, 75 minutes late. Mr. Jones had reduced the time lag to 2 minutes by 3:52 A.M. on April 30 when he became aware that there was a train stopped ahead of him at Vauhgan, Mississippi. He stayed at the controls of Engine No. 382, nicknamed "Cannonball," and slowed its speed from 75 miles per hour to 35 mph before it hit the caboose of the train in front. Mr. Jones, 37, was killed, but his actions prevented any other fatalities; he became legendary when a traditional folk song was rewritten as "The Ballad of Casey Jones."

130 years ago
1883

Died on this date
Karl Marx, 64. German philosopher. Mr. Marx was the author of the Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867-1894). Influenced by the dialectical philosophy of G.F. Hegel, Mr. Marx believed that history moves in a wave motion, and consists of a class struggle between proletariat and ownership. He predicted that a "dictatorship of the proletariat" would eventually emerge, resulting a in a withering away of the state. Marxism, when put into practice as Communism, has resulted in the deaths of untold millions of innocent people.

110 years ago
1903

Diplomacy
The United States Senate ratified the Hay-Herran Treaty, granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal.

Environment
Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge was established by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Rat Portage Thistles 2 @ Ottawa Silver Seven 4 (Ottawa won two-game total goals challenge series 10-4)

The Silver Seven retained the Cup less than a week after winning it in a successful challenge against the Montreal Victorias.

80 years ago
1933

Died on this date
Balto, 14. U.S. sled dog. Balto, a Siberian Husky, was the lead sled dog in the final leg of the run from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska in 1925, carrying serum to combat a diphtheria epidemic. The run inspired the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

60 years ago
1953

Hit Parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Lady of Spain--Eddie Fisher; Winifred Atwell

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Till I Waltz Again with You--Teresa Brewer (Best seller--5th week at #1, Jukebox--5th week at #1; Disc Jockey--5th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Till I Waltz Again with You--Teresa Brewer (6th week at #1)
2 The Doggie in the Window--Patti Page
3 Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes--Perry Como
4 Pretend--Nat "King" Cole
--Ralph Marterie and his Orchestra
--[Eileen Barton]
5 Tell Me You're Mine--The Gaylords
6 I Believe--Frankie Laine
7 Your Cheatin' Heart--Joni James
8 Anywhere I Wander--Julius LaRosa
9 Wild Horses--Perry Como
10 Have You Heard--Joni James

Eileen Barton's version of Pretend was listed in brackets because it was currently in release, but hadn't yet charted. Singles entering the chart were Tell Me a Story by Jimmy Boyd and Frankie Laine (#25); Gomen-Nasai (Forgive Me) by Eddy Howard (#28, charting with the Columbia Tokyo Orchestra); Salomee (With her Seven Veils) by Dinah Shore (#32); and April in Portugal (The Whisp'ring Serenade) by Freddy Martin and his Orchestra (#33).

Died on this date
Klement Gottwald, 56. Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, 1946-1948; President of Czechoslovakia, 1948-1953. Mr. Gottwald became involved in Communist Party activities in the early 1920s, and was elected general secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1929. He went into exile in the Soviet Union in 1938, but returned to Czechoslovakia in 1945, and became Prime Minister in a minority government resulting from the 1946 general election, Two years later, the Communists executed a coup d'état, turning the country into a Soviet-dominated dictatorship. Mr. Gottwald was a long-time drunkard, and suffered from heart disease caused by syphilis. He attended the funeral of U.S.S.R. dictator Josef Stalin on March 9, 1953, but suffered a burst artery shortly thereafter, and died.

Basketball
NCAA
National Invitational Tournament @ New York
Final
Seton Hall 58 St. John's 46

Walter Dukes scored 21 points and grabbed 20 rebounds to lead Seton Hall to their victory at Madison Square Garden.

50 years ago
1963

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Summer Holiday--Cliff Richard and the Shadows

On television tonight
Twilight Zone, hosted by Rod Serling, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Parallel, starring Steve Forrest, Jacqueline Scott, Frank Aletter, and Philip Abbott

40 years ago
1973

Died on this date
Chic Young, 72. U.S. cartoonist. Mr. Young created the comic strip Blondie in 1930, and drew the strip until 1950, when his eyesight began to fail.

Law
U.S. President Richard Nixon sent a 6,000-word statement to Congress asking for a restoration of capital punishment, stiffer narcotics laws, and laws limiting insanity as a defense in federal criminal cases.

30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Gloria--Laura Branigan (6th week at #1)

Oil
For the first time in its 23-year history, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to cut the prices of its crude oil. The decision, made in London, reflected the reality of falling worldwide demand for OPEC products. The price of light Arabian crude was pegged at $29 U.S. per barrel, down from $34. The OPEC countries also set an overall production quota of 17.5 million barrels per day, and every country except Saudi Arabia had a specified quota. Authorities on the oil industry doubted that even the price of $29 could be maintained. Mexico, not an OPEC member, also cut its price to $29.

Diplomacy
Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir concluded two days of talks with U.S. officials in Washington and stated that the U.S. and Israel still differed on achieving their shared goals in Lebanon.

Football
USFL
Washington (0-2) 3 @ Los Angeles (2-0) 20

Mike Rae threw two touchdown passes to Ricky Ellis just a few minutes apart in the second quarter, and Vince Abbott chipped in with two field goals and two converts as the Express defeated the Federals at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Federals got on the scoreboard early with a field goal by Obed Ariri, but never came close again. Like most USFL games, this one was pretty dull. Most of the scoring came in the first half; about the only thing of interest in the second half was the insertion of former University of Southern California star (and CFL washout) Anthony Davis into the Express lineup late in the game, which brought some cheers from the relatively small crowd of 22,453. The Los Angeles radio broadcast was carried in Edmonton on CFRN AM, the first of a number of Express games carried on that station in 1983, because of the Express being coached by Hugh Campbell, who had recently left the Edmonton Eskimos. The Express' opponents in this game were led by Mr. Campbell's predecessor as Eskimos' head coach, Ray Jauch. Both teams had a number of former CFL players on their rosters, and it sounded strange to hear these names playing for American teams in another league. The Los Angeles broadcasting crew consisted of Tom Kelly handling play-by-play, with Rich Marotta providing analysis.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): I Should Be So Lucky--Kylie Minogue

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: I Will Always Love You--Whitney Houston (13th week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): No Limit--2 Unlimited (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Somebody Dance with Me--DJ Bobo

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): No Limit--2 Unlimited (3rd week at #1)

World events
A United Nations inquiry blamed active and retired Salvadoran military officers for killing thousands of civilians in the 1980, including the Roman Catholic Archbishop of El Salvador, and named the country's defense minister as one of a group that ordered the murders of six Jesuit priests.

Curling
Ontario, skipped by Russ Howard, defeated British Columbia 5-3 in the final of the Brier to win the Canadian men's championship.

10 years ago
2003

Politics and government
The Turkish parliament chose Recep Tayyip Erdogan, chairman of the governing party, to succeed Abdullah Gul as Prime Minister. Mr. Erdogan's party had won the national elections in November 2002, but he became eligible to become Prime Minister only after a change in the constitution allowed him to run for a seat in parliament, which he won.

War
Two days of Israeli raids against Islamic Jihad terrorists and other targets on the West Bank concluded with the deaths of 10 Palestinians.

Economics and finance
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder unveiled a package of reforms aimed at reducing unemployment benefits, easing labour laws, and helping small business. While trade unions widely disapproved of the measures, many others thought them too timid.