April 19, 2013

300 years ago
1713

World events
Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, who had no children and no living male heirs, issued the Pragmatic Sanction to ensure that the hereditary possessions of the House of Habsburg could be inherited by a daughter. Charles and his wife Elizabeth Christine became the parents of a girl named Maria Theresa in 1717.

200 years ago
1813

Died on this date
Benjamin Rush, 67. U.S. physician and founding father. Dr. Rush signed the Declaration of Independence and served as Surgeon General in the Continental Army. He was also treasurer of the U.S. Mint from 1797 until his death.

130 years ago
1883

Disasters
Fire destroyed the Quebec National Assembly Buildings in Quebec City.

110 years ago
1903

Died on this date
Oliver Mowat, 82. Canadian politician. Sir Oliver, a native of Kingston, Upper Canada, was a lawyer who articled under John A. Macdonald, but the two eventually became political rivals. He was a Reformer in the 1830s, but later helped to found the Ontario Liberal Party and the Liberal Party of Canada. He entered politics as an alderman in Toronto in 1857, and then represented Ontario South in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada (1858-1864), holding several cabinet posts. Sir Oliver served as ice-Chancellor of the Court of Chancery of Upper Canada (1864-1872), and then re-entered provincial politics, representing Oxford in the Ontario Legislative Assembly and serving as Premier and Attorney General of Ontario (1872-1896), the longest tenure as Premier in the province's history. His time in office was characterized by his consistently successful defense of the constitutional rights of the provinces, in opposition to the strong federal government preferred by Sir John A. Macdonald's Conservative Party and government. Sir Oliver resigned as Premier in order to enter federal politics; when Wilfrid Laurier led the Liberals to victory in the 1896 federal election, he appointed Sir Oliver to the Senate, serving as Government Leader in the Senate, while also holding the offices of Minister of Justice and Attorney General in Mr. Laurier's cabinet (1896-1897). Sir Oliver left politics in November 1897 to accept the office of Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario; he died in office, and was succeeded by William Mortimer Clark.

80 years ago
1933

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Richard Gordon and Leigh Lovell, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Priory School

Economics and finance
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that the United States would be going off the gold standard.

75 years ago
1938

Baseball
Emmett Mueller of the Philadelphia Phillies and Ernie Koy of the Brooklyn Dodgers each hit a home run in their first major league at-bats as Brooklyn defeated Philadelphia 12-5 at National League Park in Philadelphia.

70 years ago
1943

Protest
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began when police and Nazi SS auxiliary forces entered Warsaw's Jewish ghetto to complete the process of deporting Jews to death camps, and were surprised by Molotov cocktails and hand grenades thrown by Jewish insurgents.

50 years ago
1963

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): From a Jack to a King--Ned Miller (7th week at #1)

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 Mecca--Gene Pitney (3rd week at #1)
2 I Will Follow Him--Little Peggy March
3 Peanuts--The 4 Seasons
4 Surfin' U.S.A.--Beach Boys
5 Pipeline--Chantays
6 Bo Diddley--Ronnie Hawkins
7 Summer Holiday--Cliff Richard and the Shadows
8 Puff the Magic Dragon--Peter, Paul and Mary
9 He's So Fine--The Chiffons
10 Can't Get Used to Losing You--Andy Williams

On television tonight
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Last Seen Wearing Blue Jeans, starring Michael Wilding, Anna Lee, and Katherine Crawford

Basketball
NBA
Finals
Boston 108 @ Los Angeles 105 (Boston led best-of-seven series 3-1)

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree--Dawn featuring Tony Orlando

Died on this date
Hans Kelsen, 91. Czech-born jurist. Professor Kelsen, a native of Prague, wrote the 1920 Austrian Constitution, which is still in use today. He moved to Germany in 1930, but fled to Geneva after the Nazis took power in Germany in 1933, and settled in the United States in 1940, becoming a professor in the political science department of the University of California. Prof. Kelsen was a supporter of the Nuremberg trials of accused Nazi war criminals after World War II, but was perhaps best known for his textbook Reine Rechtslehre (Pure Theory of Law) (1934/1960), in which he used the philosophy of Immanuel Kant to define legal science. Professor Kelsen's views remain influential and controversial.

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
Montreal 2 @ Philadelphia 1 (Montreal led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Chicago 3 @ New York Rangers 1 (Chicago led best-of-seven series 3-1)

30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Let's Dance--David Bowie (3rd week at #1)

Edmontonia
The annual Law Day debate at the Edmonton Public Library was on the subject of Sunday store openings. Edmonton Whitemud MLA Keith Alexander spoke against Sunday openings.

Politics and government
A committee of the United States House of Representatives approved a bill providing more economic and military aid to Lebanon, as requested by President Ronald Reagan, but requiring that the president obtain congressional approval for any expanded U.S. military role in Lebanon.

A House committee rejected President Reagan’s request for an additional $50 million in aid to El Salvador.

Defense
U.S. President Ronald Reagan endorsed the recommendations of a commission to build and deploy 100 MX missiles in existing silos in Nebraska and Wyoming. The president said that the Soviet Union would have no motivation to negotiate arms reduction agreements unless the United States modernized its land-based missile systems.

Law
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was not obliged to consider a psychological stress factor before allowing the restart of the undamaged reactor at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania. A serious accident had forced the shutdown of another reactor at the site in 1979. A U.S. court of appeals had held that the NRC had to consider the mental health of those living near the plant.

Economics and finance
The Canadian government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau raised taxes to pay for a four-year, $4.8 billion recovery program, with a projected deficit of $31.3 billion for 1983-84.

The United States Commerce Department reported that personal income had risen 0.6% in March.

Hockey
IIHF World Men's Championship
U.S.S.R. 8 Canada 2

25 years ago
1988

On television tonight
The Wonder Years, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Dance With Me

This was the last episode of the season, and the first I ever saw.

Died on this date
Kwon Ki-ok, 87. Korean aviator. Ms. Kwon was the first female aviator in Korea and the first female pilot in China. After being imprisoned for taking part in the March 1, 1919 protest against Japanese control of Korea, she went into exile in China and rose to the level of Lieutenant Colonel in the Republic of China Air Force. After the end of World War II, Ms. Kwon returned to Korea, where she helped to found the Republic of Korea Air Force and served in South Korea's Ministry of National Defense.

War
Iran admitted that 15 of its sailors had been killed in a U.S. attack on its Sassan oil platform the day before. Iran jets responded by unsuccessfully attacking one of the U.S. ships, the Wainwright. Iranian boats also attacked several commercial vessels and an offshore oil field owned by United Arab Emirates. American A-6 attack planes struck back, sinking one boat and damaging two others. An Iranian frigate attacked two U.S. warships, but in turn was struck and presumed sunk; a second attacking frigate was struck and damaged. U.S. Congressional leaders backed the American military initiative.

Politics and government
Michael Dukakis won the New York Democratic Party primary for the 1988 nomination for President of the United States with 51% of the vote to 37% for Jesse Jackson and 10% for Al Gore. Rev. Jackson took 90% of the black vote, and a narrow margin in New York City, but took only a small fraction of the Jewish vote.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Clarence S. Campbell Conference
Division Finals
St. Louis 4 @ Detroit 5 (Detroit led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Edmonton 3 @ Calgary 1 (Edmonton led best-of-seven series 1-0)

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): All that She Wants--Ace of Base (7th week at #1)

Died on this date
George S. Mickelson, 52. U.S. politician. Mr. Mickelson, a Republican, was Governor of South Dakota from 1987 until his death. Mr. Mickelson and all seven other people aboard a state-owned Mitsubishi MU-2 turboprop plane were killed when it crashed into a farm silo about nine miles south of Dubuque, Iowa while flying back to South Dakota after a lobbying trip to Ohio.

Joseph Wallace, 2. U.S. murder victim. Joseph and his younger brother Joshua were taken from a foster family on the orders of two circuit court judges and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and returned to their mother, Amanda Wallace, in Chicago despite her history of mental problems. She then hanged Joseph with an electrical cord.

Abominations
A 51-day standoff between U.S. federal authorities and residents of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas ended with the deaths of all people in the compound when federal agents began battering the buildings and firing tear gas inside, and fire swept through the buildings. As many as 81 people may have been killed.

War
Croat nationalists and the Bosnian army began a full-scale war against each other, marked by terrorist tactics, in a dispute over the boundary proposed in the Vance-Owen peace plan.

Politics and government
In a national referendum, voters in Italy approved changing the current system of proportional representation in the Senate for one using majority voting. The country had been hit by economic recession and a growing scandal involving the Mafia and many government leaders.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Clarence S. Campbell Conference
Division Semi-Finals
Toronto 3 @ Detroit 6 (Detroit led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Winnipeg 2 @ Vancouver 4 (Vancouver led best-of-seven series 1-0)

10 years ago
2003

Died on this date
Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih IV, 74. Pakistani religious leader. Mr. Ahmad was Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community from 1982 until his death. He and 17 other members of Pakistan's Ahmadiyya community were exiled from Pakistan in 1984, and he spent the rest of his life in England. His successor was Khalifatul Masih V.

Politics and government
Olusegun Obasanjo was re-elected President of Nigeria with a reported 62% of the vote, amid accusations of fraud by his closest challenger. Gunfights between factions erupted in one city.