December 15, 2013

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Rahim Jaffer!

225 years ago
1788

Politics and government
Voting began in the first U.S. presidential election.

170 years ago
1843

Born on this date
A.B. Simpson. Canadian evangelist and hymnist. Albert Benjamin Simpson, a native of Bayview, Prince Edward Island, was ordained by the Presbyterian Church in Canada, but eventually went out on his own as an evangelist, and founded the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Nyack, New York in 1887. Rev. Simpson emphasized the "fourfold gospel" of "Jesus our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King." His views had an influence on Pentecostalism. Rev. Simpson also wrote the lyrics to over 120 hymns. He died on October 29, 1919 at the age of 76.

125 years ago
1888

Born on this date
Maxwell Anderson. U.S. journalist and playwright. Mr. Anderson worked with various newspapers before embarking on a successful career as a playwright, with his first success being What Price Glory? (1924). He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Both Your Houses (1933). Mr. Anderson's other plays included Winterset (1935); High Tor (1937); Key Largo (1939); Anne of the Thousand Days (1948); and The Bad Seed (1954). He died at the age of 70 on February 28, 1959, two days after suffering a stroke.

100 years ago
1913

Popular culture
Irving Berlin attended the opening of Loew's Yonge Street Theatre (today the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre), a vaudeville house in Toronto. He premiered his new song, The International Rag.

75 years ago
1938

Americana
Ground was broken for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

70 years ago
1943

Died on this date
Fats Waller, 39. U.S. musician. Thomas Wright Waller was a jazz pianist, organist, singer, and songwriter who became famous for such songs as Ain't Misbehavin'; Honeysuckle Rose; and Your Feet's Too Big. He died of pneumonia aboard the Super Chief train near Kansas City while returning to New York from Los Angeles, where he had filmed the movie Stormy Weather (1943) earlier in the year.

War
U.S.S.R. troops dislodged German forces from several settlements south of Malin and northwest of Radomysi in the Kiev bulge. The Soviet Red Army established control of a 250-mile stretch of the west bank of the Dnieper River in Ukraine from Nikopol north to Cherkassy. American and Australian forces began the Battle of Arawe as a diversion before a larger landing at Cape Gloucester on New Britain. U.S. and Chinese fliers completed three days of attacks on Kungan, Wuchang, Lichow, Shasi, Yochow, Owchihkow, and Shishow in central China.

Defense
A U.S. military mission visited Saudi Arabia upon the invitation of King Ibn Saud.

Economics and finance
Argentina and Paraguay signed a trade treaty giving Paraguay free port facilities at Buenos Aires and setting up a commission to study a possible customs union.

The U.S. War Production Board announced that U.S. war expenditures in November were $7.794 billion, the highest to date, bringing the total since July 1940 to $146 billion.

Business
Sir Alexander Korda announced that he would head a new motion picture production firm to be called Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer-London Films Ltd., and would undertake a 10-year, $140-million program.

Labour
Leaders of the five U.S. railway unions of operating employees announced that a nationwide strike had been called for December 30 to enforce demands for a 30% wage increase.

60 years ago
1953

On television tonight
Suspense, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Cagliostro and the Chess Player, starring Jack Palance

50 years ago
1963

Football
NFL
Cleveland (10-4) 27 @ Washington (3-11) 20
Dallas (4-10) 28 @ St. Louis (9-5) 24
Detroit (5-8-1) 14 @ Chicago (11-1-2) 24
Los Angeles (5-9) 16 @ Baltimore (8-6) 19
Minnesota (5-8-1) 34 @ Philadelphia (2-10-2) 13
Pittsburgh (7-4-3) 17 @ New York (11-3) 33





AFL
Denver (2-10-1) 31 @ Oakland (9-4) 35
San Diego (10-3) 20 @ Houston (6-7) 14

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in the Netherlands (Veronica Top 40): t Is weer voorbij die mooie zomer--Gerard Cox

#1 single in the U.K.: Merry X'mas Everybody--Slade

Australia's Top 10 (Go-Set)
1 Angie--Rolling Stones (4th week at #1)
2 He Did with Me--Vicki Lawrence
3 Dancing on a Saturday Night--Barry Blue
4 Rubber Bullets--10 C.C.
5 Rock and Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)--Kevin Johnson
6 48 Crash--Suzi Quatro
7 Summer (The First Time)--Bobby Goldsboro
8 Cassandra--Sherbet
9 The Ballroom Blitz--The Sweet
10 Knockin' on Heaven's Door--Bob Dylan

Singles entering the chart were You've Never Been This Way Before by Conway Twitty (#22); Remember by Des O'Connor (#29); Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John (#32); Mare Mare, Mare, Mare by Ada Mori (#34); and Paper Roses by Marie Osmond (#40).

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): The Most Beautiful Girl--Charlie Rich

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Just You 'N' Me--Chicago
2 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road--Elton John
3 Hello It's Me--Todd Rundgren
4 Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)--Helen Reddy
5 The Most Beautiful Girl--Charlie Rich
6 Time in a Bottle--Jim Croce
7 Top of the World--Carpenters
8 Photograph--Ringo Starr
9 The Joker--Steve Miller Band
10 Show and Tell--Al Wilson

Singles entering the chart were Let Your Hair Down by the Temptations (#82); Love Song by Anne Murray (#84); Step Into Christmas by Elton John (#85); Jungle Boogie by Kool & The Gang (#95); We Can't Dance to Your Music by the Grass Roots (#97); I Like to Live the Love by B.B. King (#98); and Let Me Get to Know You by Paul Anka (#99).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Top of the World--Carpenters (2nd week at #1)
2 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road--Elton John
3 Just You 'N' Me--Chicago
4 Painted Ladies--Ian Thomas
5 The Most Beautiful Girl--Charlie Rich
6 Space Race--Billy Preston
7 Photograph--Ringo Starr
8 I Got a Name--Jim Croce
9 Big Time Operator--Keith Hampshire
10 Pretty Lady--Lighthouse

Singles entering the chart were Midnight at the Oasis by Maria Muldaur (#95); Me and Baby Brother by War (#96); Let Me Get to Know You by Paul Anka (#97); If You're Ready (Come Go with Me) by the Staple Singers (#98); I'll Never Know by Peter Foldy (#99); and Shelley Made Me Smile by Lisle (#100).

Calgary's Top 10
1 Seasons in the Sun--Terry Jacks
2 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road--Elton John
3 Top of the World--Carpenters
4 The Most Beautiful Girl--Charlie Rich
5 Photograph--Ringo Starr
6 The Joker--Steve Miller Band
7 Angie--Rolling Stones
8 Rocky Mountain Way--Joe Walsh
9 My Music--Loggins and Messina
10 Knockin' on Heaven's Door--Bob Dylan
Pick hit of the week: Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)--Helen Reddy

Diplomacy
The two-day summit of the nine nations of the European Economic Community ended, after bitter argument, with an agreement to face the oil crisis together, and a call for Israel to withdraw from Arab territories held since the Six-Day War in 1967. West German Chancellor Willy Brandt said the EEC leaders had succeeded in speaking with "a single European voice," but that "a very difficult period" lay ahead.

Crime
J. Paul Getty III, 17-year-old grandson of oil billionaire J. Paul Getty, was found in a deserted service station in southern Italy, five months after being kidnapped in Rome and three days after his family had paid a ransom of $2.8 million. Negotiations between the family and the kidnappers had intensified after the Rome newspaper Il Messagero had received a letter containing a severed human ear and a lock of reddish-brown hair allegedly belonging to young Mr. Getty. Italian police stated that the kidnappers were believed to be associated with the Mafia.

Horse racing
Canadian Sandy Hawley became the first jockey to win 500 races in one year.

30 years ago
1983

War
The last 190 U.S. combat troops left Grenada, but 300 non-combat troops remained on the Caribbean island. U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz defended the decision to prevent journalists from covering the first few days of the U.S. invasion of Grenada in the last week of October 1983, saying that reporters "are always against us and so they're always seeking to report something that's going to screw things up."

The U.S. battleship New Jersey fired in support of U.S. Marines under attack from Druze positions in hills near Beirut.

Diplomacy
Arms reduction talks between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Warsaw Pact recessed, with no date set for new negotiations. The Warsaw Pact nations declined to set a new date for continuing the decade-long discussions on reducing conventional forces in central Europe.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the U.S. balance of payments showed a record deficit of $11.98 billion in the third quarter of 1983, greater than the entire deficit for 1982. The U.S. Federal Reserve Board announced that industrial production had risen by 0.8% in November.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Smooth Criminal--Michael Jackson

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): Bring Me Edelweiss--Edelweiss (5th week at #1)

Law
The Supreme Court of Canada struck down sections of Quebec's Bill 101 requiring that commercial signs be in French only, calling the law an unreasonable violation of freedom of expression.

Hockey
NHL
Former Montreal Canadiens' head coach Jean Perron was named head coach of the Quebec Nordiques. He replaced Ron Lapointe, who had been fired after the team had started the 1988-89 season with a record of 11-20-2.

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)--Meat Loaf (6th week at #1)

Diplomacy
In London, British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds signed the Joint Declaration for Peace after two years of negotiation to end 15 years of violence in Northern Ireland.

U.S. Vice President Al Gore, during a visit to Moscow, criticized the views of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, which had won 23% of the party preference vote in the December 12 elections for the State Duma. Mr. Gore called Mr. Zhirinovsky's views, including advocacy of the use of nuclear weapons and restoration of the historical boundaries of Russia stretching from Finland to Alaska, "reprehensible and anathema to all freedom-loving people."

Politics and government
Jean Charest became interim leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, following the resignation of former Prime Minister Kim Campbell. The PCs had been reduced to 2 seats in the House of Commons from 156 in the October 25 federal election, with Mr. Charest retaining his seat in the Quebec riding of Sherbrooke.

Les Aspin announced that he would resign as U.S. Secretary of Defense, effective in January. He had been criticized for declining to reinforce U.S. troops in Somalia just before a bloody clash in which 18 U.S. Army Rangers had been killed. Mr. Aspin had lifted restrictions on women flying combat missions, and he had struggled to reach a compromise under which sodomites could serve in uniform.

Economics and finance
Peter Sutherland, director general of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), declared that the Uruguay Round of global trade talks had been completed. Seven years of negotiations among GATT's 117 members had resulted in an agreement providing for sweeping reductions in tariffs on a wide range of goods and services, effective July 1995. Under the new agreement, tariffs on most industrial imports were reduced by at least one third, and many were eliminated altogether. Intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, and copyrights, was protected. Quotas and limitations on imports of textiles and apparel would be phased out over a decade. Subsidies and import quotas on agricultural products would be cut substantially within six years. GATT would have greater authority to resolve disputes over dumping.

Crime
A man shot and killed four employees and wounded another at a Chuck E Cheese restaurant in Aurora, Colorado. The man had been fired by the restaurant.

Olympics
In Montreal, synchronized swimmer Sylvie Fréchette finally received her gold medal from the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona that had been awarded to Kristen Babb-Sprague of the United States because of a judge's error.

10 years ago
2003

Politics and government
Pro-European opposition parties, who also supported United Nations plans for reunification, narrowly won elections in northern (Turkish) Cyprus.

Scandal
The late U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond's family acknowledged Essie Mae Washington-Williams' claim that she was Mr. Thurmond's illegitimate mixed-race daughter. Mr. Thurmond, a Republican and former Democrat from South Carolina who had died on June 26, 2003 at the age of 100, had served in the Senate from 1954-1956 and 1956-2003 and been known for his support for racial segregation. In 1948 he had led a delegation of southern Democrats out of the national convention in protest against racial integration, and had then run for President of the United States as the nominee of the States' Rights Democratic Party, popularly known as "Dixiecrats," capturing 4 states and 39 electoral votes. The daughter's mother was Carrie Butler, a Negro girl who was 16 years old and the Thurmond family maid when impregnated by Mr. Thurmond, who was 22 at the time.