December 8, 2013

175 years ago
1838

War
Nils von Schoultz and fellow republican rebels Dorrephus Abbey, Daniel George, Martin Woodruff, Joel Peeler, and Sylvanus Swift were executed at Fort Henry in Kingston, Upper Canada.

150 years ago
1863

Politics and government
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln announced his plan for the Reconstruction of the South upon the conclusion of the Civil War.

100 years ago
1913

Labour
The British Columbia government prohibited the landing of skilled or unskilled labourers at B.C. ports because of unemployment and labour strife in the province.

75 years ago
1938

Died on this date
Friedrich Glauser, 42. Austro-Hungarian-born Swiss author. Mr. Glauser, a native of Vienna, moved to Switzerland with his family in 1910, and served in the French Foreign Legion from 1921-1923. He was best known for the Sergeant Studer series of detective novels in the 1930s, which made references to current European history. Mr. Glauser was a morphine and opium addict for most of his life, and died of a stroke.

70 years ago
1943

War
Italian forces went into battle alongside the Allies for the first time, attacking German positions on the U.S. 5th Army front. Australian forces captured the Japanese chief defense anchor of Wareo, New Guinea.

Abominations
The German 117th Jäger Division destroyed the monastery of Mega Spilaio in Greece and executed 22 monks and visitors as part of reprisals that culminated a few days later with the Massacre of Kalavryta.

Defense
Turkey militarized a three-mile strip on each side of the Dardanelles and intensified other security precautions, including the arrest of suspected German spies.

The U.S. Navy took over the shipyard of the Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Drydock Corporation under an executive order by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after saying "the yard's inability to control its costs and its slow production convinced the Navy that satisfactory operation culd not be obtained without a change of management."

Politics and government
Former U.S. President Herbert Hoover and 1936 Republican Party U.S. presidential candidate Alf Landon conferred in New York and predicted a Republican victory in 1944, because President Roosevelt did not have Democratic Party support.

60 years ago
1953

On television tonight
Suspense, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Dance, starring John Baragrey

Married on this date
John Diefenbaker and Olive Palmer. Mr. Diefenbaker was a Progressive Conservative member of Canada's House of Commons from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He led the party from 1956-1967 and was Prime Minister of Canada from 1957-1963. The marriage was his second; he had married Edna Brower in 1929, and she had died in 1951. It was also the second marriage for Mrs. Palmer, a Saskatchewan schoolteacher; the former Olive Freeman had married Toronto lawyer Harry Palmer, but he had died three years after the birth of their only child, a daughter. The wedding of Mr. Diefenbaker and Mrs. Palmer took place in Saskatoon.

50 years ago
1963

Disasters
After being struck by lightning while in a holding pattern, Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707-121 en route from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Philadelphia via Baltimore, crashed near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board.

Football
NFL
Cleveland (9-4) 10 @ Detroit (5-7-1) 38
Minnesota (4-8-1) 10 @ Baltimore (7-6) 41
Philadelphia (2-9-2) 14 @ St. Louis (9-4) 38
Pittsburgh (7-3-3) 24 @ Dallas (4-8-1) 19
San Francisco (2-11) 7 @ Chicago (10-1-2) 27
Washington (3-10) 14 @ New York (10-3) 44

AFL
Denver (2-9-1) 21 @ Kansas City (3-7-2) 52
San Diego (9-3) 27 @ Oakland (8-4) 41
Boston (7-5-1) 46 @ Houston (6-6) 28
New York (5-6-1) 14 @ Buffalo (6-6-1) 45

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in the Netherlands (Veronica Top 40): Schönes Mädchen aus Arcadia--Demis Roussos (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K.: I Love You Love Me Love--Gary Glitter (4th week at #1)

Australia's Top 10 (Go-Set)
1 He Did with Me--Vicki Lawrence
2 Angie--Rolling Stones
3 Rubber Bullets--10 C.C.
4 Rock and Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)--Kevin Johnson
5 Cassandra--Sherbet
6 Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose--Dawn featuring Tony Orlando
7 Half-Breed--Cher
8 Dancing on a Saturday Night--Barry Blue
9 Monster Mash--Bobby (Boris) Pickett and the Crypt Kickers
10 The Ballroom Blitz--The Sweet

Singles entering the chart were 48 Crash by Suzi Quatro (#23); Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) by Helen Reddy (#29); Photograph by Ringo Starr (#34); Ooh Baby by Gilbert O'Sullivan (#39); and Ramblin' Man by the Allman Brothers Band (#40).

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Top of the World--Carpenters (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road--Elton John
2 Top of the World--Carpenters
3 Just You 'N' Me--Chicago
4 Hello It's Me--Todd Rundgren
5 Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)--Helen Reddy
6 Photograph--Ringo Starr
7 I Got a Name--Jim Croce
8 Space Race--Billy Preston
9 The Most Beautiful Girl--Charlie Rich
10 The Love I Lost (Part 1)--Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes

Singles entering the chart were You're Sixteen by Ringo Starr (#70); Hangin' Around by the Edgar Winter Group (#84); Love Has No Pride by Linda Ronstadt (#88); Showdown by Electric Light Orchestra (#94); Jim Dandy by Black Oak Arkansas (#96); I'm the Midnight Special by Clarence Carter (#98); Inspiration by Paul Williams (#99); and Take Me to Your Heart by Monkey Meeks (#100).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Top of the World--Carpenters
2 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road--Elton John
3 Just You 'N' Me--Chicago
4 Photograph--Ringo Starr
5 Painted Ladies--Ian Thomas
6 Space Race--Billy Preston
7 Midnight Train to Georgia--Gladys Knight and the Pips
8 I Got a Name--Jim Croce
9 Ooh Baby--Gilbert O'Sullivan
10 Pretty Lady--Lighthouse

Singles entering the chart were Running Wild by the Stampeders (#74); I Thought of You Again by Susan Jacks (#75); She by Southcote (#76); I've Got to Use My Imagination by Gladys Knight and the Pips (#79); This is Your Song by Don Goodwin (#88); Walk Like a Man by Grand Funk (#94); American Tune by Paul Simon (#95); A Song I'd Like to Sing by Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge (#96); Champagne Body by Sugar Cane (#97); The River of Love by B.W. Stevenson (#98); Goodbye Blues by Danny McBride (#99); and Ain't Got No Home by The Band (#100).

#1 single in Calgary: Top of the World--Carpenters (2nd week at #1)

Scandal
U.S. President Richard Nixon made public his financial file, including income tax forms from his first four years in his current office. He acknowledged, however, that the disclosures might lead to "more questions and controversies." According to the disclosed records, Mr. Nixon had become a millionaire during his term in office by tripling his net worth, although his $200,000 annual salary and $50,000 expense account were virtually his only sources of income. The records also revealed that in three years, because of various deductions and expenses, he had paid taxes equivalent to those levied against an income of only $15,000 per year. One large deduction was based on Mr. Nixon's gift of his vice presidential papers (from 1953-1961) to the National Archives. Another controversy centred on whether he had realized capital gains on the sale of property in California. Mr. Nixon said he would abide by the decision of the Congressional Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation as to whether he owed additional taxes.

30 years ago
1983

Space
The U.S. space shuttle Columbia landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California to conclude its 10-day mission.

Diplomacy
The current round of Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) between the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. ended, with no date set for their resumption. The U.S.A. sought to dispel the suspicion that the Soviets had broken off talks as a protest against the deployment of the first of 572 U.S. intermediate-range nuclear missiles in western Europe. U.S. President Ronald Reagan said that the Soviets had been careful to say that they were walking out, although Soviet chief of general staff Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov had said three days earlier that the U.S.S.R. was considering a walkout.

Politics and government
The U.K. House of Lords voted 74-24 in favour of a motion to allow their debates to be televised.

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): I Wanna Be Your Wife--Spagna

Edmonton's Top 10 (CKRA)
1 Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley (Free Baby)--Will to Power
2 Look Away--Chicago
3 Wild, Wild West--Escape Club
4 Kokomo--The Beach Boys
5 I Don't Want Your Love--Duran Duran
6 Waiting for a Star to Fall--Boy Meets Girl
7 Hold Me Now--One-To-One
8 How Can I Fall--Breathe
9 In Your Room--Bangles
10 The Loco-Motion--Kylie Minogue

War
A seaborne Israeli force raided a Palestine Liberation Organization base near Beirut.

Diplomacy
U.S.S.R. leader Mikhail Gorbachev cut short his visit to New York City and returned home immediately upon learning of the extent of the damage caused by the previous day's earthquake in the Soviet republic of Armenia. He postponed visits to Cuba and Great Britain.

Defense
Admiral William Crowe, chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, said that the U.S.S.R.'s proposed reduction in military forces by 500,000 troops (about 10%) and removal of 10,000 tanks, 8,500 artillery pieces, and 800 aircraft by 1991 would "fall far short of redressing the conventional balance in Europe."

Disasters
A United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II crashed into an apartment complex in Remscheid, West Germany, killing 5 people and injuring 50 others.

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): In Command--Rob 'n' Raz

Died on this date
Yevgeny Minayev, 60. U.S.S.R. weightlifter. Mr. Minayev won a silver medal in the featherweight class at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, and a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. He won gold medals in the world championships in 1957 and 1962, and silver medals in 1958 and 1961. Mr. Minayev was homeless in later years, and froze to death.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into law. The agreement was to go into effect on January 1, 1994.

Law
U.S. President Bill Clinton asked Attorney General Janet Reno to consider a program to register all guns.

Abominations
The United States Energy Department acknowledged that radioactive substances had been fed to pregnant women in tests at Vanderbilt University in the 1940s to study the effects on fetuses. The Portland Oregonian reported that researchers had exposed prisoners to radiation to study its effects on sperm.

10 years ago
2003

Politics and government
Russian President Vladimir Putin led his United Russia party and its allies to a two-third majority of seats in the Duma in the Russian general election, enough to push through a number of economic reforms supported by Mr. Putin.

Terrorism
15 key members of the Greek terrorist organization known as November 17 were convicted by a jury in Athens of various crimes, including assassinations, that had killed 23 people from 1975-2000.

Scandal
Former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Alemen was sentenced to 20 years of prison for fraud, money laundering, and misuse of public funds.

Environment
The Canadian government of Prime Minister Jean Chretien banned commercial fishing and gas and oil exploration in most of the Sable Gully, a 2-kilometre-deep collection of underwater canyons off the coast of Nova Scotia. The ban was seen as a next-to-last step toward declaring the rare ecosystem a marine protected area.