February 24, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Kavis Reed!

300 years ago
1714

Died on this date
Edmund Andros, 76. English politician. Sir Edmund was Colonial Governor of New York (1674-1683); Governor of the Dominion of New England (1686-1689); Colonial Governor of Virginia (1692-1698); and Proprietary Governor of Marlyand (1693-1694). His authoritarian ways and pro-Anglican sympathies earned him the enmity of New Englanders; he was overthrown in the Boston Revolt on April 18, 1689, and the Dominion of New England was dissolved.

275 years ago
1739

War
The army of Iranian ruler Nader Shah defeated the forces of Mughal Emperor of India Muhammad Shah in the Battle of Karnal in Punjab.

100 years ago
1914

Died on this date
Joshua Chamberlain, 85. U.S. military officer and politician. Mr. Chamberlain was a college professor who became a brigadier general with the Union army in the U.S. Civil War. He won the Medal of Honor for his gallantry in the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, and courageously commanded his troops despite suffering a near-fatal wound during the Siege of Petersburg in 1864. Gen. Chamberlain was given the honour of commanding the Union troops in the ceremony of the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, Virginia in April 1865. Mr. Chamberlain, a Republican, served four consecutive one-year terms as Governor of Maine from 1867-1871. Mr. Chamberlain died from the lingering effects of his wound at Petersburg, and is regarded as the last Civil War veteran to die of wounds recieved in the war.

90 years ago
1924

Swimming
Johnny Weissmuller broke the world's record for 100 metres, covering the distance in a time of 57 2/5 seconds in a race in Miami Beach, Florida.

70 years ago
1944

War
The U.S. Army and Navy reported total U.S. casualties in World War II at 157,865 through February 7, including 36,005 killed, 54,867 wounded, 35,830 missing, and 31,163 captured. The U.S. force known as Merrill's Marauders began their 1,000-mile journey through Japanese-occupied Burma. The Allies announced that the western end of New Britain Island from Rottock Bay to Arawa was now completely in American hands. Allies cleared the Japanese from Ngakyedauk Pass on the Arakan front. In a three-day-old offensive, Soviet troops advanced 12-15 miles along a 30-mile front in White Russia and captured the large railway junction of Rogachev. In their second coordinated attack, U.S. planes taking off from Britain and Italy struck at targets in Germany. The government of Chile smashed a Nazi spy ring, arresting scores of alleged Nazi agents.

Politics and government
Argentine President General Pedro Ramirez resigned because of "ill health," but it was reported from Montevideo that he was toppled by an army coup.

The U.S. House of Representatives overrode President Franklin D. Roosevelt's veto of the tax bill. The U.S. Senate Democratic caucus re-elected Alben Barkley (Kentucky) as its leader after accepting his resignation.

Diplomacy
Representative John Coffee (Democrat--Washington) asked the United States Congress to sever diplomatic relations with the Spanish regime of Generalissimo Francisco Franco and give support to anti-Fascist forces there.

60 years ago
1954

At the movies
Bait, produced, co-written, and directed by Hugo Haas, and starring Mr. Haas, Cleo Moore, John Agar, and Cedric Hardwicke, opened in theatres.



50 years ago
1954

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): If I Had a Hammer--Trini Lopez (4th week at #1)

On television tonight
The Outer Limits, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Specimen: Unknown, starring Stephen McNally, Richard Jaeckel, Russell Johnson, Dabney Coleman, and Gail Kobe

40 years ago
1974

Music
Susan Jacks performed at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary.

Diplomacy
Pakistan officially recognized Bangladesh, which had been known as East Pakistan until declaring independence in 1971.

Crime
Police in Atlanta said that the February 20 kidnapping of Atlanta Constitution editorial page editor Reg Murphy by the "American Revolutionary Army" appeared to be the work of a single individual, William A.H. Williams, who had been arrested on February 23, the day after Mr. Murphy had been freed unharmed after the Constitution had paid a $700,000 ransom. Police had recovered most of the ransom money after the arrest of Mr. Williams, 33, a construction contractor, and his wife. Mr. Williams had earlier been involved in a $300,000 oil hoax in Miami.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Maggie--Foster and Allen (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Tyrone Mitchell, 28. U.S. criminal. Mr. Mitchell killed two children and injured 12 more in a shooting at the 49th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles before turning the gun on himself. He had suffered a nervous breakdown when his parents, four sisters, and a brother had died in the mass suicide of the People's Temple cult in Jonestown, Guyana on November 18, 1978.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the consumer price index had increased 0.6% in January, the largest increase since April 1983.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): First Time--Robin Beck (7th week at #1)

Died on this date
Sparky Adams, 94. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Adams was an infielder with the Chicago Cubs (1922-1927); Pittsburgh Pirates (1928-1929); St. Louis Cardinals (1930-1933); and Cincinnati Reds (1933-1934), batting .286 with 9 home runs and 394 runs batted in in 1,424 games. He hit .314 with the Cardinals when they won the National League pennant in 1930, and .293 with a league-leading 46 doubles as the Cardinals won the World Series in 1931. Mr. Adams was, at 5' 4 1/2", the shortest player in the major leagues during his career, and was the last surviving member of the Cardinals' 1931 World Series championship team.

Music
John O'Conor finished recording the album Nocturnes of John Field at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts.

World events
48 days after his death, Japan's Emperor Hirohito was buried in Tokyo in a day-long Shinto ceremony. 160 countries were represented, and 55 heads of state were in attendance, including U.S. President George Bush.

Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa offered a $3-million bounty for the death of British novelist Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses (1988), deemed to be disrespectful to the prophet Muhammad.

Protest
Indian police shot and killed 12 people and wounded 40 during a riot in Bombay against Salman Rushdie.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Federal Reserve Board increased its discount rate--the rate on loans paid by financial institutions--from 6.5% to 7.0%, the highest level in almost three years.

Disasters
United Airlines Flight 811, a Boeing 747-122 jet bound for Auckland from Honolulu, suffered a cargo door failure 16 minutes after takeoff, blowing 9 passengers out of the business-class section to their deaths.

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Move on Baby--Cappella

Died on this date
Dinah Shore, 77. U.S. singer and television personality. Miss Shore was the biggest-selling female solo vocalist of the 1940s, and continued her popularity as a recording artist into the early 1950s. When sales of her records started to slow down, she achieved popularity on television, hosting several variety and talk shows through the 1970s.

10 years ago
2004

Died on this date
John Randolph, 88. U.S. actor. Born Emanuel Hirsch Cohen, Mr. Randolph was a stage and screen actor who was blacklisted in the 1950s as a result of alleged pro-Soviet sympathies and refusing to answer questions before the House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee. He appeared in the original Broadway productions of Come Back, Little Sheba (1950); Paint Your Wagon (1951); and The Sound of Music (1959), and won a Tony Award for his starring performance in Broadway Bound (1986). Mr. Randolph made many appearances on television, and was the first actor to play Frank Costanza in the comedy series Seinfeld. He appeared in the movie Seconds (1966) as the main character whose facial features are altered in order to change his identity, after which the character was played by Rock Hudson.

Politics and government
Russian President Vladimir Putin fired Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and his entire cabinet, two weeks before national elections.

Society
U.S. President George W. Bush endorsed a constitutional amendment banning sodomite marriage, saying that marriage between a man and a woman was "the most fundamental institution of civilization."