February 6, 2014

120 years ago
1894

Society
In a provincial plebiscite, residents of Ontario voted for the prohibition of alcohol.

100 years ago
1914

Born on this date
Forrest Towns. U.S. runner and coach. Mr. Towns won a gold medal in the men's 110-metre hurdles at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin in world record time. He broke the record at that distance three times, holding the record until 1950. Mr. Towns was track and field coach at the University of Georgia from 1938-1975, and was inducted into the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975. He died on April 9, 1991 at the age of 77.

Protest
The Bondetåget, a march of 30,000 farmers and others in support of conservative opposition to the defense policies of Swedish Prime Minister Karl Staaff, a Liberal, took place in Stockholm. The event climaxed with the Courtyard Speech delivered by King Gustav V.

80 years ago
1934

Protest
Far-right leagues rallied in front of the Palais Bourbon in Paris, culminating in a riot on the Place de la Concorde, in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France.

75 years ago
1939

Exploration
The German Antarctic Expedition departed an area they had called New Swabia (after their ship, MS Schwabenland), and which Norway had recently claimed as Dronning Maud Land. The secret expedition, composed of 33 members and 24 crewmen, had established a temporary base upon their arrival on January 19 and had then explored and surveyed the area.

70 years ago
1944

War
Soviet forces in Ukraine trapped five more German infantry divisions in the Dnieper bend and Nikopol. In bitter street fighting, U.S. troops in Italy attempted to dislodge German forces from Cassino. U.S. forces took Gugewe, Bigej, and Eller Islands, bringing a total of 700 square miles in the Marshall Islands under Allied control.

Defense
The U.S. Army Air Force announced that improvements in the Lockheed P-38 gave it a ceiling of 40,000 feet and a speed of over 300 miles per hour.

Politics and government
1940 Republican Party U.S. presidential nominee Wendell Willkie announced that he would enter the 1944 Republican presidential primaries in Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Economics and finance
U.S. House of Representatives members demanded an investigation of the cost of the Army's Pentagon building, for which $35 million had been appropriated, but for which the War Department reported a cost of $63,645,954 plus some $10 million for special equipment and roads.

Labour
The U.S. Bureau of Mines estimated that 46,000 of 73,000 men in the anthracite fields had answered the call of Interior Secretary Harold Ickes for Sunday work to make up coal shortages.

Baseball's postwar committee voted to recommend major and minor league measures to protect players in the armed services, including return to their clubs at their previous salaries.

60 years ago
1954

Hit Parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Pretend--Nat "King" Cole (6th week at #1)

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Oh, Mein Papa (Oh! My Pa-Pa)--Eddie Fisher (Best Seller--5th week at #1; Disc Jockey--4th week at #1; Jukebox--2nd week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Stranger in Paradise--Tony Bennett
--The Four Aces
--Tony Martin
2 Oh, Mein Papa (Oh! My Pa-Pa)--Eddie Fisher
--Eddie Calvert
3 That's Amore--Dean Martin
4 Changing Partners--Patti Page
--[Kay Starr]
5 The Gang that Sang "Heart of My Heart"--The Four Aces
-- Don Cornell, Alan Dale, and Johnny Desmond
6 Woman (Uh-Huh)--Jose Ferrer
--Johnny Desmond
7 Rags to Riches--Tony Bennett
8 From the Vine Came the Grape--The Gaylords
--The Hilltoppers
9 Secret Love--Doris Day
10 Till We Two are One--Georgie Shaw

Singles entering the chart were Woman (Uh-Huh) by Jose Ferrer (#6)/Man (Uh-Huh) by Rosemary Clooney (#39); From the Vine Came the Grape (#8)/Time Will Tell (#38) by the Hilltoppers; Darktown Strutters Ball (Italian Style) by Lou Monte (#46); and Young at Heart by Frank Sinatra (#49). Young at Heart was the title song of the movie.

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: There! I've Said it Again--Bobby Vinton

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Needles and Pins--The Searchers (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Emilio Aguinaldo, 94. 1st President of the Philippines, 1899-1901. Mr. Aguinaldo served as President of the Philippines during the Philippine-American War before being captured and swearing an oath of allegiance to the United States. He collaborated with Japanese occupation forces during World War II, and served several months in prison before being freed by a presidential amnesty.

Football
CFL
The Edmonton Eskimos' board of directors held their first meeting after being reorganized as a 9-man board, reduced from the 24-man board that had existed previously. The new board's first act was to fire head coach Eagle Keys, who had played with the team as a centre from 1952-1954 before retiring to become an assistant coach with the team in 1955 and assuming the head coaching reins after the resignation of Sam Lyle in May 1959. Mr. Keys had led the Eskimos to a Western chamionship in 1960, but the team had missed the playoffs in his last 2 seasons and had fallen to 2-14 in 1963, losing their last 9 games. In 5 seasons as head coach of the Eskimos, Mr. Keys posted a record (including post-season play) of 45-45-2.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: I'd Love You to Want Me--Lobo (12th week at #1)

Scandal
The United States House of Representatives voted 410-4 to grant broad constitutional power to the House Judiciary Committee to pursue its inquiry into the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. The decision empowered the panel to subpoena anyone, including the president, with evidence pertinent to the investigation.

U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Thomas Moorer told reporters, after secret testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, that he had twice recommended that Yeoman First Class Charles Radford be court martialed for leaking National Security Council documents to the press in 1971, and had twice been overruled by civilian authorities. On January 30, Adm. Moorer had written a letter to committee chairman Sen. John Stennis and had conceded that he had twice received documents that Yeoman Radford had "retained" from President Richard Nixon's top security advisers.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Original Sin--INXS (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Say, Say, Say--Paul McCartney

Space
The launch of Indonesia's Palapa-B satellite from the U.S. space shuttle Challenger as part of mission STS-41-B failed.

War
U.S. warships fired at Muslim positions above Beirut, while U.S. jets launched air strikes. Shiite and Druze militiamen began attacking Lebanese army outposts in western Beirut, the Muslim sector of the city.

Economics and finance
Testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee, Martin Feldstein, chairman of President Ronald Reagan's council of economic advisers, said that U.S. budget deficits could reach $300 billion per year if the economy did not expand.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Kokomo--The Beach Boys (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Smooth Criminal--Michael Jackson (5th week at #1)

On the radio
Wes Montgomery did his first show as morning man on Edmonton radio station CFRN.

Died on this date
Barbara Tuchman, 76. U.S. historian. Mrs. Tuchman won Pulitzer Prizes for her books The Guns of August (1962) and Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911–45 (1971). Her other books included The Zimmermann Telegram (1958); The Proud Tower (1966); A Distant Mirror (1978); and The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam (1984).

Chris Gueffroy, 20. German murder victim. Mr. Gueffroy was the last person to be shot while attempting to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin across the Berlin Wall. He was making the attempt with his friend Christian Gaudian, who was also shot, but survived and was arrested, convicted in May, and transferred to West Berlin in October.

Politics and government
The Round Table Talks started in Warsaw, as Poland's Communist government initiated discussion with the Solidarity trade union movement and other groups in an attempt to defuse growing social unrest.

General Andres Rodriguez, who had seized power and assumed the position of President of Paraguay on February 3 in a coup that had overthrown dictator Alfredo Stroessner, announced that presidential and congressional elections would be held on May 1. He also denied that he was involved in drug trafficking.

Scandal
C. Boyden Gray, chief ethics adviser to U.S. President George Bush, said that he would resign as chairman of Summit Communications, which had paid him $225,000 in fees while he had worked as counsel to Mr. Bush from 1981-1988 during Mr. Bush's time as Vice President of the United States. Mr. Gray also said he would put his assets in a blind trust.

Economics and finance
U.S. President George Bush proposed to close or sell off 350 savings and loan institutions that were in financial trouble. The projected cost of $50 billion would be covered by the issuance of government bonds, with the thrift industry paying the principal on the bonds, and the industry and taxpayers paying the interest on the bonds.

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: I Can See Clearly Now--Jimmy Cliff (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): U Got 2 Let the Music--Cappella

#1 single in Switzerland: All for Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): Things Can Only Get Better--D: Ream (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Joseph Cotten, 88. U.S. actor. Mr. Cotten, a charter member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre company, appeared in movies such as Citizen Kane (1941); The Magnificent Ambersons (1942); Journey Into Fear (1943); Shadow of a Doubt (1943); Gaslight (1944); Since You Went Away (1944); Duel in the Sun (1946); Portrait of Jennie (1948); and The Third Man (1949).

Jack Kirby, 76. U.S. author and illustrator. Mr. Kirby, born Jacob Kurtzberg, was a major figure in the history of comic books. He was with Marvel Comics from 1958-1970, co creating such characters as The Fantastic Four, X-Men, and The Incredible Hulk. Mr. Kirby died of heart failure.

Ross Grimsley, 71. U.S. baseball pitcher. Ross Albert Grimsley II played with the Chicago White Sox in 1951, compiling a 0-0 record with an earned run average of 3.86 in 7 games. He won at least 116 games in 16 seasons in the minor leagues from 1946-1961. Mr. Grimsley was the third and last pitcher, after Mickey Lolich and David Reed, in a combined no-hit 4-3 loss for the Knoxville Smokies against the Asheville Tourists in the Class A South Atlantic League on June 4, 1961. His son Ross III pitched in the major leagues from 1971-1982.

War
United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali asked the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for authority to order air strikes against Serb artillery positions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

10 years ago
2004

Died on this date
Gerald Bouey, 83. Canadian civil servant. Mr. Bouey was governor of the Bank of Canada from 1973-1987, an era that included low interest rates, a low Canadian dollar, and wage and price controls.

Terrorism
An explosion ripped through a Moscow subway car during rush hour, killing 41 people in an attack blamed on Chechen separatists.

Politics and government
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder unexpectedly resigned as chairman of the Social Democratic Party amid mounting criticism of his economic reform agenda. Mr. Schroeder remained in office as Chancellor.