March 14, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Andrea Jameson!

220 years ago
1794

Technology
Eli Whitney was granted a patent for the cotton gin.

170 years ago
1844

Born on this date
Umberto I. King of Italy, 1878-1900. Umberto I acceded to the throne upon the death of his father Vittorio Emanuele II, and survived an assassination attempt by an anarchist 10 months later. He approved the Triple Alliance with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary in 1882, and presided over a small colonial empire in Africa, although Italy suffered the embarrassment of losing a colonial war to Abyssinian forces in 1896. King Umberto was hated by leftists because of his conservatism, which included his support of General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris's killing of 80 protesters in a food riot in 1898. King Umberto I was assassinated by anarchist Gaetano Bresci on July 29, 1900 at the age of 56, and was succeeded by his son Vittorio Emanuele III.

140 years ago
1874

Born on this date
Anton Philips. Dutch businessman. Mr. Philips' father Frederik and older brother Gerard co-founded the electronics firm Philips Company in Eindhoven in 1891; Anton joined in 1895, and made significant contribution's to the firm's prgress. The company became Koninklijke Philips N.V. in 1912 and Anton was the company's chief executive officer from 1922-1939. He was Jewish, and fled to the United States just before Nazi forces occupied the Netherlands during World War II, returning home after the war. Anton Phillips died on October 7, 1951 at the age of 77.

120 years ago
1894

Born on this date
Osa Johnson. U.S. explorer and film director. Mrs. Johnson and her husband Martin became famous for visiting exotic lands and making documentary films about their adventures from the early 1910s until his death in a plane crash in January 1937. Mrs. Johnson was seriously injured in the crash, but recovered enough to continue her activities for several years afterward. Perhaps the Johnsons' best-known film was Simba: King of the Beasts (1928). Mrs. Johnson died of a heart attack on January 7, 1953 at the age of 58.

100 years ago
1914

Born on this date
Lee Hays. U.S. musician. Mr. Hays was a member of the folk group The Weavers, who achieved great popularity in the early 1950s, but were blacklisted for several years because of their left-wing political views. Mr. Hays wrote or co-wrote the songs If I Had a Hammer and Kisses Sweeter than Wine. He died on August 26, 1981 at the age of 67.

80 years ago
1934

At the movies
The House of Rothschild, directed by Alfred Werker, and starring George Arliss, Loretta Young, Boris Karloff, and Robert Young, received its premiere screening in New York City.



75 years ago
1939

World events
Under pressure from Germany's Nazi regime, the republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, and Slovakia declared independence.

70 years ago
1944

War
Soviet troops closed a trap on several German divisions on the third Ukrainian front. The fighting on Bougainville Island reached a climax, with Japanese forces failing to break the Allied beachhead on the Empress Augusta Bay. Sweden reported that the Soviet reply to Finland's counter-proposals for peace reiterated the U.S.S.R.'s original demands and insisted on compliance. U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull expressed the hope that Finland would "withdraw from its association with Germany in the war."

U.S. Selective Service director Lewis Hershey ordered local draft boards to end deferments for men aged 18-25 in industry unless they were certified "as key men" in war industry by state draft directors.

Politics and government
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt won the New Hampshire Democratic Party primary in the contest for President of the United States in the November 1944 election, while Wendell Willkie, the Republican Party presidential nominee in 1940, won the Republican primary.

The United States Senate passed and sent to the House of Representatives the "states' rights" bill on absentee voting for soldiers, which sharply restricted use of the short federal ballot.

Cuban President Fulgencio Batista appointed Communist leader Carlos Rodriguez as a cabinet minister without portfolio.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Office of Price Administration announced that gasoline allotments to holders of "A" coupons would be cut to two gallons weekly throughout the nation effective March 22.

Boxing
Manuel Ortiz (56-11-2) retained his world bantamweight title with a unanimous 15-round decision over Ernesto Aguilar (17-4-3) at Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles.

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): I Saw Her Standing There/Love Me Do--The Beatles (5th week at #1)

#1 single in France: Et Pourtant--Charles Aznavour (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Una lacrima sul viso--Bobby Solo (4th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Beatles (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Anyone Who Had a Heart--Cilla Black (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Beatles (7th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 I Want to Hold Your Hand--The Beatles (8th week at #1)
2 She Loves You--The Beatles
3 Dawn (Go Away)--The 4 Seasons
4 Please Please Me--The Beatles
5 Java--Al Hirt
6 Fun, Fun, Fun--The Beach Boys
7 Navy Blue--Diane Renay
8 California Sun--The Rivieras
9 Good News--Sam Cooke
10 See the Funny Little Clown--Bobby Goldsboro

Singles entering the chart were You're a Wonderful One by Marvin Gaye (#65); Castles in the Sand by Little Stevie Wonder (#74); Hey, Bobba Needle by Chubby Checker (#75); We Love You Beatles by the Carefrees (#76); Searchin' by Ace Cannon (#86); Ain't Gonna Tell Anybody by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs (#89); Sha-La-La by the Shirelles (#90); and The Waiting Game by Brenda Lee (#97). The Waiting Game was the B-side of Think, which charted at #44. Among the singles entering the Looking Ahead chart was Stand by Me by world heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay (#47). The B-side was titled I am the Greatest.

Crime
A jury in Dallas convicted Jack Ruby and sentenced him to death for the November 24, 1963 killing of Lee Harvey Oswald, the assumed assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Jealous Mind--Alvin Stardust (2nd week at #1)

Politics and government
The Portuguese government of Premier Marcello Caetano dismissed Chief of Defense Staff General Francisco de Costa Gomes and his deputy, General Antonio de Spinola, for advocating a change in Portuguese policy toward her African territories. Gen. Spinola, supported by Gen. Costa, had proposed ending the wars against African guerrillas in favour of offering Mozambique, Angola, and Portuguese Guinea equal status with Portugal in a proposed federation.

30 years ago
1984

Space
Marc Garneau, a member of the Canadian Space Agency's Canadian Astronaut Program, was named the first Canadian to go into space, being assigned to U.S. space shuttle mission STS-41-G, scheduled for October 1984.

Crime
Irish Republican Army terrorist leader Gerry Adams, head of Sinn Féin, was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in central Belfast.

Defense
The United States Senate Appropriations Committee approved $92.8 million for El Salvador and $21 million for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to assist the Contra opposition to the Sandanista regime in Nicaragua.

25 years ago
1989

On television tonight
The Wonder Years, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Nemesis

Died on this date
Zita of Bourbon-Parma, 96. Empress of Austria-Hungary, 1916-1918. Zita, a daughter of Robert I, Duke of Parma, married Archduke Charles of Austria in 1911, and became Empress when her husband acceded to the throne upon the death of Franz Josef I. The Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed at the end of World War I in 1918, and the former Emperor and Empress fled to exile in Switzerland in March 1919. Charles attempted to regain the Hungarian throne, but was unsuccessful, and he died of pneumonia on April 1, 1922. Empress Zita and her eight children lived in several countries, including the U.S.A. and Canada, over the next few decades, but she eventually returned to Switzerland, where she died.

William J. Cobb, aka Happy Humphrey, 62. U.S. wrestler. Mr. Cobb wrestled professionally in North America from 1953-1962, and was the heaviest wrestler in history, weighing between 750-800 pounds. His weight ballooned to 900 pounds after his retirement, and when he checked into a clinic in 1963 to begin a weight-loss program, he weighed 802 pounds. In two years Mr. Cobb lost 570 pounds, checking out of the clinic at 232 pounds, a record for weight loss that was mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records. He regained much of that weight in later years, and weighed about 600 lbs. at the time of his death.

Law
In a reversal of policy, the U.S. administration of President George Bush imposed an indefinite ban on imports of semiautomatic assault rifles, weapons that were said by law enforcement officials to be preferred by drug dealers.

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Omen III--Magic Affair

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Mr. Jones--Counting Crows
2 Streets of Philadelphia--Bruce Springsteen
3 The Sign--Ace of Base
4 Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through--Meat Loaf
5 Distant Sun--Crowded House
6 Now and Forever--Richard Marx
7 Without You--Mariah Carey
8 The Power of Love--Celine Dion
9 Everyday--Phil Collins
10 Will You Be There (In the Morning)--Heart

Singles entering the chart were Spoonman by Soundgarden (#73); Baby, I Love Your Way by Big Mountain (#75); Surely (I Love You) by Colin James & the Little Big Band (#76); In Walked Love by Expose (#82); I Owe You One by Aaron Neville (#86); I'm in the Mood by Ce Ce Peniston (#89); There's No Easy Way by Roch Voisine (#90); and Hush Sweet Lover by k.d. lang (#91). Baby, I Love Your Way was from the movie Reality Bites (1994). Hush Sweet Lover was from the movie Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994).

Politics and government
Webster Hubbell resigned as Associate Attorney General of the United States to focus on a dispute with his former partners at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Scandal
U.S. Senator Bob Packwood (Republican--Oregon), who was facing accusations of sexual harassment and influence-peddling, dropped a court battle to prevent a Senate committee from gaining access to his diaries. The committee had subpoenaed the diaries and a federal judge had upheld the subpoena in January.

Academia
More than 3,000 people participated in a march, organized by the Regional Action Committee, to denounce the closure of Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean-sur-le-Richelieu in Quebec, the only entirely francophone institution for young people seeking a career in the Canadian Armed Forces. The college's closure had been announced as part of the budget presented on February 22 by Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin.

10 years ago
2004

Politics and government
Vladimir Putin was re-elected to a second term as President of Russia, taking 70% of the vote.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero led his opposition Socialists to an upset victory over the governing Popular Party of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in the Spanish general election. Many blamed Mr. Aznar's loss on his handling of the March 11 terrorist bombing of commuter trains in Madrid in which 191 people had died., and on his support for the U.S. war in Iraq. Mr. Zapatero quickly promised to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.

Terrorism
Spanish officials said they had found a videotape on which al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the March 11 bombings on commuter trains in Madrid.