March 27, 2014

220 years ago
1794

Diplomacy
Denmark and Sweden formed a neutrality compact.

Defense
To protect American merchant ships from Barbary pirates, the U.S. Congress passed the Naval Act, and authorized the building of six frigates, including the Constitution ("Old Ironsides").

200 years ago
1814

War
U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeated the Creek Indians in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in central Alabama.

175 years ago
1839

Born on this date
John Ballance. Irish-born New Zealand politician. Mr. Ballance emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 27. He founded the Liberal Party and served as leader of the opposition from 1889-1891 and as Prime Minister from 1891 until his death at the age of 54 on April 27, 1893 after an operation for an intestinal disease.

160 years ago
1854

War
The United Kingdom entered the Crimean War by declaring war on Russia.

130 years ago
1884

Communications
The first long-distance telephone call was made, between Boston and New York.

Protest
A mob in Cincinnati attacked members of a jury who had returned a verdict of manslaughter in a clear case of murder, beginning four days of rioting that destroyed the courthouse and resulted in over 50 deaths.

125 years ago
1889

Died on this date
John Bright, 77. U.K. politician. Mr. Bright, a Liberal, sat in the House of Commons from 1843 until his death. He founded the Anti-Corn Law League, aimed at abolishing the laws that were seen as unfairly protecting the interests of landowners. Mr. Bright supported free trade, electoral reform, and religious freedom, and was opposed to England's involvement in the Crimean War.

100 years ago
1914

Born on this date
Snooky Lanson. U.S. singer. Mr. Lanson, born Roy Landman, sang with the bands of Francis Craig and Ray Noble in the 1930s and '40s, but was best known as one of the stars of the television program Your Hit Parade (1950-1957). He spent his later years in Nashville, singing at local dances and hosting a syndicated radio show. Mr. Lanson died on July 2, 1990 at the age of 76.

Richard Denning. U.S. actor. Mr. Denning, born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger, Jr., co-starred with Lucille Ball in the radio comedy series My Favorite Husband (1948-1951), and then starred in science fiction and horror movies, including Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). He died on October 11, 1998 at the age of 84.

Budd Schulberg. U.S. author. Mr. Schulberg was best known for his novels What Makes Sammy Run? (1941), The Disenchanted (1950), and The Harder They Fall (1947), and the screenplays for On the Waterfront (1954)--for which he won an Academy Award--and A Face in the Crowd (1957). He died on August 5, 2009 at the age of 95.

90 years ago
1924

Diplomacy
Canada recognized the U.S.S.R.

80 years ago
1934

Died on this date
Francis William Reitz, 89. South African lawyer and politician. Mr. Reitz held various positions in his long legal and political career, including Chief Justice of the Orange Free Stae (1876-1889); State President of the Orange Free State (1889-1895); State Secretary of the South African Republic (1898-1902); and President of the Senate of the Union of South Africa (1910-1921).

75 years ago
1939

Basketball
NCAA
Men's Championship
Final @ Evanston, Illinois
Oregon 46 Ohio State 33

70 years ago
1944

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on MBS
Tonight's episode: The Haunted Bagpipes

War
A fourth column of Japanese troops entered the Indian state of Manipur from the Sumra jungle area on the Burmese border. Three German attacks on the Allied beachhead at Anzio were repulsed. The Polish Telegraph Agency announced that underground leaders in Poland had been instructed to get in touch with Soviet military leaders "to coordinate military operations against the Germans.

Literature
The American Academy of Arts and Letters announced that its Award of Merit and $1,000 cash prize would go to novelist Theodore Dreiser.

Academia
The Montreal School of Graphic Arts was officially opened.

Crime
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the conviction of German-born journalist and propagandist George S. Viereck under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Supreme Court sustained the power of the Office of Price Administration to fix ceiling prices on meats and rents.

Labour
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that miners must be paid for time spent going from the face of the mine to working places.

A $90,000 suit by Operas on Tour against American Federation of Musicians president James C. Petrillo was announced in New York. The suit alleged that Mr. Petrillo had interfered with the plaintiff's efforts to present grand opera through recordings.

60 years ago
1954

Hit Parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Rags to Riches--Tony Bennett (5th week at #1)

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Make Love to Me--Jo Stafford (Best Seller--2nd week at #1; Jukebox--3rd week at #1); Secret Love--Doris Day (Disc Jockey--4th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Secret Love--Doris Day (4th week at #1)
2 Make Love to Me--Jo Stafford
3 Wanted--Perry Como
4 Stranger in Paradise--Tony Bennett
--The Four Aces
--Tony Martin
5 Young at Heart--Frank Sinatra
6 I Get So Lonely (When I Dream About You)--The Four Knights
7 From the Vine Came the Grape--The Gaylords
--The Hilltoppers
8 Cross Over the Bridge--Patti Page
9 Oh, Mein Papa (Oh! My Pa-Pa)--Eddie Fisher
--Eddie Calvert
10 Answer Me, My Love--Nat "King" Cole

Singles entering the chart were A Girl, A Girl (Zoom-Ba Di Alli Nella) by Eddie Fisher (#16); Such a Night, with versions by Johnnie Ray and Bunny Paul (#28); Cleo and Meo by the Four Lads and Jill Corey (#34); You'll Never Walk Alone by Roy Hamilton (#35); Am I in Love by Joni James (#37); Trumpet Sorrento by Frankie Avalon (#42); I Really Don't Want to Know by Les Paul and Mary Ford (#43); Heidelberg by Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra (#44); and Long Distance Love by Frankie Laine (#46). A Girl, A Girl (Zoom-Ba Di Alli Nella) was the B-side (or maybe the A-side) of Anema e Core (With All My Heart And Soul), which charted at #29. Am I in Love was the B-side (or maybe the A-side) of Maybe Next Time, which charted at #47. You'll Never Walk Alone was the first single by Mr. Hamilton. Trumpet Sorrento was the first single for Mr. Avalon, who was 13 years old at the time.

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): I Love You Because--Jim Reeves

On television tonight
Twilight Zone, hosted by Rod Serling, on CBS
Tonight's episode: I Am the Night--Color Me Black, starring Michael Constantine, Eve McVeagh, Paul Fix, George Lindsey, Ivan Dixon, and Terry Becker

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Behind the Locked Door, starring Gloria Swanson, James MacArthur, Lynn Loring, and Whit Bissell

Space
The U.S.S.R. launched the satellite Cosmos 27. The mission of the Soviet satellite Cosmos 23, launched December 13, 1963, ended.

The U.K./U.S.A. satellite Ariel 2 was launched. Its mission was to measure galactic radio noise, vertical distribution of ozone, and micrometeoroid flux.

Defense
The first Canadians started duties with a United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus.

Disasters
The Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful in U.S. history at a magnitude of 9.2 on the Richter scale, struck south-central Alaska 80 miles east of Anchorage, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.



40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland: Tchip Tchip--Cash & Carry (2nd week at #1)

Scandal
A report on U.S. President Richard Nixon's role in the June 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. and the subsequent cover-up was delivered to the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, which was exploring the possibility of impeachment proceedings against the President. Presidential Press Secretary Ron Ziegler said that some of the 42 tapes of White House conversations requested by the committee may not exist.

Oil
Canada's federal and provincial governments agreed that the price of domestic crude oil would rise from $4-$6.50 per barrel.

Baseball
The Montreal Expos traded catcher John Boccabella to the San Francisco Giants for relief pitcher Don Carrithers. Mr. Boccabella had been with the Expos since being selected in the National League expansion draft in 1968. He was coming off his best season, in which he had played in a career-high 118 games, batting .233 with 7 home runs and 46 runs batted in. On July 6, 1973, Mr. Boccabella had tied a major league record by hitting 2 home runs in the same inning. Mr. Carrithers had spent 4 seasons with the Giants, and had appeared in 25 games in 1973, with a record of 1-2 and an earned run average of 4.81.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Radio Ga Ga--Queen (4th week at #1)

Politics and government
U.S. Senator Gary Hart (Colorado) won the Connecticut primary in the contest for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States in the November 1984 election.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): She Drives Me Crazy--Fine Young Cannibals

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Like a Prayer--Madonna (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
May Allison, 98. Miss Allison was a star in the early days of silent films, and was romantically teamed with Harold Lockwood in 25 movies from 1915-1918, becoming Hollywood's first popular on-screen romantic team, until Mr. Lockwood died in the influenza epidemic in 1918. Miss Allison retired from movies after The Telephone Girl (1927).

Malcolm Cowley, 90. U.S. writer. Mr. Cowley was known for Blue Juniata (1929), a book of poetry; Exile's Return (1934/1951), a memoir of life among American expatriates in Paris after World War I; and for his many years from 1944 through the 1980s as an editor and talent scout at Viking Press. He served as an analyst with the U.S. War Department's Office of Facts and Figures from 1941-1942, but resigned amidst accusations of Communist sympathies.

Politics and government
Many Communist Party candidates were defeated in elections for the U.S.S.R. Congress of People's Deputies.

Scandal
William Parkin, a defense consultant, pled guilty to bribing a public official, wire fraud, and fraud conspiracy in connection with a plan to help Teledyne Electronics obtain a U.S. Air Force contract. The official who received the bribe, U.S. Navy contract specialist Stuart Berlin, had pleaded guilty on March 23 to wire fraud and receiving bribes.

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Gangsta Lean--DRS

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): All for Love--Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Move on Baby--Cappella (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Chart Information Network): Doop--Doop (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Lawrence Wetherby, 86. U.S. politician. Mr. Wetherby, a Democrat, was Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky from 1947-1950 and Governor of Kentucky from 1950-1955. As chairman of the Southern Governors Conference in 1954 and 1955, he encouraged other southern governors to accept and implement racial desegregation. Mr. Wetherby was elected to the Kentucky Senate in 1966, and was its President Pro Tempore from 1966-1968. He died of complications from a broken hip.

Defense
The European Fighter Aircraft made its maiden flight in Germany, two years later than expected.

Politics and government
Two days of voting concluded in the first Italian general election since the adoption of a new electoral law that had been approved in reaction to widespread corruption. Under the new rules, 3/4 of the seats in both houses of parliament were to be filled from single-seat constituencies, with the remainder assigned proportionally based on the relative popular strength of the parties. The Alliance for Freedom, a coalition of three conservative parties, obtained 43% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house), with half of that going to Forzia Italiana, led by Silvio Berlusconi, who had promised to cut taxes. The smallest of the conservative coalition parties, the National Alliance, widely regarded as neo-Fascist, captured 8% of the vote. The Communist-dominated Progressive Alliance took 34% of the vote, and a centrist party coalition led by the Popular Party (formerly the Christian Democrats) took 16% of the vote. Mr. Berlusconi's alliance won 366 of 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 156 of 312 seats in the Senate. The Alliance of Progressives, led by Achille Occhetto, took 213 seats in the Chamber and 122 in the Senate. The pact for Italy, led by Mariotto Segni, won 46 seats in the House and 34 in the Senate.

Figure Skating
Elvis Stojko of Canada won the gold medal in men's singles competition at the World Championships in Chib, Japan.

10 years ago
2004

Died on this date
Art James, 74. U.S. television host. Mr. James, born Artur Simeonvich Elimchik, acted as host or announcer for more than a dozen television game shows from the late 1950s through the 1990s.

Adán Sánchez, 19. U.S. singer. Mr. Sánchez was the son of singer Chalino Sánchez, who was kidnapped and murdered in Mexico in 1992. Adán began his recording career at the age of 10 and acquired a large following of Mexican-American young people. He was killed in a car accident 18 days before his 20th birthday, while on tour in Mexico; 15,000 fans jammed the streets of Norwalk, California to attend his wake five days later.

Defense
HMS Scylla, a decommissioned Leander class Royal Navy frigate, was sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe.