March 8, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Linda and Diane Woodhams!

870 years ago
1144

Died on this date
Celestine II. Roman Catholic Pope, 1143-1144. Celestine II, born Guido di Castello, succeeded Innocent II on September 26, 1143. His brief reign was characterized by adoption of policies that were different from those of his immediate predecessor. Pope Celestine II's most notable act was to grant absolution to King Louis VII of France. Celestine II was succeeded as Pope by Lucius II.

300 years ago
1714

Born on this date
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. German composer. Mr. Bach was the fifth child and second surviving son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote many pieces for harpsichord and clavichord, as well as choral music. C.P.E. Bach died on December 14, 1788 at the age of 74.

175 years ago
1839

Born on this date
Josephine Cochrane. U.S. inventor. Mrs. Cochrane designed, and built, with the assistance of mechanic George Butters, the first successful automatic dishwasher. She received the patent for her invention late in 1886, but it didn't become popular until it was exhibited at the Columbian World's Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Mrs. Cochrane died of a stroke or exhaustion on August 14, 1913 at the age of 74; she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.

170 years ago
1844

Died on this date
Charles XIV/John III, 81. King of Sweden (as Charles XIV) and Norway (as John III), 1818-1844. Born Jean Bernadotte in France, Charles XIV/John III was a French Army officer who accepted the offer of the position of Crown Prince in 1810 because the Swedish royal family was dying out with King Charles XIII/II, who had no children. He took the throne of Sweden and Norway four years af the countries had united. King Charles XIV/John III was succeeded by his son Oscar I.

140 years ago
1874

Died on this date
Millard Fillmore, 74. 13th President of the United States of America, 1850-1853; Vice President of the United States of America, 1849-1850. Mr. Fillmore, a lawyer from western New York, served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1833-1835 and 1837-1843. He was elected Vice President of the United States in 1848 and succeeded Zachary Taylor as President upon Mr. Taylor's death on July 9, 1850. Mr. Fillmore supported slavery, which made him unpopular in the northern states, and he failed in his attempt to be nominated by the Whig party as its presidential candidate in 1852. The Whig party broke up before the next presidential election, and Mr. Fillmore ran for president as the nominee of the American Party--better known as the "Know Nothings"--which represented anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic views. Mr. Fillmore finished third behind Democratic party candidate James Buchanan and Republican party nominee John C. Fremont, winning only the state of Maryland. Mr. Fillmore left active politics after that election; he supported the Union cause in the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865), but was critical of the policies of President Abraham Lincoln.

130 years ago
1884

Politics and government
U.S. feminist leader Susan B. Anthony addressed the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, urging an amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote.

90 years ago
1924

Disasters
171 coal miners and 1 rescue worker were killed in a series of three violent explosions in the Castle Gate mine near Castle Gate, Utah, approximately 90 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

80 years ago
1934

Space
In India, U.S. astronomer Edwin Hubble released a photograph showing the extent of the universe, with as many galaxies as the Milky Way has stars.

70 years ago
1944

War
Japanese planes attacked U.S. installations on Engebi Island in the Marshall Islands for the first time. American and Chinese forces in northern Burma fought side-by-side in an effort to wipe out 2,000 Japanese troops in the Hukawng Valley. The London Missionary Society reported that almost 4,000 British churches had been destroyed or damaged by German bombs.

Diplomacy
The U.S.S.R. rejected the Polish government-in-exile's suggestion of a temporary boundary between Russia and Poland, and insisted upon the acceptance of the Curzon Line.

Acting Argentine Foreign Minister Diego Mason said that Paraguay would continue diplomatic relations with Argentina.

Economics and finance
The International Labor Organization reported that jobs for 130 million people throughout the world would have to be found in the shift back to a peacetime economy after World War II.

Scandal
In Los Angeles, California Superior Court Judge Stanley Mosk ruled that movie comedian Charlie Chaplin must stand trial in the suit of aspiring actress Joan Berry, who accused him of being the father of her child. Judge Mosk's decision held that blood tests were not reliable evidence of parentage.

60 years ago
1954

Canadiana
Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent visited a Canadian brigade in South Korea during his world tour.

Boxing
Freddie Beshore (35-16-2) scored a technical knockout over Bobby Volk (21-10-1) at 1:15 of the 2nd round of a heavyweight bout at Edmonton Gardens. Mr. Volk was a last-minute substitute for Canadian heavyweight champion Earl Walls of Edmonton, who had withdrawn because of a broken left hand. The Edmonton Journal criticized the card as the worst ever held at the Gardens.

Ed Sanders (1-0), winner of the gold medal in the heavyweight division at the Summer Olympic games in Helsinki in 1952, made his professional debut by knocking out Sonny Nichols (6-3) at 1:59 of the 1st round at Boston Garden.

50 years ago
1964

Died on this date
Franz Alexander, 73. Austro-Hungarian-born U.S. psychoanalyst. Dr. Alexander, a native of Budapest, was associated with the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute in the early 1920s, and in 1930 moved to the University of Chicago, working at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. In the 1950s he was one of the first members of the Society for General Systems Research. Dr. Alexander was one of the founders of psychosomatic medicine and psychoanalytic criminology.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Baby Blue--George Baker Selection

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Teenage Rampage--Sweet (4th week at #1)

Politics and government
In a message to Congress and a radio speech, U.S. President Richard Nixon presented proposals to clean up political campaigns, stating that full disclosure of private political contributions was the most important of all reforms. To simplify the contribution process, he called for one fund-raising committee and a single bank account per candidate, and no cash contributions above $50. Mr. Nixon suggested a $3,000 limit per contributor for House of Representatives and Senate candidates and a $15,000 limit per contributor in presidential campaigns, and also expressed strong opposition to public financing of campaigns, calling it a "raid on the public treasury." U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (Democrat--Massachusetts) and Republican Senate leader Hugh Scott (Pennsylvania) disagreed with Mr. Nixon's criticism of public campaign financing.

Crime
Two days after he had been kidnapped near his home in Dix Hills, New York, 8-year-old John Calzadilla was released unharmed at a restaurant in Secaucus, New Jersey after his father had delivered a $50,000 ransom.

Aviation
Charles de Gaulle Airport opened in Paris.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
Edmonton's top 30 (CHED)
1 Thriller--Michael Jackson
2 Jump--Van Halen
3 Girls Just Want to Have Fun--Cyndi Lauper
4 99 Red Ballons--Nena
5 Here Comes the Rain Again--Eurythmics
6 Footloose--Kenny Loggins
7 I Want a New Drug--Huey Lewis and the News
8 Got a Hold on Me--Christine McVie
9 Somebody's Watching Me--Rockwell
10 Nobody Told Me--John Lennon
11 Red Red Wine--UB40
12 Heaven--Bryan Adams
13 Runner--Manfred Mann's Earth Band
14 Karma Chameleon--Culture Club
15 Dont Bite--Pretty Rough
16 Joanna--Kool & the Gang
17 Come Back and Stay--Paul Young
18 This Could Be the Right One--April Wine
19 Radio Ga Ga--Queen
20 Wrapped Around Your Finger--The Police
21 Hold Me Now--Thompson Twins
22 The Language of Love--Dan Fogelberg
23 Middle of the Road--The Pretenders
24 Adult Education--Daryl Hall and John Oates
25 Miss Me Blind--Culture Club
26 New Moon on Monday--Duran Duran
27 Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)--Phil Collins
28 Yah Mo B There--James Ingram and Michael McDonald
29 Rebel Yell--Billy Idol
30 Almost Over You--Sheena Easton

Defense
At Primrose Lake Alberta, the first U.S. cruise missile test over western Canada took place; the unarmed missile stayed attached to B-52 bomber.

Oil
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the government of Canada owned the oil resources of the Hibernia field, off Newfoundland.

Protest
The day after 400 students at Stanislaw Staszic Agricultural College in Poland had conducted a sit-in to protest the removal of crucifixes from their classrooms, parents of the students refused to sign statements approving the removal of the crucifixes. The protest spread to three other schools.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Bring Me Edelweiss--Edelweiss (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Did I Tell You--Jerry Williams (3rd week at #1)

Scandal
In the trial of former U.S. National Security Council member Oliver North, who was facing charges related to his involvement in the mid-1980s' Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal, former Contra fundraiser Carl Channell testified that he had heard Mr. North say that he was prepared to deceive Congress and go to jail, if he had to.

Disasters
Up to 130 Vietnamese refugees drowned when their fishing boat collided with a Japanese supertanker in the South China Sea off Malaysia.

20 years ago
1994

Terrorism
Major General Danny Yatom, Israel's army commander on the West Bank, told investigators that the army had not prepared a strategy for countering Jewish terrorists and that five of the six Israeli soldiers assigned to the Cave of the Patriarchs mosque in Hebron had not been at their posts when Baruch Goldstein, a physician and Jewish settler, had opened fire on the mosque and massacred more than 30 worshippers on February 25.

10 years ago
2004

Died on this date
Muhammad Zaidan, 55. Syrian terrorist. Mr. Zaidan co-founded the Palestine Liberation Front--a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization--in 1977. He masterminded the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985, during which wheelchair-bound American tourist Leon Klinghoffer, 69, was shot dead and thrown overboard. Mr. Zaidan travelled to several countries in an attempt to avoid capture by the Americans, eventually living in Iraq under the protection of dicatator Saddam Hussein. Mr. Zaidan was captured by American forces on April 15, 2003 while attemptinig to flee from Baghdad to Syria, and died in U.S. custody, reportedly of natural causes.

Politics and government
Boniface Alexandre, Haiti's Chief Justice, was sworn in as the country's interim President.

Law
A new constitution, which was to take effect when U.S.-led coalition forces ended their occupation of Iraq, was signed by Iraq's Governing Council.