June 16, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Oksana!

875 years ago
1139

Born on this date
Konoe. Emperor of Japan, 1142-1155. Konoe, born Narihito-shinnō, the son of Emperor Toba, acceded to the throne at the age of 3, following the abdication of his elder brother Sutoku. Because of Konoe's youth, Japan was under a regency, but Toba, who had abdicated and had become a Buddhist monk, still directed government affairs. Emperor Konoe died on August 22, 1155 at the age of 16, and was succeeded by his younger brother Go-Shirakawa.

230 years ago
1784

Canadiana
Peter VanAlstine led a group of United Empire Loyalists as they settled in Adolphustown in what is now Ontario.

120 years ago
1894

Oil
The Edmonton Bulletin reported the presence of oil in what is now Alberta.

80 years ago
1934

Track and field
Glenn Cunningham of the University of Kansas set a world record in the mile of 4:06.7, beating his Princeton University rival Bill Bonthron by 40 yards on a cinder track at Princeton's Palmer Stadium.

75 years ago
1939

Died on this date
Chick Webb, 34. U.S. musician. William Henry Webb was a jazz drummer who was afflicted with Pott's disease (tuberculosis of the spine) in childhood, giving him the appearance of a hunchback. He led the house band at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City, and added a teenaged Ella Fitzgerald as a vocalist in 1935. Mr. Webb's health began declining in November 1938, and he died of Pott's disease.

70 years ago
1944

Died on this date
George Stinney, 14. U.S. criminal. Young Mr. Stinney, a Negro, was executed in the electric chair at Central Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina after being convicted of the March 23, 1944 murders of 11-year-old Betty June Binnicker and 8-year-old Mary Emma Thames, both of whom were white. The jury that convicted Mr. Stinney was entirely composed of white people, and doubt remains as to the propriety of the proceedings and verdict. George Stinney was the youngest person executed in the United States in the 20th century.

War
U.S. troops in France cut the next-to-last line in front of Cherbourg by capturing St. Sauveur-le-Vicomte. Allied forces gained as much as 25 miles, reaching points less than 70 miles from the Axis's Pisa-Florence-Rimini defense line. Soviet troops in Finlandanced to within 28 miles southeast of Viborg by taking Luonatjoki. Chinese troops in Burma captured Kamaing and later took Parentu to the southeast and Mogaung to the north. U.S. forces advanced more than halfway to the east coast across the southern half of Japanese-held Saipan.

Diplomacy
The U.S. State Department ordered Finnish Minister Hjalmar Procope and three legation counsellors to leave the United States for advancing propaganda favourable to the Axis.

Law
A U.S. federal judge ordered the American citizenship of eight leaders of the German-American Bund revoked on the grounds that they had obtained naturalization by falsely swearing allegiance to the United States.

Politics and government
The first Congress of Industrial Organizations political committee conference adopted a resolution urging the Democratic Party to renominate Franklin D. Roosevelt as the party's candidate in the November 1944 election for a fourth term as President of the United States.

Aviation
The U.S. Civil Aeronautics Administration announced that 147 men from 11 Latin American countries would receive aviation training in the United States.

Labour
A United Mine Workers conference in Hazelton, Pennsylvania approved a contract covering wages and working conditions for 80,000 anthracite coal miners.

40 years ago
1974

Died on this date
Albert Murray, 86. Canadian golfer. Mr. Murray won the Canadian Open in 1908.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Richard Nixon and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad announced in Damascus that their countries were resuming diplomatic relations, which had been severed after the Six-Day War in 1967. Both men described the decision as the first step toward lasting peace in the Middle East. Mr. Nixon then went to Israel, where, in an extensive communique, he assured Israel of long-term military and economic assistance from the United States, and indicated that the U.S. would offer Israel some technological aid and a supply of nuclear fuel.

Golf
Hale Irwin won the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York with a 7-over-par score of 287. First prize money was $35,000.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): I Treni di Tozeur/Alice--Franco Battiato

#1 single in Flanders (VRT Top 30): I Want to Break Free--Queen (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): The Reflex--Duran Duran (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Wake Me Up Before You Go Go--Wham! (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K.: Two Tribes--Frankie Goes to Hollywood

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Time After Time--Cyndi Lauper (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 The Reflex--Duran Duran
2 Time After Time--Cyndi Lauper
3 Let's Hear it for the Boy--Deniece Williams
4 Oh Sherrie--Steve Perry
5 Dancing in the Dark--Bruce Springsteen
6 Sister Christian--Night Ranger
7 The Heart of Rock and Roll--Huey Lewis and the News
8 Eyes Without a Face--Billy Idol
9 Jump (For My Love)--The Pointer Sisters
10 Breakdance--Irene Cara

Singles entering the chart were I'm Free (Heaven Help the Man) by Kenny Loggins (#57); The First Day of Summer by Tony Carey (#78); Ghostbusters by Ray Parker, Jr. (#82); The Moment of Truth by Survivor (#83); The Lebanon by the Human League (#85); Hold Me by Teddy Pendergrass (with Whitney Houston) (#86); Taking it All Too Hard by Genesis (#87); So You Ran by Orion the Hunter (#88); Bringin' on the Heartbreak by Def Leppard (#89); and Round and Round by Ratt (#90). I'm Free (Heaven Help the Man) was from the movie Footloose (1984). Ghostbusters was the title song of the movie.

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Time After Time--Cyndi Lauper (2nd week at #1)
2 Hello--Lionel Richie
3 The Reflex--Duran Duran
4 To All the Girls I've Loved Before--Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson
5 Let's Hear it for the Boy--Deniece Williams
6 Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)--Phil Collins
7 Oh Sherrie--Steve Perry
8 Dancing in the Dark--Bruce Springsteen
9 Wouldn't it Be Good--Nik Kershaw
10 Dance Hall Days--Wang Chung

Singles entering the chart were When Doves Cry by Prince (#44); Sad Songs (Say So Much) by Elton John (#46); Farewell My Summer Love by Michael Jackson (#48); High on Emotion by Chris de Burgh (#49); and Stay the Night by Chicago (#50).

Politics and government
Former federal cabinet minister John Turner was elected leader of the Liberal Party of Canada on the second ballot of the party's leadership convention in Ottawa, obtaining 1,862 votes to 1,368 votes for Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Jean Chretien and 192 for Economic and Regional Development Minister Don Johnston. Mr. Turner was succeeding retiring Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and was to become Prime Minister on June 30.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): The Look--Roxette (4th week at #1)

World events
With the approval of the Communist regime in Hungary, a memorial service for Imre Nagy and four aides, who had been executed after the Soviets crushed the uprising of 1956, was held in Budapest. At least 100,000 attended the ceremony, in which six flag-draped coffins were displayed. The sixth coffin, which was empty, represented all of the hundreds of other Hungarians were executed after the uprising. Mr. Nagy and his aides, who had been buried in an unmarked mass grave, were then reburied in marked graves.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that consumer prices had risen 0.6% in May.

Business
Time, Inc. rejected Paramount Communications Corporation’s takeover offer, sued Paramount in an attempt to block the takeover offer, completed a stock swap with Warner Communications to discourage prospective suitors, and agreed to acquire Warner for $14 billion in order to further discourage buyers.

Academia
The University of Alberta held a party for Myer Horowitz, who was retiring after 10 years as President of the university. This blogger was in attendance and paid his respects.

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): U & Me--Cappella

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Riverdance--Bill Whelan (7th week at #1)

10 years ago
2004

Died on this date
Thanom Kittikachorn, 92. Prime Minister of Thailand, 1958, 1963-1973. Supreme Commander Thanom had a military career spanning almost 45 years. He participated in a successful coup led by Colonel Sarit Thanarat in 1957, and became Defense Minister, serving as Prime Minister from January-October 1958. Supreme Commander Thanom was appointed Prime Minister the day after Field Marshal Sarit's death from liver failure in 1963, and governed as an anti-Communist dictator for almost 10 years, finally stepping down in October 1973 in the face of public protest. He went into exile in the United States and Singapore as democratic government returned to Thailand, but returned to Thailand in 1976 as a novice Buddhist monk. Mr. Thanom's return sparked mass protest, resulting in another military coup, but he claimed to be uninterested in returning to politics, and he kept his word, although he soon left the monkhood.

Terrorism
The 9/11 Commission investigating the attacks of September 11, 2001 reported that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had no strong links to the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, contradicting the claims of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. The panel also found no evidence that the government of Saudi Arabia financed al-Qaeda, a contradiction of an earlier report by a joint committee of the United States Congress.

Crime
34 coca pickers in Colombia were massacred in a small town close to the border with Venezuela. Colombian police blamed the left-wing rebel organization FARC, who were battling right-wing paramilitary groups for control of the nation's drug trade.

Politics and government
At a meeting in Istanbul, the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference endorsed Iraq's new interim government, and the organization's secretary-general urged Muslim countries to try harder to be democratic.