May 27, 2014

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Rita!

370 years ago
1644

War
Manchu regent Dorgon defeated rebel leader Li Zicheng of the Shun dynasty at the Battle of Shanhai Pass, allowing the Manchus to enter and conquer the capital city of Beijing.

220 years ago
1794

Born on this date
Cornelius Vanderbilt. U.S. businessman. Mr. Vanderbilt, nicknamed "The Commodore," owned the New York Central Railroad, and became one of the wealthiest men in America. He founded Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Mr. Vanderbilt died on January 4, 1877 at the age of 82.

175 years ago
1839

Born on this date
Alfred Horatio Belo. U.S. journalist. Mr. Belo founded The Dallas Morning News in 1885. He died on April 19, 1901 at the age of 61.

120 years ago
1894

Born on this date
Dashiell Hammett. U.S. author and screenwriter. Mr. Hammett was one of the most prominent writers of hard-boiled detective fiction with novels such as The Maltese Falcon (1930) and The Thin Man (1934). He was a drunkard and a Communist who had a long relationship with writer Lillian Hellman, and served time in prison in the early 1950s after being convicted of contempt of court for refusing to identify other Communists while under oath. Mr. Hammett died of lung cancer on January 10, 1961 at the age of 66.

Louis-Ferdinand Céline. French physician and author. Dr. Céline practiced medicine before turning to writing, with his best-known work being the novel Voyage au bout de la nuit (Journey to the End of the Night) (1932). He became a pamphleteer on behalf of the Axis powers, and was imprisoned in Denmark for more than a year after World War II. Dr. Céline returned to France in 1951 after being granted amnesty, and died of a ruptured aneurysm on July 1, 1961 at the age of 67.

100 years ago
1914

Literature
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was almost as famous in the United States as he was in Great Britain, arrived in New York City with his wife Jean aboard the SS Olympic to spend several days attending functions in the city before departing for a tour of Canada.

75 years ago
1939

Died on this date
Joseph Roth, 44. Austro-Hungarian born writer. Mr. Roth, a Jewish native of Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was a journalist before becoming better known for his novels Job (1930) and Radetzky's March (1932). He worked in Berlin and Paris after World War I, and his writing expressed a nostalgia for life in Europe before World War I. Mr. Roth fled Germany when the Nazis came to power in 1933 and settled in Paris; he continued to write despite heavy drinking, which led to his death.

Baseball
Joe Vosmik hit a 3-run home run in the first game and led off the bottom of the 9th inning with a home run to give the Boston Red Sox a 7-6 win in the second game and a sweep of their doubleheader against the Washington Nationals before 12,000 fans at Fenway Park in Boston. Lefty Grove pitched an 11-hit complete game 11-4 victory in the first game, singled in 2 runs, and scored another, while losing pitcher Jimmie DeShong pitched a complete game despite allowing 11 hits, 6 bases on balls, and 10 earned runs. Boston right fielder Ted Williams batted 3 for 4 with a triple, home run, and 4 runs batted in in the second game.

The New York Yankees scored 6 runs in the 1st inning and 2 in the 2nd as they coasted to an 8-2 win over the Philadelphia Athletics in the first game of a doubleheader before 30,358 fans at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees parlayed 5 bases on balls and a single into 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning as they overcame an early 5-0 deficit to win the second game 11-9 to complete the sweep. New York George Selkirk drove in 3 runs with a pair of home runs in the second game.

Charlie Gehringer hit for the cycle, scoring 2 runs and driving in 5, to help the Detroit Tigers defeat the St. Louis Browns 12-5 before 17,345 fans at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. Mr. Gehringer became the first major league player to hit for the cycle in order (single; double; triple; home run).

The Cincinnati Reds set a team record with their 12th straight win as Lee Grissom pitched them to a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals before 6,022 fans at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis in a game that was called after 8 innings because of rain.

70 years ago
1944

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): I Love You--Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra (Best Seller--4th week at #1; Jukebox--1st week at #1)

War
American troops in Italy fought their way into Artena--2 miles below Valmontone--and the Via Casilina, which was the Germans' main escape route from the Liri Valley. U.S. troops, in another leapfrogging attack, invaded Biak Island, Dutch New Guinea, and established a beachhead.

Diplomacy
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations postwar subcommittee accepted in principle U.S. participation in the United Nations organization.

Defense
The U.S. War Production Board reported that munitions output in April was 3% below schedule and 2% behind March production.

Society
The U.S. War Relocation Agency reported that 22,000 Japanese-Americans had been transferred from camps to private homes and hostels nationwide, "with only a few instances of local opposition or discrimination."

Politics and government
California Governor Earl Warren announced that he had written all the state's delegates pledged to him at the 1944 Republican National Convention "not to nominate him or vote for him for any position."

50 years ago
1964

Died on this date
Jawaharlal Nehru, 74. Prime Minister of India, 1947-1964. Pandit Nehru, leader of the Congress Party and India's only prime minister since achieving her independence from Great Britain, died of an apparent heart attack. He was replaced on an interim basis by Home Minister Gulzarilal Nanda.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Devil Gate Drive--Suzi Quatro

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): La Distancia--Roberto Carlos (8th week at #1)

Business
The Canadian government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau moved to acquire foreign-owned DeHavilland Aircraft of Canada and Canadair, with the intention of then finding Canadian investors for shares.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in France: Relax--Frankie Goes to Hollywood (9th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Hello--Lionel Richie (2nd week at #1)

Auto racing
Rick Mears won the Indianapolis 500 for the second time.

Basketball
NBA
Finals
Los Angeles Lakers 115 @ Boston 109 (Los Angeles led best-of-seven series 1-0)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 32 points and grabbed 8 rebounds to lead the Lakers over the Celtics before 14,890 fans at Boston Garden. Kevin McHale led the Celtics with 25 points.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Like a Prayer--Madonna (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Eternal Flame--Bangles (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Eternal Flame--Bangles (7th week at #1)

#1 single in France (SNEP): Megamix--Boney M. (6th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Ferry 'Cross the Mersey--The Christians, Holly Johnson, Paul McCartney, Gerry Marsden and Stock Aitken Waterman (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 Forever Your Girl--Paula Abdul (2nd week at #1)
2 Real Love--Jody Watley
3 Rock On--Michael Damian
4 Soldier of Love--Donny Osmond
5 Patience--Guns n' Roses
6 Wind Beneath My Wings--Bette Midler
7 I'll Be Loving You (Forever)--New Kids on the Block
8 Every Little Step--Bobby Brown
9 I'll Be There for You--Bon Jovi
10 Close My Eyes Forever--Lita Ford (Duet with Ozzy Osbourne)

Singles entering the chart were My Brave Face by Paul McCartney (#72); Dressed for Success by Roxette (#80); Secret Rendezvous by Karyn White (#83); Fire Woman by the Cult (#84); In My Eyes by Stevie B (#87); Joy and Pain by Rob Base & D.J. E-Z Rock (#90); and Praying to a New God by Wang Chung (#93).

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Real Love--Jody Watley (2nd week at #1)
2 Forever Your Girl--Paula Abdul
3 Rock On--Michael Damian
4 Soldier of Love--Donny Osmond
5 I'll Be There for You--Bon Jovi
6 Patience--Guns N' Roses
7 After All--Cher and Peter Cetera
8 Wind Beneath My Wings--Bette Midler
9 Electric Youth--Debbie Gibson
10 Like a Prayer--Madonna

Singles entering the chart were My Brave Face by Paul McCartney (#60); Dressed for Success by Roxette (#69); Fascination Street by the Cure (#78); Praying to a New God by Wang Chung (#83); Secret Rendezvous by Karyn White (#90); and Everything Counts by Depeche Mode (#94).

Politics and government
The new Soviet parliament, the Congress of People's Deputies, chose from their ranks 542 members of the Supreme Soviet, which would be in session most of the year and deal directly with legislation. Reformers were virtually shut out in this selection, and some 10,000 supporters of reformer Boris Yeltsin gathered to protest.

20 years ago
1994

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Without You--Mariah Carey (8th week at #1)

World events
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970, arrived in the Russian port of Magadan with his wife Natalya and son Stephan, returning to his homeland after 20 years of exile in the United States.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Eastern Conference Finals
New Jersey 1 @ New York Rangers 2 (2 OT) (New York won best-of-seven series 4-3)

10 years ago
2004

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
Calgary 1 @ Tampa Bay 4 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

Brad Richards, Dan Boyle, and Martin St. Louis scored in the 3rd period to give the Lightning their win over the Flames at St. Petersburg Times Forum in St. Petersburg.