August 23, 2014

770 years ago
1244

War
Jerusalem's citadel, the Tower of David, surrendered to forces of the Khwarezmian Empire.

500 years ago
1514

War
The Battle of Chaldiran in northwestern Iran ended with a decisive victory for Ottoman Sultan Selim I over Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty.

400 years ago
1614

World events
Jews were expelled from Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire, following the plundering of the city's Judengasse (Jewish ghetto).

Academia
The University of Groningen was established in the Dutch Republic.

230 years ago
1784

Americana
Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declared itself an independent state under the name of Franklin.

180 years ago
1834

Journalism
The first edition of The Kingston (Ontario) Whig was published.

175 years ago
1839

War
The United Kingdom captured Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for war with Qing China.

150 years ago
1864

Born on this date
Eleftherios Venizelos. Prime Minister of Greece, 1917-1920; 1924; 1928-1932; 1932; 1933. Mr. Venizelos, the leader of the Liberal Party, was known as the "maker of modern Greece." He died on March 18, 1936 at the age of 71.

War
In the American Civil War, the Union Navy captured Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico except Galveston, Texas. In response to the warning "Torpedoes ahead!" Union Admiral David Farragut, commanding the Hartford, shouted, "Damn the torpedoes!"

110 years ago
1904

Technology
The automobile tire chain was patented by Harry D. Weed of Canastota, New York.

100 years ago
1914

War
Japan declared war on Germany and bombed Qingdao, China. The Battle of Mons began in France; the British Army began withdrawal.

80 years ago
1934

Baseball
Joe Moore’s 3-run home run off Paul Dean in the 9th inning gave the New York Giants a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals before 6,000 fans at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis and extended the Giants’ National League lead over the Cardinals to 7 games.

75 years ago
1939

Diplomacy
The U.S.S.R. and Germany signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression treaty. In a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states--Finland, Romania, and Poland--were divided between the two nations.

Auto racing
John Cobb of the United Kingdom set the world land speed record, driving his car Railton Special at an average speed of 367.91 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, breaking the record of 357.5 mph set there 11 months earlier by fellow Briton George Eyston.

70 years ago
1944

War
King Michael I of Romania announced his country's unconditional surrender and dismissed the pro-Nazi government of Premier Marshal Ion Antonescu, who was arrested. Romania switched sides from the Axis to the Allies. U.S. forces drove 140 miles into France from the south coast to capture Grenoble as French troops liberated Marseilles. Soviet forces seized Vaslui and two Bessarabian towns, Bendery and Akkerman, in Romania. Japanese forces opened a new offensive in southern China, moving northward from the neck of Luichow Peninsula opposite Hainan Island.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that the Big Four--U.S.A., U.S.S.R., U.K., and China--could maintain the postwar peace "if we can remain friends."

Politics and government
Brazilian Foreign Minister Oswaldo Aranha resigned and was succeeded by Pedro Leao Veloso.

A Gallup poll taken more than two months before the U.S. presidential election showed President and Democratic Party nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt leading 28-20 in states and 286-245 in electoral votes over New York Governor and Republican Party nominee Tom Dewey.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt told Congress that Lend-Lease expenditures through June 30 totalled $28.37 billion and asked that the program be extended through the defeat of Germany and Japan.

Business
The U.S. Justice Department filed suit against 47 western railroads, charging them with violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act by rate-fixing and failing to improve service and equipment.

Disasters
A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashed into a school in Freckleton, England, killing 61 people.

60 years ago
1954

Aviation
The YC-130 prototype of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft made its first flight from the Lockheed plant in Burbank, California.

Football
WIFU
Edmonton (0-2) 3 @ Winnipeg (2-0) 7
Calgary (0-2) 7 @ Saskatchewan (2-0) 11

Claude Arnold started at quarterback for the Eskimos in their loss to the Blue Bombers at Winnipeg Stadium, but suffered a career-ending chipped ankle in the 1st quarter, and halfback Rollie Miles played the rest of the game at quarterback. Edmonton tackle Leon Manley suffered a career-ending dislocated elbow, the same injury that teammate Rollin Prather had suffered in the season opener of 1953.

50 years ago
1964

Space
The U.S.S.R. launched the satellite Cosmos 44.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: The Night Chicago Died--Paper Lace

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Sugar Baby Love--The Rubettes (6th week at #1)

Politics and government
South Korean President Park Chung-hee lifted two repressive decrees that he had issued earlier in the year. The first, imposed January 8, had forbidden all discussion, criticism, and demands for revision of the 1972 constitution, which gave the president unlimited power. The second decree, issued April 3, barred all dissent against the government and its policies, with penalties ranging from 5 years imprisonment to death. Over 100 people, many of them students charged with advocating the overthrow of the government, had been arrested and convicted under the rescinded decrees. Two decrees remained in force: one establishing secret courts-martial and permitting arrests without warrant; and another cutting taxes for people with low incomes and raising taxes on luxury goods.

Scandal
George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees baseball club and American Shipbuilding Company, pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Cleveland to making illegal corporate contributions to the re-election campaign of U.S. President Richard Nixon in 1972.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
Edmonton's top 30 (CHED)
1 She Bop--Cyndi Lauper
2 Stuck on You--Lionel Richie
3 Ghostbusters--Ray Parker, Jr.
4 Missing You--John Waite
5 What's Love Got to Do with It--Tina Turner
6 Drive--The Cars
7 If This is It--Huey Lewis and the News
8 Sad Songs (Say So Much)--Elton John
9 Lights Out--Peter Wolf
10 Let's Go Crazy--Prince and the Revolution
11 Rock Me Tonight--Billy Squier
12 The Warrior--Scandal
13 Dancing with Tears in My Eyes--Ultravox
14 When Doves Cry--Prince
15 I'm Free--Kenny Loggins
16 She's Mine--Steve Perry
17 Panama--Van Halen
18 Right By Your Side--Eurythmics
19 Go for Soda--Kim Mitchell
20 Must I Always Remember--The Box
21 My Oh My--Slade
22 Legs--ZZ Top
23 Two Tribes--Frankie Goes to Hollywood
24 Cover Me--Bruce Springsteen
25 I Can Dream About You--Dan Hartman
26 Only When You Leave--Spandau Ballet
27 Here She Comes--Bonnie Tyler
28 Hard Habit to Break--Chicago
29 Torture--Jacksons
30 If You're Ever in My Arms Again--Peabo Bryson

Politics and government
U.S. President Ronald Reagan addressed an ecumenical prayer breakfast in Dallas and declared that "religion and politics are necessarily related." That evening, accepting his nomination as his party’s presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention, Mr. Reagan said that he had fulfilled his promises to reduce the growth of the federal government and to cut interest rates, taxes, and inflation. He noted that during his administration "not one inch of soil has fallen to the Communists," and he said "We are in the midst of a springtime of hope for America."

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Swing the Mood--Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers

#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Licence to Kill--Gladys Knight (5th week at #1)

Died on this date
Yusuf Hawkins, 16. U.S. crime victim. Mr. Hawkins, a Negro teenager, was shot dead by white youths in Brooklyn.

Protest
Observing the 50th anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact that resulted in the absorption of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania into the U.S.S.R., 1 million people joined hands in the Baltic states to form a line 400 miles long, as a means of showing unity against their current status in the Soviet Union. The Lithuanian popular front called for complete independence. All three popular fronts issued a joint statement saying that the U.S.S.R. had "infringed on the historical right of the Baltic nations to self-determination," and they denounced Soviet terror and violence.

Football
CFL
Hamilton (5-2) 14 @ Edmonton (6-1) 37

Tracy Ham threw 2 touchdown passes, and Chris Johnstone rushed for 2 more scores as the Eskimos overcame a 6-3 2nd-quarter deficit. Hamilton’s only touchdown came on a pass from Mike Kerrigan to Tony Champion.

Baseball
Rick Dempsey’s home run off Dennis Martinez in the top of the 22nd inning gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a 1-0 win over the Montreal Expos before 21,742 fans at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The game lasted a record 6 hours and 14 minutes. Youppi, the Expos’ mascot, was ejected in the 11th inning for annoying Los Angeles manager Tom LaSorda by banging on the roof of the Dodgers' dugout.



20 years ago
1994

Died on this date
Zoltán Fábri, 76. Hungarian director and screenwriter. Mr. Fábri directed about two dozen movies from 1950-1983, adapting screenplays from novels or short stories. His films A Pál-utcai fiúk (The Boys of Paul Street) (1968) and Magyarok (Hungarians) (1978) were nominated for Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. Mr. Fábri died of a heart attack.

Defense
Eugene Bullard, the only Negro American pilot in World War I, was posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

10 years ago
2004

Politics and government
U.S. President George W. Bush called for a ban on political advertisements paid for by third-party groups, called 527s.