February 9, 2015

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Heather Blacklock!

375 years ago
1640

Died on this date
Murad IV, 27. Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1623-1640. Murad IV was brought to power by a palace conspiracy in 1623, succeeding his uncle Mustafa I at the age of 11. Sultan Murad began exercising power when he was a teenager, and became an absolute monarch, executing four of his brothers and his brother-in-law, and widely using execution as punishment. Almost all of Muriad IV's reign was taken up by the Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–39), which finally resulted in an Ottoman victory, recapturing Baghad and most of what is now Iraq. Sultan Murad IV died of cirrhosis of the liver, and was succeeded by his brother Ibrahim.

190 years ago
1825

Politics and government
John Quincy Adams was elected President of the United States by the House of Representatives. Four different candidates from the Democratic-Republican Party had contested the election, with the popular vote taking place from October 26-December 2, 1824. Andrew Jackson led with 99 electoral votes (41.4% of the popular vote), followed by John Quincy Adams (84 electoral votes, 30.9% of the popular vote); William H. Crawford (41 electoral votes, 11.2% of the popular vote); and Henry Clay (37 electoral votes, 13.0% of the popular vote). 131 electoral votes were requird for victory, so according to provisions of the 12th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the election was to be decided by the House of Representatives, with only the top three candidates in the electoral vote count qualifying. The result in the House was determined according to the number of states voting in favour of each candidate, not on a total vote of the members. Mr. Adams won on the first ballot, capturing the support of Congressmen from 13 states, to 7 states for Mr. Jackson and 4 for Mr. Crawford. Mr. Adams recieved 87 votes (41%); Mr. Jackson 71 (33%); and Mr. Crawford 54 (25%). John C. Calhoun had already received a majority of electoral votes for Vice President, having been on the ticket of both Mr. Adams and Mr. Jackson.

150 years ago
1865

Born on this date
Wilson Bentley. U.S. meteorologist and photographer. "Snowflake" Bentley, a lifelong resident of Jericho, Vermont, was the first known person to take detailed photographs of snowflakes and record their features, catching flakes on black velvet in such a way that their images could be captured before they either melted or sublimated. He took the first of more than 5,000 photos of snowflakes in 1885. Mr. Bentley died of pneumonia on December 23, 1931 at the age of 66.

120 years ago
1895

Born on this date
Wally Hood. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Hood was an outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1920, 1921-1922) and Brooklyn Robins (1920), batting .238 with 1 home run and 5 runs batted in in 67 games. He played more than 1,600 games in 13 seasons in the minor leagues (1916-1930), mostly in the Pacific Coast League. Mr. Wood batted over .300 for six straight seasons in the PCL (1920, 1922-1926), and umpired in the league from 1935-1943. He died of an apparent heart attack on May 2, 1965 at the age of 70, and was inducted into the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame in 2014.

Abominations
Under the pseudonym "Marichette," Memramcook, New Brunswick school teacher Émilie LeBlanc Carrier wrote her first letter to the newspaper L'Évangeline, demanding the right to vote for women.

Sport
In Holyoke, Massachusetts, William G. Morgan created a game called Mintonette, soon to be known as volleyball.

75 years ago
1940

Died on this date
William Dodd, 70. U.S. historian and diplomat. Mr. Dodd, a native of North Carolina, spent most of his academic career at the University of Chicago, where he taught and wrote about the American South. A liberal Democrat, he was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Germany by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, serving from 1933-1937. Mr. Todd took up his position seven months after Adolf Hitler had taken office as Chancellor of Germany, and thus was a witness to the early years of the Nazi regime. Mr. Dodd's attitude toward the Nazis became increasingly negative, but he became the subject of criticism by some American politicians and his health declined, so he left Germany in the last few days of 1937.

War
Chinese sources claimed that Japanese forces had failed to encircle and force the surrender of Chinese troops in the Nanning sector of China.

Diplomacy
Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Hachirō Arita claimed that the Anti-Comintern Pact had lost its vitality because of the 1939 Soviet-German non-aggression pact.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt directed Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles to visit Italy, France, Germany, and Britain for the purpose of assessing the present state of the European war and prospects for peace.

Politics and government
U.S. Vice President John Nance "Cactus Jack" Garner and New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia entered the Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively, in Illinois for the 1940 campaign for President of the United States.

The United States Senate approved the assignment of isolationist Senator Gerald Nye (Republican--North Dakota) to the Foreign Relations Committee.

Labour
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt charged that United Mine Workers of America President John L. Lewis had refused to resume peace talks with American Federation of Labor President William Green.

Boxing
Joe Louis (41-1) retained his world heavyweight title with a 15-round split decision over Arturo Godoy (52-10-7) at Madison Square Garden in New York.



70 years ago
1945

Abominations
The day after Norwegian Sikkerhetspolitiet (Secret Police) chief Karl Marthinsen had been assassinated by the Norwegian resistance group Milorg as part of Operation Buzzard, 34 Norwegians were executed in reprisal on the order of Reichskommissar Josef Terboven.

War
The Canadian drive on the Siegfried Line overran six villages and spread out along a 10-mile front. The British submarine HMS Venturer sank the German sub U-864 off the coast of Fedje, Norway in a rare instance of submarine-to-submarine combat. A force of Allied Bristol Beaufighter aircraft unsuccessfully attacked the German destroyer Z33 in Førdefjorden, Norway, suffering heavy casualties. With the capture of Brallentin, the Soviet Red Army moved to within 29 miles of Stettin on the Baltic Sea. In fierce fighting, Japanese forces offered bitter resistance to U.S. forces in southern Manila.

Protest
Three days of rioting in Cairo for food and clothing subsided after one student was killed.

Politics and government
The U.S. House of Representatives Rules Committee adjourned without approving submission to the House of the Senate-passed George bill, separating lending agencies from the Commerce Department. The adjournment also delayed the vote on former Vice President Henry Wallace as Secretary of Commerce.

Business
Without explanation, the U.S. Army released control of two Montgomery Ward and Company properties in Chicago. On December 28, 1944, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ordered the Army to seize the executive offices and other facilities of Montgomery Ward in Chicago and Detroit for refusing to obey National War Labor Board orders. On January 27, 1945, U.S. Federal Judge Philip Sullivan ruled in Chicago that the Army's seizure of seven properties in seven localities was illegal.

Economics and finance
The American & Foreign Power Company announced an agreement with Chile for the latter's purchase of properties in Santiago, Valparaiso, and San Bernardo.

60 years ago
1955

On television tonight
Kraft Television Theatre, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Patterns, starring Richard Kiley, Everett Sloane, and Ed Begley

This was a live repeat performance (see video) of the play that had originally been broadcast live on January 12, 1955. The reviews had been so enthusiastic that New York Times television critic Jack Gould had urged a repeat performance--something that had never previously occurred in the history of television drama. It was the first teleplay by Rod Serling to become a hit, and earned him his first Emmy Award.



50 years ago
1965

On television tonight
The Fugitive, starring David Janssen, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Corner of Hell, with guest stars R.G. Armstrong, Bruce Dern, Sharon Farrell, and Sandy Kenyon

War
The first United States troops with a combat mission, a Marine Corps Hawk air defense missile battalion, were sent to South Vietnam.

Protest
Vietnamese, Chinese, and other demonstrators attacked the United States embassy in Moscow.

40 years ago
1975

Space
The Soyuz 17 crew of Commander Aleksei Gubarev and Flight Engineer Georgi Grechko returned to Eartth from the Salyut 4 space station, setting a Soviet space endurance record of 29 days, six days longer than the record set by Soyuz 11 in 1971.

30 years ago
1985

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Do They Know it's Christmas?--Band Aid (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): One Night in Bangkok--Murray Head (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Easy Lover--Philip Bailey (with Phil Collins) (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): I Know Him So Well--Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson

#1 single in the U.K.: I Know Him So Well--Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): I Want to Know What Love Is--Foreigner (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Easy Lover--Philip Bailey (with Phil Collins)
2 I Want to Know What Love Is--Foreigner
3 Careless Whisper--Wham! featuring George Michael
4 You're the Inspiration--Chicago
5 Like a Virgin--Madonna
6 All I Need--Jack Wagner
7 The Boys of Summer--Don Henley
8 Loverboy--Billy Ocean
9 Run to You--Bryan Adams
10 California Girls--David Lee Roth

Singles entering the chart were Just Another Night by Mick Jagger (#30); One More Night by Phil Collins (#40); Material Girl by Madonna (#42); and Take Me with U by Prince and the Revolution (with Apollonia) (#60). Take Me with U was from the movie Purple Rain (1984).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Easy Lover--Philip Bailey (with Phil Collins)
2 Careless Whisper--Wham! featuring George Michael
3 All I Need--Jack Wagner
4 I Want to Know What Love Is--Foreigner
5 You're the Inspiration--Chicago
6 Neutron Dance--Pointer Sisters
7 Like a Virgin--Madonna
8 Run to You--Bryan Adams
9 Do They Know it's Christmas?--Band Aid
10 Smalltown Boy--Bronski Beat

Singles entering the chart were One More Night by Phil Collins (#72); Save a Prayer by Duran Duran (#74); Invisible by Alison Moyet (#81); Shout by Tears for Fears (#93); Lamp at Midnight by Corey Hart (#95); and Mr. Telephone Man by New Edition (#96).

Hockey
NHL
Toronto 6 Montreal 2

25 years ago
1990

Scandal
Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan agreed to give videotaped testimony for use in the trial of John Poindexter, his former national security adviser, who was on trial for his role in the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages deal.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that producer prices for finished goods had risen 1.8% in January, the largest monthly increase since November 1974. The sharp rise was primarily the result of a jump in heating oil prices during very cold weather.

20 years ago
1995

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Don't You Know--Pandora

Died on this date
J. William Fulbright, 89. U.S. politician. Mr. Fulbright, a Democrat, represented Arkansas in the United States House of Representatives from 1943-1945 and in the Senate from 1945-1974. He was chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 1945-1974. His opposition to the Vietnam War led President Lyndon Johnson to refer to Sen. Fulbright as "half-bright."

David Wayne, 81. U.S. actor. Mr. Wayne, born Wayne McMeekan, had a lengthy career as a star on stage and as a supporting player in movies and television. He won two Tony Awards: Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Finian's Rainbow, 1947) and Best Actor in a Play (The Teahouse of the August Moon, 1954).

Space
Michael Foale, a native of Lancashire, England, became the first British-born American to walk in space, while Dr. Bernard Harris became the first Negro to walk in space as part of the U.S. space shuttle mission STS-63.

War
Mexican President Ernest Zedillo Ponce de Leon ordered the army to take the offensive and capture Subcommandante Marcos and other leaders of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), which had launched an uprising in the state of Chiapas in 1994.

Terrorism
Ramzi Yousef, the alleged mastermind behind the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City, pled not guilty to 11 counts in connection with the bombing, which killed 6 people and injured more than 1,000. Mr. Yousef, who had flown from New York to Pakistan hours after the bombing, was arrested on February 7 and flown back to New York the next day.

10 years ago
2005

Died on this date
Robert Kearns, 77. U.S. inventor. Mr. Kearns invented the intermittent windshield wiper system used on most automobiles since 1969. He failed to interest major American auto manufacturers in his system, which he had patented in 1964, but when Ford and Chrysler began installng intermittent wipers on their vehicles, Mr. Kearns took legal action, achieving a settlement with Ford Motor Company and winning a trial against Chrysler Corporation.

Tyrone Davis, 66. U.S. singer. Mr. Davis, born Tyrone Felton, was a soul singer who had a string of hit singles on the rhythm and blues charts from 1968-1988. His biggest hits were Can I Change My Mind (1968-1969); Turn Back the Hands of Time (1970); and Turning Point (1975), all of which reached #1 on the Billboard R&B chart. Mr. Davis died five months after suffering a stroke.