March 21, 2015

150 years ago
1865

Politics and government
Prince Edward Island voted against Confederation with Canada.

130 years ago
1885

Protest
Metis leader Louis Riel demanded surrender of Crozier's North West Mounted Police detachment at Fort Carlton, Northwest Territories, 20 miles from Batoche.

100 years ago
1915

Died on this date
Frederick W. Taylor, 59. U.S. engineer. Mr. Taylor, a mechanical engineer, was a leader in the Efficiency Movement in the early 20th century. He was one of the first management consultants and was known as the "father of scientific management." Mr. Taylor put forth his views in his book The Principles of Scientific Management (1911). He died of pneumonia the day after his 59th birthday.

90 years ago
1925

Education
Tennessee Governor Austin Peay signed the Butler Act, prohibiting the teaching of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in all publicly-funded schools and universities in Tennessee.

Politics and government
Syngman Rhee was removed from office after being impeached as the President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. The provisional government, a government-in-exile based in Shanghai, appointed Park Eun-sik to succeed Syngman Rhee three days later.

Hockey
Stanley Cup
Finals
Montreal Canadiens (NHL) 2 @ Victoria Cougars (WCHL) 5 (Victoria led best-of-five series 1-0)

The Canadiens were declared champions of the National Hockey League after the first-place Hamilton Tigers had been suspended by NHL President Frank Calder after going on strike. The Tigers had protested that because the regular season schedule had been increased from 24 to 30 games for 1924-25, the players' salaries should have been increased accordingly. The first game of the finals was played at Patrick Arena.

80 years ago
1935

Asiatica
Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi formally asked the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran, meaning "Land of the Aryans."

75 years ago
1940

Politics and government
Meeting in Nanking, the Japanese-sponsored Central Political Conference resolved that only Wang Ching-wei would be the ruler of China.

French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud created a new five-man war council.

Diplomacy
U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull warned U.S. Minister to Canada James Cromwell against making any further strongly pro-Allied speeches. Two days earlier, Mr. Cromwell, speaking in Toronto, had chided American isolationists for being unrealistic.

World events
U.S. newsman James R. Young was given a six-month suspended sentence after being convicted in Tokyo of violating the Japanese army code by disseminating slanderous material about the Japanese military.

70 years ago
1945

Died on this date
Arthur Nebe, 50. German SS officer. Mr. Nebe was a Berlin police commissioner before joining the Schutzstaffel (SS) in 1931. He perpetrated mass murder in the Soviet Union during World War II, but participated in the July 20, 1944 assassination plot against German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, resulting in his execution in Berlin.

War
U.S. Senator Warren Austin (Republican--Vermont) proposed a compromise bill to the Senate-House of Representaitves conference committee on manpower bills. Sen. Austin's bill would draft men aged 18-45 for war and farm work. Pressure from U.S. troops led German troops to fall back 7-12 miles in the Palatinate. British Royal Air Force planes bombed Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen; they also hit a school, killing 125 civilians. Bulgaria and the U.S.S.R. successfully completed their defense of the north bank of the Drava River as the Battle of the Transdanubian Hills concluded. British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma. Japanese forces opened a 60,000-man, tank-led offensive in central China north of Hankow against the Chinese threat to the Hankow-Canton railroad.

Politics and government
Japanese Prime Minister Kuniaki Koiso asked for new and sweeping powers for the Army that woul place virtually all of Japan under military law in preparation for an invasion.

Diplomacy
The Guatemalan Assembly voted to re-establish diplomatic relations with the U.S.S.R.

Economics and finance
The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration asked for 938,000 tons of food for the second quarter of 1945.

The American Meat Institute and two Republican U.S. Senators blamed the Office of Price Administration for meat shortages, alleging that it did not allow packers a reasonable margin of profit.

Labour
The U.S. War Mobilization Commission ruled that baseball players may return to the game from any off-season employment, provided the sport constituted their "principle employment."

50 years ago
1965

Space
The United States launched Ranger 9, the last in a series of unmanned lunar probes.

Protest
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. led 3,200 people on the start of the third, and finally successful, civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

40 years ago
1975

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Please Mr. Postman--Carpenters (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Griechischer Wein--Udo Jürgens (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: I Can Help--Billy Swan (7th week at #1)

Died on this date
Joe Medwick, 63. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Medwick was a left fielder with the St. Louis Cardinals (1932-1940, 1947-1948); Brooklyn Dodgers (1940-1943, 1946); New York Giants (1943-1945); and Boston Braves (1945), batting .324 with 205 home runs and 1,383 runs batted in in 1,984 games. He won the triple crown in 1937, leading the National League with a .374 batting percentage, tying with Mel Ott of the New York Giants for the lead in home runs with 31, and leading the NL with 154 RBIs. Mr. Medwick is perhaps best remembered for the seventh game of the 1934 World Series; his aggressive play during the Cardinals' 11-0 rout of the hometown Detroit Tigers led the fans at Briggs Stadium to pelt him with refuse in left field, and baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis ordered Mr. Medwick pulled from the game for his own safety. Mr. Medwick was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1968; he may have been inducted sooner, but his abrasive personality and the fact that he campaigned openly for election probably delayed his induction by several years.

Politics and government
Malcolm Fraser succeeded Billy Snedden as leader of Australia's Liberal Party.

Basketball
NBA
Buffalo 101 @ Boston 109

Six Celtics scored at least 15 points each as they defeated the Braves before 15,320 fans at Boston Garden. Bob McAdoo led Buffalo with 49 points.

Baseball
Rookie right fielder Gary Carter batted 3 for 4 with a home run, double, and 3 runs batted in, and threw out 2 baserunners, leading the Montreal Expos to a 6-5 win over the Texas Rangers in a spring training game before 1,009 fans in Pompano Beach, Florida. Steve Rogers started on the mound for Montreal and allowed 12 hits and 4 runs--all earned--in 5 innings before being relieved by winning pitcher John Montague. Texas center fielder Willie Davis, in his first game against Montreal since being traded by the Expos after the 1974 season, batted 2 for 5 with 2 RBIs.

Al Cowens and Ruppert Jones each hit home runs and Bruce Dal Canton allowed just 2 hits in 7 innings as a Kansas City Royals split squad blanked the Chicago White Sox 4-0 in a spring training game before 1,185 fans in Sarasota, Florida. Roger Nelson started on the mound for Chicago and took the loss despite allowing just 1 run--earned--and 4 hits in 4 innings.

30 years ago
1985

Died on this date
Michael Redgrave, 77. U.K. actor. Sir Michael was primarlily known as a stage actor in England, but also appeared in films such as The Lady Vanishes (1938); Dead of Night (1945); The Browning Version (1951); and Mr. Arkadin (1955). His son Corin and daughters Vanessa and Lynn also became prominent actors. Sir Michael died of Parkinson's disease the day after his 77th birthday.

Abominations
Police in Langa, South Africa opened fire on blacks marching to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville shootings, killing at least 21 demonstrators.

25 years ago
1990

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Nothing Compares 2 U--Sinéad O'Connor (5th week at #1)

Africana
Namibia, formerly known as South-West Africa, became an independent country after being a colony of South Africa since 1920. President Sam Nujoma, a former guerrilla leader, took a moderate stance at the independence celebration, saying he welcomed "inflows of capital and know-how from abroad."

World events
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev banned all sale of firearms in Lithuania and ordered Lithuanians to surrender all firearms to Soviet officials.

Politics and government
New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna tried to salvage the Meech Lake accord, proposing a "companion resolution," with safeguards for women, natives and northerners, whle also giving the federal government a role in promoting linguistic duality.

Scandal
U.S. federal district court judge Harold Greene ruled that former President Ronald Reagan would not be required to present his presidential diaries to the defense of Adm. John Poindexter, the former national security adviser who was on trial for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s.

Academia
It was the first annual Blue Jeans Day at the University of Alberta, when people were supposed to wear blue jeans to express solidarity with sodomite rights activists. The day probably set a record for the smallest percentage of people wearing blue jeans on campus in many years. I saw one girl, who today would be considered a hate criminal, wearing a t-shirt that read, "Homos don’t tell me what to wear." Many women were wearing skirts, which helped to make the occasion one of the most memorable and enjoyable days in the U of A’s history.

Hockey
NHL
Winnipeg 3 Montreal 2

10 years ago
2005

Died on this date
Barney Martin, 82. U.S. actor. Mr. Martin was a policeman and comedian before becoming a character actor. He was best known for playing Morty Seinfeld in the television comedy series Seinfeld (1989-1999).

Bobby Short, 80. U.S. musician. Mr. Short was a singer and pianist at Café Carlyle in New York City from 1968 until his death, performing standard American songs as well as music of Negro composers. Mr. Short also performed music for movies and television programs.