February 10, 2016

240 years ago
1776

Born on this date
Ioannis Kapodistrias. Governor of Hellenic State, 1828-1831. Count Kapodistrias, a native of Corfu, was a physician who served as Minister of State in the Septinsular Republic (1800-1807). After the Republic was dissolved, he served as Russia's unofficial ambassador to Switzerland in 1813, and then as Russian Foreign Minister (1816-1822). He opposed the foreign policy of Austrian Foreign Minister Prince Metternich, Europe's most powerful statesman at the time. Count Kapodistrias supported Greek independence, but resigned as Foreign Minister after failing to obtain Czar Aleksandr I's support for the Greek revolution of 1821. In 1827, the Greek National Asssembly elected Count Kapodistrias as the country's head of state, with the title of Governor. He took office in January 1828 and initiated political, economic, and social reforms, but believed that the Greek people were not ready for democracy, and needed an enlightened autorcracy for a generation or two before democracy could be established. By 1831, Count Kapodistrias' government was hated by various factions, and he ordered the imprisonment of Petrobey Mavromichalis, Bey of the Mani Peninsula and leader of the successful uprising against the Ottoman Empire. Petrobey's brother Konstantis and son Georgios shot and stabbed Count Kapodistrias, 55, on the steps of the church of Saint Spyridon in Nafplion on October 9, 1831. Count Kapodistrias was succeeded as Governor by his younger brother Augustinos.

175 years ago
1841

Politics and government
The Act of Union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada, passed at Westminster on July 23, 1840, came into effect, uniting Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada, a legislative union with 84 members divided equally between Canada East and Canada West. Kingston was to be the capital, and Charles Poulett Thomson, Lord Sydenham was appointed the first Governor-General of the United Province of Canada.

170 years ago
1846

Born on this date
Charles Beresford. U.K. military officer and politician. Lord Beresford was a Royal Navy officer for 52 years (1859-1911), serving in various campaigns. He had a long-running feud with First Sea Lord Sir John Fisher, and was thus prevented from attaining the office himself. Lord Beresford had a simultaneous career in politics as a Conservative, representing County Waterford (1874-1880); Marylebone East (1885-1888); York (1898-1900); Woolwich (1902-1903); and Portsmouth (1910-1916) in the House of Commons. He died on September 6, 1919 at the age of 73.

Ira Remsen. U.S. chemist. Dr. Remsen, with Constantin Fahlberg, discovered the artificial sweetener saccharin in 1879. He was President of John Hopkins University (1901-1912), and died on March 4, 1927, 22 days after his 81st birthday.

War
British East India Company forces defeated Sikhs in the Battle of Sobraon, the final battle of the First Anglo-Sikh War.

Religion
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – the Mormons – began an exodus west from Illinois.

140 years ago
1876

Died on this date
Reverdy Johnson, 79. U.S. politician and diplomat. Mr. Johnson, a Whig before 1860 and a Democrat afterward, represented Maryland in the U.S. Senate (1845-1849, 1863-1868). He was U.S. Attorney General in the administration of President Zachary Taylor (1949-1850), and was U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom (1868-1869). As a lawyer, Mr. Johnson represented unpopular clients, including Ku Klux Klan members and Mary Surratt, alleged conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

125 years ago
1891

Born on this date
Adolphus Busch III. U.S. brewer. Mr. Busch succeeded his father Augustus A. Busch as president of Anheuser-Busch Company upon Augustus Busch's death in 1934. Adolphus Busch III ran the company until his death from a cerebral hemorrhage on August 29, 1946 at the age of 55, and was succeeded in turn by his brother August A. "Gussie" Busch, Jr.

110 years ago
1906

Died on this date
E. B. Eddy, 78. U.S.-born Canadian businessman and politician. Ezra Butler Eddy began manufacturing matches in Burlington, Vermont in 1851 before moving to Hull, Quebec three years later. He founded the E.B. Eddy Company in 1886. Mr. Eddy served as mayor of Hull for 13 years and represented Ottawa as a Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec from 1871-1875.

Defense
HMS Dreadnought, the first of a revolutionary new breed of battleships, was christened and launched at Portsmouth, England by King Edward VII.

100 years ago
1916

Protest
An anti-German riot took place in Calgary.

80 years ago
1936

War
Italian troops launched the Battle of Amba Aradam against Ethiopian defenders in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.

75 years ago
1941

Died on this date
Walter Krivitsky, 41. U.S.S.R. spy. General Krivitsky, born Samuel Ginsburg, spied for the Soviet Union for about 20 years before defecting to the West in 1937 after Soviet dictator Josef Stalin began a purge of the General Staff of the Red Army. Gen. Krivitsky revealed information about Soviet espionage to the British and American governments, and became convinced that he was being targeted for assassination by the Soviet secret police force NKVD. Gen. Krivitsky was found dead in his room at the Bellevue Hotel in Washington, with a bullet in his head, and three suicide notes next to his body. The official verdict was suicide.

Movies
Paramount Pictures purchased the screen rights to the Broadway play Lady in the Dark for the record price of $283,000.

War
British colonial forces crossed the Kenyan border into Italian Somaliland, while Royal Air Force bombers left Singapore for bases in northern Malaya.

The United Kingdom announced that it had broken diplomatic relations with Romania because Romania's territory was being used by Germany as a military base.

Diplomacy
The United States Senate confirmed John G. Winant as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Scandal
U.S. Senator Harry Truman (Democrat--Missouri) demanded a Senate probe of irregularities in the awarding of defense contracts.

Economics and finance
The U.S. House of Representatives passed by voice vote and sent to the Senate the Public Debt Act of 1941, raising the national debt to $65 billion.

The U.S. Treasury Department revealed that about $4.369 billion worth of foreign assets had been frozen in the United States since April 1940.

70 years ago
1946

Politics and government
The Soviet Communist Party won the first general elections held in Russia since 1937, facing opposition only in the recently annexed Baltic states.

Congressional elections in Costa Rica gave the government 11 seats, with Communists winning 2 and other opposition parties taking 10.

Dutch negotiators offered the right of self-determination within the Netherlands commonwealth to Netherlands East Indies nationalist leaders in Batavia.

Transportation
The British ocean liner Queen Mary docked in New York with 1,666 war brides and 668 children, the largest overwater movement of women and children in history.

Crime
Mafia leader Lucky Luciano was deported to Italy from the United States.

Labour
The Congress of Industrial Organizations Transport Workers Union called a strike of 9,606 employees of the Philadelphia Transportation Company to gain a $2 daily wage increase.

Golf
Ben Hogan won the Texas Open in San Antonio, finishing ahead of Sam Byrd and Byron Nelson.

60 years ago
1956

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Sixteen Tons--"Tennessee" Ernie Ford (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Emmanouil Tsouderos, 73. Prime Minister of Greece, 1941; Prime Minister of the Greek government in exile, 1941-1944. Mr. Tsouderos served as Prime Minister from April 21-29, 1941 after the suicide of Alexandros Koryzis, and fled with King George II to Crete when Nazi forces invaded and occupied the country. Mr. Tsouderos led the government in exile in London and later in Cairo; he served in different capacities after World War II, and died in Italy.

Wilbert Coffin, 40. Canadian criminal. Mr. Coffin, a prospector from the Gaspé region of Quebec, was hanged at Bordeaux Prison in Montreal for the July 1953 murder of American tourist Eugene Lindsey and his son Richard, and Frederick Claar. Charges that Mr. Coffin had not received a fair trial because of concern over loss of American tourism led to a special reference to the Supreme Court of Canada, which upheld the conviction.

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): Michelle--The Overlanders (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Billy Rose, 66. U.S. songwriter and impresario. Mr. Rose, born William Rosenberg, was known for writing lyrics to such songs as Me and My Shadow (1927) and It's Only a Paper Moon (1933), and for producing musical shows such as Jumbo (1935) and Carmen Jones (1943).

Bruno Bitkowski, 36. Canadian football player. Mr. Bitkowski was a centre with the Ottawa Rough Riders from 1951-1962. He won the Gruen Trophy as the outstanding Canadian rookie in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union in 1951, and was a member of the Rough Riders' Grey Cup championship teams in 1951 and 1960. Mr. Bitkowski died of a heart attack while on vacation in Bridgetown, Barbados; the Rough Riders promptly retired his jersey #40.

Diplomacy
U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey began a two-week peace mission to nine Asian countries.

40 years ago
1976

Terrorism
Bombs exploded throughout the commercial shopping district of Belfast on the first anniversary of a "cease-fire" between the provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army and the British Army.

Politics and government
W.J. Usery, Jr. was sworn in as United States Secretary of Labor in the administration of President Gerald Ford.

Economics and finance
Backward nations from Asia, Africa, and Latin America ended a two-week meeting in Manila of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. They called for international economic reforms.

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): We Built This City--Starship (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Janey, Don't You Lose Heart--Bruce Springsteen

War
Iran launched a new offensive against Iraq.

25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Do the Bartman--The Simpsons (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Sadeness Part I--Enigma (9th week at #1)

Austria's Top 10 (Ö3)
1 Unchained Melody--The Righteous Brothers (2nd week at #1)
2 Sadeness Part I--Enigma
3 Keep on Running--Milli Vanilli
4 Hello Afrika--Dr. Alban featuring Leila K.
5 Fantasy--Black Box
6 Ice Ice Baby--Vanilla Ice
7 I'll Be Your Baby Tonight--Robert Palmer and UB40
8 To Love Somebody--Jimmy Somerville
9 Don't Worry--Kim Appleby
10 Kränk di net--Jazz Gitti & her Disco Killers

Singles entering the chart were Innuendo by Queen (#18); Play That Funky Music by Vanilla Ice (#25); Crazy by Seal (#27); All this Time by Sting (#28); and Megamix by Black Box (#29).

War
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein mad his first public broadcast in two weeks, calling on Iraqis to show patience and steadfastness. Iraqis faced severe water shortages, and most were without electricity.

World events
Results from the previous day’s non-binding referendum in Lithuania showed a vote of 90% in favour of independence from the Soviet Union. Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis declared the vote "a victory against lying and intimidation," referring to the Kremlin’s attempts to stop the Baltic republics’ drive for independence.

Labour
A Manitoba Nurses' Union strike ended.

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): Wonderwall--Oasis

#1 single in Flanders (VRT): Knockin'--Double Vision (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Wallonia (Ultratop 40): Gangsta's Paradise--Coolio featuring L.V. (11th week at #1)

#1 single in France (SNEP): Gangsta's Paradise--Coolio featuring L.V. (11th week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Have You Ever Been Mellow--Party Animals

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Spaceman--Babylon Zoo (3rd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 One Sweet Day--Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (11th week at #1)
2 Exhale (Shoop Shoop)--Whitney Houston
3 Missing--Everything But the Girl
4 One of Us--Joan Osborne
5 Hey Lover--LL Cool J
6 Not Gon' Cry--Mary J. Blige
7 Name--Goo Goo Dolls
8 Be My Lover--La Bouche
9 Nobody Knows--The Tony Rich Project
10 Breakfast at Tiffany's--Deep Blue Something

Singles entering the chart were Follow You Down/Til I Hear it from You by Gin Blossoms (#12); 1979 by the Smashing Pumpkins (#20); Get Money by Junior M.A.F.I.A. featuring the Notorious B.I.G. (#55); All the Things (Your Man Won't Do) by Joe (#78); Keep Tryin' by Groove Theory (#80); and Insensitive by Jann Arden (#96). All the Things (Your Man Won't Do) was from the movie Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 One Sweet Day--Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (9th week at #1)
2 Missing--Everything But the Girl
3 One of Us--Joan Osborne
4 Exhale (Shoop Shoop)--Whitney Houston
5 Hey Lover--LL Cool J
6 Name--Goo Goo Dolls
7 Nobody Knows--The Tony Rich Project
8 Be My Lover--La Bouche
9 Tonite's Tha Night--Kris Kross
10 Anything--3T

Singles entering the chart were Ain't Nobody by Diana King (#58); Everyday and Everynight by Yvette Michele (#59); Keep Tryin' by Groove Theory (#61); Promises Broken by Soul Asylum (#67); Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka by Heltah Skeltah & O.G.C. a.k.a. Fab 5 (#77); Celebration/Take Your Chance by Fun Factory (#87); and Take a Look by J'Son (#89).

Diplomacy
The government of Zaire announced plans to encourage one million Rwandan refugees to leave the 42 camps in Zaire and return home.

Chess
The IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeated world champion Garry Kasparov for the first time, winning the first game of their six-game match in Philadelphia.