March 12, 2016

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Yesenia Barajas!

120 years ago
1896

Born on this date
John Dahlquist. U.S. military officer. General Dahlquist joined the United States Army in August 1917; he didn't see action in World War I, but served in the Allied occupation of the Rhineland after the war. He commanded several divisions in World War II, but was criticized for his command of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (442nd RCT), composed of Nisei (Japanese-Americans). The 442nd became the most-decorated unit in the history of the U.S. armed forces, mainly because of poor decisions by Gen. Dahlquist; more than one-third of the 442nd were killed or wounded when he ordered the unit to rescue another unit that had been surrounded by the enemy. Gen. Dahlquist was Chief of Army Field Forces (1953-1955) and Commander-in-Chief, Continental Army Command (1955-1956), retiring in 1956. He died on July 30, 1975 at the age of 78.

100 years ago
1916

Died on this date
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, 85. Countess Ebner-Eschenbach wrote plays, short stories, and essays, but was best known for her psychological novels.

90 years ago
1926

Hockey
Stanley Cup
WHL
Semi-Finals
Victoria 3 @ Saskatoon 3 (First game of 2-game total goals series)

80 years ago
1936

Died on this date
David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, 65. U.K. military officer and politician. Lord Beatty joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1884 and served in Sudan in the Mahdist War (1896-1898) and in China after the Boxer Rebellion (1900). He commanded the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, and became commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet in December 1916, receiving the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in November 1918. Lord Beatty served as First Sea Lord from November 1919-July 1927, longer than anyone else in the office. He was involved in negotiating the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. Lord Beatty died after a long battle with influenza.

75 years ago
1941

Defense
Speaking in Parliament, U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill thanked the United States for passing the Lend-Lease bill, while U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt formally asked Congress for $7 billion for Lend-Lease arms aid. The Diplomatisch-Politische Korrespondenz in Berlin denounced Lend-Lease as "flagrant meddling" in the European war.

U.S. Navy Secretary Frank Knox dedicated the Navy's largest air training base in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Diplomacy
The Japanese newspaper Asahi said that Indochina and Thailand had pledged not to enter into any agreement with a third power inimical to Japanese interests.

Agriculture
Canadian Agriculture Minister Jimmy Gardiner cut wartime wheat quotas to 65% of 1940 acreage, with no price increase. There was a $4/acre subsidy for land diverted to summer fallow, and $2 for hay.

Academia
City College of New York President Harry Wright told 3,000 students that Communists could not be tolerated in the schools, and supported the Rapp-Coudert legislative investigation of subversive activities.

Politics and government
The U.S. Temporary National Economic Committee (TNEC) listed nearly 400 organizations that maintained staffs of lobbyists in Washington, and urged that they be periodically registered.

Transportation
Chinese engineers left Chungking to survey a route for a 1,000-mile highway from Ningyuan, China to Sadiya, Assam, India.

70 years ago
1946

At the movies
To Each His Own, starring Olivia DeHavilland and John Lund, opened in theatres.

Died on this date
Samuel Gompers, Jr., 78. U.S. labour leader. Mr. Gompers, the son of the founder of the American Federation of Labor, was chief clerk of the United States Labor Department.

Károly Beregfy, 58; Gábor Vajna, 54; József Gera, 49. Hungarian politicians. Messrs. Beregfy, Vajna, and Gera were members of the fascist Arrow Cross Party – Hungarist Movement that governed Hungary from October 1944-March 1945, the last months of Hungary's involvement in World War II. They were hanged in Budapest with former Head of State Ferenc Szálasi after being convicted of crimes against the state.

Ferenc Szálasi, 49. Head of State of Hungary, 1944-1945. Mr. Szálasi was the leader of the fascist Arrow Cross Party – Hungarist Movement, and was "Leader of the Nation" from October 1944-March 1945. He was responsible for the murder of 10,000-15,000 Jews during his brief reign, and was hanged in Budapest after being convicted of crimes against the state.

Movies
Filming of Forever Amber began in Hollywood, with a record budget of $3 million.

Defense
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Tom Connally (Democrat--Texas) declared in a report to the Senate that the U.S.S.R. did not want war, but "those who want peace must not commit acts that tend to provoke war."

The U.S. House of Representatives passed and sent to the Senate a bill permitting President Harry Truman to send technical advisers and lease or give 271 naval vessels to China.

U.S. Army General Carl Spaatz revealed plans to equip the Army Air Forces almost exclusively with jet planes and to bring it to combat strength by the end of 1946.

Palestinian Arab leader Jamal el Husseini stated that "we are willing to shed our own blood" in order to gain British evacuation from Palestine.

Diplomacy
The U.S. State Department revealed that it had sent the U.S.S.R. a second note inquiring about the southward and westward movement of Soviet troops in Iran.

Economics and finance
The Interntional Monetary Fund Membership Committee extended for six months the opportunity to the U.S.S.R. and eight other nations to ratify the Bretton Woods Agreement.

Herbert Lehman resigned as director-general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration because of ill health.

The U.S. Office of Price Administration granted a 4½% price increase on steel castings and railroad specialties.

Labour
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that the new government wage policy would permit a general increase of 12½% over wage rates of October 1945.

60 years ago
1956

Boxing
Floyd Patterson (28-1) scored a technical knockout of Jimmy Walls (19-42-2) at 2:29 of the 2nd round of a heavyweight bout in New Britain, Connecticut.

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): These Boots are Made for Walkin'--Nancy Sinatra (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in France: Une Mèche de Cheveux--Salvatore Adamo (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Nessuno mi può giudicare--Caterina Caselli (5th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Ganz in Weiß--Roy Black

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Michelle--The Beatles; The Overlanders (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): I Can't Let Go--The Hollies

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): The Ballad of the Green Berets--SSgt Barry Sadler (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 The Ballad of the Green Berets--SSgt Barry Sadler (2nd week at #1)
2 These Boots are Made for Walkin'--Nancy Sinatra
3 Listen People--Herman's Hermits
4 California Dreamin'--The Mamas and the Papas
5 Nowhere Man--The Beatles
6 19th Nervous Breakdown--The Rolling Stones
7 Elusive Butterfly--Bob Lind
8 Lightnin' Strikes--Lou Christie
9 I Fought the Law--Bobby Fuller Four
10 Homeward Bound--Simon & Garfunkel

Singles entering the chart were (You’re My) Soul and Inspiration by the Righteous Brothers (#53); Little Latin Lupe Lu by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels (#78); Spanish Flea (#81)/What Now My Love (#84) by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass; Outside the Gates of Heaven by Lou Christie (#83); Love is Me, Love is You by Connie Francis (#85); Secret Agent Man by Johnny Rivers (#88); Juanita Banana by the Peels (#89); Good Lovin' by the Young Rascals (#91); My Prayer by Johnny Thunder (#92); I Want Someone by the Mad Lads (#96); (I’m Just A) Fool for You by Gene Chandler (#98); I Hear Trumpets Blow by the Tokens (#99); and Shapes of Things by the Yardbirds (#100).

Died on this date
Néstor Guillén Olmos, 76. President of Bolivia, 1946. Justice Guillén was the second-highest ranking judge on the La Paz Court of Appeals at the time President Gualberto Villarroel was overthrown and assassinated. Chief Justice Tomás Monje Gutiérrez was ill at the time, so Justice Guillén served as President from July 21-August 15, 1946, until Justice Monje was able to take the position. Justice Guillén then returned to the bench.

Politics and government
Indonesian President Sukarno signed a decree transferring his presidential powers to Army Lieutenant General Suharto, after days of anti-Communist demonstrations had led the army to deliver an ultimatum to President Sukarno. Lt.-Gen. Suharto promptly created a three-man commission of himself, Adam Malik as Foreign Minister, and the Sultan of Djaakarta as minister of internal affairs and economic problems.

Boxing
Jose Giorgetti (31-4-2) defeated Oscar Bonavena (19-2) in a heavyweight bout at Estadio Bristol in Mar del Plata, Argentina when Mr. Bonavena was disqualified in the 8th round for a low blow.



Horse racing
59-year-old jockey Johnny Longden won the 6,032nd and final race of his career by riding George Royal to victory in the San Juan Capistrano Invitation Handicap at Santa Anita in Arcadia, California.

Hockey
NHL
Chicago 4 @ New York 2

Chico Maki scored 2 goals for the Black Hawks as they defeated the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, but the highlight of the game was Bobby Hull scoring his 51st goal of the season, breaking the NHL single-season record shared by Maurice "Rocket" Richard and Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion.

40 years ago
1976

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Bohemian Rhapsody--Queen (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Mississippi--Pussycat (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Moviestar--Harpo (4th week at #1)

Oil
The Come By Chance refinery in Newfoundland, established in 1971 by John Shaheen with Premier Joey Smallwood's support, was declared bankrupt; Petro-Canada acquired the assets.

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Brother Louie--Modern Talking (2nd week at #1)

Defense
Spanish voters, by a 4-3 margin, approved Spain’s continued membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The referendum endorsed by the voters stipulated that nuclear weapons would not be placed on Spanish soil; that Spain’s forces would continue to operate outside NATO’s integrated command; and that U.S. troop numbers in Spain would be reduced from the current total of 12,500.

Disasters
Reporters at Cape Canaveral, Florida observed a flag-draped container being removed from a salvage ship. The container was presumed to be the crew cabin of the U.S. space shuttle Challenger, which had exploded 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28 and killed all seven astronauts aboard.

25 years ago
1991

Died on this date
Ragnar Granit, 90. Finnish-born Swedish neuroscientist. Dr. Granit, Haldan Keffer Hartline, and George Wald were awarded the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye."

Diplomacy
James Baker, on his first visit to Israel as U.S. Secretary of State, met with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Mr. baker was seeking Israeli concessions, including giving up all or part of the occupied territories as part of a peace settlement with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Israel did not immediately reject Mr. Baker’s proposals. Mr. Baker also met separately with Palestinian leaders.

World events
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic gave in to protesters and released the leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement (the main opposition party), and fired five senior editors of the state-run television network and the editor of the pro-Socialist newspaper.

Society
South African President P.W. Botha introduced a five-piece package of legislation that would end all racial discrimination in land ownership and would allow South Africans to live where they chose. The five bills would overturn 189 laws that prohibited blacks from buying land.

20 years ago
1996

Law
The Helms-Burton Act, which included authorization of lawsuits against those holding former American territory in Cuba, was signed into law by U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Politics and government
Jean-Pierre Charbonneau (Parti Québécois--Borduas) was elected Speaker of the Quebec National Assembly. The deputy speakers were Raymond Brouillet (PQ--Chauveau) and Claude Pinard (PQ--Saint-Maurice). Mr. Charbonneau, elected unanimously by the 125 MNAs, replaced Roger Bertrand, appointed Minister of Revenue in January. The new speaker began his first session by asking that "decorum, the quality of debates and mutual respect henceforth characterize one of the oldest parliaments in the world."

Health
Vancouver, British Columbia city council voteds to ban smoking in restaurants.

Society
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, formerly Chris Jackson, of the Denver Nuggets, was suspended without pay by the National Basketball Association after refusing to stand during the national anthem before games. A compromise was reached when he said he would stand and pray during the anthem; the American flag, he said, was a "symbol of tyranny and oppression" and thus his Muslim faith would not allow him to pay respect to it.