May 29, 2016

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Cathy Brown!

150 years ago
1866

Died on this date
Winfield Scott, 79. U.S. military officer. General Scott, nicknamed "Old Fuss and Feathers" and "The Grand Old Man of the Army," served in the United States Army from 1808-1861, and commanded forces in the War of 1812; the Black Hawk War; the Mexican–American War; the Second Seminole War; and briefly, the American Civil War. He served as Commanding General of the United States Army from 1841-1861. General Scott served as military governor of Mexico City after the Mexican-American War, and was nominated by the Whig Party as its candidate for President of the United States in 1852, but lost the election to Democratic Party candidate Franklin Pierce. General Scott died 15 days before his 80th birthday.

130 years ago
1886

Popular culture
Pharmacist John Pemberton placed his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, which appeared in The Atlanta Journal.

80 years ago
1936

Baseball
The team from Japan’s Waseda University continued its tour of the United States with an 18-16 loss to the University of Chicago, as the teams combined for 34 hits and 17 errors. Waseda scored 9 runs in the top of the 9th inning, but Chicago scored 5 in the bottom half.

75 years ago
1941

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, John E. Kennedy!

Mr. Kennedy was an infielder with the Washington Senators (1962-1964); Los Angeles Dodgers (1965-1966); New York Yankees (1967); Seattle Pilots (1969); Milwaukee Brewers (1970); and Boston Red Sox (1970-1974), batting .225 with 32 home runs and 185 runs batted in in 856 games. He was born 24 years to the day after John F. Kennedy, and was playing in Washington at the time that John F. Kennedy was President of the United States. John E. Kennedy played in the 1965 and 1966 World Series, batting .167 (1 for 6) in 6 games.

Died on this date
Léo-Pol Morin, 48. Canadian musician and composer. Mr. Morin, a native of Cap-Saint-Ignace, Quebec, was a classical pianist who was known for his performances of music by modern French composers. Using the pseudonym James Callihou, he composed works based on French-Canadian and Inuit folklore and music. Mr. Morin's compositions included Suite canadienne (1945) and Trois Esquimaux pour piano. He was killed in a car accident in the Laurentian Mountains near Montreal.

War
Candia, Crete's second-largest city, fell to German troops. U.K. Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, in a speech in London, declared that U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" were the "keystone" of British war aims.

World events
Dr. Kurt Heinrich Reith, former German Minister to Austria, was arrested in New York pending deportation proceedings.

Defense
The U.S. Maritime Commission announced that it was requisitioning 13 more merchant vessels for the Navy. The U.S. War Department announced that 8,000 British pilots would be trained annually in the United States beginning June 7, 1941.

Economics and finance
Japanese officials revealed that they had made formal representations to the Netherlands and United Kingdom in an attempt to break the deadlock in the trade negotiations between Japan and the Netherlands East Indies.

U.S. Office of Production Management Priorities Director Edward Stettinius, Jr. signed a general preference order placing steel on a limited priorities basis in order to curb non-essential civilian consumption.

Business
U.S. Federal Judge James Proctor fined the American Medical Association $2,500 and the Medical Society of Washington $1,500 for antitrust law violations.

70 years ago
1946

Died on this date
Martin Gottfried Weiss, 40. German SS officer. SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) Weiss was Commandant of the concentration camps at Neuengamme (1940-1942); Majdanek (1943-1944); and Dachau (1944-1945). He was convicted of war crimes and hanged at Landsberg Prison, five days before his 41st birthday.

War
Nationalist Chinese troops reported capturing the Manchurian city of Kirin from the Chinese Communists.

Diplomacy
Representatives of seven Palestinian Arab parties, meeting in Jerusalem, formed the Arab Higher Front, led by Hussein Khalidi and Auni Bey Abdul Hadi. The new group differed from the existing Arab Higher Commission in favouring submission of the Palestinian dispute to the United Nations.

The Iranian embassy in Washington disclosed that Prime Minister Ahmad Ghavam Saltaneh had ordered Ambassador Hussein Ala not to make any more statements to the United Nations Security Council, following Mr. Ala's contention that U.S.S.R. forces remained in Azerbaijan.

Defense
The British Ministry of Supply revealed the development of the de Havilland DH-108 "Swallow," the world's first jet-propelled flying wing fighter plane. The first prototype had made its first flight on May 15 at Royal Air Force base Woodbridge, England.

U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes told the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee that the United States favoured the regulation of armaments to allow nations no more than was necessary to maintain internal order and international peace and security.

Aviation
The Montreal Assembly of the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization voted to offer the seat held open for the U.S.S.R. to another country.

Labour
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) drafted an agreement with the International Labor Organization under which the latter would become a specialized UN agency.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed and sent to President Harry Truman the Case strike control bill, calling for a 60-day cooling-off period before strikes; increased federal mediation; and union and management liability for breach of contract.

The 59-day soft coal strike in the United States ended when United Mine Workers of America President John L. Lewis signed a U.S. government-sponsored agreement providing for an 18 1/2c hourly wage increase and a miners' "welfare and retirement fund" financed by a levy of 5c per ton.

A 22-hour general strike by 26,000 union members in Rochester, New York ended after the city agreed to allow its workers to join any organization "which does not claim the right to strike against the public."

60 years ago
1956

Diplomacy
The U.S.S.R. embassy in Washington announced that Soviet naval attaches had suggested an exchange of courtesy calls between the Soviet and American navies.

French Resident Minister for Algeria Robert Lacoste rejected international mediation of the North African conflict.

Defense
U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower asked Congress for an additional $112.5 million to finance nuclear weapons, military propulsion reactors, and an "accelerated" civilian power reactor program.

Politics and government
Former Illinois Governor and 1952 U.S. presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson won a narrow victory over U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver (Tennessee) in the Florida primary for the 1956 Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States.

Environment
A whooping crane, believed to be the first ever born in captivity and the 31st of its species in existence, hatched at Audubon Park Zoo in New Orleans.

40 years ago
1976

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): Ancora tu--Lucio Battisti (9th week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (Veronica Top 40): Sweet Love--Ferrari

#1 single in the U.K.: Fernando--ABBA (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Love Hangover--Diana Ross

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Silly Love Songs--Wings
2 Welcome Back--John Sebastian
3 Love Hangover--Diana Ross
4 Get Up and Boogie (That's Right)--Silver Convention
5 Shannon--Henry Gross
6 Happy Days--Pratt & McClain with Brother Love
7 Misty Blue--Dorothy Moore
8 Fooled Around and Fell in Love--Elvin Bishop
9 Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)--Fleetwood Mac
10 Sara Smile--Daryl Hall and John Oates

Singles entering the chart were Mamma Mia by ABBA (#76); You're My Best Friend by Queen (#77); Silver Star by the Four Seasons (#80); C'mon Marianne by Donny Osmond (#81); You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine by Lou Rawls (#86); Sophisticated Lady (She’s a Different Lady) by Natalie Cole (#91); Everything that 'Cha Do (Will Come Back to You) by Wet Willie (#92); Vaya con Dios by Freddy Fender (#95); Lonely Teardrops by Narvel Felts (#98); Music by John Miles (#99); and Sharing the Night Together by Arthur Alexander (#100).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Shannon--Henry Gross
2 Silly Love Songs--Wings
3 Welcome Back--John Sebastian
4 Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)--Fleetwood Mac
5 Shout it Out Loud--Kiss
6 Boogie Fever--Sylvers
7 Get Up and Boogie (That's Right)--Silver Convention
8 Bohemian Rhapsody--Queen
9 Love is the Drug--Roxy Music
10 Rock and Roll Love Letter--Bay City Rollers

Singles entering the chart were Dance Wit Me by Rufus featuring Chaka Khan (#90); Freight Train by Eugene Smith (#91); Take the Money and Run by Steve Miller (#92); Knowing How, Knowing When by Suzanne Stevens (#93); Afternoon Delight by Starland Vocal Band (#94); Early Riser by the T.H.P. Orchestra (#96); Everyday Without You by Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds (#97); Let Her In by John Travolta (#98); Sixteen Tons by the Don Harrison Band (#99); and Young Hearts Run Free by Candi Staton (#100).

Yellowknifiana
Sir John Franklin Territorial High School in Yellowknife held its annual graduation dance; this blogger went and had a good time.

Football
CFL
All-Star Game @ Clarke Stadium, Edmonton
East 14 West 27

Larry Highbaugh of the defending Grey Cup champion Edmonton Eskimos returned a punt 97 yards for a touchdown to help the West defeat the East before 21,762 fans in the first Canadian Football League game ever played in May. Tom Campana of the Saskatchewan Roughriders scored the other 2 West TDs, while Art Green of the Ottawa Rough Riders scored the lone East touchdown. Mr. Green and Saskatchewan quarterback Ron Lancaster sharted the award for most valuable player on offense, while defensive end Wayne Smith of the British Columbia Lions was voted the most valuable player on defense. Two players ended their careers in this game: quarterback Jerry Keeling of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and defensive tackle Jim Stillwagon of the Toronto Argonauts, both of whom played for the East. It was the first pre-season All-Star Game to be played under an East-West format; previous games had pitted the defending Grey Cup champions against the All-Stars.

30 years ago
1986

Basketball
NBA
Finals
Houston 95 @ Boston 117 (Boston led best-of-seven series 2-0)

The Celtics outscored the Rockets 34-19 in the 3rd quarter, which made the difference in the game before 14,890 fans at Boston Garden. Larry Bird led Boston with 31 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists.



25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Wind of Change--Scorpions (4th week at #1)

Politics and government
India's Congress (I) Party named former Foreign Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao as its interim leader, succeeding former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who had been assassinated eight days earlier.

20 years ago
1996

Died on this date
Tamara Toumanova, 77. Russian-born U.S. ballerina and actress. Miss Toumanova, born Tamara Vladimirovna Khassidovitch, began her public career in ballet at the age of 10 as a guest performer with the Paris Opera Ballet. She joined Les Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo in 1931 at the age of 12, and spent the rest of her career there. She appeared in several movies, including Days of Glory (1944); Invitation to the Dance (1956); Torn Curtain (1966); and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970).

Politics and government
In Israeli elections, Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu narrowly defeated incumbent Shimon Peres of the Labour Party for Prime Minister, 50.5%-49.5%; it was the first time that the Prime Minister was elected apart from the rest of the Knesset. In the parliamentary elections, Labour won 34 of the 120 seats, with a Likud-Gesher-Tzomet coalition taking 32 seats, followed by Shas (10); National Religious Party (9); Meretz (9); and six other parties accounting for the remaining 26 seats.

Crime
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers in Halifax boarded the Taiwanese-registered ship Maersk Dubai and arrested the captain and five sailors on charges of murdering three Romanian stowaways who had been thrown overboard.

Economics and finance
Canada and the United States signed a softwood lumber agreement that set export quotas for British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec, and also put in place an export tax for any amounts exceeding that quota. The agreement came after 15 years of debate and legal proceedings concerning the issue.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Western Conference Finals
Detroit 1 @ Colorado 4 (Colorado won best-of-seven series 4-2)

The Avalanche eliminated the Red Wings at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver and advanced to the finals for the first time in their history. The game was marred by a dirty hit from Colorado forward Claude Lemieux on Detroit forward Kris Draper at 14:07 of the 1st period. Mr. Lemieux hit Mr. Draper from behind into the edge of the bench, giving him a broken jaw and a shattered cheek and orbital bone. Mr. Lemieux was given a 5-minute penalty and game misconduct.



10 years ago
2006

Scandal
WestJet Airlines settled a lawsuit with rival Air Canada, admitting that its “highest management levels” had schemed to steal commercial data from Air Canada; WestJet paid all legal bills, plus a $10-million donation to charity.

Labour
The Ontario Labour Relations Board ruled illegal a one-day wildcat strike by Toronto Transit Commission workers, stranding 800,000 riders.