August 20, 2016

150 years ago
1866

War
U.S. President Andrew Johnson formally declared the American Civil War over.

Labour
The newly-organized National Labor Union called on the United States Congress to mandate an eight-hour workday.

90 years ago
1926

Radio
Japan's public broadcasting company Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) was established.

80 years ago
1936

Died on this date
Edward Weston, 86. U.K.-born U.S. chemist. Dr. Weston moved to the United States from his native England after receiving his medical degree in 1870. He received 334 U.S. patents, and developed the electrochemical cell, named the Weston cell, for the voltage standard.

75 years ago
1941

War
U.S.S.R. Red Army Marshal Klementy E. Voroshilov issued an appeal to the people of Leningrad, urging them to prepare to defend the city at all costs against the advancing German army. Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King arrived in London for wartime talks and to visit the troops.

Diplomacy
German Propaganda Minister Dr. Josef Goebbels warned Latin American countries that they would become U.S. colonies unless they opposed continued American intervention.

Japanica
New Japanese maps sold in Tokyo showed Japan having annexed all the islands and coral reefs bounded by the Spratly Islands in the west; the Half Moon Shoal in the east; North Danger Reef in the north; and Swallow Reef in the south.

Politics and government
Ecuadorian President Carlos Arroyo del Rio completed the appointment of a new cabinet.

The U.S. National Catholic Women's Union adopted a resolution opposing U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's proposal for compulsory government service for women as an example of the rising tide of bureaucracy.

Labour
Several American Federation of Labor street car and bus drivers tied up all transportation facilities of Detroit Street Railways in a strike for exclusive bargaining rights.

70 years ago
1946

Diplomacy
The U.S. State Department protested "emphatically" against recent Yugoslavian attacks on U.S. transport planes. A Yugoslavian reply criticized U.S. "violations of state sovereignty" through "unauthorized flights" over Yugoslavia.

Poland received a U.S.-U.K. note charging repression of political activity and calling for free participation of all democratic parties in national elections scheduled for November 1946.

Anglo-Egyptian treaty negotiations in Alexandria were broken off by the Egyptians, who rejected British compromise proposals.

Protest
Calcutta slowly returned to normal after three days of rioting between Muslims and Hindus resulting in an estimated 3,000 deaths.

Economics and finance
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administrator Fiorello La Guardia dismissed General Frederick Morgan as director of UNRRA operations in Germany, claiming that he had found no evidence to support Gen. Morgan's charges that the U.S.S.R. had used UN refugee camps for espionage.

The U.S. Office of Price Administration Price Decontrol Board restored ceiling prices on meat, cottonseed, and soybean, but exempted milk, dairy products, and grain.

Labour
Pittsburgh Pirates players rejected the American Baseball Guild in major league baseball's first collective bargaining election.

60 years ago
1956

Diplomacy
U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Indian respresentative Krishna Menon submitted contrasting proposals to the London conference on the Suez crisis, Mr. Dulles calling for "a definite system, destined to guarantee at all times and for all the powers the free use of the Suez Canal," while Mr. Menon asked for "recognition of the Suez Canal as an integral part of Egypt and as a waterway of international importance."

Panama's Ambassador to Egypt asserted that his government would never accept international control over the Panama Canal.

Politics and government
The Istiqial (Independence) Party withdrew its ministers from Morocco's governing coalition.

Washington Governor Arthur Langlie delivered the keynote address of the opening session of the 1956 Republican National Convention at the Cow Palace in Bayshore, California.

Football
WIFU
Saskatchewan (0-2) 9 @ British Columbia (2-0) 20

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Easyfever (EP): I'll Make You Happy/Too Much--The Easybeats

#1 single in France: Ton Nom--Salvatore Adamo (9th week at #1)

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Che colpa abbiamo noi--The Rokes

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Strangers in the Night--Frank Sinatra (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): With a Girl Like You--The Troggs

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby--The Beatles

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Summer in the City--The Lovin' Spoonful (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Summer in the City--The Lovin' Spoonful (2nd week at #1)
2 Lil' Red Riding Hood--Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
3 Sunny--Bobby Hebb
4 They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!--Napoleon XIV
5 Mother's Little Helper--The Rolling Stones
6 Sunshine Superman--Donovan
7 The Pied Piper--Crispian St. Peters
8 See You in September--The Happenings
9 I Couldn't Live Without Your Love--Petula Clark
10 This Door Swings Both Ways--Herman's Hermits

Singles entering the chart were Yellow Submarine (#24)/Eleanor Rigby (#58) by the Beatles; What Becomes of the Brokenhearted by Jimmy Ruffin (#73); Little Darling (I Need You) by Marvin Gaye (#79); Beauty is Only Skin Deep by the Temptations (#84); Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White by the Standells (#86); Cherry, Cherry by Neil Diamond (#88); B-A-B-Y by Carla Thomas (#96); Keep Looking by Solomon Burke (#100); Let Me Tell You, Babe by Nat King Cole (also #100); and The Fife Piper by the Dynatones (also #100). Let Me Tell You, Babe was the last charted single by Mr. Cole, who had died on February 15, 1965.

Music
The Beatles continued their final concert tour with a visit to Cincinnati, but their scheduled performance at Crosley Field was postponed to the following day because of rain.

Protest
Violent demonstrations of young Red Guards in China spread from Peking to other areas.

Football
CFL
Toronto (0-3) 10 @ Hamilton (3-0) 23

Frank Cosentino completed 3 touchdown passes to Tommy Grant as the Tiger-Cats defeated the Argonauts before 22,261 fans at Civic Stadium. Dave Thelen, playing his first game of the season, scored the Toronto touchdown. It was the only game for Wolfgang Felgemacher, a German soccer player who became the Canadian Football League's first soccer-style kicker. He converted Mr. Thelen's touchdown, and John Vilunas kicked a field goal for the Argonauts.

40 years ago
1976

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Shannon--Henry Gross (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Ein Bett im Kornfeld--Jürgen Drews (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Die kleine Kneipe--Peter Alexander (4th week at #1)

Diplomacy
Representatives of 85 non-aligned nations concluded their four-day summit in Colombo, Sri Lanka, urging richer nations to share their wealth.

Football
CFL
Saskatchewan (5-1) 38 @ Calgary (0-4-1) 13

Pete Van Valkenburg caught passes of 22 and 4 yards for touchdowns and rushed 90 yards for his final touchdown in the 4th quarter as the Roughriders easily beat the Stampeders before a sellout crowd of 27,188 at McMahon Stadium.

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Touch Me (I Want Your Body)--Samantha Fox (7th week at #1)

Theatre
This blogger attended a performance of Jacques Strapp's Last Crepe, a one-man show by Hal Sisson, a lawyer from Peace River, Alberta, at the Park Hotel in Edmonton as part of the 1986 Fringe Theatre Festival. I went after reading the review in the Edmonton Journal by Bob Remington, who said that this may be the worst show in the entire Fringe lineup. I don't know about most of the other 130 shows, but this one was pretty bad.

Died on this date
Milton Acorn, 63. Canadian poet. Mr. Acorn, a native of Charlottetown, was nicknamed "The People's Poet." His collection The Island Means Minago (1975) won the 1976 Governor General's Award for poetry. Mr. Acorn died of a heart attack.

World events
More than 100,000 people rallied outside the U.S.S.R. parliament building in Moscow protesting the coup aiming to depose Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Estonia, annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, issued a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of historical continuity of its pre-World War II statehood.

Crime
In Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill,44, gunned down 14 of his co-workers, wounded 6 others, and then committed suicide in the incident that inspired the term "going postal." Mr. Sherrill had been reprmanded the previous day by his supervisors.

Baseball
Walt Terrell was 1 out away from a no-hitter when he gave up a double to Wally Joyner of the California Angels. Mr. Terrell finished with a 1-hit 3-0 win before 22,755 fans at Tiger Stadium to improve his record for the season to 11-9. The losing pitcher, John Candelaria, allowed 5 hits and 2 runs--both earned--in 7 innings to fall to 6-2. 10 years and 11 days earlier, Mr. Candelaria had pitched a no-hitter for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Bobby Bonilla's 3-run double climaxed a 4-run 2nd inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros 4-1 before 16,997 fans at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Rick Rhoden pitched a 5-hit complete game victory to improve his record for the season to 14-7, and drove in the first Pittsburgh run with a single.

Don Carman of the Philadelphia Phillies carried a perfect game into the 9th inning, but gave up a leadoff double to Bob Brenly of the San Francisco Giants. Mr. Carman and Steve Bedrosian combined for a 1-0 10-inning win before 10,723 fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The only run came on Juan Samuel's home run leading off the top of the 10th inning.

Mike Marshall's 3-run home run climaxed a 5-run 5th inning, but his Los Angeles Dodgers still lost 7-5 to the New York Mets before 36,738 fans at Dodger Stadium.

Kevin McReynolds drove in all of his team's runs with a pair of home runs as the San Diego Padres edged the Montreal Expos 3-2 before 11,602 fans at Jack Murphy-San Diego Stadium.

25 years ago
1991

Europeana
Estonia, occupied by and incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, issued a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of legal continuity of its pre-occupation statehood.

Protest
More than 100,000 people rallied outside the Soviet Union's parliament building in Moscow protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

20 years ago
1996

Protest
Riot police raided Yonsei University in Seoul to end a nine-day standoff. 5,848 students were detained; 1,000 policemen and students were injured; and 1 policeman was killed. Students were taking part in an annual rally for reunification with North Korea.

10 years ago
2006

Died on this date
Joe Rosenthal, 94. U.S. photographer. Mr. Rosenthal was a staff photographer with Associated Press who was best known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, taken February 23, 1945.

Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, 68. Sri Lankan politician. Mr. Sivamaharajah, a Tamil, was a newspaper publisher who represented Jaffna District in the Sri Lankan Parliament from 1989-1990 as a member of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS). He resigned in 1990, but was re-elected in 2000 while running as a candidate for the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). TULF and two other parties combined in 2001 to form the Tamil National Alliance, but Mr. Sivamaharajah was defeated in the 2001 parliamentary elections. He was shot to death at a temporary residence he was staying at; the government-backed Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) paramilitary group was blamed for the assassination, which appeared to be the latest in a series of attacks on Tamil media people that had begun the previous year.

Golf
Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club No. 3 Course in Medinah, Illnois with an 18-under-par score of 270, 5 strokes ahead of Shaun Micheel. It was the third PGA title and 12th major championship for Mr. Woods. First prize money was $1,224,000.