November 7, 2016

170 years ago
1846

Born on this date
Ignaz Brüll. Moravian-born Austrian musician and composer. Mr. Brüll moved to Vienna with his family in 1848, becoming a concert pianist as a child and a composer in his teens. He was a friend of Johannes Brahms, and they perforemd private duets together. Mr. Brüll wrote many lieder and piano works, but also composed seven operas and a symphony. He died on September 17, 1907 at the age of 60.

140 years ago
1876

Politics and government
In one of the most controversial presidential elections in U.S. history, Democratic Party candidate Samuel J. Tilden received 184 electoral votes to 165 for Republican Party candidate Rutherford B. Hayes, with 20 electoral votes--comprising Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon--still in dispute. The dispute wasn't resolved until March 2, 1877--two days before the inauguration of the new President--when a compromise was reached that involved the 20 disputed electoral votes being given to Mr. Hayes and vice presidential running mate William A. Wheeler--giving the Republican ticket a 185-184 victory--in exchange for withdrawal of federal troops from the South, ending the era of Reconstruction after the end of the Civil War. The outcome of the election remains controversial today. The 81.8% turnout of eligible voters remains a record for U.S. presidential elections.

125 years ago
1891

Born on this date
Genrikh Yagoda. U.S.S.R. bureaucrat. Mr. Yagoda, born Yenokh Gershevich Iyeguda, was a Bolshevik official who moved up through the ranks of the Soviet secret police organization Cheka, and was director of the NKVD (1934-1936). He supervised arrests, show trials, and executions of the Old Bolsheviks Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev, and also supervised construction of the White Sea–Baltic Canal with Naftaly Frenkel, using slave labor from the GULAG system, during which 12,000–25,000 laborers died. Soviet dictator Josef Stalin became disenchanted with Mr. Yagoda, and in September 1936 demoted him to People's Commissar for Posts and Telegraphs. In April 1937, Mr. Yagoda was removed from that post, and ultimately fell victim to the very system he used against others. He was a defendant in the Trial of the Twenty-One, the last of the major Soviet show trials of the 1930s. Mr. Yagoda confessed under torture, and after his conviction, was summarily shot on March 15, 1938 at the age of 46. He was the only defendant not to be posthumously rehabilitated.

120 years ago
1896

Football
CRU
ORFU
Finals
University of Toronto 43 Toronto Athletic Club 6 (First game of 2-game total points series)

100 years ago
1916

Politics and government
Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Marshall were re-elected President and Vice President of the United States, respectively, winning a close contest against the Republican Party ticket of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes and former Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks. Messrs. Wilson and Marshall won 30 states for a total of 277 electoral votes, while Messrs. Hughes and Fairbanks won 18 states, with a total of 254 electoral votes. The Democratic ticket took 49.2% of the vote to 46.1% for the Republican ticket, making Mr. Wilson the first President to win two consecutive elections without winning a majority of the popular vote. The Democrats lost 2 seats to the Republicans in elections for the Senate, but maintained a comfortable 56-40 majority. In the House of Representatives, the Republicans gained 19 seats and the Democrats lost 16, giving the Republicans a plurality of 216-214. However, 218 was the total necessary for a majority, and the Democrats were able to remain in power with the help of the 3 Progressive Party Congressmen--down from 6 in the 1914 election--and Meyer London (New York), the lone Socialist Representative. The remaining Representative was Charles Randall (California) of the Prohibition Party. Jeannette Rankin (Republican--Montana) became the first woman ever elected to Congress.

90 years ago
1926

Football
AFL
Brooklyn (1-3) 13 @ New York (6-2) 21
Los Angeles (4-3-1) 3 @ Chicago (3-3-2) 3

80 years ago
1936

Football
CRU
IRFU
Ottawa (3-3) 4 @ Montreal (2-4) 3
Hamilton (3-3) 6 @ Toronto (4-2) 10

ORFU
Sarnia (3-1) 43 Hamilton (0-3) 1

Canadian university
McGill (1-4) 7 @ Western Ontario (3-2) 18
Toronto (3-2) 1 @ Queen's (3-2) 6
Hardy Cup
Saskatchewan 10 @ British Columbia 7

Mr. Weaver kicked a field goal with less than 3 minutes remaining in the game to break a 7-7 tie as the Huskies edged the Thunderbirds before 5,000 fans at Varsity Stadium in Vancouver.

75 years ago
1941

Movies
Actress Bette Davis became the first woman to be elected President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood, California.

War
Helsinki radio rejected U.S. and U.K. demands that Finland end her invasion of Russia. The Soviet hospital ship Armenia was sunk by German planes while evacuating refugees and wounded military and staff of several Crimean hospitals, killing a total estimated at 5,000-7,000 people.

Defense
The United States Senate voted 50-37 to amend the Neutrality Act and permit American merchant ships to arm themselves and enter belligerent ports. U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Cuban Ambassador Aurelio Concheso signed a Lend-Lease agreement for an unspecified amount of defense materials.

Scandal
Lackawanna, New York Mayor John Aszkler and four councilmen resigned before they received one-year suspended prison sentences in Buffalo for conspiracy to defraud the city by padding Works Project Administration payrolls.

Labour
Executives of the "Big Five" operating brotherhoods with 350,000 members annunced that they had rejected the recommendations of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's fact-finding board for a temporary 7 1/2% wage increase, and would call a railway strike on December 7. Mr. Roosevelt named a fact-finding board to investigate the dispute in Detroit between the Teamsters and the Railway Clerks over jurisdiction in the Railway Express Agency. The United States Navy informed striking American Federation of Labor workers at the San Diego base that if they did not return to work, contractors would be permitted to hire other workers and, if necessary, the government "will take over the entire work."

Cuban President Fulgencio Batista signed decrees granting workers a general wage increase of 10%-25%.

70 years ago
1946

Television
A coin-operated television receiver was displayed in New York City. To sneak a peak at various test patterns and a model of “Felix the Cat,” people dropped in a quarter.

Diplomacy
At the New York Council of Foreign Ministers, Italy rejected a Yugoslavian offer to let Italy keep Trieste in return for the town of Gorizia.

Terrorism
Railroad traffic in Palestine halted for 21 hours following the fourth Zionist attack on railway installations and trains in two days.

Politics and government
U.S. delegate John Foster Dulles told the United Nations Trusteeship Commission that the United States would retain "de facto control" over islands taken from Japan even if its trusteeship proposals were rejected.

Japan's national trade union organization joined the Social Democrats and Communists in demanding that the Liberal Party cabinet of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida resign.

Journalism
In an effort to eliminate criticism of his government, Argentine President Juan Peron suspended all of the country's newspapers for one day.

Science
The U.S. Navy Department, University of Michigan, and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory announced the construction of a 15-ton, 300-million-volt synchotron to produce energy for the study of sub-nuclear particles.

Business
General Motors announced that it would float a $100-million stock issue.

Golf
Ben Hogan won the North & South Open in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

60 years ago
1956

Theatre
Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill, which had received its world premiere in Stockholm on February 2, 1956, opened at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway in New York. The cast included Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Jason Robards, Jr., Bradford Dillman, and Katharine Ross.

War
The United Nations General Assembly passed resolutions ordering the recall of British, French, and Israeli forces from Egypt, and approving UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold's plans for establishing a seven-nation advisory committee and a UN emergency force. General Sir Charles Knightley, commander of the joint Anglo-French force in Egypt, declared a cease-fire in the Suez Canal Zone. Peking radio announced that more than 250,000 Chinese had volunteered to fight for Egypt.

Defense
Warsaw sources reported massing of Soviet troops on the Polish frontier.

Protest
Anti-Communist demonstrators in Paris sacked the French Communist Party headquarters and the offices of L'Humanite in protest against the Soviet invasion of Hungary.

Football
CRU
IRFU
Semi-Final
Ottawa 21 @ Hamilton 46

ORFU
Semi-Finals
Sarnia 7 @ Kitchener-Waterloo 29
Toronto 19 @ London 35

Billy Graham scored 3 touchdowns and 4 converts to lead the Dutchmen over the Golden Bears at Kitchener Stadium. Mr. Loucks scored the other K-W touchdown, and Bob Celeri punted for a single. Fritz Gendron scored the Sarnia touchdown, converted by Archie McAffer.

Bernie Bucholtz, Dale Creighton, Jack O'Toole, and Mr. DeArmon scored touchdowns for the Lords as they upset Balmy Beach at Labatt Park to win their first playoff game ever. London coach and quarterback Jack Jacobs added 4 converts and 2 field goals, and Ed Johnson kicked a single. Toronto quarterback Bernie Custis, playing his final game, scored 2 touchdowns, and Harry Babcock also scored a Toronto TD, while Tom Urowitz added a single.

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Black is Black--Los Bravos

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Somewhere My Love--Charlie Matthews and the Royal Showband

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Last Train to Clarksville--The Monkees
2 Dandy--Herman's Hermits
3 96 Tears--? (Question Mark) & the Mysterians
4 Psychotic Reaction--Count Five
5 Hooray for Hazel--Tommy Roe
6 Poor Side of Town--Johnny Rivers
7 See See Rider--Eric Burdon & the Animals
8 All Strung Out--Nino Tempo and April Stevens
9 Walk Away Renee--The Left Banke
10 B-A-B-Y--Carla Thomas

Singles entering the chart were Winchester Cathedral by Dana Rollin (#63); You Keep Me Hangin' On by the Supremes (#70); Time After Time by Chris Montez (#75); On This Side of Goodbye by the Righteous Brothers (#81); Holy Cow by Lee Dorsey (#82); Wish You Were Here, Buddy by Pat Boone (#83); A Hazy Shade of Winter by Simon and Garfunkel (#84); Baby What Do You Want Me to Do by Barbara Lewis (#90); I've Got the Feeling by Neil Diamond (#94); I Wanna Meet You by the Cryan' Shames (#95); Mercy, Mr. Percy by Little Caesar and the Consuls (#96); There's Got to Be a Word by Innocence (#97); In a Minute or Two by Dee and the Yeomen (#98); Rosanna by the Capreez (#99); and Love is a Bird by the Knickerbockers (#100).

Died on this date
Rube Bressler, 72. U.S. baseball player. Raymond Bloom Bressler played with the Philadelphia Athletics (1914-1916); Cincinnati Reds (1917-1927); Brooklyn Robins (1928-1931); Philadelphia Phillies (1932); and St. Louis Cardinals (1932). He began his career as a pitcher before becoming a first baseman and outfielder. Mr. Bressler batted .301 with 32 home runs and 586 runs batted in in 1,305 games, and compiled a pitching record of 26-32 with an earned run average of 3.40 in 107 games. His best season as a pitcher was his first, when he was 10-4 with a 1.77 ERA in helping the Athletics win the 1914 American League pennant. Mr. Bressler was with the Reds when they won the World Series in 1919, but he didn't play in the series.

40 years ago
1976

Politics and government
Quebec Member of Parliament André-Gilles Fortin (Lotbinière) was elected leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada, succeeding the retiring Réal Caouette. Mr. Fortin won on the second ballot at the party's leadership convention at the Ottawa Civic Centre.

Football
CFL
Toronto (7-8-1) 14 @ Hamilton (8-8) 23
Saskatchewan (11-5) 33 @ Calgary (2-12-2) 31

Jimmy Edwards returned a punt 103 yards for a touchdown in the 1st quarter to help the Tiger-Cats build an 18-0 halftime lead as they defeated the Argonauts before 35,394 fans at Ivor Wynne Stadium to finish second in the Eastern Football Conference and eliminate the Argonauts from playoff contention for the 13th time in the previous 21 years. It was the last game for Russ Jackson as Toronto's head coach; he was fired after two seasons and a 12-18-2 record and two fourth-place finishes in the EFC. It was the third straight season in which the Argonauts ended the season in Hamilton with a playoff spot on the line, and the third straight year in which they came up short.

Ron Lancaster completed a 3-yard touchdown pass to Rhett Dawson on the last play of the game to give the Roughriders their win at McMahon Stadium before a capacity crowd of 27,188, giving the Roughriders first place in the Western Football Conference for the first time since 1970. The Stampeders, quarterbacked by John Hufnagel, ld 24-0 in the 2nd quarter. If the Roughriders had lost they would have finished with a record of 10-6, but the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, also 10-6, would have finished first, having defeated Saskatchewan in all three games between the teams. It was the last game for Joe Tiller as Calgary's head coach and general manager; he compiled a 2-3-1 record as head coach after replacing the fired Bob Baker, shortly after becoming general manager after the death of Gary Hobson. In the off-season, Jack Gotta was hired as general manager and head coach, and Mr. Tiller resumed his previous position as assistant general manager. In a halftime ceremony, defensive back, kick returner, and part-time running back Larry Cates was honoured as the Stampeders' most popular player for 1976. It was the first CFL game for Saskatchewan wingback Brian O'Hara, replacing the retired Alan Ford. It was the last game in the 6-year CFL career of Calgary guard John Forzani, and the last regular season game in a Calgary uniform for rookie middle linebacker Tom Higgins.

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Coming Home (Jeanny Part II)--Falco

On television tonight
Shaka Zulu, on SABC Tonight's episode: Episode 3



Football
CFL
Ottawa (3-14-1) 19 @ Hamilton (9-8-1) 20

Paul Osbaldiston kicked a 36-yard field goal with 16 seconds remaining in regulation time to give the Tiger-Cats temporary possession of first place in the East Division, a point ahead of the Toronto Argonauts, who were playing the Alouettes in Montreal two days hence. 14,101 fans at Ivor Wynne Stadium saw the final game for Tom Dimitroff as head coach of the Ottawa Rough Riders; he compiled a record of 0-3-1 after replacing the fired Joe Moss.

CIAU
Hardy Trophy
Calgary 3 @ Britsh Columbia 49
Terry Cochrane rushed 19 times for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns, and caught a 22-yard pass from Jordan Gagner for another TD, to help the Thunderbirds rout the defending national champion Dinosaurs before 3,000 fans at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver. UBC quarterback Jordan Gagner completed 14 of 25 passes fo 281 yards and 2 touchdowns.

25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): The Fly--U2 (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Carter Cornelius, 43. U.S. singer. Mr. Cornelius, his brother Edward, and sisters Billie Jo and Rose, comprised the trio Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose, who had several hit singles in the early 1970s. Treat Her Like a Lady reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart in 1971, and Too Late to Turn Back Now reached #2 in 1972, and #1 on the RPM chart in Canada. In 1976, Mr. Cornelius joined the Miami-based Nation of Yahweh sect and became known as Prince Gideon Israel; he worked on the sect's music and videos, and was reportedly working on a comeback song when he died of a heart attack.

Law
The Canadian House of Commons passed Justice Minister Kim Campbell's gun control law by a vote of 189-14. The law banned the importation of military assault guns; raised the age of ownership from 16 to 18; and also contained provisions for a waiting period and storage regulations.

Basketball
NBA
Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers announced that he was retiring from basketball because he had HIV.

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): Where Do You Go--No Mercy

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Insomnia--Faithless (8th week at #1)

Died on this date
Jaja Wachuku, 78. Nigerian politician and diplomat. Mr. Wachuku, a Pan-Africanist and member of the Nigerian People's Party, held several offices, including Speaker of the House of Representatives (1959-1960); Ambassador to the United Nations (1960-1961); and Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations Minister (1961-1965).

Space
The U.S.A. launched the Mars Global Surveyor probe from Cape Canaveral, Florida.



Disasters
ADC Airlines Flight 086, a Boeing 727 jet en route from Port Harcourt, Nigeria to Lagos, crashe on approach to Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, killing all 144 people on board.

10 years ago
2006

Died on this date
Johnny Sain, 89. U.S. baseball pitcher and coach. Mr. Sain played with the Boston Braves (1942, 1946-1951); New York Yankees (1951-1955); and Kansas City Athletics (1955), compiling a record of 139-116 with an earned run average of 3.49 in 412 games. He won 20 games or more in four different seasons, with his best season being 1948, when he led the National League in games started (39); complete games (28); innings pitched (314 2/3); and wins (24) as he helped the Braves win the NL pennant. Mr. Sain gradually became a relief pitcher with the Yankees, and was with the team when they won World Series championships from 1951-1953. Mr. Sain led the American League in 1954 in games finished (39) and saves (26). He achieved tremendous success as a pitching coach with the Athletics (1959); Yankees (1961-1963); Minnesota Twins (1965-1966); Detroit Tigers (1967-1969); Chicago White Sox (1971-1975); and Atlanta Braves (1977, 1985-1986); he was with the Yankees when they won the World Series in 1961 and 1962, and with the Tigers when they won the World Series in 1968. Mr. Sain tended to butt heads with team management and field managers, and was thus often fired, while the pitchers he worked with regularly turned in 20-win seasons.

Jackie Parker, 74. U.S.-born Canadian football player and coach. Mr. Parker, nicknamed "Old Spaghetti Legs," was a native of Knoxville, Tennessee who made the All-American team as a quarterback with the Mississippi State University Bulldogs in 1953 and was drafted by the New York Giants, but elected to join the Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Interprovincial Football Union (now part of the Canadian Football League) in 1954. He played several positions with the Eskimos, helping them win their first three Grey Cup championships from 1954-1956, and earning a reputation as one of the greatest--if not the greatest--players in Canadian football history. His 90-yard return of Chuck Hunsinger's fumble for a touchdown late in the 1954 Grey Cup remains the most dramatic touchdown in Grey Cup history; it tied the game, and Bob Dean's convert gave the Eskimos a 26-25 win. Mr. Parker played with the Eskimos (1954-1962); Toronto Argonauts (1963-1965); and British Columbia Lions (1968), with accomplishments--mostly with Edmonton--too numerous to mention here. He was an assistant coach with the Lions (1968-1969), and replaced Jim Champion as head coach late in the 1969 season, coaching them through 1970. Mr. Parker then served as the Lions' general manager from 1971-1975; he was fired after 6 games of the 1975 season and eventually returned to Edmonton, where he worked as a salesman with Interprovincial Pipe and Steel Company and did colour commentary for radio broadcasts of Eskimos' home games. Mr. Parker returned to the sidelines in 1983 when he replaced the fired Pete Kettela as the Eskimos' head coach halfway through the season; he guided the team through a major rebuilding program without missing the playoffs, leading them to the West Division championship in 1986. Ulcers forced Mr. Parker to retire as head coach of the Eskimos after 2 games of the 1987 season, but he continued to regularly attend the Eskimos' home games until shortly before his death from throat cancer. Mr. Parker was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1971; the College Football Hall of Fame in 1976; and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1987.

Bryan Pata, 22. U.S. football player. Mr. Pata was a defensive lineman with the University of Miami Hurricanes (2003-2006), and was expected to be drafted by the National Football League in 2007. He was shot to death outside his apartment complex after leaving a team practice; the murder remains unsolved.

Politics and government
In U.S. mid-term elections, the Democratic Party lost five seats in the United States Senate and the Republican Party gained six, leaving the parties tied with 49 seats each. The Democrats were able to retain their 51-49 majority with the support of independent Bernie Sanders (Vermont) and Joe Lieberman (Connecticut), an incumbent Democrat who had lost the Democratic nomination but had been re-elected as an independent. In the House of Representatives, the Democrats ended 12 years of Republican majority rule, gaining 31 seats while the Republicans lost 30, leaving the Democrats with 233 seats to 202 for the Republicans. Keith Ellison (Democrat--Minnesota) became the first Muslim ever elected to Congress.