June 26, 2017

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Beth Stover!

200 years ago
1817

Born on this date
Branwell Brontë. U.K. painter and writer. Mr. Brontë, the brother of authors Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, painted portraits while trying to sell poems and translations. He became a drunkard and drug addict, leading to his death from tuberculosis at the age of 31 on September 24, 1848.

160 years ago
1857

War
The first Victoria Cross ceremony was held at Hyde Park in London, with Queen Victoria investing 62 of the 111 Crimean War recipients.

Disasters
The steamship Montreal caught fire and sank in 15 minutes in the St. Lawrence River near Cap Rouge, Québec; 253 lives were lost, mostly Scottish and Norwegian immigrants on their way to the west. The vessel, which had left Quebec City at 5 P.M. the previous day, had previously caught fire three times, and the crew were slow to respond to the blaze.

125 years ago
1892

Born on this date
Pearl S. Buck. U.S. author. Mrs. Buck spent most of her early years as the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries in China, and was best known for her novel The Good Earth, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1932. She was awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces." Mrs. Buck died on March 6, 1973 at the age of 80.

100 years ago
1917

War
The first troops of the American Expeditionary Force arrived in France during World War I.

Politics and government
Premier William Martin led his Liberal Party to a fourth consecutive majority in the Saskatchewan provincial election, taking 51 of 62 seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Liberal total was an increase of 5 from the most recent election in 1912. The Conservatives, led by Wellington Willoughby, remained with 7 seats, while independent candidate Davis Sykes was elected in Swift Current. Three representatives were elected by soldiers-at-large to represent them. The number of ridings was increased to 62 from 53 in 1912.

Labour
Industrial Workers of the World Local 800 miners began a strike against the copper mine at Bisbee, Arizona owned by Phelps Dodge Corporation. Workers at other mines walked out in sympathy, resulting in 3,000 workers--85% of the miners in Bisbee--going on strike.

90 years ago
1927

Americana
The Cyclone roller coaster opened at Luna Park in Coney Island, New York.

75 years ago
1942

War
More than 1,000 British Royal Air Force bombers raided Bremen, Germany for 75 minutes. Three Axis armoured columns drove on Matruh in the north and Qattara in the south on the Egyptian front. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that during May the United States had produced nearly 4,000 planes, over 1,500 tanks, nearly 2,000 artillery and anti-tank guns, and over 100,000 machine guns. The U.S. Senate passed and sent to President Roosevelt an $8,550-billion naval expansion bill. U.S. authorities announced the removal of 550 natives from the Pribilot Islands in the Bering Sea and Atka Island in the Aleutians to points in southern Alaska. Japanese bombers and fighters bombed the airfield at Port Moresby, New Guinea, but caused little damage.

Defense
The U.S. fighter plane Grumman F6F Hellcat made its first flight.

Economics and finance
The U.S. National Association of Manufacturers presented a nine-point postwar program denying that "a postwar depression" and "fundamental changes in the social order are inevitable."

70 years ago
1947

Died on this date
R.B. Bennett, 76. Prime Minister of Canada, 1930-1935. Mr. Bennett, a native of Hopewell Hill, New Brunswick, was a teacher before he moved to Calgary in 1897 and made his name as a lawyer. A Conservative, Mr. Bennett entered politics at the territorial level, being elected to the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories in 1898, and remaining in provincial politics after Alberta became a province in 1905, becoming leader of the Alberta Conservative Party. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1911, and was in and out of Parliament until winning the leadership of the federal Conservative Party in 1927. Mr. Bennett led the Conservatives to an overwhelming victory in 1930, unseating the governing Liberals of Prime Minister Mackenzie King, but was unable to lift the country from the miseries of the Depression. In 1935 he attempted his own version of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, but voters in that year's federal election opted to return Mr. King's Liberals to power. Mr. Bennett retired from Canadian politics in 1938 and accepted a peerage, entering the British House of Lords as Viscount Bennett of Mickleham, Calgary, and Hopewell. He died of a heart attack in his bathtub a week before his 77th birthday. Viscount Bennett High School in Calgary is named in his honour.

Politics and government
A U.S. federal court in Washington, D.C. denied a probation plea from Boston Mayor James Curley, forcing him to begin a 6-8 month prison term in Danbury, Connecticut. The Massachusetts legislature named City Clerk John Hynes as acting Mayor of Boston.

Communist Party U.S.A. Secretary Eugene Dennis was convicted in a U.S. federal court in Washington of contempt of Congress, and posted a $10,000 appeal bond.

Economics and finance
The Mexican government announced a national development program aimed at creating new industrial centres.

U.S. President Harry Truman vetoed a congressional wool price bill, claiming that its tariff restrictions "would have an adverse effect on our international relations."

Labour
American Federation of Labor President William Green called the Taft-Hartley Act a "tragic mistake," but dismissed proposals for a general strike against the new law. U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Earl Shreve threatened to press for still more labour legislation.

60 years ago
1957

Died on this date
Mexican Joe Rivers, 65. U.S. boxer. Mr. Rivers, born Jose Ybarra, was a lightweight who posted a record of 39-24-13-1 in a professional career lasting from 1908-1924. On July 4, 1912, he fought world lightweight champion Ad Wolgast for the title at Vernon Arena in Mr. Rivers' hometown of Vernon, California. At the beginning of the 13th round, each knocked the other down simultaneously, with Mr. Wolgast lying on top of Mr. Rivers. Referee Jack Welsh helped Mr. Wolgast to his feet and declared him the winner in one of the most controversial rulings in boxing history.

Malcolm Lowry, 47. U.K. author and poet. Mr. Lowry was best known for the novel Under the Volcano (1947). He spent some time in Vancouver, British Columbia during World War II, but eventually returned to England, where he drank himself to death just over a month before his 48th birthday.

War
The Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected Egyptian requests for reactivation of the Israeli-Egyptian Mixed Armistice Commission, on the grounds that the 1949 Israeli-Egyptian armistice was "dead and buried."

Defense
U.S. disarmament negotiator Harold Stassen presented a U.S. plan for reduction of non-nuclear armaments by the U.S., U.K., France, and U.S.S.R.

U.S. rocket scientist Wernher von Braun claimed that the U.S. Army had the best long-range missile in the world and that the Army's intermediate-range Jupiter was "far superior" to the Air Force's intermediate-range Thor.

Diplomacy
The two-week Commonwealth Prime Ministers' conference opened in London, England; John Diefenbaker represented Canada, just five days after taking office as Prime Minister.

Politics and government
People's Republic of China Premier Chou En-lai, addressing the opening session of the National People's Congress in Peking, warned that non-Communists would be classified as "enemies of the people" if they persisted in criticism of the government.

Oil
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formed a cabinet committee headed by Commerce Secretary Sinclair Weeks to examine the threat to national security posed by increasing oil exports.

50 years ago
1967

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Marionetas en la Cuerda (Puppet on a String)--Sandie Shaw (7th week at #1)

On television tonight
Coronet Blue, starring Frank Converse, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Tomoyo

This was the episode scheduled to be shown this night, but it was the second of two episodes that were pre-empted and never broadcast.

Died on this date
Françoise Dorléac, 25. French actress. Miss Dorléac, the elder sister of Catherine Deneuve, appeared with her sister in the movie Les demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort) (1967), and also appeared in films such as Cul-de-sac (1966) and Billion Dollar Brain (1967). Miss Dorléac was killed in a car accident.

Protest
Five days of race riots began on the East Side of Buffalo, New York.

Religion
Pope Paul VI appointed 27 new cardinals, including Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II.

40 years ago
1977

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: It Doesn't Matter Anymore--Mark Williams (4th week at #1)

Music
Elvis Presley performed at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis in what proved to be his final concert.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Edmonton (2-0) 18 @ Montreal (0-2) 16

Dave Cutler's field goal on the last play of the game gave the Eskimos their win over the Alouettes at Olympic Stadium.

30 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)--Whitney Houston (3rd week at #1)

Economics and finance
The Central Committee of the U.S.S.R.’s Communist Party endorsed Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s economic reforms and elevated three of his allies to full membership in the Politburo. Mr. Gorbachev had addressed the committee the previous day, calling for a “radical reorganization of economic management” by the end of the 1980s. He had endorsed competition for state-owned enterprises; reduced central control over pricing and distribution of goods; and more decision-making by local party organizations.

Politics and government
The United States Senate voted 84-2 in favour of a resolution calling for free elections in Panama.

Football
CFL
Hamilton (0-1) 32 @ Ottawa (1-0) 36

The Rough Riders held off a late challenge from the defending Grey Cup champion Tiger-Cats to give Fred Glick a win in his first regular season game as a CFL head coach. Ottawa receiver Carl Williams caught 3 passes for 82 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown in what turned out to be his only CFL game. He was cut before the next game, and never played in the league again.

25 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Rhythm is a Dancer--Snap! (6th week at #1)

Died on this date
Buddy Rogers, 71. U.S. wrestler. Mr. Rogers, born Herman Gustav Rohde, Jr., was nicknamed "Nature Boy," and was one of the most popular figures in professional wrestling in the 1950s and '60s. He was world heavyweight champion of both the National Wrestling Alliance (1961-1963) and World Wide Wrestling Federation (1963). Mr. Rogers died after several strokes.

Scandal
Lawrence Garrett resigned as U.S. Secretary of the Navy, saying that he accepted “full responsibility” for the Tailhook scandal. In September 1991 members of the Tailhook Association, a private organization of Navy and Marine Corps fliers, had held their convention at a hotel in Las Vegas. After complaints from women, two Navy investigations concluded that 26 women, including 14 military officers, had been abused at the convention, which had included heavy drinking and entertainment by nude dancers. An admiral was relieved of command for ignoring a complaint. In June it was revealed that Mr. Garrett had been nearby at the time of the misconduct. On the day of Mr. Garrett’s resignation, Navy Lieutenant Paula Coughlin, who claimed to have been assaulted by 20 or more men, met with U.S. President George Bush.

Labour
U.S. President George Bush signed legislation ordering an end to the two-day-old strike of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers against the freight rail company CSX Transportation, Inc. Other freight railroads had shut down operations, and Amtrak passenger trains had been halted where their trains used the freight rails. The United States Congress passed back-to-work legislation on June 25 that provided for a 38-day period for negotiations.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Winnipeg (1-0) 33 @ Saskatchewan (0-1) 11

20 years ago
1997

Hit parade
#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): MMMBop--Hanson (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Bailando--Paradisio

Died on this date
Don Hutson, 84. U.S. football player. Mr. Hutson was a split end and kicker with the University of Alabama Crimson Tide (1932-1934) and Green Bay Packers (1935-1945), and was credited with being the first "modern" receiver in professional football. He caught 488 passes for 7,991 yards and 99 touchdowns in 116 regular season games, while returning 30 interceptions for 389 yards and 1 touchdown. Mr. Hutson scored 825 points on 100 touchdowns, 172 extra points, 7 field goals, and a safety touch. He was a First-team All-Pro eight times, and was named the National Football League's Most Valuable Player in 1941 and 1942, helping the Packers win NFL championships in 1936, 1939, and 1944. Mr. Hutson served as an assistant coach with the Packers from 1944-1948, and was inducted as a charter member in both the College Football Hall of Fame (1951) and Professional Football Hall of Fame (1963).

Education
This blogger was at Killarney Junior High School in Edmonton to present the Northern Alberta Branch of the Monarchist League of Canada award to Jonathan Gallant as the most-improved grade 8 student. The award consisted of 25 $1 coins.

Law
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Communications Decency Act violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Football
CFL
Saskatchewan (1-0) 24 @ British Columbia (0-1) 23

10 years ago
2007

Died on this date
Liz Claiborne, 78. Belgian-born U.S. fashion designer. Miss Claiborne was born to American parents in Brussels but returned to the United States with her family at the age of 10. She was best known for co-founding Liz Claiborne, Inc. in 1976. Miss Claiborne was the first woman to become chief executive officer of a company that made the Fortune 500 list.

Religion
Pope Benedict XVI reinstated the traditional laws of papal election in which a successful candidate must receive two-thirds of the votes.