December 4, 2017

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Marina Kosan!

180 years ago
1837

War
The Upper Canada Rebellion began as John Rolph and Samuel Lount assembled a rebel force armed with muskets and pitchforks at Montgomery's Tavern on Yonge Street in Hogg's Hollow in Toronto; church bells were rung in Toronto to sound the alarm. When loyalist Colonel Robert Moodie tried to ride down Yonge St. from the north to warn the Governor, he was shot at a barricade and left to die. When William Lyon Mackenzie's rebels started to move down Yonge Street to capture the Parliament, Alderman John Powell fired shots at them, and wounded rebel leader Anthony Anderson. They chased him, but he hid behind a log and escaped. Governor Francis Bond Head put his family on board a steamer in Toronto harbour for safety against the rebels; he had only 300 troops at his command under Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon, with reinforcements expected from Hamilton; most of the British regulars had been sent to Lower Canada. In the Lower Canada Rebellion, Lord Gosford proclaimed martial law in the Montreal district, as Lieutenant Colonel Charles Gore led British troops into St-Hyacinthe from St-Charles.

Agriculture
Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founded the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as the Grange).

140 years ago
1877

Politics and government
Treaty No.7 (Part 2) was signed at Fort Macleod, North-West Territories, by chiefs who could not attend the main signing at Blackfoot Crossing. The treaty, with representatives of Queen Victoria, was one of a number enabling peaceful white settlement of western and northern Canada.

125 years ago
1892

Born on this date
Francisco Franco. Caudillo (Chief) of Spain, 1936-1975. Generalissimo Franco led the rebel Nationalists to victory in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and then led a dictatorship for the rest of his life, which ended on November 20, 1975 at the age of 82.

75 years ago
1942

Died on this date
Juhan Kukk, 57. State Elder of Estonia, 1922-1923. Mr. Kukk, a member of Eesti Tööerakond (ETE), held several cabinet posts before serving as State Elder from October 1922-August 1923. He was arrested by the U.S.S.R. secret police force NKVD when Soviet forces invaded and occupied Estonia in 1940, and died in a prison camp.

War
Polish Christian women Zofia Kossak and Wanda Filipowicz set up the Council for the Assistance of the Jews in Warsaw. U.S. bombers raided Naples in their first attack on the Italian mainland in World War II. Russian troops continued to retake villages in their Stalingrad offensive. In a surprise attack on Japanese-held Kupang in Timor, Allied planes destroyed 21 enemy planes on the ground. Carlson's patrol during the Guadalcanal Campaign ended.

Diplomacy
Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King arrived at the White House in Washington in order to confer with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on war and postwar matters.

An Argentine government prosecutor preferred formal charges of espionage against members of the German embassy, who were interned to await trial.

The Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry recalled its diplomatic staff from Vichy.

World events
Reports from Switzerland said that either the Gestapo or Vichy French government had imprisoned former French Prime Minister and Chamber of Deputies Speaker Edouard Herriot.

Defense
The U.S. Senate approved a joint resolution authorizing the transfer of land in Panama City and Colon to Panama, and cancelling a $2.7-million debt in return for bases in defense areas.

U.S. Navy Secretary Frank Knox and War Production Board Chairman Donald Nelson announced a full agreement to end a long-standing dispute between them. The agreement gave the WPB vice chairman full control over scheduling of all arms output and production of aircraft, radio, and detection equipment and escort vessels.

Politics and government
A joint resolution signed by 63 U.S. Senators and 181 Representatives calling for a national Jewish home in Palestine was sent to President Roosevelt.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the liquidation of the Works Progress Administration as of February 1, 1943 or as soon thereafter as feasible because of rising war employment.

70 years ago
1947

Politics and government
The U.S. Federal Loyalty Review Board announced the names of 90 organizations, including the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee and the American League Against War and Fascism, listed by Attorney General Tom Clark as "totalitarian, fascist, Communist, or subversive."

Protest
The Egyptian government banned public demonstrations in Cairo after police clashed with 15,000 anti-Zionist marchers.

Economics and finance
The U.S.S.R. and Czechoslovakia signed a trade agreement providing for an annual exchange of $110 million worth of goods on each side, 17% of Czechoslovakia's foreign trade.

Labour
The French National Assembly passed Prime Minister Robert Schuman's strike control bill after five days of debate.

The U.S. National Labor Relations Board ruled that employers were not obliged to recognize or bargain with unions which refused to file affidavits required by the Taft-Hartley Act. Union leaders were required to file affidavits that they were not Communist.

60 years ago
1957

Music
Disk jockey Allen Brooks of radio station CKWS in Kingston, Ontario played Elvis Presley's new Christmas album and invited listeners to call in their opinion, since many radio stations had banned the album because of the averred impropriety of Mr. Presley singing religious songs; of 800 callers, all but 56 approved of Mr. Presley's sacred music.

Diplomacy
The Indonesian government ordered the Netherlands to close her Indonesian consulates, and confiscated Dutch hotels and transport firms. Indonesian Justice Minister Gustaf Maengkom announced plans for the deportation of most of the 46,000 Dutch citizens living in Indonesia.

United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold reached agreement with Israel and Jordan on the resumption of Israeli convoys to Mount Scopus, an Israeli enclave and demilitarized zone in Jordanian Jerusalem.

Defense
The U.S. Air Force announced that it had ordered construction of launching sites for Bomarc long-range interception missiles at four air bases in the United States.

The U.S.S.R. Navy newspaper reported progress in the development of ballistic missiles that could be fired from submarines at inland targets.

The U.S.A. asked West Germany for payment of $77 million to bring U.S. troop-support cost reimbursements to $154 million for the current year.

Boxing
Joe Brown (84-19-11-1) retained his world lightweight title with a technical knockout of Joey Lopes (43-14-3) at 1:50 of the 11th round at Chicago Stadium. Mr. Lopes was knocked down once in the 7th round and twice in the 11th. The two had fought to a 10-round draw in a non-title bout on August 21, 1957.



Hockey
NHL
Toronto 0 @ Montreal 0

50 years ago
1967

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor (Aranjuez, Mon Amour)--Richard Anthony

Died on this date
Bert Lahr, 72. U.S. actor. Mr. Lahr, born Irving Lahrheim, was successful on stage and screen, but was best known for playing the Cowardly Lion in the movie The Wizard of Oz (1939). He died of pneumonia and cancer while filming The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968).

Harry Wismer, 54. U.S. football player, broadcaster, and executive. Mr. Wismer played with the University of Florida and Michigan State College before becoming a broadcaster in the mid-1930s. He was the radio voice of the Detroit Lions and then the Washington Redskins, holding a minority ownership share in each team. Mr. Wismer broadcast football games on television on the DuMont Network in the mid-1950s He owned the New York Titans, a charter franchise in the American Football League, which began play in 1960. The Titans drew small crowds, and Mr. Wismer lacked the money to keep the club going; he was forced by the other owners to sell the franchise in 1963. Mr. Wismer drank increasingly, and died of a fractured skull the day after falling down a flight of stairs at a restaurant while drunk.

Music
The album Wild Honey by the Beach Boys was released on Capitol Records.

War
U.S. and South Vietnamese forces engaged Viet Cong troops in the Mekong Delta.

Terrorism
Federation de Liberation du Québec terrorists stole $9,000 worth of firearms and munitions from a store in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Québec.

40 years ago
1977

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Float On--The Floaters (4th week at #1)

Africana
Jean-Bédel Bokassa, President of the Central African Republic, crowned himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire.

Terrorism
Malaysian Airline System Flight 653, a Boeing 737-2H6 en route from Penang to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was hijacked and crashed in Tanjong Kupang, Johor, killing all 93 passengers and 7 crew members aboard.

Diplomacy
A conference in Tripoli of representatives of Syria, Libya, Algeria, South Yemen, and the Palestine Liberation Organization to discuss their response to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's peace initiative with Israel concluded with a declaration that strongly criticized Mr. Sadat's actions and announced a "freeze" on diplomatic relations with Egypt and a boycott of Egyptian companies that did business with Israel.

30 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Whenever You Need Somebody--Rick Astley

Died on this date
Rouben Mamoulian, 90. Georgian-born U.S. theatre and film director. Mr. Mamoulian moved to England in 1922 and to the United States a year later. He directed Broadway plays such as Porgy (1927); Oklahoma! (1943); and Carousel (1945), and directed 16 movies, including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931); Blood and Sand (1941); and Silk Stockings (1957). He was blacklisted for much of the 1950s because of his union activities and his unwillingness to compromise.

Hockey
NHL
Ron Lapointe was appointed head coach of the Québec Nordiques, replacing the fired André Savard.

25 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Sweat (A La La La La Long)--Inner Circle (11th week at #1)

World events
U.S. President George Bush ordered 28,000 troops to Somalia to prevent warlords from interfering with delivery of humanitarian aid.

20 years ago
1997

Hit parade
#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): Candle in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight--Elton John (12th week at #1)

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Smack My Bitch Up--The Prodigy (3rd week at #1)

Labour
Canadian postal workers ended their strike, under threat of heavy fines, with a 5.15% wage increase over three years.

Basketball
NBA
The National Basketball Association suspended Golden State Warriors' guard Latrell Sprewell for one year without pay, three days after he choked coach P.J. Carlesimo until he was pulled away by teammates and then attacked Mr. Carlesimo again a few minutes later.