January 24, 2018

580 years ago
1438

Religion
The Council of Basel suspended Pope Eugene IV, 16 days after Pope Eugene had convened a rival council at Ferrara, Italy, and had excommunicated the prelates assembled at Basel.

170 years ago
1848

Americana
James W. Marshall discovered gold on the property of Johann A. Sutter near Coloma, California.

Politics and government
Reformers led by Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine swept parliamentary elections in both Canada East and Canada West, leading to the achievement of responsible government on March 11. In Canada West, the Reform Party won 23 seats, with 18 Tories and 1 independent. In Canada East, 23 Patriotes and 9 Liberals were elected, with 6 Tories and 1 independent.

130 years ago
1888

Born on this date
Vicki Baum. Austrian author. Miss Baum was best known for her novel Menschen im Hotel (Grand Hotel) (1929). She died on August 19, 1960 at the age of 72.

Ernst Heinkel. German aircraft designer. Mr. Heinkel's company produced the world's first turbojet, jet plane, and rocket aircraft. His designs contributed to the strength of the Luftwaffe before and during World War II. He died on January 30, 1958, six days after his 70th birthday.

110 years ago
1908

Britannica
The first Boy Scout troop was organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell.

100 years ago
1918

Born on this date
Gottfried von Einem. Swiss-born Austrian composer. Mr. Einem was mainly known for writing operas; he was influenced by the music of Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev, and also by jazz. Mr. Einem died on July 12, 1996 at the age of 78.

Oral Roberts. U.S. evangelist. Mr. Roberts was originally associated with the Pentecostal Holiness Church, but resigned his pastoral ministry in 1947 to found the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association. He was known for preaching a false prosperity gospel of "seed-faith" in which a person shows faith by planting a seed, i.e., a financial donation to the ministry, which is then supposed to result in the person receiving dividends. Mr. Roberts founded Oral Roberts University in 1963 and joined the United Methodist Church in 1968. He moved to the UMC, a liberal mainline denomination, apparently was because the UMC didn't care about his doctrine. Mr. Roberts was a pioneering televangelist and was frequently criticized for his fund-raising efforts, bringing the name of the Lord Jesus Christ into disrepute. Mr. Roberts died on December 15, 2009 at the age of 91. For more, see the Suspicious Berean post Good riddance to Oral Roberts.

Russiana
The Gregorian calendar was introduced in Russia by decree of the Council of People's Commissars, effective February 14 (New Style).

90 years ago
1928

Aviation
French aviators Dieudonne Costes and Joseph Lebrix, continuing their transatlantic flight, went from Baranquilla, Colombia to Colon, Panama.

80 years ago
1938

Died on this date
Rosamond Pinchot, 33. U.S. socialite and actress. Miss Pinchot was from an influential political family. She appeared in several Broadway plays, and made her only film appearance in The Three Musketeers (1935). Miss Pinchot committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning two days before the tenth anniversary of her marriage to "Big Bill" Gaston, from whom she'd been separated for several years.

75 years ago
1943

Died on this date
John Burns, 84. U.K. politician. Mr. Burns, a socialist and then a Liberal, represented Battersea in the House of Commons from 1892-1918. He served in the cabinet of Prime Ministers Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Herbert Asquith as President of the Local Government Board from 1905-1914 and President of the Board of Trade from February-August 1914. On August 2, 1914, Mr. Burns announced his resignation from the cabinet in protest against the impending beginning of World War I. He officially left office three days later, and took no more part in government, declining to run for re-election in 1918. Mr. Burns was known for his love of sports--especially cricket--and books, and became an expert on the history of London.

War
The Casablanca Conference, whose participants included U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Free French Generals Charles de Gaulle and Henri Giraud, concluded with a decision to pursue a policy of "unconditional surrender" by the Axis powers. German dictator Adolf Hitler refused General Friedrich von Paulus, commander of the 6th Army, permission to surrender to Soviet forces at Stalingrad. Russian troops took 13 more towns on the eastern Ukraine and northern Caucasian fronts. More than 100,000 Polish troops arrived in Iran from Russia to reinforce the Polish Army in the Near East, under the command of General Wladyslaw Anders.

Economics and finance
The Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. and Canada agreed to peacetime development of one million acres of land in Alaska, British Columbia, and Yukon Territory.

70 years ago
1948

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard) (Best Seller): Ballerina--Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra (7th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Ballerina--Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra (5th week at #1)
--Buddy Clark
--Bing Crosby with the Rhythmaires
2 Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo)--Danny Kaye and the Andrews Sisters
--Louis Prima and his Orchestra
--Jack Smith and the Clark Sisters
--Ray McKinley and his Orchestra
--Woody Herman and his Orchestra
3 Serenade of the Bells--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
--Jo Stafford
--Kay Kyser and his Orchestra
4 Too Fat Polka (I Don’t Want Her) (You Can Have Her) (She’s Too Fat for Me)--Arthur Godfrey
5 How Soon (Will I Be Seeing You)--Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra
--Bing Crosby and Carmen Cavallaro
--Jack Owens
--Dinah Shore
6 Golden Earrings--Peggy Lee
7 I'll Dance at Your Wedding--Ray Noble and his Orchestra with Buddy Clark
--Peggy Lee
8 Near You--Francis Craig and his Orchestra
--Larry Green and his Orchestra
--The Andrews Sisters
--Alvino Rey and his Orchestra
--Elliot Lawrence and his Orchestra
9 You Do--Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra
--Bing Crosby and Carmen Cavallaro
--Margaret Whiting
--Dinah Shore
--Vic Damone
10 Pass That Peace Pipe--Margaret Whiting
--Beryl Davis

Singles entering the chart were Beg Your Pardon, with versions by Francis Craig and his Orchestra, and Frankie Carle and his Orchestra (#16); Loaded Pistols, Loaded Dice by Phil Harris and his Orchestra (#20); (The Treasure Of) Sierra Madre, with versions by Ray Noble and his Orchestra with Buddy Clark; and Dick Haymes (#23); Pianissimo, with versions by Perry Como, and Buddy Clark (#30); Mickey by Ted Weems and his Orchestra (#33); I Hate to Lose You (I’m So Used to You Now) by Sammy Kaye and his “Swing And Sway” Orchestra (#38); and Dardanella by Les Brown and his Orchestra (#39). (The Treasure Of) Sierra Madre was inspired by the movie.

On the radio
Escape, on CBS (West Coast)
Tonight's episode: Papa Benjamin

This was an adaptation of the short story Dark Melody of Madness (1935) by Cornell Woolrich, writing as William Irish.

Died on this date
George Alan Powell, 69. U.K. broadcasting executive. Mr. Powell was a former chairman of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Arthur Liebehenschel, 46. German SS officer. SS Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) Liebehenschel joined the Nazi Party in 1932 and the SS in 1934, serving in the Death's Head Units. He was Lagerkommandant at the Auschwitz and Majdanek concentration camps in German-occupied Poland from 1943-1945. SS Obersturmbannführer Liebehenschel made some minor improvements for the prisoners, but was arrested by the U.S. Army and extradited to Poland, where he was convicted in 1947 of crimes against humanity and executed by hanging.

Maria Mandl, 36. Austro-Hungarian born war criminal. SS-Oberaufseherin Mandl was in charge of all female camps and subcamps at Auschwitz, and was believed to have been directly complicit in the deaths of over 500,000 female prisoners. A Polish court convicted her in 1947, and she was hanged at Kraków, two weeks after her 36th birthday.

Politics and government
China's Nationalist government concluded parliamentary elections, which returned 200 Kuomintang representatives from districts earlier promised to the minority Young China and Social Democratic Parties.

Moscow sources reported the dismissal of Eugen Varga, the U.S.S.R.'s leading economist, from the Soviet Academy of Sciences for advocating Soviet cooperation with the United States and western Europe.

Labour
The American Federation of Labor International Ladies Garment Workers Union executive board, meeting in Miami, denounced former U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace's third-party U.S. presidential campaign as "Communist-inspired."

United Air Lines signed a contract with the AFL Air Line Pilots Association, giving a top pay of $1,266 per month to senior pilots.

60 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Jailhouse Rock--Elvis Presley

On television tonight
Harbor Command, starring Wendell Corey
Tonight's episode: Harbor Mission

Diplomacy
Povi Bang-Jensen, a United Nations political officer who had been suspended for refusing to give Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold a list of anti-Communist witnesses who had testified before the UN Commissioner on Hungary, burned the list in the presence of UN officials.

Politics and government
Prince Souphanouvong, leader of pro-Communist Pathet Lao forces currently being integrated into the Laotian government, said that the Pathet Lao was "no longer anti-American," and would support cooperation with the United States.

Energy
The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and U.K. Atomic Energy Authorities issued statements reporting that scientists of both countries had made substantial progress toward production of power from controlled thermonuclear reactions.

50 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde--Georgie Fame

Australia's top 10 (Go-Set)
1 Hello Goodbye/I Am the Walrus--The Beatles (2nd week at #1)
2 Daydream Believer--The Monkees
3 Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)--Johnny Farnham
4 Snoopy's Christmas--The Royal Guardsmen
5 The Last Waltz--Engelbert Humperdinck
8 You've Not Changed--Sandie Shaw
6 The Rain, The Park and Other Things--The Cowsills
7 World/Sir Geoffrey Saved the World--The Bee Gees
9 Cathy Come Home/The Way They Play--The Twilights
10 All My Love--Cliff Richard

Singles entering the chart were Tin Soldier/I Feel Much Better by Small Faces (#31); Monterey by Eric Burdon & the Animals (#33); and Conquistador by Procol Harum (#40).

At the movies
Firecreek, starring James Stewart and Henry Fonda, opened in theatres.

War
The 1st Australian Task Force launched Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong during wider fighting around Long Bình and Biên Hòa.

Diplomacy
U.K. Prime Minister Harold Wilson and U.S.S.R. Premier Aleksei Kosygin concluded three days of talks in Moscow on a "political settlement" of the Vietnam War.

40 years ago
1978

On television tonight
Family, on ABC
Tonight's episode: See Saw

Died on this date
Herta Oberheuser, 66. German physician. Dr. Oberheuser specialized in dermatology after obtaining her medical degree in Bonn in 1937. She served as doctor for the League of German Girls before working at Ravensbrück women's concentration camp during World War II, where she performed atrocities on the prsioners. Dr. Oberheuser was the only female defendant in the Nuremberg "Doctors' trial" (1946-1947), where she was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 20 years in prison. She was released after five years, and was a family doctor in Stocksee, West Germany before losing her job and her medical license after being recognized in 1958 by a Ravensbruck survivor. Dr. Oberheuser never practiced medicine again.

Space
The Soviet nuclear-powered spy satellite Cosmos 954 broke up over the Northwest Territories, spreading Communist radiation over an area of several hundred square miles. The Canadian Armed Forces launched a large operation to recover debris, but only 1% was recovered.

Hockey
NHL
All-Star Game @ War Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo
Prince of Wales Conference 3 Clarence S. Campbell Conference 2 (OT)

Gilbert Perreault scored 3:55 into overtime to give the Prince of Wales Conference a 3-2 win over the Clarence Campbell Conference; his Buffalo Sabres teammate Rick Martin had tied the game with 1:39 remaining in regulation time. Campbell Conference goalie Billy Smith of the New York Islanders, who stopped all 16 shots he faced in the first 30 minutes, was chosen the game's Most Valuable Player.

Football
NFL
Quarterback Joe Namath announced his retirement as a professional football player. After 13 seasons with the New York Jets, Broadway Joe had joined the Los Angeles Rams in 1977, but a hard hit in the fifth game of the season had sidelined him for the rest of the year. Mr. Namath's best season was 1968, when he led the Jets to the American Football League championship, and followed it with a 16-7 win over the NFL champion Baltimore Colts to become the first AFL team to win the Super Bowl.

CFL
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats hired Tom Dimitroff as head coach to succeed Bob Shaw, who had stepped down in order to be the team's full-time general manager. Mr. Dimitroff had been an assistant under George Brancato with the Ottawa Rough Riders from 1974-1977, earning a Grey Cup ring in 1976. The Tiger-Cats had finished fourth and last in the Eastern Football Conference in 1977 with a record of 5-11.

30 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): I Think We're Alone Now--Tiffany

#1 single in Switzerland: Always on My Mind--Pet Shop Boys

25 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: I Will Always Love You--Whitney Houston (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): I Will Always Love You--Whitney Houston

#1 single in Switzerland: I Will Always Love You--Whitney Houston (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): This Time/Life Without You--Christy Moore

Died on this date
Thurgood Marshall, 84. U.S. lawyer and judge. Mr. Marshall achieved prominence as a lawyer when he successfully argued Brown v. Board of Education before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954. He served as a judge with the Second Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals from 1961-1965 and as U.S. Solicitor General from 1965-1967. In 1967 Mr. Marshall became the first Negro to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States; he served as an Associate Justice until 1991.

20 years ago
1998

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Truly, Madly, Deeply--Savage Garden

Hockey
NHL
Tampa Bay 2 @ Toronto 5

10 years ago
2008

Died on this date
Art Frantz, 86. U.S. baseball player and umpire. Mr. Frantz was a pitcher and shortstop in the minor leagues from 1940-1950 before becoming an umpire. After 11 years in the minor leagues, he served in the American League from 1969-1977, working in 1,386 regular season games. Mr. Frantz was crew chief for the 1975 World Series, and worked in the American League Championship Series in 1972 and 1976, as well as the 1974 Major League All-Star Game.

Randy Salerno, 45. U.S. newscaster. Mr. Salerno was a news anchor with several Chicago television stations, and was at WBBM at the time of his death, which occurred when he was a passenger on a snowmobile that struck a tree, 20 days after his 45th birthday.

Crime
French bank Societe Generale announced that it had uncovered a $7.14-billion fraud by a single futures trader.