July 28, 2018

240 years ago
1778

Politics and government
The constitution of the Spanish province of Cantabria was ratified at the Assembly Hall in Bárcena la Puente, Reocín.

210 years ago
1808

Died on this date
Selim III, 46. Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1789-1807. Selim III was the son of Sultan Mustafa III and was designated as his successor, but Selim's uncle Abdul Hamid I took the throne after Mustafa III's death, and Selim had to wait 15 years. Sultan Selim III was a poet and composer, and some of his compositions still exist. He instituted military reforms, but the elite soldiers known as Janissaries eventually deposed Selim III in favour of his cousin Mustafa IV. There was a movement to restore Selim III to the throne, but he was assassinated before this could take place.

160 years ago
1858

Politics and government
Canadian Premier John A. Macdonald and Deputy Premier George-Étienne Cartier announced their resignations after the defeat of George Brown's motion that Ottawa should not be the capital of Canada. Mr. Macdonald declared that the motion was an insult to Queen Victoria (since Ottawa was supposedly her choice). Mr. Brown and Antoine Dorion took office on August 2 in what became known as the "Short Ministry."

150 years ago
1868

Law
U.S. Secretary of State William Seward issued a proclamation certifying without reservation that the Fourteenth Amendment was a part of the United States Constitution. It reads:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

140 years ago
1878

Died on this date
George Law Curry, 58. U.S. politician. Mr. Curry was a newspaper publisher in Missouri before moving to Oregon Territory, continuing in that career before entering politics. A Democrat, he held various territorial offices, including Secretary (1853-1855); acting Governor (May-December 1853); and Governor (1854-1859), with the latter position being abolished upon Oregon receiving statehood. Mr. Curry campaigned for the U.S. Senate in 1860, but lost by one vote in the state legislature. He died 26 days after his 58th birthday.

90 years ago
1928

World events
The Austrian government exiled former Hungarian dictator Bela Kun to the German frontier.

Politics and government
The Soviet Communist Party readmitted Gregory Zinoviev to membership and put him on the managing board of the all-Russian Cooperative Society.

Disasters
Six convicts burned to death in a locked showroom at the Prison Farm near Houston, Texas when a carelessly tossed match caused a movie film to explode.

Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games opened in Amsterdam.

80 years ago
1938

Disasters
The Pan American Airways Martin M-130 flying boat Hawaii Clipper, en route from Guam to Manila with 6 passengers and 9 crew members, disappeared. It was the first loss of an airliner in the trans-Pacific China Clipper service, which had been inaugurated as an airmail service in 1935 and had begun carrying passengers in 1936.

75 years ago
1943

War
Canadian troops captured the town of Agira, Italy after five days of hard and costly fighting against heavily dug-in German troops. The U.S. 7th Army drove toward the northern flank of the German line in Sicily, capturing Pollina, Castelbuono, and Gangi. The U.K. Royal Air Force bombed Hamburg, causing a firestorm that killed 42,000 German civilians.

Diplomacy
Uruguay renewed relations with the U.S.S.R.

Politics and government
The Italian cabinet ordered the dissolution of the National Fascist Party and abolished the Fascist Grand Council and the special tribunals for national defense.

Protest
Dispatches from Berne told of rioting and demonstrations in several Italian cities, with the rioters demanding peace, and socialists in Milan demanding a general strike.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced the end of coffee rationing and promised early increases in sugar allowances.

Disasters
A hurricane struck the Texas Gulf Coast, killing 13 people and causing an estimated $10 million in damage.

70 years ago
1948

Politics and government
Premier Maurice Duplessis led his Union Nationale to its third consecutive victory in the Quebec provincial election. The UN won 82 of 92 seats in the Legislative Assembly, an increase of 34 from their total in the most recent election in 1944. The Liberals, led by former Premier Adélard Godbout, dropped from 37 seats to 8.

The Peruvian Congress failed to convene when 19 conservative senators refused to attend in protest against the program of the ruling Socialist People's Party.

Labour
A U.S. federal district court in New Haven, Connecticut upheld the consitutionality of the Taft-Hartley Act's ban on union political expenditures.

Disasters
Explosions and fire wrecked an I.G. Farben chemical complex in Ludwigshafen, Germany, causing 184 deaths, 2,500 injuries, and about $15 million in damage.

60 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Hard Headed Woman/Don't Ask Me Why--Elvis Presley (Best Seller--2nd week at #1); Patricia--Perez Prado and his Orchestra (Disc Jockey--1st week at #1; Top 100--1st week at #1)

Billboard discontinued its Disc Jockey chart after this week, and replaced the Top 100 with the Hot 100.

World events
Three former Haitian Army officers and four Americans landed at Deluge and captured the Dessaline barracks in Port-au-Prince in an attempt to seize control of the Haitian government.

Track and field
The U.S.S.R. edged the U.S.A. 172-170 in a dual meet in Moscow.

50 years ago
1968

Died on this date
Otto Hahn, 89. German chemist. Dr. Hahn was known as the "father of nuclear chemistry," and was a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his discovery of the fission of heavy atomic nuclei." When element number 105 was first synthesized in 1970, it was originally called hahnium, but the name was never official, and the element was eventually named dubnium.

Disasters
A typhoon cut across southern Japan, killing 22 people, most of them drowned in flood waters.

Golf
Dan Sikes won the Minnesota Golf Classic with a total score of 272. First prize money was $20,000.

40 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Rivers of Babylon--Boney M. (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Rivers of Babylon--Boney M. (15th week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): En chantant--Michel Sardou (2nd week at #1)

At the movies
National Lampoon's Animal House, directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Donald Sutherland, and others, opened in theatres.

War
The Ethiopian government announced that its forces had broken the siege of Asmara, the capital of the province of Eritrea. Diplomatic sources believed that Eritrean secessionists still controlled the area to the north of Asmara and that government forces had merely opened up the highway linking Asmara to the national capital of Addis Ababa in the south.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that consumer prices had risen 0.9% in June, sending the annual inflation rate to 11.4% for the second quarter of 1978. Food prices increased 1.4% in June, led by a 5.6% increase in the price of beef. The price of gold soared above $200 per ounce, reflecting the weakness of the U.S. dollar and the apparent difficulty in holding down inflation.

30 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Gimme Hope Jo'anna--Eddy Grant (8th week at #1)

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Yé ké yé ké--Mory Kanté (2nd week at #1)

Law
In a free vote, the Canadian House of Commons rejected a government resolution and five amendments in an abortion bill.

Politics and government
Paddy Ashdown, MP for Yeuvil, was elected leader of Britain's new Social and Liberal Democrat Party.

Disasters
Both houses of the United States Congress approved bills to provide relief to drought-stricken areas of the country, including a grant of up to $100,000 to farmers who had lost at least 35% of their crops. The similar bills would be reconciled in a conference committee. Rain in July had eased the drought somewhat.

Football
CFL
British Columbia (2-1) 21 @ Toronto (2-1) 26

25 years ago
1993

Diplomacy
Andorra joined the United Nations.

Football
CFL
Toronto (0-4) 36 @ Calgary (4-0) 39

Doug Flutie completed a 21-yard touchdown pass to Keyvan Jenkins with less than a minute remaining in regulation time, and Mark McLoughlin converted and then kicked a 38-yard field goal to win the game as the Stampeders edged the Argonauts before 25,210 fans at McMahon Stadium. Mr. Flutie completed 34 of 52 passes for 477 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Baseball
Ken Griffey, Jr. of the Seattle Mariners led off the bottom of the 7th inning with a home run off Willie Banks of the Minnesota Twins before 30,413 fans at the Kingdome in Seattle to tie a major league record by homering in his eighth straight game. The record was set by Dale Long of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1956 and tied by Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees in 1987. Mr. Griffey's record-tying homer was his team's only run as the Twins won 5-1, with Mr. Banks allowing 3 hits in 7 innings to get the win.

Coincidentally, Mr. Mattingly hit a home run and 2 singles to help the Yankees defeat the Detroit Tigers 12-7 before 37,508 fans at Tiger Stadium. Detroit third baseman Travis Fryman hit for the cycle, batting 5 for 5 with 2 doubles, 2 runs, and 4 runs batted in.

Errors by Mike Devereaux and Cal Ripken, Jr. allowed Paul Molitor to score the winning run with 1 out in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Toronto Blue Jays edged the Baltimore Orioles 5-4 before 50,523 fans at SkyDome in Toronto.

The Florida Marlins scored a run in the top of the 9th inning to break a 3-3 tie, but the New York Mets scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th to win 5-4 before 24,377 fans at Shea Stadium in New York.

Darren Daulton drove in 6 runs with a grand slam and a triple to help the Philadelphia Phillies overcome an early 4-0 deficit and defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 14-6 before 46,346 fans at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

Don Slaught doubled to lead off the bottom of the 9th inning and beat first baseman Derrick White's throw to home plate on a ground ball by Al Martin to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a 3-2 win over the Montreal Expos before 13,470 fans at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Joe Siddall made his major league debut with the Expos, entering the game in the 9th inning as the catcher.

Tom Candiotti allowed 5 hits and 1 run in 8 1/3 innings to win the pitchers' duel over Bud Black as the Los Angeles Dodgers edged the San Francisco Giants 2-1 before 46,025 fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. San Francisco catcher Jim McNamara batted 0 for 3 and made 3 putouts in the 34th and last game of his 2-year major league career.

20 years ago
1998

Business
Bell Atlantic and GTE announced a $52 billion merger that created Verizon.