May 25, 2020

700 years ago
1320

Born on this date
Toghon Temür. Khagan (Emperor) of the Mongol Empire; Emperor of China, 1333-1370. Toghon Temür, the son of Khutughtu Khan Kusala, became Emperor of the Yuan dynasty in 1333 and the Northern Yuan dynasty in 1368. His empire was beset with political struggles in later years, and he declined to intervene. Toghon Temür died on May 23, 1370, two days before his 50th birthday, and was succeeded by his son Biligtü Khan Ayushiridara.

600 years ago
1420

Defense
Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal was appointed governor of the Order of Christ.

360 years ago
1660

Britannica
King Charles II landed at Dover at the invitation of the Convention Parliament, which marked the end of the Oliver Cromwell-proclaimed Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, and began the Restoration (1660) of the British monarchy.

210 years ago
1810

World events
Citizens of Buenos Aires expelled Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the May week, starting the Argentine War of Independence.

160 years ago
1860

Born on this date
James McKeen Cattell. U.S. psychologist. Dr. Cattell did graduate work under Dr. Wilhelm Wundt at the University of Leipzig in the early 1880s, and they helped to establish the formal study of intelligence. Dr. Cattell became the first American to publish a doctoral dissertation in the field of psychology (Psychometrische Untersuchungen (Psychometric Investigation)) (1886). Dr. Cattell was a Darwinist and eugenicist who attempted to objectively measure intelligence. He lectured at the University of Cambridge before returning to the United States in 1889 to become the first professor of psychology in the United States, at the University of Pennsylvania. Two years later, he moved to Columbia University, where he became Department Head of Psychology, Anthropology, and Philosophy. Dr. Cattell became President of the American Psychological Association in 1895. He was fired from Columbia in 1917 for opposing American military conscription during World War I, and sued for wrongful dismissal. Dr. Cattell won an annuity, and used the money to found The Psychological Corporation to foster his interest in the field of applied psychology. He created the Science Press Printing Company, editing and publishing journals until his death on January 20, 1944 at the age of 83.

150 years ago
1870

War
Canadian militia commander Osborne Smith dispersed an Irish Fenian Brotherhood raiding party led by Messrs. O'Neill and Spier back across the American border in the Battle of Eccles Hill at Frelighsburg, Quebec. There were no casualties of the last Fenian raid into Canada; the Fenian leaders were arrested in the United States.

130 years ago
1890

Disasters
After an American Association baseball game between the Louisville Colonels and Syracuse Stars at Three Rivers Park in Three Rivers, New York, part of the grandstand collapsed, throwing 50 or more people to the ground. No deaths were reported, but many were injured. Louisville won the game 13-12.

125 years ago
1895

Asiatica
The Republic of Formosa was formed, with Tang Ching-sung as President.

Scandal
Alfred Taylor and playwright, poet, and novelist Oscar Wilde were convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison. The charges followed Mr. Wilde's recent unsuccessful suit for libel against the Marquess of Queensberry.

120 years ago
1900

Born on this date
Teddy Brown. U.S.-born U.K. musician. Mr. Brown, born Abraham Himmelbrand, was a percussionist--especially known for his skill on the xylophone--and saxophonist who began his career with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, but switched to popular music in the late 1910s. He moved to London in 1926, and formed his own band a year later. Mr. Brown weighed almost 400 pounds, and his appearance and flashy performing style made a distinct impression in several short films in the 1930s. He died from a heart attack on April 29, 1946, 26 days before his 46th birthday and the morning after appearing in a concert at the Wolverhampton Hippodrome in Birmingham, England.

110 years ago
1910

Law
Arthur Sifton resigned as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alberta in order to accept the position of Premier of Alberta; he took office as Premier the next day, succeeding Alexander Rutherford as head of the province's Liberal government. Mr. Rutherford had been forced to resign amidst accusations of improprieties regarding loan guarantees for the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway.

100 years ago
1920

Born on this date
Arthur Wint. Jamaican runner and diplomat. Dr. Wint was a middle-distance runner who competed internationally from the late 1930s through the early 1950s. He served in the British Royal Air Force during World War II, and was a medical student in London when he was at the peak of his athletic career, representing Jamaica and winning a gold medal in the men's 400-metre run and a silver medal in the 800-metre run at the Summer Olympics in London in 1948, and winning a gold medal in the men's 4 x 400-metre relay event and a silver in the 800-metre run at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. Dr. Wint served as Jamaica's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ambassador to Sweden and Denmark (1974-1978). He died on October 19, 1992 at the age of 72.

90 years ago
1930

Died on this date
Randall Davidson, 82. U.K. clergyman. Most Rev. Davidson was ordained a priest of the Church of England in 1875, and served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1903-1928. He tried to manage differences between high-church and evangelical Anglicans, and supported Christian unity. Most Rev. Davidson, generally avoided party politics, but criticized what he saw as immoral methods of war during World War I, and attempted to mediate the 1926 General Strike. He resigned after his efforts to modernize the Book of Common Prayer were defeated in the House of Commons, and sat in the House of Lords until his death.

80 years ago
1940

At the movies
Earthbound, directed by Irving Pichel, and starring Warner Baxter and Andrea Leeds, opened in theatres.

War
The German 2nd Panzer Division captured the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer; the surrender of the last French and British troops marked the end of the Battle of Boulogne. German forces tightened their grip on the pocket of Allied troops in Flanders. Belgian forces tried to form a new defense line along the Lys River.

World events
The Turkish government declared a state of emergency.

Defense
The U.S.A. opened a consulate in Godthaab, Greenland as an observation post and counter against possible German intervention there.

U.S. Army Brigadier General George Strong reported the development of a secret device capable of detecting aircraft up to 15 minutes away.

Labour
American Federation of Labor President William Green told a labour meeting in Hartford, Connecticut that the American people should "not underestimate Communist" influence in the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

75 years ago
1945

At the movies
The Body Snatcher, starring Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell, and Russell Wade, opened in theatres.



War
Two columns of U.S. forces in the Philippines met in Mindanao north of Malaybalay, clearing the island's main highway and forcing Japanese forces into the southeastern corner.

Politics and government
Winston Churchill named a new British cabinet with himself as Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, and Defense Secretary.

Diplomacy
At the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco, committee action decided that the Economic and Social Council would have 18 members elected by the General Assembly.

U.S. Communist Political Association President Earl Browder said that American delegates to the United Nations Conference had deviated from late U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's policy of U.S.-U.S.S.R. amity.

The Foreign Affairs committee of the French Consultative Assembly proposed that the Allies jointly ask Spanish dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco to abdicate immediately in favour of a democratic government, and that if he didn't, France would break off diplomatic relations with Spain.

Harry Hopkins arrived in Moscow and Joseph Davies arrived in London as representatives of U.S. President Harry Truman.

Iraqi Regent Prince Abdul Illah arrived in New York on an official visit to the United States.

Labour
The U.S. National War Labor Board said that employers could increase wages to 55c per hour without board approval.

70 years ago
1950

Defense
The U.S.A. announced that it would lift its embargo on arms shipments to Israel under a new agreement with the United Kingdom and France on a unified policy toward Israel and its Arab rivals. Both Israel and the Arab states could now buy arms from the West if they promised that there would be no renewal of the Palestine war.

Crime
A court in Augsburg, West Germany indicted Ilse Koch on charges of ordering atrocities at the Buchenwald concentration camp during World War II.

Abominations
The U.S. National Father's Day Committee in New York named U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas as Father of the Year.

Agriculture
The U.S. Agriculture Department awarded its distinguished service gold medal to Lucy Maclay Alexander for "outstanding achievement in applying fundamental scientific principles to meat and poultry cookery."

Transportation
Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in New York City, the longest (9,117 feet) and most expensive ($80 million) vehicular crossing in the United States, officially opened.

Economics and finance
The Inter-Allied Reparations Agency in Brussels announced that reparations deliveries worth $517 million at 1938 prices had been received from Germany and that all 680 dismantled plants had been allocated.

U.S. Economic Cooperation Administrator Paul Hoffman announced that Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia would get "industrial rehabilitation projects and other economic help" from the United States.

Disasters
32 passengers burned to death and 24 were injured when a crowded Chicago streetcar struck a gasoline tank truck.

Baseball
The New York Yankees sold outfielder Dick Wakefield to the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. He was batting 0 for 2 with a base on balls in 3 games as a pinch hitter with New York in 1950.

The Boston Red Sox scored 10 runs in the last 3 innings to beat the St. Louis Browns 15-12 before 2,008 fans at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, outhitting the Browns 19-15. Rookie first baseman Walt Dropo drove in 6 runs for the Red Sox; his grand slam in the 8th inning was his 10th home run since being called up from the minors on May 3. Clyde Vollmer added a 2-run homer as a pinch hitter for the Red Sox in the 8th. The Browns hit 5 of the game's 9 home runs. Ken Keltner made an out as a pinch hitter for the Red Sox in the 3rd inning; it was the 1,526th and last game of his 13-year major league career, playing with the Cleveland Indians for all but his last 13 games.

Red Schoendienst drew a base on balls to lead off the top of the 13th inning, advanced to third base on a single by Stan Musial, and scored on a double by Johnny Lindell to break a 5-5 tie, and Enos Slaughter followed with a single to score Mr. Musial as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the New York Giants 7-5 before 4,949 fans at the Polo Grounds in New York.

60 years ago
1960

At the movies
The Music Box Kid, directed by Edward L. Cahn, and starring Ronald Foster, Luana Patten, and Grant Richards, opened in theatres.



Baseball
The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Braves 5-3 before 8,173 fans at Busch Stadium in St. Louis when George Crowe set a major league record with the 11th pinch-hit home run of his career, hitting a 2-run homer off Don McMahon (1-4) with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th. Ken Boyer hit a pair of solo home runs for the Cardinals, and Larry Jackson (4-5) pitched a 9-hit complete game victory.

Jimmy Piersall singled with 1 out in the bottom of the 11th inning and eventually scored on a 2-out single by Tito Francona to give the Cleveland Indians a 1-0 win over the Washington Senators before 6,427 fans at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. Jim Perry (3-2) pitched an 8-hit shutout, while losing pitcher Bill Fischer (0-1) allowed 7 hits in a complete game.

Pinch hitter Bob Boyd singled to lead off the top of the 9th inning, advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a single by pinch hitter Clint Courtney to break a 2-2 tie as the Baltimore Orioles edged the Chicago White Sox 3-2 before 5,518 fans at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Chuck Estrada (3-1) pitched a 5-hit complete game, outduelling Early Wynn (2-2), who pitched a 10-hit complete game, allowing 2 earned runs.

50 years ago
1970

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Spirit in the Sky--Norman Greenbaum (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Keiko no Yume wa--Yoru Hiraku

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Gwendolyne--Julio Iglesias (8th week at #1)

On the radio
The Challenge of Space, on Springbok Radio
Tonight’s episode: Modern Icharus

Defense
The Pentagon announced that the first of the MIRV missiles had been placed in their underground concrete silos at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.

Scandal
Three pitchers with the Nishitetsu Lions were suspended from Japanese baseball for life for participating in a game-fixing scandal in the 1969 season.

Economics and finance
Prices on the New York Stock Exchange recorded their largest single-day decline since the November 22, 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, with a drop of 20.81 points on the Dow Jones industrial index.

Basketball
ABA
Finals
Indiana 111 @ Los Angeles 107 (Indiana won best-of-seven series 4-2)

The Pacers outscored the Stars 33-27 in the 4th quarter before 8,233 fans at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena to win their first American Basketball Association championship. Roger Brown led the Pacers with 45 points, and was named the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs. George Stone led the Stars with 28 points. This was the Stars' last game as the Los Angeles Stars; they moved to Salt Lake City after the season, and became the Utah Stars.

40 years ago
1980

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): I Pledge My Love--Peaches & Herb

#1 single in Switzerland: Boat on the River--Styx (5th week at #1)

Auto racing
Johnny Rutherford won the Indianapolis 500 for the third time.



30 years ago
1990

At the movies
Back to the Future Part III, directed by Robert Zemeckis, and starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, and Mary Steenburgen, opened in theatres.



Died on this date
Vic Tayback, 60. U.S. actor. Mr. Tayback was a character actor in numerous television programs from the 1960s through the 1980s. He was best known for playing diner owner Mel Sharples in the movie Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) and the subsequent television series Alice (1976-1985). Mr. Tayback died of a heart attack.

Gary Usher, 51. U.S. songwriter, musician, and producer. Mr. Usher collaborated with Brian Wilson in writing some of the Beach Boys’ early songs, including 409; In My Room; Ten Little Indians; and Lonely Sea. In 1964 he and Mr. Wilson wrote a song called Sacramento; Mr. Usher sang it and Mr. Wilson produced it, but the single failed to become a hit. Mr. Usher was also involved with studio bands such as The Super Stocks and Sagittarius. He produced three albums for the Byrds: Younger than Yesterday (1967); The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968); and Sweethearts of the Rodeo (1968). Mr. Usher wrote Don’t Give in to Him, which was a hit for Gary Puckett and the Union Gap in 1969. In 1987 he co-produced two songs from movies that were issued as singles: Let’s Go to Heaven in My Car by Brian Wilson (from Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol), and Pipeline by Stevie Ray Vaughan & Dick Dale (from Back to the Beach). Mr. Usher died of lung cancer.

Crime
In Canada's first war crimes trial under a law enacted in 1987, retired restaurateur Imre Finta was acquitted on all counts of confinement, kidnapping, robbery, and manslaughter in the 1944 deportation of 8,617 Jews while he was in the Hungarian police.

Politics and government
Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney began meeting provincial premiers individually over three days to lobby for passage of the Meech Lake constitutional accord. The deadline for approval was June 23, 1990.

Abominations
A United Nations report by propagandists masquerading as scientists from 39 countries warned that global temperatures could rise by 2 Fahrenheit degrees in 35 years, and by 6 F. degrees by the end of the 21st Century. The authors concluded that emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons would have to be reduced by 60% in order to stabilize atmospheric concentrations at current levels. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher set a target for Great Britain of a 30% reduction in projected emissions of carbon dioxide. She broke with the position of the U.S. administration of President George Bush, which called for more research.

25 years ago
1995

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)--Scatman John (5th week at #1)

Died on this date
Dany Robin, 68. French actress. Miss Robin appeared in such movies as Waltz of the Toreadors (1962); Follow the Boys (1963); and Topaz (1969). She and her second husband, Michael Sullivan, died in a fire in their apartment in Paris.

Krešimir Ćosić, 46. Croatian basketball player. Mr. Ćosić was a center who began his career in 1964 with the Yugoslavian professional club Zadar. In 1969 he moved to the United States, and played at Brigham Young University (1970-73), earning Third Team All-American honours in his second season. Mr. Ćosić was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1973, but declined to play profesionally in the United States, returning to Zadar for three more seasons, and playing with three other European clubs from 1978-83. He was a member of the Yugoslavian national team that won silver medals at the Summer Olympic Games in 1968 and 1976, and the gold medal in 1980. Mr. Ćosić became a coach after his playing career ended, and led the Yugoslavian national team to a silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during his time at BYU, and led the Mormon priesthood in his native country. In later years he served as a Croatian diplomat in the United States, and died in Baltimore of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Mr. Ćosić was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

War
Bosnian Serbs shelled five of six United Nations-designated safe areas and began taking UN peacekeepers hostage, using many as human shields, handcuffing and chaining them to potential targets of NATO planes. NATO planes began bombing a weapons depot near Pale, the capital of the Bosnian Serbs.

Abominations
In Egan v. Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that sexual orientation was a prohibited grounds of discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Of course, "sexual orientation" isn't found anywhere in the Charter, and was deliberately omitted by the politicians who crafted the Charter, but was invented by activist courts.

Economics and finance
The United States Senate voted 57-42 in favour of a bill providing for an unspecified future tax cut of $170 billion; it would cut deficits by $961 billion. The Senate voted 61-38 to approve a bill cutting $16.4 billion in funding for domestic programs that had been approved by the previous Congress.

Business
Comsat Corporation acquired the National Hockey League's Québec Nordiques from the Marcel Aubut group for U.S. $75 million; Comsat renamed the team the Colorado Avalanche, and moved them to Denver.

20 years ago
2000

Defense
Israel withdrew its army from Lebanese territory (except for the disputed Shebaa farms zone), 22 years after its invasion in 1978.

War
Eritrea announced that it would respond to an appeal from the Organization of African States and return to its border with Ethiopia that was recognized before 1998.

Politics and government
Peru’s National Elections Commission voted 3-2 to reject presidential challenger Alejandro Toledo’s request that the runoff election scheduled for May 28 be postponed in order to provide more time for international observers to ensure fairness in the voting.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Western Conference Finals
Dallas 1 @ Colorado 2 (Best-of-seven series tied 3-3)

10 years ago
2010

Died on this date
Michael H. Jordan, 73. U.S. businessman. Mr. Jordan joined PepsiCo Worldwide Foods in 1974, and served as its Chief Executive Officer from 1986-1990. He then served as CEO of Westinghouse Electric Corporation (1993–1998); CBS Corporation (1995–1998); and Electronic Data Systems (2003–2007). Mr. Jordan died of neuroendocrine cancer, 19 days before his 74th birthday.

Jarvis Williams, 45. U.S. football player. Mr. Williams was a defensive back with the University of Florida Gators (1984-1987), earning All-American honours in his final season. He played with the Miami Dolphins (1988-1993) and New York Giants (1994), making 16 interceptions and returning one for a touchdown. Mr. Williams died of a sudden asthma attack, nine days after his 45th birthday.

Diplomacy
Canada suspended diplomatic relations with North Korea after the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel in March.