February 19, 2021

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Lee Morrow and Jackie Strip!

210 years ago
1811

War
Outnumbered French forces under Édouard Mortier routed and nearly destroyed Spanish troops at the Battle of the Gebora near Badajoz, Spain.

180 years ago
1841

Born on this date
Elfrida Andrée. Swedish musician and composer. Miss Andrée became the organist at Gothenburg Cathedral in 1867, and was appointed cantor in 1908, holding the positions until her death on January 11, 1929 at the age of 87. She wrote orchestral, chamber, and vocal works, and many works for organ and piano.

175 years ago
1846

Politics and government
The newly-formed Texas state government was officially installed in Austin. The Republic of Texas government officially transferred power to the State of Texas government following the annexation of Texas by the United States.

140 years ago
1881

Society
Kansas became the first U.S. state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.

125 years ago
1896

Born on this date
Wayne Munn. U.S. football player and wrestler. Mr. Munn was a lineman with the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers before becoming a professional wrestler in 1924. He was boosted by Ed "Strangler" Lewis as the next big star in wrestling, and won the National Wrestling Alliance world heavyweight title from Mr. Lewis in 1925, becoming the first pure performer (i.e., someone without legitimate wrestling skills or background) to win a professional world championship. Just three months after winning the title, Mr. Munn was defeated by Stanislaus Zbyszko despite a previous agreement for Mr. Munn to win the match. Mr. Munn retired from wrestling in 1926, and died from kidney problems on January 9, 1931 at the age of 34.

André Breton. French poet and author. Mr. Breton was the co-founder, leader, principal theorist and chief apologist of surrealism. His works included the first Manifeste du surréalisme (Surrealist Manifesto) (1924) and the novel Nadja (1928). Mr. Breton became an anarchist before the end of World War II, and died of repiratory failure on September 28, 1966 at the age of 70.

110 years ago
1911

Born on this date
Bill Bowerman. U.S. running coach and businessman. Mr. Bowerman, a son of Oregon Governor Jay Bowerman, was track coach at the University of Oregon from 1948-1973, and trained numerous distance runners who won national championships and competed in the Olympic Games. He manufactured his first pair of running shoes in 1960, and four years later, co-founded the running shoe company that became known as Nike. Mr. Bowerman wrote the book Jogging (1966), which helped to inspire running as a national craze. He died on December 24, 1999 at the age of 88.

80 years ago
1941

War
The British government of Prime Minister Winston Churchill revealed that it had received on February 17 a formal Japanese offer to mediate the European war, and that the offer was now being studied.

Abominations
A report from Berlin stated that 10,000 Jews had been rounded up in Vienna the previous week for transportation to eastern Poland.

Politics and government
The Missouri Supreme Court ordered the Democratic-controlled state legislature to seat Forrest Donnell (Republican) as Governor.

Crime
The U.S. Justice Department reported that serious crimes had risen 2.2% in 1940, to a total of 1,517,026.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill raising the federal debt limit from $49 billion to $65 billion.

Business
A U.S. federal grand jury in Philadelphia indicted the American Surgical Trade Association on charges of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act by controlling the sale of 95% of all surgical supplies.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) accepted a consent decree, ending the U.S. government's antitrust suits and providing that users of ASCAP-controlled music would pay only for the songs that they actually used.

Disasters
The Danube River overflowed in the northern Bachka and Benat districts of Yugoslavia, flooding 50,000 acres and leaving 1,000 people homeless.

75 years ago
1946

War
At the hearings of the United States Senate committee on the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Colonel Walter Phillips, chief of staff to General Walter Short--U.S. Army commander at Pearl Harbor in 1941--testified that the Army-Navy Joint Planning Commission never met between November 27-December 7, 1941 despite the war warning from Washington.

Defense
U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes said that there had been no leaks of U.S. atomic information, and that the United States had exclusive knowledge of the methods of manufacturing the atomic bomb.

Diplomacy
The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Jewish problems announced in Vienna that it had been refused permission to enter Hungary and Romania.

The government of Brazil refused to accept newly-appointed Spanish Ambassador Eduardo Aunos, accusing him of having ties to the Nazis.

World events
Hungarian Roman Catholic Primate Josef Cardinal Mindszenty, who had denounced both German and Soviet occupation of his country, arrived in Rome from Budapest.

Politics and government
Kim Il Sung was named chairman of the North Korean People's Government in Pyongyang, while the Democratic People's Front claimed sole authority to form an interim government in Seoul.

The army, navy, and air force took over the task of preserving order in Argentina until after the presidential elections.

British Prime Minister Clement Attlee appointed a commission of three cabinet ministers to negotiate with Indian leaders on creation of a constituent assembly and executive council as a step toward self-government for India.

U.S. President Harry Truman named Max Gardner to succeed Daniel Bell as Undersecretary of the Treasury.

Education
The American Council on Education revealed in Washington that one million military veterans had applied for educational and vocational courses under the GI Bill of Rights.

Health
Dr. I.M. Rabinowitch reported that a 15-year test of a high-carbohydrate diet on 5,000 diabetics showed that diabetics may eat an ordinary amount of sweets and starches, but must avoid fats.

Economics and finance
In what analysts said was a reaction to U.S. Office of Price Administration Director Chester Bowles' support for the extension of price controls, prices on the New York Stock Exchange dropped 2-7 points, the sharpest decline since 1940.

70 years ago
1951

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Strange Legacy, starring Robert Stack, Margaret Hayes, Henry Hart, and Joseph Sweeney



Died on this date
André Gide, 81. French author. Mr. Gide was a self-described pederast who wrote more than 50 books of fiction and non-fiction. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his comprehensive and artistically significant writings, in which human problems and conditions have been presented with a fearless love of truth and keen psychological insight."

Defense
The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff told a Senate Foreign Affairs-House of Representatives Armed Services Committee hearing that they opposed a congressional ceiling or ratio system for the use of American troops in Europe.

Politics and government
The Indian Parliament extended by a year the Preventive Detention Act, under which Communists and other suspected subversives may be held without trial.

Crime
Gregorio Hernandez Rivera, sole survivor of the five terrorists who had attempted to assassinate Puerto Rico Governor Luis Muñoz Marín in his mansion on October 30, 1950, pled guilty in San Juan and was sentenced from 14-30 years in prison for attempted murder.

Economics and finance
Canada agreed to provide $25 million for the first year of the six-year Colombo plan foreign aid scheme.

U.S. President Harry Truman, in a policy reversal, submitted a reorganization plan to Congress which abolished the Reconstruction Finance Corporation's present five-man board and replaced it with a single administrator.

60 years ago
1961

Television
The French-language Télé-Métropole station CFTM began broadcasting in Montréal.

World events
Laotian King Savang Vathana said that he had designated the regime of Premier Boun Oum as Laos’ only legal government. The king proclaimed Laos’ neutrality and called on neighbouring Cambodia, Burma, and Malaya to form a commission to help supervise the restoration of peace in Laos, and to end all foreign intervention there. U.S. President John F. Kennedy actively supported the king’s proposal.

Protest
Mounted police in London broke up a demonstration outside the Belgian embassy involving protests against the recent murder of deposed Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba.

50 years ago
1971

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): My Sweet Lord--George Harrison (4th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): My Sweet Lord--George Harrison (4th week at #1)

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 Knock Three Times--Dawn (2nd week at #1)
2 I Hear You Knocking--Dave Edmunds
3 No Matter What--Badfinger
4 Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow--The Dealians
5 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson
6 Gypsy Woman--Brian Hyland
7 See Me, Feel Me--The Who
8 Looky Looky--Giorgio
9 Mango Mango--Tidal Wave
10 I Think I Love You--The Partridge Family

Singles entering the chart were Apeman by the Kinks (#17); Do It by Neil Diamond (#18); Give Me More by Mick Jade (#19); and Home by Dave Mills (#20).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson
2 One Bad Apple--The Osmonds
3 Amos Moses--Jerry Reed
4 Sweet Mary--Wadsworth Mansion
5 Have You Ever Seen the Rain/Hey Tonight--Creedence Clearwater Revival
6 Watching Scotty Grow--Bobby Goldsboro
7 Stay Awhile--The Bells
8 Amazing Grace--Judy Collins
9 If You Could Read My Mind--Gordon Lightfoot
10 She's a Lady--Tom Jones

Singles entering the chart were Woodstock by Matthews' Southern Comfort (#26); Chairman of the Board by the Chairmen of the Board (#28); Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me) by the Temptations (#29); and Help Me Make it Through the Night by Sammi Smith (#30).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKVN)
1 If You Could Read My Mind--Gordon Lightfoot (2nd week at #1)
2 Have You Ever Seen the Rain/Hey Tonight--Creedence Clearwater Revival
3 If I were Your Woman--Gladys Knight & the Pips
4 Amazing Grace--Judy Collins
5 One Bad Apple--The Osmonds
6 Born to Wander--Rare Earth
7 Remember Me--Diana Ross
8 Watching Scotty Grow--Bobby Goldsboro
9 Hang on to Your Life--The Guess Who
10 Band Bandit--Tundra

Singles entering the chart were Chairman of the Board by the Chairmen of the Board (#27); For All We Know by the Carpenters (#28); Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You by Wilson Pickett (#29); and Country Road by James Taylor (#30).

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson (3rd week at #1)
2 Amazing Grace--Judy Collins
3 I Hear You Knocking--Dave Edmunds
4 Bridget the Midget (The Queen of the Blues)--Ray Stevens
5 Your Song--Elton John
6 Hello Melinda Goodbye--Five Man Electrical Band
7 Watching Scotty Grow--Bobby Goldsboro
8 Stay Awhile--The Bells
9 Put Your Hand in the Hand--Ocean
10 For All We Know--Carpenters

On television tonight
The Interns, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Casualty

40 years ago
1981

Personal
This blogger attended his first class of the Dale Carnegie course in Edmonton. I don't agree with Mr. Carnegie's advice on getting others to do what you want--it smacks to me of manipulation--but that wasn't emphasized in the classes. If you want to develop the skill of public speaking--which is what the classes are about--I highly recommend the Dale Carnegie course.

War
The U.S. State Department provided embassies of friendly governments in Washington with a memorandum stating that the Marxist insurrection in El Salvador was a textbook case of indirect armed aggression by the Soviets. The guerrilla leaders in El Salvador declared that the United States had sent 100 military advisers to help the ruling junta in the war. The U.S., however, admitted to only 18.

Former Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme, acting as a United Nations envoy, met with Iranian President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr in an attempt to negotiate an end to the war between Iran and Iraq. There was some hope that the two countries would agree to allow 70 foreign vessels to leave the disputed Shatt al Arab waterway, where they had been trapped since September 1980, but the Iranians seemed united in backing the refusal to enter peace talks before the Iraqis withdrew from Iran.

Religion
Pope John Paul II visited Cebu in the Philippines.

Weather
It was announced that the drought and heat waves in the United States in the summer of 1980 had killed more than 1,300 people.

30 years ago
1991

War
U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf said that the Iraqi forces were "on the verge of collapse." Lt. Gen. Thomas Kelly, chief of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "we are ready now" to attack on the ground.

Politics and government
Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin called for the resignation of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. He criticized Mr. Gorbachev for wanting to hold on to the old system; for not wanting to grant independence to republics wanting it; and for leading the country to dictatorship under the name of "presidential rule."

25 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Children--Robert Miles

#1 single in Norway (VG-lista): Spaceman--Babylon Zoo (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Spaceman--Babylon Zoo

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Missing--Everything But the Girl
2 Time--Hootie & the Blowfish
3 One Sweet Day--Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men
4 One of Us--Joan Osborne
5 I Want to Come Over--Melissa Etheridge
6 Wildest Dreams--Tom Cochrane
7 Name--Goo Goo Dolls
8 The World I Know--Collective Soul
9 You'll See--Madonna
10 Waiting for Tonight--Tom Petty

Singles entering the chart were Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot by Sting (#79); Please by Elton John (#86); Nobody Knows by the Tony Rich Project (#87); Blow Wind Blow by Alannah Myles (#90); Be My Lover by La Bouche (#91); and High and Dry by Radiohead (#92).

Died on this date
Ernest Manning, 87. Canadian politician. Mr. Manning, a member of the Social Credit Party, was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1935-1968. He served as Provincial Secretary and Minister of Trade and Industry before succeeding William Aberhart as Premier of Alberta upon Mr. Aberhart's death in 1943. Mr. Manning served as Premier for 25 years, and became the best Premier Alberta has ever had, doing more than anyone else to modernize the province. He was named to the Canadian Senate in 1970, and served as the only Social Credit Senator in Canadian history until reaching the mandatory retirement age in 1983. Mr. Manning's son Preston led the Reform Party of Canada from 1987-2000.

Charlie Finley, 77. U.S. baseball executive. Mr. Finley was an insurance executive who bought the Kansas City Athletics from Arnold Johnson in 1961. He moved the team to Oakland after the 1967 season and sold them in 1980. Mr. Finley's teams won five straight American League West Division championships from 1971-1975 and three straight World Series from 1972-1974. Mr. Finley promoted innovations such as night games in the World Series and orange baseballs for night games, but was also known as being a difficult and often unpleasant man to work with and for. When free agency became part of major league baseball after the 1976 season, Mr. Finley lacked the money to be competitive, and the Athletics became the worst organization in baseball.

Economics and finance
The Royal Canadian Mint put the new $2 coin into circulation; the bimetallic polar bear, quickly dubbed the "toonie," replaced the $2 bill.

Protest
One million people took to the streets in Madrid in a silent protest against Basque separatist terrorism, after two political killings and a kidnapping.

A mutiny of Congolese soldiers in protest against nonpayment of wages ended after five days.

Health
The World Health Organization confirmed that 13 people in Gabon had died of the Ebola virus.

Hockey
NHL
Edmonton 5 @ Colorado 7

Patrick Roy became the second-youngest goaltender and 12th in National Hockey League history to reach 300 career victories as the Avalanche beat the Oilers at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver.

20 years ago
2001

Died on this date
Charles Trenet, 87. French singer and songwriter. Mr. Trenet was popular from the 1930s to the 1950s. Probably his most famous song was La Mer (1946), which later, with English lyrics, became known as Beyond the Sea.

Stanley Kramer, 87. U.S. movie producer and director. Mr. Kramer began producing movies in the 1940s. He directed 20 of his films--many with a strong social message--including Not as a Stranger (1955); The Defiant Ones (1958); On the Beach (1959); Inherit the Wind (1960); Judgment at Nuremberg (1961); It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963); Ship of Fools (1965); and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). Mr. Kramer was nominated for nine Academy Awards as producer and/or director, but won none.

Health
A five-mile exclusion zone was placed around an abattoir in Essex, England after a suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease was detected.

10 years ago
2011

Died on this date
Ollie Matson, 80. U.S. runner and football player. Mr. Matson won a bronze medal in the men's 400-metre run and a silver medal as a member of the U.S. 4 x 400-metre relay team at the 1952 Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki. He played halfback at the University of San Francisco (1949-1951), leading the nation in rushing yardage in his senior year. Mr. Matson played in the National Football League with the Chicago Cardinals (1952, 1954-1958); Los Angeles Rams (1959-1962); Detroit Lions (1963); and Philadelphia Eagles (1964-1966), rushing 1,170 times for 5,173 yards (4.4 average per carry) and 40 touchdowns; catching 222 passes for 3,285 yards (14.8 average) and 23 touchdowns; completed 5 of 15 passes for 119 yards and 1 interception; returned 143 kickoffs for 3,746 yards (26.2 average) and 6 TDs; and returned 65 punts for 595 yards (9.2 average) and 3 TDs. At the time of his retirement, his 12,799 all-purpose yards was the second-highest career total in NFL history, surpassed only by Jim Brown. Mr. Matson was valued so highly that the Cardinals traded him to the Rams for nine players; unfortunately, he spent most of his career with losing teams. He was a First Team All-Pro seven times, and was selected to play in the Pro Bowl six times. Mr. Matson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1976. He suffered from dementia in his later years, linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), resulting from his football career. Mr. Matson died of dementia-related respiratory failure.

Archaeology
Items from the Belitung shipwreck, the largest single collection of Tang-dynasty artefacts found in one location, were first exhibited in Singapore.