|
Post by moonstone on Sept 22, 2008 11:00:49 GMT -5
On Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of Jan. 1, 1863. Note that it says "all slaves in rebel states"--which in effect meant only those in areas already controlled by Union troops were affected. Many slaves were unaware that such a proclamation had been made. But it was a start. A start, indeed. I didn't even know about this preliminary proclamation. Or maybe I did, but it was so long ago that I had forgotten it. Thanks for this, katie. Hope you're having a great day.
|
|
|
Post by g1 on Sept 22, 2008 14:43:25 GMT -5
On Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of Jan. 1, 1863. Note that it says "all slaves in rebel states"--which in effect meant only those in areas already controlled by Union troops were affected. Many slaves were unaware that such a proclamation had been made. But it was a start. This is quite an odd bit of history. What about the slaves in the northern states? (It was still at least nominally permitted in some, or the distinction between "servant" and "slave" was quite nebulous.) Meanwhile, indentured servitude continued well into the 20th century, and arguably still continues though its legality is questionable. A start, indeed. I didn't even know about this preliminary proclamation. Or maybe I did, but it was so long ago that I had forgotten it. Thanks for this, katie. Hope you're having a great day.
|
|
|
Post by Fairweather on Sept 25, 2008 12:10:15 GMT -5
Sarah Palin is in a long tradition of governors with experience mobilizing and deploying the National Guard: On Sept. 4, 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock. Faubus ended up with egg on his face when President Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard, sent them back to their armories, and sent in units from the 101st Airborne to protect the Little Rock Nine. The rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say: On Sept. 25, 1957, with 300 United States Army troops standing guard, nine black children were escorted to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, days after unruly white crowds had forced them to withdraw.
|
|
|
Post by Fairweather on Oct 1, 2008 12:01:07 GMT -5
On October 1, 1961, Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run of the season, breaking Babe Ruth's record of 60 set in 1927.
And even though TWO men have broken his record since--both standing accused of steroid use and therefore eternally under suspicion--Roger Maris is still not in the Hall of Fame, although he broke Ruth's record fair and square.
What a sc*rewy world we live in.
|
|
|
Post by moonstone on Oct 1, 2008 12:09:45 GMT -5
On October 1, 1961, Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run of the season, breaking Babe Ruth's record of 60 set in 1927. And even though TWO men have broken his record since--both standing accused of steroid use and therefore eternally under suspicion--Roger Maris is still not in the Hall of Fame, although he broke Ruth's record fair and square. What a sc*rewy world we live in. Not to nitpick, because it truly IS a sc*rewy world, but haven't three men broken Maris's record? Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds, and also Sammy Sosa, who hit more than 61 home runs at least once.
|
|
rory
Full Member
Posts: 249
|
Post by rory on Oct 1, 2008 12:46:58 GMT -5
On October 1, 1961, Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run of the season, breaking Babe Ruth's record of 60 set in 1927. And even though TWO men have broken his record since--both standing accused of steroid use and therefore eternally under suspicion--Roger Maris is still not in the Hall of Fame, although he broke Ruth's record fair and square. What a sc*rewy world we live in. Maris had a couple of good years with the Yankees, but if you look at his overall stats, he was a good player, but not HOF worthy. If you start taking players on the basis of one stat, you'd have 120 times as many members than now. Just my 2 centavos
|
|
|
Post by Fairweather on Oct 11, 2008 16:11:57 GMT -5
On October 11, 1809, Meriwether Lewis, co-commander of the great Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806, died under mysterious circumstances at Grinder's Stand, near present-day Hohenwald, Tennessee. FW insisted it was a good blog topic, so please check out fairweatherlewis.blogstream.comfor the rest of the story.
|
|
|
Post by moonstone on Oct 12, 2008 16:16:36 GMT -5
On October 11, 1809, Meriwether Lewis, co-commander of the great Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806, died under mysterious circumstances at Grinder's Stand, near present-day Hohenwald, Tennessee. FW insisted it was a good blog topic, so please check out fairweatherlewis.blogstream.comfor the rest of the story. Indeed. A great topic and beautifully told. Thanks for the link, katie.
|
|
|
Post by Fairweather on Nov 19, 2008 14:57:12 GMT -5
On Nov. 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address as he dedicated a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania--arguably the greatest speech ever made by an American orator.
At the time, the media (they've always been sort of out of touch, haven't they?) scorned the two minute speech as "silly" and "insipid", preferring the rolling two hours of platitudes presented by the speaker who immediately preceded Lincoln, Edward Everett of Massachusetts. The only person who fully appreciated the brief and brilliant Lincoln speech was, ironically, Edward Everett--who praised the speech for its brevity, austerity, and for striking to the heart of the matter in two minutes, which he had not approached in two hours.
|
|
|
Post by Fairweather on Nov 20, 2008 13:59:00 GMT -5
A lot of stuff happened on November 20 down through history:
1789--New Jersey became the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the Constitution).
1820--the Nantucket whaling ship Essex was rammed and sunk by an eighty-ton sperm whale. This event partly inspired Herman Melville's brilliant 1851 novel Moby D*ick.
1943--the battle of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands (Pacific theater) began. Tarawa is an atoll (a group of coral reef islands surrounding a body of water on two or more sides); the largest in the group was Betio, which the Japanese boasted was so well fortified that "a million (U.S.) Marines couldn't take it in a hundred years." The Japanese were dead wrong; the Marines took the entire atoll in four days, wiping out virtually the entire Japanese force entrenched there. (A young Marine originally from Knoxville named Alexander Bonnyman won a posthumous Medal of Honor for his bravery on Tarawa. Knoxville named a bridge in his honor many years ago. We often cross it when we've had Mom to her rheumatologist up there.)
1945--trials of such major Nazi leaders as had been captured in the aftermath of Germany's surrender in World War II began at Nuremberg's Palace of Justice.
1969--The Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer published the first graphically horrifying photos of the My Lai massacre, which had occurred in Vietnam on March 16, 1968.
|
|
|
Post by Laura on Nov 20, 2008 15:59:17 GMT -5
A lot of stuff happened on November 20 down through history: 1789-- New Jersey became the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the Constitution). 1820--the Nantucket whaling ship Essex was rammed and sunk by an eighty-ton sperm whale. This event partly inspired Herman Melville's brilliant 1851 novel Moby D*ick.1943--the battle of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands (Pacific theater) began. Tarawa is an atoll (a group of coral reef islands surrounding a body of water on two or more sides); the largest in the group was Betio, which the Japanese boasted was so well fortified that "a million (U.S.) Marines couldn't take it in a hundred years." The Japanese were dead wrong; the Marines took the entire atoll in four days, wiping out virtually the entire Japanese force entrenched there. (A young Marine originally from Knoxville named Alexander Bonnyman won a posthumous Medal of Honor for his bravery on Tarawa. Knoxville named a bridge in his honor many years ago. We often cross it when we've had Mom to her rheumatologist up there.) 1945--trials of such major Nazi leaders as had been captured in the aftermath of Germany's surrender in World War II began at Nuremberg's Palace of Justice. 1969--The Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer published the first graphically horrifying photos of the My Lai massacre, which had occurred in Vietnam on March 16, 1968. Thanks Katie. This is one of the most interesting 'this day in history' yet. So many events on the same day, different years.
|
|
|
Post by Fairweather on Dec 2, 2008 11:05:23 GMT -5
On Dec. 2, 1954, the Senate voted to condemn Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R Wis., for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
The understatement of the century. He should have been booted out.
|
|
|
Post by Fairweather on Dec 7, 2008 10:49:56 GMT -5
Tom Brokaw--I think it was Tom Brokaw--once said that American history was irrevocably changed in a two hour time span on December 7th, 1941.
There was before Pearl Harbor, and there is after Pearl Harbor. And there was and will never be any going back.
|
|
|
Post by moonstone on Dec 7, 2008 16:24:40 GMT -5
Tom Brokaw--I think it was Tom Brokaw--once said that American history was irrevocably changed in a two hour time span on December 7th, 1941. There was before Pearl Harbor, and there is after Pearl Harbor. And there was and will never be any going back. And yet we don't memorialize December 7 the way we do September 11, and in my memory, we never have. Why is that? Aha. Something to talk about. Thoughts, anyone?
|
|
|
Post by nanalinda on Dec 7, 2008 17:51:22 GMT -5
Tom Brokaw--I think it was Tom Brokaw--once said that American history was irrevocably changed in a two hour time span on December 7th, 1941. There was before Pearl Harbor, and there is after Pearl Harbor. And there was and will never be any going back. And yet we don't memorialize December 7 the way we do September 11, and in my memory, we never have. Why is that? Aha. Something to talk about. Thoughts, anyone? Maybe back in 1941 the government had more class than to use a catastrophic event as a means to gain control of the emotions of its citizens. No-one will forget 9/11/2001, but this government has used it as a political ploy in the hope that we will remember with nothing but fear. They, and particularly Rudy Slippers have sold 9/11 just like any other product we see advertised on TV. They have attempted to cheapen the lives of many brave Americans.
|
|
|
Post by Fairweather on Jan 8, 2009 13:49:22 GMT -5
SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION ALERT!!!! January 8 is also the anniversary of the last battle of the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans. About which that tiresome broad Fairweather had this to say, back last year on this date: fairweatherlewis.blogstream.com/v1/pid/280363.html#TPShe is right proud of this one, and I have to say, I think, rightly so. Do please read it. It would make her so happy. PS and a video link to a 1959 live performance by Johnny Horton: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Q47i4zGBs
|
|
|
Post by nanalinda on Jan 8, 2009 13:55:04 GMT -5
I like this version, Katie. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTKSWnWIxnMI'd forgotten how much I liked Lonnie Donegan and his skiffle group when I was a teenager. He's got this old dear on her feet and dancing
|
|
|
Post by Jamie on Jan 8, 2009 15:09:18 GMT -5
I like this version, Katie. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTKSWnWIxnMI'd forgotten how much I liked Lonnie Donegan and his skiffle group when I was a teenager. He's got this old dear on her feet and dancing This has absolutely nothing to do with anything on here, but Nan, my 5 guys and I are heading to your motherland next week. We're going to spend a very long MLK, JR weekend in London. We're going to meet friends of ours (my babys' Godmother), and also my OB from when my twins were born (he was awesome). Anyway, just thought I'd let you know. Ciao!!
|
|
|
Post by puhlease on Jan 8, 2009 23:26:07 GMT -5
SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION ALERT!!!! January 8 is also the anniversary of the last battle of the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans. About which that tiresome broad Fairweather had this to say, back last year on this date: fairweatherlewis.blogstream.com/v1/pid/280363.html#TPShe is right proud of this one, and I have to say, I think, rightly so. Do please read it. It would make her so happy. PS and a video link to a 1959 live performance by Johnny Horton: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Q47i4zGBsIn better spirits than when he left.....that is priceless!
|
|
|
Post by Fairweather on Jan 20, 2009 10:39:23 GMT -5
On Jan. 20, 1981, Iran released 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.
In that instance, uncertainty about the "cowboy mentality" worked.
|
|
|
Post by Fairweather on Jan 27, 2009 12:18:14 GMT -5
On Jan. 27, 1967, Astronauts Virgil I. ''Gus'' Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo I spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla.
NASA's first, though far from last, disaster.
|
|
|
Post by moonstone on Jan 27, 2009 17:02:20 GMT -5
On Jan. 27, 1967, Astronauts Virgil I. ''Gus'' Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo I spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla. NASA's first, though far from last, disaster. Somehow I missed this the first time. From left to right as you're looking, it's White, Grissom, and Chaffee. If you're ever in the area, the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center is a beautiful and very fitting tribute to the astronauts and pilots who have given their lives in service to the quest for space. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Mirror_Memorial
|
|
|
Post by Fairweather on Jan 28, 2009 15:34:45 GMT -5
On Jan. 28, 1986, space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members.
Nineteen years and one day after the Apollo 1 fire, the seven crew members of Challenger were killed. Their names were Michael J. Smith, Richard Scobee, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, and Judith Resnik.
I was working then as an insurance clerk at a sewing factory then. Just after lunch one of the floor supervisors came in and told us her son had just called her from school and told her the shuttle had "exploded." NASA doesn't exactly explain it that way, but that's what the massive smoke plume looked like, once I got home and saw it on television.
When the admission came from NASA and the Reagan administration that none of the astronauts had survived, I remember it as happening in a dead silence: no words as the flags at federal installations were lowered to half-staff--and afterwards that stunning speech Peggy Noonan wrote for President Reagan.
We'll soon be coming up on another such disaster; February 1st will mark the sixth anniversary of the loss of the shuttle Columbia. I was home that morning. When I got out of bed, Mom told me "they've lost radio contact with the shuttle over Texas."
And I wrote, that very moment, in my personal journal: "Dear God in heaven, they've lost another one."
What an awful cluster of anniversaries.
With the closing of the shuttle program coming up in 2010, God willing, we'll get the last missions home safe.
I've never been overly impressed with the shuttle program, or for that matter seen what the exact point of the space station is. But I don't think any of it has been worth the lives lost.
|
|
|
Post by Fairweather on Jan 30, 2009 11:48:35 GMT -5
Another sad anniversary, but this one is still having major repercussions:
On January 30, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in India by a Hindu extremist.
Extremists are the same the world over--they all see themselves as saviors or avengers.
And they're always wrong.
|
|
|
Post by Fairweather on Feb 12, 2009 16:22:46 GMT -5
TWO giants born on this day:
Both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on February 12, 1809; Lincoln in a log cabin to a dirt poor frontier couple in Kentucky, Darwin into a wealthy doctor's family in England.
Lincoln rose to the highest position an American can hold, despite a not particularly distinguished prior political career (ring any bells?) and Darwin, for all the fuss and bother there still is over his theories of evolution and national selection, is still one of the giants of science--he's buried in Westminster Abbey alongside Isaac Newton.
|
|