1919

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Today in History 08/11/17

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German flags in front of the of Reichstag building in Berlin (© Westend61/Getty Images)(1919) From the ashes of war Germany’s first democracy emerges
A constitutional assembly in Weimar, Germany, adopts a parliamentary democracy, the first in the country’s history, replacing centuries of imperial rule. The massive chaos and loss caused by German defeat in World War I has led to the Weimar Republic, but Nazi rule is less than 15 years away.
Weimar Republic was an unofficial, historical designation for the German state between 1919 and 1933. The name derives from the city of Weimar, where its constitutional assembly first took place. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich; it had remained unchanged since 1871. In English the country was usually known simply as Germany. A national assembly was convened in Weimar, where a new constitution for the Deutsches Reich was written, and adopted on 11 August 1919. In its fourteen years, the Weimar Republic faced numerous problems, including hyperinflation, political extremism, as well as contentious relationships with the victors of the First World War. The people of Germany blamed the Weimar Republic rather than their wartime leaders for the country’s defeat and for the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles. However, the Weimar Republic government successfully reformed the currency, unified tax policies, and organized the railway system. Weimar Germany fulfilled most of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles although it never completely met its disarmament requirements, and eventually paid only a small portion of the war reparations. Under the Locarno Treaties, Germany accepted the western borders of the republic, but continued to dispute the Eastern border.
Founded: Nov 09, 1918
Dissolved: 1933
Population: 62.41 million (1925)
Area: 181,000 sq miles (468,787 km²)
Capital: Berlin
Official language: German
Map of the German Reich, (Republic of Weimar/Third Reich) 1919–1937
Map of the German Reich, (Republic of Weimar/Third Reich) 1919–1937

wiki/Weimar_Republic
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Today in History 06/02/17

Undated photograph of Mark Twain (© Universal History Archive/Getty Images)(1897) Mark Twain is still very much alive
Accomplished man of American letters, and possessor of an impressively arid wit, Mark Twain recounts for the New York Journal a visit from a journalist who mistakenly believed the author might be deceased. “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” Twain tells the reporter.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. Among his novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the latter often called “The Great American Novel”.
Lived: Nov 30, 1835 – Apr 21, 1910 (age 74)
Height: 5′ 9″ (1.74 m)
Spouse: Olivia Langdon Clemens (m. 1870 – 1904)
Children: Langdon Clemens (Son) · Clara Clemens (Daughter) · Jean Clemens (Daughter) · Susy Clemens (Daughter)
Buried: Woodlawn Cemetery
Siblings: Orion Clemens (Brother) · Henry Clemens (Brother) · Benjamin Clemens (Brother) · Pamela Clemens (Sister) · Margaret Clemens (Sister) · Pleasant Clemens (Brother)
Highlights
  • 1864: Twain moved to San Francisco in 1864, still as a journalist, and met writers such as Bret Harte and Artemus Ward.

  • 1865: His humorous story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, was published in 1865, based on a story that he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California where he had spent some time as a miner.

  • 1870: She rejected his first marriage proposal, but they were married in Elmira, New York in February 1870, where he courted her and managed to overcome her father’s initial reluctance.

  • 1861: He had unsuccessfully attempted to secure the rights for The Prince and the Pauper in 1881, in conjunction with his Montreal trip.

  • 1901: A subsequent article, “To My Missionary Critics” published in The North American Review in April 1901, unapologetically continues his attack, but with the focus shifted from Ament to his missionary superiors, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

  • 1910: Twain’s prediction was accurate; he died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910 in Redding, Connecticut, one day after the comet’s closest approach to Earth.

wiki/Mark_Twain
Undated photograph of Luigi Galleani (Public Domain)(1919) Anarchist bombs explode in eight US cities
Operatives of Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani detonate package bombs in eight cities, causing property destruction and two deaths. The future US president and his wife, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, narrowly escape a blast, having walked by a package moments before it detonated.
The 1919 United States anarchist bombings were a series of bombings and attempted bombings carried out by anarchist followers of Luigi Galleani from April through June 1919. These bombings led to the Red Scare of 1919–20.
Palmer Bombing

wiki/1919_United_States_anarchist_bombings
Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey during her coronation on June 2, 1953 (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1953) A young queen is crowned in Westminster Abbey
In the first major event to be televised internationally, Elizabeth Windsor, 25, is crowned Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Sixteen months in preparation, the coronation hosts 8,000 guests to witness the ceremony from inside London’s Westminster Abbey, while millions across Europe watch on live TV.
The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II as monarch of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth ascended the throne at the age of 25, upon the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952, and was proclaimed queen by her various privy and executive councils shortly afterwards. The coronation took place more than a year later because of the tradition that holding such a festival is inappropriate during the period of mourning that follows the death of a monarch. During the service, she took and subscribed an oath to, among other things, govern the peoples according to their respective laws and customs, was anointed with holy oil, presented and invested with regalia, and crowned.
Date: Jun 02, 1953

wiki/Coronation_of_Queen_Elizabeth_II
Ken Jennings in the 'Jeopardy!' studio (© Jeopardy Productions via Getty Images)(2004) Ken Jennings begins ‘Jeopardy!’ streak
Contestant Ken Jennings wins on ‘Jeopardy!,’ beginning a 74-game streak that will net him about $2.5 million. He will finally lose nearly six months later, with an incorrect response to the Final Jeopardy! answer, ‘Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year.’
Kenneth Wayne “Ken” Jennings III is an American game show contestant and author. Jennings holds the record for the longest winning streak on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy! and as being the second highest-earning contestant in game show history. In 2004, Jennings won 74 Jeopardy! games before he was defeated by challenger Nancy Zerg on his 75th appearance. His total earnings on Jeopardy! are $3,196,300, consisting of $2,520,700 over his 74 wins, a $2,000 second-place prize in his 75th appearance, a $500,000 second-place prize in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions, a $100,000 win for second-place prize in the Jeopardy Battle of the Decades, as well as half of a $300,000 prize in the IBM Challenge, when he competed against Watson.
Born: May 23, 1974 (age 43) · Edmonds, WA
Net worth: $4 million USD (2017)
Spouse: Mindy Jennings
Education: Brigham Young University · University of Washington · Seoul Foreign School
Children: Dylan Jennings (Son)

wiki/Ken_Jennings
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Today in History 04/01/17

1857 ticket to the 'Washing of the lions' (Public domain)(1698) April fools flock to the Tower of London
Several gullible people are sent to the Tower of London to see the “washing of the lions” (a nonexistent practice), as will be reported April 2 by a London newspaper. The prank will endure for centuries, making clear that the tradition of tricking dupes on April 1 is becoming increasingly popular.
April Fools’ Day is celebrated every year on April 1 by playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes. The jokes and their victims are called April fools. People playing April Fool jokes expose their prank by shouting April Fool. Some newspapers, magazines, and other published media report fake stories, which are usually explained the next day or below the news section in small letters. Although popular since the 19th century, the day is not a public holiday in any country.
wiki/April_Fools’_Day
Official war photographers and SE 5a Scouts of No 1 Squadron, RAF at Clairmarais aerodrome near Ypres, France in 1918 (© 2nd Lt. D McLellan/IWM via Getty Images)(1918) Britain’s Royal Air Force is formed
Combing the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service, the RAF is the world’s largest air force. Formed at the tail end of World War I, the force will find its greatest glory 22 years later during the Battle of Britain.
The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom’s aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world. Following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history, in particular, playing a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain.
Website: www.raf.mod.uk
Founded: Apr 01, 1918
Founder: Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard
Subsidiary: Royal Air Force Air Cadets

wiki/Royal_Air_Force
German architect Walter Gropius in Berlin on May 15, 1933 standing in front of a drawing of one of his projects, a design for the Chicago Tribune building (© AP)(1919) Walter Gropius founds the Bauhaus school
Architect Walter Gropius opens the Bauhaus school in Weimar, Germany, to teach modernist art and design. Ideas that spring from the school will revolutionize the world’s aesthetic sense, from painting to textiles to architecture.
Staatliches Bauhaus, commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicised and taught.
Founded: 1919
Ceased operation: 1933
Founder: Walter Gropius

wiki/Bauhaus
Spanish people search through the rubble in Madrid where their homes once were, during the Spanish Civil War (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1939) Spanish Civil War ends
Almost three years after a coup against Spain’s elected leftist government sparked a bloody battle of ideologies, the country’s civil war is over and the right-leaning Nationalists, headed by General Francisco Franco, have won.
The Spanish Civil War, widely known in Spain simply as The Civil War or The War, took place from 1936 to 1939 and was fought between the Republicans, who were loyal to the democratic, left-leaning and relatively urban Second Spanish Republic in an alliance of convenience with the Anarchists, versus the Nationalists, a falangist, Carlist, and a largely aristocratic conservative group led by General Francisco Franco. Although the war is often portrayed as a struggle between democracy and fascism, some historians consider it more accurately described as a struggle between leftist revolution and rightist counter-revolution. Ultimately, the Nationalists won, and Franco then ruled Spain for the next 36 years, from April 1939 until his death in November 1975.
Start date: Jul 17, 1936
End date: Apr 01, 1939

wiki/Spanish_Civil_War
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Today in History 03/23/17

Painting of Patrick Henry delivering a speech before the House of Burgesses on March 23, 1775 (© Fotosearch/Getty Images)(1775) Patrick Henry makes a fiery bid for freedom
American lawyer Patrick Henry serves up rousing rhetoric at the House of Burgesses in Richmond, Virginia, as he makes his case for supporting military action against the British. Henry’s words “give me liberty or give me death” will resonate through the centuries.
“Give me liberty, or give me death!” is a quotation attributed to Patrick Henry from a speech he made to the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775, at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. He is credited with having swung the balance in convincing the convention to pass a resolution delivering Virginian troops for the Revolutionary War. Among the delegates to the convention were future U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.
wiki/Give_me_liberty,_or_give_me_death!
A view of Fort Clatsop near the mouth of the Columbia River, circa 1806 © Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)(1806) American explorers Lewis & Clark head for home
Having reached the Pacific Ocean the previous November, the expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark departs Fort Clatsop, in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River, to begin the formidable journey back to St. Louis, where they began two years earlier.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition from May 1804 to September 1806, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the first American expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States. It began near St. Louis, made its way westward, and passed through the continental divide to reach the Pacific coast. It comprised a selected group of U.S. Army volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend, Second Lieutenant William Clark.
Start date: May 14, 1804
End date: Sep 23, 1806

wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition
Italian statesman Benito Mussolini making a speech in Milan, Italy, circa 1920 (© Albert Harlingue/Roger Viollet/Getty Images)(1919) Mussolini establishes the Italian fascist movement
Breaking with socialism, WWI vet Benito Mussolini merges two organizations to found his own nationalist ideological movement, the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which will become the National Fascist Party. Now known as “Il Duce” (the leader), he will go on to align with Hitler as an Axis power in World War II.

Italian Fascism (Italian: Fascismo Italiano), also known simply as Fascism (Italian: Fascismo), is the original fascist ideology, as developed in Italy. The ideology is associated with the Fascist Revolutionary Party (PFR), founded in 1915, and the succeeding National Fascist Party (PNF) in 1921, which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party that ruled the Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945, the post-war Italian Social Movement and subsequent Italian neo-fascist movements.

Italian Fascism was rooted in Italian nationalism and the desire to restore and expand Italian territories, which Italian Fascists deemed necessary for a nation to assert its superiority and strength and to avoid succumbing to decay. Italian Fascists claimed that modern Italy is the heir to ancient Rome and its legacy, and historically supported the creation of an Italian Empire to provide spazio vitale (“living space”) for colonization by Italian settlers and to establish control over the Mediterranean Sea.

Italian Fascism promoted a corporatist economic system whereby employer and employee syndicates are linked together in associations to collectively represent the nation’s economic producers and work alongside the state to set national economic policy. This economic system intended to resolve class conflict through collaboration between the classes.

Italian Fascism opposed liberalism, especially “classical liberalism” that Mussolini and Fascist leaders denounced as “the debacle of individualism”, but rather than seeking a reactionary restoration of the pre-French Revolutionary world, which it considered to have been flawed, it had a forward-looking direction. It was opposed to Marxist socialism because of its typical opposition to nationalism, but was also opposed to the reactionary conservatism developed by Joseph de Maistre. It believed the success of Italian nationalism required respect for tradition and a clear sense of a shared past among the Italian people, alongside a commitment to a modernised Italy.


wiki/Italian_Fascism
US President Ronald Reagan is flanked by physicist Dr. Edward Teller (left) and Lt. Gen. James Abrahamson, director of Strategic Defense Initiative, as he arrives to address a conference marking the first five years of his 'Star Wars' missile defense program on March 14, 1988 (© Charles Tasnadi/AP)(1983) Reagan proposes ‘Star Wars’ missile defense
US President Ronald Reagan lays out plans for defensive orbiting lasers capable of intercepting and destroying incoming nuclear weapons. Derided by opponents as ‘Star Wars,’ the Strategic Defense Initiative will cost the US $30 billion, but it will never be fully developed or deployed.

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons (intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles). The system, which was to combine ground-based units and orbital deployment platforms, was first publicly announced by President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic offense doctrine of mutual assured destruction (MAD). The Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) was set up in 1984 within the United States Department of Defense to oversee the Strategic Defense Initiative.

Reagan was a vocal critic of MAD doctrine. SDI was an important part of his defense policy intended to end MAD as a nuclear deterrence strategy, as well as a strategic initiative to neutralize the military component of the Soviet Union’s nuclear defenses.

The ambitious initiative was criticized for allegedly threatening to destabilize the MAD-approach and to possibly re-ignite “an offensive arms race”. SDI was nicknamed largely in the mainstream media as “Star Wars”, after the popular 1977 film by George Lucas. In 1987, the American Physical Society concluded that a global shield such as “Star Wars” was extremely ambitious and with existing technology not directly feasible for operational status, and that about ten more years of research was needed to learn about such a comprehensive and complex system to set up and make it fully operational.

Under the SDIO’s Innovative Sciences and Technology Office, headed by physicist and engineer Dr. James Ionson, the investment was predominantly made in basic research at national laboratories, universities, and in industry; these programs have continued to be key sources of funding for top research scientists in the fields of high-energy physics, supercomputing/computation, advanced materials, and many other critical science and engineering disciplines—funding which indirectly supports other research work by top scientists, and which was most politically viable to fund within the budget environment.

Laser research funded by the SDI office was disclosed at laser conferences that also included panel discussions on the subject with the participation of James Ionson, Edward Teller, and other prominent advocates of SDI.

During the administration of President Bill Clinton in 1993, the SDIO’s name was changed to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and its focus shifted from national missile defense to theater missile defense; and its scope from global to more regional coverage.[citation needed] It was never truly developed or deployed, though certain aspects of SDI research and technologies paved the way for some anti-ballistic missile systems of today.[citation needed] BMDO was renamed to the Missile Defense Agency in 2002. This article covers defense efforts under the SDIO.

Today, the United States holds a significant advantage in the field of comprehensive advanced missile defense systems through years of extensive research and testing. The US and the UK also have both laser weapons and 360 degree laser shields in development, which are expected to be ready for military use as early as 2020. Many of the obtained technological insights were transferred to subsequent programs and would find use in follow-up programs.


wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative
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Today in History 02/05/17

Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, is greeted by Native American Indians circa 1636 (© Getty Images)(1631) Religious pluralist Roger Williams lands in America
Roger Williams arrives in Boston from England, and will become a proponent of the separation between church and state. He’ll also found the state of Rhode Island and America’s first Baptist church.
Roger Williams was a Puritan, an English Reformed theologian, and later a Reformed Baptist who was expelled by the Puritan leaders from the colony of Massachusetts because they thought that he was spreading “new and dangerous ideas” to his congregants. Williams fled the Massachusetts colony under the threat of impending arrest and shipment to an English prison; he began the settlement of Providence Plantation in 1636 as a refuge offering freedom of conscience.
Lived: 1603 – Mar 1683
Spouse: Mary Barnard (m. 1629 – 1676)
Children: Freeborn Williams (Daughter) · Daniel Williams (Son) · Joseph Williams (Son) · Mercy Williams (Daughter) · Mary Williams (Daughter) · Providence Williams
Education: University of Cambridge · Pembroke College, Cambridge
Parents: James Williams · Alice Williams
Nominations: British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series (2002)
Highlights
  • 1629: Williams also married Mary Barnard (1609–76) on December 15, 1629 at the Church of High Laver, Essex, England.

  • 1634: In August 1634, Williams became acting pastor of the Salem church, the Rev. Skelton having died, and continued to be embroiled in controversies.

  • 1635: Finally, in October 1635, the General Court tried Williams and convicted him of sedition and heresy.

  • 1636: He was expelled by the Puritan leaders from the colony of Massachusetts because they thought that he was spreading “new and dangerous ideas”, so he began the colony of Providence Plantation in 1636 which provided a refuge for religious minorities.

  • 1644: Williams secured his precious charter from Parliament for “Providence Plantations” in July 1644, then published his most famous book The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience.

  • 1647: Because of William Coddington’s opposition on Rhode Island, it took Williams until 1647 to get the four towns around Narragansett Bay to unite under a single government.

wiki/Roger_Williams
Plastic objects made from phenol formaldehyde, marketed as bakelite, between 1920 and 1939 (© SSPL/Getty Images)(1909) Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic, is announced
Leo Baekeland, a Belgian-born chemist working in New York, announces his invention of the world’s first manmade plastic material, naming it Bakelite. It will help launch the plastics revolution.
Bakelite, or polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, is an early plastic. It is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. It was developed by the Belgian-American chemist Leo Baekeland in Yonkers, New York, in 1907.
Inventor: Leo Baekeland

wiki/Bakelite
(From left) Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks on the day they formed the United Artists corporation (© opical Press Agency/Getty Images)(1919) A powerhouse Hollywood quartet forms United Artists
Seeking artistic freedom and greater monetary rewards, director D.W. Griffith and actors Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks form their own production studio, United Artists.
United Artists is an American film and television entertainment studio. The studio was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks with the intention of controlling their own interests rather than depending upon commercial studios. The studio was repeatedly bought, sold and restructured over the ensuing century.
Website: www.unitedartists.com
Founded: Feb 05, 1919
CEO: Mark Burnett
Founders: Charlie Chaplin · Mary Pickford · Douglas Fairbanks · D.W. Griffith
Headquarters: Beverly Hills, CA
Awards: Country Music Association Award for Album of the Year (1979) · Razzie Award for Worst Picture (1996) · Razzie Award for Worst Picture of the Decade (2000) · Satellite Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Nominations: Country Music Association Award for Album of the Year · Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel · Razzie Award for Worst Picture · Razzie Award for Worst Drama of Our First 25 Years

wiki/United_Artists
Customers buying sweets in a United Kingdom shop after rationing ended in 1953 (© Grace Robertson/Picture Post/Getty Images)(1953) Britain’s sweets rationing comes to an end
In place since the start of WWII, sweets rationing limited the amount of sugary goods the public could buy. The first day of unrationed sweets sees a run on toffee apples, nougat sticks, and licorice strips.
Rationing was introduced temporarily by the British government several times during the 20th century, during and immediately after a war. At the start of the Second World War in 1939, the United Kingdom imported 20 million long tons of food per year, including about 70% of its cheese and sugar, nearly 80% of fruits and about 70% of cereals and fats. The U.K. also imported more than 50% of its meat and relied heavily on imported feed to support its domestic meat production. The civilian population of the country was about 50 million. It was one of the principal strategies of the Germans to attack shipping bound for Britain, restricting British industry and potentially starving the nation into submission.
To deal with sometimes extreme shortages, the Ministry of Food instituted a system of rationing. To buy most rationed items, each person had to register at chosen shops, and was provided with a ration book containing coupons. The shopkeeper was provided with enough food for registered customers. Purchasers had to take ration books with them when shopping, so the relevant coupon or coupons could be cancelled.
wiki/Rationing_in_the_United_Kingdom
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