1922

Today in History 11/04 (Iran Hostage Crisis)

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One of the hostages seized when radicals stormed the US embassy in Tehran with hostage takers on November 9, 1979 (© AP)(1979) Militants storm US Embassy in Tehran, take US hostages
The militants demand the US return the Shah of Iran, who’d fled after being overthrown in the Islamic Revolution. US President Carter refuses to “yield to blackmail” and imposes an Iran oil embargo. The hostages will remain in captivity for 444 days.
The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic standoff between Iran and the United States of America. Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981, after a group of Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam’s Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. It stands as the longest hostage crisis in recorded history.
Start date: Nov 04, 1979
End date: Jan 20, 1981

Iran hostage crisis - Iraninan students comes up U.S. embassy in Tehran
Iran hostage crisis – Iraninan students comes up U.S. embassy in Tehran
wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis
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(1979) Militants storm US Embassy in Tehran, take US hostages.
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1922 | Tut’s tomb discovered as British archeologist finds the entrance to King Tut’s tomb
After years of scouring the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, archeologist Howard Carter unearths hidden steps down to the sealed tomb of King Tutankhamun, the boy king. When he unseals the tomb in a few months, it will turn out to be remarkably intact, its riches hidden for over 3,000 years.
1928 | Fatal shooting in NYC as NY gambler, racketeer Arnold ‘the brain’ Rothstein shot
Arnold ‘the Brain’ Rothstein, a businessman and gambler known as a leader of the Jewish mob and tied to fixing sporting events, is shot at a Manhattan hotel. The shooting is reportedly related to debts from a poker game. He will die from his wounds two days later.
2008 | Barack Obama elected first black president in US
After a tough primary race against Hillary Clinton, Obama beats John McCain in the general election and makes history as the first African-American president. Obama’s promise of hope and his slogan “Change We Can Believe In” seem to register with voters, who give him a decisive victory.

Today in History 11/04/17

President-elect Barack Obama gives his victory speech to supporters during an election night gathering in Grant Park on November 4, 2008, in Chicago (© Scott Olson/Getty Images)(2008) Barack Obama elected first black president in US
After a tough primary race against Hillary Clinton, Obama beats John McCain in the general election and makes history as the first African-American president. Obama's promise of hope and his slogan "Change We Can Believe In" seem to register with voters, who give him a decisive victory.
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. Democratic Party nominees Barack Obama, a U.S. Senator from Illinois, and his running mate Joe Biden, a long-time U.S. Senator from Delaware, defeated Republican Party nominees John McCain, a long-time and current U.S. Senator from Arizona, and his running mate Sarah Palin, a Governor of Alaska. Obama became the first African American ever to be elected president of the United States, and Joe Biden became the first Roman Catholic ever elected vice president.
Election year: Nov 04, 2008

Electoral College 2008
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes those won by Obama/Biden, red denotes states won by McCain/Palin. Numbers indicate electoral votes allotted to the winner of each state.

wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008
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Today in History 10/18 (BBC Founded)

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An early BBC broadcasting station at Savoy Hill in London in 1924 (© Central Press/Getty Images)(1922) The ‘Beeb’ begins its broadcasting reign
After two years of government and military control over a new innovation, radio broadcasting, the British public wants entertainment over their airwaves, and following hundreds of license requests and thousands of petition signatures, the British Broadcasting Company, or BBC, is founded.
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in Westminster, London and it is the world’s oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total, 16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting. The total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed-contract staff are included.
Website: www.bbc.co.uk
Customer service: +44 370 410 1060
Founded: Oct 18, 1922 · London, England
Revenue: £4.95 billion GBP
Headquarters: London, England
Founder: John Reith, 1st Baron Reith
Subsidiaries: BBC Worldwide · BBC Symphony Orchestra · BBC Philharmonic · BBC Sport · BBC One · BBC National Orchestra of Wales · BBC Two · BBC News · BBC World News · BBC Three · BBC Concert Orchestra · BBC Four · BBC Films · CBeebies · BBC HD

King George V making his annual Christmas Broadcast to the nation 1934.
King George V giving the 1934 Royal Christmas Message on BBC Radio. The annual message typically chronicles the year’s major events.
wiki/BBC
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(1922) The ‘Beeb’ begins its broadcasting reign.
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1851 | Tale of a white whale surfaces in England as ‘Moby-Dick’ published
A London publisher releases a 927-page epic sea yarn, ‘The Whale,’ by American author Herman Melville. The US edition will be published a month later, almost 300 pages shorter, and re-titled ‘Moby-Dick.’ What will later be hailed as one of the greatest novels ever written will initially sell poorly.
1945 | Argentina’s future president marries Evita as Juan and Eva marry
Actress Maria Eva Duarte stands with Colonel Juan Perón as they exchange wedding vows. Less than a year later Perón will be Argentina’s president and his wife First Lady, where she will rise to prominence on the world stage known better by her affectionate nickname, Evita.
1968 | Olympic athletes ousted as ‘Black Power’ salutes lead to Olympic suspensions
Two days after sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood atop the Olympic medal stand and raised their fists in a ‘Black Power’ salute, they are suspended from the US team and banned from Mexico City’s Olympic village. Their civil rights protest draws both criticism and praise.

Today in History 10/18/17

US athletes Tommie Smith, center, and John Carlos extend gloved hands skyward in racial protest during the medal ceremony at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City (© AP)(1968) 'Black Power' salutes lead to Olympic suspensions
Two days after sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood atop the Olympic medal stand and raised their fists in a 'Black Power' salute, they are suspended from the US team and banned from Mexico City's Olympic village. Their civil rights protest draws both criticism and praise.
The 1968 Olympics Black Power salute was a political demonstration conducted by African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos during their medal ceremony at the 1968 Summer Olympics in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City. After having won gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the 200-meter running event, they turned on the podium to face their flags, and to hear the American national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner". Each athlete raised a black-gloved fist, and kept them raised until the anthem had finished. In addition, Smith, Carlos, and Australian silver medalist Peter Norman all wore human rights badges on their jackets. In his autobiography, Silent Gesture, Smith stated that the gesture was not a "Black Power" salute, but a "human rights salute". The event is regarded as one of the most overtly political statements in the history of the modern Olympic Games.
Date: Oct 16, 1968
John Carlos, Tommie Smith, Peter Norman 1968
Gold medalist Tommie Smith (center) and bronze medalist John Carlos (right) showing the raised fist on the podium after the 200 m race at the 1968 Summer Olympics; both wear Olympic Project for Human Rights badges. Peter Norman (silver medalist, left) from Australia also wears an OPHR badge in solidarity with Smith and Carlos.

wiki/1968_Olympics_Black_Power_salute
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Today in History 12/30/17

Flag of the Soviet Union (© David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)(1922) The Soviet Union is founded
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or Soviet Union, becomes the first Marxist country in the world, following the October Revolution and the grueling Civil War that ended the Russian Empire. The USSR comprises a federation of Russia, Belorussia, Ukraine, and the Transcaucasian Federation, but will grow larger still.
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, abbreviated as USSR, was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized. The country was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The Russian nation had constitutionally equal status among the many nations of the union but exerted de facto dominance in various respects. Other major urban centres were Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Alma-Ata and Novosibirsk. The Soviet Union was one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possessed the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. It was a founding permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, as well as a member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the leading member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact.
Dissolved: Dec 26, 1991
Population: 293.05 million (1991)
Official language: Russian
Area: 8.65 million sq miles (22.40 million km²)
Calling code: 7
Capital: Moscow

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (orthographic projection)
Location of the Soviet Union

wiki/Soviet_Union
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Today in History 06/27/17

Drawing of King George II at the battle of Dettingen in 1743 (© The Print Collector/Getty Images)(1743) A British monarch leads troops into battle for the last time
England’s 60-year-old King George II leads 25 squadrons of British and Hanoverian cavalry into the Battle of Dettingen against a French army confident it will defeat their foe in the larger War of the Austrian Succession. George will be the last British monarch to lead a battle.
The Battle of Dettingen took place on 27 June 1743 at Dettingen on the River Main, Germany, during the War of the Austrian Succession. The British forces, in alliance with those of Hanover and Hesse, defeated a French army under the duc de Noailles. George II commanded his troops in the battle, and this marked the last time a British monarch personally led his troops on the field. The battle straddled the river about 18 miles east of Frankfurt, with guns on the Hessian bank but most of the combat on the flat Bavarian bank. The village of Dettingen is today the town of Karlstein am Main, in the extreme northwest of Bavaria.
Date: Jun 27, 1743

wiki/Battle_of_Dettingen
The J. Geils Band performs at the final show at the Fillmore East (© Thomas Monaster/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images)(1971) Legendary New York concert venue shuts its doors
Concert promoter Bill Graham hosts the final show at the Fillmore East, with performances by Albert King, The J. Geils Band, The Beach Boys, and The Allman Brothers Band, among others. The venue had featured iconic acts since 1968 but proved to be too small for the growing concert industry .
Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham’s rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the Lower East Side neighborhood, now called the East Village neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan of New York City. It was open from March 8, 1968 to June 27, 1971 and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time. The Fillmore East was a companion to Graham’s Fillmore Auditorium, and its successor, the Fillmore West, in San Francisco, Graham’s home base.
Opened: Mar 08, 1968
Closed: Jun 27, 1971
Capacity: 2,654

wiki/Fillmore_East
Nolan Bushnell, one of the founders of the Atari gaming system, in 1986 (© Ed Kashi/Corbis)(1972) Computer gaming’s groundbreaking gang forms Atari
Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, designers of the first arcade video game, ‘Computer Space,’ incorporate their new firm, Atari. It will help transform the industry as Atari’s design engineer Al Alcorn gets things rolling, or at least gliding, with his first creation, ‘Pong.’
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972, currently by Atari Interactive, a subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA. The original Atari, Inc. founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and home computers. The company’s products, such as Pong and the Atari 2600, helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s.
Founded: 1972 · Sunnyvale, CA
Headquarters: New York, NY
Founder: Nolan Bushnell
Subsidiaries: Fox Interactive · Krome Studios Melbourne · Paradigm Entertainment · Cryptic Studios · GT Interactive Software Europe Ltd. · GT Interactive Software GmbH · R New UK Studio ltd · GT Interactive Software France SARL · GT Interactive Europe Holdings BV
Atari Logo

wiki/Atari
Route 66 sign in New Mexico (© Susan Montoya Bryan/AP)(1985) America’s legendary ‘Mother Road’ is no more
It’s too late to get hip to timely Route 66 tips, as the once heavily travelled highway spanning the US heartland from Chicago to L.A. (California) is officially decertified. Formerly stretching more than 2,000 miles, the giant US interstate highway system now renders the route obsolete.
U.S. Route 66, also known as the Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street of America or the Mother Road, was one of the original highways within the U.S. Highway System. US 66 was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending at Santa Monica, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles. It was recognized in popular culture by both the hit song Route 66″ and the Route 66 television show in the 1960s.
Length: 2,451 miles (3,945 km)
Formed: Nov 11, 1926
Major cities: Oatman · Santa Monica · Groom · Flagstaff · Amarillo · Chicago · Albuquerque · Kingman · Springfield · Los Angeles · San Bernardino · Needles · Barstow · Oklahoma City · Amboy
US 66 Route

wiki/U.S._Route_66
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Today in History 02/02/17

Illustration of New Amsterdam in the 17th century (© Stock Montage/Getty Images)(1653) New Amsterdam, now New York City, is incorporated
A settlement surrounding Fort Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan Island receives municipal rights from its Dutch owners. The English consider New Amsterdam to be a problematic trading post.
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, which served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The factorij became a settlement outside of Fort Amsterdam. Situated on the strategic, fortifiable southern tip of the island of Manhattan, the fort was meant to defend the Dutch West India Company’s fur trade operations in the North River. In 1624 it became a provincial extension of the Dutch Republic and was designated as the capital of the province in 1625.
wiki/New_Amsterdam
File photo of James Joyce's first edition of 'Ulysses' and his original manuscript (© Dan Loh/AP)(1922) James Joyce’s novel ‘Ulysses’ published
On his 40th birthday, Dublin-born author James Joyce sees his modernist novel ‘Ulysses’ released by Paris publisher Sylvia Beach. It will revolutionize fiction writing, but also lead to an obscenity trial.
Ulysses is a modernist novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach in February 1922, in Paris. It is considered to be one of the most important works of modernist literature, and has been called “a demonstration and summation of the entire movement”. According to Declan Kiberd, “Before Joyce, no writer of fiction had so foregrounded the process of thinking.”
Author: James Joyce
First published: Feb 02, 1922
ATOS reading level: 7.50
Followed by: Finnegans Wake
Characters: Molly Bloom · Leopold Bloom · Blazes Boylan · Patrick “Paddy” Dignam · Milly Bloom · Gerty MacDowell · Simon Dedalus · Stephen Dedalus · Buck Mulligan · Garrett Deasy · D. B. Murphy · Father John Conmee
Preceded by: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

wiki/Ulysses_(novel)
Major General Idi Amin, the new military leader of Uganda gives his first press conference in Kampala, Jan. 26, 1971 (© Brian Calvert/AP)(1971) General Idi Amin becomes Uganda’s leader in coup
Having overthrown President Milton Obote in a coup the previous week, General Idi Amin consolidates power, naming himself head of the armed forces and president of Uganda. He will initiate brutal political and ethnic slaughter, resulting in 500,000 deaths according to Amnesty International.
Idi Amin Dada was the third president of Uganda, ruling from 1971 to 1979. Amin in 1946 joined the King’s African Rifles, a British colonial regiment, serving in Kenya and Uganda. Eventually, Amin held the rank of major general in the post-colonial Uganda People’s Defense Force and became its commander before seizing power in the military coup of January 1971 that deposed Milton Obote. While he was head of state, he promoted himself to field marshal.
Lived: 1923 – Aug 16, 2003
Height: 6′ 4″ (1.93 m)
Spouse: Sarah Kyolaba (m. 1975 – 2003) · Madina Amin (m. 1972 – 2003) · Nora Amin (m. 1967 – 1974) · Malyamu Amin (m. 1966 – 1974) · Kay Amin (m. 1966 – 1974)
Movies: General Idi Amin Dada
Previous offices: President for Life (1976 – 1979) · President of Uganda (1971 – 1979)
Children: Maimuna Amin (Daughter) · Kato Amin (Son) · Ali Amin (Son) · Mwanga Amin (Son) · Hussein Amin (Son) · Iman Aminu (Daughter) · Taban Amin (Son) · Wasswa Amin (Son) · Jaffar Amin (Son) · Moses Amin
Highlights
  • 1966: He married his first and second wives, Malyamu and Kay, in 1966.

  • 1971: Having learned that Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, Amin seized power in a military coup on 25 January 1971, while Obote was attending a Commonwealth summit meeting in Singapore.

  • 1972: Amin retaliated against the attempted invasion by Ugandan exiles in 1972, by purging the army of Obote supporters, predominantly those from the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups.

  • 1975: It was a British comedy album parodying Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, released in 1975 on Transatlantic Records.

  • 1980: Brian Barron, who covered the Uganda–Tanzania war for the BBC as chief Africa correspondent, together with cameraman Mohamed Amin of Visnews in Nairobi, located Amin in 1980, and secured the first interview with him since his deposition.

  • 2003: Amin’s family decided to disconnect life support and Amin died at the hospital in Jeddah on 16 August 2003.

wiki/Idi_Amin
South African State President F.W. de Klerk, announces the unconditional release of jailed ANC leader Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the ANC, PAC, and South African Communist party in Cape Town, South Africa, on Feb. 2, 1990 (© Dana Le Roux-Argus/AP)(1990) Ban on anti-apartheid groups lifted, Nelson Mandela promised freedom
South African President F.W. de Klerk outlines sweeping reforms in a parliamentary speech, setting the stage for the dismantling of apartheid. The reforms lift bans on anti-apartheid groups and promise the release of political prisoner Nelson Mandela.
Frederik Willem de Klerk is a South African politician who served as the country’s State President from August 1989 to May 1994. He was the seventh and last head of state of South Africa under the apartheid era. De Klerk was also leader of the National Party from February 1989 to September 1997.
Born: Mar 18, 1936 (age 80) · Johannesburg, South Africa
Height: 5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
Spouse: Elita Georgiades (m. 1998) · Marike de Klerk (m. 1959 – 1998)
Previous offices: Deputy President of South Africa (1994 – 1996) · State President of South Africa (1989 – 1994) · State President of South Africa (1989 – 1994)
Awards: Nobel Peace Prize (1993) · Time Person of the Year (1993) · Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize (1991) · Philadelphia Liberty Medal (1993) · Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation
Parties: National Party · New National Party
Highlights
  • 1990: A couple of months later, in February 1990, he suddenly lifted the bans on the African National Congress (ANC) and the Communist Party of South Africa, released Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners.

  • 1996: He was one of the deputy presidents of South Africa during the presidency of Nelson Mandela until 1996, and is the most recent white South African and Afrikaner to have held the position.

  • 1998: F.W. de Klerk married Elita Georgiades on November 07, 1998.

  • 1999: In 1999, de Klerk established the pro-peace FW de Klerk Foundation of which he is the chairman.

  • 2001: On 4 December 2001, Marike de Klerk was found stabbed and strangled to death in her Cape Town flat.

  • 2003: On 15 May 2003, he received two life sentences for murder, as well as three years for breaking into Marike de Klerk’s apartment.

wiki/F._W._de_Klerk
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