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Today in History 06/30/17

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Painting of King Henry II of France (© Hulton Fine Art Collection/Getty Images)(1559) A knightly sport claims a king
France’s King Henry II is celebrating both his daughter’s wedding and peace with the Habsburgs in one of his favorite ways, by jousting. This will be his final match, as a lance fragment strikes him in the head, killing him days later. The royal death will hasten the sport’s decline.
Henry II was a monarch of the House of Valois who ruled as King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder brother Francis III, Duke of Brittany, in 1536.
Lived: Mar 31, 1519 – Jul 10, 1559 (age 40)
Spouse: Catherine de’ Medici (m. 1533)
Children: Henry III of France (Son) · Elisabeth of Valois (Daughter) · Charles IX of France (Son) · Claude of France (Daughter) · Francis II of France (Son) · Francis, Duke of Anjou (Son) · Victoria of France (Daughter) · Louis of Valois (Son) · Margaret of Valois (Daughter) · Joan of France (Daughter) · Henri d’Angoulême (Son) · Diane de France (Daugh…
Parents: Francis I of France (Father) · Claude of France (Mother)
Siblings: Francis III, Duke of Brittany (Brother) · Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry (Sister)
Buried: Basilica of St Denis
Highlights
  • 1533: Henry married Catherine de’ Medici, a member of the ruling family of Florence, on 28 October 1533, when they were both fourteen years old.

  • 1536: The second son of Francis I, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder brother Francis III, Duke of Brittany, in 1536.

  • 1554: Henry captured the three episcopal cities of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and secured them by defeating the Habsburg army at the Battle of Renty in 1554.

  • 1556: After the abdication of Charles V in 1556, the Habsburg empire was split between Philip II of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I.

  • 1559: The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis was signed between Henry and Elizabeth I of England on 2 April and between Henry and Philip II of Spain on 3 April 1559 at Le Cateau-Cambrésis.

  • 1559: Despite the efforts of royal surgeon Ambroise Paré, the king died of septicemia on 10 July 1559.

wiki/Henry_II_of_France
Charles Blondin crossing Niagara Gorge on a tightrope in 1859 (© William England/Getty Images)(1859) A terrifying tightrope walk conquers the air above Niagara
French daredevil ‘The Great Blondin’ steps out onto a 2-inch-diameter, 1,300-foot hemp rope stretched 160-feet above a raging gorge, and 25,000 spectators hold their collective breath. Blondin will travel from America to Canada on the first tightrope walk over Niagara Falls.
Charles Blondin was a French tightrope walker and acrobat. Blondin was born on 28 February 1824 at St Omer, Pas-de-Calais, France. His real name was Jean-François Gravelet and he was known also by the names Charles Blondin, Jean-François Blondin and called the “Chevalier Blondin”, or simply “The Great Blondin”. At the age of five he was sent to the École de Gymnase at Lyon and, after six months training as an acrobat, made his first public appearance as “The boy Wonder”. His superior skill and grace, as well as the originality of the settings of his acts, made him a popular favourite. He first married Marie Blancherie, and at the same time legitimised their son Aime Leopold. It is not known what happened to his French family after he went to America.
Born: Feb 28, 1824 · Saint-Omer, France
Died: Feb 22, 1897
Highlights
  • 1824: Blondin was born on 28 February 1824 at St Omer, Pas-de-Calais, France.

  • 1861: In 1861, Blondin first appeared in London, at the Crystal Palace, turning somersaults on stilts on a rope stretched across the central transept, 70 feet (21 m) from the ground.

  • 1862: In 1862, he again gave a series of performances at the Crystal Palace, and elsewhere in England, and on the continent of Europe.

  • 1866: While he was living in England he and Charlotte had two more children, Henry, born about 1863, and Charlotte Mary Janet, baptised on 25 April 1866.

  • 1873: On 6 September 1873, Blondin crossed Edgbaston Reservoir in Birmingham.

  • 1897: Blondin died of diabetes at his “Niagara House” in Ealing, London, on 22 February 1897, in his 73rd year, and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.

wiki/Charles_Blondin
(From left) Adolf Hitler with SA leader Ernst Röhm circa 1933 (© Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)(1934) Hitler orders a purge of potential political rivals
Turning his homicidal paranoia inwards, Adolph Hitler sends execution squads to eliminate hundreds of Nazi Party members he deems a threat to his future domination. The SS and Gestapo secret police inflict the Night of the Long Knives mostly on members of the SA, or Stormtroopers.
The Night of the Long Knives, also called Operation Hummingbird or, in Germany, the Röhm Putsch, was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate Hitler’s absolute hold on power in Germany. Many of those killed were leaders of the SA, the Nazis’ own paramilitary Brownshirts organization; the best-known victim was Ernst Röhm, the SA’s leader and one of Hitler’s longtime supporters and allies. Leading members of the left-wing Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party, along with its figurehead, Gregor Strasser, were also killed, as were establishment conservatives and anti-Nazis. The murders of Brownshirt leaders were also intended to improve the image of the Hitler government with a German public that was increasingly critical of thuggish Brownshirt tactics.
Start date: Jun 30, 1934
End date: Jul 02, 1934
Night of the Long Knives

wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives
1953 Chevrolet Corvette (© Heritage Images/Getty Images)(1953) First Chevrolet Corvette rolls off the line
The first Corvette is built in Flint, Michigan. The ‘Vette had been designed solely for the 1953 New York Auto Show, but enthusiasm from the public and Chevy ‘s chief engineer led to production of this consumer model. It will become an iconic sports car, with the one millionth Corvette being produced in 1992.
The Chevrolet Corvette, known colloquially as the Vette, or Chevy Corvette, is a sports car manufactured by Chevrolet. The car has been produced through seven generations. The first model, a convertible, was introduced at the GM Motorama in 1953 as a concept show car. Myron Scott is credited for naming the car after the type of small, maneuverable warship called a corvette. Originally built in Flint, Michigan and St. Louis, Missouri, the Corvette is currently manufactured in Bowling Green, Kentucky and is the official sports car of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Corvette Wings

wiki/Chevrolet_Corvette
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Today in History 05/28/17

A total solar eclipse can be seen in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway, on March 20, 2015 (© Haakon Mosvold Larsen/AFP/Getty Images)(585 BCE) A calendar-setting solar eclipse halts a Greek battle
Arguably the oldest historical event that can be precisely dated, the Eclipse of Thales is named after the Greek philosopher who’s said to have predicted the event. The eclipse is responsible for ending the Battle of Halys, as both sides are sufficiently spooked into a ceasefire.
The Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus accurately predicted a solar eclipse, according to The Histories of Herodotus. If Herodotus’s account is accurate, this eclipse is the earliest recorded as being known in advance of its occurrence. Many historians believe that the predicted eclipse was the solar eclipse of May 28, 585 BC. How exactly Thales predicted the eclipse remains uncertain; some historians claim the eclipse was never predicted at all. Others have argued for different dates.
Date: 585 BC
Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus (NASA's GSFC)

wiki/Eclipse_of_Thales
Painting detail of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry storming Fort Wagner (© MPI/Getty Images)(1863) African-American 54th Regiment sets off for glory
Amid much celebration, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment departs Boston heading for Beaufort, South Carolina. Although sendoffs of Union soldiers are a common sight, the 54th distinguishes itself as one of the first African-American regiments to join the conflict.
The 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the first African-American regiment organized in the northern states during the Civil War. Authorized by the Emancipation Proclamation, the regiment consisted of African-American enlisted men commanded by white officers.
Founded: 1863
Force: Union Army

wiki/54th_Massachusetts_Infantry_Regiment
Dionne quintuplets shown shortly after their birth in Corbeil, near Callander in northern Ontario, Canada, on May 28, 1934 (© AP Photo)(1934) Rare quintuplet birth leads to sensation and sadness
Ontario, Canada’s Dionne family welcomes five baby girls, an extremely rare multiple birth. All will survive to adulthood, but at four months old they’re made wards of the state, becoming a lucrative attraction while living, and being constantly observed, in a tourist park called ‘Quintland.’
The Dionne quintuplets are the first quintuplets known to have survived their infancy. The identical sisters were born in Canada, just outside Callander, Ontario, near the village of Corbeil. All five survived to adulthood.
Born: May 28, 1934 · Ontario, Canada
Died: Jun 23, 2001
Parents: Elzire Dionne · Oliva Edouard

wiki/Dionne_quintuplets
Peter Benenson, British founder of Amnesty International (© PA Archive/Press Association Images)(1961) ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’ shines a light for human rights
English lawyer Peter Benenson’s article in The Observer uncovers human rights abuses that fly under the world’s radar, and whose victims are usually powerless individuals speaking out against tyranny. The article will inspire such a response that Benenson will create Amnesty International within weeks.
Peter Benenson was a British lawyer and the founder of human rights group Amnesty International. Benenson refused all honours but in his 80s, largely to please his family, he accepted the Pride of Britain Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2001.
Lived: Jul 31, 1921 – Feb 25, 2005 (age 83)
Spouse: Susan Booth · Margaret Anderson
Founded: Amnesty International
Parents: Flora Solomon (Mother)
Education: University of Oxford · Eton College · Balliol College

wiki/Peter_Benenson
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Today in History 05/23/17

Privateer William Kidd hanging in chains at 'Execution Dock' in London, wood engraving of the early 19th century (© Archiv Gerstenberg/ullstein bild via Getty Images)(1701) Infamous privateer and possible pirate executed
Once a pirate hunter of great repute, and now convicted of piracy and treason himself, Scottish sailor Captain William Kidd is hung in London, his body then gibbeted over the River Thames as a gruesome warning to other would-be pirates.
William Kidd, also Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd was a Scottish sailor who was tried and executed for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean. Some modern historians deem his piratical reputation unjust.
Born: 1645 · Dundee, Scotland
Died: May 23, 1701 · Wapping, United Kingdom
Romance: Elizabeth Kidd · Sarah Kidd
Children: Sarah Latham (Daughter) · Elizabeth Troup (Daughter) · Henry Rousby (Son) · William Rousby (Son) · Christopher Rousby (Son)
Parents: John Kyd (Father) · Bessie Kidd
Highlights
  • 1691: On 16 May 1691, Kidd married Sarah Bradley Cox Oort, an English woman in her early twenties, who had already been twice widowed and was one of the wealthiest women in New York, largely because of her inheritance from her first husband.

  • 1696: In September 1696, Kidd weighed anchor and set course for the Cape of Good Hope.

  • 1697: Kidd killed one of his own crewmen on 30 October 1697.

  • 1698: On 1 April 1698, Kidd reached Madagascar.

  • 1701: He was hanged on 23 May 1701, at Execution Dock, Wapping, in London.

  • 1701: William Kidd died on May 23, 1701 in Wapping, United Kingdom.

wiki/William_Kidd
A lancer of the Northwest Mounted Police, 1875 (Public domain)(1873) North-West Mounted Police patrol the provinces
Riflemen on horseback are needed to maintain order in Canada’s newly acquired North-West Provinces, so the ‘North-West Mounted Rifles’ are founded. US officials will be wary of the militaristic name, so the force is renamed the North-West Mounted Police and, later, the ‘Royal Canadian Mounted Police.’
The North-West Mounted Police was a Canadian police force. It was established in 1873, and in 1904 the name was changed to Royal Northwest Mounted Police. In 1920 it merged with the Dominion Police to become the current Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Founded: 1873
Royal Canadian Mounted Police

wiki/North-West_Mounted_Police
Portrait of bank robbers and Bonnie Parker, circa 1933 (© Hulton Archive/Getty Image)(1934) Notorious outlaw couple gunned down in Louisiana
A stolen Ford Deluxe is met with a hail of bullets as it passes an ambush of lawmen lying in wait on a rural highway in Louisiana’s Bienville Parish. Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow’s car is hit by 130 rounds, and the FBI’s most wanted criminals are brought down after a 2-year manhunt.
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow a.k.a. Clyde Champion Barrow were American criminals who traveled the central United States with their gang during the Great Depression, robbing people and killing when cornered or confronted. At times, the gang included his older brother Buck Barrow and his wife Blanche, Raymond Hamilton, W. D. Jones, Joe Palmer, Ralph Fults, and Henry Methvin. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the “Public Enemy Era,” between 1931 and 1935. Though known today for their dozen-or-so bank robberies, the two preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations. The gang is believed to have killed at least nine police officers and several civilians. The couple were eventually ambushed and killed by law officers near the town of Sailes, in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Their reputation was revived and cemented in American pop folklore by Arthur Penn’s 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde.
wiki/Bonnie_and_Clyde
(From left) Keith Moon, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who in 1970 (© Harry Harris/AP)(1969) The Who release rock opera ‘Tommy’
The Who release the double-album rock opera ‘Tommy’—the story of a ‘deaf, dumb, and blind’ boy who finds redemption through pinball and becomes a spiritual leader. The album will go on to sell tens of millions of copies and be adapted as a film and a stage musical.
Tommy is the fourth studio album by the English rock band The Who, a double album first released in May 1969. The album was mostly composed by guitarist Pete Townshend as a rock opera that tells the story about a deaf, dumb and blind boy, including his experiences with life and his relationship with his family.
Tommy Album Cover
Release year: 1969
Genre: Rock, Classic Rock
Label: Geffen
Artists: The Who · London Symphony Orchestra
Adaptations: Tommy (1975) · The Who’s Tommy
Awards: Grammy Hall of Fame · Grammy Award for Best Recording Package

wiki/Tommy_(album)
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Today in History 12/01/16

Today in History
(1934) ‘Great Purge’ begins with assassination of Party leader
1934 Sergei Kirov is gunned down at Communist Party headquarters in Leningrad. Many suspect Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is behind the assassination, though a connection will not be proved. Kirov’s death, however, marks the beginning of Stalin’s ‘Great Purge,’ in which a million or more people will be executed..

Sergei Mironovich Kirov, born Kostrikov, was a prominent early Bolshevik leader in the Soviet Union. Kirov rose through the Communist Party ranks to become head of the party organization in Leningrad. On 1 December 1934, Kirov was shot and killed by a gunman at his offices in the Smolny Institute. Some historians place the blame for his assassination at the hands of Joseph Stalin and believe the NKVD organized his execution, but conclusive evidence for this claim remains lacking. Kirov’s death served as one of the pretexts for Stalin’s escalation of repression against dissident elements of the Party, and disarming of the Party (every Party member was issued with a revolver up to that time, when Stalin had them all taken away), culminating in the Great Purge of the late 1930s in which many of the Old Bolsheviks were arrested, expelled from the party, and executed. Complicity in Kirov’s assassination was a common charge to which the accused confessed in the show trials of the period.

— Source: wiki/Sergey_Kirov
(1955) Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man
Cops arrest the African-American seamstress for violating Montgomery, Alabama’s racial segregation laws that require black patrons to sit in the back of a bus and give up their seats to whites. The incident leads to a bus boycott, spearheaded by a young minister, Martin Luther King, Jr. . 1955

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African American civil rights activist, whom the United States Congress called “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”. Her birthday, February 4, and the day she was arrested, December 1, have both become Rosa Parks Day, commemorated in California and Missouri, and Ohio and Oregon.

Lived: Feb 04, 1913 – Oct 24, 2005 (age 92)
Height: 5′ 3″ (1.60 m)
Spouse: Raymond Parks (m. 1932 – 1977)
Parents: Leona McCauley (Mother) · James McCauley (Father)
Education: Highlander Folk School · Alabama State Teachers College for Negroes
TV shows: Touched by an Angel

Highlights

  • 1932: In 1932, Rosa married Raymond Parks, a barber from Montgomery.

  • 1943: In December 1943, Parks became active in the Civil Rights Movement, joined the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, and was elected secretary.

  • 1944: In 1944, in her capacity as secretary, she investigated the gang-rape of Recy Taylor, a black woman from Abbeville, Alabama.

  • 1955: On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake’s order to give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled.

  • 1992: In 1992, Parks published Rosa Parks: My Story, an autobiography aimed at younger readers, which recounts her life leading to her decision to keep her seat on the bus.

  • 2005: The lawsuit was settled on April 15, 2005 (six months and nine days before Parks’ death); OutKast, their producer and record labels paid Parks an undisclosed cash settlement.

— Source: wiki/Rosa_Parks
(1959) Treaty turns Antarctica into a scientific preserve
1959 Twelve countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a treaty that prohibits any military activity on Antarctica. The agreement stipulates that the continent will be used only for scientific research. It will be considered the first arms control agreement of the Cold War..

The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System, regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth’s only continent without a native human population. For the purposes of the treaty system, Antarctica is defined as all of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude. The treaty, entering into force in 1961 and having 53 parties as of 2016, sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bans military activity on that continent. The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War. The Antarctic Treaty Secretariat headquarters have been located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, since September 2004.

— Source: wiki/Antarctic_Treaty_System
(1990) Workers drill breakthrough hole in Chunnel project
England is now connected to the European mainland via a tunnel that runs deep under the English Channel. When it opens in 1994, the Chunnel project will have taken 13,000 workers about six years to complete the 31-mile long tunnel that stretches from the English town of Folkestone to Coquelles in France.. 1990

The Channel Tunnel is a 50.5-kilometre rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent, in the United Kingdom, with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais, near Calais in northern France, beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is 75 m deep. At 37.9 kilometres, the tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world, although the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is both longer overall at 53.85 kilometres and deeper at 240 metres below sea level. The speed limit for trains in the tunnel is 160 kilometres per hour.

Opened: 1994

— Source: wiki/Channel_Tunnel
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Today in History

Today in History
(1066) Anglo-Saxon rule ends as the Normans conquer England
1066 Almost three weeks after landing his invasion force in England, Duke William I of Normandy takes on King Harold II and his infantry at the Battle of Hastings. By sunset, the Anglo-Saxon Age ends and William the Conqueror’s Norman rule begins, with Harold dead and William soon to be crowned king. .

The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman conquest of England. It took place approximately 7 miles northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory.

Date: Oct 14, 1066

— Source: wiki/Battle_of_Hastings
(1934) Lux Soap lures listeners with drama on the airwaves
At 2:30 PM, the NBC Blue Network comes on the air from New York with ‘Seventh Heaven,’ an adaptation of the Broadway play and the first program in the new ‘Lux Radio Theatre’ show. The anthology series will become hugely popular and remain on the air for the next 20 years.. 1934

Lux Radio Theatre, sometimes spelled Lux Radio Theater, a long-run classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network; CBS Radio, and NBC Radio. Initially, the series adapted Broadway plays during its first two seasons before it began adapting films. These hour-long radio programs were performed live before studio audiences. The series became the most popular dramatic anthology series on radio, broadcast for more than 20 years and continued on television as the Lux Video Theatre through most of the 1950s. The primary sponsor of the show was Unilever through its Lux Soap brand.

First broadcast: Oct 14, 1934
Last broadcast: Jun 07, 1955

— Source: wiki/Lux_Radio_Theatre
(1947) Yeager’s got the right stuff to fly at Mach 1
1947 Former WWII fighter pilot Chuck Yeager flies an experimental Bell X-1 rocket plane at a supersonic speed that some experts believe will rip apart any aircraft. Yeager pushes it to Mach 1.07, faster than the speed of sound, and afterwards lands safely in the California desert. .

Charles Elwood “Chuck” Yeager is a former United States Air Force officer and record-setting test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight.

Born: Feb 13, 1923 (age 93) · Myra, WV

— Source: wiki/Chuck_Yeager
(1962) Missiles in Cuba bring the world to the brink
The Cold War burns hot as a US spy plane documents the first photographic evidence of Soviet nuclear warheads stockpiled in San Cristobal, Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida. What follows will be weeks of crisis negotiations between the US and USSR that bring the world perilously close to a nuclear exchange.. 1962

The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. Along with being televised worldwide, it was the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. In a TV address on October 22, 1962, President John Kennedy (1917-63) notified Americans about the presence of the missiles, explained his decision to enact a naval blockade around Cuba and made it clear the U.S. was prepared to use military force if necessary to neutralize this perceived threat to national security. Following this news, many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war. However, disaster was avoided when the U.S. agreed to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s (1894-1971) offer to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba. Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey.

Start date: Oct 16, 1962
End date: Oct 28, 1962
Extended: CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS |

— Source: wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis
— Additional Source: www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cuban-missile-crisis
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