1941

Today in History 07/19 (Great Fire of Rome)

Painting titled 'The Burning of Rome' (© Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)(64 CE) A blaze flares up in the twisting streets of Rome
The moon is full, the wind high, and when a fire breaks out in a shop stocking explosives, it soon whips into a conflagration in the narrow streets and packed neighborhoods of Rome. The fire will rage for six days, but contrary to popular belief, Emperor Nero will not fiddle around.
The Great Fire of Rome was an urban fire in July of the year AD 64. It caused widespread devastation in the city on 19 July, before being brought under control after six days. Differing accounts either blame Emperor Nero for initiating the fire or credit him with organizing measures to contain it and provide relief for refugees. According to Tacitus and later Christians, Nero blamed the devastation on the Christian community in the city, initiating the empire’s first persecution against the Christians.
Start date: 64 AD
End date: 64 AD

Nero's Torches (Christian Candlesticks)
Nero’s Torches by Henryk Siemiradzki. According to Tacitus, Nero targeted Christians as those responsible for the fire.
wiki/Great_Fire_of_Rome
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(64 CE) A blaze flares up in the twisting streets of Rome.
Also on this day,

1545 | Henry VIII’s ‘Mary Rose’ sinks while fighting the French
A massive English warship, the 800-ton Mary Rose, has given more than three decades of service to king and country when she is sunk in battle just off the Isle of Wight. The ship will be painstakingly raised from the deep and reconstructed as a breathtaking Tudor time capsule 437 years later.
1848 | Seneca Falls hosts a watershed moment in women’s rights
Crowds gather in Seneca Falls, New York, for the opening of a two-day Women’s Rights Convention, the first of its kind ever held in America. Prominent speakers, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, will call for equal rights for women, including the right to vote.
1941 | A cartoon cat and mouse get their names
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera release a new cartoon, ‘The Midnight Snack,’ featuring a cat named Tom and a mouse named Jerry. The characters had appeared in a previous cartoon as Jasper and Jinx. The new names will stick, and the feuding animals will appear in more than 150 shorts and several spinoffs.

Today in History 07/19/17

Elizabeth Cady Stanton with her sons, Daniel and Henry, in 1848 (Public domain)(1848) Seneca Falls hosts a watershed moment in women's rights
Crowds gather in Seneca Falls, New York, for the opening of a two-day Women's Rights Convention, the first of its kind ever held in America. Prominent speakers, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, will call for equal rights for women, including the right to vote.
The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman". Held in Seneca Falls, New York, it spanned two days over July 19–20, 1848. Attracting widespread attention, it was soon followed by other women's rights conventions, including the Rochester Women's Rights Convention in Rochester, New York, two weeks later. In 1850 the first in a series of annual National Women's Rights Conventions met in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Location: Seneca Falls (CDP), New York
Dates: Jul 19 - 20, 1848
Subject: Women's rights
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wiki/Seneca_Falls_Convention
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Today in History 03/19/18

Tuskegee Airmen studying maps before flying a fighter plane at Tuskegee Army Flying School, Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1942 (© Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images)(1941) Tuskegee Airmen squadron is activated
The 99th Pursuit Squadron is the first all-black unit in the US Army Air Corps. The squad of enlisted men will become the core of other black squadrons, collectively nicknamed the Tuskegee Airmen, that will go on to serve with great distinction in World War II’s North African and Italian campaigns.
The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African-American military pilots who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces. The name also applies to the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks and other support personnel.
Founded: 1941
Ceased operation: 1946
Force: United States Army Air Corps
Parent organization: United States Army Air Corps

Tuskegee Airmen - Circa May 1942 to Aug 1943
Tuskegee Airmen – Circa May 1942 to Aug 1943 Location unknown, likely Southern Italy or North Africa
wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen
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Today in History 12/11/17

Adolf Hitler speaking in Germany on December 11, 1941 (© Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)(1941) Germany and Italy declare war on the United States
Four days after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the two other Axis powers, Germany and Italy, declare war on the United States. The US responds in kind. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler declares that the three Axis powers “will continue in closest cooperation with a view to establishing a new and just order.”
On 11 December 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States declaration of war against the Japanese Empire, Nazi Germany declared war against the United States, in response to what was claimed to be a series of provocations by the United States government when the US was still officially neutral during World War II. The decision to declare war was made by Adolf Hitler, apparently offhand, almost without consultation. Later that day, the United States declared war on Germany.
Berlin, Reichstagssitzung, Rede Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler delivers a speech at the Kroll Opera House to the men of the Reichstag on the subject of Roosevelt and the war in the Pacific, declaring war on the United States. Next to Hitler in the government benches (from right to left) are Joachim von Ribbentrop, Erich Raeder, Walther von Brauchitsch, Wilhelm Keitel, Wilhelm Frick and Joseph Goebbels. In the second row (from right to left) are Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Walther Funk, Richard Walther Darré, Bernhard Rust, Hanns Kerrl, Hans Frank, Julius Dorpmüller, Arthur Seyss-Inquart and Fritz Todt. In the third row (from right to left) are Alfred Rosenberg, Otto Meißner and Johannes Popitz.

wiki/German_declaration_of_war_against_the_United_States_%281941%29
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Today in History 12/07/17

Smoke rises from the battleship USS Arizona as it sinks during a Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (© AP)(1941) Japanese warplanes attack Pearl Harbor in Hawaii
In a surprise, early-morning attack, 360 Japanese warplanes bomb the US Pacific naval fleet and in a two-hour assault kill about 2,400 Americans — almost half the casualties are aboard the battleship USS Arizona. The US will declare war on Japan the following day.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, led to the United States’ entry into World War II. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, and as Operation Z during its planning.
Date: Dec 07, 1941

Attack on Pearl Harbor Japanese planes view
Photograph taken from a Japanese plane during the torpedo attack on ships moored on both sides of Ford Island shortly after the beginning of the Pearl Harbor attack. View looks about east, with the supply depot, submarine base and fuel tank farm in the right center distance. A torpedo has just hit USS West Virginia on the far side of Ford Island (center). Other battleships moored nearby are (from left): Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee (inboard of West Virginia), Oklahoma (torpedoed and listing) alongside Maryland, and California. On the near side of Ford Island, to the left, are light cruisers Detroit and Raleigh, target and training ship Utah and seaplane tender Tangier. Raleigh and Utah have been torpedoed, and Utah is listing sharply to port. Japanese planes are visible in the right center (over Ford Island) and over the Navy Yard at right. U.S. Navy planes on the seaplane ramp are on fire. Japanese writing in the lower right states that the photograph was reproduced by authorization of the Navy Ministry.
wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor
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Today in History 03/19/17

Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia, 1936 (© Fox Photos/Getty Images)(1932) Australia’s Sydney Harbour Bridge opens
Up to 1 million citizens celebrate the opening of the magnificent new bridge spanning Sydney Harbour. Nicknamed ‘the coat hanger,’ it’s the world’s tallest steel arch bridge and the widest long-span bridge.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic image of Sydney, and Australia. The bridge is nicknamed “The Coathanger” because of its arch-based design.
Address: Cumberland Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2000
Opened: Mar 19, 1932
Length: 3,770 feet (1,149 m)
Width: 161 feet (49 m)
Longest span: 1,650 feet (503 m)
Clearance below: 161 feet (49 m)

wiki/Sydney_Harbour_Bridge
Tuskegee Airmen studying maps before flying a fighter plane at Tuskegee Army Flying School, Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1942 (© Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images)(1941) Tuskegee Airmen squadron is activated
The 99th Pursuit Squadron is the first all-black unit in the US Army Air Corps. The squad of enlisted men will become the core of other black squadrons, collectively nicknamed the Tuskegee Airmen, that will go on to serve with great distinction in World War II’s North African and Italian campaigns.

The Tuskegee Airmen /tʌsˈkiːɡiː/ is the popular name of a group of African-American military pilots (fighter and bomber) who fought in World War II. Officially, they formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces. The name also applies to the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks and other support personnel for the pilots.

All black military pilots who trained in the United States trained at Moton Field, the Tuskegee Army Air Field, and were educated at Tuskegee University, located near Tuskegee, Alabama; the group included five Haitians from the Haitian Air Force (Alix Pasquet, Raymond Cassagnol, Pelissier Nicolas, Ludovic Audant, and Eberle Guilbaud). There was also one pilot from Port of Spain, Trinidad, Eugene Theodore.

Although the 477th Bombardment Group trained with North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, they never served in combat. The 99th Pursuit Squadron (later, 99th Fighter Squadron) was the first black flying squadron, and the first to deploy overseas (to North Africa in April 1943, and later to Sicily and Italy). The 332nd Fighter Group, which originally included the 100th, 301st, and 302nd Fighter Squadrons, was the first black flying group. The group deployed to Italy in early 1944. In June 1944, the 332nd Fighter Group began flying heavy bomber escort missions, and in July 1944, the 99th Fighter Squadron was assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group, which then had four fighter squadrons.

The 99th Fighter Squadron was initially equipped with Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter-bomber aircraft. The 332nd Fighter Group and its 100th, 301st and 302nd Fighter Squadrons were equipped for initial combat missions with Bell P-39 Airacobras (March 1944), later with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts (June–July 1944), and finally with the aircraft with which they became most commonly associated, the North American P-51 Mustang (July 1944). When the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group painted the tails of their P-47s and later, P-51s, red, the nickname “Red Tails” was coined. The red markings that distinguished the Tuskegee Airmen included red bands on the noses of P-51s as well as a red rudder; the P-51B and D Mustangs flew with similar color schemes, with red propeller spinners, yellow wing bands and all-red tail surfaces.

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American military aviators in the United States Armed Forces. During World War II, black Americans in many U.S. states were still subject to the Jim Crow laws[N 1] and the American military was racially segregated, as was much of the federal government. The Tuskegee Airmen were subjected to discrimination, both within and outside the army.


wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen
Best Actress winner Shirley Booth for 'Come Back, Little Sheba,' with host Fredric March, at the 25th Annual Academy Awards New York ceremony in New York City on March 19, 1953 (© NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)(1953) The Oscars are first broadcast on TV
The 25th Annual Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles and beamed into living rooms across the country as NBC televises the ceremony for the first time. ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ is awarded the Best Picture award.
The 25th Academy Awards ceremony was held on March 19, 1953. It took place at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, California, and the NBC International Theatre in New York City. It was the first Academy Awards ceremony to be televised, and the first ceremony to be held in Hollywood and New York City simultaneously. It was also the only year that the New York ceremonies were to be held in the NBC International Theatre on Columbus Circle, which was shortly thereafter demolished and replaced by the New York Coliseum convention center.
Date: Mar 19, 1953

wiki/25th_Academy_Awards
Bob Dylan recording his first album in 1961 at Columbia Studio in New York City (© Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)(1962) Bob Dylan’s first album is released
A 21-year-old folk singer from Minnesota sees his self-titled debut LP, filled mostly with his Woody Guthrie-inspired takes on folk standards, released on Columbia Records. The album will not sell well and most critics are left unimpressed. Dylan’s fortunes, however, will soon be a-changin’ for the better.
Bob Dylan is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on March 19, 1962 by Columbia Records. Produced by Columbia’s legendary talent scout John H. Hammond, who signed Dylan to the label, the album features folk standards, plus two original compositions, “Talkin’ New York” and “Song to Woody”.
Release year: 1962
Genre: Blues / Folk, Contemporary Folk
Label: Columbia
Artist: Bob Dylan

wiki/Bob_Dylan_(album)
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