1943

Today in History 08/02 (Gulf of Tonkin Incident)

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Navy destroyer USS Maddox in August 1964 (© DOD/AP)(1964) Confrontation in waters off Vietnam escalates a war
The Pentagon reports that North Vietnamese torpedo boats have fired on the USS Maddox as it patroled off the north coast of Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin. The incident will result in a rapid escalation of the Vietnam War but questions about the Pentagon’s report will linger.
The Gulf of Tonkin incident, also known as the USS Maddox incident, was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. It involved either one or two separate confrontations involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. The original American report blamed North Vietnam for both incidents, but eventually became very controversial with widespread belief that at least one, and possibly both incidents were false, and possibly deliberately so. On August 2, 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox, while performing a signals intelligence patrol as part of DESOTO operations, was pursued by three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats of the 135th Torpedo Squadron. Maddox fired three warning shots and the North Vietnamese boats then attacked with torpedoes and machine gun fire. Maddox expended over 280 3-inch and 5-inch shells in a sea battle. One U.S. aircraft was damaged, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats were damaged, and four North Vietnamese sailors were killed, with six more wounded. There were no U.S. casualties. Maddox “was unscathed except for a single bullet hole from a Vietnamese machine gun round.”
Date: Aug 02, 1964

Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Joint Resolution of Congress, PL 88-408
wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident
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(1964) Confrontation in waters off Vietnam escalates a war.
Also on this day,

216 BCE | Hannibal routs the Romans at Cannae
Having marched a great army, complete with war-elephants, over the Alps for a land invasion of Italy two years before, Carthaginian commander Hannibal routs the Romans at the Battle of Cannae, an engagement that historians will claim “set the lines of military tactics for 2,000 years.”
1343 | A husband’s execution sets his wife on a new career
Olivier de Clisson is beheaded in Paris after being found guilty of treason in a controversial trial, and his wife Jeanne de Clisson will take her revenge on the French king by raising her ‘Black Fleet’ and becoming an impressively successful pirate plying the English Channel, hunting down French ships.
1943 | PT boat is sunk and a young lieutenant helps save mates
Lt. j.g. John F. Kennedy leaps into the Pacific Ocean after a nighttime attack by a Japanese destroyer has sunk his command, the PT-109 patrol torpedo boat. The future US president swims through burning wreckage and manages to help save all but two of his crew, leading survivors to an island to await rescue.

Today in History 08/02/17

Lt. John F. Kennedy (right) and his PT-109 crew in the South Pacific in July 1943 (© AP)(1943) PT boat is sunk and a young lieutenant helps save mates
Lt. j.g. John F. Kennedy leaps into the Pacific Ocean after a nighttime attack by a Japanese destroyer has sunk his command, the PT-109 patrol torpedo boat. The future US president swims through burning wreckage and manages to help save all but two of his crew, leading survivors to an island to await rescue.
PT-109 was a PT boat last commanded by Lieutenant, junior grade John F. Kennedy in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Kennedy's actions to save his surviving crew after the sinking of PT-109 made him a war hero, which proved helpful in his political career. The incident may have also contributed to his long-term back problems.
Keel laid: Mar 04, 1942
Launched: Jun 20, 1942
PT-109 Collision Solomon Islands 1943
Map of the events of 2 August 1943

wiki/Motor_Torpedo_Boat_PT-109
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Today in History 06/03/18

Gangs of American sailors and marines armed with sticks during the Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles in June 1943 (© Anthony Potter Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1943) Military men target Latinos in L.A. rioting
Fueled by racism, and what’s perceived as the flaunting of wartime rationing rules, the Zoot Suit Riots flare in Los Angeles as white Marines and Navy sailors attack young Latino men. Other cities will see similar clashes between soldiers and minorities wearing the distinctive suit.
The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of conflicts in June 1943 in Los Angeles, California, United States, which pitted European American servicemen stationed in Southern California against Mexican American youths and other minorities who were residents of the city.
Date: 1943

Soldier inspecting a couple of
The photo was taken by John Ferrell and first published in June, 1942. The original caption read: “Washington, D.C. Soldier inspecting a couple of “zoot suits” at the Uline Arena during Woody Herman’s Orchestra engagement there.” Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USF35-1326]
wiki/Zoot_Suit_Riots
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(1943) Military men target Latinos in L.A. rioting.
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1864 | Battle of Cold Harbor
1967 | “Respect” tops chart
1968 | Andy Warhol shot

Today in History 04/16/18

Undated file photo of Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, discoverer of the mind-altering drug LSD and former head of the research department of Swiss chemical company Sandoz, at his home in Burg, Switzerland (© Reto Gisin/Keystone/AP)(1943) Scientist Albert Hofmann takes history’s first LSD trip
During research into compounds synthesized in part from a grain fungus, Swiss scientist Dr. Albert Hofmann accidentally touches and absorbs a small amount of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and experiences a 2-hour-long hallucinogenic journey.
Albert Hofmann was a Swiss scientist known best for being the first person to synthesize, ingest, and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide. Hofmann was also the first person to isolate, synthesize, and name the principal psychedelic mushroom compounds psilocybin and psilocin. He authored more than 100 scientific articles and numerous books, including LSD: Mein Sorgenkind. In 2007, he shared first place, alongside Tim Berners-Lee, in a list of the 100 greatest living geniuses, published by The Telegraph newspaper.
Born: Jan 11, 1906 · Baden, Switzerland
Died: Apr 29, 2008 · Burg im Leimental, Switzerland
Inventions: Lysergic acid diethylamide
Education: University of Zurich
Highlights
  • 1938: While researching lysergic acid derivatives, Hofmann first synthesized LSD on 16 November 1938.

  • 1958: He first synthesized 4-AcO-DET in 1958 in the Sandoz lab.

  • 1969: The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) honored him with the title D.Sc. (honoris causa) in 1969 together with Gustav Guanella, his brother-in-law.

  • 1971: In 1971 the Swedish Pharmaceutical Association (Sveriges Farmacevtförbund) granted him the Scheele Award, which commemorates the skills and achievements of the Swedish Pomeranian chemist and pharmacist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.

  • 1971: After retiring from Sandoz in 1971, Hofmann was allowed to take his papers and research home.

  • 2008: Hofmann died of a heart attack on 29 April 2008, surrounded by several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Albert Hofmann Oct 1993
Albert Hofmann, Lugano, Switzerland, at the 50th Anniversary of LSD Conference sponsored by Sandoz Pharmaceuticals and the Swiss Psycholitic Association of Analysts
wiki/Albert_Hofmann
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(1943) Scientist Albert Hofmann takes history’s first LSD trip.
Also on this day,
73 CE | Siege of Masada
1746 | Battle of Culloden
1947 | Texas City disaster

Today in History 04/13/18

Statue of Thomas Jefferson below the dome inside the Jefferson Memorial (© malcolm park/Getty Images)(1943) Thomas Jefferson receives a 200th birthday gift
President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates a memorial on the Tidal Basin of the Potomac River on Thomas Jefferson’s birthday. Because of wartime metal shortages, the bronze statue of America’s third president won’t be added until 1947.
The Jefferson Memorial is a presidential memorial in Washington, D.C., dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, one of the most important of the American Founding Fathers as the main drafter and writer of the Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress, governor of the newly independent Commonwealth of Virginia, American minister to King Louis XVI, and the Kingdom of France, first U.S. Secretary of State under the first President George Washington, the second Vice President of the United States under second President John Adams, and also the third President, as well as being the founder of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Virginia.
Website: www.nps.gov/thje
Address: 701 E Basin Dr SW, Washington, DC 20242
Phone: (202) 426-6841
Hours: See opening and closing times on official site
Established: Oct 15, 1966
Annual visitors: 3.10 million (2015)
Architects: John Russell Pope · Eggers & Higgins · Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.

Jefferson Memorial At Dusk
Jefferson Memorial seen across the Tidal Basin at dusk in Washington, D.C., USA.
wiki/Jefferson_Memorial
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(1943) Thomas Jefferson receives a 200th birthday gift.
Also on this day,
1742 | `Messiah` premieres
1964 | Black Oscar-winner
1970 | Apollo 13 mishap

Today in History 02/18/18

Portraits of the White Rose resistance members and a copy of the sentences against them is displayed at the White Rose Memorial in Munich district court (© Johannes Simon/Getty Images)(1943) White Rose resistance members arrested by Nazi Gestapo
Six members of a non-violent student group from the University of Munich are arrested for their campaign of writing and distributing leaflets critical of Hitler’s regime. They will be found guilty of treason and beheaded.
The White Rose was a non-violent, intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany led by a group of students and a professor at the University of Munich. The group conducted an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign which called for active opposition to the Nazi regime. Their activities started in Munich on June 27th, 1942, and ended with the arrest of the core group by the Gestapo on February 18th, 1943. They, as well as other members and supporters of the group who carried on distributing the pamphlets, faced show trials by the Nazi People’s Court, and many of them were sentenced to death or imprisonment.
Founders: Sophie Scholl · Hans Scholl

Scholl-Denkmal, München
Monument to Hans and Sophie Scholl and the “White Rose” (German: Die Weiße Rose) resistance movement against the Nazi regime, in front of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Bavaria, Germany.
wiki/White_Rose
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