1943

Today in History 11/28 (Ferdinand Magellan)

A print of Ferdinand Magellan discovering the path to the Pacific (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1520) Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Pacific
The navigator is the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean after sailing the treacherous waters around the tip of South America. Magellan had left Spain in search of a western route to the Spice Islands. His expedition will be the first to circumnavigate the globe.
Magellan’s expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe and the first to navigate the strait in South America connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Magellan’s name for the Pacific was adopted by other Europeans.
After sailing through the dangerous straits below South America that now bear his name, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan enters the Pacific Ocean with three ships, becoming the first European explorer to reach the Pacific from the Atlantic.

On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. In command of five ships and 270 men, Magellan sailed to West Africa and then to Brazil, where he searched the South American coast for a strait that would take him to the Pacific. He searched the Rio de la Plata, a large estuary south of Brazil, for a way through; failing, he continued south along the coast of Patagonia. At the end of March 1520, the expedition set up winter quarters at Port St. Julian. On Easter day at midnight, the Spanish captains mutinied against their Portuguese captain, but Magellan crushed the revolt, executing one of the captains and leaving another ashore when his ship left St. Julian in August. On October 21, he finally discovered the strait he had been seeking.

French map of the first world circumnavigation of Ferdinand de Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano, from 1519 to 1522
The Magellan–Elcano voyage. Victoria, one of the original five ships, circumnavigated the globe, finishing 16 months after Magellan’s death.
wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan
4.16.n18

(1520) Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Pacific.
Also on this day,

1582 | William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway
Eighteen-year-old William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, age 26, pay 40 pounds for a wedding license in Stratford-upon-Avon. Six months later the couple will have a daughter, followed later by twins. Scant details will be known about the Bard’s marriage.
1943 | ‘Big Three’ allied leaders Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet in Tehran
US President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, the so-called ‘Big Three,’ come together to discuss strategies for winning the war against the Nazis. The Tehran Conference is the first time Roosevelt and Stalin meet in person.
1974 | John Lennon joins Elton John in NYC
After losing a bet, John Lennon performs three songs with Elton John at New York’s Madison Square Garden, including Lennon’s hit ‘Whatever Gets You Thru the Night.’ It would be one of Lennon’s final performances, and his last in front of such a large audience.

Today in History 11/28/17

(From left) Soviet Union Premier Josef Stalin, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Teheran Conference, November 28, 1943 (© British Official Photo via AP)(1943) Allied leaders Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet in Tehran
US President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, the so-called 'Big Three,' come together to discuss strategies for winning the war against the Nazis. The Tehran Conference is the first time Roosevelt and Stalin meet in person.
The Tehran Conference was a strategy meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943, after the Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran. It was held in the Soviet Union's embassy in Tehran, Iran. It was the first of the World War II conferences of the "Big Three" Allied leaders. It closely followed the Cairo Conference which had taken place on 22–26 November 1943, and preceded the 1945 Yalta and Potsdam conferences. Although the three leaders arrived with differing objectives, the main outcome of the Tehran Conference was the Western Allies' commitment to open a second front against Nazi Germany. The conference also addressed the 'Big Three' Allies' relations with Turkey and Iran, operations in Yugoslavia and against Japan, and the envisaged post-war settlement. A separate protocol signed at the conference pledged the Big Three to recognize Iran's independence.
Start date: Nov 28, 1943
End date: Dec 01, 1943

Mohammad Reza Shah, Stalin und Molotov, Tehran Conference, 1943
The Shah of Iran (center), pictured to the right of Joseph Stalin at the Tehran Conference (1943)

wiki/Tehran_Conference
4.6.n17


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

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
4.13.j18

(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
4.4.j17