1950

Today in History 09/15 (Birmingham Church Bombing)

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A civil defense worker and firemen walk through debris from an expolsion which struck the 16th street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on Sept 15, 1963 (© AP)(1963) Four young girls killed in Birmingham church bombing
Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair, all under 15, are killed when a KKK bomb explodes at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Twenty-two others are injured in the deadliest act of racist violence in the US civil rights era.
The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was an act of white supremacist terrorism which occurred at the African American 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday, September 15, 1963, when four members of the Ku Klux Klan planted at least 15 sticks of dynamite attached to a timing device beneath the steps located on the east side of the church.
Date: Sep 15, 1963
Fatalities: 4
Location: Birmingham
Target: 16th Street Baptist Church
Attack type: Church bombing, terrorism, hate crime, mass murder
Deaths: 4

The four girls killed during the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing
The four girls killed during the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Clockwise from top left: Addie Mae Collins (aged 14), Cynthia Wesley (aged 14), Carole Robertson (aged 14) and Denise McNair (aged 11)
wiki/16th_Street_Baptist_Church_bombing
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(1963) Four young girls killed in Birmingham church bombing.
Also on this day,

1821 | Act of Independence of Central America is enacted
The Province of Guatemala proclaims the independence of Central America from the Spanish Empire and invites other provinces to meet and determine a path forward. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua will all briefly become part of the Mexican Empire before forming the Federal Republic of Central America.
1950 | General MacArthur lands US Marines at Inchon, Korea
General Douglas MacArthur commands a joint US-United Nations force in a bold invasion of South Korea 25 miles from communist-held Seoul. The amphibious landing of some 50,000 troops 100 miles south of the 38th parallel will end North Korea’s string of victories and cut their forces in two.
1978 | Boxer Muhammad Ali is a triple threat as he wins record 3rd title
Fighting against an opponent 11 years his junior at the Superdome in New Orleans, boxer Muhammad Ali, 36, scores a unanimous win after 15 rounds against Leon Spinks to take the world heavyweight boxing title. Ali becomes the first boxer to win the heavyweight championship belt three times.

Today in History 09/15/17

General Douglas MacArthur is shown after he stepped ashore at Inchon, South Korea, Sept 17, 1950 (© Frank Noel/AP)(1950) General MacArthur lands US Marines at Inchon, Korea
General Douglas MacArthur commands a joint US-United Nations force in a bold invasion of South Korea 25 miles from communist-held Seoul. The amphibious landing of some 50,000 troops 100 miles south of the 38th parallel will end North Korea's string of victories and cut their forces in two.
The Battle of Inchon was an amphibious invasion and battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations. The operation involved some 75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels, and led to the recapture of the South Korean capital of Seoul two weeks later. The code name for the operation was Operation Chromite.
Start date: Sep 10, 1950
End date: Sep 19, 1950
Incheon SK
Incheon, South Korea, in pink coloring.
Inchon landing map
The landing at Incheon.

wiki/Battle_of_Inchon
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Today in History 08/25 (National Park Service)

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Looking east up Yosemite Valley from Artist Point, Yosemite National Park, Calif. (© Carleton E. Watkins/Getty Images)(1916) US creates an agency for national parks
President Woodrow Wilson signs the National Park Service Organic Act ‘to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wild life therein.’ The National Park Service will grow to oversee more than 400 areas, including national parks, other land areas, and historic structures.
The National Park Service is an agency of the United States federal government that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. It was created on August 25, 1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. The NPS is charged with a dual role of preserving the ecological and historical integrity of the places entrusted to its management, while also making them available and accessible for public use and enjoyment.
Website: www.nps.gov
Customer service: +1 4068887800
Founded: Aug 25, 1916
Founders: Woodrow Wilson · Theodore Roosevelt · Horace M. Albright · Stephen Mather
Parent organization: United States Department of the Interior
Subsidiaries: National Register of Historic Places · United States Park Police
Agency executive: Mike Reynolds, Acting Director

The map shows the location of all the National Parks and their principal railroad connections as of 1916
In 1916, a portfolio of nine major parks was published to generate interest. Printed on each brochure was a map showing the parks and principal railroad connections.
wiki/National_Park_Service
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(1916) US creates an agency for national parks.
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1835 | The New York Sun publishes a story of utter lunacy
‘Great Astronomical Discoveries Lately Made,’ reads the New York Sun’s headline, claiming the discovery, via an enormous telescope, of a surreal civilization on the moon. Reports of man-bats, unicorns, and goats living in a verdant paradise are unfortunately later proven to be a hoax.
1939 | Dorothy Gale goes somewhere over the rainbow in ‘Wizard of Oz’
L. Frank Baum’s children’s story comes to the silver screen as MGM’s big-budget film version of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ opens in theaters across America. A box-office disappointment, the tale of Dorothy’s trip from Kansas to the Emerald City will grow in popularity through re-releases and TV broadcasts.
1945 | Chinese communists kill US intelligence officer John Birch
US missionary and intelligence officer John Birch is shot near Xi’an while traveling to meet with Allied POWs 10 days after Japan’s WWII surrender. Considered the first fatality of the Cold War, he will inspire American conservatives 13 years later to establish the John Birch Society in his honor.
1950 | A tennis trailblazer breaks a racial barrier
Tennis player Althea Gibson celebrates her 23rd birthday on the same day she makes history as the first African American to play in the US National Championship. A record crowd watches as she competes in Forest Hills, New York, in the tournament that will be later called the US Open.

Today in History 08/25/17

Drawing of a man-bat from an edition of the Moon series (Public domain)(1835) The New York Sun publishes a story of utter lunacy
'Great Astronomical Discoveries Lately Made,' reads the New York Sun's headline, claiming the discovery, via an enormous telescope, of a surreal civilization on the moon. Reports of man-bats, unicorns, and goats living in a verdant paradise are unfortunately later proven to be a hoax.

The "Great Moon Hoax" refers to a series of six articles that were published in The Sun, a New York newspaper, beginning on August 25, 1835, about the supposed discovery of life and even civilization on the Moon. The discoveries were falsely attributed to Sir John Herschel, one of the best-known contemporary astronomers of that time.

The story was advertised on August 21, 1835, as an upcoming feature allegedly reprinted from The Edinburgh Courant. The first in a series of six was published four days later on August 25.


Great-Moon-Hoax-1835-New-York-Sun-lithograph
A lithograph of the hoax's "ruby amphitheater", as printed in The Sun

wiki/Great_Moon_Hoax
Painting of John Birch (Courtesy of The John Birch Society)(1945) Chinese communists kill a US intelligence officer
US missionary and intelligence officer John Birch is shot near Xi'an while traveling to meet with Allied POWs 10 days after Japan's WWII surrender. Considered the first fatality of the Cold War, he will inspire American conservatives 13 years later to establish the John Birch Society in his honor.
John Morrison Birch was an American Baptist minister, missionary, and United States Army Air Forces captain who was a U.S. military intelligence officer in China during World War II. Birch was killed in a confrontation with Chinese Communist soldiers a few days after the war ended. He was posthumously awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal.
Born: May 28, 1918 · Landour, India
Died: Aug 25, 1945 · Xi'an, China
Education: Mercer University
Highlights
  • 1939: He graduated from Gore High School in Chattooga County, followed by Georgia Baptist–affiliated Mercer University in 1939 magna cum laude.

  • 1940: Arriving in Shanghai which was in Japanese occupied territory in July 1940, he began an intensive study of Mandarin Chinese.

  • 1941: In October 1941, he left Hangzhou for Shangrao in "Free China."

  • 1942: In April 1942, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and his crew bailed out in China after the Tokyo raid.

  • 1943: Birch served with the China Air Task Force, which became the Fourteenth Air Force on 5 March 1943, and was later seconded to the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

  • 1945: U.S. Senator William F. Knowland attempted unsuccessfully to obtain posthumous awards for Birch which included the Distinguished Service Cross, but these were not approved on the grounds that the United States was not at war with the Communist Chinese in 1945.

wiki/John_Birch_(missionary)
Althea Gibson during a tennis match in 1958 (© AP)(1950) A tennis trailblazer breaks a racial barrier
Tennis player Althea Gibson celebrates her 23rd birthday on the same day she makes history as the first African American to play in the US National Championship. A record crowd watches as she competes in Forest Hills, New York, in the tournament that will be later called the US Open.
Althea Gibson was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and the first black athlete to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first person of color to win a Grand Slam title. The following year she won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals, then won both again in 1958, and was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years. In all, she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments, including six doubles titles, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. "She is one of the greatest players who ever lived," said Robert Ryland, a tennis contemporary and former coach of Venus and Serena Williams. "Martina couldn't touch her. I think she'd beat the Williams sisters." In the early 1960s she also became the first black player to compete on the women's professional golf tour.
Lived: Aug 25, 1927 - Sep 28, 2003 (age 76)
Height: 5' 11" (1.80 m)
Grand Slam titles (singles): 6
Spouse: Sydney Llewellyn (m. 1983 - 1988) · Will Darben (m. 1965 - 1976)
Movies: The Horse Soldiers
Education: Florida A&M University
Highlights
  • 1941: In 1941 she entered—and won—her first tournament, the American Tennis Association (ATA) New York State Championship.

  • 1957: On opening night of the 2007 U.S. Open, the 50th anniversary of her first victory at its predecessor, the U.S. Championships, in 1957, Gibson was inducted into the US Open Court of Champions.

  • 1959: In 1959 she signed to play a series of exhibition matches against Karol Fageros before Harlem Globetrotter basketball games.

  • 1960: In 1960 her first memoir, I Always Wanted to Be Somebody, written with sportswriter Ed Fitzgerald, was published.

  • 1980: In 1980 Gibson became one of the first six inductees into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame, placing her on par with such pioneers as Amelia Earhart, Wilma Rudolph, Gertrude Ederle, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and Patty Berg.

  • 1983: In 1983 she married Sydney Llewellyn, her coach during her peak tennis years.

wiki/Althea_Gibson
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Today in History 06/25 (Korean War)

American howitzer team in action in Korea on July 24, 1950 (© AP)(1950) North invades south and the Korean War begins
After Japan surrendered at the end of World War II and relinquished control of Korea, the nation has been divided between communist and capitalist powers. With support from the Soviet Union, North Korea now invades US-supported South Korea in a bid to reunify the country, and a bloody 3-year war ensues.
The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following a series of clashes along the border. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal force, came to the aid of South Korea. China came to the aid of North Korea, and the Soviet Union also gave some assistance to the North.
Start date: Jun 25, 1950
End date: Jul 27, 1953

Korean War montage
Clockwise from top: A column of the U.S. 1st Marine Division‘s infantry and armor moves through Chinese lines during their breakout from the Chosin Reservoir; UN landing at Incheon harbor, starting point of the Battle of Incheon; Korean refugees in front of a U.S. M26 Pershing tank; U.S. Marines, led by First Lieutenant Baldomero Lopez, landing at Incheon; F-86 Sabre fighter aircraft
wiki/Korean_War
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(1950) North invades south and the Korean War begins.
Also on this day,

1876 | Native tribes battle Custer’s 7th Cavalry in Montana
A coalition of Native American tribes, resisting a forced move onto reservations, array themselves against George Armstrong Custer’s US 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana Territory. A vastly overconfident Custer advance is met and wiped out in a matter of an hour.
1947 | Anne Frank’s ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ is released
Two years after her death at 15 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Anne Frank’s account of her time hiding from the Nazis with her Jewish family in Amsterdam is published. The diary, which Frank began on her 13th birthday, is heartbreaking and hopeful in equal measure.
1984 | ‘Purple Rain’ album hits stores
Prince releases his sixth album, which also serves as the soundtrack to his film debut. ‘Purple Rain’ will boost The Purple One to new levels of stardom, producing five hit singles, winning two Grammys and an Oscar, and eventually selling more than 20 million copies.

Today in History 03/01/18

German born British physicist and spy, Dr Klaus Fuchs, in 1950 (© Keystone/Getty Images)(1950) Atomic spy Klaus Fuchs convicted in Britain
One of Britain’s top nuclear scientists is found guilty of spying for the Soviet Union, including passing them atomic bomb secrets from his time with the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Emil Julius Klaus Fuchs was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who, in 1950, was convicted of supplying information from the American, British, and Canadian Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union during and shortly after the Second World War. While at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Fuchs was responsible for many significant theoretical calculations relating to the first nuclear weapons, and later, early models of the hydrogen bomb.
Lived: Dec 29, 1911 – Jan 28, 1988 (age 76)
Spouse: Grete Keilson (m. 1959 – 1988)
Academic advisor: Nevill Francis Mott
Education: Leipzig University · University of Edinburgh · University of Bristol · Columbia University · University of Kiel
Parents: Emil Fuchs (Father)
Parties: Social Democratic Party of Germany · Communist Party of Germany · Socialist Unity Party of Germany
Highlights
  • 1943: In 1943, Fuchs and Peierls went to Columbia University, in New York City, to work on the Manhattan Project.

  • 1944: He was contacted by Harry Gold (codename: “Raymond”), an NKGB agent in early 1944.

  • 1944: In August 1944, Fuchs joined the Theoretical Physics Division at the Los Alamos Laboratory, working under Hans Bethe.

  • 1946: Most scholars agree with Hans Bethe’s 1952 assessment, which concluded that by the time Fuchs left the thermonuclear program in mid-1946, too little was known about the mechanism of the hydrogen bomb for his information to be useful to the Soviet Union.

  • 1959: In 1959, Fuchs married a friend from his years as a student communist, Grete (Margarete) Keilson.

  • 1988: He died in Berlin on 28 January 1988.

Klaus Fuchs ID badge
Los Alamos ID badge
wiki/Klaus_Fuchs
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Today in History 02/09/18

Sen. Joseph McCarthy's at a March 9, 1950 session of a hearing on McCarthy's charges of Communist infiltration in the state department (© Herbert K. White/AP)(1950) Senator McCarthy claims US government full of communists
Brandishing a list of 205 “known communists” in the State Department, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy warns of “enemies from within” during a speech that will propel him to infamy as the ringleader of America’s Red Scare in the post-WWII era.
Joseph Raymond McCarthy was an American politician who served as U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in the United States in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion. He is known for alleging that numerous Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, film industry, and elsewhere. Ultimately, the smear tactics he used led him to be censured by the U.S. Senate. The term “McCarthyism”, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy’s practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today, the term is used in reference to what are considered demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents.
Lived: Nov 14, 1908 – May 02, 1957 (age 48)
Spouse: Jean Kerr (m. 1953 – 1957)
Movies: Point of Order
Parties: Republican Party · Democratic Party
Education: Marquette University Law School · Marquette University · University of Wisconsin-Madison
Children: Tierney Elizabeth McCarthy (Daughter)
Highlights
  • 1950: The term “McCarthyism”, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy’s practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities.

  • 1953: In 1953, McCarthy married Jean Kerr, a researcher in his office.

  • 1954: McCarthy subpoenaed Peress to appear before his subcommittee on January 30, 1954.

  • 1954: On March 9, 1954, Vermont Republican Senator Ralph E. Flanders gave a humor-laced speech on the Senate floor, questioning McCarthy’s tactics in fighting communism, likening McCarthyism to “housecleaning” with “much clatter and hullabaloo”.

  • 1954: To counter the negative publicity, McCarthy appeared on See It Now on April 6, 1954, and made a number of charges against the popular Murrow, including the accusation that he colluded with VOKS, the “Russian espionage and propaganda organization”.

  • 1957: McCarthy died in Bethesda Naval Hospital on May 2, 1957, at the age of 48.

Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy.
wiki/Joseph_McCarthy
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