1960

Today in History 11/09 (Kristallnacht)

Pedestrians glance at the broken windows of a Jewish-owned shop in Berlin after the attacks of Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938 (© Universal History Archive/Getty Images)(1938) Nazis launch ‘Kristallnacht’ terror campaign
Nazis attack Jews and loot and burn their businesses and synagogues in a coordinated and widespread campaign throughout Germany and Austria. The event, later known as ‘Kristallnacht’ or the ‘the night of broken glass,’ will portend an even greater horror, the Holocaust.
Kristallnacht or Reichskristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, Reichspogromnacht or simply Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938, carried out by SA paramilitary forces and German civilians. The German authorities looked on without intervening. The name Kristallnacht comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues were smashed.
Start date: Nov 09, 1938
End date: Nov 10, 1938
Location: Free City of Danzig
Target: Jewish people
Attack type: Pogrom, looting, arson, mass murder, state terrorism
Deaths: 91+

Interior of Berlin's Fasanenstrasse Synagogue, opened in 1912, after it was set on fire during Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938. It was destroyed entirely during an Allied air raid on Berlin in 1943, and a Jewish Community Center was opened in its place in 1959
The interior of the Fasanenstrasse Synagogue in Berlin after Kristallnacht
wiki/Kristallnacht
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(1938) Nazis launch ‘Kristallnacht’ terror campaign.
Also on this day,

1960 | Ford under McNamara as McNamara takes over at Ford Motor Co.
One of Ford’s ‘Whiz Kids,’ who helped save the struggling carmaker in the 1940s, Robert McNamara is the first president of the company not named Ford. His tenure as president will last only a few weeks, however, as he’ll soon be tapped to join the newly elected Kennedy administration.
1989 | Fall of the Berlin Wall as East Germany lets the Berlin Wall come down
East German officials have bowed to pressure and lifted travel restrictions to the West. Thousands of Berliners from both sides swarm the wall and cheer the destruction of the 12-foot high barrier that had separated them for over 30 years.
2004 | Astros pitcher Roger Clemens wins his seventh Cy Young Award
Nicknamed ‘Rocket,’ Clemens sets a record for the most Cy Young Awards of any major league pitcher, adding another accolade to an impressive career. A steroid scandal a few years later, however, will taint Clemens’ accomplishments.

Today in History 11/09/17

West Berliners crowd in front of the Berlin Wall in November, 1989, as they watch East German border guards demolish a section of the wall (© Gerard Malie/AFP/Getty Images)(1989) East Germany lets the Berlin Wall come down
East German officials have bowed to pressure and lifted travel restrictions to the West. Thousands of Berliners from both sides swarm the wall and cheer the destruction of the 12-foot high barrier that had separated them for over 30 years.
The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic, starting on 13 August 1961, the Wall completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until government officials opened it in November 1989. Its demolition officially began on 13 June 1990 and finished in 1992. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area that contained anti-vehicle trenches, "fakir beds" and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that had marked East Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
Address: Bernauer Straße 111, Berlin
Phone: 030 3087770
Construction started: Aug 13, 1961
Destroyed: Nov 09, 1989

Berlin-wall-map
Map of the Berlin Wall, showing checkpoints.

wiki/Berlin_Wall
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Today in History 11/08 (JFK)

John Kennedy waves to a crowd while on the campaign trail in San Antonio, Texas, in September 1960 (© AP)(1960) John F. Kennedy elected president
Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy beats Republican Vice President Richard Nixon by a slim margin to become the youngest president ever elected (though not the youngest president ever) as well as the first Catholic to hold the office. Many attribute Kennedy’s win to his smooth demeanor in televised debates.
The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democrat John F. Kennedy defeated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican Party nominee. This was the first election in which all fifty states participated, and the last in which the District of Columbia did not. It was also the first election in which an incumbent president was ineligible to run for a third term due to the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment.
Election year: Nov 08, 1960

Electoral College
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Kennedy/Johnson, red denotes those won by Nixon/Lodge, orange denotes the electoral votes for Byrd/Thurmond by Alabama and Mississippi unpledged electors, and a vote for Byrd/Goldwater by an Oklahoma faithless elector. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1960
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(1960) John F. Kennedy elected president.
Also on this day,

1889 | Montana becomes the 41st US state
President Benjamin Harrison announces the admission of the 41st state in the union. Leaders in Montana, the name of which is derived from the Spanish word montaña (mountain), had been working toward statehood since the early 1860s.
1939 | Adolf Hitler narrowly makes it out alive as assassination fails
On the 16th anniversary of his failed coup attempt known as the Beer Hall Putsch, the Nazi leader is scheduled to speak when a bomb detonates in the hall. But Hitler, and others in the Nazi leadership, had left several minutes before the explosion.
1971 | Led Zeppelin releases ‘Stairway to Heaven’ album
The officially unnamed fourth album from the British rock band becomes known as Led Zeppelin IV. The album will be a phenomenal success and contains some of Zeppelin’s greatest hits: ‘Black Dog,’ ‘Rock and Roll,’ and, of course, ‘Stairway to Heaven.’

Today in History 11/08/17

Destruction in the hall of the 'Buergerbraeukeller' in Munich, Germany, site of an attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler in November 1939 (© Gestapo/AP)(1939) Adolf Hitler narrowly makes it out alive
On the 16th anniversary of his failed coup attempt known as the Beer Hall Putsch, the Nazi leader is scheduled to speak when a bomb detonates in the hall. But Hitler, and others in the Nazi leadership, had left several minutes before the explosion.
Johann Georg Elser was a German worker who planned and carried out an elaborate assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler and other high-ranking Nazi leaders on 8 November 1939 at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich. A time bomb that Elser constructed and placed near the speaking platform failed to kill Hitler, who left earlier than expected, but killed eight people and injured over sixty-two others. Elser was held as a prisoner for over five years until he was executed at the Dachau concentration camp.
Born: Jan 04, 1903 · Hermaringen, Germany
Died: Apr 09, 1945 · Dachau concentration camp, Germany

Georg Elser
Georg Elser, Munich

wiki/Johann_Georg_Elser
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