1968

Today in History 11/17 (Suez Canal)

Ships entering the Suez Canal at its inauguration in Egypt in 1869 (© LL/Roger-Viollet/Getty Images)(1869) Egypt’s canal brings Europe and Asia closer together
After 10 years of construction, the Suez Canal finally opens. Stretching across Egypt to connect the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, the 100-mile-long artificial waterway allows ships to travel between Europe and Asia without having to make the long and dangerous trip around Africa.
The Suez Canal is an original sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. Constructed by the Suez Canal Company between 1859 and 1869, it was officially opened on 17 November 1869. The canal offers watercraft a shorter journey between the North Atlantic and northern Indian Oceans via the Mediterranean and Red Seas by avoiding the South Atlantic and southern Indian Oceans, reducing the journey by approximately 6,000 kilometres. It extends from the northern terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez. Its length is 193.30 km, including its northern and southern access channels. In 2012, 17,225 vessels traversed the canal.
Navigation authority: Suez Canal Authority
Original owner: Suez Canal Company
Start point: Port Said
End point: Port Tewfik, Suez
Maximum boat beam: 77.5 m (254 ft 3 in)
Bridges: Suez Canal Bridge · El Ferdan Railway Bridge

Suez Canal, between Kantara and El-Fedane. The first vessels through the Canal. 19th century image
Suez Canal, 1869
wiki/Suez_Canal
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(1869) Egypt’s canal brings Europe and Asia closer together.
Also on this day,

1558 | ‘The Virgin Queen’ as Queen Elizabeth I ascends to the throne in England
The 25-year-old Elizabeth becomes queen after the death of her half-sister, Queen Mary I. Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, will reign for 44 years. In that time, Protestantism will flourish as well as the arts and exploration. ‘The Virgin Queen’ will never marry.
1968 | ‘The Heidi Game’ as NBC cuts away from thrilling NFL game for ‘Heidi’ movie
NBC stuns football fans when it breaks away from an intense Raiders-Jets game in the final seconds for the scheduled made-for-TV movie ‘Heidi,’ about a young girl in the Alps. The Raiders score twice and win the game 43-32, but only the fans in the stadium get to see it.
1973 | US President Richard Nixon to reporters: “I’m not a crook”
‘People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook.’ Nixon offers this declaration at a press conference where he had come to defend his record amid the Watergate scandal and allegations of financial impropriety. The quote will become one of his most infamous lines.

Today in History 11/17/17

President Richard Nixon speaks to the Associated Press Managing Editors annual meeting on November 17, 1973 (© AP)(1973) US President Richard Nixon to reporters: "I'm not a crook"
'People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook.' Nixon offers this declaration at a press conference where he had come to defend his record amid the Watergate scandal and allegations of financial impropriety. The quote will become one of his most infamous lines.
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States from 1969 until 1974, when he resigned from office, the only U.S. president to do so. He had previously served as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961, and prior to that as a U.S. Representative and also Senator from California.
Lived: Jan 09, 1913 - Apr 22, 1994 (age 81)
Height: 5' 11" (1.80 m)
Spouse: Pat Nixon (m. 1940 - 1993)
Vice Presidents: Gerald Ford · Spiro Agnew
Party: Republican Party
Children: Julie Nixon Eisenhower (Daughter) · Tricia Nixon Cox (Daughter)
Highlights
  • 1940: Richard Nixon married Pat Nixon on June 21, 1940; their marriage lasted 53 years till June 22, 1993.

  • 1952: He was the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party presidential nominee in the 1952 election.

  • 1969: Nixon was inaugurated as president on January 20, 1969, sworn in by his onetime political rival, Chief Justice Earl Warren.

  • 1973: In July 1973, White House aide Alexander Butterfield testified under oath to Congress that Nixon had a secret taping system that recorded his conversations and phone calls in the Oval Office.

  • 1974: The legal battle over the tapes continued through early 1974, and in April 1974 Nixon announced the release of 1,200 pages of transcripts of White House conversations between him and his aides.

  • 1994: He died at 9:08 p.m. on April 22, 1994, with his daughters at his bedside.

Nixon edited transcripts
Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of the Watergate tapes, April 29, 1974.

wiki/Richard_Nixon
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Today in History 10/26 (Gunfight at the O.K. Corral)

Site of the 1881 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral' in Tombstone, Arizona (© Education Images/UIG via Getty Images)(1881) Shots ring out near a corral in Tombstone
It’s three hours past high noon on the streets of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, when lawmen ‘Doc’ Holliday and the Earp Brothers meet the Clanton-McLaury gang and their feud erupts. Thirty seconds later three are dead, three are wounded, and the Gunfight at the OK Corral enters Wild West lore.
The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a 30-second shootout between lawmen and members of a loosely organized group of outlaws called the Cowboys that took place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. It is generally regarded as the most famous shootout in the history of the American Wild West. The gunfight was the result of a long-simmering feud, with Cowboys Billy Claiborne, Ike and Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury on one side and town Marshal Virgil Earp, Special Policeman Morgan Earp, Special Policeman Wyatt Earp, and temporary policeman Doc Holliday on the other side. All three Earp brothers had been the target of repeated death threats made by the Cowboys, who objected to the Earps’ interference in their illegal activities. The four law men faced five Cowboys. Billy Clanton and both McLaury brothers were killed. Ike Clanton claimed that he was unarmed and ran from the fight, along with Billy Claiborne and Wes Fuller. Virgil, Morgan, and Doc Holliday were wounded, but Wyatt Earp was unharmed. The shootout has come to represent a period of the American Old West when the frontier was virtually an open range for outlaws, largely unopposed by law enforcement officers who were spread thin over vast territories.
Date: Oct 26, 1881

Tombstone, Arizona in 1881 photographed by C. S. Fly
Tombstone, Arizona in 1881 photographed by C. S. Fly. An ore wagon at the center of the image is pulled by 15 or 16 mules leaving town for one of the mines or on the way to a mill. The town had a population of about 4,000 that year with 600 dwellings and two church buildings. There were 650 men working in the nearby mines. The Tough Nut hoisting works are in the right foreground. The firehouse is behind the ore wagons, with the Russ House hotel just to the left of it. The dark, tall building above the Russ House is the Grand Hotel, and the top of Schieffelin Hall (1881) is visible to the right.
wiki/Gunfight_at_the_O.K._Corral
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(1881) Shots ring out near a corral in Tombstone.
Also on this day,

1825 | New York opens a manmade waterway to the west as Erie Canal opens
First proposed in 1804 as a navigable link between Manhattan’s harbor traffic and the Great Lakes, a grand engineering feat stretching 425 miles is ready for business. An opening day flotilla sails down the length of the Erie Canal, with celebratory cannon shots marking its progress.
1955 | A new ‘Voice’ as first issue of ‘Village Voice’ published
A new arts and culture newspaper is published from an apartment in New York’s Greenwich Village, pioneering the concept of an alternative weekly. It will win three Pulitzer Prizes and help launch the careers of many notable writers before publishing its final print edition on September 21, 2017.
1968 | Olympian George Foreman takes gold in Mexico City
Rising from a difficult childhood in Texas, George Foreman shows his mettle at the Mexico City Olympics, knocking out Soviet Ionas Chepulis to win the Heavyweight Boxing gold medal. The champ will go on to win professional titles and later find big success with a little grill.

Today in History 10/26/17

'The Village Voice' newspaper (© Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)(1955) First issue of 'Village Voice' published
A new arts and culture newspaper is published from an apartment in New York's Greenwich Village, pioneering the concept of an alternative weekly. It will win three Pulitzer Prizes and help launch the careers of many notable writers before publishing its final print edition on September 21, 2017.
The Village Voice is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher and Norman Mailer, the Voice began as a platform for the creative community of New York City. Since its founding, The Village Voice has received three Pulitzer Prizes, the National Press Foundation Award and the George Polk Award. The Village Voice has hosted a variety of writers and artists, including writer Ezra Pound, cartoonist Lynda Barry, and art critics Robert Christgau, Andrew Sarris, and J. Hoberman. In addition to daily coverage through its website and a weekly print edition that circulates in New York City, the Voice issues a weekly digital edition of its magazine.
Website: www.villagevoice.com
Founded: Oct 26, 1955
Headquarter: Manhattan, NY
Owner: Village Voice Media
1955 October cover The Village Voice
1955 October cover The Village Voice

wiki/The_Village_Voice
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