1974

Today in History 11/28 (Ferdinand Magellan)

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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
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(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
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Today in History 11/13 (Vietnam Veterans Memorial)

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An Army veteran stops to salute his fallen comrades on Memorial Day at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, in 2015 (© J. David Ake/AP )(1982) Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, DC
Thousands of Vietnam War veterans march to the site and contemplate a wall of black granite sunk into the ground and etched with names of the more than 58,000 of their comrades killed in the war. Maya Lin’s stark design will prove controversial, but ‘The Wall’ will have a lasting impact.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a 2-acre U.S. national memorial in Washington D.C. It honors service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War, service members who died in service in Vietnam/South East Asia, and those service members who were unaccounted for during the war.
Website: www.nps.gov/vive
Address: 5 Henry Bacon Dr NW, Washington, DC 20050
Phone: (202) 426-6841
Established: Nov 13, 1982
Area: 86,111 sq feet
Annual visitors: 5.60 million (2015)

Names of Vietnam veterans at Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
One panel of ‘The Wall’, displaying some of the names of fallen U.S. service members from the Vietnam War.
wiki/Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial
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(1982) Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, DC.
Also on this day,

1956 | Bus segregation overturned as US Supreme Court rules racial segregation on buses illegal
In Browder v. Gayle, the Supreme Court strikes down Alabama laws requiring racial segregation on public buses. The high court rules these laws violate the 14h Amendment, which provides for equal protection under the law. The Montgomery Bus Boycott will end soon after the decision.
1974 | Union activist Karen Silkwood dies in suspicious car crash
Karen Silkwood, a technician at a Kerr-McGee nuclear facility in Crescent, Oklahoma, dies in a one-car crash on her way to meet a journalist to reportedly show him documents that reveal safety issues at the plant. The documents, however, will not be in the car when her body is found.
1998 | President Bill Clinton settles sexual harassment lawsuit
President Clinton agrees to pay Paula Jones, an ex-Arkansas state worker, $850,000 to drop her lawsuit claiming that he exposed himself to her in a hotel room in 1991. The settlement follows a series of appeals and denials that included an argument before the US Supreme Court.

Today in History 11/13/17

Paula Jones leaves a Little Rock, Arkansas, office after depositions in her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton in 1998 (© Reuters)(1998) President Bill Clinton settles sexual harassment lawsuit
President Clinton agrees to pay Paula Jones, an ex-Arkansas state worker, $850,000 to drop her lawsuit claiming that he exposed himself to her in a hotel room in 1991. The settlement follows a series of appeals and denials that included an argument before the US Supreme Court.
Paula Corbin Jones is a former Arkansas state employee who sued U.S. President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment. The Paula Jones case precipitated Clinton's impeachment in the House of Representatives and the subsequent acquittal by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Charges of perjury and obstruction of justice were brought against Clinton. Eventually, the court dismissed the Paula Jones harassment lawsuit, before trial, on the grounds that Jones failed to demonstrate any damages. However, while the dismissal was on appeal, Clinton entered into an out-of-court settlement by agreeing to pay Jones $850,000.
Born: Sep 17, 1966 (age 51) · Lonoke, AR
Height: 5' 3" (1.59 m)
Spouse: Steven Mark McFadden (m. 2001) · Stephen Jones (m. 1991 - 1999)
Children: Preston Jones (Son) · Stephen Jones (Son)
Movies: The Hunting of the President · The Clinton Chronicles
Siblings: Charlotte Corbin Brown (Sister) · Lydia Corbin Cathey (Sister)
Highlights
  • 1991: Paula Jones married Stephen Jones on December 01, 1991; their marriage lasted 8 years till June 01, 1999.

  • 1994: Jones filed a sexual harassment suit against Clinton on May 6, 1994, two days before the three-year statute of limitations, and sought $750,000 in damages.

  • 1997: In December 1997, Jones reduced the damages sought in her suit against Clinton to $525,000 and agreed to remove Clinton's co-defendant and former bodyguard, Danny Ferguson, from the suit.

  • 1998: On April 2, 1998, before the case could reach trial, Judge Wright granted President Clinton's motion for dismissal, ruling that Jones could not show that she had suffered any damages.

  • 1999: The Paula Jones case precipitated Clinton's impeachment in the House of Representatives and the subsequent acquittal by the Senate on February 12, 1999.

  • 1999: In April 1999, Judge Wright found Clinton in civil contempt of court for misleading testimony in the Jones case.

wiki/Paula_Jones
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