1978

Today in History 11/10 (Badlands National Park)

Leave a Comment
Badlands national park in South Dakota (© Andrew Nay/EyeEm/Getty Images)(1978) Badlands becomes a national park
A national monument since 1939, Badlands in southwest South Dakota is designated as a national park. The 244,000-acre park will eventually host about a million visitors a year coming to see wildlife, fossils, and the Badlands wall.
Badlands National Park is an American national park located in southwestern South Dakota. The park protects 242,756 acres of sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles, along with the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. The National Park Service manages the park, with the South Unit being co-managed with the Oglala Lakota tribe.
Website: www.nps.gov/badl
Address: 25216 Ben Reifel Pl, Interior, SD 57750
Phone: (605) 433-5361
Established: Jan 29, 1939
Area: 379.31 sq miles
Annual visitors: 1.05 million (2017)

Badlands National Park
Badlands National Park
wiki/Badlands_National_Park
4.15.A18

(1978) Badlands becomes a national park.
Also on this day,

1871 | Henry Stanley finds missing explorer Dr. David Livingstone
‘Dr. Livingstone, I presume?’ Journalist Henry Stanley will claim he uttered those words on this day, upon finding David Livingstone after a harrowing search in central Africa. The quote, however, and even the date, will later come into question.
1969 | ‘Sesame Street’ is introduced to the airwaves of American public television
‘Sesame Street,’ featuring Jim Henson’s Muppets, catchy songs, and animated shorts, aims to educate while it entertains young kids. The show will be a huge success, and will be credited as a valuable learning tool, but will also ruffle convention as it tackles serious subjects, such as death, poverty, and AIDS.
1997 | Judge frees British au pair
Louise Woodward, 19, a British au pair convicted for murdering an infant while he was in her care in Massachusetts, has been freed from prison, her conviction reduced from murder to involuntary manslaughter. Woodward’s case drew intense worldwide attention, especially in Britain.

Today in History 11/10/17

Funeral procession of Leonid Brezhnev in Moscow on November 10, 1982 (© KeystoneUSA/ZUMA/Rex Features)(1982) Soviet leader Brezhnev dies at age 75
Leonid Brezhnev, who ruled the USSR for 18 years during the height of the Cold War, dies of a heart attack. In poor health, he had been largely a figurehead during his final years. His death will start a long cycle of reform eventually leading to the country's breakup.
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was a Soviet politician who led the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982 as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, presiding over the country until his death and funeral in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in duration. During Brezhnev's rule, the global influence of the Soviet Union grew dramatically, in part because of the expansion of the Soviet military during this time. His tenure as leader was marked by the beginning of an era of economic and social stagnation in the Soviet Union.
Lived: Dec 19, 1906 - Nov 10, 1982 (age 75)
Height: 5' 8" (1.73 m)
Spouse: Viktoria Brezhneva (m. 1928 - 1982)
Buried: Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Children: Yuri Brezhnev (Son) · Galina Brezhneva (Daughter)
Previous offices: Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1977 - 1982) · General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1964 - 1982)
Highlights
  • 1928: Leonid Brezhnev married Viktoria Brezhneva in 1928.

  • 1931: Brezhnev had met Khrushchev in 1931, shortly after joining the Party, and before long, as he continued his rise through the ranks, he became Khrushchev's protégé.

  • 1952: In 1952 Brezhnev became a member of the Central Committee, and during 1964, Brezhnev succeeded Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary, while Alexei Kosygin succeeded Khrushchev in his post as Soviet premier.

  • 1957: He was now a senior member of Khrushchev's entourage, and in June 1957, he backed Khrushchev in his struggle with Malenkov's Stalinist old guard in the Party leadership, the so-called "Anti-Party Group".

  • 1977: In 1977, he forced the retirement of Podgorny and became once again Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, making this position equivalent to that of an executive president.

  • 1982: After years of declining health, Brezhnev died on 10 November 1982 and was quickly succeeded in his post as General Secretary by Yuri Andropov.


25th anniversary of conquering virgin land. USSR block. 1979
USSR postage stamp of 1979, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Virgin Lands Campaign

wiki/Leonid_Brezhnev
4.6.n17


Today in History 10/25 (Battle of Agincourt)

Leave a Comment
The Battle of Agincourt in 1415 (© Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)(1415) Weary English soldiers outnumbered by French on St. Crispin’s Day
England’s King Henry V charges into a battle that sees his troops dangerously outnumbered by the French on the fields of Agincourt. Thickets of longbows send arrows flying at the French and before the day’s end the English secure one of their greatest, and most improbable, military wins.
The Battle of Agincourt (UK:; US:; French: Azincourt) was a major English victory in the Hundred Years’ War. It took place on 25 October 1415 in the County of Saint-Pol, Artois, some 40 km south of Calais. England’s unexpected victory at Agincourt against a numerically superior French army boosted English morale and prestige, crippled France, and started a new period in the war during which the English began enjoying great military successes.
Date: Oct 25, 1415

Map Agincort
The battle of Agincourt
wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt
4.15.A18

(1415) Weary English soldiers outnumbered by French on St. Crispin’s Day.
Also on this day,

1938 | Big bands get a big boo from the Archbishop as Swing music denounced
Catholic Archbishop Francis J.L. Beckman of Dubuque, Iowa, lets it be known that he is not a fan of a newfangled national craze. He claims it is “turned loose to gnaw away at the moral fiber of young people,” and that swing music will catapult fans down a “primrose path to hell.”
1978 | Michael Myers goes home for the holiday as ‘Halloween’ premieres
Moviegoers in Kansas City, Missouri, attend the premiere of John Carpenter’s low-budget horror film, titled appropriately enough for the season, ‘Halloween.’ Those expecting a cheesy gore fest are instead treated to a masterful take on the genre, and some of the best scares since ‘Psycho.’
1983 | Grenada invaded as Operation Urgent Fury sends US invasion force to Caribbean
The small Caribbean island nation of Grenada has been embroiled in a political power struggle for months, and with the revolutionary prime minister now murdered, the island is invaded by more than 7,000 troops in the largest US military engagement since Vietnam. The invading forces will claim victory within weeks.

Today in History 10/25/17

A patrol of US Marines during the invasion of Grenada in October 1983 (© DOD handout viaAP )(1983) Operation Urgent Fury sends US invasion force to Caribbean
The small Caribbean island nation of Grenada has been embroiled in a political power struggle for months, and with the revolutionary prime minister now murdered, the island is invaded by more than 7,000 troops in the largest US military engagement since Vietnam. The invading forces will claim victory within weeks.
The Invasion of Grenada was a 1983 United States–led invasion of the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, which has a population of about 91,000 and is located 160 kilometres north of Venezuela, that resulted in a U.S. victory within a matter of weeks. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury, it was triggered by the internal strife within the People's Revolutionary Government that resulted in the house arrest and the execution of the previous leader and second Prime Minister of Grenada Maurice Bishop, and the establishment of a preliminary government, the Revolutionary Military Council with Hudson Austin as Chairman. The invasion resulted in the appointment of an interim government, followed by democratic elections in 1984. The country has remained a democratic nation since then.
Start date: Oct 25, 1983
End date: Dec 15, 1983
US Plan Grenada Urgent Fury
Operation Urgent Fury

wiki/Invasion_of_Grenada
4.4.j17


Today in History 10/22 (Pope John Paul II)

Leave a Comment
Pope John Paul II blesses the faithful in St. Peter's Square from a Vatican City balcony after he was named pope in 1978 (© AP)(1978) Poland’s Cardinal Wojtyła inaugurated as pope
Elected six days earlier, Karol Józef Wojtyła, 58, is now inaugurated as Pope John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years and the second youngest in history. His pontificate will last 26 years, take him to 129 countries, and lead to sainthood less than a decade after his death.
Pope John Paul II served as Pope and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 to 2005.
Lived: May 18, 1920 – Apr 02, 2005 (age 84)
Height: 5′ 10″
Buried: St. Peter’s Basilica
Education: Jagiellonian University (1953 – 1954) · Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1947 – 1948)
Parents: Karol Wojtyła (Father) · Emilia Kaczorowska (Mother)
Siblings: Edmund Wojtyła (Brother) · Olga Wojtyła (Sister)
Highlights
  • 1967: In 1967, he was instrumental in formulating the encyclical Humanae vitae, which dealt with the same issues that forbid abortion and artificial birth control.

  • 1978: In August 1978, following the death of Pope Paul VI, Cardinal Wojtyła voted in the papal conclave, which elected Pope John Paul I. John Paul I died after only 33 days as pope, triggering another conclave.

  • 1979: In 1979 John Paul II visited the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, where many of his compatriots (mostly Jews) had perished during the Nazi occupation in World War II, the first pope to do so.

  • 1984: In 1984 and 1986, through Cardinal Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI) as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, John Paul II officially condemned aspects of liberation theology, which had many followers in South America.

  • 2000: In 2000, he was the first modern pope to visit Egypt, where he met with the Coptic pope, Pope Shenouda III and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria.

  • 2005: In April 2005, shortly after John Paul II’s death, the Israeli government created a commission to honour the legacy of John Paul II.

Ivan Pavao II., grafiti u Rijeci (Mrtvi kanal)
Graffiti showing Pope John Paul II with quote “Do not be afraid” in Rijeka, Croatia
wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II
4.15.A18

(1978) Poland’s Cardinal Wojtyła inaugurated as pope.
Also on this day,

1797 | Parachuting pioneer as a gutsy Garnerin takes a plunge over Paris
Inspired by his time confined behind the high ramparts of a Hungarian prison, French balloonist André-Jacques Garnerin floats 3,200 feet above Paris, releases the hydrogen balloon from his new invention the parachute, and under a 23-foot wide canopy he descends safely to the ground.
1910 | Dr. Crippen convicted as a body buried in the basement leads to conviction
Months after Dr. Crippen’s spouse disappeared, police turn up human remains buried in the basement of his home. Today, after a sensational trial at London’s Old Bailey, it takes the jury only 27 minutes to find Hawley Harvey Crippen guilty of murdering his wife.
1964 | French existentialist turns down his Nobel Prize as Sartre wins
Arguably one of the most notable public intellectuals of the 20th century, Jean-Paul Sartre, is this year’s winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for work the committee deems ‘filled with the spirit of freedom.’ The French philosopher exercises this same spirit and declines the honor.

Today in History 10/22/17

Engraving of Jacques Garnerin's parachute descent in 1797 (© Apic/Getty Images)(1797) A gutsy parachutist takes a plunge over Paris
Inspired by his time confined behind the high ramparts of a Hungarian prison, French balloonist André-Jacques Garnerin floats 3,200 feet above Paris, releases the hydrogen balloon from his new invention the parachute, and under a 23-foot wide canopy he descends safely to the ground.
André-Jacques Garnerin was a French balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute. He was appointed Official Aeronaut of France. Garnerin was born in Paris. He was captured by British troops during the first phase of the French Revolutionary Wars 1792–1797, turned over to the Austrians and held as a prisoner of war in Buda in Hungary for three years.
Born: Jan 31, 1769 · Paris, France
Died: Aug 18, 1823 · Paris, France
Spouse: Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse
Siblings: Jean-Baptiste-Olivier Garnerin (Brother)
First Parachute Schematics
Schematic depiction of Garnerin's first parachute used in the Parc Monceau descent of 22 October 1797. Illustration dates from the early nineteenth century.

wiki/André-Jacques_Garnerin
4.4.j17


Today in History 09/15 (Birmingham Church Bombing)

Leave a Comment
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
4.15.A18

(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
4.4.j17


Today in History 09/12 (Steve Biko)

Leave a Comment
A poster of slain South African anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko on the 10th anniversary of his death, Sept 13, 1987, in Soweto (© John Parkin/AP)(1977) Anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko dies in police custody
After almost a month in South African police custody, Steve Biko, the leader of an anti-apartheid black student movement, has died in a Pretoria hospital. The 30-year-old’s autopsy will show that death was caused by severe brain injury, and 15,000 supporters will attend his funeral.
Bantu Stephen Biko was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known as the Black Consciousness Movement during the late 1960s and 1970s. His ideas were articulated in a series of articles published under the pseudonym Frank Talk.
Lived: Dec 18, 1946 – Sep 12, 1977 (age 30)
Nationality: South African
Spouse: Ntsiki Mashalaba (m. 1970 – 1977)
Children: Hlumelo Biko (Son) · Nkosinathi Biko (Son) · Samora Biko (Son) · Lerato Biko (Daughter) · Motlatsi Biko (Daughter)
Founded: Black Consciousness Movement · South African Students’ Organisation · Black People’s Convention
Parents: Alice Mamcete Biko (Mother) · Mzingayi Mathew (Father)
Highlights
  • 1968: He developed the view that to avoid white domination, black people had to organise independently, and to this end he became a leading figure in the creation of the South African Students’ Organisation (SASO) in 1968.

  • 1970: Biko married Ntsiki Mashalaba in December 1970.

  • 1971: Biko presented a paper on “White Racism and Black Consciousness” at an academic conference in the University of Cape Town’s Abe Bailey Centre in January 1971.

  • 1972: In 1972, he was involved in founding the Black People’s Convention (BPC) to promote Black Consciousness ideas among the wider population.

  • 1972: In September 1972, Biko visited Kimberley, where he met the PAC founder and anti-apartheid activist Robert Sobukwe.

  • 1977: There, Biko died alone in a cell on 12 September 1977.

Steven Bantu Biko's Grave in King Williams Town, SA
Biko’s grave in Ginsberg cemetery, King William’s Town
wiki/Steve_Biko
4.15.A18

(1977) Anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko dies in police custody.
Also on this day,

1846 | A pair of poets Barrett and Browning elope
The lauded poet Elizabeth Barrett joins her beau, the up-and-coming poet Robert Browning, to marry in secret at a London church. They will then move to Italy, cultivate a circle of literary friends, have a son, and craft words for the ages.
1933 | Atom-age breakthrough as Szilárd’s stroll sets off a nuclear chain reaction
Hungarian physicist Leó Szilárd has been puzzling over using atoms as a form of energy, and as he strolls London’s streets, he suddenly conceives the idea of a nuclear chain reaction, which will lead to his work in the atom bomb’s formation and the harnessing of nuclear energy.
1978 | ‘Taxi’ brings NYC cab driver stories to TV
‘Taxi’ premieres with a cast that includes Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza, and Andy Kaufman. Christopher Lloyd will join later as the Rev. Jim Ignatowski. The show will go on to win 18 Emmy Awards during its five seasons on ABC and NBC.

Today in History 09/12/17

Dr. Leó Szilárd, of the University of Chicago, testifies before the House Military Affairs Committee, Oct 18, 1945 (© Henry Griffin/AP)(1933) Szilárd's stroll sets off a nuclear chain reaction
Hungarian physicist Leó Szilárd has been puzzling over using atoms as a form of energy, and as he strolls London's streets, he suddenly conceives the idea of a nuclear chain reaction, which will lead to his work in the atom bomb's formation and the harnessing of nuclear energy.
Leo Szilard was a Hungarian-born physicist and inventor. He conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi in 1934, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb.
Lived: Feb 11, 1898 - May 30, 1964 (age 66)
Spouse: Gertrud Weiss Szilard (m. 1951)
Academic advisors: Albert Einstein · Max von Laue
Inventions: Einstein refrigerator
Education: Budapest University of Technology and Economics · Technical University of Berlin · Humboldt University of Berlin
Awards: Albert Einstein Award (1960)
Highlights
  • 1922: His doctoral dissertation on thermodynamics Über die thermodynamischen Schwankungserscheinungen (On The Manifestation of Thermodynamic Fluctuations), praised by Einstein, won top honors in 1922.

  • 1938: Foreseeing another war in Europe, Szilard moved to the United States in 1938, where he worked with Enrico Fermi and Walter Zinn on means of creating a nuclear chain reaction.

  • 1950: He publicly sounded the alarm against the possible development of salted thermonuclear bombs, explaining in radio talk on February 26, 1950, that sufficiently big thermonuclear bomb rigged with specific but common materials, might annihilate mankind.

  • 1951: Leó Szilárd married Gertrud Weiss Szilard in 1951.

  • 1961: The Voice of the Dolphins, and Other Stories written by Leó Szilárd was first published in 1961.

  • 1964: On May 30, 1964, he died in his sleep of a heart attack; when Trude awoke, she was unable to revive him.

Fermi-Szilard Neutronic Reactor - Figure 38
An image from the Fermi–Szilard "neutronic reactor" patent

wiki/Leo_Szilard
4.4.j17