1978

Today in History 11/27 (Moscone-Milk Assassinations)

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San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk in April 1977 in the mayor's office during the signing of the city's gay rights bill (© AP)(1978) Assassinations at San Francisco City Hall
Ex-Supervisor Dan White requests a meeting with Mayor George Moscone and then shoots and his kills his old boss in his office. White then guns down Harvey Milk, an openly gay politician and well-respected gay-rights activist. Later on the steps of City Hall, Supervisor Dianne Feinstein will confirm both men are dead.
The Moscone–Milk assassinations were the killings of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, who were shot and killed in San Francisco City Hall by former Supervisor Dan White on November 27, 1978. White was angry that Moscone had refused to reappoint him to his seat on the Board of Supervisors, from which he had just resigned, and that Milk had lobbied heavily against his reappointment. These events helped bring national notice to then–Board President Dianne Feinstein, who became the first female mayor of San Francisco and eventually U.S. Senator for California.
Date: Nov 27, 1978
Location: City Hall, San Francisco, California, United States
Target: George Moscone, Harvey Milk
Attack type: Assassination, spree shooting
Deaths: 2
Non-fatal injuries: 0
Weapons: .38-caliber Smith & Wesson Model 36 Chief’s Special

Upper part of the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle on November 28, 1978 - the morning after the double assassination of George Moscone and Harvey Milk
Upper part of the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle on November 28, 1978 – the morning after the double assassination of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
wiki/Moscone–Milk_assassinations
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(1978) Assassinations at San Francisco City Hall.
Also on this day,

1924 | Macy’s puts on its first Thanksgiving Day Parade
Macy’s kicks off what will be a beloved annual tradition. The parade contains floats, employees dressed as clowns, cowboys, and animals from the Central Park Zoo. The parade isn’t to celebrate Thanksgiving as much as to put Christmas – and shopping for presents – in the minds of spectators lining the streets.
1973 | US Senate confirms Gerald R. Ford as vice president
The US Senate votes 92-3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Richard Nixon’s vice president. He succeeds Spiro Agnew, who had resigned after pleading no contest to tax evasion. Ford will serve as vice president for less than a year before succeeding Nixon as president, after he resigns in the fallout from the Watergate scandal.
2013 | ‘Let it go!’ as ‘Frozen’ is hot at the box office
The animated sensation with voices by Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel his theaters, and kids everywhere can’t stop singing (plenty of parents, too). ‘Frozen’ will go on to set a $1.2 billion box-office record for an animated film.

Today in History 11/27/17

Gerald Ford is sworn in as the nation’s 40th vice president in the House Chamber in the Capitol in Washington, December 6, 1973 (© AP)(1973) US Senate confirms Gerald R. Ford as vice president
The US Senate votes 92-3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Richard Nixon's vice president. He succeeds Spiro Agnew, who had resigned after pleading no contest to tax evasion. Ford will serve as vice president for less than a year before succeeding Nixon as president, after he resigns in the fallout from the Watergate scandal.
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. was an American politician who served as the 38th President of the United States from August 1974 to January 1977, following the resignation of Richard Nixon. Prior to this he served eight months as the 40th Vice President of the United States, following the resignation of Spiro Agnew. He was the first person appointed to the vice presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment, and consequently the only person to have served as both vice president and president without being elected to either office. He is the most recent vice president to become president as a result of an intra-term vacancy in the office; and his 895 day-long presidency is the shortest in American history for any president who did not die in office. Before his appointment to the vice presidency, Ford served 25 years as U.S. Representative from Michigan's 5th congressional district, the final nine of them as the House Minority Leader.
Lived: Jul 14, 1913 - Dec 26, 2006 (age 93)
Height: 6' 0" (1.83 m)
Spouse: Betty Ford (m. 1948 - 2006)
Successor: Jimmy Carter (President)
Party: Republican Party
Vice President: Nelson Rockefeller
Highlights
  • 1948: On October 15, 1948, at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, Ford married Elizabeth Bloomer Warren (1918–2011), a department store fashion consultant.

  • 1980: Had Ford won the election, the provisions of the 22nd Amendment would have disqualified him from running in 1980, because he had served more than two years of Nixon's remaining term.

  • 1981: In April 1981, he opened the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the north campus of his alma mater, the University of Michigan, followed in September by the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids.

  • 2006: After his death in December 2006, the University of Michigan Marching Band played the school's fight song for him one final time, for his last ride from the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

  • 2006: After experiencing health problems, he died at home on December 26, 2006.

  • 2006: Ford died on December 26, 2006, at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, of arteriosclerotic cerebrovascular disease and diffuse arteriosclerosis.


Gerald Ford - NARA
Gerald Ford - NARA - 530680

wiki/Gerald_Ford
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Today in History 11/18 (Jim Jones)

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Jim Jones in 1976 (© AP)(1978) Over 900 die in mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana
Following the murder of a visiting US congressman, American cult leader Jim Jones leads his followers in a mass murder-suicide that claims over 900 victims, a third of whom are children. Some are forced to drink cyanide-laced punch; others do so willingly. Jones shoots himself.
James Warren Jones was an American religious cult leader who, along with his inner circle, initiated and was responsible for a mass suicide and mass murder in Jonestown, Guyana. Jones achieved notoriety as the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple cult.
Lived: May 13, 1931 – Nov 18, 1978 (age 47)
Height: 5′ 8″
Spouse: Marceline Jones (m. 1949 – 1978)
Children: Stephan Jones (Son) · Suzanne O. Jones (Daughter) · Jim Jon Prokes (Son) · Agnes Pauline Jones (Daughter) · Stephanie Jones (Daughter) · Lew Eric Jones (Son) · Timothy Glen Jones (Son) · Jim W. Jones Jr. (Son) · John Moss Jones (Son)
Parents: Lynetta Putnam (Mother) · James Thurman Jones (Father)
Education: Butler University · Richmond High School
Highlights
  • 1949: Jim Jones married Marceline Jones on June 12, 1949.

  • 1971: The Temple repeatedly claimed that Jones fathered the child when, in 1971, Stoen had requested that Jones have sex with Grace to keep her from defecting.

  • 1977: In order to avoid potentially giving up the boy in a custody dispute with Grace, Jones ordered Tim to take John to Guyana in February 1977.

  • 1977: In September 1977, California assemblyman Willie Brown served as master of ceremonies at a large testimonial dinner for Jones attended by Governor Jerry Brown and Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally.

  • 1978: Stoen traveled to Washington, D.C. in January 1978 to visit with State Department officials and members of Congress, and wrote a white paper detailing his grievances against Jones and the Temple.

  • 1978: Jim Jones died on November 18, 1978 in Port Kaituma, Guyana.

Rev. Jim Jones at an anti-eviction rally Sunday, January 16, 1977 in front of the International Hotel, Kearny and Jackson Streets, San Francisco Photo by Nancy Wong
Rev. Jim Jones at an anti-eviction rally Sunday, January 16, 1977 in front of the International Hotel, Kearny and Jackson Streets, San Francisco Photo by Nancy Wong
wiki/Jim_Jones
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(1978) Over 900 die in mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.
Also on this day,

1966 | Sandy Koufax, pitcher for Dodgers, retires at 30
After a World Series loss, Dodgers ace Koufax announces his retirement due to a bad elbow. Koufax posted impressive stats in his 12 seasons, including three Cy Young Awards. But he may be best remembered for refusing to pitch in a Series game that fell on Yom Kippur.
1976 | Democracy comes to Spain as Spain’s parliament approves bill to establish a democracy
A year after the death of Fascist dictator Francisco Franco, Spain’s parliament members essentially vote themselves out of office, approving a bill to transition to democracy by allowing elections and the creation of a two-chamber parliament. The bill will later be approved by public referendum.
1991 | After four years, British hostage is released in Lebanon as Terry Waite freed
It’s over, thinks religious envoy Waite after being freed by his Shi’ite Muslim captors. Waite had been kidnapped four years earlier on a trip to secure the release of others held in Lebanon and Iran. He suffered beatings, mock executions, and languished in solitary confinement before his release.

Today in History 11/18/17

Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez and his wife, Ambaro, cast their votes in 1977 in the first free elections in Spain (© Saris/AP)(1976) Spain's parliament approves bill to establish a democracy
A year after the death of Fascist dictator Francisco Franco, Spain's parliament members essentially vote themselves out of office, approving a bill to transition to democracy by allowing elections and the creation of a two-chamber parliament. The bill will later be approved by public referendum.
The Spanish transition to democracy (Spanish: Transición española a la democracia), or simply the Transition (Spanish: La Transición) was the restoration of democracy in Spain after the death of Francisco Franco in 1975. The transition began shortly after Franco's death on 20 November 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish Constitution of 1978, the failure of an attempted coup on 23 February 1981, or the electoral victory of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) on 28 October 1982. Though faced with political and economic crises at the time, the transition to democracy was one of the factors that allowed Spain to join the European Economic Community and NATO.
Political posters from the 1970s on a simulated street wall in an exhibition celebrating 20 years of the Spanish Constitution of 1978.
Political posters in an exhibition celebrating 20 years of the Spanish Constitution of 1978.

wiki/Spanish_transition_to_democracy
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