1990

Today in History 12/09 (Harry Gold)

Harry Gold (center) with US deputy marshalls in New York in 1951 (© AP)(1950) Harry Gold goes to prison for atomic espionage
American Harry Gold is sentenced to 30 years for passing top-secret information about the atomic bomb from British spy Klaus Fuchs to Soviet agents. Gold admitted to his role and provided information that will lead to the arrest, and execution, of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
Harry Gold was a laboratory chemist and spy for a number of Soviet spy rings operating in the United States during the Manhattan Project.
Born: Dec 11, 1910 · Philadelphia, PA
Died: Aug 28, 1972 · Philadelphia, PA
Nationality: American
Buried: Philadelphia · Har Nebo Cemetery
Parents: Samson · Celia Gold
Highlights
  • 1910: Harry Gold was born on December 11, 1910, in Bern, Switzerland to Samson and Celia Gold.

  • 1929: He developed a pronounced interest in chemistry and graduated from South Philadelphia High School in 1929.

  • 1940: In 1940, Jacob Golos activated Harry Gold for Soviet espionage, but he was not a recruited agent of the rezidentura.

  • 1944: Semenov remained Gold’s control officer until March 1944.

  • 1951: In 1951, Gold was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment

  • 1972: In 1972, he died in Philadelphia, age 62; he was interred in Har Nebo Cemetery in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

U.S. vs. Julius & Ethel Rosenberg and Martin Sobell, Government Exhibit 5, photograph of Harry Gold
U.S. vs. Julius & Ethel Rosenberg and Martin Sobell, Government Exhibit 5, photograph of Harry Gold – NARA – 278750
wiki/Harry_Gold
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(1950) Harry Gold goes to prison for atomic espionage.
Also on this day,

1965 | Charlie Brown’s ‘Christmas’ becomes a classic
Charles Schulz’ comic strip ‘Peanuts’ may be a huge hit, but CBS predicts disaster when ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ premieres tonight. Child actors voicing the characters, no laugh track, a jazz score, and a depressed lead character all spell doom. But the show will become an instant classic, airing every Christmas season since.
1990 | Lech Walesa elected president of Poland
In a landslide, the mustachioed labor leader and electrician becomes the first directly elected president of Poland in decades with the slogan: “I don’t want to, but I’ve got no choice.” Walesa rose to prominence in the Solidarity movement and was awarded the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize for his work.
2000 | Supreme Court halts Florida recount in presidential race
The US Supreme Court, in 5-to-4 ruling, dashes Vice President Al Gore’s hopes to win the presidency when it reverses a lower court ruling and suspends Florida’s hand recount of votes. This sets the stage for the Court’s final ruling three days later, allowing George W. Bush to keep his slim lead in Florida and win the White House.

Today in History 12/09/17

Protesters hold signs and flags in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, December 11, 2000 (© Steve Helber/AP)(2000) Supreme Court halts Florida recount in presidential race
The US Supreme Court, in 5-to-4 ruling, dashes Vice President Al Gore's hopes to win the presidency when it reverses a lower court ruling and suspends Florida's hand recount of votes. This sets the stage for the Court's final ruling three days later, allowing George W. Bush to keep his slim lead in Florida and win the White House.

Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court. It resolved the dispute surrounding the 2000 presidential election. The ruling was issued on December 12, 2000. On December 9, the Court had preliminarily halted the Florida recount that was occurring. Eight days earlier, the Court unanimously decided the closely related case of Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, 531 U.S. 70 (2000). The Electoral College was scheduled to meet on December 18, 2000, to decide the election.

In a per curiam decision, the Court ruled that there was an Equal Protection Clause violation in using different standards of counting in different counties and ruled that no alternative method could be established within the time limit set by Title 3 of the United States Code (3 U.S.C.), § 5 ("Determination of controversy as to appointment of electors"), which was December 12. The vote regarding the Equal Protection Clause was 7–2, and regarding the lack of an alternative method was 5–4. Three concurring justices also asserted that the Florida Supreme Court had violated Article II, § 1, cl. 2 of the Constitution, by misinterpreting Florida election law that had been enacted by the Florida Legislature.

The Supreme Court decision allowed the previous vote certification to stand, as made by Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, for George W. Bush as the winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes. Florida's votes gave Bush, the Republican candidate, 271 electoral votes, one more than the required 270 to win the Electoral College, and the defeat of Democratic candidate Al Gore, who received 266 electoral votes (a "faithless elector" from the District of Columbia abstained).

Media organizations subsequently analyzed the ballots and found that the originally proposed county-based recounts would have resulted in a different outcome (Bush victory) than a full statewide recount (Gore victory). Florida subsequently changed to new voting machines to avoid punch cards which had allowed dimpled or hanging chads.


wiki/Bush_v._Gore
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Today in History 12/01 (Rosa Parks)

Mugshot of Rosa Parks in 1955 (© Universal History Archive/Getty images)(1955) Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man
Cops arrest the African-American seamstress for violating Montgomery, Alabama’s racial segregation laws that require black patrons to sit in the back of a bus and give up their seats to whites. The incident leads to a bus boycott, spearheaded by a young minister, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The United States Congress has called her “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”.
Lived: Feb 04, 1913 – Oct 24, 2005 (age 92)
Height: 5′ 3″
Spouse: Raymond Parks (m. 1932 – 1977)
Education: Alabama State Teachers College for Negroes · Highlander Folk School
Parents: Leona McCauley (Mother) · James McCauley (Father)
Siblings: Sylvester McCauley (Brother)
Highlights
  • 1932: In 1932, Rosa married Raymond Parks, a barber from Montgomery.

  • 1943: Initially, she did not notice that the bus driver was the same man, James F. Blake, who had left her in the rain in 1943.

  • 1955: On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake’s order to give up her seat in the “colored section” to a white passenger, after the whites-only section was filled.

  • 1992: In 1992, Parks published Rosa Parks: My Story, an autobiography aimed at younger readers, which recounts her life leading to her decision to keep her seat on the bus.

  • 2005: The lawsuit was settled on April 15, 2005 (six months and nine days before Parks’ death); OutKast, their producer and record labels paid Parks an undisclosed cash settlement.

  • 2005: Parks died of natural causes on October 24, 2005, at the age of 92, in her apartment on the east side of Detroit.

Photograph of Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin Luther King jr. (ca. 1955)
Photograph of Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin Luther King jr. (ca. 1955) Mrs. Rosa Parks altered the negro progress in Montgomery, Alabama, 1955, by the bus boycott she began. National Archives record ID: 306-PSD-65-1882 (Box 93). Source: Ebony Magazine
wiki/Rosa_Parks
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(1955) Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man.
Also on this day,

1934 | ‘Great Purge’ begins with assassination of Party leader as Sergei Kirov murdered
Sergei Kirov is gunned down at Communist Party headquarters in Leningrad. Many suspect Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is behind the assassination, though a connection will not be proved. Kirov’s death, however, marks the beginning of Stalin’s ‘Great Purge,’ in which a million or more people will be executed.
1959 | Antarctica treaty turns Antarctica into a scientific preserve
Twelve countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a treaty that prohibits any military activity on Antarctica. The agreement stipulates that the continent will be used only for scientific research. It will be considered the first arms control agreement of the Cold War.
1990 | Chunnel breaks through as Workers drill breakthrough hole in Chunnel project
England is now connected to the European mainland via a tunnel that runs deep under the English Channel. When it opens in 1994, the Chunnel project will have taken 13,000 workers about six years to complete the 31-mile long tunnel that stretches from the English town of Folkestone to Coquelles in France.

Today in History 12/01/17

Flags of the original 12 signatory nations of the Antarctic Treaty fly at McMurdo Station, Antarctica (© Rob Jones/National Science Foundation via Getty images)(1959) Treaty turns Antarctica into a scientific preserve
Twelve countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a treaty that prohibits any military activity on Antarctica. The agreement stipulates that the continent will be used only for scientific research. It will be considered the first arms control agreement of the Cold War.
The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System, regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. For the purposes of the treaty system, Antarctica is defined as all of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude. The treaty, entering into force in 1961 and having 53 parties as of 2016, sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bans military activity on that continent. The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War. The Antarctic Treaty Secretariat headquarters is located in Buenos Aires Argentina, since September 2004.
Antarctic Treaty parties
[ORANGE] Parties with consulting status making a claim to Antarctic territory [YELLOW] Parties with consulting status reserving the right to make a territorial claim [BLUE] Other parties with consulting status [GREEN] Parties without consulting status [RED] Non-party UN member states and observers

wiki/Antarctic_Treaty_System
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