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Today in History 12/26 (Kwanzaa)

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Maulana Karenga with his wife, Tiamoya, behind a table laid out for Kwanzaa circa 2000 (© Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images)(1966) The first Kwanzaa holiday is celebrated
Professor Maulana Karenga develops Kwanzaa in the wake of the deadly Watts riots to help build community among black people. The seven-day nonreligious holiday, inspired by African harvest festivals, focuses on seven principles, such as unity and purpose, to celebrate black culture.
Kwanzaa is a celebration held in the United States and in other nations of the African diaspora in the Americas and lasts a week. The celebration honors African heritage in African-American culture and is observed from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving. Kwanzaa has seven core principles. It was created by Maulana Karenga and was first celebrated in 1966–67.
Celebrations: UnityCreativityFaithGiving gifts
Observed by: African Americans, parts of African diaspora
Significance: Celebrates African heritage, unity, and culture.
Related to: Pan-Africanism
Date: December 26 to January 1

Kwanzaa candles (Kinara) cartoon-like image
Seven candles in a kinara symbolize the seven principles of Kwanzaa
wiki/Kwanzaa
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(1966) The first Kwanzaa holiday is celebrated.
Also on this day,

1908 | Jack Johnson is first black heavyweight boxing champion
American fighter Jack Johnson, the son of two former slaves, defeats Canadian Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia. The fight lasts 14 rounds until police stop it and the title is awarded to Johnson on a referee’s decision. Johnson will hold the title until 1915 when he’ll lose a grueling fight with a working cowboy.
1972 | Former US President Harry Truman dies at age 88
The 33rd president of the US dies of multiple-organ failure after several weeks in the hospital. His wife, Bess, will opt for a small private burial in their hometown of Independence, Missouri, instead of a state funeral in DC, thinking it a more fitting goodbye for the down-to-earth Truman.
2004 | Indian Ocean earthquake triggers tsunamis
A 9.3 magnitude underwater earthquake off the coast of Sumatra creates huge tsunamis that devastate Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and other areas in the Indian Ocean, killing more than 230,000 people. Many of the countries hit lack tsunami warning systems, so people have little time to escape the deadly walls of water.

Today in History 12/26/17

Former President Harry S. Truman in 1972 (© ullstein bild/Getty Images)(1972) Former US President Harry Truman dies at age 88
The 33rd president of the US dies of multiple-organ failure after several weeks in the hospital. His wife, Bess, will opt for a small private burial in their hometown of Independence, Missouri, instead of a state funeral in DC, thinking it a more fitting goodbye for the down-to-earth Truman.
Harry S. Truman was an American statesman who served as the 33rd President of the United States, taking the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. A World War I veteran, he assumed the presidency during the waning months of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. He is known for implementing the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe, the establishment of the Truman Doctrine and NATO against Soviet and Chinese communism, and for intervening in the Korean War. In domestic affairs, he was a moderate Democrat whose liberal proposals were a continuation of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, but the conservative-dominated Congress blocked most of them. He used the veto power 180 times, more than any president since then, and saw 12 overridden by Congress; only Grover Cleveland and Franklin D. Roosevelt used the veto so often, and only Gerald Ford and Andrew Johnson saw so many veto overrides. He is the only world leader to have used nuclear weapons in war. He desegregated the U.S. Armed Forces, supported a newly independent Israel, and was a founder of the United Nations.
Lived: May 08, 1884 - Dec 26, 1972 (age 88)
Height: 5' 8" (1.73 m)
Party: Democratic Party
TV shows: Truman
Successor: Dwight D. Eisenhower (President)
Education: University of Missouri–Kansas City · University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law · William Chrisman High School
Highlights
  • 1919: After his wartime service, Truman returned to Independence, where he married Bess Wallace on June 28, 1919.

  • 1945: Truman was sworn in as vice president on January 20, 1945.

  • 1945: After serving as a United States Senator from Missouri (1935–45) and briefly as Vice President (1945), he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

  • 1950: On November 1, 1950, Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate Truman at Blair House.

  • 1953: When he left office in 1953, Truman was one of the most unpopular chief executives in history.

  • 1957: He testified before Congress to have money appropriated to have presidential papers copied and organized, and was proud of the bill's passage in 1957.


Electoral College 1948
1948 electoral vote results

wiki/Harry_S._Truman
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Today in History 12/17 (Wright Brothers)

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Orville Wright at the controls, making the first powered, controlled, sustained flight, with Wilbur Wright running alongside (Orville Wright and John T. Daniels via LOC)(1903) Wright brothers fly plane for first time
After years of working in secrecy, Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully test a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft, which stays aloft for 12 seconds and covers 120 feet, near Kitty Hawk, NC. They’ll send their father a telegram of their achievement, telling him to alert the press, but newspapers will pass and few people will learn of the feat until they invite reporters to later test flights.
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were two American aviators, engineers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who are generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world’s first successful airplane. They made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft on December 17, 1903, four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In 1904–05 the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not the first to build experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.
Buried: Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum
Founder: Wilbur Wright

First successful flight of the Wright Flyer, by the Wright brothers. The machine traveled 120 ft (36.6 m) in 12 seconds at 10:35 a.m. at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Orville Wright was at the controls of the machine, lying prone on the lower wing with his hips in the cradle which operated the wing-warping mechanism. Wilbur Wright ran alongside to balance the machine, and just released his hold on the forward upright of the right wing in the photo. The starting rail, the wing-rest, a coil box, and other items needed for flight preparation are visible behind the machine. This is described as
First flight of the Wright Flyer I, December 17, 1903, Orville piloting, Wilbur running at wingtip.
wiki/Wright_brothers
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(1903) Wright brothers fly plane for first time.
Also on this day,

1967 | Australia prime minister disappears out on a swim
Prime Minister Harold Holt vanishes near Portsea, Victoria, while swimming in the ocean with several friends. A search fails to find any trace of Holt and two days later he will be presumed drowned and declared dead. Speculation, never proved, will rise that Holt killed himself.
1989 | Middle America skewered as ‘The Simpsons’ premieres
The new Fox animated series, created by cartoonist Matt Groening, satirizes the American middle class via the Simpson family — Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and little Maggie. The show will become the longest running scripted prime-time TV show of all time.
1991 | End date for USSR as Yeltsin administration says Soviet Union will cease to exist
A spokesman for Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin announces that the Soviet Union will dissolve on or before New Year’s Eve. Yeltsin himself puts it more bluntly: “There will be no more red flag.” The public greets this with a shrug, as most former Soviet republics had already declared independence from the USSR.

Today in History 12/17/17

Boris Yeltsin gestures on December 30, 1991 in Minsk, Belarus (© Wojtek Laski/Laski Diffusion/Getty Image)(1991) Yeltsin administration says Soviet Union will cease to exist
A spokesman for Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin announces that the Soviet Union will dissolve on or before New Year's Eve. Yeltsin himself puts it more bluntly: "There will be no more red flag." The public greets this with a shrug, as most former Soviet republics had already declared independence from the USSR.
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was a Soviet and Russian politician and the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999. Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. During the late 1980s, Yeltsin had been a member of the Politburo, and in late 1987 tendered a letter of resignation in protest. No one had resigned from the Politburo before. This act branded Yeltsin as a rebel and led to his rise in popularity as an anti-establishment figure.
Lived: Feb 01, 1931 - Apr 23, 2007 (age 76)
Height: 6' 2" (1.87 m)
Spouse: Naina Yeltsina (m. 1956 - 2007)
Party: Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Buried: Novodevichy Cemetery
Previous offices: President of Russia (1991 - 1999) · Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1990 - 1991)
Highlights
  • 1956: Boris Yeltsin married Naina Yeltsina on September 28, 1956.

  • 1990: On 4 March 1990, Yeltsin was elected to the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia representing Sverdlovsk with 72% of the vote.

  • 1991: On 12 June 1991 he was elected by popular vote to the newly created post of President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), at that time one of the 15 constituent republics of the Soviet Union.

  • 1993: Ongoing confrontations with the Supreme Soviet climaxed in the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis in which Yeltsin illegally ordered the dissolution of the Supreme Soviet parliament, which as a result attempted to remove him from office.

  • 1996: In mid-1996, Chubais and Yeltsin recruited a team of a handful of financial and media oligarchs to bankroll the Yeltsin campaign and guaranteed favorable media coverage the president on national television and in leading newspapers.

  • 2007: Boris Yeltsin died of congestive heart failure on 23 April 2007, aged 76.


RIAN archive 859348 US President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin
President Yeltsin with US President George H. W. Bush, 1 June 1992. Russian-US summit. Russian President Boris Yeltsin paying a state visit to the United States. From left: US President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin attending lunch at the Russian Embassy in the United States.

wiki/Boris_Yeltsin
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