Ford Motor Company

Today in History 11/09 (Kristallnacht)

Pedestrians glance at the broken windows of a Jewish-owned shop in Berlin after the attacks of Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938 (© Universal History Archive/Getty Images)(1938) Nazis launch ‘Kristallnacht’ terror campaign
Nazis attack Jews and loot and burn their businesses and synagogues in a coordinated and widespread campaign throughout Germany and Austria. The event, later known as ‘Kristallnacht’ or the ‘the night of broken glass,’ will portend an even greater horror, the Holocaust.
Kristallnacht or Reichskristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, Reichspogromnacht or simply Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938, carried out by SA paramilitary forces and German civilians. The German authorities looked on without intervening. The name Kristallnacht comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues were smashed.
Start date: Nov 09, 1938
End date: Nov 10, 1938
Location: Free City of Danzig
Target: Jewish people
Attack type: Pogrom, looting, arson, mass murder, state terrorism
Deaths: 91+

Interior of Berlin's Fasanenstrasse Synagogue, opened in 1912, after it was set on fire during Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938. It was destroyed entirely during an Allied air raid on Berlin in 1943, and a Jewish Community Center was opened in its place in 1959
The interior of the Fasanenstrasse Synagogue in Berlin after Kristallnacht
wiki/Kristallnacht
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(1938) Nazis launch ‘Kristallnacht’ terror campaign.
Also on this day,

1960 | Ford under McNamara as McNamara takes over at Ford Motor Co.
One of Ford’s ‘Whiz Kids,’ who helped save the struggling carmaker in the 1940s, Robert McNamara is the first president of the company not named Ford. His tenure as president will last only a few weeks, however, as he’ll soon be tapped to join the newly elected Kennedy administration.
1989 | Fall of the Berlin Wall as East Germany lets the Berlin Wall come down
East German officials have bowed to pressure and lifted travel restrictions to the West. Thousands of Berliners from both sides swarm the wall and cheer the destruction of the 12-foot high barrier that had separated them for over 30 years.
2004 | Astros pitcher Roger Clemens wins his seventh Cy Young Award
Nicknamed ‘Rocket,’ Clemens sets a record for the most Cy Young Awards of any major league pitcher, adding another accolade to an impressive career. A steroid scandal a few years later, however, will taint Clemens’ accomplishments.

Today in History 11/09/17

West Berliners crowd in front of the Berlin Wall in November, 1989, as they watch East German border guards demolish a section of the wall (© Gerard Malie/AFP/Getty Images)(1989) East Germany lets the Berlin Wall come down
East German officials have bowed to pressure and lifted travel restrictions to the West. Thousands of Berliners from both sides swarm the wall and cheer the destruction of the 12-foot high barrier that had separated them for over 30 years.
The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic, starting on 13 August 1961, the Wall completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until government officials opened it in November 1989. Its demolition officially began on 13 June 1990 and finished in 1992. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area that contained anti-vehicle trenches, "fakir beds" and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that had marked East Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
Address: Bernauer Straße 111, Berlin
Phone: 030 3087770
Construction started: Aug 13, 1961
Destroyed: Nov 09, 1989

Berlin-wall-map
Map of the Berlin Wall, showing checkpoints.

wiki/Berlin_Wall
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Today in History 09/04 (Geronimo)

Photograph of Geronimo by A. F. Randall, 1886 (© Apic/Getty Images)(1886) Geronimo lays down arms after 30 years of fighting
Apache leader Goyalkla, or as he’s known to non-Native Americans, Geronimo, formally surrenders after the US Army 4th Cavalry relentlessly pursues him and his band of warriors throughout southern Arizona. Geronimo will be the last Native American war chief to officially lay down arms.
Geronimo was a prominent leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Apache tribe. From 1850 to 1886 Geronimo joined with members of three other Chiricahua Apache bands—the Tchihende, the Tsokanende and the Nednhi—to carry out numerous raids as well as resistance to US and Mexican military campaigns in the northern Mexico states of Chihuahua and Sonora, and in the southwestern American territories of New Mexico and Arizona. Geronimo’s raids and related combat actions were a part of the prolonged period of the Apache–United States conflict, which started with American settlement in Apache lands following the end of the war with Mexico in 1848.
Lived: Jun 16, 1829 – Feb 17, 1909 (age 79)
Nationality: American
Spouse: Ta-ayz-slath
Children: Eva Godeley (Daughter) · Chappo Geronimo (Son) · Lulu Dohn-Zay Geronimo (Daughter) · Fenton Geronimo (Son) · Little Robe Geronimo (Son)
Related movies: Geronimo: An American Legend
Parents: Tablishim “The Gray One” Goy… (Father) · Juana (Mother) · Tablishim “The Gray One” Goyaale
Highlights
  • 1851: On March 5, 1851, when Geronimo was in his 20’s, a force of Mexican militia from Sonora under Colonel Jose Maria Carrasco attacked and surprised an Apache camp outside of Janos, Chihuahua, slaughtering the inhabitants, including Geronimo’s family.

  • 1886: In 1886, General Miles selected Captain Henry Lawton to command B Troop, 4th Cavalry, at Fort Huachuca, and First Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood, to lead the expedition that brought Geronimo and his followers back to the reservation system for a final time.

  • 1886: According to National Geographic, “the governor of Sonora claimed in 1886 that in the last five months of Geronimo’s wild career, his band of 16 warriors slaughtered some 500 to 600 Mexicans.”

  • 1894: After 1/4 of the population died of tuberculosis, the Chiricahuas, including Geronimo, were relocated to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1894; they built villages scattered around the post based on kindred groups.

  • 1898: In 1898 Geronimo was part of a Chiricahua delegation from Fort Sill to the Trans-Mississippi International Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska.

  • 1909: He died of pneumonia on February 17, 1909, as a prisoner of the United States at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Portrait of Geronimo (Guiyatle), Apache
Geronimo, Chiricahua Apache leader. Photograph by Frank A. Rinehart, 1898
wiki/Geronimo
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(1886) Geronimo lays down arms after 30 years of fighting.
Also on this day,

476 | Middle Ages begin as Rome’s child emperor is overthrown
Flavius Odoacer becomes the first king of Italy after leading a successful rebellion against Western Rome’s young emperor. The beginning of his reign will traditionally mark the end of the Ancient Roman epoch and the start of the Middle Ages.
1957 | ‘E Day’ arrives as the Edsel is rolled out for public view
After months of revved-up publicity, Ford Motor Company debuts a new car, but clever Madison Avenue ad campaigns won’t be able save the ill-fated auto. A combo of bad design choices and screwy mechanics dooms the Edsel to low sales, and the name itself will become a byword for overhyped failures.
1972 | Spitz rules the pool at Munich’s Olympic games
Swimming phenom Mark Spitz, 22, caps off 16 years of medal-winning competition with the biggest amateur athletics prize of all, Olympic gold. The famously mustachioed US swimmer takes a total of seven gold medals at the Munich Games, a record that will stand for 36 years.

Today in History 09/04/17

American swimmer champion Mark Spitz shows five of his seven Olympic gold medals, Aug 31, 1972 in Munich (© STAFF/AFP/Getty Images)(1972) Spitz rules the pool at Munich's Olympic games
Swimming phenom Mark Spitz, 22, caps off 16 years of medal-winning competition with the biggest amateur athletics prize of all, Olympic gold. The famously mustachioed US swimmer takes a total of seven gold medals at the Munich Games, a record that will stand for 36 years.
Mark Andrew Spitz is an American former competitive swimmer, nine-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in 7 events. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich West Germany, an achievement surpassed only by Michael Phelps, who won eight golds at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Spitz set new world records in all seven events in which he competed in 1972. Spitz holds more medals than any other Jewish athlete in the history of the Olympics.
Born: Feb 10, 1950 (age 67) · Modesto, CA
Height: 6' 0" (1.83 m)
Spouse: Suzy Weiner (m. 1973)
Children: Justin Spitz (Son) · Matthew Spitz (Son)
Movies and TV shows: Freedom's Fury · Emergency! · Challenge of a Lifetime
Education: Santa Clara High School
Highlights
  • 1965: At age 15 in Tel Aviv, Spitz won four gold medals and was named the most outstanding athlete.

  • 1972: During the Munich Massacre by Palestinian terrorists in the 1972 Olympics, Israeli racewalker Shaul Ladany awakened and alerted American track coach Bill Bowerman, who called for the U.S. Marines to come and protect American Jewish Olympians swimmer Spitz and javelin thrower Bill Schmidt.

  • 1973: Mark Spitz married Suzy Weiner on May 06, 1973.

  • 1985: In 1985, Spitz lit a torch to open the Maccabiah Games.

  • 2005: In 2005, he was a member of the U.S. delegation at the 17th Maccabiah Games.

  • 2007: He won five gold medals at the 1967 Pan American Games, setting a record that lasted until 2007 when Brazilian swimmer, Thiago Pereira, won six golds at the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro.

wiki/Mark_Spitz
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