Mikhail Gorbachev

Today in History 10/11 (Anita Hill)

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University of Oklahoma Law Professor Anita Hill testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on October 11, 1991 (© AP)(1991) Supreme Court confirmation hearing rivets a nation
The US Senate Judiciary Committee calls a former assistant to Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas to testify regarding her time working for him. What Anita Hill tells the panel will cause a firestorm of controversy and open up a national debate around workplace sexual harassment.
Anita Hill Anita Faye Hill is an American attorney and academic. She is a university professor of social policy, law, and women’s studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of Brandeis’ Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She became a national figure in 1991 when she accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, her supervisor at the United States Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, of sexual harassment.
Born: Jul 30, 1956 (age 62) · Lone Tree, OK
Nationality: American
Movies: Anita
Education: Yale Law School · Oklahoma State University · Yale University
Parents: Erma Hill (Mother) · Albert Hill (Father)
Highlights
  • 1991: She became a national figure in 1991 when she accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, her supervisor at the United States Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, of sexual harassment.

  • 1994: In 1994, she wrote a tribute to Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court Justice who preceded Clarence Thomas, titled A Tribute to Thurgood Marshall: A Man Who Broke with Tradition on Issues of Race and Gender.

  • 1999: In 1999, Ernest Dickerson directed Strange Justice, a film based on the Anita Hill–Clarence Thomas controversy.

  • 2008: In 2008 she was awarded the Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award by the Ford Hall Forum.

  • 2011: In 2011 Hill published her second book, Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race, and Finding Home, which focuses on the sub-prime lending crisis that resulted in the foreclosure of many homes owned by African-Americans.

  • 2017: On December 16, 2017, the Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace was formed, selecting Hill to lead its charge against sexual harassment in the entertainment industry.

wiki/Anita_Hill
Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas is an American judge, lawyer, and government official who currently serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He is currently the most senior associate justice on the Court following the retirement of Anthony Kennedy. Thomas succeeded Thurgood Marshall and is the second African American to serve on the Court. Among the current members of the Court he is the longest-serving justice, with a tenure of 9,850 days as of October 11, 2018.
Born: Jun 23, 1948 (age 70) · Pin Point, GA
Nationality: American
Spouse: Virginia Thomas (m. 1987) · Kathy Ambush (m. 1971 – 1984)
Children: Jamal Adeen Thomas (Son)
Education: College of the Holy Cross · Yale Law School · Yale University · Conception Abbey
Highlights
  • 1975: In 1975, when Thomas read Race and Economics by economist Thomas Sowell, he found an intellectual foundation for his philosophy.

  • 1982: In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Thomas Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

  • 1987: In 1987, Thomas married Virginia Lamp, a lobbyist and aide to Republican Congressman Dick Armey.

  • 1991: Thomas’s formal confirmation hearings began on September 10, 1991.

  • 2009: In the 2009 Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder case, Thomas was the sole dissenter, voting in favor of throwing out Section Five of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

  • 2011: In his concurring opinion in the 2011 case Michigan v. Bryant, for example, Thomas explains that in deciding whether a statement is testimonial, one must consider the formality of the circumstances in which it was given.

Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
wiki/Clarence_Thomas
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(1991) Supreme Court confirmation hearing rivets a nation.
Also on this day,

1649 | Sack of Wexford where an Irish town is crushed under Cromwell’s command
Oliver Cromwell, having had King Charles I of England executed the previous year, now goes after Ireland and the Royalists who’ve fled there for sanctuary. His New Model Army sacks Wexford, destroying much of a town that was negotiating surrender, and killing many of its inhabitants.
1975 | Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night
A new late-night comedy-variety show, ‘NBC’s Saturday Night,’ premieres with guest host George Carlin. The scrappy 90-minute program is launched to replace re-runs of ‘The Tonight Show’ and proves to have more than a little staying power. Two years later it’ll be renamed ‘Saturday Night Live.’
1986 | Superpower leaders meet in Iceland’s capital of Reykjavik for summit
Nothing less than the eradication of nuclear ballistic missiles is on the table during a negotiating summit between US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. Their talks will end in an apparent stalemate, but later lead to the groundbreaking INF Treaty.

Today in History 10/11/17

US President Ronald Reagan and Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the 1986 summit in Reykjavík, Iceland (© Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)(1986) Superpower leaders meet in Iceland's capital
Nothing less than the eradication of nuclear ballistic missiles is on the table during a negotiating summit between US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. Their talks will end in an apparent stalemate, but later lead to the groundbreaking INF Treaty.
The Reykjavík Summit was a summit meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, held in Hofdi in Reykjavík, on 11–12 October 1986. The talks collapsed at the last minute, but the progress that had been achieved eventually resulted in the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Hofdi House Reykjavik
The former French consulate, called Hofdi, was the site of the Reykjavík Summit in 1986

wiki/Reykjavík_Summit
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Today in History 08/19 (Liberation of Paris)

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Crowd cheering resistance leader Charles De Gaulle during the Paris Liberation, Aug 1944 (© Serge DE SAZO/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images)(1944) French capital drives out Nazi control
The Nazi occupation of ‘the City of Light’ nears its end as the French Resistance mobilizes fighting units against the German garrison in advance of the arrival of US General Patton’s Third Army. As they withdraw their forces, German commanders will ignore Hitler’s order to destroy Paris.
The Liberation of Paris was a military action that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been ruled by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Second Compiègne Armistice on 22 June 1940, after which the Wehrmacht occupied northern and western France.
Start date: Aug 19, 1944
End date: Aug 25, 1944

Crowds of French patriots line the Champs Elysees
Crowds of French patriots line the Champs Elysees to view Free French tanks and half tracks of General Leclerc’s 2nd Armored Division passes through the Arc du Triomphe, after Paris was liberated on August 26, 1944. Among the crowd can be seen banners in support of Charles de Gaulle.
wiki/Liberation_of_Paris
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(1944) French capital drives out Nazi control.
Also on this day,

1939 | FDR creates National Aviation Day
A presidential proclamation from Franklin Delano Roosevelt designates August 19 as National Aviation Day. The day marks Orville Wright’s birthday and encourages citizens to ‘observe the day with activities that promote interest in aviation.’
1934 | Homemade rattling racers roll in a glide to the finish
Dayton, Ohio, hosts the inaugural All-American Soap Box Derby, and 362 entrants have cobbled together racers made of packaging crates, buggy wheels, scrap metal, and yes, soap boxes. Gravity does the work as none of the cars are powered, so aerodynamics and wheel quality are key.
1991 | ‘August Coup’ puts Soviet President Gorbachev under arrest
Communist hardliners, unhappy with President Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies, attempt to take over the Soviet Union’s government. Tanks patrol Moscow, Gorbachev is placed under house arrest, and tens of thousands of citizens are out in the streets protesting against the coup.

Today in History 08/19/17

Soviet Army tanks parked in Moscow's Red Square on Aug 19, 1991, after a coup toppled Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev (© DIMA TANIN/AFP/Getty Images)(1991) 'August Coup' puts Soviet President Gorbachev under arrest
Communist hardliners, unhappy with President Mikhail Gorbachev's policies, attempt to take over the Soviet Union's government. Tanks patrol Moscow, Gorbachev is placed under house arrest, and tens of thousands of citizens are out in the streets protesting against the coup.
The 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, also known as the August Coup, was an attempt by members of the Soviet Union's government to take control of the country from Soviet President and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. The coup leaders were hard-line members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union who were opposed to Gorbachev's reform program and the new union treaty that he had negotiated which decentralised much of the central government's power to the republics. They were opposed, mainly in Moscow, by a short but effective campaign of civil resistance. Although the coup collapsed in only two days and Gorbachev returned to government, the event destabilised the Soviet Union and is widely considered to have contributed to both the demise of the CPSU and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Start date: Aug 19, 1991
End date: Aug 21, 1991

wiki/1991_Soviet_coup_d'état_attempt
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