Thomas Dewey

Today in History 11/07 (Magic Johnson)

Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers circa 1991 (© Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)(1991) NBA star Magic Johnson announces he’s HIV-positive
The gifted and popular Lakers basketball star stuns the world when he reveals he’s HIV-positive and that he’s retiring immediately from the sport. The 32-year-old promises to use his celebrity to raise AIDS awareness, and Johnson will go on to do precisely that.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr. is an American retired professional basketball player and current president of basketball operations of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association. He played point guard for the Lakers for 13 seasons. After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996, at age 36, to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.
Born: Aug 14, 1959 (age 59) · Lansing, MI
Height: 6′ 9″
Net worth: $600 million USD (2016)
Spouse: Cookie Johnson (m. 1991)
Children: Andre Johnson (Son) · Earvin Johnson III (Son) · Elisa Johnson (Daughter)
Education: Michigan State University (1977 – 1979) · Everett High School
Highlights
  • 1984: In the 1984–85 regular season, Johnson averaged 18.3 points, 12.6 assists, and 6.2 rebounds per game and led the Lakers into the 1985 NBA Finals, where they faced the Celtics again.

  • 1985: Johnson again averaged a double-double in the 1985–86 NBA season, with 18.8 points, 12.6 assists, and 5.9 rebounds per game.

  • 1988: In the 1988–89 NBA season, Johnson’s 22.5 points, 12.8 assists, and 7.9 rebounds per game earned him his second MVP award, and the Lakers reached the 1989 NBA Finals, in which they again faced the Pistons.

  • 1990: Mike Dunleavy became the Lakers’ head coach in 1990–91, when Johnson had grown to be the league’s third-oldest point guard.

  • 1991: In 1991, Johnson married Earlitha “Cookie” Kelly in a small wedding in Lansing which included guests Thomas, Aguirre, and Herb Williams.

  • 2006: In 2006, ESPN.com rated Johnson the greatest point guard of all time, stating, “It could be argued that he’s the one player in NBA history who was better than Michael Jordan.”

Magic Johnson (with Nancy Pelosi)
In 2003, Johnson met with Nancy Pelosi to discuss federal assistance for those with AIDS.
wiki/Magic_Johnson
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(1991) NBA star Magic Johnson announces he’s HIV-positive.
Also on this day,

1492 | A fireball ‘omen’ falls from the sky as Meteorite strikes Earth
A boy just outside the walled village of Ensisheim, in what will one day be Alsace, France, witnesses a huge fireball fall from the sky and plunge a metre deep into a field. Locals, who view the meteorite as a good omen, will chisel pieces of the heavenly stone for themselves until a local official orders them to stop.
1917 | Lenin seizes power in Russia during ‘October Revolution’
Vladimir Lenin and Bolshevik forces begin to seize power of the Russian state with an armed insurrection in Petrograd on October 25—according to their Julian calendar. Soon after, they will adopt the Gregorian calendar, and the anniversary of the ‘October Revolution’ will be marked in November. The revolution will lead to the creation of the Soviet state, which will remain in power for more than 70 years.
1944 | FDR wins an unprecedented fourth term as US president
Democratic incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats GOP candidate Thomas Dewey and becomes the only president in history to win four terms. Roosevelt had concealed his failing health during the campaign. He will die three months after he’s sworn into office.

Today in History 11/07/17

President Franklin Roosevelt, circa 1944 (© Harold M. Lambert/Lambert/Getty Images)(1944) FDR wins an unprecedented fourth term as US president
Democratic incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats GOP candidate Thomas Dewey and becomes the only president in history to win four terms. Roosevelt had concealed his failing health during the campaign. He will die three months after he's sworn into office.
The United States presidential election of 1944 was the 40th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 1944. Incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democratic nominee, sought his fourth term in office; he defeated Republican Thomas E. Dewey in the general election.
Election year: Nov 07, 1944

Electoral College 1944
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes those won by Roosevelt/Truman, red denotes states won by Dewey/Bricker. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.

wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1944
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Today in History 11/02 (Hughes H-4 Hercules)

Howard Hughes' flying boat, nicknamed the 'Spruce Goose,' glides over the water on November 2, 1947, in Long Beach, California (© AP)(1947) Howard Hughes flies the ‘Spruce Goose’
Howard Hughes pilots his huge, multimillion dollar wooden plane, the ‘Spruce Goose,’ in California. Designed to transport troops during WWII, the aircraft is completed two years late, after the war has ended. This short test flight is the only time the Goose will fly.
The Hughes H-4 Hercules is a prototype strategic airlift flying boat designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft Company. Intended as a transatlantic flight transport for use during World War II, it was not completed in time to be used in the war. The aircraft made only one brief flight on November 2, 1947, and the project never advanced beyond the single example produced. Built from wood because of wartime restrictions on the use of aluminum and concerns about weight, it was nicknamed by critics the Spruce Goose, although it was made almost entirely of birch. The Hercules is the largest flying boat ever built, and it has the largest wingspan of any aircraft that has ever flown. The aircraft remains in good condition. After being displayed to the public for almost 11 years in Long Beach, California from 1980 to 1991, it is now displayed at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, United States.
Range: 2,983 miles
Maiden flight: Nov 02, 1947
Length: 219 feet
Wingspan: 320 feet
Passengers: 3
Retired: Apr 05, 1976

H-4 Hercules
H-4 Hercules “Spruce Goose”
wiki/Hughes_H-4_Hercules
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(1947) Howard Hughes flies the ‘Spruce Goose’.
Also on this day,

1948 | President Harry Truman defeats Thomas Dewey
By a narrow margin, President Harry Truman wins an upset victory over Republican challenger Thomas Dewey, the governor of New York in the race for the US presidency. Truman’s win will be considered the greatest upset in the history of US presidential elections.
1959 | Quiz show scandal as Charles Van Doren admits role in TV quiz show scandal
American intellectual Charles Van Doren confesses to a US House subcommittee that he’d been given answers prior to his appearances on TV’s game show ‘Twenty-One.’ During Van Doren’s so-called winning streak, he’d found fame, fortune, and made the cover of ‘Time.’
1963 | Coup in Vietnam as a presidential assassination sends Vietnam into chaos
Ngo Dinh Diem had been president of South Vietnam since 1955 and enjoyed US support until his strong-armed tactics, particularly against Buddhists, soured the relationship, and now a US-backed coup has brought him down. Vietnam will erupt into civil war following his assassination.

Today in History 11/02/17

President Ngo Dinh Diem (© AP)(1963) A presidential assassination sends Vietnam into chaos
Ngo Dinh Diem had been president of South Vietnam since 1955 and enjoyed US support until his strong-armed tactics, particularly against Buddhists, soured the relationship, and now a US-backed coup has brought him down. Vietnam will erupt into civil war following his assassination.
The arrest and assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm, the president of South Vietnam, marked the culmination of a successful CIA-backed coup d'état led by General Dương Văn Minh in November 1963. On 2 November 1963, Diệm and his adviser, his younger brother Ngô Đình Nhu, were arrested after the Army of the Republic of Vietnam had been successful in a bloody overnight siege on Gia Long Palace in Saigon. The coup was the culmination of nine years of autocratic and nepotistic family rule in South Vietnam. Discontent with the Diệm regime had been simmering below the surface, and exploded with mass Buddhist protests against long-standing religious discrimination after the government shooting of protesters who defied a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag.
Corpse of Ngô Đình Diệm in the 1963 coup
The corpse of Ngô Đình Diệm in the back of the APC, having been executed on the way to military headquarters

wiki/Arrest_and_assassination_of_Ngo_Dinh_Diem
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