Winston Churchill

Today in History 12/11 (King Edward VIII)

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The Duke of Windsor and Mrs. Bessie Wallis Warfield Simpson pose for photographers in a garden of the Chateau de Cande, France, May 7, 1937 (© AP)(1936) Britain’s King Edward VIII abdicates for love
King Edward VIII gives up the throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. The Church of England, officials, and the public have largely condemned the match (though Winston Churchill gave his OK.) But, as Edward says, he can’t carry out his duties “without the help and support of the woman I love.”
In 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire arose when King-Emperor Edward VIII proposed to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who was divorced from her first husband and was pursuing the divorce of her second.
Statement of Abdication
Instrument of abdication signed by Edward VIII and his three brothers, Albert, Henry and George, 10 December 1936
wiki/Edward_VIII_abdication_crisis
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(1936) Britain’s King Edward VIII abdicates for love.
Also on this day,

1941 | Axis at war with US as Germany and Italy declare war on the United States
Four days after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the two other Axis powers, Germany and Italy, declare war on the United States. The US responds in kind. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler declares that the three Axis powers “will continue in closest cooperation with a view to establishing a new and just order.”
1944 | Brenda Lee, ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ singer is born
Brenda Lee (nee Brenda Mae Tarpley) is born in Atlanta. She’ll start singing professionally by age 6 and go on to have huge hits with ‘I’m Sorry’ and ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.’ Lee will eventually be inducted into the Rock and Roll, Country and Rockabilly halls of fame.
2008 | Billionaire Bernie Madoff is arrested at his NYC penthouse
Feds arrest Madoff after his sons told authorities about his $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Until his arrest, Madoff was a well-respected financier who managed money for A-list clients. His ruse is the biggest financial fraud in US history and will get Madoff 150 years in prison.

Today in History 12/11/17

Adolf Hitler speaking in Germany on December 11, 1941 (© Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)(1941) Germany and Italy declare war on the United States
Four days after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the two other Axis powers, Germany and Italy, declare war on the United States. The US responds in kind. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler declares that the three Axis powers "will continue in closest cooperation with a view to establishing a new and just order."
On 11 December 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States declaration of war against the Japanese Empire, Nazi Germany declared war against the United States, in response to what was claimed to be a series of provocations by the United States government when the US was still officially neutral during World War II. The decision to declare war was made by Adolf Hitler, apparently offhand, almost without consultation. Later that day, the United States declared war on Germany.
Berlin, Reichstagssitzung, Rede Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler delivers a speech at the Kroll Opera House to the men of the Reichstag on the subject of Roosevelt and the war in the Pacific, declaring war on the United States. Next to Hitler in the government benches (from right to left) are Joachim von Ribbentrop, Erich Raeder, Walther von Brauchitsch, Wilhelm Keitel, Wilhelm Frick and Joseph Goebbels. In the second row (from right to left) are Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Walther Funk, Richard Walther Darré, Bernhard Rust, Hanns Kerrl, Hans Frank, Julius Dorpmüller, Arthur Seyss-Inquart and Fritz Todt. In the third row (from right to left) are Alfred Rosenberg, Otto Meißner and Johannes Popitz.

wiki/German_declaration_of_war_against_the_United_States_%281941%29
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Today in History 11/28 (Ferdinand Magellan)

A print of Ferdinand Magellan discovering the path to the Pacific (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1520) Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Pacific
The navigator is the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean after sailing the treacherous waters around the tip of South America. Magellan had left Spain in search of a western route to the Spice Islands. His expedition will be the first to circumnavigate the globe.
Magellan’s expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe and the first to navigate the strait in South America connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Magellan’s name for the Pacific was adopted by other Europeans.
After sailing through the dangerous straits below South America that now bear his name, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan enters the Pacific Ocean with three ships, becoming the first European explorer to reach the Pacific from the Atlantic.

On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. In command of five ships and 270 men, Magellan sailed to West Africa and then to Brazil, where he searched the South American coast for a strait that would take him to the Pacific. He searched the Rio de la Plata, a large estuary south of Brazil, for a way through; failing, he continued south along the coast of Patagonia. At the end of March 1520, the expedition set up winter quarters at Port St. Julian. On Easter day at midnight, the Spanish captains mutinied against their Portuguese captain, but Magellan crushed the revolt, executing one of the captains and leaving another ashore when his ship left St. Julian in August. On October 21, he finally discovered the strait he had been seeking.

French map of the first world circumnavigation of Ferdinand de Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano, from 1519 to 1522
The Magellan–Elcano voyage. Victoria, one of the original five ships, circumnavigated the globe, finishing 16 months after Magellan’s death.
wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan
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(1520) Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Pacific.
Also on this day,

1582 | William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway
Eighteen-year-old William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, age 26, pay 40 pounds for a wedding license in Stratford-upon-Avon. Six months later the couple will have a daughter, followed later by twins. Scant details will be known about the Bard’s marriage.
1943 | ‘Big Three’ allied leaders Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet in Tehran
US President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, the so-called ‘Big Three,’ come together to discuss strategies for winning the war against the Nazis. The Tehran Conference is the first time Roosevelt and Stalin meet in person.
1974 | John Lennon joins Elton John in NYC
After losing a bet, John Lennon performs three songs with Elton John at New York’s Madison Square Garden, including Lennon’s hit ‘Whatever Gets You Thru the Night.’ It would be one of Lennon’s final performances, and his last in front of such a large audience.

Today in History 11/28/17

(From left) Soviet Union Premier Josef Stalin, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Teheran Conference, November 28, 1943 (© British Official Photo via AP)(1943) Allied leaders Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet in Tehran
US President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, the so-called 'Big Three,' come together to discuss strategies for winning the war against the Nazis. The Tehran Conference is the first time Roosevelt and Stalin meet in person.
The Tehran Conference was a strategy meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943, after the Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran. It was held in the Soviet Union's embassy in Tehran, Iran. It was the first of the World War II conferences of the "Big Three" Allied leaders. It closely followed the Cairo Conference which had taken place on 22–26 November 1943, and preceded the 1945 Yalta and Potsdam conferences. Although the three leaders arrived with differing objectives, the main outcome of the Tehran Conference was the Western Allies' commitment to open a second front against Nazi Germany. The conference also addressed the 'Big Three' Allies' relations with Turkey and Iran, operations in Yugoslavia and against Japan, and the envisaged post-war settlement. A separate protocol signed at the conference pledged the Big Three to recognize Iran's independence.
Start date: Nov 28, 1943
End date: Dec 01, 1943

Mohammad Reza Shah, Stalin und Molotov, Tehran Conference, 1943
The Shah of Iran (center), pictured to the right of Joseph Stalin at the Tehran Conference (1943)

wiki/Tehran_Conference
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