Today in History ^12/02/16

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again in 1815. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. One of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon’s political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history.

Lived: Aug 15, 1769 – May 05, 1821 (age 51)
Height: 5′ 7″ (1.69 m)
Spouse: Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (m. 1810 – 1821) · Joséphine de Beauharnais (m. 1796 – 1810)
Buried: Les Invalides
Children: Napoleon II (Son) · Eugène de Beauharnais (Son) · Charles Léon (Son) · Stéphanie de Beauharnais (Daughter)

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Highlights

• 1792: He was promoted to captain in the regular army in July 1792, despite exceeding his leave of absence and leading a riot against a French army in Corsica.


• 1793: Bonaparte and his family fled to the French mainland in June 1793 because of the split with Paoli.


• 1796: French forces in Southern Germany had been defeated by the Archduke Charles in 1796, but the Archduke withdrew his forces to protect Vienna after learning about Napoleon’s assault.


• 1804: His rising ambition inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French.


• 1806: Following his triumph, Napoleon imposed the first elements of the Continental System through the Berlin Decree issued in November 1806.


• 1810: In March 1810, he married the 19-year old Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, and a great niece of Marie Antoinette by proxy; thus he had married into a German royal and imperial family.

— Source: wiki/Napoleon

Joseph Raymond “Joe” McCarthy was an American politician who was a U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion. He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, the controversy he generated led him to be censured by the United States Senate.

Lived: Nov 14, 1908 – May 02, 1957 (age 48)
Spouse: Jean Kerr (m. 1953 – 1957)
Parties: Republican Party · Democratic Party
Movies: Point of Order
Children: Tierney Elizabeth McCarthy (Daughter)
Previous office: United States Senator WI (1947 – 1957)

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Highlights

• 1950: In the 1950 Maryland Senate election, McCarthy campaigned for John Marshall Butler in his race against four-term incumbent Millard Tydings, with whom McCarthy had been in conflict during the Tydings Committee hearings.


• 1950: The term “McCarthyism”, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy’s practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities.


• 1953: In 1953, McCarthy married Jean Kerr, a researcher in his office.


• 1954: McCarthy subpoenaed Peress to appear before his subcommittee on January 30, 1954.


• 1954: On March 9, 1954, Vermont Republican Senator Ralph E. Flanders gave a humor-laced speech on the Senate floor, questioning McCarthy’s tactics in fighting communism, likening McCarthyism to “housecleaning” with “much clatter and hullabaloo”.


• 1954: To counter the negative publicity, McCarthy appeared on See It Now on April 6, 1954, and made a number of charges against the popular Murrow, including the accusation that he colluded with VOKS, the “Russian espionage and propaganda organization”.

— Source: wiki/Joseph_McCarthy

An artificial heart is a device that replaces the heart. Artificial hearts are typically used to bridge the time to heart transplantation, or to permanently replace the heart in case heart transplantation is impossible. Although other similar inventions preceded it going back to the late 1940s, the first artificial heart to be successfully implanted in a human was the Jarvik-7 in 1982, designed by a team including Willem Johan Kolff and Robert Jarvik.

Inventor: Paul Winchell

— Source: wiki/Artificial_heart

Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 1985 as the result of a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies in the U.S. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 20,000 staff and was one of the world’s major electricity, natural gas, communications and pulp and paper companies, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion during 2000. Fortune named Enron “America’s Most Innovative Company” for six consecutive years.

Founded: 1985 · Omaha, NE
Ceased operation: Dec 02, 2001
CEOs: Jeffrey Skilling · Kenneth Lay
Founders: Kenneth Lay · Jeffrey Skilling
Headquarters: Houston, TX

— Source: wiki/Enron