Post by MacBeth on Aug 11, 2009 5:29:32 GMT -5
In 1841, fugitive slave Frederick Douglass, soon to be a well-known orator, speaks before a mostly white abolitionist meeting for the first time on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket.
In 1909, the first recorded use of the S.O.S. distress signal in North America was by the steamship SS Arapahoe, which had broken down off North Carolina's Cape Hatteras.
In 1919, Germany's Weimar Constitution was signed by President Friedrich Ebert.
In 1931, Tim Buck 1891-1973 arrested under Section 98 of the Criminal Code - for belonging to an 'unlawful association'; a machinist trained in politics at the Lenin School in Moscow, Buck is one of eight Canadian Communist leaders given prison terms in Kingston Penitentiary that November.
In 1934, the first federal prisoners arrived at the island prison Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay.
In 1942, during World War II, Pierre Laval, prime minister of Vichy France, publicly declared that "the hour of liberation for France is the hour when Germany wins the war."
In 1949, President Harry S. Truman nominated General Omar N. Bradley to become the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In 1952, sixteen-year-old Hussein ibn Talal is roclaimed king of Jordan after his father is declared unfit to rule. King Hussein I remains on the throne until his death in 1999.
In 1954, a formal peace took hold in Indochina, ending more than seven years of fighting between the French and Communist Vietminh.
In 1962, the Soviet Union launched cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev on a 94-hour flight.
In 1965, Black anger over discrimination and unemployment erupts in the first of six days of rioting in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles; rioting and looting claimed 34 lives.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan joked during a voice test for a paid political radio address that he had "signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."
In 1992, the Mall of America opened in Bloomington, Minnesota.
In 1997, Bill Clinton is the first U.S. president to use the line-item veto, a power granted by Congress to the president in April 1996 but ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1998. Jean Chrétien writes to Lucien Bouchard cautioning him about the danger of the partitioning of Quebec territory that might come with independence; says, 'The only way to ensure that there will be no partitioning of Quebec - the only legal way to be absolutely sure - is to remain part of Canada.'
In 1999, White supremacist Buford O. Furrow, wanted in the wounding of five people at a Los Angeles Jewish community center and the shooting death of a mail carrier the day before, turned himself in to the FBI in Las Vegas and waived extradition to Los Angeles. (Furrow is serving life in prison.) Up to 350 million people in Europe and Asia witness the last total solar eclipse of the century.
In 2000, Pat Buchanan won the Reform Party presidential nomination in a victory bitterly disputed by party founder Ross Perot's supporters, who chose their own nominee in a rival convention.
In 2003, Charles Taylor resigned as Liberia's president and went into exile in Nigeria.
In 2004, Britain granted its first license for human cloning for the purpose of stem cell research.
In 2008, President George W. Bush, back from his Asia tour, warned of a "dramatic and brutal escalation" of violence by Russia in the former Soviet republic of Georgia; he pressed Moscow to accept an immediate cease-fire and to pull back its troops.
In 1909, the first recorded use of the S.O.S. distress signal in North America was by the steamship SS Arapahoe, which had broken down off North Carolina's Cape Hatteras.
In 1919, Germany's Weimar Constitution was signed by President Friedrich Ebert.
In 1931, Tim Buck 1891-1973 arrested under Section 98 of the Criminal Code - for belonging to an 'unlawful association'; a machinist trained in politics at the Lenin School in Moscow, Buck is one of eight Canadian Communist leaders given prison terms in Kingston Penitentiary that November.
In 1934, the first federal prisoners arrived at the island prison Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay.
In 1942, during World War II, Pierre Laval, prime minister of Vichy France, publicly declared that "the hour of liberation for France is the hour when Germany wins the war."
In 1949, President Harry S. Truman nominated General Omar N. Bradley to become the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In 1952, sixteen-year-old Hussein ibn Talal is roclaimed king of Jordan after his father is declared unfit to rule. King Hussein I remains on the throne until his death in 1999.
In 1954, a formal peace took hold in Indochina, ending more than seven years of fighting between the French and Communist Vietminh.
In 1962, the Soviet Union launched cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev on a 94-hour flight.
In 1965, Black anger over discrimination and unemployment erupts in the first of six days of rioting in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles; rioting and looting claimed 34 lives.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan joked during a voice test for a paid political radio address that he had "signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."
In 1992, the Mall of America opened in Bloomington, Minnesota.
In 1997, Bill Clinton is the first U.S. president to use the line-item veto, a power granted by Congress to the president in April 1996 but ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1998. Jean Chrétien writes to Lucien Bouchard cautioning him about the danger of the partitioning of Quebec territory that might come with independence; says, 'The only way to ensure that there will be no partitioning of Quebec - the only legal way to be absolutely sure - is to remain part of Canada.'
In 1999, White supremacist Buford O. Furrow, wanted in the wounding of five people at a Los Angeles Jewish community center and the shooting death of a mail carrier the day before, turned himself in to the FBI in Las Vegas and waived extradition to Los Angeles. (Furrow is serving life in prison.) Up to 350 million people in Europe and Asia witness the last total solar eclipse of the century.
In 2000, Pat Buchanan won the Reform Party presidential nomination in a victory bitterly disputed by party founder Ross Perot's supporters, who chose their own nominee in a rival convention.
In 2003, Charles Taylor resigned as Liberia's president and went into exile in Nigeria.
In 2004, Britain granted its first license for human cloning for the purpose of stem cell research.
In 2008, President George W. Bush, back from his Asia tour, warned of a "dramatic and brutal escalation" of violence by Russia in the former Soviet republic of Georgia; he pressed Moscow to accept an immediate cease-fire and to pull back its troops.