History Thread...

[CMRivdogs]

A couple more notable events

1535 King Henry VIII declares himself head of the Church of England. (Henry and DJT have a few things in common, including personality)

1782 Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finance recommends to the U-S Congress the adoption of decimal coinage and a national mint

1929 Martin Luther King Jr was born in Atlanta, GA

2001 Wikipedia was launched. (And a lot of school reports became so much easier)

2009 Chesley Sullenberger lands US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River shortly after takeoff. All passengers and crew survived.

Edited January 15 by CMRivdogs

[smr-nj]

13 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

2009 Chesley Sullenberger lands US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River shortly after takeoff. All passengers and crew survived.

Wow. I remember this as if it was yesterday. It was a freezing cold day, too.

It still is correctly remembered as “The Miracle on the Hudson”.

[CMRivdogs]

From History.com

Quote

The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, prohibiting the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes,” is ratified by the requisite number of states on January 16, 1919.

The movement for the prohibition of alcohol began in the early 19th century, when Americans concerned about the adverse effects of drinking began forming temperance societies. By the late 19th century, these groups had become a powerful political force, campaigning on the state level and calling for total national abstinence. In December 1917, the 18th Amendment, also known as the Prohibition Amendment, was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification.

And thus a new industry began....

Incidentally, if you study the history of the Ambassador Bridge,  Prohibition and the increase of traffic played a significant role in the need for construction of the crossing. One wonders whether any of the backers of American Transit Company (Builder and original owner of the bridge)had any connection with rum runners.

[CMRivdogs]

Quote

16 JANUARY 1775, LONDON: The Morning Chronicle publishes the Ladies’ Agreement of Edenton, North Carolina, whereby the women of the town pledge “not to conform to ye pernicious Custom of Drinking Tea” until the Coercive Acts are repealed.

Teenager Arthur Iredell spots his sister-in-law’s maiden name among the signatories and will write to his older brother James (a future U.S. Supreme Court justice) in North Carolina: “The name of Johnston I see among others; are any of my sisters relations patriotic heroines?

“Is there a female congress at Edenton, too? I hope not, for we Englishmen are afraid of the male congress, but if the ladies, who have ever since the Amazonian era been esteemed the most formidable enemies: if they, I say, should attack us, the most fatal consequence is to be dreaded.

“So dextrous in the handling of a dart, each wound they give is mortal: whilst we, so unhappily formed by nature, the more we strive to conquer them, the more we are conquered.

“The Edenton ladies, conscious, I suppose, of this superiority on their side, by a former experience, are willing, I imagine, to crush us into atoms by their omnipotency:

“the only security on our side to prevent the impending ruin, that I can perceive, is the probability that there are but few places in America which possess so much female artillery as Edenton.”
 

 

 

 

https://bsky.app/profile/revwar250.bsky.social/post/3lfufnm4cbv2r

[oblong]

Today is the 8 year anniversary of the death of the last man to walk on the moon.  Gene Cernan.  I always loved his words as he was walking back up the ladder, which are on his gravestone below.

 

His first spaceflight was Gemini IX and he nearly died.  He was to do a spacewalk and they were still learning the ins and outs of how it worked.  He didn't just go outside like Ed White did.  He had tasks to do.  What they didn't know was it was critical to have things to hold on to.  Any time you put pressure or tried to touch something, you'd get pushed away.  He exerted so much energy just trying to move that his visor repeatedly fogged up.  His heart rate got up to 180 bpm.  He was finally ordered back in.  

Before the mission the commander Tom Stafford was pulled aside by Deke Slayton for a morbid one on one talk.  He told him "If something happens to Gene, you have to cut him loose."  During all of the mission planning that kind of thing wasn't discussed.  They had a lot of trouble getting back in as the spacesuit was inflated and space was so tight inside.  They almost couldn't close the hatch.  Or if Cernan blacked out or whatever, there was no way to get him back in and you can't re-enter the atompshere with the hatch cracked open and a body out there flapping around.  In all likelihood if something like that did happen they would have tried everything until both astronauts died. 

For the later lunar missions they did train so that the one guy who didn't land on the moon could fly back by himself in case of a tragedy. That peson had to know the spacecraft more than the other two who could focus on the moon landing aspects.

[CMRivdogs]

I guess some things haven't changed in 250 years

 

[CMRivdogs]

1893 Americans overthrow Hawaiian monarchy..

Quote

On the Hawaiian Islands, a group of American sugar planters under Sanford Ballard Dole overthrow Queen Liliuokalani, the Hawaiian monarch, and establish a new provincial government with Dole as president. The coup occurred with the foreknowledge of John L. Stevens, the U.S. minister to Hawaii, and 300 U.S. Marines from the U.S. cruiser Boston were called to Hawaii, allegedly to protect American lives.

Quote

In January 1893, a revolutionary “Committee of Safety,” organized by Sanford B. Dole, staged a coup against Queen Liliuokalani with the tacit support of the United States. On February 1, Minister John Stevens recognized Dole’s new government on his own authority and proclaimed Hawaii a U.S. protectorate. Dole submitted a treaty of annexation to the U.S. Senate, but most Democrats opposed it, especially after it was revealed that most Hawaiians did not want annexation.

President Grover Cleveland sent a new U.S. minister to Hawaii to restore Queen Liliuokalani to the throne under the 1887 constitution, but Dole refused to step aside and instead proclaimed the independent Republic of Hawaii. Cleveland was unwilling to overthrow the government by force, and his successor, President William McKinley, negotiated a treaty with the Republic of Hawaii in 1897. In 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out, and the strategic use of the naval base at Pearl Harbor during the war convinced Congress to approve formal annexation. Two years later, Hawaii was organized into a formal U.S. territory and in 1959 entered the United States as the 50th state.

 

[1776]

Forty-eight years ago today:

Gary Mark Gilmore (born December 4, 1940, McCamey, Texas, U.S.—died January 17, 1977, Draper, Utah) was an American murderer whose execution by the state of Utah in 1977 ended a de facto nationwide moratorium on capital punishment that had lasted nearly 10 years. His case also attracted widespread attention because Gilmore resisted efforts made on his behalf to commute the sentence.

[oblong]

I remember the Tommy Lee Jones movie based on that.  I was 8 years old.  It shook me. He won the emmy for that.

 

[1776]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

I remember the Tommy Lee Jones movie based on that.  I was 8 years old.  It shook me. He won the emmy for that.

 

I followed this closely at the time. This was a front and center news piece then. 
The book, Executioners Song, by Norman Mailer is an excellent read on this whole story. One of the best books I have ever read. 

[smr-nj]

2 hours ago, 1776 said:

I followed this closely at the time. This was a front and center news piece then. 
The book, Executioners Song, by Norman Mailer is an excellent read on this whole story. One of the best books I have ever read. 

I read that book so long ago, but I recall also feeling that it was one of the best I’d ever read.

[chasfh]

On 1/15/2025 at 1:47 AM, romad1 said:

they keep making All-in-the-family clones but putting Tim Allen in the lead. 

If they are All in the Family clones, then why are they so goddamn unfunny?

[romad1]

1 minute ago, chasfh said:

If they are All in the Family clones, then why are they so goddamn unfunny?

Tim Allen is less funny as Archie

[gehringer_2]

51 minutes ago, romad1 said:

Tim Allen is less funny as Archie

Tim Allen is less funny as .... almost anyone.

[CMRivdogs]

1809 Edgar Allen Poe was born in Boston Ma

In 1824 a young Poe was part of a junior honor guard that escorted Marquis de Lafayette around Richmond, Va during Lafayette's return to the US celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Victory at Yorktown. 
 

 

[CMRivdogs]

1840 Charles Wilkes claims a portion of Antartica fox the US.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/wilkes-claims-portion-of-antarctica-for-u-s?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2025-0119|-01192025&om_rid=

Quote

Antarctica was discovered by European and American explorers in the early part of the 19th century, and in February 1821 the first landing on the Antarctic continent was made by American John Davis at Hughes Bay on the Antarctic Peninsula. During the next century, many nations, including the United States, made territorial claims to portions of the barely inhabitable continent. However, during the 1930s, conflicting claims led to international rivalry, and the United States, which led the world in the establishment of scientific bases, enacted an official policy of making no territorial claims while recognizing no other nation’s claims. In 1959, the Antarctic Treaty made Antarctica an international zone, set guidelines for scientific cooperation, and prohibited military operations, nuclear explosions, and the disposal of radioactive waste on the continent.

 

[CMRivdogs]

 

[1776]

1807 Robert E. Lee born in Stratford, Virginia. 
I’m often about book recommendations. 
‘Lee: The Last Years’ -is a very good book on Lee. The author is Charles Bracelen Flood, copyright 1981. He lived five years after Appomattox. The book is catalogues his post war life.