#First Female Governor in the U.S. (1925)

[seashorepics]

On this day in – film, television, music, and modern culture

On January 13, several notable events in film, television, music, and modern culture have occurred throughout history: Music: Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Performance (1968): On January 13, 1968, Johnny Cash performed live at Folsom State Prison in California. This iconic concert was recorded and later released as the album “Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison,” revitalizing Cash’s career and becoming…

[bobmccullochny]

History

January 5, 1919 - German Communists in Berlin led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht attempted to take over the government by seizing a number of buildings. However, ten days later, they were both assassinated by German soldiers.

January 5, 1919 - The German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) was founded by Anton Drexler in Munich. Adolf Hitler became member No. 7 and changed the name in April of 1920 to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) commonly shortened to Nazi or Nazi Party.

January 5, 1925 - Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming became the first female governor inaugurated in the U.S.

January 5, 1968 - Alexander Dubcek became first secretary of Czechoslovakia's Communist Party. He introduced liberal reforms known as "Communism with a human face" which resulted in Soviet Russian troops invading Prague to crack down.

January 5, 1972 - President Richard Nixon signed a bill approving $5.5 billion over six years to build and test the NASA space shuttle.

January 5, 1976 - In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot announced a new constitution which legalized the Communist government and renamed the country as Kampuchea. During the reign of Pol Pot, over 1 million persons died in "the killing fields" as he forced people out of the cities into the countryside to create an idyllic agrarian society. Educated and professional city people were especially targeted for murder and were almost completely annihilated. In January of 1979, the Pol Pot was overthrown by Cambodian rebels and Vietnamese troops.

Birthday - King Juan Carlos I of Spain was born in Rome on January 5, 1938. He was chosen by Francisco Franco to inherit his right-wing dictatorship and was sworn in as King on November 22, 1975, two days after Franco's death. The new King then announced his intention to mold Spain into a broadly based democratic society.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.4

503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. 1147 – Moscow is mentioned for the first time in the historical record, when it is named as a meeting place for two princes. 1268 – A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. 1423 – Death of the Venetian Doge Tommaso Mocenigo, under whose rule victories were achieved against the Kingdom of Hungary and against the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Gallipoli (1416). 1460 – Basel University is founded. 1581 – Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world. 1609 – Moriscos are expelled from the Kingdom of Valencia. 1660 – Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain promises, among other things, a general pardon to all royalists for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum. 1721 – Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first British prime minister. 1768 – In London, Philip Astley stages the first modern circus. 1796 – Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture. 1814 – Napoleon abdicates for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French. 1818 – The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time). 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President. 1850 – A large part of the English village of Cottenham burns to the ground in suspicious circumstances. 1850 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a city. 1859 – Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show. 1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital. 1866 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg. 1873 – The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world. 1875 – Vltava, composed by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana and also known by its German name Die Moldau, premiered in Prague. 1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States. 1905 – In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala. 1913 – First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes. 1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler's Nazi party in Germany. 1933 – U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather. 1939 – Faisal II becomes King of Iraq. 1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians. 1945 – World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany. 1945 – World War II: American troops capture Kassel. 1945 – World War II: Soviet troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country themselves. 1949 – Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 1958 – The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London. 1960 – France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan. 1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. 1965 – The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft is unveiled. 1967 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church. 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6. 1968 – A.E.K. Athens B.C. becomes the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup. 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart. 1973 – The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated. 1973 – A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming. 1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1975 – Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people. 1979 – Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed. 1981 – Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft. 1983 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space. 1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons. 1988 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office. 1990 – The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress. 1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania. 1994 – Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name Mosaic Communications Corporation. 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. 2002 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War. 2009 – France announces its return to full participation of its military forces within NATO. 2013 – More than 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India. 2020 – China holds a National day of mourning for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease outbreak.

[halfpinthistorianblog]

June Historical Happenings in New York State

June 1, 1778—Cobleskill, NY destroyed by Joseph Brant, a Mohawk military leader, during the American Revolution.

June 1, 1797 – Convention between the State of New York and the Oneida Indians.

June 1, 1889—General Electric’s famous electrical engineer, Charles Steinmetz, arrives in US from Germany

June 2, 1980—Two-time Olympic gold medalists soccer player Abby Wambach is born in Rochester, NY.

June 2, 1935—Babe Ruth retires

June 3, 1621—The Dutch West India Company received a charter for New Netherland (now New York).

June 3, 1925—Actor Tony Curtis was born in the Bronx, NY.

June 3, 1968 --Valerie Solanas shot Andy Warhol in his studio, known as The Factory.

June 4, 1876—An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, California, via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after having left new York City.

June 5, 19689—New York Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated

June 6, 1946—The Basketball Association of America is formed in New York City.

June 7, 1905—James Braddock, the boxer of Irish heritage known as “Cinderella Man”, is born in New York City.

June 7, 1939 – Macy’s Department Store retail workers strike, Herald Square.

June 8, 1786—In New York City, commercial ice cream was manufactured for the first time.

June 8, 1925—Former First Lady of the United States Barbara Bush was born in New York City

June 8, 1969—The New York Yankees retired Mickey Mantle's number (7).

June 8, 2001—Marc Chagall's painting "Study for 'Over Vitebsk" was stolen from the Jewish Museum in New York City. The 8x10 painting was valued at about $1 million. A group called the International Committee for Art and Peace later announced that they would return the painting after the Israelis and Palestinians made peace.

June 9, 1909—Alice Huyler Ramsey, a 22-year-old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey, becomes the first woman to drive across the United States. With three female companions, none of whom could drive a car, in fifty-nine days she drove a Maxwell automobile the 3,800 miles from Manhattan, New York, to San Francisco, California.

June 9, 1942—New York Senator Neil Breslin is born in Albany, NY.

June 10, 1822—John Jacob Astor III, businessman and philanthropist, is born in New York City

June 10, 1915—The first showing of a 3-D film before a paying audience takes place at the Astor Theater in NYC

June 10, 1959—54th New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is born in the Bronx, NY.

June 11, 1785—The first Catholic Church in NYC is incorporated, becomes St. Peter’s.

June 11, 1825—The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.

June 12, 1665—England installs a municipal government in New York City (the former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam).

June 12, 1939—Baseball Hall of Fame is dedicated at Cooperstown

June 12, 1943 – A little before midnight, a German submarine lands off Amagansett, Long Island [see June 13, 1943]

June 13, 1927—Charles Lindbergh was honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York City.

June 13, 1942—The Six Nations of the Iroquois declare war on the Axis powers, asserting its right as an independent sovereign nation to do so. This proclamation authoritatively allowed Iroquois men to enlist and fight in World War II on the side of the Allied powers.

June 13, 1943—German spies landed on Long Island, New York. They were soon captured.

June 13, 1963—Actress Lisa Vidal, known for her roles in “The Division” and “ER” was born in New York City.

June 13, 1971—The New York Times began publishing the "Pentagon Papers". The articles were a secret study of America's involvement in Vietnam.

June 14, 1994—The New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Vancouver Canucks. It was the first time the Rangers had won the cup in 54 years.

June 15, 1863—Secretary of War Edwin Stanton telegraphed New York Governor Horatio Seymour requesting state militia troops to repel the foreseen Confederate invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania.

June 15, 1904—General Slocum disaster claims 1,200 lives.

June 15, 1951—First episode of I Love Lucy airs

June 15, 1932—Mario Cuomo, 52nd Governor of New York,, is born in Queens, NY.

June 16, 1857—New York City Police Riot occurred between the recently dissolved New York Municipal Police and the newly formed Metropolitan Police.

June 16, 1911—Incorporation of the Computing Tabulating Recording Company, forerunner of IBM, in Endicott

June 17, 1778—Springfield (in Otsego County, NY) is destroyed by Joseph Brant, a Mohawk military leader.

June 17, 1885—The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City aboard the French ship Isere.

June 17, 1941--WNBT-TV in New York City, NY, was granted the first construction permit to operate a commercial TV station in the U.S.

June 17, 1916 -- official announcement of the existence of an epidemic polio infection in Brooklyn, NY. 2,000 deaths in NYC that year.

June 18, 1861—The first American fly-casting tournament was held in Utica, NY.

June 19, 1754—Albany Congress meets to form a plan of union

June 19, 1903—Baseball great Henry Louis “Lou” Gehrig of the New York Yankees is born in Yorkville, New York City.

June 19, 1940—Shirley Muldowney, the first female drag racer, was born in Burlington, VT but grew up in Schenectady, NY. She was the first female to receive a license from the National Hot Rod Association to drive a Top Fuel dragster. She won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980 and 1982, becoming the first person to win two and three Top Fuel titles. She has won a total of 18 NHRA national events.

June 19, 1949—Execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenburg at Sing Sing Prison in NY.

June 20, 2012 – Fur District strike, NYC.

June 21, 1882—Artist Rockwell Kent is born in Tarrytown.

June 22, 1611—English explorer Henry Hudson, his son and several other people were set adrift in present-day Hudson Bay by mutineers.

June 22, 1939—The first U.S. water-ski tournament was held at Jones Beach, on Long Island, New York.

June 23, 1819—Washington Irving publishes “Rip Van Winkle”

June 24, 1954—53rd Governor of New York George Pataki is born in Peekskill, NY.

June 24, 1962—The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-7, after 22 innings.

June 24, 2004—The death penalty was ruled unconstitutional in New York.

June 25, 1887—George Abbott, acclaimed theater producer, director, playwright, screenwriter, film director, and film producer was born in Forestville, NY

June 25, 1906—Pittsburgh millionaire Harry Kendall Thaw, the son of coal and railroad baron William Thaw, shot and killed Stanford White. White, a prominent architect, had a tryst with Florence Evelyn Nesbit before she married Thaw. The shooting took place at the premiere of Mamzelle Champagne in New York. The ensuing trial was called “Trial of the Century.”

June 25, 1951—In New York, the first regular commercial color TV transmissions were presented on CBS using the FCC-approved CBS Color System. The public did not own color TVs at the time.

June 25, 1954—Sonia Sotomayor, the third woman and the first Hispanic to sit on the bench of the United States Supreme Court is born in the Bronx.

June 25, 1985—New York Yankees officials enacted the rule that mandated that the team’s bat boys were to wear protective helmets during all games.

June 26, 1819—Abner Doubleday is born in Ballston Spa, NY.

June 26, 1819—WK Clarkson Jr. of New York obtained a patent for the first velocipede (bicycle).

June 26, 1880 – New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (in Geneva NY) was established in law.

April 23, 1933 – Formation of the Chinese Hand-Laundry Alliance, Mott St.

June 26, 1959—St. Lawrence Seaway opens

June 26, 1880 – New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (in Geneva NY) was established in law.June 27, 1847—New York and Boston were linked by telegraph wires

June 27, 1893—The New York stock market crashed; by the end of the year, 600 banks and 74 railroads had gone out of business

June 27, 1929—Scientists at Bell Laboratories in New York revealed a system for transmitting television pictures

June 27, 1942—The FBI announced the capture of eight Nazi saboteurs who had been put ashore from a submarine off the coast of Long Island, NY

June 27, 1949—Fashion designer Vera Wang is born in NYC.

June 27, 1959—The play “West Side Story” with music by Leonard Bernstein, closed after 734 performances on Broadway.

June 27, 1967—200 people were arrested during a race riot in Buffalo, NY

June 28, 1920—The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY is officially established as a Roman Catholic college for women with a liberal arts curriculum.

June 26-28, 1928—Al Smith becomes the first Roman Catholic to be nominated by a major political party for US President

June 28, 1926—Film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer, Mel Brooks, known for “History of the World: Part One” and “Blazing Saddles”, is born in Brooklyn, NY.

June 28, 1969—The Stonewall Riots, a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, occurs.

June 28, 1969—Actress Tichina Arnold, known for her roles in the TV sitcom “Martin” and the CW show “Everybody Hates Chris” is born in Queens, NY.

June 29, 1987—The Yankees blow 11-4 lead but trailing 14-11 Dave Winfield's 8th inning grand slammer beats Toronto 15-14; Don Mattingly also grand slams

June 30, 1859—The “Great Blondin,” Jean Francois Gravelot, is the first tightrope walker to cross Niagara Falls

June 30, 1959—Actor Vincent D’Onofrio, known for many roles including his role as Detective Robert Goren in “Law and Order: Criminal Intent”, is born in Brooklyn, NY.

[goldeagleprice]

Five early commemoratives that may be sleepers

By Mike Thorne, Ph.D.

The minting of U.S. coins to honor some person, event or place has a history that can be divided into two parts. There are the early commemoratives, minted from 1892 through 1954, and the modern commemoratives, which began in 1982 and continue to this day.

Among the early commemoratives, there are coins with worthwhile themes, coins with trivial themes, coins with great designs and coins with designs that are less than stellar. Of course, there also coins with good designs but unworthy themes and coins with worthwhile themes but poor designs.

In this article, I’m going to tell you about five (or more) early commemoratives that I feel are sleepers, coins that are presently undervalued, with reasons to increase in value. I’m going to begin with the first of the early commemorative issues.

  1. 1893 Isabella Quarter

This coin was the brainchild of Mrs. Potter Palmer, a wealthy Chicagoan. As head of the World’s Columbian Exposition’s Board of Lady Managers, which was formed at the suggestion of Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Palmer was able to procure $10,000 for souvenir quarters. The quarters gave special recognition to women in a variety of settings.

Designed by Charles E. Barber, the quarter features a left-facing bust of Queen Isabel (or Isabella) of Spain on the obverse. In Encyclopedia of the Commemorative Coins of the United States, Anthony Swiatek describes the coin’s reverse as follows: “A kneeling spinner facing left, holding a distaff (a staff used for holding the flax, tow, or wool in spinning) and a spindle (emblematic of a woman’s industry) in her right hand.” Swiatek notes that the Isabella quarter was the first U.S. coin to depict a foreign ruler and a royal crown, and it was the only commemorative quarter minted between 1893 and 1999. Although the 1932 Washington quarter was intended to be a one-year commemorative quarter, its issue continues to this day.

Of the original 40,000 Isabella quarters minted, nearly 16,000 were eventually returned to the Mint for melting. This leaves a final distribution of 24,214.

According to a recent edition of Numismatic News “Coin Market” (CM), values range from $290 in AU-50 to $1,670 in MS-65. Swiatek says that Isabella quarters in MS-64 “… offer good to very good potential.” CM says they’re worth $785 in this grade. Swiatek also calls attractive MS-65 pieces “… quite desirable and undervalued.”

Because this is an oddball coin in the long series of commemorative U.S. coins that honors a woman and working women in general, I think it’s destined to increase in value. This is particularly the case if, in the not-too-distant future, America elects a female president.

  2. 1921 Pilgrim half dollar

This coin was issued to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Mass., in 1620. After sales of the 1920 version of the coin slackened, the Pilgrim Tercentenary Commission asked for another 100,000 coins, perhaps hoping that this would rejuvenate sales. This new issue was differentiated from the 1920 coin by the addition of the date 1921 in relief on the obverse. Unfortunately, sales continued to be poor, and eventually some 128,000 examples were returned to the Mint for melting, leaving a final distribution of just 20,053 of the coins with 1921 on them.

The coin was designed by Cyrus E. Dallin, whose incuse initial “D” appears on the obverse below the figure’s elbow. The figure is William Bradford, governor of the Plymouth Colony. To indicate he’s a Pilgrim, Bradford wears a conical hat and carries a Bible under his left arm.

The reverse features a side view of the Mayflower sailing to the left, with the dates 1620 and 1920 along the lower rim. Swiatek notes that one of the sails on the coin wasn’t actually in use at the time of the Mayflower.

CM values for the 1921 Pilgrim range from $215 in AU-50 to just $300 in MS-65. Surely that makes a coin with this low a mintage one with potential to increase in value. Indeed, Swiatek calls the coin in MS-65 “… somewhat undervalued at current levels.” That makes it a winner in my book, and if you can find one anywhere near $300, a bargain as well.

  3. 1925-S California Diamond Jubilee

The California commemorative is a coin with a fairly large distribution. Although 150,000 were minted out of 300,000 authorized, nearly 64,000 were melted, producing a net distribution of 86,394. That’s a large number for an early commemorative, but it’s worth noting that California is the most populous state in the nation. Given the size of the population, any increase in interest in the history of the state, particularly of the Gold Rush period, might spark increased interest in this coin.

The California commemorative was issued in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the state’s admission into the union. Designed by California sculptor Jo (Joseph Jacinto) Mora, the coin’s obverse features a prospector panning for gold while appearing to look at the motto “In God We Trust.” Perhaps he’s praying that he will find something worthwhile.

On the reverse, there’s a grizzly bear walking to the left. The grizzly is emblematic of California’s independence from Mexico. Designated the state animal in 1953, by the time of the California commemorative, the animal had been hunted to extinction in the state.

CM values the California commemorative between $200 in AU-50 and $450 in MS-65. That’s a fairly tight range of values, and it suggests to me that you should opt for a higher-graded piece rather than settling for either a circulated coin or one in a lower Mint State grade.

Swiatek writes, “Strictly graded MS-66 and MS-67 coins are undervalued.” According to a recent issue of the Coin Dealer Newsletter, California commemoratives in these grades have wholesale values of $700 and $1,250, respectively. Although these are fairly hefty prices, they are probably worth it for a coin with several reasons to go up in value.

  4. Stone Mountain Memorial half dollar

This is going to strike you as an odd choice given the number of these distributed (1,310,000), but the coin has a lot going for it. For one thing, it has an interesting design by Gutzon Borglum, the American sculptor famous for his Mount Rushmore figures. Although Borglum was employed to carve the coin’s obverse figures on Georgia’s Stone Mountain, he was dismissed after a dispute with the Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association. Another sculptor (Augustus Lukeman) was hired to complete the project.

The obverse pictures two soldiers on horseback, General Thomas (a.k.a. Stonewall) Jackson and General Robert E. Lee. The reverse is dominated by an eagle standing on a mountain crag, its wings spread. The eagle overlooks an inscription that reads, “Memorial to the Valor of the Soldier of the South.”

As you would expect, the Stone Mountain half dollar is extremely popular in the South, and virtually every collection I’ve appraised had at least one example. Most of these have been well circulated. Because of the large number minted and distributed, values of the coin are quite modest relative to most other early commemoratives. In CM, the range of values is from $60 in AU-50 to $195 in MS-65.

Swiatek says that “… the coin is not difficult to locate in grades up to MS-66. Collectors should attempt to procure the flashier, eye-appealing coin, but only for the joy of collecting. Only the loftier grades are likely to increase in value.”

How high do you have to go? Swiatek sees “good to very good future potential” in flashy MS-66 coins, which have a wholesale value of $200 in the CDN. “Pieces grading MS-67 … presently offer very good to excellent future potential, provided they possess that all-important flash or eye appeal.” Obviously, we’re talking about coins certified by either NGC or PCGS, perhaps with CAC (Certified Acceptance Corporation) certification as well. CDN gives a wholesale value of $650 for the Stone Mountain half dollar in MS-67.

  5. 1936 Battle of Gettysburg half dollar

Sticking with the Civil War theme, I’ve selected the Gettysburg half dollar. This is a coin with a distribution of only 26,928 pieces out of a mintage of 50,028. It commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, which occurred in early July 1863. However, as Swiatek points out, the coin “… was authorized in and dated 1936, and minted in 1937 for the Blue and Gray Reunion celebration, which took place July 1, 1938.”

Designed by Pittsburgh sculptor Frank Vittor, the obverse design depicts two soldiers, one Union and one Confederate. Below their busts are the words “BLUE AND GRAY REUNION.” On the reverse are two shields, one for each of the two armies. The shields are separated by a double-bladed fasces.

As for the coin’s potential, Swiatek says, “… any future potential begins with attractive pieces grading MS-65+.” CM assigns a value of $720 to the Gettysburg in MS-65.

Swiatek writes, “In MS-66 condition, the coin is undervalued, especially captivating specimens … There is excellent future potential at this level and for Gettysburgs rated MS-67 and loftier.” CDN records wholesale values of $1,000 and $2,550 for Gettysburgs in MS-66 and MS-67, respectively.

  6. 1937 Battle of Antietam half dollar (bonus coin)

Here’s another Civil War commemorative with the potential to increase in value. Like the Gettysburg coin, the Antietam half dollar was supposed to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the battle it’s named after. The fight at Antietam occurred on Sept. 17, 1862, and is recorded as one of the bloodiest single-day battles of the war. The final distribution of the commemorative was 18,028.

Like the Gettysburg coin, the obverse of the Antietam commemorative depicts a pair of soldiers, one from the North and one from the South. These aren’t enlisted men, however: they’re two of the war’s most well-known generals. On the left is General George McClellan, who commanded the Union forces in the battle, and on the right is General Robert E. Lee, the Southern commander.

The reverse shows Burnside Bridge across Antietam Creek. The bridge was a major tactical objective of the battle. The bridge was later named after the Union commander (General Ambrose Burnside) of the troops seeking to capture the bridge and win the battle. The coin’s design was by Baltimore sculptor William Marks Simpson.

You’ve heard of sideburns? According to Wikipedia, General “Burnside was noted for his unusual facial hair, joining strips of hair in front of his ears to his mustache but with the chin clean-shaven; the word burnsides was coined to describe this style. The syllables were later reversed to give sideburns.”

The Antietam has a very narrow range of values from AU-50 to MS-65, rising only $70 for this rather wide range of grades ($530-$600). Obviously, you should spring for the higher grade if you have a choice.

According to Swiatek, “Collectors should buy these ratings [MS64-66] only for the joy of collecting. However, continuous demand for the MS-66 coin will make its values rise.” He goes on to note that Antietams in MS-67 have “… real future potential.” Wholesale values in the CDN are $600 in MS-66 and $950 in MS-67.

  That’s it for my list of five (actually six) early commemoratives with good potential to increase in value. They all have interesting designs and worthwhile themes, unlike coins such as the Cincinnati Music Center commemorative or the coin commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of York County, Maine.

Many of the early commemoratives have great designs, honor worthwhile themes, and have quite low mintages. Check them out, and I’ll bet that you, too, can find coins with potential.

Happy hunting!

  This article was originally printed in Coins Magazine. >> Subscribe today.

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[bipartisanbabe]

1925 - Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the first woman to serve as governor of a state, in Wyoming. In the fall of 1924 she was elected to succeed her deceased husband, William Bradford Ross. (Miriam Amanda "Ma" Ferguson is inaugurated governor of Texas days later.) 

1932 - Hattie Wyatt Caraway, of Arkansas, becomes the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. 1933 - Frances Perkins is appointed secretary of labor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, making her the first woman member of a presidential cabinet. 1953 - Jerrie Cobb is the first woman in the U.S. to undergo astronaut testing. NASA, however, cancels the women's program in 1963. It is not until 1983 that an American woman gets sent into space. 1960 - Oveta Culp Hobby becomes the first woman to serve as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. She is also the first director of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), and the first woman to receive the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal. 1964 - Margaret Chase Smith, of Maine, becomes the first woman nominated for president of the United States by a major political party, at the Republican National Convention in San Francisco. 1965 - Patsy Takemoto Mink, of Hawaii, is the first Asian-American woman elected to Congress. She served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 24 years. 1969 - Shirley Chisholm, of New York, becomes the first African-American woman in Congress and the first female black U.S. Representative. Her motto is, "Unbought and unbossed." She served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years. 1972 - Juanita Kreps becomes the first woman director of the New York Stock Exchange. She later becomes the first woman appointed Secretary of Commerce. 1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor is appointed by President Reagan to the Supreme Court, making her its first woman justice. 1983 - Dr. Sally K. Ride becomes the first American woman to be sent into space. 1989 - Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, of Florida, becomes the first Hispanic woman elected to congress. She serves in the U.S. House of Representatives. 1990 - Dr. Antonia Novello is sworn in as U.S. Surgeon General, becoming the first woman (and first Hispanic) to hold that job. 1991 - On January 2, Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC, becoming the first black woman to serve as mayor of a major city. 1992 - Carol Moseley-Braun, of Illinois, becomes the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate. Mae Jemison becomes the first black female astronaut. 1993 - Shiela Widnall becomes the first secretary of a branch of the U.S. military when she is appointed to head the Air Force. Janet Reno becomes the first woman U.S. attorney general. 1997 - Madeleine Albright is sworn in as U.S. secretary of state. She is the first woman in this position as well as the highest-ranking woman in the United States government. 2005 - Condoleezza Rice becomes the first African-American female Secretary of State.

2007 - Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) becomes the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives.

2008 - Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, becomes the first woman to run for vice president on the Republican ticket.

2016 - On July 26, 2016, on the second day of the Democratic National Convention, Hillary Rodham Clinton makes history when she secures the president nomination, becoming the first U.S. woman to lead the ticket of a major party. Information has been compiled from Famous Firsts by American Women by Ann-Marie Imbornoni, David Johnson, and Elissa Haney.

[polixy]

Despite gains, women remain underrepresented among U.S. political and business leaders

Despite gains, women remain underrepresented among U.S. political and business leaders;

Jeannette Rankin made history 100 years ago this year when she took office as the first female member of Congress. “I may be the first woman member of Congress, but I won’t be the last,” the Montana Republican predicted after winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives the year before.

Rankin was right: In the century since she began her service as a member of Congress, hundreds of women have followed in her footsteps. But women remain underrepresented in all major political offices and top business leadership positions in the United States.

In 2017, 21 women serve in the U.S. Senate and 83 serve in the House of Representatives, comprising 19.4% of Congress. While this share is nearly nine times higher than it was in 1965, it remains well below the 51.4% of women in the overall U.S. adult population. (An additional five women serve as nonvoting delegates in the House, representing American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.)

(See our updated interactive, “The Data on Women Leaders”)

Nancy Pelosi is the highest-ranking woman in congressional history, serving as House speaker from 2007 to 2011 and currently serving as the chamber’s minority leader. Her home state, California, has sent more women to Congress than any other state – a total of 41 as of 2017.

The share of women serving in state legislatures is slightly higher than at the national level. Some 24.8% of state legislators are women, up from 4.5% in 1971. This varies widely by state: Vermont has the largest share, with women making up 40.0% of the General Assembly, while Wyoming has the smallest share, 11.1%. Women also began serving in state office before they entered the national stage: Three women were elected to Colorado’s House of Representatives in 1894, 22 years before Rankin was elected and 26 years before the 19th Amendment was ratified, guaranteeing women across the country the right to vote. (Colorado legalized women’s suffrage in 1893.)

There are currently four women governors, representing Oklahoma, Oregon, New Mexico and Rhode Island, and a total of 37 women have served in this role since 1925. (One additional woman has served as governor in Puerto Rico.) The number of simultaneously serving female governors peaked at nine, or 18% of all state governors, in 2004 and again in 2007.

Four women are serving in Cabinet-level positions under President Donald Trump (21.1% of the positions that have been confirmed to date), a share about on par with George W. Bush’s Cabinet but smaller than in Barack Obama’s. The share of women in Cabinet or equivalent positions peaked at 40.9% during Bill Clinton’s second term. Seven women have served as labor secretary, more than in any other Cabinet-level position.

The share of Fortune 500 chief executives who are female remains very small, reaching a record 5.4% in the first quarter of 2017. Yet as recently as 1995, no Fortune 500 companies had women CEOs. Katharine Graham became the first female CEO on the Fortune 500 list in 1972, when she became head of The Washington Post Co. A recent study found that among the top 100 public companies by revenue, female CEOs are out-earning male CEOs, though there are only eight women on the list. Among all workers, on average, women continue to earn less than men.

Women are more widely represented on boards of Fortune 500 companies. Roughly one-in-five (20.2%) of these seats were held by women in 2016, up from 9.6% in 1995. Women are more likely than men to hold board seats at multiple companies, however, so the number of new women entering corporate leadership positions may not be increasing proportionately.

Topics: Business and Labor, Congress, Gender, State and Local Government, U.S. Political Figures, Work and Employment

; Blog – Pew Research Center; http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/20/despite-gains-women-remain-underrepresented-among-u-s-political-and-business-leaders/; ; March 20, 2017 at 06:38AM

[triviapeople]

Nellie Tayloe Ross: America's First Female Governor

On this date in 1925, Nellie Tayloe Ross was sworn in as governor of Wyoming.

Here are some things you may not have known about the first woman to serve as governor in the United States.

Nellie Tayloe was born in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1876. She graduated from high school in Kansas and became a kindergarten teacher for four years. While visiting relatives in Tennessee, Tayloe met William Bradford Ross, a lawyer whom she married in 1902. Soon after, they moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where William became a leader in the state’s Democratic Party.

In 1922, William Ross was elected governor, after running as a progressive. He served less than two years before dying of complications from an appendectomy. Nellie Ross was nominated to run to replace her husband in a special election the following month. She won easily, making history as the first female governor in the United States. She, like her husband, was a strong advocate for the prohibition of alcohol.

That support for prohibition, along with her refusal to campaign for herself, resulted in a narrow defeat in her 1926 reelection attempt. Ross remained active in the Democratic Party and received 31 votes for vice president at the party’s 1928 convention. She then served as vice president of the Democratic National Committee.

In 1933, Ross was appointed director of the U.S. Mint. During her time at the Mint, she oversaw the design and release of the Franklin Half Dollar and the public sale of proof coins. She also oversaw the establishment of the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

She served five terms as Mint director and retired in 1953.

In her retirement, Ross wrote for several women’s magazines and traveled the world. When she died in 1977 at the age of 101, she was the oldest ex-governor in U.S. History.

Our question: Who holds the title of longest-lived former U.S. governor?

  Today is unofficially National Bird Day and National Whipped Cream Day.

It’s the birthday of actor Robert Duvall, who is 86; actress Diane Keaton, who is 71; and actor Bradley Cooper, who is 42.

Because our topic happened before 1960, we’ll spin the wheel to pick a year at random.

This week in 1962, the top song in the U.S. was “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by The Tokens.

The No. 1 movie was “El Cid,” while the novel “Franny and Zooey” by J.D. Salinger topped the New York Times Bestsellers list.

Now for our weekly question: What scientist and inventor was Thomas Edison’s main rival in the War of Currents?

Submit your answer at triviapeople.com/test and we’ll add the name of the person with the first correct answer to our winner’s wall … at triviapeople.com. We'll reveal the correct answer on tomorrow’s episode.

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Also, if you’re enjoying the show, please consider supporting it through Patreon.com

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Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Tayloe_Ross

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bullion_Depository

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Rosellini

https://www.checkiday.com/01/05/2017

http://www.biography.com/people/groups/born-on-january-05

http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/numberonesongs/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_1962_box_office_number-one_films_in_the_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Fiction_Best_Sellers_of_1962

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[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 7.25

306 – Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops. 315 – The Arch of Constantine is completed near the Colosseum in Rome to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge. 677 – Climax of the Siege of Thessalonica by the Slavs in a three-day assault on the city walls. 864 – The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings. 1137 – Eleanor of Aquitaine married Prince Louis, later King Louis VII of France, at the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux. 1139 – Battle of Ourique: The Almoravids, led by Ali ibn Yusuf, are defeated by Prince Afonso Henriques who is proclaimed King of Portugal. 1261 – The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire. 1278 – The naval Battle of Algeciras takes place in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in a victory for the Emirate of Granada and the Maranid Dynasty over the Kingdom of Castile. 1467 – The Battle of Molinella: The first battle in Italy in which firearms are used extensively. 1536 – Sebastián de Belalcázar on his search of El Dorado founds the city of Santiago de Cali. 1538 – The city of Guayaquil is founded by the Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Orellana and given the name Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Guayaquil. 1547 – Henry II of France is crowned. 1554 – Mary I marries Philip II of Spain at Winchester Cathedral. 1567 – Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela. 1593 – Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. 1603 – James VI of Scotland is crowned king of England (James I of England), bringing the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into personal union. Political union would occur in 1707. 1609 – The English ship Sea Venture, en route to Virginia, is deliberately driven ashore during a storm at Bermuda to prevent its sinking; the survivors go on to found a new colony there. 1693 – Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Mexico. 1722 – Dummer's War begins along the Maine-Massachusetts border. 1755 – British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the deportation of the Acadians. 1759 – French and Indian War: In Western New York, British forces capture Fort Niagara from the French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé. 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war's last action, the Siege of Cuddalore, is ended by a preliminary peace agreement. 1788 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K550). 1792 – The Brunswick Manifesto is issued to the population of Paris promising vengeance if the French royal family is harmed. 1797 – Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain). 1799 – At Abu Qir in Egypt, Napoleon I of France defeats 10,000 Ottomans under Mustafa Pasha. 1814 – War of 1812: An American attack on Canada is repulsed. 1824 – Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua. 1837 – The first commercial use of an electrical telegraph is successfully demonstrated in London by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone. 1853 – Joaquin Murrieta, the famous Californio bandit known as the "Robin Hood of El Dorado", is killed. 1861 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Crittenden–Johnson Resolution, stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery. 1866 – The United States Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to be promoted to this rank. 1868 – The Wyoming Territory is established. 1869 – The Japanese daimyōs begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese Date: June 17, 1869). 1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War begins when the Japanese fire upon a Chinese warship. 1898 – In the Puerto Rican Campaign, the United States seizes Puerto Rico from Spain. 1908 – Ajinomoto is founded. Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in kombu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it. 1909 – Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine from (Calais to Dover, England, United Kingdom) in 37 minutes. 1915 – RFC Captain Lanoe Hawker becomes the first British pursuit aviator to earn the Victoria Cross. 1917 – Sir Robert Borden introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%). 1925 – Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established. 1934 – The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt. 1940 – General Henri Guisan orders the Swiss Army to resist German invasion and makes surrender illegal. 1942 – The Norwegian Manifesto calls for nonviolent resistance to the German occupation. 1943 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by the Grand Council of Fascism and is replaced by Pietro Badoglio. 1944 – World War II: Operation Spring is one of the bloodiest days for the First Canadian Army during the war. 1946 – Nuclear weapons testing: Operation Crossroads: An atomic bomb is detonated underwater in the lagoon of Bikini Atoll. 1956 – Forty-five miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51. 1957 – The Republic of Tunisia is proclaimed, under President Habib Bourguiba. 1958 – The African Regroupment Party (PRA) holds its first congress in Cotonou. 1961 – Cold War: In a speech John F. Kennedy emphasizes that any attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO. 1965 – Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music. 1969 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This is the start of the "Vietnamization" of the war. 1973 – Soviet Mars 5 space probe is launched. 1976 – Viking program: Viking 1 takes the famous Face on Mars photo. 1978 – Puerto Rican police shoot two nationalists in the Cerro Maravilla murders. 1978 – Birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF. 1979 – Another section of the Sinai Peninsula is peacefully returned by Israel to Egypt. 1983 – Black July: Thirty-seven Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by the fellow Sinhalese prisoners. 1984 – Salyut 7 cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk. 1993 – Israel launches a massive attack against Lebanon in what the Israelis call Operation Accountability, and the Lebanese call the Seven-Day War. 1993 – The Saint James Church massacre occurs in Kenilworth, Cape Town, South Africa. 1994 – Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, that formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948. 1995 – A gas bottle explodes in Saint Michel station of line B of the RER (Paris regional train network). Eight are killed and 80 wounded. 1996 – In a military coup in Burundi, Pierre Buyoya deposes Sylvestre Ntibantunganya. 2000 – Concorde Air France Flight 4590 crashes at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, killing 113 people. 2007 – Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first female president. 2010 – WikiLeaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history. 2018 – As-Suwayda attacks: Coordinated attacks occur in Syria.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.15

495 BC – A newly constructed temple in honour of the god Mercury was dedicated in ancient Rome on the Circus Maximus, between the Aventine and Palatine hills. To spite the senate and the consuls, the people awarded the dedication to a senior military officer, Marcus Laetorius. 221 – Liu Bei, Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty. 392 – Emperor Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbogast. He is found hanging in his residence at Vienne. 589 – King Authari marries Theodelinda, daughter of the Bavarian duke Garibald I. A Catholic, she has great influence among the Lombard nobility. 908 – The three-year-old Constantine VII, the son of Emperor Leo VI the Wise, is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire by Patriarch Euthymius I at Constantinople. 1252 – Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad extirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition. 1525 – Insurgent peasants led by Anabaptist pastor Thomas Müntzer were defeated at the Battle of Frankenhausen, ending the German Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire. 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London on charges of treason, adultery and incest; she is condemned to death by a specially-selected jury. 1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, her third husband. 1618 – Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made). 1648 – The Treaty of Westphalia is signed. 1718 – James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun. 1730 – Robert Walpole effectively became the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. 1776 – American Revolution: The Fifth Virginia Convention instructs its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence. 1791 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre proposes the Self-denying Ordinance. 1792 – War of the First Coalition: France declares war on Kingdom of Sardinia. 1793 – Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5–6 meters, during one of the first attempted manned flights. 1796 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon enters Milan in triumph. 1800 – King George III of the United Kingdom survives an assassination attempt by James Hadfield, who is later acquitted by reason of insanity. 1817 – Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). 1836 – Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse. 1848 – Serfdom is abolished in the Habsburg Galicia, as a result of the 1848 revolutions. The rest of monarchy followed later in the year. 1849 – Troops of the Two Sicilies take Palermo and crush the republican government of Sicily. 1850 – The Bloody Island massacre takes place in Lake County, California, in which a large number of Pomo Indians are slaughtered by a regiment of the United States Cavalry. 1850 – The Arana–Southern Treaty is ratified, ending "the existing differences" between Great Britain and Argentina. 1851 – The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier. 1858 – Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. 1862 – President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia: Students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley. 1867 – Canadian Bank of Commerce opens for business in Toronto, Ontario. The bank would later merge with Imperial Bank of Canada to become what is CIBC in 1961. 1869 – Women's suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association. 1891 – Pope Leo XIII defends workers' rights and property rights in the encyclical Rerum novarum, the beginning of modern Catholic social teaching. 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: The Russian minelayer Amur lays a minefield about 15 miles off Port Arthur and sinks Japan's battleships Hatsuse, 15,000 tons, with 496 crew and Yashima. 1905 – Las Vegas is founded when 110 acres (0.45 km2), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off. 1911 – In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up. 1911 – More than 300 Chinese immigrants are killed in the Torreón massacre when the forces of the Mexican Revolution led by Emilio Madero take the city of Torreón from the Federales. 1919 – The Winnipeg general strike begins. By 11:00, almost the whole working population of Winnipeg had walked off the job. 1919 – Greek occupation of Smyrna. During the occupation, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks; those responsible are punished by Greek commander Aristides Stergiades. 1925 – Al-Insaniyyah, the first Arabic communist newspaper, is founded. 1928 – Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse premieres in his first cartoon, "Plane Crazy". 1929 – A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123. 1932 – In an attempted coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is assassinated. 1933 – All military aviation organizations within or under the control of the RLM of Germany were officially merged in a covert manner to form its Wehrmacht military's air arm, the Luftwaffe. 1934 – Kārlis Ulmanis establishes an authoritarian government in Latvia. 1940 – USS Sailfish is recommissioned. It was originally the USS Squalus. 1940 – World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation. 1940 – McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California. 1941 – First flight of the Gloster E.28/39 the first British and Allied jet aircraft. 1941 – Joe DiMaggio begins a 56-game hitting streak. 1942 – World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law. 1943 – Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International). 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Poljana, the final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia. 1948 – Following the expiration of The British Mandate for Palestine, the Kingdom of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade Israel thus starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. 1957 – At Malden Island in the Pacific Ocean, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple. 1958 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3. 1960 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4. 1963 – Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, and the last American to go into space alone. 1966 – After a policy dispute, Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ of South Vietnam's ruling junta launches a military attack on the forces of General Tôn Thất Đính, forcing him to abandon his command. 1969 – People's Park: California Governor Ronald Reagan has an impromptu student park owned by the University of California at Berkeley fenced off from student anti-war protestors, sparking a riot. 1970 – President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army generals. 1970 – Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green are killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests. 1972 – The Ryukyu Islands, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control. 1972 – In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to become President. 1974 – Ma'alot massacre: Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attack and take hostages at an Israeli school; a total of 31 people are killed, including 22 schoolchildren. 1976 – Aeroflot Flight 1802 crashes in Viktorovka, Chernihiv Raion, killing all 52 people on board. 1987 – The Soviet Union launches the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform. It fails to reach orbit. 1988 – Soviet–Afghan War: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins to withdraw 115,000 troops from Afghanistan. 1991 – Édith Cresson becomes France's first female premier. 1997 – The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans. 2004 – Arsenal F.C. go an entire league campaign unbeaten in the English Premier League, joining Preston North End F.C with the right to claim the title The Invincibles 2008 – California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional. 2010 – Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo. 2013 – An upsurge in violence in Iraq leaves more than 389 people dead over three days.

[bobmccullochny]

History

January 5, 1919 - German Communists in Berlin led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht attempted to take over the government by seizing a number of buildings. However, ten days later, they were both assassinated by German soldiers.

January 5, 1919 - The German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) was founded by Anton Drexler in Munich. Adolf Hitler became member No. 7 and changed the name in April of 1920 to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) commonly shortened to Nazi or Nazi Party.

January 5, 1925 - Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming became the first female governor inaugurated in the U.S.

January 5, 1968 - Alexander Dubcek became first secretary of Czechoslovakia's Communist Party. He introduced liberal reforms known as "Communism with a human face" which resulted in Soviet Russian troops invading Prague to crack down.

January 5, 1972 - President Richard Nixon signed a bill approving $5.5 billion over six years to build and test the NASA space shuttle.

January 5, 1976 - In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot announced a new constitution which legalized the Communist government and renamed the country as Kampuchea. During the reign of Pol Pot, over 1 million persons died in "the killing fields" as he forced people out of the cities into the countryside to create an idyllic agrarian society. Educated and professional city people were especially targeted for murder and were almost completely annihilated. In January of 1979, the Pol Pot was overthrown by Cambodian rebels and Vietnamese troops.

Birthday - King Juan Carlos I of Spain was born in Rome on January 5, 1938. He was chosen by Francisco Franco to inherit his right-wing dictatorship and was sworn in as King on November 22, 1975, two days after Franco's death. The new King then announced his intention to mold Spain into a broadly based democratic society.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 1.21

763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa. 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz's mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union. 1535 – Following the Affair of the Placards, the French king leads an anti-Protestant procession through Paris. 1720 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm. 1749 – The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona is destroyed by fire, as a result of a torch being left behind in the box of a nobleman after a performance. It is rebuilt in 1754. 1774 – Abdul Hamid I becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. 1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston. 1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine. 1854 – The RMS Tayleur sinks off Lambay Island on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Australia with great loss of life. 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate. 1893 – The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana. 1908 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor. 1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place. 1915 – Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit. 1919 – A revolutionary Irish parliament is founded and declares the independence of the Irish Republic. One of the first engagements of the Irish War of Independence takes place. 1925 – Albania declares itself a republic. 1931 – Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia. 1932 – Finland and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty. 1941 – Sparked by the murder of a German officer in Bucharest, Romania the day before, members of the Iron Guard engaged in a rebellion and pogrom killing 125 Jews. 1948 – The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Québec Flag Day. 1950 – American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury. 1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States. 1960 – Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board. 1960 – Avianca Flight 671 crashes at Montego Bay, Jamaica airport, killing 37 people. 1960 – A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners. 1968 – Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins. 1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete. 1971 – The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts. 1976 – Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes. 1980 – Iran Air Flight 291 crashes in the Alborz Mountains while on approach to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing 128 people. 1981 – Production of the iconic DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. 1985 – Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crashes near Reno–Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada, killing 70 people. 1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined. 1999 – War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board. 2000 – Ecuador: After the Ecuadorian Congress is seized by indigenous organizations, Col. Lucio Gutiérrez, Carlos Solorzano and Antonio Vargas depose President Jamil Mahuad. Gutierrez is later replaced by Gen. Carlos Mendoza, who resigns and allows Vice-President Gustavo Noboa to succeed Mahuad. 2003 – A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican state of Colima, killing 29 and leaving approximately 10,000 people homeless. 2004 – NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6. 2005 – In Belmopan, Belize, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots. 2009 – Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a three-week war it had with Hamas. However, intermittent fire by both sides continues in the weeks to follow. 2011 – Anti-government demonstrations take place in Tirana, Albania. Four people lose their lives from gunshots, allegedly fired from armed police protecting the Prime Minister's office. 2014 – Rojava conflict: The Jazira Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic. 2017 – Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women's march, on Donald Trump's first full day as President of the United States. 2018 – Rocket Lab's Electron becomes the first rocket to reach orbit using an electric pump-fed engine and deploys three CubeSats.

[bobmccullochny]

History

January 5, 1919 - German Communists in Berlin led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht attempted to take over the government by seizing a number of buildings. However, ten days later, they were both assassinated by German soldiers.

January 5, 1919 - The German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) was founded by Anton Drexler in Munich. Adolf Hitler became member No. 7 and changed the name in April of 1920 to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) commonly shortened to Nazi or Nazi Party.

January 5, 1925 - Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming became the first female governor inaugurated in the U.S.

January 5, 1968 - Alexander Dubcek became first secretary of Czechoslovakia's Communist Party. He introduced liberal reforms known as "Communism with a human face" which resulted in Soviet Russian troops invading Prague to crack down.

January 5, 1972 - President Richard Nixon signed a bill approving $5.5 billion over six years to build and test the NASA space shuttle.

January 5, 1976 - In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot announced a new constitution which legalized the Communist government and renamed the country as Kampuchea. During the reign of Pol Pot, over 1 million persons died in "the killing fields" as he forced people out of the cities into the countryside to create an idyllic agrarian society. Educated and professional city people were especially targeted for murder and were almost completely annihilated. In January of 1979, the Pol Pot was overthrown by Cambodian rebels and Vietnamese troops.

Birthday - King Juan Carlos I of Spain was born in Rome on January 5, 1938. He was chosen by Francisco Franco to inherit his right-wing dictatorship and was sworn in as King on November 22, 1975, two days after Franco's death. The new King then announced his intention to mold Spain into a broadly based democratic society.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.25

306 – Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops. 315 – The Arch of Constantine is completed near the Colosseum in Rome to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge. 677 – Climax of the Siege of Thessalonica by the Slavs in a three-day assault on the city walls. 864 – The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings. 1137 – Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Prince Louis, later King Louis VII of France, at the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux. 1139 – Battle of Ourique: The Almoravids, led by Ali ibn Yusuf, are defeated by Prince Afonso Henriques who is proclaimed King of Portugal. 1261 – The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire. 1278 – The naval Battle of Algeciras takes place in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in a victory for the Emirate of Granada and the Maranid Dynasty over the Kingdom of Castile. 1467 – The Battle of Molinella: The first battle in Italy in which firearms are used extensively. 1536 – Sebastián de Belalcázar on his search of El Dorado founds the city of Santiago de Cali. 1538 – The city of Guayaquil is founded by the Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Orellana and given the name Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Guayaquil. 1547 – Henry II of France is crowned. 1554 – Mary I marries Philip II of Spain at Winchester Cathedral. 1567 – Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela. 1593 – Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. 1609 – The English ship Sea Venture, en route to Virginia, is deliberately driven ashore during a storm at Bermuda to prevent its sinking; the survivors go on to found a new colony there. 1668 – A magnitude 8.5 earthquake strikes eastern China, killing over 40,000 people. 1693 – Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Mexico. 1722 – Dummer's War begins along the Maine-Massachusetts border. 1755 – British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the deportation of the Acadians. 1759 – French and Indian War: In Western New York, British forces capture Fort Niagara from the French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé. 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war's last action, the Siege of Cuddalore, is ended by a preliminary peace agreement. 1788 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K550). 1792 – The Brunswick Manifesto is issued to the population of Paris promising vengeance if the French royal family is harmed. 1797 – Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain). 1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte defeats a numerically superior Ottoman army under Mustafa Pasha at the Battle of Abukir. 1814 – War of 1812: An American attack on Canada is repulsed. 1824 – Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua. 1837 – The first commercial use of an electrical telegraph is successfully demonstrated in London by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone. 1853 – Joaquin Murrieta, the famous Californio bandit known as the "Robin Hood of El Dorado", is killed. 1861 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Crittenden–Johnson Resolution, stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery. 1866 – The United States Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to be promoted to this rank. 1868 – The Wyoming Territory is established. 1869 – The Japanese daimyōs begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese Date: June 17, 1869). 1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War begins when the Japanese fire upon a Chinese warship. 1898 – Spanish–American War: The American invasion of Spanish-held Puerto Rico begins, as United States Army troops under General Nelson A. Miles land and secure the port at Guánica. 1908 – Ajinomoto is founded. Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in kombu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it. 1909 – Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine from Calais to Dover, England, United Kingdom in 37 minutes. 1915 – RFC Captain Lanoe Hawker becomes the first British pursuit aviator to earn the Victoria Cross. 1917 – Sir Robert Borden introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%). 1925 – Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established. 1934 – The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt. 1940 – General Henri Guisan orders the Swiss Army to resist German invasion and makes surrender illegal. 1942 – The Norwegian Manifesto calls for nonviolent resistance to the German occupation. 1943 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by the Grand Council of Fascism and is replaced by Pietro Badoglio. 1944 – World War II: Operation Spring is one of the bloodiest days for the First Canadian Army during the war. 1946 – The Crossroads Baker device is the first underwater nuclear weapon test. 1956 – Forty-five miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51. 1957 – The Tunisian King Muhammad VIII al-Amin is replaced by President Habib Bourguiba. 1958 – The African Regroupment Party holds its first congress in Cotonou. 1961 – Cold War: In a speech John F. Kennedy emphasizes that any attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO. 1965 – Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music. 1969 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This is the start of the "Vietnamization" of the war. 1973 – Soviet Mars 5 space probe is launched. 1976 – Viking program: Viking 1 takes the famous Face on Mars photo. 1978 – Puerto Rican police shoot two nationalists in the Cerro Maravilla murders. 1978 – Birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF. 1979 – In accord with the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty, Israel begins its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula. 1983 – Black July: Thirty-seven Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by the fellow Sinhalese prisoners. 1984 – Salyut 7 cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk. 1993 – Israel launches a massive attack against Lebanon in what the Israelis call Operation Accountability, and the Lebanese call the Seven-Day War. 1993 – The Saint James Church massacre occurs in Kenilworth, Cape Town, South Africa. 1994 – Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, that formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948. 1995 – A gas bottle explodes in Saint Michel station of line B of the RER (Paris regional train network). Eight are killed and 80 wounded. 1996 – In a military coup in Burundi, Pierre Buyoya deposes Sylvestre Ntibantunganya. 2000 – Concorde Air France Flight 4590 crashes at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, killing 113 people. 2007 – Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first female president. 2010 – WikiLeaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history. 2018 – As-Suwayda attacks: Coordinated attacks occur in Syria. 2019 – National extreme heat records set this day in the UK, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany during the July 2019 European heat wave.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 1.21

763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa. 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz's mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union. 1535 – Following the Affair of the Placards, the French king leads an anti-Protestant procession through Paris. 1720 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm. 1749 – The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona is destroyed by fire, as a result of a torch being left behind in the box of a nobleman after a performance. It is rebuilt in 1754. 1774 – Abdul Hamid I becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. 1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston. 1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine. 1854 – The RMS Tayleur sinks off Lambay Island on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Australia with great loss of life. 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate. 1893 – The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana. 1908 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor. 1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place. 1915 – Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit. 1919 – A revolutionary Irish parliament is founded and declares the independence of the Irish Republic. One of the first engagements of the Irish War of Independence takes place. 1925 – Albania declares itself a republic. 1931 – Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia. 1941 – Sparked by the murder of a German officer in Bucharest, Romania the day before, members of the Iron Guard engaged in a rebellion and pogrom killing 125 Jews. 1948 – The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Québec Flag Day. 1950 – American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury. 1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States. 1960 – Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board. 1960 – Avianca Flight 671 crashes at Montego Bay, Jamaica airport, killing 37 people. 1960 – A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners. 1968 – Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins. 1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete. 1971 – The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts. 1976 – Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes. 1980 – Iran Air Flight 291 crashes in the Alborz Mountains while on approach to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing 128 people. 1981 – Production of the iconic DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. 1985 – Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crashes near Reno–Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada, killing 70 people. 1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined. 1999 – War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board. 2000 – Ecuador: After the Ecuadorian Congress is seized by indigenous organizations, Col. Lucio Gutiérrez, Carlos Solorzano and Antonio Vargas depose President Jamil Mahuad. Gutierrez is later replaced by Gen. Carlos Mendoza, who resigns and allows Vice-President Gustavo Noboa to succeed Mahuad. 2003 – A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican state of Colima, killing 29 and leaving approximately 10,000 people homeless. 2004 – NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6. 2005 – In Belmopan, Belize, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots. 2009 – Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a three-week war it had with Hamas. However, intermittent fire by both sides continues in the weeks to follow. 2011 – Anti-government demonstrations take place in Tirana, Albania. Four people lose their lives from gunshots, allegedly fired from armed police protecting the Prime Minister's office. 2017 – Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women's march, on Donald Trump's first full day as President of the United States. 2018 – Rocket Lab's Electron becomes the first rocket to reach orbit using an electric pump-fed engine and deploys three CubeSats.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.25

306 – Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops. 315 – The Arch of Constantine is completed near the Colosseum in Rome to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge. 864 – The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings. 1137 – Eleanor of Aquitaine married Prince Louis, later King Louis VII of France, at the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux. 1139 – Battle of Ourique: The Almoravids, led by Ali ibn Yusuf, are defeated by Prince Afonso Henriques who is proclaimed King of Portugal. 1261 – The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire. 1278 – The naval Battle of Algeciras takes place in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in a victory for the Emirate of Granada and the Maranid Dynasty over the Kingdom of Castile. 1467 – The Battle of Molinella: The first battle in Italy in which firearms are used extensively. 1536 – Sebastián de Belalcázar on his search of El Dorado founds the city of Santiago de Cali. 1538 – The city of Guayaquil is founded by the Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Orellana and given the name Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Guayaquil. 1547 – Henry II of France is crowned. 1554 – Mary I marries Philip II of Spain at Winchester Cathedral. 1567 – Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela. 1593 – Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. 1603 – James VI of Scotland is crowned king of England (James I of England), bringing the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into personal union. Political union would occur in 1707. 1609 – The English ship Sea Venture, en route to Virginia, is deliberately driven ashore during a storm at Bermuda to prevent its sinking; the survivors go on to found a new colony there. 1693 – Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Mexico. 1722 – Dummer's War begins along the Maine-Massachusetts border. 1755 – British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the deportation of the Acadians. 1759 – French and Indian War: In Western New York, British forces capture Fort Niagara from the French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé. 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war's last action, the Siege of Cuddalore, is ended by a preliminary peace agreement. 1788 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K550). 1792 – The Brunswick Manifesto is issued to the population of Paris promising vengeance if the French royal family is harmed. 1797 – Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain). 1799 – At Abu Qir in Egypt, Napoleon I of France defeats 10,000 Ottomans under Mustafa Pasha. 1814 – War of 1812: An American attack on Canada is repulsed. 1824 – Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua. 1837 – The first commercial use of an electrical telegraph is successfully demonstrated in London by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone. 1853 – Joaquin Murrieta, the famous Californio bandit known as the "Robin Hood of El Dorado", is killed. 1861 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Crittenden–Johnson Resolution, stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery. 1866 – The United States Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to be promoted to this rank. 1868 – Wyoming becomes a United States territory. 1869 – The Japanese daimyōs begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese Date: June 17, 1869). 1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War begins when the Japanese fire upon a Chinese warship. 1898 – In the Puerto Rican Campaign, the United States seizes Puerto Rico from Spain. 1908 – Ajinomoto is founded. Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in kombu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it. 1909 – Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine from (Calais to Dover, England, United Kingdom) in 37 minutes. 1915 – RFC Captain Lanoe Hawker becomes the first British pursuit aviator to earn the Victoria Cross. 1917 – Sir Robert Borden introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%). 1925 – Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established. 1934 – The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt. 1940 – General Henri Guisan orders the Swiss Army to resist German invasion and makes surrender illegal. 1942 – The Norwegian Manifesto calls for nonviolent resistance to the German occupation. 1943 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by the Grand Council of Fascism and is replaced by Pietro Badoglio. 1944 – World War II: Operation Spring is one of the bloodiest days for the First Canadian Army during the war. 1946 – Operation Crossroads: An atomic bomb is detonated underwater in the lagoon of Bikini Atoll. 1952 – The U.S. non-incorporated territory of Puerto Rico adopts a constitution. 1956 – Forty-five miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51. 1957 – The Republic of Tunisia is proclaimed. 1958 – The African Regroupment Party (PRA) holds its first congress in Cotonou. 1961 – In a speech John F. Kennedy emphasizes that any attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO. 1965 – Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music. 1969 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This is the start of the "Vietnamization" of the war. 1973 – Soviet Mars 5 space probe is launched. 1976 – Viking program: Viking 1 takes the famous Face on Mars photo. 1978 – Puerto Rican police shoot two nationalists in the Cerro Maravilla murders. 1978 – Birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF. 1979 – Another section of the Sinai Peninsula is peacefully returned by Israel to Egypt. 1983 – Black July: Thirty-seven Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by the fellow Sinhalese prisoners. 1984 – Salyut 7 cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk. 1993 – Israel launches a massive attack against Lebanon in what the Israelis call Operation Accountability, and the Lebanese call the Seven-Day War. 1993 – The Saint James Church massacre occurs in Kenilworth, Cape Town, South Africa. 1994 – Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, that formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948. 1995 – A gas bottle explodes in Saint Michel station of line B of the RER (Paris regional train network). Eight are killed and 80 wounded. 1996 – In a military coup in Burundi, Pierre Buyoya deposes Sylvestre Ntibantunganya. 2000 – Concorde Air France Flight 4590 crashes at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, killing 113 passengers. 2007 – Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first female president. 2010 – WikiLeaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history.