History Thread...

[CMRivdogs]

May 25

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/may-25

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Four years after the United States won its independence from Great Britain, 55 state delegates, including George Washington, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin, convene in Philadelphia to compose a new U.S. constitution on May 25, 1787.

The Articles of Confederation, ratified several months before the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, provided for a loose confederation of U.S. states, which were sovereign in most of their affairs. On paper, Congress—the central authority—had the power to govern foreign affairs, conduct war, and regulate currency, but in practice these powers were sharply limited because Congress was given no authority to enforce its requests to the states for money or troops. By 1786, it was apparent that the Union would soon break up if the Articles of Confederation were not amended or replaced. Five states met in Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss the issue, and all the states were invited to send delegates to a new constitutional convention to be held in Philadelphia.

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On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announces to Congress his goal of sending an American to the moon by the end of the decade and asks for financial support of an accelerated space program. He made the task a national priority and a mission in which all Americans would share, stating that it will not be one man going to the moon—it will be an entire nation.

On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union had become the first country to send a man into space with the successful mission of Yuri Gagarin in the spacecraft Vostok 1. On May 5, American Alan Shepard flew into space, but did not orbit the earth as the Russian cosmonaut had. At that time, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were already locked in an arms race. Not to be outdone by America’s Cold Warrivals, President Kennedy pledged in 1961 to support an American space program that would eventually dwarf the Soviet program in technological achievements and investment.

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On May 25, 1977, Memorial Day weekend opens with an intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas’ blockbuster Star Wars movies hits American theaters.

The incredible success of Star Wars–it received seven Oscars, and earned $461 million in U.S. ticket sales and a gross of close to $800 million worldwide–began with an extensive, coordinated marketing push by Lucas and his studio, 20th Century Fox, months before the movie’s release date. “It wasn’t like a movie opening,” actress Carrie Fisher, who played rebel leader Princess Leia, later told Timemagazine. “It was like an earthquake.” Beginning with–in Fisher’s words–“a new order of geeks, enthusiastic young people with sleeping bags,” the anticipation of a revolutionary movie-watching experience spread like wildfire, causing long lines in front of movie theaters across the country and around the world.

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On May 25, 1935, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Babe Ruth hits his 714th home run, a record for career home runs that would stand for almost 40 years. This was one of Ruth’s last games, and the last home run of his career. Ruth went four for four on the day, hitting three home runs and driving in six runs.

 

[LaceyLou]

I wasn't sure where this would fit in so I'm putting it here. This is the Boston Common-each flag represents somebody from Massachusetts lost in wars since the Revolutionary War. It's very powerful and sobering to see the sea of flags.

[CMRivdogs]

May 26 

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On May 26, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signs into law the Immigration Act of 1924, the most stringent U.S. immigration policy up to that time in the nation’s history.

The new law—also known as the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act—reflected the desire of Americans to isolate themselves from the world after fighting World War I in Europe, which exacerbated growing fears of the spread of communist ideas. It also reflected the pervasiveness of racial discrimination in American society at the time. Many Americans saw the enormous influx of largely unskilled, uneducated immigrants during the early 1900s as causing unfair competition for jobs and land.

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During the Pequot War, an allied Puritan and Mohegan force under English Captain John Mason attacks a Pequot village in Connecticut, burning or massacring some 500 Native American women, men and children.

As the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay spread further into Connecticut, they came into increasing conflict with the Pequots, a tribe centered on the Thames River in southeastern Connecticut. By the spring of 1637, 13 English colonists and traders had been killed by the Pequot, and Massachusetts Bay Governor John Endecott organized a large military force to punish the local tribe. On April 23, 200 Pequot warriors responded defiantly to the colonial mobilization by attacking a Connecticut settlement, killing six men and three women and taking two girls away.

On May 26, 1637, two hours before dawn, the Puritans and their Native allies marched on the Pequot village at Mystic, slaughtering all but a handful of its inhabitants. On June 5, Captain Mason attacked another Pequot village, this one near present-day Stonington, and again the Native inhabitants were defeated and massacred. On July 28, a third attack and massacre occurred near present-day Fairfield, and the Pequot War came to an end. Most of the surviving Pequot were sold into slavery, though a handful escaped to join other southern New England tribes.

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1868 At the end of a historic two-month trial, the U.S. Senate narrowly fails to convict President Andrew Johnson of the impeachment charges levied against him by the House of Representatives three months earlier. The senators voted 35 guilty and 19 not guilty on the second article of impeachment, a charge related to his violation of the Tenure of Office Act in the previous year. Ten days earlier, the Senate had likewise failed to convict Johnson on another article of impeachment, the 11th, voting an identical 35 for conviction and 19 for acquittal. Because both votes fell short–by one vote–of the two-thirds majority needed to convict Johnson, he was judged not guilty and remained in office.

 

[CMRivdogs]

May 27

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/may-27

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A boat carrying 937 refugees, almost all of whom are Jews fleeing Nazi persecution, is turned awayfrom Havana, Cuba, on May 27, 1939. Only 28 immigrants are admitted into the country. After appeals to the United States and Canada for entry are denied, the rest are forced to sail back to Europe, where they’re distributed among several countries including Great Britain and France.

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On May 27, 1813, former President Thomas Jefferson writes former President John Adams to let him know that their mutual friend, Dr. Benjamin Rush, has died.

Rush’s passing caused Jefferson to meditate upon the departure of the Revolutionary generation. He wrote, We too must go; and that ere long. I believe we are under half a dozen at present; I mean the signers of the Declaration.

Although Jefferson and Adams were bitter political enemies by the time of the presidential election of 1800, in which Jefferson narrowly defeated Adams, the two leading intellectuals and politicians of Virginia and Massachusetts had been allies and confidants during the heady, revolutionary days of the late 1770s. Following 12 years of bitter silence caused by their disagreement over the role of the new federal government, the two old friends managed to reestablish the discourse of their younger years spent in Philadelphia, where they both served in the Continental Congress, and Paris, where they served together as ambassadors to France. In 1812, Benjamin Rush, a Patriot and physician from Philadelphia, initiated a renewed correspondence and reconciliation between his two friends and ex-presidents. The correspondence continued until Adams and Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence that all three friends had signed in 1776.

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces a state of unlimited national emergency in response to Nazi Germany’s threats of world domination on May 27, 1941. In a speech on this day, he repeated his famous remark from a speech he made in 1933 during the Great Depression: the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

In a radio address delivered from the White House, FDR tried to rally isolationists to his philosophy that aid to Europe was purely in America’s self-interest. In March 1941, he had successfully pushed through the Lend-Lease Bill, which gave military aid to any country vital to the defense of the United States. Roosevelt recounted for his audience how German submarines were boldly attacking British shipping and threatening American shipping in the Atlantic and how Londoners endured nightly raids of German bombers. He painted an almost apocalyptic vision of a Nazi-controlled Western Hemisphere where American workers would be enslaved by Germany, godless Nazis would outlaw freedom of worship and America’s children would wander off, goose-stepping in search of new gods.

 

[oblong]

The phrase that legend says restarted the relationship between Adams and Jefferson is You and I, ought not to die, before We have explained ourselves to each other

The HBO Series on Adams has a great montage of them reading the letters.

 

 

[CMRivdogs]

May 28

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/may-28

 

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On May 28, 1961, the British newspaper The London Observer publishes British lawyer Peter Benenson’s article “The Forgotten Prisoners” on its front page, launching the Appeal for Amnesty 1961—a campaign calling for the release of all people imprisoned in various parts of the world because of the peaceful expression of their beliefs. The movement later became Amnesty International. 
Benenson was inspired to write the appeal after reading an article about two Portuguese students who were jailed after raising their glasses in a toast to freedom in a public restaurant. At the time, Portugal was a dictatorship ruled by Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. Outraged, Benenson penned the Observer article making the case for the students’ release and urging readers to write letters of protest to the Portuguese government. The article also drew attention to the variety of human rights violations taking place around the world, and coined the term “prisoners of conscience” to describe “any person who is physically restrained (by imprisonment or otherwise) from expressing ... any opinion which he honestly holds and does not advocate or condone personal violence.”

 

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In the first engagement of the French and Indian War, a Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeats a French reconnaissance party in southwestern Pennsylvania. In a surprise attack, the Virginians killed 10 French soldiers from Fort Duquesne, including the French commander, Coulon de Jumonville, and took 21 prisoners. Only one of Washington’s men was killed.

The French and Indian War was the last and most important of a series of colonial conflicts between the British and the American colonists on one side, and the French and their broad network of Native American allies on the other. Fighting began in the spring of 1754, but Britain and France did not officially declare war against each other until May 1756 and the outbreak of the Seven Years War in Europe.

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On May 28, 1830, President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act into law. The bill enabled the federal government to negotiate with southeastern Native American tribes for their ancestral lands in states such as Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. As a result, some 60,000 Native Americans were forced westward into “Indian Territory” (present-day Oklahoma). The mass migration resulted in more than 4,000 deaths and became known as the Trail of Tears.

At the time, Jackson said the removal would "incalculably strengthen the southwestern frontier,” and would enable new states like Alabama and Mississippi to “advance rapidly in population, wealth and power." By the end of his presidency in 1837, his administration negotiated almost 70 removal treaties that led to the relocation of 50,000 eastern Native Americans to the Indian Territory. Twenty five million acres of land were now freed up for white settlement in the east and as a result used for the expansion of slavery.

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On May 28, 1861, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney of Maryland issues Ex parte Merryman, challenging the authority of President Abraham Lincoln and the U.S. military to suspend the writ of habeas corpus (the legal procedure that prevents the government from holding an individual indefinitely without showing cause) in Maryland.

Early in the war, President Lincoln faced many difficulties due to the fact that Washington was located in slave territory. Although Maryland did not secede, Southern sympathies were widespread. On April 27, 1861, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia to give military authorities the necessary power to silence dissenters and rebels. Under this order, commanders could arrest and detain individuals who were deemed threatening to military operations. Those arrested could be held without indictment or arraignment.

The federal circuit court judge was Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, who issued a ruling, Ex parte Merryman, denying the president’s authority to suspend habeas corpus. Taney denounced Lincoln’s interference with civil liberties and argued that only Congress had the power to suspend the writ.

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On May 28, 1957, National League owners vote unanimously to allow the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers to move to San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively, at the mid-season owner’s meeting in Chicago, Illinois.

There were, however, conditions attached to the owners’ decision. First, either both teams had to move or neither could, which meant that if one team reconsidered, the other would have to change their plans as well. Second, both teams had to announce their plans before October 1, 1957. In the end, both teams did move: The Giants hosted a farewell party at a game on September 29, and the Dodgers formally announced their move on October 8. West Coast baseball fans were overjoyed, and the people of New York City were heartbroken.

 

[CMRivdogs]

May 30

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/may-30
 

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On May 30, 1431, at Rouen in English-controlled Normandy, Joan of Arc, the peasant girl who became the savior of France, is burned at the stake for heresy.

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On May 30, 1806, future President Andrew Jackson kills a man who accused him of cheating on a horse race bet and then insulted his wife, Rachel.

Jackson was not prosecuted for murder, and the duel had very little effect on his successful campaign for the presidency in 1829. Many American men in the early 1800s, particularly in the South, viewed dueling as a time-honored tradition. In 1804, Thomas Jefferson’s vice president Aaron Burr had also avoided murder charges after killing former Treasury Secretary and founding father Alexander Hamilton in a duel. In fact, Rachel’s divorce raised more of a scandal in the press and in parlors than the killing of Dickinson.

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By proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, the first major Memorial Day observance is held to honor those who died “in defense of their country during the late rebellion.” Known to some as “Decoration Day,” mourners honored the Civil War dead by decorating their graves with flowers. On the first Decoration Day, May 30, 1868, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Civil War soldiers buried in the cemetery.

By the late 19th century, many communities across the country had begun to celebrate Memorial Day, and after World War I, observers began to honor the dead of all of America’s wars. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated the last Monday in May. Today, Memorial Day is celebrated at Arlington National Cemetery with a ceremony in which a small American flag is placed on each grave. It is customary for the president or vice president to give a speech honoring the contributions of the dead and to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. More than 5,000 people attend the ceremony annually. Some Southern states set aside a special day for honoring the Confederate dead, which is usually called Confederate Memorial Day.

 

 

[romad1]

10 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

May 30

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/may-30
 

 

Shame it didn't remain a Civil War memorial for those who died fighting to save the Union from the traitors. 

[CMRivdogs]

1 minute ago, romad1 said:

Shame it didn't remain a Civil War memorial for those who died fighting to save the Union from the traitors. 

And kept it on the same day. Like a lot of other "Patriotic" Holidays the meaning has lost out to "burgers and beer"

[romad1]

15 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

And kept it on the same day. Like a lot of other "Patriotic" Holidays the meaning has lost out to "burgers and beer"

WWII vets probably drove that.  They wanted to obscure the horrors.  

[CMRivdogs]

12 minutes ago, romad1 said:

WWII vets probably drove that.  They wanted to obscure the horrors.  

I remember Decoration Day growing up in Western Pa. Then the government decided on the Monday Holiday thing and Memorial Day, research says it was 1971. 

We need a Poppy Day like in Great Britain (Armistice Day 11/2) no picnics, no car races, just a day of honor and rememberance 

[romad1]

1 minute ago, CMRivdogs said:

I remember Decoration Day growing up in Western Pa. Then the government decided on the Monday Holiday thing and Memorial Day, research says it was 1971. 

We need a Poppy Day like in Great Britain (Armistice Day 11/2) no picnics, no car races, just a day of honor and rememberance 

aka Remembrance Day (which i recall from the eponymous Big Country song).  

 

[romad1]

14 minutes ago, romad1 said:

aka Remembrance Day (which i recall from the eponymous Big Country song).  

 

once I was doing a comparative percentages of deaths for the Civil War for the US and WWI for the Commonwealth.  

The US recovered from the Civil War because of all the immigration but the UK more so than the Commonwealth populations were really gouged by WW1.  

Per the googles... 6% of the UK adult population died in WW1 and 2.5% of the US total population died in the Civil War. 

[romad1]

someone missed history lessons

Arsonist tortoise: "Oh my god" — Bluesky

[romad1]

Just now, romad1 said:

someone missed history lessons

Arsonist tortoise: "Oh my god" — Bluesky

This Operation Paperclip special immigrant says hi, JD. 

[oblong]

52 minutes ago, romad1 said:

This Operation Paperclip special immigrant says hi, JD. 

Our Germans are better than their Gemrans.

And it wasn't just Von Braun.  He had a whole team he brought with him.  Huntsville became like Frankenmuth for awhile with all the Krauts living there.

And also regarding the moon.... If Kennedy didn't have his Bay of Pigs issue and the Russians didn't beat us into manned space flight, JFK may have never made his declaration about landing a man on the moon before 1970 and if he hadn't died.... that goal motivated the entire process and once it was reached they couldn't cancel missions fast enough as Vietnam was eating into the budgets.  And it was a Republican who did it.  The Apollo astronauts on the later missions that would have to meet or talk to Nixon could barely hide their disgust, even though most of them were Republicans.  Here's a guy trying to bask in the glory of a program he eliminated.  There were supposed to go up to Apollo 20 but 18-20 were cancelled.   There were 11 manned Apollo missions (7-17), plus Apollo 1 (the fire), and unmanned Apollos 4-6.  They skipped 2 and 3.

 

 

 

[romad1]

10 minutes ago, oblong said:

Our Germans are better than their Gemrans.

And it wasn't just Von Braun.  He had a whole team he brought with him.  Huntsville became like Frankenmuth for awhile with all the Krauts living there.

And also regarding the moon.... If Kennedy didn't have his Bay of Pigs issue and the Russians didn't beat us into manned space flight, JFK may have never made his declaration about landing a man on the moon before 1970 and if he hadn't died.... that goal motivated the entire process and once it was reached they couldn't cancel missions fast enough as Vietnam was eating into the budgets.  And it was a Republican who did it.  The Apollo astronauts on the later missions that would have to meet or talk to Nixon could barely hide their disgust, even though most of them were Republicans.  Here's a guy trying to bask in the glory of a program he eliminated.  There were supposed to go up to Apollo 20 but 18-20 were cancelled.   There were 11 manned Apollo missions (7-17), plus Apollo 1 (the fire), and unmanned Apollos 4-6.  They skipped 2 and 3.

 

 

 

I'm seeing other bsky posts that say he included the Germans who came over.  Possibly implying that they were good immigrants because they were fair skinned

List of Germans relocated to the US via the Operation Paperclip - Wikipedia

There is a great story about the scientists in their first forray into a US department store shopping for undergarments for their wives.  The US sizes were different from the European sizes they knew so they were conspicuous in their use of their slide rules to do the conversions and the US handlers were flabbergasted at them breaking cover so obviously.   

[oblong]

I read about that in Halberstam's book The Fifties.  I'll say it again, if you haven't read that, please do.  It's a top 5 book for me.  I learned so much about so many things.

[romad1]

Just now, oblong said:

I read about that in Halberstam's book The Fifties.  I'll say it again, if you haven't read that, please do.  It's a top 5 book for me.  I learned so much about so many things.

I think I read it in William Manchester's "The Glory and the Dream".   

I heard a resounding recommendation for David McCullogh's "Truman" on my british WWII pod the other day.  Said...the quality of the writing/readability was excellent  

[oblong]

1 minute ago, romad1 said:

I think I read it in William Manchester's "The Glory and the Dream".   

I heard a resounding recommendation for David McCullogh's "Truman" on my british WWII pod the other day.  Said...the quality of the writing/readability was excellent  

Yes, I read that one too.  Also 1776 and of course John Adams.  All very worthy books and not too academic or stuffy.

The Fifties covers Elvis, Holiday Inns, Rockets and Space, Levittown,  Korvettes, Civil Rights, Peyton Place, Tennesee Williams, McKinsey, Eisenhower and the struggle for the soul of the GOP in 1952 (which has swung the other way today), and I'm sure things I forgot about.  

 

 

[romad1]

2 minutes ago, oblong said:

Yes, I read that one too.  Also 1776 and of course John Adams.  All very worthy books and not too academic or stuffy.

The Fifties covers Elvis, Holiday Inns, Rockets and Space, Levittown,  Korvettes, Civil Rights, Peyton Place, Tennesee Williams, McKinsey, Eisenhower and the struggle for the soul of the GOP in 1952 (which has swung the other way today), and I'm sure things I forgot about.  

 

 

My recollection had me looking at Manchester's wiki page.  I guess the Kennedy family and he had a falling out over the book they asked him to write.  

Will take that rec for the Halberstam book. 

[oblong]

You've inspired me to read it again.  I've probably read it 3 times but not in the last 5 or 6 years.  I like to read books more than once.  What I do is get on a subject, then go back to previous books to act as a cross check.  Maybe something in the 2nd or 3rd book brought to the surface a detail that I missed in the first book.  Like a damn Marvel Movie or Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul.

 

[oblong]

I copied this from an AI Generator

May 30 1922, a 78-year-old Robert T. Lincoln, (President Lincoln’s only surviving son) is helped up the steps at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

Robert Todd Lincoln did not deliver remarks but listened with great interest as other speakers paid tribute to his father. Robert took great interest in the memorial as it emerged within Potomac Park and frequently requested that his driver pass the site so that he could observe the progress; he even secured permission once to visit the site in the midst of ongoing construction.

Born in Springfield, Illinois in 1843, Robert was the eldest of the four Lincoln sons. He was graduated from Harvard College, and then served briefly with Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, being present at General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House. Robert went on to have a successful career as a lawyer and businessman, and served as Secretary of War under Presidents James Garfield and Chester Arthur. During Benjamin Harrison’s administration, Robert served as Minister to Great Britain. He died at his home in Vermont in 1926 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery within sight of his father’s memorial.

[CMRivdogs]

Beginning on the night of May 31, 1921, thousands of white citizens in Tulsa, Oklahoma descended on the city’s predominantly Black Greenwood District, burning homes and businesses to the ground and killing hundreds of people. Long mischaracterized as a race riot, rather than mass murder, the Tulsa Race Massacre stands as one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the nation’s history.
 

 

[smr-nj]

2 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

Beginning on the night of May 31, 1921, thousands of white citizens in Tulsa, Oklahoma descended on the city’s predominantly Black Greenwood District, burning homes and businesses to the ground and killing hundreds of people. Long mischaracterized as a race riot, rather than mass murder, the Tulsa Race Massacre stands as one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the nation’s history.
 

 

And I would venture a guess that probably 80% of Americans have never even heard of this.