What fresh hell is this? Today is Krampusnacht.
“Krampusnacht dates back to pagan mythology. Some believe Krampus, also known as the ‘Horned God,’ came from a pagan supernatural being who was assimilated to the devil. Horned devils came about during the 11th century. They often appeared in medieval plays. The name Krampus is derived from the German word krampen, which means ‘claw.’ It’s no surprise that during the 12th century, the Catholic Church tried to ban Krampus celebrations. They did so because of his resemblance to the devil… [Krampus is] a child-terrorizing ghoul that came out before Christmas.”
It’s also National Repeal (of Prohibition) Day, the day we celebrate the end of government mandated sobriety. While you’re having a cocktail to celebrate, consider also celebrating National Sacher Torte Day. Also known as Sachertorte,this unique type of chocolate cake was invented by Austrian Franz Sacher in 1832, and Vienna considers the Sachertorte one of their most famous culinary specialties.
Now let’s get onto today’s history…
In Government…
US Presidential history had a big day today. Eighth president Martin Van Buren was born on this day in 1782, and first president George Washington was re-elected for a second term in 1792. Third president Thomas Jefferson was re-elected in 1804, and seventh Andrew Jackson was re-elected in 1832. Jackson’s predecessor, sixth president John Quincy Adams took his seat in the House of Representatives in 1831, the only president to serve in the House after serving as president.
In the Civil War era, Union general George Armstrong Custer was born on this day in 1839, and Confederate president Jefferson Davis was appointed to fill a Mississippi Senate vacancy in 1847. In 1848, eleventh President James K. Polk confirmed the discovery of gold in California, triggering the Gold Rush of 1849.
In 1946, 33rd president Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9808, creating a Committee on Civil Rights, kicking off two decades of the war for equality under the law. And that brings us to Strom Thurmond, who was born on this day in 1902. Thurmond has been the subject of revisionist history by uniparty Democrats for generations, but he still holds the record for the longest filibuster in US history – in which he argued against Civil Rights for 24 hours and 18 minutes on August 28, 1957. The party of slavery in the 19th Century is the same party that opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act 100 years later, with 74% of Democrats voting against. The parties never switched — that’s just narrative.
To understand the societal landscape leading up to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, there are a few other developments in this day that are meaningful, particularly in 1955. The bus boycott began on this day in Montgomery, Alabama, led by Rosa Parks and other activists, supported by the Montgomery Improvement Association formed by Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Edgar Nixon. An interesting data point is that, on the same day in the same year, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) merged to form the AFL-CIO.
A couple years later in 1957, NYC became the first US city to legislate against racial or religious discrimination in housing market. And on the same day in 1998, Al Gore, Sr. — who voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act — died.
Other moments in US history today include:
1932: Albert Einstein was granted a US visa; in 2018, his 1954 letter on sold for $2.9M
1941: Task Force (TF) 12 departed Pearl Harbor to reinforce Midway Island
1967: Spock and Ginsberg arrested in NY, protesting the Vietnam War
1988: Jim Bakker indicted for fraud
2017: John Conyers (D-MI) resigned after sexual harassment allegations
2018: George H. W. Bush funeral
2019 Speaker Pelosi, announced articles of impeachment against President Trump
2021: Bob Dole died of lung cancer (at 98)
In world government history…
1360: The French Franc was created
1496: Jews were expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I
1717: Blackbeard ransacked the "Margaret"
1837: Canadian Uprising
1957: Indonesia expelled all Dutch people
1981: France did a nuclear test – they condemned nukes on November 30, 1960
2005: The UK Civil Partnership Act came into effect
2013: Nelson Mandela died of a lung infection (95)
2016: Malta outlawed conversion therapy
2017: Austrian courts ruled in favour of same-sex marriage
2017: Russia banned from Winter Olympics in South Korea over state-sponsored doping
2018: Huawei Financial Officer arrested for violating Iran sanctions in Canada
2019: 800,000+ french people protested against pension reforms in 100 cities
In Culture…
On this day in 1933, Prohibition ended with the ratification of the 21st Amendment, and the repeal of the 18th Amendment.
It’s a day that is still celebrated by breweries, vineyards, and distilleries.
There were a number of patents awarded today, many for things I’ve never thought of being invented:
1846: Cellulose nitrate explosive
1854: Folding theater chair
1876: Practical pipe wrench
1879: Automatic telephone switching system
The first American bicycle college opened in New York on this day in 1868. It was, in fact, a college for all things bicycle-related, which sounds made up, but we underestimate the impact of the bicycle on human behavior and movement.
In 1929, the first nudist organization – the American League for Physical Culture – was founded in New York City. Why do nudists always end up being the people that no one wants to see naked? And in 1980, the Bank of Canada's Canadian Currency Museum opened. Missy is really upset about this one.
Trust the Science
It’s a big day for physics. In 1901, Werner Heisenberg was born. Heisenberg was the German physicist who discovered (and received a 1932 Nobel for) the uncertainty principle. Two years later in 1903, Cecil Frank Powell was born, the physicist who discovered (and received a 1950 Nobel for) pion (pi-meson), a subatomic particle. And in 1973, Robert Watson-Watt, the Scottish physicist and developer of the radar, died at 81.
In other sciences, in 1965, Joseph Erlanger, the American physiologist who received a 1944 Nobel for shock therapy died of heart disease at 91.
In scientific firsts:
1935: First commercial hydroponics operation (Montebello, California)
2021: First Hippos test positive for COVID-19 at Antwerp Zoo
2022: First construction on world's biggest radio telescope
In space history, NASA launched space vehicle S-196 in 1975, and it failed. In 1978, Pioneer Venus 1 allegedly began orbiting Venus, and ten years later in 1988, Shuttle Atlantis launched the world's first nuclear-war-fighting satellite. Finally in space, in 1993, Astronauts began repairing the Hubble telescope in space. From NASA:
“Hubble is in a low-Earth orbit, which means it's one of the satellites orbiting less than 1,200 miles (2,000 km) from the planet's surface.”
In 1969, the internet got its start. On this day, the four-node ARPANET network was established between the University of California, Los Angeles, Stanford Research Institute, U.C. Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah. From SRI International:
“The Internet as you know it today, and through which you are accessing this information, had its beginnings in the late 1960s as the “ARPANET”. The project began with the Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, then called ARPA and now DARPA. The initial network of only four computers at different locations conducted research in wide-area networking.”
More recently, in 2008, Human remains previously found in 1991 were identified as belonging to Tsar Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia, by Russian and American scientists. Speaking of Russia, 12 years later in 2020, Russia began vaccinating people despite not finishing clinical trials. The vaccine was called Sputnik V. My tinfoil hat is now firmly in place.
Ode to the Arts
Julius II was born on this day in 1443, the Italian pope who was a patron of Michelangelo (Sculptor and Painter), Donato Bramante (Architect), and Raphael (Painter). Talk about an ode to the arts! Many famous artists died on this day as well:
1784: Phillis Wheatley (American Poet)
1791: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Austrian Composer)
1870: Alexandre Dumas (French Author)
1926: Claude Monet (French Painter)
And on this day in 1623, the first copies of William Shakespeare's First Folio were purchased by Edward Dering. The First Folio collected his plays posthumously into one volume.
All the World’s a Stage
Walt Disney was born today in 1901, and Kirstie Alley died in 2022. It was also the death of Monty Python's Flying Circus, as the final episode aired on BBC in 1974. There were also two major film premieres on this day, "Ocean's Eleven" in 2001, and "The Two Towers" in 2002.
Audrey Hepburn's little black dress from the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's," from Givenchy, auctioned at Christie’s on this day in 2006 for charity – it brought in a record £467,200, or $923,187.
In actors turning criminal history, O.J. Simpson was sentenced to 33 years in 2008 for kidnapping and armed robbery, and Danny Masterson was fired from Netflix’s "The Ranch" in 2017 after three women filed rape filed against him.
Teach the World to Sing
Little Richard was born in Macon, GA on this day in 1932. There were also some notable music releases including The Who’s debut album “My Generation” in 1965, Badfinger’s "Come and Get It" in 1969, and Wing’s "Band on the Run" in 1973.
In Death & Destruction…
On this day in 1872, the Mary Celeste was discovered mysteriously abandoned by her crew in the Atlantic Ocean. We covered this on November 7, the day Mary Celeste left port to sail from Staten Island for Genoa, and today is the day it was found.
In 2001, decorated yachtsman Peter Blake from New Zealand was killed by pirates on the Amazon River. He was 53, and the legacy of Blackbeard lives on.
Other D&D today includes:
1349: 500 Jews of Nuremberg massacred during Black Death riots
1456: 35,000 killed when earthquake strikes Naples
1876: 295 killed, trampled or burned to death, during a fire at Brooklyn Theater
1945: 14 killed (assumed) when Flight 19 was in the Bermuda Triangle
1952: 8,000 killed in Great Smog of London
1974: 17 killed when airport roof in Tehran collapsed
1983: 12 killed by car bomb in west Beirut
2007: 8 killed plus shooter at Westroads Mall Massacre
2012: 8 killed, 12 injured by 5.6 earthquake in South Korea
2013: 52 killed, 167 injured in a militant attack in Yemen
2019: 142,000 killed from measles in 2018, nearly 20,000 more than in 2017
On This Day is published Monday through Friday. Watch the Today’s History podcast weekdays at 12PM ET! Don’t forget to visit bootlegproducts.com and use coupon code MYAMERICA!