It’s National Absurdity Day, which explains a significant number of our clips. It’s also World Children’s Day and National Children’s Day.
It’s also National Peanut Butter Fudge Day. Now let’s get onto today’s history…
In Government…
Oliver Wolcott, signer of the Declaration of Independence was born today in 1726. In addition to signing the Declaration, Wolcott was a Connecticut Sheriff — and later the state’s 19th Governor — a member of the Continental Congress, and brigadier general during the Revolutionary War.
Speaking of rights, in 1789 New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights. I maintain that it is our most beautiful founding document and should be our primary defense in times such as these. It’s certainly under attack.
In Civil War milestones, the ordinance for secession ordinance was filed by Kentucky on this day in 1861, and the following year in 1862, they merged their Confederate army with Mississippi's into the Army of Tennessee — under General Braxton Bragg.
At the same time the Wild West was starting to rage and, four decades later in 1903, Tom Horn was hanged to death for being an American Outlaw, believed to have committed 17 killings. Horn didn’t start as an outlaw. He was an American scout, cowboy, soldier, range detective, and Pinkerton — but he’s not remembered for any of that.
A decade later, after all the “outlaws” were put down, the State Department began requiring photographs for passports in 1914. Five years later, on the same day in 1919, the first municipally owned US airport opened in Tucson, Arizona. “Progress” really was raging in the early 20th Century.
In synchronicities that I didn't see coming, it’s Joe Biden’s birthday today (1942), and it’s also 1917 Robert Byrd’s (1917). Byrd was a notorious racist and a mentor to Biden and the comparisons are drawn often, but I never realized they shared a birthday. It’s also Robert F. Kennedy, Sr. Birthday (1925), who had the Department of Justice HQ dedicated to him on this day in 2001 by George W. Bush. Just for fun, John Bolton was also born on this day in 1948. John Bolton is a Warhawk and the biggest cheerleader for WWIII. He’s also probably jealous of Hitlers Kept Mustache.
In 1974, the US filed an antitrust suit to break-up AT&T, leading to the baby bells era. Southern Bell was my phone provider growing up. The following year, in 1975, Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy for President.
The Savings and Loan scandal of 1993 saw the Senate Ethics Committee issue a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston on this day, explicitly for his "dealings" with executive Charles Keating.
Finally, in domestic government history today, Barack Obama announced sweeping immigration changes in 2014 to help secure the border, hold nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants accountable, and ensure that everyone plays by the same rules. In reality, the reforms expanded DACA and accomplished little else. But it was good rhetoric even if it was damn near wholly false.
In world government history today…
762: The Uyghurs conquered the capital of the Chinese Empire
1168: Giovanni di Struma elected anti-Pope
1407: A fake truce between John the Fearless and Duke of Orléans agreed
1431: First meeting of Order of the Golden Fleece
1521: Arabs blame water shortage in Jerusalem on Jews making wine
1695: Zumbi decapitated, his head displayed on a pike
1795: Curacao government forbade slave work on Sunday
1815: Second Treaty of Paris signed, ending the Napoleonic Wars.
1829: Jews expelled from Nikolayev & Sevastopol, Russia
1910: Mexican Revolution breaks out, led by Francisco I. Madero
1911: Lenin attended funeral of Paul and Laura Lafargue (daughter of Karl Marx) in Paris
1912 Last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary Otto von Hansburg born
1917: Ukrainian Republic declared
1934: New Belgian government established by three bankers
1936: Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera executed
1943: U-538 sank in Atlantic Ocean
1944: First Japanese suicide submarine attack (Ulithi Atol, Carolines)
1945: The Nuremberg war trials began, 24 Nazis on trial
1959: UN adopted Universal Declaration of Children's Rights
1979: Islamic extremists declare the arrival of the Mahdi
1998: Afghan Court declares Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin"
In Culture…
1995, Princess Diana admitted to cheating on Prince Charles and, in 2019 on the same day, Prince Andrew announced he is stepping back from public duties following a failed damage control interview about his connections to Jeffry Epstein.
That was the same year Oxford made the word of the year: “climate emergency.”
Sciencey Goodness
Happy birthday to Edwin Hubble who was born on this day in 1889. We’ve talked about Hubble’s discovery of galaxies on this show before, and today he was born in Missouri. He was a great artist, but was he kind to other artists?
An American space pioneer, Mr. Hubble (allegedly) paved the way for other alleged space exploration milestones on this day:
1948: Balloon reached record height of 42.7km
1980: Solar Challenger makes first solar-powered flight
1984: SETI Institute (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) founded
1990: Atlantis 7 returned from space, it was the 68th manned mission
1995: Atlantis 15 landed back at Kennedy Space Center
1998: First module of the International Space Station launched
From science fiction to mad science, in 1979 the first artificial blood transfusion occurred at University of Minnesota Hospital. A few years later in 1986, the WHO announced the first global effort to combat AIDS, and in 1995, the FDA approved 3TC as a new therapy for AIDS treatment. And trans-female “pioneer” Jan Morris died in 2020.
In theoretical cult science, in 1997, Yohannes Haile-Selassie allegedly “discovered” the partial skull of Australopithecus garhi in Ethiopia — a fossil they came to be a 2.5 million year old human ancestor, “establishing the new species.” In 2019, the science claimed that snakes lived with hind legs for 70 million years. The finding affirms the biblical judgment of the serpent, though 70M years is a very silly and unprovable assertion.
Microsoft first launched Windows 1.0 in 1985 and, in 2012, Toshiba unveiled a robot that is designed to help in nuclear disasters. That was funded, researched and developed… ten plus. years ago… so there’s going to be a market for it. Perhaps we should have stuck that update in D&D.
Firsts and Other Milestones
Howard University was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1866. That was the same day, the same year that French inventor Pierre Lallement patented his rotary crank bicycle — and on the same day in 1902, Frenchies Geo Lefevre and Henri Desgrange created the Tour de France bicycle race.
Other milestones today:
1923: Traffic signals patented by Garrett Morgan
1931: Rolls Royce acquired Bentley
1942: First military traffic on Alaska Highway
1947: First permanent TV on a boat
1970: First Black Miss World
1984: McDonald's 50 billionth hamburger
Good Sports
In 1918, Dora Ratjen – a German athlete who posed as a female in both the 1936 and 1938 Olympics (Placed 4th) and broke the world record in the high jump in 1939. In 1942, the NHL abolished regular season OT until WWII was over.
A couple of Dicks died on this day in 1997 and 1998: Pitcher Dick Littlefield (71) and utility player Dick Sisler (78). Dick Sisler is an awesome name.
In 2017, the iconic Georgia Dome in Atlanta, once the world's largest covered stadium, was destroyed in a controlled implosion.
The Arts Fartsy Stuff
In 1910, Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, well known for Anna Karenina and War and Peace, died of pneumonia. He was 82. RIP, Leo.
Salvador Dali, 19 years later in 1929, launched his first one-man show. If you’re ever in the Tampa Bay Area, check out the Dali Museum — you won’t be disappointed.
All the World’s a Stage
George Bernard Shaw's play "Doctor's Dilemma" premiered in 1906, and exactly sixty years later Cabaret opened. Let’s take a moment to mourn the death of standards.
In other stage history:
1983: "Marilyn: An American Fable"
1988: "Les Miserables" Bus & Truck tour in Tampa
1994: Revival of "The Shadow Box"
1995: "Racing Demon"
1997: Revival "Ivanov"
2003: “Wicked”
The (Tarnished) Silver Screen
Sebastian from the Little Mermaid, Samuel E Wright, was born on this day. Also on the big screen, in 1980 United Artists withdrew "Heaven's Gate" for re-editing.
In 1983, "Terms of Endearment" premiered and, coincidentally and perhaps inappropriately, "Die Another Day" dropped on the same day in 2002. It was Brosnan's last turn in the role, to the unanimous cheers of franchise fans.
The Idiot Box
Richard Dawson was born in this day in 1932, abs a few decades later he was making out with contestants in the Family Feud). The Muppets were also born today in 1958, as was Joel McHale in 1971. He’s American, but was born in Rome, and I used to have the biggest crush on him when he was doing The Soup.
In 1976, George Harrison appeared as musical guest on "Saturday Night Live,” and in 1982, Drew Barrymore hosted the show at age seven. In her biography “Little Girl Lost,” she talks about her alcoholism which began around this age.
Around 100 million watched the ABC TV movie "The Day After" about nuclear war on this day in 1983. The reaction to this film features in the end of the AI Dilemma — both are fear porn propaganda films, in my opinion, and meant to erode liberty. Submit because, “we have the power to destroy you.”
The Jams
Wrapping up culture with music, Beethoven premiered his only opera, "Fidelio", on this day in 1805. Other releases on this day include:
1981: Ringo, "Stop & Smell the Roses"
1995: The Beatles, "Anthology 1"
2001: Josh Groban, "Josh Groban"
2015: Adele, “25”
Dr. John (“Right Place, Wrong Time”) was born in 1941 on this day. Composer Weldon Hart committed suicide in 1957, Allan Sherman ("Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah") died from emphysema in 1973, and Billy Hinsche (The Beach Boys) died of cancer in 2021.
In 2022, Elton John completed the North American leg of his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour" in Los Angeles.
In Death & Destruction…
In 1997: Gary Burris was executed by lethal injection for the murder of cabdriver Kenneth Chambers. According to Murderpedia:
“Kenneth Chambers was a cab driver in Indianapolis. His nude body was found in an alley near Fall Creek Parkway, face down and stuck to the ground by a pool of his frozen blood. His hands were tied behind his back, and there was a small caliber gunshot wound to the right temple. The cab company log revealed that Burris had called for a cab and was Chambers’ last fare.
A witness testified that Burris returned to his apartment with Emmett Merriweather and James Thompson with wads of money and a cab driver’s run sheet and clipboard. Burris later confessed to a cellmate that he had forced Chambers to lie face down on the freezing ground, and shot him in the head as he begged for his life.”
Other D&D were light today…
1972: 2 British soldiers killed in booby trap
1993: 116 killed in plane crash in Macedonia
2018: 40+ religious scholars killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan
2018: Mississippi 15 week abortion ban overturned — and the baby murder continues
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!