Today is National Red Mitten Day – the day where we celebrate Canada’s National Olympic Pride. Yes, that is really a thing. We did not make it up. Does red mitten day extend to pride in the Canadian Space Agency? It should.
In food, it’s National Gingerbread Cookie Day, and National Stuffing Day. I love both of these foods, though it’s too early for gingerbread. Need to get past pumpkin pie season first.
Now let’s get onto today’s history…
In Government…
In 1654, a free black man named Richard Johnson was granted 550 acres in Virginia. It was more than 200 years later that the Civil War sought to end, and succeeded in ending American chattel slavery, and I had never heard of Mr. Johnson prior to this story.
Happy birthday Tom Horn, the American Outlaw we discussed yesterday who was born on this day in 1860 in Missouri.
In 1787, Andrew Jackson was admitted to the bar at the age of 20. He would go on to become the seventh president. Two years after Jackson was admitted to the bar, in 1789, North Carolina ratified their constitution and became the 12th state in the union. And on that day in the same year, Honolulu Harbor was discovered. Later came Maui. A century and a half later, Harry Truman became the first President to travel in a submerged sub in 1946.
This week marks a dark moment in American history as, in 1963, President John F. Kennedy flew into Texas on this day. As we will discuss tomorrow, he was assassinated the next day – and according to newly released documents, the CIA was involved. There has still been no accountability for this crime.
In 1989, a law banning smoking on most domestic flights was signed by President George H. W. Bush. For years, ashtrays still adorned the armests between seats and, depending on the quality of the airline, were often filled with gum. As new planes replace old, we no longer see the ashtrays. Just like in cars.
Finally in US government history today, in 1999 Elian Gonzalez departed Cuba with his mother. In 2000, he would be sent back following a heated controversy between the US and Cuban governments.
In world government history today…
164: Judas Maccabaeus recaptured Jerusalem and rededicated the Second Temple
533: Official textbook of Roman law published
1694: Voltaire born in Paris
1902: Canada appoints a commission to streamline the law
1996: Canadian Royal Commission on Aboriginal People
2004: Ukrainian protests and controversy over the election integrity
2012: Israel and Hamas ceasefire is negotiated (again)
In Culture…
The Witch of Wall Street was born today in 1834. Hetty Green was known as the richest woman in America during the Gilded Age, and she was also referred to as America’s “Greatest Miser.” She appears to have assumed her wealth through honest means, however, telling the New York Times in 1905, “I buy when things are low and nobody wants them. I keep them until they go up and people are anxious to buy.”
Today is also the day Duke University was chartered as a normal college in 1852, after being founded as a Union institute in 1838. In other firsts today:
1952: First US postage stamp in 2 colors via rotary process
1967: Record height to fly a kite – 28,000 feet – by Phillip & Jay Kunz
1977: First Concorde flight from London to New York
Sciencey Goodness
We often spotlight the moments when science claims fantastical things, discussing how such claims are often later debunked but rarely covered.
In 1953, Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announced that the "Piltdown Man" skull, one of the most famous fossil skulls in the world, was a hoax. From Natural History Museum:
“In 1912, Charles Dawson, an amateur archaeologist claimed to have discovered the ‘missing link’ between ape and man. He had found part of a human-like skull in Pleistocene gravel beds near Piltdown village in Sussex, England… Smith Woodward made a reconstruction of the skull fragments, and the archaeologists hypothesized that the find indicated evidence of a human ancestor living 500,000 years ago… For the most part, their story was accepted in good faith. However, in 1949 new dating technology…eliminated the possibility of the Piltdown Man being the missing link between humans and apes… The conclusion: Piltdown Man was an audacious fake and a sophisticated scientific fraud.”
Trust the science. In more believable science, the son of JR Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, was born in 1924.
The (Tarnished) Silver Screen
In 1920, the original "The Last of the Mohicans," a silent film, was released. The 1992 remake is a classic and must watch. "Frankenstein" was released in 1931, based on the 1818 Mary Shelley novel. “Rocky” premiered on this day in 1976, and it went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1977.
Finally in film, Harold Ramis was born on this day in 1944, and Goldie Hawn was born the following year in 1945.
The Idiot Box
In 1942, Looney Tunes’ Tweety Pie was created by Bob Clampett and Friz Freleng. Tweety first premiered in, "A Tale of Two Kitties," and Missy is glad it’s Tweety Pie because Tweety Bird is not real.
Also on TV today, in 1959, Jack Benny (violin) and Richard Nixon (piano) played their famed duet.
The Jams
Let’s Get Physical! Olivia Newton John’s iconic single went number one on this day in 1981, and it stayed there for 10 weeks. A year earlier, on the same day in 1980, John Lennon and Yoko Ono posed nude for photographer Allan Tannenbaum – something no one wanted or needed to see. In other terrible mental images, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber won big at the 38th American Music Awards on this day in 2010.
Today’s Music Releases:
1968: "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" (The Supremes & The Temptations)
1977: "All 'N All" (Earth, Wind & Fire)
1980: "Hi Infidelity" (REO Speedwagon)
2006: "Kingdom Come" (Jay-Z)
2013: "Happy" (Pharrell Williams)
In music birthdays, Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman was born in 1962, and Icelandic singer Bjork was born in 1965.
Sport
On this day in 1837, Thomas Morris of Australia skipped rope 22,806 times. Am I the only one that remembers “jump rope for heart”? There are several sport birthdays today:
1969: Ken Griffey Jr. (Baseball)
1979: Alex Tanguay (Hockey)
1971: Michael Strahan (Football)
1927: Georgia Frontiere (Football Owner)
The first football game played at night took place on this day in 1902, and the Philadelphia Athletics beat Kanaweola AC, 39-0. Yikes! In other blowouts, the NY Rangers scored an NHL record of eight goals in one period on this day in 1971.
In Death & Destruction…
In 2018, former Guatemalan soldier Santos López Alonzo was sentenced to 5,160 years for killing 171 people during the civil war in that country. That’s a lot of years. The following year, the WHO reported that Measles killed more than 5,000 people in Democratic Republic of Congo – in what they called the world's largest and fastest-moving epidemic. Then Covid said, “hold my beer.
Other moments in D&D today:
1847: 200 killed when Steamer "Phoenix" is lost on Lake Michigan
1916: 30 killed in HMHS Britannic
1918: 1,750 killed when two German ammunition trains explode in Belgium
1920: 11 die in Bologna as Mussolini begins reign of terror
1974: 21 killed in Birmingham pub bombings
1979: 1 killed when crowd in Pakistan attack US embassy
1980: 84 killed in fire at MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas
1996: 33 killed in propane explosion at Puerto Rico shoe store
2013: 31 killed by a truck bomb in northeastern Iraq
2013: 54 killed when the roof of a supermarket collapses in Latvia
2019: 22 killed by Syrian government; victims were in a displacement camp
2022: 268 killed, 1,000+ injured in 5.6 earthquake in Indonesian
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!