On This Day: November 30
Today's History Show Notes - Episode 44
Today is a Day of Remembrance for All Victims of Chemical Warfare, which began to remember the 100,000+ victims of chemical weapon deployments in WWI. Chemical weapons are more prevalent today than at any point in history, and today I am lighting a candle for all the peaceful J6ers who were gassed by the Capitol Police without cause or warning.
Perhaps related, today is also National Methamphetamine Awareness Day, which has definitely been weaponized. Have you ever looked into the eyes of Antifa?
In happier commemorations, it’s National Mousse Day. Yum.
Now let’s get onto today’s history…
In Government…
In 1782, Britain signed an agreement finally recognizing US independence. In the following century, Spain ceded her claims to the Louisiana Territory to France in 1803 and, the following year in 1804, the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase began on this day. From Senate.gov:
“Chase had served on the Supreme Court since 1796. A staunch Federalist with a volcanic personality, Chase showed no willingness to tone down his bitter partisan rhetoric after Jeffersonian Republicans gained control of Congress in 1801… The trial managers (members of the House of Representatives) hoped to prove that Chase had "behaved in an arbitrary, oppressive, and unjust way by announcing his legal interpretation on the law of treason before defense counsel had been heard." Highlighting the political nature of this case, the final article of impeachment accused the justice of continually promoting his political agenda on the bench, thereby "tending to prostitute the high judicial character with which he was invested, to the low purpose of an electioneering partizan."
With at least six Jeffersonian Republicans joining the nine Federalists who voted not guilty on each article, the Senate on March 1, 1805, acquitted Samuel Chase on all counts. A majority voted guilty on three of the eight articles, but on each article the vote fell far short of the two-thirds required for conviction. The Senate thereby effectively insulated the judiciary from further congressional attacks based on disapproval of judges’ opinions. Chase resumed his duties at the bench, where he remained until his death in 1811.”
It was also a deadly day in the Civil War as, in 1864 there were two bloody battles on November 30. The Battle of Honey Hill killed 96 and wounded 665 in South Carolina. The Battle of Franklin, Tennessee resulted in 7,700 casualties when a Confederate attack failed. Four Confederate Brigadier Generals died in that battle:
Hiram Bronson Granbury (33)
Otto French Strahl (33)
Patrick Ronayne Cleburne (33)
John Adams (39)
The American Wild West was further tamed on this day, as Butch Cassidy's second-in-command “Kid Curry” Logan was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labor in 1902. Cassidy eventually met his end in 1908, as we discussed on November 8 — the day it happened.
Also in 1908, US Secretary of State and Japan's ambassador to the US conceptualized the eventual Root-Takahira Agreement, affirming support for an independent China and agreeing to an 'open door' policy.
In 1933, FDR rolled out the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) for unemployed, unmarried 17–28 year old men to do the manual labor required for conserving and developing natural resources in rural lands owned by governments (federal/state/local).
Part of the New Deal to combat the impact of the Great Depression, three million men participated and the government gave them shelter, clothing, and food, and a wage of $30 (~ $680 adjusted for 2023) per month. CCCs were established in Cleveland Park District on this day in 1933.
In 1958, the first US guided missile destroyer, the USS Dewey, launched from Bath, Maine. The ship was developed by Bath Iron Works Corp., and it was commissioned 7 December 1959. Good thing it was decommissioned!
From the US Navy:
“She was decommissioned on 21 November 1969, and recommissioned 31 March 1971. On 30 June 1975, USS Dewey, then commissioned as a guided missile frigate, hull number DLG-14, was reclassified as a guided missile destroyer, receiving hull number DDG-45. USS Dewey (DLG-14) was decommissioned 31 August 1990 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 20 November 1992.”
This day wasn’t all rainbows for the Navy, however, as in 1982 US submarine Thomas Edison collided with a US Navy destroyer in the South China Sea. Whoops!
The nineties were a wild ride on this day as, in 1993, President Clinton signed the The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which was:
“An Act to provide for a waiting period before the purchase of a handgun, and for the establishment of a national instant criminal background check system to be contacted by firearms dealers before the transfer of any firearm.”
The Act was named after James Brady, the former White House Press Secretary who was permanently disabled as a result of the 1981 Ronald Reagan assassination attempt. Brady died in 2014, and his wife Sarah was Brady’s chairwoman from 1989 until her death in 2015.
Operation Desert Storm officially ended on this day in 1995. Thank you to everyone who served in that absolutely shit show. Funny, it’s also the anniversary of George HW Bush in 2018. Synchronicity.
In the current century, Biden announced he would nominate Janet Yellen to be US treasury secretary, a decision that has been hard on all of us. And in 2022, Hakeem Jeffries became the first Black House Minority leader, replacing the walking wet bar known as Nancy Pelosi.
Government-related birthdays today include:
1810: Oliver Winchester (Politician, Winchester Repeating Arms Company)
1936: Abbie Hoffman (Activist)
1930: G. Gordon Liddy (Watergate)
In world history today…
Lord Frederick Cavendish was born in 1836. Cavendish was an English politician who, after being appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, was murdered only hours after arriving in Dublin.
In 1874, Winston Churchill was born.
Speaking of English lore, London’s Crystal Palace, built in 1851, was destroyed by fire on this day in 1936. That’s a weird story and a fun rabbit hole.
Also in foreigner stuff that was banned today:
1487: Germany banned Impure Beer
1523: Amsterdam banned Heretics
1735: Holland banned FreeMasons
1838: Mexico banned France
1938: Germany banned Jewish Lawyers
And in other world history:
1947: Jewish settlements in Israel attacked
1960: French condemned (their own) nuclear weapons
1966: Barbados gained independence
1980: Uruguay rejected new constitution
1987: Afghanistan adopted new Constitution
2006: South Africa's legalized gay marriage
2022: CCP Secretary General Jiang Zemin
In Culture…
From a cultural standpoint, there are some heavy hitters born today. Pamphleteer and satirist Jonathan Swift (1667), 19th century philosopher Mark Twain (1835), author Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874).
In modern media, we have early idiot box pioneer Dick Clark (1929), Sesame Street founder Joan Ganz Cooney (1929), and Director Ridley Scott (1937). There’s also:
1952: Mandy Patinkin (Indio Montoya)
1965: Ben Stiller (Gaylord Focker)
1985: Chrissy Teigan (Deleted Pedo Posts from Twitter)
Also, Oscar Wilde died on this day in 1900. In other notable cultural deaths:
1765: George Glas (British Adventurer)
1930: Mother Jones (Labor Organizer)
2007: Evel Knievel (Daredevil)
Trust the Science
In 1753, Benjamin Franklin, "on account of his curious Experiments and Observations on Electricity,” received the Godfrey Copley medal.
The Copley Medal is The Science’s most “prestigious award,” given by the Royal Society, "for sustained, outstanding achievements in any field of science.” It was established in 1709 and first awarded in 1731.
In 1876, Archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovered the gold Mask of Agamemnon in modern Greece, which has been dubbed, "the Mona Lisa of prehistory.”
In 2020, newly discovered rock art was announced to have been found in the Colombian Amazon, including thousands of paintings of now extinct Ice Age animals. They’re calling this one the “Sistine Chapel of the Ancients.”
You could also potentially call it the Noah’s Ark Manifest as, in 2017 in the same day, the world's longest rainbow was recorded — 8 hrs 58 min — in Taipei.
In technology sciences, in 1983, Radio Shack began selling computers — mostly to involuntarily celebrate nerds who are now multimillionaires. In 2018, Marriott Hotels revealed a massive data breach that affected the personal data of more than 500,000,000. And in 2022, OpenAI released a ChatGPT prototype. Reality collapse is real.
Watch the Water
First ground was broken in the building of the original Welland Canal in 1824, and it opened in 1829, five years to the day from the groundbreaking. Work began on the first US underwater highway tunnel in Chicago in 1866.
In 1900, the First Isthmian Canal Commission issued its report favoring a canal through Nicaragua rather than Panama. And the rest is history. The history of the Panama Canal.
In first and other milestones today:
1900: First patent for front-wheel drive for automobiles
1907: Pike Place Market dedicated
1924: First photo fax transmitted across Atlantic
1967: Nixon’s daughter betrothed to Eisenhower’s grandson #dynasty
1983: Alfred Heineken was freed
1988: Mike Tyson stole fur (allegedly)
1998: Deutsche Bank to buy Bankers Trust
Note that, in 1989, Deutsche Bank CEO Alfred Herrhausen was murdered on this day. And in 2004, Ken Jennings finally lost "Jeopardy!"
All the World’s a Stage
In 1974, "Mack & Mabel" closed on Broadway. It was about the romance between silent film figures Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand, and it starred Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters.
Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s revival of "West Side Story" closed on this day in 1980.
On the silver screen, “Ghandi” premiered in 1982, cataloging the life of the human rights icon. The titular character was played by Ben Kingsley, who presents a white British dude but is actually half Indian (paternal). The film went on to win Best Picture in 1983.
In other heavy films, "Schindler's List" premiered in 1993, and won Best Picture in 1994.
On the idiot box today, Neil Diamond made his only appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on this day in 1969, singing "Sweet Caroline" and "Holly, Holy.” Several decades later in 2002, Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa" premiered on the Food Network.
In performance deaths today:
1979 Zeppo Marx (Marx Brothers)
1994 Lionel Stander (Commie Actor)
1996: Tiny Tim (God Bless Us, Everyone!)
2013: Paul Walker (She’s All That)
2017: Jim Nabors (The Andy Griffith Show)
Teach the World the Sing
Billy Idol was born today in 1955, and country singer Mindy McCready was born 20 years later in 1975. Was she suicided?
In 1972, the BBC banned Wings' "Hi, Hi, Hi" because, according to McCartney in a 2018 GQ interview m, “A lot of people were getting high, so to me, it was just like a fantasy song, sort of saying, ‘Hey girl, come on, let’s get high… it was just about the times. It’s very much a period piece, but it goes down well.”
Almost 20 years later, in 1991, Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli attempted suicide at the age of 27, and more than 20 years after that, in 2017, Def Jam founder Russell Simmons was me-tooed.
In music releases today:
And Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac died on this day last year (2022).
In Death & Destruction…
In 1630, 16,000 Venetians died in November from plague. In 1731, 100,000 Chinese died in an earthquake in Beijing hit by an earthquake. And in 1988, 317 killed by a Cyclone in Bangladesh. The rest of today’s D&D is man made:
1957: 8 killed in failed assassination attempt on Indonesian President Sukarno
1972: 15 killed in illegal fireworks factory explosion in Rome
1991: 17 killed in 93 car + 11 truck pile up in San Francisco
1992: 5 killed in Intercity-train derailment
1994: 4 killed in Somali cruise ship fire
2004: 26 killed in Lion Air Flight 538 crash 2012: 32 killed in Congo plane crash
2019: 21 killed in gun battle between cartel and security forces in Mexico
2021: 4 killed, 7 injured in Oxford High School shooting in Michigan
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Good Morning Ashe.
December 1 is my birthday and I’ve been enthusiastically waiting for today’s “On this Day”
Can’t wait 😁