Today is National Chicken and Waffles Day – and that sounds delicious. There are lots of places to score chicken and waffles, but if you want to make it yourself, this recipe from Well Seasoned Studio looks amazing!
It’s a good day to cook, too, because it’s also National Chef’s Day. And if you want a national day hat trick, involve the kids when you chef it up with chicken and waffles because it’s National Youth Confidence Day as well! Teaching the kiddos to cook is a great way to help build their confidence!
It’s also National Brandied Fruit Day, and I don’t know why that’s a thing.
1097: The First Crusade
On this day more than 900 years ago, the first crusaders arrived in Antioch. This began the “Siege of Antioch.” From Britannica:
“This marked the arrival of the First Crusade in the Holy Land. Events set a pattern of betrayal, massacre, and heroism that was to mark future campaigns. By capturing Antioch, the crusaders secured lines of supply and reinforcement to the west.”
Actual footage of the first crusade.
1803: The Louisiana Purchase
Shout out to all the Cajuns! On this day in 1803, the US ratified the Louisiana Purchase, when under President Thomas Jefferson the US Senate secured the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from the French.
This was also the day, fifteen years later in 1818, that we established our border with Canada! The 49th Parallel was established as the border between the US and Canada more than 200 years ago!
From Canadian Geographic:
“Most international borders adhere to some sort of logic. They follow coastlines or rivers, watersheds or natural barriers. They make sense. Not so the 49th parallel. The border from the Lake of the Woods to the Rockies was set in October 1818, and was later extended all the way to the Pacific Coast. A Procrustean solution that causes more problems than it solves, it plays havoc with water reservoirs and mountain routes along the way, which more naturally fall north and south. The border should zigzag wildly up and down like an erratic EKG. Instead, it draws its razor-like line stubbornly to the sea. It defies common sense, slicing off a fingertip of land in British Columbia: Point Roberts, Wash., U.S. territory that can only be accessed via Canada.”
Disputes over the boundaries of the US vs. Canada weren’t resolved until 1903, when the US won the dispute over the boundary between the District of Alaska and Canada. From Britannica:
“The discovery of gold in the Canadian Klondike in 1896 led to a disagreement between the United States and Canada over the Alaska-Canada boundary. The treaty of 1867, by which the United States had bought Alaska from Russia, established the boundary of southeast Alaska (the Panhandle) as 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the coast. The entrance to the Klondike was through an inlet called Lynn Canal. The Canadians claimed that the boundary ran across inlets from headland to headland. This would have placed Lynn Canal within Canada. The United States held that the line followed all the windings of the coast. The problem was referred to a joint arbitration commission of three Americans, two Canadians, and one Briton. The commission met in London in 1903. The United States claim was upheld by a vote of four to two.”
Actual footage of the decision.
1877: Schubert's 2nd Symphony in B
Franz Schubert is a legend, and on this day in 1877, his second symphony premiered in London. Schubert’s genius created 46 songs in modern movies and TV shows. Here is Schubert’s Second Symphony in B in violin.
In 1930, the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, premiered on NBC radio, and in 1955, calypso singer Harry Belafonte recorded "Day-O." On the same day 68 years later in 1998, Richard Pryor was awarded the first ever Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor
1935: Antifascists
Commies gonna commie, and in 1935, the Antifascist People’s Front formed in Brussels. I imagine in went something like this. And this.
On this day in 1940, the Dutch were heading for their great famine known as the Hunger Winter (Hongerwinter), and they began rationing cheese. Here is how I feel about rationing cheese. Apparently that famine killed around 25,000 people.
In corruption history, in 1963, South Africa began the trial of Nelson Mandela and eight others who were charged with conspiracy. But did this really happen? Or is it the Mandela Effect?
In keeping with the corruption theme, ten years later in 1973 the Saturday Night Massacre occurred, where President Nixon accepted the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refused orders to fire the Watergate Special Prosecutor, Archibald Cox. Following the resignations, Acting Attorney General Robert Bork fired Cox.
Before you take your inalienable rights for granted in America, note that in 1988 the British government ended the right to remain silent when they were cracking down on the IRA.
1944: 135 die, 3600 Homeless in Cleveland
An explosion of liquid natural gas tanks left 135 dead and displaced another 3,600 in Cleveland, Ohio in 1944. It’s another deadly day in terms of volume of events, but at least the numbers are lower. In 1976, 70 died when the Norwegian tanker Frosta collided with the George Prince river ferry.
That was unfortunate, but not intentional. There were a lot of intentional deaths today as well:
1981: 1 dead, 80 injured in Belgium bomb attack on synagogue
1988: Man blows himself up in NY subway
2013: 30 killed by suicide bomber in Syria
2013: 37 killed in Iraq suicide bombing
2013: 78 killed by cattle raiders in Sudan
There was also a plane crash in 1987 that killed 10 when an Air Force jet crashed near Indianapolis and, in 2020, 100 were killed in historic flooding in Vietnam.
1975: Teachers Can Spank
In 1975, the Supreme Court ruled that teachers could spank their pupils after giving them a warning. That was just 50 years ago – can you imagine that now?
Additionally, in 1981, three members of the Weather underground were arrested for an armored truck robbery.
Birthdays
1931: Mickey Mantle (Athlete)
1950: Tom Petty (Musician)
1964: Kamala Harris (Politician)
1971: Snoop Dogg (Musician)
1979: John Krasinski (Actor)
Death Days
1964: Herbert Hoover (31st President)
2010: Bob Guccione (Publisher of Penthouse)
2011: Muammar Gaddafi (Revolutionary)
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 ASHE1776!