Post by farmgal on Sept 14, 2012 8:28:09 GMT -5
September 15th is the 259th day of this leap year in the Gregorian calendar.
There are 107 days remaining until the end of the year.
Days until Election Day, Tuesday November 6, 2012: 52
Countdown until Obama leaves Office www.obamaclock.org/
U.S. Debt Clock: www.usdebtclock.org/
608 Saint Boniface IV becomes Pope (ca. 550–615).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Boniface_IV
1526 The New Testament was first published in the Swedish language.
1630 - Massachusetts village of Shawmut changes name to Boston. The first English settler to settle in Boston was the Reverend William Blackstone. He came by himself in 1629, to a peninsula by a stream, called by the local Algonquin population, Shawmet. A year later, John Winthrop and his Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, came to the north in Salem. Finding Salem less than attractive for a settlement, Blackstone invited Winthrop to visit Shawmut. On September 17, 1630, Winthrop determined to make Shawmut a lasting settlement and renamed it Boston, after his hometown in Lincolnshire England. Winthrop and his followers left England to escape religious harassment and to establish a pious Puritan state.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawmut
1648 - The Larger and the Shorter Catechisms -- both prepared by the Westminster Assembly the previous year -- were approved by the British Parliament. These two documents have been in regular use among various Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Baptists ever since.
The most famous of the questions (known to a great many Presbyterian children) is the first:
Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_Shorter_Catechism
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_Larger_Catechism
1729 Fifty-nine families (126 people) of the Church of the Brethren (Conservative Dunkers; German Baptist Brethren Church, Conservative) arrived in Philadelphia after crossing the Atlantic.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Brethren
1752 - A great hurricane produced a tide along the South Carolina coast which nearly inundated downtown Charleston. However, just before the tide reached the city, a shift in the wind caused the water level to drop five feet in ten minutes. (David Ludlum)
1770 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'To use the grace given is the certain way to obtain more grace. To use all the faith you have will bring an increase of faith.'
1776 - American Revolutionary War: British forces land at Kip's Bay during the New York Campaign.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kip%27s_Bay#History
1779 - French capture British ships On this day in 1779, French Commander Charles Count d’Estaing captures two British frigates and two British supply ships in the Savannah River.
After completing a total blockade of Savannah, Commander d’Estaing’s 5,000 French troops, along with General Benjamin Lincoln’s 5,000 American troops, surrounded the British-held city of Savannah. While awaiting the arrival of the remaining forces of the Continental Army, Commander d’Estaing ordered the surrender of General Augustine Prevost and the British forces occupying the city. General Prevost delayed answering the call for surrender long enough to strengthen British defenses of the city. The allies’ failure to immediately attack Savannah proved to be a serious mistake as the British used the extra time to sneak in reinforcements. When General Prevost finally answered d’Estaing, he proclaimed that the British would defend Savannah to the last man.
The siege of Savannah would continue through the end of October 1779, when the French and American forces finally withdrew their forces after losing 800 men; the British lost only 140. Savannah remained in British control until the Redcoats left of their own accord on July 11, 1782.
The French troops included 500 free Haitians of African descent, calling themselves the Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Dominigue. Soldiers of African descent fighting for the Patriots was an anomaly during the southern campaign--most American slaves attempted to flee and join British forces, as they had no desire to defend their Patriot masters’ right to enslave them. Many of the Volontaires themselves later went on to rebel against French control of Haiti. In fact, the Volontaires’ 12-year-old drummer, Henri Christoph, commanded Haiti’s revolutionary army and later became that country’s king.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hector,_comte_d%27Estaing
1782 - Great Seal of US used for first time. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress named the first committee to design a Great Seal, or national emblem, for the country. It took six years and three committees in order for the Continental Congress to agree on a design. The problem was eventually turned over to Charles Thomson, the Secretary of the Congress, who merged elements from all three previous attempts. Congress finally approved Thomson's integrated design on June 20, 1782, still in use today; and had it engraved into brass matrices, which were about 2.25 inches in diameter. On September 16, 1782 Thomson used these matrices for the first time, to verify signatures on a document that authorized George Washington to negotiate an exchange of prisoners.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Seal_of_the_United_States
1789 - The United States Department of State is established (formerly known as the "Department of Foreign Affairs").
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_State
1812 - War of 1812: A second supply train sent to relieve Fort Harrison is ambushed in the Attack at the Narrows.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fort_Harrison#Attacks_at_the_Narrows
1817 - The first U.S. mill to roll and puddle iron was opened. Plumstock Rolling Mill, built by pioneer ironmaster Isaac Meason (15 Aug 1743 - 23 Jan 1818), stood at Redstone Creek, Pennsylvania. A puddling furnace reduces the carbon content in cast iron to produce malleable iron. The mill produced wrought iron by roll milling rather than than hammer forging. It was destroyed by floods in 1824. Meason had led the iron and steel industry since 1791 when he establishing the first commercially successful iron furnace and forge west of the Alleghenies. A rich man, he eventually owned 20,000 acres of land, six iron furnaces, toll ferries and bridges, two sawmills, grist mills, the entire town of New Haven and property in Kentucky.
1831 - The locomotive John Bull operates for the first time in New Jersey on the Camden and Amboy Railroad.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bull_(locomotive)
The Beagle being hailed by native Fuegians during the survey of Tierra del Fuego, painted by Conrad Martens who became ship's artist in 1833.
1835 - HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galápagos Islands.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Beagle
1851 - Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph%27s_University
1853 - In her home state of New York, Antoinette L. Brown, 28, became pastor of the Congregational church in South Butler -- making her the first woman to be formally ordained to the pastorate in the United States.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_Brown_Blackwell
1857 - The words & music to "Jingle Bells" was registered by Oliver Ditson and Co. As originally published in 1857, Pierpont's song had a different chorus melody, which was more classical, even Mozart-like. Even though it is commonly thought of as a Christmas song, it was actually written and sung for Thanksgiving.[ The 1857 lyrics differed slightly from those we know today. It is unknown who replaced the chorus melody and the words with those of the modern version.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle_Bells
1857 - A U.S. patent was issued for the design of a typesetting machine invented by Timothy Alden of New York (No. 18,175). This is the first such machine that actually operated. The type was arranged in cells around the circumference of a horizontal wheel. As the wheel revolved, several receivers also started to rotate. The desired type was picked up and dropped in proper order in a line.
1858 - The first transcontinental mail service to San Francisco begins. On this day in 1858, the new Overland Mail Company sends out its first two stages, inaugurating government mail service between the eastern and western regions of the nation.
With California booming, thanks to the 1849 Gold Rush, Americans east and west had been clamoring for faster and surer transcontinental mail service for years. Finally, in March 1857, the U.S. Congress passed an act authorizing an overland mail delivery service and a $600,000 yearly subsidy for whatever company could succeed in reliably transporting the mail twice a week from St. Louis to San Francisco in less than 25 days. The postmaster general awarded the first government contract and subsidy to the Overland Mail Company. Under the guidance of a board of directors that included John Butterfield and William Fargo, the Overland Mail Company spent $1 million improving its winding 2,800-mile route and building way stations at 10-15 mile intervals. Teams of thundering horses soon raced across the wide open spaces of the West, pulling custom-built Concord coaches with seats for nine passengers and a rear boot for the mail.
For passengers, the overland route was anything but a pleasure trip. Packed into the narrow confines of the coaches, they alternately baked or froze as they bumped across the countryside, and dust was an inescapable companion. Since the coaches traveled night and day, travelers were reluctant to stop and sleep at one of the "home stations" along the route because they risked being stranded if later stages were full. Many opted to try and make it through the three-week trip by sleeping on the stage, but the constant bumping and noise made real sleep almost impossible. Travelers also found that toilets and baths were few and far between, the food was poor and pricey, and the stage drivers were often drunk, rude, profane, or all three. Robberies and Indian attacks were a genuine threat, though they occurred far less commonly than popularly believed. The company posted guards at stations in dangerous areas, and armed men occasionally rode with the coach driver to protect passengers.
Though other faster mail delivery services soon came to compete with the Overland Mail Company-most famously the Pony Express-the nation's first regular trans-western mail service continued to operate as a part of the larger Wells, Fargo and Company operation until May 10, 1869, the day the first transcontinental railroad was completed. On that day the U.S. government cancelled its last overland mail contract.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfield_Overland_Mail
Harpers Ferry in 1865, looking east (downstream).
1862 - Confederates capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson captures Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and 12,000 Union soldiers as General Robert E. Lee's army moves north into Maryland.
The Federal garrison inside Harpers Ferry was vulnerable to a Confederate attack after Lee's invasion of Maryland. The strategic town on the Potomac River was cut off from the rest of the Union army. General George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac, sent messages to Union General Dixon Miles, commander of the Harpers Ferry garrison, to hold the town at all costs. McClellan promised to send help, but he had to deal with the rest of the Confederate army.
Jackson rolled his artillery into place and began to shell the town on September 14. The Yankees were short on ammunition, and Miles offered little resistance before agreeing to surrender on the morning of September 15. As Miles' aid, General Julius White, rode to Jackson to negotiate surrender terms, one Confederate cannon continued to fire. Miles was mortally wounded by the last shot fired at Harpers Ferry.
The Yankees surrendered 73 artillery pieces, 13,000 rifles, and 12,500 men at Harpers Ferry. It was the largest single Union surrender of the war.
The fall of Harpers Ferry convinced Lee to change his plans. After his forces had been defeated at the Battle of Crampton's Gap and had suffered heavy losses at the Battle of South Mountain to the northeast of Harpers Ferry, Lee had intended to gather his scattered forces and return to Virginia. Now, with Harpers Ferry secure, he summoned Jackson to join the rest of his force around Sharpsburg, Maryland. Two days later, on September 17, Lee and McClellan fought the Battle of Antietam.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpers_Ferry,_Virginia#Civil_War
1893 - Cherokee Strip, Oklahoma opened to white settlement homesteaders. In 1889, Congress authorized a commission to persuade the Cherokees to cede their complete title to the land. After a great amount of pressure, and confirmed by a treaty Congress approved March 17, 1893, the Cherokees agreed, for "the sum of $8,595,736.12, over and above all other sums" to turn title over to the United States government. On September 16, 1893, the eastern end of the Cherokee Outlet was settled in the Cherokee Strip land run, the largest land run in the United States.
1904 - The first balloon used for meteorologic research in the U.S. was released in St. Louis, Missouri. The balloon carried instruments that would return to Earth when the balloon burst. Since this first launch, literally millions of weather balloons have been launched by the National Weather Service and its predecessor organizations. Meteorologic data is gathered by a variety of observational and analytical instruments on the surface of the Earth, in balloons, and now instruments are carried in satellites.
1908 - General Motors founded by William C Durant. In 1908, former carriage-maker William Crapo "Billy" Durant founded General Motors (GM) by incorporating with a capital of $2,000 and was the man responsible for the beginning of the huge auto manufacturing company. Within 12 days the company generated stocks that generated $12,000,000 cash. On September 29, 1908, GM bought Buick. Later, GM bought Oldsmobile in Lansing, Cadillac in Detroit, and Oakland in Pontiac. Durant lost control of the company in 1910.
1910 - Rains of .27 inch on the 14th and .73 inch on the 15th were the earliest and heaviest of record for Fresno CA, which, along with much of California, experiences a "rainy season" in the winter. (The Weather Channel)
1914 - First trenches are dug on the Western Front. In the wake of the Battle of the Marne—during which Allied troops halted the steady German push through Belgium and France that had proceeded over the first month of World War I—a conflict both sides had expected to be short and decisive turns longer and bloodier, as Allied and German forces begin digging the first trenches on the Western Front on September 15, 1914.
The trench system on the Western Front in World War I—fixed from the winter of 1914 to the spring of 1918—eventually stretched from the North Sea coast of Belgium southward through France, with a bulge outwards to contain the much-contested Ypres salient. Running in front of such French towns as Soissons, Reims, Verdun, St. Mihiel and Nancy, the system finally reached its southernmost point in Alsace, at the Swiss border. In total the trenches built during World War I, laid end-to-end, would stretch some 25,000 miles—12,000 of those miles occupied by the Allies, and the rest by the Central Powers.
As historian Paul Fussell describes it, there were usually three lines of trenches: a front-line trench located 50 yards to a mile from its enemy counterpart, guarded by tangled lines of barbed wire; a support trench line several hundred yards back; and a reserve line several hundred yards behind that. A well-built trench did not run straight for any distance, as that would invite the danger of enfilade, or sweeping fire, along a long stretch of the line; instead it zigzagged every few yards. There were three different types of trenches: firing trenches, lined on the side facing the enemy by steps where defending soldiers would stand to fire machine guns and throw grenades at the advancing offense; communication trenches; and "saps," shallower positions that extended into no-man’s-land and afforded spots for observation posts, grenade-throwing and machine gun-firing.
While war in the trenches during World War I is described in horrific, apocalyptic terms—the mud, the stench of rotting bodies, the enormous rats—the reality was that the trench system protected the soldiers to a large extent from the worst effects of modern firepower, used for the first time during that conflict. The greatest danger came during the periods when the war became more mobile, when the soldiers on either side left the trenches to go on the offensive. German losses per month peaked when they went on the attack: in 1914 in Belgium and France, 1915 on the Eastern Front, and 1918 again in the west; for the French, casualties peaked in September 1914, when they risked everything to halt the German advance at the Marne. Trench warfare redefined battle in the modern age, making artillery into the key weapon. Thus the fundamental challenge on both sides of the line became how to produce enough munitions, keep the troops supplied with these munitions and expend enough of them during an offensive to sufficiently damage the enemy lines before beginning an infantry advance.
1916 - Tanks introduced into warfare at the Somme. During the Battle of the Somme, the British launch a major offensive against the Germans, employing tanks for the first time in history. At Flers Courcelette, some of the 40 or so primitive tanks advanced over a mile into enemy lines but were too slow to hold their positions during the German counterattack and subject to mechanical breakdown. However, General Douglas Haig, commander of Allied forces at the Somme, saw the promise of this new instrument of war and ordered the war department to produce hundreds more.
On July 1, the British launched a massive offensive against German forces in the Somme River region of France. During the preceding week, 250,000 Allied shells had pounded German positions near the Somme, and 100,000 British soldiers poured out of their trenches and into no-man's-land on July 1, expecting to find the way cleared for them. However, scores of heavy German machine guns had survived the artillery onslaught, and the infantry were massacred. By the end of the day, 20,000 British soldiers were dead and 40,000 wounded. It was the single heaviest day of casualties in British military history.
After the initial disaster, Haig resigned himself to smaller but equally ineffectual advances, and more than 1,000 Allied lives were extinguished for every 100 yards gained on the Germans. Even Britain's September 15 introduction of tanks into warfare for the first time in history failed to break the deadlock in the Battle of the Somme. In October, heavy rains turned the battlefield into a sea of mud, and on November 18 Haig called off the Somme offensive after more than four months of mass slaughter.
Except for its effect of diverting German troops from the Battle of Verdun, the offensive was a miserable disaster. It amounted to a total advance of just five miles for the Allies, with more than 600,000 British and French soldiers killed, wounded, or missing in action. German casualties were more than 650,000. Although Haig was severely criticized for the costly battle, his willingness to commit massive amounts of men and resources to the stalemate along the western front did eventually contribute to the collapse of an exhausted Germany in 1918.
1919 - American Legion incorporated by an act of Congress. It was founded in Paris on March 15-17, 1919, by delegates from combat and service units of the American Expeditionary Force. A national charter was granted to it by the U.S. Congress on September 16, 1919; the charter was later amended to admit veterans of World War II (1942), the Korean War (1950), the Vietnam War (1966), et. al.
1920 - Pope Benedict XV published the encyclical "Spiritus paraclitus," which restated the Catholic position on Scripture: '...the Bible, composed by men inspired of the Holy Ghost, has God himself as its principal author, the individual authors constituted as his live instruments. Their activity, however, ought not be described as automatic writing.'
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xv/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xv_enc_15091920_spiritus-paraclitus_en.html
1935 - The Nuremberg Laws deprive German Jews of citizenship.
1935 - Nazi Germany adopts a new national flag with the swastika.
1938 - Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded the swing classic "Boogie Woogie." Boogie woogie slowly gained in popularity but was never an mainline music form until it was featured in two Carnegie Hall concerts in 1937 and 1938. After that it exploded into the popular music venue. Major swing bands, like Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Louis Jordan to name a few, all had boogie hits. Though no boogie woogie made it to the number one spot on the top-30 charts, it was an important and omnipresence influence during the 1940s. Dorsey's rendition of "Boogie Woogie" is considered this the quintessential boogie woogie song.
1938 - George E.T. Eyston sets world auto speed record at 357.5 MPH. For years George Eyston was locked in combat with fellow Brit John Cobb who favored lighter, more streamlined speed attempt vehicles. Cobb eventually emerged victorious nailing a 394mph record in 1947 that stood for more than a decade. "Thunderbolt" has two Rolls Royce motors of 2,000 horsepower each which are geared together. The car is 35 feet long and weighs nearly seven tons. It is the biggest and heaviest car to ever set a record on the salt at Bonneville.
1939 - The temperature at Detroit MI soared to 100 degrees to establish a record for September. (The Weather Channel)
1940 - Samuel T Rayburn of Texas elected Speaker of the House. On September 16, 1940, at the age of 58, Rayburn became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. His career as Speaker was interrupted only twice: 1947-1948 and 1953-1954, when Republicans controlled the House. During that time, Rayburn served as Minority Leader.
1940 - Congress passes first peace-time conscription bill (draft law).
1940 - Tide turns in the Battle of Britain. The Battle of Britain reaches its climax when the Royal Air Force (RAF) downs 56 invading German aircraft in two dogfights lasting less than an hour. The costly raid convinced the German high command that the Luftwaffe could not achieve air supremacy over Britain, and the next day daylight attacks were replaced with nighttime sorties as a concession of defeat. On September 19, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler postponed indefinitely "Operation Sea Lion"--the amphibious invasion of Britain. Although heavy German aid raids on London and other British cities would continue through spring 1941, the Battle of Britain was effectively won.
In May and June 1940, Holland, Belgium, Norway, and France fell one by one to the German Wehrmacht, leaving Great Britain alone in its resistance against Hitler's plans for Nazi world domination. The British Expeditionary Force escaped the continent with an impromptu evacuation from Dunkirk, but they left behind the tanks and artillery needed to defend their homeland against invasion. With British air and land forces outnumbered by their German counterparts, and U.S. aid not yet begun, it seemed certain that Britain would soon follow the fate of France. However, Winston Churchill, the new British prime minister, promised his nation and the world that Britain would "never surrender," and the British people mobilized behind their defiant leader.
On June 5, the Luftwaffe began attacks on English Channel ports and convoys, and on June 30 Germany seized control of the undefended Channel Islands. On July 10--the first day of the Battle of Britain according to the RAF--the Luftwaffe intensified its bombing of British ports. Six days later, Hitler ordered the German army and navy to prepare for Operation Sea Lion. On July 19, the German leader made a speech in Berlin in which he offered a conditional peace to the British government: Britain would keep its empire and be spared from invasion if its leaders accepted the German domination of the European continent. A simple radio message from Lord Halifax swept the proposal away.
Germany needed to master the skies over Britain if it was to safely transport its superior land forces across the 21-mile English Channel. On August 8, the Luftwaffe intensified its raids against the ports in an attempt to draw the British air fleet out into the open. Simultaneously, the Germans began bombing Britain's sophisticated radar defense system and RAF fighter airfields. During August, as many as 1,500 German aircraft crossed the Channel daily, often blotting out the sun as they flew against their British targets. Despite the odds against them, the outnumbered RAF flyers successfully resisted the massive German air invasion, relying on radar technology, more maneuverable aircraft, and exceptional bravery. For every British plane shot down, two Luftwaffe warplanes were destroyed.
At the end of August, the RAF launched a retaliatory air raid against Berlin. Hitler was enraged and ordered the Luftwaffe to shift its attacks from RAF installations to London and other British cities. On September 7, the Blitz against London began, and after a week of almost ceaseless attacks several areas of London were in flames and the royal palace, churches, and hospitals had all been hit. However, the concentration on London allowed the RAF to recuperate elsewhere, and on September 15 the RAF launched a vigorous counterattack.
Prime Minister Churchill was at the underground headquarters of the RAF at Uxbridge that day and watched as the English radar picked up swarms of German aircraft ]crossing over British soil[/b. The British Spitfires and Hurricanes were sent up to intercept the German warplanes and met them in a crescendo of daring and death. When it appeared that the RAF's resources were exhausted, Churchill turned to Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park and asked, "What other reserves have we?" Park replied, "There are none," but then, fortunately, the German planes turned and went home.
Fifty-six German planes were shot down that day, though the number was inflated to 185 in British newspapers. Britain had lost 40 planes but denied the Luftwaffe air supremacy. There would be no German invasion of Britain. The Battle of Britain, however, continued. In October, Hitler ordered a massive bombing campaign against London and other cities to crush British morale and force an armistice. Despite significant loss of life and tremendous material damage to Britain's cities, the country's resolve remained unbroken. In May 1941, the air raids essentially ceased as German forces massed near the border of the USSR.
By denying the Germans a quick victory, depriving them of forces to be used in their invasion of the USSR, and proving to America that increased arms support for Britain was not in vain, the outcome of the Battle of Britain greatly changed the course of World War II. As Churchill said of the RAF fliers during the Battle of Britain, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
1941 - The "The Arkansas Traveler" debuted on CBS Radio. Billing himself as 'the Arkansas Traveler', Burns played a folksy small-town southerner (a slight self-caricature), telling corny stories about the folks down home. Burns is now remembered only for inventing the word 'bazooka'. He devised a peculiar musical instrument, consisting of a hollow cylinder and a truncated hollow cone. The two pieces were not connected; Burns blew through the cylinder and waved the cone back and forth in front of it, creating a kazoo-like sound. The show was later renamed "The Bob Burns Show."
1942 - World War II: U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp is torpedoed at Guadalcanal.
1944 - Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet in Quebec as part of the Octagon Conference to discuss strategy.
1945 - A hurricane in southern Florida and the Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS Richmond.
1947 - RCA releases the 12AX7 vacuum tube.
1947 - First automobile to exceed 400 mph John Cobb Bonneville Salt Flats. During the 1930s, British drivers George Eyston and John Cobb brought their carefully designed cars to the flats and challenged each other for the fastest mile record. In 1938, they each set a new record within a month of each other. They also exchanged twelve and twenty-four hour records with Ab Jenkins. World War II stopped the racing, but in 1947 Cobb returned and drove 394.2 mph, a record that stood for fifteen years.
1948 - The F-86 Sabre sets the world aircraft speed record at 671 miles per hour (1,080 km/h).
1950 - "Goodnight Irene" by the Weavers with Gordon Jenkins topped the charts
1950 - U.S. forces land at Inchon. During the Korean War, U.S. Marines land at Inchon on the west coast of Korea, 100 miles south of the 38th parallel and just 25 miles from Seoul. The location had been criticized as too risky, but U.N. Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur insisted on carrying out the landing. By the early evening, the Marines had overcome moderate resistance and secured Inchon. The brilliant landing cut the North Korean forces in two, and the U.S.-led U.N. force pushed inland to recapture Seoul, the South Korean capital that had fallen to the communists in June. Allied forces then converged from the north and the south, devastating the North Korean army and taking 125,000 enemy troops prisoner.
The Korean War began on June 25, 1950, when 90,000 North Korean troops stormed across the 38th parallel, catching the Republic of Korea's forces completely off guard and throwing them into a hasty southern retreat. Two days later, U.S. President Harry Truman announced that the United States would intervene in the conflict, and on June 28 the United Nations approved the use of force against communist North Korea. On June 30, Truman agreed to send U.S. ground forces to Korea, and on July 7 the Security Council recommended that all U.N. forces sent to Korea be put under U.S. command. The next day, General Douglas MacArthur was named commander of all U.N. forces in Korea.
In the opening months of the war, the U.S.-led U.N. forces rapidly advanced against the North Koreans, but Chinese communist troops entered the fray in October, throwing the Allies into a hasty retreat. In April 1951, Truman relieved MacArthur of his command after he publicly threatened to bomb China in defiance of Truman's stated war policy. Truman feared that an escalation of fighting with China would draw the Soviet Union into the Korean War.
By May 1951, the communists were pushed back to the 38th parallel, and the battle line remained in that vicinity for the remainder of the war. On July 27, 1953, after two years of negotiation, an armistice was signed, ending the war and reestablishing the 1945 division of Korea that still exists today. Approximately 150,000 troops from South Korea, the United States, and participating U.N. nations were killed in the Korean War, and as many as one million South Korean civilians perished. An estimated 800,000 communist soldiers were killed, and more than 200,000 North Korean civilians died.
1954 - Famous Marilyn Monroe “skirt” scene filmed. The famous picture of Marilyn Monroe, laughing as her skirt is blown up by the blast from a subway vent, is shot on this day in 1954 during the filming of The Seven Year Itch. The scene infuriated her husband, Joe DiMaggio, who felt it was exhibitionist, and the couple divorced shortly afterward.
Monroe, born Norma Jean Mortensen and also known as Norma Jean Baker, had a tragic childhood. Her mother, a negative cutter at several film studios, was mentally unstable and institutionalized when Norma Jean was five. Afterward, the little girl lived in a series of foster homes, where she suffered from neglect and abuse, and later lived in an orphanage. At age 16, she quit high school and married a 21-year-old aircraft plant worker named Joe Dougherty.
In 1944, her husband was sent overseas with the military, and Monroe worked as a paint sprayer in a defense plant. A photographer spotted her there, and she soon became a popular pin-up girl. She began working as a model and divorced her husband two years later. In 1946, 20th Century Fox signed her for $125 a week but dropped her after one film, from which her scenes were cut. Columbia signed her but also dropped her after one film. Unemployed, she posed nude for a calendar for $50; the calendar sold a million copies and made $750,000.
Monroe played a series of small film roles until 1950, when Fox signed her again. This time, they touted her as a star and began giving her feature roles in the early 1950s. In 1953, she starred with Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, playing fortune hunter Lorelei Lee. Her tremendous sex appeal and little-girl mannerisms made her enormously popular.
After her divorce from baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, Monroe searched for more serious roles and announced she would found her own studio. She began studying acting with the famous Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York. She gave an impressive comic performance in Bus Stop in 1955. The following year, she married intellectual playwright Arthur Miller. She appeared in the hit Some Like It Hot in 1959.
Monroe made her last picture in 1961, The Misfits, which Miller wrote especially for her. She divorced him a week before the film opened. She attempted one more film, Something's Got to Give, but was fired for her frequent illnesses and absences from the set, which many believed to be related to drug addiction. In August 1962, she died from an overdose of sleeping pills. Her death was ruled a possible suicide. Since her death, her popularity and mystique have endured, with numerous biographies published after her death. Her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio continued to send flowers to her grave every day for the rest of his life.
1958 - Train plunges off bridge. A commuter train plunges off a bridge into Newark Bay in New Jersey killing 47 passengers on this day in 1958. The accident was the result of mistakes made by the train’s crew.
The first bridge across Newark Bay was built in 1864. In 1926, this bridge was updated. Now made of steel, it could be raised to allow large ships to pass underneath it. In order to avoid problems with the rail lines that used the bridge, there was an automatic warning system installed. If the bridge was raised, warning lights alerted oncoming trains 1,500 yards from the bridge. A second warning was put in place 200 yards before the bridge. Finally, a derailer was installed just before the bridge to force a train from the tracks if the bridge was raised.
As commuter train 3314 from Bay Head Junction was leaving the Elizabethport station, a large freighter was radioing ahead to have the bridge raised. As the train approached Newark Bay, its crew either did not see or ignored both warning-light systems. The train was traveling about 40 miles per hour when it hit the derailer.
The locomotive and one other car jumped the tracks and plunged into the bay below. A third car was left hanging over the side of the bridge. There were no people in the first car, but the 47 people in the second car all drowned. The people in the third car were able to escape just before it also fell into the bay. Forty-eight people were injured.
Some blamed the severity of the accident on the fact that the bridge was not fully raised for the freighter. When the bridge was fully raised, concrete counterweights came down and blocked the open gap in the bridge. The train would have hit this concrete if the bridge had been fully raised. However, the common practice was to only partially raise the bridge to save time.
1959 - Khrushchev arrives in Washington. Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet head of state to visit the United States. During the next two weeks, Khrushchev's visit dominated the news and provided some dramatic and humorous moments in the history of the Cold War.
Khrushchev came to power in the Soviet Union following the death of long-time dictator Joseph Stalin in 1954. Many observers believed that Khrushchev, a devoted follower of Stalin during the 1930s and 1940s, would not provide much difference in leadership. He surprised them, however, by announcing that he sought "peaceful coexistence" with the United States and denouncing the "excesses" of Stalinism. During the late 1950s, Khrushchev continued to court a closer relationship with the United States and often praised President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a man who also sought peace. In 1959, the U.S. and Soviet governments shocked the world by announcing that Khrushchev would visit America in September and meet with Eisenhower face to face.
Khrushchev's first day in America was mostly taken up with formal receptions and a motorcade from the airport to downtown Washington. At the airport, Khrushchev announced that he had arrived in America "with open heart and good intentions. The Soviet people want to live in friendship with the American people." Groups of spectators and several military bands lined the way of the motorcade procession from the airport, and Eisenhower, Khrushchev, and Mme. Khrushchev sat together in the back of a convertible to wave at the crowds. Once in town, Khrushchev almost immediately sat for a nearly two-hour talk with Eisenhower and his advisers. Longer and more involved talks were scheduled for later in the Soviet leader's visit. "Because of our importance in the world, it is vital that we understand each other better," Eisenhower declared at a state dinner that night. Khrushchev agreed, adding that friendship was necessary "because our two countries are much too strong and we cannot quarrel with each other."
During the next few days, Khrushchev took the opportunity to tour the United States before his summit meeting with Eisenhower. Although Khrushchev's trip was more of a goodwill visit than an opportunity for significant negotiations, the tour provided some moments of high drama and low comedy, particularly during the Soviet leader's trip through California
www.amug.org/~jpaul/sep15.html
www.todayinsci.com/9/9_15.htm
daysuntil.com/Election-Day/index.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_15
www.amug.org/~jpaul/sep16.html
www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ali-defeats-spinks-to-win-world-heavyweight-championship
www.weatherforyou.com/cgi-bin/weather_history/today2S.pl
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There are 107 days remaining until the end of the year.
Days until Election Day, Tuesday November 6, 2012: 52
Countdown until Obama leaves Office www.obamaclock.org/
U.S. Debt Clock: www.usdebtclock.org/
608 Saint Boniface IV becomes Pope (ca. 550–615).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Boniface_IV
1526 The New Testament was first published in the Swedish language.
1630 - Massachusetts village of Shawmut changes name to Boston. The first English settler to settle in Boston was the Reverend William Blackstone. He came by himself in 1629, to a peninsula by a stream, called by the local Algonquin population, Shawmet. A year later, John Winthrop and his Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, came to the north in Salem. Finding Salem less than attractive for a settlement, Blackstone invited Winthrop to visit Shawmut. On September 17, 1630, Winthrop determined to make Shawmut a lasting settlement and renamed it Boston, after his hometown in Lincolnshire England. Winthrop and his followers left England to escape religious harassment and to establish a pious Puritan state.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawmut
1648 - The Larger and the Shorter Catechisms -- both prepared by the Westminster Assembly the previous year -- were approved by the British Parliament. These two documents have been in regular use among various Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Baptists ever since.
The most famous of the questions (known to a great many Presbyterian children) is the first:
Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_Shorter_Catechism
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_Larger_Catechism
1729 Fifty-nine families (126 people) of the Church of the Brethren (Conservative Dunkers; German Baptist Brethren Church, Conservative) arrived in Philadelphia after crossing the Atlantic.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Brethren
1752 - A great hurricane produced a tide along the South Carolina coast which nearly inundated downtown Charleston. However, just before the tide reached the city, a shift in the wind caused the water level to drop five feet in ten minutes. (David Ludlum)
1770 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'To use the grace given is the certain way to obtain more grace. To use all the faith you have will bring an increase of faith.'
1776 - American Revolutionary War: British forces land at Kip's Bay during the New York Campaign.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kip%27s_Bay#History
1779 - French capture British ships On this day in 1779, French Commander Charles Count d’Estaing captures two British frigates and two British supply ships in the Savannah River.
After completing a total blockade of Savannah, Commander d’Estaing’s 5,000 French troops, along with General Benjamin Lincoln’s 5,000 American troops, surrounded the British-held city of Savannah. While awaiting the arrival of the remaining forces of the Continental Army, Commander d’Estaing ordered the surrender of General Augustine Prevost and the British forces occupying the city. General Prevost delayed answering the call for surrender long enough to strengthen British defenses of the city. The allies’ failure to immediately attack Savannah proved to be a serious mistake as the British used the extra time to sneak in reinforcements. When General Prevost finally answered d’Estaing, he proclaimed that the British would defend Savannah to the last man.
The siege of Savannah would continue through the end of October 1779, when the French and American forces finally withdrew their forces after losing 800 men; the British lost only 140. Savannah remained in British control until the Redcoats left of their own accord on July 11, 1782.
The French troops included 500 free Haitians of African descent, calling themselves the Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Dominigue. Soldiers of African descent fighting for the Patriots was an anomaly during the southern campaign--most American slaves attempted to flee and join British forces, as they had no desire to defend their Patriot masters’ right to enslave them. Many of the Volontaires themselves later went on to rebel against French control of Haiti. In fact, the Volontaires’ 12-year-old drummer, Henri Christoph, commanded Haiti’s revolutionary army and later became that country’s king.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hector,_comte_d%27Estaing
1782 - Great Seal of US used for first time. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress named the first committee to design a Great Seal, or national emblem, for the country. It took six years and three committees in order for the Continental Congress to agree on a design. The problem was eventually turned over to Charles Thomson, the Secretary of the Congress, who merged elements from all three previous attempts. Congress finally approved Thomson's integrated design on June 20, 1782, still in use today; and had it engraved into brass matrices, which were about 2.25 inches in diameter. On September 16, 1782 Thomson used these matrices for the first time, to verify signatures on a document that authorized George Washington to negotiate an exchange of prisoners.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Seal_of_the_United_States
1789 - The United States Department of State is established (formerly known as the "Department of Foreign Affairs").
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_State
1812 - War of 1812: A second supply train sent to relieve Fort Harrison is ambushed in the Attack at the Narrows.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fort_Harrison#Attacks_at_the_Narrows
1817 - The first U.S. mill to roll and puddle iron was opened. Plumstock Rolling Mill, built by pioneer ironmaster Isaac Meason (15 Aug 1743 - 23 Jan 1818), stood at Redstone Creek, Pennsylvania. A puddling furnace reduces the carbon content in cast iron to produce malleable iron. The mill produced wrought iron by roll milling rather than than hammer forging. It was destroyed by floods in 1824. Meason had led the iron and steel industry since 1791 when he establishing the first commercially successful iron furnace and forge west of the Alleghenies. A rich man, he eventually owned 20,000 acres of land, six iron furnaces, toll ferries and bridges, two sawmills, grist mills, the entire town of New Haven and property in Kentucky.
1831 - The locomotive John Bull operates for the first time in New Jersey on the Camden and Amboy Railroad.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bull_(locomotive)
The Beagle being hailed by native Fuegians during the survey of Tierra del Fuego, painted by Conrad Martens who became ship's artist in 1833.
1835 - HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galápagos Islands.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Beagle
1851 - Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph%27s_University
1853 - In her home state of New York, Antoinette L. Brown, 28, became pastor of the Congregational church in South Butler -- making her the first woman to be formally ordained to the pastorate in the United States.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_Brown_Blackwell
1857 - The words & music to "Jingle Bells" was registered by Oliver Ditson and Co. As originally published in 1857, Pierpont's song had a different chorus melody, which was more classical, even Mozart-like. Even though it is commonly thought of as a Christmas song, it was actually written and sung for Thanksgiving.[ The 1857 lyrics differed slightly from those we know today. It is unknown who replaced the chorus melody and the words with those of the modern version.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle_Bells
1857 - A U.S. patent was issued for the design of a typesetting machine invented by Timothy Alden of New York (No. 18,175). This is the first such machine that actually operated. The type was arranged in cells around the circumference of a horizontal wheel. As the wheel revolved, several receivers also started to rotate. The desired type was picked up and dropped in proper order in a line.
1858 - The first transcontinental mail service to San Francisco begins. On this day in 1858, the new Overland Mail Company sends out its first two stages, inaugurating government mail service between the eastern and western regions of the nation.
With California booming, thanks to the 1849 Gold Rush, Americans east and west had been clamoring for faster and surer transcontinental mail service for years. Finally, in March 1857, the U.S. Congress passed an act authorizing an overland mail delivery service and a $600,000 yearly subsidy for whatever company could succeed in reliably transporting the mail twice a week from St. Louis to San Francisco in less than 25 days. The postmaster general awarded the first government contract and subsidy to the Overland Mail Company. Under the guidance of a board of directors that included John Butterfield and William Fargo, the Overland Mail Company spent $1 million improving its winding 2,800-mile route and building way stations at 10-15 mile intervals. Teams of thundering horses soon raced across the wide open spaces of the West, pulling custom-built Concord coaches with seats for nine passengers and a rear boot for the mail.
For passengers, the overland route was anything but a pleasure trip. Packed into the narrow confines of the coaches, they alternately baked or froze as they bumped across the countryside, and dust was an inescapable companion. Since the coaches traveled night and day, travelers were reluctant to stop and sleep at one of the "home stations" along the route because they risked being stranded if later stages were full. Many opted to try and make it through the three-week trip by sleeping on the stage, but the constant bumping and noise made real sleep almost impossible. Travelers also found that toilets and baths were few and far between, the food was poor and pricey, and the stage drivers were often drunk, rude, profane, or all three. Robberies and Indian attacks were a genuine threat, though they occurred far less commonly than popularly believed. The company posted guards at stations in dangerous areas, and armed men occasionally rode with the coach driver to protect passengers.
Though other faster mail delivery services soon came to compete with the Overland Mail Company-most famously the Pony Express-the nation's first regular trans-western mail service continued to operate as a part of the larger Wells, Fargo and Company operation until May 10, 1869, the day the first transcontinental railroad was completed. On that day the U.S. government cancelled its last overland mail contract.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfield_Overland_Mail
Harpers Ferry in 1865, looking east (downstream).
1862 - Confederates capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson captures Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and 12,000 Union soldiers as General Robert E. Lee's army moves north into Maryland.
The Federal garrison inside Harpers Ferry was vulnerable to a Confederate attack after Lee's invasion of Maryland. The strategic town on the Potomac River was cut off from the rest of the Union army. General George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac, sent messages to Union General Dixon Miles, commander of the Harpers Ferry garrison, to hold the town at all costs. McClellan promised to send help, but he had to deal with the rest of the Confederate army.
Jackson rolled his artillery into place and began to shell the town on September 14. The Yankees were short on ammunition, and Miles offered little resistance before agreeing to surrender on the morning of September 15. As Miles' aid, General Julius White, rode to Jackson to negotiate surrender terms, one Confederate cannon continued to fire. Miles was mortally wounded by the last shot fired at Harpers Ferry.
The Yankees surrendered 73 artillery pieces, 13,000 rifles, and 12,500 men at Harpers Ferry. It was the largest single Union surrender of the war.
The fall of Harpers Ferry convinced Lee to change his plans. After his forces had been defeated at the Battle of Crampton's Gap and had suffered heavy losses at the Battle of South Mountain to the northeast of Harpers Ferry, Lee had intended to gather his scattered forces and return to Virginia. Now, with Harpers Ferry secure, he summoned Jackson to join the rest of his force around Sharpsburg, Maryland. Two days later, on September 17, Lee and McClellan fought the Battle of Antietam.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpers_Ferry,_Virginia#Civil_War
1893 - Cherokee Strip, Oklahoma opened to white settlement homesteaders. In 1889, Congress authorized a commission to persuade the Cherokees to cede their complete title to the land. After a great amount of pressure, and confirmed by a treaty Congress approved March 17, 1893, the Cherokees agreed, for "the sum of $8,595,736.12, over and above all other sums" to turn title over to the United States government. On September 16, 1893, the eastern end of the Cherokee Outlet was settled in the Cherokee Strip land run, the largest land run in the United States.
1904 - The first balloon used for meteorologic research in the U.S. was released in St. Louis, Missouri. The balloon carried instruments that would return to Earth when the balloon burst. Since this first launch, literally millions of weather balloons have been launched by the National Weather Service and its predecessor organizations. Meteorologic data is gathered by a variety of observational and analytical instruments on the surface of the Earth, in balloons, and now instruments are carried in satellites.
1908 - General Motors founded by William C Durant. In 1908, former carriage-maker William Crapo "Billy" Durant founded General Motors (GM) by incorporating with a capital of $2,000 and was the man responsible for the beginning of the huge auto manufacturing company. Within 12 days the company generated stocks that generated $12,000,000 cash. On September 29, 1908, GM bought Buick. Later, GM bought Oldsmobile in Lansing, Cadillac in Detroit, and Oakland in Pontiac. Durant lost control of the company in 1910.
1910 - Rains of .27 inch on the 14th and .73 inch on the 15th were the earliest and heaviest of record for Fresno CA, which, along with much of California, experiences a "rainy season" in the winter. (The Weather Channel)
1914 - First trenches are dug on the Western Front. In the wake of the Battle of the Marne—during which Allied troops halted the steady German push through Belgium and France that had proceeded over the first month of World War I—a conflict both sides had expected to be short and decisive turns longer and bloodier, as Allied and German forces begin digging the first trenches on the Western Front on September 15, 1914.
The trench system on the Western Front in World War I—fixed from the winter of 1914 to the spring of 1918—eventually stretched from the North Sea coast of Belgium southward through France, with a bulge outwards to contain the much-contested Ypres salient. Running in front of such French towns as Soissons, Reims, Verdun, St. Mihiel and Nancy, the system finally reached its southernmost point in Alsace, at the Swiss border. In total the trenches built during World War I, laid end-to-end, would stretch some 25,000 miles—12,000 of those miles occupied by the Allies, and the rest by the Central Powers.
As historian Paul Fussell describes it, there were usually three lines of trenches: a front-line trench located 50 yards to a mile from its enemy counterpart, guarded by tangled lines of barbed wire; a support trench line several hundred yards back; and a reserve line several hundred yards behind that. A well-built trench did not run straight for any distance, as that would invite the danger of enfilade, or sweeping fire, along a long stretch of the line; instead it zigzagged every few yards. There were three different types of trenches: firing trenches, lined on the side facing the enemy by steps where defending soldiers would stand to fire machine guns and throw grenades at the advancing offense; communication trenches; and "saps," shallower positions that extended into no-man’s-land and afforded spots for observation posts, grenade-throwing and machine gun-firing.
While war in the trenches during World War I is described in horrific, apocalyptic terms—the mud, the stench of rotting bodies, the enormous rats—the reality was that the trench system protected the soldiers to a large extent from the worst effects of modern firepower, used for the first time during that conflict. The greatest danger came during the periods when the war became more mobile, when the soldiers on either side left the trenches to go on the offensive. German losses per month peaked when they went on the attack: in 1914 in Belgium and France, 1915 on the Eastern Front, and 1918 again in the west; for the French, casualties peaked in September 1914, when they risked everything to halt the German advance at the Marne. Trench warfare redefined battle in the modern age, making artillery into the key weapon. Thus the fundamental challenge on both sides of the line became how to produce enough munitions, keep the troops supplied with these munitions and expend enough of them during an offensive to sufficiently damage the enemy lines before beginning an infantry advance.
1916 - Tanks introduced into warfare at the Somme. During the Battle of the Somme, the British launch a major offensive against the Germans, employing tanks for the first time in history. At Flers Courcelette, some of the 40 or so primitive tanks advanced over a mile into enemy lines but were too slow to hold their positions during the German counterattack and subject to mechanical breakdown. However, General Douglas Haig, commander of Allied forces at the Somme, saw the promise of this new instrument of war and ordered the war department to produce hundreds more.
On July 1, the British launched a massive offensive against German forces in the Somme River region of France. During the preceding week, 250,000 Allied shells had pounded German positions near the Somme, and 100,000 British soldiers poured out of their trenches and into no-man's-land on July 1, expecting to find the way cleared for them. However, scores of heavy German machine guns had survived the artillery onslaught, and the infantry were massacred. By the end of the day, 20,000 British soldiers were dead and 40,000 wounded. It was the single heaviest day of casualties in British military history.
After the initial disaster, Haig resigned himself to smaller but equally ineffectual advances, and more than 1,000 Allied lives were extinguished for every 100 yards gained on the Germans. Even Britain's September 15 introduction of tanks into warfare for the first time in history failed to break the deadlock in the Battle of the Somme. In October, heavy rains turned the battlefield into a sea of mud, and on November 18 Haig called off the Somme offensive after more than four months of mass slaughter.
Except for its effect of diverting German troops from the Battle of Verdun, the offensive was a miserable disaster. It amounted to a total advance of just five miles for the Allies, with more than 600,000 British and French soldiers killed, wounded, or missing in action. German casualties were more than 650,000. Although Haig was severely criticized for the costly battle, his willingness to commit massive amounts of men and resources to the stalemate along the western front did eventually contribute to the collapse of an exhausted Germany in 1918.
1919 - American Legion incorporated by an act of Congress. It was founded in Paris on March 15-17, 1919, by delegates from combat and service units of the American Expeditionary Force. A national charter was granted to it by the U.S. Congress on September 16, 1919; the charter was later amended to admit veterans of World War II (1942), the Korean War (1950), the Vietnam War (1966), et. al.
1920 - Pope Benedict XV published the encyclical "Spiritus paraclitus," which restated the Catholic position on Scripture: '...the Bible, composed by men inspired of the Holy Ghost, has God himself as its principal author, the individual authors constituted as his live instruments. Their activity, however, ought not be described as automatic writing.'
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xv/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xv_enc_15091920_spiritus-paraclitus_en.html
1935 - The Nuremberg Laws deprive German Jews of citizenship.
1935 - Nazi Germany adopts a new national flag with the swastika.
1938 - Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded the swing classic "Boogie Woogie." Boogie woogie slowly gained in popularity but was never an mainline music form until it was featured in two Carnegie Hall concerts in 1937 and 1938. After that it exploded into the popular music venue. Major swing bands, like Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Louis Jordan to name a few, all had boogie hits. Though no boogie woogie made it to the number one spot on the top-30 charts, it was an important and omnipresence influence during the 1940s. Dorsey's rendition of "Boogie Woogie" is considered this the quintessential boogie woogie song.
1938 - George E.T. Eyston sets world auto speed record at 357.5 MPH. For years George Eyston was locked in combat with fellow Brit John Cobb who favored lighter, more streamlined speed attempt vehicles. Cobb eventually emerged victorious nailing a 394mph record in 1947 that stood for more than a decade. "Thunderbolt" has two Rolls Royce motors of 2,000 horsepower each which are geared together. The car is 35 feet long and weighs nearly seven tons. It is the biggest and heaviest car to ever set a record on the salt at Bonneville.
1939 - The temperature at Detroit MI soared to 100 degrees to establish a record for September. (The Weather Channel)
1940 - Samuel T Rayburn of Texas elected Speaker of the House. On September 16, 1940, at the age of 58, Rayburn became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. His career as Speaker was interrupted only twice: 1947-1948 and 1953-1954, when Republicans controlled the House. During that time, Rayburn served as Minority Leader.
1940 - Congress passes first peace-time conscription bill (draft law).
1940 - Tide turns in the Battle of Britain. The Battle of Britain reaches its climax when the Royal Air Force (RAF) downs 56 invading German aircraft in two dogfights lasting less than an hour. The costly raid convinced the German high command that the Luftwaffe could not achieve air supremacy over Britain, and the next day daylight attacks were replaced with nighttime sorties as a concession of defeat. On September 19, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler postponed indefinitely "Operation Sea Lion"--the amphibious invasion of Britain. Although heavy German aid raids on London and other British cities would continue through spring 1941, the Battle of Britain was effectively won.
In May and June 1940, Holland, Belgium, Norway, and France fell one by one to the German Wehrmacht, leaving Great Britain alone in its resistance against Hitler's plans for Nazi world domination. The British Expeditionary Force escaped the continent with an impromptu evacuation from Dunkirk, but they left behind the tanks and artillery needed to defend their homeland against invasion. With British air and land forces outnumbered by their German counterparts, and U.S. aid not yet begun, it seemed certain that Britain would soon follow the fate of France. However, Winston Churchill, the new British prime minister, promised his nation and the world that Britain would "never surrender," and the British people mobilized behind their defiant leader.
On June 5, the Luftwaffe began attacks on English Channel ports and convoys, and on June 30 Germany seized control of the undefended Channel Islands. On July 10--the first day of the Battle of Britain according to the RAF--the Luftwaffe intensified its bombing of British ports. Six days later, Hitler ordered the German army and navy to prepare for Operation Sea Lion. On July 19, the German leader made a speech in Berlin in which he offered a conditional peace to the British government: Britain would keep its empire and be spared from invasion if its leaders accepted the German domination of the European continent. A simple radio message from Lord Halifax swept the proposal away.
Germany needed to master the skies over Britain if it was to safely transport its superior land forces across the 21-mile English Channel. On August 8, the Luftwaffe intensified its raids against the ports in an attempt to draw the British air fleet out into the open. Simultaneously, the Germans began bombing Britain's sophisticated radar defense system and RAF fighter airfields. During August, as many as 1,500 German aircraft crossed the Channel daily, often blotting out the sun as they flew against their British targets. Despite the odds against them, the outnumbered RAF flyers successfully resisted the massive German air invasion, relying on radar technology, more maneuverable aircraft, and exceptional bravery. For every British plane shot down, two Luftwaffe warplanes were destroyed.
At the end of August, the RAF launched a retaliatory air raid against Berlin. Hitler was enraged and ordered the Luftwaffe to shift its attacks from RAF installations to London and other British cities. On September 7, the Blitz against London began, and after a week of almost ceaseless attacks several areas of London were in flames and the royal palace, churches, and hospitals had all been hit. However, the concentration on London allowed the RAF to recuperate elsewhere, and on September 15 the RAF launched a vigorous counterattack.
Prime Minister Churchill was at the underground headquarters of the RAF at Uxbridge that day and watched as the English radar picked up swarms of German aircraft ]crossing over British soil[/b. The British Spitfires and Hurricanes were sent up to intercept the German warplanes and met them in a crescendo of daring and death. When it appeared that the RAF's resources were exhausted, Churchill turned to Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park and asked, "What other reserves have we?" Park replied, "There are none," but then, fortunately, the German planes turned and went home.
Fifty-six German planes were shot down that day, though the number was inflated to 185 in British newspapers. Britain had lost 40 planes but denied the Luftwaffe air supremacy. There would be no German invasion of Britain. The Battle of Britain, however, continued. In October, Hitler ordered a massive bombing campaign against London and other cities to crush British morale and force an armistice. Despite significant loss of life and tremendous material damage to Britain's cities, the country's resolve remained unbroken. In May 1941, the air raids essentially ceased as German forces massed near the border of the USSR.
By denying the Germans a quick victory, depriving them of forces to be used in their invasion of the USSR, and proving to America that increased arms support for Britain was not in vain, the outcome of the Battle of Britain greatly changed the course of World War II. As Churchill said of the RAF fliers during the Battle of Britain, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
1941 - The "The Arkansas Traveler" debuted on CBS Radio. Billing himself as 'the Arkansas Traveler', Burns played a folksy small-town southerner (a slight self-caricature), telling corny stories about the folks down home. Burns is now remembered only for inventing the word 'bazooka'. He devised a peculiar musical instrument, consisting of a hollow cylinder and a truncated hollow cone. The two pieces were not connected; Burns blew through the cylinder and waved the cone back and forth in front of it, creating a kazoo-like sound. The show was later renamed "The Bob Burns Show."
1942 - World War II: U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp is torpedoed at Guadalcanal.
1944 - Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet in Quebec as part of the Octagon Conference to discuss strategy.
1945 - A hurricane in southern Florida and the Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS Richmond.
1947 - RCA releases the 12AX7 vacuum tube.
1947 - First automobile to exceed 400 mph John Cobb Bonneville Salt Flats. During the 1930s, British drivers George Eyston and John Cobb brought their carefully designed cars to the flats and challenged each other for the fastest mile record. In 1938, they each set a new record within a month of each other. They also exchanged twelve and twenty-four hour records with Ab Jenkins. World War II stopped the racing, but in 1947 Cobb returned and drove 394.2 mph, a record that stood for fifteen years.
1948 - The F-86 Sabre sets the world aircraft speed record at 671 miles per hour (1,080 km/h).
1950 - "Goodnight Irene" by the Weavers with Gordon Jenkins topped the charts
1950 - U.S. forces land at Inchon. During the Korean War, U.S. Marines land at Inchon on the west coast of Korea, 100 miles south of the 38th parallel and just 25 miles from Seoul. The location had been criticized as too risky, but U.N. Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur insisted on carrying out the landing. By the early evening, the Marines had overcome moderate resistance and secured Inchon. The brilliant landing cut the North Korean forces in two, and the U.S.-led U.N. force pushed inland to recapture Seoul, the South Korean capital that had fallen to the communists in June. Allied forces then converged from the north and the south, devastating the North Korean army and taking 125,000 enemy troops prisoner.
The Korean War began on June 25, 1950, when 90,000 North Korean troops stormed across the 38th parallel, catching the Republic of Korea's forces completely off guard and throwing them into a hasty southern retreat. Two days later, U.S. President Harry Truman announced that the United States would intervene in the conflict, and on June 28 the United Nations approved the use of force against communist North Korea. On June 30, Truman agreed to send U.S. ground forces to Korea, and on July 7 the Security Council recommended that all U.N. forces sent to Korea be put under U.S. command. The next day, General Douglas MacArthur was named commander of all U.N. forces in Korea.
In the opening months of the war, the U.S.-led U.N. forces rapidly advanced against the North Koreans, but Chinese communist troops entered the fray in October, throwing the Allies into a hasty retreat. In April 1951, Truman relieved MacArthur of his command after he publicly threatened to bomb China in defiance of Truman's stated war policy. Truman feared that an escalation of fighting with China would draw the Soviet Union into the Korean War.
By May 1951, the communists were pushed back to the 38th parallel, and the battle line remained in that vicinity for the remainder of the war. On July 27, 1953, after two years of negotiation, an armistice was signed, ending the war and reestablishing the 1945 division of Korea that still exists today. Approximately 150,000 troops from South Korea, the United States, and participating U.N. nations were killed in the Korean War, and as many as one million South Korean civilians perished. An estimated 800,000 communist soldiers were killed, and more than 200,000 North Korean civilians died.
1954 - Famous Marilyn Monroe “skirt” scene filmed. The famous picture of Marilyn Monroe, laughing as her skirt is blown up by the blast from a subway vent, is shot on this day in 1954 during the filming of The Seven Year Itch. The scene infuriated her husband, Joe DiMaggio, who felt it was exhibitionist, and the couple divorced shortly afterward.
Monroe, born Norma Jean Mortensen and also known as Norma Jean Baker, had a tragic childhood. Her mother, a negative cutter at several film studios, was mentally unstable and institutionalized when Norma Jean was five. Afterward, the little girl lived in a series of foster homes, where she suffered from neglect and abuse, and later lived in an orphanage. At age 16, she quit high school and married a 21-year-old aircraft plant worker named Joe Dougherty.
In 1944, her husband was sent overseas with the military, and Monroe worked as a paint sprayer in a defense plant. A photographer spotted her there, and she soon became a popular pin-up girl. She began working as a model and divorced her husband two years later. In 1946, 20th Century Fox signed her for $125 a week but dropped her after one film, from which her scenes were cut. Columbia signed her but also dropped her after one film. Unemployed, she posed nude for a calendar for $50; the calendar sold a million copies and made $750,000.
Monroe played a series of small film roles until 1950, when Fox signed her again. This time, they touted her as a star and began giving her feature roles in the early 1950s. In 1953, she starred with Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, playing fortune hunter Lorelei Lee. Her tremendous sex appeal and little-girl mannerisms made her enormously popular.
After her divorce from baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, Monroe searched for more serious roles and announced she would found her own studio. She began studying acting with the famous Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York. She gave an impressive comic performance in Bus Stop in 1955. The following year, she married intellectual playwright Arthur Miller. She appeared in the hit Some Like It Hot in 1959.
Monroe made her last picture in 1961, The Misfits, which Miller wrote especially for her. She divorced him a week before the film opened. She attempted one more film, Something's Got to Give, but was fired for her frequent illnesses and absences from the set, which many believed to be related to drug addiction. In August 1962, she died from an overdose of sleeping pills. Her death was ruled a possible suicide. Since her death, her popularity and mystique have endured, with numerous biographies published after her death. Her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio continued to send flowers to her grave every day for the rest of his life.
1958 - Train plunges off bridge. A commuter train plunges off a bridge into Newark Bay in New Jersey killing 47 passengers on this day in 1958. The accident was the result of mistakes made by the train’s crew.
The first bridge across Newark Bay was built in 1864. In 1926, this bridge was updated. Now made of steel, it could be raised to allow large ships to pass underneath it. In order to avoid problems with the rail lines that used the bridge, there was an automatic warning system installed. If the bridge was raised, warning lights alerted oncoming trains 1,500 yards from the bridge. A second warning was put in place 200 yards before the bridge. Finally, a derailer was installed just before the bridge to force a train from the tracks if the bridge was raised.
As commuter train 3314 from Bay Head Junction was leaving the Elizabethport station, a large freighter was radioing ahead to have the bridge raised. As the train approached Newark Bay, its crew either did not see or ignored both warning-light systems. The train was traveling about 40 miles per hour when it hit the derailer.
The locomotive and one other car jumped the tracks and plunged into the bay below. A third car was left hanging over the side of the bridge. There were no people in the first car, but the 47 people in the second car all drowned. The people in the third car were able to escape just before it also fell into the bay. Forty-eight people were injured.
Some blamed the severity of the accident on the fact that the bridge was not fully raised for the freighter. When the bridge was fully raised, concrete counterweights came down and blocked the open gap in the bridge. The train would have hit this concrete if the bridge had been fully raised. However, the common practice was to only partially raise the bridge to save time.
1959 - Khrushchev arrives in Washington. Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet head of state to visit the United States. During the next two weeks, Khrushchev's visit dominated the news and provided some dramatic and humorous moments in the history of the Cold War.
Khrushchev came to power in the Soviet Union following the death of long-time dictator Joseph Stalin in 1954. Many observers believed that Khrushchev, a devoted follower of Stalin during the 1930s and 1940s, would not provide much difference in leadership. He surprised them, however, by announcing that he sought "peaceful coexistence" with the United States and denouncing the "excesses" of Stalinism. During the late 1950s, Khrushchev continued to court a closer relationship with the United States and often praised President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a man who also sought peace. In 1959, the U.S. and Soviet governments shocked the world by announcing that Khrushchev would visit America in September and meet with Eisenhower face to face.
Khrushchev's first day in America was mostly taken up with formal receptions and a motorcade from the airport to downtown Washington. At the airport, Khrushchev announced that he had arrived in America "with open heart and good intentions. The Soviet people want to live in friendship with the American people." Groups of spectators and several military bands lined the way of the motorcade procession from the airport, and Eisenhower, Khrushchev, and Mme. Khrushchev sat together in the back of a convertible to wave at the crowds. Once in town, Khrushchev almost immediately sat for a nearly two-hour talk with Eisenhower and his advisers. Longer and more involved talks were scheduled for later in the Soviet leader's visit. "Because of our importance in the world, it is vital that we understand each other better," Eisenhower declared at a state dinner that night. Khrushchev agreed, adding that friendship was necessary "because our two countries are much too strong and we cannot quarrel with each other."
During the next few days, Khrushchev took the opportunity to tour the United States before his summit meeting with Eisenhower. Although Khrushchev's trip was more of a goodwill visit than an opportunity for significant negotiations, the tour provided some moments of high drama and low comedy, particularly during the Soviet leader's trip through California
www.amug.org/~jpaul/sep15.html
www.todayinsci.com/9/9_15.htm
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_15
www.amug.org/~jpaul/sep16.html
www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ali-defeats-spinks-to-win-world-heavyweight-championship
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