Wednesday, January 29, 1975. American terrorism of the 1970s.

The Weather Underground bombed the State Department building in Washington, D.C.

Logo of the Weather Underground

The far left terrorist organization came out of the chaos of the 1960s which continued on, now mostly forgotten, into a violent early 1970s.  We're on the verge, I fear, of eclipsing that era in violence, although ironically the party attacking the government now is the populist now in power.  Given as the path we're currently on, in lots of ways, can't continue, there's real reason for concern about where the Trump interregnum's violence against the United States will lead, and if it will result in further societal violence.

In interesting aspect of this is what Gene Shepherd noted long ago, extremist meet in their extremism.  We've never had extremist in power before, however.

The group took its name from Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues, which ironically is associated in my mind with well to do old lawyers who came of age in the 1960s singing it, as if any of their later lives reflected what they claimed to have believed in earlier days.

Last edition:

Tuesday, January 28, 1975. Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Cartoons, Japan, Petroleum, Sakhalin Island, television, USSR

Friday, January 17, 1975. Chinese political turnover, French infanticide.

Zhou Enlai (周恩来) was re-elected as Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China. Deng Xiaoping (邓小平) was elected as a Vice-Premier and Vice-Chairman of the party, ending an eight year period of political exile. 

France legalized infanticide during the first ten weeks of pregnancy. 

Last edition:

Wednesday, January 15, 1975. Independence for Angola.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Angola, Colonialism, Portugal, Portuguese Empire

Thursday, January 15, 1925. Trotsky gets canned, Ross addresses the legislature.

Stalin fired Trotsky as head of the Soviet military.

Oh oh. . . 

Frankly, it made sense.  Trotsky has bizarrely retained cult of personality due to the James Dean Effect, but he was more radical in terms of the forced expansion of Communism than Stalin was, and his recent military schemes had been failures.  Moreover, leaving him in power in any sense was ultimately going to lead to a power struggle between him, and Stalin.

Nellie Tayloe Ross addressed the legislature.

Last edition:

Monday, January 12, 1925. Ordering Thompsons.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Chicago Illinois, Crime, Illinois (Chicago), Prohibition, The Roaring Twenties, Weapons

Tuesday, January 14, 1975. Un-American.

The House Un-American Activities Committee was disbanded by the U.S. House of Representatives.

It's roots went back to 1918 and it had investigated a wide range of Communist activities in the US dating back to that time.  Often missed, quite a few figures that the committee investigated unsuccessfully prior to World War Two would be again after the war.  Many of those whom it suspected of Communist activity would, in fact, prove to have done just that, in spite of the reputation of the committee being tarnished during the McCarthy Era.

It's demise after the Watergate and the Vietnam War was inevitable, but it had a much better track record than is popularly recalled.

Henry Kissinger announced that the Soviet Union was rescinding its agreement to a trade deal with the United States following enactment of the Jackson–Vanik amendment to the Trade Act of 1974.

The Convention on Registration of Launched Objects into Outer Space was signed in New York.  It requires the signatories to inform the United Nations of things that are launched into space.

U.S. Vice-President Rockefeller was appointed to head a committee to investigate domestic espionage by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Last edition:

Saturday, January 11, 1975. Storms. Things can, and do, get worse.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, actors and actresses, Afghanistan, Donald Trump, Great Storm of 1975, Islam, Leopards won't eat my face, Taliban, The Law of Unintended Consequences, The War in Afghanistan, Weather, Women

Friday, December 22, 1944. "Nuts!".

Bastogne was surrounded.

General Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz, commander of German forces outside of Bastogne, sent a major, a lieutenant and two enlisted men to deliver an ultimatum to US forces.  The ultimatum, delivered to 101st artillery commander, Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, who was in command, read:

To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne.

The fortune of war is changing. This time the U.S.A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the river Ourthe near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompre-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands.

There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A. troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note.

If this proposal should be rejected one German Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hours term.

All the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well-known American humanity.

The German Commander.

McAuliffe read the note, crumpled it up, and muttered, "Aw, nuts" after realizing that the Germans were asking for a U.S. surrender, rather than the other way around. Lieutenant Colonel Harry Kinnard suggested that McAuliffe's response summed up the situation well and  reply was typed and delivered by Colonel Joseph Harper, commanding the 327th Glider Infantry, to the German delegation. It stated:

To the German Commander.

NUTS!

The American Commander.

The German commander was confused by the reply, understandably, and asked Harper what it meant. Harper replied; "In plain English? Go to hell."  McAuliffe himself never used profanity.

Slowed progress caused Guderian to recommend the German offensive in the Ardennes be halted.

Guderian and McAuliffe's assessment was realistic.  While from the outside the American situation appeared desperate, in fact it was not.  The German advance had been massively slowed by American resistance, including by relatively inexperienced troops.  At Bastogne the Germans now faced two airborne divisions which were used to being surrounded.

President Roosevelt signed the Flood Control Act of 1944.

A new provisional government was formed in Hungary.

The People's Army of Vietnam was formed.

Last edition:

Thursday, December 21, 1944. St. Vith taken.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Bastogne, Battle of Ormoc Bay, Battle of the Bulge, Belgium, Siege of Bastogne, St. Vith, U.S. Air Force, World War Two

Saturday, December 6, 1924. Rounding up the communists.

France rounded up over 300 communists in raids on their headquarters, including some 70 foreign ones.

Prime Minister Herriot stated: "There are too many foreign communists in France who forget their duty to the country that has given them asylum.  They are indulging in political demonstrations, and we will not tolerate it, we will not let them meddle in our political life. If we meet with resistance we will break it, and we will deport as many as necessary."

Last edition:

Friday, December 5, 1924. Shades of the modern Middle East

Labels: 1920s, 1924, Battle of Mecca, Fascism, French League of Nation Mandates, Italy, Kingdom of Hejaz, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Second Saudi-Hashemite War, Sultanate of Nejd, Syrian Civil War, The Press

Tuesday, December 5, 1944. The Royal Navy in the Greek Civil War.

The Royal Navy shelled Greek communist positions near Piraeus.

The Red Army took Szigetvár and Vukovar, Hungary.

Canadians took Ravenna, Italy.

The Liberty ship Antoine Saugrain was sunk by Japanese aircraft in Leyte Gulf.  And on the ground:

Today in World War II History—December 5, 1939 & 1944: US launches final offensive on Leyte in the Philippines, driving into the Ormoc Valley. Victory ship SS Red Oak Victory is commissioned into the US Navy

"Men of the 121st Regt., 8th Inf. Div., U.S. First Army, after 15 days at the front, move back along the road from Hurtgen, Germany. 5 December, 1944. 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division. Photographer: T/3 Jack G. [illegible], 165th Signal Photo Co."

" An American infantryman keeps firing while two of his comrades insert fresh ammunition in their rifles, as steady fire from this sheltered infantry covers advance near Rosteig, France. December 5, 1944. K Company, 398th Infantry Regiment, 100th Infantry Division. Rosteig Area, France. December 5, 1944."  Note that the men are wearing L. L. Bean Maine Hunting Shoe boots.

Last edition:

Monday, December 4, 1944. The Dutch Famine.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, boats and ships, Chinese Army, Dekemvriana (Δεκεμβριανά), Dutch Famine, Food, Germany, Greece, Greek Civil War, Imperial Japanese Navy, Netherlands, World War Two

Wednesday, November 26, 1924. Servitude in Mongolia.

The Mongolian People's Republic was proclaimed as a Communist state

It was basically a Soviet puppet, and fell with the Soviet Union in 1992.

The World Child Welfare Charter was approved by the League of Nations.

Last edition:

Tuesday, November 25, 1924. Radio station test, USS Los Angeles commissioned, Chaplin marries a second teenager.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, 1990s, 1995, actors and actresses, Lighter than air aircraft, Radio, Teenagers, U.S. Navy

Friday, October 24, 1924. Republicans, Monarchs and Fascists.

Éamon de Valera was arrested in Newry as he arrived at a meeting of the Sinn Féin. He was charged with entering a prohibited area under the Civil Powers Act.

Romanian fascist Iron Guard leader Corneliu Codreanu assassinated Constantin Manciu, the police chief of the city of Iași, and shot several other policemen. 

He would be acquitted on the grounds that he had acted in self-defense, despite entering the meeting and shooting Manciu from behind.

The British Foreign Office released the Zinoviev letter. The letter purported to be a directive from the Soviets addressed to the Communist Party of Great Britain to increase labor unrest in the UK.  A protest was lodged with the Soviet Embassy.

Belgium signed the Geneva Protocol.

Crown Princes Wilhelm of Germany and Rupprecht of Bavaria reconciled.

The Prince of Wales ended his visit to the United States and Canada.

Last edition:

Thursday, October 23, 1924. Beijing Coup.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, China, Chinese Army, Chinese Warlord Era, Ontario, Prohibition, Republic of China

Saturday, October 18, 1924. Ham achievement.

 

The first around the world wireless radio communication took place by Ham radio operators.

German police displayed evidence they had uncovered of a communist false passport operation used to insert spies in the US and other countries.

President Coolidge authorized the President's Cup to be awarded to the winner of the Army Navy Game.

Last edition:

Friday, October 17, 1924. Media Event.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, 1924 Election, actors and actresses, Calvin Coolidge, Politics

Tuesday, October 7, 1924. US and Irish Free State establish relations.

The US established diplomatic relations with the Irish Free State.

The British Labour Party overwhelmingly and definitely ruled out affiliation with the Communist Party.

The Soviet Union declared an amnesty for participants in the Georgian August Uprising on the condition that participants surrender their arms.

"Babe Ruth, Bill Edwards, and mascot" October 7, 1924.

The Washington Nationals beat the New York Giants 7 to 4 in Game 4 of the 1924 World Series.  The series was now tied two to two.

Last edition:

Monday, October 6, 1924. Ali of Hejaz becomes king.

Labels: 1910s, 1924, 1930s, 1935, Arab Revolt, Iraq, Italy, Kingdom of Hejaz, Monarchy, Radio, Saudi Arabia, Second Saudi-Hashemite War, Sultanate of Nejd

Saturday, September 26, 1964. Gilligan's Island

Gilligan's Island premiered on CBS.

Bob Denver, who had previously been portrayed as a beatnik, played the title role.  He'd been previously known for The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.  All of the actors in the short run series ended up typecast, in cluding the talented Alan Hale, Jr.

UPI critic Rick Dubrow commented:  "It is impossible that a more inept, moronic or humorless show has ever appeared on the home tube."

As a kid, I'd often watch the show, already in syndication, when I got home from school.

Rebels in the Congo rounded up of all foreigners trapped in Stanleyville and Paulis.

The "High National Council" was installed to function as the legislature for South Vietnam.

Last edition:

Friday, September 25, 1964. Gomer Pyle, USMC.

Labels: 1960s, 1964, El Paso Texas, Lyndon B. Johnson, Mozambique, Oklahoma, Portuguese Mozambique, television, Texas, United States Marine Corps, Vietnam War

Monday, September 11, 1944. Communist usurpation in Poland.

Communist Pole Boleslaw Bierut became the usurper president of the Russian backed Polish provisional government.

 Scouting around in the small Belgian town of Battice, Belgium, on the way to Aachen (25km away) are L-R: T/Sgt. Frank F. Kitts, Chambersburg, Pa.; Pfc. Durward F. Oakly, Tocum, Ky.; Pfc. Leon Mooers, 174 Franklin Ave., Hartford, Conn., and Cpl. Tom. H. Graham, Scranton, S.C., all members of an infantry outfit. 11 September, 1944. Company B, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division.

The U.S. Army entered Germany in a patrol by the 2nd Platoon, Troop B, 85th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 5th Armored Division.  No Germans were encountered.

The US 1st Army took Malmedy.  The 7th Army took Digon and linked up iwth the 3d Army, uniting the forces of Overlord and Dragoon.

South Africans captured Pistoia, Italy.

The Octagon Conference between Churchill and Roosevelt started in Quebec.

Last edition:

Sunday, September 10, 1944. Reaching Germany, Freeing Luxembourg, Continuation War lost.

Labels: 1940, 1940s, 1944, Army, Belgium, boats and ships, Bougainville, Continuation War, Diplomacy, Finland, Luxembourg, Operation Paravane, Red Army, Royal Air Force, USSR, World War Two

Saturday, September 9, 1944. A coup in Bulgaria.

U.S. infantry advancing with Sherman, Spangle, Belgium, September 9, 1944.

A captured Japanese Mitsubishi A6M fighter, the Zero, was displayed in Cheyenne (Wyoming State History Calendar).

A coup in Bulgaria put the Communist Fatherland Front (Отечествен фронт) in control of the country, which it would control until the fall of Hungarian Communism in 1986.  It dissolved in 1990.

French race car driver Robert Benoist, a member of the French Resistance, was executed at Buchenwald.

The U-484 was sunk by the Royal Navy northwest of Ireland.

Ten mule team draws heavy Chinese howitzer over many mountains in the Burma Road on its way to the fighting at Tung Ling, Yunnan, China. 9 September, 1944.

Last edition:

Friday, September 8, 1944. Belgian government returns.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Battle of Dukla Pass, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canadian Army, France, German Wehrmacht, Hungarian Army, Red Army, technology, Weapons, World War Two

Saturday. September 7, 1974. Independence for Mozambique.

Portugal and FRELIMO (Frente de Libertação de Moçambique) recognized independence for Mozambique, with it to formally occur on June 25, 1975.  The negotiations took place in Zambia.

FRELIMO, a far left wing political party that was formally Communist, has governed the country continually since that time.  It has evolved into a democratic socialist party.

Last edition: 

Wednesday, September 4, 1974. Recognizing East Germany.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Army, Diplomacy, East Germany, George H.W. Bush, George S. Patton, Gerald Ford, Health, Smoking