Today In History … January 14th
U.S. and WORLD HISTORY
1784 – The Continental Congress ratified the Second Treaty of Paris, officially ending the War for Independence. In the document, which was known as the Second Treaty of Paris because the Treaty of Paris was the name of the agreement that had ended the Seven Years’ War in 1763, Britain officially agreed to recognize the independence of its 13 former colonies as the new United States of America.
Despite the agreement, many of these issues remained points of contention between the two nations in the post-war years. The British did not abandon their western forts as promised and attempts by British merchants to collect outstanding debts from Americans were unsuccessful as American merchants were unable to collect from their customers, many of whom were struggling farmers.
1860 – The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee of Thirty-Three submitted a proposed constitutional amendment protecting slavery in all areas where it already existed. The proposed measure was not enough to stem the tide of seceding states.
Committee chair Thomas Corwin of Ohio submitted a plan calling for an amendment to protect slavery, enforce the fugitive slave laws, and repeal state personal liberty laws. The South was increasingly concerned with slaves escaping to the North; the personal liberty laws made it difficult to get slaves back, and this was a motivating factor behind secession.
South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama had already seceded by the time Corwin made his proposal. The plan died, and the nation continued on the road to war.
1882 – A country club in Brookline, Massachusetts named The Country Club became, appropriately, the first country club in the United States.
1898 – Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland under the pen name Lewis Carroll, died in Guildford, England, at age 65.
1914 – Henry Ford announced the newest advance in assembly line production of cars. The new continuous motion method reduced assembly time of a car from 12½ hours to 93 minutes.
1920 – John Dodge, who with his brother Horace co-founded the Dodge Brothers Company, which was once America’s third-largest automaker and later became part of Chrysler, died of pneumonia at the age of 55.
1942 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Presidential Proclamation No. 2537, requiring aliens from World War II enemy countries – Italy, Germany and Japan – to register with the United States Department of Justice. Registered persons were then issued a Certificate of Identification for Aliens of Enemy Nationality.
Ostensibly issued in the interest of national security, Proclamation No. 2537 permitted the arrest, detention and internment of enemy aliens who violated restricted areas, such as ports, water treatment plants or even areas prone to brush fires, for the duration of the war. A month later, Roosevelt signed the War Department’s blanket Executive Order 9066, which authorized the physical removal of all Japanese Americans into internment camps.
1943 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt met in Casablanca, Morocco, along with the Combined Chiefs of Staff, to discuss strategy and study the next phase of the war. This meeting marked the first time an American president left American soil during wartime. Participants also included leaders of the French government-in-exile, Gen. Charles de Gaulle and Gen. Henri Giraud, who were assured of a postwar united France.
1952 – NBC opened the first Today show with a shot of Dave Garroway looking outside through the ‘Window on the World’ in New York City. The program, much as it does today, blended national news headlines, interviews with newsmakers, lifestyle features, other light news and gimmicks (including the presence of the chimpanzee, J. Fred Muggs as the show’s mascot during the early years), and local station news updates. The historic debut featured Garroway’s signature sign-off: hand raised, uttering one word, “Peace.”
1954 – It was the ultimate All-American romance: the tall, handsome hero of the country’s national pastime had captured the heart of the beautiful, glamorous Hollywood star. But the brief, volatile marriage of Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio – wed on this day – barely got past the honeymoon before cracks began to show in its brilliant veneer.
While Monroe and DiMaggio were on their honeymoon in Japan, Monroe was asked to travel to Korea and perform for the American soldiers stationed there. She complied, leaving her unhappy new husband in Japan. After they returned to the U.S., tension continued to build, particularly around DiMaggio’s discomfort with his wife’s sexy image. One memorable blow-up occurred in September 1954, on the New York City set of director Billy Wilder’s The Seven Year Itch. As Monroe filmed the now-famous scene in which she stands over a subway grate with the air blowing up her skirt, a crowd of onlookers and press gathered; Wilder himself had reportedly arranged the media attention. As her skirt blew up again and again, the crowd cheered uproariously, and DiMaggio, who was on set, became irate.
DiMaggio and Monroe were divorced in October 1954, just 274 days after they were married.
1957 – Actor Humphrey Bogart (The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Big Sleep, The Petrified Forest, The African Queen, The Caine Mutiny, Key Largo) died from cancer of the esophagus. He was 57.
1961 – Actor Barry Fitzgerald Going My Way, The Quiet Man, How Green Was My Valley, And Then There Were None) died at the age of 72.
1963 – George Wallace was inaugurated as the governor of Alabama, promising his followers, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” Wallace had become a fiery segregationist and won election to the governor’s office in a landslide victory. He may have promised “segregation forever” but he soon buckled under federal opposition.
His inauguration speech was written by Ku Klux Klan leader Asa Carter, who later reformed his white supremacist beliefs and wrote The Education of Little Tree under the pseudonym of Forrest Carter. The book, which gave a fictitious account of Carter’s upbringing by a Scotch-Irish moonshiner and a Cherokee grandmother, poignantly described the difficulties faced by Native Americans in American society.
1969 – An explosion aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise killed 27 people in Pearl Harbor. A rocket accidentally detonated, destroying 15 planes and injuring more than 300 people. The Enterprise was the first-ever nuclear-powered aircraft carrier when it was launched in 1960. It had eight nuclear reactors, six more than all subsequent nuclear carriers. The massive ship was over 1,100 feet long and carried 4,600 crew members.
1972 – Sanford and Son premiered on NBC. The show ran for six very successful seasons. Coincidentally, Redd Foxx, who played the role of Fred Stanford, was born John Sanford.
1977 – Actor Peter Finch (Network, The Trials Of Oscar Wilde, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Far From The Madding Crowd) died of a heart attack at the age of 60.
1980 – In 1971, the United States suspended the free exchange of U.S. gold for foreign-held dollars, then in 1974 lifted its four-decade ban on the private purchase of gold. At that time, gold bullion was being traded in European markets at highs approaching $200 an ounce. In 1975, the U.S. government began to sell some of its holdings on the open market and in 1978, along with most other nations, officially abandoned the gold standard. After being released from government control on this date in 1980, the price of gold soared to more than $800 an ounce.
1986 – Actress Donna Reed (It’s A Wonderful Life, From Here To Eternity, The Donna Reed Show) died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 64.
2005 – Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader of a band of rogue guards at the Abu Ghraib prison, was convicted at Fort Hood, Texas, of abusing Iraqi detainees. (He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison.)
2006 – Actress Shelley Winters (The Diary Of Anne Frank, A Patch Of Blue, A Place In The Sun, The Poseidon Adventure) died of heart failure at the age of 85.
2008 – Republican Bobby Jindal, the first elected Indian-American governor in the United States, took office in Louisiana.
2009 – Actor Ricardo Montalbán (The Mark Of Zorro, Star Trek II:The Wrath Of Khan, Naked Gun: From The Files Of Police Squad!, Fantasy Island) died of congestive heart failure at the age of 88.
2013 – Actor Conrad Bain (Maude, Diff’rent Strokes) died of natural causes at the age of 89.
MUSIC HISTORY
The late Johnny Grande (piano with Bill Haley and His Comets – ‘Rock Around The Clock’) was born in 1930
The late Tim Harris (drummer with The Foundations – ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’) was born in 1948
Dave Grohl (drummer with Nirvana – ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and guitarist/lead singer with The Foo Fighters – ‘Learn To Fly’) is 46
LL Cool J (born James Todd Smith – ‘I Need Love’) is 47
1955 – Alan Freed’s first New York stage show (at Harlem’s Saint Nicholas Arena) included The Clovers, The Drifters and Fats Domino.
1963 – Charlie Watts made his debut as the official drummer for The Rolling Stones at the Flamingo Jazz Club in Soho, outside of London.
1965 –Bob Dylan recorded ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’, ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’, ‘Outlaw Blues’, ‘She Belongs To Me’ and ‘Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream’.
1966 –Singer David Jones changed his name to David Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees.
1966 –Chris Farlowe released the Jagger-Richards written ‘Think’.
1967 –In an interview with NME, British singer Cliff Richard announced he was retiring from show business to teach religious education in schools. (He never did).
1967 –Twenty thousand attended the ‘Human Be-In’ at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California.
1969 –The Monterey Pop film opened in Los Angeles.
1969 – The Beatles, still minus George Harrison, rehearsed (and recorded) two songs they would never release; ‘Madman’ and ‘Watching Rainbows’ (which featured John Lennon, in an eerily prophetic moment, murmuring “shoot me” several times throughout the song).
1969 – The curtain closed for good on Diana Ross & The Supremes at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. The farewell concert was the final act in a drawn-out breakup that didn’t become official until November 1969, but probably became inevitable in July 1967, when Motown Records chief Berry Gordy gave Diana Ross top billing over the Supremes.
1969 – John Lennon’s erotic ‘Bag One’ lithographs went on display in London.
1973 – Elvis Presley drew the largest audience for a single TV show to that time – an estimated one billion viewers in 40 countries. Elvis – Aloha From Hawaii was beamed live via Globecam Satellite to Australia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, South Vietnam and other countries, and was seen on a delayed basis in approximately 30 European countries. The first American airing was April 4th on NBC. The show was also released as a two-record album, and became one of Presley’s top-selling albums.
1984 – Paul McCartney reached #1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Pipes Of Peace’, making McCartney the first artist to reach the top of the charts as a member of a quartet (Beatles), a trio (with Wings), a duo (with Stevie Wonder), and as a solo artist.
1992 –Jerry Nolan (drummer with The New York Dolls – ‘Personality Crisis’) died (while being treated for bacterial meningitis and bacterial pneumonia, he suffered a stroke and went into a coma from which he never recovered).
2000 –Melissa Etheridge revealed to Rolling Stone magazine that David Crosby was the surrogate father of her two children with partner Julie Cypher.
2010 –Bobby Charles (songwriter – ‘Walking To New Orleans’ (Fats Domino), ‘See You Later Alligator’ (Bill Haley and His Comets) and ‘(I Don’t Know Why) But I Do’ (Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry) died of cancer.
2011 –Trish Keenan (member of Broadcast – ‘Before We Begin’) died from pneumonia.
2012 –Robbie France (drummer with UFO – ‘Dream The Dream’ and Wishbone Ash – ‘Standing In The Rain’) died of a ruptured aorta.
SPORTS HISTORY
1932 – Legendary jockey Eddie Arcaro won his 1st race. He was far from finished. He would go on to win 4,779 in his career.
1968 – At Super Bowl II, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Oakland Raiders, 33- 14, for their second consecutive title. Green Bay quarterback Bart Starr was the game MVP.
1973 – The Miami Dolphins defeated the Washington Redskins 14-7 at the Los Angeles Coliseum in Super Bowl VII, becoming the first (and only) team in National Football League history to finish with an undefeated season. Miami safety Jake Scott (#13 above), who intercepted two passes, was voted the game’s Most Valuable Player, as his team wrapped up their 17th straight victory.
1987 – Catfish Hunter and Billy Williams were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
2000 – Mark Cuban purchased a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks.
2002 – Barry Bonds agreed to a 5-year $90 million deal with the San Francisco Giants.
2003 – University of Tennessee Lady Vols head coach Pat Summitt won her 800th game as a head coach, the fastest coach to reach the milestone. She would end her career with 1,098 wins and eight NCAA national championships. She is the only coach in NCAA history, and one of three college coaches overall, with at least 1,000 victories.
Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2015 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.
You may not, under any circumstances, reproduce, record, publish, republish, post, transmit, publicly display, publicly exhibit or distribute any articles or photographs on RayLemire.com without obtaining the express written consent of the Operator.
