“Man generally is entangled in insoluble problems; history is consequently a tragedy in which we are all involved, whose keynote is anxiety and frustration, not progress and fulfillment.”
~Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
1809 – Three years after explorer Meriwether Lewis and his co-commander, William Clark, had completed their brilliant exploration of the newly acquired Louisiana Territory and the Pacific Northwest, Lewis died under mysterious circumstances in the early hours of the morning after stopping for the night at The Grinder Inn along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee.
Lewis had been appointed as Governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory and was traveling back to Washington with his papers that he hoped to have published in a book. According to the account given by Mrs. Grinder (her husband owned the inn), during his final hours, Lewis began to pace in his room and talk aloud to himself. She then heard a pistol shot and then another. Lewis staggered from his room and called for help, but Mrs. Grinder did nothing to help him; she later said that she was too afraid. Fatally wounded in the abdomen, Lewis died shortly after sunrise.
Based largely on Mrs. Grinder’s story, most historians have argued that Lewis killed himself with two pistol shots. However, others have raised questions about the reliability of Mrs. Grinder’s story; Lewis possessed one pistol and reloading it after shooting himself once would seem to have been impossible. Those who doubt her story suggest that Lewis was murdered, either by Mrs. Grinder’s husband or by bandits.
More than two centuries after the event, we may never be able to discover exactly what happened that night along the Natchez Trace when one of the nation’s greatest heroes died at the tragically young age of 35.
1961 – Comedian/actor Leonard “Chico” Marx – the oldest of the Marx Brothers – died of arteriosclerosis at the age of 74.
1968 – Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, was launched with astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F. Eisele, and Walter Cunningham on board. Under the command of Schirra, the crew conducted an 11-day orbit of Earth, during which the crew transmitted the first live television broadcasts from orbit.
1971 – John Lennon released the ‘Imagine’ single in the U.S. The song ranks #30 on the Recording Industry Association of America’s list of the 365 Songs of the Century bearing the most historical significance. It earned a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
1975 – Saturday Night Live premiered on NBC with guest host George Carlin and the show’s ensemble cast (better known as the Not Ready For Primetime Players) – Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman.
The show was originally known as NBC’s Saturday Night because there was another show on ABC called Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. However, NBC eventually purchased the naming rights, and since 1977 the comedy program has been called Saturday Night Live.
1991 – Comedian/actor Redd Foxx (Sanford and Son) died of a heart attack at the age of 68.
2002 – The Iraq Resolution (formally H.J. Resolution 114 – Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002) was approved by the U.S. Senate (by a vote of 77-23). The resolution was signed into law by President George Bush on October 16.
2002 – Former President Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
2008 – Luc Costermans set a new world speed record for blind drivers when he reached 192 mph on a long, straight stretch of airstrip near Marseilles, France. He was accompanied by a carload of sophisticated navigational equipment as well as a human co-pilot, who gave directions from the Lamborghini’s passenger seat.
Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2016 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.