All Things in Moderation

1997 – At the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, Elton John—a man not given to understatement—gave a tear-jerking performance of “Candle in the Wind,” his 1973 Marilyn Monroe tribute rewritten in honor of the deceased princess.

It is safe to say that Westminster Abbey had never seen a performance quite like the one Elton John gave on this day in 1997. But then Westminster Abbey had never seen a royal funeral quite like Diana’s, what with her brother, Earl Spencer, openly criticizing the royal family for mistreating her while television cameras beamed a live feed to the hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered directly outside and the millions more watching on television around the world. But it was Elton John’s performance, seated alone at a grand piano, which stole the show.

1901 – President William McKinley is shaking hands at the Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo, New York, when a 28-year-old anarchist named Leon Czolgosz approaches him and fires two shots into his chest. The president rose slightly on his toes before collapsing forward, saying “be careful how you tell my wife.”

Czolgosz moved over the president with the intent of firing a third shot, but was wrestled to the ground by McKinley’s bodyguards. McKinley, still conscious, told the guards not to hurt his assailant. Other presidential attendants rushed McKinley to the hospital where they found two bullet wounds: one bullet had superficially punctured his sternum and the other had dangerously entered his abdomen. He was rushed into surgery and seemed to be on the mend by September 12. Later that day, however, the president’s condition worsened rapidly and, on September 14, McKinley died from gangrene that had gone undetected in the internal wound. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was immediately sworn in as president.

1781 – British Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, a former Patriot officer already infamous and much maligned for betraying the United States the previous year, adds to his notoriety by ordering his British command to burn New London, Connecticut.

The Continental Army had been using New London to store a large stash of military supplies, but only stationed Captain Adam Sharpley and a contingent of 24 Continental soldiers there to protect it. General Arnold’s British soldiers, with help from the area’s Loyalists, quickly overwhelmed Captain Sharpley and the Continentals, who had no other option but to retreat and leave New London and the military supplies unguarded.

After looting the town, Arnold ordered his British soldiers to set fire to every building, causing the equivalent of more than $500,000 in damages. Benedict Arnold was already despised throughout the colonies for his attempt to sell the Patriot fort at West Point, New York, to the British in 1780 for a bribe of £20,000. The burning of New London sealed his reputation as a public enemy and his name became a synonym in common American parlance for “traitor.”

Filed under: This Day in History | 5 Comments »

1972 – Just before midnight, amidst the backdrop of the twentieth Olympic games, 9 Israeli Olympic athletes are massacred on the tarmac at the Munich airport after a botched rescue attempt turns into a firefight between their Palestinian captors and German security forces. The athletes, most of them members of the Israeli wrestling team, had been taken hostage (2 others were killed) by members of the terrorist organization Black September after the terrorists had sneaked into the Olympic Village and stormed the Israeli apartment complex in the early morning hours. After an initial demand for the release of some 230 prisoners held in Israeli prisons, a day of negotiations is played out in front of a worldwide television audience of millions. Eventually the attackers request a plane to take them to Cairo, a request ostensibly granted by German authorities, who prepare to ambush the attackers after transporting them to an air base in helicopters. The plan, to the extent there really was one, goes drastically awry when security forces posing as airplane attendants take it upon themselves to abort the mission, thus tipping off the terrorists to the trap. In the ensuing firefight, the terrorists turn their fire on the bound hostages in the helicopter, and then toss a grenade into it, incinerating anyone who was still alive.

1836 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas. A year earlier Houston had been appointed to be a military commander of the Texas army during the nascent movement to establish Texas independence from Mexico. Under Houston’s leadership the Texas army had recovered from a disastrous defeat at the Alamo in early 1836, and had gone on to defeat the Mexican army, capturing its general Santa Anna in the process. Santa Anna was subsequently forced to sign an armistice granting Texas its independence. Houston actually gets elected as Texas’ president twice, serving from 1836-1838, and then again from 1841-1844. He would go on to serve as a Senator in the US congress after helping Texas gain admission as state in the US in 1845.

1774 – In response to the passage of the Coercive Acts, more locally known as the Intolerable Acts, 56 delegates representing 12 of the 13 colonies (Georgia was unrepresented) gather in Philadelphia for the first ever session of the Continental Congress. It is the first formal act of unified opposition to British rule among the American colonies. The delegates, who will draft a declaration of rights and grievances to be sent to the King, include Patrick Henry, John Adams, and George Washington.

Title added by Michi

Filed under: This Day in History | 54 Comments »

1972 – US swimmer Mark Spitz helps his team win the medley relay in a record setting time, thus winning his 7th gold medal at the Munich Olympic games, setting a record that would last for 40 years. Spitz also set new world records in each of the other 6 events in which he won the gold. His tally of 7 golds will remain a record until 2012 when Michael Phelps took home 8 at the Beijing Olympics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moHuIWnqLxE

1957 – The Edsel, the first new car brand to be introduced by one of the Big 3 motor companies in 20 years, and perhaps the most infamous flop in car manufacturing history, is presented to the public by the Ford Motor Company. Veiled in secrecy, Ford had hyped the new car with a marketing campaign that showed only the hood ornament and promised simply “The Edsel is coming.” But when it was finally unveiled, the public was not impressed. Coming amidst a changing economic landscape, the car was too big and too expensive, and had a myriad of technical problems, including a hood ornament that tended to fly off on the highway. After only 3 years, and a loss of $250 million, the Edsel division folded.

1886 – The Indian wars of the American southwest effectively come to an end when Geronimo, the last remaining warrior chief to organize resistance to US forces, surrenders. Geronimo is sent to reservations first in Florida and then in Louisiana, finally ending up in Oklahoma, where he converted to Christianity, became a successful farmer, and even participated in Theodore Roosevelt’s inaugural parade.

Filed under: This Day in History | 7 Comments »

2004 – A three-day hostage crisis in a school in the town of Beslan, Russia comes to a violent end when a gun battle between Russian security forces and the hostage takers erupts following an explosion. Three days earlier Chechen terrorists had surrounded and then taken over the school, holding some 1,200 children, parents and teachers, who had been celebrating the first day of school, in the school gym. The gym was then rigged with explosives as the terrorists demanded a Russian troop withdrawal from Chechnya. On the third day of the siege, an explosion in the gym, which witnesses later say was accidentally set off, sparks a firefight between the terrorists and security forces. By the time it is over, 31 of the 32 terrorists are dead, along with 331 of the hostages, including 186 children.

1783 – America is officially recognized as an independent nation with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the American Revolution. The last major battle of the Revolution had ended two years previously with the surrender of British General Cornwallis to French and American troops, but final peach negotiations had continued throughout 1782 and 1783. The final agreement granted America its independence as well as granting all lands from Florida to the Great Lakes and between the Atlantic and the Mississippi to the US, essentially doubling its size.

Filed under: This Day in History | 26 Comments »