On This Day in History

On October 18th in 1968, the United States Olympic Committee suspended two black athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, for giving a “black power” salute as a protest during a victory ceremony in Mexico City.

 

Like the event so much you just had to post it twice?

 

Yeah I'm just busting your chops. Mine does it a lot. Think it might be the coffee I added to my keyboard one morning.

 

October 18, 1929:

COURT RULES WOMEN ARE INDEED PERSONS
London England - The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of Great Britain, reversing an April 1928 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, rules that the word 'person' in Section 24 of the British North America Act refers to both male and female persons, and that Canadian women are eligible to be summoned to and serve as members of the Senate of Canada. Five Alberta women - Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Emily Murphy and Irene Parlby - had appealed the decision to Canada's highest court of appeal at the time. The fight began in 1918 when a lawyer appeared before Judge Emily Murphy and said her judgments were illegal because she was not a 'person' under British legal custom. See: Law Reports, Appeal Cases, 1930, 124.

 

On October 19th in 1987, the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6 percent in value – its biggest-ever percentage drop.

 

Also on October 20th in 1973, in the so-called Saturday Night Massacre, President Nixon abolished the office of special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox, accepted the resignation of Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and fired Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus.

 

Trafalgar day
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815).
The battle was the most decisive British naval victory of the war. Twenty-seven British ships of the line led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard HMS Victory defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships of the line under French Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve off the south-west coast of Spain, just west of Cape Trafalgar. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost.
The British victory spectacularly confirmed the naval supremacy that Britain had established during the previous century and was achieved in part through Nelson's departure from the prevailing naval tactical orthodoxy, which involved engaging an enemy fleet in a single line of battle parallel to the enemy to facilitate signalling in battle and disengagement, and to maximise fields of fire and target areas. Nelson instead divided his smaller force into two columns directed perpendicularly against the larger enemy fleet, with decisive results.
Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle, becoming one of Britain's greatest war heroes. The commander of the joint French and Spanish forces, Admiral Villeneuve, was captured along with his ship Bucentaure. Spanish Admiral Federico Gravina escaped with the remnant of the fleet and succumbed months later to wounds sustained during the battle.
A wreath will be laid later today on the deck of HMS Victory where Admiral Lord Nelson fell.
Me thinks tonight would be a good night to raise a tot of rum to all those lost at sea.

 

Also on October 21st in 1879, Thomas Edison invented a workable electric light at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J.

 

On October 21st, 1926:

MCGILL STUDENT GIVES HARRY HOUDINI A DEATH BLOW
Montreal Quebec - While performing in Montreal, famed magician and escape artist Harry Houdini invites a McGill student to punch him hard in the stomach. The young man complies before Houdini has a chance to brace himself, and the blow leads to his death ten days later from internal bleeding.

 

21st October. Battle of Trafalgar. Trafalgar Day. Wreathlaying on Admiral Lord Nelsons flag ship HMS Victory.

 

Also on October 22nd in 1962, President Kennedy announced an air and naval blockade of Cuba, following the discovery of Soviet missile bases on the island.
--- merged: Oct 22, 2011 10:40 AM ---

Oh snap!

 

^^^ I have a live version of "Alice's Restaurant" on it Arlo tell's a story of going to Carters inauguration and meeting Chip, Jimmy's son. Chip tell's Arlo that in a bunch of Nixon's stuff in the White House in it they found an opened copy of "Alice's Restaurant." Arlo points out that Nixon erased 18:40 of the tapes and that just happens to be exactly length of his song.

Anyway...

Also on October 23rd in 1983, a suicide truck-bombing at Beirut International Airport in Lebanon killed 241 United States Marines and sailors; a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers.

 

1915
25,000 women marched in New York City demanding the right to vote