This Day in History...
Japanese defenses destroyed on Okinawa
Japanese resistance on Okinawa was finally crushed this day in 1945, less than three months after U.S. troops had landed there—their last stepping-stone before the assault on Japan's main islands in World War II.
Shurei Gate, destroyed during World War II and rebuilt in 1958, Naha, Okinawa, Japan.
Historic Events:- Italian statesman, diplomat, and author of “The Prince,” Niccolo Machiavelli died. (1577)
- The U.S. Constitution went into effect when New Hampshire became the 9th state to ratify it. (1788)
- Miller v. California: the US Supreme Court ruled that states could ban materials found obscene by local standards (1973)
- John Hinckley, Jr., was ruled to be innocent by reason of insanity in the shooting of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. (1982)
- polio: the World Health Organization declared Europe polio-free (2002)
Today's Birthdays:
Happy birthday to Berkeley Breathed, the creator of "Bloom County." Breathed began drawing the popular comic strip in 1980 and, seven years later, he won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. Breathed retired the strip in 1989 and began a new one called "Outland." Later, he began a comic strip devoted to one of his most popular characters, Opus. Breathed, 50, also writes and illustrates a series of children's books, including A Wish for Wings That Work: An Opus Christmas Story (1991) and Goodnight Opus (1993).
Quote:
"I will go to my grave in a state of abject endless fascination that we all have the capacity to become emotionally involved with a personality that doesn't exist." — Berkeley Breathed
Other Notables:- Jean-Paul Sartre, a French novelist, playwright, and exponent of existentialism who was awarded but declined the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, was born. (1905)
- Italian American architect Paolo Soleri was born in Turin, Italy. (1919)
- Prince William (25): son of Charles and Diana