Monday, September 22, 2014

On This Day in History - September 22 Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation Announced, & JFK Sets Up Peace Corps

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!


 
Sep 22, 1862: Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation 

On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date for the freedom of more than 3 million black slaves in the United States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery.  

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, shortly after Lincoln's inauguration as America's 16th president, he maintained that the war was about restoring the Union and not about slavery. He avoided issuing an anti-slavery proclamation immediately, despite the urgings of abolitionists and radical Republicans, as well as his personal belief that slavery was morally repugnant. Instead, Lincoln chose to move cautiously until he could gain wide support from the public for such a measure.  

In July 1862, Lincoln informed his cabinet that he would issue an emancipation proclamation but that it would exempt the so-called border states, which had slaveholders but remained loyal to the Union. His cabinet persuaded him not to make the announcement until after a Union victory. Lincoln's opportunity came following the Union win at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. On September 22, the president announced that slaves in areas still in rebellion within 100 days would be free.  

On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, which declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebel states "are, and henceforward shall be free." The proclamation also called for the recruitment and establishment of black military units among the Union forces. An estimated 180,000 African Americans went on to serve in the army, while another 18,000 served in the navy.  

After the Emancipation Proclamation, backing the Confederacy was seen as favoring slavery. It became impossible for anti-slavery nations such as Great Britain and France, who had been friendly to the Confederacy, to get involved on behalf of the South. The proclamation also unified and strengthened Lincoln's party, the Republicans, helping them stay in power for the next two decades.  The proclamation was a presidential order and not a law passed by Congress, so Lincoln then pushed for an antislavery amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ensure its permanence. With the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865, slavery was eliminated throughout America (although blacks would face another century of struggle before they truly began to gain equal rights).  

Lincoln's handwritten draft of the final Emancipation Proclamation was destroyed in the Chicago Fire of 1871. Today, the original official version of the document is housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.


 











Sep 22, 1961: President Kennedy signs Peace Corps legislation

In an important victory for his Cold War foreign policy, President John F. Kennedy signs legislation establishing the Peace Corps as a permanent government agency. Kennedy believed that the Peace Corps could provide a new and unique weapon in the war against communism.  

During the presidential campaign of 1960, Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy promised to reinvigorate U.S. foreign policy. He charged that the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower had become stagnant and unimaginative in dealing with the communist threat, particularly in regards to the so-called Third World nations. Shortly after his inauguration in January 1961, Kennedy made good on his promise for a new and aggressive foreign policy. On March 1, 1961, he issued an executive order establishing the Peace Corps. As described by Kennedy, this new organization would be an "army" of civilian volunteers--teachers, engineers, agricultural scientists, etc.--who would be sent to underdeveloped nations in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and elsewhere to assist the people of those regions.  

Kennedy hoped that by improving the lives of people in less developed countries, they would become more resistant to the charms of communism and convinced of America's sincerity and ability to help them. Many in Congress, however, were not convinced. The program carried a fairly hefty price tag. Though the participants were volunteers, they would need basic subsistence and, more important, tools and money to help the people they were sent to assist. Some members of Congress saw it as an expensive public relations ploy, foreign aid (which had never been popular with Congress or the American people) wrapped in a new ribbon. The program, however, actually turned out to have popular appeal. Stories about idealistic young Americans braving privation in foreign lands to help people grow better crops, build schools, or construct wells was good public relations material for the United States. In September 1961, Congress passed legislation establishing the Peace Corps on a permanent basis. A budget of $40 million for the next fiscal year was approved.  

In the years after 1961, thousands of Peace Corps volunteers were sent around the world. Some faced indifference, some even faced danger. For the most part, however, the Peace Corps "army" proved to be a valuable, and relatively inexpensive, Cold War weapon for the United States. Most nations welcomed the idealistic volunteers, and their labor helped make better lives for hundreds of thousands of people. Though the Peace Corps is no longer viewed as a weapon against communism, its goal of improving lives remains intact--the Peace Corps outlived the Cold War and continues to send participants to various nations.




 














Sep 22, 1945: Patton questions necessity of Germany's "denazification"

On this day in 1945, Gen. George S. Patton tells reporters that he does not see the need for "this denazification thing" and compares the controversy over Nazism to a "Democratic and Republican election fight." Once again, "Old Blood and Guts" had put his foot in his mouth.  

Descended from a long line of military men, Patton graduated from the West Point Military Academy in 1909 and served in the Tank Corps during World War I. As a result of this experience, Patton became a dedicated proponent of tank warfare. During World War II, as commander of the U.S. 7th Army, he captured Palermo, Sicily, in 1943 by just such means. Patton's audacity made itself evident in 1944, when, as commander of the 3rd Army, he overran much of northern France in an unorthodox--and ruthless--strategy.  

Along the way, Patton's mouth proved as dangerous to his career as the Germans. When he berated and slapped a hospitalized soldier diagnosed with shell shock, but whom Patton accused of "malingering," the press turned on him, and pressure was applied to cut him down to size. He might have found himself enjoying early retirement had not Generals Dwight Eisenhower and George Marshall intervened on his behalf. After several months of inactivity, he was put back to work.  

And work he did--at the Battle of the Bulge, during which Patton once again succeeded in employing a complex and quick-witted strategy, turning the German thrust in Bastogne into an Allied counterthrust, driving the Germans east across the Rhine. In March 1945, Patton's army swept through southern Germany into Czechoslovakia--which he was stopped by the Allies from capturing, out of respect for the Soviets' postwar political plans for Eastern Europe.  

Patton had many gifts, but diplomacy was not one of them. After the war, while stationed in Germany, he criticized the process of denazification, or the removal of former Nazi party members from positions of political, administrative, and governmental power, probably out of naivete more than anything else. Nevertheless, his impolitic press statements questioning the policy resulted in Eisenhower's removing him as U.S. commander in Bavaria. He was transferred to the 15th Army Group, but in December 1945 he suffered a broken neck in a car accident and died less than two weeks later at the age of 60.


 
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

66 - Emperor Nero creates the Legion I Italica.
530 - Boniface II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
530 - St Felix IV reign as Catholic Pope ends
530 - Discorus begins his reign as Catholic anti-Pope
1236 - The Lithuanians and Semigallians defeat the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in Battle of Šiauliai.
1499 - Switzerland became an independent state.
1504 - Settled engagement of Karel of Luxembourg & Claudia the Beaujeu
1504 - Treaty of Blois: Philip van Bourgondie & Maximilian I & Louis XII
1529 - Cardinal Thomas Wolsey stripped of office as Lord Chancellor of England
1586 - Battle at Zutphen: English vs Dutch army
1598 - Playwright and poet Ben Jonson is indicted for manslaughter as the result of a duel.
1598 - Playwright and poet Ben Jonson is indicted for manslaughter as the result of a duel.
1656 - All female jury hears case of woman who killed her child (acquit her)
1665 - Molieres "L'amour Medecin," premieres in Paris
1692 - Last (8) person hanged for witchcraft in US (Salem Mass)
1699 - People of Rotterdam strike over high cost of butter
1711 - French troops occupy Rio de Janeiro
1733 - Polish King Lesczynski flees to Danzig
1735 - Robert Walpole is 1st British PM to live at 10 Downing Street
Playwright and Poet Ben JonsonPlaywright and Poet Ben Jonson 1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie's army returns to Edinburgh
1753 - Pangeran Gusti installed as sultan of Banten
1756 - Nassau Hall opens at Princeton University
1761 - Coronation of George III of the United Kingdom and Queen Charlotte.
1784 - Russian trappers established a colony on Kodiak Island, AK
1789 - US Office of Postmaster General is created under the Treasury Department
1792 - 1st First French Republic forms
1817 - John Quincy Adams becomes secretary of State
1851 - The city of Des Moines, Iowa was incorporated as Fort Des Moines.
1861 - Fort Fauntleroy (Wingate), rapes Navaho Indians
1862 - President Lincoln, says he will free slaves in all states on Jan 1
1864 - Battle of Fisher's Hill VA-Gen Early Retreats to Brown's Gap
1864 - Sheridan sets up camp in Harrisonburg VA
1866 - Decisive battle of Curupaity in the War of the Triple Alliance.
1868 - Race riots in New Orleans La
Composer Richard WagnerComposer Richard Wagner 1869 - Richard Wagner's opera "Rhine Gold," premieres in Munich
1885 - Lord Randolph Churchill makes a speech in Ulster in opposition to Home Rule e.g. "Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right".
1893 - 1st auto built in US (by Duryea brothers) runs in Springfield
1896 - Queen Victoria surpasses her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.
1903 - Italo Marchiony granted patent for ice cream cone
1905 - 11th US Golf Open: Willie Anderson shoots a 314 at Myopia Club Mass
1905 - Race riot in Atlanta Georgia (10 blacks & 2 whites killed)
1906 - Race riot in Atlanta Georgia, kills 21
1908 - Bulgaria declares independence from Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
1910 - Saskatchewan Rugby Football Union forms
1910 - The Duke of York's Cinema opened in Brighton. It is still operating today, making it the oldest continually operating cinema in Britain.
1911 - Cy Young beats Pitts 1-0 for his final career victory, number 511
1912 - Eddie Collins repeats record of stealing 6 bases in a game (9/7/12)
1913 - Coal mine explosion kills 263 at Dawson New Mexico
1913 - George Cohan's "7 Keys to Baldpate," premieres in NYC
1914 - 1 German submarine sinks 3 British ironclads, 1,459 die
1915 - Red Sox ask Braves for use of their larger park for World Series
1915 - Southern Methodist University (Dallas Texas) holds its 1st class
1915 - Xavier University, 1st Black Catholic College in US, opens in NO LA
1919 - -Jan 20] Steel strike in the US
1920 - Chicago grand jury convenes to investigate charges that 8 White Sox players conspired to fix the 1919 World Series
1921 - Estonia & Lithuania admitted to League of Nations
1921 - Music Box Theater opens at 239 W 45th St NYC
1925 - Yank Ben Paschal hits 2 inside-the-park-homers
1926 - Belgian crown prince Leopold & Swedish princess Astrid get engaged
1927 - Famous "Long count" fight (Dempsey loses to Tunney)
Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jack DempseyHeavyweight Boxing Champion Jack Dempsey 1927 - Gene Tunney beats Jack Dempsey in 10 for heavyweight boxing title
1927 - Yanks Earle Coombs hits 3 triples
1932 - Hungarian government of Károlyi falls
1934 - An explosion takes place at Gresford Colliery in Wales, leading to the deaths of 266 miners and rescuers.
1935 - Boston Braves lose NL record 110th game of year en route to 115
1937 - Forest fire kills 14 & injures 50 in Cody Wyoming
1937 - Spanish Civil War: Peña Blanca is taken; the end of the Battle of El Mazuco.
1941 - British signal officer Bill Hudson lands in Montenegro
1942 - Meulenberg robs of church bells
1943 - British dwarf submarines attack Tirpitz
1943 - Destroyer HMS Itchen torpedoed & sinks
1943 - Destroyer HMS Keppel sinks U-229
1944 - Boulogne reoccupied by Allies
1944 - Operation Market Garden: Polish paratroopers land at Driel
1944 - US troops land on Ulithi
1946 - Evelyn Dick charged with butchering husband
1947 - Dodgers clinch NL pennant
1949 - USSR detonates its 1st atomic bomb
1949 - WFMY TV channel 2 in Greensboro-High Point, NC (CBS) 1st broadcast
1950 - Nobel peace prize awarded to Ralph J Bunche (1st black winner)
1950 - Omar N Bradley promoted to rank of 5-star general
1953 - Islamic uprising in Atjeh at Indonesia
1954 - Bkln Dodger Karl Spooner strikes out 15 NY Giants in his 1st game
1955 - (ITV) Commercial TV begins in England
1955 - -28] Hurricane Janet, kills 500 in Caribbean
1957 - "Maverick" premieres
1957 - Duke Snider's 39th & 40th home runs are last hit at Ebbets Field
1958 - KTVK TV channel 3 in Phoenix, AZ (ABC) begins broadcasting
1958 - US nuclear sub USS Skate remains 31 days under Pole (record)
1959 - Chicago White Sox clinch AL pennant
1960 - Mali (formerly French Sudan) declares independence from France
1961 - Antonio Albertondo (Argentina) at 42, completes 1st "double" crossing swim of English Channel in 43 hrs 10 min
1961 - Jim Gentile's ties record of 5 grand slams in a year
Singer-Songwriter Bob DylanSinger-Songwriter Bob Dylan 1962 - Bob Dylan plays NYC Carnegie Hall
1963 - Czechoslovakian premier Široký deposed by Josef Lenart
1963 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Visalia Ladies' Golf Open
1964 - "Fiddler on the Roof" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 3242 perfs
1964 - "Man from U.N.C.L.E," premieres on NBC-TV
1965 - India & Pakistan ceases-fire goes into effect
1966 - Edward Albee's "Delicate Balance," premieres in NYC
1966 - KMEB TV channel 10 in Wailuku, HI (PBS) begins broadcasting
1966 - Only 413 show up at a Yankee Stadium game
1966 - Orioles beat A's 6-1 to clinch their 1st AL pennant
1966 - Surveyor 2 crashes on Moon
1967 - Phillies release pitcher Dallas Green, their future manager
1967 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1968 - Iraq adopts constitution
1968 - KMTC (now KDEB) TV channel 27 in Springfield, MO (IND) 1st broadcast
1968 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Kings River Golf Open
1968 - Twins' Cesar Tovar pitched a hitless inning & plays all 9 positions
1968 - Zond 5 completes flight
1969 - "Music Scene" debuts on ABC-TV
1969 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1969 - SF Giant Willie Mays, becomes second player to hit 600 home runs
1970 - Pres Nixon requests 1,000 new FBI agents for college campuses
1971 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1972 - Dictator Idi Amin expels 8,000 Asians from Uganda
1973 - "Little Night Music" opens at Majestic Theater on Broadway
1973 - 20th Ryder Cup: US, 19-13 at Muirfield, Scotland
1973 - Balt Oriole Al Bumbry hits 3 triples vs Milwaukee Brewers
1973 - Henry Kissinger, sworn in as America's 1st Jewish Secretary of State
1975 - Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate President Ford in SF Calif
1975 - World Football League folds
38th US President Gerald Ford38th US President Gerald Ford 1975 - 2nd assassination attempt on US President Gerald Ford by Sara Jane Moore fails in San Francisco
1977 - Minn Twin Bert Blyleven no-hits California Angels, 9-0
1977 - Preston Jones' "Texas Trilogy," premieres in NYC
1977 - West German Red Army Faction terrorist kills policeman in Utrecht
1978 - Israeli PM Menachem Begin returns home after Camp David summit
1979 - Israel performs nuclear test at Indian Ocean
1979 - Larry Parrish (Expos) HRs off Rawly Eastwick (Phillies) in DH
1980 - Iraq invades Iran in an attempt to control the Shatt al-Arab waterway
1980 - Iraqi troops seize part of Iran in a border dispute; war begins
1980 - John & Yoko sign a recording contract with Geffin Records
1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor appointed to Supreme Court
1982 - Duleep Mendis completes twin cricket tons for Sri Lanka v India
1982 - SF's cable cars made a final run before closing down for 20-month
1983 - Everly Brothers reunite after 10 years (Royal Albert Hall)
1983 - NASA launches Galaxy-B
Israeli Prime Minister Menachem BeginIsraeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin 1983 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1983 - Zhu Jianhau (China) sets high jump record at 7'9 3/4"
1985 - 37th Emmy Awards: Cagney & Lacey, Cosby Show & Tyne Daly win
1985 - Billy Martin's right arm is broken by pitcher Ed Whitson
1985 - Earthquake strikes Mexico, 2,000 killed
1985 - France premier confesses on attack of Rainbow Warrior
1985 - Rock and country musicians participate in FarmAid in Champaign, Illinois
1985 - Val Skinner wins LPGA Konica San Jose Golf Classic
1985 - St Louis Cardinals set an unusual streak record by winning 9 of 10 games, each pitched by a different man
1985 - The Plaza Accord was signed in New York City.
1986 - 35 countries signs disarmament accord in Stockholm
1986 - India v Australia Test Cricket at Madras finishes in a tie
1986 - LA Dodger Fernando Valenzuela is 1st Mexican to win 20 games
1987 - 2nd regular-season National Football League player strike begins
1987 - Dow-Jones index rises record 75.23 points
1987 - Janet B Evans swims female world record 400m freestyle (4:03.85)
1987 - NFL players go on strike for 24 days
1987 - Red Sox Wade Boggs ties AL record of 200 hits for 5 straight seasons
1988 - Canada begins production of a $5 silver Maple Leaf bullion coin
1988 - South Korean coaches attack NZ referee after disputing his decision, Olympic Korean boxer stages a 67 minute sit-in
1989 - Cards outfielder Leon Durham suspended for 60 days due to drugs
1989 - IRA-bomb kills 10 British marines in Kent
1990 - Saudi Arabia expels many Jordanian & Yemeni envoys
1990 - Andre Dawson steals his 300th base & is only player other than Willie Mays to have 300 HRs, 300 steals & 2,000 hits
1991 - ABN & AMRO Dutch banks merge
1991 - California University makes Dead Sea Scrolls public
1991 - Harry Gant wins NSACAR Goody's 500
1991 - Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula records his 300th career NFL victory
1991 - NY MTA yanks 6,000 ads for "Dr Tusch" (Dr Jeffrey Lavigne)
1991 - Pat Bradley wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1992 - Heavy storm in South France, 34 die
1993 - Nolan Ryan, 46, pitches his last game
1993 - STS-51 (Discovery) lands
Russian President Boris YeltsinRussian President Boris Yeltsin 1993 - Supreme Soviet dismisses president Boris Yeltsin
1993 - A Transair Georgian Airlines Tu-154 is shot down by a missile in Sukhumi, Georgia.
1994 - Rasmussen government in Denmark, resigns
1995 - E-3B AWACS crashed outside of Elmendorf AFB, Alaska after multiple bird strikes to two of the four engines soon after takeoff; all 24 on board killed
1996 - 4th Solheim Cup: US beats Europe 17-11 at St Pierre Wales
1997 - Elton John releases Diana tribute "Candle in the Wind 1997"
1997 - Marv Albert pleads not guilty to sexual charges
1997 - Bentalha massacre in Algeria; over 200 villagers killed.
2003 - David Hempleman-Adams becomes the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an open-air, wicker-basket hot air balloon.
2006 - A German maglev train crashes, killing 23.
2006 - The F-14 Tomcat retires from the United States Navy.
2006 - Hezbollah claims "Divine Victory" over Israel in a massive demonstration in Beirut.
2011 - CERN scientists announce their discovery of neutrinos breaking the speed of light

2012 - 7 pedestrians are killed by a drunk driver who hit a bus stop at 200km an hour in Moscow


1789 - The U.S. Congress authorized the office of Postmaster General.   1792 - The French Republic was proclaimed.   1862 - U.S. President Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It stated that all slaves held within rebel states would be free as of January 1, 1863.   1903 - Italo Marchiony was granted a patent for the ice cream cone.   1914 - Three British cruisers were sunk by one German submarine in the North Sea. 1,400 British sailors were killed. This event alerted the British to the effectiveness of the submarine.   1927 - In Chicago, IL, Gene Tunney successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey in the famous "long-count" fight.   1949 - The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb successfully.   1955 - Commercial television began in Great Britain. The rules said that only six minutes of ads were allowed each hour and there was no Sunday morning TV permitted.   1961 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy signed a congressional act that established the Peace Corps.   1964 - "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." debuted on NBC-TV.   1966 - The U.S. lunar probe Surveyor 2 crashed into the moon.   1969 - Willie Mays hit his 600th career home run.   1980 - A border conflict between Iran and Iraq developed into a full-scale war.   1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan addressed the U.N. General Assembly and voiced a new hope for arms control. He also criticized the Soviet Union for arresting U.S. journalist Nicholas Daniloff.   1988 - Canada's government apologized for the internment of Japanese-Canadian's during World War II. They also promised compensation.   1990 - Saudi Arabia expelled most of the Yememin and Jordanian envoys in Riyadh. The Saudi accusations were unspecific.   1991 - An article in the London newspaper "The Mail" revealed that John Cairncross admitted to being the "fifth man" in the Soviet Union's British spy ring.   1992 - The U.N. General Assembly expelled Yugoslavia for its role in the war between Bosnia and Herzegovina.   1994 - The U.S. upgraded its military control in Haiti.   1998 - The U.S. and Russia signed two agreements. One was to privatize Russia's nuclear program and the other was to stop plutonium stockpiles and nuclear scientists from leaving the country.   1998 - U.S. President Clinton addressed the United Nations and told world leaders to "end all nuclear tests for all time". He then sent the long-delayed global test-ban treaty to the U.S. Senate.   1998 - Keely Smith received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.




1776 Nathan Hale was hanged by the British as a spy during the Revolutionary War. 1789 Congress authorized the office of Postmaster-General. 1792 The French Republic was proclaimed. 1862 President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, proposing to free all slaves of rebel states as of Jan. 1, 1863. 1980 The Persian Gulf conflict between Iran and Iraq erupted into full-scale war. 1989 Songwriter Irving Berlin died in New York City at age 101.


The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

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