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 8, 1974: Ford pardons Nixon
In a controversial executive action, President Gerald Ford pardons his disgraced predecessor Richard Nixon for any crimes he may have committed or participated in while in office. Ford later defended this action before the House Judiciary Committee, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate scandal.
The Watergate scandal erupted after it was revealed that Nixon and his aides had engaged in illegal activities during his reelection campaign--and then attempted to cover up evidence of wrongdoing. With impeachment proceedings underway against him in Congress, Nixon bowed to public pressure and became the first American president to resign. At noon on August 9, Nixon officially ended his term, departing with his family in a helicopter from the White House lawn. Minutes later, Vice President Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States in the East Room of the White House. After taking the oath of office, President Ford spoke to the nation in a television address, declaring, "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over."
Ford, the first president who came to the office through appointment rather than election, had replaced Spiro Agnew as vice president only eight months before. In a political scandal independent of the Nixon administration's wrongdoings in the Watergate affair, Agnew had been forced to resign in disgrace after he was charged with income tax evasion and political corruption. Exactly one month after Nixon announced his resignation, Ford issued the former president a "full, free and absolute" pardon for any crimes he committed while in office. The pardon was widely condemned at the time.
Decades later, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation presented its 2001 Profile in Courage Award to Gerald Ford for his 1974 pardon of Nixon. In pardoning Nixon, said the foundation, Ford placed his love of country ahead of his own political future and brought needed closure to the divisive Watergate affair. Ford left politics after losing the 1976 presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter. Ford died on December 26, 2006, at the age of 93.
Sep 8, 1943: Italian surrender is announced
On this day in 1943, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies. Germany reacted with Operation Axis, the Allies with Operation Avalanche.
With Mussolini deposed from power and the earlier collapse of the fascist government in July, Gen. Pietro Badoglio, the man who had assumed power in Mussolini's stead by request of King Victor Emanuel, began negotiating with Gen. Eisenhower for weeks. Weeks later, Badoglio finally approved a conditional surrender, allowing the Allies to land in southern Italy and begin beating the Germans back up the peninsula. Operation Avalanche, the Allied invasion of Italy, was given the go-ahead, and the next day would see Allied troops land in Salerno.
The Germans too snapped into action. Ever since Mussolini had begun to falter, Hitler had been making plans to invade Italy to keep the Allies from gaining a foothold that would situate them within easy reach of the German-occupied Balkans. On September 8, Hitler launched Operation Axis, the occupation of Italy. As German troops entered Rome, General Badoglio and the royal family fled Rome for southeastern Italy to set up a new antifascist government. Italian troops began surrendering to their former German allies; where they resisted, as had happened earlier in Greece, they were slaughtered (1,646 Italian soldiers were murdered by Germans on the Greek island of Cephalonia, and the 5,000 that finally surrendered were ultimately shot).
One of the goals of Operation Axis was to keep Italian navy vessels out of the hands of the Allies. When the Italian battleship Roma headed for an Allied-controlled port in North Africa, it was sunk by German bombers. In fact, the Roma had the dubious honor of becoming the first ship ever sunk by a radio-controlled guided missile. More than 1,500 crewmen drowned. The Germans also scrambled to move Allied POWs to labor camps in Germany in order to prevent their escape. In fact, many POWS did manage to escape before the German invasion, and several hundred volunteered to stay in Italy to fight alongside the Italian guerillas in the north.
The Italians may have surrendered, but their war was far from over.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
1024 - Duke Koenraad II chosen German king
1141 - -9] Battle of Samarkand: Yelutashi defeats Islams
1156 - Henry II Jasormigott leaves Bavaria
1264 - The Statute of Kalisz, guaranteeing Jews safety and personal liberties and giving battei din jurisdiction over Jewish matters, is promulgated by Boleslaus the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland.
1276 - John XXI elected Pope
1303 - Anagni: French king Philip IV captures Pope Boniface VIII
1331 - Stefan Dušan declares himself king of Serbia
1380 - Battle on Kulikovo: Moscow's great monarch Dimitri beats Mongols beginning the decline of the Tatars
1449 - Battle of Tumu Fortress - Mongolians capture the Chinese emperor.
1504 - Michelangelo's David is unveiled in Florence.
1514 - Battle of Orsha: Polish/Lithuania army defeat the Russian army
1522 - Spanish navigator Juan de Elcano returns to Spain, completes 1st circumnavigation of globe, expedition begins under Ferdinand Magellan
1536 - Earl of Nassau disbands siege of Peronne
1545 - English earl Hertford leads retaliatory mission against Scotland
1553 - City of Lichfield, England forms
1563 - Maximilian chosen king of Hungary
1565 - 1st permanent settlement in US forms (St Augustine, Florida)
1565 - Turkish siege of Malta broken by Maltese & Knights of St John
1628 - Bay of Matanzas Cuba: Piet Heyn captures Spanish silver fleet
Painter MichelangeloPainter Michelangelo 1664 - Dutch surrender New Amsterdam (NY) to 300 English soldiers
1689 - China & Russia signs Treaty of Nertsjinsk (Nierchul)
1713 - Pope Clemens XI publishes degree "Unigenitus" against Jansenism"
1727 - A barn fire during a puppet show in the village of Burwell in Cambridgeshire, England kills 78 people, many of whom are children.
1755 - Battle at Lake George: English army beats France
1756 - French and Indian War: Kittanning Expedition.
1760 - French army gives Montreal to Gen Jeffrey Amherst
1771 - Mission San Gabriel Archangel forms in California
1796 - Battle of Bassano-French beat Austrians
1831 - William IV is crowned King of Great Britain.
1833 - Charles Darwin departs to Buenos Aires
1847 - US under Gen Scott defeat Mexicans at Battle of Molino del Rey
1855 - Crimean war - assault of Malakof Tower under Mac-Mahon)
1858 - Lincoln makes a speech about when you can fool people
1860 - Loss of steamer, "Lady Elgin"
Naturalist Charles DarwinNaturalist Charles Darwin 1863 - -10] Federal troops reconquer the Cumperland Gap, Tennessee
1863 - Battle of Sabine Pass TX: 47 Texas volunteers repel Federal forces
1863 - Battle of Telford's Depot TN
1868 - NY Athletic Club forms
1870 - Neth & Engl sign "Koelietraktaat" Br-Indian contract work in Suriname
1883 - NY Giants score 13 runs in an inning against Phillies
1883 - Northern Pacific RR's last spike driven at Independence Creek, Mont
1888 - In England the first six Football League matches ever are played.
1892 - 1st appearance of "Pledge of Allegiance" (Youth's Companion)
1899 - British government sends an additional 10,000 troops to Natal South Africa
1900 - 6,000 killed when a hurricane & tidal wave strikes Galveston, Texas
1905 - Pittsburgh Pirates strand NL record 18 men on base & lose to Reds 8-3
1907 - Pius X publishes encyclical Pasceni dominici gregis (anti-modernism)
1914 - British trader Oceanic sinks off Scotland
1914 - World War I: Private Thomas Highgate becomes the first British soldier to be executed for desertion during the war.
1915 - Association of Negro Life & History founded
Baseball Great Babe RuthBaseball Great Babe Ruth 1919 - Babe Ruth hits his 26th HR off Jack Quinn in NY, breaking Buck Freeman's 1899 HR mark of 25
1920 - US Air Mail service begins (NYC to SF)
1921 - 1st Miss America crowned (Margaret Gorman of Washington DC)
1921 - Mary Gorman (Wash DC), 16, crowned 1st Miss America [or 9/14]
1923 - Honda Point Disaster: nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven are lost.
1924 - Alexandra Kollontai of Russia becomes 1st woman ambassador
1926 - League of Nations Assembly voted unanimously to admit Germany
1930 - 1st appearance of comic strip "Blondie"
1930 - NYC public schools begin teaching Hebrew
1930 - Richard Drew creates Scotch tape
1933 - Spain's 2nd government of Azaña forms
1934 - 54th US Mens Tennis: Fred Perry beats Wilmer L Allison (64 63 16 86)
1934 - Bradman scores 132 v Leveson-Gower XI, 90 mins, 24 fours 1 six
1934 - Luxury passenger ship Morro Castle for NJ catches fire, 133 die
1935 - Willy de Supervise swims runs world record 200 m freestyle (2:25.2)
1936 - Princess Juliana & German prince Bernard Lippe-Biesterfeld get engaged
1937 - Pan Arab conference about Palestine opens
1937 - Yankees trailing 6-1 in 9th, score 8 to beat Boston 9-6
32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1939 - FDR declares "limited national emergency" due to war in Europe
1939 - Gen Von Reichenaus pantzer division reaches suburbs of Warsaw
1939 - Indians Bob Feller, 20, is youngest pitcher to win 20 games
1939 - Yanks beat Red Sox 4-1 in 7, game called because of lightning
1941 - Blockade of Leningrad (St Petersburg) by Germany begins
1941 - Entire Jewish community of Meretsch, Lithuania is exterminated
1943 - Gen Eisenhower announce unconditional surrender of Italy in WW II
1943 - Italy surrenders to Allies in WWII
1943 - Lt-Gen Bradley flies to Carthago/Algiers Sicily
1943 - NY Giants' pitcher Ace Adams sets record by working in his 62nd game
1944 - 1st V-2 rockets land in London & Antwerp
1944 - Russians march into Bulgaria; Bulgaria declares war on Germany
1944 - World War II: London is hit by a V2 rocket for the first time.
1945 - US invades Japanese-held Korea
1945 - Hideki Tojo, Japanese PM during most of WW II, attempts suicide rather than face war crimes tribunal attempt fails, later he is hanged
1946 - 60th US Womens Tennis: Pauline Betz beats Patricia Canning (119 63)
1946 - 66th US Mens Tennis: Jack Kramer beats Tom Brown Jr (97 63 60)
1946 - Bill Kennedy of Rocky Mount (CPL) strikes out minors record 456
1946 - Bulgaria ends monarchy
1946 - Jack Kramer wins US Tennis Open
1946 - SF 49ers play 1st AAFC game, lose to NY Yankees 21-7
1947 - British government sails "Exodus" with fugitives from Nazis
1948 - British De Havilland 08-fighter flies faster than sound
1951 - Japan signs peace treaty with 48 countries (SF)
1951 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Sempiternus Rex
1952 - 72nd US Mens Tennis: Frank A Sedgman beats Gardnar Mulloy (61 62 63)
1952 - Ernest Hemmingway's "Old Man & Sea" published
1953 - "Carnival in Flanders" opens at New Century Theater NY for 6 perfs
1953 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Fulgeno corona
1954 - With a 3-2 count, Phillies Richie Ashburn fouls next 14, then walks
1954 - Alan Freed leaves Cleveland to NYC for WINS radio
1954 - SE Asia Treaty Org (SEATO) forms to stop communist spread in SE Asia
1955 - Earliest clinching of an NL pennant (Brooklyn Dodgers)
1956 - Harry Belafonte's album "Calypso," goes to #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks
1957 - 77th US Mens Tennis: M J Anderson beats Ashley J Cooper (108 75 64)
1957 - Jackie Wilson, releases his 1st solo single "Reet Petite"
1957 - Pope Pius XII encyclical On motion pictures, radio, TV
1958 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Dallas Golf Open
1958 - Oman turns over Gwadur (on Baluchistan coast) to Pakistan
1958 - Paul Anka opens Asian tour in Tokyo
1959 - The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) is established.
1960 - German DR limits access to East-Berlin for West Berliners
1962 - Chinese troops exceed Mac-Mahon-line (Tibet-India boundary)
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - Last run of the famous Pines Express over the Somerset and Dorset Railway line (UK) fittingly using the last steam locomotive built by British Railways, 9F locomotive 92220 'Evening Star'
1963 - 77th US Womens Tennis: Maria Fraser beats Margaret Smith Court (75 64)
1963 - 83rd US Mens Tennis: R H Osuna beats Frank Froehling III (75 64 62)
1963 - Algerian population accepts constitution
1963 - Braves Warren Spahn ties Christy Mathewson with 13 20-win seasons
1963 - Ines Cuervo de Priete, 34, gives birth to quintuplets, all boys
1963 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Spokane Women's Golf Open
1965 - Hurricane Betsy kills 75 in Louisiana & Florida
1965 - KC A's Bert Campaneris plays all 9 positions in a game
1966 - "Star Trek" premieres on NBC-TV
1966 - "That Girl" starring Marlo Thomas premieres on ABC-TV
1966 - The Severn Bridge is officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
1967 - Surveyor 5 launched; makes soft landing on Moon Sept 10
1967 - Uganda abolishes traditional tribal kingdoms, becomes a republic
1967 - The formal end of steam traction in the North East of England by British Railways.
1968 - "Funny Girl" with Barbra Striesand premieres
1968 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1968 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Pacific Ladies Golf Classic
1968 - Saundra Williams wins 1st Miss Black America pageant
1969 - 2nd US Tennis Open smallest session - 3708 (men's singles final-rain)
1969 - 89th US Mens Tennis: Rodney G Laver beats Tony Roche (79 61 62 62)
1969 - Suleiman Maghrabi appointed premier of Libya
1969 - US amateur Mens Tennis: Stan Smith beats Bob Lutz (97 63 61)
1970 - Hijacking (and subsequent destruction) of three airliners to Jordan by Palestinians; the events to follow would later become known as Black September
1971 - John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts opens in Washington DC
1972 - Chic Cub Ferguson Jenkins wins his 20th game for 6th straight year
1972 - Jim Ryan (US) & Billy Fordjour (Ghana) collide & fall in qualifying competitions for 1,500m finals, ending Ryan's chances for gold
1973 - 87th US Womens Tennis: M S Court beats E Goolagong Cawley (76 57 62)
1973 - Billy Martin named manager of Texas Rangers
Baseball Player Hank AaronBaseball Player Hank Aaron 1973 - Hank Aaron sets record of most HRs in 1 league (709)
1973 - Rebecca Ann King (Colo), 23, crowned 46th Miss America 1974
1973 - "Star Trek - Animated Series" premieres on TV
1974 - 88th US Womens Tennis: Billie J King beats Evonne Goolagong (36 63 75)
1974 - 94th US Mens Tennis: Jimmy Connors beats Ken Rosewall (61 60 61)
1974 - Ian Thompson wins marathon (2:13:18.8)
1974 - Joanne Carner wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open
1974 - Pres Gerald Ford pardons former Pres R Nixon of all federal crimes
1975 - Boston begins court ordered busing of public schools
1975 - Guinee-Bissau declares independence from Portugal
1976 - Fons Rademakers' film "Max Havelaar" premieres in Amsterdam
1977 - Interpol sends a resolution concerning video piracy
1977 - Jimmy McCullough quits Wings
1978 - 2nd game of Boston Massacre; Yanks beat Red Sox 13-2
1978 - Irani army shoots on Khomeini followers in Teheran, 100s killed
1979 - Cheryl Prewitt (Miss), 22, crowned 52nd Miss America 1980
1979 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1980 - Bowie Kuhn suspends Ferguson Jenkins indefinitely due to drug arrest
1982 - Dutch social dem party wins elections, fascist enters Dutch parliament
1983 - NASA launches RCA-6
1984 - 98th US Womens Tennis: M Navratilova beats Chris E L Mills (46 64 64)
1984 - Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS 41G mission
1985 - "USA Weekend's" 1st issue, appears in 255 newspapers
Tennis Player John McEnroeTennis Player John McEnroe 1985 - 105th US Mens Tennis: Ivan Lendl beats John McEnroe (76 63 64)
1985 - 7 die in a car & train crash in San Jose Calif
1985 - Alayson Gibbons sets 24 hr women swim record of 42.05 mi in 25 m pool
1985 - Discovery flies back to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB
1985 - Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Portland Ping Golf Championship
1985 - Pete Rose ties Ty Cobb with 4,191 hits
1986 - Westinghouse sells Muzak
1987 - Emmy News & Documentaries Award presentation
1988 - Emmy News & Documentaries Award presentation
1988 - Javier Sotomayer of Cuba high jumps world record 2.43m
1988 - NL pres Bart Giamatti is unanimously elected baseball's 7th commish
1989 - George Brett gets his 2,500th hit
1989 - Mausoleum of Beatrice of Brabant (1288) discovered in Kortrijk Belgium
1989 - Norwegian Convair 580 crashes at Jutland in sea (55 murder)
1990 - 104th US Womens Tennis: Gabriela Sabatini beats Steffi Graf (62 76)
Tennis Player Steffi GrafTennis Player Steffi Graf 1990 - Ellis Island Historical Site opens on Ellis Island NYC
1991 - 111th US Mens Tennis: Stefan Edberg beats Jim Courier (62 64 60)
1991 - Buffalo Bill Jim Kelly passes for 6 touchdowns vs Pitts (52-34)
1991 - Macedonia votes for independence from Yugoslavia
1991 - Michelle Estill wins Ping-Cellular One LPGA Golf Championship
1991 - Republic of Macedonia becomes independent.
1992 - Danny Tartabull has 9 RBIs as Yanks beat Orioles 16-4
1992 - Howard Stern Radio Show begins broadcasting in Dallas (KGEL-FM 97.1)
1993 - Baseball's proposed switch to a three-division format OKed in AL
1993 - Cheek Junxia wins world record ladies 10 km (29:31.78)
1993 - Houston's Darryl Kile throws 3rd no-hitter of season in 7-1 over Mets
1994 - "Philadelphia, Here I Come" opens at Criterion NYC for 52 perfs
1994 - Last US, British & French troops leave West-Berlin
1994 - MTV awards feature newlyweds Michael Jackson & Lisa Marie Presley
1994 - Man shoots another man on IRT #4 train at Grand Central Station
Princess of Rock and Roll Lisa Marie PresleyPrincess of Rock and Roll Lisa Marie Presley 1994 - USAir Boeing 737 crashes at Pitts Airport, killing all 132 on board
1995 - Cleveland Indians clinch 1st AL Central Division title
1996 - "7 Guitars" closes at Walter Kerr Theater NYC
1996 - 110th US Womens Tennis: Steffi Graf beats Monica Seles (75 64)
1996 - 116th US Mens Tennis: Pete Sampras beats Michael Chang (61 64 76)
1996 - 48th Emmy Awards: ER, Dennis Franz & Kathy Baker wins
1996 - Dottie Pepper wins Safeway LPGA title
1996 - Men's championship at US Tennis Open
1996 - Ping-Cellular One LPGA Golf Championship
1996 - Sri Lanka defeat Australia to win Singer World Series at Colombo
1999 - United States Attorney General Janet Reno names former Senator John Danforth to head an independent investigation of the 1993 fire at the Branch Davidian church near Waco, Texas in response to revelations in the film Waco: The Rules of Engagement contradicting the official government stories.
2002 - Texas Rangers set a major league record by homering in their 26th consecutive game as Texas falls to the Tampa Bay
2004 - The NASA unmanned spacecraft Genesis crash-lands when its parachute fails to open.
2005 - Two EMERCOM Il-76 aircraft land at a disaster aid staging area at Little Rock Air Force Base; the first time Russia has flown such a mission to North America.
2012 - 6 people are killed by a Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan
2012 - 8 people are killed after a tractor is hut by a train in Romania
1565 - A Spanish expedition established the first permanent European settlement in North America at present-day St. Augustine, FL. 1664 - The Dutch surrendered New Amsterdam to the British, who then renamed it New York. 1866 - The first recorded birth of sextuplets took place in Chicago, IL. The parents were James and Jennie Bushnell. 1892 - An early version of "The Pledge of Allegiance" appeared in "The Youth's Companion." 1893 - In New Zealand, the Electoral Act 1893 was passed by the Legislative Council. It was consented by the governor on September 19 giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote. 1935 - U.S. Senator Huey P. Long, "The Kingfish" of Louisiana politics, was shot and mortally wounded. He died two days later. 1945 - In Washington, DC, a bus equipped with a two-way radio was put into service for the first time. 1945 - Bess Myerson of New York was crowned Miss America. She was the first Jewish contestant to win the title. 1951 - A peace treaty with Japan was signed by 48 other nations in San Francisco, CA. 1952 - The Ernest Hemingway novel "The Old Man and the Sea" was published. 1960 - NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, was dedicated by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The facility had been activated in July earlier that year. 1966 - NBC-TV aired the first episode of "Star Trek" entitled "The Man Trap". The show was canceled on September 2, 1969. 1971 - In Washington, DC, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was inaugurated. The opening featured the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass." 1973 - Hank Aaron hit his 709th home run. 1974 - U.S. President Ford granted an unconditional pardon to former U.S. President Nixon. 1975 - In Boston, MA, public schools began their court-ordered citywide busing program amid scattered incidents of violence. 1986 - Herschel Walker made his start in the National Football League (NFL) after leaving the New Jersey Generals of the USFL. 1997 - America Online acquired CompuServe. 1998 - Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals) hit his 62nd home run of the season. He had beaten a record that had stood for 37 years by Roger Maris. McGwire would eventually reach 70 home runs on September 27. 1999 - Russia's Mission Control switched off the Mir space station's central computer and other systems to save energy during a planned six months of unmanned flights.
1900 A hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, killing about 8,000 people. 1935 Louisiana Senator Huey P. Long, "The Kingfish," was shot and mortally wounded by Dr. Carl Austin Weiss, Jr. 1951 The San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed, formally ending World War II hostilities with Japan. 1952 Ernest Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea was published. 1966 Star Trek premiered on television. 1974 President Gerald Ford gave former President Nixon a full pardon for all federal crimes he may have committed while he was in office. 1998 Mark McGwire's 62nd home run broke Roger Maris's record of 61 homers set in 1961.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
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