Monday, September 30, 2024

A Visit to Robben Island




Robben Island is famous for being the place where Mandela was jailed for 18 years. 

In some ways,  it almost reminded me of concentration camps in Europe. While it was not so extreme as a death camp,  it nevertheless has a similarly somber place. 

Of course, there is a good reason for this. After all, this was a place where people were taken into isolation and specifically made to suffer. So while it wasn't quite as extreme as the Nazi concentration camps were,  it nevertheless was still in the same ballpark. 

Our guide was a former inmate. However, he did not serve time here while Mandela was still a prisoner.

During our visit,  the weather was cold and miserable.

Somehow,  this felt fitting. 


















Happy 100th Birthday, Mr. President: A Tribute to Jimmy Carter, a True American Hero

 



With all that was going on lately, I forgot two important posts that I usually like to do on the first two days of October. So, even though both of these are a little late, here is my attempt to remedy that, and honor two of the greatest and most charitable individuals who impacted the 20th century, and beyond. The first is Gandhi, the second is Jimmy Carter.


I have written about Jimmy Carter on this blog before, more than once. Always admiringly, for that matter.

Well, on the morning when I wrote this, while driving home in the morning, there was an interesting piece on NPR about President Carter, although in this story, the focus was on how a bunny sunk Carter's Presidency.

There were some funny moments, including a song that actually made me chuckle, although I certainly do not think that it should have contributed quite so strongly to his election loss.

Nonetheless, the past is the past, and history is meant to be known and understood, not altered. So, complimentary or (in this case) not, I thought it would be as good a story to share as any, in the spirit of President's Day.

President Carter is one of the most accomplished and revered Americans alive today! He is a universal symbol for hope and honesty throughout the world today. He won the Presidential election of 1976 and, during his inauguration, became the first President to actually get out of the limousine and walk the route - a tradition that most of his successors have followed in. As President of the United States, he played a very important part in brokering the first major breakthrough peace deal in the Middle East - something we could use as an example today! he negotiated the treaty that gave the Panama Canal back to Panama. He did some things that cost him, too, but which we would surely have been for as a nation had we heeded his advice, such as his emphasis on investing on alternative energy so we could break our reliance on foreign oil. Of course, the hostage crisis hurt him politically, and ultimately probably killed any chance of his being re-elected, yet he worked tirelessly to bring them home, working straight through the night on the last day of his presidency to score one final success, just before leaving office (although popular perception often had it that Reagan was credited for it). After Carter left the White House (broke), he founded The Carter Center, which has taken an active part in working the world over to try and improve living conditions where needed by allowing villages to access clean water where they could not before, educating people and combatting diseases. Carter is also well known for his work with Habitat for Humanity, helping build homes for the poor (and that, on his spare time!). His tireless energy towards trying to make the world a better place also extended to traveling to troubled spots all over the world to monitor elections and negotiate for peaceful solutions to crises, as he helped do in Haiti in 1994. he is the only American member of the elite group known as The Elders, which was founded by the late Nelson Mandela. Finally, he was awarded the much deserved Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for all of these things, and more! Better late than never!  Of course, he also is known for being quite vocal in his criticisms of Presidents since, whether they are Democrat or Republican, and he had never shied away from trouble (not for trouble's sake, but always to fight what he at least believes is a worthy and good fight!). Anyone who saw "The Man From Plains", a documentary about the controversy surrounding his book tour for "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid" knows that! No, he has never shied from speaking his mind, and while this has indeed generated considerable controversy at times, he has always tried to use it to advance a sincere desire for peace and the betterment of humanity in general. 

Here's the thing, though: I do believe that Jimmy Carter was the most underrated President in history. He not only saw a future beyond the next election cycle, which is a rare quality in politicians, but he also actually tried to prepare his country for that distant future, even though it was not popular. That is even rarer - extremely rare, and shows that he is a man of true character. He argued his case, and warned what the nation would be facing if action was not taken. But he was strongly rebuked by the voting public. Most symbolic of this was his Energy Speech, which was one of two truly famous speeches for which President Carter is best known.

The other speech is the so-called "Malaise Speech", which many people view in a negative light nowadays, but which, if you read this article, actually boosted his ratings at the time. People liked the speech, and liked the idealism within it.

And I agree. In both speeches, he truly diagnosed what was wrong with America, and history has shown that he was not only right in his diagnosis, but right in his proposed remedies, and we are now trying to play catch up. To my mind's eye, that makes him somewhat of a visionary, and sometimes, I wished that he had somehow won the  1980 election and gotten a chance to further implement the changes that he saw as necessary for the betterment of the country, particularly for the future. If we had done as he was then proposing, investing in alternative energies, and trying not to be as wasteful a society as we have been, and if we tried to recognize our moral failings, our collective "malaise" if you will, maybe, indeed, we would be in a better place now.

But, alas, history cannot be changed. Obviously, he lost that election, and by a landslide. Yet, he continued to represent America in the most positive light, remaining involved in any and every way that he could, to strive for what Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature". He was active in Habitat for Humanity. His Carter Center was active in areas of conflict the world over, trying always to find a peaceful solution, or to help people live better and healthier lives, eradicating diseases, and ensuring fair elections. When you hear him talk, and you read his body language, there is a sincerity there that, again, is rare indeed for politicians, which suggests that he was almost a sort of aberration. 

Somehow, this man did become President. And as such, he represented the best that America had to offer. He was ahead of his time, though, and I don't think Americans were ready for him at the time. He was not perfect, so all of the world's problems fell on his shoulders, it seemed. And, of course, he lost his bid for re-election. But I for, one, am proud to say that I appreciate President Jimmy Carter for what he did, and what he represented, during and after his Presidency. 

In any case, here is the link to the article that got me started on President Carter in the first place:



How Jimmy Carter's Face-Off with a Rabbit Changed the Presidency Monday, February 17, 2014:

http://www.wnyc.org/story/hare-brained-history-curious-case-jimmy-carter-v-rabbit/

Here are two links to his "Malaise Speech", and background:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/carter-crisis/



http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/carter-crisis-speech/




Here are two links to his energy speech, and background:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/carter-energy/



http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/bonus-video/presidents-economy-carter/



Finally, here is a link to his Inuagural Address:

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=6575




I wrote this last year, which itself was a reposting from the previous year. The focus, obviously, is on Jimmy Carter, and it seemed appropriate to add it to this blog entry. So, here it is:



This is an entry that was titled "Fresh Faith In The Old Dream: A Tribute To President Jimmy Carter", which I published on November 4, 2012. I did not publish this on Jimmy Carter's birthday, Which would have been more appropriate, but think that I actually wrote this in October of 2012, and just did not get around to publishing it until November. Probably because that was Presidential election time, and I thought it would be timely. So, here was that original post. Below that, I will post the bit from History.com about his birthday, and below that, the speech that Jimmy Carter gave on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech earlier this year. Can you tell that I am an admirer of Carter? Simply stated, I believe that he is perhaps the best living embodiment of the best that America has to offer, frankly.





So, here was the post from 2012:






This probably would have been more timely on the first of this month, for President Carter's birthday. He turns 90 this year!

Still, the timing of this, though it could have been better, still is not all that bad. Recently, the Nobel prizes were big news, as a new round of them were rewarded. This happens to be the ten year anniversary of Jimmy Carter being rewarded the Nobel prize for peace (and unlike the sitting President, Jimmy Carter actually earned his Nobel). Also, this is the season of the Presidential elections, and so it seemed appropriate, somehow, to honor my favorite ex-President. Jimmy Carter first won election on November 2, 1976. He lost his re-election bid on November 4, 1980 (thirty-two years ago today). Now, we are two days away from voting yet again for the President for the next four years, either by collectively re-electing Obama, or voting in Romney as the new President. So, honoring another President from another era is timely, I think. Particularly since, to mention the current President yet again, Obama is often being compared to Jimmy Carter. Whether or not that is a fair comparison (and I mean that on several levels) is not as clear. But on this eve of another monumental Presidential election, it seemed somehow appropriate (to me).

That said, I personally think that the comparisons are just a Republican scheme to win an election, by linking the no longer so popular Obama with Jimmy Carter, who they claim was a failed President. It is an argument created and fomented in order to score political points, but hardly qualifies as an informed, let alone objective, analysis of those years. We cannot view Jimmy Carter, or his Presidency, strictly through the eyes of political opportunism, or we miss something. Perhaps the same can be said of virtually any President or world leader, and/or the times that saw them leading their land.

Also, and here this is just personal opinion, but Obama does not warrant any real comparisons to Jimmy Carter, because, simply put, he does not compare. That may sound harsh, but I still do not believe that Obama has done enough to prove himself. Jimmy Carter, while President, spoke about specific things that he felt we needed to do for a brighter future decades on down the line. It was very unpopular, and surely contributed to his re-election loss in 1980. Obama, although also unpopular, has not done much to go against the grain of popular political thinking. He clearly like poll numbers and the possibility of being reelected, but he has not shown the ability, in my opinion, to do what is best for the country, even at the expense of his own political ambitions. Maybe, if he gets a second term, that might change. Maybe. We shall see, if he gets re-elected.

Let me also be clear on one more topic: Jimmy Carter actually earned his Nobel Peace Prize for a lifetime commitment to peace and trying to make the world a better place, while Obama won his coming off the tidal wave of popularity in 2008 that saw him sweep into power here in the United States. He won an election, and was essentially given the Nobel Peace Prize for it was like he was being handed everything, and I, for one, felt that felt cheapened the award, as well as Obama himself. Since taking office, Obama has failed to closed Guantanamo, or even to put an effective end to the torture debate in the United States. He claims he will not resort to it personally, but he is a politician. Even if he does not, he certainly allowed for the possibility of a succeeding President being able to use those kinds of things. He brags about killing Osama bin Laden, and also speaks openly about drone attacks. He did not hesitate to bomb Libya, and claimed to have ended the war in Iraq, although tens of thousands of troops remained there (something that seemed to me a bit reminiscent of Bush's "Mission Accomplished" gaffe, just another political gimmick). He openly spoke in 2008 about expanding the war in Afghanistan, and made good on that promise. Also, he passed the NDAA, which in effect, gives the President the power to suspend habeas corpus. Once again, he gave reassurances that he himself would not use those powers, but he clearly made it easier for a future President to abuse those privileges. Now, if someone wants to, they can break down those things individually and makes arguments, or excuses, for why he did those things that he did. It is all politics, and he had to do some things to show he was tough, some things perhaps were political compromises. I understand all of that. But ultimately, if you take those things collectively, it does not make him exceptional, and certainly, does not make him worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize. Where were his tireless efforts to negotiate some Mideast Peace treaty, like Carter managed to do, seemingly against impossible odds? Can anyone tell me, truly, what he did to earn the Nobel Peace Prize? I'm sorry, but his "winning" it in 2008 cheapened the award. Period. it was just politics, with the endorsement of a popular new President who was not George W. Bush. But that alone does not a Nobel Peace Prize make.

Although what Carter said might not have been popular at the time, I bet, if Americans really understood then what they increasingly are coming to understand now all these years later - especially now, in the aftermath of yet another disaster, when gas prices, which have escalated in price beyond all reasonable projections from his time in office, are so astronomically high, yet expected only to rise further, when we have fought numerous wars for oil, and when every President since Carter has also paid lip service to achieving America's energy independence, yet none seem to find a way to do it. Few, in fact, have even seriously tried. But Carter was serious and, if the American people had also been serious about it, we would have had a thirty plus year head start, and likely, would have gone much farther than we have thus far in actually achieving it. I cannot help but wonder how much better the country, and perhaps the world, might have been had we actually followed up on that then. But, since we seem intent on learning lessons the hard way, we are really only beginning to learn all of that now, aren't we? But we can only blame ourselves, because despite many Americans perceptions that Carter pointed the finger of blame  at anyone but himself, the truth of the matter is that Americans pointed their finger of blame at him, rather unfairly. In fact, he was a serious man who was trying to come up with serious solutions, and we certainly could have done worse than to take him seriously and at least give him a chance.

Instead, we chose worse, and we got what we paid for, so to speak. We did not want to sacrifice voluntarily then, so now, changes are being forced upon us, and we have to learn to adapt.

But he is man who tried to show us a better way, and here, I want to pay homage to him.

So, here I will write my tribute to Jimmy Carter.

I do this because it is my belief that he was perhaps the most underrated President in history, and that had the American people been more patient and, frankly, responsible at that time, we would not be in the mess that we find ourselves presently. Certainly, I don't think that we would have found ourselves in multiple wars involving an oil rich region, started by a President who got rich off of oil (as did numerous prominent members of his administration), and who, with no trace of irony or hypocrisy in his demeanor, once said that America was addicted to oil. As if we needed him to point that out. As if Bush actually did anything about it, to break our addiction or improve the situation.

Now, had we listened to President Carter, and if we had actually followed up on that and seriously tried to do at least some of what he was suggesting, this nation would be far better off now then it presently is. Americans today, blinded by their own perceptions of themselves, and be their sense of superiority, judge Jimmy Carter for what he was not able to control - most obviously the Iran hostage situation. But I will go so far as to say that history will judge that very American sentiment - some might call it arrogance - that instead turned to his successors to bring the illusion of a superpower that had everything, the whole world really, under it's control. That selfish, blind, and presumptuous desire is the main reason that we are in the huge mess (or perhaps series of messes) that we now find ourselves under, and which has at least partially buried much of the high standard that this nation used to enjoy in it's glory days.

The common consensus for many Americans in regards to Jimmy Carter follows along these lines, roughly: he is a very decent man and does a lot of good, both here and abroad, but he was a lousy President.

Not everyone would agree with this assessment. There may be some truth to this claim. Of course, some true cynics would suggest that Carter is not such a decent guy at all, but whatever most people think of his Presidency, it is probably safe to say that those who think so poorly of Carter are in the tiny minority.

The years under President Carter were difficult and tumultuous years. The United States, under President Richard Nixon, had needed to come to terms with two sobering chapters in it's history - Vietnam and Watergate. There had been a major energy crisis in 1973, and America also had to adjust, and rather suddenly, with the seemingly sobering idea of being more reliant than they were comfortable with on foreign oil, given the greater reliance on oil imports from foreign lands - particularly the Middle East. That was what Jimmy Carter walked into on that day when he took the oath of office, just before becoming the first President to get out of the limousine and walk the mile and a half or so to the White House, which was to become the new home for the Carters for the next four years.

Initially, approval ratings for the Carter Presidency were quite high. His walking along the parade route, as well as wearing a more common suit, rather than an expensive, tailored one, seemed to make him moe approachable, more of an every man.

But that did not last for too long.

President Carter is remembered most specifically for two speeches. The energy speech, and the so-called "malaise speech". He was criticized for both speeches but, even years and years later, he said that he could not really find anything wrong with them, particularly with the "malaise speech". He was making some points, and the speeches were as strong a way of making those points as possible.

Still, he was chastised, much like President Obama is chastised these days, for allegedly blaming others, for finger pointing, and never accepting the fault for things when they went wrong. Yet, the fact of the matter is that those who created problems that would need to be dealt with sometime in the future should not get away with it scot free, simply because they are no longer in power. When, for example, it is said today that we cannot afford the Bush tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest among us, it indeed is not Obama that should be blamed, but Bush and his team - as well as the American people who supported them.

I never understood that, of course, because frankly, most problems do not just suddenly pop up, but in fact, do have origins years and sometimes decades earlier than when they really hit the fan, so to speak. Yet, for a nation with apparently short-term memory, and with a nation that seems to feel entitled to instant results, trying to explain this does no good. Might as well talk to a brick wall.

But that is not Carter's fault. I don't really know that it's anybody's fault in particular, although I have more respect for Jimmy Carter, who was willing to speak frankly and tell the nation what would happen in the future, if they did not take steps to take control over their own addictions, than for the man who succeeded him, who knew how to deliver before a camera, and was willing and able to flash his winning smile and tell America what it wanted to hear, rather than what it needed to hear. The 1980 election was not so much about a failed presidency, as it was style over substance. Jimmy Carter had substance, and really thought about the predicaments that faced the nation, and he tried at least to come up with real solutions. Perhaps people did not like the solutions that he came up with (and again, it seems to me that it was because they could not be bothered to so much as lift a finger to sacrifice anything to make our situation more workable in the long term), and so they rejected him. But Reagan offered nothing in terms of long-term solutions himself. He was the consummate politician, although many people would think it blasphemy to suggest such a thing. he was a handsome and recognizable face, who could act the part of a warm father (or maybe Grandfatherly) figure. He could smile before the cameras and tell you that things are okay, that whatever the problems America is facing, he believed it's best days were ahead of it, although he himself did numerous things to assure that the best days were, in fact, behind it. Reagan offered style, at a time when Americans were increasingly turning to style over substance, to mindless consumerism and selfishness over sacrificing in order to do what was best for the nation. Perhaps, the 1980 election was the turning point in the history of the United States, when America became too inward looking, and took the first step down an inevitable path that saw America lose much of it's muster.

I would argue that, in this case, it was the American people that were wrong. At least as wrong as they assumed Jimmy Carter to be, in any case. They failed the leader that they had elected. Failed to listen to his prognostications, which turned out, in fact, to be accurate.

We are all still paying the price for it, collectively. We as a nation would have been better off had we followed the directions of our elected leader, and had we been able to curb our own selfish desires in order to think about what is truly best for the country.

Instead, we chose someone who had a handsome face and a magnetic smile, and could deliver some good conservative soundbites in his speeches, although his policies were far often neither conservative nor liberal, but the first seeds of a very elitist corporate agenda that has come to seem more obvious now, all these years (even decades) later.

Carter was best known for two speeches: the Energy policy speech, where he asked Americans to sacrifice until the United States could achieve energy independence, after Mideast turmoil had compromised American stability. The other speech was the "Crisis in Confidence" speech, often also known as the "malaise speech".

Listen to them now, or read their words. Watch it on Youtube, and see if those words do not resonate with our times, if his dire  predictions for what lay ahead for the nation if they did not face the problem head on then and there have not come true. Is such a visionary truly a failure, as modern day politicians would have you believe? Or is the truth, perhaps, that we should reexamine this man and his Presidency, to see what he saw, to understand what he obviously already grasped back then?

Carter's Presidency came during troubled times, of course. When people think back to those times, they remember first and foremost the American hostages taken in Iran, and they blame Carter's approach as ineffective. Yet, it as him, not Reagan, who brought the hostages back home, although many seem to still feel that it was Reagan who brought them back since, technically, Carter was no longer President (for mere minutes) when the hostages were finally freed.

As Carter's Presidency ended, he could have gone into retirement mode, and perhaps lived out his days working on his swing on some sunny golf course or other. Most would not have blamed him.

Instead, he devoted himself entirely to the purpose of trying to do his part to improve the world in any way that he could. Thus, the Carter Center, and his own personal, tireless efforts to bring about the most positive change that he could to see things through. To make the world a better place in any way that he could. To this end, he personally traveled to distant places in the world to help fight diseases and grinding poverty, to help bring education, and to help give the people a voice in fair elections. Often times, he put himself in personal danger, yet his commitment has never wavered. Americans should feel proud to have such a universally respected and revered man representing them. Shame on any who would try to cast aspersions on him for political gain.

Jimmy Carter has been a lot of things in his life. A white boy in a segregated land where white domination was the socially accepted norm, as well as the law of the land. He grew up to be a man who fought against that kind of segregation and racism. He became a naval officer, and a peanut farmer. Eventually, yes, he became a politician, and reached the office of Governor of Georgia, before being a dark horse candidate for President who worked both hard and smart and snuck up on everyone to take a lead and to surprise many in taking the Democratic nomination, and then eventually going on to win the Presidency itself. He was then the 39th President of the United States, and enjoyed some notable successes while in office, although his achievements are often overlooked because of his low approval ratings, and the events that seemed to loom over his Presidency, as well, of course, as the fact that he lost his bid for re-election. Still, he did not go silently into the night, although he had every right to. He went on to be more active than ever in the wake of his Presidency, and became a prolific author, as well as a beacon of hope. He tirelessly gave of himself with efforts to make the world a better place, whether it was with Habitat for Humanity, or with the Carter Center, or even officially working with the government to negotiate peaceful settlements in potential looming conflicts, as he did in Haiti and North Korea. Now, Carter is a member of "The Elders", an independent group who, like the Carter Center, try and work towards bettering humanity in general. It was founded by Nelson Mandela, and also features another South African, the former archbishop Desmond Tutu, who serves as the Chair for the Elders. Other members include Kofi Annan, Martti Ahtisaari,Ela Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahmini, Graca Michel, Fernando Cardosa, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and Mary Robinson. Jimmy Carter is the only American member of the distinguished group, which is quite the privilege.

He still remains active, even if outspoken. Often criticized for being outspoken, but I certainly understand and agree with his approach: if you are a patriot, why wouldn't you speak out on what you believe? If the sitting President, a successor of yours, is doing something that you do not agree with, why not criticize? No one seemed to criticize Reagan too loudly when he was critical of Clinton in the early years of his Presidency, so why all of the fuss when Carter is critical of, say, George W. Bush? When he was critical of Reagan, it was seen as sour grapes. But should he have kept his mouth shut, because some people feel that it is the socially acceptable thing to do, that an ex-President criticizing a sitting President is somehow taboo? Again, if he cares enough about the country (and I have no doubt that Jimmy Carter does) then why the silence?

Carter grew up in a different America than the one that exists now. Not all of it was better, but certainly, it can be said that not all of it was worse, either. He believed that the nation could improve, and worked hard to bring about those improvements that he felt it could make. He is still working towards those ends, although now, the United States is a vastly different nation. The technological innovations, of which Jimmy Carter was a part in working with the nuclear submarine program, have radically changed the face of the country and, indeed, the world. Conveniences, and even luxuries, are more readily available to us here in the West, and even in much of the underdeveloped world. it can be argued that progress is being made in the underdeveloped world, and here, Carter to, has been very active. Yet, the world is also a much scarier place than it probably was when Carter was a child, growing up in Plains, Georgia, or as an adult before and after World War II. It is even a very different place than it was when he assumed the Presidency. There are more people competing in a world that seems at times to be shrinking. Everything seems to be growing more and more expensive. These changes have also been reflected in politics, as well, where money is everything, and everywhere. Again, not all of the changes are necessarily good, or welcome. Yet, they are the reality.

So, I try and adhere to Carter's "fresh faith in the old dream" notion. I also will echo more words from his Inaugural Address as well, when he mentioned the words of a teacher of his, who said, "We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles."

Many may overlook Carter, may dismiss him, or his Presidency. But I think we can do worse than to study this time and his approach, because he was a man who had some answers. Answers that we, as Americans, rejected at the time, but which have proven to have a lasting quality to them that, in essence, have lent them a prophetic quality. Carter advocated a different approach towards new problems, and that was over three decades ago! Now, those new problems have grown old, and we are only now coming around to trying it out his way. Time has proven him right, yet no one wants to talk about it.

So, this tribute was my attempt to remedy that. Today, I honor Jimmy Carter, a President that we can all be proud of, on the eve of our electing, or re-electing, a President who is much more politics as usual, one way or the other. Romney likens Obama to Carter, trying to throw both in the trash can. But Barrack Obama is no Jimmy Carter. Neither is Mitt Romney, for that matter. In fact, truth be told, neither of them deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Carter. They have not earned the accolades, like Carter has.

It was a decade ago that Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize, and it was well-deserved. He did not do it alone, yet, he was obviously the main impetus behind the efforts that saw him eventually win this award. It is to this man's honor that he was so distinguished, and it is to this nation's honor that such a man as this has come to represent the nation, and embody it's most positive qualities.


Here is the piece from History.com today on Jimmy Carter's birthday. You can find the link at:




Oct 1, 1924: Jimmy Carter is born



On this day in 1924, future President James Earl Carter is born in Plains, Georgia. Carter, who preferred to be called "Jimmy," was the son of a peanut farmer and was the first president to be born in a hospital. Carter was raised a devoted Southern Baptist and graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1946. He married Rosalynn Smith later that year.  





After graduation, Carter served in the Navy’s new nuclear submarine program and was looking forward to a career in the Navy when his father passed away in 1953. The Carters dutifully returned to Georgia and took over the family farm. Back in Plains, Carter became involved in local politics, serving first on the school board and working his way up to a seat on the George State Planning Commission. In 1962, he was elected to the George Senate and, nine years later, he became governor.  





A liberal Democrat, Carter launched a campaign against Republican presidential incumbent Gerald Ford in 1974, when the American electorate was still reeling from the Vietnam War, which ended in 1973, and former President Richard Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate scandal. Ford, who assumed office immediately upon Nixon’s resignation in 1974, pardoned his former boss, enraging many who thought Nixon should have had to stand trial. Carter’s "Washington outsider" persona helped him win the White House in 1976.  





Carter’s tenure as president was most notable for his alternative-energy policies, racial-equality programs and friendly overtures toward Russia. He was instrumental in brokering a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt and signed an arms-reduction treaty with the Soviet Union (SALT II). These triumphs, however, were overshadowed by his inability to lead the nation out of a crippling energy crunch caused by the OPEC oil embargo of 1973.  





On top of his administration’s failure to effectively combat the energy crisis, which in turn contributed to rapidly rising inflation, Carter’s administration was forced to deal with another crisis. In 1979, an Islamist student group in Iran stormed the U.S. embassy in Teheran, holding 70 Americans hostage for 444 days. Carter’s failure to secure the release of the hostages, the ongoing recession and a growing movement toward conservatism in America contributed to Carter’s loss to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential campaign.





The Carters have since stayed active in national and international affairs. In 1982, they founded the Carter Center in Atlanta to advocate for human rights and to alleviate "unnecessary human suffering" around the world. Since 1984, the Carters have given their time each year to build homes and raise awareness of homelessness with the international charitable organization Habitat for Humanity. In 2002, Carter won the prestigious Nobel Prize for his efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights and to promote economic and social development.  





Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter live in Plains, Georgia, where the former president can still sometimes be found teaching a Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church.









Finally, here is the entire text of the speech that he gave earlier this year, which I first posted on August 29, 2013 ("Speeches at the 50th anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream"), which itself was taken from the link: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/08/28/carter-clinton-praise-mlk-at-50th-anniversary-event/?mod=WSJBlog

President Jimmy Carter's Speech:

Well, I’m greatly honored to be here. And I realize that most people know that it’s highly unlikely that any of us three over on my right would have served in the White House or be on this platform had it not been for Martin Luther King Jr. and his movement and his crusade for civil rights. So we are grateful to him for us being here. (Applause.)

I’m also proud that I came from the same part of the South as he did. He never lost contact with the folks back home. He was helping Tennessee garbage workers, as you know, when he gave his life to a racist bullet.

I remember how it was, back in those days. I left Georgia in 1943 for college and the Navy. And when I came home from submarine duty, I was put on the Board of Education. I suggested to the other members that we visit all the schools in the county. They had never done this before, and they were reluctant to go with me.

But we finally did it, and we found that white children had three nice brick buildings, but the African-American children had 26 different elementary schools in the county. They were in churches, in front living rooms and a few in barns. They had so many because there were no school buses for African-American children, and they had to be within walking distance of where they went to class. Their schoolbooks were outdated and worn out, and every one of them had a white child’s name in the front of the book.

We finally obtained some buses. And then the state legislature ordained that the front fenders be painted black. Not even the school buses could be equal to each other.

One of the finest moments of my life was 10 months after Dr. King’s famous speech right here, when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. I was really grateful when the King family adopted me as their presidential candidate in 1976. (Cheers.) Every handshake from Dr. King, from Daddy King, every hug from Coretta got me a million Yankee votes. (Laughter.)

Daddy King prayed at the Democratic Convention — for quite a while, I might say — (laughter) — and Coretta was in the hotel room with me and Rosalyn when I was elected president.

My Presidential Medal of Freedom citation to Coretta for Dr. King said, and I quote, “He gazed at the great wall of segregation and saw that the power of love could bring it down. He made our nation stronger because he made it better.”

We were able to create a national historic site where Dr. King lived, worked and worshipped. It’s next door to the Carter Center, linked together just by a walking path. And at the Carter Center, we try to make the (principles ?) that we follow the same as his, emphasizing peace and human rights.

I remember that Daddy King said, too many people think Martin freed only black people; in truth, he helped to free all people. (Applause.) And Daddy King added, it’s not enough to have a right to sit at a lunch counter if you can’t afford to buy a meal. And he also said, the ghetto still looks the same even from the front seat of a bus.

Perhaps the most challenging statement of Martin Luther King Jr. was, and I quote: “The crucial question of our time is how to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence.” In the Nobel Prize ceremony of 2002, I said that my fellow Georgian was, and I quote again, “the greatest leader that my native state, and perhaps my native country, has ever produced.” And I was not excluding presidents and even the Founding Fathers when I said this.

(Cheers, applause.)

I believe we all know how Dr. King would have reacted to the new ID requirements to exclude certain voters, especially African- Americans. I think we all know how Dr. King would have reacted to the Supreme Court striking down a crucial part of the Voters’ Rights Act just recently passed overwhelmingly by Congress. I think we all know how Dr. King would have reacted to unemployment among African- Americans being almost twice the rate of white people and for teenagers at 42 percent. I think we would all know how Dr. King would have reacted to our country being awash in guns and for more and more states passing “stand your ground” laws. I think we know how Dr. King would have reacted for people of District of Columbia still not having full citizenship rights. (Cheers, applause.)

And I think we all know how Dr. King would have reacted to have more than 835,000 African-American men in prison, five times as many as when I left office, and with one-third of all African-American males being destined to be in prison in their lifetimes.


Well, there’s a tremendous agenda ahead of us, and I’m thankful to Martin Luther King Jr. that his dream is still alive. Thank you. (Cheers, applause.)



“I would respectfully suggest that Martin Luther King did not live and die to hear his heirs whine about political gridlock. It’s time to stop complaining and put our shoulders against the stubborn gates holding the American people back,” he said.


Here is the link to The Carter Center:





Here is the link to the site of "The Elders":




Jimmy Carter, the oldest living former US president, is 95 today By Elizabeth Wolfe and Brian Ries, CNN  Updated 2:12 PM ET, Tue October 1, 2019:

October 1st: This Day in History

 






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!




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

331 BC - Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.
366 - St Damasus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
704 - Aengibald gives away bishop Willibrord estate in Waalre
911 - During a siege in Constantinople, the Theotokos appeared at the church in Blachernae holding her veil over the praying faithful, among them St. Andrew of Constantinople.
959 - Edgar the Peaceable becomes king of all England.
965 - John XIII Crescentii elected to succeed Pope Leo VIII
1189 - Gerard de Ridefort, grandmaster of the Knights Templar since 1184, is killed in the Siege of Acre.
1273 - Earl Rudolf van Habsburg becomes Roman Catholics-German king
1529 - -3] Meeting between Maarten Luther & Huldrych Zwingli
1569 - Duke of Norfolk arrested
1574 - -2] Storm breaks Leiden dike; drowns 20,000 Spanish soldiers
1606 - Spanish troops under Spinola occupies fort Rhine birch
1632 - Battle at Castelnaudary: Duke Henri de Montmorency's rebel army loses
1653 - Russian parliament accepts annexation of Ukraine
1657 - Treaty of Raalte: Willem II no longer viceroy of Overijssel
1661 - Yachting begins in England; King Charles II beats his brother James
1670 - -4] Battle at Simbirsk a/d Wolga: Russian army beats Boers
1688 - Prince Willem III accept invitation of English crown to occupy
1705 - Parliament declares Hungary independently/French Rákóczi becomes king
Macedonian King and Conqueror of Persia Alexander the GreatMacedonian King and Conqueror of Persia Alexander the Great 1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie flees to France
1768 - English troops under general Gauge lands in Boston
1787 - Russians under Suvorov defeat the Turks at Kinburn.
1791 - 1st session of new French legislative assembly
1795 - France annexes Southern Netherlands
1795 - Belgium is conquered by France.
1800 - Spain cedes Louisiana to France in a secret treaty
1801 - England & France signs Preliminary of London
1814 - Opening of the Congress of Vienna, intended to redraw the Europe's political map after the defeat of Napoléon the previous spring.
1827 - The Russian army under Ivan Paskevich storms Yerevan, ending a millennium of Muslim domination in Armenia.
1829 - South African College is founded in Cape Town, South Africa; later to separate into the University of Cape Town and the South African College Schools.
1830 - General Trade Journal newspaper begins publishing in Amsterdam
1833 - Charles Darwin reaches Rio Tercero Argentina
1837 - "Racer's" Hurricane (Gulf of Mexico)
1837 - Treaty with Winnebago Indians
Naturalist Charles DarwinNaturalist Charles Darwin 1838 - Civil Code enforced (- Jan 1, 1992)
1843 - News of the World began publication in London.
1847 - Maria Mitchell discovers a non-naked-eye comet
1847 - German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske.
1851 - 1st Hawaiian stamps issued
1854 - The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Waltham, Massachusetts, to become the Waltham Watch Company, a pioneer in the American System of Watch Manufacturing.
1863 - 5 Russian warships welcomed in NYC
1863 - Dutch Breda-Tilburg railway opens
1864 - Cyclone strikes Calcutta: 70,000 killed
1864 - John S Staples is paid $500 as a substitute for President Lincoln
1866 - Dutch Eindhoven-Venlo railway opens
1867 - Karl Marx' "Das Kapital," published
1868 - 1st edition of Maasbode published
1869 - 1st postcards are issued (Vienna, Austria)
1871 - General Dutch Werkliedenverbond (ANWV), forms in Utrecht
Communist Philosopher Karl MarxCommunist Philosopher Karl Marx 1874 - Rotterdam opens drink water pipes
1879 - Cincinnati Enquirer publishes 1st report on baseball reserve clause
1880 - John Philip Sousa becomes new director of US Marine Corps Band
1885 - Special delivery mail service begins in US
1886 - US mint at Carson City, Nevada closes
1887 - Balochistan conquered by the British Empire.
1888 - National Geographic magazine publishes for 1st time
1889 - Soccer team HFC Haarlem forms
1889 - Washington voters adopt state constitution in referendum
1890 - Congress creates Weather Bureau
1890 - Yosemite National Park forms
1891 - In the U.S. state of California, Stanford University opens its doors.
1892 - University of Chicago opens
1893 - 3rd worst hurricane in US history kills 1,800 (Mississippi)
1894 - Civic organization, Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben founded in Omaha, Nebraska
Composer John Philip SousaComposer John Philip Sousa 1894 - First meeting of The Owl Club of Cape Town.
1895 - Romanians in Costantinople massacred
1896 - Sherlock Holmes adventure "Veiled Lodger" takes place (BG)
1898 - Dutch railway Alkmaar-Receiver opens
1898 - Henry Huntington buys LA Railway
1898 - Jews are expelled from Kiev Russia
1898 - Czar Nikolay II expels Jews from major Russian cities.
1898 - The Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration is founded under the name k.u.k. Exportakademie.
1903 - 1st baseball World Series, Pittsburgh Pirates vs Boston Pilgrims (Red Sox)
1904 - JB van Heutsz becomes gov-general of Netherland Indies
1904 - Netherlands & Portugal lay down bounderies splitting Timor
1905 - František Pavlík is killed in a demonstration in Prague, inspiring Leoš Janáček to the piano composition 1. X. 1905.
1906 - Hugh Jennings resigns as Balt manager to take over at Detroit in 1907
1907 - Plaza Hotel (5th Av & 59th Str, NY) opens
1908 - 1st Dutch electric railway in use (Rotterdam-The Hague)
Ford Motor Company Founder Henry FordFord Motor Company Founder Henry Ford 1908 - Henry Ford introduces Model T car (costs $825)
1908 - Jack Chesbro's final Yankee victory, beats Walter Johnson 2-1
1910 - Berkshire Cattle Fair held in Pittsfield Mass (1st state fair)
1910 - Explosion at LA Times kills 21
1910 - Regina Rugby Club's 1st game, losing to Moose Jaw Tigers, 16-6
1911 - United Dutch Diamond workers get 8-hr day
1912 - Yanks lose game #100 en route to a 50-102 season
1918 - World War I: Arab forces under T. E. Lawrence (a/k/a "Lawrence of Arabia") capture Damascus.
1919 - World Series begins as a best of 9 affair, White Sox intentionally throw this series to satisfy gamblers (Black Sox Scandal)
1920 - Dutch law provides for an 8 hour working day
1920 - Sir Percy Cox landed in Basra to assume his responsibilities as high commissioner in Iraq.
1921 - WJZ, Newark NJ begins broadcasting
1922 - Former Chicago Staleys play 1st NFL game as Chicago Bears, win 6-0
1922 - Rogers Hornsby's 3-for-5 ups avg to .401
1924 - Fokker F-7 1st flight (Amsterdam to Batavia)
1924 - Paavo Nurmi runs world record 4 mile (19:15.4) & 5 mile (24:06.2)
1924 - Landis bans Giants Jimmy O'Connell & Cozy Dolan from World Series after they admit an attempt to bribe Phils shortstop Heinie Sand
1926 - An oil field accident cost aviator Wiley Post his left eye, but he used the settlement money to buy his first aircraft.
1927 - Pirates clinch NL pennant with a 9-6 win over Reds
1928 - Leon Vanderstuyft of Belgium bicycled 76 miles 504 yards in 1 hour

1928 - Paavo Nurmi runs world record 15m (46:49.6)
1928 - USSR launches its 1st 5 year plan
1930 - Soccer team WHC forms
1930 - World Series opens at Phila's Shibe Park, Phila A's beat St Louis 5-2
1931 - Spanish Cortes accept general female suffrage
1931 - World Series is a rematch as A's seek 3rd straight title vs Cards
1931 - The second (and current) Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is opened in New York.
1932 - NHL readmits Ottawa & drops Pittsburgh
1932 - Oswald Mosley forms British Union of Fascists
1932 - World Series moves to Chicago, In 5th inning, Babe Ruth waits until he has 2 strikes, points & hits next pitch into center field bleachers
1933 - Antwerp Sports arena opens
1933 - Packers make 5 1st downs, Giants make 0, but still win 10-7
1933 - Wash Senator coach Nick Altrock plays in a game at age 57
1934 - Adolf Hitler expands German army & navy & creates an air force, violating Treaty of Versailles
1936 - Generalissimo Francisco Franco establishes state of Spain
1937 - Pullman Co formally recognizes Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
1938 - Cubs clinch NL pennant
1938 - Germany annexes Sudetenland (1/3 of Czechoslovakia)
1939 - Churchill calls Soviets "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma"
1939 - After a one-month Siege of Warsaw, hostile forces entered the city.
Spanish Dictator Francisco FrancoSpanish Dictator Francisco Franco 1940 - Pennsylvania Turnpike, pioneer toll thruway, opens
1941 - D Sjostakovitch plane evacuated in Moscow
1941 - H Martin/R Blanes musical "Best Foot Forward," premieres in NYC
1941 - Yankees beat Dodgers 3-2 at Yankee Stadium in opener of World Series
1942 - Bell P-59 Airacomet fighter, 1st US jet, makes maiden flight
1942 - Little Golden Books (children books) begins publishing
1943 - Allied forces captured Naples during WW II
1943 - Averell Harriman named US ambassador to Moscow
1943 - Germans attack Jews in Denmark
1943 - King's Dragon Guards liberates suburbs of Naples
1944 - Newspaper editor Alejandro Córdova assassinated in Guatemala
1944 - St Louis Browns win their only AL pennant
1945 - Heavyweight champ Joe Louis is discharged from army
1945 - US Office of Strategic Serbia (OSS) disbands
1946 - 12 war criminals sentenced to death in Nuremberg
1946 - 1st NL playoffs, Dodgers vs Cards (St Louis wins 2 games to 0)
1946 - Bob Feller 348th strikeout of season
1947 - 1st helicopter air mail & express service, LA, Ca
1947 - NHL Pension Society founded
1947 - US control of Haitian customs & governmental revenue ends
1947 - William Wister Haines' "Command Decision," premieres in NYC
1947 - The F-86 Sabre flies for the first time.
1948 - California Supreme Court voids state statue banning interracial marriages
1948 - Radio Denmark begins transmitting
Chinese Communist Revolutionary and Politician Mao Tse-TungChinese Communist Revolutionary and Politician Mao Tse-Tung 1949 - People's Rep of China proclaimed by Mao Tse-tung (National Day)
1949 - Republic of China (Taiwan) forms on island of Formosa
1950 - Phillies win NL pennant on last day of season (10th inning HR)
1950 - South Korean troops exceed 38° latitude during Korean War
1950 - Browns lose to Giants, setting club record for fewest points scored by both teams (tied in 1979), NY 6, Cleveland 0
1950 - South Korean troops cross 38th parallel into North Korea
1951 - 1st Giant-Dodgers playoff game, Giants win 3-1
1951 - 1st treaty signed by woman ambassador-Eugenie Anderson
1951 - 24th Infantry Regiment, last all-black military unit, deactivated
1952 - 1st ultra high frequency (UHF) television station, Portland Or
1952 - Liberal Party wins Japanese elections
1952 - Monte Bello-Island (Great Britain 1st atom bomb explosion)
1953 - Indian state of Andhra Pradesh partitioned from Madras
1953 - KJEO TV channel 47 in Fresno, CA (CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting
1953 - KYTV TV channel 3 in Springfield, MO (NBC) begins broadcasting
1953 - WATE TV channel 6 in Knoxville, TN (ABC/NBC) begins broadcasting
1953 - WREX TV channel 13 in Rockford, IL (ABC) begins broadcasting
1954 - British colony of Nigeria becomes a federation
1955 - "Honeymooners" premieres
1955 - Piet Lieftinck becomes director v/h IMF (World bank)
1955 - WORA TV channel 5 in Mayaguez, PR (TCI) begins broadcasting
1956 - Johnny Heckmann rides 7 winners at Chicago Hawthorne Horse track
1956 - Zestienhoven airport at Rotterdam official opens
1957 - B-52 bombers begin full-time flying alert in case of USSR attack
1957 - First appearance of "In God We Trust" on U.S. paper currency.
1958 - Britain transfers Christmas Island (south of Java) to Australia
1958 - Inauguration of NASA
1958 - Vanguard Project transferred from military to NASA
1958 - NASA created to replace NACA.
1959 - 1st World Series since 1948 not to feature a NY team (LA vs Chic)
1960 - 14th NHL All-Star Game: All-Stars beat Montreal 2-1 at Montreal
1960 - KCBY TV channel 11 in Coos Bay, OR (CBS) begins broadcasting
1960 - Nigeria gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1961 - A believed extinct volcanco erupts in Tristan da Cunha
1961 - East & West Cameroon merge as Federal Republic of Cameroon
1961 - KGIN TV channel 11 in Grand Island, NB (CBS) begins broadcasting
1961 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Mickey Wright Golf Open
1961 - Premiere of Dmitri Shostakovitsch' 12nd Symphony
American Baseball Player Roger MarisAmerican Baseball Player Roger Maris 1961 - Roger Maris sets record of 61 HRs (off of Tracy Stallard)
1961 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1961 - WOLO TV channel 25 in Columbia, SC (ABC) begins broadcasting
1961 - WYAH TV channel 27 in Portsmouth, VA (IND) begins broadcasting
1962 - Barbra Streisand signs her 1st recording contract (with Columbia)
1962 - Brian Epstein signs a contract to manage Beatles through 1977
1962 - James Meredith became 1st black at U of Mississippi
1962 - Johnny Carson hosts his 1st Tonight Show, Joan Crawford guests
1962 - Lucy Show premieres
1962 - SF beats Dodgers, 8-0 in 1st of best-of-3 NL playoff
1962 - UN gives Netherlands control of New-Guinea
1962 - US National Radio Astronomy Obs gets a 300' (91m) radio telescope
1962 - WEDH TV channel 24 in Hartford, CT (PBS) begins broadcasting
1963 - 1st time since 1910 no AL player, played in every game
1963 - Nigeria becomes a republic within Commonwealth
Singer-songwriter & Actress Barbra StreisandSinger-songwriter & Actress Barbra Streisand 1964 - 1st official broadcast of Trans World Radio on Bonaire
1964 - 2nd Dutch televisienet begins broadcastings
1964 - Free Speech Movement launched at University of California , Berkley
1964 - SF cable cars declared a national landmark
1964 - WSJU TV channel 18 in Carolina, PR begins broadcasting
1964 - WTSJ TV channel 18 in San Juan, PR (NBC) begins broadcasting
1964 - WWAY TV channel 3 in Wilmington, NC (ABC) begins broadcasting
1965 - Failed coup under lt col Untung in Indonesia
1965 - France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria
1966 - Newspaper magnate Thomson purchases "The Times"
1966 - WAEO (now WJFW) TV channel 12 in Rhinelander, WI (NBC) begins
1966 - West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashes with eighteen fatal injuries and no survivors 5.5 miles south of Wemme, Oregon. This accident marks the first loss of a DC-9.
1967 - KBFI (now KDAF) TV channel 33 in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (IND) begins
1967 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Ladies' LA Golf Open
1967 - Pink FLoyd's 1st US tour (arrives in NYC)
1968 - "Night of the Living Dead" premieres in Pittsburgh
1968 - The Guyanese government takes over the British Guiana Broadcasting Service (BGBS).
1969 - Concorde 001 test flight breaks sound barrier
1969 - Guernsey & Jersey begin issuing their own postage stamps
1969 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1970 - 63 arrest in riot to buy Rolling Stone tickets in Milano Italy
1970 - Last game at Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium, Phils-2 Expos-1
1971 - Joseph Luns becomes secretary-general of NATO
1971 - Simplified echtscheidingsrecht of force
1971 - Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida opens
1972 - "Don't Play Us Cheap" closes at Barrymore Theater NYC after 164 perfs
1972 - 1st games of World Hockey Association
1972 - 2nd NYC Women's Marathon won by Nina Kuscsik in 3:08:41
1972 - 3rd NYC Marathon won by Sheldon Karlin in 2:27:52
1972 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Portland Ladies Golf Classic
Baseball Player and Manager Leo DurocherBaseball Player and Manager Leo Durocher 1973 - Leo Durocher resigns as Houston Astro manager
1973 - USSR-West Germany gas tunnel opens
1974 - Watergate cover-up trial opens in Wash DC
1975 - Britain grants internal self-government to Seychelles
1975 - Ellice Islands split from Gilbert Islands, take name "Tuvalu"
1975 - Muhammad Ali TKOs Joe Frazier in 15 for heavyweight boxing title in "The Thrilla in Manila"
1975 - Reunion Island stops printing stamps, France takes over production
1976 - 1st Dutch casino opens
1977 - Brazilian soccer great Pele' retires with 1,281 goals in 1,363 games
1977 - Department Of Energy established
1977 - Elton John honored by MSG Hall of Fame
1977 - Yanks win 2nd consecutive AL East title
1978 - Comoros adopts constitution
1978 - Jane Blalock wins LPGA Golden Lights Golf Championship
1978 - Tuvalu (formerly Ellice Islands) declares independence from UK
Singer Elton JohnSinger Elton John 1978 - Yanks lose 9-2 to Indians forcing a playoff game with Red Sox
1978 - The Voltaic Revolutionary Communist Party is founded.
1979 - Nigeria adopts constitution, Alhaji Shagari becomes president
1979 - Pope John Paul II begins visit of US
1979 - RKO radio network begins operation
1979 - US returns Canal Zone to Panama after 75 years (but not the canal)
1980 - Cosmonauts Ryumin & Popov break space endurance record of 176 days
1981 - Iranian plane crash
1981 - J Chodorov/N Panama's "Talent for Murder," premieres in London
1981 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1982 - EPCOT Center opens in Orlando Florida
1982 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1982 - West Germany's Parliament ousts Helmut Schmidt for Helmut Kohl
1982 - The Sony CDP-101, the world's first commercially released Compact Disc player, is released in Japan for 168,000 yen ($730)
1983 - Denise Wallace, 18, of Virginia crowned Miss Teen of America
1984 - Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip resumes after 2-year hiatus
1984 - Peter Ueberroth replaces Bowie Kuhn as 6th commissioner of baseball
1985 - Israeli air raid on PLO-headquarter at Tunis, 68 killed
1986 - President Carter's presidential library/museum dedicated in Atlanta
1987 - "Roza" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 12 performances
1987 - 6 killed by an earthquake measuring 6.1 in LA
1987 - Fiji's constitution is suspended
1987 - The Whittier Narrows earthquake shook the San Gabriel Valley, registering as a magnitude 5.9.
1988 - Bradley Center in Milwaukee opens
1988 - Lowest batting avg for NL champion (Tony Gwynn .313)
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail GorbachevGeneral Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev 1988 - Mikhail Gorbachev became president of Soviet Union
1989 - Beth Daniel wins LPGA Konica San Jose Golf Classic
1989 - Dallas Cowboy, Ed "Too Tall" Jones records his 1,000th NFL tackle
1989 - Thousands of East Germans flee to West Germany
1989 - US issues a stamp, labeling an apatosaurus as a brontosaurus
1989 - Batting titles decided on final day Puckett goes 2-for-5 edges Carney Lansford .339 to .336, Gwynn's 3-for-4 edges Will Clark .336 to .333
1990 - 10,000 Uganda RPF rebels move into Rwanda
1990 - Meteorite explode above Pacific Ocean
1990 - US President Bush at UN, condemns Iraq's takeover of Kuwait
1990 - Serbs in Croatia proclaim autonomy
1991 - Howard Stern adds Baltimore to his radio network (WJFK-AM)
1991 - New Zealand's Resource Management Act 1991 commences.
1992 - "Oba Oba '93" opens at Marquis Theater NYC for 22 performances
1992 - Cartoon Cable Network premieres
1992 - Greater Pittsburgh International Airport opens
US President George H. W. BushUS President George H. W. Bush 1992 - Ross Perot re-enters presidental race
1993 - Lennox Lewis TKOs Frank Bruno in 7 for heavyweight boxing title
1994 - Boon completes his 19th Test century (114 v Pak, Karachi)
1994 - Liselotte Neumann wins LPGA GHP Heartland Golf Classic
1994 - South African President Nelson Mandela visits US
1994 - Stanley Betrian sworn in as leader of Curacao
1995 - Bermuda begins using new area code 441
1995 - Gail Graham wins FieldCrest Cannon/Carolina LPGA Golf Classic
1995 - Indians set record of 30 game lead over 2nd place team
1995 - Mike Mussina tosses Balt's 5th consecutive shutout 4-0 win over Tigers
1995 - NY Yankees win 1st baseball wildcard ever
1995 - Rockies are 1st team to make postseason before 7th year in existence
1997 - Carolina Hurricanes 1st game vs Tampa Bay Lightning
1997 - Spice Hot premieres on cable
1998 - Vladimir Putin became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.
Russian President Vladimir PutinRussian President Vladimir Putin 2000 - Juan Antonio Samaranch, the chairman of the IOC declares Sydney the "best Olympic Games ever"
2000 - Closing ceremony of the XXVII Olympics in Sydney, Australia
2000 - United States retain Basketball's Olympic gold medal defeating France 85-75
2000 - United States wins the most medals (97), and the most gold medals (40) in Summer Olympics held in Sydney, Australia
2004 - Baseball: Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki gets his 258th hit of the season, breaking George Sisler's 84-year-old single-season record.
2005 - Bombing kills 23 people in Bali.
2007 - Most of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 came into force in the United Kingdom.
2012 - California becomes the first US state to ban conversion therapy for minors
2012 - 36 people are killed in a ferry collision in Hong Kong
2012 - 3 NATO soldiers and 16 Afghan police are killed by a suicide bombing in Khost, Afghanistan



1569 - The Duke of Norfolk was imprisoned by Britain's Queen Elizabeth for trying to marry Mary the Queen of Scots.   1800 - Spain ceded the territory of Louisiana back to France. Later the property would be purchased by the U.S. effectively doubling its size.   1880 - Thomas Edison began the commercial production of electric lamps at Edison Lamp Works in Menlo Park.   1885 - Special delivery mail service began in the United States. The first routes were in West Virginia.   1890 - The U.S. Congress passed the McKinley Tariff Act. The act raised tariffs to a record level.   1896 - Rural Free Delivery was established by the U.S. Post Office.   1903 - The first modern World Series took place between the Boston Pilgrims and the Pittsburgh Pirates.   1908 - The Model T automobile was introduced by Henry Ford. The purchase price of the car was $850.   1918 - Damascus was captured from the Turks during World War I by a force made up of British and Arab forces.   1933 - Babe Ruth made his final pitching appearance. He pitched all nine innings and hit a home run in the 5th inning.   1936 - General Francisco Franco was proclaimed the head of the Spanish state.   1938 - German forces enter Czechoslovakia and seized control of the Sudetenland. The Munich Pact had been signed two days before.   1940 - The Pennsylvania Turnpike opened as the first toll superhighway in the United States.   1943 - Naples was captured by the Allied forces during World War II.   1946 - The International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg sentenced 12 Nazi officials to death. Seven others were sentenced to prison terms and 3 were acquitted.   1946 - The first baseball play-off game for a league championship was played. The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-2.   1949 - Mao Tse-tung raised the first flag of the People's Republic of China when the communist forces had defeated the Nationalists. The Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan.   1952 - "This is Your Life" began airing on NBC-TV.   1961 - Roger Maris (New York Yankees) hit his 61st home run of the season to beat Babe Ruth's major league record of 60.   1962 - Johnny Carson began hosting the "Tonight" show on NBC-TV. He stayed with the show for 29 years. Jack Paar was the previous host.   1964 - The Free Speech Movement was started at the University of California at Berkeley.   1968 - "Night of the Living Dead" premiered in Pittsburgh, PA.   1971 - Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, FL.  Disney movies, music and books   1972 - The Chinese government approved friendly relations with the United States.   1979 - The United States handed control of the Canal Zone over to Panama.   1980 - Robert Redford became the first male to appear alone on the cover of "Ladies' Home Journal." He was the only male to achieve this in 97 years.   1981 - EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) Center opened in Florida. The concept was planned by Walt Disney.   1984 - U.S. Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan announced that he was taking a leave of absence following his indictment on charges of larceny and fraud. He was later acquitted.   1985 - The PLO's headquarters in Tunisia was raided by Israeli jet fighters.   1988 - Mikhail Gorbachev assumed the Soviet presidency.   1989 - The authorized Charles Schulz biography, Good Grief, was published.   1989 - 7,000 East Germans were welcomed into West Germany after they were allowed to leave by the communist government.   1990 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly and once again condemned Iraq's takeover of Kuwait.   1990 - In Croatia, minority Serbs proclaimed autonomy.   1991 - U.S. President Bush condemned the military coup in Haiti that removed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power. U.S. economic and military aid was suspended.   1991 - The U.S. trust territory of Palau became independent.   1992 - The Strategic Arm Reduction Treaty was approved by the U.S. Senate.   1994 - The U.S. and Japan avoided a trade war by reaching a series of trade agreements.   1994 - The National Hockey League (NHL) team owners began a lockout of the players that lasted 103 days.   1995 - Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and nine other defendants were convicted in New York of conspiring to attack the U.S. through bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.   1996 - Lucent Technologies became an independent company.   1998 - The U.S. government posted a $2.2 million reward for the capture of Augustin Vasquez Mendoza. He is accused of killing an undercover U.S. agent during a drug purchase in 1994.   1999 - The 50th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China was celebrated in Beijing.   2001 - San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ban Internet filters designed to keep pornography away from children at city libraries. The board left the decision up to the Library Commission to decide whether to install filtering software in children's areas. A federal law in the U.S. mandated the use of the filters.




1800 Spain ceded Louisiana to France in the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso. 1908 Henry Ford introduced the first mass-produced automobile on the market—the Model T car to the market. Each car cost 825. 1936 General Francisco Franco became head of the insurgent Spanish government. 1961 Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run of the season, breaking Babe Ruth's record of 60 set in 1927. 1971 Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, Florida.


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

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/oct01.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory