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On an 14 August:
2002 CryoLife develops technology for cryopreservation of viable human tissues for vascular, cardiovascular and orthopaedic transplants. Following an investigation sparked by the 10 November 2001 death of Brian Lykins, 23, of Willmar, Minnesota, the FDA issues an order to Cryolife to recall and to cease processing of tissues because of concerns that they may be infected. Stockholders of Cryolife (CRY) have good reason to have the cry of their life as, on the New York Stock Exchange, the stock drops from its previous close of $9.50 to an intraday low of $5.27 and closes at $5.52. The next day it plunges some more, to an intraday low of $1.40, and closes at $2.03. However it then recovers somewhat on the last day of the trading week, Friday 16 August 2002, to an intarday high of $3.07 and closes at $2.99. It had started trading on 29 September 1997 at $9.88, reached a peak of $43.05 on 28 August 2001, and traded as high as $32.00 as recently as 06 May 2002. . [5~year price chart >]

2002 Deadline set by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for chief executives and chief financial officers of the 947 US firms with revenues during their last fiscal year of more than $1.2 billion, to certify that their firms’ recent reports filed with the SEC [SEC database of corporate filings] are accurate, if their fiscal year coincides with the calendar year. About one-third of the 947 firms have a different fiscal year and these have a 30 September 2002 deadline. [CEO, CFO Certifications of Financial Statements of 947 Companies]. After massive accounting fraud by Enron and others, on 26 June 2002 came the news that WorldCom had reported nearly $3.85 billion in phony income. So the SEC decided to do something to give investors assurance, but it is not likely to make much difference to the corrupt CEOs and CFOs. On 01 August 2002, WorldCom CFO Scott Sullivan and controller David Myers were arrested for their role in the fraud. On 08 August 2002, the new WorldCom management (which on 21 July 2002, under Chapter 11, filed for the largest corporate bankruptcy in US history) said that it had uncovered another $3.3 billion in fraudulent accounting,

2000: 870 new Russian Orthodox saints include tsar Nicholas II and family, priests, monks, and others martyred by the Soviets. Thus votes the Archbishops' Council, after a debate in which opponents said that the last tsar was weak and haughty, more fond of lavish parties than of governing. However Nicholas II had already been canonized by the separate Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and today's vote removes one obstacle to reunification.

1998 Two days after its wildly successful IPO, Geocities settles with US Federal Trade Commission the complaint that the company had given confidential consumer data to advertisers.

1997 McVeigh to die for Oklahoma bombing      ^top^
      Timothy McVeigh, convicted on fifteen counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, is sentenced to die by lethal injection.
      On 19 April 1995, just after 09:00 central time, a massive truck bomb exploded outside the nine-story building, instantly killing over a hundred people and trapping dozens more in the rubble. Emergency crews raced to Oklahoma City from across the country, and when the rescue effort finally ended two weeks later, the death toll stood at 168 people, including nineteen infants and young children who were in the building's day care center at the time of the blast.
      On 21 April the massive manhunt for suspects in the worst terrorist attack ever committed on US soil resulted in the capture of Timothy McVeigh, who matched an eyewitness description of a man seen at the scene of the crime. On the same day, Terry Nicholas, an associate of McVeigh's, surrendered at Herington, Kansas, after learning that the police were looking for him. Both men were found to be members of a radical right-wing survivalist group based in Michigan, and on August 8, John Fortier, who knew of McVeigh's plan to bomb the federal building, agreed to testify against McVeigh and Nichols in exchange for a reduced sentence. Two days later, a grand jury indicted McVeigh and Nichols on murder and conspiracy charges.
      While still in his teens, Timothy McVeigh acquired a penchant for guns, and began honing survivalist skills that he believed would be necessary in the event of a Cold War showdown with the Soviet Union. Lacking direction after high school, he enlisted in the US Army, and proved a disciplined and meticulous soldier. It was during this time that he befriended Terry Nichols, a fellow soldier who, although thirteen years his senior, shared his survivalist interests. In early 1991, McVeigh served in the Persian Gulf War, and was decorated with several medals for a brief combat mission. Despite these honors, he was discharged from the US Army at the end of the year, one of many casualties of the US military downsizing that came after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
      Another result of the Cold War's end was that McVeigh shifted his ideology from a hatred of foreign Communist governments to a suspicion of the US federal government, especially as its new elected leader, Democrat Bill Clinton, had successfully campaigned for the presidency on a platform of gun control. The August 1992 shootout between federal agents and survivalist Randy Weaver at his cabin in Idaho, in which Weaver's wife and son were killed, followed by the 19 April 1993, inferno near Waco, Texas, that killed some eighty Branch Davidians, deeply radicalized McVeigh, Nichols, and their associates. In early 1995, Nichols and McVeigh planned an attack on the federal building in Oklahoma City, which housed, among other federal agencies, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) — the agency that had launched the initial raid on the Branch Davidian compound in 1993. On 19 April 1995, the two-year anniversary of the disastrous end to the Waco standoff, McVeigh parked a Ryder rental truck loaded with a diesel fuel-fertilizer bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and fled. Minutes later, the massive bomb exploded, killing 168 innocent people. On 02 June 1997, he was convicted on fifteen counts of murder and conspiracy, and on 14 August under the unanimous recommendation of the jury, was sentenced to die by lethal injection. Michael Fortier was sentenced to twelve years in prison and fined $200'000 for failing to warn authorities about McVeigh's bombing plans. Terry Nichols was found guilty on one count of conspiracy and eight counts of involuntary manslaughter, and was sentenced to life in prison.

1991 IBM announces a notebook computer with a cellular modem. The computer, which had limited processing power, was aimed at specialized markets like service technicians who might need to communicate with a home office. Over the next several years, wireless modems would become a common laptop accessory. 1987 The US government announces that the nation’s trade deficit had swelled to a record $15.7 billion.

1984 IBM PC-AT, MS-DOS version 3.0, and Top View ^top^
IBM introduced a new computer, the PC-AT, and announced a new software program that would provide a graphical user interface. IBM said the program, TopView, would provide pop-up windows like the Macintosh. The announcement was a response to similar graphical user interfaces being developed for the PC by a number of other software makers. TopView did not launch for a year; it proved to be slow and awkward, and the product did not catch on. However, industry experts say consumer anticipation of TopView hurt sales of other GUIs while buyers waited for the new IBM software.

1980 Lech Walesa, 36, climbs over the Lenin shipyard fence in Gdansk      ^top^
     He joins the striking workers inside. They elect him head of a strike committee to negotiate with management, which on 17 August agrees to the strikers' demands. Strikers elsewhere in the Gdansk region then ask Walesa to continue his strike out of solidarity. So he heads an Interfactory Strike Committee, which demands the right to free trade unions and to strike. On 31 August 31, Walesa and Mieczyslaw Jagielski, Poland's first deputy premier, sign an agreement to that effect.
     Lech Walesa, born on 29 September 1943, with only a primary and vocational education, had started working as an electrician at the Lenin Shipyard in 1967. He was fired for his anti-Communist union activities in 1976.
     The Gdansk union victory prompted similar agitation by workers throughout Poland and they formed Solidarnosc, a federation of unions, led by Walesa, forcing the Communist government to recognize it in October 1980. But the government imposed martial law on 13 December 1981, outlawed Solidarnosc, and arrested Walesa and other leaders. Walesa was released a year later and continued to lead Solidarnosc, now underground. Walesa received the Nobel Peace prize in 1983.
     Labor unrest forced the Communist government to recognize Solidarity again in 1988, and to allow free elections for some seats in the upper house of Parliament (Sejm). Solidarity won most of those seats in June 1989, and formed a new government with Tadeusz Mazowiecki as premier. In 1990 Walesa was elected president in the first post-Communist direct election. In 1995 Walesa sought reelection, but was defeated by former Communist Aleksander Kwasniewski. Walesa went back to work at his old shipyard job as an electrician.
     In 2000 Walesa was accused of having lied by denying that he had been "agent Bolek" of the former Communist secret police. A conviction would have barred him from public office for 10 years. But, on 11 August 2000, a Polish court ruled in Walesa's favor, after even the prosecutor agreed that the allegations were based on documents forged by that same secret police.

Massive labor strikes hit Poland
Workers in Gdansk, Poland, seize the Lenin Shipyard and demand pay raises and the right to form a union free from communist control. The massive strike also saw the rise to prominence of labor leader Lech Walesa, who would be a key figure in bringing an end to communist rule in Poland. Gdansk had been a center of labor agitation in Poland since the 1960s. When the Polish government announced new economic austerity policies and higher food prices in 1980, workers at the Lenin Shipyard exploded in anger. Lech Walesa, a veteran of Poland's labor disputes, joined the workers and on 14 August 1980, they took over the shipyard. The workers' first demand was that Walesa be reinstated to his position as a labor leader. Walesa had been fired from his position at the shipyard in 1976, but remained active in labor protests and agitation against the communist government of Poland. For these actions, he was arrested numerous times. A few days after the workers had seized the shipyard, Walesa announced the formation of an organization designed to tie workers from different fields together into one labor movement, known as Solidarity. The strikers were finally able to wring some concessions from the Polish government, but in 1981 the communist regime struck back and arrested Walesa. He was released in November 1982. Solidarity continued to grow, and in 1989, the crumbling and desperate communist government agreed to recognize Solidarity and to have open elections. In 1990, Walesa was elected as the first noncommunist president of Poland since the end of World War II. Walesa became a symbol of hope, not only to the Polish people but also to anticommunist movements around the world. In 1983, Walesa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with Solidarity.

1979 Rainbow seen in Northern Wales for a 3 hour duration
1974 US Congress authorizes US citizens to own gold

1973 Vietnam: US bombing of Cambodia ceases After several days of intense bombing in support of Lon Nol's forces fighting the communist Khmer Rouge in the area around Phnom Penh, Operations Arc Light and Freedom Deal end as the United States ceases bombing Cambodia at midnight. This was in accordance with June Congressional legislation passed in June and ended 12 years of combat activity in Indochina. President Nixon denounced Congress for cutting off the funding for further bombing operations, saying that it had undermined the "prospects for world peace." The United States continued unarmed reconnaissance flights and military aid to Cambodia, but ultimately the Khmer Rouge prevailed in 1975.

1973 Pakistan's 3rd constitution promulgated      ^top^
      Pakistan's third constitution was formally submitted on December 31, 1972, approved on April 10, 1973, and promulgated on independence day, 14 August 1973. Although Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto campaigned in 1970 for the restoration of a parliamentary system, by 1972 he preferred a presidential system with himself as president. However, in deference to the wishes of the opposition and some in his own cabinet, Bhutto accepted a formal parliamentary system in which the executive was responsible to the legislature. Supposedly in the interests of government stability, provisions were also included that made it almost impossible for the National Assembly to remove the prime minister.
      The 1973 constitution provided for a federal structure in which residuary powers were reserved for the provinces. However, Bhutto dismissed the coalition NAP-JUI ministries in Balochistan and the North- West Frontier Province, revealing his preference for a powerful center without opposition in the provinces. Bhutto's power derived less from the 1973 constitution than from his charismatic appeal to the people and from the vigor of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Its socialist program and Bhutto's oratory had done much to radicalize the urban sectors in the late 1960s and were responsible for the popular optimism accompanying the restoration of democracy.
      The ideological appeal of the PPP to the masses sat uneasily with the compromises Bhutto reached with the holders of economic and political influence — the landlords and commercial elites. Factionalism and patrimonialism became rife in the PPP, especially in Punjab. The internal cohesion of the PPP and its standing in public esteem were affected adversely by the ubiquitous political and bureaucratic corruption that accompanied state intervention in the economy and, equally, by the rising incidence of political violence, which included beating, arresting, and even murdering opponents.
      The PPP had started as a movement mobilizing people to overthrow a military regime, but in Bhutto's lifetime it failed to change into a political party organized for peaceful functioning in an open polity. Provincial Identity Bhutto's predilection for a strong center and for provincial governments in the hands of the PPP inevitably aroused opposition in provinces where regional and ethnic identity was strong. Feelings of Sindhi solidarity were maintained by Bhutto's personal connections with the feudal leaders (wadera) of Sindh and his ability to manipulate offices and officeholders.
      He did not enjoy the same leverage in the North-West Frontier Province or Balochistan. A long-dormant crisis erupted in Balochistan in 1973 into an insurgency that lasted four years and became increasingly bitter. The insurgency was put down by the Pakistan Army, which employed brutal methods and equipment, including Huey-Cobra helicopter gunships, provided by Iran and flown by Iranian pilots. The deep-seated Baloch nationalism based on tribal identity had international as well as domestic aspects. Divided in the nineteenth century among Iran, Afghanistan, and British India, the Baloch found their aspirations and traditional nomadic life frustrated by the presence of national boundaries and the extension of central administration over their lands. Moreover, many of the most militant Baloch nationalists were also vaguely Marxist-Leninist and willing to risk Soviet protection for an autonomous Balochistan.
      As the insurgency wore on, the influence of a relatively small but disciplined liberation front seemed to increase. Bhutto was able to mobilize domestic support for his drive against the Baloch. Punjab's support was most tangibly represented in the use of the army to put down the insurgency. One of the main Baloch grievances was the influx of Punjabi settlers, miners, and traders into their resource-rich but sparsely populated lands. Bhutto could also invoke the idea of national integration with effect in the aftermath of Bengali secession.
      External assistance to Bhutto was generously given by the shah of Iran, who feared a spread of the insurrection among the Iranian Baloch. Some foreign governments feared that an independent or autonomous Balochistan might allow the Soviet Union to develop and use the port at Gwadar, and no outside power was willing to assist the Baloch openly or to sponsor the cause of Baloch autonomy.
      During the mid-1970s, Afghanistan was preoccupied with its own internal problems and seemingly anxious to normalize relations with Pakistan. India was fearful of further balkanization of the subcontinent after Bangladesh, and the Soviet Union did not wish to jeopardize the leverage it was gaining with Pakistan. However, during the Bhutto regime hostilities in Balochistan were protracted. The succeeding Zia ul-Haq government took a more moderate approach, relying more on economic development to placate the Baloch.
      Bhutto proceeded cautiously in the field of land reform and did not fulfill earlier promises of distributing land to the landless on the scale he had promised, as he was forced to recognize and to cultivate the sociopolitical influence of landowners. However, he did not impede the process of consolidation of tenancy rights and acquisition of mid-sized holdings by servicemen. Punjab was the vital agricultural region of Pakistan; it remained a bastion of support for the government.
      Bhutto specifically targeted the powerful and privileged Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) and introduced measures of administrative reform with the declared purpose of limiting the paternalistic power of the bureaucracy. The CSP, however, had played the role of guardian alongside the army since independence. Many of its members reacted badly to Bhutto's politicizing appointments, for which patronage seemed a more important criterion than merit or seniority.
      Relations with India were, at best, uneven during the Bhutto period. He accomplished the return of the prisoners of war through the Simla Agreement of 1972, but no settlement of the key problem of Kashmir was possible beyond an agreement that any settlement should be peaceful. Bhutto reacted strongly to the detonation of a nuclear device by India in 1974 and pledged that Pakistan would match that development even if Pakistanis had to "eat grass" to cover the cost.
      Bhutto claimed success for his economic policies. The gross national product (GNP ) and the rate of economic growth climbed. Inflation fell from 25 percent in fiscal year 1972 to 6 percent in FY 1976, although other economic measures he introduced did not perform as well.
      Bhutto pointed out that his foreign policy had brought Pakistan prestige in the Islamic world, peace if not friendship with India, and self-respect in dealings with the great powers. He felt assured of victory in any election. Therefore, with commitment to a constitutional order at stake, in January 1977 he announced he would hold national and provincial assembly elections in March. The response of the opposition to this news was vigorous. Nine political parties ranging across the ideological spectrum formed a united front — the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA). Fundamentalist Muslims were satisfied by the adoption of Nizam-i-Mustafa, meaning "Rule of the Prophet," as the front's slogan. Modern secular elements, however, respected the association of Air Marshal Asghar Khan.
      The PNA ran candidates for almost all national and provincial seats. As curbs on the press and political activity were relaxed for the election campaign, an apparently strong wave of support for the PNA swept Pakistan's cities. This prompted a whirlwind tour of the country by Bhutto, with all his winning charm in the forefront. In the background lurked indirect curbs on free expression as well as political gangsterism. National Assembly election results were announced on March 7, proclaiming the PPP the winner with 155 seats versus thirty-six seats for the PNA.
      Expecting trouble, Bhutto invoked Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which restricted assembly for political reasons. The PNA immediately challenged the election results as rigged and demanded a new election — not a recount. Bhutto refused, and a mass protest movement was launched against him. Religious symbols were used by both sides to mobilize agitation; for example, Bhutto imposed prohibitions on the consumption of alcoholic beverages and on gambling. Despite talks between Bhutto and opposition leaders, the disorders persisted as a multitude of frustrations were vented. The army intervened on July 5, took all political leaders including Bhutto into custody, and proclaimed martial law.
http://www.leisurecraft.com/pakview/History/History_Contents/Bhutto_Phenomenon/bhutto_phenomenon.htm

1973 US bombing of Cambodia ends      ^top^
      According to the terms of the Vietnam peace agreement signed in Paris earlier in the year, the US officially ends its bombing of alleged Communist positions in Cambodia. With the end of the Cambodia bombing campaign, direct US military action in Indochina formally comes to an end.
      In March of 1969, during the Vietnam War, US President Richard M. Nixon authorized secret bombing attacks against Vietnamese Communist bases across the border in Cambodia. One year later, Cambodian General Lon Nol, 56, ousted Prince Norodom Sihanouk, 47, the ruler of Cambodia since 1953, and established a pro-US military regime. Norodom went into exile, and in April, he received the support of Chinese and North Vietnamese authorities in his call to arms against Lon Nol's rule.
      On April 29, supported by US warplanes, artillery, and thousands of American military personnel, South Vietnamese government troops launched an invasion of Cambodia, intending to wipe out North Vietnamese and Vietcong positions there and bolster the pro-US regime of General Lon Nol. The next day, President Nixon announced the "incursion" in a televised address, and also that he had authorized an additional 8000 US combat troops to enter Cambodia and destroy its Communist "control center."
      The announcement led to widespread antiwar protests across the United States, and on May 4, at Ohio's Kent State University, four students were killed, eight injured, and one permanently paralyzed when National Guard troops opened fire on a group of antiwar demonstrators.
      On 14 August 1973, the US officially ends its bombing and any other direct military involvement in Cambodia. The US and South Vietnam involvement in Cambodia had contributed to the outbreak of a larger civil war in the country, culminating in 1975 with the victory of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge. Known as "Year Zero," 1975 was the beginning of three years of terror and genocide in Kampuchea, resulting in the murder of over two million people on the country's killing fields.

1972 Vietnam: Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark reports after his tour of North Vietnam with the International Commission of Inquiry into US War Crimes in Indochina, that if Democratic candidate George McGovern were elected president in November, all US POWs would be freed by North Vietnam within three months. He further reported that the POWs he interviewed during his trip were "unquestionably...well treated" and that he saw damage to North Vietnam's dikes in at least six places, and other extensive destruction in nonmilitary areas.

1971 Bahrain proclaims independence after 110 years of British rule
1971 British begin internment without trial in Northern Ireland
1969 British troops arrive in Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between dominating Protestants and dominated Roman Catholics.

1965 Vietnam: Seventh Marines land at Chu Lai The advance units of the Seventh Marines land at Chu Lai, bringing US Marine strength in South Vietnam to four regiments and four air groups. The Marines were given the responsibility of conducting operations in southern I Corps and northern II Corps, just south of the Demilitarized Zone. Hanoi Radio broadcasted an appeal to American troops, particularly African Americans, to "get out." This was purportedly a message from an American defector from the Korean War living in Peking.
In South Korea, the National Assembly approves sending troops to fight in South Vietnam; in exchange for sending one combat division to Vietnam, the United States agreed to equip five South Korean divisions.

1964 Vietnam: Hanoi is reported to be holding air-raid drills for fear of more US attacks in the wake of the Pierce Arrow retaliatory raids that had been flown in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The North Vietnamese government urged all civilians with nonessential posts to leave the city. In ground action, ARVN troops ambushed a Viet Cong unit south of Saigon. Meanwhile, Viet Cong guerrillas attacked three hamlets in the Vinh Binh Province along the coast in the Mekong Delta. A US helicopter crashed 50 miles northwest of Saigon, killing three US airmen.

1962 French & Italian workers break through at Mount Blanc Vehicular Tunnel
1959 The first telecast of Earth from outer space is transmitted by the satellite Explorer 6, showing 50'000 square kilometers of the Earth.
1947 India and Pakistan granted independence within British Commonwealth

1945 V-J Day: WW II is over      ^top^
     US President Truman announces that Japan had surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.
      Japan agrees to surrender unconditionally to the Allies. The decision, which brought an end to the most costly war in human history, came after a momentous week that saw two US atomic bombs dropped on Japan and a declaration of war by the Soviets. On the evening of 14 August 1000 Japanese army officers attacked the imperial palace with the intention of seizing a recorded message of Emperor Hirohito, 44, announcing the surrender, but they were repulsed by the imperial guards. The next day, Hirohito's speech, which asked his people to "endure the endurable," was played on national radio, and hundreds of millions of people around the world celebrated "V-J Day." On September 2, 1945, US General Douglas MacArthur, 65, presided over the signing of the official surrender document. Hirohito was seeking peace since April.

1942 Dwight D. Eisenhower is named the Anglo-American commander for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa.
1941 Atlantic Charter signed by FDR and Churchill

1935 Social Security Act ^top^
No one, especiarry among the elderly, was particularly well prepared for the Great Depression. Government surveys taken during 1934 estimated that more than half of the nation’s elderly lacked the means to support themselves. Various plans were proposed, but none had been adopted when at last US President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed his proposal through the legislative process. The Social Security Act was comparatively moderate: it establishe the “contributory system” in which part of workers' salaries went to a joint pension fund. By January of 1937, the Social Security program was operative. Over the years, Americans have saved over $4.5 trillion in the fund, while more than $4.1 triillion worth of benefits have been paid out to the nation’s retired citizens.

1935 Last Rolls Royce Phantom I ^top^
Mrs. M.S. Morrow of Whitestone, New York, (presumably not worried about Social Security) has the last US-built Rolls Royce Phantom I delivered to her home. Manufactured at the Rolls-Royce plant in Springfield, Massachusetts, the US-built Phantom I made its debut one year after its British counterpart. It featured elegant proportions and well-engineered coachwork, suitable for the successor of the Silver Ghost — the model that earned Rolls Royce a reputation as “the best car in the world.” A total of 1241 Phantoms were produced.

1924 The first two-way ground-air radio communication is between Major William Nicholas Hensley, commandant of Mitchel Field, in a plane in flight and Major Lester Durand Gardner, in Central Park, New York City.
1917: WWI: The Chinese Parliament declares war on the Central Powers (Germany & Austria-Hungary).
1912: 2500 US marines invade Nicaragua; US remains until 1925
1912 The first double-decker bus appears on New York's Broadway. The double-decker originated in London as a two-story horse-drawn omnibus — passengers would climb onto the roof during rush hour. The vehicles eventually added roof seating. Two-story buses can still be seen in New York, usually carrying tourists.
1908 Race riot in Springfield Illinois
1896 Prospectors find gold in the Yukon Territory of Canada. Over 30'000 people would rush to the Yukon hoping to get rich
1863 Siege of Fort Wagner, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina continues

1862 Confederate invasion of Kentucky begins ^top^
Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith begins an invasion of Kentucky as part of a Confederate plan to draw the Yankee army of General Don Carlos Buell away from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and to raise support for the Southern cause in Kentucky. Smith led 10'000 soldiers out of Knoxville, Tennessee, on 14 August and moved toward the Cumberland Gap—the first step in the Confederate invasion of Kentucky. After a Federal force evacuated the pass in the face of the invasion, Smith continued north. On 30 August he encountered a more significant force at Richmond, Kentucky. In a decisive battle, the Confederates routed the Yankees and captured most of the 6'000-man army. The Confederates occupied Lexington a few days later. General Braxton Bragg, who moved into Kentucky from Chattanooga, routed a small Union force and sat on Buell's supply line. He later linked to Smith's force. In September, Buell followed the Confederates northward. The major encounter in the campaign would come on October 8, when Buell would defeat Bragg's army at Perryville, Kentucky. After Perryville, Bragg and Smith retreated back to Tennessee. They succeeded in drawing Buell away from Chattanooga, but they lost the contest for Kentucky.

1861 Soldiers of the 79th New York mutiny near Washington, D.C.
1848 Oregon Territory created
1846 Henry David Thoreau jailed for tax resistance
1842 Seminole War ends; Indians removed from Florida to Oklahoma

1834 Richard Henry Dana sets sail from Boston Harbor      ^top^
      Richard Henry Dana, born 1 August 1815, future author of Two Years Before the Mast, begins his two-year stint as a seaman. Dana was born in Cambridge and enrolled in Harvard, but a case of the measles in college left his eyes weak. He went to work as a sailor while he recuperated. During his two years at sea, he sailed to California, then around Cape Horn, then back to Boston. He resumed his studies and became an attorney. In 1840, he published Two Years Before the Mast, an autobiographical account of the abuse endured by seamen. The book was highly popular. The following year, he published The Seaman's Friend, a complete guide to the legal rights of seamen. Dana wrote several other books while practicing law, including To Cuba and Back (1859), Speeches in Stirring Times (1910), and An Autobiographical Sketch (1953). He also published a scholarly edition of Henry Wheaton's Elements of International Law (1866)
          As a lawyer, Dana aided fugitive slaves, and as US attorney for Massachusetts (1861-66) argued before the US Supreme Court the case of the Amy Warwick [67 US 635 (1862)] He died on 6 January 1882.
DANA ONLINE: Poems and Prose Writings

1814 Francis Scott Key arrested by the British.      ^top^
      American Francis Scott Key (1779-1843) is held overnight as a prisoner of the British during their shelling of Fort McHenry in Baltimore. In the morning, Key writes what later would become the US national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner."
     Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
      On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream; 'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner, O long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
      Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand Between their loved homes and the war's desolation! Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto, "In God is our trust" And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

1813 British warship Pelican attacks and captures US war brigantine Argus
1793 Republican troops in France lay siege to the city of Lyons.

1784 First Russian settlement in Alaska      ^top^
      On Kodiak Island, Grigori Shelekhov, a Russian fur trader, founded Three Saints Bay, the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska. For the next two years, Shelikhov lived there with his wife and some two hundred men. From Three Saints Bay, the Alaskan mainland was explored, and other fur-trade centers were established. In 1786, Shelekhov returned to Russia, and in 1790 dispatched Aleksandr Baranov to manage his affairs in Russia. Baranov established the Russian American Company, and in 1799 was granted a monopoly over Alaska. Baranov extended the Russian trade far down the west coast of North America and in 1812, after several unsuccessful attempts, founded a settlement in northern California.
      British and American trading vessels soon disputed Russia's claims to the northwest coast of America, and the Russians had to retreat north to the present southern border of Alaska. Russian interests in Alaska gradually declined, and after the Crimean War in the 1850s, Russia sought to dispose of the territory altogether. The czarist government first approached the US about selling the territory during the administration of President James Buchanan, but negotiations were stalled by the outbreak of the American Civil War.
      After the war, Secretary of State William H. Seward, a supporter of territorial expansion, was eager to acquire the tremendous landmass of Alaska, one-fifth the size of the rest of the United States. On 30 March 1867, he signed a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska for seven million dollars. Despite the bargain price of roughly two cents an acre, the Alaskan purchase was ridiculed in Congress and in the press as "Seward's folly," "Seward's icebox," and President Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden." On 09 April 1867, the Senate ratified the treaty by a margin of just one vote.
      Six months later, Alaska was formally handed over from Russia to the United States, and at Sitka, the American flag was raised over the new territory for the first time. Despite a slow start in US settlement, the discovery of gold in 1898 brought a rapid influx of people to the territory, and Alaska, rich in natural resources, has contributed to American prosperity ever since.
     The European discovery of Alaska came in 1741, when a Russian expedition led by Danish navigator Vitus Bering sighted the Alaskan mainland. Russian hunters were soon making incursions into Alaska, and the native Aleut population suffered greatly after being exposed to foreign diseases. The Three Saints Bay colony was founded on Kodiak Island in 1784, and Shelikhov lived there for two years with his wife and 200 men. From Three Saints Bay, the Alaskan mainland was explored, and other fur-trade centers were established. In 1786, Shelikhov returned to Russia and in 1790 dispatched Aleksandr Baranov to manage his affairs in Russia. Baranov established the Russian American Company and in 1799 was granted a monopoly over Alaska. Baranov extended the Russian trade far down the west coast of North America and in 1812, after several unsuccessful attempts, founded a settlement in Northern California near Bodega Bay. British and American trading vessels soon disputed Russia's claims to the northwest coast of America, and the Russians retreated north to the present southern border of Alaska. Russian interests in Alaska gradually declined, and after the Crimean War in the 1850s, a nearly bankrupt Russia sought to dispose of the territory altogether. The czarist government first approached the United States about selling the territory during the administration of President James Buchanan, but negotiations were stalled by the outbreak of the American Civil War. After the war, Secretary of State William H. Seward, a supporter of territorial expansion, was eager to acquire the tremendous landmass of Alaska, one-fifth the size of the rest of the United States. On March 30, 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward signed a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska for $7.2 million. Despite the bargain price of roughly two cents an acre, the Alaskan purchase was ridiculed in Congress and in the press as "Seward's folly," "Seward's icebox," and President Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden." In April 1867, the Senate ratified the treaty by a margin of just one vote. Despite a slow start in settlement by Americans from the continental United States, the discovery of gold in 1898 brought a rapid influx of people to the territory. Alaska, rich in natural resources, has been contributing to American prosperity ever since. On 03 January 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation admitting the territory of Alaska into the Union as the 49th state.

1765 Mass colonists challenge British rule by an Elm (Liberty Tree)
1756 French commander Louis Montcalm takes Fort Oswego NY, from the British.
1703 J. S. Bach, takes organist post at Arnstadt, Germany.

1670 Quakers arrested for preaching ^top^
The Quaker meetinghouse in Gracechurch Street, London, having been padlocked by the authorities, William Penn preaches in the street to several hundred persons. After the meetings, he and William Mead are arrested and imprisoned on a trumped-up charge of inciting a riot. The subsequent trial would make a Stalinist kangaroo court blush. But on appeal the legal precedent is established that the judge may not coerce the jury.
WILLIAM PENN ONLINE:

A Key, Opening the Way to Every Capacity How to Distinguish the Religion Professed by the People Called Quakers

Some Fruits of Solitude

More Fruits of Solitude

Advice to His Children part 1 — part 2 — part 3

1605 The Popham expedition reaches the Sagadahoc River in present-day Maine and settles there.
1559 Spanish explorer de Luna enters Pensacola Bay, Florida.
1457 The Book of Psalms printed by Fust and Schoeffer is one of the earliest books printed.
1457 The first book ever printed is published by a German astrologer named Faust. He is thrown in jail while trying to sell books in Paris. Authorities concluded that all the identical books meant Faust had dealt with the devil.
1385 Portuguese defeat Castilians at Aljubarrota, retain independence
0410 Alaric sacks Rome.

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Deaths which occurred on an 14 August:
2002 Javier Suárez Medina, 33, by lethal injection in Texas for the 13 December 1988 murder of police officer Lawrence Cadena, 43, posing as a buyer of cocaine. Suárez has lived most of his life in the US, but is a Mexican national and after his arrest, in violation Article 36 of the 1963 Vienna Convention of Consular Relations (which became US law in 1969), was never told that he could contact the Mexican consulate for help. The diplomatic protests of Mexico, which like all civilized countries does not have the death penalty, went unheaded by Texas.
2002 Nidal Daragmeh (or Nidal Abu Muhsein), 19, and Nasser Jerar, 44, Palestinians, in the village Tubas, near Jenin, West Bank. Israeli troops order Daragmeh to go to the house of Jerar and, on his way there, he is shot dead. Then Jerar is crushed by his house bulldozed by the Israelis. Jerar, a Hamas militant, was wheelchair-bound, having lost both arms and one leg when trying to plant a bomb in May 2001. The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem charged that soldiers used Daraghmeh (nephew of a B'Tselem field investigator) as a "human shield.". Former justice minister Yossi Beilin called the practice "immoral and un-Jewish." He charged that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer "are responsible for the worst moral deterioration in the history of Israel. Not only is this practice illegal, not Jewish, and immoral, Israel is paying an enormous price for it. This government is teaching the army the worst practices, and is turning the concept of `purity of arms' into slander."
2002 Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg “Larry Rivers“, proto-Pop painter and sculptor, jazz saxophonist, writer, poet, teacher, sometime actor and filmmaker, whose partly self-mocking bad boy persona encapsulated the spirit of a restless era that shook up US art. He was born on 17 August 1923. Author of autobiography What Did I Do? — MORE ON RIVERS AT ART “4” AUGUST — LINKS — The Athlete's Dream — Bike Girls — Parts of the Face: French Vocabulary Lesson — French Money — Primo Levi: Witness Drawing _ detail — On the Phone
2000 Sumiko Iwasaki, 66, her daughter Tomoko, 41, and Tomoko's son Junya, 13, stabbed to death in Notsumachi, Oita Prefecture, by a 15-year-old neighbor, who also seriously injures Sumiko's husband Kazumasa, 65, and Tomoko's other children, daughter Mai, 16, and son Seiya, 11.
1996 35 persons electrocuted, in Peru, when a stray rocket during a fireworks show knocked down a high-tension line.

1989 Robert Bernard Anderson, 79, of complications from surgery on cancer of the esophagus, in New York, N.Y.     ^top^
     He was a lawyer turned legislator who helped shaped the conservative economic policies of President Dwight Eisenhower's second administration. Born on 04 June 1910 in the small town of Burleson in Texas, Anderson spent a portion of his life hopping from modestly prestigious public posts to relatively lucrative spots in the private sector. After securing a law degree from the University of Texas in 1932, Anderson did an extended stint in the state government, serving first as a member of the state house of representatives (1932), then assistant attorney general, and later state tax commissioner. By the dawn of the 1940s, Anderson switched career paths and headed into the private sector, working as the general manager of a Texas-based oil and ranching concern.
      During the 1950s, he continued to move between business and government, though this time his dalliances with the public sector landed him a seat in President Eisenhower's administration. After working as Eisenhower's secretary of the Navy (1953) and then the secretary of defense (1954), Anderson made a temporary retreat into the private world. However, in 1957 Eisenhower, casting about for someone to run the Treasury, again beckoned Anderson to Washington. The Texas businessman heeded the President's call and headed up the Treasury until Eisenhower left office in 1961.
     Anderson received the Medal of Freedom in 1955. He pleaded guilty in 1987 to charges of evading taxes by illegally operating an offshore bank; was sentenced to jail and disbarred.

1977 Michael F. Widman, Jr., 77, leader of the campaign to unionize the Ford Motor Company. Of the “big three,” Ford was thought to be the biggest challenge to union organizers, for Henry Ford’s hatred of unions was legendary.
1972 Jules Romains, 86, French novelist
1972 Manolo Millares Sall, Spanish painter born in 1926. — Cuadro 150
1958 Mary Ritter Beard, 82, American historian
1951 William Randolph Hearst newspaper publisher, in Beverly Hills

1945 General Anami, suicide, as Japan's surrender is made public      ^top^
      An official announcement of Japan's unconditional surrender to the Allies is made public to the Japanese people. Even though Japan's War Council, urged by Emperor Hirohito, had already submitted a formal declaration of surrender to the Allies, via ambassadors, on August 10, fighting continued between the Japanese and the Soviets in Manchuria and between the Japanese and the United States in the South Pacific. In fact, two days after the Council agreed to surrender, a Japanese submarine sank the Oak Hill, an American landing ship, and the Thomas F. Nickel, an American destroyer, both east of Okinawa.
      In the afternoon of 14 August Japanese radio announces that an Imperial Proclamation is soon to be made, accepting the terms of unconditional surrender drawn up at the Potsdam Conference. That proclamation had already been recorded by the emperor. The news did not go over well, as more than 1000 Japanese soldiers stormed the Imperial Palace in an attempt to find the proclamation and prevent its being transmitted to the Allies. Soldiers still loyal to Emperor Hirohito repulsed the attackers.
      That evening, General Anami, the member of the War Council most adamant against surrender, committed suicide. His reason: to atone for the Japanese army's defeat, and to be spared having to hear his emperor speak the words of surrender.

1941 Saint Maximilian Kolbe, at Auschwitz by lethal injection, because he was not starving to death fast enough for the Nazis.     ^top^
     He was born and baptized Raymond the same day, 8 January 1894, in Zdunska Wola, Poland, the second son of Julius and Marianne (Dabrowska) Kolbe. On 29 June 1902 June 29 Raymond receives his First Holy Communion in Pabianice, where the family had moved, looking for better work as weavers.
     He enters the preparatory seminary of the Conventual Franciscans in Lwow together with his brother Francis (who would become Father Alphonse Kolbe and die on 03 December 1930). Afiter three years there, on 4 September 1910, though uncertain about his vocation, he enters the Conventual Franciscan novitiate in Lwow and is given his name in the Order, Maximilian. There, on 5 September 1911, Friar Maximilian professes his simple vows. In November 1912 he is sent to Rome to study philosophy for the priesthood, at the Gregorian University. On 01 November 1914 Friar Maximilian professes his solemn vows.
     On 22 October 1915 he earns his doctorate in philosophy and begins his study of theology at St. Bonaventure in Rome.
     On 20 Jaruary 1917 he decides to start a Marian organization, which he does, with six other student friars, on 16 October, calling it the Militia of the Immaculata.
     On 28 April 1918 he is ordained a priest in Rome. On 22 July 1919 he receives his doctorate in theology, and then is sent back to Poland, to teach Church history in the Order's Krakow seminary.
     Father Kolbe had contracted tubercolosis while still a seminarian in Rome. He had to undergo treatment in a sanitarium from 10 August 1920 to 28 April 1921, and again from 18 September 1926 to 13 April 1927. Meanwhile he continues his Marian apostolate, obtains various ecclesiastical endorsements of it, and starts its publication "The Knight of the Inmaculada." On 21 November 1927, with another priest and 18 brothers, he establishes a friary near Warsaw, called Niepokalanow, the "City of the Immaculata."
     1930 February 26: Father Maximilian sets out for Japan, accompanied by four Brothers, to found another City of the Immaculata.1930 April 24: They arrive in Nagasaki on 24 April 1930. The bishop Hayasaka asks Father Maximilian to teach philosophy at the diocesan seminary. The friars establish a new friary, named Mugenzai no Sono (Garden of the Immaculata), in the poor district of Nagasaki-Hongochi at the base of Mt. Hikosan and move into it on 16 May1931.
      In May 1936 Father Maximilian leaves Japan, returning to Poland, where he is appointed guardian of Niepokalanow on July 16.
     On 1 September 1939 Poland is invaded by Nazi Germany, then stabbed in the back by the Soviet Union, and by the end of September the country is defeated and partitioned between the two totalitarian aggressors. There are 772 professed and novice friars at the time.
     On 19 September 1939 Father Maximilian is arrested with thirty-five brothers, another priest and a Korean seminarian. They are set free on 8 December 8 and return the next day to Niepokalanow.
     Father Maximilian is again arrested on 17 February 1941, taken to Pawiak Prison in Warsaw by the Gestapo, and tortured. On 28 May 1941 he is taken with a trainload of prisoners to Oswiecim (Auschwitz) where he is tattooed with the number 16670.
     On or about 30 July 1941 (+ or - 2 days), Fritsch, the camp Commandant, sentences ten prisoners from Block 14 to death by starvation in retaliation for an the escape of a prisoner from their block. Father Maximilian's offer to die for one of the condemned, Francis Gajowniczek, is accepted. The condemned are placed in the basement bunker of Block 13. But Father Maximilian apparently doesn't die off quickly enough for his tormentors, so on 14 August 1941, they inject him with poison, and cremate his corpse the next day with others.
     After the usual canonical requirements are met, Pope Paul VI would beatify Father Maximilian Kolbe on 17 October 1971, and Polish Pope John Paul II canonize him on 10 October 1982.

1936 Rainey Bethea hung, last US public execution.
1930 Florian Cajori, 71, mathematician.
1919 Adrian Gösta Fabian Sandels, Swedish painter born on 25 April 1887.
1905 Simeon Solomon, British painter who was born on 09 October 1840.

1900 Thousands of Chinese "Boxer" rebels, soldiers, and civilians, suicide or massacred by the "Foreign Devils" of the international force arriving for the relief of the diplomatic quarter in Pekin, besieged by.the "Boxer Rebellion" since 20 June.      ^top^
     International forces, including US Marines, enter Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of foreign influence.
      In response to widespread foreign encroachment into China’s national affairs and to famine in the countryside blamed on the "foreign devils", Chinese nationalists and peasants had brought the so-called Boxer Rebellion to Peking on 20 June. Calling themselves I Ho Ch’uan, or “the Righteous and Harmonious Fists,” the nationalists occupied Peking, killed several Westerners and Chinese Christians, and besieged the foreign legations in the diplomatic quarter of the city.
      By the end of the nineteenth century, the Western powers and Japan had forced China’s ruling Qing dynasty to accept wide foreign control over the country’s economic affairs. In the Opium Wars, popular rebellions, and the Sino-Japanese War, China had fought to resist the foreigners, but it lacked a modernized military and millions were killed. In 1898, Tzu’u Hzi, the dowager empress and an anti-imperialist, began supporting the I Ho Ch’uan, who were known as the “Boxers” by the British because of their martial arts fighting style.
      The Boxers soon grew powerful, and in late 1899, regular attacks on foreigners and Chinese Christians began. On June 20, the Boxers, now over 100'000 strong and led by the court of Tzu’u Hzi, besieged the foreigners in Peking’s diplomatic quarter, burned Christian churches in the city, and destroyed the Peking-Tientsin railway line. As the Western powers and Japan organized a multinational force to crush the rebellion, the siege of the Peking legations stretched into weeks, and the diplomats, their families, and their guards suffered through hunger and degrading conditions as they fought to keep the Boxers at bay.
       On 14 August the eight-nation allied relief force, mainly British, Russian, US, Japanese, French, and German troops, relieves Peking and liberates the legations, after fighting its way through much of northern China. Under pressure from the United States, and due to mutual jealousies between the powers, it would be agreed not to partition China further, and on 07 September 1901, the Peking Protocol would be signed, ending the Boxer Rebellion. By the terms of agreement, which was essentially forced on China’s ruling government, the foreign nations received extremely favorable commercial treaties, foreign troops would be permanently stationed in Peking, and China would be forced to pay $333 million dollars as penalty for its rebellion. From thereon, China was effectively a subject nation. It never forgot.
     PEKING RELIEVED BY MULTINATIONAL FORCE: During the Boxer Rebellion, an international force featuring British, Russian, US, Japanese, French, and German troops relieves the Chinese capital of Peking after fighting its way 130 km from the port of Tientsin. The Chinese nationalists besieging Peking's diplomatic quarter were crushed, and the Boxer Rebellion effectively came to an end. By the end of the 19th century, the Western powers and Japan had forced China's ruling Ch'ing dynasty to accept wide foreign control over the country's economic affairs. In the Opium Wars, popular rebellions, and the Sino-Japanese War, China had fought to resist the foreigners, but it lacked a modernized military and millions died.
      In 1898, Tz'u Hsi, the dowager empress, gained control of the Chinese government in a conservative coup against the Emperor Kuang-hsu, her adoptive son and an advocate of reforms. Tz'u Hsi had previously served as ruler of China in various regencies and was deeply anti-foreign in her ideology. In 1899, her court began to secretly support the anti-foreign rebels known as the I Ho Ch'uan, or the "Righteous and Harmonious Fists." The I Ho Ch'uan was a secret society formed with the original goal of expelling the foreigners and overthrowing the Ch'ing dynasty. The group practiced a ritualistic form of martial arts that they believed gave them supernatural powers and made them impervious to bullets. After witnessing these fighting displays, Westerners named members of the society "Boxers." Most Boxers came from northern China, where natural calamities and foreign aggression in the late 1890s had ruined the economy. The ranks of the I Ho Ch'uan swelled with embittered peasants who directed their anger against Christian converts and foreign missionaries, whom they saw as a threat to their traditional ways and blamed for their misery.
      After the dowager empress returned to power, the Boxers pushed for an alliance with the imperial court against the foreigners. Tz'u Hsi gave her tacit support to their growing violence against the Westerners and their institutions, and some officials incorporated the Boxers into local militias. Open attacks on missionaries and Chinese Christians began in late 1899, and by May 1900 bands of Boxers had begun gathering in the countryside around Peking. In spite of threats by the foreign powers, the empress dowager began openly supporting the Boxers. In early June, an international relief force of 2000 soldiers was dispatched by Western and Japanese authorities from the port of Tientsin to Peking. The empress dowager ordered Imperial forces to block the advance of the foreigners, and the relief force was turned back. Meanwhile, the Peking-Tientsin railway line and other railroads were destroyed by the Chinese. On 13 June, the Boxers, now some 140'000 strong, moved into Peking and began burning churches and foreign residences. On 17 June, the foreign powers seized forts between Tientsin and Peking, and the next day Tz'u Hsi called on all Chinese to attack foreigners. On 20 June, the German ambassador Baron von Ketteler was killed and the Boxers began besieging the foreign legations in the diplomatic quarter of the Chinese capital.
     As the foreign powers organized a multinational force to crush the rebellion, the siege of the Peking legations stretched into weeks, and the diplomats, their families, and guards suffered through hunger and degrading conditions as they fought desperately to keep the Boxers at bay. Eventually, an expedition of 19'000 multinational troops pushed their way to Peking after fighting two major battles against the Boxers. On 14 August the eight-nation allied relief force captured Peking and liberated the legations. The foreign troops looted the city and routed the Boxers, while the empress and her court fled to the north. The victorious powers began work on a peace settlement. Due to mutual jealousies between the nations, it was agreed that China would not be partitioned further, and in September 1901 the Peking Protocol was signed, formally ending the Boxer Rebellion. By the terms of agreement, the foreign nations received extremely favorable commercial treaties with China, foreign troops were permanently stationed in Peking, and China was forced to pay $333 million as penalty for its rebellion. China was effectively a subject nation. The Boxers had failed to expel the foreigners, but their rebellion set the stage for the successful Chinese revolutions of the 20th century.

1886 Edmond Laguerre, mathematician
1860 Ernest T. Seton naturalist/painter/author (Buffalo Wind-1938)
1802 Letitia Elizabeth Landon England, poet/novelist/socialite
1784 Nathaniel Hone, Irish painter born on 24 April 1718. — LINKS — Anne Gardiner with her Eldest Son Kirkman
1777 Hans Christian Oersted Den, physicist/chemist (View of Chemical Law)
1774 Meriwether Lewis Charlottsville VA, capt of Lewis and Clark Expedition. LEWIS ONLINE: co~author of: History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the Sources of the Missouri, Thence Across the Rocky Mountains and Down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean volume 1 – volume 2 (page images).
1625 Hans Rottenhammer, German painter born in 1564.— LINKS — Feast of the Gods (The Marriage of Peleus and Thetis) — Diana und Aktaion
1603 (or 09 November 1605) Lodewyk Toeput, (or Pozzoserrato, da Treviso), Flemish painter active in Italy, born in 1550. — MORE ON TOEPUT AT ART “4” AUGUST — LINKS — Paesaggio con Figure

Births which occurred on an 14 August: ^top^
1947 Danielle Steel, author.
1925 Russell Baker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
1906 Lukacs, mathematician
1903 John Ringling North circus director
1901 Sir James Pitman England, educator/publisher/phonetic speller.

1893 Automobile license plates ^top^
The world’s first automobile license plates were issued in Paris, France. They required passing a test. However, plates were not issued in the United States for a few more years, when they were finally instituted as a safety measure. The city of Boston was the first to require its motorists to hold a license and register their vehicle — the owner would make his own plate with the corresponding registration numbers. The rest of Massachusetts soon followed the trend and began issuing registration plates made of iron and covered with a porcelain enamel.

1880 Hava Rexha, in Shushice, Albania, where she would live all her life (at least until 08 Jul 2002 when she has 120 living descendants and Reuters has a story on her). Ever since being forced to marry at age 14 a previously twice married man which she says was about 60 years old (he died in 1950, at age about 116, if she is correct, which seems doubtful), she has resented it and him. Nevertheless she had six children, two of whom survived to adulthood. By January 2002 she had become blind and unable to move without help. She is a devout Muslim who abstains from alcohol, but she smokes, drinks coffee, and eats a lot of butter.
1870 Georges d'Espagnat, French artist who died in 1950.

1867 - John Galsworthy (Nobel Prize-winning author [1932]; The Forsyte Saga) ^top^ GALSWORTHY ONLINE:
Awakening and To Let Beyond The Country House The Dark Flower	Five Tales Fraternity The Freeland Indian Summer of a Forsyte The Island Pharisees	The Man of Property The Patrician Saint's Progress Villa Rubein, and Other Stories

1866 Charles de la Vallée Poussin, mathematician
1856 Pietro Fragiacomo, Italian painter. He died in 1922.
1865 Castelnuovo, mathematician

1863 Ernest Lawrence Thayer, ^top^
He would write "Casey at the Bat" published June 3, 1888, in the SF Examiner under the pseudonym "Phin". Thayer did not write other poems but went on to manage his father's mill.. He died in 1940.
(See Casey's Revenge)

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought if only Casey could but get a whack at that —
We'd put up even money now with Casey at the bat.

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despis-ed, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occured,
There was Johnnie safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Then from 5000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped —
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.

From the benches black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted some one on the stand;
And it's likely they'd have killed him had not Casey raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two."

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud;
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.

1850 Ball, mathematician.
1842 Gaston Darboux, mathematician.
1840 Briton Rivière, British painter specialized in animal paintings. He died on 20 April 1920 — LINKS — Daniel's Answer to the King — Persepolis — Protection (Song of Peace) — Temple Leopards — The Lonely Life
1838 Willem Johannes Martens, Dutch painter who died on 02 February 1895.
1817 Lodewijk-Johannes Kleyn, Dutch painter who died on 11 March 1897.
1814 Adolphe Tidemand, Dutch painter. He died on 25 August 1876.
1758 Antoine Charles Horace “Carle” Vernet, French painter, born on the 44th birthday of his father Claude-Joseph Vernet [14 August 1714 – 03 December 1789]. Carle Vernet died on 27 November 1836.— LINKS — 19 prints at Fine Arts Museums of SF
1739 Josef van Bredael, Flemish artist who died in 1739.
1737 Hutton, mathematician
1530 Benedetti, mathematician.
1714 Claude Joseph Vernet, French painter who died on 03 December 1789. — MORE ON C.~J. VERNET AT ART “4” AUGUST — LINKS — Les Baigneuses — Self Portrait — Harbor Scene — The Town and Harbor of Toulon — Shepherd in the Alps — Shipwreck — Storm with a Shipwreck
1502 Pieter I. Coecke van Aelst, Flemish painter who died in 1550. — MORE ON VAN AELST AT ART “4” AUGUST — LINKS — Design for a pane of glass depicting the Triumph of Fame — Pane of glass with the Triumph of Faith — Stained glass with Triumph of Time — Mary Magdalen and Joseph of Arimathaea — Holy Trinity

Holidays Arkansas : World War II Memorial Day (1945) / Bahrain : Independence Day (1971) / Chicago : Bud Billiken Day-honors children (1923) / Liechtenstein : Prince Franz-Joseph Day / Massachusett : Liberty Tree Day (1765) / Pakistan-1947, Bahrain-1971 : Independence Day / Portugal : Independence Day (1385) / Rhode Island, Michigan : V-J Day (1945) / US : Atlantic Charter Day; US & UK agree on war aims (1941) / Zambia : Youth Day - ( Monday )

Religious Observances RC : Vigil of the Assumption of Mary / RC : Maximilian Kolbe, priest, martyr at Auschwitz

Thoughts for the day: “Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.”
“The old forget. The young don't know.” — Japanese proverb.
“The old don't forget that the young don't know.”
“The young do know that the old forget.”
“Forgetting is bad enough. Forgetting to forgive is worse.”
“Forgetting is bad enough. Remembering what never happened, is worse.”

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