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Jan 04| HISTORY
4 2DAY
|Jan 06
>> Events, deaths, births, of JAN 05 [For Jan 05 Julian go to Gregorian date: 1583~1699: Jan 15 1700s: Jan 16 1800s: Jan 17 1900~2099: Jan 18] |
On a January
05: 2003 The body of Faheem Williams, 7, is discovered. He died “more than a month before”, locked up in a filthy basement, of starvation, thirst, beatings, and cigarette burns. — MORE at History “4” Nov 29 2001 In an Andradina, Brazil, prison, early in the morning, rapist Santos Cruz, 23, slices off with a shaving razor the part of his body that distances him from God, and makes him commit sin., as he later explains that the Bible orders. Then he flushes the part down the toilet. Urologist Aerton Barbosa Neves operates on him and states that the convict will have to urinate through a tube for the rest of his life. 2000 Touching off angry protests by Cuban-Americans in Miami, INS Commissioner Doris Meissner ruled that refugee Elian Gonzalez, 6, ''belongs with his father'' and must be returned to Cuba by 14 Jan 2000. Elian had survived the wreck of the boat in which his mother, separated from his remarried father, died while bringing him to the US. After a legal battle, the belated coming to the US of the boy's father, and the seizure of Elian at gun point from the home of his US relatives, he would be returned to Cuba in June. 1998 Ice storm knocks out electricity in Quebec & Ontario 1998 Vandals decapitate Copenhagen's Little Mermaid.
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1992 "Peter Pan" closes at Minskoff Theater New York
City NY after 48 performances 1988 Austrian President Waldheim's war record investigated 1987 Surrogate Baby M case begins in Hackensack NJ 1982 Arkansas judge rules against obligatory teaching of creation 1977 Kenya President Jomo Kenyatta disbands parliament 1976 Cambodia is renamed "Democratic Kampuchea" 1972 West-Pakistani sheik Mujib ur-Rahman freed 1972 President Nixon signs a $5.5 billion bill for NASA to begin research on manned space shuttle. 1972 New York City NY transit fare rises from 30¢ to 35¢ 1970 23'000 Belgian mine workers strike.
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1961 US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba
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1949 The Fair Deal US President Harry Truman proposes national health insurance, raising the minimum wage, strengthening the position of organized labor, and guarantying the civil rights of all Americans. Referencing the popular "New Deal" programs of his predecessor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Truman styled his reform package the "Fair Deal." Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union. [Delivered in person before a joint session, at 13:00. broadcast nationally on radio.] Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress: I am happy to report to this 81st Congress that the state of the Union is good. Our Nation is better able than ever before to meet the needs of the American people, and to give them their fair chance in the pursuit of happiness. This great Republic is foremost among the nations of the world in the search for peace. During the last 16 years, our people have been creating a society which offers new opportunities for every man to enjoy his share of the good things of life. In this society, we are conservative about the values and principles which we cherish; but we are forward-looking in protecting those values and principles and in extending their benefits. We have rejected the discredited theory that the fortunes of the Nation should be in the hands of a privileged few. We have abandoned the "trickle-down" concept of national prosperity. Instead, we believe that our economic system should rest on a democratic foundation and that wealth should be created for the benefit of all. The recent election shows that the people of the United States are in favor of this kind of society and want to go on improving it. The American people have decided that poverty is just as wasteful and just as unnecessary as preventable disease. We have pledged our common resources to help one another in the hazards and struggles of individual life. We believe that no unfair prejudice or artificial distinction should bar any citizen of the United States of America from an education, or from good health, or from a job that he is capable of performing. The attainment of this kind of society demands the best efforts of every citizen in every walk of life, and it imposes increasing responsibilities on the Government. The Government must work with industry, labor, and the farmers in keeping our economy running at full speed. The Government must see that every American has a chance to obtain his fair share of our increasing abundance. These responsibilities go hand in hand. We cannot maintain prosperity unless we have a fair distribution of opportunity and a widespread consumption of the products of our factories and farms. Our Government has undertaken to meet these responsibilities. We have made tremendous public investments in highways, hydroelectric power projects, soil conservation, and reclamation. We have established a system of social security. We have enacted laws protecting the rights and the welfare of our working people and the income of our farmers. These Federal policies have paid for themselves many times over. They have strengthened the material foundations of our democratic ideals. Without them, our present prosperity would be impossible. Reinforced by these policies, our private enterprise system has reached new heights of production. Since the boom year of 1929, while our population has increased by only 20 percent, our agricultural production has increased by 45 percent, and our industrial production has increased by 75 percent. We are turning out far more goods and more wealth per worker than we have ever done before. This progress has confounded the gloomy prophets-at home and abroad-who predicted the downfall of American capitalism. The people of the United States, going their own way, confident in their own powers, have achieved the greatest prosperity the world has even seen. But, great as our progress has been, we still have a long way to go. As we look around the country, many of our shortcomings stand out in bold relief. We are suffering from excessively high prices. Our production is still not large enough to satisfy our demands. Our minimum wages are far too low. Small business is losing ground to growing monopoly. Our farmers still face an uncertain future. And too many of them lack the benefits of our modern civilization. Some of our natural resources are still being wasted. We are acutely short of electric power, although the means for developing such power are abundant. Five million families are still living in slums and firetraps. Three million families share their homes with others. Our health is far behind the progress of medical science. Proper medical care is so expensive that it is out of the reach of the great majority of our citizens. Our schools, in many localities, are utterly inadequate. Our democratic ideals are often thwarted by prejudice and intolerance. Each of these shortcomings is also an opportunity-an opportunity for the Congress and the President to work for the good of the people. Our first great opportunity is to protect our economy against the evils of "boom and bust." This objective cannot be attained by government alone. Indeed, the greater part of the task must be performed by individual efforts under our system of free enterprise. We can keep our present prosperity, and increase it, only if free enterprise and free government work together to that end. We cannot afford to float along ceaselessly on a postwar boom until it collapses. It is not enough merely to prepare to weather a recession if it comes. Instead, government and business must work together constancy to achieve more and more jobs and more and more production-which mean more and more prosperity for all the people. The business cycle is man-made; and men of good will, working together, can smooth it out. So far as business is concerned, it should plan for steady, vigorous expansion-seeking always to increase its output, lower its prices, and avoid the vices of monopoly and restriction. So long as business does this, it will be contributing to continued prosperity, and it will have the help and encouragement of the Government. The Employment Act of 1946 pledges the Government to use all its resources to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power. This means that the Government is firmly committed to protect business and the people against the dangers of recession and against the evils of inflation. This means that the Government must adapt its plans and policies to meet changing circumstances. At the present time, our prosperity is threatened by inflationary pressures at a number of critical points in our economy. And the Government must be in a position to take effective action at these danger spots. To that end, I recommend that the Congress enact legislation for the following purposes:
One of the most important factors in maintaining prosperity is the Government's fiscal policy. At this time, it is essential not only that the Federal budget be balanced, but also that there be a substantial surplus to reduce inflationary pressures, and to permit a sizable reduction in the national debt, which now stands at $252 billion. I recommend, therefore, that the Congress enact new tax legislation to bring in an additional $4 billion of Government revenue. This should come principally from additional corporate taxes. A portion should come from revised estate and gift taxes. Consideration should be given to raising personal income rates in the middle and upper brackets. If we want to keep our economy running in high gear, we must be sure that every group has the incentive to make its full contribution to the national welfare. At present, the working men and women of the Nation are unfairly discriminated against by a statute that abridges their rights, curtails their constructive efforts, and hampers our system of free collective bargaining. That statute is the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, sometimes called the Taft-Hartley Act. That act should be repealed! The Wagner Act should be reenacted. However, certain improvements, which I recommended to the Congress 2 years ago, are needed. Jurisdictional strikes and unjustified secondary boycotts should be prohibited. The use of economic force to decide issues arising out of the interpretation of existing contracts should be prevented. Without endangering our democratic freedoms, means should be provided for setting up machinery for preventing strikes in vital industries which affect the public interest. The Department of Labor should be rebuilt and strengthened and those units properly belonging within that department should be placed in it. The health of our economy and its maintenance at high levels further require that the minimum wage fixed by law should be raised to at least 75 cents an hour. If our free enterprise economy is to be strong and healthy, we must reinvigorate the forces of competition. We must assure small business the freedom and opportunity to grow and prosper. To this purpose, we should strengthen our antitrust laws by closing those loopholes that permit monopolistic mergers and consolidations. Our national farm program should be improved-not only in the interest of the farmers, but for the lasting prosperity of the whole Nation. Our goals should he abundant farm production and parity income for agriculture. Standards of living on the farm should be just as good as anywhere else in the country. Farm price supports are an essential part of our program to achieve these ends. Price supports should be used to prevent farm price declines which are out of line with general price levels, to facilitate adjustments in production to consumer demands, and to promote good land use. Our price support legislation must be adapted to these objectives. The authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation to provide adequate storage space for crops should be restored. Our program for farm prosperity should also seek to expand the domestic market for agricultural products, particularly among low-income groups, and to increase and stabilize foreign markets. We should give special attention to extending modern conveniences and services to our farms. Rural electrification should be pushed forward. And in considering legislation relating to housing, education, health, and social security, special attention should be given to rural problems. Our growing population and the expansion of our economy depend upon the wise management of our land, water, forest, and mineral wealth. In our present dynamic economy, the task of conservation is not to lockup our resources but to develop and improve them. Failure, today, to make the investments which are necessary to support our progress in the future would be false economy. We must push forward the development of our rivers for power, irrigation, navigation, and flood control. We should apply the lessons of our Tennessee Valley experience to our other great river basins. I again recommend action be taken by the Congress to approve the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power project. This is about the fifth time I have recommended it. We must adopt a program for the planned use of the petroleum reserves under the sea, which are-and must remain-vested in the Federal Government. We must extend our programs of soil conservation. We must place our forests on a sustained yield basis, and encourage the development of new sources of vital minerals. In all this we must make sure that the benefits of these public undertakings are directly available to the people. Public power should be earned to consuming areas by public transmission lines where necessary to provide electricity at the lowest possible rates. Irrigation waters should serve family farms and not land speculators. The Government has still other opportunities-to help raise the standard of living of our citizens. These opportunities lie in the fields of social security, health, education, housing, and civil rights. The present coverage of the social security laws is altogether inadequate; the benefit payments are too low. One-third of our workers are not covered. Those who receive old-age and survivors insurance benefits receive an average payment of only $25 a month. Many others who cannot work because they are physically disabled are left to the mercy of charity. We should expand our social security program, both as to the size of the benefits and the extent of coverage, against the economic hazards due to unemployment, old age, sickness, and disability. We must spare no effort to raise the general level of health in this country. In a nation as rich as ours, it is a shocking fact that tens of millions lack adequate medical care. We are short of doctors, hospitals, nurses. We must remedy these shortages. Moreover, we need-and we must have without further delay-a system of prepaid medical insurance which will enable every American to afford good medical care. It is equally shocking that millions of our children are not receiving a good education. Millions of them are in overcrowded, obsolete buildings. We are short of teachers, because teachers' salaries are too low to attract new teachers, or to hold the ones we have. All these school problems will become much more acute as a result of the tremendous increase in the enrollment in our elementary schools in the next few years. I cannot repeat too strongly my desire for prompt Federal financial aid to the States to help them operate and maintain their school systems. The governmental agency which now administers the programs of health, education, and social security should be given full departmental status. The housing shortage continues to be acute. As an immediate step, the Congress should enact the provisions for low-rent public housing, slum clearance, farm housing, and housing research which I have repeatedly recommended. The number of low-rent public housing units provided for in the legislation should be increased to 1 million units in the next 7 years. Even this number of units will not begin to meet our need for new housing. Most of the houses we need will have to be built by private enterprise, without public subsidy. By producing too few rental units and too large a proportion of high-priced houses, the building industry is rapidly pricing itself out of the market. Building costs must be lowered. The Government is now engaged in a campaign to induce all segments of the building industry to concentrate on the production of lower priced housing. Additional legislation to encourage such housing will be submitted. The authority which I have requested, to allocate materials in short supply and to impose price ceilings on such materials, could be used, if found necessary, to channel more materials into homes large enough for family life at prices which wage earners can afford. The driving force behind our progress is our faith in our democratic institutions. That faith is embodied in the promise of equal rights and equal opportunities which the founders of our Republic proclaimed to their countrymen and to the whole world. The fulfillment of this promise is among the highest purposes of government. The civil rights proposals I made to the 80th Congress, I now repeat to the 81st Congress. They should be enacted in order that the Federal Government may assume the leadership and discharge the obligations clearly placed upon it by the Constitution. I stand squarely behind those proposals. Our domestic programs are the foundation of our foreign policy. The world today looks to us for leadership because we have so largely realized, within our borders, those benefits of democratic government for which most of the peoples of the world are yearning. We are following a foreign policy which is the outward expression of the democratic faith we profess. We are doing what we can to encourage free states and free peoples throughout the world, to aid the suffering and afflicted in foreign lands, and to strengthen democratic nations against aggression. The heart of our foreign policy is peace. We are supporting a world organization to keep peace and a world economic policy to create prosperity for mankind. Our guiding star is the principle of international cooperation. To this concept we have made a national commitment as profound as anything in history. To it we have pledged our resources and our honor. Until a system of world security is established upon which we can safely rely, we cannot escape the burden of creating and maintaining armed forces sufficient to deter aggression. We have made great progress in the last year in the effective organization of our Armed Forces, but further improvements in our national security legislation are necessary. Universal training is essential to the security of the United States. During the course of this session I shall have occasion to ask the Congress to consider several measures in the field of foreign policy. At this time, I recommend that we restore the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act to full effectiveness, and extend it for 3 years. We should also open our doors to displaced persons without unfair discrimination. It should be clear by now to all citizens that we are not seeking to freeze the status quo. We have no intention of preserving the injustices of the past. We welcome the constructive efforts being made by many nations to achieve a better life for their citizens. In the European recovery program, in our good-neighbor policy and in the United Nations, we have begun to batter down those national walls which block the economic growth and the social advancement of the peoples of the world. We believe that if we hold resolutely to this course, the principle of international cooperation will eventually command the approval even of those nations which are now seeking to weaken or subvert it. We stand at the opening of an era which can mean either great achievement or terrible catastrophe for ourselves and for all mankind. The strength of our Nation must continue to be used in the interest of all our people rather than a privileged few. It must continue to be used unselfishly in the struggle for world peace and the betterment of mankind the world over. This is the task before us. It is not an easy one. It has many complications, and there will be strong opposition from selfish interests. I hope for cooperation from farmers, from labor, and from business. Every segment of our population and every individual has a right to expect from our Government a fair deal. In 1945, when I came down before the Congress for the first time on April 16, I quoted to you King Solomon's prayer that he wanted wisdom and the ability to govern his people as they should be governed. I explained to you at that time that the task before me was one of the greatest in the history of the world, and that it was necessary to have the complete cooperation of the Congress and the people of the United States. Well now, we are taking a new start with the same situation. It is absolutely essential that your President have the complete cooperation of the Congress to carry out the great work that must be done to keep the peace in this world, and to keep this country prosperous. The people of this great country have a right to expect that the Congress and the President will work in closest cooperation with one objective-the welfare of the people of this Nation as a whole. In the months ahead I know that I shall be able to cooperate with this Congress. Now, I am confident that the Divine Power which has guided us to this time of fateful responsibility and glorious opportunity will not desert us now. With that help from Almighty God which we have humbly acknowledged at every turning point in our national life, we shall be able to perform the great tasks which He now sets before us. |
1945 Japanese pilots received the first order to become
Kamikaze, or "Divine Wind." The suicidal blitz of the Kamikazes revealed
Japan's desperation in the final months of World War II. Most of Japan's
top pilots were dead, but youngsters needed little training to take planes
full of explosives and crash them into ships. At the Battle of Okinawa,
they sank thirty ships and killed almost 5000 Americans.
1942 55 German tanks reach North-Africa 1941 British/Australian troops conquer Bardia Lybia 1940 Finnish offensive at Suomossalmi against Russia. 1933 Construction begins on Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. 1930 Mao Tse-tung writes "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire" 1929 Coup by King Alexander in South Slavia. 1925 Mrs. Nellie Taylor Ross succeeded her late husband as governor of Wyoming, becoming the first female governor in US history. 1922 Following her sensational divorce, popular American evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, 32, resigns her denominational ordination and returns her fellowship papers to the General Council of the Assemblies of God. 1919 Spartacus uprising in Berlin state of siege 1918 British premier Lloyd George demand for unified peace 1916 Austria-Hungary offensive against Montenegro
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1911 Portugal expels Jesuits. 1909 Colombia recognizes Panama's independence. 1905 Charles Perrine announces discovery of Jupiter's 7th satellite, Elara
1896 The Austrian newspaper Wiener Presse reports the discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen of a type of radiation that would be known as X-rays. 1895 French Captain Alfred Dreyfus [09 Oct 1859 – 12 Jul 1935], falsely convicted (on 22 Dec 1894) of treason (because he is Jewish), is publicly stripped of his rank. After the 13 Jan 1898 J'accuse article of Zola [02 Apr 1840 – 28 Sep 1902] and a second false conviction on 09 September 1899, Dreyfus would be pardoned on 19 September 1899 and, at long last, declared innocent on 21 July 1906. — MORE and a Harper's cartoon 1875 President Grant sends federal troops to Vicksburg MS 1861 Alabama troops seize Forts Morgan & Gaines at Mobile Bay 1861 US Senators from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Florida meet in Washington, DC to discuss secession 1861 250 Federal soldiers are sent from New York to Fort Sumter 1859 First steamboat sails, Red River
1840 Records show 95'820 licensed public houses in England on this date 1836 Davy Crockett arrives in Texas, just in time for the Alamo 1834 Kiowa Indians record this as the night the stars fell. |
1825 Alexandre Dumas père
fights a duel Alexandre Dumas, 23, fights his first duel. He sustains no serious injury, although his pants fall down in the fight. He'll later fill his romantic works, including The Three Musketeers, with duels, battles, and daring escapades. Dumas was the son of one of Napoléon's generals, but his family struggled financially after his father's death in 1806. Dumas went to Paris to find work and was hired by the household of the Duke D'Orleans, who became King Louis-Philippe. Dumas began writing plays, which became huge hits with the public, then turned to historical novels. He published Les Trois Mousquetaires in 1844, followed by The Count of Monte Cristo in 1845. Dumas led a tempestuous life filled with ruinous love affairs. His illegitimate son also became a writerthe two were later known as Dumas père and Dumas fils. The fils reacted against his père's lifestyle by writing highly regarded contemporary dramas supporting marriage and family, with titles like "The Natural Son" (1848) and "The Prodigal Father"(1859) . Dumas père died in 1870. Five years later, his fils was admitted to the Académie Francaise. Dumas fils died in 1895. Dumas, Alexandre, Père Dumas père (French: "Father") b. July 24, 1802, Villers-Cotterêts, Aisne, Fr. d. Dec. 5, 1870, Puys, near Dieppe one of the most prolific and most popular French authors of the 19th century. Without ever attaining indisputable literary merit, Dumas succeeded in gaining a great reputation first as a dramatist and then as a historical novelist, especially for such works as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. His memoirs, which, with a mixture of candour, mendacity, and boastfulness, recount the For his extraordinary life, also provide a unique insight into French literary life during the Romantic period. He was the father of the dramatist and novelist Alexandre Dumas, called Dumas fils. Dumas's father, Thomas-Alexandre Davy de La Pailleterie (who was the natural son of the Marquis de La Pailleterie and Marie Cessette Dumas, a black of Santo Domingo), was a common soldier under the ancien régime who assumed the name Dumas in 1786 and later became a general in Napoleon's army. The family fell on hard times, however, especially after General Dumas's death in 1806; and the young Alexandre went to Paris to attempt to make a living as a lawyer. He managed to obtain a post in the household of the Duke d'Orléans, the future King Louis-Philippe, but tried his fortune in the theatre. He made contact with the actor François-Joseph Talma and with the young poets who were to lead the Romantic movement. Dumas's plays, when judged from a modern viewpoint, are crude, brash and melodramatic, but they were received with rapture in the late 1820s and early 1830s. Henri III et sa cour (1829) portrayed the French Renaissance in garish colours; Napoléon Bonaparte (1831) played its part in making a legend of the recently dead emperor; and in Antony (1831) Dumas brought a contemporary drama of adultery and honor to the stage. Though he continued to write plays, Dumas next turned his attention to the historical novel, often working with collaborators (especially Auguste Maquet). Considerations of probability or historical accuracy generally were ignored, and the psychology of the characters was rudimentary. Dumas's main interest was the creation of an exciting story set against a colorful background of history, usually the 16th or 17th century. The best known of his works are Les Trois Mousquetaires (published 1844, performed 1845), a romance about four swashbuckling heroes in the age of Cardinal Richelieu; On sait qu'ils étaient quatre, mais on oublie généralement que pour écrire ce roman Dumas s'est adjoint les services du jeune Auguste Maquet. Athos, Porthos et Aramis, figures hautes en couleur auxquelles s'associe le Gascon d'Artagnan, sont amenés à retrouver un bijou que tentent de dérober les agents du fourbe Richelieu. L'habileté du récit fait de cette œuvre le prototype durable du roman historique : aventures, hardiesse, passions vivaces d'un passé héroïsé, diversité des caractères, enjeux politiques et duels à l'épée répondent à un goût modelé par le romantisme. Vingt ans après (1845) ... répond à la demande d'un public conquis par les aventures des mousquetaires, que l'on retrouve ici confrontés à une époque dont les pratiques et les enjeux ont changé, faisant ainsi éclater le noyau. A la faveur de missions coïncidentes, ils se retrouvent dans la fuite devant le diabolique Mordaunt. Ce roman diffère du premier dans l'atmosphère (à Richelieu a succédé Mazarin, à l'ère héroïque un temps plus trouble) et dans l'âge des héros, moins enclins à la prouesse et gagnant ainsi en authenticité. Le Comte de Montecristo (1844-45); ... ou le roman de la vengeance. Réinvestissant les recettes du roman noir, Dumas plonge son héros dans l'enfer carcéral, avant de lui permettre de revenir, riche et puissant. Punir les méchants, récompenser les bons : le programme de Monte-Cristo est, comme sa vie, partagé entre une bonté solaire et une face obscure. Mais il ne s'agit jamais que de mettre les autres en face de leur réalité : metteur en scène efficace et discret, Monte-Cristo agit comme un démiurge, pardonné d'avance par un lecteur pris par le charme d'une identification à laquelle bien malin qui saurait résister. Dix Ans plus tard ou le Vicomte de Bragelonne (1848-50; "Ten Years Later; or, The Vicomte de Bragelonne"); and La Tulipe noire (1850; "The Black Tulip"). When success came, Dumas indulged his extravagant tastes and consequently was forced to write more and more rapidly in order to pay his creditors. He tried to make money by journalism and with travel books but with little success. Dumas, Alexandre, Fils Dumas fils (French: "Son") b. July 27, 1824, Paris, Fr. d. Nov. 27, 1895, Marly-le-Roi French playwright and novelist, one of the founders of the "problem play" — that is, of the middle-class realistic drama treating some contemporary ill and offering suggestions for its remedy. Dumas fils, the illegitimate son of Alexandre Dumas père, possessed a good measure of his father's literary fecundity, but the work of the two men could scarcely be more different. His first success was a novel, La dame aux camélias (1848), but he found his vocation when he adapted the story into a play, known in English as Camille, first performed in 1852. (Giuseppe Verdi based his opera La Traviata, first performed in 1853, on this play.) Although his father had written colorful historical plays and novels, Dumas fils specialized in drama set in the present. The unhappy witness of the ruin brought on his father by illicit love affairs, Dumas fils devoted his plays to sermons on the sanctity of the family and of marriage; Le Demi-Monde (performed 1855), for example, dealt with the threat to the institution of marriage posed by prostitutes. Modern audiences usually find Dumas's drama verbose and sententious, but in the late 19th century eminent critics praised his plays for their moral seriousness. He was admitted to the French Academy in 1875. Among his most interesting plays are Le Fils naturel (1858) and Un Père prodigue (1859), a dramatization of Dumas's interpretation of his father's character. Outre Dumas fils, nous devons à Alexandre Dumas père un nombre considérable de drames et de romans qui participent à la fois de la passion romantique pour l'Histoire et de la nécessité de satisfaire d'immenses appétits. Viveur, exalté — il ira jusqu'à faire partie de l'expédition des Mille avec Garibaldi —, Dumas traverse la littérature du dix-neuvième siècle avec la grâce bedonnante d'un inventeur qui s'ignore. Certes, en ses débuts il entend faire œuvre de novateur et s'engage dans la bataille romantique avec Henri III, Anthony (ou l'invention du drame en habit noir) et surtout Kean ; mais son désir de gloire, qui s'accomplit dans le triomphe de La Tour de Nesle en 1832, l'amène vite à faire fi d'ambitions esthétiques trop marquées. Délaissant le drame pour le roman, il connaît avec Le Comte de Monte-Cristo un succès populaire qui ne se démentira plus. Définitivement lancé dans le feuilleton, il s'entoure de nègres et professe en privé un réjouissant cynisme (" L'Histoire ? Un clou auquel j'accroche mes romans ") qui ne l'empêche pas de collectionner les best-sellers, allongeant la sauce en faisant de ses volumes au demeurant fort bien ficelés des cycles (Les Trois mousquetaires, Vingt ans après, Le Vicomte de Bragelonne). C'est peut-être en ce prosaïque professionnalisme qu'il trouve sa paradoxale modernité. Car sous le mépris amusé de ses confrères se cache l'envie, et Alexandre Dumas apparaît dans sa réussite comme l'incarnation de cette condition nouvelle de l'homme de lettres, vivant de sa plume et monnayant sa gloire. A l'écoute d'un public qui ne cesse en ce milieu de siècle de s'élargir, il comprend l'un des tout premiers l'utilisation de la presse moderne et crée ainsi un modèle durable, que bon nombre d'écrivains plus discrets reprendront à leur compte. |
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1822 Central America proclaims annexation to Mexican
Empire. 1809 Treaty of Dardanelles concluded between Britain & France. 1804 Ohio legislature passes 1st laws restricting free blacks movement. 1781 A British naval expedition led by American traitor general Benedict Arnold burns Richmond, Virginia. 1776 Assembly of New Hampshire adopts its 1st state constitution. 1757 Failed assassination attempt on French king Louis XV by Damiens. 1719 England/Hannover/Saxony-Poland/Austria sign anti-Prussian/Russian pact 1675 Battle at Turkheim (Colmar) French army beats Brandenburg.
1531 Pope Clemens VII forbids English king Henry VIII to re-marry 1500 Duke Ludovico Sforza's troops reconquer Milan 1463 French poet François Villon banished from Paris 1438 Pope Eugenius IV moves the council of Basel to Ferrara. |
Deaths
which occurred on a January 05: 2003 Haim Meir, 74; and Staff Sgt. Mazal Orkabi, 20 [unlabeled photo >], of Azor; Sapira Shoshana Yulzari~Yaffe, 46; Avi Kotzer, 43; and another Israeli, 33; of Bat Yam; Hanna Haimov, 52; Andrei Friedman, 30; and Ramin Nasibov, 25 ; of Tel Aviv; Amiram Zemoura, 55; Mordechai Evioni, 52; and Victor Shobayev, 62; of Holon; Boris Tepelshvili, 51, of Yehud; Lilia Zibstein, 33, of Haifa; Sabao Miahai, 39; and Nicolai Ion, 35; from Romania; Anglov Kresamir, 33, from Bulgaria; Steven Arthur Cromwell, 43, from Ghana; 1 Chinese, 47; 4 persons of unidentified nationality; Samar al-Nuri, 19 and Burak Khelfeh Hilsa, 20, from Nablus, West Bank, suicide bombers of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, who at 18:33 blow themselves up 100 meters apart, within less than a minute of one another, at the corner of G'dud Ha'ivri and Neve She'anan streets in south Tel Aviv, an area with many foreign workers, documented or not. Some 100 persons are injured. 2003 Roy Jenkins, Welsh politician born on 11 November 1920, “the best Prime Minister that the UK never had.” 2002 Charles J. Bishop, 15, deliberately crashing the four-seat 2000 Cessna 172R he is piloting into the 28th floor of the 42-story Bank of America building in Tampa, Florida. The boy had been taking flying lessons for two years, took off from the flying school alone without permission and ignored signals from a Coast Guard helicopter. In the wrecked plane is found a note by the boy, expressing support for Osama Bin Laden and for the 11 Sep 2001 attacks by hijacked airliners on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. 1998 Sonny Bono , 62, (Representative-R-CA) / singer (Sonny & Cher) [< photo], killed by a tree while skiing, 5 days after Michael Kennedy was killed in the same way. Rumor has it that the trees threaten to kill another celebrity every week unless abusive logging stops. 1994 Thomas P "Tip" O'Neill Jr. , 81, of cardiac arrest, (D-MA) / Speaker of House (1977-86). He was born on 09 December 1912. 1994 William Raynor, 73, writer 1993 Juan Benet Goitia, 65, Spanish writer (Herrumbrosas Lanzas) 1993 Westley Allan Dodd, US admitted child sex murderer, first hanging in US since 1965 (in Washington state). 1991 Vasko Popa, 68, Serbian WWII-partisan/poet (Sporedno Nebo) 1987 Margaret Laurence, 60, Canadian author 1987 Shtokalo, mathematician. 1981 Harold C Urey, 87, US chemist (Deuterium, Nobel 1934) 1970 Max Born, 87, German / British mathematician, physicist (Nobel 1954) 1969 Franz T Csokor, 83, Austrian author (Gottes General) 1969:: 45 of the 57 passengers and 5 of the 8 crew members of Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 from Frankfurt, a Boeing 727-113C, which comes in too low in freezing fog toward runway 27 at London's Gatwick Airport, and hits trees and a house. 1952 Victor Alexander John Hope, 64, viceroy of India (1936-43) 1952 Flying Enterprise sinks 1951 Andrei P Platonov, 51, Russian author (Prok, Kotlovan) 1947 All 33 passengers and 5 crew members aboard a China National Aviation Corporation Douglas DC-4, coming from Shanghai, which crashes into a mountain on its initial approach to Tsingtao. 1945 Dezsö Szabó, 65, Hungarian writer (Wiped-out Village) 1943 George Washington Carver, 81, in Tuskegee, Alabama, born a slave he became a leading US educator and scientist.
1933 Calvin Coolidge, 60, 30th President (1923-29), in Northampton MA 1922 Sir Ernest Shackleton, 47, Antarctic explorer (Endurance), dies aboard his ship. 1911 Stefano Bruzzi, Italian artist born on 04 May 1835. 1908 Pierre Henri Théodore Tetar (or Tetart van Elven), Dutch artist born on 30 August 1828 or 1831. 1905 Johann Rudolf Koller, Swiss artist born on 21 May 1828. . MORE ON KOLLER AT ART 4 JANUARY The Richisau (1858) Gotthardpost. 1895 Vladislav Podkovinski, Polish artist born on 06 February 1866. 1890 Auguste Louis Veillon, Swiss artist born on 29 December 1834. 1890 Tomas Miles Richardson Jr. British painter born in 1813. The Vale of Delphi (24x34cm) 1876 Salomon Leonardus Verveer, Dutch artist born on 30 November 1813. 1860 St John Nepomucene Neumann 1st male US saint 1856 Pierre J David [David d'Angers], 67, French sculptor 1854 Some 300 die as steamship San Francisco is wrecked 1799 Mohammed Esad Galib Dede , 41, Turkish poet (Hüsn-ü asjk) 1709 Thousands of Europeans killed by sudden extreme cold 1686 Frédéric Moucheron den Ouden, Dutch artist born in 1633. Relative? of Isaac de Moucheron [1667-1744]? 1685 Herman Saftleven (or Zachtleven) Jr., Dutch draftsman, painter, printmaker specialized in landscapes, born in 1609. MORE ON SAFTLEVEN AT ART 4 JANUARY LINKS Horsemen resting in a wood Mountain Landscape 1608 Antonio Manuele, ambassador of the kingdom of Kongo (he was king Alvaro II's cousin) to the Holy See, two days after his arrival in Rome.(See The Kongo Kingdom and the Papacy) 1589 Catherine de Medici, 69, interfering Queen mother of France. 1527 Felix Manz, 29, Swiss Anabaptist reformer, drowned in punishment for preaching adult (re-)baptism. Manz's death made him the first Protestant in history to be martyred at the hands of other Protestants. 1524 Marko Marulic/Marulus/Splichanin/Pecinich, 73, Croatian poet. 1517 Francesco di Marco Raibolini Francia, Bolognese painter born in 1450. MORE ON FRANCIA AT ART 4 JANUARY LINKS Adoration of the Child Crucifixion with Sts John and Jerome Madonna and Child with the Infant St John the Baptist Evangelista Scappi 1477 Some 7000, including Charles the Bold, 43, duke of Burgundy / writer, at the battle at Nancy (Burgundy vs Switzerland) 1387 Pedro IV, 67, king of Aragon/conqueror of Sicily 1066 Edward the Confessor, king of England (1043-66), later canonized as a saint. |
Births which
occurred on a January 05:
1969 "Chronology of the Expanding World", by Neville Williams, completed 1959 "Bozo the Clown" live children's show premieres on TV 1953 "En Attendant Godot," by Samuel Beckett, premieres in Paris 1950 Michael O'Donoghue writer/performer 1945 Pepe LePew debuts in Warner Bros cartoon "Odor-able Kitty" 1940 FM radio's first transmission, with clear, static-free signal, is heard by FCC 1938 Juan Carlos I, king of Spain (1975- ) 1932 Umberto Eco author (Name of the Rose) 1928 Zulfikar Ali Khan Bhutto President/Premier (Pakistan) 1928 Walter Fritz Mondale (US Senator-D-MN) / 42nd Vice President (1977-81) Democratic presidential nominee [1984]) 1924 First Chrysler-built Maxwell car. Walter Chrysler, a General Motors executive who had pioneered the introduction of all-steel bodies in automobiles (instead of wood), introduces his first motorcar. After his departure from GM in 1920, Chrysler had breathed new life into the failing Maxwell Motor Company. The first Chrysler-built Maxwell is put on display in New York City’s Commodore Hotel, where it draws admiring crowds. In 1925, the Maxwell Motor Company was renamed the Chrysler Corporation. 1921 Jean d'Aviano grand duke of Luxembourg (1964- ) 1921 Friedrich Dürrenmatt Switzerland, playwright/novelist (Visit)
1911 Eric Wilson, Australian artist who died in 1946. 1909 Stephen Cole Kleene, mathematician (Regular Expressions). Working with Kurt Godel, Alan Turing, and others, he developed recursion theory, a model that predicted whether certain types of mathematical problems could be solved. Recursion theory eventually led to the development of theoretical computer science. 1907 Anton Ingolic Slavic author (After Splavih, After Prelomu) 1906 Kathleen Mary Kenyon, British archeologist who died on 24 August 1978. Author of The Buildings of Samaria (1942) —Excavations at Jericho Vol. 1 (1960) Vol. 2 (1965) — Archaeology in the Holy Land — Beginnings in Archaeology (1961) — Digging up Jericho (1957) — Digging up Jerusalem (1974) — Jerusalem - Excavating 3000 years of History (1967) — Amorites and Canaanites (1966) — Recent Archaeology (1978) — MORE 1905 Audubon Society incorporates 1902 Dorothea “Stella” Gibbons, English novelist (Cold Comfort Farm) and poet, who died on 19 December 1989. 1901 Mario Scelba premier Italy (1954-55) 1901 H L Honore comte d'Estienne d'Orves French officer/resistance fighter. 1900 Yves Tanguy, French US sailor, Surrealist painter who died on 15 January 1955. MORE ON TANGUY AT ART 4 JANUARY LINKS From One Night to Another Indefinite Divisibility Neither The Invisibles (1951) Le Malheur Adoucit les Pierres 1900 Paula Ludwig writer. 1897 Amelia Pelaez, Cuban artist who died in 1968. 1895 Jeannette Piccard balloonist / Episcopal priest. 1886 Renato Eriberto Paresce, Italian artist who died in 1937. 1884 Denjoy, mathematician. 1877 Henry Sloane Coffin, US clergyman, author, and theology educator, who led in the movement for the application of Protestantism to social problems. One of his more than 20 books is Meaning of the Cross (1931). Coffin was placed in his coffin on 25 November 1954. — [There is no evidence that he considered becoming an undertaker, or that he specialized in funerals] 1876 Konrad Adenauer, Cologne, Germany, first chancellor of Germany (1949-1963). He died on 19 April 1967. 1874 Joseph Erlanger doctor (shock therapy-Nobel 1944) 1871 Fano, mathematician. 1871 Enriques, mathematician. 1866 Ramón Casas y Carbo, Spanish artist who died in 1932. 1859 DeWitt B Brace inventor (spectrophotometer) 1858 Gustaf af Geijerstam, Swedish author (Boken om Lillebror) 1855 King Camp Gillette, US inventor (safety razor) and manufacturer, who died on 09 July 1932. 1848 Khristo Botev hero of Bulgarian revolt against Turkey, poet 1846 Rudolf Christoph Eucken Germany, Idealist philosopher (Nobel 1908) 1844 Giovanni Battista Quadrone, Italian artist who died on 23 November 1898. 1838 Camille Jordan, mathematician. He died in 1922. 1825 Markus Simeon Larsson (or Larson), Swedish artist who died on 25 January 1864. 1821 Joseph Caraud, French artist who died in November 1905. 1812 Remigius Adrianus Remy van Haanen, Dutch artist who died on 13 August 1894. 1806 André H C van Hasselt Belgian poet (La Belgium) 1787 John Burke Irish genealogist (Burke's Peerage) 1780 Claire countess of Rémusat Vergennes / French author (Salon) 1779 Zebulon Montgomery Pike, US army officer, explorer (Pike's Peak). He died on 27 April 1813. 1779 Stephen Decatur, US naval hero (War of 1812) ("...our country right or wrong"). He died on 22 March 1820. Cities named in his honor: Decatur IL (at its 1829 foundation), Decatur AL (renamed in 1826, was Rhodes Ferry), Decatur GA (now a suburb of Atlanta). 1769 Jean Baptiste Say French economist (Political Economics) 1679 Pietro Filippo Scarlatti composer 1620 Miklós Zrínyi Hungarian poet/writer (The Peril of Sziget) 1592 Jahan Shah, Mughal emperor of India (1628-58), built Taj Mahal, died on 22 January 1666. 1548 Francisco Suárez, Granada Spain, philosopher and theologian who would die on 25 September 1617. |