04 Sep History: This Date

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Events, deaths, births, of SEP 04
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On a September 04:

2002 Concord Prizes of Príncipe de Asturias.
     Israeli conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim and US-based Palestinian writer and critic Edward Said are announced as joint winners of Spain's Prince of Asturias 22nd Concord Prize for their “generous and laudable task in favor of peace.”
      The jury also praised Barenboim and Said for “their collaboration with young musicians overcoming historical antagonisms and promoting dialogue,”' according to a statement that highlighted their careers.
      Barenboim, 59, and Said, 67, became friends in the early '90s after meeting in a London hotel foyer. Since then they've run “West Eastern Divan,” a summer workshop that brings young musicians from Israel and Arab countries together in Germany, the United States and, in 2001, in Spain.
      Barenboim, an Argentine-born Israeli, is the music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of the Staatsoper Berlin. He's also been involved in musical projects aimed at encouraging understanding between peoples in the Mideast.
      Said, a professor at Columbia University in New York, is best known for his books and essays on issues ranging from Orientalism in literature to the status of Middle East refugees.
      The award is one of eight annual Prince of Asturias prizes, considered the Spanish-speaking world's equivalent of the Nobel prize. Prince Felipe of Asturias, heir to the Spanish throne, gives the prizes, which include €50'000 and a specially designed sculpture by Spanish artist Joan Mirò.
     This is the seventh of the eight Prince of Asturias Awards to be awarded in 2002, as they have been every year since their foundation in 1981. In August 2002, the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters was granted to US writer Arthur Miller, the Communications and Humanities to German poet and essayist Hans Magnus Enzensberger, the Technical and Scientific Research to US researchers Larry Roberts, Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn and British researcher Tim Berners-Lee, the founding fathers of Internet, the Social Sciences award to British sociologist Anthony Giddens, the Arts award to US film director Woody Allen and the International Cooperation to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. The Sports award will be awarded next week.
      The Concord award is bestowed upon individuals, work groups or institutions whose have contributed in an exemplary and significant way to the brotherhood of mankind, to the struggle against injustice, poverty, disease or ignorance, to the defense of freedom, to opening new horizons of knowledge, or who has been outstanding in protecting and preserving Mankind’s heritage. Former winners include the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (2001), the Real Academia Española and the Asociación de las Academias de la Lengua Española (2000), Caritas Española (1999), King Hussein of Jordan, Stephen Hawking (1989), the amfAR [American Foundation of AIDS Research] (1992), Nicolás Castellanos + Vicente Ferrer + Joaquín Sanz Gadea + Muhammad Yunus (1998), king Hussein of Jordan (1995), Spanish former Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez (1996), and musicians Yehudi Menuhin + Mstislav Rostropovich (1997), National Movement of Street Children + Save the Children + Messengers of Peace (1994), the Association for Peace in the Basque Country (1992), Médecins sans Frontières + Medicus Mundi (1991), Sephardic Communities (1990), World Wide Fund for Nature + International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (1999), Villa El Salvador (1987), Vicariate of Solidarity (1986), among others.

2002 On the NASDAQ, the stock of Metrobancorp (METB), after it previous close of $9.86, opens at $8.50, which turns out to be its low for the day, as the announcement of an offer to buy the company at $17 a share propels the stock to close at its high for the day, $16.00, which is also, by far, its all-time high. METB started trading at $7.94 on 22 September 1997, rose to its previous all-time high of $11.19 on 29 April 1998, sank to its all-time low of $4.77 ot 22 May 2000. During the past 12 months its low was $6.81 on 19 October 2001 and its high $10.09 on 21 June 2002. [< 5~year price chart]
2001 Following the previous evening's announcement of merger plans by Hewlett~Packard (HWP) and Compaq (CPQ), the stocks of both companies fall sharply on Wall Street: CPQ closes at $11.08, down 10.3%, HWP at $19, down 18%. This makes the deal worth $20.3 billion, instead of the previous day's $25 billion. (On 04 September 2002 CPQ would close at $11.00 after having made, during the intervening 12 months, a high of $18.04 and a low of $7.26; while HPQ, the post-merger symbol, would close at $13.08 after a high of $24.12 and a low of $10.75 during the intervening 12 months.)
2001 Houghton Mifflin Co. sues Jews for Jesus for infringing on its Curious George copyright by picturing the cartoon monkey in pamphlet Are You Curious. The cover of the pamphlet shows the tailless monkey standing next to a tall cone-shaped hat identical to that worn by the popular "Man in the Yellow Hat" featured in the original books by Margret Rey and H.A. Rey. Another picture shows the monkey wearing striped pajamas sitting on a bed featuring ornate head and footboards as in an illustration from Curious George Rides a Bike.
The pamphlets are also printed on yellow paper, the background color of the Curious George books. They use the same type font and the text is written in simple, monosyllabic words and short sentences mimicking the style used in the Rey books.
2000 At a campaign stop in Naperville, Illinois, presidential candidate George W. Bush (Jr.), not realizing that the microphone is on, says to running mate Dick Cheney: "There's Adam Clymer, major-league asshole from the New York Times."
2001 Parliamentary elections in Fiji.. 31 seats are won by the Fijian United Party of Laisenia Qarase, an indigenous Fijian, installed as caretaker prime minister by a military coup in 2000. This is six seats short of the 37 needed for a majority in the 71-seat parliament. Qarase would obtain the support of 6 members of minor parties and be sworn in as prime minister on 10 September 2001. 27 seats are won by the ethnic-Indian-dominated Fiji Labor Party of Mahendra Chaudhry, the prime minister deposed in the coup.

1997 Last Ford Thunderbird comes off the assembly line in Lorain, Ohio, leaving many of the car’s fans disappointed. One Ford dealer even held a wake for the beloved Thunderbird, complete with flowers and a RIP plaque. Originally conceived as Ford’s answer to the Corvette, the Thunderbird has enjoyed an illustrious place among American cars. It was promoted as a “personal” car, rather than a sports car, so it never had to compete against the imports that dominated the sports car market. The name of the enormously successful car was eventually shortened to “T-bird,” as mentioned in the famous Beach Boys song, “I Get Around.”

1997 The Social Security Administration announces that it will resume online posting of benefits information. The agency had ceased electronic publication of retirement and benefit information the previous April due to privacy concerns.
1996 America Online announces that it has started blocking spam from five bulk e-mail marketers. The company said it would give members a tool to allow them to block spam from specific addresses later in the month. AOL subscribers had complained bitterly about the torrents of junk e-mail bombarding their mailboxes.
1996 Web TV Networks announces that it will start an online service in September using digital terminals connected to televisions. Microsoft would acquire Web TV in 1997 and in 1998 announce that the company had developed a modem that could deliver some one million bits per second.

1996 Colombian guerrillas attack military base
      The Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) leads an attack on a military base in Guaviare, Colombia, in protest of the Colombian military's drug eradication program, which was backed by the United States. The program, involving rigorous spraying of a defoliant in the coca-growing regions of southern Colombia, had been destroying valuable coca crops. During three weeks of guerrilla warfare, FARC killed at least 130 Colombians.
      When coca cultivation began in the early 1990s in Solano, Colombia, farmers tried to organize alternatives to growing cocaine, but they had little success and few other options. In the summer of 1996, 200'000 peasants marched on their state capitals to demand viable economic alternatives and to protest crop fumigation.
      The Colombian government, shocked by the amount of planning and organization that must have gone into attacks on various military bases, interpreted the march of coca growers and the subsequent guerrilla attacks as a show of strength by FARC, who had never before engaged in such an organized assault. Prior to 1996, FARC's activities included kidnapping, performing a few isolated raids on police stations, and enforcing "taxes" on large growers, merchants, and laboratories involved in the drug trade.
      Under pressure from the US government, the Colombian military responded to the attacks by stepping up the fumigation program. In 1997, the Colombian military allied with paramilitary groups to launch anti-drug operations, including bombings and air attacks in which civilians were often the victims. While the campaign was justified as an anti-drug crusade, the attacks were clearly intended to reduce FARC's power by destroying the social and economic bases of the areas under their control. The Colombian military, more concerned with containing the guerrillas than the drug trade, saw an opportunity to receive US money to help in this effort.
      Unfortunately, the peasant farmers suffered the most as a result of the fumigation and the military and paramilitary attacks. Most likely, the powerful drug lords were not even affected by the measures. The US-funded military campaign to control the drug trade focused most of its efforts on containing left-wing indigenous organizations and did little, if anything, to restrict the flow of narcotics into the United States.

1995 US GIs rape Okinawa girl
     One of Okinawa's biggest US bases, Camp Hanson, is situated within the borders of Kin. In Kin on this day, US Navy Seaman Marcus Gill, 22, with Marine privates Rodrico Harp, 21, and Kendrick Ledet, 20, carry out a plan (they admitted planning it) to snatch a 12 year old girl off the street and force her into a rented van. Harp (he admitted it) and Ledet tape shut her eyes and mouth, bind her feet and hands and beat her face and stomach to keep her from struggling. Gill (he admitted it) and Harp then rape the girl at an isolated beach. Ledet tries but is unable. (This according to the prosecution at their trial). In a written statement read in court, the girl said, "I hope they will be kept in jail as long as they live."
      The large US military presence in Okinawa, already resented by many in the local population, is further endangered by this outrage.
     Whitman College Assistant Professor of History Toni Levy, in the San Francisco Chronicle 9951109 asked “What's Going On In Okinawa?” and answered that the inhabitants of Ryukyu, as they call it, do not consider themselves Japanese, but feel that they have always been treated as a colony by the Japanese, which they hate even more than the American presence. Dr. Ronald Nakasone, a Hawaiian of Okinawan ancestry and Professor of Buddhist Studies at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, concurs.

1993 El príncipe Norodom Sihanuk es proclamado rey de Camboya.
1991: South African President F.W. de Klerk proposed a new constitution that would allow blacks to vote and govern; the African National Congress rejected the plan, charging it was designed to maintain white privileges.
1989 First computer diskette in a magazine, inserted in this day's issue of Forbes. The Lexis News Plus disks offer a demonstration of Nexis, a news retrieval service. Computer disks were already popular direct-mail advertising items.

1987 19-year-old convicted for having landed on Red Square.
Soviet authorities convict West German Mathias Rust on charges stemming from his daring landing of a small plane in Moscow's Red Square after flying undetected into the heart of Russia. On 28 May 1987, the nineteen-year-old pilot flew from Helsinki, Finland, to the capital of the Soviet Union, choosing Red Square, the location of Lenin's Tomb and frequent patriotic demonstrations, as a conspicuous landing spot. His seemingly effortless penetration of Soviet air space raised serious questions about the USSR's ability to defend itself from air attack, and shook the Soviet military hierarchy to its core. Following his conviction, Rust was sentenced to four years in a labor camp, but was released as a goodwill gesture to the West after serving only one year of his sentence.

1986 189.42 million shares traded in NY Stock Exchange
1986 Yasser Arafat acepta la resolución 242 de la ONU, que supone el implícito reconocimiento del derecho a la existencia del Estado de Israel.
1984 Elecciones en Canadá: el partido conservador de Martin Brian Mulroney obtiene una clara victoria sobre el partido liberal de Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
1982 China abandona oficialmente el maoísmo en el Congreso comunista chino celebrado en Pekín.

1969 Vietnam: Radio Hanoi announces the death of Ho Chi Minh
Radio Hanoi announces the death of Ho Chi Minh, proclaiming that the National Liberation Front will halt military operations in the South for three days, 08 September to 11 September, in mourning for Ho. He had been the spiritual leader of the communists in Vietnam since the earliest days of the struggle against the French and, later, the United States and its ally in Saigon. Chinese Premier Chou En-Lai and a delegation from China held talks with First Secretary Le Duan and other members of the North Vietnamese Politburo. The Chinese leaders assured the North Vietnamese of their continued support in the war against the United States. This support was absolutely essential if the North Vietnamese wished to continue the war. Many in the United States hoped the death of Ho Chi Minh would provide a new opportunity to achieve a negotiated settlement to the war in Vietnam, but this did not materialize.

1964 Forth Road Bridge opens in England over the "Firth of Forth"
1961 US authorizes Agency for International Development.
1959 The Labor Reform Act is passed by the US Congress, intended to reduce the power of trade unions.

1957 Arkansas troops prevent desegregation      ^top^
      Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus orders the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine Black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock. Three weeks later, President Dwight Eisenhower would send a force of 1000 US Army paratroopers to Little Rock to guarantee the peaceful desegregation of the public school. On September 25, the troops escorted nine Black students into the building.
      Three years earlier, the US Supreme Court had handed down an unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that ruled that racial segregation in public educational facilities was unconstitutional. The historic decision, which brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, specifically dealt with Linda Brown, a young Black girl who had been denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin. In 1896, the Supreme Court had ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson, that "separate but equal" accommodations in railroad cars conformed to the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. That ruling was used to justify segregating all public facilities, including elementary schools.
      However, in the case of Linda Brown, the white school she attempted to attend was far superior to her black alternative, and, additionally, was kilometers closer to her home. The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) took up Linda's cause, and in 1954, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka reached the Supreme Court. Black lawyer (and future Supreme Court justice) Thurgood Marshall led Brown's legal team, and on 17 May 1954, the high court handed down its decision. In an opinion written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the nation's highest court ruled that not only was the "separate but equal" doctrine unconstitutional in Linda's case, but was unconstitutional in all possible cases as educational segregation inherently stamped a badge of inferiority on Black students. A year later, after hearing arguments on the implementation of their ruling, the Supreme Court published guidelines requiring public school systems to integrate "with all deliberate speed." The Brown v. Board of Education decision served to greatly motivate the Black civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and ultimately led to the abolishment of racial segregation in all public facilities and accommodations.
     Little Rock becomes a Cold War hotspot
      Under orders from the governor of Arkansas, armed National Guardsmen prevent nine Black students from attending the all-white Central High School in Little Rock. What began as a domestic crisis soon exploded into a Cold War embarrassment. The United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a heated and costly war of words during the early years of the Cold War. Propaganda became an important weapon as each nation sought to win the "hearts and minds" of people around the world. In this war, the United States suffered from one undeniable weakness: racial discrimination in America. This was a particularly costly weakness, for it made the US's rhetoric about democracy and equality seem hollow, especially to people of color in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The Soviets eagerly seized on the issue, and tales of the horrors suffered by Blacks in the United States became a staple of their propaganda. In 1954, however, the monumental Supreme Court case of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education declared segregated schools unconstitutional and ordered school integration to proceed "with all deliberate speed." The case was trumpeted by the American government's propaganda as evidence of the great strides being made toward full equality for all citizens.
      In 1957, a Federal District Court ordered the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, to allow Black students to attend. Governor Orval Faubus declared that he would not follow the decree. When nine Black students attempted to enter the school on 04 September 1957, a crowd of several hundred angry and belligerent whites confronted them. Hundreds of National Guardsmen, called up by Faubus, blocked the students' entry into the school. To the chants of "Go home, niggers" from the mob, the nine students left. Faubus's action won him acclaim in his home state, and in much of the South, but it was a serious embarrassment to the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower himself was no great supporter of civil rights, but he understood the international significance of the events in Little Rock. Pictures of the angry mob, the terrified Black students, and National Guardsmen with guns and gas masks were seen around the world. The Soviets could not have created better propaganda. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles informed Eisenhower that the Little Rock incident was hurting the United States overseas, and might even cost the country the support of other nations in the United Nations. Eisenhower tried to negotiate a settlement with Faubus, but when this failed, he sent in federal troops. The nine Black students were finally allowed to attend Central High.
      The Little Rock incident indicated that America's domestic problems, particularly racial discrimination, could not remain purely domestic in the context of the Cold War. The United States portrayed itself as the defender of democracy, justice, and equality in its struggle with the Soviet Union and communism. The ugly reality of the Little Rock integration, however, forced both allies and enemies to question America's dedication to the principles it so often professed.

1954 First passage of McClure Strait, fabled Northwest Passage, is completed.
1951 1st transcontinental TV broadcast, by US President Truman, from the Japanese peace treaty conference in San Francisco. It is carried by 94 stations.
1950 1st helicopter rescue of American pilot behind enemy lines.
1948 Queen Wilhelmina of Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.

1945 Japanese surrender on Wake Island      ^top^
      2200 Japanese soldiers finally lay down their arms—days after their government had already formally capitulated. Wake Island was one of the islands bombed as part of a wider bombing raid that coincided with the attack on Pearl Harbor. In December of 1941, the Japanese invaded in force, taking the island from the US, losing 820 men, while the United States lost 120. The United States decided not to retake the island but to cut off the Japanese occupiers from reinforcement, which would mean they would eventually starve. Rear Admiral Shigematsu Sakaibara, commander of the Japanese forces there, ordered the 96 Allied prisoners of war who had been left behind shot dead on trumped-up charges of trying to signal US forces by radio.
      And so the Japanese garrison sat on Wake Island for two years, suffering the occasional US bombing raid, but no land invasion. In that time, 1300 Japanese soldiers died from starvation, and 600 from the US air attacks. Two days after the formal Japanese surrender onboard the USS Missouri, Sakaibara capitulated to US forces, which finally landed on the island. Sakaibara was eventually tried for war crimes and executed in 1947.

1944 British troops liberate Antwerp, Belgium.
1944 Fuerzas del general George Smith Patton franquean el Mosela.
1943 Allied troops capture Lae-Salamaua, in New Guinea.
1942 Français esclavisés par les nazis. Le Service du Travail Obligatoire, ou STO, est institué au bénéfice de l'occupant. Plus de un million et demi d'hommes seront requis. Nombreux sont ceux qui, âgés entre dix-huit et trente-cinq ans, refusent l'obligation et entrent alors dans la Résistance, les autres encore plus nombreux (875'000) sont contraints au travail dans les usines d'armements en Allemagne.
1942 Soviet planes bomb Budapest in the war's first air raid on the Hungarian capital. — Ataque aéreo soviético contra Budapest y Konigsberg.
1941 II Guerra Mundial: comienza el bombardeo y asedio de Leningrado, que resistió durante 900 días.

1940 German U-boat fires torpedoes at neutral US destroyer ^top^
The US destroyer Greer becomes the first US vessel fired on in the war when a German sub aims a few torpedoes at it, sparking heightened tensions between Germany and the United States. It was a case of mistaken identity. As the Greer made its way through the North Atlantic, a British patrol bomber spotted a German sub, the U-652. The British bomber alerted the Greer, which responded by tracking the sub. As the US destroyer approached Iceland, the area in which the sub had been spotted, a British aircraft dropped a depth charge into the water, rocking the sub. The U-652, believing the Greer responsible for the charge, fired its torpedoes. They missed. The Greer made it safely to Iceland. The United States was still officially a neutral country, but Roosevelt warned against further attacks on US vessels in the North Atlantic: "If German or Italian vessels of war enter these waters, they do so at their own peril."

1939 Traité d'assistance mutuelle franco-polonais
1939 España declara su neutralidad en la II Guerra Mundial.
1936 Francisco Largo Caballero forma Gobierno en España, constituido por ministros comunistas y socialistas, tras la dimisión del gabinete Giral.
1933 1st airplane to exceed 300 mph (483 kph), JR Wendell, Glenview, Il
1920 Last day of Julian civil calendar (in parts of Bulgaria)
1920 Fundación del Tercio de Extranjeros, fuerza de choque del Ejército español en Marruecos, que después se denominó La Legión.
1918 US troops land in Archangel, Russia, stay 10 months
1915 The US military places Haiti under martial law to quell a rebellion in its capital Port-au-Prince.
1909 El inventor del esperanto, Lejzer Ludwik Zamenhof, asiste en Barcelona al Congreso Universal Esperantista.
1901 US President McKinley arrives in Buffalo to visit the Pan-American Exposition. He had been unable to attend the 01 May 1901 opening, because of the illness of his wife, Ida. But now his wife's health is improved and Congress is in recess. Anarchist Leon Czolgosz, 28, who wants to assassinate McKinley, had come to Buffalo in late August 1901 so that he could explore the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition, but apparently did not develop a specific plan for the assassination. Czolgosz approaches McKinley when the president's train arrives in Buffalo. A policeman, thinking Czolgosz an overzealous supporter, yells at him to back off, and Czolgosz hurries away, afraid his intention would be discovered. McKinley will live 10 more days, 8 of them moribund.

1894 Tailors protest sweatshops ^top^
Fed up with the continued existence of sweatshops, some 12'000 tailors take to the streets of New York. Though the day's New York Herald gives the strike little notice, brushing it off as a mere "meeting", it is part of an almost annual tradition of labor action by garment workers. Along with poor working conditions, the workers protest the industry standard of paying piece rates, a practice which tends to favor productivity over the well-being of workers. The strikers demand weekly wages, as well as the guarantee that they will receive their pay in a "timely" fashion. The strike would effect some change, the New York government passing legislation in 1896 that promised to improve the workplace. Despite these laws and subsequent amendments, sweatshop conditions and wage disputes continue to plague the garment industry.

1893 Beatrix Potter sends a note to her governess' son with the first drawing of Peter Rabbit, Cottontail and others.
1890 Un incendio destruye media ciudad de Salónica (Grecia).

1886 The last Amerindian warrior surrenders (and is not murdered).
     For almost 30 years he had fought the whites who invaded his homeland, but Geronimo, the greatest Apache warrior of his time, finally surrenders in Skeleton Canyon, Arizona, on this day in 1886. Goyalkla, or "One Who Yawns," is known to most non-Indians by his Spanish nickname, Geronimo. When he was a young man, Mexican soldiers had murdered his wife and children during a brutal attack on his village in Chihuahua, Mexico. Though Geronimo later remarried and fathered other children, the scars of that early tragedy left him with an abiding hatred for Mexicans.
      Operating in the border region around Mexico's Sierra Madre and southern Arizona and New Mexico, Geronimo and his band of 50 Apache warriors succeeded in keeping white settlers off Apache lands for decades. Geronimo never learned to use a gun, yet he armed his men with the best modern rifles he could obtain and used field glasses to aid reconnaissance during his campaigns. He was a brilliant strategist who used the Apache knowledge of the arid desert environment to his advantage, and for years Geronimo and his men successfully evaded two of the US Army's most talented Indian fighters, General George Crook and General Nelson A. Miles.
      But by 1886, the great Apache warrior had grown tired of fighting. His last campaign had already lasted 18 months after he led a small band of Apache men, women, and children out of forced internment on the San Carlos reservation. Further resistance seemed increasingly pointless against thousands of US and Mexican troops, hundreds of Indian auxiliaries, and an unknown number of civilians. On September 4, 1886, Geronimo turns himself over to Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona, becoming the last American Indian warrior in history to formally surrender to the United States.
      After several years of imprisonment, Geronimo would be freed, and move to Oklahoma where he converted to Christianity and became a successful farmer. He even occasionally worked as a scout and adviser for the US army. Transformed into a safe and romantic symbol of the already vanishing era of the Wild West, he became a popular celebrity at world's fairs and expositions and even rode in President Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural parade in 1905. He died at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1909, still on the federal payroll as an army scout.
           For almost 30 years he had fought the whites who invaded his homeland, but Geronimo, the wiliest and most dangerous Apache warrior of his time, finally surrenders in Skeleton Canyon, Arizona, on this day in 1886. Known to the Apache as Goyalkla, or "One Who Yawns," most non-Indians knew him by his Spanish nickname, Geronimo. When he was a young man, Mexican soldiers had murdered his wife and children during a brutal attack on his village in Chihuahua, Mexico. Though Geronimo later remarried and fathered other children, the scars of that early tragedy left him with an abiding hatred for Mexicans. Operating in the border region around Mexico's Sierra Madre and southern Arizona and New Mexico, Geronimo and his band of 50 Apache warriors succeeded in keeping white settlers off Apache lands for decades. Geronimo never learned to use a gun, yet he armed his men with the best modern rifles he could obtain and even used field glasses to aid reconnaissance during his campaigns. He was a brilliant strategist who used the Apache knowledge of the arid desert environment to his advantage, and for years Geronimo and his men successfully evaded two of the US Army's most talented Indian fighters, General George Crook and General Nelson A. Miles. But by 1886, the great Apache warrior had grown tired of fighting and further resistance seemed increasingly pointless: there were just too many whites and too few Apaches. On September 4, 1886, Geronimo turned himself over to Miles, becoming the last American Indian warrior in history to formally surrender to the United States. After several years of imprisonment, Geronimo was given his freedom, and he moved to Oklahoma where he converted to Christianity and became a successful farmer. He even occasionally worked as a scout and adviser for the US army. Transformed into a safe and romantic symbol of the already vanishing era of the Wild West, he became a popular celebrity at world's fairs and expositions and even rode in President Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural parade in 1905. He died at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1909, still on the federal payroll as an army scout.

1885 1st cafeteria opens (NYC)
1882 1st district lit by electricty (NY's Pearl Street Station)
1881 The Edison electric lighting system goes into operation as a generator serving 85 paying customers is switched on.
1864 Bread riots in Mobile, Alabama
1863 Siege of Fort Wagner, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina continues
1862 Robert E. Lee's Confederate army invades Maryland, starting the Antietam Campaign.
1820 Czar Alexander declares that Russian influence in North America extends as far south as Oregon and closes Alaskan waters to foreigners.

1797 Coup d'état du 18 Fructidor.
Un piège se referme sur les députés qui arrivent aux Tuileries. Pendant la nuit, le général Augereau les a fait cerner par ses troupes. Pichegru et Boissy d'Anglas sont arrêtés. C'est le triomphe de Barras. Cent soixante-dix-sept députés sont éliminés. Par ce coup d'Etat, Barras met fin aux tensions qui ont opposé le Directoire aux Conseils, celui-ci ouvrir la porte à un petit général du nom de Buonaparte.
— Los republicanos, ayudados por las tropas de Napoleón, dan un golpe de Estado contra el Consejo de los Ancianos y el de los Quinientos, lo que acaba con el período conservador de la Revolución Francesa.

1790 Jacques Necker is forced to resign as finance minister in France.
1787 Louis XVI of France recalls parliament.
1609 Navigator Henry Hudson discovers island of Manhattan (or 0911)
1535 Saqueo de la ciudad de Mahón por el pirata Khair Ben Eddyn “Barbarroja”.
1479 After four years of war, Spain agrees to allow a Portuguese monopoly of trade along Africa's west coast and Portugal acknowledges Spain's rights in the Canary Islands.
1261 Se consagra al papa Urbano IV.
1260 At the Battle of Montaperto in Italy, the Tuscan Ghibellines, who support the emperor, defeat the Florentine Guelfs, who support papal power. — Los gibelinos de Florencia y Siena, capitaneados por los Uberti y ayudados por Manfredo — hijo ilegítimo de Federico II — imponen su poder en Monteaperti a los güelfos de Toscana.

0476 Last Roman emperor is deposed by a barbarian
Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of the western Roman Empire, is deposed by Odoacer, a German barbarian who proclaims himself the king of Italy. Odoacer was a leading officer in the Roman imperial army when it mutinied at Ravenna, the western capital. On September 4, with the support of the barbarian mercenaries under his command, Odoacer sends the young emperor into exile and takes control of Italy as king. Although King Odoacer later would recognize emperor Zeno of the East as sole Roman ruler, King Odoacer would hold real power in Italy until his death in 493.
Après six siècles de domination la Gaule est libre de la culture romaine obligatoire. Les Francs au nord, les Burgondes le long de la Saône et du Rhône, les Wisigoths au sud, renversent les hiérarchies que de la pax romana avait établies.

TO THE TOP

Deaths which occurred on a September 04: ^top^
2001: 14 grass cutters, and 3 of the park rangers trying to rescue them, as a wildfire breaks out in the afternoon in the southwestern part of Kruger National Wildlife Park in northeastern South Africa.
2001 Cheng Zhiyong, 29, shot by police in Shenzhen, China, after security guard Cheng critically stabbed a colleague, then confronted police for six hours holding at knife point hostage Wang Chubin, 11, a fourth-grader who had asked Cheng to take him instead of the 6-year-old Cheng had first taken as hostage. Wang is treated in a hospital for cuts on his neck.
1995 William Kunstler, 76, in New York, controversial attorney.
1992 Luis Cardoza y Aragón, escritor guatemalteco.
1991 Thomas Tryon, author of The Other, novel about a schizophrenic boy, written from his point of view.
1987 Diez bomberos, sepultados al derrumbarse seis de las ocho plantas de los Almacenes Arias de Madrid en un incendio.
1974 Marcel Achard, dramaturgo francés.
1971: 111 persons as an Alaska Airlines jet crashes near Juneau.
1969 Marcel Riesz, mathematician.

1967 Vietnam: Viet and US dead as Que Son battle starts. ^top^
The US 1st Marine Division launches Operation SWIFT, a search and destroy operation in Quang Nam and Quang Tin Provinces in I Corps Tactical Zone (the region south of the Demilitarized Zone). A fierce four-day battle ensued in the Que Son Valley, 40 km south of Da Nang. During the course of the battle, 114 men of the US 5th Marine Regiment were killed while the North Vietnamese forces suffered 376 casualties.

1965 Albert Schweitzer, 90 [photo >], scholar, doctor, musician, missionary, philosopher. — Albert Schweitzer was born at Kaystersberg, Haute Alsace (now Haut-Rhin), on 14 January 1875, just two months after Germany had annexed the province from France. — pasteur, théologien, organiste, musicologue et médecin français. Il fonda l'hôpital de Lambaréné au Gabon. Lauréat du prix Nobel de la paix en 1952. Parmi ses écrits théologiques, on peut citer la Mystique de l'apôtre Paul (1962); les Religions mondiales et le christianisme, le Secret historique de la vie de Jésus (1961). Ecrits philosophiques: les grands penseurs de l'Inde : étude de philosophie comparée (1936); Humanisme et mystique, Paix par le respect de la vie, Vivre : paroles pour une éthique du temps présent. Ecrits autobiographiques : A l'orée de la forêt vierge, Ma vie et ma pensée, Souvenirs de mon enfance, les Tilleuls de Gunsbach. Ecrits musicologiques: J.-S. Bach le musicien poète.— SCHWEITZER ONLINE: (In English translation) The Quest of the Historical Jesus: A Critical Study of its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede
1942 Zsigmond Moricz, novelista húngaro.
1939 The Polish ghetto of Mir is exterminated
1922 Georges Sorel, sociólogo francés.
1917, the American expeditionary force in France suffered its first fatalities in World War I.
1907 Edvard Grieg, compositor noruego.
1893 Francis Adams, translator of Hippocrates' Aphorisms, and On Airs, Waters, and Places

1864 John Hunt Morgan, Reb cavalry raider.      ^top^
      An amazing career ends when feared Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan is killed during a Union cavalry raid on the town of Greenville, Tennessee. An Alabama native, Morgan grew up in Kentucky and attended Transylvania University before being expelled for poor behavior. He served under Zachary Taylor in the Mexican War and became a successful hemp manufacturer in Kentucky afterwards. Morgan was a strong sympathizer with the Southern cause in the 1850s, and moved to Alabama when Kentucky did not secede from the Union.
      After joining the Confederate Army, Morgan quickly became a colonel in the cavalry. He fought at Shiloh and soon became famous for his cavalry raids. In one year, starting in July 1862, Morgan made four spectacular raids on Union-held territory. In the first raid, Morgan rode 1600 km around Kentucky, disrupting Yankee supply lines and capturing 1200 Union soldiers. His force, consisting of as many as 1800 troopers, traveled light and lived off the land. By December 1862, Morgan's raids had successfully diverted 20'000 Union troops in order to secure supply lines and communications networks.
      Morgan's fourth raid was the most dramatic, but it ended in disaster. Leaving Tennessee in July 1863 with 2400 men, Morgan headed again for Kentucky. This time, he continued northward into the Union states. Morgan's force swept through southern Indiana and Ohio before heading back to the Ohio River, but Union troops blocked his passage back to Kentucky, and Yankee cavalry chased him into northeastern Ohio. He and the remnants of his force were trapped, and they surrendered at Salineville, Ohio, on July 26.
      Morgan and his officers were incarcerated at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus. On November 23, 1863, he and some of his men tunneled out of the prison and escaped to the South. He returned to duty and commanded the Department of Southwestern Virginia.
      At the time of his death, Morgan was preparing for a raid on Knoxville, Tennessee. Alerted to his presence, Union cavalry attack his headquarters at Greenville. Morgan is shot and killed while trying to join his men.

1822 Francisco Javier Elío y Olondriz sufre la pena de garrote en Valencia tras un intento fallido de sublevación absolutista.
1680 Nicolas Baudesson, French artist born in 1611.
1667 Frans Francken III, Flemish artist born in 1607.

1666 A few people, as the Great Fire of London rages on, also some pigeons, and, undoubtedly, many plague-carrying rats. The Great Fire of London

THIRD DAY: Tuesday 04 September 1666

Sept. 4th.
The burning still rages, and it was now gotten as far as the Inner Temple; all Fleet street, the Old Bailey, Ludgate hill, Warwick lane, Newgate, Paul's chain, Watling street, now flaming, and most of it reduced to ashes; the stones of St. Paul's flew like [grenades], the melting lead running down the streets in a stream, and the very pavements glowing with fiery redness, so as no horse nor man was able to tread on them, and the demolition had stopped all the passages, so that no help could be applied. The eastern wind still more impetuously driving the flames forward. Nothing but the Almighty power of God was able to stop them, for vain was the help of man.

     The fire, lasting four days, would destroy about four-fifths of the city, including roughly 13'200 houses, nearly 90 parish churches, and nearly 50 livery company halls — in all an area of more than 430 acres.
      In the aftermath, Sir Christopher Wren, the great architect, designed and oversaw the construction of 49 new churches, as well as the new St. Paul's Cathedral. Amazingly, the fire claimed only 16 lives and may actually have saved countless more. After 5th September, the Black Plague, which had ravished London since 1664, abruptly declined, probably because so few of the rats that helped to transmit the disease escaped the flames.
      Samuel Pepys is the best known diarist of his day. Although he was a minor public official, his diary contains more details of his private life than of London politics. Still, his accounts of both the Black Death and the Great Fire show that he was less than in awe of persons holding high office. — ONLINE: The Concise Pepys (1825 edition),

John Evelyn was an English writer best known for his diary, which, along with that of Samuel Pepys, provides us with our best glimpse into the social world of 17th century London. Evelyn was an ardent Royalist during the English Civil War, and held several minor offices after the Restoration.

1618 Some 1500 victims of "Rodi" avalanche , which destroys Plurs, Switzerland
1553 Cornelio da Nomatalcino, monk converted to Judaism, burned at stake
0422 St Boniface I, Pope 422 Death of Pope St. Boniface I, who was awarded the pontificate by the emperor over a rival. He supported Augustine of Hippo on the issue of Pelagianism.

Births which occurred on a 04 September:

1957 The Ford Edsel car ^top^
The Ford Motor Company proclaimes this day “E-day” in celebration of the Edsel’s introduction, five years after its conception. It would take only three more years for Ford to discontinue the Edsel line. Despite careful market research that indicated consumers wanted more horsepower, tailfins, three-tone paint jobs, and wrap-around windshields, the fickle public had changed its mind by 1957. The Edsel’s low price and V-8 engine simply failed to overcome its “ugly horse-collar grille.” Overwhelmed by negative press and lack of sales, the Edsel faded into history as Ford’s famed “ugly duckling.” Ironically, the low numbers produced have made the Edsel a valuable collector’s item in recent years.

1932 Carlos Romero Barceló, político puertorriqueño.
1929 Thomas Eagleton (Sen-D-Mo, Dem VP candidate 1972, quickly dumped when it became know that he had been treated for mental disease, pro-life)
1920 Craig Claiborne food columnist (NY Times Cookbook)
1917 Henry Ford II automaker (Ford)
1872 Darius Milhaud Aix-en-Provence France, composer (Maximilien)
1920 Maggie Higgins, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize (1951) for international reporting, for her work in Korean war zones.
1920 Craig Claiborne, food critic and cookbook author.
1908 Richard Wright, US novelist best known for Native Son, also wrote Uncle Tom's Children.
1906 Max Delbrück, biólogo germano-estadounidense, Premio Nobel 1981.
1905 Mary Renault (Mary Challans), author who wrote about her wartime experiences in The Last of the Wine and The King Must Die.
1895 Melchor Fernández Almagro, historiador español.

1891 Fritz Todt, the chief designer of the German autobahn, in Pforzheim, Germany      ^top^
      Todt’s creation would the first true system of national superhighways, and was held up by Germany as a proud symbol of the modernity of their engineering. However, the autobahn system emerged from World War II as a battered version of its earlier self. The newly formed nations of East and West Germany set about repairing the old system, though at different rates. Booming increases in motor traffic propelled extensions and enhancements in West Germany, while improvements were more gradual in East Germany. Over the years, the autobahn regained its status as a model expressway and became famous for its nonexistent speed limit.
      Fritz Todt, would be appointed General Inspector for German Highways on 5 July 1933. His primary assignment: to build a comprehensive autobahn system. Todt, a civil engineer who was a proponent of a national highway system as a means of economic development, was handpicked for the position in 1932 by Adolf Hitler. The two men were close friends, and Todt remained a Nazi party member throughout World War II.
     Every aspect of Autobahn construction — its design, aesthetic ("to harmonize with the German landscape"), and model role in National Socialist labor relations — was stamped with Todt's personality. As was his other great achievement, the building of the massive network of bunkers and fortifications known as the West Wall.
      By 1936, 100'000 kilometers of divided highways had been completed, leaving Germany with the most advanced transportation system in the world. Todt estimated in a 1936 speech that "170'000'000 cubic meters of earth have been moved. This would fill a line of trucks extending around the earth four times." He concluded his speech with an exhortation to the German people typical of Nazi party propaganda, "They are roads unequaled anywhere else in the world in their technical excellence and beauty. Is this a work of technology? No! Like so much else, it is the work of Adolf Hitler!" However in Todt last years of life he had disagreements with Göring and even with Hitler, so that some suspect that Todt's death in an airplane crash on February 8, 1982, may have been provoked.
      The autobahns were, in fact, the envy of the industrialized world and a source of both anxiety and awe for Europeans. A Danish newspaper declared, "They are the expression of a national energy that compels the greatest admiration." What few suspected was that the German road system was the first step to their conquest of Western Europe, as the autobahns allowed the Germans to move troops and personnel faster and in greater numbers than anyone could have imagined. The ease with which the German army moved into France owes much to its facility to mobilize and shift troops faster than the French could.
      Todt became a national hero for his creation. The autobahn inspired US President Dwight Eisenhower to foster a similar American interstate highway system. Having been in Germany during the war, he returned to the States deeply convinced that good highways were directly linked to economic prosperity.
BIOGRAPHIE VON FRITZ TODT, Ingenieur, NS-Politiker
1891 4. September: Fritz Todt wird als Sohn eines Fabrikanten in Pforzheim geboren.
1910 Als Einjährig-Freiwilliger dient er in Karlsruhe.
1911 Er beginnt sein Ingenieurstudium in München.
1914-1918 Teilnahme am Ersten Weltkrieg als Offizier und Flugzeugbeobachter.
1920 Abschluß des Studiums in Karlsruhe.
1921-1933 Er arbeitet zuerst an Wasserkraftanlagen, später im Straßenbau für die Baufirma Sager and Woerner.
1922 Er tritt in die Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) ein.
1931 Er wird Oberführer der Sturmabteilung (SA) im Stabe Ernst Röhms und Fachberater im Amt für Wirtschaftstechnik und Arbeitsbeschaffung der NSDAP.
1932 Todt promoviert über "Fehlerquellen beim Bau von Landstraßendecken aus Teer und Asphalt".
1933 Nach der Ernennung Adolf Hitlers zum Reichskanzler wird Todt Generalinspektor für das deutsche Straßenwesen. Seine Behörde erhält den Status einer Obersten Reichsbehörde außerhalb der Organisation der Reichsministerien. Er ist verantwortlich für den Bau der Reichsautobahnen und Hitler direkt unterstellt.
     Er wird Leiter des Hauptamts für Technik in der Reichsleitung der NSDAP.
1938 Als Generalbevollmächtigter für die Regelung der Bauwirtschaft ist er verantwortlich für das gesamte Bauwesen im Reich.
      Beginn des Baus des Westwalls als Befestigung entlang der Westgrenze des Reichs. Hierfür schafft Todt durch das Zusammenwirken von Bauverwaltung, privaten Firmen und Reichsarbeitsdienst die Organisation Todt. Während des Kriegs werden immer mehr Zwangsarbeiter herangezogen. Hauptsächliches Einsatzgebiet der bis zu 800.000 Arbeiter sind Instandhaltung und Wiederherstellung kriegswichtiger Anlagen.
1940 Ernennung zum Reichsminister für Bewaffnung und Munition. Damit ist er zuständig für die Kriegswirtschaft und für den Bau des Atlantikwalls entlang der niederländischen, belgischen und nordfranzösischen Küsten.
1941 Generalinspekteur für Wasser und Energie. Trotz Konflikten mit Hermann Göring und mit der Wehrmacht bleibt seine Wertschätzung als unverzichtbarer Organisator bei Hitler ungebrochen. Herbst
      Nach einer Inspektionsreise an der Ostfront fordert Todt von Hitler erfolglos Maßnahmen zur besseren Versorgung der Wehrmacht. Zunehmende Zweifel an der Möglichkeit, den Krieg zu gewinnen, führen zu Auseinandersetzungen auch mit Hitler.
1942 8. Februar: Fritz Todt kommt bei einem Flugzeugabsturz nahe dem Führerhauptquartier bei Rastenburg (Ostpreußen) ums Leben. Es gibt Vermutungen, er sei einem Anschlag Hitlers zum Opfer gefallen.
      Postum wird ihm als erstem Träger der Deutsche Orden verliehen. Sein Nachfolger als Rüstungsminister wird Albert Speer

1889 Stepanov, mathematician
1889 Angel González Palencia, arabista y orientalista español.
1888 George Eastman patents the first roll-film camera and registers "Kodak"
1888 Otto Schlemmer, German painter, lithographer, engraver, photographer, sculptor, teacher, coreographer, dancer, composer, designer of graphics, bookcovers and furniture. He died on 13 April 1943. — MORE ON SCHLEMMER AT ART “4” SEPTEMBER — Große Biographie (auf Deutsch) — LINKS — Half Length Figure turned to right — Figure Group on Yellow Paper — Self-Portrait, Prellerstrasse Studio (multiple exposure photo) — Figure on Pink Paper
1888 George Eastman received a patent for his roll-film camera, and registered his trademark: Kodak.
1885 John Leslie Palmer, co-editor of Who Cares for America's Children?
1875 Kirby Rollin; in Galva, IL. He would grow up to be a Pulitzer Prize winning satirist of Wall Street and big business, as well as of a host of other targets.

1870 La IIIème République Française
      A la nouvelle de la défaite des troupes de Napoléon III à Sedan, l'empereur prisonnier à Whilhemhöhe, le peuple de Paris indigné renverse le gouvernement impérial. La république est proclamée. Le règne de Napoléon III qui s'était fait proclamer Empereur par plébiscite en 1852, se termine ainsi dans la défaite et la révolte, après avoir commencé dans la confusion en 1848. C'est fois, il n'y a pas eu la moindre effusion de sang.
   — -   3rd French republic proclaimed as they overthrow their emperor (prisoner of the Prussians), a government of national defense is formed.
      Le 4 septembre 1870, les Parisiens apprennent que Napoléon III a été fait prisonnier par les Prussiens à Sedan. Après Lyon et Marseille, la capitale se hâte de proclamer la République.
      Quelques mois plus tôt, l'Empire libéral de Napoléon III était sorti renforcé du plébiscite du 8 mai, qui lui avait donné 7.336.00 oui contre 1.560.000 non. A Paris, à la différence du reste du pays, une majorité républicaine s'était prononcée contre le régime.
     Après la déclaration de guerre à la Prusse, le 19 juillet 1870, il s'était trouvé certains républicains pour souhaiter qu'une prompte défaite consacre la ruine du régime et hâte l'avènement de la République. C'est ainsi que Le Rappel, un journal appartenant aux fils de Victor Hugo, en exil à Jersey, écrivait noir sur blanc: "Le danger le plus sérieux, c'est celui de la victoire. L'Empire fait le mort. Les Prussiens battus, il ressuscitera". La défaite de Sedan allait combler au-delà de toute espérance les voeux de ces drôles de patriotes.
Une République issue de la défaite
Au Palais-Bourbon, les députés du Corps législatif se réunissent dans la nuit du 3 au 4 septembre. Ils dédaignent de confier la régence à l'impératrice Eugénie, confinée au palais des Tuileries, et s'interrogent sur la conduite à suivre. Dans le petit groupe républicain, plusieurs députés se préparent à un illustre destin. Parmi eux, Jules Favre, Jules Grévy, Jules Simon et Jules Ferry, qui fonderont la "République des Jules". Il y a aussi Adolphe Crémieux et surtout Léon Gambetta, superbe orateur de 32 ans.
     Une foule de Parisiens envahit bientôt le Palais-Bourbon et exige l'instauration de la République. Les députés craignent d'être débordés par l'insurrection. Jules Favre leur suggère alors de proclamer eux-mêmes la République à l'Hôtel de ville de Paris, comme aux plus beaux jours de la Révolution de 1789. Deux colonnes de députés et de simples citoyens se rendent donc à l'Hôtel de ville, où elles ont été devancées par un groupe d'agitateurs révolutionnaires, jacobins ou socialistes (Delescluze, Blanqui, Flourens,...).

Pour séduire et rassurer la foule, Jules Ferry a l'idée de constituer un gouvernement composé de députés républicains de Paris. C'est ainsi que Léon Gambetta et Jules Favre proclament la République au milieu d'une liesse générale quelque peu surréaliste en regard de la situation militaire du pays.

Beaucoup de Parisiens croient naïvement que la déchéance de l'empereur et l'avènement de "Marianne" rendront les Prussiens plus accommodants. Certains imaginent au pire un sursaut général comme aux temps héroïques de Valmy. La résistance de l'armée de Bazaine à Metz leur donne quelques motifs d'espérer.

Le "gouvernement de la Défense nationale" est placé sous la présidence du gouverneur militaire de la place de Paris, le général Louis Trochu, un conservateur timoré, "Breton, catholique et soldat", selon ses propres termes. Dès le 19 septembre, le nouveau gouvernement doit faire face à l'encerclement de Paris par les troupes ennemies.

Le député Adolphe Crémieux, un généreux septuagénaire, est envoyé à Tours comme délégué du gouvernement provisoire pour conduire le reste du pays malgré le siège de Paris. Mais il se révèle vite insuffisant à la tâche.

Le 7 octobre, le fougueux Gambetta (32 ans), ministre de l'Intérieur, s'enfuit à son tour de Paris à bord d'un ballon. Sitôt à Tours, il organise une armée en vue de secourir la capitale et de mener une "guerre à outrance".

Son initiative recueille quelques éphémères succès mais elle inquiète les populations rurales qui rêvent surtout du retour à la paix. Les troupes hâtivement rassemblées par Gambetta sont sans difficulté battues par les Prussiens après la reddition honteuse de l'armée de Bazaine, à Metz.
De leur côté, affamés par un siège impitoyable, les Parisiens tentent dans un effort désespéré une "sortie torrentielle" à Buzenval, le 20 janvier 1871. Elle s'achève par une piteuse retraite.

Adolphe Thiers (73 ans), vieux député conservateur doté d'un très grand prestige, entreprend une tournée des capitales européennes en vue d'obtenir une intervention militaire en faveur de la France. Il se heurte partout à un refus poli, au grand soulagement du chancelier Bismarck.

L'armistice est finalement signé par Jules Favre le 28 janvier 1871 pour une durée de quatre semaines. Bismarck veut ainsi donner le temps aux vaincus d'élire une assemblée nationale. Il a besoin en effet que le traité de paix définitif soit entériné par une autorité légitime afin de ne pas être plus tard contesté.

Dix jours plus tôt, le 18 janvier, les envahisseurs ont proclamé triomphalement l' Empire d'Allemagne dans la galerie des glaces de Versailles.

La France aspire à la tranquillité
Le 8 février, les élections générales amènent à la nouvelle Assemblée une majorité favorable à la paix. Les ruraux des provinces, peu au fait du siège de Paris et des événements militaires, ont massivement manifesté leur volonté d'en finir au plus vite avec la guerre en reportant leurs suffrages sur les notables. C'est ainsi que se révèle à l'Assemblée une majorité écrasante de monarchistes.

Pas moins d'un élu sur trois est noble! Mais ces députés monarchistes sont divisés entre partisans du comte de Paris, petit-fils de Louis-Philippe 1er, du comte de Chambord, petit-fils de Charles X, et de Napoléon III, empereur déchu.

Paris étant assiégé et trop agité au goût de l'Assemblée nationale, celle-ci se réunit au Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux avant de se transférer à Versailles. Le gouvernement de Trochu lui remet sa démission et, le 17 février, l'Assemblée désigne Adolphe Thiers comme "chef du gouvernement exécutif de la République française" en attendant de statuer sur la nature du régime futur: monarchie ou république.

Thiers négocie la paix
     Il appartient à Adolphe Thiers de ratifier les préliminaires de paix avec l'Allemagne. Le 21 mars, il se rend avec Jules Favre au chateau de Versailles, transformé en résidence secondaire par l'empereur Guillaume 1er, le chef d'état-major von Moltke et le chancelier Bismarck.

Pour les Allemands, la cession des deux départements alsaciens est une revendication incontournable, l'Alsace étant une ancienne terre du Saint empire germanique conquise deux siècles plus tôt par Louis XIV.
Bismarck y ajoute une indemnité de guerre chiffrée à six milliards de francs de l'époque (une somme colossale) ainsi que la cession de la Lorraine du nord et le droit pour les vainqueurs et l'empereur de défiler triomphalement à Paris.

     Thiers cède Metz et la Lorraine du nord, bien que ces terres de culture française n'aient aucun motif d'appartenir à l'Allemagne. Bismarck serait disposé à céder sur cette revendication, considérant avec justesse qu'elle empêchera à jamais toute réconciliation entre les deux pays. Mais le chef d'état-major von Moltke y tient absolument et se montre intransigeant.
     L'indemnité est réduite à cinq milliards (en bon bourgeois, Thiers confiera plus tard qu'il est toujours possible de récupérer des provinces perdues mais que les milliards envolés le sont pour toujours!). Il est convenu que les troupes d'occupation se retireront à mesure que sera versée l'indemnité.

Au terme d'épuisantes négociations, Thiers obtient que la place forte de Belfort, qui a résisté au-delà de l'armistice, soit conservée à la France en échange du droit pour les Allemands de défiler à Paris à partir du 1er mars 1871 et jusqu'à la ratification du traité par les élus français.

Sitôt l'accord en poche, Thiers et Favre se rendent à Bordeaux et obtiennent de l'Assemblée nationale qu'elle ratifie dans l'urgence les préliminaires de paix. C'est chose faite le dimanche 2 mars, à la grande irritation de l'empereur, de von Moltke et Bismarck.
Les Allemands n'ont eu en effet que le temps de faire défiler quelques bataillons d'avant-garde dans la capitale endeuillée, devant les statues de la place de la Concorde recouvertes d'un voile noir.

     Les Parisiens, énervés par un siège épuisant, manifestent avec violence leur désespoir face à cette humiliation qui s'ajoute à la défaite. Le 18 mars, Thiers va se saisir de ce prétexte pour évacuer la capitale. Il entamera sa reconquête en massacrant conscienceusement les révolutionnaires parisiens qui auront eu pendant quelques semaines l' illusion de se gouverner à l'écart du reste du pays.
     Jules Favre et Adolphe Thiers n'ont pas attendu la fin de l'insurrection de la Commune pour faire la paix avec l'Allemagne. Le traité a été signé le 10 mai, à l'hôtel du Cygne, à Francfort (Allemagne). Les négociateurs, par leur empressement, se sont placé en position de faiblesse face à Bismarck de sorte que le traité s'est révélé plus dur que les préliminaires eux-mêmes. C'est ainsi que naît la IIIe République, dans la détresse et la confusion... Elle mourra de la même façon 70 ans plus tard, en juin 1940.

1857 Gustavus Hindman Miller, author. GUSTAVUS MILLER ONLINE: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted: or, What's In a Dream, What's In a Dream: A Scientific and Practical Interpretation of Dreams
1852 Eilif Hjalmar Emanuel Peterssen, Norwegian artist who died on 29 December 1928.
1848 Gustav Bauernfeind, Austrian Jewish artist specialized in orientalism, who died on 24 December 1904 in Jerusalem. — MORE ON BAUERFEIND AT ART “4” SEPTEMBER — LINKS — Lament of the Faithful at the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem — Market at Jaffa . — Jaffa, Recruiting of Turkish Soldiers in Palestine (148x281cm) the largest and most impressive painting of Bauernfeind (available online only as this tiny reproduction!).
1848 Heinrich Bruns, mathematician

1846 Daniel Hudson Burnham , architect and city planner, in Henderson, New York.      ^top^
      As a young man of 27, Burnham joined architect John Wellborn Root to establish one of the most famous architectural firms in US history. Pioneering the construction methods which made modern skyscrapers possible, Burnham and Root changed forever our city skylines.
      Burnham and Root's prolific partnership ended in 1891 upon Root's death from pneumonia. Taking over Root's role as chief architect of Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Burnham coordinated the design and construction of an elaborate fairground complete with grand boulevards, classical building facades, and lush gardens. His "White City" popularized the neoclassical style, prompting US architects to incorporate similar elements into their own designs.
      After his triumph at the fair, Burnham masterminded a variety of other architectural projects including New York's dramatic Flatiron Building and Washington, D.C.'s Union Station.
      Burnham presented his most ambitious work, the Plan of Chicago, in 1909. Coproduced with architect Edward H. Bennett, the plan anticipated by several decades the need to control random urban growth. The proposed system of city parks, civic buildings, commercial boulevards, transportation routes, and lakefront recreation areas not only influenced Chicago's development, it set the standard for urban design.

1834 Gaspar Núñez de Arce, poeta español.
1825 Dadabhai Naoroji, who would become the first person from India in the British parliament.
1824 Phoebe Cary, poet. CARY ONLINE: Poems and Parodies, The Poems of Phoebe Carey — co-author of The Poetical Works of Alice and Phoebe Cary, Early and Late Poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary
1824 Anton Bruckner Austria, composer, Wagner disciple
1813 The Religious Remembrancer (later renamed The Christian Observer) is first published in Philadelphia. It was the first weekly religious newspaper in the US, and in the world.
1809 Menabrea, mathematician
1809 Manuel Montt Torres, político chileno.

1802 Marcus Whitman, Rushville, N.Y., US physician.      ^top^
      Congregational missionary to the Indians in the territories of present-day Washington and Oregon, and a pioneer who helped open the Pacific Northwest to settlement.
     On 06 July 1836, Whitman, his wife Narcissa, and their family, having traveled the Oregon Trail, reached the site of modern Walla Walla, Washington, becoming the first whites to reach the Pacific coast by wagon train. . Narcissa and Marcus Whitman, along with their close friends Eliza and Henry Spalding, had departed from New York earlier that year on the long overland journey to the far western edge of the continent. The two couples were missionaries, and Narcissa wrote that they were determined to convert the "benighted ones" living in "the thick darkness of heathenism" to Christianity. That summer when they crossed the continental divide at South Pass, Narcissa and Eliza became the first Anglo-American women in history to travel west of the Rocky Mountains. Toward the end of their difficult 2900-km overland journey, the two couples split up, with the Spaldings heading for Idaho while the Whitmans traveled to a settlement near present-day Walla Walla, Washington, where they established a mission for the Cayuse Indians. For 11 years the couples' missionary work went well, and they succeeded in converting many of the Cayuse to Christianity.
      But in 1847, an unusual drought and a devastating measles epidemic swept through the area, killing many of the Cayuse, who had no immunity to the disease, while leaving most of the white people at the mission suspiciously unharmed. Convinced that the missionaries' sorcery or their god had cursed them with an evil plague, on 29 November 1847 shamans of the local Cayuse tribe ordered the massacre of all 14 members of the settlement, including the Whitmans. This led the US Congress to organize the Oregon Territory,.

1796 Peter Fendi, Austrian painter who died on 28 August 1842. — Guards on Maneuvers
1793 Edward Bates, attorney general. BATES ONLINE: Opinion of Attorney General Bates on Citizenship
1781 Los Angeles, first an Indian village Yangma, is founded by Spanish decree, in Bahia de las Fumas with 44 settlers

1768 François-Auguste-René vicomte de Chateaubriand, French author and diplomat, one of his country's first Romantic writers. He was the preeminent literary figure in France in the early 19th century and had a profound influence on the youth of his day. Atala (1801) tells the story of a Christian girl who has taken a vow to remain a virgin but who falls in love with a Natchez Indian. Torn between love and religion, she poisons herself to keep from breaking her vow. In Le Génie du Christianisme (1802) Chateaubriand tried to rehabilitate Christianity from the attacks made on it during the Enlightenment by stressing its capacity to nurture and stimulate European culture, architecture, art, and literature over the centuries. Chateaubriand's theology was weak and his apologetics illogical, but his assertion of Christianity's moral superiority on the basis of its poetic and artistic appeal proved an inexhaustible sourcebook for Romantic writers. The novel René (1805) tells the story of a sister who enters a convent rather than surrender to her passion for her brother. In this thinly veiled autobiographical work Chateaubriand began the Romantic vogue for world-weary, melancholy heroes suffering from vague, unsatisfied yearnings in what has since been called the mal du siècle. Mémoires d'Outre-tombe (1849-1850) is as much a history of his thoughts and sensations as it is a conventional narrative of his life from childhood into old age. The vivid picture it draws of contemporary French history, of the spirit of the Romantic epoch, and of Chateaubriand's own travels is complemented by many self-revealing passages in which the author recounts his unstinting appreciation of women, his sensitivity to nature, and his lifelong tendency toward melancholy. Chateaubriand's most enduring preoccupation was himself, and his memoirs have proved to be his most enduring work. Chateaubriand died on 4 July 1848. France, poet/novelist/statesman, French writer and chef who gave his name to a style of steak. a large tenderloin steak usually grilled or broiled and served with a sauce (as béarnaise) CHATEAUBRIAND ONLINE: (en français):
De la Monarchie selon la Charte: le Roi, la Charte et les Honnêtes Gens Le Génie du Christianisme, ou Beautés de la Religion chrétienne Congrès de Vérone; Guerre d'Espagne de 1823; Colonies espagnoles Courtes Explications sur les 12.000 Francs offerts par Mme la Duchesse de Berry aux Indigents affamés de la Contagion De la Nouvelle Proposition relative au Bannissement de Charles X et de sa Famille Essai historique, politique et moral sur les Révolutions anciennes et modernes, avec les notes inédites d'un exemplaire confidentiel Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem et de Jérusalem à Paris Mémoire sur la Captivité de Mme la Duchesse de Berry Lettre à M. De Fontanes, sur l'Ouvrage de Mme de Staël Analyse raisonnée de l'Histoire de France Les Aventures du Dernier Abencérage Sur l'Art du Dessin dans les Paysages	De Buonaparte et des Bourbons Essai sur la Littérature anglaise Cinq Jours à Clermont (Auvergne) Réflexions politiques Tableaux de la Nature Les quatre Stuarts Mélanges littéraires Pensées, Réflexions et Maximes Mémoires d'Outre-tombe Mémoires sur le duc de Berry Notices nécrologiques Opinions et Discours Voyage au Mont-Blanc Voyage en Amérique	Atala (rtf) Atala Atala Les Martyrs Les Martyrs Poésies diverses René René (rtf) René Moïse Les Natchez Vie de Rancé Voyage en Italie De la Presse

1719 Johann Joseph Konrad Seekatz, German artist who died on 25 August 1768.
1629 Lorenzo Pasinelli, Italian artist who died on 04 March 1700. — MORE ON PASINELLI AT ART “4” SEPTEMBER.— Amore disarmato dalle ninfe di Diana — Fanciulla con gabbietta vuota
1575 Wolfgang Krodel, German artist who died on 01 July 1623.

Holidays Namibia, South Africa : Settlers' Day ( Monday ) / US, Canada, Guam, Virgin Islands : Labor Day (1894) ( Monday )

Religious Observances RC-Vatican City : Triumph of the Cross / Luth : Albert Schweitzer, missionary / Nuestra Señora de la Consolación y Correa. Santos Cándida, Rosa de Viterbo, Rosalía, Bonifacio, Casto, Marcelo, Máximo, Moisés, Rufino y Silvano.

Thoughts for the day: “Before putting your mouth in gear, start your brain.”
“Looking in the rear-view mirror won't prevent a front-end crash.”
“The day you're fated to die in an accident, stay in bed instead of driving. A jumbo jet will crash into your bedroom.”

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