Volume 265 | No. 15

2002—A U.S. F-16 pilot on “go pills” drops a 500-pounder: Four are KIA, eight are WIA in Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry regiment. 1986—“[W]hen you meet the President,” says Henry Kissinger, “you ask yourself, ‘How did it ever occur to anybody that he should be Governor, much less President?’” 1985—President Ronald Reagan says Waffen SS troops buried at Bitburg were “victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps.” 1977—The federal frame-up of Leonard Peltier succeeds. 1974—As Professor Irwin Corey accepts Thomas Pynchon’s National Book Award for Gravity’s Rainbow, a streaker runs across the stage. 1968—The Army admits nerve gas from Dugway Proving …

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2013—A fertilizer plant located next to a middle school in West, Texas, uninspected since 1985, blows up. Fifteen are killed, mostly volunteer firemen, 250 others are injured. 2002—G.W.[MD] Bush flip-flops again, vowing to rebuild Afghanistan. 1986—Peace is declared between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly, ending a bloodless 335-year war. 1981—The Supreme Court rules a law banning religious use of peyote is just fine. What First Amendment? 1970—Apollo 13 makes it home. 1967—“[T]he defeat of the Communists forces in South Vietnam is inevitable,” says ex-Veep Richard Nixon. “The only question is, how soon?” 1966—Timothy Leary is busted for pot possession by G. Gordon Liddy. …

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2008—“Thank you, your holiness,” George W.[MD] Bush says to Pope Benedict, “Awesome speech.” 1992—Afghanistan’s commie President Najibullah resigns, making way for a more enlightened government. 1992—The House Ethics Committee—no laughing, please—releases the names of 303 check-kiting Reps. 1969—Rev. Billy Graham advises Nixon: bomb North Vietnam’s dikes; estimated casualties: 1 million. 1963—Martin Luther King, Jr., writes “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” defending civil disobedience. 1954—“There is no reason why French forces should not remain in Indo-China and win,” says Richard Nixon, three weeks before the Viet Minh overrun Dien Bien Phu. 1953—Ike says militarism hangs humanity “from a cross of iron.” 1951—Shigeki Tanaka, Hiroshima survivor, wins the …

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2015—Ex-postal worker Doug Hughes lands a gyrocopter on the White House lawn with 535 letters to Congress: overturn Citizens United. 2015—In Zimbabwe, big-game hunter and Texan Ian Gibson is crushed to death by an elephant. 2013—Two bombs explode near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. 2003—George W.[MD] Bush installs Gen. Jay Garner to administer Iraq “until an Iraqi government can be formed.” He lasts less than a month. 1994—Dick “Dick” Cheney tells C-SPAN G.H.[H.]W. Bush didn’t topple Saddam because that would have created a “quagmire” in Iraq. 1987—The Washington Post reveals that, though Nancy had the sign changed to 668, the official number of …

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2006—Six  retired generals sign an Op-Ed calling on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign. 2004—Attorney General John Ashcroft blames Bill Clinton for terrorist attacks that took place seven months after Clinton left office. 1999—Dan Quayle throws his little propeller beanie into the ring. 1994—Over Iraq, U.S. fighter jets shoot down two U.S. helicopters. 1988—An Iranian mine nearly sinks the missile frigate U.S.S. Roberts. 1975—Idaho’s Bunker Hill Mining Co. says all female workers at its smelter must get sterilized to keep their jobs. 1945—A new high-tech head floods U-1206 on its 1st patrol. Commander K.A. Schlitt scuttles the boat; four crewmen die, the rest are …

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2002—Venezuelans overrule the generals and their CIA advisors; Hugo Chavez is restored to the Presidency. 1981—Rep. Jon Hinson (R-Miss.) resigns three months after being arrested for attempting to commit oral sodomy in a House restroom. He becomes an advocate for gay rights. 1970—The Apollo 13 moon shot lives up to its numeral. 1962—Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is published. 1953—CIA boss Allen Dulles says it’s MKUltra time: start washing brains. 1919—British troops massacre at least 379 unarmed Indian men women and children at Amritsar. 1917—Prescient President W. Wilson establishes the Committee on Public Information, 67 years prior to 1984. 1901—French anarchist Clement Duval, after 14 years …

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