Tag: Volume 265 | No. 23 - The New Hampshire Gazette

Sat, Aug 14, 2021

2019—The New York Times publishes “The 1619 Project,” arguing chattel slavery was central to the nation’s creation. Conservatives freak out. 1966—“As long as the United States and our brave allies are in the field,” says LBJ, “[a Communist takeover of South Vietnam] is impossible.” 1945—President Truman announces Japan has surrendered. Enlisted sailors in San Francisco celebrate their reprieve with three nights of looting, vandalism, rape, and murder. 1936—In Owensboro, Ky., at 5:30 a.m, 15,000 watch as Rainey Bethea becomes the last person publicly hanged in America. Arthur Hash, the assigned executioner, is so drunk a deputy sheriff has to pull the lever. 1935—FDR signs the …

Fri, Aug 13

1999—Senator Bob Smith [R-N.H.] drops out of the Republican Presidential primary race—and the Party, to boot. Delusional, he’ll run for President as an Independent. 1987—Senator Warren B. Rudman [R-N.H] sets Ollie North straight during the Iran-Contra hearings: “The American people have the constitutional right to be wrong.” 1977—During a heat wave and a financial crisis, with Son of Sam on the loose, lightning strikes cause a blackout in New York City. Chaos ensues. 1959—A sodium-cooled nuclear reactor in Simi Valley, Calif. has a partial meltdown, releasing 300 times more radiation than Three Mile Island—a fact kept secret for 20 years. 1950—A B-50 Superfortress crashes in …

Thurs, Aug 12

1982—FEMA pledges that the mail will get through, even in a nuclear war. 1979—The White Sox are forced to forfeit on Disco Demolition Night: the field was damaged by explosives. 1973—A fire in St. Louis, Mo. destroys the service records of 16 to 18 million Army and Air Force veterans. 1917—After 30 hours in cattle cars without food or water, 1,286 striking copper miners are left stranded in the New Mexico desert. No relief comes until the next day. 1908—Milton Berle is born, America’s first transvestite TV star. 1892—The Pennsylvania militia arrives at Homestead, Pa. to protect Andrew Carnegie’s right to make a buck. 1872—Orangemen …

Wed, Aug 11

2003—Condi Rice lies about White House knowledge of Joe Wilson’s Niger investigation; Ari Fleischer outs Valerie Plame as a CIA officer; Karl Rove lies to Time about Wilson’s wife, Plame; and CIA head George Tenet takes the rap for the White House’s lies about Iraq buying uranium. 1991—A defective heater sets a loaded ammunition carrier afire at Camp Doha in Kuwait. It explodes, scattering bomblets; blasts and fires consume 102 other vehicles, including four M1A1 Abrams tanks. The fires injure 49, three die cleaning up the mess. 1958—Mildred and Richard Loving are rousted out of bed in Central Point, Virginia and arrested for being married …

Tues, Aug 10

2007—China executes its Director of the State Food and Drug Administration for taking bribes that resulted in 40 deaths. 2001—A Phoenix FBI agent sends a memo to FBI HQ warning of “an inordinate number” of suspicious characters in local flight schools, possibly as part of a bin Laden plot. It’s ignored. 2001—CIA boss George Tenet tries to warn George Bush and Condi Rice about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, but can’t get their attention. 1985—French secret police in the South Pacific blow up Greenpeace’s boat, Rainbow Warrior. 1972—Water being used to fight an arson fire destroys the U.S.S. Forrestal’s computers and nearly capsizes her. 1949—Pamir, …

Mon, Aug 9

2004—“I trust God speaks through me,” George W.[MD] Bush tells a group of Amish people. “Without that, I couldn’t do my job.” 1993—To prove it’s unbreakable, Toronto lawyer Garry Hoy hurls himself against a 24th floor window. It pops from its frame; he falls to his death. 1986—Ed “Meese is a Pig” Meese publishes a 1,960-page report on pornography packed with obscene titles. 1964—Senator Strom Thurmond [D-S.C.], 61, wrestles Senator Ralph Yarborough [D-Texas], also 61, to the floor to prevent a committee quorum. 1958—A 1,700-foot mega-tsunami hits Lituya Bay, Alaska. 1951—Dashiell Hammett, 57, tubercular author of The Maltese Falcon, is sentenced to six months in …