Volume 268 | No. 5

2022—An NRA tweet praises a clerk who plugged a shoplifter seven times. 2000—Katherine Harris, Florida’s Secretary of Stateand, coincidentally, the Bush campaign’s state co-chair, declares Dubya the winner. 1973—Rose Mary Woods takes the fall for the 18½ minute gap. 1970—After whites celebrate the 350th of the Pilgrims’ landing by rescinding Frank “Wamsutta” James’ invitation to speak, Wampanoags host the first annual National Day of Mourning at Plymouth, Mass. 1933—Thomas H. Thurmond and John M. Holmes are lynched in San Jose, Calif. Jackie Coogan—later TV’s “Uncle Fester”—helps ready a rope. A judge, Timothy Fitzpatrick, says the mob “did a damned good job.” Gov. “Sonny Jim” Rolph …

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1997—In Plymouth, Mass., police serve Native American demonstrators a generous helping of pepper-spray. 1986—As Ed “Meese is a Pig” Meese confesses that profits from illegal arms sales to Iran went to Nicaraguan contras, a reluctant Ronald Reagan fires Lt. Col. Oliver North. 1974—Britain outlaws the IRA after two bombs kill 21 and injure over 100 in Birmingham. 1968—Death of Upton Sinclair, writer and media critic. 1955—The ICC bans racial segregation in interstate bus transportation; the ban is ignored, though, until Freedom Riders force the issue in 1961. 1950—Great Appalachian Storm winds hit 110 mph in Concord, N.H. 1947—For refusing to rat out their friends to …

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2006—“The only way we can win,” says George W.[MD] Bush, “is to leave [Iraq] before the job is done.” 1979—The U.S. admits troops in ’Nam were hit by Agent Orange. 1976—Steven B. Williams rams a White House gate with his pickup truck at 25 mph. It doesn’t budge. 1971—Toting $200,000 in ransom cash, “D.B. Cooper” parachutes from a hijacked 727 over Washington State, into oblivion and America’s heart. 1965—The New York Times runs a full-page ad signed by 500 WW II and Korean War vets protesting escalation of the Vietnam War. 1963—Strip joint proprietor Jack Ruby, to spare Jackie Kennedy’s feelings, shoots Lee Harvey Oswald …

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1981—R. Reagan signs a secret directive creating the [illegal] Contras. 1976—Jerry Lee Lewis is arrested outside Graceland for waving a pistol and demanding to see Elvis. 1970—A Lithuanian radio operator jumps from a Russian trawler onto the deck of the Coast Guard cutter Vigilant. Commander Ralph Eustis allows Soviet sailors to board the cutter and seize the radioman. 1958—On TV: Ron & Nancy Reagan in “A Turkey for the President.” 1946—To teach “a severe lesson”—that Vietnam is ruled by France—the cruiser Suffren shells the bejeezus out of Haiphong, killing 6,000 and beginning the First Indochina War. 1936—In San Antonio, bluesman Robert Johnson begins a legendary …

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2003—AP reports on JFK conspiracy theories, including one claiming he orchestrated his own assassination. 2000—Two dozen well-dressed hooligans, many on the GOP’s payroll, intimidate Miami election officials into shutting down a Presidential recount. 1975—USS John F. Kennedy and USS Belknap collide in the night near Sicily. A two-hour fire aboard the Belknap stops 30 feet short of the weapons magazine where they store the nukes. 1963—In Paris, a CIA man hands a lethal pen to a Cuban for use on Fidel Castro, at the behest of Bobby Kennedy. 1963—In Dallas, Texas, President John F. Kennedy is assassinated; at whose bidding is a matter of dispute. …

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2016—The Guardian reports that D. Trump’s grandfather was refused re-entry to Germany in 1905 because he had dodged military service. 1974—The Freedom of Information Act passes over Gerry Ford’s veto. 1973—Chief of Staff Al Haig ascribes an 18½ minute gap on an audio tape to “sinister forces.” 1970—Fifty-six Green Berets raid the Son Tay POW camp 23 miles west of Hanoi, which had been evacuated three weeks earlier. 1967—Commies in the ’Nam are “unable to mount a major offensive,” says Westy, 71 days before Tet. “The end begins to come into view.” 1964—The FBI sends a blackmail letter to Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., urging …

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