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06-19-2012, 07:10 AM
June 19, 1953:
Rosenbergs executed
On this day in 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviets, are executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. Both refused to admit any wrongdoing and proclaimed their innocence right up to the time of their deaths, by the electric chair. The Rosenbergs were the first U.S. citizens to be convicted and executed for espionage during peacetime and their case remains controversial to this day.
Julius Rosenberg was an engineer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps who was born in New York on May 12, 1918. His wife, born Ethel Greenglass, also in New York, on September 28, 1915, worked as a secretary. The couple met as members of the Young Communist League, married in 1939 and had two sons. Julius Rosenberg was arrested on suspicion of espionage on June 17, 1950, and accused of heading a spy ring that passed top-secret information concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Ethel was arrested two months later. The Rosenbergs were implicated by David Greenglass, Ethel's younger brother and a former army sergeant and machinist at Los Alamos, the secret atomic bomb lab in New Mexico. Greenglass, who himself had confessed to providing nuclear secrets to the Soviets through an intermediary, testified against his sister and brother-in-law in court. He later served 10 years in prison.
The Rosenbergs vigorously protested their innocence, but after a brief trial that began on March 6, 1951, and attracted much media attention, the couple was convicted. On April 5, 1951, a judge sentenced them to death and the pair was taken to Sing Sing to await execution.
During the next two years, the couple became the subject of both national and international debate. Some people believed that the Rosenbergs were the victims of a surge of hysterical anti-communist feeling in the United States, and protested that the death sentence handed down was cruel and unusual punishment. Many Americans, however, believed that the Rosenbergs had been dealt with justly. They agreed with President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he issued a statement declining to invoke executive clemency for the pair. He stated, "I can only say that, by immeasurably increasing the chances of atomic war, the Rosenbergs may have condemned to death tens of millions of innocent people all over the world. The execution of two human beings is a grave matter. But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done."
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Rosenbergs executed
On this day in 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviets, are executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. Both refused to admit any wrongdoing and proclaimed their innocence right up to the time of their deaths, by the electric chair. The Rosenbergs were the first U.S. citizens to be convicted and executed for espionage during peacetime and their case remains controversial to this day.
Julius Rosenberg was an engineer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps who was born in New York on May 12, 1918. His wife, born Ethel Greenglass, also in New York, on September 28, 1915, worked as a secretary. The couple met as members of the Young Communist League, married in 1939 and had two sons. Julius Rosenberg was arrested on suspicion of espionage on June 17, 1950, and accused of heading a spy ring that passed top-secret information concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Ethel was arrested two months later. The Rosenbergs were implicated by David Greenglass, Ethel's younger brother and a former army sergeant and machinist at Los Alamos, the secret atomic bomb lab in New Mexico. Greenglass, who himself had confessed to providing nuclear secrets to the Soviets through an intermediary, testified against his sister and brother-in-law in court. He later served 10 years in prison.
The Rosenbergs vigorously protested their innocence, but after a brief trial that began on March 6, 1951, and attracted much media attention, the couple was convicted. On April 5, 1951, a judge sentenced them to death and the pair was taken to Sing Sing to await execution.
During the next two years, the couple became the subject of both national and international debate. Some people believed that the Rosenbergs were the victims of a surge of hysterical anti-communist feeling in the United States, and protested that the death sentence handed down was cruel and unusual punishment. Many Americans, however, believed that the Rosenbergs had been dealt with justly. They agreed with President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he issued a statement declining to invoke executive clemency for the pair. He stated, "I can only say that, by immeasurably increasing the chances of atomic war, the Rosenbergs may have condemned to death tens of millions of innocent people all over the world. The execution of two human beings is a grave matter. But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done."
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
âRelax, all right? Donât try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, theyâre fascist. Throw some ground balls â itâs more democratic.â
Crash Davis
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06-19-2012, 07:12 AM
Off the coast of Cherbourg, France, the Confederate raider CSS Alabama loses a ship-to-ship duel with the USS Kearsarge and sinks to the floor of the Atlantic, ending an illustrious career that saw some 68 Union merchant vessels destroyed or captured by the Confederate raider.
At the outset of the Civil War, the Union began an increasingly successful blockade of Southern ports and coasts, crippling the economies of the Confederate states. In retaliation, Confederate raiders, outfitted in the South and abroad, launched an effective guerrilla war at sea against Union merchant shipping. In 1862, the CSS Alabama, a 1,000-ton screw-steam sloop of war, was built at Liverpool, England, for the Confederate Navy. Britain had proclaimed neutrality in the Civil War but was sympathetic to the Southern cause and gave tacit aid to the Confederacy in the opening years of the conflict. Before the Alabama was put to sea, the Union government learned of its construction, but the protestations of the U.S. ambassador did not prevent it from sailing from Liverpool. After leaving British waters disguised as a merchant ship, the Alabama was outfitted as a combatant by supply ships and placed in commission on August 24, 1862.
The CSS Alabama was captained by Raphael Semmes of Mobile, Alabama, who as commander of the Confederate raider Sumter had captured 17 Union merchant ships earlier in the war. The warship was manned by an international crew--about half Southerners, half Englishmen--and rounded out by a handful of other Europeans and even a few Northerners. Leaving sunk and burned U.S. merchant ships in its wake, the Alabama cruised the North Atlantic and West Indies, rounded Africa, and visited the East Indies before redoubling the Cape of Good Hope back to Europe. By the time the Alabama docked at Cherbourg for a badly needed overhaul on June 11, 1864, it had inflicted immense damage on the seaborne trade of the United States, destroying 60-odd U.S. merchant ships during its two-year rampage.
The USS Kearsarge, a steam-sloop that had been pursuing the Alabama, learned of its presence at Cherbourg and promptly steamed to the French port. On June 14, the Kearsarge arrived and took up a patrol just outside the harbor. After being fitted and stocked over five more days, the Alabama steamed out to meet its foe on June 19. A French ironclad lurked nearby to ensure that the combat remained in international waters.
After an initial exchange of gunfire, the battle quickly turned against the Alabama, whose deteriorated gunpowder and shells failed to penetrate the Kearsarge's chain-cable armor. Within an hour, the Alabama was reduced to a sinking wreck. Captain Semmes tried to retreat back to Cherbourg, but his way was blocked by the Kearsarge, and he was forced to strike his colors. The crew abandoned ship, and the Alabama went down into the Channel. The survivors were rescued by the Kearsarge and the British yacht Deerhound, which had been observing the battle. Those picked up by the latter, including Semmes and most of his officers, were taken to England and thus escaped arrest.
After traveling to Switzerland for a much-needed rest, Semmes returned to the Confederacy via Mexico. Appointed a rear admiral, he helped command the Confederate Navy in Virginia's James River. After the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865, he returned to Mobile to practice law and write about his war experiences. After years of U.S. protests, the British finally agreed in 1871 to take responsibility for the damages caused by British-built Confederate raiders. In 1872, an international arbitration panel ordered Britain to pay the United States $15.5 million in damages, of which more than $6,000,000 was inflicted by the Alabama.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-histo...-of-france
At the outset of the Civil War, the Union began an increasingly successful blockade of Southern ports and coasts, crippling the economies of the Confederate states. In retaliation, Confederate raiders, outfitted in the South and abroad, launched an effective guerrilla war at sea against Union merchant shipping. In 1862, the CSS Alabama, a 1,000-ton screw-steam sloop of war, was built at Liverpool, England, for the Confederate Navy. Britain had proclaimed neutrality in the Civil War but was sympathetic to the Southern cause and gave tacit aid to the Confederacy in the opening years of the conflict. Before the Alabama was put to sea, the Union government learned of its construction, but the protestations of the U.S. ambassador did not prevent it from sailing from Liverpool. After leaving British waters disguised as a merchant ship, the Alabama was outfitted as a combatant by supply ships and placed in commission on August 24, 1862.
The CSS Alabama was captained by Raphael Semmes of Mobile, Alabama, who as commander of the Confederate raider Sumter had captured 17 Union merchant ships earlier in the war. The warship was manned by an international crew--about half Southerners, half Englishmen--and rounded out by a handful of other Europeans and even a few Northerners. Leaving sunk and burned U.S. merchant ships in its wake, the Alabama cruised the North Atlantic and West Indies, rounded Africa, and visited the East Indies before redoubling the Cape of Good Hope back to Europe. By the time the Alabama docked at Cherbourg for a badly needed overhaul on June 11, 1864, it had inflicted immense damage on the seaborne trade of the United States, destroying 60-odd U.S. merchant ships during its two-year rampage.
The USS Kearsarge, a steam-sloop that had been pursuing the Alabama, learned of its presence at Cherbourg and promptly steamed to the French port. On June 14, the Kearsarge arrived and took up a patrol just outside the harbor. After being fitted and stocked over five more days, the Alabama steamed out to meet its foe on June 19. A French ironclad lurked nearby to ensure that the combat remained in international waters.
After an initial exchange of gunfire, the battle quickly turned against the Alabama, whose deteriorated gunpowder and shells failed to penetrate the Kearsarge's chain-cable armor. Within an hour, the Alabama was reduced to a sinking wreck. Captain Semmes tried to retreat back to Cherbourg, but his way was blocked by the Kearsarge, and he was forced to strike his colors. The crew abandoned ship, and the Alabama went down into the Channel. The survivors were rescued by the Kearsarge and the British yacht Deerhound, which had been observing the battle. Those picked up by the latter, including Semmes and most of his officers, were taken to England and thus escaped arrest.
After traveling to Switzerland for a much-needed rest, Semmes returned to the Confederacy via Mexico. Appointed a rear admiral, he helped command the Confederate Navy in Virginia's James River. After the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865, he returned to Mobile to practice law and write about his war experiences. After years of U.S. protests, the British finally agreed in 1871 to take responsibility for the damages caused by British-built Confederate raiders. In 1872, an international arbitration panel ordered Britain to pay the United States $15.5 million in damages, of which more than $6,000,000 was inflicted by the Alabama.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-histo...-of-france
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
âRelax, all right? Donât try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, theyâre fascist. Throw some ground balls â itâs more democratic.â
Crash Davis
06-19-2012, 07:14 AM
Attempting to convince hostile Indians to make peace with the United States, the Jesuit missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet meets with the great Sioux Chief Sitting Bull in present-day Montana.
A native of Belgium, De Smet came to the United States in 1821 at the age of 20. He became a novitiate of the Jesuit order in Maryland and was subsequently ordained in St. Louis. As a priest, De Smet's ambition was to be a missionary to the Native Americans of the Far West. In 1838, he was sent to proselytize among the Potawatomi villages near today's Council Bluffs, Iowa. There, he met a delegation of Flathead Indians who had come east seeking a "black robe" whom they hoped might be able to bring the power of the Christian god to aid their tribe. During the 1840s, De Smet made several trips to work with the Flathead in present-day western Montana. He established a thriving mission and eventually secured a peace treaty with the Flathead's previously irreconcilable enemy, the Blackfeet.
A genuine friend to the Native Americans, De Smet earned a reputation as a white man who could be trusted to fairly negotiate disputes between Indians and the American government. During the 1860s, such disputes became increasingly common in the West, where Plains Indians like the Sioux and Cheyenne resisted the growing flood of white settlers invading their territories. The U.S. government began to demand that all the Plains Indians relocate to reservations. Leaders in the American government and military hoped the relocation could be achieved through negotiations, but they were also perfectly willing to use violence to force the Indians to comply.
One of the principal leaders of the so-called "hostile" Indians that resisted relocation was the great Chief of the Teton Sioux, Sitting Bull. In May 1868, the federal government asked De Smet to meet with Sitting Bull to negotiate a peace treaty. The 67-year-old De Smet agreed to try, and on this day in 1868, he met with Sitting Bull at his camp along the Powder River in present-day Montana.
Although tensions were high, Sitting Bull had promised to meet De Smet with "arms stretched out, ready to embrace him." Lest any hotheaded young brave do something foolish, Sitting Bull first talked with De Smet in his own lodge in order to ensure the priest's safety. The next day, De Smet met with a council that included other chiefs. De Smet was not able to convince Sitting Bull personally to sign a peace treaty. However, the chief did agree to send one of his lesser chiefs to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, to sign a treaty in which the Sioux agreed to allow white travel and settlement in specified areas.
Although Sitting Bull himself had not agreed to the treaty, the negotiations were a triumph for De Smet. As one historian later noted, "No White Man has ever come close to equaling his universal appeal to the Indian." De Smet spent the remaining five years of his life continuing to work for peace with the Plains Indians. Through his books and speaking tours, he also attempted to bring a sympathetic portrait of the Indians to an American public that tended to think of Indians as bloodthirsty savages. Ultimately, however, De Smet was unable to stop the tragic Plains Indian War that eventually forced Sitting Bull and other Indians to leave their homes and move to government-controlled reservations.
De Smet died in St. Louis in 1873, three years before Sitting Bull won his greatest victory in his war with the United States at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-histo...tting-bull
A native of Belgium, De Smet came to the United States in 1821 at the age of 20. He became a novitiate of the Jesuit order in Maryland and was subsequently ordained in St. Louis. As a priest, De Smet's ambition was to be a missionary to the Native Americans of the Far West. In 1838, he was sent to proselytize among the Potawatomi villages near today's Council Bluffs, Iowa. There, he met a delegation of Flathead Indians who had come east seeking a "black robe" whom they hoped might be able to bring the power of the Christian god to aid their tribe. During the 1840s, De Smet made several trips to work with the Flathead in present-day western Montana. He established a thriving mission and eventually secured a peace treaty with the Flathead's previously irreconcilable enemy, the Blackfeet.
A genuine friend to the Native Americans, De Smet earned a reputation as a white man who could be trusted to fairly negotiate disputes between Indians and the American government. During the 1860s, such disputes became increasingly common in the West, where Plains Indians like the Sioux and Cheyenne resisted the growing flood of white settlers invading their territories. The U.S. government began to demand that all the Plains Indians relocate to reservations. Leaders in the American government and military hoped the relocation could be achieved through negotiations, but they were also perfectly willing to use violence to force the Indians to comply.
One of the principal leaders of the so-called "hostile" Indians that resisted relocation was the great Chief of the Teton Sioux, Sitting Bull. In May 1868, the federal government asked De Smet to meet with Sitting Bull to negotiate a peace treaty. The 67-year-old De Smet agreed to try, and on this day in 1868, he met with Sitting Bull at his camp along the Powder River in present-day Montana.
Although tensions were high, Sitting Bull had promised to meet De Smet with "arms stretched out, ready to embrace him." Lest any hotheaded young brave do something foolish, Sitting Bull first talked with De Smet in his own lodge in order to ensure the priest's safety. The next day, De Smet met with a council that included other chiefs. De Smet was not able to convince Sitting Bull personally to sign a peace treaty. However, the chief did agree to send one of his lesser chiefs to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, to sign a treaty in which the Sioux agreed to allow white travel and settlement in specified areas.
Although Sitting Bull himself had not agreed to the treaty, the negotiations were a triumph for De Smet. As one historian later noted, "No White Man has ever come close to equaling his universal appeal to the Indian." De Smet spent the remaining five years of his life continuing to work for peace with the Plains Indians. Through his books and speaking tours, he also attempted to bring a sympathetic portrait of the Indians to an American public that tended to think of Indians as bloodthirsty savages. Ultimately, however, De Smet was unable to stop the tragic Plains Indian War that eventually forced Sitting Bull and other Indians to leave their homes and move to government-controlled reservations.
De Smet died in St. Louis in 1873, three years before Sitting Bull won his greatest victory in his war with the United States at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-histo...tting-bull
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
âRelax, all right? Donât try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, theyâre fascist. Throw some ground balls â itâs more democratic.â
Crash Davis
06-19-2012, 07:19 AM
On June 19, 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court rules against Curt Flood in Flood v. Kuhn, denying Flood free agency as a baseball player. Flood was trying to break the reserve clause that had tied baseball players to one franchise since the establishment of professional baseball.
Curt Flood was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies following the 1969 season. The Cardinals were among the premiere franchises in baseball, and they had won the World Series in 1964 and 1967 with Flood patrolling centerfield. A career .293 hitter, Flood hit .300 six times in his 10 seasons with the Cardinals (1959-1969), and won a Gold Glove Award for fielding seven consecutive years (1963-1969). He was a star player, and he was loath to leave St. Louis for Philadelphia to play for a second-rate team with a reputation for racism among the home fans.
Flood consulted Marvin Miller, executive director of the Playerâs Union and a savvy negotiator and labor expert who had already successfully introduced collective bargaining to the major leagues. Miller was convinced that Flood would lose his battle in court in addition to his baseball career. Still, Flood decided to move forward, and in a December 1969 letter to baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, he stated his desire to become a free agent, which would give him the power to decide for which team he would play. Kuhn ignored the letter.
Flood v. Kuhn was argued in May and June 1970 in the southern district of New York. Flood was represented by Arthur Goldberg, a legendary labor lawyer who later became a U.S. Supreme Court justice, but a heavyweight attorney was not enough. After losing in U.S. District Court and then the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, the case was argued in front of the Supreme Court beginning in March 1972. The opinion, delivered by Justice Harry Blackmun, affirmed the 1922 Federal Baseball Club v. National League opinion of Oliver Wendell Holmes that baseball is a sport and not a business, and therefore exempt from anti-trust law. The blistering dissent by Justices Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan and William O. Douglas maintained that the ruling was incorrect because baseball was and is a business, and a big business, packaged with liquor sales, broadcasting and many other industries.
As Miller predicted, Curt Flood never played baseball again. Three years later, in 1975, an independent arbitrator ruled in a similar case brought by Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally that the men were free of their contractual obligations and could file for free agency. Today, free agency is as much a part of baseball as Cracker Jack and hot dogs.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-histo...se-decided
Curt Flood was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies following the 1969 season. The Cardinals were among the premiere franchises in baseball, and they had won the World Series in 1964 and 1967 with Flood patrolling centerfield. A career .293 hitter, Flood hit .300 six times in his 10 seasons with the Cardinals (1959-1969), and won a Gold Glove Award for fielding seven consecutive years (1963-1969). He was a star player, and he was loath to leave St. Louis for Philadelphia to play for a second-rate team with a reputation for racism among the home fans.
Flood consulted Marvin Miller, executive director of the Playerâs Union and a savvy negotiator and labor expert who had already successfully introduced collective bargaining to the major leagues. Miller was convinced that Flood would lose his battle in court in addition to his baseball career. Still, Flood decided to move forward, and in a December 1969 letter to baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, he stated his desire to become a free agent, which would give him the power to decide for which team he would play. Kuhn ignored the letter.
Flood v. Kuhn was argued in May and June 1970 in the southern district of New York. Flood was represented by Arthur Goldberg, a legendary labor lawyer who later became a U.S. Supreme Court justice, but a heavyweight attorney was not enough. After losing in U.S. District Court and then the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, the case was argued in front of the Supreme Court beginning in March 1972. The opinion, delivered by Justice Harry Blackmun, affirmed the 1922 Federal Baseball Club v. National League opinion of Oliver Wendell Holmes that baseball is a sport and not a business, and therefore exempt from anti-trust law. The blistering dissent by Justices Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan and William O. Douglas maintained that the ruling was incorrect because baseball was and is a business, and a big business, packaged with liquor sales, broadcasting and many other industries.
As Miller predicted, Curt Flood never played baseball again. Three years later, in 1975, an independent arbitrator ruled in a similar case brought by Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally that the men were free of their contractual obligations and could file for free agency. Today, free agency is as much a part of baseball as Cracker Jack and hot dogs.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-histo...se-decided
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
âRelax, all right? Donât try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, theyâre fascist. Throw some ground balls â itâs more democratic.â
Crash Davis
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