07 May History: This Date

<< May 06| HISTORY “4” “2”DAY |May 08 >>
Events, deaths, births, of 07 MAY
[For May 07 Julian go to Gregorian date: 1583~1699: May 17 — 1700s: May 18 — 1800s: May 19 — 1900~2099: May 20]

ALTERNATE SITES ALL FOR 030507 ANY DAY OF THE YEAR IN HISTORY ART “4” MAY 07

• Israeli shell kills Palestinian infant... • Vietminh defeats French... • Nazi Germany surrenders... • Sinking of the Lusitania... • Hume is born... • Brezhnev president of USSR... • Bloodied, Grant pushes south... • Browning is born... • Ottawas attack British... • Virginia cuts down British trade... • Condamnés à mort par la Révolution... • 22 dead in Turkish hunger strike... • Serial killer hanged... • Nance heads Packard... • DaimlerChrysler... • Amendment ratified after 202 years...

On a May 07:

2003 McDermott International (MDR) made a favorable first quarter 2003 earnings report the previous evening. On the New York Stock Exchange, 3.4 million of the 65 million MDR shares are traded, surging from their previous close of $3.23 to an intraday high of $4.96 and close at $4.93. They had traded as low as $2.15 as recently as 08 April 2003 and as high as $16.78 on 01 April 2002, and above $40 five years ago. [5~year price chart >]. MDR operates in 4 businesses: Marine Construction Services (offshore exploration), Power Generation Systems (steam/electric power), Government Operations (nuclear reactor components) and Industrial Operations.

2002 The stock of oil well services and equipment company Seitel (SEI) drops from the previous day's close of $5.65 to an intraday low of $3.12, before partly recovering to close at $4.00. It had traded as high as $9.03 just one session before that, on 03 May 2002, $22.72 on 12 Mar 2001, and $25.56 on 20 Oct 1997. [< 5-year price chart]

2001 Russia's puppet mayor of Grozny, Bislan Gantamirov, a Chechen and a convicted embezzler, orders that suspected Chechen murderers should be killed "without trial or investigation" after the mutilated corpses of three Russians civilians are found in the city.
2001 El submarino nuclear Tireless abandona Gibraltar un año después de su avería.
2000 A second fire was set to contain an earlier blaze that was begun to clear brush on the Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico; the second fire blew out of control, destroying more than 200 homes and damaging part of the Los Alamos National Laboratory before it was controlled.
2000 President Vladimir Putin took the oath of office in Russia's first democratic transfer of power. — Vladímir Putin, hasta este día presidente en funciones de Rusia, asume la presidencia del país de manos de su predecesor Boris Yeltsin.
1999 El Papa Juan Pablo II llega a Rumanía y se convierte en el primer Pontífice que viaja a un país de mayoría ortodoxa desde el cisma que separó a las dos Iglesias en el año 1054.

1998 The DaimlerChrysler deal ^top^
      Merger mania seizes the automobile industry, as US auto giant Chrysler Corp. signs a $38 billion deal with German-based Daimler-Benz AG. The merger, first hatched in January of 1998 by Daimler chief Juergen Schrempp, creates a company that, at least on paper, is well-equipped to do battle in the global marketplace. Not only does Chrysler stand to make a belated move into the German market, but Daimler gains even greater access to American consumers. Moreover, the new company, now known as DaimlerChrysler, is stocked with a diverse roster of products, ranging from mid-priced Chryslers to swank Mercedes that cut across a wide swath of the global car market.
      While yet another international alliance between two industry behemoths raises the hackles of some anti-trust forces, the DaimlerChrysler deal ultimately gained official approval on both sides of the Atlantic, consecrating what Schrempp promised would be the "world's leading automotive company for the twenty-first century."
      However, early in 2001, the results would prove disappointing, as Chrysler sales are down, German management takes over almost entirely, jobs are cut, US employee morale is low, suppliers are outraged by being pressured to cut prices, and dealers feel abandoned.
     The DaimlerChrysler stock price [traded on NYSE as DCX, chart adjusted for splits >] would reflect these dismal prospects. From 108 on 04 Jan 1999 to 38.44 on 27 Nov 2000, it would close at 48.37 on 09 Feb 2001.

1998 iMac unveiled ^top^
Apple unveils a new personal computer, the iMac, which becomes an overnight success. The computer, which shipped in August, sold some 800'000 units in its first four months. Consumers raved about the whimsical machine, made of translucent plastic and available in shades of "grape, blueberry, strawberry, tangerine, and lime." The iMac's success quickly boosted Apple's dwindling market share, which had sunk to a low of 3% in 1997. By December 1998, its market share had rebounded to 5%.

1997 A report released by the US government said that Switzerland provided Nazi Germany with equipment and credit during World War II. Germany exchanged for gold what had been plundered or stolen. Switzerland did not comply with postwar agreements to return the gold.
1996 The first international war crimes proceeding since Nuremberg opened at The Hague, with a Serbian police officer, Dusan Tadic, facing trial on murder-torture charges. (A year later, Tadic was convicted of brutalizing prisoners, but was acquitted of more serious crimes, including murder.)
1996 Deutsche Bank agrees to work with DigiCash to test electronic cash on the Web. The test allowed bank customers to pay for information, services, or goods with the DigiCash e-cash system, which allowed users to download digital coins onto their computers by debiting their bank accounts. Although several similar payment systems were tested in the mid-1990s, credit-card use on the Web ultimately proved to be more popular than digital cash for Internet shopping.
1996 Online brokerage E-trade says that it plans to file for an IPO. E-trade, one of several discount brokers allowing investors to trade over the Internet, later became one of the most popular stock-trading sites on the Web.
1995 El neogaullista Jacques Chirac es elegido presidente de la V República de Francia.
1994 Norway's most famous painting, The Scream by Edvard Munch, is recovered almost three months after it was stolen from an Oslo museum. — MORE AT ART “4” MAY — OTHER ART BY EDVARD MUNCH ONLINE: Ashes — The Dance of Life — Death in the Sickroom — Evening on Karl Johan — Madonna — Model by the Wicker Chair — Night in St. Cloud — Puberty — Red Creeper — Self Portrait: Between Clock and Bed — Self-Portrait with Burning Cigarette — The Sick Child — Starry Night — Two Women on the Shore — Vampire — The Voice

1992 The 27th Amendment to the US Constitution is at last ratified by the required number of states, New Jersey being the 40th. The Amendment reads: “No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.” It had been passed by the first Congress on 25 September 1789. On 19 December 1789, Maryland had been the first state to ratify it. Virginia was the 6th on 15 December 1791, Ohio the 7th on 6 May 1873, Wyoming the 8th on 6 March 6 1978.

1992 Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin decreta la creación del Ejército de la Federación Rusa y asume el cargo de comandante en jefe.
1992 Los sindicatos alemanes aceptan un aumento del 5,4 % para los empleados públicos, después de 11 días de huelga.

1992 Disk Lit. from Random House
Random House announces plans to publish Oscar Wilde, Ralph Ellison, and other classic authors on floppy disks for Apple's new portable computer, the PowerBook. Many other publishing companies also launched electronic ventures in the early '90s.

1989 Panamanian voters reject dictator Manuel Noriega's bid for presidency — Los partidarios deManuel Antonio Noriega Moreno cometen fraude electoral en las elecciones celebradas en Panamá.
1989 Comicios generales en Bolivia: la igualdad en votos entre Hugo Banzer y Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada obliga al Parlamento a designar al futuro presidente entre los tres candidatos más votados.
1987 Todas las fracciones de la Contra deciden integrarse en la denominada Resistencia nicaragüense.
1987 Los Reyes de España presiden en la Real Academia de la Lengua los actos conmemorativos del primer centenario del nacimiento de Gregorio Marañón Posadillo.
1985 El ministro del Interior argentino, A. Troccoli, denuncia, por segunda vez en 72 horas, la existencia de un plan de extrema derecha para asesinar a Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín Folukes .
1984 A $180 million out-of-court settlement was announced in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who charged they had suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant.
1982 IBM lanza el PC-DOS version 1.1.
1981 El estadounidense Philip Habib sirve de mediador entre Israel y Siria.
1977 Se legaliza la central sindical Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) de España..
1975 US President Ford declares an end to the Vietnam era, while in Ho Chi Minh City — formerly Saigon — the Viet Cong celebrates its takeover.
1974 El Gobierno de Brasil se niega a conceder la extradición al Reino Unido del cerebro del asalto al tren de Glasgow, Ronald Biggs.
1973 El diario The Washington Post obtiene el premio Pulitzer por su investigación en el escándalo Watergate.
1969 El pintor Joan Miró pinta la fachada de vidrio del colegio de Arquitectos de Barcelona, que suscita una gran polémica.
1965 EE.UU. crean en la ciudad vietnamita de Da Nang una base capaz de albergar a 6000 soldados.
1964 Los laboristas vencen en las elecciones municipales del Reino Unido.
1963 Se producen violentos enfrentamientos en Vietnam del Sur entre budistas, que reclaman la libertad religiosa, y el Gobierno del católico Ngo Dinh Diem.
1963 EE.UU. pone en órbita el satélite de comunicaciones Telstar.

1960 Brezhnev becomes “president” of the USSR ^top^
Leonid Brezhnev, one of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's most trusted proteges, is selected to replace marshal Kliment Voroshilov as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet — the Soviet equivalent to the presidency. This was another important step in Brezhnev's rise to power in Russia, a rise that he later capped by taking control of the Soviet Union in 1964. Brezhnev had been a trusted associate of Khrushchev since the 1940s. As Khrushchev rose through the ranks, so did his protege. After Stalin's death in 1953, Khrushchev rapidly consolidated his power and succeeded in becoming First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This position had always been the real seat of power in the Soviet Union — the first secretary was able to control the vast Communist Party apparatus throughout the Soviet Union.
The position of president (or, more formally, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet) was largely symbolic. The president often greeted foreign visitors and handled more mundane government matters, but policymaking always rested with the first secretary. In May 1960, Khrushchev named Brezhnev to the position of president. While the post meant little in the way of real power, it did allow Brezhnev to come into contact with numerous foreign dignitaries and visitors and to travel the world as a representative of the Soviet government. He made the most of these opportunities and was soon viewed as an efficient and effective official in his own right, not simply a puppet of Khrushchev. In 1964, Khrushchev was removed from power and Brezhnev was named new first secretary. Brezhnev held that post for 18 years until his death in 1982. His era was marked by a certain blandness of rule, a much-needed stability in Soviet ruling circles, a sometimes harsh repression of the Soviet people, and a hard-line attitude toward relations with the United States.

1955 La Unión Soviética denuncia los tratados que la vinculan al Reino Unido y a Francia.

1954 Vietminh defeats French at Dien Bien Phu. ^top^
      In northwest Vietnam, Communist leader Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh forces decisively defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu, a French stronghold besieged by the Vietnamese Communists for the last fifty-six days. The Viet Minh victory at Dien Bien Phu signaled the end of French colonial influence in Indochina and cleared the way for the division of Vietnam along the seventeenth parallel at the conference of Geneva.
      On 02 September 1945, hours after the Japanese signed their unconditional surrender in World War II, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam, hoping to prevent the French from reclaiming their former colonial possession. In 1946, he was elected president of Vietnam, but in the same year, he hesitantly accepted the French demand that Vietnam exist as an autonomous state within the French Union.
      Nevertheless, fighting between Vietnamese nationalists and the French broke out soon afterwards, and in 1949, the French named Bao Dai emperor of all Vietnam. In the same year, with military and economic assistance of newly Communist China, Ho Chi Minh began a war of resistance against French and southern Vietnamese forces, both of whom were armed largely by the US
      In November of 1953, the French, weary of jungle warfare, occupied Dien Bien Phu in northwest Vietnam, hoping to draw the Viet Minh out into the open where the superior French artillery could be used against them. The Viet Minh army, under General Vo Nguyen Giap, decided to attack the fortified French position nevertheless, and by March 1954, some 50'000 Communist soldiers had encircled Dien Bien Phu. The first Viet Minh assault against the 13'000 entrenched French troops came on 13 March, and by late April, despite massive air support, the French held only five square kilometers. On 07 May, after fifty-six days of siege, their positions collapsed.
      Although the defeat brought an end to French colonial efforts in Indochina, the United States soon stepped up to fill the vacuum, increasing military aid to South Vietnam and sending the first US military advisors to the country in 1959.

Dien Bien Phu falls to the Viet Minh. In March, a force of 40'000 Viet Minh soldiers with heavy artillery had surrounded 15'000 French soldiers, holding the French position under siege. The Viet Minh guerrillas had been fighting a long and bloody war with French colonial interests for control of Vietnam since 1946. In an attempt to score a decisive victory, French General Henri Navarre had positioned the large French force 300 km behind enemy lines in a remote area adjacent to the Laotian border. He had planned to draw the communists into a set-piece battle in which he hoped superior French firepower would destroy the enemy, but he vastly underestimated his foe. Viet Minh General Vo Nguyen Giap entrenched artillery in the surrounding mountains and massed five divisions around the French positions. The battle, which far exceeded the size and scope of anything to date in the war between the French and the Viet Minh, began with a massive Viet Minh artillery barrage and was followed by an infantry assault. The tide of the battle quickly turned against the French.
US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and other members of the Eisenhower administration were stunned at the turn of events and discussions were held to decide on a course of action. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Arthur Radford proposed the use of nuclear strikes against the Viet Minh. Other options included massive conventional air strikes, paratrooper drops, and the mining of Haiphong Harbor. In the end, President Eisenhower decided that the situation was too far gone and ordered no action to be taken to aid the French. Fierce fighting continued to rage until this day, when the Viet Minh overran the last French positions. During the siege, 1600 French soldiers were killed, 4800 were wounded, and 1600 missing. The Viet Minh captured 8000 French and marched them off on foot on an 800-km trek to prison camps; fewer than half survived the march. Viet Minh casualties were estimated at approximately 7900 killed and 15'000 wounded. The battle of Dien Bien Phu marked the end of the French involvement in Southeast Asia. France had lost more than 35'000 men and 48'000 had been wounded in a war that was considered financially and militarily humiliating. The shock of the defeat at Dien Bien Phu led the French government, already plagued by public opposition to the war, to agree to the independence of Vietnam at the Geneva Conference in 1954.

1954 El observatorio astronómico de Monte Palomar (California) fotografía una supernova en la constelación de Virgo.
1953 Record 537-kg swordfish is caught by LE Marron, in Chile

1952 Nance vs. The Big Three ^top^
James J. Nance resigns from his position at Hotpoint to become the president and general manager of the Packard Motor Company.
Nance would direct Packard successfully for two years. Under his direction, the small Detroit-based manufacturing firm tightened its books and invested in technological upgrades essential for postwar competition. However, even successful small firms like Packard were struggling to compete with the Big Three in the massive postwar market. Consequently, in 1954 Packard agreed to merge with the much larger Studebaker Corporation. Together, Packard-Studebaker comprised the fourth largest car manufacturing company in the country. Paul Hoffman, Studebaker's president, believed that Packard would bolster floundering Studebaker by supplying it with well-respected cars in the profitable high-price range where Studebaker struggled most. He also believed that the young and aggressive Nance could help turn his company around. The merger was a complicated one, however, as Studebaker laborers blocked the process, unwilling to re-negotiate their labor contracts. Eventually, though, the deal went through in October of 1954. Hoffman named Nance president of the new company. Nance immediately set to work implementing the same policies he'd implemented at Packard. He reversed Hoffman's existing policies regarding car design and labor relations, and he generally ignored the input of his new partners. The result was predictable: the changes failed to reverse Studebaker-Packard's fortune. Nance blamed Hoffman and the rest of the Studebaker executives. In 1956 the whole kit and kaboodle was sold again to the Curtiss-Wright Aircraft Company

1950 El general Anastasio Somoza García asume la presidencia interina de Nicaragua tras la muerte de Victor Manuel Román y Reyes.
1947 Tropas del Gobierno paraguayo de Higinio Moriñigo arrebatan varias posiciones a los sublevados contra su régimen.
1947 Al Partido Comunista de Brasil no se le permite participar en las elecciones parlamentarias.

1945 Nazi Germany surrenders ^top^
      In Reims, France, at 02:41 local time, German General Alfred Johl signs the unconditional surrender of all German forces on all fronts, ending the European phase of World War II. The official German surrender, scheduled to take effect at 23:01 on 08 May, came after a frenzied week during which Nazi leader Adolf Hitler killed himself, Berlin surrendered to the Red Army, and several major German armies surrendered to British forces in Northern Europe.
      In the last few days before the official surrender was signed, Nazi military officials desperately attempted to negotiate a separate peace with the Western Allies, hoping to preserve German independence and the Nazi government. On 05 May, German Navy Admiral Hans von Friedeburg flew to Supreme Allied Commander General D. Eisenhower's headquarters at Reims, France, and submitted a proposal. Under its terms, Germany would make peace with the Anglo-Americans, the country would remain independent with the Nazi government intact, and a new a grand alliance would be formed to repel the Communist invader of Eastern Europe. On 06 May, General Alfred Jodl, head of the German general staff, traveled to Reims to join the negotiations.
      But General Dwight Eisenhower demanded complete surrender of all German forces, those fighting in the East as well as in the West. If this demand was not met, Eisenhower was prepared to seal off the Western front, preventing Germans from fleeing to the West in order to surrender, thereby leaving them in the hands of the enveloping Soviet forces. . Hearing this, General Jodl radioed Eisenhower's total surrender demand back to Admiral Karl Donitz, Hitler's chosen successor. Donitz ordered him to sign. So with Russian General Ivan Susloparov and French General François Sevez signing as witnesses, and General Walter Bedell Smith, Ike's chief of staff, signing for the Allied Expeditionary Force, Germany was — at least on paper — defeated. Fighting would still go on in the East for almost another day. But the war in the West was over.
      The next day, "V-E Day" was celebrated by the Western Allies, while the Soviets celebrated "Victory Day" on 09 May. Scattered fighting, surrenders of German units, and suicides by high-ranking Nazis continued in parts of Europe for another week.
     Since General Susloparov did not have explicit permission from Soviet Premier Stalin to sign the surrender papers, even as a witness, he was quickly hustled back East — into the hands of the Soviet secret police, never to be heard from again.
      Alfred Jodl, who was wounded in the assassination attempt on Hitler on 20 July 1944, would be found guilty of war crimes (which included the shooting of hostages) at Nuremberg and hanged on 16 October 1946 — then granted a pardon, posthumously, in 1953, after a German appeals court found Jodl not guilty of breaking international law.

1943 The last major German strongholds in North Africa, Tunis and Bizerte, fall to Allied forces. —Las tropas británicas entran en Túnez con gran entusiasmo popular. (Segunda Guerra Mundial).
1943 Los aviones estadounidenses bombardean la isla italiana de Pantelleria.
1942 In the Battle of the Coral Sea, Japanese and American navies attacked each other with carrier planes. It was the first time in the history of naval warfare where two enemy fleets fought without seeing each other.
1941 Alemania exige del Gobierno de Vichy el permiso para atravesar Siria.
1940 Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain.
1939 Germany and Italy announce a military and political alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.
1938 Gran Bretaña y Francia abren negociaciones (deshonradas) con los Gobiernos de Berlín y Praga con el fin de encontrar una solución al “problema” de los Sudetes. (será el Pacto de Múnich).
1937 Respondiendo a la llamada de sus dirigentes, las milicias anarcosindicalistas cesan el combate en Barcelona. (Guerra Civil Española).
1934 World's largest pearl (6.4 kg) found at Palawan, Philippines
1934 Part of Khabarovsk becomes a Jewish Autnomous Region.
1929 Chiang Kaichek (Jiang Jieshi) se convierte en presidente del Consejo Central Supremo de la República de China.
1928 England lowers age of women voters from 30 to 21
1926 Comienza la ofensiva franco-española contra el cabecilla rebelde Abd el-Krim, consecuencia del fracaso de la conferencia de Uxda. (Guerra de Marruecos).
1921 Konrad Adenauer, alcalde de Colonia, es elegido presidente del Consejo de Estado prusiano.
1920 USSR recognizes independence of Georgia.
1919 Los aliados reunidos en París imponen unas condiciones muy duras para Alemania.
1919 Epitácio da Silva Pessoa es elegido nuevo presidente de los Estados Unidos de Brasil.
1918 Tratado de paz de las potencias centrales con Rumanía, que debe entregar la Dobrudja a Bulgaria y ceder a Austria-Hungría los territorios en las Puertas de Hierro; a cambio recibe Besarabia de Rusia.
1915 Alemania y EE.UU. rompen sus relaciones diplomáticas después de que el submarino alemán U-20 hundiera en el mar de Irlanda al transatlántico estadounidense Lusitania.
1913 El presidente (golpista y asesino) de México Victoriano Huerta Ortega instaura el servicio militar obligatorio.
1910 Paso del cometa Halley, visible desde la Tierra.
1908 El rey de España Alfonso XIII firma el indulto de Nakens.
1908 Los pintores Santiago Rusiñol i Prats, con Jardín de Aranjuez, y Julio Romero de Torres, con Musa gitana, comparten el premio anual que concede la Academia de Bellas Artes de España.
1905 Se producen en Rusia tumultos antisemitas. (pogrom).
1901 Se producen disturbios en toda España, especialmente en Barcelona.
1903 El tratado firmado por el Reino Unido, Alemania e Italia pone fin a la guerra de las aduanas.
1900 Los habitantes de la Antillas danesas se niegan a ser anexionados por EE.UU., por lo que Copenhague renuncia a su venta.
1900 Creación de un fondo internacional contra el hambre en la India.
1867 Blacks stage ride-in to protest segregation in New Orleans
1866 Atentado frustrado en Berlín contra el canciller alemán Otto von Bismarck, por parte de un judío alemán.

1864 Though bloodied, Grant's army presses south. ^top^
Following two days of intense fighting in the Wilderness forest, the Army of the Potomac, under the command of Union General Ulysses S. Grant, moves south. Grant's forces had clashed with Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in a pitched and confused two-day battle in which neither side gained a clear victory. Nonetheless, Lee could claim an advantage, since he inflicted more casualties and held off the Yankees, despite the fact that he was outnumbered. When Lee halted Grant's advance, Grant proved that he was different than previous commanders of the Army of the Potomac by refusing to fall back. Many of his veteran soldiers expected to retreat back across the Rapidan River, but the order came down through the ranks to move the army south. The blue troops had just suffered terrible losses, and the move lifted their spirits. "We marched free. The men began to sing," recalled one Yankee. In some ways, warfare would never be the same. Grant had promised President Abraham Lincoln that there would be no turning back on this campaign. He would aggressively pursue Lee without allowing the Confederates time to retool. But the cost was high: Weeks of fighting resulted in staggering casualties before the two armies dug in around Petersburg by the middle of June.

1864 Sherman begins his Atlanta campaign
1862 Confederate forces attack Union forces at West Point (Eltham's Landing), Virginia
1831 España y la República Argentina firman un acuerdo sobre extradición de criminales.
1800 The US Congress divides the Northwest Territory into two parts. The western part becomes the Indiana Territory and the eastern section remains the Northwest Territory.
1787 The New Jerusalem Church is formally established in London. More popularly known as Swedenborgianism, its theological tenets are based on the writings of Swedish scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). The first congregation in the US was formed in Baltimore in 1792.

1769 Virginia cuts down trade with England. ^top^
Revolution is in the air, as George Washington launches a legislative salvo at Great Britain's fiscal and judicial attempts to maintain its control over the American colonies. With his sights set on the British policy of "taxation without representation," Washington brings a package of non-importation resolutions before the Virginia House of Burgesses. The resolutions, drafted by George Madison largely in response to England's passage of the Townshend Act in 1767, also decry parliament's plan to send American criminals to England for trial.
Though Virginia's Royal Governor promptly fired back by disbanding the House of Burgesses, the revolutionaries were undeterred: during a makeshift meeting held at the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, Virginia's delegates gave their support the non-importation resolutions. As a result, Virginia sealed off a good chunk of its trade with England pending the repeal of the Townshend Acts. This proved to be a contagious maneuver, as the other American colonies spent the summer adopting their own non-importation resolutions.

1763 Pontiac's Rebellion begins ^top^
when a confederacy of Native-American warriors under Ottawa chief Pontiac attacks the British force at Detroit. After failing to take the fort in their initial assault, Pontiac's forces, made up of Ottawas, and reinforced by Wyandots, Ojibwes, and Potawatomis, initiate a siege that will stretch into November.
      After the French and Indian Wars ended in March 1763, Native Americans living in former French territory found the new British authorities to be far less conciliatory than their predecessors. In April, Ottawa chief Pontiac convened a Native American council on the banks of the Ecorse River near Detroit. It was decided that Pontiac and his warriors would gain access to the British fort at Detroit under the pretense of negotiating a peace treaty, giving them an opportunity to forcibly seize the British arsenal. However, British Major Henry Gladwin learned of the plot, and the British were ready when Pontiac arrived in early May.
      On 07 May, Pontiac attacked the fort and began his siege. At the same time, his allies in Pennsylvania began a siege of Fort Pitt, as other sympathetic tribes, such as the Delaware, the Shawnees, and the Seneca, prepared to move against various British forts and outposts in Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.
      At the end of July, the British attacked Pontiac's camp, but suffered heavy losses and were repelled. However, they had managed to provide the fort at Detroit with relief supplies and reinforcements, allowing it to hold out against the Indians into the fall. The major forts at Pitt and Niagara likewise held on, and in the spring of 1764, two British armies were sent out, one into Pennsylvania and Ohio under Colonel Bouquet and the other to the Great Lakes under Colonel John Bradstreet. Bouquet's campaign met with success, and the Delawares and the Shawnees were forced to sue for peace, breaking Pontiac's alliance.
      Failing to persuade tribes in the West to join his rebellion, and lacking in hoped for support from the French, Pontiac finally signed a treaty with the British in 1766. He was pardoned by the English and is believed to have been murdered later in the year.

1727 Jews are expelled from Ukraine by Empress Catherine I of Russia
1714 Los catalanes rechazan el asalto de las tropas reales a Barcelona durante la guerra de Sucesión Española.
1704 Pedro II, rey de Portugal, reconoce al archiduque Carlos de Habsburgo como sucesor legítimo de la corona española con el título de Carlos III.
1429 The English siege of Orléans is broken by Jeanne d'Arc. — Juana de Arco conquista el fuerte que le cerraba el paso a Orleáns, ciudad que conquistó después, y resulta herida.
1274 The Second Council of Lyons (14th ecumenical council) convenes under Gregory X. attended by approximately 500 bishops, this council accomplished a temporary reunion of the separated Eastern Orthodox churches with the Roman Catholic Church.

TO THE TOP

^ Deaths which occurred on a May 07:

2003 Katie Autry, 18, from abrasions, stab wounds, then burns suffered early on 04 May 2003 in fire in her dormitory room at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. Lucas B. Goodrum, 21, arrested on 11 May 2003, and Stephen L. Soules, 20, would be charged with rape, murder, and arson.

2002 Pnina Hikri, 60; Shoshana Magmari, 51; Nawa Hinawi, 51; Rafael Haim, 64, all 4 from Tel-Aviv; Anat Teremforush, 36, from Ashdod; Daliah Massah, 56, from Nahalat Yehudah; Avi Bayaz, 26, from Nes Ziona; Rahamim Kimchi, 58; Yisrael Shikar, 49, and Nir Lovatin, 31, all 3 from Rishon Lezion; Rassan Sharuk, 42, and Edna Cohen, 61, both from Holon; Esther Bablar, 54, and Yitzhak Bablar, 57, both from Bat Yam; Regina Malka Boslan, 62, of Jaffa; and a Palestinian suicide bomber of Hamas, in the unlicensed 3rd floor Spiel Club gambling and pool hall (without a security guard, in violation of regulations) on Sakharov Street in Rishon Letzion, Israel, at about 23:00. 57 persons are injured. The bomber was carrying a suitcase filled with explosives and was also wearing an explosives belt. The total weight of the explosives is believed to have been between 7 and 8 kilos, and contained metal shards and nuts and bolts, in order to maximize the number of injuries. The roof of the hall, on the third floor of a substandard building, collapsed, causing further injuries and complicating rescue efforts.

2002 All 112 aboard China Northern Airlines Flight 6136, an MD-82 airliner, when, at about 21:40, it plunges into the bay about 20 km from its destination, Dalian, after the captain reports a fire in the cabin. It had left Beijing, 450 km to the west, at 20:37. The fire, set by passenger Zhang Pilin, is an act of sabotage.

2002 Eighteen of the 63 aboard an EgyptAir Boeing 737 which crashes in foggy, rainy weather with a sandy wind (blowing from the Sahara desert, the khamsin, from the root for 50 in Arabic, because it is prevalent during the 50 days from Easter to Pentecost), in its landing approach about 6 km from the Tunis-Carthage airport, just after a distress call from the pilot.
.

2001 Iman Hijo, 4 months old Palestinian, by Israeli shell. ^top^

Iman Hijo, 4 months old Palestinian, is killed by shrapnel tearing a 10-cm hole into her back. Israeli tanks were retaliating for four Palestinian four mortar shells fired earlier in the day at two Jewish enclave settlements in the Gaza Strip, without causing injuries. The tanks shelled buildings in the Khan Yunis refugee camp and troops fired large-caliber machine guns. One shell hit the shack of the Hijo family in the camp, instantly killing the baby and injuring her 19-year-old mother, as well as three children belonging to the family. One of the children, 18-month-old Mahmoud, was in intensive care at Nasser Hospital with shrapnel wounds. Iman's 7-year-old aunt, Dunya, was among the injured. Debris and shrapnel also fell in the yard of the camp's Khaldieh School. 24 camp residents were wounded, including 10 children.

This brings to 436 the number of persons killed on the Palestinian side since the start of the al-Aqsa intifada in late September 2000. At least 106 of the dead have been under the age of 18. Seventy-two persons have been killed on the Israeli side, four of them under the age of 18.

2001 Cafer Tayyar Bektas, and Huseyin Kayaci, Turkish prisoners on hunger strike.. ^top^
    This brings to 22 the number of inmates and relatives that have died in a hunger strike protesting Turkey's new maximum security prisons. Cafer Tayyar Bektas, a member of a banned leftist group who fasted since the strike began exactly 200 days ago, died in an Ankara hospital. Huseyin Kayaci, prisoner from a different banned leftist group, died in a hospital in Izmir after 148 days without solid food.
      About 250 inmates and some of their relatives are fasting. They have been taking sugared and salted water with vitamins to prolong their fast. The hunger strike began as a protest by political prisoners against their transfer from large, dormitory-style prison wards to new maximum security prisons with one or three-person cells. Clashes broke out in December 2000, when security forces transferred inmates to the new prisons, leaving 30 inmates and two soldiers dead. Inmates said the new structure leaves them isolated and vulnerable to beatings from guards. The government said that the old prison system allowed wards of up to 100 prisoners to be used as training camps by Kurdish, Islamic and leftist groups.
      In the first week of May 2001, Turkey's parliament passed a law allowing inmates in the small cells to take part in some collective activities. The government has also drawn up plans to allow civilian inspection of prison conditions. But human rights groups, including Amnesty International, say the changes don't go far enough. Prisoners support group Ozgur Tayad has said the fast will continue until the government meets the strikers demands for 18-person wards and the abolition of anti-terror laws.

2000 José Luis López de Lacalle, de 62 años, asesinado. Poco antes de las diez menos cuarto, ETA (Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna) asesina al columnista de El Mundo José Luis López de Lacalle [foto >] a la puerta de su casa, en la localidad guipuzcoana de Andoain. Primero, un tiro en la nuca. Cuando ya estaba en el suelo, le dispararon otra vez: en la cabeza y en el tórax. José Luis López de Lacalle fue militante del Partido Comunista y miembro fundador del Foro Ermua, de Izquierda Unida en el País Vasco y del sindicato Comisiones Obreras.

1999, 3 Chinese officials in the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, bombed by NATO
In what US President Clinton would call a “tragic mistake,” the dropping of five bombs by NATO planes on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade kills three Chinese and injures 20. Beijing would rebuff NATO's apologies and reject its claims that the embassy bombing was a mistake (due to intelligence [?] using obsolete maps]. Demonstrations against the United States and NATO would erupt in 20 Chinese cities.

1998 Tomás Caballero, concejal, portavoz municipal del Pueblo Navarro en Pamplona, de dos disparos en la cabeza por la banda terrorista ETA.
1995 Pedro Gómez Valderrama, diplomático, político y escritor colombiano.
1994 Margaret Seward Skeete, who was born on 27 October 1878.
1986 Gaston Deferre, político francés.
1985 Carlos Mota Pinto, primer ministro portugués.
1983 Keith Stewartson, English applied mathematician born on 20 September 1925.
1958 Joan Comorera y Soler, lider comunista español.
1954 Henry Mineur, French mathematician and astronomer born on 07 March 1899.
1950 Vicor Manuel Román y Reyes, presidente de Nicaragua.
1941 José Serrano, compositor español de zarzuelas.
1934 Karl Friedrich Geiser, Swiss mathematician born on 26 February 1843.

1915, 1198 persons in the sinking of the Lusitania by a German U-boat ^top^
      The sinking of the Lusitania stirred enough outrage to be erroneously remembered as triggering the US's entry into World War I.
      Before the British ocean liner left New York, Germany published an advertisement warning citizens against traveling on such enemy passenger ships. Nevertheless, the Lusitania steamed ahead. On 07 May 1915, torpedoes were fired from a German submarine that rapidly caused the ship to list, leaving 1198 dead, including 63 infants. Two years later, America entered the war.
          In February 1915, the German government had announced an unrestricted warfare campaign. This meant that any ship taking goods to Allied countries was in danger of being attacked. This broke international agreements that stated commanders who suspected that a nonmilitary vessel was carrying war materials, had to stop and search it, rather than do anything that would endanger the lives of the occupants. The Lusitania, was at 32'000 tons, the largest passenger vessel on transatlantic service, left New York harbor for Britain on 1st May, 1915. Six days later the ship, with more than 1900 passengers and crew on board, was torpedoed by a German U-Boat, 16 km from the coast of Ireland. After a second, larger explosion, the Lusitania rolled over and sank in twenty minutes. A total of 1198 people died, including 128 US citizens.
      The sinking of the Lusitania had a profound impact on public opinion in the United States. Germany apologized for the incident, but claimed its U-boat only fired one torpedo and the second explosion was a result of a secret cargo of heavy munitions on the ship. If this was true, Britain was guilty of breaking the rules of warfare by using a civilian ship to carry ammunition. British authorities rejected this charge and claimed that the second explosion was caused by coal dust igniting in the ship's almost empty bunkers.

A la fin de l'année 1914, les Européens en guerre les uns contre les autres perdent l'espoir d'une fin rapide du conflit. Les Anglais tentent le tout pour le tout et entreprennent un blocus maritime de l'Allemagne et de l'Autriche-Hongrie. Ils se saisissent des navires des pays neutres à destination de l'Allemagne. Les Allemands ripostent en proclamant la guerre sous-marine contre les navires de commerce britanniques. C'est ainsi que le 7 mai 1915, près des côtes irlandaises, le paquebot Lusitania, en provenance de New York, est coulé par le sous-marin U20. Les Allemands se justifient en prétextant que le paquebot transportait des munitions, ce que les Anglais nient farouchement. Il faudra attendre 1972 pour que les archives démontrent la mauvaise foi des Anglais. Le Lusitania convoyait en effet des munitions en contrebande. Il était au surplus armé de 12 canons. Mais le paquebot transportait aussi 1959 passagers. 1198 disparaissent dans le naufrage. Parmi eux 128 Américains. Le président américain Woodrow Wilson exige des réparations et menace l'Allemagne. De neutraliste, l'opinion publique des Etats-Unis devient peu à peu favorable à un engagement militaire. Le président Wilson en vient enfin à déclarer la guerre aux Puissances centrales (Allemagne et Autriche-Hongrie) le 6 avril 1917. Sur une caricature de l'époque, le Kaiser allemand observe l'arrivée d'innombrables soldats américains. «Combien de navires a-t-il donc fallu pour les amener en Europe?» demande-t-il, incrédule. «Un seul, le Lusitania,» lui répond un conseiller.

On the afternoon of 07 May 1915, the British ocean liner Lusitania is torpedoed without warning by a German submarine off the south coast of Ireland. Within 20 minutes, the vessel sank into the Celtic Sea. Of 1959 passengers and crew, 1198 persons were drowned, including 128 from the US. The attack aroused considerable indignation in the United States, but Germany defended the action, noting that it had issued warnings of its intent to attack all ships, neutral or otherwise, that entered the war zone around Britain. When World War I erupted in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson pledged neutrality for the United States, a position that the vast majority of people in the US favored. Britain, however, was one of the US's closest trading partners, and tension soon arose between the United States and Germany over the latter's attempted quarantine of the British isles. Several US ships traveling to Britain were damaged or sunk by German mines, and in February 1915 Germany announced unrestricted submarine warfare in the waters around Britain. In early May 1915, several New York newspapers published a warning by the German embassy in Washington that US nationals traveling on British or Allied ships in war zones did so at their own risk. The announcement was placed on the same page as an advertisement of the imminent sailing of the Lusitania liner from New York back to Liverpool. The sinkings of merchant ships off the south coast of Ireland prompted the British Admiralty to warn the Lusitania to avoid the area or take simple evasive action, such as zigzagging to confuse U-boats plotting the vessel's course. The captain of the Lusitania ignored these recommendations, and at 14:12 on 07 May the 32'000-ton ship was hit by an exploding torpedo on its starboard side. The torpedo blast was followed by a larger explosion, probably of the ship's boilers, and the ship sunk in 20 minutes. It was revealed that the Lusitania was carrying about 173 tons of war munitions for Britain, which the Germans cited as further justification for the attack. The United States eventually sent three notes to Berlin protesting the action, and Germany apologized and pledged to end unrestricted submarine warfare. In November, however, a U-boat sunk an Italian liner without warning, killing 272 persons, including 27 from the US. Public opinion in the United States began to turn irrevocably against Germany. On 31 January 1917, Germany, determined to win its war of attrition against the Allies, announced that it would resume unrestricted warfare in war-zone waters. Three days later, the United States broke diplomatic relations with Germany, and just hours after that the US liner Housatonic was sunk by a German U-boat. On 22 February, Congress passed a $250 million arms appropriations bill intended to make the United States ready for war. In late March, Germany sunk four more US merchant ships, and on 02 April President Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany. On 04 April, the Senate voted to declare war against Germany, and two days later the House of Representatives endorsed the declaration. With that, America entered World War I.

1896 Dr. H. H. Holmes, one of America's first well-known serial killers, hanged, in Philadelphia. ^top^
      Although his criminal exploits were just as extensive and occurred during the same time period as Jack the Ripper, the Arch Fiend-as Holmes was known-has not endured in the public's memory the way the Ripper has. Born with the unfortunate moniker Herman Mudgett in New Hampshire, Holmes spent much of his childhood torturing animals. Still, he was a smart boy who later graduated from the University of Michigan with a medical degree. Holmes financed his education with a series of insurance scams whereby he requested coverage for nonexistent people and then presented corpses as the insured. In 1886, Holmes moved to Chicago to work as a pharmacist. A few months later, he killed the elderly owner of the store but told everyone that the man had left him in charge. With a new series of cons, Holmes raised enough money to build a giant, elaborate home across from the store.
      The home, which Holmes called "The Castle," had secret passageways, fake walls, and trapdoors. Some of the rooms were soundproof and connected by pipes to a gas tank in the basement. His office had controls that could fill these rooms with gas. Holmes' basement also contained a lab with equipment used for his dissections.
      Young women in the area, along with tourists who had come to see the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, and had rented out rooms in Holmes' castle, suddenly began disappearing. Medical schools purchased many human skeletons from Dr. Holmes during this period but never asked how he obtained the anatomy specimens. Holmes was finally caught after attempting to use another corpse in an insurance scam. He confessed, saying, "I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than a poet can help the inspiration to sing." Reportedly, authorities discovered the remains of over 200 victims on his property.

1894 Charles-Émile Jacque, French Barbizon School painter born on 23 May 1813. — LINKS — 102 prints at FAMSF
1873 José Antonio Páez, primer presidente de Venezuela.
1870 Domingo Goicuria, fusilado en La Habana. Este patriota cubano había sido hecho prisionero por las autoridades españolas cuando desembarcaba clandestinamente al frente de un pelotón de hombres armados.
1840 Caspar-David Friedrich, German artist born on 05 September 1774. — MORE ON FRIEDRICH AT ART “4” MAY — LINKS — Chalk Cliffs on Rugen — Cloister Cemetery in the Snow — Large Enclosure — Riesengebirge — The Sea of Ice — Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog — Woman in front of the Setting Sun — The Stages of Life — Schlafender Knabe — Tetschen Altarpiece or The Cross in the Mountains — The Cross in the Mountains — Abbey with Oak Trees — Abbey in the Oakwood — Winter Landscape with Church
1826 (1828?) Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier, French Neoclassical painter born on 11 November 1738. — LINKS
1825 Antonio Salieri, Italian composer, in Vienna.
1817: 22 misioneros, degollados; se encontraban a cargo de las Misiones del Caroní (Venezuela)
1800 Nicola Puccini, compositor italiano.
1795 (18 floréal an III) BLANC Gabriel, négociant, domicilié à Paris, département de la Seine, est condamné à mort comme distributeur de faux assignats par le tribunal criminel de la Seine

1794 (18 floréal an II) Condamnés à mort par la Révolution: ^top^
Comme émigrés, par le tribunal militaire du 1er arrondissement de l'armée des Pyrénées-Occidantales.
MARÉCHAL Nicolas Antoine, domicilié à Chatel-sur-Moselle (Vosges). — SOULE Jean, domicilié à Départ (Basses Pyrénées).
A Arras:
BERNARD Charles, 44 ans, né à St Pol, époux de Caron Victoire, commis du district de St Pol
BERTHE François Marie, 32 ans, né et demeurant à St Pol, cordonnier, époux de Laghim Marie Anne
CHEVALIER Jacques, 36 ans, né à St Pol, garde de bois, époux de Harduin Marie Joseph
DEBRE Dominique, 65 ans, né à Canettemont, demeurant à St Pol, receveur de consignation
DESRUELLE Théodore, 60 ans, né et demeurant à St Pol, maçon, époux de Molin Jacqueline
DETAPE Jean Marie, 56 ans, né à St Pol, époux de Berthe Marie Anne Joseph
MASSIAS Pierre François Raphaël, 49 ans, né à St Pol, époux de Bourdon Marguerite Florentine
MORAND Dominique, 54 ans, né à St Pol, célibataire, fabricant de bas
PETIT Jacques Philippe Joseph, 50 ans, né à Monchy Breton, cultivateur
PETIT André, 40 ans, né à St Pol, potier, demeurant à Monchy Breton
RIGAUD ou BIGAND Marie Guislaine, 56 ans, née à St Pol, épouse de Vaillant Antoine
THELLIER Henri, 38 ans, né à St Pol, rentier, époux de Acquier Françoise, condamé à mort à Arras
THELLIER Hubert François Joseph, 47 ans, né à St Pol, ci-devant argentier, célibataire
THELLIER Louise Bernardine Joseph, 42 ans, née à St Pol, épouse de De Corbehem Eloi, ex lieutenant général de la sénéchaussée de St Pol
TURQUET Marie Anne, 65 ans, né à St Pol, demeurant à Frévent
WAILLE Charles, concierge du disctrict de St Pol
     ... (guillotinés):
AGNON Louis Joseph, 59 ans, né à St Pol, charcutier, époux de Willemand Augustine
ANSART Eugéne François, 50 ans, notaire, né à Aubigny, demeurant à St Pol, époux de Bacqueville Reine
BACQUEVILLE Antoine Joseph, 63 ans, né à St Pol, époux de Ansart Claudine
COFFIN Jean Noël, 58 ans, né à St Pol, époux de Delattre Anne Claire, apothicaire
CORNE Amboise, 28 ans, né à St Pol
DUFOUR Jean Baptiste, 22 ans, né à St Pol, chasseur au 2° régiment
DUTATE François, 29 ans, né à St Pol, écrivain, époux de Waille Catherine
HERMAN Emmanuel, 64 ans, né à St Pol, célibataire, homme de loi, receveur du côté de Brias, maire de St Pol au début de la révolution
HOURIEZ ou MOURIEE Honoré, 54 ans célibataire
LAMBERT Armand, 33 ans, né à St Pol, époux de Genel Scholastique
Comme faux dénonciateurs de patriotes, par la commission militaire séante à Nantes:
BONNOT Jean, capitaine, de la 6ème compagnie du 7ème bataillon du Jura, domicilié à Beaufort, canton de Lons-le-Saulnier (Jura).
DEVAUX Joseph, capitaine de la 7ème compagnie du 1er bataillon du Jura, domicilié à Chau-du-Colombier (Jura Inférieur).
DAVID François, lieutenant de la 1ère compagnie du 7ème Bataillon du Jura, domicilié à Nauseray (Jura). [aussi: DAVID François, lieutenant de la 4ème compagnie du 7ème bataillon du Jura, domicilié à Nantes (Loire Inférieure), par la commission militaire de Saumur.]
Comme conspirateurs, par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris:
GUILLAUMOT Jean François, 27 ans, né à Clamecy, ci-devant clerc de procureur, juge de paix à Cosne (Nièvre).
GUINTRAN Joseph Hyacinthe, matelassier, 34 ans; né et domicilié à Vaicin (Vaucluse).
LAMBERT Jean Baptiste Benjamin, 23 ans, surnommer au bureau de l'enregistrement de Dieppe, y demeurant (Seine Inférieure).
PETITJEAN François, commissaire ordonnateur de l'armée du Nord, 47 ans, né et domicilié à Toul (Meurthe), comme complice d'une conspiration dont Dumourier était le chef, et par suite d'avoir laissé l'armée du Nord sans subsistances, ainsi que les places de Cambray, Douai, Bouchain et Lille.
     ... domicilié à Cosne (Nièvre), comme complices d’une conspiration dans la commune de Cosne:
REMEAU Jean François, 57 ans natif de Neuvy-le-Républicain, assesseur du juge de paix, ex député à l’assemblée législative.
RAMEAU Jean Louis, 62 ans, natif de Neuvy-le-Républicain, ex seigneur.
     ... domiciliés dans le département de la Drôme, comme complices d’une conspiration qui a eu lieu au mois d’août 1792, dans la commune de Besignan, département de la Drôme:
CHEVAUDIERE René François Louis, 32 ans, lieutenant dans la gendarmerie, né et domicilié à Valdrome.
          ... domiciliés à Buis:
FERRIEZ Vincent, chirurgien, 33 ans, né à Rieul (Haute-Garonne) — FITY Jean Joseph, menuisier, 30 ans, né à Nevers (Nièvre). — PASCAL François, 30 ans, natif d’Affheaut (Basses-Alpes).

1794 Claude-Louis Chatelet, French artist born in 1753.
1793 CINGAL Stanislas Ferdinand (dit Mitigny), domicilié à St-Marguerite-de-Ducy (Calvados), est condamné à mort comme émigré par le tribunal criminel dudit département.
1792 Aert Schouman, Dutch aertist born on 04 March 1710.
0586 Leovigildo, rey visigodo hispánico.

^ Births which occurred on a May 07:
1960 Almudena Grandes, escritora española.
1952 La tramuntana, poema dramático de escritor Rafael Folch i Capdevila, se estrena en México.
1947 Guillermo Carnero Arbat, poeta y ensayista, economista y filólogo español.
1939 Ruud Lubbers, político y primer ministro holandés.
1932 Pete Domeneci (Sen-R-NM)
1930 Anatoli Ivanovich Lukianov, político y abogado soviético.
1919 María Eva Duarte “Evita” de Perón, Argentina, actress, mistress then (Oct 1945) second wife of Juan Perón [08 Oct 1895 – 01 July 1974 _ president:: 1946-overthrown 19 Sep 1955, Oct 1973-1974], developed independent political power base through the benefactions of her Evita Perón Foundation and the Peronista Feminist Party which she formed in 1949. She died of cancer on 26 July 1952. Not to be confused with Isabel Martínez de Perón [04 Feb 1931 – ], Juan Perón's third wife, who became vice-president then, when he died, president (01 Jul 1974 – overthrown 24 March 1976). — [¿Qué es lo que Evita evita?]
1914 Johannes de Groot, Dutch mathematician who died on 11 Sep 1972.
1909 Edwin Land, US physicist, inventor, developed the Polaroid Land instant camera. He died on 01 March 1991.
1896 Pavel Sergeevich Aleksandrov, Russian mathematician who died on 16 November 1982.
1892 Archibald MacLeish, US poet, playwright, and government official, who died on 20 April 1982.

1890 Marshal Josip Broz “Tito”, dictator of Yugoslavia.
      Josip Broz “Tito” is born in Kumrover, near Zagreb, Austria-Hungary. He would be a WW II partisan, leader of Yugoslavia (1943-80)Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. He was secretary-general (later president) of the Communist Party (League of Communists) of Yugoslavia (1939–1980), supreme commander of the Yugoslav Partisans (1941–1945) and the Yugoslav People's Army (1945–1980), and marshal (1943–1980), premier (1945–1953), and president (1953–1980) of Yugoslavia. Tito was the chief architect of the “second Yugoslavia,” a socialist federation that lasted from World War II until 1991. He was the first Communist leader in power to defy Soviet hegemony, a backer of independent roads to socialism (sometimes referred to as “national communism”), and a promoter of the policy of nonalignment between the two hostile blocs in the Cold War. He chose 25 May for the official celebration of his birthday. Tito died on 04 May 1980 in Ljubljana.
    During his 35-year rule, Tito guided Yugoslavia along a pathway that combined dogmatic allegiance to Marxism with an independent, and often combative, relationship with the Soviet Union. The child of peasants, Tito became a convert to the ideals of communism as a young man. His rise to prominence in Yugoslavia began during World War II when he led resistance groups fighting against both the Nazi occupation forces and their Yugoslav collaborators. In 1944, he appealed to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin for assistance in capturing the capital city of Belgrade from its Nazi occupiers. Stalin sent units of the Red Army to help in the attack and by early 1945 Tito declared himself ruler of a new Yugoslav Republic. Unlike many other Eastern European nations, however, Tito's Yugoslavia was not subjected to a lengthy Soviet occupation.
      After 1945, relations between Tito and the Soviet Union deteriorated rapidly. Tito's assistance to Greek communists was considered poor policy to Stalin, who had earlier reached an agreement with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to accept British hegemony in Greece. In addition, Tito's independent course in his foreign policy irritated Stalin, who expected the communist "satellite" regimes in Eastern Europe to toe the Soviet line. In 1948, Stalin expelled Yugoslavia from the Communist Information Bureau (an agency designed to coordinate communist policy in the international sphere). This action effectively severed ties between the Soviet bloc and Yugoslavia. Tito reacted to this by actively seeking US military and economic assistance. Somewhat surprisingly, this aid was forthcoming. President Harry S. Truman and his advisors saw in Tito an opportunity to drive a wedge into the supposedly monolithic communist bloc and encourage other communist regimes to break free from Soviet domination. If the Americans expected Tito to deviate from his Marxist ideology, however, they were sadly mistaken. Until his death in 1980, Tito remained a steadfast communist, albeit one who charted an independent course from the Soviet Union.

1892 Archibald MacLeish, poet, dramatist, and ninth Librarian of Congress
1881 Ebenezer Cunningham, English mathematician who died on 12 February 1977.
1880 Oskar Perron, German mathematician who died on 22 February 1975. His name was given to the Perron integral. Besides analysis, he also worked on differential equations, continued fractions, geometry, number theory, matrices and other topics in algebra.
1861 Rabindranath Tagore Hindu poet/mystic/composer (Nobel '13)
1854 Giuseppe Veronese, Italian mathematician and politician who died on 17 July 1917.
1847 Archibald Primrose Earl of Rosebery (Lib), British PM (1894-95)
1847 American Medical Association was founded in Philadelphia.
1840 (25 Mar Julian) Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, leading Russian composer of the late 19th century, great for melodic inspiration and orchestration. (Marche Slave, 1812 Overture, Swan Lake, Nutcracker Suite, Romeo and Juliet). He died on 06 November (25 Oct Julian) 1893, probably by suicide.
1839 Jules-Adolphe Goupil, French painter who died on 28 April 1883. — LINKS — Lady Seated
1833 Johannes Brahms composer, enjoys a good lullaby (Requiem, Symphony #1 in C Minor, Symphony #4 in E Minor). He died on 03 April 1897.
1832 Carl Gottfried Neumann, Prussian mathematician who died on 27 March 1925. He was the son of physicist-mathematician Franz Neumann [11 Sep 1798 – 23 May 1895].

1812 Robert Browning, in Camberwell outside London, poet. ^top^
      The son of a bank clerk and a musical, religious mother, Robert Browning attended boarding school and studied briefly at the University of London before returning to his parents' home to continue his education with tutors. He read extensively, learned foreign languages as well as boxing and horsemanship, and began writing poetry. However, his early poetry, based on Shelley's confessional style, was harshly criticized, and he abandoned poetry for drama. Browning found no more success as a playwright than as a poet, but he did encounter a new form, the dramatic monologue, the form that his most successful poetry would take.
      Although Browning began to associate with well-known poets, his Dramatic Lyrics (1842) failed to win the critics' hearts. His poetry did win praise, however, from the respected poet Elizabeth Barrett. Browning wrote Barrett to express gratitude for her public praise and to ask if they could meet. Despite her initial reluctance, the two eventually met and fell in love. However, the sickly Barrett was held a virtual prisoner by her tyrannical father. The couple eloped in 1846 to Italy, where they lived happily for 15 years, writing poetry and producing a son.
      During her lifetime, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's reputation as a poet overshadowed that of her spouse, who was sometimes referred to as "Mrs. Browning's husband." Elizabeth died in her husband's arms in 1861, and he returned to England with their son. In England, Browning became an avid socialite, frequently dining out with friends. By now, his poetry had gained recognition and renown. In 1868, he published a remarkable 12-volume poem called The Ring and the Book, about a real 17th century murder trial in Rome. The book included monologues from many different points of view. Browning died on 12 December 1889.
ROBERT BROWNING ONLINE: A Blot in the 'Scutcheon — Dramatic Lyrics — Dramatic Romances — The Pied Piper of Hamelin — The Ring and the Book — quoted in An Introduction to the Study of Robert Browning's Poetry by Hiram Corson. Not found online: Men and Women — Pippa Passes: God's in His Heaven - All's Right with the World — Bells and Pomegranates — Pauline: a Fragment of a Confession — Paracelsus — Sordello — Dramatis Personæ — The Inn Album.
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING ONLINE: Sonnets from the Portuguese — Sonnets from the Portuguese — Sonnets from the Portuguese — Aurora Leigh — The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point — Selected Poems — Translations from the Greek Christian Poets.

1774 Sir Francis Beaufort naval officer; devised wind force scale.
1734 Jean Humbert, Dutch artist who died in October 1794.
1713 Alexis Claude Clairaut, Paris mathematician who died on 17 May 1765. In 1743 he published Théorie de la figure de la Terre confirming the Newton-Huygens belief that the Earth was flattened at the poles. He also wrote Elements d'algèbre(1749) and Elements de géometrie (1765).

1711 (26 April Julian) David Hume ^top^ Born in Edinburgh, he died on 25 August 1776 in Edinburgh. Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. Hume conceived of philosophy as the inductive, experimental science of human nature. Taking the scientific method of the English physicist Sir Isaac Newton as his model and building on the epistemology of the English philosopher John Locke, Hume tried to describe how the mind works in acquiring what is called knowledge. He concluded that no theory of reality is possible; there can be no knowledge of anything beyond experience. Despite the enduring impact of his theory of knowledge, Hume seems to have considered himself chiefly as a moralist. [click on image for portrait of Hume by Ramsay >] During three years in France, he wrote A Treatise of Human Nature, his attempt to formulate a full-fledged philosophical system. It is divided into three books: book I, on understanding, aims at explaining man's process of knowing, describing in order the origin of ideas, the ideas of space and time, causality, and the testimony of the senses; book II, on the "passions" of man, gives an elaborate psychological machinery to explain the affective, or emotional, order in man and assigns a subordinate role to reason in this mechanism; book III, on morals, describes moral goodness in terms of "feelings" of approval or disapproval that a person has when he considers human behaviour in the light of the agreeable or disagreeable consequences either to himself or to others. At the end of his life he repudiated it as juvenile. The Treatise is not well constructed, in parts oversubtle, confusing because of ambiguity in important terms (especially "reason"). Book I, nevertheless, has been more read than any other of his writings. His next venture, Essays, Moral and Political (1741-42), won some success. During years of wandering Hume produced a further Three Essays, Moral and Political (1748) and Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding (1748). The latter is a rewriting of book I of the Treatise (with the addition of his essay On Miracles, which became notorious for its denial that a miracle can be proved); it is better known as An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, the title Hume gave to it in a revision of 1758. The Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751) was a rewriting of book III of the Treatise. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is an attempt to define the principles of human knowledge. It poses questions about the nature of reasoning in regard to matters of fact and experience, and it answers them by recourse to the principle of association. The basis of his exposition is a twofold classification of objects of awareness. In the first place, all such objects are either "impressions," data of sensation or of internal consciousness, or "ideas," derived from such data by compounding, transposing, augmenting, or diminishing. That is to say, the mind does not create any ideas but derives them from impressions. From this Hume develops a theory of meaning. A word that does not stand directly for an impression has meaning only if it brings before the mind an object that can be gathered from an impression by one of the mental processes mentioned. In the second place, there are two approaches to construing meaning, an analytical one, which concentrates on the "relations of ideas," and an empirical one, which focuses on "matters of fact." Ideas can be held before the mind simply as meanings, and their logical relations to one another can then be detected by rational inspection. The idea of a plane triangle, for example, entails the equality of its internal angles to two right angles, whether there really are such things as triangles. Only on this level of mere meanings, Hume asserts, is there room for demonstrative knowledge. Matters of fact, on the other hand, come before the mind merely as they are, revealing no logical relations; their properties and connections must be accepted as they are given. That lead is heavy, and that fire burns things are facts, logically barren. Each, so far as reason is concerned, could be different: the contradictory of every matter of fact is conceivable. Therefore, any demonstrative science of fact is impossible. From this basis Hume develops his doctrine about causality. The idea of causality is alleged to assert a necessary connection among matters of fact. From what impression, then, is it derived? Hume states that no causal relation among the data of the senses can be observed, for, when a person regards any events as causally connected, all that he does and can observe is that they frequently and uniformly go together. In this sort of togetherness it is a fact that the impression or idea of the one event brings with it the idea of the other. A habitual association is set up in the mind; and, as in other forms of habit, so in this one, the working of the association is felt as compulsion. This feeling, Hume concludes, is the only discoverable impressional source of the idea of causality. The Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals is a refinement of Hume's thinking on morality, in which he views sympathy as the fact of human nature lying at the basis of all social life and personal happiness. Defining morality as those qualities that are approved (1) in whomsoever they happen to be and (2) by virtually everybody, he sets himself to discover the broadest grounds of the approvals. He finds them, as he found the grounds of belief, in "feelings," not in "knowings." Moral decisions are grounded in moral sentiment. Qualities are valued either for their utility or for their agreeableness, in each case either to their owners or to others. Hume's moral system aims at the happiness of others and at the happiness of self. His emphasis is on altruism: the moral sentiments that he claims to find in human beings, he traces, for the most part, to a sentiment for and a sympathy with one's fellows. His History of England, extending from Caesar's invasion to 1688, came out in six quarto volumes between 1754 and 1762, preceded by Political Discourses (1752). His recent writings had begun to make him known, but these two brought him fame, abroad as well as at home. He also wrote Four Dissertations (1757), which included a rewriting of book II of the Treatise and a brilliant study of The Natural History of Religion. He published A Concise and Genuine Account of the Dispute Between Mr. Hume and Mr. Rousseau in 1766. He issued eight editions of his collected writings (omitting the Treatise, History, and ephemera) under the title Essays and Treatises between 1753 and 1772, and Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, held back until 1779. His curiously detached autobiography, The Life of David Hume, Esquire, Written by Himself is dated April 18, 1776. He did not formulate a complete system of economic theory, as did Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations, but had some similar ideas. Immanuel Kant conceived his critical philosophy in direct reaction to Hume. Hume was one of the influences that led Auguste Comte, the 19th-century French mathematician and sociologist, to positivism. In Britain his influence is seen in Jeremy Bentham, the early 19th-century jurist and philosopher, who was moved to utilitarianism (the moral theory that right conduct should be determined by the usefulness of its consequences) by book III of the Treatise, and more extensively in John Stuart Mill, the philosopher and economist who lived later in the 19th century. HUME ONLINE:
Selected Works A Treatise of Human Nature A Treatise of Human Nature A Treatise of Human Nature My Own Life My Own Life My Own Life Of Commerce Of Commerce Of Interest Of Tragedy On Essay Writing On Interest On Money On Money On Public Credit On Public Credit On Taxes Of Taxes Of the Balance of Trade Of the Balance of Trade	The Natural History of Religion The Natural History of Religion The Natural History of Religion Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding On the First Principles of Government On the First Principles of Government On the Jealousy of Trade On the Origin of Government Selected Essays	Essays on Suicide and the Immortality of the Soul Essays on Suicide and the Immortality of the Soul Essays on Suicide and the Immortality of the Soul Essays on Suicide and the Immortality of the Soul A Letter from a Gentleman to His Friend in Edinburgh A Letter from a Gentleman to His Friend in Edinburgh Cause and Effect (from The Enquiry) Of Superstition And Enthusiasm Of The Delicacy Of Taste And Passion Of the Dignity or Meanness of Human Nature Of the Jealousy of Trade Of The Liberty Of The Press Of the Origin of Government Of the Refinement of the Arts Of the Refinement of the Arts Of The Rise And Progress of The Arts And Sciences Of the Standard of Good Taste Of the Standard of Good Taste Of the Standard of Taste Of the Standard of Taste

1574 Innocent X, 236th Roman Pope (1644-55)

Holidays Dahomey : Anniversary of the Presidential Council / Scotland : Spring Day / Thailand : State Ploughing Ceremony Day

Religious Observances old RC : St Stanislaus, bishop, martyr, patron of Poland / Santos Augusto, Agustín, Juvenal, Cuadrato y Flavio. / Sainte Gisèle de Bavière épouse Etienne, un duc magyar qui sera sacré roi de Hongrie à la Noël de l'an 1000. Les deux époux se consacreront dès lors à l'évangélisation de leur pays. Devenue veuve, Gisèle endurera des brutalités de la part du parti païen avant de finir ses jours dans une abbaye.

Thought for the day: “They do not love that do not show love.” [But they do hate that do not show their hate.]
“They do not show up that do not love the show.” [except the critics, who love to hate it.]

TO THE TOP

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO WRITE TO “HISTORY 4 2DAY”
http://h42day.0catch.com/history/h4may/h4may07.html
http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/all42day/history/h4may/h4may07.html
http://www.geocities.com/history4may/history/h4may/h4may07.html
updated Sunday 25-May-2003 3:15 UT

site safe for children