Today in 1998, President Bill Clinton declares he has ordered air strikes against Iraq since the country declined to collaborate with United Nations (U.N.) weapons inspectors. A development that most of the key congressmen did not welcome because Clinton was in the midst of an impeachment proceedings, and many of them believe the President was just using the air strikes to direct their attention off the case. A day before the announcement, the House of Representatives had issue a 265-page report suggesting the impeachment of President Bill Clinton for " abuse of power and gross misconduct" coupled with the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, which he denied.The order for air strikes on Iraq was the result of the country's attempts to building weapons of mass destruction, which includes nuclear, chemical and biological agents. In 1997, because of Saddam Hussein's violent manners, and the fear that he may tried using those nuclear weapons against his own people, the United Nations sent an envoy to inspect whether the country is building any weapon of mass destruction. After denying the inspectors access to certain sites several times, Clinton was left with no other option than to use the air strikes to force Hussein to cooperate. The majority House leader Trent Lott and many others were of the opinion that the planning of the air strikes was hasty and questionable. They maintained that the president is using the air strikes as a ploy to shift the public eye away from the impeachment proceedings and that Hussein would never agree to comply with the U.N.'s demands. Lott and his partners opined that the best way to end Iraq's weapons program is by immediate seizure of power from Hussein.When Clinton was addressing the press that same day, he stylishly ignored the criticism, saying that Iraq president was wrong if he thought "…the impeachment proceedings going on would disturb or weaken America's interest in Iraq." He maintained that his decision to launch air strikes was because of America's interest in the region and for the world security.At last, the American attention and that of the press maintained focus on the impeachment proceedings that is rocking Clinton's administration. However, the impeachment threat and Iraq air strikes did not yield any meaningful result. In February of 1999, the Senate vindicated Clinton while the air strikes on Iraq hardened the heart of Hussein because he did not allow U.N.'s inspectors full access to Iraq's weapons facilities.
History has recorded explorations achieved by man for centuries. When looking at the technology that is available to those seeking to explore today, one cannot help but wonder how early explorers were able to accomplish all that they did. One particular boon for exploration was that it was not limited to one nation which meant there was more of a chance of areas around the world to be discovered. Spain was known for the success of their explorers as one of them is celebrated today as a national holiday; the holiday is Columbus Day which is named after the Spanish explorer known as Christopher Columbus. Although a certain British explorer does not have a holiday named after him, what he did was an achievement in the eyes of the British people.Francis Drake was an English seaman who set sail from Plymouth, England on December 13th, 1577 with 164 men on five ships. Their assignment was to sail to the Pacific coast to acquire Spanish holdings in the New World as well as to explore the Pacific Ocean. Drake’s voyage back to Plymouth three years later marked the first time a British explorer had circumnavigated the earth. Drake had to leave behind two of his vessels in South America once he crossed the Atlantic and then with the ships remaining set forth into the Straits of Magellan. Unfortunately, several destructive storms had devastating effects on his expedition within the treacherous straits; one vessel had to sail back to England while the other was destroyed. The only ship to reach the Pacific Ocean was The Golden Hind but Drake still sailed on up the western coast of South America; Drake and his crew was able to secure a wealthy treasure vessel as well as raiding Spanish settlements.Looking for an alternative northeast route back to the Atlantic, Drake sailed up the western coast of North America. He ended up as far north as where Washington presently is, he turned back end stopped to repair his vessel in June of 1579 close to San Francisco; Drake was getting prepared for his voyage across the Pacific. He acknowledged the territory for Queen Elizabeth I and named it “Nova Albion.”The ship began its’ voyage across the Pacific in July and investigated some islands until returning to the Atlantic Ocean by rounding Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. The Golden Hind had finally arrived in Plymouth, England on September 26th, 1580 with spice, treasure and important information regarding the greatest oceans of the world. Drake had accomplished being the original captain to travel on his own vessel completely around the world. Portuguese’s explorer Ferdinand Magellan did travel three quarters of the journey around the world earlier in the century; however, he had been murdered in the Philippines which left the Basque navigator Juan Sebastian de Elcano to finish the voyage.During a visit to Drake’s ship in 1581, Queen Elizabeth I knighted the son of a tenant farmer; Francis Drake. Sir Francis Drake would soon play a pivotal part in the Spanish Armada’s defeat as well as being remembered as the most renowned of the Elizabethan seamen.
Today in 1992, in Mogadishu, Somalia, 1,800 United States Marines arrive in the city in an effort to lead the multinational force ordered by the U.N. to reestablish peace and order in the conflict-turn country. Mogadishu became the capital of Somalia in 1960 after several years of being under colonial masters like Portugal, Britain and Italy. However, 10 years later, Major General Said Barre led a military coup that seize control of the government and declared Somalia a communist state. In mid-1970, famine hit the country while an ethnic Somalis living in a province of Ethiopia territory denied many of food. By 1981, nearly 2 million of the country's citizens were displaced. In 1988, the country signed a peace treaty with Ethiopia yet, it did little to curb the internal conflict going on within different Somalia rival clans and in January 1991 Barre fled the capital city. Throughout the following 23 months, the country's civil war killed close to 50,000 people, while another 300,000 died of hunger as United Nations peacekeeping forces effort to reestablish order and help the country did not yield any tangible result. In December of 1992, as part of the peace mission tagged "Operation Restore Hope" President George H.W. ordered the deployment of U.S. Marines to the country, and within few months, the troops were able to restore food distribution and other humanitarian aid operations with the help of international aid workers and the backing of the U.s Army. However, violence was still rampant in the region and this led to the death of 24 United Nations soldiers from Pakistan in 1993. The death of the soldiers made the U.N. ordered for the arrest of General Mohammed Farah Aidid one of the leaders of the rebel group. On October 3, 1993, during the offensive attack, two of the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters were shot down and 18 soldiers were killed.The following day, General Mohammed Farah Aidid's followers drag the dead body of one of the U.S. Marines on the street of Mogadishu with joy as viewers from around the world watched the disturbing scene on TV. Immediately, President Bill Clinton ordered all American troops to withdraw from Somalia before March 31, 1994. This new development made other Western Powers follow suit. In 1995, the last U.N. peacekeepers left the country without finishing the mission that had cost more than $2 billion. However, Mogadishu does not have a stable government even though a peace treaty was signed in Kenya in 2002, and a new government was installed in 2004 yet, it failed to stop the violence that has destroyed the country. Until this present day, Somalia is facing war from different factions in several regions of the country, each struggling to seize power of the conflict-ridden country.
On the island of Oahu, out of the clouds suddenly appeared a Japanese dive bomber and on its’ wings could be seen the red picture of the Rising Sun of Japan at 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time. Suddenly, descending on the U.S. naval base stationed at Pearl Harbor was 360 Japanese war planes and began a vicious assault. The U.S. Pacific fleet suffered a critical blow as a result of the unexpected assault on December 7th, 1941 and would eventually influence the United States to enter World War II.President Franklin D. Roosevelt along with his advisers realized that a Japanese assault was not only probable but could happen at any time; yet, the important base at Pearl Harbor showed no signs of increased security. Lots of military personnel on Sunday morning had been granted passes to go off the base to attend religious services. Although two operators watching radar viewed big groups of aircrafts at 7:02 a.m. approaching from the north to the island, they were ordered not to sound the alarm due to the United States had arranged for a flight of B-17s to arrive at the island at that time. Therefore, it was a disastrous shock to the naval base when the assault from Japanese aircrafts started. Most of the fleet in the Pacific was rendered useless as over 200 airships were demolished as well as five of the eight battleships, three destroyers and seven additional vessels were severely damaged or sunk. While trying to valiantly attempting to stop the attack, many of the 1,200 got injured as a result of this and 2,400 in total Americans had perished. Japan’s losses were less than 100 men, roughly 30 aircraft and five small submarines. The United States would have had more losses but fortunately out on training maneuvers at sea were all three Pacific fleet carriers. However, revenge would be dealt by these huge aircraft carriers six months later against Japan at the Battle of Midway; their stupendous victory against what was thought of as an invincible Japanese navy reversed the tide of the war.President Roosevelt appeared in front of the joint session of Congress the morning after Pearl Harbor was attacked and declared, “Yesterday, December 7, 1941–a date which will live in infamy–the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” After a forceful and quick speech, he implored Congress to agree to a resolution acknowledging the state of war between Japan and the United States. The vote was 82 to 0 in the Senate to approve of going to war against Japan while the vote was 388 to 1 in the House of Representatives to approve of going to war. The only dissenter was a devout pacifist, Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, who ironically had done the same thing by voting against the U.S. from participating in World War I. Italy and Germany would declare war against the United States three days later in which the U.S. government responded accordingly.Although the contribution by America to the Allied war effort was successful, it would take four long years and the total of American lives that were lost exceeded 400,000.
The Bermuda Triangle has been an area of intrigue and mystery for centuries. Whether it is a boat or airplane that ventures into this location, most of the time that whatever enters into it never leaves or is never the same again. One of the many strange occurrences that happened in the Bermuda Triangle happened around the time of World War II. Five United States Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers known as Flight 19 departed from Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida on December 5th, 1945 on a routine training mission that was to last for three hours. The plan filed for Flight 19 was to travel 120 miles due east, then head 73 miles north and then return back during a 120-mile leg that would have them land at the naval base; Flight 19 never returned.The leader of the squadron within two hours into the mission suddenly contacted the base saying that his whereabouts was unknown due to both his regular compass and reserve compass was no longer functioning; the leader had previously flown in the area for over six months. Curiously, the rest of the squadron was suffering the same malfunctions with their instruments. Meanwhile on land, radio facilities were asked to try and pinpoint the position of the missing squadron but were unable to. Confusing transmissions from the fliers continued for another two hours until a garbled radio message from the leader of the squadron was received at 6:20 p.m. The transmission seemed to suggest that because of lack of fuel, the leader ordered everyone to abandon their aircrafts.While the squadron’s leader last communication was being heard, several radar stations on land finally decided that Flight 19 was located between east of the Florida coast and north of the Bahamas. A search and rescue Mariner aircraft left the base with a crew of 13 men at 7:27 p.m. The home base was radioed three minutes later from the Mariner aircraft that the mission had started; the Mariner aircraft disappeared and was never heard from again. A report from a tanker would eventually report that while traveling off the coast of Florida, an explosion was seen at 7:50 p.m.The 13 men of the Mariner aircraft and the 14 men of Flight 19 disappearance led to one of the biggest sea and air searches to that time period. Hundreds of aircraft and ships searched thousands of square miles of distant areas within Florida’s interior as well as the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean; they found no trace of the aircrafts or of bodies.While officials from the navy insisted that the remains of the 27 men and 6 aircrafts were lost due to any evidence being swept away from stormy weather, the tale of the “Lost Squadron” only established firmly the Bermuda Triangle Legend; a section of the Atlantic Ocean where aircraft and ships supposedly disappear without a trace. The Bermuda Triangle’s supposed location is from the southern U.S. coast through Bermuda and down to the Atlantic coast of Santo Domingo and Cuba.
On this day in 1959, the Antarctica Treaty, which is the first arms control, was signed after the cold war period. The United States, Soviet Union and twelve countries, sign the Antarctica Treaty, which bans military activity and weapons testing on the continent. Back as the 1800s, Great Britain, Australia, Chile, and Norway, including several countries had claimed to own parts made of Antarctica. As a result, there were diplomatic disputes as well as armed conflicts between countries that had interest in the region. In fact, Argentina military forces opened fire on British troops concerning an area claimed by both countries in 1948. All these armed clashes coupled with proof linking the Soviet Union to having interest in the continent made the United States recommend that Antarctica should be made a trustee of the United Nations. Immediately, countries that were interested in the continent reject the idea claiming they cannot surrender their claims of sovereignty to the U.N.Additionally, in the early 1950s, some of United States government officials started agitating for a more active U.S. role in Antarctica hoping that the continent might be useful for military activities and nuclear weapon testing. However, President Dwight D. Eisenhower devised an alternative strategy to settle territorial claims by concerned nations. United States diplomats alongside their Soviet partners drafted a treaty that made Antarctica a military-free zone and adjourned settling regional cases for future discussion. The Antarctica Treaty emphasize that there would be no military presence on the continent, and no testing of weapons of any kind, including nuclear weapons.In addition, scientific research was permitted, and researchers would not be barred from going through any of the regions claimed by different countries. Twelve countries signed the treaty, and since the document did not specifically alter issues of territorial claims in Antarctica, countries with territorial claims on the continent append their signatures to the document. In view of this, the treaty indicated little but major move towards U.S. - Soviet arms control and political cooperation. On June 1961, the treaty became effective, setting the standard for the fundamental policies that keep on governing Antarctica.The main purpose of the Antarctica Treaty is to safeguard the interest of every human, and make Antarctica a peaceful continent and not a ground to creating international disharmony.
Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan arrives with three ships at the Pacific Ocean, previously navigating through the deadly straits under South America that currently has his name; Magellan officially has become the original European explorer to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific.Ferdinand decides to leave Spain to set sail in an attempt to discover a western sea route to reach Indonesia’s rich Spice Islands on September 20th, 1519. Magellan traveled to West Africa and continued to Brazil in control of 270 men and five ships, where Ferdinand looked through the South American coast to find a strait that would lead him to the Pacific. Trying to find a way through, he looked through a big estuary south of Brazil known as the Rio de la Plata; unsuccessful, he moved south down the coast of Patagonia. The expedition prepared winter quarters at Port St. Julian at the end of March in 1520. Eventually, the Spanish captains rebelled against Magellan at midnight on Easter day; however, the mutiny was crushed and punishment was one of the leaders was left on shore after leaving St. Julian in August while the other leader was executed. Finally, Ferdinand had found the strait he had been looking for on October 21st, 1520. Now known as the Strait of Magellan, it can be found roughly at the tip of South America, separating the continental mainland and Tierra del Fuego. Unfortunately, only three vessels made it to the passage as one had to be deserted while the other was wrecked. Navigation of the deadly strait took 38 days and when the ocean could be seen at the strait’s end, Ferdinand wept with happiness. His fleet achieved the crossing westward of the ocean in a total of 99 days; the waters were strangely peaceful in which the ocean earned the name of Pacific which comes from the Latin word pacificus meaning tranquil. The men had no food by the end and survived by eating leather parts from their gear. An expedition arrived on the island of Guam on March 6th, 1521.Only roughly being 400 miles away from the Spice Islands ten days later, the ships dropped anchor on the Philippine island of Cebu. The chief of Cebu met with Magellan and after the tribe was converted to Christianity, the chief convinced the Europeans to aid him in attacking a rival tribe on the nearby island of Mactan. Ferdinand was shot and struck by a poisoned arrow during the attack on April 27th and his retreating comrades left him to his death.The remaining two ships that held the survivors set sail to the Moluccas after Magellan’s death and filled their ships with spice. Sailing in different directions, one ship made an effort to head back through the Pacific failed. The other ship known as the Vittoria, sailed west lead by Basque navigator Juan Sebastian de Elcano. His ship traveled through the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope and finally arrived on September 6th, 1522 at the Spanish port of Sanlucar de Barrameda; they succeeded in becoming the original vessel to circumnavigate the world.
Today in 1963, John F. Kennedy is buried with full military honors at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia, following his assassination in Dallas, Texas three days earlier. John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy, popularly called JFK (by his initials) the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday November 22, 1963, while riding in an open-auto presidential motorcade with his spouse Jacqueline and Texas Governor John Connally alongside his wife Nelie through the boulevards of downtown Dallas. Immediately, Kennedy was rushed to Dallas' Parkland Hospital, where the doctors confirmed him dead 30 minutes later. Kennedy was 46 at the time of his death. The alleged assassin was a former U.S. Marine and communist supporter by name Lee Harvey Oswald who had defected to the Soviet Union years back before returning to the U.S. with his Russian wife Marina and settled in Dallas. Kennedy's VP Lyndon Johnson, who was also at the scene of the incident but was in the third car behind President Kennedy in the motorcade, was confirmed as the 36th president of the United States in less than two hours after the assassination. President Lyndon Johnson took the oath of office on board Air Force One as it sat on the runway at Dallas Love Field air terminal. Around 30 people were present at the swearing in of the new president including Kennedy's wife Jacqueline who was yet to change the bloodstained cloth she was wearing when her husband was shot. Following the swearing-in, the presidential jet took off for Washington D.C.On November 23, the following day, President Johnson issued his first public statement where he announced November 25 to be a day of national grieving for the killed president. On November 25, hundreds of thousands of sympathizers gathered around street in Washington watching as a horse-drawn caisson carried Kennedy's body from the Capitol Rotunda to St. Matthew's Catholic Cathedral for a memorial Mass. The memorial mass was preceded by a solemn procession to Arlington National Cemetery, where heads-of-state of 99 countries assembled for the state burial service. Kennedy was buried with full military honor at Arlington National Cemetery, as his wife lit an eternal flame to mark his grave.Within 1964-1966, an estimated number of 16 million tourists visit his grave before it was eventually moved to a permanent burial plot in the same cemetery on March 14, 1967.
Have you ever wanted to have a nickname that people would seem meaningful and that it would go down in the history books? What about what does a person have to do in order to achieve such notoriety? Good or bad, people throughout history have been remembered for their deeds as well as the nickname he/she had earned while alive. One such person who has been remembered for almost three hundred years was not because of his good deeds but quite the opposite. Edward Teach, known to the world of the past and present as Blackbeard, is killed around North Carolina’s Outer Banks on November 22nd, 1718 while engaged in a bloody conflict with a British navy force originating from Virginia.Edward Teach was thought of as hailing from England and it was assumed in 1713 that he began his career as a pirate by joining a pirate ship commanded by Benjamin Hornigold of the Caribbean Sloop. Hornigold would soon retire from being a pirate as well as accepting an offer from the British crown of a general amnesty in 1717. Now that Hornigold was retired, Teach decided to take command of a seized twenty-six-gun French merchantman in which he renamed the ship the “Queen Anne’s Revenge” as well as taking its’ armament and increasing it to forty guns. The Queen Anne’s Revenge became the flagship of a fleet of pirates over the next six months that had over 200 men on four vessels. Being the most notorious pirate of his time, he eventually became known as Blackbeard for his obvious long, dark beard but also was said to be able to scare his enemies by setting his beard on fire during battle. His pirate fleet spread terror through the coast of North America as well as the Caribbean while their cruelty towards others was well-known.Despite his reputation, the infamous Blackbeard finally saw his Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwrecked with another vessel. This event forced him to abandon a third vessel and a large number of his force due to lack of supplies. Blackbeard took his last vessel and sent sail to meet with Governor Charles Eden in Bath in North Carolina. The governor made an agreement that Blackbeard must give a part of his sizable treasure to Eden in order to secure a pardon; Blackbeard agreed to the terms.However, the North Carolina planters had other ideas as per their request; Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia sent a British naval force to North Carolina in order to confront Blackbeard under the command of Lieutenant Robert Maynard. What followed was a bloody battle at Ocracoke Island and Blackbeard’s forces were defeated on November 22nd; Blackbeard was also killed during the conflict. Meanwhile, those who believe in Blackbeard’s legend say that the man responsible for seizing over thirty vessels during his short pirating career; it is said that before dying Blackbeard had received twenty sword lacerations and five musket-ball wounds.
Traditionally, it is not uncommon for a structure to start off being called one name and then changed to another at a later date. Sometimes the reason can be related to someone’s act of heroism or it may have to do with an individual being disgraced. Looking back in history, there are plenty of examples that demonstrates this which includes one stemming back several centuries earlier. Going back to the days of the American Revolution, there was a structure known at one time as Fort Washington. However, British Commander in Chief General William Howe decides to rename it “Fort Knyphausen” on November 18th, 1776 in honor of Lieutenant General Wihelm von Knyphausen as he has rushed the post five days before.Fort Washington was the scene of an assault launched by Knyphausen on November 16th, 1776 using a force comprised of 5,000 Redcoats and 3,000 mercenaries at the tallest point and the northern end of Manhattan Island. Wihelm met harsh resistance from inside by Patriot riflemen through the course of the morning; however, the Patriots could no longer hold the upper hand by the afternoon and the result was an order of surrender was issued by garrison commander Robert Magaw. The Hessians were now in control of important supplies and ammunition as well as taking 3,000 Patriots prisoners. Unfortunately, a dire fate was waiting for the captured Patriots as a large number of them were anchored in New York Harbor aboard British prison ships where they died.Patriots Margaret and John Corbin of Virginia were among the 96 wounded and 53 dead. After John had perished in action, Margaret took over for her husband the canyon where she loaded, cleaned and fired the weapon until she became wounded severely. Margaret survived as well as being the first female to have battled for the Continental Army; tragically, she could no longer use her left arm.An officer for Magaw, William Demont, had two weeks prior left the Fifth Pennsylvania Battalion and became a traitor by giving information regarding the defense and whereabouts of Fort Washington to British Intelligence. Demont had now for the Patriots become their first traitor and his treachery significantly contributed to the victory for Knyphausen.Presently, Fort Washington stood where now exists Bennet Park that rests in the Washington Heights area of New York City. The park is not far away from the George Washington Bridge while being at the corner of 183rd Street and of Fort Washington Avenue. Another point of interest is that Fort Washington Point and Fort Washington Park reside under the site beside the Hudson River. While tourists may stop to admire the area, historians will remember the location as one of the tragic battles that occurred during the American Revolution.
Today in November 16, 1532, a Spanish explorer and conquistador Francisco Pizarro led an expedition that conquered Incan empire. With less than 200 men against a few thousand, Pizarro baits Incan's emperor, Atahualpa to a banquet in his honor and afterward starts shooting at the unarmed Incans. Pizarro's men slaughtered the Incans and catch Atahualpa, compelling him to change over to Christianity before in the end murdering him. Pizarro had perfectly planned for his victory of the empire. In 1532, the Inca Empire was involved in a civil war that had crushed the population of the empire, divided them and they could no longer act like one. Atahualpa, the younger child of previous Incan ruler Huayna Capac, had quite recently ousted his half-brother Huascar and was amidst rejoining his kingdom when Pizarro landed in 1531, with the support of Spain's King Charles V. Pizarro heard of the war and started enlisting soldiers that were faithful to Huascar before he got to Incan's capital. Atahualpa and his men were outside Cajamarca when he met Pizarro. They met in a little Incan town buried in the valley of Andes. Meeting Atahualpa, Pizarro sent his sibling Hernan as an emissary to the emperor and then invited Atahualpa back to Cajamarca for a banquet to pay tribute to Atahualpa's ascendance to the throne. With Atahualpa in the mountains were 80,000 soldiers, yet he decided to attend the banquet with just 5,000 unarmed men. On getting to the feast, he met Vicente de Valverde, a monk traveling with Pizarro, while Pizarro men lay in wait. The monk Valverde advised Atahualpa to denounce his religion and acknowledge Charles V as sovereign, which he rebuffed angrily. The monk realized Atahualpa would not change his mind, and then gave the signal for Pizarro to start shooting. Caught in the middle with no way of escaping, the already frightened Incan men became an easy prey for the Spanish. Pizarro's men butchered the 5,000 Incans in only 60 minutes, with Pizarro being the only one who sustained a minor injury, a cut on his hand as he spared Atahualpa from death.Acknowledging Atahualpa was more important alive than dead, the emperor was kept in bondage while Pizarro arranged to assume control over his empire. Realizing that his captors were greedy, Atahualpa offered them a room brimming with gold and silver in return for his freedom. Pizarro agreed, however, after he got the payoff, charges of insubordination was brought up against Atahualpa. Fortunately, he was able to play his part in uniting the kingdom before Pizarro thought of him as a threat. Atahualpa was sentenced to death and was to be burned at the stake (the type of death Spanish believed pagans deserved). Eventually, Valverde offered him mercy if he would only denounce his faith and embrace Christianity, which he accepted. On August 29, 1533, Atahualpa was killed by strangling.The battle between the Spanish and the Incas continued even after the death of Atahualpa. However, Pizarro's triumph at Cajamarca paved way for European colonization of South America and ended the Inca Empire.
On this day, the leader of the banned Solidarity movement in communist Poland Lech Walesa made a return back home after being in detention for 11 months in a remote hunting lodge towards the Soviet border. Prior to his release, hundreds of supporters had already pegged their tent outside his home, waiting for his arrival when news reached them that he was in the process of being released. On this exact day, as Walesa made his appearance, the crowd who had gathered lifted him high above and carried him to the entrance of his apartment where his wife was standing to welcome him back home, and then proceeded into the second story window from where he addressed his followers. Born in Poland in 1943, Walesa worked as an electrician at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk where he was later fired for his involvement in agitation for union in 1976. In August 1980, following a protest by workers of the shipyard in Gdansk after food prices increased, Walesa joined the thousands of workers inside the shipyard. His involvement led to him being chosen as the chairman of the strike committee, and their demands were met within three days. Following his success, Walesa then helped in organizing other strikes in Gdansk and later demanded the Polish government to allow the free formation of trade unions and giving them the right to strike. Eventually, the government agreed to their demands and on August 30, trade unions were legalized and freedom to express one's religious and political views was given. The met demands paved way for millions of Polish workers and farmers to form unions and Solidarity movement was formed as a national federation of unions, with Walesa as its chairman. Walesa leadership skills made the organization grew in size and political strength, making it a major threat to the Polish government authorities. On December 13, 1981, Solidarity was banned, Walesa and other union leaders were arrested and martial law was declared in Poland.The public outcry forced the government to release Walesa in November 1982, while Solidarity was still outlawed. The following year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Walesa, but he declined to receive it in Norway fearing he may be forced to exile. Working underground as the leader of the Solidarity movement, he was constantly subjected to harassment.The economic recession that hit Poland in 1988 resulting in labor strikes forced the authorities to renegotiate with Walesa, and in April of 1989, Solidarity movement regained freedom and some of its members were allowed to contest at the upcoming elections. This gave way for a Solidarity-led coalition government in September of that same year, and Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Walesa's right hand became the premier. In 1990, Poland held her first presidential election in which Walesa emerge as the winner.Poland witness successful reforms during President Walesa's regime, however, he was more of an effective labor leader than he was a president. He was defeated in his reelection bid in 1995 by the communist former head of the Democratic Left Alliance Aleksander Kwasniewski.
Going as far back as to the American Revolution, a resolution was agreed upon by the Continental Congress stating that “two Battalions of Marines be raised” to be used as landing forces for the newly assembled Continental Navy. Future U.S. president John Adams and taken up in Philadelphia, a resolution brought about the Continental Marines and is today honored as when the United States Marine Corps was born. However, many do not know the history regarding why the Marines were formed in the first place or that there was a time when they were actually disbanded with no thought of ever needing them again.Throughout the Revolutionary War, the first U.S. Marines separated themselves through a variety of important operations that served on both sea and land. The first landing of Marines on a dangerous shore happened when under the command of Captain Samuel Nicholas, took a group of Marines to take control of New Province Island that resides in the Bahamas on March of 1776 that was under British control. Captain Samuel is known as the first officer that was commissioned in the Continental Marines and is also recognized as the first Marine commandant. The Continental Navy demobilized and its’ Marines went their separate as a result of America achieving their independence in 1783. With growing conflict occurring at sea with Revolutionary France a decade later, the U.S. Congress decided to formally create in May of 1798 the U.S. Navy. President John Adams signed the bill a mere two months later on July 11th that designated the U.S. Marine Corps as a fixed military force that would fall under the authority of the Department of the Navy. During the beginning of the 19th century, U.S. Marines were involved in the so-called Quasi-War with France and later battled against the Barbary pirates in North Africa. After that, Marines have been involved in the United States wars and in a majority of times were the first soldiers to engage the enemy. Today, more than 300 landings on hostile shores have been executed by Marines.With the expansion of the United States’ population over the centuries, the amount of enlisted Marines has increased as well. Presently, the number of reserve and active-duty Marines totals over 200,000. They are stationed into three divisions with one being in Camp Pendleton, California; another at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; and the last at Okinawa, Japan. Strategically placed, each division has a minimum or more than one expeditionary unit that when given at least two weeks’ notice, they will be prepared to go ahead with important operations no matter where they may be needed in the world. Expeditionary units of Marines are completely self-reliant as they use their own air force, tanks and artillery. Semper Fidelis is the motto of the Marines in Latin and translated into English means “Always Faithful.”
Today in 1916, Jeannette was elected as a legislature to the U.S. House of Representatives. Making her the first woman ever in history of United States of America to won a seat at the congress.Jeannette Rankin was born and bred on a farm close to Missoula, Montana. Born of liberal parents, they urged her at a tender age to think past the limited chances, which was allowed to women of the mid twentieth century. Years later, she graduated from the University of Montana and the New York School of Philanthropy, after working as a social worker for a short period, she later became actively involved in politics to fight for women's right to vote and be voted for. Her endeavors took her back home to Montana in 1914, where she trusted pioneer conditions had made prominent admiration for women's work and talent, making it to an extent simpler to persuade men to allow them the privilege to vote. In addition, some western states like Wyoming and Colorado had officially endorsed women's' right to vote years prior to that, with Rankin's leadership and authoritative skills the state of Montana was able to join them in 1914.Now that women's right to vote had been secured, Rankin had to test the waters of her political strength in Montana by contesting in 1916, for one of the two seats in Congress as a Progressive Republican. Her courage and ability to stand out among others helped her in securing the support of the women and men alike. In the end, Rankin turned out to be the first woman in history to be elected into Congress.Moving to Washington, D.C. the following year, all eyes was on her to check whether a woman could deal with the duties of the high office. Rankin soon demonstrated she could; in fact, she likewise exhibited that she would not go against her own strongly held belief in political pragmatism. A committed pacifist, Rankin's first vote as a U.S. congresswoman was against U.S. entry into World War I. As she was being celebrated for her brave stand, yet others asserted her vote demonstrated that ladies were unequipped for boring the heavily laid burdens accustomed with national leadership, even though 55 congressmen had likewise voted against the war.Unfortunately, her vote against World War 1 did not favor her reelection bid in 1918. This made her to dedicate the next 20 years of life to peace work. Unexpectedly, she again won a seat in the U.S. Congress in 1940, at the time the country was going to World War II. Right after the bombarding of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, Rankin turned out to be the only legislature in the history of Congress to vote against U.S. going into both world wars. However, she was the only one who voted against the war this time around.
On November 4, 1956, the Soviets made a drastic move to stop the 12-day old revolution in Hungary. Soviet tanks and troops rushed to the country, leaving thousands of people killed and wounded by their attack while almost a quarter million of the country’s population were forced to flee as refugees.The revolution began in October 1956 when protesters from Hungary went to the streets and cried out for freedom from oppression from the Soviets. They demanded for a more democratic government. As a result, the Communist Party officials chose Imre Nagy as their new premier – Nagy was a former premier but has been terminated because he openly criticized Stalinist policies. The new premier responded to the needs of the protesters by trying to reinstate peace. He also asked the Soviets to pull out their troops. The Soviets agreed to his demand. However, Nagy became a threat when he promised his people of open elections and that he would put an end to the one-party rule for good. He also promised for the country to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact (Soviet’s version of NATO), with the intention of becoming a neutral nation. On November 4, 1956, Soviets came back to Budapest, now with even more tanks than before. They had but one goal – to put an end to the Hungarian revolution once and for all. It was a catastrophic event for the Hungarians who were easily overpowered by the Soviets. By 5:20A.M., Prime Minister Imre Nagy broadcast the event to the whole nation. He told his people how their own troops were doing their best to defend their country and that the government was still in control. However, only a few hours have passed and Nagy already sought refuge at the Yugoslav Embassy in Budapest. He ended up being captured and got executed two years later. The Soviets were adamant in taking over the country once again and immediately found someone else to take over Nagy’s former position. The person whom they found suitable was none other than Nagy’s former colleague, János Kádár, whom they secretly flew to the country from Moscow.Leaders from the West were shocked by what happened but were caught up in their own dilemmas and were not willing to risk getting entangled in a war in order to save Hungary. Before the incident, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev promised to abolish Stalinist policies along with its domineering ways but the incident in Budapest was a clear indication that he was not yet ready to embrace change. The event in Budapest killed about 2,500 Hungarians while 200,000 of them were forced to escape the country as refugees. The violence did not stop after November 4. There were resistance movements, strikes, and mass arrests months later, which affected the economic standing of the country. The United States, who were busy with their own affairs at that time, failed to help which made the Hungarians frustrated and angry. While the radio broadcasts from voice of America suggest that President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles verbally issued a statement that encouraged freedom in communist countries, they did not extend physical support at the time that the Soviet tanks were in Budapest to terrorize the Hungarians.
Attempts on the life of the President are as American as apple pie: According to a recent report, there have been twenty attempts and plots to slay the leader of the free world. Four were successful: Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. All of them were killed by a gunshot. Attempts have been made on both sitting and former presidents. Former president Theodore Roosevelt was shot in 1912 while campaigning as a third party candidate. The bullet struck him in the chest, its thrust drastically slowed by a steel eyeglasses case and a folded copy of his fifty-page speech. Known for his robust masculinity, Roosevelt decided to continue, reasoning that since he was not coughing up blood, the bullet had not hit his lungs and that the injuries would be minor. In September 1975, President Gerald R. Ford was shot at twice in the span of seventeen days. Interestingly, both of his would be assassins were women (a rarity), and amazingly, one of them was a former member of the Charles Manson Family. The very first attempt on a president’s life came in January 1835, when a mentally ill former house painter took aim at President Andrew Jackson with two pistols. Both malfunctioned. Jackson, a noted roughneck, charged his assailant and beat him with a cane before being dragged off.On November 1, 1950, President Harry S. Truman suffered a failed assassination attempt.Built during the presidencies of George Washington and John Adams, the White House, by 1945, was in a shambles, due largely to neglect during the Great Depression. When Truman took office following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in April 1945, he found the White House sorely in need of repairs. It was so bad that in 1948, a piano leg went through a second story floor. The floorboards were found to be rotted. A building commissioner claimed that the second floor was sinking, and that the ceilings were remaining where they were by sheer force of habit.In 1949, Congress created a commission for the reconstruction of the White House. The interior was almost entirely gutted and rebuilt.In the autumn of 1950, Truman was staying in Washington’s Blair House. On the afternoon of November 1, the Trumans were upstairs when a commotion broke out in the street below: Yelling, shouting, and gunfire. When the smoke cleared, two men were dead: Secret Service Agent Leslie Coffelt and Griselio Torresola.Torresola, a Puerto Rican nationalist, had, along with Oscar Collazo, strolled up to the front stairs of the Blair House and opened fire. Coffelt was mortally wounded by Torresola, but managed to kill him with a shot to the head before falling. Collazo and several D.C. police officers were wounded in the attack.Torresola and Collazo launched their poorly-planned attack (they didn’t even know if Truman would be there) on behalf of Puerto Rican independence, despite Truman’s support for the matter.Collazo was sentenced to death, but Truman himself commuted the sentence to life in prison. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter commuted it further to time served. That same year, he was honored by Cuba’s communist dictator Fidel Castro.Photos of Torresola and Collazo hang in Chicago’s Puerto Rican Cultural Center.
Although war is never a good thing, sometimes leaders feel it is necessary to defend their country’s interest or retaliation for a severe action. Thus, armed forces from Israel head toward the Suez Canal which begins the Suez Crisis. This would lead to British and French forces joining Israel and start in the Middle East a Severe Cold War problem.The event that led to the joined forces attacking Egypt was due to the nationalization of the Suez Canal. This happened during July of 1956 and was ordered by the Egyptian leader General Gamal Abdel Nasser. Actually, this should not have been a surprise as trouble had been brewing in the area for a couple of years. Going back two years, the British were beginning to be pressured by Egyptian Military to remove their military forces from the Canal Zone since the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty gave permission to do this. During this time, the Egyptian leader also was having his armed forces perform on and off battles with soldiers from Israel along the two nation’s border.Another thing about Nasser was his visible hatred toward the Zionist nation and showed no signs of his feelings changing. So, being that he was receiving money and arms from the Soviet Union and extremely angry with the U.S. for going back on their promise of providing the means to complete the building of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River; the Egyptian leader instructed his forces to take control and nationalize the Suez Canal. This move angered the British in which they decided to enlist the support of France (they believed the General was giving support in Algeria in rebels living in the French colony), and Israel (since they needed little reason to fight an enemy on their boarder), in a joint venture to retake the canal. While Israel started first, it was followed by the sudden realization that French and British forces did not follow through with their support right away. The quick strike from a massive force was replaced with a reduced attack that eventually stalled. The United Nations voted on a resolution calling for an end to the hostilities.Things began to get worse as the Soviet Union was starting to issue ominous warnings regarding giving aid to Egypt. Now, a dire situation was escalating quickly as Eisenhower’s administration had hoped it would quiet down before causing a U.S.-Soviet confrontation. While the United States seriously warned the Soviet’s from entering this conflict, equal amount of pressure was coming from the U.S. to have Israel, French and British remove their forces from the area. Eventually, their forces were removed in late 1956 and early 1957.
History was made in Tombstone, Arizona as the Clanton-McLaury gang face off against the Earp brothers involving a shootout at the OK Corral on October 26th, 1881.Tombstone immediately rose in stature as being one of the wealthiest mining towns in the Southwest when silver was found nearby in 1877. The “law and order” of the town was represented by a prior Kansas police officer that worked as a security guard for the bank named Wyatt Earp. Assisting him were his two brothers Morgan and the town marshal Virgil although their reputations has them as being ruthless and power-hungry. The McLaurys and Clantons were cowboys who resided outside of town on a ranch as well as being murderers, rustlers and thieves. The conflict between the two groups over control of Cochise County and Tombstone would conclude at the OK Corral in blazing gunfire in October of 1881. Both Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury ventured into Tombstone to acquire supplies on the morning of October fifth. Both men had a few violent run-ins with the Earp and a friend of theirs named Doc Holiday. The next day at approximately 1:30 p.m., Frank McLaury, Billy Claiborne and Ike’s brother Billy rode into town to meet up with them. Venturing into the local saloon, the first individual the group encounters is Doc Holiday who is ecstatic to inform them that the Earps both pistol-whipped their brothers. Vowing revenge, Billy and Frank quickly left the saloon.Five members of the Clanton-McLaury gang were spotted in a deserted lot behind the OK Corral, which is located where Fremont Street ends, by Holiday and the Earp roughly at 3 p.m. The historic gunfight that ensued lasted only 30 seconds while roughly 30 shots were fired. Even though today that there is still an ongoing debate on who actually pulled the trigger first, the majority of reports suggest it was started by Virgil Earp pulling out his gun and hitting point-blank in the chest Billy Clanton. Meanwhile, Doc Holiday joined in with a shotgun blast in the chest of Tom McLaury. However, Billy was able to unload a few shots before collapsing as did Frank McLaury after being shot and wounded in the stomach by Wyatt Earp. Finally, when the dust cleared, Claiborne and Ike Clanton retreated into the hills; the McLaury brothers and Billy Clanton were dead while Doc Holiday, Morgan and Virgil Earp had been wounded.Although this ends with what happened on this historical day, the story does not end there. The aftermath of the gunfight led to the arrest of the Earp brothers and Doc Holiday by Cochise County Sheriff John Behan, who was an actual witness to the event, and charged all of them with murder. The defendants and the citizens of Cochise County only had to wait one month before a verdict would be decided on. The judge in Tombstone declared that the three of them were found to be not guilty being that their action was “fully justified in committing these homicides.” What transpired at the OK Corral is more than simply a story that has been passed down through the generations or mentioned in an encyclopedia. The historic shootout has also appeared in movies making it immortalized for future generations to actually see. Some of these movies, not in order of when they appeared, include “Wyatt Earp” in 1994, “Frontier Marshal” in 1939, “Tombstone” in 1993 and “Gunfight at the OK Corral” in 1957.
About 50 Chechen rebels stormed their way into a Moscow theater much to the surprise of the hundreds of people who were inside the establishment at that time. The up to 700 people who thought that they would be enjoying the sold-out performance ended up being held captive as hostages instead on October 23, 2002 by the rebels.The cast of the musical “Nord Ost” was set for their second act at the Moscow Ball-Bearing Plant’s Palace of Culture when suddenly, an armed man from out of nowhere started firing his machine gun in the air. When people thought that it could not get any worse, other terrorists came rushing into the scene, explosives were strapped to their bodies, an obvious threat that that they were not afraid to die right then and there. They soon identified themselves as belonging to the Chechen Army. They only had but one demand – Russian military forces ought to back out and stay away from Chechnya, a war-devastated area in the northern part of Caucasus Mountains. The predominantly Muslim populated country of Chechnya has long been crying out for its independence. The country clashed with Russian forces in a two-year period war when the latter tried to regain control over the place. The war ended in 1996 but the Russians eventually returned three years later after suspecting the Chechens as being responsible for the series of bombing incidents that transpired in the Russian territory. President Vladimir Putin was elected in year 2000 right after promising his people that he will deal with the Chechens accordingly and will not give the “terrorists” room for negotiation.It was a grueling 57 hours for all of those who were trapped inside the Palace of Culture. To add to their horror, two hostages ended up being killed. The Russian special forces initiated their attack against the terrorists is the morning of October 26th. The Russians reportedly pumped a powerful narcotic in the building before breaking into the walls and roof of the theater. This let them gain the upper hand – nearly all of the terrorists and hostages were rendered unconscious by the narcotic gas. Most of the rebels were killed by the Russian forces. One hundred twenty of the hostages ran out of luck and died during the raid. Some thought that the security forces went overboard when they opted to use the dangerous gas. The security forces defended their decision, saying that the surprise attack became necessary because this was the only way that they could have disarmed the rebels while purposefully taking into account that they also needed to detonate the explosives.The theater crisis marked the beginning of the bloody feud between the two countries. Putin’s government held Chechnya responsible for torture, kidnapping, and other grueling crimes. The Chechen rebels on the other hand tried their best to overpower the Russians in any way they can, instigating terrorist attacks whenever they could. The rebels were accused of initiating a suicide bombing a Moscow subway in February 2004 as well as the major hostage crisis in a Beslan school on September that same year.
Aerosmith were having an upcoming tour in 1977 and needed an airlift to fly them to their destinations. They considered chartering a Convair 240 which was operated out of Addison, Texas. However, the members decided to look elsewhere after finding out that there were some questionable concerns regarding the airplane’s flight crew. This saved them from a serious injury. Their stroke of luck however became a sad fate for another band. On October 20, 1977, members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd boarded the said Convair 240 in question. It was supposed to have been a flight from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but the airplane crashed in a wooded area of southeastern Mississippi instead. The pilot failed to make a successful emergency landing, killing three band members – Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and Cassie Gaines – along with their assistant road manager in the process. The pilot and co-pilot were also part of the casualty while the twenty others were able to survive the crash. The members Ronnie Van Zant, Bob Burns, Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, and Larry Junstrom originally made up the Lynyrd Skynyrd band. They were first known as the “My Backyard” in 1964, having met as teenagers in Jacksonville, Florida. They were known for several other names, and through this transition stage, were able to develop their own kind of melody from 1960s to early 1970s. Finally in 1973, they were able to claim national recognition, the same time that they adopted the name “Lynyrd Skynyrd”. According to the band, the name was a mocking tribute to their high school teacher named Leonard Skinner, whom they considered a nemesis because he strictly enforced the school’s policy against long hair during their high school years (they became friendly in the later years). Their debut album, (pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd), became a major hit. It contained one of the most joked-about rock songs of all time, Free Bird. The band was recognized as a giant in the southern rock subgenre after the release of their next album Second Helping in 1974. One of its singles, the Sweet Home Alabama, was a bigger hit compared to Free Bird.Their band came to include backup singer Cassie Gaines and her guitarist brother, Steve during the release of their fifth album Street Survivors on October 17, 1977. Just like their first and second albums, this was received well by the public, earning them a double platinum. When everyone thought that they were on the rise, tragedy struck three days later. The Convair 240 was up 6,000ft on its way to Baton Rouge when it ran out of fuel. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the plane’s crew was responsible for the said accident. Their accident report showed that the pilot radioed Houston air-traffic control and asked for directions to the nearest airfield. The pilot was in distress because they were running low on fuel by 6:42PM and pleaded for help, but unfortunately, assistance was not given on time and they crashed approximately just 13 minutes later.
A popular saying says “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Well, the case of Alphonse “Al” Capone is the exception to the rule.Born on January 7, 1899 to a pair of Italian immigrants living in the borough of Brooklyn, New York, Capone was an apt student, but struggled with discipline. As a teen, he became involved with amateur street gangs including the Junior Forty Thieves and the Bowery Boys. While working as a bouncer for a small-time racketeer, Capone insulted a woman and was slapped by her brother, a known Mafioso. The smack left Capone with a scar along the left side of his face, leading to the infamous nickname “Scarface.” In 1918, Capone married a woman and fathered a child. Two years later, he moved to Chicago and began working for Johnny Torrio, who in turn was an enforcer for James "Big Jim" Colosimo, the city’s Italian crime boss. In 1920, Colosimo was murdered, and Torrio took over. “The Chicago Outfit” as the organization came to be know, was centered on prostitution, gambling, and racketeering. At the onset of Prohibition, however, the Outfit began dealing in bootleg alcohol (transporting and manufacturing). Corrupt police and city politicians ensured that the Outfit was virtually safe from legal interference. In 1925, Torrio was ambushed by members of a rival gang and shot. Cutting his losses, he stepped down and handed the reins of power to Capone, who was 26.Capone quickly built a reputation as a flamboyant dresser, ladies’ man, and violent thug: When a speakeasy refused to buy Capone’s bootleg hooch, he simply had the place blown up. It is estimated that Outfit bombings killed at least one hundred people during the latter half of the Roaring Twenties.In 1929, Capone ordered the notorious St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in an attempt to kill Bugs Moran, leader of the predominately Irish North Side Gang, the Outfit’s most bitter enemy (the North Side Gang had made several attempts on Capone’s life). The North Side Gang was based in a warehouse at 2122 North Clark Street, and Capone had several of his men rent an apartment across the street and run surveillance. On February 14, 1929, a team of gangsters dressed in police uniforms raided the warehouse, standing seven men against a wall and spraying them with machine gun fire and shotgun blasts. Moran, who was supposed to be there, was running late, arriving only after the real police had shown up.The massacre shocked the nation, and Capone’s reputation was tarnished.In 1931, Capone was tried and convicted of simple tax evasion, as none of the weightier charges ever stuck. He entered prison on October 17; he served some of his sentence at the famous Alcatraz.Capone, who had been sentenced to 11 years, was released in 1939 due to good behavior. By now, Capone was suffering from advanced syphilis. In 1940, weak and sickly, he moved to Florida, where he died in 1947 at the age of 48.
In October 14, 1918, Adolf Hitler was among the German soldiers that were wounded in Ypres Salient in Belgium; he was blinded temporarily because of a British gas shell blast. Immediately, Hitler was moved to a German military hospital at Pasewalk, in Pomerania. At a young age, Hitler enlisted into Austrian military service, which he later turned down due to lack of fitness. He later moved to Munich, and at the beginning of the First World War in the midsummer of 1914, young Hitler requested for and was granted special permission to enlist as a German soldier. He was named as a member of the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. Afterwards he travelled to France in October 1914. During the first battle of Ypres, Hitler saw heavy action, which earned him the Iron Cross award for saving the life of a wounded soldier in December. Two years that followed saw Hitler take part in some of the deadliest offensive part of the war, which include the Battle of Neuve Chappelle, the battle of Ypres and the Battle of the Somme. Near Bapaume, France in October 7, 1916, young Hitler was wounded in the leg by a shell blast. He was move to a treatment camp near Berlin, and 4 months later, he returned to his unit by February 1917. One of the soldiers in Hitler's unit, named Hans Mend, said, "Whenever Hitler has the chance, he will preach on the lack of confidence by soldiers and then move on teaching on dedication to the cause on the home front Germany. He will sit in the corner of our mess with his head buried in his hand in deep thought. Then suddenly, he would jump to his feet, start running around and feeling excited. The following year, Hitler received more awards for bravery, and in August received an Iron Cross 1st Class for single handedly catching a group of French soldiers that were hiding in a hole during the German final offensive on the Western Front. However, the injury he sustained in October of that year ended Hitler's career in WW1. While recovering at Pasewalk, he heard the news of German surrendering; he felt the German people had betrayed him and his fellow soldiers. Angry and frustrated he wrote down the in his own account "when I heard the news, I almost collapse and hurriedly I went back to the ward where buried my head in between the pillows and sobbed bitterly".By the beginning of 1941, when Hitler named himself the fuller, it was obvious and clear to an extent how far he had been shaped by the experience of the First World War. In his words, I came back from the war with the experiences I gathered at the front, and from them I built the National Socialist community.
Japanese ships were on their way to provide reinforcement to their troops in Guadalcanal on October 11, 1942 but they were intercepted by the American Navy. The battle ended with the Navy sinking most of the Japanese ships that were in route. The Guadalcanal Campaign (also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal) was the first offensive campaign of the Allied Forces against Japan. This began in August at the time that the marines landed on the islands of Guadalcanal. The Allies wanted to prevent the Japanese from threatening the Allies’ supply and thus initiated the offense. The U.S. troops made sure that they would gain an advantage with the ground fights, eliminating military units in a brutal combat. The Japanese were not easily dissuaded. They too initiated their counterstrikes from the air and sea. They harassed the Marines with bomb attacks, threatening their decreasing supply. However, the Navy members were smart; they went to work before the Japanese could successfully reinforce their own troops.Threatened by Allied aircraft, the Japanese were unable to use large slow-moving transport to deliver supplies to their troops on the island. To minimize exposure to air attacks, warships were used to deliver the goods at night instead. This operation was nicknamed “Tokyo Express” by the Allies. The Battle of Cape Esperance commenced in the evening at the northwest coast of Guadalcanal Island where the battle was first fought by the surface ships of the opposing forces. The Navy lost one of their destroyers but was able to sink the cruiser Furutaka along with three other Japanese destroyers. Japanese soldiers who were splashing in the water declined the rescue offered the Americans and chose instead to be devoured by sharks; being captured was considered more shameful for them.The American lost hardware during the fight, but what was more saddening was the fact that they lost 48 people aboard the American destroyer Duncan. Another hundred more were lost when an American cruiser made the mistake of turning on a searchlight. This backfired for the American soldiers. Instead of acting as a searchlight, the ship illuminated its own sailors which made them an easy target by the Japanese.The Americans pursued and attacked the Japanese ships that tried to provide reinforcement to their soldiers on the islands. Only a few Japanese troops successfully made to shore. The Japanese succumbed to defeat and prepared to evacuate the island by the end of 1942.
On Sunday, October 8th of 1871, the Great Chicago Fire was started by accident. The fire destroyed 3.3 square miles of the city of Chicago, and killed as many as 300 people. About a hundred thousand more people were left homeless. The fire had started at about 9pm, in a small barn belonging to the O'Leary family. The story goes that the fire started when Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern, but no one really knows how the fire got started. However, we do know how the fire spread. The Great Chicago Fire was fueled by the city's wood framed architecture, topped with highly flammable shingle roofs. Even the city's roads and sidewalks were made of wood at that time. Adding to the severity of the catastrophe was the unusually dry weather and strong southwest winds. It was a deadly combination of factors. In 1871, the Chicago fire department consisted of only 185 overworked firefighters on the job, with just 17 horse drawn steam engines to assist them in protecting the whole city of Chicago. What's more, the firefighters were directed to the wrong location during the Great Fire. This gave the fire time to spread.Firefighters kept trying to fight the fire, but eventually, the water mains dried up and left the city helpless. Firefighters hoped the river area would create a natural firebreak. However, the river was loaded with warehouses, coal yards and barges, so the fire made its way across the river, consuming everything in its path.Mayor Roswell B. Mason began sending messages to other towns for help, but when the courthouse caught fire, he ordered it evacuated and ordered the prisoners being held in the basement to be freed. A short while later, the cupola of the courthouse collapsed, and the giant bell came crashing to earth. People said they could hear it from a mile away.Across the river, the fire grew, as the southwest wind intensified and became super-heated. When hot air rises and mixes with the cold air above it, it creates what amounts to a tornado made of fire, also known as a fire whirl, throwing sparking embers in all directions. Flaming debris flew across the river and set fire to the buildings on the other side. All anyone could do was watch it happen.Early on Tuesday of October 10th, it finally started to rain in Chicago, but the fire had already pretty much extinguished itself by then. There was very little left to burn.At the end of it all, the Great Chicago Fire had destroyed an area about four miles long and averaging ¾ of a mile wide. It encompassed an area of more than 2,000 acres. About a third of the city's residents were left homeless. There were 120 bodies recovered, but the death toll may have been much higher. The fire also caused the destruction of 73 miles of roads, 120 miles of sidewalks, about 2,000 lampposts, and roughly 17,500 buildings, totaling (in today's dollars) more than 4 billion dollars in property damage, or a third of what the entire city of Chicago is worth.
On October 5th of 1877, less than one month after the great Lakota Chief Crazy Horse was killed, Chief Joseph, a famous Chief of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce tribe, surrendered to U.S. Troops, after a heart wrenching chase of almost 1,200 miles that ended just about three hundred yards short of the Canadian border. This is what became known as the Nez Perce war. Chief Joseph had planned to seek asylum with Lakota Chief Sitting Bull, who had already escaped to Canada, but would soon be forced to return to the United States. Chief Joseph was born Hinmuuttu Yalatlat in 1840, somewhere in northeastern Oregon. In English, his name meant Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain. His father, Joseph the Elder, signed a treaty with the United States government in 1855, which separated settlement lands from Indian lands. The treaty allowed 7.7 million acres set aside for the Nez Perce reservation. The land occupied parts of eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Idaho. Joseph the Elder made his son (Joseph the Younger) promise never to sell this land, and to protect his father's burial site at all costs.In 1863, the U.S. Government asked the Nez Perce to accept a much smaller piece of land, in exchange for hospitals and schools being built there, as well as financial rewards. Some Nez Perce Chiefs signed the new treaty, while others (including Chief Joseph the Elder) did not. This caused a rift between the treaty Indians, who entered the smaller land area, and the non-treaty Indians, who stayed where they were.Then Joseph the Elder surrounded the Wallowa valley with markers and signs that said “Inside this boundary, all our people were born. It circles the graves of our fathers, and we will never give up these graves to any man.”As his father lay dying, Joseph the Younger became the leader of the Wallowa band of Nez Perce. Once again, his father made him promise to protect the graves of his parents (in other words, don't sell the land). Chief Joseph later remarked, “I clasped my fathers hand and promised to do as he asked. A man who would not defend his father's grave is worse than a wild beast.”Chief Joseph went on to lead his Wallowa band through the most difficult part of their history, as they were increasingly outnumbered by white American settlers. For fear of reprisal by the American military, Chief Joseph would not allow any violence, preferring to just give in to the settlers demands whenever possible. Despite his reputation for pacifism, eventually, all Nez Perce were forced to move to the smaller land area in Idaho Territory.In the end, Chief Joseph and his band of about 750 men outmaneuvered the United States Army for more than three months. Their traveling took them through the rugged terrain of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.Finally, on October 5th of 1877, Chief Joseph surrendered.In September of 1904, Chief Joseph died, still in exile from his homeland. His doctor listed the cause of death as “a broken heart.”
On October 2nd of 1985, film actor Rock Hudson became the first major celebrity to die from AIDS. Rock Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. on November 17th of 1925 in Winnetka, Illinois. His father, an auto mechanic, abandoned the family in the heart of the Great Depression. His mother worked as a telephone operator to support him. Roy was an only child. In school, he could not get any parts in school plays, because he could not remember his lines. This problem plagued him throughout his life, but he seems to have found his way around it. Hudson is known for his work as a leading man in movies of the 1950s and 1960s. He was a Hollywood heart throb of the Golden Age, along with actors such as Marlon Brando, James Dean, and Tony Curtis. Mostly, Hudson found his niche in a succession of romantic comedies. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Giant, a film he made with James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor. After starring in many movies through the 1960s, Hudson began a second career as a TV actor, appearing in McMillan and Wife, among others. In the four decades of his career, Rock Hudson appeared in more than 70 films, and made numerous TV appearances.It may have been common knowledge in Hollywood that Rock Hudson was gay, but that was something female movie watchers who adored him would not want to think about. Image is everything in Hollywood. So all those gay actors had to hide their homosexuality and pretend to be getting with women. Otherwise, ticket sales would plummet.A heart bypass procedure in 1981 required Rock Hudson to have blood transfusions. He continued to experience declining health after that. He looked increasingly gaunt and ashen when he was filming Dynasty, leading to speculation that he might have liver cancer. On June 5th of 1984, Rock Hudson was diagnosed with HIV, just three years after the existence of the virus was discovered. He eventually admitted to having the disease. This caused panic in Hollywood, where scripts were rewritten to avoid kissing scenes, and Linda Evans was thought to be dying of AIDS at any minute, since Rock Hudson had kissed her in Dynasty.Rock Hudson died at his home on October 2nd of 1985, at the age of 59. His death was not in vain. Contributions soon came pouring in for AIDS research and treatments.Until then, Ronald Regan had not even discussed the topic of AIDS, as it was considered a “gay disease” at the time. Even after his death, Regan made no public statement about the condition of Rock Hudson. Despite the fact that Rock Hudson was secretly gay, he was a also a good friend of Ronald Regan. Regan, formerly an actor himself, probably didn't know he had any gay friends. After the death of Rock Hudson, Regan called for support for AIDS research, and care for the victims of AIDS.In dying, Rock Hudson put a face on the disease called AIDS.
On September 26th of 1969 was the premiere of the immortal TV show everyone loves to hate. Here's the story...Of a lovely lady, Carol Brady, a widowed mother (because people didn't get divorced on TV in those days), who was raising three charming blond haired little girls. She met Mike Brady, a widowed father, who had three dark haired sons. This group somehow formed the perfect family (as long as Alice the housekeeper was around to clean up), and that's the way they all became the Brady Bunch. That's also the way The Brady Bunch became an icon of American pop culture.The show was unanimously panned by critics, then and now, despite the many reruns, spinoffs, movies, and Brady Bunch souvenirs they keep churning out. Even back then, kids felt they needed some sort of excuse for watching a silly, sickeningly sweet show like The Brady Bunch. Fortunately, they had an excuse. Back then, there was just so little else to do, and not much else to watch around the time when kids came home from school. On TV, they pretty much had a choice between daytime talk shows, soap operas, and the Brady Bunch. Sometimes the boredom was relieved with an occasional after school special. At the time, there was no such thing as a personal computer or the internet.So we started watching the Brady Bunch, if for no other reason, just to sit there making fun of it. There was never a time when anyone in America took these people too seriously. During the show's entire run, from 1969 until 1974, it never reached the top ten in the Nielsen ratings. The Brady Bunch covered such serious topics as getting braces, puberty, and sibling rivalry, while avoiding controversial issues that ran so rampant during that time.One of the last of the old style sitcoms, The Brady Bunch presented a wholesome view of American family life, with all family members behaving perfectly. The implication seemed to be that there was some way to achieve that. When a parent called the children, they all came running immediately, then stood at attention in a perfectly straight line, boy girl boy girl, in size order no less!Still, most of us secretly wished we had families like that, and the chosen time slot for the show was a brilliant move, enticing bored suburban kids from all over America, who would rather watch TV than do their homework.The old style sitcom would eventually give way to bolder shows like Roseanne. Roseanne was the first TV show that had the kids talking back to, and generally disobeying, their parents. What a welcome relief! That's exactly what real kids do.The ABC network cancelled the Brady Bunch after 177 episodes. The last original episode aired on August 30th of 1974. However, the show was soon in syndication, and back on TV again, because we miss that nonexistent perfect family that we used to believe existed. Someday, our children would watch The Brady Bunch.
On September 30th of 1927, Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season, setting a new record that would stand for 34 years. In his entire career, he scored 714 home runs. George Herman Ruth was born on February 6th of 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the oldest of eight children, but only he and his younger sister Mamie survived infancy. George caused trouble from a young age. Running the streets, drinking when his father wasn't looking, and cutting classes got him sent to a reform school called St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys. It was a place where all boys got a good education, and were forced to work all the time. George worked there as a shirt maker, and also as a carpenter. His parents rarely visited. One of the teachers there, Brother Matthias, was pretty good at baseball, and taught George how to play. In 1926, Ruth would repay Brother Matthias with a $5,000 Cadillac. That's about $50,000 in today's money.George was not allowed to see his family much, and his mother died when he was twelve years old. So he continued to play baseball at school, as most of the boys there did. He later estimated that he played 200 baseball games a year at St. Mary's. George lived at the reform school until the age of 19, when he was signed on as a minor league pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles.The major leagues were not far off. Although he initially played for the Boston Red Sox, Ruth earned his greatest fame as a hard slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees. The New York Yankees of 1927 were considered one of the best teams to ever take the field. They were known as Murderer's Row because of their powerful lineup. When Ruth switched from the Red Sox to the Yankees, he hit more home runs than the whole Red Sox team combined. With the pennant already clinched, America turned its attention to Ruth's single season home run record of 59. On September 30th, Ruth hit his 60th homer of the season.Going into the 1928 season, Ruth signed an unprecedented contract for $80,000 a year.Ruth helped the Yankees win seven American League championships, and four World Series championships. Ruth's MLB career spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 until 1935, when he briefly played for the Boston Braves. He broke a lot of world slugging records, some of which still stand today. In 1936, Ruth was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame, as one of its first five inaugural members.Babe Ruth's legendary power and personal appeal made him a popular figure of the “Roaring Twenties.” He was always being hounded and chastised by the press, as much for his drinking and womanizing as for his accomplishments on the baseball field.But what the heck? A man's got to have a little fun sometimes. Babe Ruth also did good things, like making generous donations to charities, and visiting children in orphanages, so he could tell them that he grew up without parents, too.
On September 24th of 1996, Stephen King released not one, but two novels. The first one, called Desperation, was released under his own name, Stephen King. The second book, called The Regulators, was released under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman. He may have arranged this so people would not guess that Stephen King and Richard Bachman were one and the same. Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine, in 1947. His father exited the family when Stephen was two years old, under the pretense of going out to buy a pack of cigarettes. From then on, Stephen's mother struggled to support her two sons. The family moved around a lot, first to Wisconsin, then to Indiana, then to Connecticut. At the age of 11, Stephen returned to Maine, where his mother took care of her parents until they died. As a young adult, Stephen studied English at the University of Maine. There, he met a lady named Tabitha, who would eventually become his wife. Their daughter Naomi was born in the same year Stephen graduated college. For a while after King graduated, he and his wife and baby daughter lived in a trailer, as he worked at various jobs to support the family. He taught classes and worked at a laundry, all while writing four novels, all of which were rejected. He considered giving up writing, but his wife encouraged him to continue. So Stephen supplemented his wages by selling short stories to men's magazines.His first big break came in 1973, when Doubleday paid him $2,500 for the book called Carrie. A short while later, he got $420,000 for the paperback rights. The book was a huge bestseller, and was eventually made into a movie starring Sissy Spacek. On the heels of the success of Carrie, King wrote 30 more novels, all of them bestsellers. This has cemented his place in the world of literature as an award winning horror, mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer.Stephen King continued writing, as he and his wife raised their three children.At some point, Stephen King, who by that time was already famous, wanted to see if writers would buy his books on the merit of the writing alone. So King created a pseudonym: Richard Bachman. Another pseudonym used by King was John Swithen. King joked that it was not him, but Richard Bachman who wrote under the pseudonym John Swithen.Altogether, the books of Stephen King (and Richard Bachman, and John Swithen) have sold more than 350 million copies. Many of King's books have been adapted into feature films, TV movies, TV mini-series, and comic books. From his most notable works came the movies Carrie, Creepshow, The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption, Misery, The Dark Tower, It, and many others.Despite being plagued with drug and alcohol problems for much of his life (one time requiring family intervention), and despite being critically injured when he was hit by a car in 1999, Stephen King continues to write novels and short stories today.
On September 20th of 1806, on their way back from their famous expedition, Lewis and Clark reached the first white settlement they had seen since leaving the east back in 1804. The settlement was located along the Missouri River. It was a frontier village called La Charette. President Jefferson had chosen Meriwether Lewis as the expedition's commander, because of his reputation for having all the qualities needed to undertake such a journey. Lewis chose his friend, William Clark, as second in command. In 1803, Jefferson sent Lewis to Philadelphia to study medicine and astronomy. In 1804, Meriwether Lewis and his friend, William Clark, embarked on an expedition that would take them all the way from Saint Louis, Missouri to Fort Klatsop, in northwestern Oregon. It would be the first expedition to cross the western part of the continental United States. The expedition was called Corps of Discovery.Along the way, Lewis and Clark experienced many adventures, and met a few friendly Indian tribes. They even traded with a Brule (Lakota / Sioux) chief named Black Bull, near what is now Pierre, South Dakota. Black Bull was the grandfather of the famous Chief Crazy Horse, although Crazy Horse had not yet been born. Black Bull was actually the father of Crazy Horse's mother, but even she had not yet been born.Of all the different native tribes Lewis and Clark met, there was only one violent confrontation, when a group of Blackfeet from the Piikani nation tried to steal rifles from Lewis' group. A fight broke out and two Native American people were killed.Eventually, Lewis and Clark arrived at their destination. Their travels had taken them from Missouri, into Iowa, through Nebraska, into South Dakota, up to North Dakota, through Montana, through Idaho, and finally into Fort Klatsop, at the extreme northwestern corner of Oregon, near the border of the state of Washington. The crew wintered at Fort Klatsop, before commencing their return to Saint Louis.La Charette was the last white settlement if you were heading west, and the first white settlement for those moving east. Lewis & Clark reunited with the people of La Charette when they had almost completed their journey. According to Lewis' journal entry, the people of La Charette gave Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and all their U.S. Army volunteers a hero's welcome home.Before embarking on the last leg of their journey, Meriwether Lewis asked that the mail be held at the post office in La Charette, just long enough so he could write a letter to President Thomas Jefferson, who had commissioned the voyage, which was intended to explore newly purchased territory, to find a manageable route from east to west, and to establish an American presence in the west, before the Europeans would try to claim it. On a secondary note, to study the area's plants, animals, and geography, to draw maps, and to establish trade with local native tribes.In the letter, Commander Lewis let President Jefferson know that the expedition had been a success.
Train trips have never been much of a joy ride, but the Butterfield Overland Mail Trail was an exceptionally bumpy example of early American pioneer ground travel. Passengers alternated between frost bite and sun stroke most of the time, as they bumped clumsily across the undeveloped Midwestern landscape. The Overland Mail was a stage coach service led by teams of horses. It carried both passengers and mail over rough, transcontinental terrain between the years of 1857 and 1869. Based on the increasing demand for better, faster mail service, Congress passed an act in March of 1857. A contract of $600,000 would be awarded to any company that could successfully deliver mail twice a week from St. Louis to San Francisco, and do so within a time limit of 25 days. The first contract of this kind was awarded to the Overland Mail Company. The company eventually spent one million dollars improving the routes, expanding its feet of horses, and building way stations every fifteen miles or so, where tired horses could be replaced with fresh ones. Then they charged passengers exorbitant fees to ride along. On September 15th of 1858, the first transcontinental mail train service left the city of St. Louis on its way from east to west. It arrived in San Francisco well within the 25-day time frame. The stage coming back from San Francisco took only 23 days and four hours. At its height, the Butterfield Overland Stage Company had more than 800 employees, 1,800 horses, 139 relay stations, and 250 Concorde stage coaches.California was still booming from the California Gold Rush of 1849, when hordes of prospectors and their wagon teams came rushing to San Francisco, scaring away the wild animals that native people had been using for food and warmth.The Overland trip took at least three weeks, but most passengers did not want to sleep at any of the “home stations” along the way, for fear that the next train might be full and leave them stranded. So they tried to spend the whole trip sleeping in the carriage, which was just about impossible, as the carriage was always in motion. Not only that, but the food was substandard and overpriced, and a bath or a toilet was hard to find. What's more, the stage drivers were often drunk and abusive, and stage coach robbery was an actual threat.Soon enough, other faster mail services started competing with Overland. The most famous of these was the Pony Express. Then, the first transcontinental railroad was completed on May 10th of 1869. On that day, the United States government canceled its final 6-year contract for the Overland Mail Trail. However, modern remnants of the Overland Trail, such as crumbling way stations and rusty old stage coaches, still exist today at various locations across the American landscape.How odd it is that the comfort level on trains, even today, is not that much better than it was when horse drawn carriages were all the rage.
On September 14th of 1959, an unmanned space probe that had been launched by the Soviet government crashed into the moon. In so doing, it became the first man made object from planet earth to hit the moon. This gave the Soviets an edge in the so called “space race” of the era, and encouraged the United States government to further develop its own space program. The space race started back in 1957, when the Soviet government got the world's attention by sending a satellite into orbit around the earth. The name of the satellite was Sputnik. Every radio and TV set was tuned in. The people of the United States were concerned during that cold war era that the Soviet government would develop new, inventive, high tech weapons, capable of firing ammunition from space. The United States Government was also concerned, as this event directly refuted their claim to the American people that they were edging out the Russians in the space race. It was a stunning propaganda victory for the Soviets. Now the Soviets had the attention of the American people, not to mention lesser developed countries of the world who would see the benefits, and be drawn to the more advanced Soviet technology.The United States government responded by paying closer attention to its own space program, recruiting engineers, and making more funding available for the research. The result was that a few months after Sputnik took orbit, The United States government sent its own satellite into orbit. This provoked a reply from the Soviet government.In September of 1959, the Soviet government sent another rocket, this one carrying the Soviet flag, to the moon. This caused the United States government to inform the Soviet government that sending their flag to the moon does not make the moon their property. It was also pointed out by the American government (Vice President Nixon, to be exact) that it had taken the Soviets “four tries” to get it right. In a speech, Vice President Nixon announced that the United States was “way ahead” in the space race.In 1960, Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy made the space race one of his campaign pledges. He guaranteed that the United States government would put an actual man on the actual moon, and would do so by the end of the actual decade.Politicians make a lot of empty promises, but this one (however unbelievable) was not so empty after all.In 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human being to walk on the moon, bouncing around in his lead space suit, as gravity threatened to lift him from the moon's surface at any moment, and fly him off into space. Every radio and TV set in the world had the moon landing on every radio and TV channel. What's more, almost every radio and TV set in the world were turned on.When Neil Armstrong touched back down on God's green earth, he was hailed as a hero.
On September 11th of 2001, starting at 8:46 am, New York City's Twin Towers were attacked by two passenger jets on suicide missions. At the time, President George Bush was on his way to Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. He had planned to make a scheduled visit with some school children when he received the first terrible message. At first, Bush thought the mishap was due to some sort of hideous pilot error. Within an hour, Bush was reading to the children in the classroom when he received word that a second plane had crashed into the second World Trade Center tower. Earlier that morning, Bush had received news that there was a slightly increased (but non-specific) threat of terrorist attack that day. Undeterred, President Bush continued with his plans to visit Booker Elementary School.Bush arrived at the school soon after the first report, and was waiting in an empty classroom when he saw the news footage of the attack on one of the school's TV screens. Almost immediately (and just moments before the second plane crashed), he was whisked into a classroom full of children to read a story book to a group of first graders.People were filming Bush's reading session when House Chief of Staff Andrew Card walked into the room at 9:06 am, and whispered into the president's ear that the second plane had hit the second tower, and that the nation was under attack by an unknown entity. Bush looked shaken for a moment, as the children continued to read. He let them continue reading for another eight or nine minutes. When the reading was done, Bush commended the children on their wonderful reading skills, and encouraged them to read more, and to watch less TV. Meanwhile, the whole Twin Tower catastrophe was being broadcast on TV. Then Bush posed for pictures with children, parents, and school administrators. A reporter was heard asking the president if he was aware of the attacks. Bush said he'd talk about it some other time.Bush was then escorted to an empty classroom, where he spoke on the phone with Vice President Cheney and New York governor George Pataki.Secret Service agents hurried Bush over to Air Force One, which was located at an airport in Sarasota. On his way to the plane, while trying to decide where would be the safest place for him, Bush received a message that the Pentagon had been hit by yet another passenger plane, and that a third passenger plane had crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. No one ever learned where that last plane was headed.The pilot of Air Force One flew around in circles at cruising altitude, as George Bush spoke with his advisors on the phone to decide where they should land. Air Force One stopped briefly at an Air Force Base in Louisiana, followed by landing in Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. By 6:42 pm, President George W. Bush was back in Washington DC.