Hi Gang! Here are your Tidbits of History for June 28th!

I (Stella) screwed up and didn’t get this out earlier today. I have one excuse, because I took Tucker to the vet today (and forgot about this).

1762 1st reported counterfeiting attempt (Boston) The British did it to undermine colonial-issued currency and mess with the economy of the colonies.

1776 Final draft of Declaration of Independence submitted to Continental Congress

1778 Mary Ludwig Hayes “Molly Pitcher” aids American patriots by bringing them pitchers of water. After her husband fell, she took over his position and manned a cannon fighting the British. She may be a fiction, or may not, but she remains a hero of the American Revolution. http://tinyurl.com/yc5xg9ab

1820 Tomato is proven non-poisonous

1832 Gerrit Moll measures noise of guns

1846 Saxophone is patented by Antoine Joseph Sax. He  wanted to create a group or series of instruments that would be the most powerful and vocal of the woodwinds, and the most adaptive of the brass instruments, that would fill the vacant middle ground between the two sections. http://tinyurl.com/ycv3pzdp

1855 The Sigma Chi Fraternity was founded at Miami University

1859 1st dog show held (Newcastle-on-Tyne, England)

1865 The Army of the Potomac is disbanded

1869 Amsterdam typographer strike

1874 Freedmen’s Bank closes. With a purpose of aiding the freed slaves, the bank was established 1865. It’s failure in 1874 devastated the black community. Today, it’s archive remains as a treasure trove of historic information.

1894 Labor Day established as a holiday for US federal employees

1902 US Congress authorizes Louisiana Purchase Expo $1 gold coin. It served as a fund-raising device for the exposition. http://tinyurl.com/ydgvj3zr

1902 US buys concession to build Panama canal from French for $40 million

1914 Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo by young Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip at 10.45, the casus belli of WWI

1917 Potato entrepreneurs begins in Amsterdam due to a food shortage back then. Today, you can send a message to friend or enemy actually on a potato by potato parcel. http://tinyurl.com/y845zb98

1918 1st flight between Hawaiian Islands in a Curtiss Model E. All about the Curtiss: http://tinyurl.com/yam788ua

1919 Treaty of Versailles, ending WWI and establishing the League of Nations, is signed in France

1924 Tornado strikes Sandusky Ohio & Lorain Ohio, killing 93

1926 Mercedes Benz forms when DMG and Benz & Cie merge

1928 Friedrich Schmiedl attempted rocket mail in Austria (unsuccessful) While the Austrian PO was not interested, the collection of these letters is of great interest to philatelists. Schmiedl was also interested in rockets for aerial photography and meteorological uses. Rather than allow the military to use his rocket research, he destroyed all his notes and research.

1934 Hitler flies to Essen (“Night of Long Knives” or” Blood Purge”) In Germany, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler orders a bloody purge of his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies in the future. history.com: http://tinyurl.com/kmx8rr7

1935 FDR orders a federal gold vault to be built at Fort Knox, Kentucky

1939 Pan Am opens southern route transatlantic air service (Dixie Clipper)

1940 “Quiz Kids?” premieres on radio. Listeners send in questions to be answered by answers were supplied by a panel of five children, chosen for their high IQs, strong academic interests, and appealing personalities, as well as such qualities as poise, quickness, and sense of humor

1946 Permanent radio play-by-play of Cleve Indians games begins

1950 North Korean forces capture Seoul, South Korea in opening phase of the Korean War

1951 “Amos ‘n’ Andy” premieres on CBS TV, Created by a couple guys with minstrel history, it remains one of the pre-eminent pop culture icons in American History because of its racial stereotypes. Read about it at infogalactic http://tinyurl.com/y7tm8zsf

or see an episode as the Bonus Video**

1956 1st atomic reactor built for private research operates (Chicago Illinois)

1959 Meldrim trestle disaster; freight train derails over Ogeechee River in Georgia causing IPG tanks to explode killing 23

1960 10.40″ (26.42 cm) of rainfall, Dunmor, Kentucky (state 24-hour record)

1962 Thalidomide drug banned in Netherlands. Used as a component in a wide range of medical uses, this compound caused horrible birth defects in babies whose mothers used the drug during pregnancy, estimated to be up to 100,000 infants worldwide. You can read about thalidomide here: http://www.thalidomide.ca/recognition-of-thalidomide-defects/ and here: http://tinyurl.com/mvu5fzh

1964 Organization for Afro-American Unity formed in New York by Malcolm X

1965 1st US ground combat forces in Vietnam authorized by President Lyndon B. Johnson

1967 Israel annexes East Jerusalem

1968 Daniel Ellsberg indicted for leaking Pentagon Papers. This country’s most infamous whistleblower before computer hacking became a thing, and the target of the Watergate Break-in. A very interesting story : The Wiki: http://tinyurl.com/lb73fzt , the PBS: http://tinyurl.com/yco855jm

or Ellsberg’s own website: http://www.ellsberg.net/bio

1969 Stonewall riots begin in New York City.

1971 Rock venue Fillmore East closes in New York City

1971 First British national Scrabble competition in London. It was won by a young teacher. He notched up an aggregate score of 1, 345 points over three games. The game creator, Alfred Mosher Butts, who first called the game Lexico, Criss Cross Words, and It, before he settled on Scrabble. http://tinyurl.com/y723wckj

1971 US Supreme Court (8-0) overturns draft evasion conviction of Muhammad Ali

1973 Lawsuit in Detroit challenges Little League’s “no girls” rule

1974 Wings release “Band on the Run” & “Zoo Gang” in UK

1975 David Bowie releases “Fame”

1976 1st woman was admitted to Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado

1977 Supreme Court allows Federal control of Nixon tapes papers. More interesting dish on the presidency and burglary and conspiracy: http://tinyurl.com/q8rylgr and http://tinyurl.com/ybxugx33

1978 Supreme Court orders Cal medical school to admit Allan Bakke a white man claiming reverse discrimination when application was rejected

1979 OPEC raises oil prices 24%

1984 17th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Hotel San Diego

1987 For the first time in military history, a civilian population is targeted for chemical attack when Iraqi warplanes bombed the Iranian town of Sardasht.

1990 Emmy 17th Daytime Award presentation – Susan Lucci loses for 11th time

1992 2 earthquakes, including 3rd strongest in US (7.4) rock California. While Northridge happened 2 years later, the violent Landers’ quake had a moment magnitude of 7.3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). http://tinyurl.com/mylatbh

1992 LA Police commissioner Daryl Gates steps down

1996 “Nutty Professor” starring Eddie Murphy opens in theaters in the USA

1997 TV evangelist Robert Schuller attacks a flight attendant. In the end, Schuller paid a fine, went to some kind of rehab (anger management?) and the attendant sued. Of course.

2000 Cuban exile Elián González returns to Cuba following a Supreme Court order.

2002 In South Africa, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Treatment Action Campaign table a national HIV/AIDS treatment plan in the National Economic, Development and Labour Council

2011 Christine Lagarde becomes the 1st women to be elected head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

2015 David Sweat shot and captured near Canadian border. 2nd prisoner to escape maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility June 6.

2016 A terrorist attack in Turkey’s Istanbul Atatürk Airport kills 42 people and injures more than 230 others.

Bonus Video: Amos ‘n Andy