20 Jun History: This Date

<< Jun 19| HISTORY “4” “2”DAY |Jun 21 >>
Events, deaths, births, of 20 JUN v.5.51
[For Jun 20 Julian go to Gregorian date: 1583~1699: Jun 30 — 1700s: Jul 01 — 1800s: Jul 02 — 1900~2099: Jul 03]

ALTERNATE SITES ANY DAY OF THE YEAR IN HISTORY ART “4” JUN 20 wikipedia

• Boxer rebellion... • West Virginia becomes a state... • Taft~Hartley law vetoed in vain... • Trans~Alaska pipeline... • US~USSR hot line... • Défaite des Huns... • Naissance de Louis le Pieux... • Condamnés à mort par la Révolution... • Naissance d'Offenbach... • Westmoreland commands US forces in Vietnam...

^ On a 20 June:
2003 The previous evening Actuate Corporation (ACTU) announced a court ruling in its favor in the case of MicroStrategy, Incorporated v. Li, Xue and Actuate Corporation, rejecting all claims by MicroStrategy that Actuate and its former employees Li and Xue had misappropriated its trade secrets and confidential information, and that sales of Actuate 6 should be stopped. ACTU is upgraded by Janney Montgomery Scott from Hold to Buy and by JMP Securities from Market Perform to Strong Buy. On the NASDAQ 5.5 million of the 60 million ACTU shares are traded, rising from their previous close of $2.90 to an intraday high of $3.26 and closing at $3.15. They had traded as low as $0.69 as recently as 24 September 2002 and as high as $36.00 on 06 November 2000, after starting being traded, on 13 July 1998, at $4.69. [5~year price chart >]
2003 En France, le Journal officiel (nº141 page 10403) publie l'avis de la Commission générale de terminologie et de néologie:
courriel, n.m.
Synonyme: courrier électronique, message électronique.
Définition: Document informatisé qu'un utilisateur saisit, envoie ou consulte en différé par l'intermédiaire d'un réseau.
Équivalent étranger: e-mail, electronic mail.
Attention: Ce terme annule et remplace «courrier électronique» publié au Journal officiel du 02 decembre 1997.
— Dès leur parution au Journal officiel, l'emploi des termes recommandés par la Commission générale de terminologie et de néologie est obligatoire pour les administrations et services de l'État. Voir l'article 11 du décret du 3 juillet 1996 relatif à l'enrichissement de la langue française

2002 On the New York stock exchange, the stock of Malan Realty Investors (MAL) rises from its previous close of $4.07 to an intraday high of $5.65 and closes at $5.61. It had traded as low as 3.52 on 14 June 2002, and as high as $19.38 on 12 December 1997. The company has just announced a liquidation plan worth $4.75 to $8.00 per share. [< 5~year price chart]. On 20 June 2003 MAL would close at $4.30, as the investment trust continues slowly to sell its properties whenever it finds buyers.
2002 In Atkins v. Virginia (01-8452), the US Supreme Court reverses its Penry v. Lynaugh 5-4 decision of 1989 which ruled that the execution of the mentally retarded (then banned by only 2 US states) was constitutional. 6-3 the Court now says that such executions have become unusual and therefore cruel, in part because 18 US states now prohibit them (12 US states do not have the death penalty at all). Daryl Renard Atkins (IQ 59) had been convicted of the murder of Eric Michael Nesbitt and sentenced to death. The court defines mental retardation as an IQ before 70 together with evidence of retardation before age 21. In the afternoon of 16 August 1996, Atkins and his friend, William Jones, were drinking and smoking marijuana at Atkin's home. Later that evening Atkins and Jones walked to a nearby store to buy more beer. In the parking lot of the store, Atkins told Jones that he did not have enough money and would panhandle to get the money for the beer. Afterwards, Atkins and Jones abducted Eric Nesbitt and drove him to a field, where Atkins allegedly shot and killed him. During the investigation of the crime, Atkins made a statement to police in which he claimed that Jones was actually the one who shot and killed Nesbitt. However, at trial, the jury found Atkins guilty of capital murder. During sentencing, the jury found both the future dangerousness and the vileness aggravating factors. The trial judge accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced him to death. Atkins has been on death row since 28 April 1998, while various appeals were made.
2002 Israeli Brigadier General Yitzhak Yaakov [ photo >], who was convicted in May 2002 of harming Israel's national security in connection with two books he wrote on Israel's weapons development programs, is given a two-year suspended sentence by the Tel Aviv District Court. Yaakov, 76, former head of the Israel Defense Forces' weapons research and development program, was acquitted of the charges of passing on secret information without authority and with the intention of harming state security. But he was found guilty of the lesser charge of unauthorized handing over of secret information. He has already spent 14 months in detention. The charges against Yaakov stemmed from two books he wrote in the last few years — a memoir and a novel that, according to the prosecution, contained real data.
2000 After intense last-minute lobbying by the Clinton administration, the US Senate votes 57-42 to make it easier for federal prosecutors to try hate crimes, attaching the measure to a defense authorization bill. (However, the House of Representatives would remove this amendment in October 2000.)
1999 NATO declares an official end to its bombing campaign of Yugoslavia.
1997 El hasta ese momento secretario general del Partido Socialista Obrero Español, Felipe González anunció que no sería candidato a la secretaría general del partido, durante el XXXIV Congreso Federal de esta formación política. Le sustituyó Joaquín Almunia.
1996 Westinghouse Electric agrees to buy Infinity Broadcasting for $3.9 billion.

1996 Oracle releases InterOffice
Launching an attack on Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange, Oracle released InterOffice, a program that allowed multiple users to work together on documents. Oracle's new product joined the increasingly popular market for "groupware," dominated by Lotus and Microsoft.

1996 Largest radio broadcasters merge
The two largest radio broadcasting companies in the United States, Westinghouse Electric Corporation and Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, merged. Federal communications law had recently lifted restrictions on the number of radio stations one company could own: Together, the combined firms ran eighty-three stations.

1995 Decisión histórica de la UE al crear la Oficina Europea de Policía (Europol).
1993 Un tren de alta velocidad atraviesa por primera vez el canal de la Mancha por el túnel submarino que une Francia con Gran Bretaña, en 2:30 horas.
1992 Se promulga la actual Constitución de Paraguay.
1991 Le Reichstag de l’Allemagne réunifiée décide de prendre Berlin comme capitale. — German lawmakers vote to move the seat of the national government back to Berlin. — El Parlamento alemán decide que la sede del Gobierno y la capital de la Alemania recién unificada sea Berlín.
1990 La Comisión de Peticiones del Parlamento Europeo aprueba, tras dos años de tramitación, el reconocimiento del catalán como "lengua viva" en las instancias comunitarias.
1983 Otelo Saraiva, estratega de la revolución portuguesa del 25 Apr 1974, es detenido, acusado de dirigir un grupo terrorista.

1977 Alaska pipeline starts operating. :    ^top^
     Prudhoe Bay near the Arctic Circle is the largest oil reserve in North America, but early attempts at drilling were thwarted by the region's remoteness and concern for its ecosystem. However, the Arab oil embargoes of the 1970s prompted action, and on 20 June 1977, construction of the Trans-Alaskan pipeline was completed. Oil flows south 1286 km from Prudhoe Bay and exits 38 days later at the port of Valdez.
      With a flip of a switch in Prudhoe Bay, crude oil from the nation's largest oil field begins flowing south down the trans-Alaska pipeline to the ice-free port of Valdez, Alaska. The steel pipeline, 48 inches in diameter, winds through 1286 kilometers of Alaskan wilderness, crossing three Arctic mountain ranges and hundreds of rivers and streams. Environmentalists fought to prevent its construction, saying it would destroy a pristine ecosystem, but they were ultimately overruled by Congress, who saw it as a way of lessening America's dependence on foreign oil. The trans-Alaska pipeline was the world's largest privately funded construction project to that date, costing $8 billion and taking three years to build.
      In 1968, a massive oil field was discovered on the north coast of Alaska near Prudhoe Bay. Located north of the Arctic Circle, the ice-packed waters of the Beaufort Sea are inaccessible to oil tankers. In 1972, the Department of the Interior authorized drilling there, and after the Arab oil embargo of 1973 plans moved quickly to begin construction of a pipeline. The Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. was formed by a consortium of major oil companies, and in 1974 construction began.
      US conservation groups argued that the pipeline would destroy caribou habitats in the Arctic, melt the fragile permafrost — permanently frozen subsoil — along its route, and pollute the salmon-rich waters of the Prince William Sound at Valdez. Under pressure, Alyeska agreed to extensive environmental precautions, including building 50 percent of the pipeline above the ground to protect the permafrost from the naturally heated crude oil and to permit passage of caribou underneath.
      On 20 June 1977, oil begins flowing down the pipeline. However, power supply problems, a cracked section of pipe, faulty welds, and an unsuccessful dynamite attack on the pipeline outside of Fairbanks delay the arrival of oil at Valdez for several weeks. In August, the first oil tanker would leave Valdez en route to the lower 48 states. The trans-Alaska pipeline proved a great boon to the Alaskan economy; it soon was delivering more than one million gallons of oil per day, or about 15% of America's total oil production. At its peak production in the late 1980s, it delivered over two million gallons a year. Today, it produces just over a million gallons a day.
      For its first decade of existence, the pipeline was quietly applauded as an environmental success. Caribou populations in the vicinity of the pipeline actually grew (due in part to the departure of grizzly bears and wolves scared off by the pipeline work), and the permafrost remained intact. The only major oil spill on land occurred when an unknown saboteur blew a hole in the pipe near Fairbanks, and two million liters of oil spilled onto the ground. On 24 March 1989, however, the worst fears of environmentalists were realized when the Exxon Valdez ran aground in the Prince William Sound after filling up at the port of Valdez. Ten million gallons of oil were dumped into the water, devastating hundreds of miles of coastline. In the 1990s, the Alaskan oil enterprise drew further controversy when the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. attempted to cover up electrical and mechanical problems in the aging pipeline.
      In 2001, President George W. Bush (Jr.) proposed opening a portion of the 8-million-hectare Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, east of Prudhoe Bay, to oil drilling. The proposal was greeted with overwhelming opposition from environmental groups.

1972 Lanzamiento al espacio de la nave espacial estadounidense Pioneer-10, que 21 años después hubiera sobrepasado la órbita de Plutón y recorrido 10'000 millones de kilómetros.

^ 1972 Abrams appointed as US Army Chief of Staff
      President Richard Nixon appoints General Creighton W. Abrams, commander of US Military Assistance Command Vietnam, to be US Army Chief of Staff. Abrams had become Gen. William Westmoreland's deputy in 1967, and succeeded him as commander of all US forces in Vietnam in July 1968 when Westmoreland returned to the United States to become the Chief of Staff of the Army. As Westmoreland's successor, Abrams faced the difficult task of implementing the Vietnamization program instituted by the Nixon administration. This included the gradual reduction of US forces in Vietnam while attempting to increase the combat capabilities of the South Vietnamese armed forces.
      At the same time, he had to keep the North Vietnamese forces at bay; the Cambodian "incursion" in 1970 was part of his plan to take pressure off the Vietnamization effort and the US troop withdrawals. It was hoped that a successful campaign in Cambodia would reduce the infiltration of North Vietnamese troops and equipment into South Vietnam while the effort continued to increase the combat capability of the South Vietnamese armed forces so that US troops could be withdrawn on schedule. General Abrams again succeeded General Westmoreland in 1972 when he returned to the Pentagon to become the Chief of Staff of the Army. Among his major contributions in that position were the plans and strategies for the post-Vietnam US Army and his revitalization of the Army following its withdrawal from Vietnam. General Abrams died in office on 04 September 1974.
     While the US military is responsible for fighting a war, its civilian superiors determine how it will be fought

1967 Boxer Muhammad Ali is convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted. (Ali's conviction was ultimately overturned by the US Supreme Court.).

^ 1964 Westmoreland commands US forces in Vietnam.
      On 14 January 1964 Lt. Gen. William Westmoreland had been appointed deputy to Gen. Paul Harkins, chief of US Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV). It was generally accepted that Westmoreland would soon replace Harkins, whose insistently optimistic views on the progress of the war had increasingly come under criticism. On June 20, 1964, Harkins departs and Westmoreland assumes command of MACV.
      US complicity in the overthrow of South Vietnam's president in 1963 made it impossible to stay uninvolved in the war.
      His initial task was to provide military advice and assistance to the government of South Vietnam. However, with the commitment of US ground troops, General Westmoreland assumed the added responsibility of commanding America's armed forces in combat in Vietnam. One of the Vietnam War's most controversial figures, Westmoreland received many honors (including being named Time Man of the Year in 1965) when the fighting was going well, but many people in the US blamed him for the problems in Vietnam when the war turned sour. Having provided continually optimistic reports about the war, Westmoreland came under particularly heavy criticism in 1968, when the communists launched the massive surprise Tet Offensive on 30 January. In July 1968, Westmoreland was appointed Chief of Staff of the Army, and General Creighton W. Abrams Jr. replaced him as commander of MACV.
      Gen. William Westmoreland succeeds Gen. Paul Harkins as head of US Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV). Westmoreland had previously been Harkins' deputy. Westmoreland's initial task was to provide military advice and assistance to the government of South Vietnam. However, he soon found himself in command of American armed forces in combat as the war rapidly escalated and US combat forces were committed to the war. One of the war's most controversial figures, Gen. Westmoreland was given many honors when the fighting was going well, but many Americans later blamed him for problems in Vietnam. Negative feeling about Westmoreland grew particularly strong following the Tet Offensive of 1968, when he requested a large number of additional troops for deployment to Vietnam. In the wake of the offensive, there was a review of US policy by the Johnson administration. It was decided to de-escalate the war, halt the bombing of North Vietnam, and go to the negotiating table. On 01 July 1968, General Creighton Abrams replaced Westmoreland as MACV Commander. Westmoreland was reassigned to be the Army Chief of Staff, a post he held until he retired in 1972.

^ 1963 US~USSR “hot line” agreed upon.
To lessen the threat of an accidental nuclear war, the United States and the Soviet Union agree to establish a "hot line" communication system between the two nations. The agreement was a small step in reducing tensions between the United States and the USSR following the October 1962 Missile Crisis in Cuba, which had brought the two nations to the brink of nuclear war. The need for nearly instantaneous and full-time communication between the US and Soviet governments became apparent during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. The United States had discovered that the Soviets were building missile sites in Cuba capable of firing missiles with nuclear warheads. Eventually, the administration of President John F. Kennedy instituted a naval "quarantine" around Cuba to block the delivery of such missiles.
Possible nuclear conflict was avoided only when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed that his country would not install nuclear weapons in Cuba. In exchange, the United States vowed not to threaten the sovereignty of Cuba. Prior to the settlement, the world sat through several very tense days of waiting to see whether World War III would begin. In an attempt to reduce the tensions brought about by the October 1962 crisis, and hopefully avert any future misunderstandings that might trigger a nuclear conflict, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed in June 1963 to establish a "hot line." It would be a 24-hour-a-day communications link between Washington, D.C., and Moscow. President Kennedy declared, "This age of fast-moving events requires quick, dependable communication in time of emergency." The agreement was a "first step to help reduce the risk of war occurring by accident or miscalculation." The system was put into place a few months after the agreement was signed. Beyond serving as a dramatic prop in movies such as Fail Safe (or a comedic prop in the film Dr. Strangelove), the communication line has — thankfully — never had to be used to avert a nuclear war.

1960 Federation of Mali (and Senegal) becomes independent of France
1956 Declaración ruso-yugoslava en Moscú, que recoge las ideas de Tito sobre la pluralidad de vías hacia el socialismo.
1955 The AFL and CIO agree to combine names for a merged group
1951 Las autoridades iraníes confiscan las instalaciones petrolíferas de Abadan.

^ 1947 US President Truman vetoes Taft-Hartley Act (officially ''Labor Management Relations Act, 1947'') but then does little to avoid the override vote in Congress.
     Republicans and spineless Democrats dominated the Congress. In the White House sat a Democratic president who identified more with business than with labor. The mood was aggressively anti-worker. Legislators stomped around calling for laws to reign in "big labor." In fact, over 200 anti-labor bills were pending in Congress. It was 1947.
      The anti-labor drive in Congress came to focus on two bills: The House bill was introduced by Rep. Fred Hartley (R-NJ), a right-winger who had been friendly to Hitler Germany and imperial Japan right up to the eve of World War 2. A roughly similar bill was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Robert A. Taft (R-Ohio), the ultraconservative, wealthy son of a US president who had political ambitions of his own. But both bills were written by lobbyists for corporations like General Electric, Allis-Chalmers, Inland Steel, J.I. Case, and Chrysler, and the Rockefeller interests.
A WORKERS' NIGHTMARE
      The measures were a workers' nightmare: They restored anti-strike injunctions; limited labor's ability to mass picket; prohibited secondary boycotts; restricted political contributions by unions; outlawed welfare funds not jointly controlled by management; authorized employer interference in organizing; denied "economic" strikers the right to vote in representation elections; allowed bosses to fire workers for some types of union activity; outlawed the closed shop, and authorized states to ban the union shop; opened union treasuries to raids through lawsuits; and interfered in internal union politics by requiring officers to sign affidavits that they were not "communists."
      It was no surprise that corporations were out to get the unions: In a little more than a decade, the number of union members in the US had grown from less than 4 million to some 15 million. Labor had flexed its muscles soon after World War 2 ended in 1945 with a series of strikes aimed at dramatically increasing living standards for industrial workers. Electrical, oil, steel, auto, rubber, and packinghouse workers, among others, went on strike simultaneously, bringing the US to the verge of a general strike in basic industry. Their successful job actions modestly redistributed the corporations' bloated war-time profits.
EMPLOYERS VS. NEW DEAL
      In response, corporations were mounting an attack on New Deal legislation that had given workers some of their newfound strength. Big business also employed the Cold War to whip up a " red scare" that wreaked internal havoc in unions across the country. C.E. Wilson, head of General Electric, frankly declared the Cold War had two targets: labor at home, and the Soviet Union abroad.
      In April 1947, the CIO organized a "Defend Labor" month, urging mass actions, plant-gate rallies, and an all-out campaign to get resolutions, letters and telegrams sent to Washington to counter Taft-Hartley and the whole labor assault. Sixty members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) spent a frustrating two days trying to convince members of Congress that any of the 200-plus anti-labor bills would be disastrous. They didn't get a good reception: Taft refused to meet with them. Indiana's Sen. Homer Capehart, a manufacturer employing UE members, told the union delegation he was "against big business, big unions, and big government. But I'll start on big unions."
      On 17 April, the House passed the Hartley bill. And on 13 May 1947, the Senate voted 68-21 to adopt the Taft bill. Democrats were split exactly 50-50, with 21 voting for, and 21 against.
      Heavy pressure convinced President Harry Truman to veto the bill at the last minute. But he did little to influence the override vote that followed. Both House and Senate voted to override the veto.
LABOR'S BALL AND CHAIN
      Taft-Hartley has been labor's ball and chain ever since. Early on, labor made a bid at resisting the law. UE, the Steelworkers, and other CIO unions pledged not to cooperate with the new Taft-Hartley Labor Board. CIO president Philip Murray and Mineworkers president John L. Lewis vowed they would not sign the measure's red-scare affidavit. But within a few years, unions were forced to submit.
      In 1953, US News and World Report could ask, "Are Unions Slipping? No Growth in Six Years." In 1946, the CIO's membership had been 6.3 million; by 1954, it was 4.6 million. Overall, union membership fell from 33.7% of the labor force in 1947 to 31.5% in 1950. Although union membership began rising slowly to reach a post-war high of 34.7% in 1954, that was followed by a steady decline, aided heavily by the employer tools supplied by Taft-Hartley. Under the legislation, employers can get in the way of almost every union activity — from organizing the shop to going on strike to mobilizing community support for a campaign.
CAN'T GET RID OF IT
      With the Democratic Party moving ever rightward, repeal of Taft-Hartley has stayed on labor's back burner. An effort to get part of the bill repealed during the Carter administration failed miserably — despite a large Democratic majority in both houses. The return of a Democratic President and Democrat-controlled Congress in 1993-94 did not raise real hope of repealing Taft-Hartley. And yet US workers — both the organized and the unorganized — unwittingly suffer the effects of Taft-Hartley every working day.

1944 Vice Admiral Marc Mitchner, commander of the US Task Force 58, orders all lights on his ships turned on to help guide his carrier-based pilots back from the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The greatest aircraft carrier duel.
1943 Race riots start in Detroit; US federal troops would be sent in two days later, there would be more than 30 deaths.

^ 1943 Shuttle bombing UK-Germany-Algeria-Italy-UK
British bombers perform the first "shuttle bombing" raid of the war, attacking sites in Germany and Italy. Taking off from airbases in Britain, bombers made for the southwestern German city of Friedrichshafen, at one time the home to Zeppelin airship construction. It now was the site of steel construction works, which were heavily damaged in the British attack. The Brits then flew, not back to Britain, but to airbases in Algeria. Refueled, they then headed north for the Italian naval base in La Spezia, in Liguria. This "shuttle" strategy enabled the bombers to kill two enemies with one operation-Bellicose. The damage done to the steel works in Germany was so extensive that the assembly line had to be completely abandoned. Unbeknownst to Britain, that assembly line included the manufacture of more than just steel, but also new V2 rockets, to be spun out at the rate of 300 a month. The Brits unwittingly spared themselves retaliation-at least from V2s

1940 L'héroïque résistance des 2000 cadets de Saumur, commencée le 18, continue et durera jusqu'au lendemain, 21 juin — La Luftwaffe bombarde Poitiers et Bordeaux.
1939 Test flight of first rocket plane using liquid propellants
1937 Tres pilotos soviéticos sobrevuelan el Polo Norte, de Moscú a Vancouver.

^ 1931 Hoover urges international debt moratorium
to counteract the Depression Unlike his successors Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, Herbert Hoover is often remembered for what he didn't do during his tenure in the White House. In particular, Hoover has taken his share of knocks for supposedly failing to marshal the nation's legislative forces against the Great Depression. While it's true that Hoover viewed the business community as the primary engine of America's economic revival, he did help devise a number of initiatives that aimed to speed the end of the Depression.
Case in point: on this day in 1931, Hoover urged leaders of various nations to suspend payment of international debts and reparations for the next year. The moratorium was intended as a precautionary measure: with the recent demise of a major Austrian bank, Hoover feared that the international economy was on the brink of a nasty slump that would only worsen the United State's woes. The international community readily acceded to Hoover's wishes and by July the freeze was in effect. But, though Hoover's moratorium initially helped restore confidence in the world's various markets and economies, its healing powers were short-lived: that fall, Great Britain abandoned the global economy, shattering most nation's fragile faith in the international economy.

1923 France announces it will seize the Rhineland to assist Germany in paying her war debts.
1923 Fuerte erupción del volcán Etna en la isla de Sicilia.
1910 Mexican President Porfirio Diaz proclaims martial law and arrests hundreds.
1898 On the way to the Philippines to fight the Spanish, , the US cruiser Charleston seizes the island of Guam. The Battle of Manila Bay went by a plan devised days earlier in Hong Kong. — Guerra entre Estados Unidos y España. Un buque estadounidense se apodera del archipiélago de las Marianas, posesión española.
1895 Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras form a short-lived confederation — Por iniciativa de Policarpo Bonilla, presidente de Honduras, se firma el pacto de Amapala, acuerdo entre el Salvador, Nicaragua y Honduras cuyo objetivo era la creación de la República Mayor de Centroamérica, proyecto heredero de las Provincias Unidas.
1895 Apertura oficial del Canal de Kiel, en Alemania.

^ 1894 Découverte du bacille de la peste bubonique
"Yersinia pestis", à Hong-Kong, par Alexandre Yersin [1863-1943], médecin français, un disciple de Pasteur. C’est aussi Yersin qui mettra au point la sérothérapie antipesteuse qui permettra d’éradiquer cette maladie contagieuse. C’est aussi Yersin qui mettra au point les médicaments à base de "Quinquina" qui permettent de lutter victorieusement contre les maladies des marais ("paluds"), le paludisme.

1893 Lizzie Borden found innocent in New Bedford, Massachusetts, of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.
1871 Ku Klux Klan trials began in federal court in Oxford Miss
1867 Pres Andrew Johnson announces purchase of Alaska

^ 1863 West Virginia enters the Union
      During the Civil War, West Virginia is admitted into the Union as the thirty-fifth US state, or the twenty-fifth state if the ten seceded Southern states were subtracted. The same day, Arthur I. Boreman is inaugurated as West Virginia’s first state governor.
      Settlement of the western lands of Virginia came gradually in the eighteenth century as settlers slowly made their way across the natural Allegheny Plateau barrier. By the early nineteenth century, the region became increasingly important to the Virginia state government at Richmond, but the prevalence of small farms and lack of a slavery had already had begun to estrange it from the east. Because slaves were counted in allotting representation, wealthy eastern planters dominated the legislature, and demands by western Virginians for lower taxes and infrastructure development were not met.
      When Virginia voted to secede after the outbreak of the Civil War, the vast majority of West Virginians opposed the secession. Delegates met at Wheeling, and on 11 June 1861, nullified the Virginian ordinance of secession, and proclaimed “The Restored Government of Virginia,” headed by Francis Pierpont. During the war, Confederate forces failed to capture the majority of the territory, and West Virginian statehood was approved in a referendum and a state constitution drawn up. On 20 April 1863, US President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the admission of West Virginia into the Union to be effective as of 20 June 1863.
     The creation of West Virginia was due entirely to the circumstances of the war. Until secession in 1861, West Virginia constituted the western section of Virginia. But the relationship was never a comfortable one, especially during the growing sectional crisis of the 19th century. Western Virginia comprised one quarter of the state's white population at the beginning of the Civil War, but it contained very few slaves. The 35 counties that lay west of the Shenandoah Valley were rugged, mountainous, and contained few areas conducive to plantation agriculture. Economically and culturally, the region was more closely linked to Ohio and Pennsylvania. The major rivers, Kanawha and Little Kanawha, connected the interior to the Ohio River, and the Ohio itself united western Virginians with their Yankee counterparts on the opposite bank.
      The residents of western Virginia had long resented the power wielded by the slaveholding "tidewater aristocrats." Westerners felt that most of the internal improvements went to the eastern part of the state, but that the tax burden fell on the less-affluent westerners. Slaves were taxed at only one-third of their market value, while all other property was taxed at full value. Westerners were also historically underrepresented in the state legislature. Those differences manifested themselves in the secession crisis of early 1861. Western Virginians rejected ratification of the secession articles by a three-to-one margin, and after Virginia seceded in April, Unionist meetings broke out all over the mountain areas. This led to a convention at Wheeling on June 11, in which plans were made to separate from Virginia. A major stumbling block was Article IV, Section 3 of the US Constitution, which dictates that a state legislature has to approve of any new states formed from territory controlled by that state. In other words, the Virginia legislature needed to approve the separation. That approval was, of course, not possible, but now that Virginia was no longer a state, westerners formed a new Restored Government of Virginia and sent representatives to the US Congress. Military events soon reinforced this political separation. In 1861, western Virginia was the scene of many small battles and skirmishes, the net result of which was control of the region by Union troops.

1863 At Philippi, in western Virginia, Union columns converged from all directions in the first full-fledged battle of the Civil War.
1863 Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana continues
1863 Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi continues
1860 Tras la batalla de Malazzo, en Sicilia, Garibaldi queda dueño de la isla, a excepción de la ciudad de Messina.
1855 Commissioners appointed to lay out SF streets west of Larkin
1837 England issues its first stamp, 1P Queen Victoria
1837 Queen Victoria, 18, ascends British throne following death of uncle King William IV She would reign for 63 years ending in 1901
1833 Las Cortes declaran a Isabel II heredera del trono de España.
1819 Savannah becomes first steamship to cross any ocean (Atlantic)

^ 1793 Troubles qui ameneront les suivants à la guillotine:
FENARD Alexandre, notaire, procureur syndic du district de Bitche, 44 ans, né et domicilié à Bitche (Moselle), sera condamnné à mort le 26 floréal an 2, par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris, comme conspirateur, en provoquant l’envoi d’une adresse au tyran roi sur les événements du 20 juin 1793, par un discours dans lequel il disait " nous regardons comme nos véritables ennemis ceux qui ont osé et qui oseront proposer l’avilissement et la déchéance du représentant héréditaire de la nation ".
PELE VARENNES Marie Joseph Hippolite, ci-devant receveur particulier des finances, depuis receveur de district, natif de Sens, 53 ans, domicilié à Montargis (Loiret), sera condamné à mort le 18 germinal an 2, par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris, comme conspirateur, en rédigeant et signant une adresse liberticide, envoyée au tyran roi, contre le peuple, sur les événements du 20 juin 1793.

^ 1792 Troubles qui ameneront les suivants à la guillotine:
LALANNE Jean, 45 ans, né à la Rochelle (Charente-Inférieure), tailleur. domicilié à Paris, sera condamné à mort le 12 messidor an 2, par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris, comme agent de la conspiration ourdie par le tyran et sa famille contre la sûreté du peuple, et qui a éclaté dans la journée du 10 août 1792, et de s'être flatté qu'a l'époque du 20 juin, file:///D|/Guillotinés/capet.htmCapet lui avait pris la main, et la portant sur son cœur, lui avoir dit "sentez, mon ami s'il palpite".
LAVILETTE Charles Léonard, administrateur du district de Montargis, 45 ans, natif de Clamecy, ci-devant, président de l'élection, depuis juge du district domicilié à Montargis (Loiret), sera condamné à mort, le 18 germinal an 2, par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris, comme convaincu d'être complice de manœuvres pratiquées de la part du tyran roi et de ses suppôts dans l'intervalle du 20 juin au 10 août 1792.
MONTJOURDAIN Nicolas Roland, ex noble, commandant du bataillon de St Lazare, 37 ans, né à la Rochelle (Charente Inférieure), domicilié à Paris, sera condamné à mort le 19 pluviôse an 2, par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris, comme complice des conspirations des 20 juin et 10 août 1792, tendantes à Troubler l'état par une guerre civile en France, en armant les citoyens les uns contre les autres, et contre l'exercice de l'autorité légitime.
RAGONDET Etienne, 46 ans, natif de Paris, inspecteur dans les charrois de l’armée, aide major et commandant du bataillon de la section de la république, domicilié à Cappy (Somme), sera condamné à mort le 24 germinal an 2, par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris, comme complice de la conspiration formée par Capet, son épouse et autres, le 20 juin et le 10 août 1792, contre la liberté la sûreté et la souveraineté du peuple français.
SLABEURACH René Marie Max Léopold, député à l'assemblée législative, 35 ans, natif de Gournay, département de la Seine inférieure, domicilié à la Ferté-les-Bois (Eure et Loire), sera condamné à mort le 21 prairial an 2, par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris, comme conspirateur, l'un des principaux agents de Capet et de son comité autrichien, et comme ayant provoqué la présentation d'une adresse au tyran roi contre la journée du 20 juin.
VATRIN J., 65 ans, né à St-Pierre-Villars (Meuse), juge de paix, domicilié à Paris, sera condamné à mort le 9 thermidor an 2, par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris, comme conspirateur ayant, après l’affaire du 20 juin 1792, colporté l’adresse du faubourg St-Antoine au tyran roi.
COLLIVET Louis Simon, 25 ans, natif de Lagny (Seine et Marne), domicilié à Paris, sera condamnné à mort le 12 germinal 2, par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris, comme complice du roi et de ses suppôts aux journées des 20 juin et 10 août 1792.

^ 1791 La fuite à Varennes.
Le roi, Louis XVI, torturé dans sa conscience de Chrétien par l’application des mesures laïques de la Nouvelle Constitution, indigné par une émeute qui l’empêche de se rendre à son office religieux et à sa confession hebdomadaire, poussé par ses émissaires autrichiens (son épouse Marie-Antoinette est la petite-fille de l’empereur d’Autriche), le roi s’enfuit des Tuileries en carrosse avec la reine et leurs enfants, déguisés en bourgeois, pour gagner la forteresse de Montmédy où il a des alliés fidèles.
Le roi donne un pourboire qui fera que l'on se payera sa tête.
Arrivé à Sainte-Ménehould, à la limite de la Champagne, il s’arrête dans une auberge, déjà réputée à l’époque pour son pied de cochon rôti, dîne longuement et avant de repartir donne un "Louis" d’or en guise de pourboire au garçon d’écurie qui a soigné ses chevaux.Celui-ci, perspicace, compare l’original et sa reproduction sur la pièce d’or et reconnaît le roi. Il saute sur un cheval de réserve et gagne par un raccourci le poste-frontière de Varennes où il alerte l’officier de garde. Arrêté, le roi est reconduit à Paris et suspendu de ses fonctions et prérogatives royales. Il les récupérera un mois plus tard, mais la crise de confiance provoquée par cette fuite, annihile tous les efforts faits par le roi pour devenir ce souverain "populaire" qu’il aurait voulu être, d’une nation complètement "rénovée". Le 20 Juin 1792, 12 mois jour pour jour après cette "fuite", le roi subira la tristesse et l’affront de voir son palais envahi par la foule.

^ 1789 Serment du Jeu de Paume
      La salle des Menus Plaisirs est close par la volonté du roi qui ne veut pas que les ordres se réunissent. Le docteur Guillotin propose que l'on se retrouve dans la salle du Jeu de paume. Là, Mounier demande aux députés de prêter serment. Target rédige un texte et Bailly, debout sur une table, propose aux députés "de ne jamais se séparer et de se rassembler partout où les circonstances l'exigeront jusqu'à ce que la Constitution du royaume soit établie et affermie". Le roi, Louis XVI, souverain absolu, avait dû accorder au peuple, pour calmer les mécontentements, la réunion des Etats-Généraux, c. à d. des représentants des "trois" Etats : la Noblesse, le Clergé, et le Tiers-Etat, le peuple … (plutôt la Bourgeoisie), qui préfigure les prochaines Assemblées Législatives.
Third Estate Makes Tennis Court Oath
      In Versailles, France, the deputies of the Third Estate, which represented commoners and the lower clergy, defied King Louis XVI’s order to disperse, and met on the Jeu de Paume, an indoor tennis court. In these modest surroundings, they took a historic oath not to disband until a new French constitution had been adopted.
      Louis XVI, who ascended the French throne in 1774, proved unsuited to deal with the severe financial problems that he had inherited from his grandfather, King Louis XV. In 1789, as a last resort to solve France's financial crisis, Louis XVI assembled the Estates-General, a national assembly that represented the three "estates" of the French people — the nobles, the clergy, and the commons.
      The Estates-General had not been assembled since 1614, and its deputies drew up long lists of grievances and called for sweeping political and social reforms. The Third Estate, which had the most representatives, declared itself the National Assembly, and took an oath to force a new constitution on the king. Initially seeming to yield, Louis legalized the National Assembly under the Third Estate, but then surrounded Versailles with troops, and dismissed Jacques Necker, a popular minister of state who had supported reforms. In response, Parisians mobilized, and on July 14 stormed the Bastille — a state prison where they believed ammunition was stored — and the French Revolution had begun.

1782 Congress approves Great Seal of US and the eagle as it's symbol
1779 Battle of Stone Ferry

^ 1778 Washington’s army departs Valley Forge
      After learning of the British evacuation of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Continental Army under General George Washington marches out of its winter quarters at Valley Forge to intercept the British force on its way to New York City.
      During 1777, the Continental Army had suffered major defeats against the British at the battles of Brandywine (17770911) and Germantown (17771004), and Philadelphia, the former capital of the United States, fell firmly into British hands. With the onset of the bitter cold, Washington’s army, still in the field, entered winter camp at Valley Forge, thirty kilometers from Philadelphia.
      The particularly severe winter of 1777 to 1778 proved to be a great tribulation for the American army, and of the 11'000 soldiers stationed at Valley Forge, over 2000 died. However, the suffering troops were held together by loyalty to the Patriot cause and to General Washington, and Prussian military advisor Frederick von Steuben kept the soldiers busy with drills and training in modern military strategy. When Washington’s army marched out of Valley Forge in June of 1778, his men were better disciplined and stronger in spirit then when they had entered. Eight days later, they faced the British on equal terms at the Battle of Monmouth (17780628) in New Jersey.

1632 Britain grants 2nd Lord Baltimore rights to Chesapeake Bay area
1599 The Synod of Diamper reunited a native church in India with Rome. Discovered in 1498 by Portuguese explorers, this isolated pocket of worshipers traced their Christian origins back to the missionary efforts of the Apostle Thomas.
1567 Jews are expelled from Brazil by order of regent Don Henrique
1529 Clement VII and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V signed the Peace of Barcelona, which ended attacks on Rome by the Lutheran armies.
1402 Battle of Angora (Ankara)-Tatars defeat Turkish Army.
1397 The Union of Kalmar unites Denmark, Sweden, and Norway under one monarch.

0451 Défaite des huns à la Bataille des Champs Catalauniques    ^top^
    Défaite donc aussi du chef des huns, Attila, le fléau de Dieu, l’Homme de qui l’on dit que "sous les sabots de son cheval l’herbe ne repousse pas !". Les invasions des Francs et des Alamans, aux IVème et Vème siècles n’avaient pas bouleversé fondamentalement l’Ordre Romain. Mais en 375, un peuple d’origine Asiatique se met en branle et va provoquer, par son irruption en occident, la chute de cet orgueilleux Empire Romain.
      Les Huns se ruent sur le Royaume Ostrogothique d’Ukraine (Ostrogoths ou Goths de l’est). Il s’avance ensuite vers l’Europe de l’Est et crée en Hongrie (Hun-garia) une espèce de Royaume à partir duquel il lance des raids sur les régions voisines. L’Europe de l’ouest et même l’Afrique seront atteintes. Et Rome ne se remettra pas de cette catastrophe.
      Dès 450, Attila, qui a su unifier autour de lui toutes les tribus nomades et peu disciplinées des Huns, mais aussi des dizaines de hordes de "barbares" vaincus et qui reconnaissent son autorité, Attila se jette sur l’Occident, qui aux yeux de ses nomades du désert devait constituer un Eldorado, une Terre Promise. En 451, il traverse le Rhin, à Mayence, et ravage la Gaule de l’Est. Le Général en chef des armées romaines, Aétius, rassemble toutes les troupes désorganisées, s’allie aux armées gothiques et franques d’Occident, et, le 20 Juin 451, dans un affrontement sans précédent, dans les grandes plaines de la Marne et de la Champagne, près de Châlons (sur Marne), vainc les Huns, qui se replient en désordre vers le Sud et l’Italie.

Les Huns sont battus près de Troyes, en un lieu appelé les «Champs Catalauniques». Ces nomades apparentés aux Mongols avaient surgi un siècle plus tôt de la lointaine Asie et s'étaient installés dans la région du Danube. Attila, un prince hun élevé à la cour de l'empereur romain d'Orient, à Constantinople, retrouve les siens et les rassemble sous son commandement. Il prend part aux combats que livrent les Barbares aux troupes de Constantinople. Puis il décide d'attaquer les Gallo-Romains et les Wisigoths, des Germains installés à Toulouse. C'est ainsi qu'il franchit le Rhin et détruit Metz. A Paris, sainte Geneviève recommande à ses concitoyens de jeûner pendant trois jours pour s'attirer la bienveillance de Dieu. Ô miracle, celui-ci exauce leurs prières et Attila renonce à prendre la ville. Revenant vers le Rhin, les Huns sont attaqués par Aétius, un général gallo-romain qui fut le compagnon d'armes d'Attila dans sa jeunesse, et par le roi des Wisigoths. Bien que battu aux «Champs Catalauniques», Attila poursuit sa route et se dirige vers Rome. Aux portes de la ville, le pape Léon 1er le Grand le convainc de rebrousser chemin. Attila s'en va alors mourir sur les bords du Danube. Les Huns sortent de l'Histoire aussi soudainement qu'ils y étaient entrés. Les chroniqueurs chrétiens du Moyen Age ont surnommé Attila le «Fléau de Dieu». A l'image du fléau, un outil qui sert à battre les épis de blé et en extraire les grains, Attila était selon eux envoyé par Dieu pour punir les hommes de leurs péchés et les ramener à lui.

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^ Deaths which occurred on a 20 June:
2005 Some 15 persons including a suicide car bomber at 07:40 (03:40 UT) in Arbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, amid a group of traffic policemen who were carrying out training exercises. Some 100 persons are injured.
2005 Four Iraqi policemen and one Iraqi soldier, by a car bomb near a police station west of al-Doura, Iraq, where US soldiers were fighting some insurgents. 4 Iraqi policemen and 15 Iraqi soldiers are wounded.
2005 One US soldier of the 1st Corps Support Command, soon after the explosion of a roadside bomb while he was on a combat logistical patrol near Tal Afar, Iraq.
2003 Zvi Goldstein, 47 [photo >], after his car is hit by bullets on Route 60, north of Ofra, continues for some 10 km in the direction of the Sha'ar Binyamin industrial zone on the Ramallah bypass road, and overturns before reaching Sha'ar Binyamin. Goldstein was from the West Bank enclave settlement Eli. His wife Michal is injured, as are his parents, a US couple in their seventies, who came to Israel to attend their grandson's wedding, which took place the previous evening.
2003 Some 200 Libyans drowned off the coast of Tunisia as their boat capsizes in bad weather. They were would-be illegal immigrants bound for Italy. 41 survivors are rescued by local fishermen.
2002 Rachel Shabbo, three of her sons, Neria, 15, Zvika, 12, and Avishai, 5; Yosef Twito; and one of two Palestinian gunmen who attack the Itamar enclave settlement, south of Nablus, West Bank, where Twito was a security officer. Two of the four surviving Shabbo children are among the four injured.
Shortly after 21:00, two Palestinians armed with assault rifles and hand grenades entered the settlement, only part of which is fenced.The two broke into the Shabbo home and shot at the family inside (the father was away), then holed up inside the house and began shooting in all directions. Israeli troops rushed to the scene and laid siege to the house. The firefight lasted for almost an hour before troops from an undercover Border Police unit succeeded in killing the terrorists. Two border policemen were wounded during the battle — one seriously and the other lightly. The soldiers and Magen David Adom crews began evacuating the injured while the firefight was still taking place, but four of the victims proved to be mortally wounded and died shortly thereafter. The house went up in flames.
2002 Simon John Veness, by a car bomb in his 4-wheel-drive vehicle, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where the British national worked at Al Bank Al Saudi Al Fransi.
2002:: 115 miners in a gas explosion in the Chengzihe Coal Mine, Heilongjiang Province, northeast China. The other 24 miners who were working with them are injured. The mine has 5500 workers, extracting 1.1 million tons of coal annually.
2002 Timothy Irving Frederick “Tiff” Findley, Canadian author, from complications of a pelvis fracture some months earlier; he was also a heavy smoker and had congestive heart failure. Born on 30 October 1930, he started out as an actor for 15 years. Then he wrote 12 novels (including The Wars about the emotional breakdown of a World War I soldier — Not Wanted on the Voyage 1985 about dissension on Noah's Ark — The Telling of Lies 1988 a mystery — The Piano Man's Daughter 1996 — Pilgrim 1999 a mix of mystery, religion, history, psychology and philosophy — Spadework 2001), 2 short story collections, 2 memoirs and 5 plays (including Elizabeth Rex 2002 about a meeting between Shakespeare and Elizabeth I — Shadows nearing completion in 2002)

2001 Luke, 2, Paul, 3, John, 5, Noah, 7, Mary, 6~months, in Houston, drowned in bathtub by their mother Andrea Pia Yates, 36, a former nurse, who then, at about 10:00, calls police, confesses, and surrenders, in her home in the 900 block of Beachcomber in Clear Lake, a Houston suburb.
Her husband, Russell Yates, a computer specialist at NASA, says that she was suffering from post-partum depression. Ms. Yates had attempted suicide on 18 June 1999.Luke was the first child to be drowned, followed by Paul, and John. After each child died, she carried its body into a bedroom, put it on a bed and covered it with a sheet. Noah walked into the bathroom and saw her holding Mary. "What's wrong with Mary?" Noah asked. His mother chased Noah through the house, dragged him back to the bathroom and drowned him next to Mary. Andrea Yates would be tried under Texas law for the murders of John, Mary, and Noah only; on 12 March 2000, found guilty despite her acknowleged insanity; and, on 15 March 2002, sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years.
[Andrea Yates escorted from court after being arraigned before State District Judge Belinda Hill in an auxilliary Harris County court room, 22 June 2001 >]

1995 Emile Michel Cioran, filósofo nihilista rumano.
1990 40'000-50'000 die in a (7.6) earthquake in Iran
1979 Bill Stewart, ABC News correspondent, shot in Managua, Nicaragua, by a member of President Anastasio Somoza's national guard.
1966 Georges Lemaître, 71, originator of "big bang" theory.
1963 Raphaël Salem, French mathematician born Jewish-Greek on 07 November 1898.
1963 Joseph Self murderer, executed; last Washington state execution in 25 years.

^ 1947 Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, organized crime leader, Las Vegas developer, shot.
     "Bugsy", the man who brought organized crime to the West Coast, is shot and killed at his mistress Virginia Hill's home in Beverly Hills, California. Siegel had been talking to his associate Allen Smiley when three bullets were fired through the window and into his head, killing him instantly.
      Siegel's childhood had been pretty similar to that of other organized crime leaders: Growing up with little money in Brooklyn, he managed to establish himself as a teenaged thug. With his pal Meyer Lansky, Siegel terrorized local peddlers and collected protection money. Before long, they had a business that included bootlegging and gambling all over New York City.
      By the late 1930s, Siegel had become one of the major players of a highly powerful crime syndicate, which gave him $500'000 to set up a Los Angeles franchise. Bugsy threw himself into the Hollywood scene, making friends with some of the biggest names of the time — Cary Grant, Clark Gable, and Jean Harlow. His all-night parties made his Beverly Hills mansion the hot spot in town. He also started up a solid gambling and narcotics operation to keep his old friends back East happy.
      Just before World War II began, Siegel traveled to Italy to sell explosives to Mussolini, but the deal fizzled when tests of the explosives did too. In 1945, Siegel had a brilliant idea. Just a four-hour drive away from Los Angeles was the sleepy desert town of Las Vegas, Nevada. It had nothing going for it except for a compliant local government and legalized gambling. Siegel decided to build the Flamingo Hotel in the middle of the desert with $6'000'000, a chunk of which came from the New York syndicate.
      Although Siegel's idea established the gambling capital we know today, the Flamingo wasn't immediately profitable, and Siegel ended up in an argument with Lucky Luciano over paying back the money used to build it. Around the same time that Siegel was killed in Beverly Hills, Luciano's men walked into the Flamingo and announced that they were now in charge. Even Siegel probably never imagined the astounding growth and success of Las Vegas in the subsequent years.

^ 1900 Baron von Ketteler, German ambassador, Westerners, Chinese Christians, in Peking, killed by the Boxer Rebellion.
      In response to widespread foreign encroachment into China’s national affairs and to famine in the countryside blamed on the "foreign devils", Chinese nationalists and peasants launch the so-called Boxer Rebellion in Peking. Calling themselves I Ho Ch’uan, or “the Righteous and Harmonious Fists,” the nationalists occupy Peking, kill several Westerners, and besiege the foreign legations in the diplomatic quarter of the city.
      By the end of the nineteenth century, the Western powers and Japan had forced China’s ruling Qing dynasty to accept wide foreign control over the country’s economic affairs. In the Opium Wars, popular rebellions, and the Sino-Japanese War, China had fought to resist the foreigners, but it lacked a modernized military and millions were killed. In 1898, Tzu’u Hzi, the dowager empress and an anti-imperialist, began supporting the I Ho Ch’uan, who were known as the “Boxers” by the British because of their martial arts fighting style.
      The Boxers soon grew powerful, and in late 1899, regular attacks on foreigners and Chinese Christians began. On 20 June the Boxers, now over 100'000 strong and led by the court of Tzu’u Hzi, besieged the foreigners in Peking’s diplomatic quarter, burned Christian churches in the city, and destroyed the Peking-Tientsin railway line. As the Western powers and Japan organized a multinational force to crush the rebellion, the siege of the Peking legations stretched into weeks, and the diplomats, their families, and their guards suffered through hunger and degrading conditions as they fought to keep the Boxers at bay.
      On 14 August the international force, featuring British, Russian, American, Japanese, French, and German troops, relieved Peking after fighting its way through much of northern China. Under pressure from the United States, and due to mutual jealousies between the powers, it was agreed not to partition China further, and on 07 September 1901, the Peking Protocol was signed, formally ending the Boxer Rebellion. By the terms of agreement, which was essentially forced on China’s ruling government, the foreign nations received extremely favorable commercial treaties, foreign troops would be permanently stationed in Peking, and China would be forced to pay $333 million dollars as penalty for its rebellion. From thereon, China was effectively a subject nation.

1882 François-Auguste-André Biard, French artist born on 30 June 1799.
1870 Jules Goncourt, escritor francés.
1840 (19 June?) Pierre Joseph Redouté, French painter born on 10 July 1759, specialized in Still Life and Flowers. — more with links to images.
1837 King William IV of England — Guillermo IV, rey de Gran Bretaña e Irlanda y elector de Hanover.

^ 1836 Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, French churchman and constitutional theorist born on 03 May 1748. His concept of popular sovereignty guided the French bourgeoisie in their struggle against the monarchy and nobility during the opening months of the French Revolution. He later played a major role in organizing the coup d'état that brought Napoléon Bonaparte to power (09 Nov 1799).
      The son of a notary of Fréjus, Sieyès was educated for an ecclesiastical career at the Sorbonne and rose in the church to become vicar-general (1780) and chancellor (1788) of the diocese of Chartres. Nevertheless, because he was not of noble birth, his opportunities for further advancement in the church were limited. Hence, he was already embittered against the aristocracy by the time the States General were summoned in 1788. During the ensuing public controversy over the organization of the States General, Sieyès issued his pamphlet Qu'est-ce que le tiers état? (January 1789), in which he identified the unprivileged Third Estate with the French nation and asserted that it alone had the right to draft a new constitution.
      The pamphlet won Sieyès immense popularity and ensured his election as a representative of the Third Estate to the States General, which convened on 05 May 1789. On Sieyès' motion, the delegates from the Third Estate proclaimed themselves (17 Jun 1789) a National Assembly empowered to legislate for the French people. King Louis XVI refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Assembly on 23 June, but Sieyès helped persuade his colleagues to stand firm in the face of the royal challenge. The Revolution had begun. In the months that followed, the Assembly passed decrees abolishing feudalism and restricting the royal prerogative. Sieyès' distinction between “active” (those eligible to vote) and “passive” citizens was adopted in decrees establishing property qualifications for voting, thereby guaranteeing that power would be kept in the hands of the bourgeoisie.
      Although Sieyès enjoyed fame as a theorist, his vanity and lack of oratorical skill reduced his political effectiveness. He did vote with the majority of deputies for the king's execution (January 1793), but, when the radical democrats of the Jacobin Club seized control of the Revolution in June 1793 and launched the Reign of Terror, Sieyès withdrew from politics. Later he is said to have summarized his conduct during this period in the ironical remark “J'ai vécu”.
      In 1795 Sieyès served for six months on the Committee of Public Safety, wherehe advocated an expansionist foreign policy. He was elected (October 1795) to the Council of Five Hundred set up under the republican constitution of 1795, and in May 1799 he won a seat on the five-member Directory, France's ruling executive board. Nevertheless, he had already concluded that the executive must be strengthened at the expense of the legislative bodies. Conspiring with General Napoléon Bonaparte [15 Aug 1769 – 05 May 1821], Joseph Fouché, and C.M. de Talleyrand, he helped organize the military coup d'état that overthrew the Directory on 18 Brumaire (09 Nov 1799). The next day Sieyès, Bonaparte, and Pierre-Roger Ducos were made provisional consuls. A new constitution draftedby Sieyès provided for an elaborate balance of powers within the executive, but Bonaparte quickly altered the constitution to make himself first consul and supreme ruler of France. Thereafter, Sieyès' influence declined. He remained a senator and was nominated grand officer of the Légion d'Honneur (1804) and count of the empire (1808).
      After the restoration of King Louis XVIII in 1815, Sieyès was banished as a regicide. He settled in Brussels but returned to Paris upon the overthrow of King Charles X in July 1830.

1820 Manuel Belgrano, uno de los próceres de la independencia de Argentina y creador de la bandera nacional.
1800 Abraham Gotthelf Kaestner, German mathematician born on 27 September 1719. Author of Mathematische Anfangsgründe and Geschichte der Mathematik. He is also known in German literature, notably for his epigrams.

^ Condamnés à mort par la Révolution:
1794 (02 messidor an II):
CLAVEL Antoine, ex vicaire, et BOUTIN Catherine, Femme Clavel, domiciliés à Craponne, canton du Puy (Haute Loire), respectivement come réfractaire à la loi et comme receleuse de prêtre réfractaire, par le tribunal criminel dudit département.
CONIL Alphonse, marin, domicilié à Beaucaire (Gard), fédéraliste, par le tribunal criminel dudit département.
GOBERT Jean Baptiste, fils, domicilié à Douay (Nord), par la commission militaire séante à Aversnes, comme brigand du département du Nord.
HADOL François Maximilien, ancien curé de Genicourt, domicilié à Genicourt (Vosges), par le tribunal criminel du département de la Meurthe, comme réfractaire à la loi.
LITHFOURS Laurent, domicilié à Arras (Pas-de-Calais), comme émigré, par la commission militaire d'Arras.
MASSIP Augustin, ex noble, domicilié à Bordeaux (Gironde), comme conspirateur, par la commission militaire de Bordeaux.
MENARD Pierre, tisserand, domicilié à Denis (Mayenne), comme brigand de la Vendée, par la commission révolutionnaire de Laval.
Domiciliés à Avignon, département du Vaucluse, par la commission populaire séante à Orange:
BRUNY Jean Paul, (dit d'Entrecasteaux), ex président au ci-devant parlement d'Aix, comme contre-révolutionnaire.
GUILLERMONT François, moulinier de soie, comme contre-révolutionnaire.
      ... comme fédéralistes:
BERNARD Pierre François Agricole, cultivateur, notaire. — CAPPEAU Pierre, (dit Bois), fabricant d’étoffes en soie. — CLOTE Etienne (dit Languedoc), maréchal ferrant. — COMIN Pierre Joseph, (dit Gauffredy). — MAUREL Marc Antoine, fondeur en cuivre.
Par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris:
PARFAIT Jean, maître d’école, 45 ans, né à Vitry-le-Français, domicilié à Moreuil (Sarthe), comme ennemi du peuple, ayant dit à une citoyenne: “Ma bonne femme ne soutenez point la république, à Chevillers et à Moreuil ils ne veulent pas la soutenir, il faut que votre fils fasse de même, empêchez-le de tirer au sort ; croyez-moi, ils ne veulent ici ni les uns ni les autres être républicains, et je suis sûr comme de mourir un jour, que jamais la république ne tiendra.”
PONCELET François, 54 ans, tonnelier, né et domicilié à Villy (Aisne), comme ennemi du peuple, ayant dit à un citoyen, sur l'exécution de la loi relative à la suppression des fleurs de lys et autres signes de la royauté, “Voilà une belle F…. loi; je n'en f… bien de cette loi; et il ajouta : la Convention et les corps administratifs nous feront périr; que le diable les emporte.”
       ... domiciliés à Port-Malo, département d'Ille-et-Vilaine:
THOMAZEAU Louis, 53 ans, natif de Nantes (Loire Inférieure), comme ayant fait signer une pétition rédigée par lui, le 17 juillet 1793, en faveur des ex-nobles de Port-Malo.
VARIN Pierre Vincent, juge du tribunal du district, 41 ans, natif de Rennes, comme ayant déclaré que si on voulait arrêter les députés fugitifs de la convention, qui étaient sous la garde départemental, il irait à la tête du détachement de St-Malo et qu’il empêcherait qu’il fussent pris.
           ... et nés à Port-Malo:
SAINT-HEBERT ou SAINT-Sr-BERT Jeanne Marie, 40 ans, ex religieuse bénédictine, comme ennemie du peuple, ayant refusé d'obéir aux lois, et de prêtrer aucun serment.
LESOT Julienne, femme Guesnel, cultivateur à l'Isle de France, 35 ans, comme convaincue d'avoir molesté publiquement les patriotes, et d'avoir craché sur eux.
WITH , femme Grout (dit Grasnoix) ex-noble, 34 ans, comme ayant caché dans une de ses caves, une grande quantité de numéraire, d’argenterie et de titres.
BONNISSENT Charles Pierre, fils, 32 ans, procureur de la commune,comme convaincu d'avoir pris part à la rébellion des départements fédéraux, en disant que la Convention ne valait rien, que c'était l'ouvrage de six jours, et que le reste n'était bon qu'a bourrer le fusil.
MAGON Nicolas (dit Villuches), 67 ans, ex noble et négociant, comme convaincu d'avoir, au commencement de la révolution, assassiné un patriote, et d'être l'un des agents de la secte fédéraliste.
MAGON Jean Baptiste (dit Coëtizac), ex noble, député du commerce avant la révolution, 35 ans, comme convaincu d'avoir déclamé avec fureur contre la représentation nationale et traité l'ami du peuple, Marat, de monstre de sang.
      ... comme conspirateurs:
LEPRINCE Charles Louis, ex subdélégué, 60 ans, né et domicilié à Tonner (Yonne).
FOUCARD Jean Pierre, charretier à l’armée du Nord, 41 ans, né à Hore (Somme), domicilié à Sorel, même département, ... ayant provoqué l’avilissement et la dissolution de la représentation nationale.
LEROY Jean François, (dit Presuelles), membre du district, domicilié à Lucernes (Manche).
CHENU François Jean Marie, (dit Villanger), 41 ans, ex avocat, né et domicilié à Châteauneuf (Ille-et-Vilaine).
MENARD Louis, 36 ans, cultivateur, né et domicilié à Fijeac (Lot).
DEFAVALLE, 51 ans, né à Charense-le-Cheren, ex receveur des droits de la ci-devant province de Bretagne.
BONCOURT Jean François, 48 ans, né à Solidoc, officier de santé, comme complice d'une conspiration contre l'unité, l'indivisibilité de la République, et d'avoir pris part à la rébellion de tous les départements fédéralistes.
             ... prêtres, domiciliés à Paris:
GRAVIER Jean Joseph, ci-devant premier vicaire de Saint-Roche exécuté. (voir ci-dessous).
LEDOUX Antoine L. Pierre, prêtre, 45 ans, né à Paris.
DE LAMARRE Robert, vicaire de Saint-Roche, exécuté.
DOUSSET Louis Marie Joseph, ex chanoine de Nevers, 32 ans, né à Versailles.
            ... domiciliés dans le département d'Ille-et-Vilaine:
BOUGOUT Jean François, officier de santé, domicilié à St Servant, canton de Port-Malo.
FRAVAL Pierre François, ex noble, et receveur des droits de Bretagne, domicilié à Château-Neuf.
GANNOT Henri Pascal, employé aux domaines nationale, 28 ans, né à Talmont, domicilié à Guiomarais.
GUILLOT Marie Rosalie, veuve Gelin, ex noble, 28 ans, née et domiciliée à Port-Folidor, ... et pour avoir pris part à la rébellion des départements fédéraliste.
GUILLOT Marie Françoise, fille, ex noble, domiciliée à Port-Folidor.
LOLLIVIER Marie Philippine, femme St Pern, ex noble, 60 ans, née à Trebiveam (Finistère), domiciliée à Lagielais.
SAINT-HELENE Henri, 40 ans ex-noble ex conseiller aux requêtes du parlement de Rennes, natif de Pudhisen (Côtes du Nord), domicilié à Simonerie.
                   ... domiciliés à Port-Malo:
GOUTON Luc Jean, (dit Beaufou), ex noble — GARDIN François Marie, ex noble, négociant — GUILLODEUX Pélagie Anne, femme Vasablous, 65 ans, ex noble
PERRUCHOT Nicolas Bernard Marie, ex maire et directeur des douanes, 30 ans, natif de Paris, ... ayant dit lors de l'acceptation de la constitution de 1793, qu'il fallait multiplier les efforts pour la faire rejeter, qu'elle était absolument vicieuse et bonne à servir de bourre à son fusil, qu'il approuvait la force départementale, que la Convention était opprimée, qu'elle ne délibérait que sous les fers des assassins, que ses meilleurs membres étaient obligés de fuir qu'il fallait tirer les bons députés que les maratistes tenaient dans les fers, et que la Convention n'était qu'une bande de scélérats.
                         ... et nés à Port-Malo:
CHAPELAIN Marie, couturière, 30 ans. — GARDIN Anne Helène, ex noble, 66 ans — LEBRETON Marie Jeanne, veuve Carmant, 68 ans, ex noble.
FOURNIER J. J. Julien, (dit Devarennes), major d’infanterie, 55 ans, ex chevalier de St Louis, ... et fédéraliste.
FOURNIER Adélaïde, femme de Lys, ex noble, 42 ans, ... ayant pris part à la rébellion des départements fédéralistes.

^ 1794 GRAVIER, Jean Joseph, ci-devant premier vicaire de Saint-Roche exécuté.
     Essayant désespérément d'échapper à la guillotine, M. Gravier ne cessait d'écrire : ses lettres, datées du "réfectoire de l'Abbaye", adressés à Guffroy, à David, à Vadier, à d'autres notoires jacobins, se suivaient de quinzaine en quinzaine, jusqu'à la veille de sa mort, et, chaque fois, hélas ! le malheureux tombait un peu plus bas dans une honteuse déchéance.
      Au début, il se contente de déplorer "son malheur d'avoir été prêtre" et d'énumérer ses services patriotiques depuis la prise de la Bastille jusqu'au 10 août; bientôt il laisse entendre qu'il est prêt à devenir un dénonciateur, "sa qualité d'ex-prêtre le mettant à même de donner des renseignements utils sur les dévôts" ; il va plus loin et ne craint pas de signaler, comme entretenant une correspondance suivie avec des fanatiques du dehors, un de ses compagnons de captivité, "Le plus aristocrate, le plus fanatique des vicaires de Saint-Roch"; est-ce de M. de Lamarre ou de M. Ledoux qu'il sagit? On peut le craindre. Sa dernière supplique, datée du 22 prairial (10 juin), est la plus triste de toutes: voyant que ses appels restent vains, il tente d'apitoyer le Comité de Sûreté générale en évoquant l'union coupable qu'il avait avec sa servante: " Lorsque je fus injustement et arbitrairement arrêté, j'étais à la veille d'épouser une fille pauvre, plus pauvre que moi, puisqu'elle était ma domestique; cette femme infortunée se trouve enceinte de huit mois et prête d'accoucher... Ainsi nous serons bientôt trois malheureuses victimes de l'indigence, de la misère..." Ne lui rendra-t-on pas la liberté "pour sauver de la mort l'enfant qui va naître ? "
      Rien n'y fera : le 2 messidor (20 juin), Gravier est exécuté avec MM. de Lamarre et Ledoux. Le soir même, l'huissier Mazurier se transporte au domicile des condamnés pour y apposer les scellés sur leur mobilier, devenu propriété de la Nation. La maitresse du premier vicaire, Reine-Louise Mausin, assiste à l'opération et prélève ses effets personnels; on lui laisse même un peu de linge "vu l'état de grossesse où elle est des œuvres de Gravier et dont elle est prête d'accoucher" . Le reste est saisi pour être vendu, et l'inventaire évoque ce qu'était le cadre de vie d'un prêtre parisien à cette époque: une chambre seulement, avec lit tendu de toile de Jouy, des fauteuils paillés, un bureau et une commode d'acajou à filets de cuivre et dessus de marbre blanc, une fontaine de grès et deux glaces de bois doré ornées de paniers de fleurs et de trophées de jardinage... Sur cette vision d'un intérieur coquet, très XVIII°, s'achève le pitoyable roman d'un malheureux apostat.

^ 1756 The victims of the Black Hole of Calcutta, suffocated
Le Nabab du Bengale, Cirage-oud-Daoulah, s'empare du quartier général de la Compagnie des Indes orientales de Fort William, à Calcutta, et fait cent quarante six prisonniers. Les hommes sont entassés dans un cachot de 7,3 m sur 5,5 m. Au matin suivant, seuls vingt-trois prisonniers survivaient. Ceci selon le témoignage douteux du principal survivant. Cela devint une légende pour justifier l'hégémonie anglaise aux Indes.
Une étude révisioniste en 1959, par un Indien, soutient qu'environ 64 hommes (69 au maximum) furent enfermés et que 21 s'en sortirent vivants.

1705 Michiel van Musscher, Dutch painter and printmaker born on 27 January 1645.
1597 Willem Barents, marino y explorador holandés.

^ 0840 Louis 1er ''le pieux'' ou ''le débonnaire'', 62 ans.
      Au moment de mourir à Ingelheim, près de Mayence, de chagrin et d'inanition, le roi murmure à propos de son fils rebelle, Louis le Germanique : "Je lui pardonne, mais dites-lui que Dieu, vengeur des pères, punit dans la colère les enfants rebelles."
     Reconnu officiellement '1er roi de France'' (contre roi des Francs pour ses prédécesseurs). Né en 778, il est le 3ème fils de Charlemagne et son seul héritier des dix-neuf enfants qu'il a eu avec ses neuf épouses successives. Louis est élevé à la dignité de roi d'Aquitaine en 781.
     Le 11 septembre 813, Charlemagne le fait sacrer à Aix-la-Chapelle, il règne alors associé à son père Charlemagne. Il devient empereur d'Occident à la mort de ce dernier en 814, et règne jusqu'en 833. En 817, il partage son empire en 3 sous-royaumes entre ses fils: Louis le Germanique reçoit la Bavière, Pépin II reçoit l'Aquitaine (''roi des Aquitains''), Lothaire 1er reçoit la couronne germanique, plus le royaume du Centre.
      En 823, naissance de son 4ème fils Charles (qui deviendra Charles le Chauve). D'une grande piété, Louis 1er se laissa manipuler par le clergé ainsi que par sa deuxième femme Judith, qui cherchait à augmenter l'héritage de son seul fils Charles. L'empire tomba alors dans de régulières guerres entre père et fils, et entre frères, toujours au sujet du partage de l'empire. Lothaire fut couronné en 823, Pépin mourut mais en laissant des héritiers, et Louis (le fils) fut vaincu par son père.
      En 829, Louis 1er veut modifier le partage effectué en 817. En 833, il sera déposé par ses fils qui l'enlèvent, puis restauré sur le trône en 835 par Louis le Germanique et Pépin II afin de contrebalançer le poids pris par Lothaire 1er.

[Ci-dessous: Enluminure: Louis le Pieux, emprisonné à Soissons, vole l'épée de son gardien endormi]

^ Births which occurred on a 20 June:

^ 1948 Le Deutschmark.
A la création d’un gouvernement fédéral pour les 3 zones occidentales de Berlin (Berlin-Ouest), on crée une monnaie "spécifique", le "Mark occidental", à la même parité que le mark allemand. C’est la suppression progressive d’une économie "dirigée" et la mise en place d’une organisation néo-libérale. Ce que ne peuvent accepter les communistes. Les Russes se retirent du Conseil de Contrôle de Berlin et à leur tour crée une monnaie, différente, pour Berlin-Est. La tension monte, le blocus de Berlin se profile. Jusqu'à l'Euro, le Mark allemand est la monnaie la plus forte d’Europe Occidentale. Elle gardait chez beaucoup plus de valeur que le dollar. Et c’est assez symptomatique de l’esprit allemand. Il faut savoir en effet que cette monnaie (en tant que système monétaire unifié) n’a pas 130 ans d’âge, contrairement à la plupart des monnaies occidentales qui ont voire 2 ou 3 siècles d’avance. La stabilité politique, le développement économique, l’aide du plan Marshall, le dynamisme des exportateurs, la confiance des investisseurs, la discipline allemande, l’action dynamique des responsables politico-économiques, le consensus social et le désir de prouver au monde que l’hiatus hitlérien est dépassé, tout cela explique le succès du mark.

1944 Central Intelligence Agency chartered by US Congress.
1943 National Congress of Racial Equality organizes
1940 José María Benet y Jornet, dramaturgo español
1928 Jean-Marie Le-Pen, France, leader extreme-right National Front party, anti-immigrant. He would win a surprise second place in the first round of the presidential elections on 21 April 2002, but loose overwhelmingly in the 05 May 2002 runoff to Chirac, who was reelected with 82% of the vote.
1924 Audie Murphy, the most decorated American soldier of World War II who went on to make movies and write a book about his war experiences called To Hell and Back.
1917 Helena Rasiowa, Polish mathematician who died on 09 August 1994. She worked in algebraic logic and the mathematical foundations of computer science.
1913 Juan de Borbón y Battenberg, hijo de Alfonso XIII y padre del rey Juan Carlos I de España.
1911 NAACP incorporates (NY)

^ 1905 Lillian Hellman, playwright and screenwriter, in New Orleans.
Hellman grew up shuttling between New Orleans and New York: Her parents spent six months of each year with family in each city. She studied at New York University and at Columbia, but did not take a degree from either college. She worked in New York in publishing and in Hollywood evaluating screenplays while she wrote her own material. In 1925, she married the playwright Arthur Kober but divorced him several years later. She traveled to Russia and civil-war-era Spain, and became a supporter of leftist causes.
In 1934, her first play, The Children's Hour, about children's lies regarding two schoolteachers, was published and became an immediate hit, running for 691 performances. Another big hit was The Little Foxes in 1939, about the manipulations of a ruthless family. Hellman had a long relationship and lived sporadically with hard-boiled mystery writer and former private eye Dashiell Hammett. Both their lives were shattered by Senator McCarthy's anticommunist campaign, though neither were communists. Hammett went to jail, and Hellman lost her home. After Hammett's release, he fell ill. She cared for him until his death in 1961. She wrote many more highly acclaimed plays, as well as screenplays and four books of memoirs. She taught at Harvard, MIT, and Berkeley, and died of a heart attack on Martha's Vineyard in 1989.

1899 Jean Moulin, French civil servant and hero of the Résistance during WW II. After studying law at Montpellier, Moulin entered the civil service. In 1930 he became the youngest subprefect (in charge of an arrondissement) and in 1937 the youngest prefect (of the Eure-et-Loir département) in all of France. When the Germans occupied his département in 1940, he refused to sign a document describing atrocities alleged to have been committed by the French army and tried to commit suicide. After being removed from his prefecture, he joined the Résistance and escaped to England. He returned to France in January 1942 as General Charles de Gaulle's delegate general for the unoccupied zone. He played a leading part in the organization of the Maquis (French guerrillas who fought the Germans) and in the development of the National Council of the Résistance, which coordinated all the noncommunist resistance groups in France and secured their loyalty to de Gaulle's Free French movement. Moulin became the first chairman of this council in May 1943. His organizational abilities and political skills made him a legendary figure. On 21 June 1943, however, the Gestapo arrested him at Caluire, near Lyon. Tortured in one prison after another, he died on 08 July 1943 in a train taking him to Germany.
1891 John Aloysius Costello, político irlandés.
1887 Kurt Schwitters, born in Hannover, German painter, sculptor, and writer, founder of the Merz Dadaist movement, who died on 08 January 1948 in England. — MORE ON SCHWITTERS AT ART “4” JUNE with links to images
1873 Alfred Loewy, German mathematician who died on 25 January 1935. He worked on linear groups, the algebraic theory of differential equations, and actuarial mathematics.
1869 Lucy Elizabeth Kemp-Welch, British painter specialized in horses, who died on 27 November 1958.
1861 Pedro Figari, Uruguayan artist who died on 24 June 1938.
1838 Theodor Reye, German mathematician who died on 02 July 1919. He worked in Geometry and Projective Geometry. A configuration of 12 points, 12 planes and 16 lines which he published in 1878 is named after him.
1833: Léon-Joseph-Florentin Bonnat, French painter, collector, and teacher, who died on 08 September 1922. — MORE ON BONNAT AT ART “4” JUNE with links to images.
1832 Léon Jean Bazile Perrault, French genre, portrait, and historical painter who died in 1908. — more with links to images.

^ 1819 Jakob Eberst, later famous as Jacques Offenbach, composer who created a type of light burlesque French comic opera known as the opérette, which became one of the most characteristic artistic products of the period. He died on 05 October 1880.
      His assumed name was not given to him because people looking for him often did not find him and were told: “Oh, you know Jacques: all the time he is off and back. Just wait a few minutes, he's bound to return soon”. The truth is that he was the son of a cantor at the Cologne Synagogue, Isaac Juda Eberst, who had been born at Offenbach am Main. The father was known as “Der Offenbacher,” and the composer was known only by his assumed name, Offenbach. Attracted by the more tolerant attitude in Paris to the Jews, Offenbach's father took him there in his youth, and in 1833 he was enrolled as a cello student at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1844, having been converted to Catholicism, he married Herminie d'Alcain, the daughter of a Spanish Carlist. In 1849, after playing the cello in the orchestra of the Opéra-Comique, he became conductor at the Théâtre Français.
      In 1855 he opened a theatre of his own, the Bouffes-Parisiens, which he directed until 1866 and where he gave many of his celebrated operettas, among them Orphée aux enfers (1858). He then produced operettas at Ems in Germany and an opéra-ballet in Vienna, Die Rheinnixen (1864). Returning in 1864 to Paris, he produced at the Variétés his successful operetta La Belle Hélène (1864). Other successes followed, including La Vie Parisienne (1866), La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867), and La Périchole (1868). From 1872 to 1876 he directed the Théâtre de la Gaîté, and in 1874 he produced there a revised version of Orphée aux enfers. Described then as an opéra-féerique (“a fairy-like opera”), this venture was a financial failure. In 1876 he made a tour of the United States. The remaining years of his life were devoted to composition.
      His only grand opera, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, remained unfinished at his death. It was orchestrated and provided with recitatives by Ernest Guiraud, who also introduced the famous barcarole taken from Die Rheinnixen. Described as an opéra-fantastique, it was first produced at the Opéra-Comique on 10 February 1881. Gaîté Parisienne, a suite of Offenbach's music arranged by Manuel Rosenthal, remains a popular orchestral work as well as ballet score.
      Offenbach is credited with writing in a fluent, elegant style and with a highly developed sense of both characterization and satire (particularly in his irreverent treatment of mythological subjects); he was called by Rossini [29 Feb 1792 – 13 Nov 1868] “our little Mozart of the Champs-Elysées.” Indeed, he was almost as prolific as Mozart [27 Jan 1756 – 05 Dec 1791]. He wrote more than 100 stage works, many of which, transcending topical associations, were maintained in the repertory of the 20th century.

— Plus connu sous le nom de Jacques Offenbach, le père de l’opérette est né à Cologne, en Allemagne.    ^top^
      Même s’il s’agit d’un genre dont il s’est progressivement détaché et qui n’est pas associé à ses plus grands succès, il en reste le créateur. La "Vie Parisienne", "La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein", la "Périchole", enchantent encore aujourd’hui les amateurs de musique légère. Mais les "Contes d’Hoffman" ou "Orphée aux enfers" qui ne sont pas des opérettes ont connu (et connaissent encore) un succès plus probant. Doué d’une étonnante invention mélodique, il sait rire et faire rire en musique car il observe et élabore, aidé de ses librettistes, des caricatures parfaites. Sa musique est divertissante mais elle réclame de ses interprètes une grande attention, car elle est difficile à restituer dans son authenticité.
      Pendant trop longtemps, elle fut l’apanage de " spécialistes " qui, vivant de traditions, portent de lourdes responsabilités dans la désaffection du public pour ce qui devenait un genre mineur et vieillissant. À l’occasion du centenaire de la mort d’Offenbach, un nouveau courant s’est dessiné, qui a remis en cause les traditions désuètes et les mutilations subies par ses ouvrages : la vieille passion du public français revit depuis lors.

1797 Mme Sophie Rude, French artist who died on 04 December 1867.
1793 Cotton gin patent applied for by Eli Whitney [08 Dec 1765 – 08 Jan 1825].
1775 Jacques Frédéric Français, French (it figures) military officer and mathematician who died on 09 March 1833, brother of François Joseph Français [07 Apr 1768 – 30 Oct 1810].
1723 Adam Ferguson, Scottish man of letters, philosopher, historian, and patriot who wrote Principles of Moral and Political Science. He died on 22 February 1816. — FERGUSON ONLINE: An Essay on the History of Civil Society.

^ 1688 James Francis Edward Stuart, "the Old Pretender", called James III of England and James VIII of Scotland by his supporters.
      He was born in London, son of the Catholic king James II [25 Oct 1633 – 16 Sep 1701] of England. At his birth it was widely and erroneously believed that he was an impostor who was slipped into the queen's bed in a warming pan in order to provide a successor to the Catholic king. When the Protestant ruler William of Orange, stadtholder of Holland, forced James II to flee on 23 December 1688, the infant prince was taken to France, where his father set up a court in exile.
      Upon the death of James II, the French king Louis XIV [05 Sep 1638 – 01 Sep 1715] proclaimed James king of England. James's adherence to Catholicism caused the English Parliament to pass a bill of attainder against him in 1701. In 1708 the Pretender set out in French ships to invade Scotland, but he was driven away by the British before he could land. He distinguished himself fighting in the French army in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). In 1714 he refused to accept suggestions by Robert Harley and Viscount Bolingbroke [26 Sep 1678 – 23 Dec 1751] that he renounce Catholicism and become an Anglican in order to be designated Queen Anne's heir to the throne of England.
      John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar, raised a Jacobite (pro-James) rebellion in Scotland in 1715, and the Pretender landed at Peterhead, Aberdeen, on 22 December 1715. By 10 February 1716, the uprising had collapsed and James had returned to France.He passed the remainder of his life in or near Rome. In 1719 James III married Maria Clementina Sobieska, a granddaughter of John III Sobieski [17 Aug 1629 – 17 Jun 1696] of Poland. They produced two sons, Charles Edward [31 Dec 1720 – 31 Jan 1788], called the Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charlie, and Henry Stuart [06 Mar 1725 – 13 Jul 1807], later the cardinal duke of York. Charles Edward precipitated one last, futile Jacobite rebellion in Britain in (Jul 1745 – Sep 1746).

1674 Nicholas Rowe, English poet laureate (Jane Shore, Tamerlane), who died on 06 December 1718. ROWE ONLINE: The Tragedy of Jane Shore (1714)
1615 Salvator Rosa, Italian painter, draftsman, etcher, poet, and actor. who died on 15 March 1673, specialized in Landscapes. — MORE ON ROSA AT ART “4” JUNE with links to images.

Holidays / Argentina : Flag Day / Senegal : Independence Day (1960) / West Virginia : Admission Day (1863)

Religious Observances RC : St Silverius, 58th pope [536-37], martyr / Santos Silverio, Pablo, Macario y Novato; santas Florentina y Ciriaca. / Saint Silvère — Désigné pape en 536 par le roi des Goths, il est déchu par un rival et meurt suite à de mauvais traitements.

Thoughts for the day:
“Take a lesson from the weather: It pays no attention to criticism.” [but don't rain on my parade and then call me a wet blanket]
“Love your enemy — it'll drive him nuts.”

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