Today in History

[LizzieMaine]

Back to baseball: Today in 1947 Jackie Robinson began play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, thus ending racial segregation in MLB.* What a difficult time for him that was. He made the Hall of Fame in 1962 and died in 1972. He was only 53 years old.
________
*Well, at least it was the beginning of the end of segregation in MLB.

Robinson was added to the Dodger roster on April 10th thru the purchase of his contract from the Montreal Royals, but it wasn't the biggest baseball story of the moment: the sports press was distracted by Commissioner A. B. Chandler's decision to suspend Brooklyn manager Leo Durocher for the entire 1947 season due to his association with gamblers -- and, off the record, to satisfy the Catholic Youth Organization of Brooklyn and its threats to boycott baseball over Leo's sleazy "love pirate" activities with actress Laraine Day.

Dodger president Branch Rickey chose this precise moment to bring Robinson up to the big club specifically so that attention would be deflected from the race angle -- with the press still flaming brightly over the Durocher crisis, he hoped that little notice would be paid to Robinson, giving him a chance to get acclimatized to the major leagues without reporters pestering him. It worked, to a point -- the front page of the Brooklyn Eagle for April 11th shows no mention of Robinson, although there are several stories on the Durocher situation, including a big photo of a Knot Hole League dinner disrupted by chants of "BRING LEO BACK!" The only mention of Robinson in the entire paper is a one-column story on the first page of the sports section -- a page dominated by Durocher news -- headed "ROBBY MAKES DEBUT WITH DODGERS TODAY." The racial significance of that debut is seriously underplayed -- there is only one sentence in the entire story referring to it, with the rest of the piece discussing the various strategic moves that will result from Robinson's addition to the lineup, starting with the last games of a pre-season exhibition series against the Yankees.

Rickey wanted this kind of soft-pedaled coverage, as did Robinson himself, insisting that Robinson be viewed as just another player on the club and not a racial crusader or pioneer, and most of the coverage in the white press during the 1947 followed that line. The notable exception was the Daily Worker, which had crusaded for years for the desegregation of baseball, and which followed the racial angle of Robinson's presence in the league as closely as any African-American paper did.

 

[Peacoat]

Today in 1961 John Lee Hooker played at Gerde’s Folk City in the West Village (part Greenwich Village). But that was fairly unremarkable. Also unremarkable at the time was his opening act. Young Bob Zimmerman, who had arrived in the City a few months earlier, had his first NYC gig. Thus began a remarkable career for Bob, who had taken the name of Bob Dylan (from Dylan Thomas). The rest, as they say, is history.

 

[scotrace]

And April 11, 1945, US troops liberated Buchenwald concentration camp. Fifteen years later, April 11, 1961, the trial of Adolf Eichmann, major architect of the Holocaust, began in Jerusalem.

 

[Peacoat]

And April 11, 1945, US troops liberated Buchenwald concentration camp. Fifteen years later, April 11, 1961, the trial of Adolf Eichmann, major architect of the Holocaust, began in Jerusalem.

And the back story of Eichmann's trial is interesting.

Eichmann was captured by the US Army after Germany's defeat, but escaped from a detention camp. He moved around Germany evading his pursuers, and ended up in a small town in Lower Saxony. He lived there until 1950, when he felt the pressure of the pursuers. He then moved to Argentina, traveling on false documents.

Around 1959 Mossad (Israeli intelligence) began receiving information on Eichmann's location in Argentina. His location was confirmed in 1960, and a team of Mossad and Shin Betagents (Israeli internal security service) captured Eichmann and took him to Israel to stand trial on 15 criminal charges.* To the surprise of no one, he was convicted and hanged on June 1, 1962.
______
*Eichmann didn't deny the charges. His defense was that he was merely following orders in a totalitarian state.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"I will leap into my grave laughing because the feeling that I have five million enemies of the Reich on my conscience are for me a source of extraordinary satisfaction."
-- Adolf Eichmann, 1945.

He got off easy.

 

[Edward]

Back to a more pleasant topic: This date in 1963, Sir Winston Churchill became the first honorary US citizen. Since then there have been seven honorary citizenships awarded, all but one being awarded posthumously. That was Mother Teresa in 1986.

Fro some reason I'd always assumed he had US citizenship via his mother anyhow, but then I guess his parents may have chosen not to register him (especially if it had the same tax implications then as now).

I think neither of them truly did justice to Fitzgerald's story, but I liked the general aesthetic of Leo's version

I could pick a flaw or two in the more recent one, but overall I found it very close to my ideal - shockingly so, as I don't rate Baz Luhrmann at all. I hated the Redford version primarily because of Redford himself - I've yet to see him in anything in which I didn't find him creepy and slimy. I had long said as soon as I knew the more recent version was on the cards that DiCaprio would be my pick for Gatsby, alongside Maguire for Nick Carraway, so I was over the moon with that cast. I particularly enjoyed the framing device they invented for this one, actually. Though one of the best interpretations I've seen remains the stage Gatz, performed over seven hours with dialogue consisting solely of the complete and unabridged text of the novel.

*Eichmann didn't deny the charges. His defense was that he was merely following orders in a totalitarian state.

Doomed to failure, of course, after Nuremberg, but about the only option he had really, given it was as near to a foregone conclusion as it's possible to get with a fair trial as opposed to a show trial.

Eichmann's trial was, if anything, most important for the fact that it brought the true horror of the Holocaust (which wasn't widely called the Holocaust in popular awareness until 61/62) to the wider public attention, especially in the US, for the first time. American television producer Milton Fruchtman fought for and won the rights to record the trial and broadcast daily highlights on television to 37 countries around the world. This was the first time that the general global public saw much of the footage or had the chance to see and hear directly from witnesses and survivors. There was a very good BBC film about it a few years ago, called The Eichmann Show, with Martin Freeman in the lead.

 

[Peacoat]

"I will leap into my grave laughing because the feeling that I have five million enemies of the Reich on my conscience are for me a source of extraordinary satisfaction."
-- Adolf Eichmann, 1945.

He got off easy.

And why were they enemies of the Reich? Not by their choosing.

While the above quote is the worst of a bad lot, he also said in the 1960/1961 time frame:
"To sum it all up, I must say that I regret nothing." While awaiting trial in Israel in 1960.
"Regret is something for little children." During cross examination at his trial in Israel, July, 1961.

And just before his execution in Jerusalem June 1, 1962: "I greet my wife, my family and my friends. I am ready. We'll meet again soon, as is the fate of all men. I die believing in God." Did he now?

Yes, LizzieMaine, he got off easy.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Edward R. Murrow of CBS visited Buchenwald on April 12, 1945. He was the first reporter to visit the camp after liberation. Four days later he delivered this report:

 

[Peacoat]

Wow. Thanks for finding and posting.

 

[Fading Fast]

And, yet, there are still deniers.

 

[GHT]

Cecil Kimber was born in London on 12th April 1888, to Henry Kimber, a printing engineer and his wife Fanny. After attending Stockport Grammar School he joined his father's company and took an early interest in motor cycles buying a Rex model, but after an accident on a friend's machine that severely damaged his right leg he took to cars and in 1913 bought a 10 hp Singer. This interest caused him to leave the family firm in 1914 and get a job with Sheffield-Simplex as assistant to the chief designer. During World War 1 he moved first to AC Cars and then to component supplier EG Wrigley. He made a large personal financial investment in Wrigleys but he lost this when the company lost heavily on a deal with Angus-Sanderson for whom he had styled their radiator. Wrigley had also been a major supplier to Morris Motors Limited and was bought by W R Morris in 1923 and presumably with the help of contacts, Kimber got a job in 1921 as Sales manager with Morris Garages, also Morris's personal property —he founded it in 1909— and the Morris agency in Oxford.

While there he developed a range of special bodies for Morris cars eventually leading in 1928 to the founding of MG as a separate marque specialising in sports cars. The new company moved from Oxford to Abingdon in 1929 and Kimber became managing director in July 1930. The main shareholder remained William Morris himself and in 1935 he formally sold M.G. to Morris Motors which meant Kimber was no longer in sole control and had to take instructions from head office leading to him becoming increasingly disillusioned with his role.

With the outbreak of World War II, car production stopped and at first MG was reduced to making basic items for the armed forces until Kimber obtained contract work on aircraft but this was done without first obtaining approval and he was asked to resign and left in 1941.

Cecil Kimber.

The first ever MG car, it's known as: Old Number One.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

On this day in 1861, the American civil war began.

On this day in 1961, the 27 year old, Yuri Gagarin ( Ю́рий Алексе́евич Гага́рин,) beame the first human being to voyage in space. (technically, we're all in space, everything in the universe is in space so let us say he went beyond the confines of the earth's atmosphere. Everyone happy with that ?)

On this day in 1954, Bill Haley & his Comets, recorded 'Rock Around The Clock,' ....
Oh go on then.....I know you wanna hear it now.

 

[Edward]

I'd say that, technically, Yuri Gargarin was the first human to successfully return from space. There were several other, brave young cosmonauts whose lives were sacrificed by taking on risks NASA wouldn't in order to be the first to claim a man in space. I seem o recall thiswas considered a conspiracy theory until a few years ago when papers comig out of Russiaseemed to confirm it. Also, I recal reading about someone in American who had long claimed to have been able to pick up young on radio and terrified cosmonauts' last fe living moments as they died on reentry. Horrific thought.

 

[Fading Fast]

I'd say that, technically, Yuri Gargarin was the first human to successfully return from space. There were several other, brave young cosmonauts whose lives were sacrificed by taking on risks NASA wouldn't in order to be the first to claim a man in space. I seem o recall thiswas considered a conspiracy theory until a few years ago when papers comig out of Russiaseemed to confirm it. Also, I recal reading about someone in American who had long claimed to have been able to pick up young on radio and terrified cosmonauts' last fe living moments as they died on reentry. Horrific thought.

I did not realize that was confirmed or, at least, given some credibility with, I assume, supporting documentation. I remember hearing it when it was a conspiracy theory, but missed that it was - possibly - proven.

 

[Edward]

I did not realize that was confirmed or, at least, given some credibility with, I assume, supporting documentation. I remember hearing it when it was a conspiracy theory, but missed that it was - possibly - proven.

I wish I could remember where I saw it, but the evidence seemed pretty close to BARD if not exactly there. I think they'd certsinly win in civil court, mind.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That would be the "Judica-Cordiglia Brothers," a couple of Italian kids who claimed in the early 1960s to have made recordings of broadcasts by pre-Gagarin manned space flights. There are a lot of inconsistencies with those tapes, though, suggesting they were actually created by non-native Russian speakers who were not familiar with Soviet military communication protocols or the technical specifications of the Vostok spacecraft. Interestingly, none of these recordings were publicized until after Gagarin's mission -- they might have been more convincing had they been made public before that flight.

The Soviets are positively confirmed to have launched at least two unmanned Vostok capsules before Gagarin went up, which broadcast tape loops for testing ground-to-capsule communication systems, and these may have been picked up by amateur radio operators, helping to start some of the stories going around. There are also claims that a pre-Gagarian pilot made a successful orbit, but a foulup with his navigation system caused him to land his capsule in Chinese territory -- obviously not something the Soviets of 1960-61 would have cared to publicize. But the pilot who supposedly flew this mission, one Vladimir Ilyushin, went to his grave a few years ago denying the story.

Besides, everybody knows that Ham The Chimp was the first hominid in space, and nobody can top that achievement.

 

[Peacoat]

Ham's formal name was #65. His handlers called him Chop Chop Chang, or something similar. He didn't receive the name of Ham until his return from space as the PTB didn't want him named in case something untoward happened to him.

I have read somewhere that the mission so traumatized him he wouldn't go near a space capsule again. And it only lasted a little over 16 minutes. He received a bruised nose during the flight.

Ham lived for 26 years and is buried at the International Space Hall of Fame.

 

[GHT]

On April 13, 1970, disaster strikes 200,000 miles from Earth when oxygen tank No. 2 blows up on Apollo 13, the third manned lunar landing mission. Astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise had left Earth two days before for the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon but were forced to turn their attention to simply making it home alive.

Mission commander Lovell reported to mission control on Earth: “Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” and it was discovered that the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water had been disrupted. The landing mission was aborted, and the astronauts and controllers on Earth scrambled to come up with emergency procedures. The crippled spacecraft continued to the moon, circled it, and began a long, cold journey back to Earth.

The astronauts and mission control were faced with enormous logistical problems in stabilizing the spacecraft and its air supply, and providing enough energy to the damaged fuel cells to allow successful reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. Navigation was another problem, and Apollo 13‘s course was repeatedly corrected with dramatic and untested maneuvers. On April 17, with the world anxiously watching, tragedy turned to triumph as the Apollo 13 astronauts touched down safely in the Pacific Ocean.

 

[Woodtroll]

On April 13, 1970, disaster strikes 200,000 miles from Earth when oxygen tank No. 2 blows up on Apollo 13, the third manned lunar landing mission. Astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise had left Earth two days before for the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon but were forced to turn their attention to simply making it home alive.

Mission commander Lovell reported to mission control on Earth: “Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” and it was discovered that the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water had been disrupted. The landing mission was aborted, and the astronauts and controllers on Earth scrambled to come up with emergency procedures. The crippled spacecraft continued to the moon, circled it, and began a long, cold journey back to Earth.

The astronauts and mission control were faced with enormous logistical problems in stabilizing the spacecraft and its air supply, and providing enough energy to the damaged fuel cells to allow successful reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. Navigation was another problem, and Apollo 13‘s course was repeatedly corrected with dramatic and untested maneuvers. On April 17, with the world anxiously watching, tragedy turned to triumph as the Apollo 13 astronauts touched down safely in the Pacific Ocean.

Very nice summary, well done sir!

 

[scotrace]

April 14, 1865, Ford's Theater. President Lincoln is shot.