#OnThisDay, June 19, 1964, having survived a 60-day filibuster, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed the US Senate, a milestone in the struggle to extend civil, political, and legal rights and protections to African Americans and to end segregation (depicted in All The Way, 2016)
#OnThisDay, June 17, in 1972, five burglars connected to senior figures in the Nixon administration were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee, in the Watergate complex of buildings in Washington, D.C. (depicted in All the President’s Men, 1976)
#OnThisDay, June 16, in 1931, Al Capone pleaded guilty to income tax evasion & 5,000 prohibition violations in a trial at the Chicago Federal Building (depicted in The Untouchables, 1987)
#OnThisDay, June 15, in 1215, overseen by a council of barons, King John of England put his seal to Magna Carta, a cornerstone of the idea of the liberty of citizens (depicted in Ironclad, 2011)
Berthe Mayer was born #OnThisDay in 1913. During the #SecondWorldWar she was a radio operator for #SOE, and provided Allied forces with intelligence about Vichy forces on #Madagascar.
#OnThisDay, June 9, 1954 was the turning point for Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist crusade, when Army counsel Joseph Welch asked him, “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” (depicted in Tail Gunner Joe, 1977)
Reinhard #Heydrich, one of the architects of the #holocaust, died #OnThisDay in 1942, from wounds inflicted by Czech SOE agents during an ambush some days earlier.
Reinhard #Heydrich, one of the architects of the #holocaust, died #OnThisDay in 1942, from wounds inflicted by Czech SOE agents during an ambush some days earlier.
#OnThisDay, May 29, 1953, mountaineers Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the 29,035-foot summit of Mount Everest (depicted in Hillary, "Everest" s01e03, 2018)
#OnThisDay, May 28, 1863, the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment left Boston with fanfare to fight in the U.S. Civil War (depicted in Glory, 1989)
#OnThisDay, May 16, 1568, Mary, Queen of Scots fled to England seeking the protection of her first cousin once removed, Queen Elizabeth I (depicted in Mary Queen of Scots, 2018)
Today is the 38th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster.
I can recommend Serhii Plokhy's masterpiece 'Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy' for a deep and compelling examination of the events of that fateful day.
He explores the background leading up to the meltdown, the consequences - both for Ukrainian people and the fate of the USSR - and the effects on the people involved.
Eight years later, on April 21, 1934, the Daily Mail newspaper printed a photograph purportedly of the Loch Ness Monster. The photograph was later revealed as a hoax, but still a fascinating creature.
How to tie these completely unrelated events together numismatically? Here is a 20c coin from #Australia, 2020, featuring Queen Elizabeth II and another unusual (but real) creature, the Platypus on the obverse.
The RMS Titanic set sail on its maiden, and only, voyage on April 10, 1912, hitting an iceberg at 23:40 on the 14th and sinking at 2:20 AM on the 15th. 2012 was the centenary of this event so no less than 41 legal tender coins were issue (though none circulating). This is not one of them, alas, but a cheap copy, I assume is intended to be based on the Canadian 50c
“It is not a romantic Tale that the Reader is here presented with, but a real History. Not the Adventures of a Robinson Crusoe, a Colonel Jack, or a Moll Flanders, but the Actions of the HIGHLAND ROGUE…”
Rob Roy MacGregor was baptised #OnThisDay, 7 March, 1671. Walter Scott’s novel made the #Scottish#outlaw internationally famous – & created the model for today’s roguish antiheroes
Today in 1915, 109 years ago: the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was created in the United States. It is the predecessor organization of the US space agency, NASA.
#OnThisDay in #History - in 1327, a young king Edward III of #England celebrates his coronation in Westminster Abbey. His father, Edward II, had celebrated his own coronation there in 1308. Edward II hadn't yet died when his son was coronated, and he hadn't willingly abdicated - the elder king had been overthrown by his wife, Isabella, and a small army of French mercenaries.
As king, the boy overthrew his mother's regency and was exceedingly popular in his lifetime. #otd#histodons@histodons
#OnThisDay in #history - in 1846, the Bridge Wars between Juneautown and Kilbourntown ended with the building of 3 bridges across the #Milwaukee River and a city charter combining the two towns into the larger city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The reason today why the road grids on either side of the river in #MKE don't match up (all bridges across the river have to go at an angle) stems from these two towns vying for precedence (and fighting. With cannons.) #OTD#histodons#USA@histodons
#OnThisDay in #history - in 1649, Charles I of #England#Scotland and #Ireland was executed just outside the Banqueting House, London. It was a chilly day and he wore an extra shirt so he wouldn't shiver (worried the gathered people would think he was afraid instead of cold). The axe man took his head in one blow.
Unpopular as an adult, Charles was never meant to be king - he only was 11 when his older brother Henry died, making Charles the heir rather than the spare. #OTD#histodons@histodons