January 17th is a significant date for a surprising number of events...
1893
The Kingdom of Hawaìi was overthrown by a contingent of US citizens with intimidation support from 162 US Marines and sailors, heavily armed and ostensibly "neutral" and in place to quell any violence that may have occurred.
The insurrection, led by Lorrin Thurston, the Hawaiian-born son of American missionaries, deposed the last Hawaiian queen, Lili`uokalani, who abdicated under protest of the loss of property, which she spent years into the 20th Century protesting and taking actions in Court including suing the United States Government under the Fifth Amendment, all of which efforts were rebuffed.
The goal of the overthrow had been the US annexation of Hawaìi as a territory, but President Cleveland commissioned a committee to investigate the incident, which concluded the action was illegal. Noted the POTUS: ""Substantial wrong has thus been done which a due regard for our national character as well as the rights of the injured people requires we should endeavor to repair the monarchy." Cleveland further stated in his 1893 State of the Union Address that, "Upon the facts developed it seemed to me the only honorable course for our Government to pursue was to undo the wrong that had been done by those representing us and to restore as far as practicable the status existing at the time of our forcible intervention." (--Wiki)
The US finally annexed Hawaìi under the Administration of William McKinley, in 1898.
(.....Yet some here actually think Hawaìi was annexed by Kenya)
1949
The first sitcom to feature on US television, "The Goldbergs", made its debut, having enjoyed a successful run of popularity on radio for seventeen years. Beginning as a 15-minute serial comedy about a Jewish family in the Bronx and developed and authored entirely by Gertrude Berg, only Amos 'n' Andy had a longer run on radio. As television it would run seven more years.
Berg played Molly Goldberg and her foil (husband) was played by Philip Loeb -- until he was blacklisted in 1951, having been labeled "communist" by the infamous publication Red Channels. General Foods threatened to drop the show as a sponsor unless Loeb was fired. Berg, to her everlasting credit, refused. General Foods then did drop the show citing dissatisfaction with ratings, even though those ratings were high, and the CBS Television Network -- the same network that would three years later broadcast the Edward R. Murrow exposé on Joe McCarthy --- dropped the show from its schedule (it was then picked up by NBC).
Loeb, like others on the infamous black list, could not get work and finally in 1955 killed himself.
1961
35-year-old Patrice Lumumba, leader of a nationalist movement that won independence for Congo from its colonial power Belgium and Prime Minister of the new country for all of three months, was assassinated by firing squad orchestrated by Belgium and the United States.
Lumumba's government had been deposed three months after independence by a military coup led by Joseph Mobutu with aid from Belgium. Under arrest he was brutally tortured before the execution; after it his body was chopped up with hacksaws and disintegrated in sulfuric acid.
It seems to have stemmed from the communism witch hunt of the time:
.... And finally, last but certainly not least, Benjamin Franklin is 310 years old today. No wonder he's losing his hair.
Also James Earl Jones is 85 and Muhammad Ali is 74 today.
And special note for Gracie her biggest fan ----- Betty White is 94 today.
1893
The Kingdom of Hawaìi was overthrown by a contingent of US citizens with intimidation support from 162 US Marines and sailors, heavily armed and ostensibly "neutral" and in place to quell any violence that may have occurred.
The insurrection, led by Lorrin Thurston, the Hawaiian-born son of American missionaries, deposed the last Hawaiian queen, Lili`uokalani, who abdicated under protest of the loss of property, which she spent years into the 20th Century protesting and taking actions in Court including suing the United States Government under the Fifth Amendment, all of which efforts were rebuffed.
The goal of the overthrow had been the US annexation of Hawaìi as a territory, but President Cleveland commissioned a committee to investigate the incident, which concluded the action was illegal. Noted the POTUS: ""Substantial wrong has thus been done which a due regard for our national character as well as the rights of the injured people requires we should endeavor to repair the monarchy." Cleveland further stated in his 1893 State of the Union Address that, "Upon the facts developed it seemed to me the only honorable course for our Government to pursue was to undo the wrong that had been done by those representing us and to restore as far as practicable the status existing at the time of our forcible intervention." (--Wiki)
The US finally annexed Hawaìi under the Administration of William McKinley, in 1898.
(.....Yet some here actually think Hawaìi was annexed by Kenya)
1949
The first sitcom to feature on US television, "The Goldbergs", made its debut, having enjoyed a successful run of popularity on radio for seventeen years. Beginning as a 15-minute serial comedy about a Jewish family in the Bronx and developed and authored entirely by Gertrude Berg, only Amos 'n' Andy had a longer run on radio. As television it would run seven more years.
Berg played Molly Goldberg and her foil (husband) was played by Philip Loeb -- until he was blacklisted in 1951, having been labeled "communist" by the infamous publication Red Channels. General Foods threatened to drop the show as a sponsor unless Loeb was fired. Berg, to her everlasting credit, refused. General Foods then did drop the show citing dissatisfaction with ratings, even though those ratings were high, and the CBS Television Network -- the same network that would three years later broadcast the Edward R. Murrow exposé on Joe McCarthy --- dropped the show from its schedule (it was then picked up by NBC).
Loeb, like others on the infamous black list, could not get work and finally in 1955 killed himself.
1961
35-year-old Patrice Lumumba, leader of a nationalist movement that won independence for Congo from its colonial power Belgium and Prime Minister of the new country for all of three months, was assassinated by firing squad orchestrated by Belgium and the United States.
Lumumba's government had been deposed three months after independence by a military coup led by Joseph Mobutu with aid from Belgium. Under arrest he was brutally tortured before the execution; after it his body was chopped up with hacksaws and disintegrated in sulfuric acid.
It seems to have stemmed from the communism witch hunt of the time:
>> Both Belgium and the US were clearly influenced in their unfavourable stance towards Lumumba by the Cold War. He seemed to gravitate towards the Soviet Union, although according to the opinion of Sean Kelly this was not because he was a Communist, but the USSR was the only place he could find support for his country's effort to rid itself of colonial rule, although this opinion is disputed by US government officials.[30] The US was the first country from which Lumumba requested help.[31] Lumumba, for his part, not only denied being a Communist, but said he found colonialism and Communism to be equally deplorable, and professed his personal preference for neutrality between the East and West.[32]
<< (Wiki)
>> The report of 2001 by the Belgian Commission mentions that there had been previous U.S. and Belgian plots to kill Lumumba. Among them was a Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored attempt to poison him, which may have come on orders from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.[41]
<< (op. cit.) ---- no doubt the influence of the Dulles Brothers.
On the same day in the same year, speaking of Eisenhower, Ike went on national television with his farewell address in which he warned the nation of, in the now-famous phrase, the "Military Industrial Complex":<< (Wiki)
>> The report of 2001 by the Belgian Commission mentions that there had been previous U.S. and Belgian plots to kill Lumumba. Among them was a Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored attempt to poison him, which may have come on orders from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.[41]
<< (op. cit.) ---- no doubt the influence of the Dulles Brothers.
"Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together." (full speech here)
Interestingly Ike's original draft called it the "military-industrial-congressional complex" and the latter body was excised. Also interestingly, while he recognized the poisonous influence, he never mentioned the Dulles Brothers that were directly responsible for getting the US mired in so much of it, from Iran to Latin America to, after Ike was gone, Vietnam.This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together." (full speech here)
.... And finally, last but certainly not least, Benjamin Franklin is 310 years old today. No wonder he's losing his hair.
Also James Earl Jones is 85 and Muhammad Ali is 74 today.
And special note for Gracie her biggest fan ----- Betty White is 94 today.
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