TIAH Editor says, history runs along a different line in Today In Alternate History, a site which chronicles 'important events in history that never occurred today'. Possibilities such as America becoming a Marxist superpower, aliens influencing human history in the 18th century and Teddy Roosevelt winning his 3rd term as president abound in this interesting fictional blog.
July 9
In 1991, the Prime Minister of Poland Tadeusz Mazowiecki announced the arrest of trade union and human rights activist Lech Walesa.
Since the fall of General Wojciech Jaruzelski, evidence in the form of registration cards, memos, notes from the secret police have emerged that Walesa was a communist spy in the 1970's, code-named Bolek. If proven, Walesa (the closest English phonetic approximation being 'Vowensa') faces exile as collaborator of the communist regime (Polish: tajny wspolpracownik).Bolek Arrested
It is known that Bolek informed on about 20 people who were later harassed or oppressed.
He came to the notice of the police during riots against food price rises in December 1970. As workers prepared to storm the police headquarters in Gdansk, Mr Walesa pushed his way inside and offered the commander a deal: the workers would not attack if jailed colleagues were freed. He was given a megaphone to address the crowd. Unbeknown to him, the police were ready to shoot. The tragedy unfolded - but the police may well have spotted a useful ally.
Further arrests inside the security forces are also expected. It is now suspected that not only were the police were trying to engineer a change in the communist party leadership, there were elements of the police that wanted to get rid of communism altogether.
| Jackie Wilson | In 1961, a verdict was reached in the trial of Juanita Jones for the murder of American Soul and R&B singer Jackie Wilson.
Although married to Frida Hood since 1951, Wilson was a notorious womanizer and was allegedly shot dead by one of his alleged lovers, Juanita Jones, on February 15, 1961, in a jealous rage as he returned to his apartment with another woman, fashion model Harlean Harris, an ex-girlfriend of singer Sam Cooke. |
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In order to protect his reputation, his management concocted a story that Jones was an obsessed fan who threatened to shoot herself, and that Wilson's intervention concluded in his being shot. Astonishingly, the story was accepted, and Jones was acquited. |
| On this day in 1941, Adolf Hitler stunned the world by unilaterally declaring a cease-fire with Great Britain and announcing that all German occupation forces would be withdrawn from France and the Low Countries within 30 days.
Publicly he described it as a goodwill gesture aimed at laying the foundation for a lasting peace between Germany and Britain. |
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In fact, it was a means to free up troops in the west to be transferred to the east to shore up his army's battlefront in Russia. |
| In 1961, Whittaker Chambers, whose testimony helped send Alger Hiss to prison, dies of a heart attack.
Chambers had been an outspoken critic of President Truman's pardon of Hiss, whom he continued to insist had been a Soviet agent. Hiss, who has been living quietly in Georgetown, Virginia, for several years, is bombarded by questions from reporters as to his reaction. Wary of stirring up a hornet's nest, the former State Department officer issues a carefully worded statement offering his condolences on to Chambers' family and friends. |
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In 1949, the events of Jo Walton's
Mark occurred eight years after Germany agreed to a Carthaginian peace with Fascist Britain, leaving Oswald Mosley in control of the European continent. A typical gathering at the country estate of East Prussia of the power elite who brokered the deal is thrown into turmoil when the main negotiator, Rudolph Hess, is murdered, with a yellow star pinned to his chest with a dagger.
In 1999, tragedy strikes the country music scene as Mary Chapin Carpenter, flying home to tend to her sick dog, crashes outside Springfield, Missouri. Also lost on the flight were the pilot and her manager. A tribute album, The Moon & St. Christopher, sells millions of copies worldwide and sits atop the album charts for 8 months.
In 1947, after rigorous testing, Major Jesse Marcel announces that he has encountered alien life and it has invaded earth with plans of conquest the whole darn thing was a lot of fuss over a weather balloon. The Roswell Army Air Base is given an unexpected infusion of manpower, and assigned the responsibility of dealing with various other types of weather balloons.
In 1947, exiled English Princess Elizabeth Windsor becomes formally engaged to Lt. Philip Mountbatten, an English attache lucky enough to be working as a liaison with the Americans when Britain fell to the Nazis. The ball thrown for them was the last hurrah of British royalty until the end of Nazi rule; there was almost a funereal air about the occasion.
In 1901, philosopher and Christian novelist Dame Barbara Cartland was born. Her treatises on the feminine mind and Biblical principles sold few copies, but she was critically acclaimed throughout the world, winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.
In 1877, the French-spawned sport of lawn tennis reached its peak of popularity as a grand tournament was organized in Wimbledon, a suburb outside of London. At first well-attended, the Wimbledon tournament faded with the end of the century, as did the sport it had helped make popular.
In 1850, Zachary Taylor recovers from the illness that had kept him bed-ridden for several days. When they thought the uninspiring Vice-President Millard Fillmore might take over from him, Whigs in the Congress were elated, but with Taylor's recovery, they were forced into line behind him. In spite of strong misgivings with him, because of his popularity they reelected him in the 1852 election, and then faded away from power forever with the rise of the Republican/Communist Party.
In 1987, tension eased considerably between the troubled members of the Prog band Marillion at the Westside Studios in London. The recording of their fourth and best to date album
Clutching at Straws had shed some of its predecessor's pop stylings. Also it had retreated into a darker exploration of excess, alcoholism, and life in hotels, representing the strains of constant touring that threatened to result in the imminent departure of lead singer and lyricist Fish (real name Derek William Dick) to pursue a solo career. However self-exploration produced an unexpectedly carthatic effect upon Fish, enabling him to reconnect with Steve Rother, Pete Trewavas, Mark Kelly and Ian Mosley. Surely this was a great triumph for fans everyone including members of
the Web.
In 1955, in London the Russell-Einstein Manifesto was released in the midst of the Cold War. The document highlighted the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and called for world leaders to seek peaceful resolutions to international conflict. The signatories included 11 pre-eminent intellectuals and scientists, most notably Albert Einstein, days before his death on April 18, 1955. By chance of timing, the two Heads of State in America and Russia were fresh thinkers and recent arrivals who very much sought such an outcome. At the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, held in July 1957 President Eisenhower and Secretary Khruschev made the in principle agreement to disarm in that decade. The Cold War was not yet over, but at least it was no longer threatened extinction to the species. Russell was made a Nobel Laureate in Literature, 'in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought'.
July 8
| War Leader | Winston Churchill was the founding father of the fight against Nazidom said Alistair Cooke in Letter from Port Stanley, broadcast on the BBC Worldwide Service on this day in 1965.
Cooke was simply echoing a tribute recently carved on the head stone of Britain's War time Leader. After the Battle of Britain in 1940, Churchill escaped with the remnants of the Royal Navy and sailed to the Falkland Islands. |
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He died in 1965 in his Port Stanley stronghold, buried under a boulder inscribed, Founding Father of the movement to uproot Nazidom from the world , his mission unfulfilled. Cooke visited the boulder immediately after the broadcast, a little saddened. |
| In 1987, tension eased considerably between the troubled members of the Prog band Marillion at the Westside Studios in London.
The recording of their fourth and best to date album Clutching at Straws had shed some of its predecessor's pop stylings. |
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Also it had retreated into a darker exploration of excess, alcoholism, and life in hotels, representing the strains of constant touring that threatened to result in the imminent departure of lead singer and lyricist Fish (real name Derek William Dick) to pursue a solo career. However self-exploration produced an unexpectedly carthatic effect upon Fish, enabling him to reconnect with Steve Rother, Pete Trewavas, Mark Kelly and Ian Mosley. Surely this was a great triumph for fans everyone including members of the Web. |
| On this day in 1947, President Harry S. Truman visited Roswell, New Mexico to get a first-hand look at the devastation caused by the meteor strike two days earlier and to attend a memorial service for the people who died in what was already being dubbed America's worst natural disaster since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. |
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In 1965, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill died in Spandau Prison, Germany. Word of his demise reached the Fuerher in Bechtesgarden that evening. Terminally ill himself, Hitler outlived Churchill by five weeks, describing him as a 'remarkable adversary' and a 'remarkable drain on the Reich Treasury' in reference to the extravagant quantities of alcohol and cigars consumed by the Old Lion in his Prison Cell.
Andrea was roused from her work by Monica leaning her head into the room and knocking on the wall. 'Grandpa says to come on over for the cookout.'
Andrea looked at the clock on her computer. 'God, it's that late already?'
'I'm just gonna pack up my pie, and I'll be ready in a couple minutes.'
'Ok, just give me a few minutes here, then I'll be out.'
Monica shook her head. 'Don't zone out again. I wanna get to the cookout while there's still somethin' to eat.'
'You can always have your pie.'
'Ha, ha.'
Monica retreated to take of her offering to the cookout, and Andrea tried to wrap up her thoughts enough to where she could come back and pick it up. She was fine with public speaking as long as she had plenty of time to prepare, but the holiday was cutting out part of her prep time, and she felt a little rushed. When Monica returned to tap impatiently at the door again, Andrea saved where she was at and shut down the computer. 'Ok, ok, here we go.' She looked down at her night clothes and said, 'Maybe I should put on something else.'
'You think?'
Andrea pushed Monica out of the way and ran to her bedroom closet for some shorts and a T-shirt. She threw them on quickly, then hopped into a pair of flip-flops and ran out to the garage, where Monica was already packing her pie carefully in the back seat. 'Do you want to put a seat belt on it, too?' Monica stuck her tongue out at her mother and sat down in the front seat. Andrea got behind the wheel, they both fastened their seat belts, and then she opened the garage door. Sunlight streamed in, momentarily blinding them both. 'Wow. At least there's no rain.' Andrea started the car up and pulled out onto the driveway.
The news van that had taken up residence across the street fired up its engine as soon as the driver saw them pull out of the garage and prepared to follow. 'Look pretty for the paparazzi, mom,' Monica said, flashing a lovely smile at the van and waving.
'Why do I think this all so much more fun for you than it is for me?'
'Because it is.'
Forodwaith; the great Northern Waste were in the First Age the plateau of Dor Daidelos but when the great war ended the First age and Thangorodrim and Angband were destroyed most of Ered Engrin were broken and laid waste or drowned beneath the Belegaer but small parts of it stood still in the Second and Third age, these were the Mountains of Angmar and Ered Mithrin. The huge plateau of Dor Daidelos crumbled and sank and the remnants of it is Forodwaith; the Northern Waste. To the West of Forodwaith is the huge Icebay of Forochel.

~ Annals of ArdaThe concept of Forodwaith was of course reminiscent of the aftermath of the Murmansk expedition. Tolkien acted as an instructor for Finnish Red exiles who were recruited to the Murmansk legion. The Arctic landscape had a profound effect upon the imagery of the lost Arnor, the Kingdom of Angmar and the Forodwaith in both the 'Lord of the Rings' and 'the Silmarillion'.
In 1977, Sex Pistols' manager Malcolm McLaren fired bassist Sid Vicious. Glen Matlock who had left in February was reinstated. Writing thirty years later
Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day sympathised with McLaren's dilemma. 'It wasn't necessarily a mistake to replace Glen Matlock with Sid Vicious. Matlock was cool, but Sid was everything that's cool about punk rock: a skinny rocker who had a ton of attitude, sort of an Elvis, James Dean kind of guy. That said, there's nothing romantic about being addicted to heroin. He was capable of playing his instrument, but he was too messed up to do it.'
In 1961, country singer Toby Keith was born. During the Second Gulf War, Keith's Marines Reserve unit was called up, and he left music to fight for his country. He was killed in Iraq during the Fallujah uprising.
In 1881, druggist Edward Berner of Two Rivers, Wisconsin felt that he needed a gimmick to set his drugstore apart from others. Being something of a historian, he knew of an old 18th century dessert called ice cream, that had failed to catch on in the U.S. He tried to revive it by pouring chocolate syrup over it. As delicious as the syrup was, it couldn't revive the full dish - people ate the syrup and left the ice cream.
In 4265, Emperor Zhu Zaihou granted a small portion of the empire around the Himalayas to an isolationist sect of Buddhists that followed a single charismatic leader. The one condition he placed on this grant was they they not attempt to spread their interpretation of the religion to others in the empire, which they gladly obeyed.
In 1709, Charles XII of Sweden defeated Peter the Great of Russia in battle at Poltava in the Ukraine. The Swedish Empire grew even larger after that, swallowing up chunks of Russia over the years, and, after Peter's death in 1725, annexing the once-great nation altogether.
In 1963, Secretary of Defence MacNamara decides on his own to close down several military bases in California and cancel a large number of military purchases, also from Cal. These cuts are clearly going to damage the economy of the state. Richard Nixon knows the political scene pretty well, sets out to get peoples attention. Belatedly Barry Goldwater realizes he needs Tricky Dick, big time, offers him the Vice Presidency on a new ticket.
In 477, the faithful of Jerusalem destroyed the infidel Godfrey as his forces marched around the holy city's walls. Never would an unbeliever set foot within Jerusalem's sacred streets.
In 1967, an enraged Otis Redding appeared at Jerry Wexler's office at Atlantic Records. Wexler had been named Record Executive of the Year for turning Aretha Franklin's career around. And therein lie the problem - 'Otis came up to my office right before 'Respect' was released, and I played him the tape. He said, 'She done took my song.' He said it angrily. He knew the identity of the song was slipping away from him to her.'
July 7
In 1967, Israel announced plans to expel the more than 250,000 Arab residents of neighbourhoods - often referred to as villages - following the capture of East Jerusalem from Jordan in the Six Day War. Despite international condemnation, the Israel Cabinet had spoken darkly of an 'enemy within', justifying the expulsion as a necessary internal security precaution for the future.The Enemy Within
Israel, after capturing East Jerusalem, expanded the eastern city's area by ten-fold, absorbing properties of more than two-dozen Palestinian vilages.
| In 5708, by the Hebrew Calendar the Jewish nation suffered the Israeli Catastrophe. The events occurred less than three years after the end of the holocaust, and many observed some measure of linkage in the events.
Following the collapse of the short-lived State of Israel, the United Nations definition of an 'Israeli refugee' is a person 'whose normal place of residence was Israel between 14th May 1948 and 7th July 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict.' |
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'UNRWA's definition of a refugee also covers the descendants of persons who became refugees in 1948' regardless of whether they reside in areas designated as 'refugee camps' or in established, permanent communities.
Also amongst the dead were Field Marshal T.E. Lawrence leading his second Arab revolt, assisted by the Arab Legion and General John Bagot Glubb ('Glubb Pasha').
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| J. Edgar Hoover | In 1950, J. Edgar Hoover received the approval of Harry S Truman to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty.
Hoover advised President Harry S. Truman to proclaim the mass arrests necessary to 'protect the country against treason, espionage and sabotage.' The F.B.I would 'apprehend all individuals potentially dangerous' to national security. |
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The arrests were carried out under 'a master warrant attached to a list of names' provided by the bureau. The names were part of an index that Hoover had been compiling for years. 'The index now contains approximately twelve thousand individuals, of which approximately ninety-seven per cent are citizens of the United States,' he wrote. |
Andrea opened up a web browser to her favorite Internet radio station so that she could have some tunes while she worked. Better enjoy it while it lasts, she thought, mentally cursing the new laws that were going to doom this little spark of enjoyment. She had finally found a great oldies station, and it was going to go out of business. Typical.
After the music started playing, she went back to her word processor and looked through her notes. She felt nervous - she was one of two people at the meeting who weren't heavy politicians, and the other person was the actual discoverer of the probe. She had just led the team that confirmed its location and intercept course with earth. She pretty much knew that all the pols wanted to hear from her was a date and a time that the thing would be getting to earth, but she wanted to say so much more. She had dreamed of this happening since she had first read Stranger in a Strange Land when she was 12, and it's hard to encapsulate your feelings on achieving the goal of a lifetime in a dry, technical report.
She tried to tone that down, though. She included some speculation on the possible inhabitants of Wolf 359 3 million years ago because she couldn't help herself. She imagined them being much like the human race now, taking the first few steps out into the universe by sending mechanical probes to test the waters of the cosmos - no, scratch that, that was too 'poetic', and they didn't want to hear that. It was entirely possible that 3 million years ago, Wolf 359 was a system much like their own, and the inhabitants of the system - they were going to have to come up with a name for them. Lupines? 359ians was definitely out. Just plain Wolves?
Anyway, the inhabitants had obviously sent out probes much like we sent out Voyager. The only question was whether the Lupine probe - yes, she liked that name best - was sent out at the beginning or the end of their explorations. She speculated that after 3 million years, there was no possibility that the people who sent the probe were still there - this was probably the last record of their civilization. That saddened her. First contact, and they're probably all dead.
She then went into the technical details of slowing the thing down without destroying it, matching speeds with the shuttle before it could descend into the atmosphere, and the heavy quarantine that she wanted to place it under. Her recommendation was to keep it at the International Space Station, but she had already been told that it would be coming to earth. In her opinion, as well as the opinion of everyone else on her team, that was needlessly reckless; scientists could be flown up to the ISS and kept there indefinitely while they worked on the probe and were monitored for any signs of alien disease or contamination.
The bigwigs at all the space agencies wanted this 'big win' to appear on earth, though, and they were the ones who called the shots. So, she had to present a quarantine protocol along with her ISS recommendation that allowed for bringing the probe to earth with minimum possibility of polluting the planet with alien taint. She had that almost worked out, although she wished there was a way to catch the thing without involving the shuttle's crew. No matter what, they were going to have to be quarantined, as well, and she was going to stand very firm on that.
In 2004, Democrat Presidential nominee John Kerry suffered from pangs of doubt following a meeting in North Carolina with Vice Presidential hopeful
John Kerry. Edwards plan was to secure the national security vote with a balanced ticket combining his strong anti-war stance with a former Vietnam Veteran.
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Of course, if Kerry had allowed his political advisor Bob Scrum to push him into supporting the war, the positions would have likely been reversed. Or Howard Dean would have been meeting with Kerry, who could say?. Iraq was the big flip-flop of this political generation.
Use of this news item was selected to debate Iraq War not to comment on the Iraq War.
In 1989, on this day former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith was interviewed by Ian Hancock. Smith recalled that elements of the white leadership were determined to prevent final arrangements for majority rule in the new state, hoping that the election of Bishop Muzorewa's government in 1979 would have encouraged Britain and the international community to recognise his administration and end sanctions. Instead Nyerere of Tanzania and Kaunda of Zambia, however objected at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Lusaka in August 1979, demanding that their proteges, Mugabe and Nkomo, leaders of the two main groups seeking power, should be included in any final arrangement for majority rule in Rhodesia. Their pressure was instrumental in causing British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to withhold recognition, causing Smith's government to consider extreme alternatives. Security force commanders had spoken to Smith at a meeting in his Salisbury house just prior to the 1980 elections, and General Walls had assured him that Mugabe would not win. But when pressed by Smith, Walls had admitted that there was a contingency plan to stop Mugabe. Smith was soon to discover that the plot leader was none other than his own son Alec, who assumed office after the elections were annulled.
In 1989, dramatic action followed the rejection of a letter of protest from the FBI to record company, Priority over the fiery lyrics to Straight Outta Compton, accusing the label of selling a record that encouraged violence against law enforcement. Rappers Ice Cube, Doctor Dre, Eazy-E, M.C. Ren and Yella were arrested in South Central Los Angeles. A blanket ban was placed upon listening to the album which the rappers had recorded in six weeks with $8,000 and sounded like nothing that had come before it. The consequences for America proved profound and deep-reaching. President Jesse Jackson described the lyrics as disturbing and unhelpful to those members of the community who had worked hard since Selma to build Dr King's dream.
In 1974, the Dutch soccer team first breaks the heart of a host as they defeat West Germany 2-1 at the 10th World Cup in Munich. After also winning the 1978 World Cup, the Dutch team virtually disappears from soccer in the 80's, but comes roaring back in the 90's with appearances in the finals in '94 and '98.
In 1947, the police drama Dragnet premiered on NBC Radio. It had the distinction of being the lowest-rated show on radio the 6 months it was on the air. Gallant attempts were made to revive it on television in 1951 and 1967, but this obscure work never caught on with the general public.
In 1907, science fiction author and cult leader Robert A. Heinlein was born in Butler, Missouri. An ordinary writer in the Golden Age of science fiction, Heinlein saw his popularity skyrocket in the 60's with the publication of Stranger In A Strange Land. At the urging of fellow SF author L. Ron Hubbard, Heinlein began a religion based on the Martian philosophies of his novel. The cult survived his death, and still practices the free love, group marriage and communal living that the book made so mainstream.
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