In 1804, on this day Alexander Hamilton survived the duel at Weehawken with his life intact, but not his reputation which was in tatters. A reversal of Jeff Provine's Alexander Hamilton Survives Duel post.

Alexander Hamilton Survives Duel, ReduxBecause Colonel Burr was the challenger, the rules of the code duello required General Hamilton to choose the weapons. He selected a pair of highly decorated pistols owned by his wealthy brother-in-law, John Church [1]. The significance of that choice was that Church had shot a button off Burr's coat during a 1799 duel. And two years later, his eldest son Philip had been shot dead during a duel defending his father's honor, just yards away from the same secluded spot at Weehawken. The pistols were used on both occasions.

It was this terrible memory that drove Hamilton to instruct his second Nathaniel Pendleton to set the hair trigger that caused the good Colonel to accidentally shoot himself dead [2]. Unaware of the setting, he had believed the weapon required twenty pounds of pressure to fire, but of course the hair trigger reduced that to just one pound. The consequence was Burr's death and Hamilton's survival but the ill feeling of the duel followed both parties back from New Jersey. Of course Hamilton claimed that he had never intended to fire a shot at Burr, and his intentions entirely were honourable, but New York Society condemned him for misconduct. The prevailing view was that at best he had hoped Burr would misfire and thus save Hamilton's life. A local ditty simply read

O Hamilton, O Hamilton, what has thou done?
Thou had shooted dead great Burr
With a great hoss pistol

In 1968, on this fateful day on this day in New York City, the musical group Brothers Gibb (aka Bee Gees, pictured) began recording Odessa their sixth (and final) studio album.

The Bee Gee Permanently SplitBecause cracks had already begun to show within the group and with the release of ths - their most commercially successful - album, the Bee Gees concept (and certainly its latest manifestation in progressive rock) had obviously run its course.

Like other lead vocalists in sibling bands of that era, Barry Gibb was free to focus on what was arguably a far more rewarding solo career. And yet ironically, his career only entered a truly golden phase when he teamed up with Barbara Streisand to record the spell-binding album Guilty. Streisand had been co-starring with Louis Armstrong in Hello Dolly as the Bee Gees split up, and at the time even as she was singing "Tomorrow will be brighter than the good old days" almost no one could have possibly imagined the potential fusion of their two golden voices[1].

In 1783, indifferent sailor Horatio Nelson cut his losses, declaring his intention to resign his Royal Navy commission and stand for Parliament in a letter dated this day and addressed to his former commanding officer and mentor Captain William Locker.
This post is an article from the Midshipman George Washington thread.

Midshipman George Washington #6As the Captain of the Frigate HMS Albemarle, he had led a largely unsuccessful mission to the Caribbean which left him and his crew deeply out of pocket. Nevertheless, he had escaped any form of direct criticism and because his reputation was intact he was able to enter the court entourage of Admiral Samuel Hood. Influenced by the factional politics of the time, he contemplated standing for Parliament as a supporter of William Pitt, and after a few months of frustration, was fortunate to find a safe seat.

Within six months, Pitt the Younger was invited by the King to serve as the First Minister. Although he departed just two years later, he would return and serve continously for seventeen years. This period neatly overlapped two crises of vital strategic interest to the British Government. He would call upon Nelson as an able Minister to meet head-on the dual challenges from North America and France.

In the United Provinces, General Bendict Arnold had refused to relinquish supreme authority. And the Continental Army was refusing to disband until unpaid wages were settled in full by the Continental Congress. The outcome of this standoff was that Arnold not only seized power and ruled as a tyrant, but he turned his troops on the Congress and emulated Cromwell's control of the Long Parliament.

The emergence of this militaristic dictatorship was a shocking development to the intelligentsia in France. Certainly the rising force of Republicanism was sharply checked. And as the future of the Bourbon Family tottered in the balance, the British Government had to make a difficult choice. Ironically, the decision was taken by another charismatic military leader, a young officer by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte; his order to give the Parisian mob a "whiff of grapeshot" settled the matter.

In 1938, covertly funded by the money of the British Conservatives, and restrained by the good sense of his friend the German Emigré Joachim Ribbentrop, Adrien Arcand founded the unified Canadian pro-fascist party in Kingston, Ontario. This so-called "National Unity Party of Canada" was born of the fusion of his Parti National Social Chrétien with the Prairie Provinces' Canadian Nationalist Party and Ontario's Nationalist Party, which itself grew out of the Toronto Swastika Clubs of the early thirties.

Canadian FührerDespite the Canadian pro-fascists lack of seniority as an associate member of the Axis Alliance, they had used Ribbentrop's remarkable communication skills to exert a tremendous influence on Nazi thought. One premium channel of communication was Queen Wallis with whom Ribbentrop had been secretly conducting a long-running sordid affair.

This oddest assortment of cuckholds and anti-semites convinced King Edward to broker the historic visit to Mansion House which enabled Adolf Hitler to fully grasp the British art of Dominion Government. Under their adapted model of Anglo-German fascist imperialism, Arcand would rule as Governor General until his demise in 1967.

In 1804, on this day Alexander Hamilton survived the duel at Weehawken.

Alexander Hamilton Survives Duel On July 11, General Alexander Hamilton (former Secretary of the Treasury) and Colonel Aaron Burr (current Vice-President) met for a duel to settle their long-standing and ever-growing hatred for one another. Hamilton was leader of the Federalist Party and mastermind of politics and had recently given support to the opposing Morgan Lewis specifically to make Burr lose his bid for Governor of New York. Burr had been dropped from Jefferson's ticket in the 1804 election and had planned to secure more local political action, but now he only had rage against Hamilton.

In the duel (which took place secretly on the Heights of Weehawken across the Hudson River from Manhattan as dueling was illegal), Hamilton shot to miss, wasting his powder to show courage but not malice in taking an aimed shot. Burr, however, shot and wounded Hamilton, nearly fatally. While Hamilton healed from a shattered rib (the bullet had struck along the side of his torso), Burr would flee for South Carolina to avoid charges of attempted murder. Though Burr would fulfill his year as Vice-President, his career in politics was over. His only further political actions would be rumored treasonous as he began illegal settlements in Mexican Texas, perhaps in hope of starting a war. While the actions were decried at the time, American expansionism in the West would eventually prove Burr a man ahead of his time.

Hamilton continued working to wrest power from the "dangerous" Democratic-Republicans he feared would turn the United States into a mob of rabble. Jefferson won his second term in 1804, and his protege and Father of the Constitution James Madison would take the election of 1808. In 1812, the political climate would changed. Europe was embroiled in the Napoleonic Wars, which threatened to drag in the US as well with English as well as French naval ships plundering American vessels and "impressing" sailors into service.

War Hawks called for a campaign against Britain and even an invasion of Canada in the spirit of expansionism (which many thought would be easily done with local support; Jefferson said it was a "mere matter of marching"). President Madison set an ultimatum that both France and Britain recognize their neutrality or face war. France sent communications (eventually proven misleading) that they would, and Congress very nearly declared war on Britain but for the political finagling of Hamilton. Without his war and the growing political discontent, Madison would lose the 1812 election to DeWitt Clinton of New York, the first Federalist president in twelve years.

Clinton called for a strengthening of America's infrastructure, building roads that would lead to and aid in the later Indian Wars. As a member of the Erie Canal Commission, which others would see through with his assistance. Further, and perhaps most importantly, Clinton set to solve the problems of international quarrels by improving the navy of the United States beyond Jefferson's pocket-boat defense. Now a force to be reckoned with, Britain and France would recognize American neutrality, and after the defeat of Napoleon, a war-beleaguered Britain would sign the Treaty of Ghent with America, solving the issues that could have started a war only two years before.

The Federalist Party would continue to challenge the Democratic-Republicans, though both would agree on the Monroe Bill (named after Senator Monroe of Virginia) that the US would not abide European interference in the Western Hemisphere. As the Spanish Empire collapsed to the south, Americans welcomed the growing Republicanism and used its fleet to dissuade Europe from further colonization. America itself would assure dominance with the Mexican War in 1846, but be true to Monroe's word in 1861 by aiding Mexico in overcoming the French and Spanish invasion by Maximilian (which also relieved growing tension on the question of slavery, later to be solved by the 1867 Emancipation Proclamation, promising ample government compensation to any owner willing to free his slaves).

Pushing West and now south, American expansionism turned to annexing turbulent Latin American nations in the latter half of the nineteenth century. While accusations of "empire" were made and perhaps deserved, America grew powerful in the Western Hemisphere and increasingly Hispanic in background, creating a vivid diversity that would supply ample raw materials and labor for an Industrial Age. As the Cold War raged with the Soviet Union in the next century, America would see many of its states and territories fighting for their own independence fueled by Communist insurgents, igniting a Civil War over the question of states' rights.

In 1956, the Republic of Nicaragua unveiled the Walker Monument, commemorating the one-hundredth anniversary of the inauguration of American-born Gen. William Walker as the country's president.

Republic of Nicaragua unveiled the Walker Monument by Eric LippsWalker, a so-called "filibuster," had led a small army of U.S. Volunteers into battle on the side of the "Democratico'" faction in Nicaragua's ongoing civil war. After seizing a steamer belonging to Cornelius Vanderbilt's Accessory Transit Company, part of a commercial transport operation involving the transfer of passengers and freight across the Central American isthmus through Nicaragua by rail and river, Walker was able to take and hold the capital, Granada. Walker accepted aid in the form of money, guns and free transport to Nicaragua for volunteers for his army from two ACT corporate officers in return for his promise to aid them in their plans to seize control of the company from Vanderbilt.

Unfortunately for the conspirators' plans, Walker double-crossed them. Fearing that Vanderbilt, who was known to have influence within the governments of several of Nicaragua's neighbors, would use that influence to undermine him, he secretly reached an accommodation with the businessman in which he would temporarily hinder the Transit Company, which at that time had passed from Vanderbilt's hands, to force its share price down in order to allow the industrialist to regain a controlling share of its stock cheaply. Thereafter, Vanderbilt would help finance a full-scale trans-isthmian canal across Nicaragua, a project which had been talked about for years by shipping interests from several nations.

It would prove to be a fateful choice on Walker's part. Led by Costa Rica, a coalition of Central American states attempted to force the "Yanqui invader" and his supporters from power, motivated by fears that Walker planned to annex Nicaragua to the United States as had happened to the former Mexican state of Texas a decade earlier. Lacking Vanderbilt's support--and with his agents in fact actively promoting dissension among them--the so-called "Allies" would prove unable to overthrow Walker, and when the incoming administration of U.S. President James Buchanan warned that continued efforts to do so would be answered with American military action, the effort fell apart.

Ironically, one reason for the strong U.S. support of Walker would prove to be less than it seemed. On Sept. 22, 1856, President Walker had promulgated the so-called "Slavery Decree" repealing Nicaragua's then 18-year-old prohibition of slavery. Many Southerners, including powerful congressmen and Buchanan's vice-president, Jefferson Davis, saw this as a sign that slavery would be fully reestablished there. Walker, however, who had been raised in a strongly anti-slavery household, had issued the decree simply to attract Southern political and economic support, and found a series of excuses not to follow up with the enabling act which would have actually established slavery. Foreigners were permitted to bring in slaves of their own, but Nicaraguan citizens could neither own slaves nor be owned. When the reality of this compromise was perceived, many Southerners who had been enthusiastic Walker backers turned on him.

Soon enough, however, such people would have other matters to occupy their attention. The outbreak of the U.S. Civil War in early 1861 would absorb American attention for the following four years, allowing Walker to consolidate his power. As the fortunes of the Confederacy waned after mid-1863, however, increasing numbers of slaveowners from the CSA and slave states of the Union began emigrating to Nicaragua. The emigration continued from the defeated South during reconstruction, despite the fact that these latter-day refugees were not permitted to acquire slaves in their new country: as a practical matter, black and native American Nicaraguans often lived in what amounted to slavery anyway.

In 1867, Vanderbilt would approach Walker with detailed plans for his proposed Nicaraguan canal. Unlike the passage through Colombia's Panama province favored by some engineers, a canal through Nicaragua could be built entirely at sea level, sharply reducing the need for pumps and locks and thereby the project's cost. (A limited system of such controls would still be necessary due to the fact that the Pacific sea level is approximately 20 centimeters higher than the corresponding level on the Atlantic side of the isthmus, due to differing wind and heating of the ocean.) Walker, sensing the potential for Nicaragua's--and his own--enrichment, agreed to the plan, and construction began early in 1868.

It would prove to be a formidable undertaking. The Nicaraguan Canal would not open until July 1888, after encountering tremendous problems including a devastating outbreak of yellow fever among the workers building it. Walker himself would contract malaria on a visit to the project in 1870.

William Walker would remain president of Nicaragua for the remainder of his life, and despite recurrent episodes of malaria would live until October 1, 1893. Shortly before his death, he finally bowed to mounting pressure from the U.S. and other nations and rescinded his infamous Slavery Decree.

In 1917, on this day the use of a chemical agent known as "Yellow King" by the German army in the trenches at Ypres results in numerous deaths as well as the first cases of "walking dead" resuscitated by the strange properties of the gas.

The Court of the Yellow King by Michael SmithSeveral months later the first super-humans begin to appear on the battlefields as well, altered in unusual manner by exposure to the noxious gas.

The armistice ends with a re-drawn political map and the formation of the League of Nations, which institutes a league of super-humans to help enforce its polices, these teams are formed of veterans of the Great War opposed to future conflicts like the one which nearly destroyed Europe. Their secondary purpose is to contain the restless dead who still run free in devastated Europe.

In 1804, upon confirmation that President Alexander Hamilton has died of the wounds he sustained in his duel with Aaron Burr, Chief Justice John Marshall of the Supreme Court swears in Vice-President Thomas Jefferson as the acting President of the United States.Death of Hamilton
Partisans of the late President are offended by what they see as a 'perversion' of the succession process. They demand that in light of the manner of Hamilton's death, essentially by assassination, Jefferson, like John Adams before him, decline to be considered as a candidate for permanent elevation to the presidency. Jefferson, however, refuses. "If Congress decline to appoint me, so be it," he declares. "But I shall not remove myself from consideration before that consideration has even begun. The Constitution doers not require it; it places no stricture upon the vice-president seeking the higher office, even should his predecessor's demise be other than natural. Common decency does not require it; to say otherwise is to suggest that I somehow bear responsibility for the President's death. And the welfare of the country does not require it; there is no reason to believe myself less able to fulfill the duties of the office than some other upon whom Congress might settle".
Hamiltonians are not mollified, and there are calls for a new constitutional amendment to bar an acting President from seeking permanent election.

In 1917, use of a chemical agent known as "Yellow King" by the German army in the trenches at Ypres results in numerous deaths as well as the first cases of "walking dead" resuscitated by the strange properties of the gas.

New World OrderSeveral months later the first super-humans begin to appear on the battlefields as well, altered in unusual manner by exposure to the noxious gas.

The armistice ends with a re-drawn political map and the formation of the League of Nations, which institutes a league of super-humans to help enforce its polices, these teams are formed of veterans of the Great War opposed to future conflicts like the one which nearly destroyed Europe. Their secondary purpose is to contain the restless dead who still run free in devastated Europe.

NYC Department	In 1961, opening arguments were heard in the case of two New York City Department of Corrections officers who'd been suspended without pay six months earlier after being accused of using excessive force in disciplining an inmate who was serving time at Rikers Island for stealing fuel supplies after the Jamaica Bay hurricane.
of Corrections

The case, State of New York vs. Goren & Stabler, would end up becoming one of the biggest criminal cases in the city's history, opening up what one New York Post writer described as "a huge can of worms" within the DOC and sparking a decade-long effort to reform New York's prison system.

In 1961, on this day New York City mayor John Lindsay visited Washington, D.C. to debrief Congress on the progress of his administration's post-Jamaica Bay Hurricane recovery efforts.	Write-in Candidate
	John Lindsay

Lindsay spent much of his time in the nation's capital in conference with Arizona senator Barry Goldwater, stirring up rumors Goldwater might be seeking Lindsay's endorsement for a possible future presidential run.

Republican Guard Forces	On this day in 2002, three Iraqi Republican Guard troops were court-martialed and executed for refusing to fire on civilians during an anti-Saddam rally in Kirkuk.
Command insignia

	On this day in 1968, the Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union.
Ukranian Flag

On this day in 2004 Michael Moore dismissed Ann Coulter's challenge for a one-on-one debate about the accuracy of his film Bowling For Columbine, saying it was beneath his dignity to argue with who he called "a shrew with a rag mop where her hair should be".
	Ann Coulter

Greg Valentine	On this day in 1982, Ken Patera defeated Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine in a loser-leaves-town match on WCW; Valentine signed with the WWF the next day.
The Hammer

In 2017, the Quarai, human and Pr't'(whistle)ian passengers of the Pokor find themselves back in the Amandara system, causing the Quarai to burst into celebration. The humans are also quite happy, until the Pr't'(whistle)ian scientists tell them the bad news - "Unfortunately, we are only able to recover the last origination point in the machine's memory. We have not been able to decipher how it works beyond that". Captain Mawrao of the Pokor tells Commander Patterson, "Hey, no worries. We got you back home ? we figure out the rest, later". Mawrao invites the Pr't'(whistle)ian scientists to Amandara 14 for what promises to be a very large party. Since the machine has to recharge a few days before it can be activated again, the scientists agree, and the Pokor heads back home, transmitting a joyous message ahead that they have the alien device partially figured out. The humans withdraw back to the Eagle to warm up and discuss their own feelings. Commander Patterson tells her crew, "This at least gives us hope that the machine keeps some memory of where it's been. I think we're a step closer to home". Most of the crew is similarly hopeful, except for their computer specialist, Najib Kasem. "A lot of different activities can purge memory," he says. "Who knows if the Starwalkers even cared about anything more than the last place they'd been? Maybe they never thought you'd make more than one jump before going home". Kasem's pessimism doesn't spread to the rest of the crew, though, and most of them filter out to celebrate in the homecoming party that the Pokor's crew is having. Kasem goes down to the cargo bay to work on the device some more.

In 1990, Comrade Governor Winston Payne of the Idaho Soviet announces that he is resigning from the Communist Party, and joining the fledgling People's Party of the Northwest. Both the national Communist and Socialist parties denounce his move, with Comrade President Ann Richards saying, "If this so-called 'People's Party' actually represented the people, they would be able to elect officials, not steal them from the national parties that actually do represent the will of the people". Comrade Richards' hostile attitude towards the People's Party is sometimes listed as one of the root causes that led to their uprising at the end of the century and the formation of the People's Republic of the Northwest, a dark chapter in the history of the Soviet States of America.

In 1984, Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice-President Walter Mondale makes history by naming a woman - and a black woman, at that - as his own vice-presidential running mate. Barbara Jordan, one of the most eloquent members of Congress during the Watergate hearings, although bound to a wheelchair by her multiple sclerosis, gave a fiery speech on justice and core Democratic values that ignited the Mondale campaign and launched them into the White House, where she served with honor and distinction as one of the finest vice-presidents in the nation's history.	VP Nominee
	Barbara Jordan

Although party activists begged her to run in the top spot herself in 1992, her failing health made her decline the offer, and she retired from politics to teach, briefly, at the University of Texas in Austin, until her death in 1996.

In 1947, reporters from around the country arrive in Roswell, New Mexico, and begin trampling around the Brazel ranch, spooking the cattle. Mac and his sons corral most of them and act as tour guides, just to keep them from disturbing their herd any more. The Brazels show off the spot where they found the debris and bodies, and hole where they buried all of the wreckage at first. The boys off-handedly mention that the stuff didn't look like a flying saucer to them, which piques the interest of a reporter from Dallas. This man, John Wilhite, leaves the ranch and drives into town to speak with Dr. Powell about little Bessie Brazel's condition. After a long talk with the good doctor, Wilhite then approaches the Air Force base and requests a meeting with Major Marcel.

	On this day in 2016, Jerry Bruckheimer's second CSI movie officially cleared the 400 million USD mark at the box office.
Jerry Bruckenheimer

On, this day in 1981, Terry Funk accepted Tommy Rich's challenge to a no-holds-barred match for the NWA world heavyweight title on August 15th in Charlotte, North Carolina. The no time limit, no DQ bout was to be the main event of a special televised card billed by NWA promoters as 'the Great American Bash'.
	Terry Funk

After Monica put the pie down, she went off to hang out with some of her cousins, and Andrea wandered over to the soft drinks. The reporter caught up with her and offered her one. 'Thanks,' she said. 'I hope this assignment hasn't been too boring for you.'
'Let's just say I'm glad you haven't thrown any punches at me,' he said, smiling a perfect smile with perfect teeth. The slight afternoon breeze didn't so much as stir one hair on the helmet of his coiffure. 'I've been through a lot worse assignments. Very few people I've covered have invited me to a 4th of July cookout.'
'Well, we're neighborly folks.' She sipped at her soda and looked him over. In spite of how much attention he obviously paid to his looks, he wasn't supernaturally handsome, but he was OK. She thought he might be more attractive if he didn't use so much hairspray; of course, the hair might be a wig. She caught herself staring a little too hard at it and said, 'You know, I'm really not going to do anything very newsworthy until the actual committee meeting on Monday. If you want to go tell your bosses that, you might be able to get somebody a little more worth your time.'
'I think you're very much worth my time,' the reporter said, flashing that smile again. Boy, is he full of himself, she thought, mentally rolling her eyes. 'You're working on something that's the most historic event in human history. Historians are going to want to know what you were doing every minute before the probe was brought in. And right now, you're my exclusive.'
She shrugged. 'OK. Just remember that I told you you could get a better assignment.' She turned to look at her Aunt Hettie, who walked over and smiled at the two of them.
'Is this your new young man, Andi?' Aunt Hettie extended a hand out to the reporter. 'Hettie Lowery. I'm Andi's aunt, on her mother's side.'
The reporter shook her hand and introduced himself. 'Gary Lance. Pleased to meet you, Ms. Lowery, but I'm actually covering Doctor Ross for the news.'
'Oh, really?' Aunt Hettie adjusted her hair and hat to make herself more presentable. 'Is there a camera around?'
'I believe my cameraman is over there with the food right now,' Lance said, pointing at the table with the largest crowd of people. 'But, we'll probably need some shots of Doctor Ross's family later on.' He leaned over and whispered, 'We'll let you know.'
'You do that,' she said, smiling broadly and waving her hand at him. She kissed Andrea on the cheek and whispered in her ear, 'He's all right, for a white boy. Better-looking than Monica's father.'
'Aunt Hettie,' Andrea said reproachfully, even though she had to agree. Vince had been possessed of a lot of good qualities, but dashing good looks weren't among them. Not that the reporter was Brad Pitt, but...
'Well, I'm going off to see Millie and them,' Aunt Hettie said. 'Pleased to meet you, Gary.' She extended her hand again, and Lance shook it gently.
As Aunt Hettie walked off, Lance asked, 'So, do you have a 'new young man', as she said?' His smile turned a little smirky. 'I hate to be all gossipy, but I'm sure the historians will want to know.'
Andrea looked ruefully after her aunt. 'Hettie is the kind of relative who's always trying to matchmake. But, no, I don't have a 'young man' at the moment. My daughter's father and I divorced about three years ago, and I don't really have the time to date much.' She thought she detected a little glimmer of something in his eye when she said that, but didn't think about it too much.
'That's too bad. You're an attractive woman; obviously highly intelligent; not to mention very polite. You're a real catch.' He grinned at her over his soda. 'And that's not even adding in the whole discovering-alien-probe thing.'
'I didn't discover it,' she said, almost automatically. She'd been saying that quite a few times the last few weeks. 'I just led the team that confirmed it.'
'Modest, too.'
'I don't like to take credit that rightfully belongs to others. There's plenty to go around here.'

Senator	In 1976, the Democratic National Convention opens in Madison Square Garden, New York City. After a hard-fought primary season, it is expected that Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts will be nominated for president. There is an air of tension about the proceedings. There are rumors that followers of Senator Henry Jackson, Rep. Morris K. Udall, and minor candidate Gov. Jimmy Carter of Georgia may pool their votes and make a deal with some delegates nominally pledged to Kennedy to deny him a first-ballot victory and open the convention.
Edward Kennedy

In 1690, the Long seige of Dublin begins on this day. Meanwhile the Jacobites in Scotland are continuing the fight. The Siege will end in failure for the Williamite Army. [continued from July 1st 1690]

On this day in 1941, Adolf Hitler said that he was granting political asylum to former Vichy French leader Pierre Laval, who had fled to Germany within hours after the Fuhrer announced his impending withdrawal of German troops from France.

In 1982, Steven Spielberg showed that he wasn't always a wunderkind as his latest film, ET the Extraterrestrial, tanked at the box office. Dismissed by critics as sappy and predictable, audiences just were not able to emotionally connect with a character that was essentially played by a puppet.

In 1937, famed blaxploitation star Bill Cosby was born in Philadelphia. After getting his break in the 60's spy show I Spy, Cosby went on to star in such black action films as Shaft. He defined the role of black action hero that later actors Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy would seek to emulate.

In 1901, Carla Lambert appears in her first film, an adaptation of the current best-selling children's book The Wizard Of Oz. She played the relatively small role of Glinda, the good witch of the south. Her beauty and poise win her many fans, and she moves to starring roles soon after the release of this film.

In 1864, the deciding battle of the American Civil War was fought as Jubal Early's forces sacked Washington, D.C. Lincoln immediately sent word to President Davis of the Confederacy that he was ready to discuss terms of peace.

In 653 AUC, Gaius Julius Caesar was born. This minor Roman general played a part in subduing the Gauls. In his memoirs, he vastly inflated his role in the whole campaign, making him something of a laughing stock among his peers. Many plebeians flocked to hear him speak, though, so he made a living in his later years as an orator.

In 1973, a fire destroyed the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States. The arsonists were E. Howard Hunt, John Paisley inter alia members of the White House Special Investigations Unit known simply as the Plumbers. Of course not all the records were destroyed, the Plumbers made off with a number of sensitive documents which were successfully used by Richard M Nixon to blackmail the establishment and forestall moves to impeach him. Most powerful of all, an inventory report from Japanese General Otozoo Yamada's Bacteriological weapons research in Unit 731 of experimental substances handed to General Douglas MacArthur in 1945. On page three was listed the young Chinese known simply as X, a carrier of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

In 1812, the United States invaded Canada at Windsor, Ontario in collusion with Napoleonic forces which struck simultaneously from New France. The expulsion of Great Britain from North America was, it seemed, at hand. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington was of a different mind. The field marshal was headed towards the Americas to set the clock back to 1776 and he meant business. Today, south of the Potomac River lies the capital of the North American Union. That most English of Cities, Wellington was built from the ruins of Washington DC after August 24, 1814 when British forces burned the capital. That tragedy occurred during the most notable raid of the War of 1812 in retaliation for the sacking and burning of York (modern-day Toronto). You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs, was the orthodox wisdom for this act of wanton violence by Wellesley which still besmirched his name in some sections of American society.

In 2006, Haganah initiates Operation True Promise. Katyusha rockets and mortars were fired at Palestinian military positions and border villages, diverting attention from another Haganah unit that crossed the border, kidnapping two Palestinian soldiers and killing three others. President Abbas was forced to send the Palestinian Defense Force in Southern Lebanon, to eliminate the Jewish terrorists and the Christian militias who were their accomplices. As Jewish Ghettos were destroyed in Beirut, Zionist opinion starts to turn against Haganah and the leadership of brothers Benjamin and Yonatan Netanyahu.

In 2010, on this day Dutch Footballers wore blackarm bands at the World Cup Final to mark the fifteenth anniversary of the Srebenica Massacre at which four-hundred armed Dutch peace-keepers died, bravely defending the lives of eight thousand Bosniak Muslims.

Remembering SrebenicaMass murdering units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of General Ratko Mladic were ethnic cleansing the territory in the former Yugoslavia. A paramilitary unit from Serbia known as the Scorpions, officially part of the Serbian Interior Ministry until 1991, also participated in the massacre.

In 1993 the United Nations had declared Srebrenica a "safe area" under UN protection but its Protection Force, represented on the ground by a four-hundred strong contingent of armed Dutch peacekeepers, failed to prevent the massacre, plunging the region into devasting new phase of the war.

It is 1930, and F. Scott Fitzgerald has been committed to a mental hospital at the urging of his wife, Zelda.

Happy Endings Part 9
Zelda Fitzgerald HemingwayIt is a shocking but somehow suitable ending to the Roaring Twenties. The Fitzgeralds had been the very essence of the Jazz Age, which Scott had immortalized in now-classic novels like This Side of Paradise and The Great Gatsby. He had, in fact, termed his wife "the first American flapper".

But now he has decided to commit her to the hospital. Having overheard his intentions during a phone call to his friend Ernest Hemingway while all three are living in Paris, she knows she must strike first. Selling her jewels to pay the required two doctors to testify against her husband, she also uses all the charm she acquired as a Southern belle back in Montgomery, Alabama to win them to her side.

That includes her helpless weeping over her poor husband's plight .. backed up by the photos she secretly took of his attacks of fury, that included throwing chandeliers. She manages to be away from home when the ambulance comes, leaving her with no need to answer his wild charges that she is the crazy one.

But she still has one danger to overcome. During that fatal phone call, Hemingway assured her husband that "She is a bitch and she is crazy". Now she must prove that neither charge was true, in case Hemingway uses his own growing influence as a popular author to turn those charges against her.

So she hurries to Ernest's side, turning on the charm and the tears once more. He cannot resist putting his arms around her as she weeps on his shoulder, and soon they are joined in a much more intimate embrace. It leads to his divorcing his second wife Pauline and making Zelda into Mrs. Hemingway.

The happy couple is still married when he dies of natural causes 30 years later, leaving her with his rich stock of literary royalties, along with their luxurious Florida and Cuba homes. Their saddest moment had come in 1948, when her first husband died in the fire at the mental hospital where he was still confined.
An article from the Happy Endings series.

In 1804, robbed of conversation with his second Van Ness breathessly rowing their boat across the Hudson River, Colonel Aaron Burr sought distraction in his favourite novel only to be struck by the significance of an allegorical scene from "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman":


Breakthrough at WeehawkenMy uncle Toby had scarce a heart to retaliate upon a fly which had buzzed about his nose, and tormented him cruelly all dinner-time.
He had caught at last, rising from his chair, and going across the room, with the fly in his hand to lift up the sash to let it escape.
"Go, poor devil, get thee gone, why should I hurt thee? This world surely is wide enough to hold both thee and me".

Upon reflection it occured to Burr that nothing was to be gained by killing Hamilton. And Van Ness looked up to see Burr close the book and merrily whistle away the remainder of the voyage to New Jersey.

After assembling with the Hamilton Party at the Heights of Weehawken, the duellist's seconds opened the interview by exploring the possibility of a mediated settlement. Judge Nathaniel Pendleton was surprised to hear Van Ness allow that the Colonel's discredited reputation would be destroyed should he become the scounderel that senselessly murdered Hamilton. Van Ness in turn was surprised to hear Pendleton admit that Hamilton might be persuaded to privately apologize for his "despicable opinion of Mr. Burr".

The matter settled, and honour restored, both parties returned to New York. Burr was furnished with the apology he sought, whilst Hamilton received a rather odd note expressing the gentlemanly sentiment that "This world surely is wide enough to hold both thee and me".

In 1798, on this day Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and Secretary of War James McHenry journeyed to Mount Vernon to inform George Washington that the secret head of the "American Directory", Thomas Jefferson was under arrest for treason.

A Useful AegisWhilst shocking, the report of the arrest was not entirely surprising because Washington viewed Jefferson as "one of the most artful, intriguing, industrious and double-faced politicians in America". Moreover his partner in crime James Monroe had been dismissed from his role as American Minister in France on Washington's orders.

In fact the former President believed that the actual threat of a French invasion was simply a mirage. But, primarily out of a sense of duty he reluctantly agreed to act as the Commander-in-Chief of a Provisional Army of ten new regiments. And due to his desire to remain at Mount Vernon, and also considering the remote possibility of moblization, Washington accepted Pickering's strange proposal that Colonel Alexander Hamilton (pictured) would be next in command, or rather "the Chief in your absence" as he put it. This recommendation struck Washington as somewhat odd since Hamilton had held a more junior rank to the Chief Artillery Officer in the Contintental Army, Henry Knox (who had also served as the first US Secretary of War).

Of course within two years it was clear that Washington had been wrong-footed by a Federalist conspiracy and the appeal to his patriotism and - yes - sense of nostalgia had been a dastardly ruse. By then "His Excellency" had succumbed to pneumonia, Hamilton had forced the "consolidation" and the "Revolution of 1800" was in full swing. Writing in his memoirs, President Hamilton would later note with some glee that "he [Washington] was a useful aegis to me".

In 1963, on this day nineteen leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) were arrested in a suburb of Johannesburg. Privately owned by Arthur Goldreich, the Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia had served as a hideout since October 1961. Amongst others, future President Winnie Mandela had evaded security police whilst masquerading as a cook called Davina Motsamayi (meaning "the walker").
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The WalkerGoldreich bribed a guard and escaped from jail on 11 August, infuriating the prosecutors and police who considered him to be "the arch-conspirator".The remainder of the ANC leaders received long sentences when the trial end on 12 June 1964. Winnie Mandela would not be reunited with husband Nelson until her release on 11 February 1990 (pictured).

In a leaked letter to Jacob Zuma in October 2008, just-resigned President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki alluded to the role the ANC created for Mandela in the anti-apartheid struggle: "In the context of the global struggle for the release of political prisoners in our country, our movement took a deliberate decision to profile Winnie Mandela as the representative personality of these prisoners, and therefore to use her personal political biography, including the persecution of her then husband, Nelson Mandela, dramatically to present to the world and the South African community the brutality of the apartheid system.

In 2002, speaking live this day from the Oval Office and surrounded by multi-faith representatives US President Al Gore delivered a masterful evening address to the American people. Appealing for unity over the recent tragic loss of three thousand American lives, Gore wisely said that more important lessons could be learnt from Gettysburg, than Pearl Harbour.
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Because an insidious conspiracy from religious extremists required the whole nation to unite in a "War on Terror" said Gore, both hands placed symbolically upon the 911 commission report now resting with menace on the Resolute Desk.

These Honoured Dead The report set out in some detail as to how a group of fanatics known as "the American Century Project" (ACP) had made at least two determined efforts to subvert the US Constitution in favour of a radical agenda that called for US global hegemony. A key priority for the ACP was the construction of a new oil pipeline through Afghanistan in order to transport oil from Azerbaijan and Central Asia. Another priority was unrestricted access to the world's fourth largest oil reserve, estimated at a staggering 115 billion barrels in Iraq.

Strategic geo-politcal opportunities had indeed been presented by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent retreat of Russian military power from that theatre. The flipside was the legacies of the Cold War and also the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Because the drivers for foreign policy since 1980 had required America to arm belligerents in the region, at times even delivering weapons to both sides simultaneously, most alarmingly during the Iran - Iraq War. And expediency had required America to find a new strongman in the Gulf to protect the American client states. Yet Saddam was temperamentally different from the Shah and inevitably some complications had arisen. In 1980, US Diplomats had given Saddam a green light to attack Iran. Through incompetence they had also given a green light to invade Kuwait ten years later which had transformed Saddam into a hate figure.

"Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth"A solution was proposed by the ACP in order to force events along a new track. The emerging threat from Al-qaeda could be brought to the fore with a "Pearl Harbour" style terrorist attack within the continental United States. Best orchestrated with the near unlimited resources of the US Government, the conspirators therefore needed the contrived election of a US President that was a friend of the oil industry. Unfortunately for them, the US Supreme Court had crushed a blatant attempt to defraud the American voting system. Because in the key swing state of Florida, Jeb Bush had gone to extreme lengths to elect his elder brother.

Neverthleless the ACP moved ahead with the plan for the terrorist attack. And yet it was bungled. The 911 commission report included testimony from multiple witness and emergency workers who all agreed on two key facts. Firstly, the plane that crashed into the Twin Towers was not an airliner, but a military transporter. And secondly, the buildings had been rigged with explosives that triggered a collapse of the robust metal superstructure which could not have been accounted for by the plane crash.

Al Gore had restored the American people's confidence in Government that had been promised them by Lincoln at Gettysburg yet subverted ever since the Warren Commission; "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".

Gore concluded his speech by quoting the Lincoln Gettysburg address in full ~ "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate...we can not consecrate...we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".

In 2010, on this day in Suidáfrica at the newly built Constand Viljoen Stadium in Johannesburg, the "orange army" celebrated a famous home victory when Bert van Marwijk's Netherlands Football Team (pictured) defeated Spain 2-1.
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Victory of the Orange ArmyIn a country controlled by Dutch settlers and where the majority of white citizens speak a Dutch dialect called Afrikaans, the success of the Dutch team had been big news, with fans cheering every shot on goal and booing every bad referee call. Around the country, cars sported the Dutch flag throughout the tournament and on game days, whole restaurants were often filled with fans wearing the color orange, the color of Dutch royalty.

The World Cup brought out the inner nationalist in many sports fans and the emergence of Holland gave many South Africans of Dutch ancestry much to be proud of. But among many black South Africans, Hollands ties to the founders of apartheid was a reminder of the continuing racial injustice in South African society.

"Love is the way. They'll call me freedom like a waving flag. Accept no defeat" ~ rebel anthemThokozani Khumalo, who lives in the Tembisa township near Pretoria, did not hide her feelings that she would rally behind Spain. "If I had juju [black magic] I would make sure that their strikers would not score even a single goal in the encounter", said Ms. Khumalo. "I appreciate that FIFA are preaching good message against racism in all their 2010 FIFA World Cup matches of this beautiful game of soccer, but at the same time, I hate the idea that we black South Africans are the ones being made scapegoats by Dutch people [Afrikaners]".

In 1983, on this day United Airlines pilot Steve Burton (pictured), captain of the crew for the flight on which Lt. Cmdr. Alexander B. Fitzhugh had been a passenger just before his commitment to Bethesda Naval Hospital's psychiatric wing, was approached by NASA officials and asked to join the Project Spindrift team as a special consultant.

Giant Surprise Part 5Burton's plane frequently traveled the route on which Fitzhugh had seen the time-space rift mentioned in his account of the "land of giants" incident; for the veteran airline pilot, who had once aspired to join NASA's space shuttle program but had to withdraw his application due to family troubles, the Spindrift invitation represented a second chance he'd been waiting for nearly a decade.

Burton's chief mentor in his training for Project Spindrift was U.S. Air Force colonel and Vietnam veteran Doug Ross, a longtime shuttle pilot who during his second mission aboard Columbia had collected evidence suggesting Earth had a twin, or "doppelganger", on the far side of the Sun. After reading Fitzhugh's "land of giants" story, Ross became convinced Fitzhugh had discovered a shortcut to the "doppelganger" planet.

In 1804, on this day the Vice President of the Weehawken Ice Cream Company Aaron Burr was fired by his boss Alexander Hamilton following a chilly exchange in their scheduled interview at the New Jersey Headquarters.

Screaming for Ice CreamThe incident was but the latest in a long running and somewhat petty dispute between the rivals. On this occassion the cause was some harmless office banter in which Mr Burr had allegedly suggested that General George Washington had been "mighty displeased" with the very first dish of ice cream served by Mrs Alexander Hamilton. To say that Washington had "screamed over the ice cream" was somewhat of an impish exaggeration of the toothless General's pained reaction which was hardly more than a stifled yell, a quick intake of breath caused by the cold dessert on his unprotected gums.

In retaliation to this sniping, a member of staff reported "a still more despicable opinion which General Hamilton has expressed of Mr. Burr". Despite Mr Burr calling Mr Hamilton's attention to the matter, no apology was offered and instead an argument ensued.

Both men could be considered the winners and losers of the dispute. Because Mr Burr conceived an exciting new dessert product labelled the Gloriana which he launched into the south-western franchise that he had been running for the Weehawken Ice Cream Company.

In 1804, on this day former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton shot dead the good Colonel Aaron Burr at a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey thus concluding a thirteen year conflict of jealousy that had begun when the third Vice President had captured a Senate seat from Philip Schuyler, Hamilton's father-in-law.

Filthy CurrThe long-running dispute had escalated sharply during the 1800 election. After a dead heat in which both candidates had received seventy-three elector's votes, Hamilton had exerted all his influence to force the outcome in the House of Representatives. The thirty-sixth ballot had given Jefferson the presidency, with Burr (pictured) becoming vice president.

O Hamilton, you filthy cur. You shooted dead great AARON BURR! You hid behind a bunch of thistle. And shooted him dead with a big hoss pistol!And then on April 24 of 1804, a vitriolic letter originally sent from Charles D. Cooper to Philip Schuyler was published in the Albany Register in the context of opposing Burr's candidacy for the forthcoming election. It claimed to describe "a still more despicable opinion which General Hamilton has expressed of Mr. Burr" at a political dinner. Despite Burr calling Hamilton's attention to the article, no apology was offered and instead a challenge was formally offered by Burr and accepted by Hamilton.

Of course the purpose of the duel was to prevent vendettas developing between families and other social factions. And yet in this sense the interview at Weehawken would fail, instead it would hasten the Federalist Party's depature from the national stage. And whereas Burr himself would be considered a martyr, Hamilton would be hounded from public life, choosing to return to the Leewards island of Nevis in disgrace.

In 1990, ten years after the self-declared "distinct society" seceded from the Canadian Confederation, the break-away Republic of Quebec stood accused of hypocrisy and its intrinsic right of recognition called into question by a violent confrontation with the Mohawk first nation in the town of Oka.

A Distinct SocietyThe disputed burial land had been granted to a religious order by the Governor of New France in 1717. The order sold the territory in 1936 for development and vacated the area, under protest by the local Mohawk community. Then in 1961, the City built a private nine-hole golf course, the Club de golf d'Oka, on a portion of the land and in 1989 the mayor of Oka, Jean Ouellette announced that the remainder of the pines would be cleared to expand the private, members-only golf club course to eighteen holes. Without consulting the Mohawk, he also approved development of sixty luxury condominiums.

All the natives in Quebec should be shipped off to Labrador "if they wanted their own country so much".Mohawks reacted by blocking the Mercier Bridge and Routes 132, 138 and 207. Natives from across Canada and the United States then joined the Mohawks behind a barricade. And then a gunfight began with the Sûreté du Québec, and a young officer named Corporal Marcel Lemay was shot dead.

Predictably, Quebecois authorities reacted with a wave of nationalist anger, and the Member of Parliament for Chateauguay said that all the natives in Quebec should be shipped off to Labrador "if they wanted their own country so much".

	In 1970, as reports of the disastrous effects of Operation Linebacker on North Vietnam continue to accumulate, Secretary of State William P. Rogers protests to President Nixon that the bombing campaign has seriously damaged America's image overseas. Nixon's response is volcanic. 'I don't give a flying (expletive deleted) what a bunch of weak-kneed (expletives deleted) foreign (expletive deleted) think! I'm not going to be the first U.S. President to lose a war, and I'll do whatever it (expletive deleted) takes to (expletive deleted) win!

And if you don't understand that, Rogers, you can (expletive deleted) quit and let me put in a Secretary of State who does!' Rogers manages to calm his boss, but this meeting marks the beginning of the end for him at the State Department. Increasingly, Nixon will freeze him out and rely on others, notably National Security Adviser Dr. Henry A. Kissinger.

On this day in 1947, the first of the survivors of the July 6th Roswell asteroid strike was released from a Santa Fe hospital.

Joseph J. Ellis	On the morning of July 11, 1804, "Colonel Aaron Burr and General Alexander Hamilton were rowed across the Hudson River in separate boats to a secluded spot near Weehawken, New Jersey. There, in accord with the customs of the code duello, they exchanged pistol shots at ten paces. Hamilton purposefully missed, (William Van Ness revised the ledge the following day and found the severed branch of a cedar tree about twelve feet high and four feet to the side of where Burr stood) as he had written in his note the evening before having 'no ill-will to Col Burr distinct from political opposition'.
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Burr paused for five seconds for the gun smoke clear, and then grazed Hamilton's side with the one ounce ball. Honour and character had been restored, but only briefly. Though unhurt, in this most famous duel in American history, both participants were casualties". ~ Joseph J. Ellis, Founding Fathers - the Revolutionary Generation. Both individuals had limited political futures even though Burr was Vice President, and Hamilton a senior figure in the Federalist Party. After the 'interview at Weehawken', Burr led New England Secessionists away from the Union during the War of 1812. It was an act of treachery that led Hamilton to describe him as the Cataline of the Republic, when they met at the Hartford Convention.

In 1804, the escalating feud between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr culminates in a duel, held just outside the still-unfinished new capital of Washington, D.C., in which President Hamilton is fatally wounded. He will die the next day. Burr will be charged with murder, and although he is ultimately acquitted, his political career will be irretrievably damaged. Engaged in a contest for the governorship of New York at the time of the duel, Burr, tarred as the 'assassin of the President' and even as a 'regicide,' will lose that election so decisively that it will be clear he has no hope of ever again attaining any position of influence in the United States.

	On this day in 1941, the Red Army began its campaign to retake Brest-Litovsk from the Wehrmacht.

In 1934, Eddies at 10 colleges were linked together by the fledgling Knowledge Railroad and began sharing information. Pascal-Edison had technicians working round the clock at each campus to ensure the smooth operation of the Eddies, and the successful test led to the growth of the Railroad to hundreds of other colleges and large institutions within the next year.

"Le Grand Charles" becomes the "master of Europe".	"Napoleon" Victorious at Waterloo	"German-American War" Begins in Pacific
"Drastic measures" are taken to end the Global War on Terror.	"Nat Turner" Begins his Slave Exodus	"Newburgh Conspiracy" Marches
"Jerusalem" : the Happiest City on Earth	A "Secret Gospel" is discovered in Transjordan	A "toe-curling campaign incident" costs the Labour Party the 2001 General Election.
Aaron Burr pursues his very own "manifest destiny"	Alternate bio for "Joe Biden"	Alternate bio for "President Alf Landon"