Today In Alternate History

Posts by Guest Historian Chris Oakley

Guest Historian Chris Oakley says, the Massachusetts resident is one of our most frequent contributors and valued guest historians. In addition to his contributions to this blog, he has submitted dozens of articles to David Atwell's Changing the Times online magazine, has 1500+ posts to his credit at Ian Montgomerie's AH.com message board, and has been sending TLs to C.J. Perritt's othertimelines.com website since 2003.

This author's favorite subjects for AH writing include professional sports, World War II, the Cold War, and aerospace technology; he also takes great interest in writing future history articles.

Chris 'The Tank' Oakley

October 18

ExComm Meeting	On this day in 1962, under the guise of training for hurricane relief efforts, units of Florida National Guard were mobilized to support regular US Army troops in defending southern Florida against a possible Soviet invasion.

In Cabinet Office

July 8

On this day in 1941, German troops began evacuating Denmark as part of Hitler's plan to shore up his strained Russian battlefront; also on this day, Soviet fighters bombed Wehrmacht advance positions near Brest-Litovsk.

December 31

	On this day in 1972, the Dallas Cowboys reached the Super Bowl for the sixth time in team history with a 27-3 blowout of the Washington Redskins in the 1972 NFC championship game.

On this day in 1967, the Green Bay Packers' hopes for a third straight NFL championship and a spot in Super Bowl II against the AFL champion Oakland Raiders were dashed in the so-called 'Ice Bowl' when the Dallas Cowboys scored a touchdown with less than a minute left in regulation to take a 24-21 lead; a field goal by the Packers tied the game at the end of regulation, but in overtime Dallas scored a field goal of their own to clinch a 27-24 victory and their first NFL title. One Green Bay player, offensive lineman Forrest Gregg, was so heartbroken over the defeat that he would retire from pro football permanently just two games into the 1968 NFL season.

Packers coach Vince Lombardi would later call the loss to Dallas the worst moment of his career; by contrast, Cowboys head coach Tom Landry would look back with pride on the way his team had bounced back against the odds to take down the Packers. The Cowboys' surprising triumph in the 1967 NFL title game was just the first of many such comeback playoff wins Landry would rack up before he retired in 1988.

December 30

	On this day in 1935, NBA legend Sandy Koufax was born in Brooklyn, New York. Although he played for a neighborhood baseball team as a boy and was on his college's varsity baseball club, basketball was his first love; he joined the Boston Celtics in 1955 and went on to play a major role in their run of nine consecutive NBA league championships between 1958 and 1967.

Sandy Koufax

December 29

On this day in 1968, the Dallas Cowboys clinched their second consecutive Super Bowl appearance with a 34-point shutout of the Baltimore Colts in the 1968 NFL championship game.

December 28

	On this day in 1969, the Dallas Cowboys rallied from a second half deficit to beat the Cleveland Browns 41-38 in the 1969 NFL divisional playoffs.

On this day in 1958, the New York Giants clinched the NFL championship with a 17-14 win over the Baltimore Colts when a field goal attempt by Colts kicker Steve Myrha with just seven seconds left in regulation that could have potentially sent the game into overtime was blocked by the Giants defensive line.

	Baltimore Colts

"The Horse"	In 1958, former CFL kicker Ray Korchak hit a field goal in overtime to give the Baltimore Colts a 20-17 win over the New York Giants in the 1958 NFL championship game; Korchak shared game MVP honors with receiver Alan "The Horse" Ameche, whose game-tying touchdown in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter set up the OT period.

Alan Ameche

In 1960, on this day the New York City parks department began accepting design proposals for a memorial in Central Park commemorating those who died in the Jamaica Bay hurricane.

December 27

	On this day in 1944, Allied advance troops entered Kiel; the ancient German seaport surrendered the next day, depriving the Third Reich of one of its last remainining naval bases.

On this day in 1959, the Baltimore Colts avenged their defeat in the previous year's NFL championship game, crushing the New York Giants 38-7.

	Baltimore Colts

December 26

	On this day in 1970, the Dallas Cowboys officially tied the 1948 Cleveland Browns' 15-game undefeated streak with a six-point shutout of the Detroit Lions in the 1970 NFC divisional playoffs.

December 25

On this day in 1971, the Dallas Cowboys began their quest for a fourth Super Bowl under Tom Landry with a 21-12 win over the Minnesota Vikings in the 1971 NFL divisional playoffs.

Pope	On this day in 1944, Pope Pius XII held a special Christmas Day prayer service at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome to call for a swift end to the war in Europe.

Pius XII

On this day in 1989, just minutes before they were to have been executed by a firing squad, deposed Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu and his wife Elena were rescued by Securitate agents loyal to Ceaucescu; the next day the Ceaucescus fled to Switzerland, where they registered under assumed names in a Geneva hotel and made preparations to seek political asylum in North Korea.

	Nicholae Ceaucescu

December 24

New York	In 1960, on this day the New York Philharmonic held a special Christmas Eve benefit concert for workers involved in New York City's post-hurricane recovery efforts.

Philamonic

December 23

	On this day in 1972, the Dallas Cowboys beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-28 in the 1972 NFL divisional playoffs.

On this day in 1944, the last German occupation troops in Norway left for home; the next day, Norwegian King Haakon V would return to Oslo after over four years in exile.	Coat of Arms

	Norwegian Royal Family

Los Angeles	On this day in 1973, the Cowboys' season came to a shockingly early end as the Los Angeles Rams jumped out to a 14-3 first half lead and went on a 37-20 upset victory in the 1973 NFC divisional playoffs. The Rams subsequently beat the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC championship game to clinch their first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history.

Rams Logo

December 22

On this day in 1971, FBI agents in Los Angeles intercepted a KGB liquidation squad that had been sent to the United States to kill sleeper agent Dmitri Kaprinsky, alias D.B. Cooper.

December 21

	On this day in 1968, the Dallas Cowboys began their road to a second consecutive Super Bowl appearance with a 34-30 overtime divisional playoff win over the Cleveland Browns.

In 1960, on this day 25-year-old Queens bar manager Kitty Genovese, who'd been severely injured in the Jamaica Bay hurricane and spent over four months in an irreversible coma, died at Columbia University Hospital of a cerebral aneurysm.

	Kitty Genovese

December 20

	On this day in 1970, the Dallas Cowboys demolished the Houston Oilers 52-7 to finish the 1970 NFL regular season at 14-0.

On this day in 1982, 'Psycho' Tommy Rich got an unexpected and unwanted early Christmas present when WWF world champion Bob Backlund confronted him during his interview with Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine on that night's edition of 'The Psycho Ward' on Monday Night Raw. On the spot Rich challenged Backlund to a title match at the WWF's next scheduled PPV broadcast, the Royal Rumble; the champion, eager to put Rich in his place once and for all, immediately accepted the challenge.	Psycho

	Tommy Rich

Adolf Eichmann	On this day in 1944, Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief architects of Hitler's 'Final Solution' plot to wipe out Europe's Jewish population, disappeared shortly after ordering the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp's prisoners and the destruction of the camp itself.

December 19

On this day in 1941, Xavier March was promoted to lieutenant and transferred to the submarine U-106 as that vessel was being deployed to the Caribbean following Hitler's declaration of war on the United States after Pearl Harbor.	Detective

	Xavier March

December 18

	On this day in 1971, the Dallas Cowboys beat the St. Louis Cardinals 34-12 at the Cotton Bowl to finish the 1971 NFL regular season at 12-2.

December 17

On this day in 1972, the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants 24-3 to finish the 1972 NFL regular season at 10-4.

December 16

Norwegian Fascist	On this day in 1944, Norwegian fascist puppet ruler Vidkun Quisling committed suicide; having grown increasingly despondent over the increasing deterioration of his German backers' military and political strength, Quising made the choice to take his own life after being informed that all German occupation troops were being withdrawn from Norway to shore up the crumbling German home front.

Vidkun Quisling

December 15

In 1960, on this day the FBI arrested nearly two hundred known and suspected organized crime figures in a sting operation meant to break the back of a Mafia profiteering scheme tied to post-Jamaica Bay hurricane reconstruction efforts in Brooklyn and Queens.	Federal Bureau

	of Investigations

December 14

	On this day in 1957, Sandy Koufax scored his 400th NBA career point in a 113-94 Celtics win over the Philadelphia Warriors.

Sandy Koufax

In 1971, opening arguments were heard in the espionage and hijacking conspiracy trial of Dmitri Kaprinsky a.k.a. D.B. Cooper.

December 13

	On this day in 1962, Raul Castro was found dead in a Mexico City hotel; at the time of his death there were rumors he was preparing to defect to the West. Though there was some speculation he'd been murdered by the Cuban secret police on orders from Che Guevara, preliminary evidence suggested Raul's death was actually a suicide.

Raul Castro

On this day in 1947, the Roswell City Council approved a budget bill which created a fund to support the expansion of the city's main hospital; the hospital's patient space had been stretched to its limits by the July 6th asteroid strike.

December 12

	On this day in 1970, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Cleveland Browns 10-3 to improve their 1970 NFL season record to 13-0 and clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

	On this day in 1974, Stephen King started his final draft of Jerusalem's Lot.

Stephen King

On this day in 1982, the NWA held its first-ever Clash of the Champions PPV super-card, broadcast from the Summit in Houston. The main event saw the Horsemen lose one of their charter members as Roddy Piper turned on Rick Steamboat after Piper & Steamboat lost the NWA world tag team titles to Rick Rude and Bad News Allen; a frustrated Piper, blaming Steamboat for the loss, assault his tag partner with the timekeeper's bell and tried to fracture his skull.	US Champion

	Rick Steamboat

December 11

US President	On this day in 1941, Captain Francis Urquhart of the US Army arrived in the Philippines to serve as counterintelligence chief for one of the American divisions defending Manila.

Francis Urquhart

December 10

On this day in 1958, Sandy Koufax scored his 750th NBA career point in a 107-93 Celtics win over the Philadelphia Warriors at Boston Garden.

	Sandy Koufax

	On this day in 1944, American troops accepted the surrender of the last surviving German forces in Munich.

In 1960, on this day two New York Department of Corrections officers were suspended without pay after evidence surfaced that they had used excessive force in disciplining an inmate who was serving time at Rikers Island for stealing fuel supplies shortly after the Jamaica Bay hurricane.	NYC Department

	of Corrections

December 9

	On this day in 1972, the Dallas Cowboys earned their ninth win of the 1972 NFL season, beating the Washington Redskins 13-3.

Red Army	On this day in 1944, Soviet advance columns reached the heart of Prague amid heavy German resistance.

Insignia

December 8

US President	On this day in 1941, US Army captain Francis Urquhart received orders to report for combat duty in the Pacific.

Francis Urquhart

On this day in 1973, after four days of deliberations, the jury in the trial of suspected serial killer George Stark-- also known as 'the Lawnmower Man' - convicted Stark of multiple counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder for his stabbing of Nevada state trooper Collie Entragian, one of the law enforcement officers involved in his arrest. Stark was later sentenced to death in the gas chamber at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City.

	Stephen King

	In 1979 on this day Michael Cimino testified on his own behalf at the Cimino vs. UA trial.

	On this day in 1941, German planes bombed London for the first time in six months.

Luftwaffe

On this day in 2010 William Petersen gave his first TV interview since CSI ended its ten-year run on CBS. Quashing rumors that it had been the network's decision to kill off Gil Grissom, Petersen said that in fact it had been his own idea to center the series finale on Grissom's demise in order to underscore the reality of violent crime in Las Vegas and let his co-stars take center stage in their farewell episode.	William

	Petersen

December 7

	On this day in 1941, Germany's unilateral cease-fire with Great Britain cames to an abrupt end as a British naval patrol in the North Sea fired on and sank a U-boat which had been covertly monitoring operations at the Royal Navy base in Scapa Flow.

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