In 1943, on this fateful day Lieutenant John F. "Jack" Kennedy was killed when his Military Torpedo Boat PT-109 was rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri near New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. He was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.

Profiles in CourageJust one year later his elder brother Joe also died when a drone aircraft experiment went tragically wrong.

Their father Joseph P. Kennedy was a prominent American businessman, investor, and government official who had served in a number of high profiles offices including the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and also United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James. He subsequently used the story of his personal sacrifices during the war to demonstrate his patriotism during an unsuccessful run for the presidency in 1956.
This article is based upon an article post by Robbie Taylor.

In 1945, on this day the Potsdam Agreement was signed by Stalin, Truman, and Attlee. This agreement covered how post-war Germany was to be treated, and the final settlement of the war in Europe.

Operation Solstice #2
By Steven FisherThe war in Europe had ended on May 9, 1945 with the fall of Berlin and the surrender of the Nazi government under Admiral Donitz, who had been appointed after Hitler's suicide during the Battle of Berlin. But the situation among the Allied had changed since the meeting in Yalta, and the Allies convened in Potsdam to discuss the treatment of postwar Germany, and to discuss surrender terms for Japan.

Stalin, who was the only wartime leader of the Allies to stay in power, was not pleased with how things had turned out. The Americans where occupying parts of the Soviet occupation zone which had been agreed to in the Yalta conference. He was determined that Britain and America would give him the territory that he felt he deserved. However, he met stiff resistance from Harry Truman and Clement Attlee, who were determined to limit the Soviets to controlling only the territory that they had conquered.

The Allies would leave the Potsdam Conference largely satisfied, but with some reservations. The Allies had agreed to Stalin's demand to move the border of Germany to the Oder River, and to allow the Soviets to annex East Prussia, along with an agreement for Germany to pay war reparations to the Soviet Union, and for the transfer of industry from Germany to Russia. They also recognize the Provisional Government of National Unity in Poland. But they would refuse to give the Soviets the land that had been given to them in the Yalta Conference but was currently under Allied occupation. It is a mistake they will live to regret. For Stalin leaves the conference seeing that the Allies will never willingly give him the land he wants. The only way will be to take it by force. Once the Soviets had developed their own atomic bomb in order to break the Americans soon-to-be monopoly, they would approach the Allies again with two options: The land.... or war.
The whole thread is available at the Operation Solstice.

In 1800, with the Leaders of the Federalist Party in violent disagreement over the direction of the quasi-war with France an accusatory letter brought Alexander Hamilton and John Adams to their own armed conflict, a duel in Weehawken:

British Faction"It has been repeatedly mentioned to me [Alexander Hamilton] that you [John Adams] have on different occasions asserted the existence of a British faction in this country, embracing a number of leading or influential characters of the federal party, as usually denominated ; and that you have sometimes named me, at others plainly alluded to me, as one of this description of persons.

And I have likewise been assured, that, of late, some of your warm adherents, for electioneering purposes, have employed a corresponding Ianguage. I must, sir, take it for granted that you cannot have made such assertions or insinuations without being willing to avow them, and to assign the reasons to a party who may conceive himself injured by them. I therefore trust that you will not deem it improper, that I apply directly to yourself, to ascertain from you, in reference to your own declarations, whether the information I have received is correct or not ; and if correct, what are the grounds upon which you have founded the suggestion".

In better times Adams might have adroitely sidestepped the issue with a diplomatic response, notwithstanding the poor judgement observed by Benjamin Franklin "He means well for his country, is always an honest man, often a wise man, but sometimes, and in some things, absolutely out of his senses". Unfortunately, this was a dreadful moment, not only was the Presidency slipping away from Adams but had just received the crushing news that his son Charles had died, succumbing to alcoholism at the age of just thirty.

To settle the issue, the two men met for an "interview" at a secluded spot in Weehawken, New Jersey. Adams and his supporters expected that honour would be served by both men agreeing to discharge their weapons and walk away. But Hamilton, hell-bent on self-destruction, had a more sinister plan in mind: to kill the President in a "misfire", use his position as the Major General of the Standing Army to seize the Presidency and declare war on France.

In 1940, on this day the Nazi UFOs in "hot pursuit" of the fleeing British Government turned back after a cabal of American Nazi businessmen convinced the Fuhrer that North America would soon fall to a Quisling-style coup d'etat.

Hot PursuitWith the RAF swept from the skies by next generation flying saucers, Operation Sealion had proceeded with frightening pace forcing Churchill to plan a strategic withdrawal to establish a Government-in-Exile in Canada. Hitler ordered Goering to destroy the Royal Navy ships carrying both the Cabinet and also the Royal Household. However, for the second time in six months, he ordered a last minute halt operation that enraged (and confounded) the German armed services.

In the United States, Nazi sympathisers such as Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Prescott Bush and Alfred P. Sloan were confident that they could overthrow the government. However the sudden opening of an Atlantic theatre might prove counter-productive to their plans, and therefore they convinced the Fuhrer that such a move was unnecessary. Instead, Edward VIII and Oswald Mosley formed a new government in London, one that could demonstrate the semblance of sovereignty that would force Churchill to capitulate, and perhaps convince the silent majority of Americans to come around to the idea of joining the Axis.

But then the situation changed dramatically; the benign alien race known as the Mlosh landed in Canada. In his diary that night, Churchill wrote the famous words: "To have the Mlosh at our side was to me the greatest joy. Now at this very moment I knew the Mlosh was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all!...Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder". It was an amazing reversal of fortune for the blue-bloods; the tide of war had finally turned (green)..

In 1789, with France under constant bombardment in the Revolutionary Wars as seemingly all of the European Crowns turned against the upstart Republic, General Napoleon Bonaparte launched his Egyptian campaign in an effort to put pressure on India and, hopefully, draw Britain out of the war.

French Rout English Fleet at Alexandria His fleet sailed south disguising its agenda, conquering Malta and moving rapidly toward its final destination of Alexandria. While the fleet under Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers anchored in Aboukir Bay, Napoleon began his conquest with his land armies. Brueys supported Napoleon with naval bombardments, but by July 27 Napoleon was eager for the admiral to move on to better harbors. He dispatched a courier to Brueys ordering him to move to Corfu in Greece to prepare for campaigns against the Ottomans.

A new story by Jeff ProvineAs the fleet left sight of the shore of Egypt, it came upon the British fleet under Admiral Nelson that had been pursuing them throughout the Mediterranean. With little time to maneuver, both admirals threw their fleets against one another. The more daring Nelson split his fleet, hoping to achieve a crossfire, but the moving French managed to stay beside the British ships, trading blows. The battle lasted until after dark, when the English began to move away.

While tactically indecisive itself, the battle would be proclaimed a French victory. Without many harbors to support them, the British fleet would retreat out of the Mediterranean. Worse, the brave Admiral Nelson would be mortally wounded, struck down by French snipers from the rigging. The battered French fleet would regroup with other ships, building up the force that would later destroy the Ottoman navy and establish French dominance over the Mediterranean.

Napoleon, using easy supply trains across Mediterranean waters, conquered Egypt and moved northward through Judea and Syria. In 1800, he marched on Asia Minor, beginning a string of battles that would finally dethrone the Ottoman Sultan and break the empire into small protectorates of France. In 1802, Britain had hopes of establishing a Second Coalition with Austria, but the Austrian emperors, now free to dominate the Balkans, joined with their former enemies, the French.

Meanwhile, Napoleon continued east through Persia. Many began to fear his egotism as he spoke of himself as the new Alexander, but his victories could not be dismissed. Some called for his return to France, but Napoleon felt confident to press to India, just as his militaristic predecessor had done some two thousand years before.

Britain continued the war alone for three years, but as Napoleon conquered the Indus and headed toward lower India, they sued for peace. At the Treaty of Trafalgar in 1805, establishing in writing the French dominance of the Mediterranean that had been maintained by battle for years, the war came to an end. Napoleon seemed ravenous for more conquest, and the government feared he would turn on France itself. Instead, they sent him on a sort of exile to be the military governor of the huge tract Louisiana in North America, newly won back from the Spanish in the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso.

Napoleon would solidify his command in New Orleans and launch expeditions of exploration and settlement into the countryside. Friction would build between the French and the Americans, who, under President Thomas Jefferson, had purchased shipping rights in the Mississippi as a shared border. Finally, in 1812, war would be declared as Indians in Tecumseh's War were believed by Americans to be supplied by Napoleon.

The frontier war was brutal, and the naval battles in the Gulf and Caribbean devastated both countries' western Atlantic fleets. Napoleon knew he did not have enough troops for a wide front, so he decided to build up a Grande Arm?e and march up the Ohio River Valley with the final goal of Washington, D.C. The gamble would prove a blunder as American civilians and soldiers alike would plague the French with snipers and guerrilla combat. Before his planned crossing of the Appalachians (perhaps to match another hero, Hannibal), Napoleon decided to turn back.

The final battle of the War of 1812 was near New Orleans, where Col. Andrew Jackson marched to take the nearly unguarded capital. Napoleon raced back, rallied his men, and counterattacked in another gamble that would fail as Jackson's troops hid behind wagons and trees (fighting "without honor" as Americans were known to do). Artillery seemingly disintegrated the American force, but the stalwart frontiersmen slipped behind the French and captured Napoleon in his command tent.

The war ended with the Treaty of New Orleans, where France would surrender its Louisiana colony and Americans pay reparations for property and life lost to a total of 78 million francs (15 million dollars). The embarrassed Napoleon would be sent to Haiti as governor without arms, and he would die in 1821, some say of a broken heart.

In 1946, American President Harry S. Truman spoke to the citizens of the United States by radio address to announce his support for a free and independent Vietnam. The news came as a shock to many in his administration, who view the restoration of French rule in Indochina as key to gaining French President Georges Bidault's support against an increasingly belligerent Soviet Union.

President Truman Guarantees Vietnamese Statehood by Andrew BeaneTruman's address began with the words: "My fellow Americans, it is my decision, against the advice of many within my administration, that the United States of America will recognize the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as a free and independent nation among nations". He went on to say that before such recognition can take place, Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh must give the US assurance that his government will not become a client state of the Soviet Union, and that the Soviet Military will not set foot in Vietnamese territory. President Ho has already denied that he has sought Soviet assistance, insisting that after the devastating war against Adolf Hitler, Moscow was in no position to extend support to a place as remote as Vietnam.

"United States of America recognize[s] the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as a free and independent nation among nations" ~ TrumanFrance is not likely to take this decision by Truman in a friendly manner. President Bidault has contended that the restoration of France's colonies that fell under foreign rule or were otherwise lost during the war was essential to rebuilding France. Upon hearing the address, the French Ambassador to the US, Henri Bonnet, accused the United State of coveting rubber reserves in "French territory". Vietnam has already appeared in Washington-Paris relations, with former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt insisting that the Vietnamese people, like all peoples of the world, deserved to live under the government of their choosing, though he died before being able to make a definitive decision to support Vietnamese independence.

In the year 2559, of the Cyrus era Moshe Katsav (pictured) assumed the role of Grand Vizier of Persia on this day.

Born in the city of Yazd in the Shir Kuh valley fifty-five years before, he would become the first Kalami (ethnic Jew) to be given the absolute power of attorney by the Shahanshah (the "King of Kings"), Reza Pahlavi (the only precedent for such an appointment was Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob, Vizier to the Egyptian Pharaoh).

Moshe Kasav appointed the first Jewish Grand Vizier of PersiaThe same Hebrew scripture also recorded the rise of Esther, a Jewish woman to Queen of Persia, and her role in stopping the plot of Haman, chief advisor to the Persian king, to wipe out all Jews living in Persia. Also the book of Ezra 6:14 recorded the ancient bond with the Persian monarchs who are credited with permitting and enabling the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple; its reconstruction was affected "according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia" by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia.

"Our family has lived in Iran for 2,500 years, and Iranian Jewry has the long history in that land". ~ KatsavThe Middle Persian ancestor of the word "Vizier" in Pahlavi is vichir, which in turn originated from Avestan vichira, meaning decreer or arbitrator. Unfortunately the great minister and chief legislator of the Shahanshah would himself fall foul of the laws of Persia and also Hebrew scripture. Charged with criminal activities, his "burder of office" would end prematurely, just seven years later.

In 1979, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her Foreign Secretary Lord Peter Carrington quit the fifth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) less than one hour after their ill-fated arrival in Lusaka, Zambia. The fifteen-year armed struggle known variously as the Rhodesia Bush War, Second Chimurenga or the Zimbabwe Liberation Struggle would soon reach an apocalyptic outcome.

British Delegation Quit Lusaka ConferenceThe new Conservative administration had only been elected weeks before on 31st May, and Thatcher adopted much the same approach to Rhodesia as to Northern Ireland - a steely determination that terrorists should play no role in a future Government. Carrington had given the matter much deeper thought from the Opposition benches in the House of Lords, but for all intents and purposes was very much of the same mind.
Ironically, 31st May had been the last day in office for Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith. Smith had made way for Bishop Abel Muzorewa, the so-called white man's black prime minister. Yet the civil war continued unabated, costing the Rhodesian economy £500,000 a day and having resulting in the exodus of 20% of the pre-1965 population of White Rhodesia. Worse, over 50% of the defence bill was being paid by the Republic of South Africa, and Robert Mugabe's Patriotic Front was in complete control of the eastern region of the country.
Not only was the white farmer cause lost, the Internal Settlement for Zimbabwe Rhodesia was a dead letter with Bishop Muzorewa powerless to stop the escalating violence.
Thatcher and Carrington arrived in Lusaka convinced that the settlement would be signed in an only slightly modified format; the majority of the CHOGM would insist upon a completely fresh start for Zimbabwe. Most objectionable was the right for the white minority to veto constitutional change in the new successor state. A core group led by the Commonwealth Secretary General Shridath Ramphal planned three days of escalating pressure followed by two days of intensity; it would not prove necessary.
The British Journalist Anthony Verrier described the climax of the conference ~
"Upon her arrival, Thatcher was hustled into a VIP lounge by the overenthusiatic Zambian media and emerged forty minutes later, shaken and close to tears. The British Prime Minister had been subject to a grilling a hostile witness might get at a murder trial. Uncharacteristically losing control, she had faltered, exclaiming she would return to London 'tonight!'.
Carrington was the pivot on which all manoeuvres turned. He was in a difficult, possible a dangerous mood. A few hours before .. Shell-BP in Nigeria had been expropriated. Carrington had ignored the warning as imminent, believing it to be merely a prospective, a means of applying pressure on Mrs Thatcher at an opportune moment, during a crisis. Carrington lost his temper .. when Nigeria's Commissioner for External Affairs, Major-General Adefope almost discourteously dismissed the expropriation, Carrington's temper was not improved when Mrs Thatcher rebuked him in front of journalists. Adefope merely shrugged and said he had to see the Queen when Carrington furiously declared that expropriating Shell-BP would not affect British policy on Rhodesia"..
Twenty four hours later, Bishop Murorewa fled the country and the Commander of the Combined Operations Headquarters of the Military of Rhodesia General Peter Walls issued a stark warning. The crusty Sandhurst graduate, who had spent much of the past seven years fighting the guerrillas said that he had determined his ~ "own response to the tragic conflict of loyalties with which I have myself wrestled for perhaps too long".

In 1995, the Prime Minister's autobiography 'The Ten Downing Street Years' was published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Falklands Emergency Part 10 - Strategic Significance by Ed.Chapter VII The Falklands: Defeat (the battle for the Falklands in May and June 1982) reads ~ "The islands had obvious strategic importance , possessing several good harbours with 500 miles of Cape Horn. When the Panama Canal was closed by World War Three in 1989, their significance became considerable.
But it must be admitted that the Falklands were always an improbable cause for a twentieth-century war". ~ Lady Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Leader and UK Prime Minister 1983-1992.
To be continued..