In 1893, on this day in an influential episode of Indian leader Mohandas Karamchandand Gandhi's young life, he was removed from the first-class carriage of a train in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, and jailed after he struck the conductor.

Young Gandhi Jailed in South AfricaGandhi was able to plead self-defense after citing roughness on the part of the conductor and stated that he took his rights as a citizen of the British Empire seriously. He was allowed onto a train the next day, and it was ingrained in his mind that "might makes right," a lesson he had learned while studying law in London and a far cry from his Jainist upbringing.

Gandhi had been born October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, Bombay Presidency. His mother, a devout Jain, died in childbirth, as had his father's three previous wives and was common in the era before modern medicine. His father, who largely influenced him, was a diwan in Porbandar, holding a high office with little duty, as had Mohandas's grandfather before him. After his arranged marriage at age 13, Gandhi was encouraged to study law so that he might one day take over his father's position, and he traveled to University College London in 1888. There, he found a very different world from his vegetarian, non-alcoholic upbringing. He attempted to hold to vegetarianism, but his landlady's bland food drove him to find dining at pubs. As he grew accustomed to English culture, such as taking dancing lessons, Gandhi discovered a wealth of advantages being part of the British system. Upon his return to India, he struggled to establish a barrister practice due to his shyness in court and instead worked more preparing documents. In 1893, he agreed to a contract with Dada Abdulla & Co. at Colony of Natal in South Africa.

The Indians of wealth in South Africa were largely Muslim, while the Hindus were primarily poor indentured servants. Gandhi, who had never cared much for religion, saw little difference, especially as both faced terrible discrimination under rule by whites. On his journeys in South Africa, the incident on the train was one of many points where he determined he could only make "right" by finding enough "might". He was struck by a stagecoach driver for not making room for a white passenger; Gandhi recorded the event and later sued the driver and the company, making a name for himself. Hotels that refused him were added to a list for boycott, later published as he helped found the Natal Indian Congress in 1894 as a body actively protecting Indian rights. When he was attacked by a mob in 1897, Gandhi individually sued each known attacker, many of them later being placed in jail. Officials were unnerved by his dedication to the law and to the Empire, using many of their own social weapons against him in addition to acts of non-cooperation. When Britain declared war on the Zulu in 1906, Gandhi led a volunteer Indian ambulance corps, giving Indians credence into the regular British Army.

In 1915, Gandhi returned to India and brought his reputation with him. He joined the Indian National Congress and quickly became a leader. Toward the end of WWI, Gandhi was invited to recruit Indians for the war effort. Gandhi enthusiastically agreed and wrote in "Appeal for Enlistment," "To bring about such a state of things we should have the ability to defend ourselves, that is, the ability to bear arms and to use them...If we want to learn the use of arms with the greatest possible despatch, it is our duty to enlist ourselves in the army". Though the war ended soon afterward, it gave ground for a long term project of working Indian soldiers into becoming a key part of British security.

Gandhi continued working with non-violence when it was obvious that the greater "might" was held by the British whites. In the Champaran agitation, Gandhi arrived with a team of lawyers that broke down the system of landowners forcing tenant farmers to grow indigo for a fixed price in a weakening market. He joined the Muslim Khilafat movement in 1919 to protect Islamic religious sites and gained great following as a unified leader of Indians. At the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919, protests erupted the Rowlatt Act that extended emergency wartime powers and British and were put down violently by Brigadier-General Dyer. Gandhi, who had been leading the hartal (protest through suspension of business) in Delhi, determined that the time had come to act. He challenged the colonial government to spread its martial law, which it did, only worsening the unrest. Weapons smuggled by Indian soldiers, part of which had started the reactionary massacre, were spread, and all India seemed set aflame.

The Indian Revolt raged until 1922, when India was granted dominion status at Gandhi's urging, similarly to Ireland. In a new political climate, Gandhi began work to transform India by erasing culture he opposed, such as child marriage, untouchability, and oppression of women. The renewed liberalism without the drive for independence as had been seen before splintered the Indian movement. Sectionalism returned, and violence between Muslims, Hindu, and Sikhs rose as Britain stepped out of Indian government. Following Gandhi's assassination in 1934, voices began anew for independence, which was granted in 1947. Civil war broke out as lines were redrawn, the first of four wars among India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Punjabi.

Gandhi's goals of lifting up an oppressed people were accomplished despite bloodshed, which would be seen again with the assassinations and bombings on both sides in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States in the 1950s and '60s and in South Africa in the 1980s and '90s.

In 1892, a black railroad passenger, Homer Plessy, was arrested when he refused to vacate a "whites only" seat and move to one of the train's "black" cars.

Plessy v. FergusonPlessy's arrest led to a legal challenge to a Louisiana statute mandating "separate but equal" accommodations which reached the Supreme Court as Plessy v. Ferguson. The Court's ruling in that case struck down the Louisiana statute, citing the earlier decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) which declared that the framers of the Constitution had never contemplated treating blacks as the legal equals of whites.

The decision in the Plessy case angered not only blacks but also the railroad companies, which had supported Plessy's suit because they were unhappy with the expense of maintaining separate cars for blacks. Southern whites, however, were pleased: they had threatened secession in 1860 when it appeared that Abraham Lincoln of the Republican Party, a successor to the moribund Whigs associated with opposition to Negro slavery, would be elected president; only the electoral compromise of that year which instead placed Democrat Stephen A. Douglas in the White House persuaded secession advocates to back down. A new story by Eric LippsAs the years had passed, though, the pressure to end slavery had continued while an increasing number of states had passed laws similar to Louisiana's which, at least in theory, allowed blacks access to "separate, but equal" facilities aboard trains and in such public facilities as theaters, schools and libraries.

In practice, such facilities usually proved more separate than equal. But the very idea of blacks, even free blacks, of whom Louisiana in particular possessed a significant number, being entitled to privileges similar to those of whites infuriated many of the latter, and not only in the South. While by the time of Plessy's arrest and lawsuit tensions had not risen to the same point as in 1860, there was a growing so-called "Real America" movement dedicated to overturning such laws and kicking out of office legislators who had voted for them and judges who had ruled in their favor. The decision in Plessy took some of the steam out of the "Real Americans", who turned their attention primarily to opposing immigration, particularly from Asia and Eastern Europe.

Plessy did not lay to rest forever the issue of Negro equality. By 1910, every state but Mississippi had individually abolished slavery (Mississippi would finally do so in 1933, by which time there would be fewer than a thousand slaves in that state anyway), and a nationwide organization the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, had emerged to call for constitutional amendments formally granting blacks full legal equality with whites, including voting rights. White resistance to greater rights for blacks continued, however, fueling the rise of such groups as the Cyclops Legion, which favored costumes consisting of pure-white robes and hoods bearing a stylized eye on the forehead. The Legion and its many imitators called themselves patriots and protectors of "the American way of life", but carried out that mission by terrorizing and sometimes brutally killing "uppity" blacks and troublesome white "radicals". In 1915, silent-film mogul D. W. Griffith would deliver a tremendous boost to such groups with his movie Defending a Nation, which depicted them as heroes; the Cyclops Legion would grow to an estimated membership of two million nationwide by the early 1920s before collapsing under the weight of a series of financial scandals involving its leaders, who had grown rich marketing Legion costumes and paraphernalia¹.

In 1945, on this day the third Crystal Palace was destroyed by agents of the British Government-in-Exile leaving in ruins both Albert Speer's cast-iron and glass building and more importantly the Fuhrer's Plans for a Great Exhibition to showcase the wonders of his New Europa.

Operation ThunderdomeThe original construction in Hyde Park and its larger replacement at Sydenham were built for the Great Exhibition and Festival of Empires respectively. On 30 November 1936 a small office fire almost destroyed the building but for the timely intervention of the Penge fire brigade who immediately dispatched eighty-nine fire engines and over four hundred firemen. Nevertheless four years later, the Luftwaffe completed the task by flattening the construction during the Battle of Britain.

After the Nazis had occupied Great Britain, Albert Speer proposed the design of a new building to be opened by King Edward VIII. Initially disinterested in an emotional act of reconciliation, Hitler was taken with the idea of a new Great Exhibition that would showcase not the technologies of the British Empire, but rather the wonders of his New Europa.

Enraged by the concept, and alarmed that such an icon would open the door to popular acceptance of Nazi overlordship, Churchill dispatched Commander James Bond (pictured - real name, Ian Fleming) on a do-or-die mission to destroy the building before the exhibition could open.

In 2010, the cast and crew of Searching For Albert took time out of their busy shooting schedule to welcome a special visitor to their set: newly elected British prime minister David Cameron, a longtime fan of the original novel who in his election night victory address had quoted the main character's famous "fight to the last cartridge" speech from Albert's final chapter.

Searching For Albert Part 3Accompanied by his family and some of his top political aides, Cameron spent three hours on the set and was given an autographed copy of the movie's shooting script. Cameron's immediate predecessor, Gordon Brown, had also been a fan of Albert and owned an original hardcover edition of the book; Margaret Thatcher, prime minister at the time Albert's sequel Memorial was first published in 1980, used Albert as a metaphor for Britain's struggle against Argentina in the Falklands War.

A new article by Chris OakleyIn the days and weeks leading up to the theatrical release of Ken Loach's movie adaptation of Albert many British veterans' organizations would petition Cameron not to attend the movie's London premiere. Undeterred by the petitions, or Paddy Ashdown's threats of a nationwide protest against the film, Cameron accepted an invitation to attend a special VIP screening of the movie prior to its offical January 2011 release.

In 1944, it has been called the biggest military blunder in history, yet it was by no means inevitable that the Allied invasion of Normandy would fail, as many military historians have since claimed. Indeed, General Eisenhower's invasion plan was quite sound. It was just met with a series of unfortunate occurrences.

If D-Day Had Not FailedThe invasion had been originally scheduled for May, but was postponed until June due to logistical issues, such as an inadequate number of landing craft. Then on June 4th, it had to be postponed a second time because of bad weather. In the early morning of June 5th, Eisenhower held a meeting with his subordinates.

A new story by Charles R. Testrake"What about the weather?" Eisenhower asked.

All eyes turned to the man standing just opposite the conference table. He was tall and lean, sporting a thin mustache. Group Captain James Stagg cleared his throat.

"General," said Stagg.

"Our landings in the Cherbourg Harbor have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone" ~ General Dwight David Eisenhower, Supreme Commander - Allied Expeditionary Force"We anticipate there being a break in the storm beginning this evening. It should last approximately 36-hours".

"A small window!" said Eisenhower.

"Yes Sir!" replied Stagg.

Eisenhower thanked his chief meteorologist and dismissed him. Once Stagg had left the room, Eisenhower turned to his commanders.

"Gentlemen," he said. "The attack will take place on June 6th".

The break in the weather that Stagg had predicted never came. Most of the Allied landing craft did not even make it to shore, and on the few that did, the Allied soldiers were quickly killed or captured by the defending Germans. Several pockets of British and America airborne troops did manage to hold out for several weeks, but they were eventually annihilated.

Now, let us speculate on what if Stagg had been correct, and the weather had broken as he predicted. Given the Allied superiority in men, armaments, and equipment; it is reasonable to assume that if they had managed to establish a beachhead, as a result of a break in the weather, the invasion would have succeeded.
The most immediate beneficiary of this success would have been Eisenhower. It is almost certain that he would not have been relieved of his command on June 15th, and later demoted back to his permanent rank of Lieutenant Colonel. His career might have even partially emulated that of his former commanding officer, General Douglas McArthur, with a promotion to General of the Army. However his given his temperament, it is unlikely that Eisenhower would have ever entered the political arena.

The inevitable Allied victory would have certainly happened much early than the spring of 1946, perhaps as early as the fall of 1944. This in turn might have prevented Thomas Dewey's upset over Franklin Roosevelt in that year's American Presidential Election.

If Roosevelt had been elected to a fourth term, then his new Vice President, Harry Truman, would have become President upon Roosevelt's death in March 1945. So then, how would have a President Truman have dealt with the end of the war, the decision to use the atomic bomb, and the growing threat from the Soviet Union?
In the scenario we have created, in seems unlikely that the former Missouri haberdasher would ever have had to decide whether or not to use the atomic bomb of the Germans. Dewey agonized over this decision for weeks, before finally deciding against using the new weapon. Yet would Truman have used the weapon on the Japanese?

During Dewey's 1947 impeachment trial, Senator Truman was the deciding vote for the acquittal of the President. He later wrote the following in his memoirs: "I could not, in all consciousness, have voted to convict the President. If providence and fate had put me in his place, I could not have ordered the deaths of thousands of innocent women and children, in vague hope of shorten the war".

As for the growing Cold War with the Soviets, Truman would have been faced with a completely different set of circumstances than Dewey. The east/west divide would have probably been in western Poland instead of France. There would have been no Paris Wall. Yet given the political situation in America at that time, it would have been impossible for any American President to sustain military and financial aid to Europe indefinitely.

It is at this point that our divergence in time has to come to an end. Even if the D-Day had not failed, the forces of history would have been too strong to cause any major changes. It was unavoidable that by the end of the 20th century, capitalism and democracy would crumble and be replaced by Stalinist communism. So we must therefore conclude in the final analysis, that D-Day did not really matter that much.

In 1970, on this day in Guadalajara Soccer Stadium representatives of Her Majesty's Government watched in mounting horror as Brazil beat favourites England 1-0. Captain Bobby Moore then embraced Pele in a startlingly iconic gesture of sportmanship that challenged the racist immigration policies of Prime Minister Enoch Powell.

Mutual RespectEngland were considered by many to have a stronger side than the one that lifted the World Cup four years earlier. Sir Alf Ramsey was still in charge and players from the World Cup winning side such as the Bobbies Charlton and Moore (the Captain), Alan Ball, Gordon Banks, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters were in their prime. They had been joined by midfielders Francis Lee and Alan Mullery, and defenders Tommy Wright, Terry Cooper and Brian Labone.

As reigning champions, England had not had to qualify so they arranged a pre-tournament tour, playing the national sides of Columbia and Ecuador, to acclimatise to the heat and altitude.

At the final whistle, the Brazilians leapt for joy as though they had already won the cup, so clearly relieved were they to have beaten the World Champions. The enduring images are those of Bobby Moore and Pele embracing each other and the obvious mutual respect that the two teams held for each other.

In 1966, the British people had seen the triumph of the Labour Government, the shiney NHS bodies of Moore and his working class footballers. They had taken the national team to the summit of human experience, the world cup. But in 1970, against the backdrop of Powell's apocalyptic warnings of "rivers of blood" and that "in ten years the black man will hold the whip hand in this country", Moore took the national team to a new level. Because the team that travelled to the Mexico 1970 World Cup were more than champions, they were working class heroes taking Britain out of the Imperial Era, beacons of an exhilerating future that Powell would never understand.

In 2010, Ms. Helen Roberts, a long time journalist aged 90 (an advanced age by human standards) answered a vague question about Israel ("What about Israel?") with a cynical and perhaps humorous answer that the imhabitants of that country should migrate back to "Germany, Poland and America".

A Quip Transmuted to Reality by Raymond SpeerThat was professed to be tasteless in that Jews (the ethnic group in question) had been given no choice in the 1940s on their future and that Israel had been settled by survivors who had luckily emerged from the death grounds of Poland and Germany, given unceasing support from the people of America, most of whom were not Jews.

Roberts instantly retired in advance of being fired for that remark and died soon afterwards, remembered only for that comment. Inside of twenty years, the Third World War saw the rise of the Caliphate and the Caliph mercifully let the million Jewish survivors of the Sack of Israel be relocated in colonies to Poland, Germany and America. The Caliph interpreted Robert's statement as a serious statement issued by God.

Fully a third of the Israeli survivors took root in Poland, whose native population had been hard hit by the blood burn virus, and another third were offloaded to Germany, where thirty cities had been destroyed in nuclear holocausts. None of those Israeli settlements expanded in population during the remaining years of the 21st century.

In the United States of America, the Israelis prospered most in the Mountain and Great Plains States. Considerable anti-Semitism existed in the USA, a consequence of wide spread American blame on Israel for the damage that WWIII did on the USA when it got involved in war while backing Israel. But in large part, the newcomers were welcomed by their new neighbors.

Another nuclear armed war demolished the Islamic Caliphate along with the Latin American Eco-Patrimony. A dearth of military targets in North America meant that we extrastellar explorers usually make contact with the Jewish variety of humans because they are fully some fifty percent of the remaining humans in North America and Europe.

In 1994, at a press conference in London, England on this day actor Sam Neill announced that he had accepted the role of James Bond in the upcoming film GoldenEye, the seventeenth installment of the popular spy films.

Sam Neill stars in GoldeneyeNeill, who says he has long wanted to portray the suave superspy, was chosen to replace Pierce Brosnan as the latter was trapped in a contract for the production the delay-proned television movie Night Watch.

The James Bond 007 franchise has been in legal limbo for five years, with MGM's parent company Qintex battling Danjaq for the rights to air future Bond films internationally. This, coupled with Timothy Dalton?s horribly-received stint as the MI6 agent in The Living Daylights and License To Kill, had threatened to retire the series altogether. After the production of The Property of a Lady was delayed for four years, Dalton resigned from his contract to star in a third film in April.

Pierce Brosnan was favored to take the role, which he had been prevented from doing in 1987's The Living Daylights due to his contractual obligations to the television series Remington Steele. There was also minor concern over the use of an Irish actor to portray the traditionally British character, despite the fact that Scottish, Welsh and Australian men had played the role. Neill himself is from New Zealand.

Sam Neill, 47, is best known for his roles in The Hunt For Red October (1990), The Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), and last summer's blockbuster Jurassic Park. He also starred in the television mini-series Amerika, about a Soviet-dominated United States in the future. Neill has been an actor and director since 1975, and says that notable British actor James Mason was his mentor.

Goldeneye, the first Bond film since the end of the Cold War, is set for release in 1995, and is expected to take place primarily in former-Soviet Russia.

In 2003, future US President Lieutenant General William G. Boykin addressed an Oregon Church Gathering. The story continues from Part SevenPetraeus' Knot to Untie, Part 8 - President Boykin Steps Forward by Eric Lipps
Appearing in uniform, Boykin stated that enemies like Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus. Why do they [radical Muslims] hate us? Why do they hate us so much? Ladies and gentlemen, the answer to that is because we're a Christian nation. Boykin recounted the time he chased down a Muslim Somali warlord who was bragging that the Americans would not capture him because Allah would protect him. My God is bigger than his God. I knew my God was a real God, and his was an idol will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus.
Boykin's remarks stirred much anger in the Muslim world and Islamic organisations within the US were highly critical of the comments and called for his resignation, such as James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Several newspapers, such as Newsweek, carried articles calling for his resignation, while Democrats John Kerry and Joe Lieberman were quick to denounce the remarks. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner and Democrat Carl Levin both urged Rumsfeld to launch an investigation. Rep. John Conyers and 26 supporters put forward H. RES. 419 Condemning religiously intolerant remarks and calling on the President to clearly censure and reassign Lieutenant General Boykin. . President George Bush defended the statements, saying that Boykin reflected my point of view and the point of view of this administration. Donald Rumsfeld defended Boykin, describing him as an officer that has an outstanding record in the United States armed forces , and that the War on Terrorism was a war against a religion. He also spoke about the right of freedom of speech.
Marine General Peter Pace, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff revealed how sad [Boykin] was that his comments created the fury they had. He does not see this battle as a battle between religions, he sees this as a battle between good and evil, the evil being the acts of individuals.
Following this speech, Boykin was promoted to three-star rank and named deputy secretary of defense for intelligence. Pace was wrong about Boykin's comments, they reflected more than just his own views. Soon the Cabal of Officers led by Boykin would grip the US Government, opening the way for the Lieutenant General's election the following year.
The story continues.

In 1799, on this day master orator, attorney, planter and anti-monarchist politician Patrick Henry died on his five hundred and twenty acre plantation at Red Hill near Brookneal, Virginia in Charlotte County.

American Heroes: Patrick HenryA Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786. Henry led the opposition to the Stamp Act of 1765 and is remembered for his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech. Along with Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine, he is remembered as one of the most influential exponents of Republicanism, promoters of the American Revolution and independence, especially in his defense of historic rights.

Understandably, Henry became one of the fiercest opponents to the elevation of General Washington to King George the First of America. A barnstorming speech at the Virginia Ratification Convention ended with the erodite remark "Our Cincinnatus has become our Julius Caesar". But his eloquence was no match for the General's popularity and prestige and Henry was unable to stop the Royal House of Washington. However the lack of a suitable male heir brought the Monarchist experiment to a crashing halt just six months later. Perhaps his fellow Virginian himself accepted the brutal judgement of history for his last words were uncharacteristically philosophical "Tis well". Disgusted by the indecision and chaos of the Continental Congress, and the Articles of the Confederation, Washington had only accepted the throne in an attempt to steer the infant American state into early maturity.
This post is an article from our alternative American Heroes thread.

In 1942 / 1944, on two occasions two years apart during the Second World War, the sixth of June proved to be a day of disaster. The first was in the Pacific Theater as the Imperial Japanese Navy looked to take Midway Island and push American control 1,200 miles backward. Since the war in the Pacific had begun for the Americans with the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it had been mostly a calculated retreat.

June 6, 1942 and 1944 - A Cursed Day for the AlliesFDR ordered General Douglas MacArthur to relocate from the Philippines to Australia in February, 1942, prompting the famous "I shall return" speech. The Japanese swept through the Dutch East Indies until finally being stopped at the Battle of Coral Sea. While the Allies took heavier losses, they hindered the Japanese enough to stop their invasion of southern New Guinea.

In the next weeks, Yamamoto collected a massive fleet to make an attack on Midway Island, America's most forward holding in the northern Pacific. The attack had been expected by command since the 1930s, but there seemed no way to beat Japanese numbers with victory at Coral Sea being granted by superb American flight crews since ships did not even sea one another. Code-breakers attempted to trick the code for Midway out of the Japanese naval code JN-25 by falsely broadcasting in May that the Midway water distillation plant had broken and requesting supplies. While Japanese radio-operators were preparing to pass along word that "AF" (Midway) was short of water, command stopped them, having been suspicious over the American carriers seeming to appear exactly in the right place and time at Coral Sea. Yamamoto, who had spread his fleet widely to avoid detection, decided Americans were already suspicious and reordered his ships into a tighter pack that struck Midway and the few American reinforcements there. Most of the American Pacific fleet was in Hawaii, with the U.S.S. Lexington carrier under extensive repair.

After the fall of Midway, the Japanese and Americans fought endlessly between Midway and Hawaii, with the Americans finally pushing the Japanese back in November of 1942. They had allowed the Japanese to dig in at places such as the Eastern Solomons and Guadalcanal, but the full industrial might of America finally outpaced early Japanese advantages. With the loss of nearly 1000 pilots over the month-long Battle of Hawaii, the Japanese were unable to replace their crews, and the navy became impotent, relying on the army to hold the islands conquered early in the war. The Second Battle of Midway in 1944 restored it to American hands at the cost of thousands of Marines' lives. By December 1945, the Americans had overtaken outlying Japanese bases at Okinawa and Iwo Jima, making routine firebombing of the mainland possible.

June 6 was also the day of the disastrous attempt at an amphibious landing on the north coast of France. Weather had delayed the attack from June 5, but the Allies made an eager assault at Normandy on the morning of June 6, 1944, without full air support. While many of the German High Command were absent (Hitler was reported to have slept late that day) or more fearful of attack at Calais, communications broken up by Allied paratroopers ironically inspired reserve commanders to act on their own initiative. The Allies held the beach for a time, but Panzers under Rommel drove the troops back into the sea by afternoon (thanks to winning out before Hitler in an argument with Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt about mobile defense).

Eisenhower and the Allies retreated to prepare for another amphibious invasion, but the "worst channel storm in 40 years" delayed them through June. Instead, the Allies determined to feint at Calais and made an assault Marseille in the South, for which Churchill had long campaigned. Italy had been occupied by the Germans after capitulating, slowing advance up the Italian peninsula into a stalemate. Operation Dragoon created a fresh front through southern France, causing the Germans to move their attention southward. Shortly afterward, the Allies struck at Brittany, finally establishing a lasting beachhead at Brest. Meanwhile, on the Eastern Front, Stalin began ferocious counterattacks, pushing westward and catching whole German armies in pincer movements. By May of 1945, Russians had marched into Bavaria, taking as much ground as possible as the Western forces attempted to catch up for the Battle of Berlin a month later.

The war in Europe ended on May 28 with the Soviets controlling almost the whole of Germany. Issues immediately began to arise with occupation zones as French demanded an area of Germany. At Potsdam that July, the quickly fracturing Allies determined that the Soviets could control Germany as long as it followed the Potsdam Agreement and Russia would declare war on Japan to end the Pacific theater. President Truman's use of the atomic bomb and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria led to VJ Day on January 14/15. Again, the Soviets made great leaps in occupation, taking Korea and the northern islands of Japan while the beleaguered American forces worked to disarm southern islands still held by imperial forces.

With so much Soviet influence in the East, refused to give up Manchuria to the Chinese as a result of the ongoing Chinese Civil War, explaining they needed secure railways to support the occupational forces in Korea. Both Nationalist and Communist Chinese balked at the invasion and called another truce as they had during Japanese invasion, although each was willing to injure the other whenever possible. The occupation of Manchuria began the Sino-Soviet War, which dragged on as Western powers watched. With the development of Russian atomic weapons in 1949, the West finally acted with a NATO ultimatum banning the use of atomic weapons.

NATO-Soviet relations continued to crumble until the death of Stalin in 1956 ignited revolutions beginning in Hungary and spreading throughout Europe. Already stretched thin with fighting in China and occupation in Central Asia, the stress was enough to break the Soviet Bloc and bring the experiment of Russian Communism crashing down. War in China continued until NATO influence finally brought Kai-shek's Nationalists into power, spreading capitalism into other former Soviet nations such as Korea and Xinjiang.

In 1963, on this day US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on a visit to the United States Navy's First Fleet off San Diego, California.

Vision of Victory By Ed and Scott PalterA subsequent FBI report determined the facts

1) The fatal bullets were fired into the motorcade from the top floor of the Marine Recruit Depot
2) Sharpshooter Lee Harvey Oswald had used his security pass as a former US Marine Corp serviceman to gain entry to the Depot
3) His motive was a grudge dating back to 1962 when the Kennedy Administration had turned down a reconsideration of an dishonourable discharge from the service

Kennedy had been accompanied in the vehicle by the Governor of California Richard Nixon. Within three months, he would announce his intention to campaign for the Presidency as a Democrat Candidate. Along with his running mate Robert Kennedy they would complete JFK's vision of victory in Vietnam.

In 1972, "peace candidate" George McGovern shocks the Democratic Party's leadership by winning the California primary, narrowly defeating Hubert H. Humphrey. Until then, party elders fearful of McGovern's "extreme" liberalism had hoped he could be decisively beaten before the national convention. It now appears that will not happen.McGoverns Shocks by Eric Lipps
The party establishment is particularly afraid of McGovern because, with all of North Vietnams major cities now under U.S. and ARVN military control, Republicans are claiming that victory is within reach. "There remains only the task of cleaning out the countryside," asserts a confident Vice-President Spiro Agnew during a speech in France commemorating the 1944 D-Day landings there. "All that remains of the enemy is a small cadre of dead-enders, and once they?re beaten, the people of North Vietnam will gratefully accept the gift of freedom we have given them, just as did the people of France in '44". Showing his instinct for the jugular, Agnew continues, "And when that happens, they will remember who fought for them, and who in this country preferred to leave them under Communist tyranny".
Unfortunately for Agnew, the media will quickly point out that his reference to "this country" appears to be a blooper, given that he is addressing a French audience and not an American one. The Nixon White House will issue a "clarification" the next day.