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THE AMERICAN CALENDAR
EACH DATE IS THE ANNIVERSARY
OF A PERSON OR EVENT. IT SIGNIFIES THE DATE OF BIRTH OR IN SOME CASES THE
DATE OF DEATH AS SPECIFIED. |
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January |
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The Emancipation Proclamation, a military edict
issued by President Abraham Lincoln declaring the
emancipation of all slaves in those regions still under Confederate
control in the Civil War. Such action had been promised in a preliminary
proclamation dated September 22, 1862. Lincoln believed that he
had the authority from his broad powers as commander in chief. It
changed the nature of the war: the salvation of the Union and the
abolition of slavery. |
J. Edgar Hoover,
American criminologist, lawyer and director of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI). Hoover was confirmed in his position by
every president from Coolidge to Nixon and his contributions to
the management of police work were generally recognized. Hoover
was the director of the FBI from 1924 to 1972. |
Barry Goldwater,
U.S. senator from Arizona, 1953-65 and 1969-87. He ran
unsuccessfully as Republican presidential candidate in the 1964
contest against Lyndon
Johnson. His political philosophy is embodied in his The Conscience
of a Conservative (1960).
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Philip
M. Freneau, American poet and journalist, an ardent advocate
of the Jeffersonian democracy who has been called the Poet of the
American revolution.
He was a dedicated patriot
and the first poet of genuine merit to appear in the United States. |
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Alaska
becomes the 49th and largest state. President Eisenhower signed
the document of proclamation as well as an executive order for a
new design of 49 stars
for the official flag.
It was a 42-year struggle for statehood; it is one-fifth the size
of the rest of the United States. |
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Everett
McKinley Dirksen, legislator who was elected leader of
the Republican party in the U.S. Senate in 1959. He was a brilliant
orator and negotiator thoughout his long senatorial career. He was
a Republican who supported the principles of the Democratic Party.
He supported
American goals and actions
in the Vietnam War. Failing eyesight forced him to retire from politics. |
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Courtney
Hodges, American general who commanded the First Army through
most of the European campaign of World War II. Following the Normandy
invasion, he took Paris and defeating the German counteroffensive
in the Ardennes in December, 1944, and established the first crossing
of the Rhine at the Remagen Bridge and first contact with Russian
armies at the Elbe River |
Walter
Mondale, 42nd vice president of the U.S. and Democratic
Party nominee for president in 1984. A protege of Minnesota Democrat
Hubert H. Humphrey. Mondale was very active in domestic and foreign
affairs in the Jimmy Carter administration. He was in favor of a
nuclear freeze and the Equal Rights Amendment. |
Calvin
Coolidge died in Northampton, Massachusetts. He was the
30th president of
the U.S. He was a shrewd and taciturn New Englander who occupied
the
White
House
for six years. |
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Charles
Sumner, American political leader who was attacked by Pres-
ton Brooks. Sumner had delivered an oration, "The Crime Against
Kansas" in which he deplored slavery. The assault evoked sympathy
for Sumner through- out the North. |
Carl
Sandburg, American poet and biographer of Abraham Lincoln.
His six volumes won wide acclaim. His poetry catches the primitive
quality of a rapidly expanding America. He is regarded as the representative
poet of the prairie West. Sometimes his verse becomes propaganda.
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Tom
Mix, American actor who was one of the first stars of Western
films. In the 1920s, Mix was extremely popular as was his horse
Tony. He starred in over loo Westerns. He always wore a white suit,
black boots, and a white ten-gallon hat. He was killed in a car
accident near Florence, Arizona on october 12, 1940. |
Sam
Rayburn, U.S. Congressman who held the office of Speaker
of the House of Representatives longer than anyone else in American
history. He served in the House from 1913 to 1961. He supported
and helped draft much of Roosevelt's New Deal program.
Throughout
his long career he was known for his ability to muster votes by
quiet persuasion. |
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Millard
Fillmore, 13th president of the United States. He became
president following the death of Zachary Taylor in 1850. He tried
to unite the Whig Party on the issue of slavery but
was forced
to join the Know-Nothing Party. Suave, courteous and handsome
in a rather
stodgy fashion,
Fillmore was by nature a kindly and modest individual. |
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The
Battle of New Orleans and the final engagement
of the War of 1812. American forces were under the command of Andrew
Jackson while the British forces were commanded by Edward Packenham.
The British suffered terrible devastation including the death of
their leader. |
James
Longstreet, American army officer who was the senior lieutenant
of the Confederate Army in the Civil War. In the battle of Gettysburg,
July 2-3, 1863, Longstreet commanded the principal Confederate assaults.
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Elvis
Presley, American popular singer and motion picture actor.
While living in Memphis, Tennessee, Presley made his first commercial
recording in 1954. He became the leading rock music singer of the
19506 and 19606. Among his songs were: Love Me Tender;
Hound
Dog; Heartbreak Hotel; Don't Be Cruel. Presley died at the age of
42 years. |
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Richard
M. Nixon, 37th president of the United States. Nixon is
remembered for his achievements in foreign policy and for the watergate
scandals in which he became so involved that he
was
forced to resign his office. Nixon was extremely paranoid which
created his own
enemies. He saw his career as a series of crises. |
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Ethan
Allen, American Revolutionary soldier, leader of the Green
Mountain boys who settled in Bennington, Vermont where he became
a leader in the quarrel with New York over
jurisdiction of the land. Allen was able to obtain legal status
for Vermont and the colony
was
admitted
to the
Union in 1789. It was one of the causes Allen had championed during
his eventful life. |
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Alexander
Hamilton, American political leader who was largely responsible
for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and the establishment
of a strong central
government. He was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr when Hamilton
fired into the air. He was
one of the
greatest
statesen in American history and one of the chief founders of the
nation. |
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Wyatt
Earp died at the age of 80. Always quick on the trigger,
Earp was legendary across the American frontier. When he became
marshall of Dodge City in 1876, he
said, "I was
hired to stop the killing,"
and that's exactly what he did. |
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Salmon
P. Chase was Secretary of the Treasury in Lincoln's Civil
War Cabinet and Chief Justice during the Reconstruction Period following
the war. He was a radical abolitionist of the Republican Party and
a frequent aspirant for the presidency. As Chief Justice he expanded
the powers of the Supreme Court and he conducted the impeachment
trial of President Andrew Johnson with admir- able restraint. He
died of a stroke on May 7, 1873. |
Stephen Foster
died in Bellevue Hospital, New York City. He spent his last years
in extreme poverty, living in a sordid room in the slum section
of New York City. American songwriter who was the most significant
com- poser in the pre-Civil War period.
Foster was attracted to Negro or plantation
songs like My Old Kentucky
Home; Swanee River; Oh,
Susanna; and Camptown Races. |
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Benedict
Arnold became an American Revolutionary War general and
traitor. His treasonous acts in selling important information to
the British overshadow his earlier feats as a successful and courageous
military leader in the American cause. Throughout his
controversial
life, Arnold remained restless, grasping and improvident until his
death in
London on June 14, 1801. |
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John
C. Breckinridge, political and military leader in Kentucky
who served as vice president under James Buchanan and in 1860 was
nominated for the presidency by the southern proslavery Democrats.
He joined the Confed- eracy and served as Confederate Secretary
of War. He fled to Europe after the war but was allowed to return
with permission by President Grant in 1869. |
Martin Luther
King, Jr, American civil rights leader and 1964 Nobel Peace
Prize winner. In 1957 King became president of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference. on April 4, 1968, he was assassinated in
Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray. King was a Baptist minister
and outstanding African-American who preached against racism and
segregation. |
Edward Teller,
American physicist, sometimes called "the father of the hydrogen
bomb." Teller's work on the hydrogen-fusion or H-bomb is still
secret. It is known that he was one of the discoverers of the method
by which it
could be made to work
so that the first bomb of
this type could be tested in the Pacific in 1952. |
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Henry
W. Halleck, U.S. general and jurist. As supreme commander
in the West during the Civil War, he showed administrative skill
in organizing the volunteer armies, but a lack of strategical and
tactical ability. He He was a military adviser to President Lincoln.
He was called "Old Brains" for his theoretical brilliance
and was effective in forging a truly national army. |
Mathew B. Brady
died a bankrupt and an alcoholic in New York City. He was a famous
American photographer and historian who gave a superb account of
the Civil War. He started a collection of portraits of great Americans
published in 1850. Brady's cameramen, often photographing under
fire, made hundreds of negatives depicting the carnage of war. However,
documenting the war was a financial disaster. Although Congress
gave him $25,000 for his collection, the last years of his life
were tragic. |
Jay Hanna Dean,
known as Dizzy Dean, was American baseball player and sportscaster.
He was one of the greatest pitchers and person alities in the game.
He was born in Lucas, Arkansas and left school after the second
grade, picked cotton until he was 16 and then spent three years
in the U.S. Army. He compiled a number of major league records.
In 1934 he won 30 games and he and his brother Daffy, also a pitcher
for the St. Louis Cardinals, won two games in the
World Series to take
the series from Detroit. He died in Reno, Nevada, on July 17, 1974.
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Benjamin
Franklin who was a Boston printer, author, philosopher,
diplomat, scientist and inventor. Disillusioned with British rule
in America, he helped to draft the Declaration of Independence.
He was ambassador to France and took part in the peace talks after
the American Revolution. He gained a worldwide reputation for his
scientific work in electricity. |
Al
(Alphonse) Capone, Chicago gangster who was the symbol
of Pro- hibition era lawlessness. He spent his early years in crime
in South Brooklyn where he received a razor slash on his left cheek
from ear to lip and his nickname of "Scarface." Capone
became undisputed head of an enormous criminal syndicate whose operations
included gambling, prostitution and the illegal sale of liquor.
In 1927 his wealth was over $l00 million. In 1929 he was responsible
for the St. Valentine's Day massacre of rival gang members.
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Thomas
Anthony Dooley III, American doctor and author who won
fame for his humanitarian work in Southeast Asia. Dr. Dooley graduated
from Notre Dame University and entered the St. Louis University
School of Medicine receiving an M.D. degree in 1953. He supervised
refugee camps in Vietnam. He es- tablished many hospitals in Laos.
He founded the Medical International Cooperation organization. Dooley
died in New York City on January 18, 1961. |
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Muhammad
Ali, American professional boxer who held the world heavy-
weight title three times. He was born Cassius Marcellus Clay in
Louisville, Kentucky. He turned professional in October, 1960. In
1967 Clay was stripped of his title after he had refused to be inducted
into the U.S. armed forces. He embraced the Muslim religion and
changed his name to the Muslim religion. He won and lost his title
many times from 1971 to 1981 and then retired. |
Brink's
Inc. was robbed in Boston at its headquarters in a most
sensational robbery. A gang of seven masked men took more than $l.2
million in cash and $l.5 million in checks, money orders and securities.
The company was founded in 1859 by Washington P. Brink who settled
in Chicago from Ver- mont. It has armored car service in most of
the United States, Canada, France, Israel and many other
countries throughout the
world. Brink's uses only ex-policemen or ex-servicemen and has designed
its own cars since the Boston robbery. |
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Daniel
Webster, American statesman, orator and lawyer who supported
nullification and the supremacy of the Union and became a leader
of the Whig Party. It was Webster's historic function to strengthen
the republic of the Founding Fathers and to use compromise and conciliation
to preserve it when it was in danger from sectionalists. |
Oliver Hardy
was born in Harlem, Georgia. He was one of the two comedians whose
comedies were the most popular in the world. Laurel and Hardy perfected
a classic comedy technique of bungling everything they attempted.
In 1926, comedy film producer, Hal Roach,
teamed the slim Stan Laurel
with the fat Oliver Hardy and almost immediately the team won success. |
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Robert
E. Lee, general of the Confederate armies in the Civil
War. He was one of the truly gifted commanders of all time. The
affection of his soldiers was akin to hero worship. Lee was pious
and courteous as a person, bold and audacious as a general. Through
his noble character, Lee gave new life to the South -and to the
nation. |
Edgar Allan Poe,
American poet and author is credited as being the first example
of detective fiction. He wrote around motifs of death, decay and
madness. His poetry and
prose are of the macabre. His works show an intense preoccupation
with the
morbid and the bizarre.
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Edwin
Eugene Aldrin, American astronaut who was the second man
(after Neil Armstrong) to walk on the moon. While in the Air Force
he flew combat missions in the Korean War. Selected as an astronaut
by NASA in 1963, Aldrin first entered space in the two-man Gemini
craft in 1966. on the historic flight of Apollo 11, Aldrin was the
copilot of the lunar module that separated
from the main spacecraft orbiting the moon with Michael Collins
aboard
and landed on the lunar
surface on July 20, 1969. |
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John
Charles Fremont, American explorer and political leader
who surveyed and mapped the wilderness of the western United States.
He led the revolt against Mexico which resulted in the acquisition
of California. He ran for president against James Buchanan in 1856
as the first candidate of the Republican Party. |
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Thomas
(Stonewall) Jackson, American army officer who was one
of the ablest lieutenants of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
He is regarded as one of the outstanding tacticians in military
history. He was accidentally killed by one of his own troops while
returning at night on a reconnaissance mission. He was mourned by
both the North and the South. |
Jack
Nicklaus, American golfer who was regarded universally
as the dominant player of his generation and by many experts as
the greatest in history. Nicknamed the "Golden Bear" he
excelled in all aspects of the game and especially his tremendous
drives and excellent putting. His name
is synonymous
with perfection. He holds most of the records on the PGA Tour. |
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Anzio
Battle in World War II which concerned the invasion of
Italy. Two American divisions surprised the Germans in Italy as
they stormed ashore 60 miles behind enemy lines. There was little
resistance as German units withdrew to the south to
increase defenses around
the Monte Cassino fortress. |
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John Hancock, American Revolutionary leader and
president of the Continental Congress, was the first to sign the
Declaration of Independence. He served his whole life in Massachusetts
politics and with Samuel Adams started the American
Revolution. He risked
his large fortune in the struggle for independence. |
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Casablanca
Conference in World War II. Roosevelt, Churchill and de
Gaulle hold war council meetings. They asked for the total elimination
of Germany, Japan and Italy and demanded unconditional surrender.
It meant the destruction of the philosophies in
those countries which
are based on conquest and the subjugation of other people. |
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Pearl
Harbor Probe. A special presidential committee condemned
high ranking officers who failed to take adequate steps to defend
Pearl Harbor against the Japanese attack on
December 7, 1941. Admiral
Husband Kimmel and General Walter c. Short had been warned by their
superiors. |
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Douglas
MacArthur, American general, commander of Allied forces
in the Southwest Pacific during World War II and cqmmander of the
occupation of Japan and of United Nations forces in Korea. He commanded
the American defense of the Philippines and defeated the Japanese
in the Pacific. In the Korean War he was recalled by President Truman
because of differing policies. |
Wayne
Gretzky, American and Canadian ice hockey player who broke
most of the NHL's scoring records during his career. He was eight-time
winner of the Most Valuable Player Award. In 1983-84 he scored in
51 consecu- tive games.
He scored many other
hockey records before he retired. He
is considered the greatest hockey player of all time. |
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Samuel
Gompers, American labor leader who founded the American
Federation of Labor (AFL) and was its president (1886-94 and 1896-1924).
He was conservative and a product of his time. The United States
still func- tions on the foundations that Gompers and associates
put down. |
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Jerome
Kern, American composer who created a ceaseless flow of
richly melodic pieces and buoyant rhythm numbers that were well
suited to the requirements of the stage. His musicals were particularly
influential for his integration of music and story and use of mature
subject matter. |
Hyman
G. Rickover, Rear Admiral of the U.S. Navy, he led in the
development of nuclear propulsion systems for submarines and other
naval vessels.
The fleet of attack submarines
and Polaris strategic
ballistic missile submarines eventually numbered over 100. |
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Floods
make nearly one million homeless. Hundreds have been killed by one
of the worst floods in the history of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
Louisville, Cincinnati
and other cities
are still
under water. The Red Cross calls it the greatest emergency since
World War I. |
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Thomas
Paine, American pamphleteer, political scientist and religious
thinker who issued the first public call for the American colonies
to declare their independence from Britain. His pamphlet, Common
Sense, had a profound impact on public opinion and on the deliberations
of the Continental Congress then meeting in Philadelphia. |
William
McKinley, 25th president of the United States. His adminis-
tration was notable for the Spanish-American War after which the
United States emerged as a world power. An advocate of expansionism,
he acquired the Philippines, annexed Hawaii, took virtual
control of
Cuba and pursued
the Open Door policy in China. He was assassinated in 1901.
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Franklin
D. Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States. The
only president to be elected to four consecutive terms in office.
Despite polio which paralyzed his legs, he pulled the nation out
of the Great Depres- sion and led the country through World War
II. Roosevelt was a president of stature. Despite his limitations,
he had been a strong, decent
and highly popular president
for more than twelve years. |
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Zane
Grey, American author, who is best known for his novels
about the West. In 1904 his best known historical novel is The Last
of the Plainsmen. The novel, Riders of the Purple Sage sold over
1,800,000 copies. His books were translated into twenty languages
and many of his 54 novels were adapted to motion pictures. |
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Eddie
Cantor, American comedian, who moved from the stage to
a highly uccessful career in radio, motion pictures and television.
He was born Edward Israel Iskowitz in New York City. He was noted
for his banjo eyes. He starred in many films and appeared on the
Colgate comedy Hour on television. He died in Hollywood on october
10, 1964. |
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Tallulah
Bankhead, American actress, whose husky voice and flamboyant
style made her one of the most colorful personalities of stage,
screen and radio. She was born in Huntsville, Alabama. She mingled
with such notables as Alexander Woollcott, Heywood Broun and Dorothy
Parker. She died in New York City on December 12, 1968.
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Jackie Robinson,
American baseball player who was the first black man to play in
the major leagues. Branch Rickey, president of the Brooklyn Dodgers,
signed him to play in April, 1947. He helped the team win six pennants
and one World Series. He was voted Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable
Player. |
Ernie Banks,
known as Mr. Cub, was born in Dallas, Texas. He was the greatest
power hitter ever to play shortstop. After playing in the Negro
League, he was,sold to the Chicago Cubs in 1953. He hit 512 home
runs as a shortstop and was Most Valuable Player two years
in a row, 1959 and 1960.
He had many other National League records in batting and fielding.
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977. |
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