May 25 ...

In 1521 Martin Luther was declared an outlaw and a heretic by the Edict of Worms because of his religious beliefs and writings. In 1787 the Constitutional Convention was convened in Philadelphia after enough delegates had shown up for a quorum. In 1803 author, poet, and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston, MA. In 1810 Argentina began its revolt against Spain. In 1844 the first telegraphed news dispatch, sent from Washington, DC to Baltimore, appeared in the Baltimore Patriot. In 1895 playwright Oscar Wilde was convicted of a 'morals charge' in London and was sentenced to two years in prison. In 1935 in a game in Pittsburgh's Forbes Field against the Pirates, Babe Ruth hit his 712th, 713th, and 714th home runs for the Boston Braves (the were the last three of his career; the final one was the first home run to clear the 86-foot roof in right field); also on this day, while competing at the Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, MI, Ohio State's Jesse Owens tied the world record for the 100 yard dash, and set world records in the long jump, 220 yard dash, and the 220 yard low hurdles -- all in a span of 45 minutes. In 1946 Transjordan (now Jordan) became a kingdom as it proclaimed its new monarch, King Abdullah Ibn Ul-Hussein. In 1961 President Kennedy asked the nation to work toward putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. In 1985 more than 11,000 people were killed as a hurricane and tidal wave devastated Bangladesh. In 1997 in a national referendum, Poland adopted a constitution that removed all traces of communism.

May 24 ...

In 1473 astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Toruń, Poland. In 1626 Peter Minuit bought the island of Manhattan from Native Americans. In 1819 Queen Victoria was born in London. In 1844 Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message, "What hath God wrought!" from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opened America's first telegraph line. In 1883 the Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, was opened to traffic. In 1929 the first film to star the Marx Brothers, The Cocoanuts, opened. In 1941 the German battleship Bismarck sank the British dreadnought HMS Hood in the North Atlantic; also on this day, singer/songwriter Bob Dylan was born in Duluth, MN. In 1958 United Press International was formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service. In 1962 astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Aurora Seven. In 1976 Britain and France opened the supersonic trans-Atlantic Concorde service to Washington. In 1977 the Kremlin ousted Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny from the Communist Party's ruling Politburo.

390 years ago on this date in 1623, British politician, antiquary, and the unfortunately named Elias Ashmole was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England.

Also on this date, 20 years ago in 1993, more than 1.5 million Cambodians ignore Khmer Rouge threats and vote in the country's first free elections in more than two decades.

May 23 ...

In 1623 British politician, antiquary, and the unfortunately named Elias Ashmole was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. In 1701 Captain William Kidd was hanged in London after being convicted of piracy and murder. In 1785 in a letter to a friend, Benjamin Franklin revealed his invention of spectacles of two thicknesses, the first bi-focals. In 1788 South Carolina became the 8th US state to ratify the US Constitution. In 1868 frontiersman Kit Carson died in Fort Lyon, CO, at age 58. In 1906 playwright Henrik Ibsen died in Kristiania, Norway (now Oslo) at age 78. In 1910 jazz great Artie Shaw was born in New York City. In 1934 bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed by police and killed in Black Lake, LA. In 1937 John D Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Company, died in Ormond Beach, FL. In 1939 Britain's Parliament approved a plan for an independent Palestine by 1949, which later was denounced by Jews and Arabs in Palestine. In 1944 British and US forces launched a huge offensive from the beach-head at Anzio, Italy. In 1945 Nazi SS Chief Heinrich Himmler committed suicide while imprisoned in Luneburg, Germany. In 1949 the German Federal Republic came into being with its capital at Bonn. In 1960 Adolf Eichmann, Nazi leader wanted for war atrocities, was found and captured by Israeli agents in Argentina. In 1969 The Who released Tommy, the first rock opera. In 1993 more than 1.5 million Cambodians ignore Khmer Rouge threats and vote in the country's first free elections in more than two decades. In 1997 Mohammad Khatami won the Iranian presidential election in a landslide.

May 22 ...

In 337 AD Roman Emperor Constantine the Great died. In 1856 South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks beat Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas. In 1859 author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1885 French poet, dramatist, and novelist Victor Hugo died. In 1908 the Wright Brothers patented their flying machine in the US. In 1939 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini signed the Pact of Steel, a political and military alliance between Germany and Italy intended to last 10 years. In 1969 the lunar module of Apollo 10 flew to within nine miles of the moon's surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing. In 1972 President Nixon became the first US president to visit Russia. In 1979 Pierre Trudeau's 11 years as Canadian prime minister ended with the Liberal Party's defeat in a general election by Progressive Conservative Party led by Joe Clark. In 1992 Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show for the last time. In 2001 the ruling Taliban militia in Afghanistan announced a law requiring Hindus to wear identity labels to distinguish them from Muslims. The measure also required Hindu women to be veiled for the first time.

May 21 ...

In 1542 explorer Hernando de Soto died along the Mississippi River while searching for gold. In 1688 poet Alexander Pope was born in London. In 1892 the opera Pagliacci, by Ruggiero Leoncavallo, was first performed in Milan, Italy. In 1904 jazz great Fats Waller was born in New York City. In 1924 in a case that drew international headlines, Bobby Franks, 14, was murdered in a "thrill killing" committed by Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb, two University of Chicago students. In 1927 aviator Charles Lindbergh reached Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across Atlantic Ocean. In 1941 the SS Robin Moor went down in the South Atlantic, becoming the first American ship to be sunk by a German U-boat during WWII. In 1944 Allied forces broke through the Hitler Line in Italy. In 1945 Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart were married. In 1968 nuclear-powered US submarine Scorpion, with 99 men aboard, was last heard from; its remains were later found on the ocean bed 644km southwest of the Azores. In 1969 Sirhan B Sirhan was sentenced to death for the assassination of US presidential candidate Robert Kennedy in 1968; the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. In 1982 British troops attacked the Argentine-held Falkland Islands, with the British military saying it had established a beachhead at Port San Carlos; also, the HMS Ardent was sunk with the loss of 22 lives. In 1989 students occupying Tiananmen Square in China rejected a government ultimatum to leave the square, as several million people marched in cities throughout the world to show support for the pro-democracy demonstrators; also on this day, Egypt resumed its Arab League membership after a 10-year break. In 1991 Rajiv Gandhi, candidate for prime minister of India, was assassinated in a bomb attack in the state of Madras. In 1997 Ukraine and Poland signed a reconciliation agreement to formally end conflict and put centuries of bloodshed behind them.

May 20 ...

In 1259 King Henry III of England gave Normandy to France. In 1303 the Treaty of Paris restored Gascony to the British in the Hundred Years War. In 1506 Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain. In 1536 King Henry VIII of England married Jane Seymour. In 1774 Britain passed the Quebec Act, extending its boundaries northward to Hudson's Bay and as far south as the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers at Cairo, IL. In 1799 novelist Honore de Balzac was born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France. In 1806 philosopher and political economist John Stuart Mill was born in London, England. In 1861 North Carolina became the last state to secede from Union. In 1874 Levi Strauss first marketed blue jeans with copper rivets. In 1908 actor Jimmy Stewart was born in Indiana, PA. In 1916 Norman Rockwell's first cover appeared on The Saturday Evening Post. In 1927 pilot Charles A. Lindbergh began his solo flight across Atlantic Ocean; also on this day, the Treaty of Jeddah was signed between Britain and King Ibn Saud, recognizing the independence of Saudi Arabia. In 1932 pilot Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland for Ireland to become first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. In 1939 regular trans-Atlantic air service began as a Pan American Airways plane, the Yankee Clipper, took off from Port Washington, NY, bound for Europe. In 1940 German troops reached the coast of France, cutting the Allied forces in two; also on this day, Igor Sikorsky patented the first helicopter. In 1956 the first hydrogen bomb dropped from the air was exploded by the US over the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. In 1961 a white mob attacked a busload of Freedom Riders in Montgomery, AL, prompting the federal government to send in US Marshals to restore order. In 1980 Quebec held its first referendum on independence from Canada, with 60 per cent voting against separation. In 1989 martial law was imposed in Beijing after student-led protests drew millions of people onto the streets. In 1996 Iraq and the UN signed an agreement known as the Oil-for-Food Program to let the country sell oil to buy food and medicine for its suffering people.

May 19 ...

In 1536 Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England's King Henry VIII, was beheaded after she was convicted of adultery. In 1568 after being defeated by the Protestants, Mary, Queen of Scots, fled to England where she was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth. In 1643 delegates from four New England colonies met in Boston to form a confederation. In 1935 T.E. Lawrence, also known as "Lawrence of Arabia," died in Dorset, England, from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash. In 1943 in an address to the US Congress, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledged his country's full support in the war against Japan. In 1958 the United States and Canada formally established the North American Air Defense Command. In 1962 during a Democratic fundraiser at New York's Madison Square Garden, actress Marilyn Monroe performed a sultry rendition of Happy Birthday for guest-of-honor President Kennedy. In 1964 the State Department disclosed that 40 hidden microphones had been found in the US embassy in Moscow. In 1967 the Soviet Union ratified a treaty with the United States and Britain banning nuclear weapons from outer space. In 1994 former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died in New York at age 64.

May 18 ...

In 1048 Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer Omar Khayyam was born. In 1642 the city of Montreal was founded. In 1804 the French Senate proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte emperor. In 1896 the Supreme Court endorsed "separate but equal" racial segregation with its Plessy v. Ferguson decision, a ruling that was overturned almost 58 years later to the day by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In 1897 director Frank Capra was born in Bisacquino, Sicily. In 1920 Pope John Paul II was born Karol Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland. In 1933 the Tennessee Valley Authority was created. In 1944 Allied forces finally occupied Monte Cassino in Italy after a four-month battle that claimed some 20,000 lives. In 1969 astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Thomas P. Stafford, and John W. Young blasted off aboard Apollo 10. In 1980 the Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state exploded, leaving 57 people dead or missing.

340 years ago on this date in 1673, Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette began exploring the Mississippi River.

Also on this date, 40 years ago in 1973, the Senate opened its hearings into the Watergate scandal.

May 17 ...

In 1444 Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli was born in Florence, Italy. In 1630 Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi, inventor of the concave reflecting telescope, first saw the belts on Jupiter's surface. In 1673 Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette began exploring the Mississippi River. In 1749 Edward Jenner, the first physician to introduce the smallpox vaccine, was born in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England. In 1792 the New York Stock Exchange was founded by brokers meeting under a tree located on what is now Wall Street. In 1875 the first Kentucky Derby was held; the winner was Aristides. In 1938 Congress passed the Vinson Naval Act, providing for a two-ocean navy. In 1939 Britain's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrived in Quebec on the first visit to Canada by reigning British sovereigns. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Brussels, Belgium, during World War II. In 1946 President Truman seized control of the nation's railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen. In 1948 the Soviet Union recognized the new state of Israel. In 1954 the US Supreme Court handed down its Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision which found that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal, and therefore unconstitutional. In 1973 the Senate opened its hearings into the Watergate scandal. In 2000 two former Ku Klux Klansmen were arrested on murder charges in the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, AL, that killed four young black girls. (Thomas Blanton Jr. and Bobby Frank Cherry were later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.)

May 16 ...

In 1770 Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15. In 1868 the Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson when it took its first ballot on one of 11 articles of impeachment against Johnson. In 1905 actor Henry Fonda was born in Grand Island, NE. In 1920 Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome. In 1955 American author and critic James Agee died in New York City at age 45. In 1960 a Big Four summit conference in Paris collapsed on its opening day as the Soviet Union leveled spy charges against the US in the wake of the U2 incident. In 1963 after 22 Earth orbits Gordon Cooper returned to Earth, in what was to be the last flight in the Mercury program. In 1969 Venera 5, a Russian spacecraft, landed on the planet Venus. In 1985 actress Margaret Hamilton died in Salisbury, CT, at age 82. Hamilton was best known for her roles of Almira Gulch and The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. In 2001 former FBI agent Robert Hanssen was indicted on charges of spying for Moscow. (Hanssen later pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.) In 2005 Newsweek magazine retracted its Quran abuse story that sparked deadly protests in Afghanistan that left about 15 people dead and scores injured.

May 15 ...

In 1602 Cape Cod, MA, was discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold. In 1856 L. Frank Baum, author of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was born in Chittenango, NY. In 1886 poet Emily Dickinson died in Amherst, MA. In 1911 the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Co., ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. In 1918 US airmail began service between Washington, Philadelphia and New York. In 1941 Joe DiMaggio began his record Major League baseball 56-game hitting streak, going 1 for 4 against Chicago White Sox pitcher Eddie Smith. In 1942 gasoline rationing went into effect in 17 states, limiting sales to three gallons a week for non-essential vehicles. In 1948 Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon only hours after declaring its independence. In 1951 AT&T became the first corporation to have one million stockholders. In 1958 Sputnik III, the first space laboratory, was launched in the Soviet Union. In 1963 astronaut L. Gordon Cooper blasted off aboard Faith 7 on the final mission of the Project Mercury space program. In 1970 Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi, were killed when police opened fire during student protests. In 1972 George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer and left paralyzed while campaigning in Laurel, MD, for the Democratic presidential nomination. In 1988 Soviet forces began their withdrawal from Afghanistan. Soviet forces had been there for more than eight years. In 1997 the space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a mission to deliver urgently needed repair equipment and a fresh American astronaut to Russia's orbiting Mir space station.

See, when those of us out here were talking about 'Chicago politics,' we weren't, ya know, talking about race.... we were, ya know, talking about Chicago politics....



Does the last week or so kinda make that a little bit more clear for you?