On this day:

[too larry]

On this day. . .

1960

Martin Luther King, Jr., is sentenced to four months in jail for a sit-in.

1962

In South Africa, civil rights activist Nelson Mandela is sentenced to 5 years in prison.

 

[too larry]

1983
1,800 U.S. troops and 300 Caribbean troops land on Grenada. U.S. forces soon turn up evidence of a strong Cuban and Soviet presence--large stores of arms and documents suggesting close links to Cuba.


I watched this one on TV as I was getting processed out of the Navy.

 

[too larry]

1983
. . . . . . . . . . . as I was getting processed out of the Navy.

Some time this week, 36 years ago, was the last time Larry paid for a haircut.

 

[too larry]

And now for the important stuff. . . .

The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
7 hrs ·
On Oct. 25, 1991, Rock and Roll lost one of the most influential people it ever had. Concert promoter, manager, producer, record label owner and actor Bill Graham. Bill produced early concerts at the Fillmore, Avalon Ballroom, Winterland Ballroom, the Fillmore East and the Fillmore West to name a few venues. He was involved with Woodstock and promoted the largest US festival ever at Watkins Glen.
Graham was killed in a helicopter crash west of Vallejo, California, while returning home from a Huey Lewis & The News concert at the Concord Pavilion. Graham had attended the event to discuss promoting a benefit concert for the victims of the 1991 Oakland firestorm. Once he had obtained the commitment from Huey Lewis to perform, he returned to his helicopter. Flying in severe weather, with rain and gusty winds, the aircraft flew off course and too low to the ground over the tidal marshland north of San Pablo Bay. The Bell Jet Ranger flew directly into a 223-foot high-voltage tower near where Highway 37, which runs between Vallejo, California and Marin County, California, crosses Sonoma Creek. The helicopter burst into flames on impact, killing Graham, pilot Steve Kahn and Graham's girlfriend, Melissa Gold, ex-wife of author Herbert Gold. The charred remains of the helicopter hung grotesquely in the tower for more than a day.
Besides all the music event he promoted, Bill had a lifelong dream to be a character actor. He appeared in "Apocalypse Now" in a small role as a promoter. In 1990, he was cast as Charles "Lucky" Luciano in the film "Bugsy." During one scene, he is shown in a Latin dance number, a style of dancing Graham had embraced as a teenager in New York. He also appears as a promoter in the 1991 Oliver Stone film, "The Doors." He had a small part in "Gardens of Stone" as Don Brubaker, a hippie anti-war protester.
There were some in the business who were not fond of Graham, but those people would agree he had a huge part in inventing the business.
RIP Bill. Thanks for the shows.

 

[too larry]

The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
6 hrs ·
It was five years ago today that the music world lost a founding member of and the bassist and lead vocalist for Cream, Jack Bruce.
There have been many things said about Jack. In The Sunday Times in 2008, Dan Cairns had suggested: "many consider him to be one of the greatest bass players of all time." Steve Anderson, writing in The Independent said ".. he became one of the most famous and influential bass players in rock." Roger Waters of Pink Floyd recently described Bruce
as "probably the most musically gifted bass player who's ever been." Eric Clapton posted on Facebook about Bruce "He was a great musician and composer, and a tremendous inspiration to me" and composed an acoustic song in his honor and Ginger Baker wrote "I am very sad to learn of the loss of a fine man, Jack Bruce... My thoughts and wishes are with his family at this difficult time." Guitarist Leslie West, of rock group Mountain, posted on Facebook, "It is with great sadness that one of the worlds greatest musicians and bass players, who I had the honor of playing with in West, Bruce and Laing, Jack Bruce has died. I was hoping somehow that we might have gotten together one last time. Rest in Peace my friend." Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi said on Twitter that Bruce had been his favourite bass player, saying "He was a hero to so many" and Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler regarded him as his "biggest influence and favourite bass player". Guitarist John McLaughlin said on Twitter, "Very sad to have lost my old friend Jack Bruce." Long-standing collaborator Robin Trower wrote on Facebook, "It has always been a great source of pride to me to have made music with Jack (one of the few musicians that can be truly called a force of nature) and Jack and I were proud of that music. He will be greatly missed". Fellow bassist Billy Cox also posted a tribute to Bruce on Facebook. Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Neil McCormick said, "There was a time when Jack Bruce was synonymous with the bass guitar in rock history, when he was widely revered as the best there was on four strings." RUSH bassist and singer Geddy Lee wrote: “The sudden passing of Jack Bruce is terribly sad news. One of the greatest rock bassists to ever live and a true and profound inspiration to countless musicians. He was one of my first bass heroes and was a major influence on my playing and my music. My heartfelt condolences to his family and fans.”
Jack was 71 years old.
RIP Jack. Thank you. You will live on forever through your music.

 

[too larry]

The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
5 hrs ·
The Rolling Stones first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on October 25, 1964. They had just released their third album, “12 X 5,” and there was no better way to promote it. Ed introduced the band and told the audience that they would be performing in both halves of the show. With that, adoring fans began screaming, and the curtain rose to reveal The Rolling Stones taking their place on stage.
The band kicked the night off with the Chuck Berry classic, “Around & Around,” and a young, shaggy-haired Mick Jagger danced across the stage to the girls’ delight. The screams lasted throughout the entire song, continuing even after it finished and the curtain had dropped. Ed attempted to introduce the next act, but the sustained shrieks muffled his attempts. He slowly grew impatient and had to tell the audience to be “Quiet!” multiple times.
The Rolling Stones came back to close that evening’s show with their hit, “Time Is on My Side.” Once again, Mick Jagger had to sing over the shrieks of the raucous and unruly crowd. The performance put Jagger’s charisma on full display as he gave engaging looks to the crowd and really seemed to be singing directly to individuals sitting in the audience.
Following the song, Ed prodded the audience, “Come on, let them hear it!” Sullivan ended up getting more than he bargained for as the crowd of youngsters screamed all the way through his chat with Jagger and his announcement of the following week’s guests. That evening’s show brought The Rolling Stones national attention and helped generated over one million dollars in ticket sales for the band’s fall concert tour.
Although The Rolling Stone’s first performance on The Ed Sullivan Show was great for the band’s popularity as well as for CBS’s ratings, Sullivan was reticent to book them again. Following The Stones’ first performance, Ed supposedly declared, "I promise you they'll never be back on our show. It took me 17 years to build this show and I'm not going to have it destroyed in a matter of weeks." He had had enough of how worked up the crowds had become, and he thought the band was unkempt. When the Stones’ manager tried to change Sullivan’s mind he was sent a response from Ed reading, “We were deluged with mail protesting the untidy appearance—clothes and hair of your Rolling Stones. Before even discussing the possibility of a contract, I would like to learn from you, whether your young men have reformed in the matter of dress and shampoo.” Whatever was said in response to that note worked as The Rolling Stones were back on The Ed Sullivan Show stage several months later.
There is very little video of this performance. There is a few seconds on a promo for a box set of The Ed Sullivan Show which isn't worth us putting up. Here is a picture of them from that night, 55 years ago today.
How many of you remember seeing this when it first aired?

 

[too larry]

On October 26, 1881, the Earp brothers face off against the Clanton-McLaury gang in a legendary shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.

From wiki wiki. . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfight_at_the_O.K._Corral

The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a 30-second shootout between lawmen and members of a loosely organized group of outlaws called the Cowboys that took place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. It is generally regarded as the most famous shootout in the history of the American Wild West. The gunfight was the result of a long-simmering feud, with Cowboys Billy Claiborne, Ike and Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury on one side and town Marshal Virgil Earp, Special Policeman Morgan Earp, Special Policeman Wyatt Earp, and temporary policeman Doc Holliday on the other side. Billy Clanton and both McLaury brothers were killed. Ike Clanton, Billy Claiborne, and Wes Fuller ran from the fight. Virgil, Morgan, and Doc Holliday were wounded, but Wyatt Earp was unharmed. Wyatt is often erroneously regarded as the central figure in the shootout, although his brother Virgil was Tombstone city marshal and deputy U.S. marshal that day and had far more experience as a sheriff, constable, marshal, and soldier in combat.[1]

 

[too larry]

1825 October 26
Erie Canal opens
The Erie Canal opens, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River. Governor DeWitt Clinton of New York, the driving force behind the project, led the opening ceremonies and rode the canal boat Seneca Chief from Buffalo to New York City.
Work began on the waterway in August 1823. Teams of oxen plowed the ground, but for the most part the work was done by Irish diggers who had to rely on primitive tools. They were paid $10 a month, and barrels of whisky were placed along the canal route as encouragement. West of Troy, 83 canal locks were built to accommodate the 500-foot rise in elevation. After more than two years of digging, the 425-mile Erie Canal was opened on October 26, 1825, by Governor Clinton.
The effect of the canal was immediate and dramatic. Settlers poured into western New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Goods were transported at one-tenth the previous fee in less than half the time. Barges of farm produce and raw materials traveled east, as manufactured goods and supplies flowed west. In nine years, tolls had paid back the cost of construction. Later enlarged and deepened, the canal survived competition from the railroads in the latter part of the 19th century. Today, the Erie Canal is used mostly by pleasure boaters, but it is still capable of accommodating heavy barges.

 

[too larry]

On October 26, 1776, exactly one month to the day after being named an agent of a diplomatic commission by the Continental Congress, Benjamin Franklin sets sail from Philadelphia for France, with which he was to negotiate and secure a formal alliance and treaty.
In France, the accomplished Franklin was feted throughout scientific and literary circles and he quickly became a fixture in high society. While his personal achievements were celebrated, Franklin’s diplomatic success in France was slow in coming. Although it had been secretly aiding the Patriot cause since the outbreak of the American Revolution, France felt it could not openly declare a formal allegiance with the United States until they were assured of an American victory over the British.
For the next year, Franklin made friends with influential officials throughout France, while continuing to push for a formal alliance. France continued to secretly support the Patriot cause with shipments of war supplies, but it was not until the American victory over the British at the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777 that France felt an American victory in the war was possible.
A few short months after the Battle of Saratoga, representatives of the United States and France, including Benjamin Franklin, officially declared an alliance by signing the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance on February 6, 1778. The French aid that these agreements guaranteed was crucial to the eventual American victory over the British in the War for Independence.

 

[too larry]

The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
Here is a cool poster from a Grateful Dead residency in New York. It is from the good Professor Poster. Here is what he had to say about it.
This is the famous Grateful Dead "Poster From The Past" that was banned by the Radio City Music Hall folks because they thought that it was bad for their image. The poster features a pair of skeletons leaning against the front of Radio City building with a long line of people waiting to get in to hear the concert. This poster has been extensively bootlegged and most copies are bogus. The number of these sold on eBay in a month probably exceeds the original printing! There are some small printing flaws unique to the originals, as well as a slight difference in color, but you'd need to see them side by side to make out the differences.
It was 39 years ago back in 1980, that these concerts took place in New York City. This very popular and hard to get Rock Poster was created by Rock artists Dennis Larkins & Peter Barsotti. There is another poster that is quite similar to this one that was done for the Dead concerts at the Warfield Theater here in San Francisco with the two skeletons leaning up against the theater!
Share some classic "DEAD" with a friend!

 

[too larry]

The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
On Oct. 26, 1965, The Beatles received Members of the British Empire (MBE) medals from Queen Elizabeth II. It was the first time this honor was ever given to a rock band.
Not everybody was happy about it. Many former recipients, many of whom were distinguished military personnel, returned their medals in disgust.
According to John, the group was so nervous about it that they got high on marijuana before the ceremony in a palace bathroom.
During the ceremony, when the Queen asked the group how long they'd been together, Ringo replies "forty years."
We guess it is understandable to be a little nervous when you first meet royalty. Wouldn't you be?

 

[lokie]

On October 26, 1776, exactly one month to the day after being named an agent of a diplomatic commission by the Continental Congress, Benjamin Franklin sets sail from Philadelphia for France, with which he was to negotiate and secure a formal alliance and treaty.
In France, the accomplished Franklin was feted throughout scientific and literary circles and he quickly became a fixture in high society. While his personal achievements were celebrated, Franklin’s diplomatic success in France was slow in coming. Although it had been secretly aiding the Patriot cause since the outbreak of the American Revolution, France felt it could not openly declare a formal allegiance with the United States until they were assured of an American victory over the British.
For the next year, Franklin made friends with influential officials throughout France, while continuing to push for a formal alliance. France continued to secretly support the Patriot cause with shipments of war supplies, but it was not until the American victory over the British at the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777 that France felt an American victory in the war was possible.
A few short months after the Battle of Saratoga, representatives of the United States and France, including Benjamin Franklin, officially declared an alliance by signing the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance on February 6, 1778. The French aid that these agreements guaranteed was crucial to the eventual American victory over the British in the War for Independence.

Ben was quite a character.


And what an ambassador! His fame was not limited to scientific or diplomatic spheres. He was a genius at public relations as well. He showed up in the gilded salons of the aristocracy dressed in the plain clothes of a cultivateur Americain, “an American farmer,” writes Madame Campan, First Chambermaid to Marie-Antoinette and great memoirist. Madame Campan describes the striking contrast between Franklin’s bald pate and the powdered, pomaded, fragrant hairstyles of the French noblemen.

Did Franklin look like an oaf in his rustic attire? Far from it. He was all the rage in society. To the point where King Louis the Sixteenth, irritated by a lady’s infatuation with the great man, presented her with a chamber pot whose bottom was decorated with Franklin’s picture.


King Louis XVI is said to have given a chamber pot bearing the likeness of Benjamin Franklin to a noblewoman who had bedded the American diplomat.

 

[too larry]

Ben was quite a character.

View attachment 4413032
And what an ambassador! His fame was not limited to scientific or diplomatic spheres. He was a genius at public relations as well. He showed up in the gilded salons of the aristocracy dressed in the plain clothes of a cultivateur Americain, “an American farmer,” writes Madame Campan, First Chambermaid to Marie-Antoinette and great memoirist. Madame Campan describes the striking contrast between Franklin’s bald pate and the powdered, pomaded, fragrant hairstyles of the French noblemen.

Did Franklin look like an oaf in his rustic attire? Far from it. He was all the rage in society. To the point where King Louis the Sixteenth, irritated by a lady’s infatuation with the great man, presented her with a chamber pot whose bottom was decorated with Franklin’s picture.

View attachment 4413034
King Louis XVI is said to have given a chamber pot bearing the likeness of Benjamin Franklin to a noblewoman who had bedded the American diplomat.

Ben was fond of the air bath. Stories at the time said he taught the practice to many of the French ladies.

Benjamin Franklin and Air Baths
Posted on March 29, 2017 by Steven W. Allen, J.D.

Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were commissioned to travel to New York to meet with the British at the request of Lord William Howe, a British General. As the two traveled to the scheduled meeting to try to resolve the problems that had caused the Revolutionary War, they had to spend a night at an Inn.
The two had to share a room as there was no other space available to the travelers. As they prepared to retire, John Adams began to close the window to the room, Franklin asked him not to and explained his reasoning.
Franklin believed in the benefits of cold, clean air. To close the windows would be allowing them to breath in air which had already been contaminated.
Franklin continued: “People often catch cold from one another when shut up together in small close rooms. It is the frowsy corrupt air from animal substances and perspired matter from our bodies, which, being long confined in beds not lately used, and clothes not lately worn . . . obtains that kind of putridity which infects us, and occasions the cold observed in sleeping in, wearing, or turning over such beds [and] clothes.” He wished the window to be kept open.
Then Ben described his habit of daily ‘air baths’, which meant sitting around in the ‘altogether’ for an hour or two each morning to further let the body absorb the clean air and condition yourself.
Adams however, didn’t like the whole concept. That was one of the reasons John Adams and Thomas Jefferson each refused to travel with Benjamin Franklin whenever possible.

 

[BarnBuster]

​

Everybody in the world born before October 27, 1962 probably owes their life to Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov. He was the Russian naval officer who, on this day, refused to fire a nuclear torpedo at an American aircraft carrier, thus averting the probability of a third world war and thermonuclear destruction across the planet.

The confrontation was part of the Cuban missile crisis that had the world holding its breath for nearly two weeks.

In May 1962, Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev and Cuban President Fidel Castro reached a “secret” agreement that allowed the Soviets to start building missile sites in Cuba, including stocking them with nuclear missiles – 42 of them.

After the bases were discovered by America in early October, President John F. Kennedy held a series of crisis talks with his advisers and later that month made a television broadcast to the nation, saying:

"This Government has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere. . .

"Several of them include medium-range ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead more than 1,000 nautical miles. Each is capable of striking Washington, D.C., the Panama Canal, Cape Canaveral, Mexico City, or any other city in the southeastern part of the United States, in Central America, or in the Caribbean area.

"Additional sites not yet completed appear to be designed for intermediate-range ballistic missiles capable of striking most of the major cities in the Western Hemisphere, ranging as far north as Hudson Bay, Canada, and as far south as Lima, Peru.

"In addition, jet bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, are now being uncrated and assembled in Cuba, while the necessary air bases are being prepared.

"To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba from whatever nation or port will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. . .

"I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations. I call upon him further to abandon this course of world domination, and to join in an historic effort to end the perilous arms race and to transform the history of man.

"He has an opportunity now to move the world back from the abyss of destruction . . . by withdrawing these weapons from Cuba. . ."

On 27 October, US Navy warships located the Soviet submarine B-59 near Cuba. They dropped explosives to force the submarine to come to the surface for identification not knowing that it was armed with a nuclear-tipped torpedo with roughly the power of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

The sub’s crew, who had been traveling for nearly four weeks, were very tired and unaware of what was going on around them. There had been little communication with Moscow.

The Americans continued to drop depth charges left and right of the hull. Inside, the sub was rocking, shaking with each new explosion.

The captain, Valentin Savitsky, believed that nuclear war had already broken out between the Soviet Union and the US and he ordered the B-59's ten kiloton nuclear torpedo to be prepared for firing. Its target was the USS Randolf, the giant aircraft carrier leading the task force.

An attack could not be launched, however, unless all three senior officers aboard the sub agreed. Arkhipov, the second-in-command, stood up to be counted and did not agree.

An account by intelligence officer Vadim Orlov suggests Arkhipov told the captain that the ship was not in danger. It was being asked to surface. Dropping depth charges left then right, noisy but always off target — those are signals, Arkhipov argued. They say, We know you’re there. Identify yourselves. Come up and talk.

Arkhipov vehemently argued that since no orders had come in a long time, such a drastic action as firing the nuclear torpedo was ill-advised and the sub should surface to contact Moscow.

It did so and was met by a US destroyer. The Americans didn’t board. There were no inspections. Instead, the Russians turned away from Cuba and headed north, back to Russia.

As they did so, Khrushchev, after a thirteen-day stand-off, offered to dismantle the Cuban bases if Kennedy lifted the blockade and promised not to invade Cuba. The crisis was over.

Arkhipov continued serving in the Soviet Navy. He was promoted to rear admiral in 1975 and retired in the mid-1980s. He died in 1999 at the age of 73 from complications due to radiation poisoning he had suffered early in his naval career.

In 2002, Tom Blanton, Director of the American research and archival institution, the National Security Archive, said that “a guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world”.

 

[too larry]

View attachment 4413173​

Everybody in the world born before October 27, 1962 probably owes their life to Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov. He was the Russian naval officer who, on this day, refused to fire a nuclear torpedo at an American aircraft carrier, thus averting the probability of a third world war and thermonuclear destruction across the planet.

The confrontation was part of the Cuban missile crisis that had the world holding its breath for nearly two weeks.

In May 1962, Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev and Cuban President Fidel Castro reached a “secret” agreement that allowed the Soviets to start building missile sites in Cuba, including stocking them with nuclear missiles – 42 of them.

After the bases were discovered by America in early October, President John F. Kennedy held a series of crisis talks with his advisers and later that month made a television broadcast to the nation, saying:

"This Government has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere. . .

"Several of them include medium-range ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead more than 1,000 nautical miles. Each is capable of striking Washington, D.C., the Panama Canal, Cape Canaveral, Mexico City, or any other city in the southeastern part of the United States, in Central America, or in the Caribbean area.

"Additional sites not yet completed appear to be designed for intermediate-range ballistic missiles capable of striking most of the major cities in the Western Hemisphere, ranging as far north as Hudson Bay, Canada, and as far south as Lima, Peru.

"In addition, jet bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, are now being uncrated and assembled in Cuba, while the necessary air bases are being prepared.

"To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba from whatever nation or port will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. . .

"I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations. I call upon him further to abandon this course of world domination, and to join in an historic effort to end the perilous arms race and to transform the history of man.

"He has an opportunity now to move the world back from the abyss of destruction . . . by withdrawing these weapons from Cuba. . ."

On 27 October, US Navy warships located the Soviet submarine B-59 near Cuba. They dropped explosives to force the submarine to come to the surface for identification not knowing that it was armed with a nuclear-tipped torpedo with roughly the power of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

The sub’s crew, who had been traveling for nearly four weeks, were very tired and unaware of what was going on around them. There had been little communication with Moscow.

The Americans continued to drop depth charges left and right of the hull. Inside, the sub was rocking, shaking with each new explosion.

The captain, Valentin Savitsky, believed that nuclear war had already broken out between the Soviet Union and the US and he ordered the B-59's ten kiloton nuclear torpedo to be prepared for firing. Its target was the USS Randolf, the giant aircraft carrier leading the task force.

An attack could not be launched, however, unless all three senior officers aboard the sub agreed. Arkhipov, the second-in-command, stood up to be counted and did not agree.

An account by intelligence officer Vadim Orlov suggests Arkhipov told the captain that the ship was not in danger. It was being asked to surface. Dropping depth charges left then right, noisy but always off target — those are signals, Arkhipov argued. They say, We know you’re there. Identify yourselves. Come up and talk.

Arkhipov vehemently argued that since no orders had come in a long time, such a drastic action as firing the nuclear torpedo was ill-advised and the sub should surface to contact Moscow.

It did so and was met by a US destroyer. The Americans didn’t board. There were no inspections. Instead, the Russians turned away from Cuba and headed north, back to Russia.

As they did so, Khrushchev, after a thirteen-day stand-off, offered to dismantle the Cuban bases if Kennedy lifted the blockade and promised not to invade Cuba. The crisis was over.

Arkhipov continued serving in the Soviet Navy. He was promoted to rear admiral in 1975 and retired in the mid-1980s. He died in 1999 at the age of 73 from complications due to radiation poisoning he had suffered early in his naval career.

In 2002, Tom Blanton, Director of the American research and archival institution, the National Security Archive, said that “a guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world”.

My wife was a little girl in Germany at the time of the CMC. Her dad was Army, and she said everyone was scared to death the balloon would go up. Grade school kids on bases around the world know more about current events and the geo-political situation than most in the general public.

 

[too larry]

Being first is dangerous. . . .

1553
Michael Servetus, who discovered the pulmonary circulation of the blood, is burned for heresy in Switzerland.

 

[too larry]

1791
President George Washington transmits to Congress the results of the first US census, exclusive of South Carolina which had not yet submitted its findings.

 

[too larry]

I don't think west florida is in the same place today as it was then.

1809
President James Madison orders the annexation of the western part of West Florida. Settlers there had rebelled against Spanish authority.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Florida

 

[too larry]

Now I know who to blame for the holes in my pants.

1873
Farmer Joseph F. Glidden applies for a patent on barbed wire. Glidden eventually received five patents and is generally considered the inventor of barbed wire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbed_wire

 

[too larry]

View attachment 4413173​

Everybody in the world born before October 27, 1962 probably owes their life to Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov. He was the Russian naval officer who, on this day, refused to fire a nuclear torpedo at an American aircraft carrier, thus averting the probability of a third world war and thermonuclear destruction across the planet.

The confrontation was part of the Cuban missile crisis that had the world holding its breath for nearly two weeks.

In May 1962, Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev and Cuban President Fidel Castro reached a “secret” agreement that allowed the Soviets to start building missile sites in Cuba, including stocking them with nuclear missiles – 42 of them.

After the bases were discovered by America in early October, President John F. Kennedy held a series of crisis talks with his advisers and later that month made a television broadcast to the nation, saying:

"This Government has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere. . .

"Several of them include medium-range ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead more than 1,000 nautical miles. Each is capable of striking Washington, D.C., the Panama Canal, Cape Canaveral, Mexico City, or any other city in the southeastern part of the United States, in Central America, or in the Caribbean area.

"Additional sites not yet completed appear to be designed for intermediate-range ballistic missiles capable of striking most of the major cities in the Western Hemisphere, ranging as far north as Hudson Bay, Canada, and as far south as Lima, Peru.

"In addition, jet bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, are now being uncrated and assembled in Cuba, while the necessary air bases are being prepared.

"To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba from whatever nation or port will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. . .

"I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations. I call upon him further to abandon this course of world domination, and to join in an historic effort to end the perilous arms race and to transform the history of man.

"He has an opportunity now to move the world back from the abyss of destruction . . . by withdrawing these weapons from Cuba. . ."

On 27 October, US Navy warships located the Soviet submarine B-59 near Cuba. They dropped explosives to force the submarine to come to the surface for identification not knowing that it was armed with a nuclear-tipped torpedo with roughly the power of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

The sub’s crew, who had been traveling for nearly four weeks, were very tired and unaware of what was going on around them. There had been little communication with Moscow.

The Americans continued to drop depth charges left and right of the hull. Inside, the sub was rocking, shaking with each new explosion.

The captain, Valentin Savitsky, believed that nuclear war had already broken out between the Soviet Union and the US and he ordered the B-59's ten kiloton nuclear torpedo to be prepared for firing. Its target was the USS Randolf, the giant aircraft carrier leading the task force.

An attack could not be launched, however, unless all three senior officers aboard the sub agreed. Arkhipov, the second-in-command, stood up to be counted and did not agree.

An account by intelligence officer Vadim Orlov suggests Arkhipov told the captain that the ship was not in danger. It was being asked to surface. Dropping depth charges left then right, noisy but always off target — those are signals, Arkhipov argued. They say, We know you’re there. Identify yourselves. Come up and talk.

Arkhipov vehemently argued that since no orders had come in a long time, such a drastic action as firing the nuclear torpedo was ill-advised and the sub should surface to contact Moscow.

It did so and was met by a US destroyer. The Americans didn’t board. There were no inspections. Instead, the Russians turned away from Cuba and headed north, back to Russia.

As they did so, Khrushchev, after a thirteen-day stand-off, offered to dismantle the Cuban bases if Kennedy lifted the blockade and promised not to invade Cuba. The crisis was over.

Arkhipov continued serving in the Soviet Navy. He was promoted to rear admiral in 1975 and retired in the mid-1980s. He died in 1999 at the age of 73 from complications due to radiation poisoning he had suffered early in his naval career.

In 2002, Tom Blanton, Director of the American research and archival institution, the National Security Archive, said that “a guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world”.

1962
American U-2 reconnaissance plane shot down by a surface-to-air missile over Cuba, killing the pilot, Maj. Rudolf Anderson, the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis.