563 Lumbini (Nepal), Religion: The legendary place and date of the birth of Gautama Buddha. Below is the memorial.
1820 Melos, Art: A farmer plowing land discovered the statue now known as the Venus de Milo. We have seen the statue in Paris and the site on Melos or Milos. The work is attributed to Alexandros of Antioch (Syria) in the 2nd century BC.
1935 DC, Politics: Congress approved the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which went on to employ 8.5 million people on 1.5 million projects, including several in Hastings NE. Nestled within the WPA was the Federal Writers Project that employed James Agee, Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, Ralph Ellison, Zora Hurston, Walker Percy, and Richard Wright among others to write state guide books like that pictured below. These texts are available on line like that on Nebraska pictured below.
1974 Atlanta, Sports: Henry Aaron hit home run number 715 surpassing Babe Ruth’s record, eliciting a tsunami of racist hate which he bore with a calm dignity that riled the racists ever more. It was against the Dodgers and so Mr Baseball, Vin Scully, called it. If only all sportscasters had his judgement and enthusiasm. I saw the Hammer drill a line drive homer in the Expos’ Montréal bandbox Parc Jarry.
1990 ‘Twin Peaks’ went to air with the first episode ‘Who Killed Laura Palmer?’ We loved it though the convolutions were, well, convoluted. But the Log Lady, the Colonel, the Donut King, Fire Bob, the dancing dwarf, and more made quite an impression, albeit confused and confusing.
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