1215 King John applied his regal seal to the Magna Carta, the first coherent statement of the rights of citizens, including private property, jury trial by peers, religious freedom, and more. King John had stumbled into one disaster after another, and in response to each raised taxes, which finally led nobles to resist. They met at Runnymeade on the Thames River to negotiate a conclusion since neither side could prevail by arms. Where was Robin Hood?
1300 Dante Alighieri was named one of the six priors who governed Florence. His father was a money lender whose wealth established Dante as a poet. As Prior he banished several writers who had criticised his poetry. In turn he himself was banished in 1302 and while a wandering penitent he wrote the Comedy through which his name continues to live. I once heard his English translator John Ciardi read passages from it, and the memory still stirs emotion. There is a mystery series featuring Dante as exampled below.
1844 Charles Goodyear patented vulcanised rubber which is a curing that alters the substance into a slick hard surface that resists weather and does not stick. Neither the blimp nor the tires has a direct connection to Goodyear, but rather that company took his name as an historic tribute. Ever more domed stadiums put the blimp pictured below out of business.
1944 Regina, Saskatchewan. The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation swept into office and the indefatigable Tommy Douglas became premier. His government led the way to hospital and health insurance, no-fault automobile insurance, old age pensions, and a host of other initiatives all while staying within budget. Where there was a will, there was a way. A biography of Tommy Can is discussed elsewhere on this blog.
1946 US Ambassador to the UN Bernard Baruch presented a plan to bring nuclear technology and weapons under international control with extensive inspection and a gradual reduction in the production of arms in favour of other technologies. Distrust and hostility was no great that the proposal was rejected before the details had been tabled. It is unlikely that the plan would have been supported by the Senate, in any event. In NRA logic many of the officials who worked on the plan and lobbied in the United Nations for it, were soon to be the targets of that ravening beast HUAC and its spawn from Wisconsin.
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