When What
1901 A Congressional vote to censure President Theodore Roosevelt failed by one vote. The cause? He had invited Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) dinner at the White House, saying that Mr Washington was a great American. He was an emancipated slave. I read Edmund Morris’s three volume biography of the remarkable Teddy some time ago. I read Washington’s ‘Up from Slavery’ as a boy.
1916 Margaret Sanger opened the first American birth control clinic in Brooklyn. A police arrest followed. A biography of her is on my long reading list.
1934 The Long March began; it lasted 368 days and covered 6,000 miles. As many as 50,000 died en route. From this ordeal Mao emerged as the unquestioned leader of the Communist Party of China.
1970 The October crisis deepened with the declaration of the War Measures Act. There were 8000 armed troops on the streets of Montreal and Gendarmerie royale du Canada made 500 arrests without habeas corpus. Minister of Labor, Pierre Laporte was murdered in retaliation. Strangled with his crucifix chain by one of kidnapper while the others watched.
2002 Bibliotheca Alexandrina opened in commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity. A smoker did not use the ashtrays provided.
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