Nixon appoints Luis Bruce as Indian Affairs commissioner (1969), and Ivory Coast gains independence from France (1960). Born on this day: Charlize Theron, Elinor Ostrom and Mata Hari. Died: Rabindranath Tagore, Jöns Jacob Berzelius and Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Blok.
34 events, 63 births and 48 deaths on this date.
Luis Bruce, of Mohawk and Oglala Sioux descent, had helped set up a national organisation for Native Americans. Nixon's choice put him in charge of the federal agency that handled Native American affairs.
Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. U.S. Army Audiovisual Center. (ca. 1974 - 05/15/1984) · Public domainIvory Coast became a sovereign state, ending decades of French colonial rule. Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who led the independence movement, went on to govern the country until 1993.
The Soviet government sent Turkey a diplomatic note disputing Ankara's sole control of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. This opened a months-long standoff over who should guard the straits linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.
Frustrated by tax protesters in western Pennsylvania who had attacked tax collectors, Washington called up militia from several states under the 1792 Militia Acts. The move showed the new federal government would enforce its laws by force, and the rebellion collapsed without a major battle.
Otto took the German crown the year his father died, then beat the Magyars at Lechfeld in 955 and was crowned emperor in Rome in 962.
Artwork: Creators of the Chronicle of Bishop Otto of Freising ; Photo: AndreasPraefcke · Public domain
A killing in Whitechapel, sometimes counted as the start of the series later blamed on Jack the Ripper. The unidentified killer's nickname came from a letter widely believed to be a hoax.
R. Taylor (R. & E. Taylor (Firm)) · Public domain
For the full day, download Chunks today. Every date, the stories behind them, and a new day each morning. Free to start.
South African-born actress who won an Academy Award for playing the serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. She later built a career in blockbusters like Mad Max: Fury Road and also runs her own production company.
PhilipRomano · CC BY-SA 4.0
Elinor Ostrom became the first female laureate in economics when she shared the 2009 Nobel prize. She showed that groups using exhaustible resources, from trade unions to cooperatives, can prevent depletion without state control or private ownership.
Holger Motzkau · CC BY-SA 3.0
Margaretha Zelle, known on stage as Mata Hari, was a Dutch dancer whose exotic performances made her famous across Europe. She was convicted of spying for Germany in the First World War and shot by firing squad in France, though later historians doubt the evidence against her.
Koene & Com / Batavia-Amsterdam · Public domain
Bengali poet, songwriter and painter who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, the first non-European to do so. He wrote the national anthems of India and Bangladesh, and spent his later years criticising British rule.
Generalstabens litografiska anstalt · Public domain
Swedish chemist who measured atomic weights with great care and helped establish stoichiometry, the arithmetic of how elements combine. He also discovered cerium and selenium, and was among the first to isolate silicon and thorium.
Public domain
Blok was the best-known lyric poet of Russia's Silver Age, a movement that flourished before the 1917 revolution. He also wrote plays and translated widely, but his haunting verse is what he is remembered for.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Download on iOS
Download on Android