Victory At Breed's Hill

The state of TIAH

June 17th, 2006

in 1775, American rebels faced off against British troops led by General William Howe at Breed's Hill in Massachusetts. After his first charge against the rebel position was met with a volley of repelling fire, Howe organized a second, which met with just as little success. Not knowing that the Americans were low on ammunition, General Howe ordered a retreat from the position, giving the day to the Americans. His superiors felt that he had given up Breed's Hill too easily, and recalled him to England, where he angrily resigned his commission, saying, “Am I to be a wizard, that I should know the state of the enemy's supplies?” Howe had been personally opposed to the war against the colonies to begin with, and this reprimand encouraged him to join Parliament and push for reconciliation with the Americans. He was one of the driving forces in British government that accepted the proposals of American President John Jay and led to the end of the war and America's partial autonomy from British rule.

in 1972, shots rang out at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC. The Democratic National Committee headquarters was apparently broken into, and two policemen who arrived on the scene were shot and killed by the perpetrators. The Democrats called for an investigation by the FBI, and President Nixon announced that he was assigning a man from his own staff to head the investigation. James McCord, who had been the president's campaign security coordinator, became the focal point for local and federal police looking into the crime, and proved his worth when his team arrested three so-called “hippies” who had a history of politically-motivated burglary. Although these long-haired, unwashed young thugs protested their innocence loudly during their trial – one of them, Jack Moscowitz, was even gagged by the judge's orders – they were found guilty because of the overwhelming mountain of evidence that McCord's team had been able to dig up. A nation grateful for such respect towards law and order returned President Nixon to the White House overwhelmingly in the November elections, and he continued his long battle against such disrespectful criminals until leaving office in 1977 after the election of his fellow Californian, Ronald Reagan.

in 2017, Commander Eileen Patterson, after a tour of the capitol of Amandara 14, speaks with her team. Many of them had been studying the alien device that brought them here and were eager to report on it. Dr. Philip Armstrong told them that the object definitely responds to radio signals, although he and the Amandaran scientists he was working with were still unsure how to make it do anything. “The bloody thing hums sometimes, but otherwise it just sits there like a big golden slug,” he said, somewhat testily. “It's got an enormous source of power, though,” he added. “The Amandarans said that as soon as we appeared in their system, they could detect the device. It's almost like it's got a miniature sun inside it.” This worried Patterson a little, and she warned him, “You guys are taking precautions, right? Maybe we should be studying this further away from their planet.” Armstrong shrugged. “The Quarai don't seem to mind, but their Emeriosan liaison with the government shares your opinion. I've expressed a couple of reservations a time or two, myself, but the Quarai think they can contain any kind of explosion that might come out of the thing.” Commander Patterson let the subject drop and the team retired to their space craft; it was the only place on the planet where they didn't feel like they were freezing.

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect All the President's Men to Star Trek. Place your answers in the comments and see the Forum for previous results. For more on 6 degrees games, click here.

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