A Horrible Mistake

The state of TIAH

April 29th, 2007

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in 1891, scouts from both sides report that a large number of troops are descending on Kansas City, and the citizens of the hapless town begin to flee in panic. Most of them flee to the east, which causes one of the worst disasters of the war. General Anthony Franklin thought the refugee column was Kansans on the move against him, and ordered his men to fire on them. It was only after women and children were seen among the people fleeing that orders to hold fire were given down. General Franklin came to the front, enraged that his orders were being countermanded, and was stunned to see the bodies of hundreds of dead civilians instead of the hardened rebels he had been expecting. He turned command of his troops over to Lt. Colonel Theodore Monteith and collapsed in his command tent, weeping at the senseless murder he had just ordered. Several telegrams soon reached Washington with details of the massacre, and an outraged Congress was demanding that General Franklin be removed from command and court-martialed.

in 1999, Lady Gwen Rivers Pendrake, Queen of all the Britons, visits her husband, King Arthur II, in the war room at Buckingham Palace, where he and his chief aides are discussing the war against the Central European Empire. “My King,” she says to him, “you have not slept well these past few days. Let those who have made it their life's work take control of the war for a little, and I will give you some respite from the pressure.” Prime Minister Merl Myrddin advises Arthur, “The beginning of a war is no time to take a break – we need you, my King.” But, Arthur is tired, and says to Myrddin, “I am not so important that one day could make a difference with our struggle, old friend. I shall take my rest with my queen.” Arthur and Gwen spend the rest of the day making merry, and since the war continues to go well for his side, King Arthur considers Myrddin's concern somewhat overwrought, and resolves to take regular breaks with his love from now on.

In 1983 the author John Varley arrived at the crash site in Oakland California. Varley's advice had been sought by the Investigator in Charge of a National Transportation Safety Board Go-Team, Bill Smith. Frankly, his friend Smith could not fathom the mission report written by Louise Baltimore, Chief of Snatch Operations. It had been written 500 centuries in the future, and was now an anachronistic object left behind during a snatch – a twonky.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 2000 emerging from a supernova, a 300 kilometre asteroid entered the solar system and into eratic orbit around the Earth. Scientists made a mysterious discovery - the "Stone" had exactly the same external dimensions of an orbital of Jupiter, yet had infinite internal mass. Worshipers of all faiths hoped that the arrival could prevent the near future apocalypse termed the "Death".

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Harold Wilson	In 1972 former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson made an unofficial and unauthorised statement to the British nation from the independent transmission of Radio Caroline. It was not true that the national decline was due to the retreat from empire, he said. It was a half-truth that the war had bankrupted ..
.. Britain. The truth was that the ruling class had failed to maintain investment in the British Economy, sufficient to build the industries needed to export modern products to settle the balance of payments deficit. The arch-conservatives now in power were the root of the problem, and they would crush the working class under their heel when they should form a partnership. Did the military government not see that the reason for victory in the Great Wars was our team spirit across classes? Socialism was on the march. The real go-forward plan was ... and then the transmission was interrupted. It did not return.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1983 on this day Hugh Trevor-Roper published the second of three shocking articles in Die Zeitung (The Times) newspaper. The verification that Hitler was a lycanthrope was almost forgotten by these fresh and even more shocking revelations. On the evening of the April 25 press conference, Trevor-Roper had turned the ignition ..	Bormann
.. on his vehicle only to hear a quiet voice say drive, historian. It was Martin Bormann, now 83 years of age but still looking no older than thirty. As they drove around the city Bormann explained that the diaries were actually written by Konrad Kujau, a notorious Stuttgart forger of Hitler's works. Kujau had extorted money from the Bormann family and discovered the truth. However, here was the bombshell..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

King Beating	In 1992 this day witnessed a peace march in the troubled City of Los Angeles . The march resulted from a mostly white jury passing a guilty verdict on the four police officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King. It was widely predicted that an acquittal would have generated violent race riots ..
.. across the City. Cynics suggested that extreme pressure was applied from Washington to prevent a re-occurrence of the disastrous Watts Riots of 1965 during George Bush's re-election year.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1974 on this day US President Richard Nixon announced the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings related to the - Watergate Scandal. It was quickly identified that references to the 'Bay of Pigs thing' were thinly veiled references to the Kennedy Assassination and it was noted that Nixon was in Dallas ..	Richard Nixon
.. on the day in question, allegedly at a board meeting of a carbonate drinks company. Disturbingly, his Vice President Gerald Ford was on the Warren Commission and this dotted line of connections was simply too much for the American public. In August, both resigned in favour of the President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Succession Woes

The state of TIAH

April 27th, 2007

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in 1891, a skirmish between a poorly-prepared Nebraskan militia unit and a trigger-happy group of Kansas farmers ends badly for the Nebraskans. They are forced to retreat when a much larger body of Kansas volunteers moves up to reinforce the farmers. They send a report off to General Anthony Franklin in Missouri, who is coordinating the attack on Kansas. He is highly displeased with the militia's effectiveness, and sends Major Mark Wainwright to Nebraska to take command of the siege there. Wainwright is happy just to get away from Franklin, whom he has grown to despise heartily.

in 1999, King Arthur II of Great Britain places his security chief, Sir Lance du Lac, at the head of the Royal Military, and du Lac hastily mobilizes defenses in the British Isles just in time to beat back the Central European Imperial troops crossing the English Channel. The Royal Air Force, recently upgraded by technology Prime Minister Merl Myrddin had bargained mightily for, fights off the CEE's war planes as they attempt to make bombing runs against the English and Welsh countryside. Commonwealth troops, on the move to Europe from around the world to aid the Mother Country in its struggle, meet opposition from the CE Imperial Navy, almost as if the CEE had known they were coming. Prime Minister Myrddin begins tapping the resources he still has as a former Illuminati to find where his security leaks are coming from.

In 1983 just before one o'clock the phone rang in the house of Bill Smith. As the Investigator in Charge of a National Transportation Safety Board Go-Team, he was informed of a collision between a DC-10 and a 747 over Oakland, California. There were no survivors. Paradoxically, nobody had died and this was one of the many reasons why this airline disaster threatened an end to the world as we know it.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Toronto	In 1813 during the War of 1812 United States troops captured the capital of Ontario, York (present day Toronto, State of Ontario). The long retreat from North America was almost over for Britain. The unnecessary war enabled the United States to assimilate Canadian territory at a point when barriers to cross-border union were not yet insurmountable.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1983 at a press conference on this day historians Hugh Trevor-Roper declared the diaries of Martin Bormann, known as the  Bormann Diaries  to be forgeries. The Journalist Gerd Heidemann was a liar, and Heidemann claims to have received the diaries from East Germany, smuggled out by a Dr. Fischer were falsehoods. ..	Bormann
.. Whilst Trevor-Roper understood his rapid retraction of his authentication process would of course damage his credibility, this time he was sure. And he would explain in detail articles to be published in Die Zeitung (The Times) newspaper over the next three days.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

King Beating	In 1992 having briefly watched the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King by four police officers, George Bush fully understood the profound consequences for his continuance in office. Bush could not allow this episode to derail his thirty year program to rebuild American power using extraterrestrial technology ..
.. buried in Iraq and Panama. Accordingly, he issued some firm guidelines on the 'right' verdict for the trial. A number of white jurists would be informed of the guidelines ahead of their upcoming decision. Regrettably, this was not 1963, he could not assassinate the principals to get the right verdict. He had changed with the times, very much so.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1911 following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise was reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the United States Senate. The president pro tempore of the United States Senate is the second-highest-ranking official of the Senate and the highest-ranking senator. The Vice President ..	William Frye
.. of the United States is the President of the Senate ex officio, and thus is the highest-ranking member of the Senate; during his absence, the President pro tempore presides over the Senate. The role was envisaged briefly when both President Abraham Lincoln and Vice President Andrew Johnson were assassinated on the same day by the Lincoln Conspiracy in 1865. However the function envisaged by the role was not actually required until 1963 when both President Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson were shot at Dallas by a Sicilian assassination team acting on the orders of the mob.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Attacks

The state of TIAH

April 28th, 2007

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in 1891, General Anthony Franklin decides to take back Kansas City, at least the Missouri side, with the reinforcements he has gotten from back east and the help of the Missouri state militia. With almost 4000 men, he moves into the city and imposes martial law in order to stamp down the pandemonium that has been the norm in Kansas City since the fall of the legitimate Kansas government. 'Sockless' Jerry Simpson is informed of this troop movement by wireless, and immediately orders his volunteers on the border with Missouri to converge on Kansas City.

in 1999, King Arthur II of Great Britain orders a counter-attack against the Central European Empire, and his chief general, Sir Lance du Lac, has just the target. A squadron of British planes slips through the CEE defenses and bombs the capitol at Bern, killing hundreds and demolishing several buildings. Emperor Pierre, himself, is forced to flee the city to escape the British attack, and is enraged at the audacity the Brits have shown. He orders the activation of his sleeper agents in Arthur's government.

In 52503 Louise Baltimore, Chief of Snatch Operations received a message from the Big Computer You are in great danger. You will also die if you do not do exactly as I say. Moments later, Baltimore was summoned to the Operations Centre at the Gate Complex. "What's up?" said Baltimore to the Gnome at the control station. “We had an indication of a twonky developing," he said, with deplorable grammar. A twonky used to mean some anachronistic object left behind during a snatch, but lately people had begun using the word to refer to the paradox situation that object tended to generate. "Shortly after the twonky alarm, you left your mission report on the DC-10 and it is now in the hands of a very dangerous individual." Written 500 centuries in the future, the mission report was now an anachronistic object left behind in 1983. The cause of a paradox, the report was now threatening an end to the world as we know it.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Lord Louis Moun..	In 1972 former Interim Prime Minister Lord Louis Mountbatten and his deputy Major General Ord Wingate, DSO relaxed in an Officers Club in the Strand. 'Well, Ord ' said Mountbatten ' our mission is completed. I feel all of my seventy years this evening'. 'But sir, ' replies Wingate ' we have handed over to a bunch of incorrigible ..
.. rotters, absolute nutters...'. Mountbatten takes a big shot of brandy, 'Quite.' he says with his commanding office voice, 'Hand of whist, Ord?' he added picking up some playing cards and closing the conversation..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1983 the articles published by historian Hugh Trevor-Roper in Die Zeitung (The Times) newspaper shocked the world. The murders checked out and he was certain that YES Adolf Hitler did indeed suffer from lycanthropy of that there was no doubt. Bormann had concealed that condition, had committed a form ..	Bormann
.. of euthanasia by shooting his master with a silver bullet, and then yes destruction of Hitler's ashes in the Reich Chancellery Gardens following the Fuehrer's death in Berlin in April 1945. Readers wondered, if the central charges of the Bormann Diaries were verifiable, why had Trevor-Roper declared them to be forgeries?
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

King Beating	In 1992 on this day the remaining jurists received some firm guidelines on the 'right' verdict on their upcoming decision. They are of course the mostly white jury sitting on the trial of four police officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as Supreme Commander of NATO (SACEUR) in expectation of his forthcoming election as President of the United States. When he was beaten at the polls by Douglas MacArthur, the incumbent Harry S Truman was thrown into a fury. Not only was he handing over bacteriological, atomic and hydrogen ..	Eisenhower
.. weapons to a man he considered to be of a broken mind, he did not have the shock absorber of Ike as SACEUR to challenge Brass Hat's megalomaniac and warmongering.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Hitler Marries; Andersonville Liberated

ALTERNATE HISTORIAN'S NOTE: we have our second anniversary coming up on May 27th, and we would like to have another contest. For our second anniversary, send us up to three of your own alternate histories, and we will publish the best - no limit on how many will end up on the final page! We would like to see as many of you enter this as possible, so please - think 'em up, write 'em down, and send 'em on to us at rat4cat@gmail.com! Help us celebrate our 2nd year of existence in style! Oh, and if you're like Sean and we owe you an appearance in TIAH - email us!

April 29th, 2006

in 1429, a young French peasant girl who had convinced the French Dauphin that God had sent her to liberate Orleans led French soldiers against the British besieging the town. When the British cut her army to pieces and captured her, they put her on display as proof of the lunacy of the French cause. The young girl, Jean D'Arc, was then imprisoned in a British nunnery, where she spent her days asking God why he had abandoned her.

in 1915, a minor mutiny on one of his ships causes Admiral Esteban Rodriquez to rethink his report on the Kainku. Crew that had been in contact for several days with the aliens had refused orders and almost caused the ship to crash into the Kainku world below them. Admiral Rodriquez decided to stay and investigate further.

in 1945, German Reich Fuehrer Adolf Hitler marries his niece, Angelika Raubal. Although his neo-Nazi benefactors do not approve of the union, he is quite insistent on it, so they give it as little publicity across the Reich as they can. When he kills her in a jealous fit over her affairs two years later, that is hushed up, as well.

in 1969, Comrade Edward K. Ellington received the Medal of Freedom for his lifetime of work popularizing the communist lifestyle abroad. As a composer and musician, Ellington was allowed to travel to the European monarchies that didn’t approve of the Soviet States of America and speak freely to his audiences about life in the S.S.A.

in 1988, one of Hollywood’s happiest couples wed. Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson have defied Tinseltown’s jinx on marriages and are still in wedded bliss today, almost 20 years later. Their two sons, Burt Jr. and Quinton Reynolds, have even appeared with their parents in shows like Cannonball Run.

in 1992, under intense pressure, the jury hearing the case against the officers who had beaten Los Angeles motorist Rodney King found all the officers guilty as charged. Although the officers protested, the rest of L.A. breathed a sigh of relief at the verdict. Even though the sentencing was exceedingly light – 2 years was the maximum time any of the officers spent in jail – the black community felt that they had finally been given justice.

in 1997, the Andersonville death camp, an old Civil War prisoner camp that had been reopened by the Constitutionalists, was liberated by British and Egyptian forces. Hardened soldiers wept openly at the plight of the men, women and children who had been forced to live in this camp.

in 2005, dimensional rips caused an outbreak of the plague at the Alternate History Academy, delaying its regular posting of important events in history that never occurred today. Although steps were taken to seal such rifts, they opened again the next year and caused another break of plague. The Academy is still working on sealing such holes.

in 2005, Chelsea Perkins meets Debra Morris at the Council of Wisdom and together they run into Alma May Watson. The three young women had lunch together and went for a walk about London, ending up the day in a small shop called Druid's Grove. The proprietor, Patience Redding, seems a little surprised by Chelsea, almost as if she recognizes the young American.

Timelines in today's post: the GZR, the Mlosh, Communist America, the Ralph Shephard timeline and the Chelsea Perkins timeline.

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc 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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Swikolay In Australia; Death Takes A Holiday

ALTERNATE HISTORIAN'S NOTE: We are holding another contest! Please send us entries for an Alternate Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2006. You may send us up to three entries for the day, and we will choose the best 10 to appear on February 14th. Enter now - deadline will be February 10th! By entering, you grant TIAH the right to electronically print your writing on February 14th, 2006, maintain your writing in our archives, and reprint your entry should we decide to reuse it in the future. TIAH only maintains full copyright over material it has originated that has been used by contestants in writing their own entries. And, another cool thing - Let us know where you are on Frappr!

January 16th, 2006

in 47,372 BCE, Swikolay, great-granddaughter of the Speaker, reaches the northern shore of Australia and sets her 6 traveling companions to building boats. During the days it takes them to craft vessels large and strong enough to carry them, she watches the sky and tries to remember the stars as they changed during her last voyage.

in 1000 Post-Creation, Gabriel and Emmanuel lead a small number of angels back down to Eden and take up with the humans, Adam and Eve, again. Derdekea, mother of Achazia, stays at the Creator's side this time, and the Creator allows the angels to stay on earth. Lucifer begins to doubt again; his days are wracked by enticing thoughts of his earlier rebellion.

in 1604, the Hampton Court conference reported to King James I that they were unable to agree on a translation of the Bible into English. The King had charged them with this daunting task in order to cut down on the confusion resulting from the many different English versions of the good book, but even the august and learned men of the King’s choosing were unequal to the task.

in 1780, British Admiral Sir George Rodney chases a small Spanish squadron back home after engaging them off the coast of Portugal. Like most of the continental powers, the Spanish were supporting the Canadian independence movement, and so were at war with Britain. Sir George missed capturing the weaker Spanish force by adhering to the rules of naval engagement – since he couldn't assemble his ships in a line beside the fleeing Spaniards, he couldn't bombard them.

in 1901, reactionary dictator Fulgencio Batista of Cuba was born in the Oriente Province. Although the Socialist comrades of the island nation treated him well, Batista was moved to join the battle against the rightful Cuban leaders because of the corruption of his youth in the capitalist slums of Havana. The Soviet States of America initially supported him in his revolution, but turned against him when he revealed his true stripes at the end of the 50’s.

in 1904, the Plutonian talks between Li’Kanto’Mk of the Congress of Nations and Ji’Mish’Miko, representing the Mlosh homeworld, produce a written request from the Mlosh homeworld for all the Mlosh to visit their homeworld again. The homeworld grants a request from the C.N. ambassador for an emissary to visit the homeworld to determine what has become of the expedition that was sent.

in 1919, the U.S. ratified the 18th amendment to its constitution, prohibiting the sale of all intoxicating substances, except under extreme medical emergency. The suddenly sober nation quickly drafted and ratified the 19th amendment, repealing the 18th, the following year.

in 1953, Chevrolet tried to create some buzz for its new sports car by releasing it at a car show in the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Auto critics called the Corvette an underpowered, flimsy toy car, and this stinging rebuke depressed sales for the car. Chevrolet discontinued the line the next year.

in 1969, neo-Nazis converge on the laboratory of Faisal Yassin and Wilhelm Schoemann, ready to make a new world in their perverted image. They are feted by the original conspirators, and prepared for their journey back in time by Schoemann. After seeing the caliber of men the neo-Nazis are entrusting with this operation, Schoemann begins to have serious second thoughts.

in 1979, Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran has the leader of the Islamic revolutionary movement against him, the Ayatollah Khomeini, assassinated along with several other religious leaders in the country. The nation erupts in chaos, and the Shah is killed by his own guards the next month. Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, with U.S. blessing, carves out a large chunk of western Iran for his own, while Turkey, the Soviet Union and Pakistan take over portions of the rest of the country.

in 2005, Jeanna Best gets a phone call from a woman who asks how many fingers she has. Confused, Best hangs up on the woman. Checking her email later that day, she has a reply from OriginalHuman@saveearth.net also asking how many fingers she has. When she talks to her friend Dave Lange about it, he tells her to reply back five and see what happens. Two hours after Best does so, there is a knock at her door.

in 2005, Elsbeth Danwich prepares to sacrifice a member of the Council of Wisdom.

in 2008, Mikhail von Heflin, the former Baron von Todt, starts a well-earned vacation in Bermuda. His wife, Velma Porter, had stayed in America to finish up some business, but had promised to join him in a day or two. While relaxing on the beach, he notices some unusual clouds over the ocean, and watches them for several hours. With his heightened senses, he is able to see a ship underneath the clouds disappear. Against his better judgment, he decides to investigate.

Timelines in today's post: the Speaker, the Fall, Canadian Independence, the Mlosh, von Heflin, the GZR, Communist America and the Chelsea Perkins timeline.

We still have our standard offer - everybody who donates $10 or more through our Paypal link will become alternate history entries on the site. When you donate, I will email you asking your preference for a day & timeline; if you don't reply to me, I'll place you in a day that seems to fit your name :) Thanks for your continued support!

The Forum lives again! My esteemed Co-Historian has brought the forum back to life, and in spite of the issues we've had with the forum in the past, we think that this time, it'll stay up!
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Plague At The Academy

April 29th, 2005

in 1429, a young French peasant girl who had convinced the French Dauphin that God had sent her to liberate Orleans led French soldiers against the British besieging the town. When the British cut her army to pieces and captured her, they put her on display as proof of the lunacy of the French cause.

in 1910, the Q’Bar formally declare war against the Jovian Mlosh. Although they take pains not to officially attack the rest of the solar system, collateral damage does spill over to the human and Mlosh populations outside Jupiter’s moon system. It is only a matter of time before the Congress of Nations is forced to respond in kind.

in 1945, German Reich Fuehrer Adolf Hitler marries his niece, Angelika Raubal. Although his neo-Nazi benefactors do not approve of the union, he is quite insistent on it, so they give it as little publicity across the Reich as they can.

in 1969, Comrade Edward K. Ellington received the Medal of Freedom for his lifetime of work popularizing the communist lifestyle abroad. As a composer and musician, Ellington was allowed to travel to the European monarchies that didn’t approve of the Soviet States of America and speak freely to his audiences about life in the S.S.A.

in 1988, one of Hollywood’s happiest couples wed. Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson have defied Tinseltown’s jinx on marriages and are still in wedded bliss today, almost 20 years later.

in 1992, under intense pressure, the jury hearing the case against the officers who had beaten Los Angeles motorist Rodney King found all the officers guilty as charged. Although the officers protested, the rest of L.A. breathed a sigh of relief at the verdict.

in 1997, the Andersonville death camp, an old Civil War prisoner camp that had been reopened by the Constitutionalists, was liberated by British and Egyptian forces. Hardened soldiers wept openly at the plight of the men, women and children who had been forced to live in this camp.

in 2005, dimensional rips caused an outbreak of the plague at the Alternate History Academy, delaying its regular posting of important events in history that never occurred today. Medics are currently struggling valiantly to get the Academy back on track.


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Hope

	These are the stakes: to make a world in which all God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love one another, or we must die. ~ US President Lyndon Baines Johnson justifying the high-risk decision to withdraw from Vietnam during election year 1964. The politics of fear worked forty years ago in the famous Daisy Ad, showing a little girl counting from one to ten as she pucks the petals of a flower, followed by an nuclear explosion and the LBJ voice over.
Daisy

Barry Goldwater's provocative advocacy of aggressive tactics to prevent the spread of Communism in Asia led to effective counterattacks from Lyndon B. Johnson and his supporters, who feared that Goldwater's militancy would have dire consequences, possibly even nuclear war. Regarding Vietnam, Goldwater charged that Johnson's policy was devoid of 'goal, course, or purpose,' leaving 'only sudden death in the jungles and the slow strangulation of freedom.' Goldwater's own rhetoric on nuclear war was viewed by many as quite uncompromising, a view buttressed by off-hand comments such as, 'Let's lob one into the men's room at the Kremlin.' Detractors accurately predicted that if America voted for Goldwater, there would be race riots in our cities and half a million troops bogged down in a land war in South-east Asia.

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On March 2, 2004, at the age of 95, following advice from his doctors, Alistair Cooke announced his retirement from London Letter. He died less than a month later, on March 30, 2004, at his Belgravia home. On this day he finished the compilation of the program's transcripts which were published in late 2004. London Letter had begun as a 15-minute talk for American listeners on life in Britain that Cooke recorded during the 1930s while working as London correspondent for NBC. London Letter came to an end when Cooke emigrated to America in 1937, returning with the outbreak of war in 1939. The show continued from 1946 when regular broadcasting resumed.

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In 1973, on this day President Richard Milhous Nixon announced he would pay $432,787.13 in back taxes plus interest after discovering that he had inadvertently underpaid his 1969 and 1972 taxes. That was the kind of guy he was, honest to a fault.

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	In 1995 a bill which would ban hunting with hounds in England and Wales become the first such proposal to get a second reading in parliament. The private member's bill, introduced by Labour MP John McFall, would outlaw fox and stag-hunting and hare-coursing. There was cheering in the House of Commons chamber and the public gallery as it was passed by 253 votes to nil after its first reading.

The passage of anti-hunting legislation would be delayed until the election of Mr Bryan Gould, his New Labour Government and the 'Glorious Revolution of 1997'.

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	In 1853, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh is born in Groot Zundert. As a successful art dealer for the firm Goupil & Cie, he was transferred to their London office in 1873, and it was here that he truly began to come into his own. The company transferred him to their Paris office in 1875, and Van Gogh began selling his own work alongside that of others. In the 1880's, he battled severe depression, but a young German doctor, Sigmund Freud, assisted him through that in 1886, and he came out of it inspired. His great works from this period sell for millions in auctions today.

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In 1955, a truck driver turned singer from Tupelo, Mississippi appeared on the Louisiana Hayride, a popular radio program, and set the nation on fire. The young man, Jesse Presley, became the most popular singer in the world practically overnight.

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In 1927, Harry M. Whittington was born on this day in Henderson, Texas. He received his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin and began practicing law in Austin in 1950. Whittington was a member of the Texas Beta chapter of Phi Delta Theta. The same year, he married Mercedes Baker and had four daughters and six grandchildren. He has also been active in Texas state politics.

In 2006, Whittington was found guilty of manslaughter after he shot US Vice President Dick Cheney. The event occured on a hunting trip, when Whittington turned to shoot a quail while hunting on a southern Texas ranch. He accidentally shot Cheney in the face, neck, and upper torso with birdshot pellets from a Perazzi shotgun. The owner of the ranch stated that, 'Mr. Cheney got peppered pretty good.' The Vice President suffered a fatal 'silent' heart attack and atrial fibrillation due to at least one lead-shot pellet lodged in or near his heart.

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In 1991, George Holliday, videotaping some shots of Los Angeles' Hansen Dam Park, saw several police officers beating a black man in the street. He put down his camera and ran over to the scene, but by the time he got there, the police had cuffed the suspect and thrown him into a squad car. Although Holliday attempted to get some news organizations interested, the fact that it was his word against several police officers' led them to avoid his story. Ironically, if he had kept videotaping instead of rushing to help, the officers might have been brought to justice.

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In 1952, the Supreme People's Court upholds a New York Soviet law prohibiting capitalists from teaching in the public school system. The 6-3 decision upholding the Feinberg Law said, 'The state has a constitutional right to protect the immature minds of children from subversive propaganda,' while the dissenters maintained it 'turned the school system into a spying project.'

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Arthur Scargill	In 1985, on this day BBC News reported - Miners call off year-long strike: 'Miners' leaders vote to end the longest-running industrial dispute in Britain with a highly favourable deal. Prime Minister Margaret Thatchers Government is in tatters and there is now every prospect of a Labour victory at the next election. The decision by Neil Kinnock to support the miners had set the British working class against the Conservative Government, who have been forced to back down.'
Surprise Victor

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Arthur Scargill	In 1985, on this day BBC News reported - Miners call off year-long strike: 'Miners' leaders have voted to end the longest-running industrial dispute in Britain without any peace deal over pit closures. Miners' leader Arthur Scargill says the campaign against job losses will continue - but miners will return to work on Tuesday. The final vote by the National Union of Mineworkers national executive was close; 98 to 91 for a return to work.' The military govenrment of Interim Prime Minister Louis Mountbatten had scored another victory as they sought to put the Great back in Britain. Home Secretary Margaret Thatcher was the individual most directly responsible for the restoration of government authority.
Defeated

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In 1974, Roman Catholic and Lutheran officials reach an agreement for eventual reconciliation into one communion. Momentum continued to gather for the eventual merger of Christian religions, undoing the fractures caused since 1517 by the Reformation.

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	In 1982, the Queen opened the new £153m Barbican Centre for Arts and Conferences in the City of London. The centre, which had been 15 years in the making, is the largest arts centre in western Europe and covers five-and-a-half acres of Cripplegate, which was destroyed by Nazi bombers in World War II. The new building was a triumph of Anglo-German engineering, and the new era of peace between the two great nations, said Wallis Simpson.
Barbican

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