Browsing: Society

A Brief History On September 8, 1974, American President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon of any crimes he may have committed while in office.  Although some members of the U.S. public were relieved that the country was saved the spectacle of an ex-president on trial, many were outraged, and that act of mercy may have cost Ford the 1976 presidential election. Throughout history, there have been many cases of people being pardoned where the public thought they did not deserve to be granted clemency.  In some of the cases, a pardoned person went on with their criminal ways or reverted…

A Brief History On September 7th, 1533, in what had to ironically have been one of the most disappointing births in history, the future Queen Elizabeth I of England made her grand entrance onto the world and political stage. Digging Deeper The first article of this series on the Six Wives of Henry VIII discussed the possibility that Catherine of Aragon might have lied about being a virgin at the time of her marriage to Henry.  This article focuses on the consequences of Anne Boleyn denying Henry sex and what might have happened had she not. By divorcing Catherine of…

A Brief History On September 7, 1942, the Consolidated B-32 Dominator strategic bomber made its first flight.  Only developed as a fallback in case the Boeing B-29 Superfortress was not successful, the B-32 could not hold its own, and only 118 were built.  Over the years, many weapons or weapons systems have proven themselves to be disappointments.  Here 10 of those are listed, in no particular order. (Please also see the similarly-themed History and Headlines articles: “10 Weapons and Weapons Systems that Flopped” and “10 Weapons That Never (Or Barely) Went into Service.”)  Can you think of any weapons that fall into these categories? Digging Deeper 10. Consolidated B-32 Dominator. As mentioned…

A Brief History On September 1, 1983, a Soviet Sukhoi Su-15 scrambled to intercept an airplane that had violated Soviet airspace over the Kamchatka Peninsula.  Suspecting the jet liner was actually a U.S. spy plane, the Soviet fighter fired 2 air-to-air missiles, easily shooting down the lumbering commercial airliner that was flying from New York City to Seoul, Korea via Anchorage, Alaska. Digging Deeper Soviet officials at first denied involvement in the shootdown.  Then they claimed the fighter had first called the airliner on the radio before firing warning shots with tracer ammunition.  Years later, when the Soviet Union dissolved, more complete information…

A Brief History On September 5, 1698, Czar Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great) enacted a tax on beards.  This tax  primarily targeted the nobility in an effort to “westernize” Russia as part of Peter’s attempts to move Russia away from medieval traditions and into the modern world.  Throughout history many laws have been enacted or decreed that did not sit well with the people targeted by the law.  On August 5, 2014, we ran a list of “10 Incredibly Unpopular Laws,” and here 10 more such laws are presented (in no particular order).   Digging Deeper 10. Russian Beard Tax. As described in the…