Browsing: Society

A Brief History On March 5, 1946, while speaking at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, uttered the term “Iron Curtain” in reference to the divide between the Soviet led Communist Bloc and the democratic/capitalist Western group of nations led by the United States.  The phrase quickly assumed common and pervasive use amongst Westerners as both a derisive and ominous term describing the Communist Bloc. Digging Deeper World War II (1939-1945) had left the world with two competing camps of military and political power, the West and the East, the West being the US, UK,…

A Brief History On March 4, 938, the relics of Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Prince of the Czechs, were translated, which means moved to a more permanent location.  Not really a king during his life, Wenceslaus was posthumously promoted to “King of the Czechs” after his death. Digging Deeper Wenceslaus was born in Prague, Bohemia in 907, and became Duke in 921.  In 935, he was assassinated by his own brother, the aptly named Boleslaus the Cruel.  The family murders had begun when Wenceslaus’s own mother had his grandmother and regent killed to prevent the grandmother’s influence.  The evil…

A Brief History On March 3, 2005, the “other” country down under became the first modern nation with an all-female leadership cadre when New Zealand elected Margaret Wilson as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives. Digging Deeper Wilson, the former Attorney General, joined Prime Minister Helen Clark, Governor General Silvia Cartwright, and Head of State Queen Elizabeth II to round out the all-woman leadership of the country.  New Zealand continued its history making advances for women in politics when in 2022, the nation’s Parliament became female majority. As of 2022, the following countries have a female majority in…

A Brief History On March 2, 1978, space exploration history was made when Vladimír Remek, a pilot, politician, and diplomat from Czechoslovakia became the first person in space that was not Russian or American. Digging Deeper Remek lifted off aboard Soviet space craft Soyuz 28 for an 8-day trip to outer space, heading to the Soviet space station, Salyut 6.  A former pilot in the Czechoslovakian Air Force, Remek was hailed a national hero and even was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal by the USSR.  He parlayed his renown into a career in politics, serving as a…

A Brief History On February 28, 1959, a Thor-Agena A rocket was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying a spy satellite designated Discoverer 1, the first in a spy satellite program of the American military and intelligence network. Digging Deeper Discoverer 1 was intended as the first ever satellite to orbit the Earth via the poles rather than on an equatorial orbit, and was part of the CORONA program.  Actually a testbed, Discoverer 1 was not equipped with the camera and film that later satellites of the KH-1 type would carry. Unfortunately, the star-crossed spacecraft failed in…