-
Period: to
Timespan
-
Boulevard Race in Corona Deaths
At the Boulevard Race in Corona, California, an early racing car careens into a crowd of spectators, killing the driver and two others. At the time, racing events were still a relative rarity and the fatal accident helped encourage organizers to begin holding races on specially built tracks instead of regular streets. -
Russians attack Germans in drive to expel them from Crimea
Russian forces led by Marshal Fedor Tolbukhin attack the German army in an attempt to win back Crimea, in the southern Ukraine, occupied by the Axis power. The attack would result in the breaking of German defensive lines in just four days, eventually sending the Germans retreating. -
Defiant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is hanged
Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is hanged at Flossenburg, only days before the American liberation of the POW camp. The last words of the brilliant and courageous 39-year-old opponent of Nazism were “This is the end–for me, the beginning of life.” -
Professor Owen Lattimore labled extremely dangerous
Senator Joseph McCarthy labels Professor Owen Lattimore “extremely dangerous so far as the American people are concerned” in a carefully worded public speech, but stops short of calling him a Soviet spy. The speech was yet another example of McCarthy’s ability to whip up damaging Red Scare hysteria with no real evidence. -
Kenyatta jailed for Mau Mau uprising
Jomo Kenyatta, leader of the Kenyan independence movement, is convicted by Kenya’s British rulers of leading the extremist Mau Mau in their violence against white settlers and the colonial government. An advocate of nonviolence and conservatism, he pleaded innocent in the highly politicized trial. -
arbara Kingsolver was born
American writer Barbara Kingsolver was born on this day near Annapolis, Maryland. -
Omar Bradley dies
General Omar Bradley, commander of the 12th Army Group who ensured Allied victory over Germany, dies on this day in 1981. -
Kurt Cobain was found dead
Rock star Kurt Cobain was found dead in his home outside Seattle, Washington, He comitted suiside, with fresh injection marks in both arms and a fatal wound to the head from the 20-gauge shotgun found between his knees. -
Eric Rudolph agrees to plead guilty to a series of bombings at Olimpics
Eric Rudolph agrees to plead guilty to a series of bombings, including the fatal bombing at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, in order to avoid the death penalty. He later cited his anti-abortion and anti-homosexual views as motivation for the bombings. -
Margaret Thatcher Dies
Margaret Thatcher, the first–and so far only–female prime minister of the United Kingdom, dies in London at age 87 from a stroke. Serving from 1979 to 1990, Thatcher was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century.