The Day a Nation Changed, the Day Lincoln was Shot

On this date on the evening of April 14, 1865, an event took place which forever altered the course of a wounded and war battered America, when then U.S President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The promise of a peace at the hand of a leader who oversaw the war, was tried by its mighty challenges, traveled across the scarred and combat battered terrain of America, visiting wounded war veterans, faces darkened by despair and poverty, whites fighting the war to keep America from being torn asunder, and of blacks who remained in the bondage of institutional slavery’s heavy and tarnished chains; died along with Lincoln.

The great promise of coming to realize the “better angels of our nature” would not come to fruition and would be impeded in the decades ahead, as blood spilled dried on America’s grassy battlefields and both the haunting smoke and thunder of cannon and gunfire.

But originally the national chaos and crisis was to be greater. Then U.S General for the Union Ulysses S Grant, was originally supposed to be attending the show at Ford’s theater. An assassin who was also staying at the same hotel as Vice President Andrew Johnson was supposed to murder him, but after a few drinks he decided not to go through with it. Also, then U.S Secretary of State William H Seward and his son were attacked at their home. Seward was attacked and stabbed both in the throat and breast while in bed, but survived.

Here are some original reports of Lincoln’s death:

New York Herald Sun (Herald Dispatch on April 14)-

Assassination has been inaugurated in Washington. The bowie knife and pistol have been applied to President Lincoln and Secretary [of state] Seward. The former was shot in the throat, while at Ford’s Theatre tonight. Mr Seward was badly cut about the neck, while in his bed at his residence.

Following that and a string of other dispatches, here was one that appeared the next morning April 15 at 1:30A.M:

This evening at about 9:30pm, at Ford’s Theatre, the President, while sitting in the private box with Mrs Lincoln, Mrs Harris, and Major Rothburn, was shot by an assassin who suddenly entered the box and approached behind the president.

The assassin then leaped upon the stage brandishing a large dagger or knife, and made his escape in the rear of the theatre.

The pistol ball entered the back of the President’s head and penetrated nearly through the head. The wound is mortal.

The President has been insensible ever since it was inflicted and is now dying.

Its tremendously powerful to read these words as if the incident is still unfolding. But here is a bit on maybe what could have been. Here is a piece of the article which describes Lincoln’s demeanor on that which would be the last day of his life.

At a cabinet meeting, at which General Grant was present, the subject of the state of the country and the prospect of a speedy peace was discussed. The President was very cheerful and hopeful, and spoke very kindly of General [Robert. E] Lee and other of the Confederacy, and of the establishment of government in Virginia.

Robert Kennedy’s Moving Speech on the Assasination of Martin Luther King Jr

On this date in 1968 Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. An agonizing event that drove many to outrage, many to violence, many to despair, and still many others to grief and fear.

Then Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Robert F Kennedy (D-NY), addressed a crowd in Indianapolis, who had not yet heard the news of King’s assassination. Kennedy in a speech that was not written beforehand gave a speech from the heart, a poetic statement that struck a cord and moved those who heard, as all that was once tall and promising felt like it had been reduced to ashes. Here is a clip of that speech:

The text of the speech can be read here.

Its too bad that both Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were so cruelly gunned down and seized from us, depriving us of both these men’s talents, vision, spirit, and so much more.

Also on this date a year before his death, Martin Luther King gave a public speech condemning the U.S War in Vietnam. We need men like these two today. May they both rest in peace.

When MLK died

Today marks a tragic chapter in the history of America, justice, race relations, civil rights, and the concept of brotherhood for all mankind. On this date four decades ago on April 4,1968, Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s vibrant and intriguing spirit was extinguished and voice, was gravely silenced by a bullet in Memphis Tennessee. It was a gunshot that echoed throughout a nation and rattled the world. May he rest in peace and may his vision become our reality.

See more report from CBS news on this day: here, here, and here.

Tonight I will post video of that night forty years ago when the then Democratic presidential contender Senator Robert F Kennedy (D-NY), gave a moving speech that played to a nation’s heart in Indianapolis. On that subject, here is a new movie that explores Kennedy and that speech on that somber day.

This Date in History Calendar- March 10

Telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell using the original telephone.

Courtesy: hippy.com, wikipedia, History Channel

1876: Telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell makes the first ever successful telephone call.

1880: Members of the Salvation Army begin operations in the United States.

1912: Chinese General Yuan Shaki officially takes the oath of office as only the second President of the Republic of China.

1918: Warner Bros studios releases its first motion picture “My Four Years in Germany”.

1922: Human Rights activist and pacifist leader Mohandas Gandhi is imprisoned on charges of sedition in India.

1945: U.S Army Airforce unleashes its fury and strength, when it firebombs Tokyo.

1969: James Earl Ray admits to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

1970: Captain Ernest Medha is charged with war Crimes in connection with the March 1968 My Lai Massacre, during the Vietnam War.

This Date in History Calendar- February 15

The interactive internet video site You Tube, was launched on this date in 2005.

Courtesy: Hippy.com, wikipedia, History Channel

1879: U.S President Rutherford B Hayes signs legislation that permits female attorney’s to argue cases before the U.S Supreme Court.

1898: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in havana Harbor killing hundreads onboard, the cry “remember the Maine” would emanate from this incident and be the event that would bring America into what would become “The Spanish-American War”.

1903: The Teddy Bear first goes on sale.

1933: Giuseppe Zangara, in Miami, Florida, attempts to assasinate then President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But the shot fired instead hits Chicago Mayor Anton Cornok, eventually killing him.

1942: During World War II, the Fall of Singapore occurs.

2003: Protests against the anticipated U.S led War in Iraq occur in 600 cities around the globe, making it the largest peace demonstration in World History.

2005: The video website Youtube is first launched in the United States.

This Date in History Calendar- January 30

Tragedy, as on this date in 1948 Mohandes Ghandi, a global voice for Peace and Justice is gunned down.

Courtesy: Hippy.com, wikipedia, History Channel

1835: U.S President Andrew Jackson becomes the first U.S president to be the target of an assassination attempt. he emerged from the incident unscathed.

1933: German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler takes the oath of office and officially becomes the Chancellor of Germany.

1942: Musician Marty Balin is born.

1948: India’s Independence leader and non-violent Civil rights advocate Mohandas Gandhi is assassinated.

1964: Less then four months after the Minh Junta takes power, a new Junta led by South Vietnamese General Nguyen Khanah seizes control of South Vietnam.

1968: In a surprise to U.S and South Vietnamese forces, Vietcong Guerrilla forces launch what will later become the Tet Offensive, when they simultaneously attack a number South Vietnamese cities.

1969: The Beatles perform their last public concert in London.

1972: In the United Kingdom, British Paratroopers clash with Civil Rights protesters railing against the internment of Irish Civil rights activists, killing 14 marchers in Northern Ireland. The incident would become known as “Bloody Sunday”.

1973: Watergate suspected criminals James McCord and G. Gordon Liddy are convicted for their roles in the Watergate burglary.

Musharaff States That Bhutto Was Responsible For Her Own Death.

President Pervez Musharaff casts blame for Benazir Bhutto on Bhutto herself.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharaff in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired last night, casts the blame of political opponent, ex-prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on herself. Stating that she had placed herself in the dangerous situation that cost her, her own life as well as that of 22 other killed in the subsequent explosion.

Rawstory.com

“For standing up outside the car, I think it was she to blame alone. Nobody else. Responsibility is hers,” Musharraf said in the interview taped on Saturday morning.

The account of what actually caused the death of the Pakistani dissident, has been of some dispute since the time it happened on December 27. At first the Pakistani government of Musharraf stated that the assassination of Bhutto and the violence which killed others on the scene at the time was the work of Al-Queda terrorists, which are widely thought to have elements residing and hidden in the western part of the country along the border with Afghanistan. Days later the government alleged that the bomb’s blast pushed Bhutto’s head against a lever on her sunroof fracturing her skull.

Last week it was revealed that later on in the day when Bhutto was assassinated, she was supposed to have a meeting with Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Senator Arleen Specter (R-PA), and notify them of a report, which indicated the Musharaff was going to take measures including violence, to suppress those who might vote against him by confusing voters and perhaps even carrying out acts of violence to dissuade them from casting a ballot.

Musharaff’s government though has denied claims that they would use such tactics.

MY TAKE: Denying involvement in Bhutto’s death is one thing, but by constantly altering their story of her death, the cause of her death, and blaming the victim this just casts more suspicion on the already shady and authoritative Musharaff, who himself did not come to power in 1999 by peaceful, democratic, and legitimate means, but instead through violence and intimidation by using his position as a military General and the support of that institution he had garnered.

Still we can’t be too harsh with Musharaff. Pakistan is a nuclear country. If Musharaff falls and something more anti-western and anti-U.S follows. More radical and less practical forces could be armed with nuclear weapons and possibly a sympathetic population to govern.

One of President Ford’s Assasins Let Out on Parole

Sara Jane Moore, who had attempted to assasinate then U.S President Gerald Ford

A woman who nearly became a presidential assasin was allowed to exit a California prison this morning on parole.

In September of 1975, Sara Jane Moore, a mentally unstable FBI informant and leftist revolutionary stood across the street from a hotel in San Fransisco where then President Gerald Ford was staying,nearly gunned him down. She likely would have hit Ford had it not been for an ex-Marine who witnessed Moore take aim at the President and then pushed her arm aide causing the gun to fire and just narrowly miss Ford, thereby sparing his life and allowing him to emerge from the incident intact and uninjured.

It was in a time where political assasinations in the U.S were tragically commonplace (John F Kennedy,Robert Kennedy, Medgar Evans, Malcolm X, Dr Martin Luther King, George Wallace, Fred Hampton, etc).

Moore, then 45 years of age, was sentenced to life in prison for her crime. In 1989 she briefly had escaped from prison but soon was back in custody.

Although initially she expressed remorse only for not successfully killing Ford at the time, recently she stated that she regretted her attempt on his life.

Ford died late in 2006, at the age of 93, however he was staunchly opposed to her receiving any parole and being released from prison.

MY TAKE: It is outrageous that this woman is being released back into the general public. In 2005 John Hinckley, the mentally disturbed man who attempted to assassinate U.S President Ronald Reagan back in 1981, was granted permission to leave the institution where had been housed for twenty-five years to occasionally spend a night at the homes of his parents.

Moore is now 77. But still, rehabilitated or not, her crime merits a sentence of life in prison.

Mark David Chapman, who gunned down ex-Beatles singer John Lennon was mentally ill and has been in locked away since he commited his crime in 1980. Should he now be set free to mingle in society? Or how about Sirhan Sirhan, the young Jordanian immigrant who in 1968 opened fire and killed Robert Kennedy, he must be fairly old by now why not release him?

These were brazen acts of cold blooded murder meant to inject fear into the public and pursue their own craven view of the world by way of the bullet, and Gerald Ford very nearly almost became a victim of such madness.


Source: Reuters

Benizar Bhutto is assasinated (1953-2007)

Benizar Bhutto (1953-2007), was assassinated today.

Ex-Pakistani Prime Minister and pro-democracy activist Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated today in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi,perishing violently along with twenty other supporters, after she was said to be shot multiple times in the neck and chest. The attacker then blew himself up. She is said to have officially died at 6:16 Pakistani time.

Bhutto,54, who had been in exile for several years after being twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, the first woman to hold that office in the young country’s history.

The assassination could have profound consequences for the future and stability of Pakistan as well as the scheduled January 8 elections, which Bhutto had fervently supported. Some suspect that the elections might be postponed, although it is as of this writing not yet known if that will occur.

Some reports state that violence has broken out in the aftermath of Bhutto’s murder, with protesters setting fires as well as clashing with police. One reporter is also said to have died following the attack. Some also worry that anger could blossom into violence and unrest against the Pakistani government.

Bhutto was first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988. Although her faith was Islamic, she governed in a secular manner. However her record was not completely unblemished. She and her husband were ousted from office in the 1990s, following allegations of scandal involving billions of dollars in financial malfeasance.

Earlier this year she returned to Pakistan with much fanfare, as she sought a return to the Pakistani political scene, attempting to even form a power sharing agreement with current authoritative and unpopular President Pervez Musharraf, who is considered an ally of the U.S in the “War on terror”. She had supported the desire of the U.S to increase efforts in the western remote regions of Pakistan which neighbor Afghanistan, to crackdown on militants and capture Al-Queda fighters, as well putting the country on a route to a more secular and moderate Democracy.

On November 15, when Musharraf declared marshal law, and even condemned Bhutto to house arrest, she came out as a strong and vocal critic of Musharraf’s move. Due to popular displeasure and vocal opposition to the move, Musharraf later lifted the declaration of Marshall law and set the date of January 8 for free and fair elections within the country.

Despite Musharraf’s ties with the U.S, Bhutto had broad support from many in the U.S to govern the Islamic country that is also a nuclear power. However, obviously in the wake of her untimely and bloody death, that possibility has been shattered. Also despite many in Pakistan holding Osama Bin Laden in high favorability, Bhutto was seen as a viable alternative to Bin Laden and anti-western Islamic militants.

Around the globe and in Pakistan itself, leaders have reacted to Bhutto’s death. Musharraf has deemed her assassination an act by terrorists, while _President bush has labeled them, “cowardly acts. British prime minister Gordon brown, French president Nicholas Sarkowzy, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ky Moon, as well as several of the U.S presidential candidates have praised Bhutto as a moral and visionary leader and roundly condemning the attacks.

But with Bhutto dead, in a country with a repressive and unstable dictatorship currently in place, support for Bin Laden and anti-western sentiment, and with a nuclear arsenal. The question for Pakistan and the world is what is next? What lies ahead?

MY TAKE: Despite allegations of scandal in the past, Bhutto now will hold a place in history as a brave visionary leader, who blazed trails and unleashed a clarion call for justice. She produced an alternate vision for the future of her country, her people, and the world that cost her her life at the merciless hands of violence. This puts her along such leaders of the past who had such bold visions of justice and the future but who themselves would meet violent deaths such as: Martin Luther King Jr, Former U.S President John F Kennedy, Robert F Kennedy, Anwar Sadat, Yitzhak Rabin, and countless others in the annals of history.

This Date in History Calender- December 22

Comic Lenny Bruce convicted of obscenity.

Courtesy: Hippy.com, wikipedia, History Channel

1894: In France Alfred Dreyfuss is wrongly convicted of treason. The case had strong anti-Semitic undertones and would become known as the Dreyfuss Affair.

1920: The GOELRO ( “State Commission for the Electrification of Russia”)economic development plan is adopted by the 8th Congress of the Soviets of the Russian SFSR.

1944: In the midst of World War II, the Vietnamese create the Vietnamese People’s Army to combat Japanese occupation of Indochina, soon to become Vietnam.

1964: Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted on obscenity charges.

1967: Aldous Owsley is busted and stops making acid.

1988: Brazilian Labor Union leader and environmentalist Chico Mendes is assassinated.

1989: In the heat of the Romanian revolution and following a week of violent protests, Lon lliesu becomes the President of Romania, following the political demise of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

1989: The Brandenburg gate opens its doors for the first time in around three decades, putting East and West Germany on the road to reunification.