Easter Rebellion begins April 24 1916

On April 24, 1916, on Easter Monday in Dublin, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organization of Irish nationalists led by Patrick Pearse, launches the so-called Easter Rebellion, an armed uprising against British rule. Assisted by militant Irish socialists under James Connolly, Pearse and his fellow Republicans rioted and attacked British provincial government headquarters across Dublin and seized the Irish capital's General Post Office. 

Following these successes, they proclaimed the independence of Ireland, which had been under the repressive thumb of the United Kingdom for centuries, and by the next morning were in control of much of the city. Later that day, however, British authorities launched a counteroffensive, and by April 29 the uprising had been crushed. Nevertheless, the Easter Rebellion is considered a significant marker on the road to establishing an independent Irish republic.

Following the uprising, Pearse and 14 other nationalist leaders were executed for their participation and held up as martyrs by many in Ireland. There was little love lost among most Irish people for the British, who had enacted a series of harsh anti-Catholic restrictions, the Penal Laws, in the 18th century, and then let 1.5 million Irish starve during the Potato Famine of 1845-1852. Armed protest continued after the Easter Rebellion and in 1921, 26 of Ireland's 32 counties won independence with the declaration of the Irish Free State. The Free State became an independent republic in 1949. However, six northeastern counties of the Emerald Isle remained part of the United Kingdom, prompting some nationalists to reorganize themselves into the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to continue their struggle for full Irish independence.

In the late 1960s, influenced in part by the U.S. civil rights movement, Catholics in Northern Ireland, long discriminated against by British policies that favored Irish Protestants, advocated for justice. Civil unrest broke out between Catholics and Protestants in the region and the violence escalated as the pro-Catholic IRA battled British troops. An ongoing series of terrorist bombings and attacks ensued in a drawn-out conflict that came to be known as "The Troubles." Peace talks eventually took place throughout the mid- to late 1990s, but a permanent end to the violence remained elusive. Finally, in July 2005, the IRA announced its members would give up all their weapons and pursue the group's objectives solely through peaceful means. By the fall of 2006, the Independent Monitoring Commission reported that the IRA's military campaign to end British rule was over.

 

THE IDEA FOR THE FIRST EARTH DAY

THE IDEA FOR THE FIRST EARTH DAY Senator Gaylord Nelson, a junior senator from Wisconsin, had long been concerned about the deteriorating environment in the United States. Then in January 1969, he and many others witnessed the ravages of a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, Senator Nelson wanted to infuse the energy of student anti-war protests with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a teach-in on college campuses to the national media, and persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair.

They recruited Denis Hayes, a young activist, to organize the campus teach-ins and they choose April 22, a weekday falling between Spring Break and Final Exams, to maximize the greatest student participation. Recognizing its potential to inspire all Americans, Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land and the effort soon broadened to include a wide range of organizations, faith groups, and others. They changed the name to Earth Day, which immediately sparked national media attention, and caught on across the country. Earth Day inspired 20 million Americans — at the time, 10% of the total population of the United States — to take to the streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate against the impacts of 150 years of industrial development which had left a growing legacy of serious human health impacts.

Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment and there were massive coast-to-coast rallies in cities, towns, and communities. Groups that had been fighting individually against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness and the extinction of wildlife united on Earth Day around these shared common values. Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, urban dwellers and farmers, business and labor leaders.

By the end of 1970, the first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of other first of their kind environmental laws, including the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Air Act. Two years later Congress passed the Clean Water Act. A year after that, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act and soon after the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. These laws have protected millions of men, women and children from disease and death and have protected hundreds of species from extinction.

May 24 1543 Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus dies

On May 24, 1543, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus dies in what is now Frombork, Poland. The father of modern astronomy, he was the first modern European scientist to propose that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun. Prior to the publication of his major astronomical work, "Six Books Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs," in 1543, European astronomers argued that Earth lay at the center of the universe, the view also held by most ancient philosophers and biblical writers.

In addition to correctly postulating the order of the known planets, including Earth, from the sun, and estimating their orbital periods relatively accurately, Copernicus argued that Earth turned daily on its axis and that gradual shifts of this axis accounted for the changing seasons. He died the year his major work was published, saving him from the outrage of some religious leaders who later condemned his heliocentric view of the universe as heresy. By the late 18th century, the Copernican view of the solar system was almost universally accepted.

Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier April 15 1947 This Day in History

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson, age 28, becomes the first African American player in Major League Baseball when he steps onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to compete for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson broke the color barrier in a sport that had been segregated for more than 50 years. Exactly 50 years later, on April 15, 1997, Robinson's groundbreaking career was honored and his uniform number, 42, was retired from Major League Baseball by Commissioner Bud Selig in a ceremony attended by over 50,000 fans at New York City's Shea Stadium. Robinson's was the first-ever number retired by all teams in the league.

Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia, to a family of sharecroppers. Growing up, he excelled at sports and attended the University of California at Los Angeles, where he was the first athlete to letter in four varsity sports: baseball, basketball, football and track. After financial difficulties forced Robinson to drop out of UCLA, he joined the army in 1942 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. After protesting instances of racial discrimination during his military service, Robinson was court-martialed in 1944. Ultimately, though, he was honorably discharged.

After the army, Robinson played for a season in the Negro American League. In 1946, he spent one season with the Canadian minor league team the Montreal Royals. In 1947, Robinson was called up to the Majors and soon became a star infielder and outfielder for the Dodgers, as well as the National League's Rookie of the Year. In 1949, the right-hander was named the National League's Most Valuable Player and league batting champ. Robinson played on the National League All-Star team from 1949 through 1954 and led the Dodgers to six National League pennants and one World Series, in 1955. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, his first year of eligibility.

Despite his talent and success as a player, Robinson faced tremendous racial discrimination throughout his career, from baseball fans and some fellow players. Additionally, Jim Crow laws prevented Robinson from using the same hotels and restaurants as his teammates while playing in the South.

After retiring from baseball in 1957, Robinson became a businessman and civil rights activist. He died October 24, 1972, at age 53, in Stamford, Connecticut.

Plane crashes in Thai jungle

On this day in 1991, a Boeing 767 crashes into the jungle near Bangkok, Thailand, and kills all 223 people on board. The plane was owned and operated by the Austrian company Lauda-Air was the nation's largest charter operation and famed race car driver Niki Lauda's first foray into business after his retirement from racing.

The flight originated in Hong Kong and was ultimately headed to Vienna. After a brief stop in Bangkok, the plane was climbing out of Bangkok Airport when a computer malfunctioned. The thrust reverser on the port engine, which essentially puts the engine in reverse, deployed suddenly. Though pilots fought to override it, they were not able to do so.

Just 16 minutes after takeoff, the plane was sent plunging into the Thailand jungle 100 miles north of Bangkok. The 203 passengers and 20 crew members on board all died on impact. The plane's black box was destroyed, making the cause of the crash difficult to determine.

Niki Lauda immediately went to the site of the crash, where it was reported that he personally went through the strewn bodies and aircraft parts searching for evidence. Eventually, the mechanical evidence and a voice recorder pointed to a serious problem with the jet's thrust reverser. Boeing was forced to recall and modify the 767's thrust reversing system at the conclusion of the official investigation.

 

This Day In History JANUARY 24

JANUARY 24 817 St Paschal I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Stephen IV   
JANUARY 24 817 St Paschal I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Stephen IV   
JANUARY 24 1118 Giovanni Caetani elected Pope Gelasius II   
JANUARY 24 1458 Matthias I Corvinus chosen King of Hungary   
JANUARY 24 1534 Francois I signs classified treaty with evangelical German monarchy   
JANUARY 24 1568 Abdij Church in Middelburg destroyed by fire   
JANUARY 24 1568 In Netherlands, Duke of Alva declares William of Orange an outlaw   
JANUARY 24 1613 Amsterdam merchant Hans Bontemantel baptized   
JANUARY 24 1616 Dutch mariner Jacob Le Maire discovers Le Maire Strait, Tierra del Fuego   
JANUARY 24 1634 Emperor Ferdinand II declares Albrecht von Wallenstein a traitor   
JANUARY 24 1639 Connecticut colony organizes under Fundamental Orders   
JANUARY 24 1644 Parliamentary army wins battle of Nantwich, Cheshire, English Civil War   
JANUARY 24 1648 Lord Baltimore's representative Margaret Brent ejected from the Maryland Council after requesting right to vote   
JANUARY 24 1652 Duke of Orleans joins Fronde rebels   
JANUARY 24 1656 1st Jewish doctor in North American colonies, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland   
JANUARY 24 1722 Edward Wigglesworth appointed 1st north American divinity professor (Harvard)   
JANUARY 24 1742 German leaders elect Charles VII Albert Emperor   
JANUARY 24 1764 Governor Winthrop's Telescope is destroyed in a Harvard fire   
JANUARY 24 1776 Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga   
JANUARY 24 1847 1,500 New Mexican Indians & Mexicans defeated by US Colonel Price   
JANUARY 24 1848 James Marshall finds gold in Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California   
JANUARY 24 1857 University of Calcutta founded as the first full-fledged university in South Asia   
JANUARY 24 1859 Political union of Moldavia and Wallachia; Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected as ruler   
JANUARY 24 1861 Federal troops from Ft Monroe are sent to Ft Pikens   
JANUARY 24 1862 Romanian principality arises under King Alexander Cuza. Bucharest proclaimed its capital.   
JANUARY 24 1874 Gen J van Swieten conquers Kraton Atjeh, after thousands die   
JANUARY 24 1874 Mussorgsky's opera "Boris Godunov" premieres in St Petersburg   
JANUARY 24 1875 Camille Saint-Saëns' "Danse Macabre" premieres   
JANUARY 24 1878 Revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, Governor of Saint Petersburg   
JANUARY 24 1892 Battle of Mengo, Uganda: French missionaries attack British missionaries   
JANUARY 24 1899 Belgium government of Vandenpeereboom forms   
JANUARY 24 1899 Rubber heel for boots or shoes patented by American Humphrey O'Sullivan   
JANUARY 24 1900 Battle of Tugela-Spionkop, South Africa (Boers vs British army)   
JANUARY 24 1900 Newcastle Badminton Club, world's oldest, forms in England   
JANUARY 24 1901 1st games played in baseball's American League   
JANUARY 24 1901 Emily Hobhouse views the British administrated concentration camp at Bloemfontein for women and children   
JANUARY 24 1901 Denmark and the US sign a treaty under which Denmark will sell the Danish West Indies to the USA for $5 million, but the sale will be postponed until 1917   
JANUARY 24 1914 Opera "Madeleine" premieres in NYC   
JANUARY 24 1915 German-British sea battle at Dogger Bank & Helgoland   
JANUARY 24 1916 The Military Service Bill, calling for conscription of men for war services, passes in the British House of Commons   
JANUARY 24 1920 Australasian Championships Men's Tennis, Sydney: Englishman Algernon Kingscote beats Eric Pockley of Australia 6-4, 6-0, 6-3   
JANUARY 24 1921 Paris Conference on reparations is held   
JANUARY 24 1922 -54°F (-48°C), Danbury, Wisconsin (state record)   
JANUARY 24 1922 Eskimo Pie patented by Christian K Nelson of Iowa (not an Eskimo)   
JANUARY 24 1922 Lehman Caves National Monument established   
JANUARY 24 1923 Aztec Ruins National Monument in New Mexico established   
JANUARY 24 1930 J E Mills scores 117 on Test Cricket debut, NZ v England, Wellington   
JANUARY 24 1930 Stewie Dempster scores New Zealand's 1st Test century   
JANUARY 24 1933 Noel Coward's "Design for Living" premieres in NYC   
JANUARY 24 1936 Benny Goodman & orchestra record "Stompin' at the Savoy" on Victor Records   
JANUARY 24 1936 Albert Sarraut becomes Prime Minister of France   
JANUARY 24 1939 30,000 killed by earthquake in Concepcion Chile   
JANUARY 24 1943 Jewish patients, nurses and doctors incinerated at Auschwitz-Birkenau   
JANUARY 24 1944 Allied troops occupy Nettuno Italy   
JANUARY 24 1945 Scottish 52nd Lowland division occupies Heinsberg   
JANUARY 24 1947 NFL adds 5th official (back judge) & allows sudden death in playoffs   
JANUARY 24 1948 "Music in My Heart" closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 124 performances   
JANUARY 24 1951 Dutch government Drees-van Schaik resigns   
JANUARY 24 1952 1st NFL team in Texas, Dallas Texans formerly NY Yanks   
JANUARY 24 1952 Fire in main building of French Port Martin Antarctic base   
JANUARY 24 1954 BPAA All-Star Tournament won by Don Carter   
JANUARY 24 1955 Photography exhibition "The Family of Man" curated by Edward Steichen opens at MOMA, New York, "greatest photographic enterprise ever undertaken"   
JANUARY 24 1956 96.5 cm precipitation at Kilauea Plantation, Hawaii (state record)   
JANUARY 24 1956 An inquiry considers building homes in a war devastated area in London   
JANUARY 24 1961 Lazard Brothers Ltd draw a check for $334,867,807.68   
JANUARY 24 1962 28 refugees escape from East to West Germany   
JANUARY 24 1962 Brian Epstein signs management contract with the Beatles   
JANUARY 24 1962 Jackie Robinson is 1st African American elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame. Bob Feller is also elected.   
JANUARY 24 1963 Buddy Rogers & Lou Thesz wrestle in Toronto, Rogers becomes WWF wrestling champ & Thesz becomes NWA champion   
JANUARY 24 1964 CBS purchases 1964 & 1965 NFL TV rights for $28.2 million   
JANUARY 24 1964 Eric de Noorman, a Dutch comic strip by Hans G. Kresse, ends   
JANUARY 24 1964 24th Amendment to US Constitution goes into effect & states voting rights could not be denied due to failure to pay taxes   
JANUARY 24 1966 WDIO TV channel 10 in Duluth, MN (ABC) begins broadcasting   
JANUARY 24 1966 117 passengers are killed after an Air India Boeing-707 plane crashes into Mont Blanc, France   
JANUARY 24 1968 Operation Coburg, an Australian and New Zealand military action during the Vietnam War, begins   
JANUARY 24 1969 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands appointed honorary citizen of Addis Ababa   
JANUARY 24 1969 Deputy Prime Minister Brian Faulkner resigns from the Northern Ireland cabinet in protest at the lack of 'strong government' on the part of PM Terence O'Neill   
JANUARY 24 1969 Students protest the erection of steel gates around the London School of Economics   
JANUARY 24 1970 3rd ABA All-Star Game: West 128 beats East 98 at Indiana   
JANUARY 24 1970 Valeri Muratov skates world record 500m (38.99 sec)   
JANUARY 24 1971 21st NFL Pro Bowl, LA Memorial Coliseum: NFC beats AFC, 27-6; MVPs: Fred Carr, Green Bay Packers, LB; Mel Renfro, Dallas Cowboys, CB   
JANUARY 24 1972 WRIP (now WDSI) TV channel 61 in Chattanooga, TN (IND) 1st broadcast   
JANUARY 24 1972 Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.   
JANUARY 24 1973 Warren Spahn is elected to Baseball Hall of Fame   
JANUARY 24 1974 10th British Commonwealth Games open in Christchurch, New Zealand   
JANUARY 24 1975 "Hot l Baltimore" situation comedy premieres on ABC TV   
JANUARY 24 1975 Fastest Earth-bound object, 7200 kph, in vacuum centrifuge, England   
JANUARY 24 1976 Cleveland Cavaliers biggest margin victory-43 pts (beat Milwaukee 132-89)   
JANUARY 24 1977 Massacre of Atocha in Madrid: Five labor lawyers murdered by fascists in Madrid during the Spanish transition to democracy   
JANUARY 24 1978 31st NHL All-Star Game, Buffalo Municipal Auditorium: Wales Conference beats Campbell Conference, 3-2 (OT); MVP: Billy Smith, NY Islanders, G   
JANUARY 24 1978 Carter Executive Order on Intelligence (# 12036)   
JANUARY 24 1979 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site   
JANUARY 24 1981 Islanders scored 5 power play goals against Nordiques   
JANUARY 24 1981 Kim Hughes scores 213 v India at Adelaide   
JANUARY 24 1986 South Yemen Premier Haydar Bakr al-Attas becomes interim-president   
JANUARY 24 1986 Voyager 2 makes 1st fly-by of Uranus (81,593 km), finds new moons   
JANUARY 24 1986 Leon Brittan, Trade and Industry Secretary under Thatcher is 2nd cabinet minister to resign after 'Westland affair'   
JANUARY 24 1988 1st WWF Royal Rumble - Jim Duggan wins   
JANUARY 24 1988 9th ACE Cable Awards: Discovery Channel wins the Golden CableACE for "Russia: Live From the Inside"   
JANUARY 24 1988 Australia beat New Zealand 2-0 to win cricket's World Series Cup   
JANUARY 24 1988 Cerebral Palsy telethon raises $21 million   
JANUARY 24 1988 NBC premiere of fact based "The Murder of Mary Phagan"   
JANUARY 24 1988 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Mats Wilander wins 3rd Australian title; beats home town favourite Pat Cash 6-3, 6-7, 3-6, 6-1, 8-6   
JANUARY 24 1988 4th Sundance Film Festival: "Heat and Sunlight" wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic   
JANUARY 24 1989 1st reported case of AIDS transmitted by heterosexual oral sex   
JANUARY 24 1990 Japanese MUSES-A (Hiten) launched towards moon   
JANUARY 24 1990 14th Commonwealth Games open in Auckland, New Zealand   
JANUARY 24 1990 LAs' Pat Riley becomes the 13th and fastest coach to reach the 500-victory plateau as the Lakers down the Indiana Pacers, 120-111; Riley (500-184) surpasses Don Nelson (500-317) to reach milestone   
JANUARY 24 1991 "Les Miserables" opens at Theatre St Denis, Montreal   
JANUARY 24 1993 14th annual star-athon $24,000,000   
JANUARY 24 1993 Polish ferry boat John Heweliusz sinks, 52 killed   
JANUARY 24 1993 Soyuz TM-16 launches   
JANUARY 24 1993 US men's Figure Skating championship won by Scott Davis   
JANUARY 24 1993 Turkish journalist and writer U?ur Mumcu is assassinated by a car bomb in Ankara.   
JANUARY 24 1994 Dow Jones closes above 3,900 for 1st time (3,914.48)   
JANUARY 24 1999 David Duval eagles the 18th hole for a final round 59 to win the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic at PGA West to become only the 3rd player to fire a sub-60 round on the PGA Tour   
JANUARY 24 2010 AFC Championship, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis: Indianapolis Colts beat New York Jets, 30-17   
JANUARY 24 2010 NFC Championship, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans: New Orleans Saints beat Minnesota Vikings 31-28 (OT)   
JANUARY 24 2011 At least 35 died and 180 injured in a bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo airport.   
JANUARY 24 2013 17 people are killed and 34 are injured in a bus crash in Taperas, Bolivia   
JANUARY 24 2013 A Japanese Coast guard ship engages a Taiwanese activist ship in the Senkaku Islands dispute   
JANUARY 24 2013 Russian police kill 13 rebels in Vedeno District, Chechnya   
JANUARY 24 2016 TV drama "The X-Files" returns after 13 years, reuniting lead actors David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson and produced again by Chris Carter   
JANUARY 24 2016 AFC Championship, Mile High Stadium, Denver: Denver Broncos beat New England Patriots, 20-18   
JANUARY 24 2016 NFC Championship, Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC: Carolina Panthers beat Arizona Cardinals, 49-15 #this_day_in_history http://bit.ly/this-day-in-history-January

Boston thieves pull off historic Brink's robbery

On this day in 1950, 11 men steal more than $2 million from the Brink's Armored Car depot in Boston, Massachusetts. It was the perfect crime–almost–as the culprits weren’t caught until January 1956, just days before the statute of limitations for the theft expired.

 

 

The robbery’s mastermind was Anthony “Fats” Pino, a career criminal who recruited a group of 10 other men to stake out the depot for 18 months to figure out when it held the most money. Pino’s men then managed to steal plans for the depot’s alarm system, returning them before anyone noticed they were gone.

Wearing navy blue coats and chauffeur’s caps–similar to the Brink's employee uniforms–with rubber Halloween masks, the thieves entered the depot with copied keys, surprising and tying up several employees inside the company’s counting room. Filling 14 canvas bags with cash, coins, checks and money orders–for a total weight of more than half a ton–the men were out and in their getaway car in about 30 minutes. Their haul? More than $2.7 million–the largest robbery in U.S. history up until that time.

No one was hurt in the robbery, and the thieves left virtually no clues, aside from the rope used to tie the employees and one of the chauffeur’s caps. The gang promised to stay out of trouble and not touch the money for six years in order for the statute of limitations to run out. They might have made it, but for the fact that one man, Joseph “Specs” O’Keefe, left his share with another member in order to serve a prison sentence for another burglary. While in jail, O’Keefe wrote bitterly to his cohorts demanding money and hinting he might talk. The group sent a hit man to kill O’Keefe, but he was caught before completing his task. The wounded O’Keefe made a deal with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to testify against his fellow robbers.


Eight of the Brink's robbers were caught, convicted and given life sentences. Two more died before they could go to trial. Only a small part of the money was ever recovered; the rest is fabled to be hidden in the hills north of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. In 1978, the famous robbery was immortalized on film in The Brink's Job, starring Peter Falk.