On this day in
1491, the siege of Granada – the last Moorish stronghold in Spain – begins.
***
On this day in
1947, the
Hollywood Ten are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios over their supposed ties to communist and left-wing organizations. From
Ring Lardner Jr. to
Dalton Trumbo, this august group includes some of the finest writers and performers to ever work in the entertainment industry.
***
On this day in
1960, three of the
Mirabal sisters – four Dominican political dissidents who opposed the dictatorship of
Rafael Trujillo – are assassinated. In
1999, the
United Nations establishes the
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to commemorate these murders.
***
On this day in
1963, assassinated President
JFK is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
***
On this day in
1970, Japanese author, poet, playwright, film director and militaristic right-wing cult leader
Yukio Mishima commits ritualistic
seppuku - suicide by gutting one's self with a katana blade - after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the government in a coup designed to bring back Emperor Worship in Japan. If you haven't already seen it, I highly recommend watching
Paul Schraeder's unjustly overlooked masterpiece of a biopic,
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.
***
And speaking of coups, it was on this day in the year
1973 that a bloodless military coup headed by General
Phaidon Gizikis, Prime Minister
Adamantios Androutsopoulos and secret police chief
Demetrios Ioannidis ousts Greek President
George Papadopoulos. You know, next to being a public school science teacher in the South, being a tombstone engraver in Greece must be the most frustrating job in the world.
***
On this day in
1981,
Pope John Paul II appoints
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Ratzinger would go on to succeed JPII as
Pope Benedict XVI, or, as I prefer to call him,
“Ratz Benedict”.
***
On this day in
1984, 36 top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record
Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas" in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
***
On this day in
1986, Reagan Administration officials announced that some of the proceeds from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran had been diverted to
Ollie North, who used the funds to support the Contras in Nicaragua. According to Reagan's logic, only left-wing rebels could be called terrorists. Right-wing rebels were "freedom fighters," even if they spent most of their time burning down orphanages and decapitating nuns.
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