December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

December 21, 1790:  Samuel Slater opened the first cotton mill in the US (Pawtucket, R.I). The Industrial Age in America begins.(see January 9, 1793)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Discussion of Abolition Prohibited

December 21, 1837: following an anti-slavery speech by Vermont representative William Slade, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a rule that prohibited any future discussion about the abolition of slavery in the House. The rule remained in effect until 1844, preventing the topic of abolition from even being discussed for almost a decade.  [EJI article] (next BH, see February 6, 1838)

Montgomery bus boycott

December 21, 1956: buses in Montgomery, Alabama, started racially-integrated service following federal court rulings ending on-board segregation. (BH, see Dec 24; see MBB for expanded chronology)

Michael Griffith murder

December 21, 1987:  Jon Lester, Scott Kern and Jason Ladone were convicted of the second-degree manslaughter of Michael Griffith (December 20, 1986). Ultimately nine people would be convicted on a variety of charges related to the death of Griffith.

Autherine Lucy Foster

In 1988: two professors invited Autherine Lucy Foster to speak at the University about the events that had occurred in 1956. After her speech, faculty members persuaded the Board of Trustees to overturn her expulsion.

In 1989: Autherine Lucy Foster again enrolled at the University of Alabama. Her daughter Grazia also was a student at the time. (BH, see Jan 8; U of A, see May 9, 1992)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Fourth Amendment

December 21, 1911: a police officer arrested Fremont Weeks at the Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri where he was employed by an express company. Other officers entered the Weeks’ house without a search warrant and took possession of papers and articles which were afterwards turned over to the US Marshal. The officers returned later in the same day with the marshal, still without a warrant, and seized letters and envelopes they found in the drawer of a chiffonier. These papers were used to convict Weeks of transporting lottery tickets through the mail. On February 24, 1914 in Weeks v. United States, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held that the warrantless seizure of items from a private residence constituted a violation of the Fourth Amendment. It also prevented local officers from securing evidence by means prohibited under the federal exclusionary rule and giving it to their federal colleagues. (see February 24, 1914)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Emma Goldman

December 21, 1919, : the ship USAT Buford, labeled the “Red Ark,” embarked from New York City on this day, carrying 249 aliens who were deported because of their alleged anarchist or Communist beliefs.

The most famous passenger was the anarchist, birth control advocate and anti-war activist Emma Goldman, who had been arrested June 15, 1917, for opposing the draft. Anarchist Alexander Berkman accompanied her. An estimated 184 of the 249 aliens on the Buford were members of the Union of Russian Workers, which had been one of the principal targets of the first Palmer Raids on November 7, 1919. All of the passengers were shipped to the Soviet Union. (see Emma Goldmanj for expanded chronology)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

December 22, 1951: ten days after an Illinois State mine inspector approved coal dust removal techniques at New Orient mine in West Frankfort, the mine exploded, largely because of coal dust accumulations, killing 119 workers. (see April 8, 1952)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam & DRAFT CARD BURNING

December 21, 1965: a federal grand jury in NY indicted Thomas Cornell (teacher) Marc Edelman (cabinetmaker), Roy Lisker (novelist and teacher), and James Watson (on staff of Catholic Worker Pacifist Movenet) of burning their draft cards.  (Vietnam, see Dec 24; DCB, see February 10, 1966)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

December 21 Music et al

Glen Campbell

December 21 – 27, 1968, Glen Campbell’s Wichita Lineman is the Billboard #1 album. (see March 8, 1969)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

December 21 – 27, 1968: Apollo 8 completed the first manned orbit of the moon. Frank Borman commands the mission, Jim Lovell acted as navigator and William Anders photographer and geological observer. (see January 16, 1969)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

December 21, 1970:  in Oregon v Mitchell, the US Supreme Court held that the Congress could set voter age requirements for federal elections but not for state elections. The case also upheld Congress’s nationwide prohibition on literacy tests and similar “tests or devices” used as voting qualifications as defined in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (see March 23, 1971)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

Elvis meets Nixon

December 21, 1971: Elvis Presley met President Nixon. According to notes take at the meeting by  Nixon aide Egil “Bud” Krogh “Presley indicated that he thought the Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit. The President then indicated that those who use drugs are also those in the vanguard of anti-American protest.”

“I’m on your side,” Elvis told Nixon, adding that he’d been studying the drug culture and Communist brainwashing. Then he asked the president for a badge from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. “Can we get him a badge?” Nixon asked Krogh.

Krogh said he could and Nixon ordered it done. (Elvis, see August 16, 1977)

DEA

In 1973: The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNND) and the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE) are merged to form the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). (see Cannabis for expanded chronology)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran–Contra Affair

December 21, 1982: Congress, passed the first Boland Amendment, which prohibited the CIA or the Defense Department from spending any money to assist the anti-Communist Contras in Nicaragua. (Congress passed further Boland Amendments in 1983 and 1984.) The Boland Amendments set the stage for the Iran-Contra scandal that eventually engulfed the administration of President Ronald Reagan. Reagan and his CIA Director William Casey were deeply committed to fighting communism at every opportunity around the world, even if it involved breaking the law — as the Iran-Contra scandal revealed. (see December 7, 1985)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

Lockerbie, Scotland

December 21, 1988: N.Y.-bound Pan-Am Boeing 747 exploded in flight from a terrorist bomb and crashed into Scottish village, killing all 259 aboard and 11 on the ground. Passengers included 35 Syracuse University students and many U.S. military personnel. Libya formally admitted responsibility in August 2003 and offered $2.7 billion compensation to victims’ families. (see December 16, 1989)

Iraq War II

December 21, 2004: a suicide bomber attacked the forward operating base next to the US military airfield at Mosul, Iraq, killing 22 people; it was the deadliest suicide attack on US soldiers during the Iraq War. (photos from NYT)(IWII, see January 12, 2005; Terrorism, see June 14, 2005)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Dissolution of the USSR

December 21, 1989: Romanian leader, Nicolae Ceaușescu, spoke to crowd of the Socialist revolution’s chievements and Romanian “multi-laterally developed Socialist society.” Roughly eight minutes into his speech, several people began jeering, booing and whistling at him and shouting “Timișoara,” a reaction that would have been unthinkable for most of the previous quarter-century of his rule. As the speech wore on, more and more people did the same. He tried to silence them by raising his right hand and calling for the crowd’s attention before order was temporarily restored, then proceeded to announce social benefit reforms.

The crowd continued to boo and heckle him. (see Dec 22)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

December 21, 1993: the Department of Defense issued a directive prohibiting the U.S. Military from barring applicants from service based on their sexual orientation. “Applicants… shall not be asked or required to reveal whether they are homosexual, ” states the new policy, which still forbids applicants from engaging in homosexual acts or making a statement that he or she is homosexual. This policy is known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” (see Dec 31)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

In the year 2000, Texas led the US in executions with 40 inmates being put to death. Oklahoma followed with 11, Virginia with 8, and Florida with 6 executions. Between 1976 and Mar. 30, 2010, Texas executed 452 inmates. Virginia came in second most with 106 executions and Oklahoma in third with 92 executions.

Between January 17, 1995 and December 21, 2000, Texas Governor George W. Bush presided over the execution of 150 men and two women, more than any other governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Governor Bush received a summary from his legal counsel before each execution to determine whether or not to allow the execution to proceed. The first fifty-seven summaries were prepared by Alberto R. Gonzales, who served as US Attorney General under President Bush between Feb. 3, 2005 and Sep. 17, 2007. Governor Bush granted one clemency during his term in office.(see June 11, 2001)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Japanese Internment Camps

December 21, 2006: President George W. Bush signed into law a bill that authorized up to $38 million for the preservation and interpretation of confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. The law directed the National Park Service to administer this grant program, once funds were available.(see JIC for expanded chronology)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

Pope Benedict

December 21, 2012: Pope Benedict XVI named the Rev. Robert W. Oliver as the Vatican’s new sex crimes prosecutor. Oliver, a canon law specialist at the Archdiocese of Boston, would be the “promoter of justice” at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal office that reviews all abuse cases. (NYT article) (see Feb 11)

Pope Francis

December 21, 2017: Pope Francis and others eulogized Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston who resigned after it was revealed he had protected pedophile priests, with a full cardinal’s funeral at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

At the last minute, the Vatican cancelled plans to broadcast the funeral.

The Vatican website had posted a link to a live television feed that showed it would broadcast the “Funeral Mass for Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, of the Title of Santa Susanna Altar of the Chair of Saint Peter,” but shortly before the funeral started, the video link disappeared from the site, and the Vatican’s YouTube channel on showed just the exterior of the plaza surrounding the basilica.

The page posted no explanation for the change, although Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) had criticized the Vatican’s plans for an elaborate celebration of Cardinal Law’s life. (see January 18, 2018)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Student Rights

December 21, 2017: the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California ruled that an Imperial County, California high school football player must be allowed to kneel during the singing of the national anthem and can’t be ordered by his school to stand for the performances.

The decision temporarily struck down rules set by the San Pasqual Valley Unified School District that prohibited “kneeling, sitting or similar forms of political protest” at athletic events and required students and coaches to “stand and remove hats/helmets … during the playing or singing of the National Anthem,” according to the ruling by district court.

The school district set the rules after students from a rival high school in neighboring Arizona yelled racial slurs at San Pasqual Valley High School students and threatened to force the football player at the center of the controversy to stand, the ruling said. (FS, see May 23, 2018; SR, see July 19, 2018)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Affordable Care Act

December 21, 2017: despite President Trump’s assertion that “Obamacare is imploding” the administration announced that 8.8 million people had signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s federal marketplace. The number surprised many because it was only slightly lower than the total in the last open enrollment period, which was twice as long and heavily advertised suggesting that consumers want and need the coverage and subsidies available under the Affordable Care Act, despite political battles over the law. (next ACA, see (see December 14, 2018)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Asylum permitted

December 21, 2018: the Supreme Court refused to allow the Trump administration to immediately enforce its new policy of denying asylum to migrants who illegally cross the Mexican border.

The court’s ruling thwarted, at least for now, President Trump’s proclamation in November that only migrants who arrived in the United States legally or applied at a port of entry would be eligible for asylum. [NYT story]

Trump’s Wall

December 21, 2018: President Trump shared a design of a tall fence on Twitter, which he referred to as a “Steel Slat Barrier.”

“Totally effective while at the same time beautiful!” he said. (IH & TW, see Dec 22)

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

December 21, 2018:  President Trump signed into law the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act [simply aka, the First Step Act], a prison and sentencing reform bill that had strong bi-partisan support.

The act expanded rehabilitative opportunities, increased “good time”-served credits for most federal prisoners, reduced mandatory minimum sentences for a number of drug-related crimes, and formally banned some correctional practices including the shackling of pregnant women. [Guardian article]

December 21 Peace Love Art Activism

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Black Codes

December 19, 1865: following the Civil War and emancipation, many freed black people in the South remained beholden to their former white masters. In South Carolina and other former slave-holding states, many freed people continued to reside in the same communities, sometimes on the same land, working for whites who had previously owned the men, women, and children as property. Freedmen had limited opportunities to earn money to support themselves and their families and often continued to work as manual laborers in slavery-like conditions. In many ways, “black codes” enacted following emancipation sought to maintain white control over freedmen and perpetuated the exploitation black people had experienced during slavery.

South Carolina’s black codes, like others, contained many laws that applied only to black people. On December 19, 1865, a measure restored freed blacks’ subservient social relationship to white landowners, stating that “all persons of color who make contracts for service or labor, shall be known as servants, and those with whom they contract, shall be known as masters.” The law required black “servants” to work from dawn to dusk and to maintain a “polite” demeanor. South Carolina reached even further into black laborers’ personal lives,

• prohibiting apprentices to marry without their masters’ permission
•  forbidding farmers living on their masters’ land to have visitors
• imposing a curfew.
• forbidding freedmen in South Carolina from pursuing any occupation other than laborer unless able to pay a $100 fee. (see Dec 24)

Montgomery Bus Boycott

December 19, 1956: the Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision ordering an end to racial segregation of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus system. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was one of the iconic events in the history of the civil rights movement, but in fact a legal challenge to the bus system’s policy of  segregation that had begun more than a year earlier when authorities arrested Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955.

The lead plaintiff in the legal challenge that was settled on this day was Aurelia Browder, who police arrested, along with three other African-American women on March 2, 1955.  On June 13, 1956 in Browder v. Gayle the U.S. District Court for Alabama ruled segregated public transportation unconstitutional.  Thus, it was the Browder decision that ended segregation of the Montgomery buses and not the famous bus boycott that Parks inspired.  (see MBB for expanded chronology)

Medgar Evers

December 19, 1990: twenty-seven years after the slaying of the civil rights leader Medgar Evers, authorities charged Byron de la Beckwith, a professed white supremacist with Evers’s murder for the third time. Two trials in 1964 ended with the all-white juries deadlocked. But prosecutors said that they had turned up new evidence and new witnesses after a 14-month investigation. In a hearing in Tennessee, where Beckworth has lived for the past nine years, the 70-year-old Mr. Beckwith denied killing Mr. Evers and vowed to resist extradition “tooth, nail and claw.” [Washington Post article] (BH & ME, see January 1, 1991)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Darr Mine explosion

December 19, 1907: an explosion in the Darr Mine in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, killed 239 coal miners, most of whom were Hungarian immigrant laborers. Some came from the nearby Naomi Mine, which had closed after at deadly explosion several weeks earlier. Only one person is thought to have survived the Darr Mine explosion.(see February 3, 1908)

Truax v Corrigan

December 19, 1921: in Truax v. Corrigan, the Supreme Court ruled that picketing was unconstitutional. Chief Justice (and former president) William Howard Taft declared that picketing was, in part, “an unlawful annoyance and hurtful nuisance...”(see May 15, 1922)

Wilberg Coal Mine fire

December 19, 1984: a coal mine fire killed twenty-six men and one woman were in the Wilberg Coal Mine near Orangeville, Utah. It was the worst coal mine fire in the state’s history. Federal mine safety officials issued 34 safety citations after the disaster but had inspected the mine only days before and declared it safe. (see May 31, 1985)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

December 19, 1910: the artificial fiber rayon was first commercially produced by the American Viscose Co. of Marcus Hook, Pa. (see April 29, 1913)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

December 19, 1946: 30,000 Viet Minh soldiers attacked French positions at Haiphong starting the French/Indochina War. Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap fled Hanoi and return to their mountain stronghold near the Chinese border. Minh stated: “If war is imposed on us, we will fight rather than renounce our liberties.”  (see March 8, 1949)

South Vietnam Leadership

December 19, 1964: the December 1964 South Vietnamese coup took place before dawn on. The ruling military junta of South Vietnam led by General Nguyễn Khánh dissolved the High National Council (HNC) and arrested some of its members. The HNC was an unelected legislative-style civilian advisory body they had created at the request of the United States. (V, see January 1 – February 7, 1965; SVL, see February 19, 1965)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

December 19 Music et al

Bob Newhart /#1 Song

December 19 – 25, 1960: Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart comedy album returns for a third time to Billboard #1.

Supremes/#1 Song

December 19 – 25, 1964: “Come See About Me” by the Supremes #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, their third consecutive release that went to #1.

Beatles’s December 19ths

Last Christmas release

December 19, 1969: The Beatles released their 7^th and last Christmas fan club recording. (see January 14, 1970)

Almost the end again

December 19, 1974: after four years’ negotiation, the Beatles had appeared to have agreed on the terms governing their formal split, and a meeting had been arranged at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. George Harrison was performing at Madison Square Garden that night; McCartney had flown in from London; and Starr, having signed the document earlier, was on the telephone. At the last minute, John Lennon (also in NYC) objected to a clause that he felt would create tax problems for him (as the only Beatle living in the United States), and decided not to attend. Harrison, furious, canceled plans for Lennon to join him onstage at Madison Square Garden, but McCartney turned up at the East 52nd Street apartment that Lennon and Pang shared to discuss the sticking point. Things remained unresolved. (see Dec 29)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate Scandal

December 19, 1974: Nelson A. Rockefeller sworn in as vice president, replacing Gerald R. Ford, who became president when Richard M. Nixon resigned. (see Watergate for expanded chronology)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran–Contra Affair

December 19, 1986: Lawrence E. Walsh was appointed independent counsel to investigate the Iran-Contra affair.(see January 6, 1987)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Dissolution of the USSR

December 19, 1989: workers in Romanian cities go on strike in protest against the communist regime. (see USSR for expanded chronology)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

Investigation began

December 19, 1994: the Whitewater scandal investigation began in Washington, DC.

Articles approved

December 19, 1998: after 13 1/2 hours of debate over two days, the House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment, charging President Clinton with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton vowed to fill out his term and appeals for a bipartisan compromise in the Senate. (see Clinton Impeachment for expanded chronology)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

UN sanctions

December 19, 2000: the U.N. Security Council voted to impose broad sanctions on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers unless they closed terrorist training camps and surrendered U.S. embassy bombing suspect Osama bin Laden.(see April 5, 2001)

World Trade Center

December 19, 2003: officials unveiled design plans for the signature skyscraper — a 1,776-foot glass tower — at the site of the World Trade Center in New York City. (see July 4, 2004)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear and Chemical Weapons

December 19, 2003: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi agreed to halt his nation’s drive to develop nuclear and chemical weapons. (see August 9, 2004)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Rev Frank Schaefer

December 19, 2013: the United Methodist Church defrocked Rev. Frank Schaefer, the Pennsylvania pastor who officiated at his son’s same-sex wedding six years ago and refused to agree not to perform other gay marriages. (NYT article) (Schaefer, see June 24, 2014)

New Mexico

December 19, 2013: with lesbian and gay couples having married over the past several months in many New Mexico counties, on this date, the state Supreme Court ruled to allow same-sex couples to marry throughout the state.  This made New Mexico the first state in the Southwest with marriage equality and the 17th state nationwide.

The court wrote: “We hold that the State of New Mexico is constitutionally required to allow same-gender couples to marry and must extend to them the rights, protections, and responsibilities that derive from civil marriage under New Mexico law.”

Westboro Baptist Church

December 19, 2013: Westboro Baptist tweeted that it stood in solidarity with Phil Robertson of the A&E reality show “Duck Dynasty,“ who told GQ Magazine in a recent interview that he believed homosexuality was sinful.(LGBTQ, see Dec 20; WBC, see March 12, 2014)

Idaho responsible

December 19, 2014: U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale ruled that Idaho must pay more than $400,000 to the lawyers who successfully fought to overturn the state’s ban on gay marriage. Dale awarded an amount that was about 10 percent less than what the lawyers requested.

Utah Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and attorney Christopher Rich argued for an award of little more than $200,000. They said that the six lawyers working on the case took too much time and charged too much in hourly fees. The lead attorney billed $400 an hour and recorded more than 600 hours.

Judge Dale disagreed, saying that the complexity of the case warranted frequent communication and extra time to prepare for court appearances.(see Dec 23)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Stop and Frisk Policy

December 19, 2013: NYPD Officer Wilson Gonzalez pleaded guilty to the wrongful stop and frisk of a 52-year-old father in Brooklyn. Gonzalez was the second member of the department to be prosecuted at a disciplinary trial at police headquarters for questioning, stopping and frisking a person without sufficient legal authority. Gonzalez, who also pleaded guilty to writing the summons “without sufficient legal authority,” will lose 15 days pay if Commissioner Raymond Kelly approves the punishment. (see Dec 31)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

ADA

December 19, 2014: after passing the Senate and the House with broad majorities, legislation to help people with disabilities pay for health care and other needs was signed into law by President Obama.

The Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act was the first sweeping legislation for people with disabilities since the Americans With Disabilities Act was passed in 1990. The new law allowed families who have a child with a disability to save for their long-term care through savings accounts modeled after tax-free 529 college savings accounts.(see February 3, 2015)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

December 19, 2016: President Obama issued 78 pardons and commuted the sentences of 153 prisoners, extending his acts of clemency to a total of 1,324 individuals, one of the larger uses of the presidential power to show mercy in modern presidential history. (see Dec 29)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health & Immigration History

December 19, 2017: “Jane Roe” and “Jane Poe,” the two teenage unauthorized immigrants who had sued the Trump administration to be allowed to obtain abortions while in custody, were free to end their pregnancies, even as the legal fight continued over the policy that had prevented them from doing so.

The Trump administration had quickly appealed, but by the night of December 19, however the government had stood aside. Roe was released from custody, and administration lawyers stopped attempting to block Poe from moving ahead with her abortion. (WH, see Feb 7; IH, see Dec 22)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

December 19, 2018: Illinois State Attorney General Lisa Madigan released a report stating that the Catholic Church in Illinois withheld the names of at least 500 priests accused of sexual abuse of minors. The report accused the church of failing victims by neglecting to investigate their allegations.

The preliminary report concluded that the Catholic dioceses in Illinois are incapable of investigating themselves and “will not resolve the clergy sexual abuse crisis on their own.”

The report said that 690 priests were accused of abuse, and only 185 names were made public by the dioceses as having been found credibly accused of abuse. [NYT article] (see January 15, 2019)

December 19 Peace Love Art Activism