Today in 1994 at the Las Vegas MGM Grand Hotel, George Foreman defeated 26-year old Michael Moore to become the oldest WBA boxing champ at age 45.
Foreman dedicated his upset win to “all my buddies in the nursing home and all the guys in jail.”
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Today in 1775 George Washington’s general order condemned the anticipated British celebration of Guy Fawkes Day in the Continental Army.
“…that ridiculous and childish custom of burning the Effigy of the Pope…Officers and soldiers of this army so void of common sense…” Washington went on to say Canadian Catholics “defence of the general Liberty of America” deserve “public thanks.” He said any actions that may “be insulting to their religion” is “monstrous.”
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Today in 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas, Major Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, went on a shooting spree that killed 13 people and wounded 32. Hasan’s motivations seem to be out of extreme Islamic beliefs.
Hasan was wounded and captured alive. He is paralyzed from the waist down from his wounds and remains in a Texas jail.
Hasan was arraigned last July, 2010; trial was set for March 5, 2012; the defense asked for a delay. It was granted. on February 12, 2012, the defense asked for a continuance and trial was rescheduled for June 2012. On April 18, 2012, the defense asked for a delay and the court rescheduled the trial again for August 20, 2012.
Presently, the trial has been on hold while the courts consider Hasan should be allowed to have a full beard in the courtroom, a violation of Army grooming regulations.
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Today in 1930 Sinclair Lewis awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his vigorous and graphic art of his description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters,” becoming the first American to win the prize.
Lewis is best known for several novels, including “Main Street” (1920); “Babbitt” (1922); “Arrowsmith” (1925); “Elmer Gantry” (1927).
Sinclair Lewis died in 1951 at age 78.
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Congratulations, Richard Nixon winning a narrow election against Vice President Herbert Humphrey in 1968, to become the 37th president.
Congratulations, Woodrow Wilson winning his presidential campaign by a landslide of 435 electoral votes to incumbent William Taft’s 8 and Progressive Party Theodore Roosevelt’s 88, becoming the 28th president in 1912.
Congratulations, Franklin Roosevelt the 32nd president who won an unprecedented third term in 1940.
