HISTORY IN A NUTSHELL~MAY 2

      1885  The new magazine, Good Housekeeping, for homemakers went on sale.

You can still get it by mail or find it right next to the cash register at your favorite grocery store.

 

 

1904*  Harry Lillis Crosby Was Born; better known to us as Bing

Bing Crosbywent on to sing well over 4,000 songs during his impressive show biz career which spanned not only hit recordings, but movies, radio and TV, too. Crosby’s most successful tune? White Christmas (written by Irving Berlin).

Over the next 30 years, Crosby’s baritone and easy manner sold more than 300,000,000 records.

Bing was featured in over 60 movies, winning an Academy Award for Going My Way in 1944. Crosby won the Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1962 and has been called the number one recording artist of all time.

 

*According to Steven Lewis, in his WWW Bing Crosby page, “...During his lifetime, Bing claimed May 2, 1904 as his birthday. Bing had no birth certificate, and it was only after his death in 1977 that a Tacoma priest disclosed Roman Catholic Church baptismal records that revealed Bing’s actual birthdate as May 3, 1903.”

 

 

 

1933  Loch Ness Monster Sighted

Although accounts of an aquatic beast living in Scotland's Loch Ness date back 1,500 years, the modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster is born when a sighting makes local news on May 2, 1933.  The earliest known report is said to be found in the Life of St. Columba by Adamnan, written sometime during the 7th century. It describes how in 565 Columba saved the life of a Pict, who was being supposedly attacked by the monster.

 

 

 

1939  New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig benches himself for poor play and ends his streak of consecutive games played at 2,130

"The Iron Horse" was suffering at the time from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), now known as "Lou Gehrig’s Disease."

 

1945  German Troops In Italy Surrender To The Allies, while Berlin Surrenders To Russia's Zhukov

On this day in 1945, approximately 1 million German soldiers lay down their arms as the terms of the German unconditional surrender, signed at Caserta on April 29, come into effect. Many Germans surrender to Japanese soldiers-Japanese Americans. Among the American tank crews that entered the northern Italian town of Biella was an all-Nisei (second-generation) infantry battalion, composed of Japanese Americans from Hawaii.

Early that same day, Russian Marshal Georgi K. Zhukov accepts the surrender of the German capital. The Red Army takes 134,000 German soldiers prisoner.

 

1965  Ed Sullivan had said he would not have this British rock group on his CBS-TV Sunday night show again. This night, however, Ed softened up -- and allowed Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones to make a second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

 

1972  J. Edgar Hoover Dies Ending of an Era at the FBI

After nearly five decades as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), J. Edgar Hoover dies, leaving the powerful government agency without the administrator who had been largely responsible for its existence and shape.

Educated as a lawyer and a librarian, Hoover joined the Department of Justice in 1917 and within two years had become special assistant to Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. Deeply anti-radical in his ideology, Hoover came to the forefront of federal law enforcement during the so-called "Red Scare" of 1919 to 1920. The former librarian set up a card index system listing every radical leader, organization, and publication in the United States and by 1921 had amassed some 450,000 files. More than 10,000 suspected communists were also arrested during this period, but the vast majority of these people were briefly questioned and then released. Although the attorney general was criticized for abusing his authority during the so-called "Palmer Raids," Hoover emerged unscathed, and on May 10, 1924, he was appointed acting director of the Bureau of Investigation, a branch of the Justice Department established in 1909.

With the outbreak of World War II, Hoover revived the anti-espionage techniques he had developed during the first Red Scare, and domestic wiretaps and other electronic surveillance expanded dramatically. After World War II, Hoover focused on the threat of radical, especially communist, subversion. The FBI compiled files on millions of Americans suspected of dissident activity, and Hoover worked closely with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and Senator Joseph McCarthy, the architect of America's second Red Scare.

By the time Hoover entered service under his eighth president in 1969, the media, the public, and Congress had grown suspicious that the FBI might be abusing its authority. For the first time in his bureaucratic career, Hoover endured widespread criticism, and Congress responded by passing laws requiring Senate confirmation of future FBI directors and limiting their tenure to 10 years. On May 2, 1972, with the Watergate affair about to explode onto the national stage, J. Edgar Hoover died of heart disease at the age of 77. The Watergate affair subsequently revealed that the FBI had illegally protected President Richard Nixon from investigation, and the agency was thoroughly investigated by Congress. Revelations of the FBI's abuses of power and unconstitutional surveillance motivated Congress and the media to become more vigilant in future monitoring of the FBI.

 

     BIRTHDAYS

 

1903  Benjamin Spock  Baby Doctor, Author: The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care; died Mar 15, 1998

1945  Bianca Jagger  Actress, Model; Mick Jagger’s ex

1950  Lou Gramm  Singer: Groups: Black Sheep, Foreigner: Feels like the First Time, Cold as Ice, Long Long Way from Home, Double Vision, Hot Blooded, Blue Morning Blue Day, Urgent, Waiting for a Girl like You, I Want to Know What Love Is, That was Yesterday