Citizens of the US tend to have a confused attitude toward hereditary rulers - we hold strong aversions to monarchy, but we are drawn to monarchs. The first time a King or Queen of Great Britain came to this country was in 1939, and the crowds at the New York Worlds Fair were eager to see and cheer King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, now the Queen Mother..
Half a millennium ago Spain and Portugal were both great seafaring nations, bent on acquiring empires. To avoid contending over the same real estate they asked the pope to divide the New World between them, and Alexander VI did just that, but Portugal ended up with the right to claim only a very small part of Brazil. On this day they negotiated a more generous share for Portugal, but Spain still got all the advanced cultures on the newly founded continents. By "advanced" I mean, of course, having acquired great piles of gold. The change was 270 leagues at a time when a league was equal to three miles, it had meant almost anything between two and twenty miles at various times. Brazil eventually pushed the border of Brazil even further west, but it was just jungle and Spain didn't care.
We have the man who changed time for all the world, Pope Gregory XIII, in our birthday list. The efforts to make sense out of the drifting Julian calendar had been underway for centuries, Gregory actually got it done and put his name on it. We also have a hesitant revolutionary in Imre Nagy, never quite comfortable with the Soviets but only taking a real (and dangerous) stand late in his career.
1099 - The armies of the First Crusade (1096-99) reached the walls of Jerusalem.
1494 - The Treaty of Tordesillas was completed in the northwestern Spanish town of that name. It moved the north-south dividing line between Spanish and Portuguese territorial claim in the Americas to 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, close to 50 degrees west longitude. That was 270 leagues more than Portugal had before, Spain still ended up with most of the territory. The treaty was sanctioned by Pope Julius II in 1506.
1939 - King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II crossed into the US by the Niagara Suspension bridge. They were greeted at the south end of the bridge by Secretary of State Cordell Hull, they met both officially and casually with the Roosevelts in Washington City, and then attended the 1939 Worlds Fair in New York, before leaving the country on 11 June. It was the first visit to the US by a British monarch.
1955 - "The $64,000 Question" TV quiz show debuts. It doesn't take long for the title to become a permanent item in the English language, and for the scandal to break about the rigged show.
Riot Commemoration Day, Malta - Marks the anti-British 1919 Sette Guigno Riot and the police response.
1502 - Gregory XIII, Italian lawyer, church leader - Born Ugo Buoncompagni at Bologna, studied law at University of Bologna, graduated young as doctor of canon and civil law, taught same at same school. Had one illegitimate son, showed no favoritism to family. Named Judge of the Capitol 1539, delegate to Council of Trent 1545 - 1550 and 1559 - 1563. Ordained 1558, held high administrative positions in church until his election as pope in 1572. Used force against Protestants, a slaughter of Huguenots in Paris occurred during his papacy, and he launched at least two military assaults on Elizabeth's Britain. Strongly supported education, mostly under the Jesuits, saving or founding 23 colleges but alienating the nobility in paying for it. Finalized the new calendar. Died at Rome on 10 April 1585.
1896 - Imre Nagy, Hungarian politician - Born to a peasant family at Kaposvár, Hungary, apprenticed as locksmith, drafted for World War I, captured by the Russians he joined the Communists and fought in the Red Army. Member of Institute for Agrarian Sciences in Moscow 1929 to 1944, returned to Soviet-occupied Hungary to ministerial posts in new government 1944 - 1948, support of peasants kept him out of government until he publicly repudiated his position. Premier 1953 - 1955, forced out again for his independent attitude. Leaders of October 1956 rebellion made him premier, he was captured when the Russians put down the revolution, and hanged at Budapest on 16 June 1958. He was officially rehabilitated by the Hungarian Supreme Court in 1989.
I wouldn't attach too much importance to these student riots. I remember
when I was a student at the Sorbonne I used to go out and riot occasionally.
- John Foster Dulles
Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in a year
as you make use of. One man gets only a week's value out of a year while
another gets a full year's value out of a week.
- Charles Richards
A riot is a spontaneous outburst. A war is subject to advance planning.
- Richard M. Nixon
The world is made of people who never quite get onto the first team and
who just miss the prizes at the flower show.
- Jacob Bronowski
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