I loved watching Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and the powerful wake he left behind. There are few politicians I admire, and it can hardly be said that I agreed with his concept of the role of government, but he had a powerful mind and he never flinched from his vision and faith in Canada. He died at his Montreal home three weeks ago after suffering from prostate cancer and Parkinson's disease, he was 80 years old. A Canadian reader of my Quotes of the Day mailing had this to say: "What John F. Kennedy was to America, so Pierre Elliot Trudeau was to Canada. Loved by many, despised my others, but respected by nearly all. Trudeau was an intellectual, an icon, a visionary, a passionate nationalist who didn't take crap from anybody. He was arrogant, but he was cool and very hip. In a word: Trudeaumania. He was the world's first 'Rock Star Politician' - The Elvis of politics. He was smart, sharp-tongued, and a keen wit. He drove a green MGB convertible, clowned for the camera, and turned the country on its collective ear. Women were wild for him and every man wanted to shake his hand or punch him in the mouth. He followed his predecessor's lead and put Canada solidly on the international map like never before. His influence was vast. He touched us all and helped us grow up as a nation and got us all to think for, and of, ourselves." More than anyone else, he kept his native Quebec in the Canadian federation.
King Canute, who couldn't defeat the tides, did defeat Edmund, the son of Aethelred the Unready on this date. We also have the first labor union in North America, a French king ended an era of religious tolerance, Canadian women became persons, two black track stars made a silent and powerful protest (few remember their names, many remember their gloves), and Alaska was transferred to the US.
This is the first issue of Twisted History since the 12th. Several have written to say that it was missed, which I guess is a good thing. I am pursuing some ideas on cutting down the time it takes to put it out, but I really must place a higher priority on those things that let me pay the rent - you can expect that our publication schedule will be less than daily for a while.
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1016 - The Danes under King Canute defeat the English in the Battle of Assandun - probably what is now Ashingdon in southeast Essex. The English King, Edmund II known as Ironsides, agreed to partition England with Canute, but died six weeks later leaving Canute as the sole king.
1648 - The first labor organization in North America, The Shoemakers of Boston, was authorized by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They were allowed to organize and set industry standards, gaining a monopoly over the sale of shoes in Boston at the expense of rural shoemakers.
1685 - Louis XIV revoked the 1598 Edict of Nantes, which had permitted French Protestants limited religious freedom. The Huguenot exodus which followed drained France's industrial economy, and possibly hastened the French Revolution.
1929 - Five Canadian women obtained a ruling from the Privy Council in London that the word "persons" included women under the terms of the British North American Act of 1867. Until that time the law had repeatedly ruled that "persons" was synonymous with "men" and barred women from holding many offices. One of the five, Emily Ferguson Murphy, had become the first woman judge in the British Empire in 1916; her authority had repeatedly been challenged because as a woman she wasn't a person, and therefore had no authority on the bench.
1968 - John Carlos and Tommie Smith, having just won the gold and bronze medals in the 200-metre dash at the Olympic Games at Mexico City, bowed their heads and raised black-gloved fists during the playing of the US national anthem, a silent protest against racism. The reaction of the crowd was not silent, they were booed. US and International Olympic Committees expelled the two.
Alaska Day, Anniversary of the 1867 transfer of sovereignty from the Emperor of all the Russias to the United States of "all the territory and dominion now possessed by his said Majesty on the continent of America and in the adjacent islands." The Russians lowered their flag on Castle Hill at Sitka, Brigadier General Lowell Rousseau accepted the new possession on behalf of President Andrew Johnson. Draft number 9759 on the US Treasury, in the amount of $7,200,000 payable to Edouard de Stoeckl, the Russian Minister to the United States, had apparently cleared.
1919
- Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canadian lawyer, politician - Born Joseph
Phillippe Pierre Ives Elliott Trudeau at Montreal, Quebec to Charles Emile
Trudeau, a wealthy French Canadian businessman, his English-speaking mother
Grace was a Scot, lived in affluent Montreal suburb of Outremont. Elite
Jesuit prep school Jean-de-Brébeuf, law degree from University of Montreal
in 1943, M.A. in Political Economy at Harvard in 1945, spent a year each
at the Ecole des sciences politiques, Paris and the London School of Economics.
Practiced labor and civil liberties law, desk officer for the Privy Council,
cofounder of the Cité Libre ("Free City"), a monthly magazine of political
criticism. Assistant professor of law at University of Montreal from 1961
to 1965 when he was elected to parliament from the Mount Royal, Quebec
riding, parliamentary secretary in 1966, Minister of Justice and Attorney
General from 1967. Succeeded Lester Pearson as leader of the Liberal Party
and then as Prime Minister of Canada in April of 1968. Invoked the War
Powers Act in 1970 to combat separatist terrorist/kidnappers in 1970.
Struggled with economy and disputes between federal and provincial governments
through '70s, Liberal Party defeated in mid-1979 - Trudeau retained his
seat in Parliament and was returned to the PM's office in March of 1980
when his party won a clear majority. Defeated French separatist referendum,
led campaign to create Canadian constitution independent of British parliament,
first Canadian bill of rights, and structural changes in the federal government.
Resigned as party leader on Leap Day 1984, left office when John Turner
was chosen as new PM in June. He returned to an art deco mansion on Pine
Avenue in Montreal, living with two of his sons after a divorce from the
dramatic and controversial Margaret Sinclair (they wed in 1971), and was
a consultant to the Montreal law firm of Heenan Blaikie. He suffered from
Parkinson's Disease and died at home from prostate cancer on 28 September
2000.
I bear solemn witness to the fact that NATO heads of state and of government meet only to go through the tedious motions of reading speeches, drafted by others, with the principal objective of not rocking the boat.
Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant: No
matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast, one is affected by every
twitch and grunt.
- 25 March 1969 at the Press Club,
Washington City
The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation.
It is wonderful to be despised, if, deep down, we know we are right.
- All today's quotes are from Pierre
Elliott Trudeau
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