In 1947 Masaryk made a fateful error in strongly endorsing the US offer of millions in aid under the Marshall Plan. When the US unveiled the brilliantly cunning and generous plan, the Soviets and their Czech lackeys demurred, and by strange coincidence a full-on communist coup was staged in February of ’48. Masaryk was one of the few non-communists left in place, a man largely alone.
On this day in 1803, the landmark case of Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803), is decided by the fledgling United States Supreme Court. This ruling forms the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution, and helped define the boundary between the […]
On this day in 1965, Malcolm X is assassinated by three members of the Nation of Islam while preparing to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity in New York City; he was 39. Born in Omaha Nebraska as Malcolm Little, Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he […]
On this day in 1942, 10 weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of any or all people from military areas “as deemed necessary or desirable.” This order in effect authorized the Secretary of War to prescribe certain areas as military zones, clearing the […]
On this day in 1801, Thomas Jefferson is elected the third president of the United States, bringing about the first peaceful transfer of power from one political party to another in the US. By 1800, when he began to run for president in earnest, Jefferson possessed impressive political credentials and was, at least on paper, […]