Today In History; December 27

Carry Amelia Moore was born in Kentucky in 1846. As a young woman, she married Charles Gloyd, whose hard-drinking soon killed him and left Nation alone to support their young child. The experience instilled in Nation a lifelong distaste for alcohol. She later married David Nation, who worked as a preacher and lawyer, and they eventually settled in Kansas. There, she was involved with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). The WCTU was founded in 1874 by women “concerned about the problems alcohol was causing their families and society.” At the time, women lacked many of the same rights as men and their lives could be ruined if their husbands drank too much. In addition to alcohol prohibition, over the years the WCTU lobbied for a long list of social reforms, including women’s suffrage and the fight against tobacco and other drugs.

In 1880, Kansas became the first state to adopt a constitutional provision banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol. However, prohibition was enforced unevenly and with many saloon owners ignoring the ban completely, Nation came to believe she needed to abandon the nonviolent methods of the WCTU in order to make an impact. After the incident at the Carey Hotel, her fame increased as she continued her saloon-smashing campaign in other locations and traveled extensively to speak out in favor of temperance. She sold souvenir hatchets to help fund her activities and used the name Carry A. Nation. Some people viewed her as crusader, while others saw her as a crank.

Nation died in 1911, never living to see nationwide prohibition in America, which was established with the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and went into effect on January 16, 1920. Prohibition, considered a failure, was repealed on December 5, 1933, by the 21st Amendment.

Other Memorable Or Interesting Events Occurring On December 27 In History:

1780 – In the Revolutionary War, 275 troops commanded by Col. William Washington destroy a force of 250 British Loyalists at Hammond’s Stone near Fairforrest Creek on Bush River, South Carolina. Hammond’s Stone was a blacksmith’s shop which was burned after the battle & its exact location has since been lost in time;

1831 – British naturalist Charles Darwin sets out from Plymouth, England, aboard the HMS Beagle on a five-year surveying expedition of the southern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Visiting such diverse places as the Galapagos Islands and New Zealand, Darwin acquired an intimate knowledge of the flora, fauna, and geology of many lands. This information proved invaluable in the development of his theory of evolution, first put forth in his groundbreaking scientific work of 1859, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection;

1846 – Rag Tag army of volunteers known as Doniphan’s Thousand led by Col. Alexander W. Doniphan wins a major victory in the war with Mexico when they occupy El Paso;

1864 – Confederate Army of Tennessee crosses the Tennessee River into Mississippi as Gen. John Bell Hood’s forces retreats from Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s forces;

1904 – The play “Peter Pan” by James Barrie opens for the 1st time at the Duke of York’s theater in London, England;

1918 – In the wake of the German defeat in WWI, members of the people’s guard, the Polish military organization, take up arms against the occupying German army in Poznan;

1932 – Radio City Music Hall, a magnificent Art Deco theater in New York City opens during the height of the Great Depression;

1941 – During WWII, President Roosevelt orders the Federal office of Price Administration to initiate automobile tires. No driver was permitted to own more than 5 tires;

1942 – 28 nations signed an agreement creating the World Bank;

1942 – In WWII, German military begins enlisting Soviet POW’s in the battle against Russia. Gen. Andrei Vlasov, a captured Soviet war hero turned anti-communist, was made commander of the renegade Soviet troops;

1944 – As WWII dragged on, President Roosevelt orders his Secretary of War to seize properties belonging to the Montgomery Ward Company because the company refused to comply with a labor agreement;

1947 – The original version of the puppet character “Howdy Doody” made its TV debut on NBC’s “Puppet Playhouse”;

1950 – The U.S. & Spain resume relations for 1st time since Spainish Civil War of the 1930’s;

1966 – U.S. & South Vietnam joint-service operation successfully takes place against one of the best-fortified Viet Cong strongholds located in the U Minh Forrest in the Mekong Delta 125 miles southwest of Saigon;

1968 – Apollo 8, the 1st manned mission to the moon returns safely to Earth after a historic six-day journey. The mission led to the Apollo 11 mission on July 20 of the next year when Neil A. Armstrong & Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the 1st men to walk on the surface of the moon;

1969 – In the fiercest battle in 6 weeks, U.S. & North Vietnamese forces clash near Loc Ninh about 80 miles north of Saigon;

1975 – Coal mine explosion followed by a flood kills at least 372 workers in Dhanbad, India;

1978 – King Juan Carlos ratifies Spain’s 1st democratic constitution in nearly 5 decades immediately beginning a decade long transition to democracy in Spain;

1979 – In attempt to stabilize the political situation in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union sends 75,000 troops to enforce the installation of Babrak Karmal beginning nearly 10 years of agonizing, destructive & ultimately fruitless Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan;

1985 – Palestinian guerrillas opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports; 19 victims were killed, plus four attackers who were slain by police and security personnel. American naturalist Dian Fossey, 53, who had studied gorillas in the wild in Rwanda, was found hacked to death;

2004 – NFL quarterback Payton Manning sets new NFL single season record with 49 touchdown passes. Tom Brady broke that in 2007 with 50 and then Payton set a new record this year (2013) with 51 and there is still one more game to play;

2007 – Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani Prime Minister & the 1st democratically elected female leader of a Muslim country is assassinated at age 54 in the city of Rawalpindi;

2008 – Israel bombed security sites in Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in retaliation for rocket fire aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns, starting one of the Mideast conflict’s bloodiest assaults in decades.

Now We’re Off To The Fun Stuff:

Today’s I Don’t Realize How Big I Am Dog:

Let’s cuddle dude 

Today’s Thought For The Day:

Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.

Today’s Silly Law:

In Simsbury, Conn., it’s illegal for a politician to campaign at the town dump.

Today’s Sign Of The Times:

Did you ever ride on of these? 

Today’s Silly Product Warning:

Sleeping Pills – Warning: May cause Drowsiness

Today’s ‘I Never Knew’:

“Almost” is the longest commonly used word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

Today’s Word Of The Day:

Peripatetic – the noun, is a person who walks or travels about. It can be used as an adjective as well, with the same meaning. The word makes allusion to Aristotle, who used to teach his philosophy while walking in the Lyceum.

Today’s Funny Doggie Picture:

Maybe I should ask what it is before I eat it! 

Today’s Political Quote:

Today’s Christian Thought:

“Radical obedience to Christ is not easy… It’s not comfort, not health, not wealth, and not prosperity in this world. Radical obedience to Christ risks losing all these things. But in the end, such risk finds its reward in Christ. And he is more than enough for us.”  – David Platt, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream

Today’s Silly Sign:

Should they be in the water unattended in the 1st place? 

Today’s Christian Image:

UNTIL TOMORROW – GOD BLESS TO EVERYONE !!!