25 Aug 1939
In the morning, Adolf Hitler sent a message to Benito Mussolini, noting that the reason why Italy was not informed of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was because Hitler had not imagined the negotiations would conclude so quickly. He also revealed that war was to commence soon, but failed to let him know that the planned invasion date was the following day. Later on the same day, however, Hitler hesitated in the face of the Anglo-Polish mutual defense agreement; he quickly decided to postpone the invasion date. Meanwhile, in Berlin, Germany, journalist William Shirer noted in his diary that war seemed to be imminent.

Kliment Voroshilov rejected the request from the British and French delegations, noting that since Germany and the Soviet Union had just signed a non-aggression pact, a military treaty with the Western powers was no longer possible. In light of this new development, a renewed mutual defense agreement was signed between the United Kingdom and Poland.

Franklin Roosevelt wrote to Adolf Hitler in an attempt to maintain peace.

25 Aug 1944
Backed by the US 4th Infantry Division, the French 2nd Armored Division, equipped with American M4 Sherman tanks, half-tracks, and trucks, entered Paris. On the same day, Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison and the military governor of Paris, surrendered to the French at the Hôtel Le Meurice, the newly established French headquarters. With Eisenhower's approval, De Gaulle moved his headquarters into the War Ministry in Paris.

The amount of V-1 flying bombs being sent over the English Channel was now noticeably decreasing as the Allied armies pushed into the Netherlands and captured and destroyed the launching sites. The German Air Force still were able to launch missiles with the Heinkel bombers of III /KG3 which had been moved east-wards to other airfields. Just before midnight, a V-1 flying bomb came down on Carrington Road, Dartford, Kent, England, United Kingdom killing 12 people as they slept in their houses.

 

On August 27, 1883, the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia erupted, causing a tsunami that killed an estimated 36,000 people.

Scientists estimated that the eruption was one of the largest in the last 760,000 years (seriously - how do they claim to know that?), rivaled by the eruption of Mount Tambora on April 5, 1815. It had an explosive force equivalent to a 200-megaton bomb. The eruption caused two-thirds of the volcano to collapse into the sea, creating massive lava, ash, and pumice flows. The collapse of a column of ash, pumice, and gas that extended up to 27 kilometers above the volcano displaced several cubic kilometers of seawater, triggering the tsunami.

The tsunami washed away 165 coastal villages on Java and Sumatra, and smaller waves were recorded as far away as the English Channel. The eruption also cooled the Earth by an average of 0.6°C for months, and ash from the eruption caused spectacular sunsets around the world for months.

 

August 26

1346 = For the first time in battle, Edward III's English lonbows defeat Philip VI's canons at the Battle of Crecy.


1682 = English astronomer, Edmund Haley, observes the comet named after him. Haley's Comet.


1873 = First free kindergarten in the United States is started by Susan Blow in Carondelat, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.

1907 = Harry Houdini escapes from chains, underwater in 57 seconds at Aquatic Park in San Francisco, California.


1971 = Bobby Orr signs a 5 yea,r one million dollar contract with the Boston Bruins',the first million dollar contract in NHL history.


1910 = Mother Theresa was born.

1910 - William James, the father of pragmatism, is born.


2023 - Bob Barker passes away.

 

August 26

1346 - For the first time in battle, Edward III's English longbows defeat Philip VI's French canons at the Battle of Crecy.


1682 = English astronomer, Edmund Haley, observes the comet that is named after him. Haleys Comet.


1873 - First free kindergarten in the United States is started by Susan Blow in Carondelet, a suburb outside of St. Louis, Missouri.

1907 - Harry Houdini escapes from chains, underwater in 53 seconds at Aquatic Park in San Francisco, California.


1971 - Bobby Orr signs a 5 year contract worth one million dollars with the Boston Bruins, then the highest the NHL.


1910 Mother Theresa was born.

!971 - Actress Melissa Mccarthy was born, Absolutely hilarious.

1910 - William James, the father of pragmatism, passes away.


2023 - Bob Barker passes away

 

1791: Steamboat is patented
Entrepreneur-inventor John Fitch receives a US patent for his steam-powered boat, after years of experiments result in a craft that can travel at a top speed of 8 miles per hour. It'll take two more decades and engineer Robert Fulton's involvement before steamboats become a profitable enterprise.

 

1883: Krakatoa erupts.

 

On this day in history, August 26, 1978, Pope John Paul I is elected, would serve for only 33 days
Pope John Paul I was beatified in 2022, the step below sainthood

Pope John Paul I is shown waving at the faithful assembled in Vatican City. His pontificate lasted just 33 days.

Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected pope and took the name Pope John Paul I on this day in history, Aug. 28, 1978.

John Paul I would have a very brief time as the head of the Catholic Church — dying of a heart attack just 33 days after his election.

Born on Oct. 17, 1912, in Belluno, a town in northern Italy, the future pope was the son of Giovanni Luciani and Bortola Tancon, said the Vatican's official biography.

 

26 Aug 1939
Benito Mussolini sent Adolf Hitler a message noting that Italy would offer political and economic aid if Germany chose to go to war with Poland, but Italy was in no position to offer military assistance.

Some German units ordered to lead the invasion of Poland, originally planned for this date, did not receive the message that the invasion had been postponed in the previous evening and crossed the borders, attacking Polish defenses with rifles, machine guns, and grenades; they would be withdrawn back into Germany within hours. Because Poland had experienced so much German provocation in the past few days, Polish leadership brushed off the attacks as another series of provocation, despite having reports that the attacks wore regular uniforms. In the late afternoon, Adolf Hitler set the new invasion date at 1 Sep 1939.

French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier sent a message to German leader Adolf Hitler, noting that while France desired peace, it would fight for Poland should it be invaded.

German ambassadors in Belgium and the Netherlands informed each of the two countries that Germany was friendly to them during the current political tensions.

German Navy ordered all German merchant ships to sail for the nearest German port.

The German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, handed the British Ambassador, Sir Neville Henderson, a list of terms that would allegedly ensure peace. These terms stipulated that Danzig would be returned to Germany, there would be a plebiscite in the Polish Corridor based on 1919 residency and there would also be an exchange of minority populations between Poland and Germany. The British thought these were fair demands and so the Polish Ambassador Józef Lipski went to see Ribbentrop, but was thrown out when he revealed that he did not have the power to sign the agreement. Germany then announced that Poland had refused its fair demands.

26 Aug 1944
Hitler ordered his troops to withdraw from Greece.

French troops captured Tarascon and Avignon, France.

A German air raid on Paris, France destroyed several residential neighborhoods. To the east, Allied troops crossed the Seine River.

Dwight Eisenhower traveled to Omar Bradley's headquarters in France and invited him to visit the recently captured Paris with him on the following day.

 

August 27 is the sad anniversary of the 1990 passing of Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the greatest guitarists in rock and blues history.

Vaughan was killed when the helicopter he was flying in hit a man-made ski slope while trying to navigate through dense fog. Vaughan had played a show at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, Wisconsin with Robert Cray & His Memphis Horns, and Eric Clapton.

Vaughan had been informed by a member of Clapton's crew that three seats were open on a helicopter returning to Chicago with Clapton's crew, it turned out there was only one seat left; Vaughan requested it from his brother, who obliged. Three members of Eric Clapton's entourage were also killed.

RIP, the truly amazing Stevie Ray Vaughan

 

August 27

479 BC = Greece-Persian Wars: At the Battle of Platacea Persian forces led by Mardenias are routed by the Greek army led by Pausaias. Together with the Greek victory at the Battle of Mycale the Persian invasion of Greece was halted.


1789 - The French National Assembly issues the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

!964 - Walt Disney's musical film "Mary Poppins" starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California.. It went on to win 5 Academy Awards.


1908n - Lyndon B. Johnson is born.


1947 - Barbara Bach is born.


1990 - Stevie Ray Vaughn dies in a helicopter crash.

 

On this day in history, August 27, 1963, civil rights pioneer W.E.B. Du Bois dies at age 95
Sociologist, author and activist co-founded the NAACP in 1909


Author, sociologist, historian and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois poses for a portrait at home at 31 Grace Court in Brooklyn Heights in 1958 in New York City, New York. He passed away at age 95 on Aug. 27, 1963.

W.E.B. Du Bois, American sociologist, author, activist and co-founder of the NAACP, died on this day in history on Aug. 27, 1963, in Accra, Ghana at age 95.

"He was an activist who was the most important Black protest leader in the United States during the first half of the 20th century," noted Britannica.com.

The civil rights pioneer, born William Edward Burghardt Du Bois in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, was the son of Mary Silvina Burghardt, a domestic worker, and Alfred Du Bois, a barber and laborer, according to the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.

Du Bois descended from mixed-race Bahamian slaves. His father enlisted during the Civil War as a private in a New York regiment of the Union army.

He appears to have deserted shortly afterward, the same source indicated.

"He also deserted the family less than two years after his son's birth, leaving him to be reared by his mother and the extended Burghardt kin," according to the same source.

Under the care of his mother and family, young Du Bois was raised in Massachusetts. He received a college preparatory education in Great Barrington's racially integrated high school.

In June 1884, he became the first African American graduate, according to the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.

In 1888, Du Bois enrolled at Harvard University as a junior (he had first attended all-black Fisk University in Tennessee).

He received a BA cum laude in 1890, an MA in 1891 and a PhD in 1895, the same source chronicled.

He was the first Black American to earn a PhD from Harvard University, according to the NAACP. "The honor, I assure you, was Harvard’s," Du Bois reportedly once said, as Harvard itself reported.

In 1896, DuBois married Nina Gomer and the couple had two children.

After the death of his first wife in 1950, DuBois married Shirley Graham, who remained his wife until his death.

Du Bois shared in the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909 and edited The Crisis, its magazine, from 1910 to 1934.

 

1955: Guinness records is born

Inspired by an argument over whether the red grouse or golden plover flies faster, the marketing director at Guinness Breweries and fact-finding colleagues compile a reference book to answer such weird and wonderful questions, and the first 'Guinness Book of Records' is published.

 

27 Aug 1939
German leader Adolf Hitler responded to the message from French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier from the previous day, noting that Germany had no intention of fighting France, so if France was to attack Germany due to the German-Poland situation, it would be a war initiated by France, and Germany could not be faulted for such a conflict; additionally, Hitler stressed that Germany had no territorial demands on the German-French border.

Hitler responded to Benito Mussolini's message from the previous day, noting that he accepted Italy's inability to participate in direct fighting should a German-Polish war break out. Still, he would very much appreciate political (by means of threatening to enter the war, thus tying down French troops on the French-Italian border) and economic (by offering Italian workers for German industry and agriculture) support.

Germany publicly announced that the annual Nazi Party rally in Nürnberg, Germany, and the upcoming Tannenberg memorial event were both canceled. Additionally, the government announced the start of food, footwear, textile, and coal rations.

27 Aug 1944
The last German troops in Toulon, France surrendered.

Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley visited the recently captured Paris.

 

August 27, 1869.
The Powell expedition into the Grand Canyon arrives at what will later be named Separation Rapids. The group has run through most of the Grand Canyon and is over 3 months into the expedition that left from Green River Wyoming that May. They are tired, their equipment badly abused, provisions running short and tempers are short.
After carefully scouting the rapids and determining that there is no alternative but to run it even though all agree it is all but impassable, 3 of the group (Captain Howland, his brother Seneca, and William Dunn decided to leave the party and go overland to the Mormon settlements about 75 miles to the north.)

The three men climb up out of the canyon and are killed a few days later by Shivwits Indians. Meanwhile, the remaining group run Separation rapids with no problems and discover that while the rapid looked bad, they had been by many worse spots.

Ironically, this is also where the newlyweds Glen and Bessie Hyde apparently camped in 1928 the night before they disappeared. Their boat was found several miles below Separation rapid, with Bessie's journal sitting open on the seat. The boat would have run through several rapids between separation rapids and where the boat was found.

It is also the point where Shooter had his boat take leave when they camped here in 1977, they luckily recovered the boat in the same eddy that the Hydes boat was found in. Shooter thinks the Hyde ghosts just wanted to have a bit of fun and run through Separation rapid finally. His camera was sitting on the rowing frame seat, left there the night before.

One final note; Georgie White, the "woman of the canyon", a famous guide in the Grand Canyon died in 1992. In her dresser was found the Hydes marriage certificate and a loaded pistol believed to have belonged to Glen Hyde. No explanation of how they came to be in Georgie's possession.

 

August 28

1565 - Pedro Menendez de Aviles sers sights land near St. Augustine, Florida and founds the oldest continuously occupied European established city in the continental United States.

1603 English explorer of Dutch heritage Henry Hudson is the first European to sail into Deleware Bay, which he named South Bay.

1830 = First American built locomotive "Tom Thum" races a horse drawn carriage from Baltimore to Elliot Mills. The horse wins due to "mechanical" problems.

1951 - = New York Yankee pitcher Ron Guidry was born. one of my favorites growing up, right behind Thurmon Munson.

1965 = Bod Dylan is booed for playing electric in a concert at Forest Hills Tennis Club in Queens.

1986 = American rock singer Tina Turner has her star unveiled on Hollywood Walk of Fame,

 

Lots of important and noteworthy events occured on August 28 over the years, so there's plenty for my fellow thread enthusiasts to highlight, but I'm going with this:

On August 28, 1946, the film 'The Killers' - an early entry establishing the post war 'film noir' movement, had its debut, welcomed by huge box office and critical acclaim. It catapulted Burt Lancaster - in his very first film - to 'A' list stardom, and gave a massive boost to Ava Gardner's previously unremarkable film career.

The first 20 minutes of the film is based, almost 'beat by beat' on Ernest Hemingway's 1926 short story of the same name, but the remainder of the film's 1 hour 43 minutes run time is completely original.

Hemingway, who was habitually disgusted with how Hollywood distorted his thematic intentions, was an open admirer of the film.

Movie critic Bosley Crowther gave it a positive review and lauded the acting. He wrote "With Robert Siodmak's restrained direction, a new actor, Burt Lancaster, gives a lanky and wistful imitation of a nice guy who's wooed to his ruin. And Ava Gardner is sultry and sardonic as the lady who crosses him up. Edmond O'Brien plays the shrewd investigator in the usual cool and clipped detective style, Sam Levene is very good as a policeman and Albert Dekker makes a thoroughly nasty thug...The tempo is slow and metronomic, which makes for less excitement than suspense."

In 2008, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Great movie!

 

1963: "I have a dream"
Standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, his voice ringing out to some 250,000 listeners, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers a stirring speech that will galvanize the civil rights movement and be heralded as one of the greatest orations in American history.

 

On this day in history, August 28, 1996, Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially divorce
The British royal couple had been separated since December 1992


Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, finalized their divorce on Aug. 28, 1996.

Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales finalized their divorce after a nearly four-year separation on this day in history, Aug. 28, 1996.

The divorce marked the conclusion of a marriage that began with a wedding that seemed ripped from the pages of a fairytale, but that was later marred by numerous controversies, admissions of infidelity and multiple invasions of privacy from the British press.

The split was finalized about two months after Queen Elizabeth II told the couple they should begin the process of a divorce, as History.com indicated.

Diana was reportedly awarded a £17,000,000 lump sum payment — or slightly over $21 million in U.S. dollars — along with £350,000 a year to maintain a private office.

Charles and Diana agreed to share custody of their sons, William and Harry, said the BBC.

After the divorce, Diana was stripped of the title "Her Royal Highness" (and any claim to the throne) and was instead to be referred to as "Diana, Princess of Wales," said the BBC.


The title of "Princess of Wales" is now held by Catherine Middleton, Diana's daughter-in-law.

In late 1995, Queen Elizabeth II gave her blessing to the split, said a palace spokesperson at the time.

 

28 Aug 1944
US troops crossed the Marne River in France.

The German garrison in Marseille, France surrendered to French forces.

The military port of Toulon in France, purged of German troops, was now under Allied control.

 

August 29

1498 = Vasco da Gama decides to depart Calicut and return to the Empire of Portugal.


1825 - Portugal recognizes Brazil's indepence.

1862 - Second Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia. It ends with a Confederate victory.


1958 - George Harrison (age 15)joins The Quarrymen, later to become The Beatles.

1977 - Iggy Pop releases his second album, Lust for Life". It is a collaboration with David Bowie.


1925 - After a night on the town Babe Ruth shows up late for batting practice. Miller Huggins suspends him and fines him 5'000.


1627 - John Locke is born.



2016 - Gene Wilder passes