Bell made the first phone call (1876); Ray pleaded guilty to shooting Martin Luther King (1969); Book of the Month Club published its first selection (1936); Tibetan Rebellion began (1959); French Foreign Legion established (1831); Medina charged with war crimes for My Lai massacre (1970); First Punic War ended (241 BC); Columbus left the New World for Spain (1496); Jan Masaryk died under mysterious circumstances (1948); Clare Boothe Luce was born (1903).
Alexander Graham Bell made the first successful phone call. (1876) Bell had received the patent for the telephone just three days earlier, beating a competitor’s patent by hours. The first words spoken on the phone were: “Mr. Watson, come here; I want you.”
James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to shooting Martin Luther King. (1969) Ray had a history of crime and was first arrested for burglary when he was in his 20s. At the time King was murdered, Ray was an escaped convict, and was later caught at London’s Heathrow Airport on a false passport. He confessed to the crime, but then retracted. Despite this, he was sentenced to 99 years in prison and died in prison of hepatitis C at the age of 70.
Published the first selection of the Book of the Month Club. (1936) The club’s first book was Lolly Willowes, or The Loving Huntsman, written by controversial author Sylvia Townsend Warner. It did not pan out, perhaps so much because of her public sentiment towards the author, that, as an openly gay woman in the early 1900s, she was considered extremely scandalous.
The Tibetan Rebellion of 1959 begins. (1959) Over 100,000 Tibetan citizens surrounded the Dalai Lama’s palace to protect it from occupation by Chinese troops. Tens of thousands were killed in the bombings and the Dalai Lama eventually fled into exile.
The French Foreign Legion is established. (1831) Originally created to deal with problem soldiers and give French colonists an opportunity to fight, the French Foreign Legion quickly became known as an elite military unit. The legion fought literally all over the world to protect French colonies and continued to work to protect French citizens abroad well into the 21st century.
Captain Ernest Medina was charged with war crimes for the My Lai massacre. (1970) Medina led troops who massacred hundreds of civilians in Mai Lai, Vietnam, even though he claimed the troops were out of his control when they arrived at the village. He was court-martialed, though ultimately absolved of responsibility.
The First Punic War ends. (241 BC) The Punic Wars were a series of wars between Carthage, in today’s North Africa, and Rome, the two superpowers of the Western world at the time. The wars were also important in military history as some of the earliest wars fought mainly at sea.
Christopher Columbus left the New World for Spain. (1496) Columbus had spent several years sailing around the Caribbean discovering islands and panning for gold. He finally left the New World on this day, departing from Hispaniola – the island of Haiti and the Dominican Republic – with large numbers of slaves, but almost no gold.
Jan Masaryk, foreign minister of Czechoslovakia, died under mysterious circumstances. (1948) Although authorities claimed that he had committed suicide, many in the West thought that he had actually been murdered due to his anti-communist leanings. He was one of the first of many mysterious deaths in the Cold War and served to deepen suspicions.
Clare Boothe Luce is born. (1903) Luce was an innovative American writer and editor and was known for her satirical aphorisms, such as “No good deed goes unpunished.” She was also a member of the House of Representatives and left a legacy to support women studying science, math and engineering.
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