On This Day – 31 January 1606
Guy Fawkes (born 13 April 1570) was executed for his involvement in the 1605 Catholic plot against the Anglican King James I of England and VI of Scotland.
Continue reading “1606 – Guy Fawkes executed for involvement in the Gunpowder Plot”
30 June
Adolf Hitler’s violent purge of his political rivals in Germany, begins on this day in 1934. Continue reading “1934 – The Night of the Long Knives”
6 June
The assassination of Robert Francis “Bobby” Kennedy, a United States Senator and brother of assassinated President John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy, took place shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles, California, during the campaign season for the 1968 presidential election, he died on this day in 1968 (the next day).
4 April
Martin Luther King, Jr. (15 January 1929 – 4 April 1968) was assassinated on this day in 1968, he was an American Baptist minister, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs. Continue reading “1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. assassination”
4 April
James Earl Ray (10 March 1928 – 23 April 1998) was an American convicted of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray was convicted on his 41st birthday after entering a guilty plea to forgo a jury trial. Had he been found guilty by jury trial, he would have been eligible for the death penalty. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He later recanted his confession and tried unsuccessfully to gain access to a retrial. In 1998, Ray died in prison of complications due to chronic hepatitis C infection. Continue reading “1968 – James Earl Ray assassinates Martin Luther King Jr.”
3 April
Jesse Woodson James (5 September 1847 – 3 April 1882) was an American outlaw, guerilla, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. Jesse and his brother Frank James were Confederate guerrillas or Bushwhackers during the Civil War. They were accused of participating in atrocities committed against Union soldiers, including the Centralia Massacre. After the war, as members of various gangs of outlaws, they robbed banks, stagecoaches, and trains. The James brothers were most active as members of their own gang from about 1866 until 1876, when as a result of their attempted robbery of a bank in Northfield, Minnesota, several members of the gang were captured or killed. They continued in crime for several years, recruiting new members, but were under increasing pressure from law enforcement. Continue reading “1882 – Jesse James is killed by Robert Ford”
6 March
The Zapruder film is a silent, colour motion picture sequence shot by private citizen Abraham Zapruder with a home-movie camera, as U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas on 22 November, 1963, thereby unexpectedly capturing the President’s assassination.
On this day in 1975, the ABC late-night television show Good Night America (hosted by Geraldo Rivera), assassination researchers Robert Groden and Dick Gregory presented the first-ever network television showing of the Zapruder home movie. The public’s response and outrage to that television showing quickly led to the forming of the Hart-Schweiker investigation, contributed to the Church Committee Investigation on Intelligence Activities by the United States, and resulted in the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigation. Continue reading “1975 – The Zapruder film is shown to a national TV audience”
21 February
Malcolm X (19 May, 1925 – 21 February, 1965), born Malcolm Little was an American Muslim minister and a human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of blacks, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans; detractors accused him of preaching racism and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. Continue reading “1965 – Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City”
11 February
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus (12 February AD 41 — 11 February AD 55) was the son of the Roman emperor Claudius and his third wife Valeria Messalina. He became the heir-designate of the empire at his birth, less than a month into his father’s reign. He was still a young boy at the time of his mother’s downfall and Claudius’ marriage to Agrippina the Younger. This allowed Agrippina’s older son Nero to eclipse him in the public’s mind. He lived only months into his step brother Nero’s reign, and was probably murdered just before his 14th birthday.
23 January
James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (c. 1531 – 23 January 1570) was a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V, and was Regent of Scotland for his half-nephew, the infant King James VI of Scotland, from 1567 until his assassination in 1570. Continue reading “1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland, is assassinated by firearm”
3 January
The Siege of Sidney Street, popularly known as the “Battle of Stepney“, was a notorious gunfight in London’s East End on this day in 1911. Preceded by the Houndsditch murders in December 1910 where three police officers and one gang member were shot dead, it ended with the deaths of two members of a politically motivated gang of burglars and international anarchists supposedly led by Peter Piatkow, a.k.a. “Peter the Painter”, and sparked a major political row over the involvement of the then Home Secretary, Winston Churchill. Continue reading “1911 – A gun battle in the East End of London left two dead”
29 December
Thomas Becket (21 December c. 1119 (or 1120) – 29 December 1170) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. Continue reading “1170 – Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral”
20 December
Samuel Alexander Mudd (20 December, 1833 – 10 January, 1883) was an American physician who was imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Continue reading “1833 – Samuel Mudd, American physician is born (d. 1883)”
17 December
William I Longsword (c. 893 – 17 December 942) was the second ruler of Normandy, from 927 until his assassination. Continue reading “942 – Assassination of William I of Normandy”
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