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Alvin Karpis

Alvin Karpis

Alvin Karpis (August 10, 1907-August 26, 1979, born Alvin Karpowicz), nickname "Creepy" , was a noted criminal in the United States known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930's. He was the last "Public Enemy Number 1" to be taken, a capture which elevated J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI to national prominence. His stay at Alcatraz, a little over 25 years, was longer than any other inmate interned there.

Early Life

Karpis was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and was raised in Topeka, Kansas. He started in crime at about age 10 running around with gamblers, bootleggers, and pimps. In 1924 he was sentenced to 10 years at the State Industrial Reformatory in Hutchinson, Kansas, for an attempted burglary. He escaped and lived with his parents for a time in Chicago. After moving to Kansas City, Missouri, he was caught stealing a car and sent back to the Reformatory. Transferred to the Kansas State Penitentiary in Lansing, Kansas, he met Fred Barker who was in prison for killing a policeman during a car theft. Barker was one of the notorius members of the "Bloody Barkers" as the newpapers of the time had called them. The Barker family included the brothers Herman, Lloyd, Arthur or "Doc", and Fred, the sons of Ma Barker. Growing up impovershed in a sharecropping family, all the boys soon turned into hardened criminals, robbing banks and killing without provocation. Doc, the leader, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1920 after murdering a night watchman. Herman committed suicide in 1927 after being badly injured in a shootout with police following a robbery. Lloyd was sentenced to 25 years in 1922 for mail theft. Ma did her part to help her sons. In her lifetime she was never wanted for, nor charged with, any crime. Nevertheless, she badgered parole boards, wardens, and governors to the point where she won Fred's release in 1931, and even managed to get Doc released on a governor's pardon. After Karpis was released in 1931, he joined up with Fred Barker in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and they soon put together the Karpis-Barker gang.

Alliance with Barkers

The Karpis-Barker gang became one of the most formidable criminal gangs of the 1930's. They did not hesitate to kill anyone who got in their way, even innocent bystanders. They robbed a number of banks, hijacked mail deliveries, and soon turned to the lucrative field of kidnapping. In 1933 they kidnapped William Hamm, a millionaire Minnesota brewer. His ransom netted them $100,000. Shortly after this, they abducted Minnesota banker Edward Bremer, Jr., whose ransom brought them $200,000. The group was led by Alvin, who had a photographic memory and was described as "super-smart" by fellow gang member Fred Hunter. The other leaders were Doc and Fred, both now out of prison, and included about 25 others. At this time a myth was started that Ma Barker ruled the gang with an iron fist, but the facts do not seem to support these claims. It is highly unlikely that criminals as adept as Karpis, and even Ma's sons for that matter, would have listened to her. Karpis later wrote about this subject in his memoirs: "Ma was always somebody in our lives. Love didn't enter into it really. She was somebody we looked after and took with us when we moved city to city, hideout to hideout. It is no insult to Ma's memory that she just didn't have the know-how to direct us on a robbery. It would't have occurred to her to get involved in our business, and we always made it a point of only discussing our scores when Ma wasn't around. We'd leave her at home when were arranging a job, or we'd send her to a movie. Ma saw a lot of movies." The kidnappings, however, would lead to the gang's end. The father of the kidnapped Edward Bremer Jr. was a friend of president Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR had even mentioned the kidnapping in one of his fireside chats, and fueled also by the Lindbergh kidnapping, the FBI and local police bureaus greatly stepped up their pursuit of those engaged in these type of crimes. The FBI had by this time organized a group of highly skilled agents called the "flying squads" who specialized in hunting down the leading public enemies, and much progress was being made. The year 1934 alone saw the deaths of John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, and George "Baby Face" Nelson. With these big-name hoodlums out of the way, the FBI stepped up one of the most persistant manhunts of the time for the Karpis-Barker gangmembers. One incident that aided the FBI greatly was when the gang shot and killed one of their own members, George "Shotgun" Ziegler. Ziegler had been one of the masterminds of the Bremer kidnapping, but after he collected the ransom money, which he kept most of, he began loudly bragging to underworld associates that he was the genius behind the kidnapping. It appeared the one-time hitman for Al Capone, and a lead suspect in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, had lost his senses, and the gang knew it couldn't risk having him spill valuable information. On March 22, 1934, members of the gang shot four slugs into Ziegler as he was coming out of his favorite restaurant in Cicero, Illinois, which nearly decapitated him. The assassins left the corpse, however, and subsequently FBI agents found names, aliases, addresses and other valuable information on the gang in Ziegler's pockets. Armed with this information the FBI used it to pick them off one by one, and soon they began getting the big names. Doc was captured on January 8, 1935, by Melvin Purvis who, nearly six months earlier, had hunted down John Dillinger. (Sent to Alcatraz, Doc was shot and killed by guards during an attempted escape in 1939.) Just one week later agents tracked down Ma and Fred at a cottage in Lake Weir, Florida. On January 16, Ma and Fred were shot to death after a 4-hour gun battle. Just after Ma and Fred's death, Karpis nearly met his own violent end when the FBI located him in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Karpis and a couple of other partners managed to shoot their way to an escape, though Karpis's eight-month-pregnant girlfriend Dolores Delaney was shot in the thigh by police. He continued his crimes with others, but had to be on the move more than ever as he was the fourth and last Public Enemy Number 1 left (the previous three having been killed). He did manage to pull off a crime that echoed times of the "Old West", a train robbery in Garretsville, Ohio, which netted $27,000. After the death of Ma and Fred, Karpis sent word to J. Edgar Hoover that he intended to kill Hoover the way Hoover had killed Ma and Fred.

Pursuit and Capture by FBI

The FBI had come a long way since its reorganization and renaming in 1935 (from the Bureau of Investigation, created in 1908). J. Edgar Hoover was appointed as the acting head of the Bureau in 1924. He completely transformed the agency. Despite its successes, however, the agency had many problems. In those days, when the application of science and technology to fight crime was still in its infancy, the agency was at the mercy of public citizens for information. Often agents were sent off to remote locales that turned out to be red herrings due to bad information. The personal nadir for Hoover came at an April, 1936 Senate hearing. Tennessee Senator Kenneth D. McKellar lambasted Hoover for the performance of the FBI and the fact that Hoover himself had never personally arrested anyone. After the hearing a determined Hoover vowed he would capture Karpis personally. Hoover would not have to wait long. On May 1, 1936, the FBI located Karpis in New Orleans, and Hoover flew in to be in charge of the arrest. As a dozen or so agents swarmed over Karpis's car, Hoover announced to Karpis that he was under arrest. A couple of versions of the arrest are reported. One, told by Karpis in his memoirs, was that Hoover came out only after all the other agents had him seized. Only then did the agents call to Hoover that it was safe to approach the car. The official FBI version, however, states that Hoover reached into the car and grabbed Karpis before he could reach a rifle in the back seat. In fact the car, a Plymouth coupe, had no back seat. The whole fiasco was further aggravated when Hoover told his men to "put the handcuffs on him". Not one agent had brought handcuffs and Karpis was tied up with the necktie removed from an agent's neck. Whatever the real story, the capture of Karpis catapulted Hoover's name into the public eye, and that name would be synonymous with law enforcement until his 1972 death. The capture of Karpis essentially ended the age of the big-name depression-era criminals. In addition to those mentioned earlier, others killed violently in the '30s were Jack "Legs" Diamond, Vincent "Maddog" Coll, Frank "Jelly" Nash, and Dutch Schultz, and while as an inmate of Alcatraz, Al Capone was slowly going insane from syphillis. The country had gradually started to recover from the Great Depression and economic times had improved, and law enforcement agencies had improved as well.

Stay at Alcatraz

Sentenced to life imprisonment, Karpis was incarcerated at the recently formed Alcatraz federal penitentiary from August 1936 to April 1962. For six months in 1958 he had been transferred to the Leavenworth federal penitentiary, but was then returned to Alcatraz. His main job at Alcatraz was working at the bakery. He was far from a model prisoner, frequently fighting with other inmates. In April 1962, with Alcatraz in the process of being closed, he was trasferred to McNeil Island Penitentiary in Washington state. While at McNeil he met a young inmate named Charles Manson. It is interesting what Karpis wrote about Manson in his memoirs "On the Rock: Twenty-five Years at Alcatraz" (written with Robert Livesey, published in 1980): :"This kid approaches me to request music lessons. He wants to learn guitar and become a music star. 'Little Charlie' is so lazy and shiftless, I doubt if he'll put the time required to learn. The youngster has been in institutions all of his life--first orphanages, then reformatories, and finally federal prison. His mother, a prostitute, was never around to look after him. I decide it's time someone did something for him, and to my surprise, he learns quickly. He has a pleasant voice and a pleasing personality, although he's unusually meek and mild for a convict. He never has a harsh word to say and is never involved in even an argument." After Manson had actually become somewhat proficient on the guitar, he asked Karpis for help in getting a job playing in Las Vegas as Karpis had contacts with nightclub and casino owners there. Manson even told him he would be bigger than the Beatles, but in the end Karpis decided to leave Manson on his own regarding his music career. Manson was moved to a Los Angeles facility in 1967, which proved to be one of the most ominous prison transfers ever. Later Karpis added "The history of crime in the United States might have been considerably altered if 'Little Charlie' had been given the opportunity to find fame and fortune in the music industry. He later became the infamous Charles Manson."

Later Years

Karpis was released on parole in 1969 and deported to Canada. He wrote his first memoirs in 1971 and published another memoir book in 1979 (v.s). He moved to Spain in 1973. On August 26, 1979, he died by what was originally ruled suicide by authorities, as sleeping pills were found by his body, but later it was ruled death from natural causes. Some closer to the scene say foul play may have been involved. Robert Livesey, who co-wrote Karpis's 1979 book, said Karpis was not the type to have committed suicide. Livesey said Karpis was a survivor, having served 33 years in prison, and also stated Karpis was anticipating the publication of the book. Livesey believed Karpis had been introduced to pills and alcohol by his last girlfriend Nancy, to give a relaxing high, and perhaps Karpis accidentally over-indulged on one occasion, with fatal consequences. No autopsy was done, and Karpis was buried the next day in Spain.

References


- Richard Kudish, CourtTV Crime Library
- Jay Robert Nash, Almanac of Crime, 1986
- Carl Sifakis, The Encyclopedia of American Crime, 1992 Karpis, Alan Karpis, Alan Karpis, Alan Karpis, Alan Karpis, Alan Karpis, Alan Karpis, Alan

August 10

August 10 is the 222nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 143 days remaining. The term "the 10th of August" is widely used by historians as a shorthand for the Storming of the Tuileries Palace on August 10 1792, the effective end of the French monarchy until it was restored in 1814.

Events


- 612 BC - Killing of Sinsharishkun, King of Assyrian Empire. Destruction of Nineveh.
- AD 955 - Battle of Lechfeld: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor defeats Magyars, ending 50 years of Magyar invasion of the West.
- 1519 - Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe.
- 1680 - Pueblo Revolt begins in New Mexico.
- 1792 - French Revolution: Storming of the Tuileries Palace. Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody.
- 1809 - Quito, now the capital of Ecuador, declares independence from Spain.
- 1821 - Missouri is admitted as the 24th U.S. state.
- 1846 - The Smithsonian Institution is chartered by the U.S. Congress after $500,000 was given for such a purpose by scientist Joseph Smithson.
- 1856 - In Last Island, Louisiana, a hurricane kills about 400 people.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Battle of Wilson's Creek - The war enters Missouri when a band of raw Confederate troops defeat Union forces in the southwestern part of the state.
- 1893 - At Augsburg, Rudolf Diesel's prime model runs on its own power for the first time. Because of this, August 10 is the International Biodiesel Day.
- 1905 - Russian and Japanese peace negotiations begin in Portsmouth.
- 1913 - Second Balkan War ends: Delegates from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece sign the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the war.
- 1920 - World War I: Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI's representatives sign the Treaty of Sevres which divides up the Ottoman Empire between the Allies.
- 1932 - A 5.1-kg (11.2-pound) chondrite-type meteorite breaks into at least seven pieces and lands near the town of Archie in Cass County, Missouri.
- 1944 - World War II: American forces defeat the last Japanese troops on Guam.
- 1948 - Candid Camera makes its television debut after being on radio for a year as Candid Microphone.
- 1949 - US President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Bill, streamlining the defense agencies of the United States government, and replacing the National Military Establishment with the United States Department of Defense.
- 1954 - At Massena, New York, the groundbreaking ceremony for the St. Lawrence Seaway is held.
- 1969 - A day after murdering Sharon Tate and four others, members of Charles Manson's cult kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
- 1971 - Harmon Killebrew becomes the 10th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota.
- 1977 - In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") is arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over a year's period.
- 1981 - The head of John Walsh's son Adam is found in Hollywood, Florida. This event will later prompt the U.S. Congress to pass the Missing Children's Act, giving the Federal Bureau of Investigation greater authority to track the disappearance of children. It also makes Walsh a national spokesman against crime and eventually leads to the establishment of America's Most Wanted.
- 1988 - Japanese American Internment: US President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans who were either interned or relocated by in the United States during World War II.
- 1990 - The Magellan space probe reaches Venus.
- 1995 - Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are indicted for the bombing. Michael Fortier pleads guilty in a plea-bargain agreement for his testimony.
- 2003 - The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK, 38.1°C (100.5 °F), occurs in Kent and Greater London. It is the first time the UK has recorded a temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 2003 - Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko became the first person to marry in space when he marries Ekaterina Dmitriev, on the ground in Texas, while he orbits 240 miles over New Zealand, on the International Space Station.

Births


- 1267 - King James II of Aragon (d. 1327)
- 1296 - John I, Count of Luxemburg (d. 1346)
- 1360 - Francesco Zabarella, Italian jurist (d. 1417)
- 1397 - Albert II of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1439)
- 1489 - Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck, German statesman and reformer (d. 1553)
- 1520 - Madeleine de Valois, queen of James V of Scotland (d. 1537)
- 1560 - Hieronymus Praetorius, German composer (d. 1629)
- 1645 - Eusebio Kino, Italian Catholic missionary (d. 1711)
- 1821 - Jay Cooke, American financier (d. 1905)
- 1845 - Abai Kunanbaev, Kazak poet (d. 1904)
- 1869 - Laurence Binyon, British poet (d. 1943)
- 1872 - Bill Johnson, American musician (d. 1972)
- 1874 - Herbert Hoover, President of the United States (d. 1964)
- 1877 - Frank Marshall, American chess player (d. 1944)
- 1878 - Alfred Döblin, German writer (d. 1957)
- 1880 - Robert L. Thornton, American businessman, philanthropist, and Mayor of Dallas, Texas (d. 1964)
- 1890 - Angus L. MacDonald, Canadian politician (d. 1954)
- 1898 - Jack Haley, American actor (d. 1979)
- 1900 - Arthur Espie Porritt, New Zealand politician and athlete (d. 1994)
- 1902 - Norma Shearer, Canadian actress (d. 1983)
- 1902 - Curt Siodmak, German-born author (d. 2000)
- 1902 - Arne Tiselius, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
- 1905 - Era Bell Thompson, American journalist (d. 1986)
- 1909 - Leo Fender, American luthier (d. 1991)
- 1912 - Jorge Amado, Brazilian novelist (d. 2001)
- 1913 - Wolfgang Paul, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
- 1914 - Jeff Corey, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1923 - Rhonda Fleming, American actress
- 1927 - Vernon Washington, American actors (d. 1988)
- 1928 - Jimmy Dean, American singer
- 1933 - Doyle Brunson, American poker player
- 1939 - Kate O'Mara, British actress
- 1940 - Bobby Hatfield, American singer (Righteous Brothers) (d. 2003)
- 1948 - Martha Ohliger, American artist
- 1943 - Ronnie Spector, American singer (Ronettes)
- 1945 - Harriet Miers, White House counsel
- 1947 - Ian Anderson, Scottish musician (Jethro Tull)
- 1947 - Anwar Ibrahim, Former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
- 1948 - Martha Ohliger, American artist
- 1952 - Daniel Hugh Kelly, American actor
- 1959 - Rosanna Arquette, American model and actress
- 1960 - Antonio Banderas, Spanish actor
- 1963 - Andrew Sullivan, English-born journalist
- 1965 - Claudia Christian, American actress
- 1965 - Mike Smith, American jockey
- 1965 - John Starks, American basketball player
- 1967 - Riddick Bowe, American boxer
- 1967 - Mart Sander, Estonian singer and actor
- 1971 - Roy Keane, Irish footballer
- 1971 - Mario César Kindelán Mesa, Cuban amateur boxer
- 1971 - Justin Theroux, American actor
- 1972 - Angie Harmon, American model and actress
- 1974 - David Sommeil, French footballer
- 1980 - Kaysar Ridha, Reality TV Star
- 1982 - Devon Aoki, American model and actress

Deaths


- 612 BC - Sinsharishkun, Assyrian king
- AD 258 - Saint Lawrence, martyr
- 1535 - Ippolito de' Medici, ruler of Florence (poisoned) (b. 1509)
- 1633 - Anthony Munday, English writer (b. 1553)
- 1637 - Johann Gerhard, German Lutheran leader (b. 1582)
- 1653 - Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (b. 1598)
- 1655 - Alonso de la Cueva, Spanish cardinal and diplomat (b. 1572)
- 1723 - Guillaume Dubois, French cardinal and statesman (b. 1656)
- 1759 - King Ferdinand VI of Spain (b. 1713)
- 1784 - Allan Ramsay, Scottish painter (b. 1713)
- 1802 - Franz Aepinus, German scientist (b. 1724)
- 1806 - Michael Haydn, Austrian composer (b. 1737)
- 1839 - John St Aubyn, British fossil collector (b. 1758)
- 1862 - Shusaku Honinbo, Japanese Go player (b. 1829)
- 1875 - Karl Andree, German geographer (b. 1808)
- 1896 - Otto Lilienthal, German aviation pioneer (b. 1848)
- 1945 - Robert Goddard, American rocket scientist (b. 1882)
- 1948 - Montague Summers, English writer (b. 1880)
- 1963 - Estes Kefauver, U.S. Senator from Tennessee (b. 1903)
- 1980 - Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (b. 1917)
- 1993 - Øystein Aarseth, Norwegian musician (Mayhem) (b. 1968)
- 1997 - Conlon Nancarrow, American composer (b. 1912)
- 2002 - Michael Houser, American guitarist (Widespread Panic) (b. 1962)
- 2002 - Kristen Nygaard, Norwegian computer scientist (b. 1926)
- 2003 - Carmita Jimenez, Puerto Rican singer

Holidays and observances


- Roman festivals - Opalia, festival in honor of Ops
- Ancient Latvia - Labrenca Diena held
- Independence Day in Ecuador -- Movement began in Quito in 1809. Independence not achieved till May 1822.

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/10 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050810.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- August 9 - August 11 - July 10 - September 10 -- listing of all days ko:8월 10일 ms:10 Ogos ja:8月10日 simple:August 10 th:10 สิงหาคม

1907

1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events

January


- January 6 - Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome (Casa dei Bambini in San Lorenzo).
- January 14 - An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica kills more than 1,000.
- January 23 - Charles Curtis from Kansas, becomes the first Native American US Senator.

February


- February 22 - Scouting is founded by Robert Baden-Powell in the United Kingdom.

March


- March 5 - The new Duma is opened in St. Petersburg, Russia and 40,000 demonstrators had to be dispersed by Russian troops.
- March 18 - Train robbery in Sweden (first and only as of 2004)
- March 22 - The first cabs with taxi meters began operating in London.

May


- May 8 - Mount Peleé erupts
- May 27 - A Bubonic plague outbreak begins in San Francisco, California.

June


- June 1 - Colin Blythe takes 17 wickets for 48 runs against Northamptonshire at Northampton in one day. It is the best analysis ever recorded for a county cricket match (or for a single day's bowling), and not bettered in first-class cricket until 1956.
- June 5 - BAPS Swaminarayan religion established.
- June 11 - George Dennett, aided by Gilbert Jessop, dismisses Northamptonshire for 12 runs, the lowest total in first-class cricket.

July


- July 6 - Guardians of Irish Crown Jewels notice that they have been stolen
- July 25 - Korea becomes a protectorate of Japan.

August


- August 1-9 - Baden-Powell leads the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island, England.
- August 31 - Formation of the Anglo-Russian Entente.

September


- September 26 - New Zealand and Newfoundland become a dominion.

October


- October 24 - A major American financial crisis was averted when when J. P. Morgan, E. H. Harriman, James Stillman, Henry Clay Frick, and other Wall Street financiers created a $25,000,000 pool to invest in the shares on the plunging New York Stock Exchange.

November


- November 16 - Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory become Oklahoma and are admitted as the 46th U.S. state.

December


- December 19 - Explosion in coal mine in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania - 239 dead

Undated


- The Diamond Sutra of 868, a Buddhist scripture later dated as earliest example of block printing, is discovered in the Mogao Caves.
- The triode thermionic amplifier invented by Lee DeForest, starting the development of electronics as a practical technology.
- The Autochrome Lumière is the first color photography process marketed.
- Herero Wars end
- French warship Jena explodes - 117 dead
- First parliamentary elections in the Philippines
- Adlon Hotel finished in Berlin
- The Moine Thrust Belt in Scotland becomes the first thrust belt to be discovered in the world.
- The first non-profit school in California is created, Polytechnic School.
- The Lockport Powerhouse is built.

Births

January-March


- January 20 - Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (d. 1990)
- January 20 - Paula Wessely, Austrian actress (d. 2000)
- January 23 - Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
- February 1 - Günter Eich, German writer (d. 1972)
- February 15 - Jean Langlais, French composer and organist (d. 1991)
- February 15 - Cesar Romero, American actor (d. 1994)
- February 17 - Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (d. 1983)
- February 21 - W. H. Auden, English poet (d. 1973)
- February 22 - Sheldon Leonard, American actor, writer, director, and producer (d. 1997)
- February 22 - Robert Young, American actor (d. 1998)
- February 27 - Mildred Bailey, American singer (d. 1951)
- March 13 - Maria Pia de Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Braganca, claimant to the Portuguese throne (d. 1995)
- March 8 - Constantine Caramanlis, Greek politician (d. 1998)
- March 15 - Zarah Leander, Swedish actress and singer (d. 1981)
- March 22 - Lucia dos Santos, Potuguese nun and visionary (d. 2005)
- March 23 - Daniel Bovet, Swiss-born scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1992)

April-June


- April 12 - Felix de Weldon, Austrian-born sculptor (d. 2003)
- April 13 - Harold Stassen, American politician (d. 2001)
- April 15 - Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ornithologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1988)
- April 23 - Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor (d. 1975)
- April 24 - William Sargant, British psychiatrist (d. 1988)
- April 29 - Tino Rossi, French singer (d. 1983)
- April 29 - Fred Zinnemann, Austrian director (d. 1997)
- May 2 - Pinky Lee, American comedian (d. 1993)
- May 9 - Baldur von Schirach, Nazi official (d. 1974)
- May 11 - Rose Ausländer, German poet (d. 1988)
- May 12 - Katharine Hepburn, American actress (d. 2003)
- May 13 - Dame Daphne du Maurier, English author (d. 1989)
- May 14 - Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1974)
- May 22 - Hergé, Belgian comics author (d. 1983)
- May 22 - Sir Laurence Olivier, English actor and director (d. 1989)
- May 26 - John Wayne, American actor (d. 1979)
- May 26 - Rachel Carson, American environmental writer (d. 1964)
- May 30 - Elly Beinhorn, German pilot
- June 14 - René Char, French poet (d. 1988)
- June 23 - James Meade, English economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
- June 25 - J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist, Nobel Prize laurete (d. 1973)

July-September


- July 6 - Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (d. 1954)
- July 7 - Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction author (d. 1988)
- August 8 - Benny Carter, American musician (d. 2003)
- August 12 - Joe Besser, American comedian (d. 1988)
- August 13 - Viscount William Waldorf Astor, British politician (d. 1966)
- September 12 - Spud Chandler, baseball player (d. 1990)
- September 15 - Fay Wray, Canadian-born actress (d. 2004)
- September 18 - Leon Askin, Austrian actor (d. 2005)
- September 18 - Edwin McMillan, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
- September 26 - Bep van Klaveren, Dutch boxer (d. 1992)
- September 27 - Maurice Blanchot, French philosopher and writer (d. 2003)
- September 29 - Gene Autry, American actor (d. 1998)

October-December


- October 2 - Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Scottish chemist, Nobel Prize luarete (d. 1997)
- October 5 - Mrs. Miller, American singer (d. 1997)
- October 9 - Lord Hailsham, British politician (d. 2001)
- October 15 - Varian Fry, American journalist and rescuer (d. 1967)
- October 19 - Roger Wolfe Kahn, American bandleader (d. 1962)
- October 22 - Jimmie Foxx, baseball player (d. 1967)
- November 14 - Howard W. Hunter, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1995)
- November 14 - Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children's writer (d. 2002)
- November 14 - William Steig, American cartoonist (d. 2003)
- November 16 - Burgess Meredith, American actor (d. 1997)
- November 18 - Compay Segundo, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (d. 2003)
- November 28 - Alberto Moravia, Italian novelist (d. 1990)
- December 10 - Lucien Laurent, French footballer (d. 2005)
- December 19 - Jimmy McLarnin, Irish-born boxer (d. 2004)
- December 22 - Dame Peggy Ashcroft, British actress (d. 1991)
- December 23 - James Roosevelt, American businessman and politician (d. 1991)
- December 27 - Johann Wilhelm Trollmann, German boxer (d. 1943)

Undated


- Rafael Godoy, Colombian composer (d. 1973)
- Ismail Nasiruddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Zainal Abidin III, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
- Zhang Chongren, Chinese artist (d. 1998)

Deaths


- January 31 - Timothy Eaton, Canadian department store founder (b. 1834)
- February 2 - Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist (b. 1834)
- February 16 - Giosue Carducci, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1835)
- February 16 - Clémentine of Orléans, daughter of King Louis-Philippe of France (b. 1817)
- February 20 - Henri Moissan, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
- February 26 - C. W. Alcock, English footballer, journalist, and football promoter (b. 1842)
- March 19 - Thomas Bailey Aldrich, American poet and novelist (b. 1836)
- May 12 - Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author (b. 1848)
- August 15 - Joseph Joachim, Austrian violinist (b. 1831)
- August 16 - James Hector, Scottish geologist (b. 1834)
- September 4 - Edvard Grieg, Norwegian composer (b. 1843)
- September 6 - Sully Prudhomme, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1829)
- November 16 - Robert I, Duke of Parma, last ruling Duke of Parma (b. 1848)
- November 28 - Stanisław Wyspiański, Polish writer, painter, and architect (b. 1869)
- December 8 - King Oscar II of Sweden (b. 1829)
- December 17 - Lord Kelvin, Irish-born physicist and engineer (b. 1824)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Albert Abraham Michelson
- Chemistry - Eduard Buchner
- Medicine - Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran
- Literature - Rudyard Kipling
- Peace - Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Louis Renault Category:1907 ko:1907년 ms:1907 ja:1907年 simple:1907 th:พ.ศ. 2450

August 26

August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). There are 127 days remaining.

Events


- The Chinese invent first toilet paper (official date unknown)
- 55 BC - Julius Caesar invades Britain
- 1071 - Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Empire at Manzikert
- 1278 - Ladislaus IV of Hungary and Rudolph I of Germany defeat Premysl Ottokar II of Bohemia in the Battle of Marchfield near Dürnkrut in Moravia.
- 1346 - Hundred Years' War: The military supremacy of the English longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armoured knights is established at the Battle of Crécy.
- 1429 - Joan of Arc enters Paris.
- 1498 - Michelangelo commissioned to carve the Pietà.
- 1778 - The first ascent of Triglav, the highest mountain of Slovenia.
- 1789 - Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen approved by Constituent Assembly at Palace of Versailles
- 1839 - The ship Amistad is captured off Long Island.
- 1858 - First news dispatch by telegraph.
- 1862 - American Civil War: The Second Battle of Bull Run begins.
- 1883 - Eruption of Mount Krakatoa.
- 1914 - World War I: Germans defeat Russians in Battle of Tannenberg.
- 1914 - World War I: The British Expeditionary Force briefly checks the German advance at Le Cateau.
- 1914 - World War I: The German colony of Togoland is invaded by French and British forces, who take it after 5 days.
- 1920 - 19th amendment to U.S. Constitution gives women the right to vote.
- 1939 - The first Major League Baseball game is telecast, a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, in Brooklyn, New York.
- 1940 - Chad is the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor.
- 1944 - World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris.
- 1957 - The USSR announces the successful test of an ICBM - a "super longdistance intercontinental multistage ballistic rocket ... a few days ago," according to Tass Soviet News Agency.
- 1968 - Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago, Illinois
- 1968 - The Beatles' "Hey Jude" is released as a single in the United States under the Apple Records label.
- 1972 - Games of the XX Olympiad open in Munich, Germany.
- 1976 - Raymond Barre becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1978 - Papal conclave, 1978 (August): Pope John Paul I is elevated to the Papacy.
- 1978 - Sigmund Jähn becomes first German cosmonaut on board of the Soyuz 31 spacecraft.
- 1986 - Toxic gas kills 1700 in Cameroon.
- 1987 - President Ronald Wilson Reagan proclaims September 11, 1987 as 9-1-1 Emergency Number Day.
- 1988 - Merhan Karimi Nasseri arrives at Charles de Gaulle International Airport.
- 1997 - Beni-Ali massacre in Algeria; 60-100 people killed.
- 2002 - Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Éric Gagné converts his first of a record 84 consecutive successful save opportunities.
- 2002 - Earth Summit 2002 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa.
- 2003 - Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases its final reports on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
- 2005 - Fiji's High Court rules that the island's sodomy law is unconstitutional.

Births


- 1469 - Ferdinand II of Naples (d. 1496)
- 1540 - King Magnus of Livonia (d. 1583)
- 1676 - Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1745)
- 1694 - Elisha Williams, American rector of Yale College (d. 1755)
- 1743 - Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (d. 1794)
- 1775 - William Joseph Behr, German writer (d. 1851)
- 1792 - Manuel Oribe, Uruguayan political figure (d. 1857)
- 1850 - Charles Robert Richet, French physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
- 1873 - Lee DeForest, American inventor (d. 1961)
- 1874 - Zona Gale, American novelist (d. 1938)
- 1875 - John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Scottish novelist, Governor General of Canada (d. 1940)
- 1880 - Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet and art critic (d. 1918)
- 1882 - James Franck, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
- 1896 - Ivan Mihailov, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1990)
- 1897 - Yoon Boseon, President of South Korea (d. 1990)
- 1898 - Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (d. 1979)
- 1900 - Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (d. 1980)
- 1901 - Maxwell Taylor, American general (d. 1987)
- 1904 - Christopher Isherwood, English-born writer (d. 1986)
- 1906 - Albert Sabin, American polio researcher (d. 1993)
- 1909 - Jim Davis, American actor (d. 1981)
- 1914 - Julio Cortázar, Argentine writer (d. 1984)
- 1921 - Benjamin Bradlee, American journalist
- 1922 - Irving R. Levine, American journalist
- 1923 - Wolfgang Sawallisch, German conductor and pianist
- 1934 - Tom Heinsohn, American basketball player and commentator
- 1935 - Geraldine Ferraro, U.S. Vice Presidential candidate
- 1936 - Yvette Vickers, American actress
- 1940 - Don LaFontaine, movie trailer announcer
- 1941 - Barbet Schroeder, Swiss film director
- 1941 - Akiko Wakabayashi, Japanese actress
- 1942 - Vic Dana, American singer
- 1942 - Dennis Turner, British politician
- 1944 - Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
- 1946 - Valerie Simpson, American singer
- 1946 - Tom Ridge, first United States Secretary of Homeland Security
- 1952 - Michael Jeter, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1956 - Brett Cullen, American actor
- 1957 - Dr. Alban, Nigerian singer
- 1960 - Branford Marsalis, American saxophonist and bandleader
- 1965 - Chris Burke, American actor
- 1965 - Jon Hensley, American actor
- 1966 - Jacques Brinkman, Dutch field hockey player
- 1966 - Shirley Manson, Scottish singer
- 1971 - Thalía, Mexican actress
- 1979 - Jamal Lewis, American football player
- 1980 - Macaulay Culkin, American actor

Deaths


- 1278 - King Otakar II of Bohemia
- 1346 - Killed in the Battle of Crécy:
  - Charles II of Alençon (b. 1297)
  - Louis I of Flanders (b. 1304)
  - John I, Count of Luxemburg (b. 1296)
  - Rudolph, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1320)
- 1349 - Thomas Bradwardine, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1551 - Margareta Leijonhufvud, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1516)
- 1595 - Antonio, Prior of Crato, claimant to the throne of Portugal (b. 1531)
- 1666 - Frans Hals, Dutch painter
- 1714 - Edward Fowler, English Bishop of Gloucester (b. 1632)
- 1723 - Anton van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch scientist (b. 1632)
- 1785 - George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, British soldier and politician (b. 1716)
- 1850 - Louis-Philippe of France (b. 1773)
- 1915 - John Bunny American comedian (b. 1863)
- 1930 - Lon Chaney, Sr., American actor (b. 1883)
- 1944 - Adam von Trott zu Solz, German diplomat opposing the Nazi regime (executed)
- 1945 - Franz Werfel, Austrian writer (b. 1890)
- 1958 - Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (b. 1872)
- 1968 - Kay Francis, American actress (b. 1899)
- 1974 - Charles Lindbergh, American aviator (b. 1902)
- 1976 - Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (b. 1888)
- 1978 - Charles Boyer, French actor (b. 1899)
- 1978 - José Manuel Moreno, Argentine footballer (b. 1916)
- 1979 - Mika Waltari, Finnish author (b. 1908)
- 1980 - Rosa Albach-Retty, German actress (b. 1874)
- 1980 - Tex Avery, American cartoonist (b. 1908)
- 1981 - Roger Nash Baldwin, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (b. 1884)
- 1986 - Ted Knight, American actor (b. 1923)
- 1987 - Georg Wittig, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
- 1989 - Irving Stone, American author (b. 1903)
- 1990 - Minoru Honda, Japanese astronomer (b. 1913)
- 1998 - Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- 2003 - Jim Wacker, American football coach (b. 1937)
- 2004 - Laura Branigan, American singer (b. 1957)
- 2005 - Robert Denning, Interior designer (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances


- RC saints - St Zephyrinus, Saint Ninian, David Lewis (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
- Namibia - Namibia Day or Heroes' Day
- Zanzibar - Sultan's Birthday

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/26 BBC: On This Day] ---- August 25 - August 27 - July 26 - September 26 -- listing of all days ko:8월 26일 ms:26 Ogos ja:8月26日 simple:August 26 th:26 สิงหาคม

1930's

----

Events and trends

The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the global depression. In Australia, this decade was known as the Dirty Thirties. In both Central Europe and Eastern Europe, Fascism, Nazism, Stalinism, and dominated as the solution, the first two adopting war-oriented economic policies and the latter emphasizing heavy industrial development, all of them described as totalitarian regimes. In East Asia, the rise of Militarism occurred. In Western Europe, Australia and the United States, more progressive reforms occurred as opposed to the extreme measures sought elsewhere. Roosevelt's New Deal attempted to use government spending to combat large-scale unemployment and severely negative growth. Ultimately, it would be the beginning of World War II in 1939 that would end the depression.

Technology


- Jet engine invented
- Disney adopts a three-color Technicolor process for cartoons
- The photocopier is invented
- Air mail service across the Atlantic

Science


- Nuclear fission discovered by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann
- Pluto, the ninth planet from the Sun, is discovered by Clyde Tombaugh
- British biologist Arthur Tansley coins term "ecosystem"
- New and safer method for blood transfusions.

War, peace and politics


- Socialists proclaim The death of Capitalism
- Rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany
- Under Joseph Stalin, millions die in famines. The Great Purges eliminate all Old Bolsheviks from the Soviet government, except for Molotov and Stalin himself.
- Almost all of Continental Europe moves to Authoritarianism or Totalitarianism
- Starts or continue the Estado Novo in Brazil and Portugal.
- Advent of the modern welfare state in New Zealand and Sweden.
- The Empire of Japan invades China as a precursor to Japanese invasions in Southeast Asia
- The Spanish Civil War
- Start of World War II in Asia and Europe

Economics


- Worldwide Great Depression

Culture, religion


- Radio becomes dominant mass media in industrial nations
- "Golden Age" of radio begins in U.S.
- First intercontinental commercial airline flights
- Height of the Art Deco movement in Europe and the US
- The Wizard of Oz
- "Big band" or "swing" music becomes popular (from 1935 onward)
- Superman debuts in 1938.
- Triumph of the Will

Others


- U.S. presidential candidate Huey Long assassinated
- Board of Temperance Strategy established in U.S. to fight repeal of prohibition.

People

World leaders


- Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (Canada)
- President Chiang Kai-shek (Republic of China)
- President Lin Sen (Republic of China)
- President Paul von Hindenburg (Germany)
- Adolf Hitler (Germany)
- King Victor Emmanuel III (Italy)
- Prime Minister Benito Mussolini (Italy)
- President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (Turkey)
- Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
- Pope Pius XI
- Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)
- King George V (United Kingdom)
- King Edward VIII (United Kingdom)
- King George VI (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (United Kingdom)
- President Herbert Hoover (United States)
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt (United States)
- President W.T. Cosgrave (Irish Free State)
- President Eamon de Valera (Irish Free State)
- Taoiseach Eamon de Valera (Éire)
- Prime Minister James Scullin (Australia)
- Prime Minister Joseph Lyons (Australia)
- Prime Minister Sir Earle Page (Australia)
- Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage (New Zealand)
- President Getúlio Vargas (Brazil)
- Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar (Portugal)

Entertainers


- Alice Brady
- Bela Lugosi
- Benny Goodman
- Bing Crosby
- Boris Karloff
- Charlie Chaplin
- Duke Ellington
- Django Reinhardt
- Edward G. Robinson
- Fats Waller
- Fred Astaire
- Ginger Rogers
- Glenn Miller and his orchestra
- Judy Garland
- Katharine Hepburn
- Louis Armstrong
- The Marx Brothers
- Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
- Carl Stuart Hamblen

Sports figures


- Cliff Bastin (English footballer)
- Donald Bradman (Australian cricketer)
- Bill "Dixie" Dean (English footballer)
- Jack Dyer (Australian Rules Football player)
- Walter Hammond (Gloucestershire & England cricketer)
- Eddie Hapgood (English footballer)
- George Headley (West Indies cricketer)
- Alex James (Scottish footballer)
- Douglas Jardine (England cricket captain)
- Harold Larwood (Nottinghamshire & England cricketer)
- Jack Lovelock (New Zealand runner)
- Jesse Owens (American track and field athlete)
- Fred Perry (English tennis player)

External links


- [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/front.html America in the 1930s]— An overview of the decade in the United States
- [http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/webtours/GE_P4_1_EN.html The Dirty Thirties] — Images of the Great Depression in Canada Category:1930s ko:1930년대 ja:1930年代 simple:1930s

J. Edgar Hoover

John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was the founder of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its present form and its director from May 10, 1924 until his death in 1972. Hoover was appointed acting director of the FBI by President Coolidge to reform and clean up the bureau, which was considered a haven of corruption. During his tenure, Hoover attained extraordinary power and unusual discretionary authority, while also feuding with many adversaries. Some of his contemporary detractors and now some historians suspect or accused him of having links to the Mafia, of gathering information for the purposes of blackmail, of being a closet homosexual, and of passing as white while persecuting others with similar preferences and backgrounds.

FBI legacy

To date, Hoover is the longest-serving leader of an executive branch agency in the United States, having served under a record eight presidents, from Calvin Coolidge to Richard Nixon; indeed, it is because of Hoover that, since his tenure, FBI Directors have been limited to ten-year terms. Hoover is credited with creating an effective law enforcement organization, but has frequently been accused of exceeding and abusing his authority in blackmailing notable public figures and engaging in unwarranted political persecution. Hoover's COINTELPRO program allowed FBI agents to disrupt organizations such as the Black Panther Party, the Ku Klux Klan, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s SCLC, using methods including infiltration, legal harassment, and violence. Hoover habitually fired FBI agents, either randomly or by singling out those who "looked like truck drivers" or had "pointy heads." He was also notorious for assigning agents who had displeased him to career-ending jobs in cities with little need for an FBI presence. Nevertheless, in 1966, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from President Lyndon Johnson for his role as Director of the FBI.

Early life and education

Hoover was born in Washington, DC, but few details are known of his early years; a birth certificate for him was not filed until 1938. What little is known about his upbringing generally can be traced back to a single 1937 profile by journalist Jack Alexander. Hoover was educated at George Washington University, graduating in 1917 with a law degree. During his time there, he became a member of Kappa Alpha Order (Alpha Nu 1914). While a law student at GWU, Hoover became interested in the career of Anthony Comstock, the New York City based U.S. Postal Inspector who waged prolonged campaigns against fraud and vice a generation earlier. He is thought to have studied Comstock's methods and modeled his early career on Comstock's reputation for relentless pursuit and occasional short cuts in crime fighting. He was awarded an honorary Sc. D by Kalamazoo College in 1937.

Department of Justice and FBI career

Rather than enlisting for military service during World War I, he found work with the Justice Department. He soon proved himself capable and was promoted to head the Enemy Aliens Registration Section. In 1919, he became head of the new General Intelligence Division of the Justice Department (see the Palmer Raids). From there, in 1921, he joined the Bureau of Investigation as deputy head, and in 1924 the Attorney General made him the acting director. He became the permanent director of the Bureau in 1925. When Hoover took over the Bureau of Investigation, it had approximately 650 employees, including 441 Special Agents. In great part due to several highly-publicized captures or shootings of outlaws and bankrobbers like John Dillinger, Alvin Karpis and Machine Gun Kelly the Bureau's powers were broadened and it was renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935. In 1939, the FBI became pre-eminent in the field of domestic intelligence. Hoover made changes such as expanding and combining fingerprint files in the Identification Division to compile the largest collection of fingerprints ever made. Hoover also helped to greatly expand the FBI's recruitment and create the FBI Laboratory, a division established in 1932 to examine evidence found by the FBI. 1932 Hoover was noted for his concern about—some would say obsession with—subversion. He attacked and spied upon scores of suspected subversives and radicals throughout his career as FBI director. Hoover tended to exaggerate the dangers of subversives, and many believe he overstepped his bounds in his pursuit of eliminating this perceived threat. President Truman wrote in his memoirs: "The country had reason to be proud of and have confidence in our security agencies. They had kept us almost totally free of sabotage and espionage during the World War II". An example was his capture of the Nazi saboteurs in the Quirin affair. Another example of Hoover's power and obsession with subversion is his handling of the Venona Project. The FBI inherited a pre-WW II joint project with the British to eavesdrop on Soviet spies in the UK and the U.S. Hoover kept the intercepts in a locked safe in his office, chosing not to inform President Harry Truman, his Attorney General McGraith and two Secretaries of State Dean Acheson and General George Marshall while they held office. He chose not to inform the CIA until 1952 of the Venona Project. Hoover amassed significant power by collecting files containing large amounts of compromising and potentially embarrassing information on scores of powerful people, especially politicians, which were kept separate from official FBI records. On his orders, the files were destroyed immediately after Hoover's death. In the 1950s, evidence of Hoover's apparently cozy relations with the Mafia became grist for the media and his many detractors, after famed muckraker Jack Anderson exposed the immense scope of the Mafia's organized crime network, a threat Hoover had long downplayed. Hoover's retaliation and continual harassment of Anderson lasted into the 1970s. Hoover has also been accused of trying to undermine the reputations of members of the civil rights movement and the Black Panther Party. Presidents Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson each considered firing Hoover, but concluded that the political cost of doing so would be too great. Hoover maintained strong support in Congress until his