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Walter Washington

Walter Washington

Walter Edward Washington, (April 15, 1915 – October 27, 2003), was the first elected mayor (and first black mayor) of the District of Columbia (Washington, DC). From 1975 until 1979 he served as mayor in that capacity. Previsously, between 1967 and 1974 he had been appointed mayor-commissioner by Presidents Lyndon Johnson (1967–1972) and Richard Nixon (1972–1974), during the period before home rule became effective in the District. (Congress had enacted the District of Columbia Self-Rule and Governmental Reorganization Act on December 24 1973, providing for an elected mayor and city council for the District. Home rule became effective with the first mayor and council on January 2 1975.) Washington was also the first elected black mayor of a major American city. Soon after his initial appointment by President Johnson as mayor-commissioner in late 1967, Washington was faced with the riots in the District that followed the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. Although he was reportedly urged by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover to shoot the rioters, he refused. He told the Washington Post later, "I walked by myself through the city and urged angry young people to go home. I asked them to help the people who had been burned out." Washington was born in Dawson, Georgia and raised in Jamestown, New York. He graduated with a bachelor's degree and, later, received his law degree from Howard University in the District. His first wife, Benetta, died in 1991. In 1994 he married Mary Burke. He had a daughter, Benetta Washington, with his first wife. Washington died on October 27 2003. Washington, Walter Washington, Walter Washington, Walter Washington, Walter Washington, Walter

April 15

April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). There are 260 days remaining.

Events


- 1450 - Battle of Formigny; Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in northern France.
- 1632 - Battle of Rain; Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
- 1738 - Premiere in London of Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel.
- 1755 - Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language published in London.
- 1783 - Preliminary articles of peace ending Revolutionary War ratified.
- 1802 - William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy come across a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.
- 1865 - Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by John Wilkes Booth.
- 1865 - Andrew Johnson becomes the 17th President of the United States.
- 1892 - The General Electric Company is formed through the merger of the Edison General Electric Company and the Thomson-Houston Company.
- 1912 - The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks at about 2:20 a.m. after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic almost three hours earlier.
- 1915 - The Armenian Genocide began when the Ottoman Empire undertook the systematic annihilation of Armenian intellectuals and entrepreneurs within the city of Constantinople and later the entire Armenian population of the Empire.
- 1920 - Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti allegedly murder two security guards while robbing a shoe store.
- 1923 - Insulin first became generally available for use by diabetics.
- 1924 - Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas.
- 1927 - Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Norma and Constance Talmadge become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
- 1940 - The Allies start their attack on the Norwegian town of Narvik which was occupied by Nazi Germany.
- 1942 - George Cross awarded to "to the island fortress of Malta - its people and defenders" by King George VI.
- 1945 - The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
- 1947 - Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, breaking that sport's color line.
- 1955 - The first McDonald's restaurant opens in Des Plaines, Illinois.
- 1983 - Tokyo Disneyland opens.
- 1985 - Marvin Hagler defeats Thomas Hearns by a knockout in round three to retain boxing's world Middleweight championship in a fight nicknamed The War.
- 1989 - Hillsborough disaster: A human stampede occurs at Hillsborough, a football stadium in Sheffield, England, resulting in the loss of 96 lives.
- 1989 - Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in the People's Republic of China.
- 1994 - Representatives of 124 countries and the European Communities sign the Marrakesh Agreements revising the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and setting up the World Trade Organization (effective January 1 1995).
- 1997 - Fire sweeps through a campsite of Muslims making the Hajj pilgrimage; the official death toll is 343.
- 2001 - Easter day (not again until 2063).
- 2002 - An Air China Boeing 767-200, flight CA129 crashes into hillside during heavy rain and fog near Pusan, South Korea killing 128.

Births


- 1452 - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist (d. 1519)
- 1489 - Sinan, Ottoman architect (d. 1588)
- 1552 - Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician (d. 1626)
- 1580 - George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, English politician and colonizer
- 1588 - Claudius Salmasius, French classical scholar (d. 1653)
- 1641 - Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician and antiquarian (d. 1722)
- 1642 - Suleiman II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1691)
- 1646 - King Christian V of Denmark (d. 1699)
- 1684 - Catherine I of Russia (d. 1727)
- 1688 - Johann Friedrich Fasch, German composer (d. 1758)
- 1707 - Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician (d. 1783)
- 1710 - William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1790)
- 1721 - Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, English military leader (d. 1765)
- 1772 - Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French naturalist (d. 1844)
- 1793 - Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer (d. 1864)
- 1794 - Jean Pierre Flourens, French physiologist (d. 1867)
- 1800 - James Clark Ross, English explorer (d. 1862)
- 1809 - Hermann Grassmann, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1877)
- 1832 - Wilhelm Busch, German poet and artist (d. 1908)
- 1843 - Henry James, American author (d. 1916)
- 1858 - Émile Durkheim, French sociologist (d. 1917)
- 1861 - Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (d. 1929)
- 1874 - Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
- 1878 - Robert Walser, Swiss writer (d. 1956)
- 1879 - Melville Henry Cane, American lawyer and poet (d. 1980)
- 1883 - Stanley Bruce, eighth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
- 1886 - Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet (d. 1921)
- 1889 - Thomas Hart Benton, American muralist (d. 1975)
- 1889 - A. Philip Randolph, American activist (d. 1979)
- 1894 - Bessie Smith, American blues singer (d. 1937)
- 1895 - Clark McConachy, New Zealand billiards and snooker player (d. 1980)
- 1896 - Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- 1901 - Joe Davis, English snooker player (d. 1978)
- 1902 - Fernando Pessa, Portuguese journalist (d. 2002)
- 1907 - Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ornithologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1988)
- 1912 - Kim Il Sung, President of North Korea (d. 1994)
- 1916 - Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American businessman (d. 1982)
- 1917 - Hans Conried, American actor (d. 1982)
- 1920 - Richard von Weizäcker, President of Germany
- 1921 - Georgi Beregovoi, cosmonaut (d. 1995)
- 1922 - Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor
- 1922 - Harold Washington, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1987)
- 1924 - Sir Neville Marriner, English conductor and violinist
- 1927 - Robert Mills, American physicist (d. 1999)
- 1930 - Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, President of Iceland
- 1933 - Roy Clark, American musician
- 1933 - Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1933 - Boris Strugatsky, Russian author
- 1938 - Claudia Cardinale, Tunisian-born actress
- 1940 - Jeffrey Archer, British author and Member of Parliament
- 1940 - Robert Walker Jr., American actor
- 1942 - Francis X. DiLorenzo, American Catholic prelate
- 1942 - Walt Hazzard, American basketball player
- 1944 - Dzhokhar Dudaev, Chechen leader (d. 1996)
- 1944 - Dave Edmunds, Welsh musician
- 1947 - Lois Chiles, American actress
- 1948 - Michael Kamen, American composer (d. 2003)
- 1950 - Amy Wright, American actress
- 1951 - Heloise, American newspaper columnist
- 1954 - Seka, American actress
- 1955 - Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
- 1957 - Evelyn Ashford, American athlete
- 1958 - Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer and musician
- 1959 - Emma Thompson, English actress
- 1959 - Thomas F. Wilson, American actor
- 1960 - Tony Jones, English snooker player
- 1962 - Nawal El Moutawakel, Morrocan hurdler
- 1963 - Bobby Pepper, American journalist
- 1965 - Linda Perry, American musician
- 1966 - Samantha Fox, English singer and model
- 1967 - Frankie Poullain, British bassist (The Darkness)
- 1967 - Dara Torres, American swimmer
- 1968 - Ed O'Brien, British musician (Radiohead)
- 1968 - Stacey Williams, American model
- 1970 - Flex Alexander, American actor
- 1972 - Arturo Gatti, Canadian boxer
- 1974 - Danny Pino, American actor
- 1974 - Josh Todd, musician and singer (Buckcherry)
- 1976 - Richard H. Reuling III, American businessman
- 1977 - Chandra Levy, American Congressional intern (d. 2001)
- 1980 - Raúl López, Spanish basketball player
- 1983 - Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian hockey player
- 1986 - Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Dutch footballer
- 1987 - Samuel Jay Berner, Coolest person ever to live
- 1988 - Leonard Miller, From The Irish Band Breeze [http://www.breezeworld.tk BREEZE THE IRISH BAND]
- 1988 - Uriel Salgado, future filmaker
- 1990 - Emma Watson, English actress
- 1991 - Jacob Muller, Canadian Gamer
- Unknown - Sister Marie Leahy, SSJ and St. Genevieve teacher
- 1992 - Amy Diamond, Swedish pop singer

Deaths


- 1053 - Godwin, Earl of Wessex
- 1220 - Adolf of Altena, Archbishop of Cologne
- 1415 - Manuel Chrysoloras, Greek humanist
- 1446 - Filippo Brunelleschi, Italian architect (b. 1377)
- 1610 - Robert Parsons, English Jesuit priest (b. 1546)
- 1621 - John Carver, first governor of Plymouth Colony
- 1641 - Domenico Zampieri, Italian painter (b. 1581)
- 1659 - Simon Dach, German poet (b. 1605)
- 1704 - Johann van Waveren Hudde, Dutch mathematician b. [[1628]])
- [[1719 - Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon, second wife of Louis XIV of France (b. 1635)
- 1754 - Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician (b. 1676)
- 1761 - Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, Scottish politician (b. 1682)
- 1761 - William Oldys, English antiquarian and bibliographer (b. 1696)
- 1764 - Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XIV of France (b. 1721)
- 1765 - Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian scientist and writer (b. 1711)
- 1788 - Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (b. 1711)
- 1793 - Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian Jesuit missionary and geographer (b. 1718)
- 1804 - Charles Pichegru, French general (strangled in prison) (b. 1761)
- 1843 - Noah Webster, American lexicographer (b. 1758)
- 1854 - Arthur Aikin, English chemist, mineralogist, and scientific writer (b. 1773)
- 1865 - Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States (b. 1809)
- 1888 - Matthew Arnold, English poet (b. 1822)
- 1888 - Father Damien, Belgian missionary (b. 1840)
- 1898 - Kepa Te Rangihiwinui, Maori military leader
- 1912 - Victims of the RMS Titanic
  - Edward Smith, Captain of the Titanic (b. 1850)
  - John Jacob Astor IV, American businessman (b. 1864)
  - Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (b. 1865)
- 1942 - Robert Musil, German novelist (b. 1880)
- 1949 - Wallace Beery, American actor (b. 1885)
- 1962 - Clara Blandick, American actress (b. 1881)
- 1964 - Rachel Carson, American biologist and author (b. 1907)
- 1969 - Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Queen of Spain (b. 1887)
- 1974 - Giovanni D'Anzi, Italian songwriter (b.1906)
- 1975 - Richard Conte, American actor (b. 1910)
- 1980 - Raymond Bailey, American actor (b. 1904)
- 1980 - Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (declined) (b. 1905)
- 1982 - Arthur Lowe, British actor (b. 1915)
- 1984 - Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedy magician (b. 1921)
- 1986 - Jean Genet, French author (b. 1910)
- 1988 - Kenneth Williams, English actor and comedian (b. 1926)
- 1988 - Tony Mann, Australian footballer
- 1989 - Hu Yaobang, leader of China (b. 1915)
- 1990 - Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (b. 1905)
- 1993 - John Tuzo Wilson, Canadian geologist (b. 1908)
- 1993 - Leslie Charteris, Singapore-born author (b. 1907)
- 1994 - John Curry, English figure skater (b. 1949)
- 1998 - Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator (b. 1925)
- 2000 - Edward Gorey, American illustrator (b. 1925)
- 2001 - Joey Ramone, American musician and singer (The Ramones) (b. 1951)
- 2002 - Damon Knight, author (b. 1922)
- 2002 - Byron "Whizzer" White, American football player and U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1917)
- 2003 - Erin Fleming, Canadian actress (b. 1941)

Holidays and observances


- Ancient Latvia — Tipsa Diena was observed
- April 15 or, if it falls on the weekend, the following Monday, is the deadline for Americans to file their tax returns—post offices across the United States stay open until midnight to accommodate procrastinators
- Father Damien Day — celebrated annually in Hawai'i
- Feast day of Saint Paternus
- Roman Empire — the Fordicia was celebrated in honor of Terra
- Major League Baseball celebrates "Jackie Robinson Day" each April 15 in all MLB ballparks

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/15 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/4/15 Today in History: April 15] ---- April 14 - April 16 - March 15 - May 15 -- listing of all days ko:4월 15일 ja:4月15日 simple:April 15 th:15 เมษายน

October 27

October 27 is the 300th day of the year (301st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 65 days remaining.

Events


- 625 - Honorius I becomes Pope.
- 939 - Edmund I succeeds Athelstan as King of England.
- 1553 - Condemned as a heretic, Michael Servetus is burned at the stake just outside Geneva.
- 1644 - Second Battle of Newbury in the English Civil War.
- 1795 - The United States and Spain sign the Treaty of Madrid, which establishes the boundaries between Spanish colonies and the U.S.
- 1797 - Treaty of Campo Formio is signed between France and Austria.
- 1810 - United States annexes the former Spanish colony of West Florida.
- 1838 - Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state.
- 1870 - Marshal François Achille Bazaine surrenders to Prussian forces at Metz along with 140,000 French soldiers in one of the biggest French defeats of the Franco-Prussian War.
- 1904 - First New York City Subway line opens; the system becomes biggest in United States of America, and one of the biggest in world.
- 1916 - Battle of Segale: Negus Mikael, marching on the Ethiopian capital in support of his son Emperor Iyasus V, is defeated by Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis, securing the throne for Empress Zauditu.
- 1946 - First commercially-sponsored television program airs (Geographically Speaking, sponsored by Bristol-Myers).
- 1948 - Léopold Sédar Senghor founds the Senegalese Democratic Bloc (BDS).
- 1949 - An airliner flying from Paris to New York crashes near the Azores. Among the victims are violinist Ginette Neveu and boxer Marcel Cerdan.
- 1953 - British nuclear test Totem 2 is detonated at Emu Field, South Australia.
- 1954 - Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force.
- 1958 - Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan, is deposed in a bloodless coup d'état by General Ayub Khan, who was appointed the enforcer of martial law by Mirza 20 days earlier.
- 1961 - NASA launched the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1.
- 1962 - Major Rudolph Anderson of the US Air Force became the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane was shot down in Cuba by a Soviet-supplied SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile.
- 1973 - The Canyon City meteorite, a 1.4 kg chondrite type meteorite strikes in Fremont County, Colorado.
- 1981 - The Soviet submarine U 137 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.
- 1990 - Supreme Soviet of Kirghiz SSR chooses Askar Akayev as republic's first president.
- 1991 - Turkmenistan achieved independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1995 - Latvia applies for membership in the European Union.
- 1997 - Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 554.26 points to 7,161.15. For the first time, the New York Stock Exchange activated their "circuit breakers" twice during the day eventually making the controversial move of closing the Exchange early (see October 27, 1997 mini-crash).
- 1998 - Gerhard Schröder becomes Chancellor of Germany for the first time.
- 2002 - Trades unionist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is elected as President of Brazil.
- 2004 - End of the Curse of the Bambino: Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox won Game 4 of the World Series 3-0, sweeping the series in 4 games over the St. Louis Cardinals on a night featuring a full lunar eclipse, becoming champions for the first time since 1918.
- 2004 - Matti Nykänen, once a very successful Finnish ski-jumper, is found guilty of attempt of manslaughter and sentenced to a two year and two month jail term for stabbing a family friend.
- 2005 - Iran launches its first satellite, sina 1, into space.
- 2005 - Harriet Miers withdraws her nomination to the US Supreme Court
- 2005 - Riots begin in Paris after the deaths of two Muslim teenagers

Births


- 1156 - Count Raymond VI of Toulouse (d. 1222)
- 1401 - Catherine of Valois, queen of Henry V of England (d. 1437)
- 1466 - Erasmus, Dutch humanist and theologian (d. 1536)
- 1728 - James Cook, British naval captain and explorer (d. 1779)
- 1744 - Mary Moser, English painter (d. 1819)
- 1760 - August von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (d. 1831)
- 1782 - Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1840)
- 1811 - Isaac Singer, American inventor (d. 1875)
- 1811 - Stevens Thomson Mason, first Governor of Michigan (d. 1843)
- 1842 - Giovanni Giolitti, Italian statesman (d. 1928)
- 1844 - Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1916)
- 1858 - Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1919)
- 1873 - Emily Post, etiquette author (d. 1960)
- 1877 - George Thompson, English cricketer (d. 1943)
- 1894 - Oliver Leese, British general (d. 1978)
- 1906 - Earle Cabell, American politician (d. 1975)
- 1910 - Jack Carson, Canadian actor (d. 1963)
- 1914 - Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 1953)
- 1917 - Oliver Tambo, South African freedom fighter (d. 1993)
- 1918 - Teresa Wright, American actress (d. 2005)
- 1920 - Nanette Fabray, American actress
- 1920 - K. R. Narayanan, President of India
- 1922 - Poul Bundgaard, Danish actor and singer (d. 1998)
- 1923 - Roy Lichtenstein, American artist (d. 1997)
- 1924 - Ruby Dee, American actress
- 1925 - Albert Medwin, American inventor
- 1931 - Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian writer
- 1932 - Sylvia Plath, American poet (d. 1963)
- 1939 - John Cleese, British actor and writer
- 1940 - John Gotti, American gangster (d. 2002)
- 1946 - Carrie Snodgress, American actress (d. 2004)
- 1950 - Fran Lebowitz, American writer
- 1953 - Peter Firth, British actor
- 1957 - Jeff East, American actor
- 1958 - Simon Le Bon, English singer (Duran Duran)
- 1963 - Marla Maples, American actress and model
- 1967 - Scott Weiland, American singer (Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver)
- 1970 - Adrian Erlandsson, Swedish drummer (Cradle of Filth)
- 1972 - Evan Coyne Maloney, American filmmaker
- 1972 - Brad Radke, baseball player
- 1977 - Jiří Jarosík, Czech footballer
- 1978 - Vanessa-Mae, Singapore musician
- 1980 - Tanel Padar, Estonian singer
- 1980 - Jeku, electronic musician Jake Jensen
- 1984 - Kelly Osbourne, English television personality

Deaths


- 939 - King Athelstan I of England
- 1271 - Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy, French crusader (b. 1213)
- 1312 - John II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1275)
- 1327 - Elizabeth de Burgh, queen of Robert I of Scotland
- 1331 - Abu al-Fida, Arab hitorian and geographer (b. 1273)
- 1430 - Vytautas the Great, Grand Prince of Lithuania
- 1439 - Albert II of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1397)
- 1449 - Ulugh Beg, Timurid ruler and astronomer (b. 1394)
- 1505 - Ivan III of Russia (b. 1440)
- 1553 - Michael Servetus, Spanish theologian (burned at the stake) (b. 1511)
- 1561 - Lope de Aguirre, Spanish conquistador
- 1573 - Laurentius Petri, first Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden (b. 1499)
- 1617 - Ralph Winwood, English politician
- 1670 - Vavasor Powell, Welsh non-conformist leader (b. 1617)
- 1674 - Hallgrímur Pétursson, Icelandic poet (b. 1614)
- 1675 - Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician (b. 1602)
- 1789 - John Cook, American farmer and President of Delaware (b. 1730)
- 1917 - Arthur Rhys Davids, English pilot (b. 1897)
- 1949 - Marcel Cerdan, French boxer (b. 1916)
- 1949 - Ginette Neveu, French violinist (b. 1919)
- 1953 - Thomas Wass, English cricketer (b. 1873)
- 1962 - Enrico Mattei, Italian politician (b. 1906)
- 1968 - Lise Meitner, German physicist (b. 1878)
- 1975 - Rex Stout, American novelist (b. 1886)
- 1977 - James M. Cain, American novelist (b. 1892)
- 1980 - Steve Peregrin Took, English singer and songwriter (b. 1949)
- 1980 - John Hasbrouck van Vleck, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
- 1990 - Xavier Cugat, Spanish-born musician (b. 1900)
- 1990 - Elliott Roosevelt, American war hero, author, and advertising executive (b. 1910)
- 1992 - David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (b. 1917)
- 1996 - Morey Amsterdam, American actor (b. 1908)
- 1999 - Robert Mills, American physicist (b. 1927)
- 2000 - Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (b. 1929)
- 2003 - Rod Roddy, American television announcer (b. 1937)
- 2005 - Bob Broeg, American sports writer (b. 1918)

Holidays and observances


- R.C. saints - October 27th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:
  - St. Abraham the Poor
  - St. Abban of Murnevin
  - St. Capitolina
  - St. Desiderius
  - St. Elesbaan
  - St. Florentius
  - St. Frumentius, the saint who introduced Christianity into Ethiopia.
  - St. Gaudiosus
  - St. Namatius
  - St. Odhran
  - St. Vincent, Sabina, & Christeta
- Turkmenistan - Independence Day (from USSR, 1991)
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Independence Day (from Britain, 1979)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/27 BBC: On This Day] ---- October 26 - October 28 - November 27 - September 27 - more historical anniversaries ko:10월 27일 ms:27 Oktober ja:10月27日 simple:October 27 th:27 ตุลาคม

Mayor

A mayor (from the Latin maīor, meaning "larger","greater") is the politician who serves as chief executive official of some types of municipalities. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs as to the powers and responsibilities of a mayor, as well as the means of becoming mayor. The French form of the word is maire. In Germany and the Low Countries the chief town magistrate is called "burgomaster" (G. Bürgermeister, Du. burgemeester; French-speaking parts of Belgium use bourgmestre), in Italy sindaco, in Bohemia starosta and in Spain alcalde, a term derived from a Moorish post. In the United States, mayors are usually elected by the citizens of a locality for a fixed term. They generally share power with a local legislative body, such as a city council. Mayors may also function as the head of the city council, sometimes elected as mayor by the council rather the citizens, while day-to-day operations of the city are delegated to a professional city manager. In Salt Lake County in the U.S. state of Utah there is a county mayor. Additionally, the chief executives of all counties in Tennessee and Hawaii are referred to as "mayors". However, these persons are elected, not appointed, to that office. In Canada mayors are usually elected at large by the citizens of a municipality for a fixed term. In most provinces, the Mayor operates under a weak-mayor system in which the Mayor sits as a member of the municipal council. In such systems, the Mayor has one vote, in common with all other members of Council and no executive powers. In rural municipalities, the head of Council may have the title reeve as opposed to mayor. In several other countries, mayors are often appointed by some branch of the federal or regional government. In some cities, subdivisions such as arrondissements or boroughs may have their own mayors; this is the case, for example, with Paris and Mexico City. In the United Kingdom, the office of Mayor has long been ceremonial. Directly-elected mayors with executive powers were introduced in some areas from 2000. In London, the ceremonial Lord Mayor of London, representing the City of London, should be distinguished from the elected Mayor of London who is responsible for the whole of Greater London. Thirty cities in the United Kingdom have Lord Mayors (or Lord Provosts in Scotland). In Finland, there are no mayors, although plans have been floated to institute the office in Tampere. The highest executive official is not democratically elected, but appointed to a public office by the city council, and is called simply kaupunginjohtaja "city manager" or kunnanjohtaja "municipal manager", depending on whether the municipality feels like calling itself a city. The term pormestari "mayor", from Swedish borgmästare "master of the castle" confusingly refers to the highest official in the registry office, not the city manager. In addition, pormestari is also a title, which may be given for distinguished service in the post of the city manager. The city manager of Helsinki is called ylipormestari, which translates to "Chief Mayor", for historical reasons.

History

In spite of its etymology, "mayor" was not a Roman office. It came into use in the large entourages that followed the barbarian leaders who succeeded to the power of the Emperor of the West. The male officer who governed a king or duke's peripatetic household was the major domus, the "major domo". In the households of the Merovingian Frankish kings, the major domus, or praefectus palatii ("prefect of the palace"), gained such power that, in the person of Pippin of Herstal, he ended by evicting his master. He was the "mayor of the palace".

Related articles and lists


- Lists of mayors by country
- Council-manager government
- Mayor-council government
- World Mayor
- Mayor Category:Management occupations Category:Titles
- ja:首長

District of Columbia

Washington, D.C.

1975

1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar).

Events

January


- January 1 - Watergate scandal: John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up
- January 2 - The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by Congress
- January 5 - The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.
- January 7 - OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%.
- January 8 - Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband
- January 10 - Japanese soldier Teruo Nakamura surrenders on the Indonesian Island of Morota
- January 14 - 17 year old heiress Lesley Whittle is kidnapped from her home in Shropshire, England by the Black Panther.
- January 20 - Michael Ovitz founds Creative Artists Agency
- January 29 - Weather Underground bombs US State Department main office in Washington D.C.
- January - Altair 8800 is released, sparking the era of the microcomputer

February


- February 4 - The first successfully predicted earthquake occurred in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
- February 9 - The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
- February 11 - Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for the leadership of the UK Conservative Party in the United Kingdom.
- February 21 - Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to between 30 months and 8 years in prison
- February 23 - In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly two months early in the United States.
- February 26 - a fleeing IRA terrorist shoots dead off-duty London police officer Stephen Tibble, 22, as he gives chase
- February 27 - Movement 2 June kidnaps West German politician Peter Lorenz. He is released on March 4 after most of the kidnappers' demands are met
- February 28 - A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.
- February 28 - In Lomé, the capital of Togo, the European Economic Community and 46 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries sign a financial and economic treaty, known as the first Lomé Convention.

March


- March 1 - Color television transmissions begin in Australia
- March 4 - Charlie Chaplin is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
- March 6 - Algiers Accord - Iran and Iraq announce a settlement over their border dispute.
- March 6 - A bomb explodes in the Paris offices of the Springer Press. The "6 March Group" (connected to the Red Army Faction) demands amnesty for the "Baader-Meinhof Group"
- March 7 - The body of teenage heiress Lesley Whittle, kidnapped seven weeks earlier by the Black Panther is discovered in Staffordshire, England
- March 8 - United Nations begin sponsoring the International Women's Day.
- March 9 - Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins
- March 10 - Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thout, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.
- March 15 - In Brazil, the Estado da Guanabara (State of Guanabara) merges with the state of Rio de Janeiro, under the name of Rio de Janeiro. The state's capital moves from the city of Niterói to the city of Rio de Janeiro.
- March 25 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by a nephew with a history of mental illness - the killer is beheaded on June 18.
- March 28 - A fire in the maternity wing at Kucic Hospital in Rijeka, Yugoslavia, kills 25 babies

April-May


- April 3 - Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title.
- April 4 - Vietnam War: The first military Operation Babylift flight, C5A 80218, crashes 27 minutes after takeoff killing 138 on board; 176 survive the crash.
- April 13 - An attack by Phalangists on a Palestinian bus in Ain El Remmeneh, Lebanon sparks over 15 years of civil war.
- April 17 - Pol Pot proclaims the "Democratic Republic of Kampuchea" in Cambodia and becomes its Prime Minister (1975–1979).
- April 24 - Six Red Army Faction terrorists take over West German embassy in Stockholm, take 11 hostages and demand the release of the group's jailed members. Shortly after they are captured by Swedish police.
- April 25 - Vietnam War: As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
- April 30 - Vietnam War: The Vietnam War ends as Communist forces take Saigon and South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally.
- May 5 - The Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park opens in Virginia.
- May 12 - Mayaguez incident: Khmer Rouge forces in Cambodia seize the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.
- May 15 - Mayaguez incident: The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued by U.S. Navy and Marines. 38 Americans are killed.
- May 16 - India annexes Sikkim.
- May 16 - Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
- May 28 - 15 West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.
- May 30 - 1972 Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine dies in a car accident.

June-July


- June 5 - The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War
- June 5 - The United Kingdom votes yes in a referendum on staying in the European Community
- June 9 - Order of Australia (OA) awarded for 1st time
- June 19 - Lord Lucan found guilty in absentia of the murder of the nanny Sandra Rivett
- June 25 - Mozambique gains independence from Portugal
- June 26 - Two FBI agents and one member of AIM die in a shootout in Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota
- July 1 - Postmaster-General's Department is disaggregated into the Australian Telecommunications Commission (trading as Telecom Australia) and the Australian Postal Commission (trading as Australia Post).
- July 4 - Sydney newspaper publisher Juanita Nielsen disappears, and is presumed to have been murdered.
- July 5 - Cape Verde gains independence after 500 years of Portuguese rule
- July 6 - The Comoros declare their independence from France
- July 9 - The National Assembly of Senegal passes a law that will pave way for a (albeit highly restricted) multi-party system.
- July 12 - São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence from Portugal
- July 17 - Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations
- July 31 - In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.

August


- August 8 - The Banqiao Dam, in China's Henan Province, fails after a freak typhoon. Over 200,000 people perish.
- August 8 - Samuel Bronfman, son of the president of Seagrams, is kidnapped in Purchase, New York
- August 11 - British Leyland comes under British government control
- August 11 - Mário Lemos Pires, Governor of Portuguese Timor, abandons the capital Dili following UDT coup and outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
- August 15 - Birmingham Six wrongfully sentenced to life imprisonment
- August 15 - Mujibur Rahman, president of Bangladesh, is killed during a coup
- August 20 - Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars
- August 24 - Officers responsible for the military coup in Greece in 1967 are sentenced to death in Athens. The sentences are later commuted to life imprisonment

September


- September 5 - In Sacramento, California, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of incarcerated cult leader Charles Manson, attempts to assassinate US President Gerald Ford, but is thwarted by a Secret Service agent.
- September 14 - Rembrandt's painting "The Night Watch" is slashed a dozen times at a gallery in Amsterdam.
- September 15 - The French department of Corse, comprising the entire island of Corsica, is divided into two departments: Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.
- September 20 - End of term for Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah as the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 21 - Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, Sultan of Kelantan becomes the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 22 - President Gerald Ford survives a second assassination attempt, this time by Sara Jane Moore
- September 30 - Hughes Helicopters (later McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing IDS) AH-64 Apache made its first flight.

October


- October 9 - A bomb explosion outside Green Park tube station near Piccadilly in London kills 1 and injures 20.
- October 16 - Five Australian-based journalists are killed at Balibo by Indonesian forces during an incursion into Portuguese Timor.
- October 27 - – 18-year-old Robert Poulin begins shooting in St. Pius X High School in Ottawa, Canada and then shoots himself, killing 1 and wounding 5.
- October 29 - Peter Sutcliffe (the "Yorkshire Ripper") commits his first murder, Wilma McCann.
- October 30 - Prince Juan Carlos becomes acting Head of State of Spain after dictator Francisco Franco concedes that he is too ill to govern.

November

Francisco Franco
- November 3 - An independent audit of Mattel, of the United States largest toy manufacturers, reveals that company officials fabricated press releases and financial information to "maintain the appearance of continued corporate growth."
- November 3 - First oil pipeline opens from Cruder Bay to Grangemouth
- November 6 - Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans converge on the southern city of Tarfaya and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara
- November 10 - United Nations Resolution 3379: With a vote of 72 to 35 (with 32 abstentions), the United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism. The resolution provokes an outcry among Jews around the world.
- November 10 - The 729-foot-long freighter (then, the largest ship on the Great Lakes) SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board
- November 11 - Angola becomes independent from Portugal (a deadly civil war soon erupts)
- November 11 - Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismisses the government of Gough Whitlam and commissions Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister
- November 11 - First annual Vogalonga rowing "race" in Venice, Italy
- November 14 - Spain abandons Western Sahara
- November 22 - Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of dictator Francisco Franco.
- November 25 - Suriname gains independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands
- November 25 - Irish Republican Army outlawed in Britain
- November 25 - Surinam gains independence from the Netherlands
- November 27 - Ross McWhirter, the co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records, is shot dead by the PIRA for offering reward money to informers
- November 28 - Portuguese Timor declares its independence from Portugal as East Timor
- November 29 - The name "Micro-soft" (for microcomputer software) is used by Bill Gates in a letter to Paul Allen for the first time (Microsoft became a registered trademark on November 26, 1976).

December


- December 7 - East Timor invaded by Indonesia.
- December 21 - Left-wing terrorists, including Carlos (the Jackal), kidnap delegates of an OPEC conference in Vienna. They kill three hostages, extort $5 million ransom and escape into the Middle East.
- December 29 - A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport killing 11.

Unknown dates


- In New Zealand, Maori leader Whina Cooper leads a march of 5000 people in support of Maori claims to their land
- The Third Cod War between UK and Iceland lasted between November 1975 - June 1976
- Government of Colombia announces finding of Ciudad Perdida
- Spanish army quits Spanish (Western) Sahara. Saharaui Republic (RASD) is created. Morocco invades ex-Spanish Western Sahara.
- First use of the term fractal
- Victoria (Australia) abolishes capital punishment
- South Australia becomes first Australian state to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults
- Self-proclaimed time traveller John Titor arrives to acquire an IBM 5100 for use in 2036
- MIND opens
- In May, rock singer Peter Gabriel announces that he is leaving British progressive rock band Genesis after their successful The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway tour.
- Jehovah's Witnesses claimed that Armageddon would happen in 1975 and many of them sold their houses and businesses to prepare for the new world of paradise on earth which they believe will exist when Jesus comes back.
- BACCHUS Network, American college alcohol peer-education network established.
- The Rock and Roll band KISS releases their Alive! album, catapulting them into record success. The album goes 4x platinum. Kiss was having trouble with record sale until then, as they sounded much different live then they did on record. They solved this problem by creating live albums.

Births

January-April


- January 2 - Doug Robb, American singer (Hoobastank)
- January 3 - Danica McKellar, American actress
- January 5 - Bradley Cooper, American actor
- January 13 - Shazia Mirza, British comedienne
- January 20 - Mark Allan Robinson, Canadian recall leader
- January 22 - Balthazar Getty, American actor
- January 25 - Tim Montgomery, American athlete
- January 29 - Sara Gilbert, American actress
- February 2 - Todd Bertuzzi, Canadian hockey player
- February 2 - Ieroklis Stoltidis, Greek footballer
- February 4 - Natalie Imbruglia, Australian musician
- February 5 - Adam Carson, American drummer (AFI)
- February 17 - Wish Bone, American rapper
- February 20 - Brian Littrell, American musician (Backstreet Boys)
- February 22 - Drew Barrymore, American actress
- March 5 - Jolene Blalock, American actress
- March 5 - Niki Taylor, American model
- March 9 - Roy Makaay, Dutch football player
- March 15 - Eva Longoria, American actress
- March 15 - Veselin Topalov, Bulgarian chess player
- March 17 - Justin Hawkins, British singer (The Darkness)
- March 27 - Stacy Ferguson, American singer (Black Eyed Peas)
- April 4 - Scott Rolen, baseball player
- April 4 - Delphine Arnault, billionaire French businesswoman LVMH
- April 7 - Ronde Barber, American football player
- April 7 - Tiki Barber, American football player
- April 9 - Robbie Fowler, British footballer
- April 14 - Amy Dumas, American professional wrestler
- April 22 - Greg Moore, Canadian race car driver (d. 1999)

May-August


- May 1 - Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroonian footballer (d. 2003)
- May 2 - David Beckham, English footballer
- May 3 - Kimora Lee Simmons, American fashion designer
- May 3 - Maksim Mrvica, Croatian pianist
- May 8 - Enrique Iglesias, Spanish-born singer
- May 10 - Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver
- May 12 - Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player
- May 14 - Hunter Burgan, American bassist (AFI)
- May 15 - Ray Lewis, American football player
- May 19 - London Fletcher, American football player
- May 25 - Lauryn Hill, American singer
- May 27 - Jamie Oliver, British chef and television personality
- June 4 - Angelina Jolie, American actress
- June 17 - Chloe Jones, American actress
- June 9 - Andrew Symonds, Australian cricketer
- June 18 - Martin St. Louis, Canadian hockey player
- June 25 - Vladimir Kramnik, Russian chess player
- June 27 - Tobey Maguire, American actor
- July 6 - 50 Cent, American rapper
- July 11 - Lil' Kim, American rapper
- July 17 - Konnie Huq, English television presenter
- July 18 - Torii Hunter, baseball player
- July 18 - Daron Malakian, American guitarist and singer (System of a Down)
- July 22 - Erol Spencer Hofmans, Dutch political scientist
- July 24 - Torrie Wilson, American professional wrestler and model
- July 27 - Shea Hillenbrand, baseball player
- July 27 - Alex Rodriguez, baseball player
- July 30 - Graham Nicholls, British artist
- August 7 - Charlize Theron, South African actress
- August 15 - Kara Wolters, American basketball player
- August 24 - Hayato Sakurai, Japanese martial artist

September-December


- September 17 - Jimmie Johnson, American race car driver
- September 17 - Constantine Maroulis, American singer
- September 20 - Rikki Lee Travolta, Italian-American actor
- September 23 - Chris Hawkins, British radio personality
- September 25 - Matt Hasselbeck, American football player
- October 2 - Michel Trudeau, son of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Trudeau, ( d.1998)
- October 5 - Kate Winslet, British actress
- October 23 - Odalys Garcia, Cuban-born actress
- November 10 - Markko Märtin, Estonian race car driver
- November 17 - Diane Neal, American actress
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