December 10, 1948: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Mrs. Roosevelt with the Declaration

December 10, 1948: The United Nations General Assembly, meeting at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, France, adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Of the 58 members of the UN at the time, 48 voted Yes, none voted No, 8 abstained, and 2 did not vote.

A foundational text in the history of human and civil rights, the Declaration consists of 30 articles detailing an individual's "basic rights and fundamental freedoms," and affirming their universal character as inherent, inalienable, and applicable to all human beings. Adopted as a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations," the UDHR commits nations to recognize all humans as being "born free and equal in dignity and rights," regardless of "nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status."

John Peters Humphrey of Canada, the newly appointed Director of the Division of Human Rights within the United Nations Secretariat, was called upon by the UN Secretary-General, Trygve Lie, to work on the project, becoming the Declaration's principal drafter. Humphrey is credited with devising the "blueprint" for the Declaration, while René Cassin, the representative from France, composed the first draft. The American representative, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was key in lobby several nations, including her own, to accept it.

Although not legally binding, the contents of the UDHR have been elaborated and incorporated into subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments, and national constitutions and legal codes.

*

December 10, 1948 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. And there were no games scheduled in the NHL.

There were 3 games in the Basketball Association of America, the league that would become the NBA a year later. The Minneapolis Lakers beat the Rochester Royals, 96-75 at the Edgerton Park Arena in Rochester, New York. George Mikan scored 31 points. And there was a doubleheader at the Chicago Stadium. In the 1st game, the St. Louis Bombers beat the Washington Capitols, 88-83 in overtime. In the 2nd game, the Chicago Stags beat the Fort Wayne Pistons, 78-70.

December 8, 1953: Atoms for Peace

December 8, 1953: President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his "Atoms for Peace" speech to the United Nations.

The speech was part of a carefully orchestrated media campaign, called Operation Candor, to enlighten the American public on the risks and hopes of a nuclear future. Both Operation Candor and Atoms for Peace were influenced by the January 1953 report of the State Department Panel of Consultants on Disarmament, which urged that the U.S. government practice less secrecy and more honesty toward the American people about the realities of the nuclear balance and the dangers of nuclear warfare, which triggered in Eisenhower a desire to seek a new and different approach to the threat of nuclear war in international relations.

"It is with the book of history," Eisenhower said, "and not with isolated pages, that the United States will ever wish to be identified. My country wants to be constructive, not destructive. It wants agreement, not wars, among nations. It wants itself to live in freedom, and in the confidence that the people of every other nation enjoy equally the right of choosing their own way of life."

"Ike" added: "To the making of these fateful decisions, the United States pledges before you -- and, therefore, before the world, its determination to help solve the fearful atomic dilemma -- to devote its entire heart and mind to find the way by which the miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his life."

The "Atoms for Peace" program opened up nuclear research to civilians and countries that had not previously possessed nuclear technology. Eisenhower argued for a nonproliferation agreement throughout the world, which would become a partial reality with the Test Ban Treat in 1963.

He also argued for a stop of the spread of military use of nuclear weapons. Although the nations that already had atomic weapons kept their weapons and grew their supplies, very few other countries have developed similar weapons. In this sense, it has been very much contained.

The "Atoms for Peace" program also created regulations for the use of nuclear power, and through these regulations stopped other countries from developing weapons while allowing the technology to be used for positive means.

In 2009, a rock music "supergroup" named Atoms for Peace was formed. Its members were Radiohead's songwriter, guitarist and singer Thom Yorke, and its producer and keyboard player Nigel Godrich; Red Hot Chili Peppers bass guitarist Michael "Flea" Balzary and percussionist Mauro Refosco; and Beck drummer Joey Waronker.

*

December 8, 1953 was a Tuesday. Comedian Sam Kinison and actress Kim Basinger were born that day.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. No games were scheduled for the NHL. One game was played in the NBA: The Rochester Royals beat the Boston Celtics, 97-79 at the Edgerton Park Arena in Rochester, New York.

November 13, 1974: Yassir Arafat's Speech to the United Nations

November 13, 1974: Yassir Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, having been invited by the United Nations to do so, addresses its General Assembly in New York.

It was the most disgusting speech that Assembly has ever heard, and the most dishonest.

He was born in Cairo, Egypt, with the name Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini, in August 1929, although the exact date is in dispute: Sources disagree as to whether it was August 4 or August 24. His family were Arabs from Jerusalem, and when Israel declared independence in 1948, he aided Arab rebels against them by smuggling weapons. He adopted the name Yassir Arafat, after Ammar ibn Yasir, an early companion of Muhammad; and Mount Arafat, near Mecca, a site associated with Muhammad.

He became a civil engineer, and aided both the Egyptian Army coup of 1952, which overthrew King Farouk and installed Gamal Abdel Nasser as dictator; and the Egyptian cause in the Suez Crisis of 1956. That year, he began wearing a solid white keffiyeh, different from the fishnet-patterned one he adopted later, which became his personal trademark.

Arafat was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on February 4, 1969. The 39-year-old Egyptian turned the third-rate advocacy group into a first-rate terrorist organization, feared all over the world. They hijacked airliners, and killed 9 Israeli athletes and 2 of their coaches at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, West Germany.

On November 13, 1974, as the closest thing the movement for a Palestinian nation had to a head of state, he addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations. He congratulated 3 new nations on their independence and their admittance to the UN: The Caribbean island nation of Grenada, the Africa nation of Guinea-Bissau, and the South Asian nation of Bangladesh. He addressed the deteriorating situations in "Indo-China" (not just Vietnam, but also Cambodia) and Cyprus. He denounced the worldwide arms race.

And he compared his cause to those of other "liberation movements":

The question of Palestine belongs in this perspective of emergence and struggle. Palestine is crucial amongst those just causes fought for unstintingly by masses laboring under imperialism and aggression. It cannot be, and is not, lost on me today, as I stand here before the General Assembly, that if I have been given the opportunity to address the General Assembly, so too must the opportunity be given to all liberation movements fighting against racism and imperialism.

In their names, in the name of every human being struggling for freedom and self-determination, I call upon the General Assembly urgently to give their just causes the same full attention the General Assembly has so rightly given to our cause.

He addressed Americans, invoking some of their national heroes:

I cannot now forgo this opportunity to appeal from this rostrum directly to the American people, asking it to give its support to our heroic and fighting people. I ask it whole-heartedly to endorse right and justice, to recall George Washington to mind, heroic Washington, whose purpose was his nation's freedom and independence; Abraham Lincoln, champion of the destitute and the wretched; and also Woodrow Wilson whose doctrine of Fourteen Points remains subscribed to and venerated by our people.

These comparisons were completely ridiculous. Neither George Washington nor Woodrow Wilson committed, nor advocated committing, acts of terrorism against their enemies. Nor did Abraham Lincoln, though his General William Tecumseh Sherman was accused of it in his "March to the Sea" across Georgia.

Arafat spread lies about Israel, and Jews in general:

Just as colonialism heedlessly used the wretched, the poor, the exploited as mere inert matter with which to build and to carry out settler colonialism, so too were destitute, oppressed European Jews employed on behalf of world imperialism and of the Zionist leaders. European Jews were transformed into the instruments of aggression. They became the elements of settler colonialism intimately allied to racial discrimination.

Zionist theology was utilized against our Palestinian people. The purpose was not only the establishment of Western-style settler colonialism, but also the severing of Jews from their various homelands, and subsequently their estrangement from their nations. Zionism is an ideology that is imperialist, colonialist, racist. It is profoundly reactionary and discriminatory. It is united with anti-Semitism in its retrograde tenets; and is, when all is said and done, another side of the same base coin.

This is complete bullshit. "Their various homelands"? The Jews have only ever had one homeland, in what became the State of Israel, and the Arabs had occupied it from AD 638 until 1948, including "the British Mandate of Palestine" that was in place from 1920 to 1948. And calling Zionism "racist" is a lie: In Israel, Arabs can vote. Here are the nations generally considered to be both ethnically Arab and democratic, as of 2022: Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, and, at least officially, Egypt. That's it.

Arafat said, "The Jewish invasion of Palestine began in 1881." That was 1,243 years after the Arab invasion of Israel. The Jews did not "invade" "Palestine." They returned to their historic homeland. He denounced the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which was the first step toward re-establishing a nation for Jews; and the 1947 offer of a partition of the Mandate, knowing it would run out on May 14, 1948, offering it as a compromise. The Jews were willing to be reasonable and accept it; the Arabs were not.

Arafat also accused Israel of being an aggressor nation: "In addition to the many instances of aggression committed by this entity against the Arab States, it has launched two large-scale wars, in 1956 and 1967, thus endangering world peace and security." It was Israel's Arab neighbors -- Egypt, Jordan and Syria -- that started the war in 1956. And in 1967, they already had troops massed on their side of Israel's border when Israel struck first, so Israel cannot be called the aggressor in that one, either.

And just the year before this speech, on October 6, 1973, on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, Egypt, Jordan and Syria invaded again. Again, Israel won, and Egypt's President Anwar Sadat and Jordan's King Hussein I both finally got the message, both beginning a peace process. Syria and the Palestinians did not, and continued to threaten Israel, including infiltrating Lebanon and attacking over its border with Israel.

Arafat continued to lie through the speech, accusing Israel of "acts of,barbarism and terrorism. And yet, the Zionist racists and colonialists have the temerity to describe the just struggle of our people as terror. Could there be a more flagrant distortion of truth than this?" Yes, this very speech was one, because of the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Olympics and other acts of terrorism by Arabs against Jews over the last few years.

He called Israel "those who usurped our land, who are committing murderous acts of terrorism against our people and are practicing racial discrimination more extensively than the racists of South Africa." And for nearly half a century, people all over the world have lapped these lies up.

He cited the PLO having "earned its legitimacy because of the sacrifice inherent in its pioneering role"; and repeatedly called the land of the State of Israel "our homeland." This was a lie. The people of the West Bank are ethnically Jordanians. Jordan didn't want them, and still doesn't. The people of the Gaza Strip are Egyptians. Egypt didn't want them, and still doesn't. Why? Because Jordan and Egypt know these people, and of what they are guilty.

He said, "I am a rebel, and freedom is my cause." This was a lie: The PLO did not believe in democracy, at least not until after their defeat in the 1987-91 Intifadeh, which ultimately led to the Oslo Accord with Israel in 1993.

He closed by saying, "Today, I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. I repeat: Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."

The United Nations could not stop Arafat himself from letting the olive branch fall from his hand.

*

November 13, 1974 was a Wednesday. This was also the day of the "Amityville Horror" murders, and the death under mysterious circumstances of Karen Silkwood. I have separate entries for those events.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The Washington Bullets beat the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, 118-81 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 98-91 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Bob Lanier had 40 points and 24 rebounds.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 105-100 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Charlie Scott scored 41 for the Suns.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 108-103 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Kentucky Colonels, 132-129 in double overtime at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. Julius "Doctor J" Erving scored 44 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. But it wasn't enough, as Louie Dampier led the Colonels with 32.

* The Spirits of St. Louis beat the Memphis Sounds, 97-92 at the St. Louis Arena. Marvin "Bad News" Barnes scored 31.

* The Utah Stars beat the Indiana Pacers, 114-103 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* And the Denver Nuggets beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 132-108. Travis Grant scored 35 in defeat.

There were 8 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 8-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens, 8-6 at the Montreal Forum. René Robert scored 3 goals and an assist. Guy Lapointe had 3 goals and 2 assists for the Canadiens.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Detroit Red Wings, 7-4 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Kansas City Scouts beat the team that was meant to be their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Blues, 5-3 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City. But the Scouts went just 2-8 against the Blues, failed after just 2 seasons, and the Blues' arch-rivals remained the Chicago Black Hawks. The Scouts became the Colorado Rockies in 1976, and the New Jersey Devils in 1982.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The California Golden Seals beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-0 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* And the Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.

And there were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Indianapolis Racers, 10-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Houston Aeros beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 8-5 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. This was only the 2nd game the Oilers played there, following their November 10 opener, a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Crusaders. They had played their 1st 2 seasons, and the start of this, their 3rd, at the Edmonton Gardens.

* And the Toronto Toros beat the Vancouver Blazers, 5-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

October 24, 1945: The Charter of the United Nations

October 24, 1945: The Charter of the United Nations is ratified by the original 5 permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: America, Britain, France, China and the Soviet Union, and by a majority of the other signatories. 

The Charter established the purposes, governing structure and overall framework of the UN system, including its 6 principal organs: The Secretariat, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Trusteeship Council.

In commemoration of the event, the General Assembly celebrates United Nations Day every October 24, and schedules its annual gathering for the days leading up to the date.

*

October 24, 1945 was a Wednesday.  Also on this day, Vidkun Quisling is executed by firing squad in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The fascist leader of Norway during World War II, allied with the Nazis, was 58 years old. I have a separate entry for this event. And Gene Monahan, trainer for the New York Yankees from 1973 to 2011, was born.

The baseball season had ended 14 days before, when the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs in Game 7 of the World Series. Football was in midweek. The NBA wasn't founded until the next year.  

The National Hockey League played its 1st peacetime game since April 16, 1939, with World War II beginning for Canada, as part of the British Empire, the following September 3. Although it had continued to operate for the duration, Canada's membership in the Empire had led to a serious manpower drain in the League.

Some teams were affected more than others. The New York Americans had to suspend operations after the 1941-42 season, and never started up again. The New York Rangers had won the Stanley Cup in 1940 and finished 1st overall in 1942, but went into a tailspin, and only reached the Stanley Cup Finals once in the next 30 years.

The Boston Bruins' entire "Kraut Line" -- Milt Schmidt centering Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart -- all Canadians of German descent, helped them win the Cup in 1939 and 1941, and losing the Finals in 1943, dropped off after that, not winning another Cup until 1970, going 0-5 in Finals from 1941 to 1970.

The Bruins were the hosts in this peacetime puck-dropper, but lost to the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-4 at the Boston Garden. The Bruins would make the Finals in 1945-46, but lose to the Montreal Canadiens.

October 12, 1960: Nikita Khrushchev at the United Nations

October 12, 1960: The United Nations General Assembly is meeting at the UN Building on the East River at 42nd Street in Manhattan. Lorenzo Sumulong, Ambassador to the UN from the Philippines, claims that the Soviet Union is conducting "colonial policy" in Eastern Europe.

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, visiting America, represents his own country. He calls Sumulong names, which, when translated into English, come out as a "jerk," a "stooge," a "lackey," and a "toady of American imperialism."

Sumulong resumes his speech, and Khrushchev starts pounding his fist on the table. This is captured on film. Supposedly, Khrushchev removes his shoe, and starts banging that on the table as well. That was not captured on film, and a photograph supposedly showing it was found to be doctored, and from an earlier incident.

In his memoir, published after his ouster in 1964, Khrushchev claimed he'd done it to protest something done by the fascist regime in Spain, run by Francisco Franco. But that speech was in Moscow on October 1. And his shoes were not mentioned in the Soviet media at the time, for either the October 1 speech or the October 12 speech.

His son Sergei wrote a biography of him, and said he couldn't find any visual evidence of the shoe-banging. Both NBC and Canada's CBC broadcast the speech live, but, in each case, their representatives now say they have no footage of Khrushchev banging his shoe on any table. Italy's RAI say they do, but they haven't produced it.

This wasn't the 1st time Khrushchev had been misunderstood by the West. On November 18, 1956, he held a reception for Western ambassadors at the Polish Embassy in Moscow. He said, "About the capitalist states, it doesn't depend on you whether or not we exist. If you don't like us, don't accept our invitations, and don't invite us to come to see you. Whether you like it or not, history is on our side."

This was a statement similar to the one that Fidel Castro, eventually to be dictator of Cuba, had already said of himself: "History will absolve me." (Spoiler Alert: History wasn't on the Soviets' side, and it hasn't absolved Castro, either.)

Right after saying, "History is on our side," Khrushchev said, "My vas pokhoronim!" His personal interpreter, Viktor Sukhodrev (who managed to stay in the good graces of Soviet leaders all the way to Mikhail Gorbachev), translated this as, "We will bury you!"

It sure sounded like a threat, from a man who had access to nuclear weapons. But Khrushchev had risen from peasant status, a farmer-turned-leader, much like his American contemporaries, Presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson. His remark was actually a rather common saying in Russia, and its implication isn't, "We will kill you," but, "We will attend your funeral." It can also mean, "You are digging your own grave."

Like Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev wasn't much of a sports fan. Unlike Stalin, Khrushchev did accept that sports could be used as propaganda. This incident was a few weeks after the Olympics in Rome, one of those occasional East vs. West sports encounters; 5 months after Khrushchev embarrassed President Dwight D. Eisenhower over the shot-down U-2 spy plane piloted by Gary Powers; and during the debates to succeed Ike, between his Vice President, Richard Nixon, and Senator John F. Kennedy, one of which was to be held the following night.

A year earlier, Khrushchev visited America, and was cheered in San Francisco. "This is the damnedest city," said Frank Conniff of the arch-conservative Hearst newspaper chain, including their flagship, the San Francisco Examiner, and the New York Journal-American. "They cheer Khrushchev and boo Willie Mays."

*

October 12, 1960 was a Wednesday. It was also the day the film The Magnificent Seven premiered. I have a separate entry for that.

It was the day of Game 6 of the World Series. Whitey Ford pitches a 7-hit shutout, and singles home the 1st run of a 12-0 New York Yankees rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field. There will be a Game 7 tomorrow, also in Pittsburgh.

The Yankees had won their 3 games 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0. The Pirates wins had been by scores of 6-4, 3-2 and 5-2. It seems as though a high-scoring game favors the Yankees. And the Yankees will score 9 runs in Game 7, while the Pirates hadn't yet scored more than 5. Sounds like a Yankee title. Except...

Football was in midweek. The NBA season didn't begin until November 1. There was 1 NHL game that day: The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-0 at the Chicago Stadium.

September 18, 1961: Dag Hammarskjöld Is Killed

September 18, 1961: Dag Hammarskjöld (HAM-ar-SHOLD), Secretary General of the United Nations, is killed in a plane crash near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). The native of Uppsala, Sweden was 56 years old, had held his post since 1953, and was trying to negotiate a cease-fire in the Congo crisis. There were 15 other people on the DC-6 who died with him. He became the 1st person to receive a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize.

President John F. Kennedy called him "the greatest statesman of our age." Former President Harry S Truman was sure that the plane had been shot down, although he didn't say by whom. The CIA thought the KGB did it, since a cease-fire would be to the Soviet Union’s disadvantage. An investigation suggested pilot error.

A new junior high school had just opened in East Brunswick, New Jersey, and was named for him. I attended this school from September 1981 to June 1984. A large portrait of him hung on the wall in the lobby, between the school offices and the combination cafeteria/auditorium, placed so that he was facing both the front entrance and the library. It is now a Middle School, with the original building torn down and replaced with a new one in 2011. There is also a middle school named for him in Wallingford, Connecticut; and a high school named for him in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

I did not enjoy my time at Hammarskjold JHS, for multiple reasons that I won't get into here. But I'm still proud to have attended a school named for him.

*

September 18, 1961 was a Monday. Sopranos star James Gandolfini was born.

The NBA and the NHL were several weeks away from starting new seasons. The NFL and the AFL were underway, but there was no Monday Night Football at the time. There were Major League Baseball games played, but only 3:

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-6 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Bob Gibson took the loss against the defending World Champions. In relief of Gibson, Lindy McDaniel gave up a home run to Dick Stuart, the powerful but poor-fielding 1st baseman who would one day be known as "Dr. Strangeglove." Stuart and Dick Groat each had 3 hits. Roberto Clemente did not play. Gene Oliver and Carl Warwick homered for the Cards. Stan Musial went 1-for-3.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Don Cardwell went the distance for the Cubbies, while Ed Bouchee got 3 hits. Ernie Banks went 0-for-4.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Milwaukee Braves, 3-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Orlando Cepeda homered for the Jints. Willie Mays went 1-for-4. Hank Aaron did the same for the Braves, and Joe Torre went 1-for-3 with an RBI.

August 14, 1941: The Atlantic Charter

August 14, 1941: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States, and Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, issue a joint statement, allying themselves in the cause of freedom for all the world. It becomes known as the Atlantic Charter.

The two men had first met on July 29, 1918, at Gray's Inn in London. Roosevelt was then the U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Navy; Churchill, the U.K.'s Minister of Munitions. Both were men on the rise. Both had serious setbacks in the years to come: Roosevelt was stricken with polio in 1921, Churchill with appendicitis and election defeat the next year.

Both would return to office, and rise to become their nations' heads of government: Roosevelt was elected President in 1932, and Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940. That year, Roosevelt was elected to a 3rd term as President, for pretty much the same reason Churchill was named Prime Minister: Because of the threat of Nazi Germany.

By mid-June 1940, all of Europe was now either ruled by, or allied with, the Nazis, except for those eastern parts ruled by, or allied with, the Soviet Union. Churchill had just replaced the ineffectual Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister. In July, the Nazis began bombing Britain, but the Royal Air Force kept turning them back. In June 1941, the Nazis broke the Non-Aggression Pact with the Soviets, and invaded. Still, there was no indication that the U.S. Congress was going to allow Roosevelt to take the nation to war against the Nazis.

It was time for Roosevelt and Churchill to meet in person and talk about their plans for facing the Nazis together. Roosevelt told the press that he was going on a 10-day fishing trip to Campobello Island, in New Brunswick, Canada, where the family had long maintained a vacation home, and where he was first diagnosed with polio. And he wasn't lying: He did go there, and did do some fishing.

It was also about 1,100 miles by sea from Naval Station Argentia, a U.S. Naval base on the island of Newfoundland, then a British Dominion. (It became a Province of Canada in 1949.) Britain had given this base to the U.S. in exchange for some destroyers. So Argentia became a convenient meeting place for the two titans.

On August 9, the battleship HMS Prince of Wales steamed into Placentia Bay, anchoring next to the cruiser USS Augusta. Churchill disembarked from the Prince of Wales, boarded the Augusta, and said, "At long last, Mr. President." And Churchill said, "Glad to have you aboard, Mr. Churchill." Churchill delivered a letter from King George VI to Roosevelt, from one nation's head of state to the other's. (America is one of the few democratic nations where the head of state is also the head of government.)

They met for 5 years, and on August 14, they issued a statement, detailing their goals for the war and for the postwar world:

1. No territorial gains were to be sought by the United States or the United Kingdom.
2. Territorial adjustments must be in accord with the wishes of the peoples concerned.
3. All people had a right to self-determination.
4. Trade barriers were to be lowered.
5. There was to be global economic co-operation and advancement of social welfare.
6. The participants would work for a world free of want and fear.
7. The participants would work for freedom of the seas.
8. There was to be disarmament of aggressor nations and a common disarmament after the war.

 

At he meeting of the Inter-Allied Council in London, on September 24, representatives of the Free French Forces, the Soviet Union, and the governments-in-exile of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Yugoslavia, unanimously adopted adherence to the common principles of policy set forth by Britain and United States.

On January 1, 1942, a larger group of nations, which adhered to the charter's principles, issued a joint Declaration by United Nations, which stressed their solidarity in the defense against Hitlerism. This was the 1st public use of the term "United Nations," which became the name of the worldwide peacekeeping organization after the war, what people hoped the League of Nations would be after World War I.

On December 7, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The next day, America declared war on Japan. Two days after that, HMS Prince of Wales was sunk by Japanese aircraft, with a loss of 327 men. The day after that, in solidarity with Japan, Nazi Germany declared war on America, which responded in kind.

USS Augusta would be used in many American war missions, including D-Day. She was taken out of service in 1946, and scrapped in 1959.

Naval Base Argentia is now Bristol Field, an airport in Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador.

In 2021, a book co-written by American historian Michael Kluger and British historian Richard Evans was published, titled Roosevelt's and Churchill's Atlantic Charter: A Risky Meeting at Sea that Saved Democracy.

*

August 14, 1941 was a Thursday. Singer David Crosby was born on this day. He is 2-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: As a member of The Byrds; and as a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Washington Senators, 7-0 and 10-3 at Yankee Stadium. Marius Russo pitched a 3-hit shutout in the opener, backed by home runs from Tommy Henrich and Charlie Keller. Johnny Sturm homered in the nightcap, in support of Atley Donald. Over the 2 games, Joe DiMaggio went 4-for-8 with 2 walks and 4 RBIs.

* The New York Giants beat the Boston Braves, 4-3 at Braves Field in Boston. Mel Ott went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. 

* A doubleheader was split at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1st game, 11-8. Jimmie Foxx beat his former team with a home run in the top of the 11th. The A's won the 2nd game, 10-8. Over the 2 games, Ted Williams went 2-for-9 with a home run, 2 walks, and 3 RBIs, dropping his batting average... to .408.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Detroit Tigers, 3-1 and 3-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Johnny Humphries pitched a 6-hit shutout in the 2nd game.

* The Cleveland Indians and the St. Louis Browns were tied 3-3 after 10 innings at Sportsman's Park, when the game was rained out. Bob Feller had pitched 4 1/3rd innings of relief for the Indians, for no decision.

* And the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Cincinnati Reds, the Philadelphia Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals were not scheduled.

May 14, 1948: Israel Declares Its Independence

Ben-Gurion reads the Declaration, under a portrait

of Theodor Herzl, "the Father of Zionism"

and an early advocate for a Jewish state

May 14, 1948: With the British Mandate of Palestine expiring, the State of Israel declares its independence. On the Hebrew calendar, it was 5 Iyar 5708, and so, every year, on 5 Iyar -- which is not necessarily on May 14, and is usually earlier on the Gregorian calendar -- the nation celebrates its independence day, known in Hebrew as Yom Ha'atzmaut.

As shown in the photograph above, the Declaration was proclaimed by David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization. When the country had its 1st election the following year, he was elected its 1st Prime Minister.

The announcement took effect at Midnight, Tel Aviv time, when the Mandate expired. At exactly that time, a Zionist delegate took the podium at the United Nations -- then in a temporary headquarters in the New York suburb of Lake Success, Long Island, before the East Side headquarters opened in 1951 -- and made the announcement.

The Declaration was signed while a civil war was being fought between the Jewish and Arab populations of the Mandate. Once it took effect, the neighboring nations of Egypt, Jordan and Syria attacked, and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War began.

The minutes passed. The tension mounted. What would happen if nobody recognized the new nation? What would happen if America did, and the Soviet Union didn't? Or, considerably less likely (since the Soviets were already supporting insurgents in the Arab nations in question), the other way around?

Eleven minutes in, having gotten the order from President Harry S Truman, the American representative, Warren Austin, took the podium, and announced that the United States recognized the State of Israel. In what now looks like a retroactive irony, the 2nd nation to do so was Iran. Actually, it was kind of ironic at the time, since Britain, which had just lost control of the land that became Israel, was then heavily influential in Iran. Five more nations recognized Israel that day.

On May 17, the Soviet Union followed suit. With both of the 2 major powers of the time recognizing Israel, it was clear that the Arabs couldn't count on either one to help.

Somehow, tiny Israel fought all 3 of these much larger countries off, and on July 24, 1949, an armistice was signed.

Despite the worst efforts of Egypt until 1973, "the Palestinians" since 1970, Jordan until 1994, Iran since 1979, Syria throughout, and anti-Semites all over the world throughout, Israel stands as a Jewish state, one that gives the Arab people living within its borders more rights than any nation ruled by Arabs.

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May 14, 1948 was a Friday. On the same day, the RAND Corporation was founded by the aircraft company now known as McDonnell-Douglas. The letters stand for "Research ANd Development." RAND tend to tick off both the far left (Bernie Sanders' supporters) and the far right (Alex Jones' people), so they may be doing something right.

The NFL was in the middle of its off-season. The NBA and NHL seasons had wrapped up the month before, with the original version of the Baltimore Bullets taking the championship of the former, and the Toronto Maple Leafs that of the latter. Only 4 Major League Baseball games were played that day, and only 1 involved a New York team:

* The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 3-0 at the original Yankee Stadium. Vic Raschi pitched a 3-hit shutout, and was backed by home runs by Yogi Berra and Johnny Lindell.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-0 at Briggs (later Tiger) Stadium in Detroit. Fred Sanford pitched a 5-hit shutout. No, not the character from the later sitcom Sanford & Son. This Fred Sanford would, however, later pitch for the Yankees.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 1-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Russ Meyer, known as the Mad Monk, pitched a 4-hit shutout, and the only run of the game came on a home run by Andy Pafko. Both would later play for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. 

February 11, 1945: The Yalta Conference

February 11, 1945: The Yalta Conference concludes, after 7 days of meetings between American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, at Yalta, in the Crimea, on the Black Sea -- part of the territory of Ukraine that Vladimir Putin would later annex to Russia. They discussed how to finish off World War II, both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. They also discussed how to conduct the postwar world.

Ever since, conservatives have claimed that FDR "betrayed" Eastern Europe by leaving it to Stalin at Yalta. Well, what was FDR supposed to do? Send American troops into Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, et al.? In other words, provoke Stalin, and start World War III before World War II was won?

The war was not over. Germany was still fighting, even if the end, there, was in sight. Japan was still fighting, with no end in sight. The Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa were yet to come. FDR needed the Soviet Union in that fight. He also knew that the United Nations would be stronger after the war if the Soviets were in it. Roosevelt agreed to some concessions at Yalta, for the same reason he cut his social programs short, telling a reporter, "Dr. New Deal had to give way to Dr. Win the War."

My father, of Polish descent, was a Kennedy Democrat, but he never forgave Roosevelt, the President when he was born, for how he handled the Polish situation at Yalta. But David Reynolds, a professor of history at Cambridge University, has written:

The so-called "Yalta myths" have been a great part of Republican mythology ever since the 1940s. They were a way of attacking Roosevelt and the Democratic party and it’s been brought up at various times since. The assumption behind it is that Roosevelt "sold out" Poland and Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union. It’s hard really to square that with the realities of 1945. The Red Army is in control of most of Poland by the time they meet at Yalta. So unless you embarked, say, on a war to evict the Red Army from Poland, there really is nothing you can do about that.

In other words, Poland and Eastern Europe were not Roosevelt's to "sell." Stalin already had them.

If FDR "sold out to Stalin at Yalta," then so did Churchill. Because of Stalin's promises, Churchill believed that he would keep his word regarding Poland and remarked, "Poor Neville Chamberlain believed he could trust Hitler. He was wrong. But I don't think I am wrong about Stalin."

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February 11, 1945 was a Sunday. Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. But all of the NHL's "Original Six" were in action:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the Boston Garden.

* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1 at the Chicago Stadium.