First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - JUNE 25th

George Orwell, Quote

Political language - and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists - is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

~ George Orwell in Animal Farm

Wikiquote (George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair (June 25, 1903 – January 21 ,1950), known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist and journalist. His work is marked by clarity, intelligence and wit, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and commitment to democratic socialism.)

This Day in History

June 25th, 1530

Diet of Worms 1521: was a diet (a formal deliberative assembly, specifically an Imperial Diet) that took place in Worms, Germany, and is most memorable for the Edict of Worms (Wormser Edikt), which addressed Martin Luther and the effects of the Protestant Reformation

Diet of Augsburg: the Augsburg Confession is presented to the Holy Roman Emperor by the Lutheran princes and Electors of Germany.

Wikipedia  Painting: Diet of Worms 1521 ("Luther at the Diet of Worms"): was a diet (a formal deliberative assembly, specifically an Imperial Diet) that took place in Worms, Germany, and is most memorable for the Edict of Worms (Wormser Edikt), which addressed Martin Luther and the effects of the Protestant Reformation.


June 25th, 1876

American Indians collage Battle of the Little Bighorn and the death of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer

Battle of the Little Bighorn and the death of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer.

Wikipedia  Photos: American Indians - Chief Crazy Horse, Tashunca-uitco (1849 - 1877) ● Geronimo Apache Chief (1829 - 1909) ● Indian Chief 'Two Eagles'; Crow Indian Chief ● Snake Cheif ● Band of Chiricahua Apache Indians, followers of legendary renegade Geronimo, attending a peace negotiation after a long struggle against U.S. government attempts to force them onto reservations - Tombstone, Arizona (1886), Life Magazine ● American Horse - Oglala ● Native American Arapaho Indian ● Washakie, Shoshone leader ● Arapaho American Indian Chief.
Painting: Battle of the Little Bighorn; "The Custer Fight" by Charles Marion Russell.


June 25th, 1910

The White-Slave Traffic Act, better known as the Mann Act passed by the United States Congress

The White-Slave Traffic Act, better known as the Mann Act passed by the United States Congress, which prohibits interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes”; the ambiguous language would be used to selectively prosecute people for years to come.

Wikipedia  Photo: The U.S. Department of Justice began investigating Jack Johnson for possible violations of the Mann Act almost from the moment the law went into effect in 1910. ● Jack Johnson married three times– always to White women. This did not escape the scrutiny of the times. In January of 1911, Johnson married Etta Terry Duryea– a Brooklyn socialite who he met at a car race in 1909. It was not a joyful union, and ended in tragedy. ● Jack Johnson with wife Irene. credit Bettmann / Corbis.


June 25th, 1913

Lincoln Memorial: an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument American Civil War: Battle of Antietam; Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland American Civil War: American Civil War: First Battle Between Ironclads; CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads American Civil War veterans begin arriving at the Great Reunion of 1913

American Civil War:
1913 - Veterans begin arriving at the Great Reunion of 1913.

Wikipedia  Image: ● Lincoln Memorial; an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument.
● The northern army led by George McClellan and the southern army led by Robert E. Lee met at Antietam Creek, Maryland in September, 1862. It was a bloody battle where 13,000 Confederates and 12,000 Union troops died in just one day. McClellan had hesitated to attack before the battle thus letting the southern troops regroup. Also, he had saved reserves and refused to use them at the end of the battle thinking that Lee was holding reserves for a counterattack, even though those reserves didn't exist. The Union victory stopped Lee's northward advance and was a turning point in the war.
Battle of Antietam / Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland
● First Battle Between Ironclads: CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads.
Although photography was still in its infancy, war correspondents produced thousands of images, bringing the harsh realities of the frontlines to those on the home front in a new and visceral way. The Atlantic.
Confederate and Union Veterans at Gettysburg Reunion of 1913


June 25th, 1944

World War II: Second firestorm raid on Germany, the Royal Air Force conducts an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing 10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf; Battle of Leyte Gulf; The first kamikaze attack: A Japanese plane carrying a 200-kilogram (440 lb) bomb attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island World War II: German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944) World War II: Eastern Front (World War II); was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945

World War II:
1944 - Battle of Tali-Ihantala; the largest battle ever fought in the Nordic Countries begins.
1944 - Bombardment of Cherbourg; The United States Navy and Royal Navy ships bombard Cherbourg to support United States Army units engaged in the Battle of Cherbourg.

Wikipedia  Photo: Bombing of Dresden in World War II; August Schreitmüller's sculpture 'Goodness' surveys Dresden after a firestorm started by Allied bombers in 1945. USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa and another airman on 11 May 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600; Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, who flew his aircraft into the USS Bunker Hill during a Kamikaze mission on 11 May 1945; Kamikaze Missions - Lt Yoshinori Yamaguchi's Yokosuka D4Y3 (Type 33 Suisei) "Judy" in a suicide dive against USS Essex. The dive brakes are extended and the non-self-sealing port wing tank is trailing fuel vapor and/or smoke November 25th, 1944. German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944), credit German History in Documents and Images GHDI.

Eastern Front (World War II); Germans race towards Stalingrad. August 1942; Soviet children during a German air raid in the first days of the war, June 1941, by RIA Novosti archive; Soviet sniper Roza Shanina in 1944. About 400,000 Soviet women served in front-line duty units Caucasus Mountains, winter 1942/43; Finnish ski patrol: the invisible enemy of the Soviet Army with an unlimited supply of skis; Men of the German Engineers Corps cross a river which is swollen after the first autumn rains, to strengthen bridges linking the German positions on the central front in Russia. by Keystone / Getty Images. October 1942; Russian snipers fighting on the Leningrad front during a blizzard. Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images, 1943; German soldiers surrendering to the Russians in Stalingrad, the soldier holding the white flag of surrender is dressed in white so that there could be no doubt of his intentions, a Russian soldier is on the right of the photograph. by Keystone / Getty Images, January 1943.


June 25th, 1947

World War II, The Holocaust Anne Frank: (Annelies 'Anne' Marie Frank, June 12, 1929 – early March 1945) was one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. (Her diary has been the basis for several plays and films.)

World War II: Holocaust;
1947 - The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is published.

Wikipedia  Photo: World War II, The Holocaust. Sources: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum USHMM, History 1900s, Internet Masters of Education Technology IMET, Techno Friends, Veterans Today, Concern. Anne Frank; (Annelies 'Anne' Marie Frank, June 12, 1929 – early March 1945) was one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. (Her diary has been the basis for several plays and films.)


June 25th, 1950

Korean War Collage

Korean War:
1950 - The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea.

Wikipedia  Photo: Korean War Collage credit, The Big Picture, Boston Globe - (Associated Press; U.S. Department of Defense / SGT. F.C. Kerr; AP Photo; U.S. Department of Defense / TSGT. Charles B. Tyler; U.S. Department of Defense / TSGT. Charles B. Tyler; U.S. Department of Defense / TSGT. Robert H. Mosier; AP Photo / Max Desfor; U.S. Department of Defense / CPL. P. McDonald; AP Photo / Max Desfor; AP Photo/George Sweers; U.S. Navy / Maj. R.V. Spencer, UAF; AP Photo / Max Desfor).


June 25th, 1967

Launch of Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit

Broadcasting of the first live global satellite television program: Our World. (The Intelsat I nicknamed "Early Bird", one of the satellites used.)

Wikipedia  Photo: NASA launch of Early Bird, or Intelsat I, the world’s first commercial communications satellite, on April 6, 1965, from Cape Kennedy, Florida. credit: NASA Kennedy Space Center ● Intelsat-1 1 [Boeing BSS]


June 25th, 1981

Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington

Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington.

Wikipedia  Image: Microsoft; (NASDAQ: MSFT) is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington that develops, manufactures, licenses and supports a wide range of products and services related to computing.


June 25th, 1991

Kingdom of Yugoslavia: (Serbo-Croatian: Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија) was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941

Yugoslav Wars, Ten-Day War:
1991 - Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence from Yugoslavia.

Wikipedia  Map: Kingdom of Yugoslavia; Belgrade, Yugoslavia; A twilight moon rises above the Kamniske mountains and Slovenia’s Sava River Valley, Slovenia, credit National Geographic; Yugoslavia, November 1977, credit National Geographic.


June 25th, 1996

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
1996 - The Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia kills 19 U.S. servicemen.

Wikipedia  Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)


June 25th, 1997

The Russian Space Station Mir endured 15 years in orbit, three times its planned lifetime, credit NASA

An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.

Wikipedia  Image: Mir Space Station endured 15 years in orbit, three times its planned lifetime, credit NASA.
U2, Lockheed TR-1 in flight.


June 25th, 2012

The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City

Four World Trade Center: The final steel beam of Four World Trade Center is lifted into place in a ceremony in New York City.

Wikipedia  Photo: One World Trade Center; A full moon, as seen from West Orange, New Jersey, rises over the skyline of Lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York, on May 6, 2012. (Reuters/Gary Hershorn), credit The Atlantic.