Tag Archives: Vietnam

Today In History. What Happened This Day In History

Today In History. What Happened This Day In History

A Timeline Of Events That Occurred On This Day In History


February 1

1327   Edward III is coronated King of England.
1587   Elizabeth I, Queen of England, signs the Warrant of Execution for Mary Queen of Scots.
1633   The tobacco laws of Virginia are codified, limiting tobacco production to reduce dependence on a single-crop economy.
1793   France declares war on Britain and the Netherlands.
1861   A furious Governor Sam Houston storms out of a legislative session upon learning that Texas has voted 167-7 to secede from the Union.
1902   U.S. Secretary of State John Hay protests Russian privileges in China as a violation of the “open door policy.”
1905   Germany contests French rule in Morocco.
1909   U.S. troops leave Cuba after installing Jose Miguel Gomez as president.
1943   American tanks and infantry are battered at German positions at Fais pass in North Africa.
1944   U.S. Army troops invade two Kwajalein Islands in the Pacific.
1945   U.S. Rangers and Filipino guerrillas rescue 513 American survivors of the Bataan Death March.
1951   Third A-bomb tests are completed in the desert of Nevada.
1964   President Lyndon B. Johnson rejects Charles de Gaulle‘s plan for a neutral Vietnam.
1968   U.S. troops drive the North Vietnamese out of Tan Son Nhut airport in Saigon.
1968   South Vietnam President Nguyen Van Thieu declares martial law.
1986   Two days of anti-government riots in Port-au-Prince result in 14 dead.
Born on February 1
1552   Sir Edward Coke, English jurist who helped the development of English law with his arguments for the supremacy of common law over royal prerogative.
1878   Hattie Caraway, first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
1902   Langston Hughes, African-American poet

– See more at: http://www.historynet.com/today-in-history/february-01#sthash.wNe3P04U.dpuf

Today In History (January 31) : What Happened This Day In History

Today In History. What Happened This Day In History


January 31

1606   Guy Fawkes is hanged, drawn and quartered for his part in the Gunpowder Plot, an attempt to blow up Parliament.
1620   Virginia colony leaders write to the Virginia Company in England, asking for more orphaned apprentices for employment.
1788   The Young Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart dies.
1835   A man with two pistols misfires at President Andrew Jackson at the White House.
1865   House of Representatives approves a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery.
1911   The German Reichstag exempts royal families from tax obligations.
1915   Germans use poison gas on the Russians at Bolimov.
1915   German U-boats sink two British steamers in the English Channel.
1916   President Woodrow Wilson refuses the compromise on Lusitania reparations.
1917   Germany resumes unlimited sub warfare, warning that all neutral ships that are in the war zone will be attacked.
1935   The Soviet premier tells Japan to get out of Manchuria.
1943   The Battle of Stalingrad ends as small groups of German soldiers of the Sixth Army surrender to the victorious Red Army forces.
1944   U.S. troops under Vice Adm. Spruance land on Kwajalien atoll in the Marshall Islands.
1950   Paris protests the Soviet recognition of Ho Chi Minh’s Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
1968   In Vietnam, the Tet Offensive begins as Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers attack strategic and civilian locations throughout South Vietnam.
1976   Ernesto Miranda, famous from the Supreme Court ruling on Miranda vs. Arizona is stabbed to death.
1981   Lech Walesa announces an accord in Poland, giving Saturdays off to laborers.
Born on January 31
1734   Robert Morris, signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
1797   Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (C Major Symphony, The Unfinished Symphony).
1919   Jackie Robinson, first African-American baseball player in the modern major leagues.
1925   Benjamin Hooks, civil rights leader.


word: prevaricate


Definition: (verb) To stray from or evade the truth; equivocate.
Synonyms: beat around the bush, palter, tergiversate
Usage: At the press conference, the politician continued to prevaricate on the issue rather than provide a direct answer. Discuss.

Rice Paddies

Rice Paddies

In Asian countries where traditional methods of rice cultivation are practiced, rice is grown in flooded fields called rice paddies. The fields are first prepared by plowing, fertilizing, and smoothing, and seedlings are started in seedling beds. They are then transplanted by hand to the fields, which have been flooded by rain or river water. Irrigation is maintained by dike-controlled canals or by hand watering until the fields are drained for harvesting. What is the origin of the word “paddy”? More… Discuss

Saint of the Day for Monday, November 24th, 2014: St. Andrew Dung Lac

Military Camouflage

Military Camouflage

Though today nearly all combat uniforms and military vehicles are designed with camouflage in mind, this was not always the case. Men once marched into battle in bright, eye-grabbing uniforms, but as more accurate firearms were developed, camouflage became increasingly important. It was greatly developed during World War I, and though radar use diminished its utility, conflicts like the guerrilla campaigns of the Vietnam War again made it important. What is dazzle camouflage? More… Discuss

People and places: The Mekong Delta

Brick factory - Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

Brick factory – Mekong Delta, Vietnam. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mekong Delta

The Mekong River—the longest river in Southeast Asia—flows from southern China through Tibet, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, where it enters the South China Sea. The sediments it carries on the 2,700-mile (4,350-km) journey form the vast, extremely fertile Mekong Delta, which occupies southeast Cambodia and southern Vietnam. One of the greatest rice-growing areas in Asia, the densely populated delta region has been called a “biological treasure trove.” What did scientists recently discover there? More… Discuss


this day in the yesteryear: Spot Peace Little Girl (Daisy) – Jhonson 1964 (Sub en español)







Saint of the Day, Tuesday, August 12th, 2014: St. Michael My

Saint of the Day

TODAY’S HOLIDAY: Ho Chi Minh’s Birthday

Ho Chi Minh’s Birthday

Often referred to as the “father of modern Vietnam,” Ho Chi Minh spearheaded the Vietnamese revolt against French and Japanese occupation. In 1954, after the French and Japanese left, the United States entered the scene, and it was during this struggle that Ho Chi Minh died in 1969. In 1975, North and South Vietnam united into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. On Ho Chi Minh’s birthday each year, people hold parades in cities, carrying posters depicting him. Many women wear the áo dài, traditional Vietnamese dress. Speeches about Ho Chi Minh often follow the parades. More… Discuss

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TODAY’S BIRTHDAY: Ho Chi Minh (1890)

Ho Chi Minh (1890)

Ho was a Vietnamese nationalist leader, president of North Vietnam, and one of the most influential political leaders of the 20th century. Near the end of World War I, he went to France and became a founding member of the French Communist Party. He studied revolutionary tactics in Moscow and organized revolutionaries in Indochina. During World War II, Ho returned to Vietnam and declared it a republic. Why was news of his death in 1969 initially withheld from the North Vietnamese people? More… Discuss

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John Kerry Testifies before Congress on Vietnam (1971)

Though he was a decorated Vietnam veteran—a recipient of the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts—John Kerry was also an outspoken opponent of the war. In 1971, he appeared before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to urge the US to pursue an immediate and unilateral withdrawal. In his testimony, he also presented the findings of the Winter Soldier Investigation, which collected firsthand accounts of war crimes from Vietnam veterans. Why was Kerry arrested a month later?More… Discuss

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Today In History: Fall Of Saigon (1975)

Fall of Saigon (1975)

On April 30, 1975, Saigon, the largest city in Vietnam and the capital of South Vietnam, was captured by the National Liberation Front and the People’s Army of Vietnam. The event marked the end of the Vietnam War (1955-1975) and the reunification of Vietnam under communist rule. The city lost its status as the country’s capital and was renamed after what Vietnamese Marxist revolutionary leader and late president of North Vietnam? More… Discuss