What Happened Today

When the United States Department of Defense compiled United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, the idea was that only a select number of people would see it. This meant it was entirely truthful about the U.S.'s motivations in being in Vietnam and the way the U.S. had conducted the war. Such truthfulness was not a public relations issue unless somehow it got into the public view. Daniel Ellsberg made sure the public did see it. Ellsberg was an analyst for the RAND Corporation who worked on the study and photocopied the whole thing. After going to a number of Senators and other government officials, Ellsberg was finally able to convince the New York Times to publish some of his photocopied material. Immediately christened "The Pentagon Papers" in the media, Ellsberg's leak became a sensation. People found out that multiple Presidential administrations had been lying to the country. Richard Nixon, it turned out, had continued bombing Cambodia and Laos, one of the shocking revelations of the Pentagon Papers. So the Nixon Administration sought to stop the Pentagon Papers leak, which both torpedoed a legal case against Ellsberg and led directly to Watergate.

As Medgar Evers got out of his car in front of his house in the early morning hours of June 12, 1963, a bullet entered his back and ripped through his heart. Evers was the most significant leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, who had helped integrate universities, protest segregated bus lines, and registered large numbers of black voters. For all of this, many white supremacists were targeting Evers in the lead up to his murder, and he even received some law enforcement protection, although it was not present the morning he was shot. Evers' wife Myrlie heard the gunshot and saw her husband laying in their yard and began talking about how "they killed him." The "they" was fairly obvious, as many white supremacists were around. The specific killer was also soon found, as Byron de la Beckwith's fingerprints were found on the gun left near Evers' home. Despite this and his connections to white supremacist groups, de la Beckwith would not be convicted of Evers' murder in two separate trials in 1964, as both ended in hung juries. Finally, over thirty years later, de la Beckwith would be convicted in 1994 due to the persistence of Myrlie Evers' in finding justice for her husband.

James Hood and Vivian Malone were allowed to enroll as the first African-American students at the University of Alabama by a court order. Governor of Alabama George Wallace decided to make a scene out of his opposition to the order by standing in the doorway to Foster Auditorium on the University's campus. Largely, it was a publicity stunt by Wallace, who was positioning himself as the segregationist candidate in the Democratic Presidential Primaries in 1964. In his gubernatorial Inaugural Address, Wallace famously proclaimed he would fight for "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." This stance was a shift from his slightly more moderate stance in the 1950s. Yet a cynical view of politics pushed Wallace to being an arch-segregationist. "Standing in the schoolhouse door" was an opportunity for Wallace to raise his profile in a confrontation with the Kennedy administration, which Federalized the National Guard and had President Kennedy issue an executive order to remove him. Vivian Malone and James Hood were allowed to register after Wallace gave his speeches. Although he would later renounce his segregationist positions, the stand in the schoolhouse door remained his signature political moment.

When Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, declared that there would be an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire, he was really putting together long running historical forces to his advantage. Although Hussein bin Ali had many troubles with various Ottoman rulers from the late 19th century, by 1916 he had a few elements in his advantage to declare open revolt. First, the Ottoman Empire was ruled by the Three Pashas, the military triumvirate that grew out of the secularist, reforming Young Turks movement. Second, the Ottoman Empire was engaged in serious fighting during World War I. Third, the British and French were more than willing to assist an Arab revolt. The fighting actually began on June 5, 1916, with an attack on Medina by Hussein's sons Abdullah and Faisal. Although that was unsuccessful, the attack on the Ottoman garrison at Mecca on June 10 that followed Hussein's proclamation of the Arab Revolt led to the capture of the city and widespread dislike of the Ottoman artillery barrage on Islam's holiest city. The Arab Revolt, with British help by men like T.E. Lawrence, was ultimately successful, Hussein bin Ali never became the King of the Arabs he had dreamed of being, thanks to the way the Ottoman Empire was partitioned.

Secretariat's victory in the Belmont placed him in the elite category of Triple Crown winning American thoroughbreds. Yet his Belmont win did more than make him a Triple Crown winner, as his win was so immense that he left his opponents 31 lengths behind him and produced a world record in the mile and a half which still stands. In many ways, Secretariat was built for just such a moment. His sire, Bold Ruler, was one of the best thoroughbred Stallions in the 1970s. Secretariat's conformation was nearly perfect, producing immense power in his stride. As a young horse, he seemed indifferent to racing. But once he hit the track, he proved to be a truly special horse. He developed a pattern in his two year old year, starting slowly and taking the lead from behind. He did this throughout his two year old season, and became a favorite for the Kentucky Derby as the 1973 season began. His loss in the Wood Memorial made people doubt him. Then he set a new track record with his win in the Kentucky Derby. He would subsequently win the Preakness Stakes. Finally, though, it was the Belmont Stakes, where Secretariat won so impressive, that made Secretariat one of the great horses in history.

The Cult of the Supreme Being was supposed to be the official state religion of Revolutionary France, replacing the Catholicism of the Ancien Regime. Valuing reason, a non-specific godhead, and civic virtue, the Cult of the Supreme Being was the passion project of Committee of Public Safety member Maximilien Robespierre. The Cult of the Supreme Being was in line with the new Revolutionary Calendar by washing away any sign of the old France. The Festival of the Supreme Being was going to be the Cult of the Supreme Being's great coming out party. Held on the Champs de Mars with a presentation planned by artist Jacques Louis-David, the Festival was the official replacement of Catholicism and its ties to the former royalty. Yet Robespierre's forceful presentation of the new Cult in its Festival was an odd, less bloody version of his Reign of Terror, which saw thousands sent to the guillotine to wipe away the signs of the Ancien Regime. Really, it was one of the last breaking points for Robespierre's opponents, who would arrest and execute him in less than two months in both the Gregorian and Revolutionary calendars during the Thermidorian Reaction.

From 1870, when Italian unification was completed with the capture of Rome, one of the thorniest political issues in Italy and all of Europe was the "Roman question." Essentially, the Pope, who had ruled the Papal States with temporal authority over actual territory, refused to acknowledge being under the control of the Italian government. Pope Pius IX in 1870 even declared himself a "Prisoner in the Vatican," a claim held up by all of his successors until 1929. The situation was only resolved by the Lateran Treaty, a negotiation between the Holy See and the Italian Fascist government of Benito Mussolini. Essentially, it said that Vatican City would be recognized as a sovereign nation, separate from Italy, while also allowing for some payments from Italy. This situation gave cover for Mussolini's pronouncements on Catholicism. The Papacy, meanwhile, could continue the practice of sending ambassadors to most nations and retaining its own authority. The Lateran Treaty was such a success it has been held up by Italy's government even after the establishment of democracy in 1947.

No monarch was quite like Queen Christina of Sweden. She was raised with a Prince's education, took the throne at the age of 6, and generally acted much more masculine as a child than was usual for the 17th century. Born as the only legitimate child of King Gustavus Adolphus, the great hero of Protestantism in the Thirty Years War, Christina was a hero of Protestantism before she was even able to rule on her own. Once she did become an adult in 1644, Christina helped negotiate the end of the war in Sweden's favor, gaining territory and concessions. Domestically, she spent lavishly on books, art, theater, and even philosophers. Then, she decided to convert to Catholicism and abdicate her throne. Neither event was common in Europe at the time. By the time Christina eventually moved to Rome, she was a celebrated figure among the Vatican court. She also tried to influence European politics later in life, but mostly lived a plush existence as one of the leading lights of Rome and the entire Counter-Reformation.

In the early 1960s, John Profumo appeared to be a rising star in the Conservative Government of British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan. A war veteran and long-term Member of Parliament, Profumo had risen to the position of Secretary of State for War in his 40s, and he was then responsible for the professionalization of the Army. Then in 1963 it came out that he had had an affair with a 19 year old model named Christine Keeler in 1961. This was more than just a sexual affair, as Keeler was associated with the osteopath to the elite Stephen Ward, who turned out to have a circle of prominent people that he helped get drugs and young women for. One of these people also turned out to be a Soviet attache, Evgeny Ivanov, who was conducting an affair with Keeler at the same time as Profumo. After a number of weird criminal charges for boyfriends of Keeler, rumors swirled around Profumo. By the summer of 1963, Profumo was unable to fight off the rumors and resigned his position and place in Parliament. Ward would be brought on charges of running prostitutes and kill himself with sleeping pills. Harold MacMillan would resign his position as PM in ill health in October 1963, and the Conservative Party would then lose the General Election of 1964 in the fallout of the Profumo affair.

By June of 1940, the situation for Great Britain in the Second World War looked dire. Nazi Germany had conquered Poland, smashed through Belgium, and pushed British and French forces out of most of Western France. The only possible "victory" was the evacuation of Dunkirk on the English Channel, despite troops being pinned down and looking like they would be slaughtered. With that backdrop, Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed the House of Commons and made a speech encouraging Britain to fight the oncoming Nazi invasion. First, Churchill had to realistically and carefully acknowledge the course of the war to that point. Then, he had to describe the situation that Britain was in, as the only power left to fight the Nazis. Yet in doing all of that, Churchill highlighted the brilliant fighting of the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. This allowed him to urge the nation to keep fighting, using a famous peroration that used strong, plain language to reinforce the idea not only that Britain would fight, but that the fight would be a brutal one that Britain had to win.