On this day in ...... 1952, leaders of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands signed the Treaty instituting the European Defence Community (EDC) in Paris. But the treaty never entered into force: the National Assembly of France, whose government had spearheaded the idea in 1950, refused to ratify the 1952 treaty, finding it "an attack on French sovereignty in the domain of national defense." Thus did the August 1954 political cartoon above depict U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and other supporters in a motorboat watching "EDC" attempt to swim ashore past the tentacles of "French Germanophobia." (credit) Eventually efforts were abadoned in favor of creation of the Western European Union, with more members, including England.
... 1992, Leneen Forde (below right) was appointed Governor of Queensland (according to this link; another puts the date later in the same year), making her the 1st women to lead a state in Australia. She would hold the post until 1997. Born Leneen Kavanagh in
Ottawa, Canada, in 1935, she worked as a medical lab technician before she moved Down Under, married, and earned a law degree at the University of Queensland. From 1998-99 Forde was Chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions. Since 2000 she's served as Chancellor of Griffith University in Queensland.(Prior May 27 posts are here and here.)
