On June 24

On this day in ...
... 1995 (15 years ago today), world leaders gathered in San Francisco to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the post-World War II conference that ended with the signing of the U.N. Charter on June 26, 1945. A San Francisco Chronicle article published on this day attributed the Charter's opening, "We the Peoples," to drafters' desire to

inspire people to support the United Nations and help the charter last, as it has for a half-century.

Among the world leaders wide awake in the wee hours of that San Francisco morning was Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whom live Johannesburg TV showed celebrating at an Irish pub with Ireland-born Maggie King and other South Africans as they watched South Africa win the Rugby World Cup -- playing on its home field in its 1st such international tournament since the end of apartheid. Hours later Maggie, whose mother is the subject of a prior post, celebrated again -- this time below a mast flying the Jolly Roger and a plaque honoring Harry Bridges at the Fishermen’s and Seamen’s Memorial Chapel (left), for the marriage of her brother, Peter O'Neill, to yours truly at bayside midsummer nuptials pictured here. It was, according to the Chron, the hottest day of San Francisco's century. The following 15 years, equally magical!

(Prior June 24 posts here, here, and here.)

On July 4, ...

...1954, the BBC reported: "Housewives celebrate end of rationing." That day, 12 years' enforced scarcity of staples, begun during World War II, came to a close. The headline prompts a wee tribute to my late mother-in-law, Margaret Mary Kerlin O'Neill, a legend for her skill in stowing foodstuffs in her undergarments in order to get them across the Irish border and home to Derry City, then, as now, under British rule. Butter is said to have posed particular difficulties. (photo courtesy of the BBC)
... 1884, the 108th anniversary of the proclamation in Philadelphia of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, a statue named "Liberty Enlightening the World" was formally presented to a U.S. diplomat at a ceremony in Paris. A contemporary account described this Statue of Liberty as a "great artistic monument, the gift of France, to which have contribut­ed by their votes 180 cities, forty general councils, a large number of chambers of commerce and of societies, and over a hundred thousand subscribers."