On February 25

On this day in ...

... 1956 (55 years ago today), in an address that the BBC called "sensational," former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was reviled "as a brutal despot" by his successor, Nikita Khrushchev (right). The latter told an assembly of the Communist Party of the "regime of 'suspicion, fear, and terror' built up under the former dictator," who'd ruled from 1924 till his death in 1953. (photo credit) Khrushchev said his goal was to bring to an end what he called "the 'Stalin cult' that has held Soviet citizens in its thrall for 30 years." Americans and Britons would learn of the "Secret Speech" the following month, but it would not be published in Russia until 1988. It's estimated that during Stalin's rule "20 million died in labor camps, forced collectivization, famine and executions."

(Prior February 25 posts are here, here, here, and here.)

On August 7

On this day in ...
... 1890 (120 years ago today), a daughter was born in Concord, New Hampshire, to emigrants from Ireland who espoused socialism and feminism. Their daughter, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (left), would work for both throughout her life. She gave her 1st public speech, "On Women Under Socialism," as a teenager. Her oratory soon got her kicked out of high school, and she became a full-time Industrial Workers of the World organizer. For this group -- whose slogan was "One Big Union," and which was known colloquially as the "Wobblies" -- Flynn, nicknamed "Rebel Girl," organized children, women, and men who worked in industries across the United States. In the wake of World War I she helped found the American Civil Liberties Union; in 1940 the ACLU kicked her off its executive board because she belonged to the Communist Party. That membership also prompted a 9-month trial -- at which she defended herself -- that ended in a Smith Act conviction and a prison sentence served at Alderson federal prison for women. (Among the lawyers who represented Flynn at points in her career was Mary M. Kaufman, previously among the women U.S. prosecutors at Nuremberg.) Having become in 1961 the 1st woman Chair of the U.S. Communist Party, Flynn died in Moscow on September 5, 1964. The Soviet government of Premier Nikita Khrushchev gave her "a full-scale state funeral in Red Square."

(Prior August 7 posts are here, here, and here.)

On September 19

On this day in ...
... 1959 (50 years ago today), in what The New York Times said "probably was the first time that Disneyland had figured as a controversial subject in Soviet-United States relations," Soviet Premier "Nikita S. Khrushchev's temper exploded" when, on arriving in Los Angeles from New York, "he was told he could not go to Disneyland because security officials could not guarantee his safety." Khruschev questioned this Cold War-era incident:

'What is it? Is there an epidemic of cholera or something? Or have gangsters taken hold of the place that can destroy me?'

The then-4-year-old theme park (image credit) already had accommodated 15 million visitors, including dignitaries like U.S. President Harry S. Truman, without incident.

(Prior September 19 posts are here and here.)

On July 24

On this day in ...
1959 (50 years ago today), during a visit to an American exhibition in the Soviet Union, U.S. Vice President Richard M. Nixon (near left) got into a tense discussion with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (far left) about the merits of communism versus capitalism; their dispute became known as the "kitchen debate." (photo credit) The exhibition, which mirrored a Soviet exhibit that had taken place in the United States earlier that year, was intended to show Soviets facets of American life, such as homes, fashions, and cars. The discussion became heated after the 2 leaders were shown into the American model kitchen and Nixon said that even the washing machines, toasters, and juicers on display were common purchases American workers could afford, implying that the new gadgets were not readily available in the Soviet Union. Khrushchev replied,

'We have all these things in our new flats."

1920, Bella Abzug (right), American feminist, lawyer and politician, was born in the Bronx, New York. In the 1970s, Abzug served as the representative for the West Side of Manhattan for 3 Congressional terms. On her 1st day as a representative she called for an immediate withdrawal from Vietnam. She fought for national health insurance, money for day care centers, and housing. She cosponsored the Equal Rights Amendment, and she was one of the 1st members of Congress to call for the impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon. In the words of a colleague,

'She was one of the most exciting, enlightened legislators that ever served in the Congress.'

After leaving the House in January 1977, Abzug worked for women's rights for another 20 years, founding an international women's group that worked on environmental issues. She died on March 31, 1998. (photo credit)

(Prior July 24 posts are here and here.)

On this day

On February 25, ...
... 1986, in Manila, Corazon Aquino (left) was sworn in as the 1st woman President of the Philippines. The move culminated what was called the People Power Revolution, which sent into Hawaiian exile longtime dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He'd threatened to stage a ceremony swearing himself back into power; he changed course, however, after the United States withdrew its support of him. Aquino, who had entered politics after the 1983 killing of her husband Benigno, a dissident leader, held office until 1992. Litigation stemming from human rights violations during the Marcos regime continues; indeed, as we've posted, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear 1 such case. Argument in Republic of Philippines v. Pimentel is set for March 17, 2008.
... 1956, in an effort to dispel "the 'Stalin cult' that has held Soviet citizens in its thrall for 30 years," Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev "denounced Joseph Stalin as a brutal despot" in a speech before the 20th Congress of the Communist Party.

On September 29, ...

... 1960, pounding on the table with both fists, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev interrupted the speech of his British counterpart in praise of U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, made during a session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Khrushchev demanded that Hammarskjold "be replaced by a three-man executive representing the western, Soviet and neutral camps." Though Khrushchev continued this attack through the next month, no action was taken. In a plane crash 1 year later Hammarskjöld died, en route to Congo peace talks; he was the posthumous recipient of the 1961 Nobel Peace Prize.
... 2005, Algerians went to the polls to vote on amnesty; that is, on the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, a proposal of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika that they "forget the violence of a civil war that left more than 100,000 people dead and to offer amnesty to many of those responsible." In the end, 97% of voters approved the referendum; turnout was 80%.

On September 4, ...

... 1957 (50 years ago today), Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus ordered the state's National Guard to surround Central High School and forbid entry to African-American teenagers -- 5 young women and 4 young men known as the "Little Rock 9" -- due to be enrolled pursuant to a school board integration plan in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that the Constitution forbids segregation of schoolchildren on the basis of race. The crisis continued for weeks, and on September 25, President Dwight Eisenhower sent the U.S. Army to Little Rock to escort the children to and from school. The school board's bid to halt desegregation the following year prompted Cooper v. Aaron, in which the Supreme Court, meeting in a special summer session, unanimously reaffirmed Brown and asserted judicial supremacy in interpretation of the Constitution. (Legal History Blog's roundup of books on the Little Rock crisis is here.)
... 1957 (50 years ago today), following a 3-year inquiry, a government-sponsored commission headed by Sir John Wolfenden issued a 155-page "Report on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution," which concluded that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults should no longer be a criminal offence." Supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury as well as health and law enforcement professionals, the recommendations paved the way for England's decriminalization of sodomy in 1967. Disregard of these events in 1986 became one basis on which the U.S. Supreme Court, in its 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas, held that the U.S. Constitution forbids criminalization of same-sex sodomy.
... 1962 (45 years ago today), U.S. President John F. Kennedy issued a statement warning Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that the placement in Cuba of "long-range missiles would raise the gravest issues," as Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (at left, conferring with the President that same year), wrote in his 1978 biography, Robert Kennedy and His Times (ch. 22). The statement derived from an August 29 memorandum on national self-defense in international law, prepared by Assistant Attorney General Norbert Schlei. The Presidential statement proved a precursor of the Cuban Missile Crisis of the following month, about which more later this anniversary year. For now, consider Schlesinger's account of the President's response when Schlei invoked the 1823 Monroe Doctrine as a basis for U.S. claims to "special rights" in the Western Hemisphere:

John Kennedy snapped: 'The Monroe Doctrine. What the hell is that?' -- meaning: what the hell standing did it have in international law? The answer was, of course, none; and Kennedy, who knew how much Latin Americans resented unilateral declarations from Washington, never mentioned the doctrine throughout the subsequent crisis.