On this day in ...… 1878, the Treaty of Berlin, the final act of the Congress of Berlin, was signed by Britain, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire. As a result, a Balkan crisis ended, and Serbia, Montenegro, and Romania became completely independent of the Ottoman Empire. Additionally, the treaty granted special legal status to some religious groups and served as a model for the minorities system that was subsequently established within the framework of the League of Nations. (credit for map of South-Eastern Europe after the Congress of Berlin)
… 1973, Alexander Butterfield, a deputy assistant to President Richard Nixon, revealed the existence of tapes to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break-in. Nixon had recorded almost every meeting in his White House offices since 1971 --
the tapes would prove vital in documenting that high-ranking officials had been involved in a cover up and other illegal activities. After a series of court battles, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in United States v. Nixon (1974) that the President had to hand over the tapes; he ultimately complied. In recent weeks, many tapes have been made newly available to the public. (credit for July 30, 1973, cover of Newsweek)(Prior July 13 posts are here and here.)
