On July 22

On this day in ...
... 1956, leaders from across the Americas concluded a multilateral conference by signing the Declaration of the Presidents of the American Republics. The declaration's hemispheric vision:

An America united, strong and benevolent will not only promote the well-being of the Continent but contribute toward achieving for the whole world the benefits of a peace based on justice and freedom, in which all peoples, without distinction as to race or creed, can work with dignity and with confidence in the future.

The conference "helped lay the groundwork for the creation of the Inter-American Development Bank and elements for the Alliance for Progress." (credit for photo of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signing documents at the 1956 conference) It was held in Panama City in commemoration of the "first collective manifestation of Pan Americanism," an Assembly of Plenipotentiaries of the American States there, "convoked by the Liberator Simón Bolívar" in 1826. The 1956 effort has evolved into the Summit of the Americas process, which features meetings of governmental leaders that conclude with similar declarations. Most recent was the 5th summit, held in 2009 in Trinidad and Tobago; the 6th is set for 2012 in Colombia.

(Prior July 22 posts are here, here, and here.)

On August 31

On this day in ...
... 1962, Trinidad and Tobago gained full independence from Britain. It then joined the Commonwealth of Nations, and though independent, it "acknowledged the British monarch as the figurehead chief of state from 1962 until 1976." Since then it's been a parliamentary republic. In 1498 Christopher Columbus had landed on Trinidad, the larger of the 2 islands that comprise the Caribbean country. Today Trinidad and Tobago, which is about the size of Delaware, has a population of 1.3 million.
... 1979, Sally Rand died of congestive heart failure at a hospital in Glendora, California. She'd been born Harriet Helen Gould Beck 75 years earlier in Hickory County, Missouri; Cecil B. DeMille gave her her stage name in the 1920s. Rand gained global renown in 1933 and 1934 at the "Streets of Paris" concession (right) at Chicago's Century of Progress World's Fair. (photo credit) There throngs watched her dance to classical music, waving giant ostrich-befeathered fans that appeared the only cover of her seemingly nude (but actually bodysuited) self. Her famous fan dance is captured in the video below. Rand's political side extended to more than sexual politics, according to her New York Times obituary:

During the 1930's, when her notoriety was at its height, she made repeated appearances before small-town civic groups and spoke out in favor of the republican forces in the Spanish Civil War.