On January 13, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed
the first African American cabinet member, making Robert C.
Weaver head of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD). The agency that develops and
implements national housing policy and enforces fair
housing laws.
 

In keeping with his vision for a Great Society, Johnson
sought to improve race relations and eliminate urban
blight.

As many of the country’s African Americans lived in run-
down inner-city areas, appointing Weaver was an attempt
to show his African American constituency that he meant
business on both counts.

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot (1934 – 2025)

(SUN) – “The Brigitte Bardot foundation announces with
immense sadness the death of its founder and president,
Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and
singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to
dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her
foundation."

Bardot had been hospitalized briefly in late October at
Saint-Jean Hospital in Toulon, France where she
underwent a minor surgical procedure.

Bardot Bardot acted in 47 films, performed in several
musicals, and recorded more than 60 songs. She was
awarded the Legion of Honor (below) in 1985.           

1959

On December 17, 1892, Arthur Baldwin Turnure first publishes
a new magazine, dedicated to “the ceremonial side of life”
and targeted at “the sage as well as the debutante, men of
affairs as well as the belle.”

A product of the Gilded Age, Vogue has chronicled and
influenced high society, fashion and culture ever since.

The magazine has remained popular and relevant ever since,
regularly featuring the work of world-famous models,
photographers and writers.

   
Arthur Baldwin Turnure (1856–1906)

December 2025

                           
TIM MAGUIRE

On November 18, 1978, Peoples Temple founder Jim Jones
lead hundreds of his followers in a mass murder-suicide at
their agricultural commune in a remote part of the South
American nation of Guyana.

The final death toll at Jonestown that day was 909; a third
of those who perished were children.

James Warren Jones
(May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978)