More than two years after the Berlin Wall was constructed by
East Germany to prevent its citizens from fleeing its communist
regime, nearly 4,000 West Berliners were allowed to cross into
East Berlin to visit relatives.
Under an agreement reached between East and West Berlin,
more than 170,000 passes were eventually issued to West
Berlin citizens, each pass allowing a one-day visit to
communist East Berlin.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a film about a group of
patients at a mental institution, opened in theaters. Directed
by Milos Forman and based on a 1962 novel of the same
name by Ken Kesey, the film starred Jack Nicholson and
was co-produced by the actor Michael Douglas.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest went on to become the
first film in four decades to win in all five of the major
Academy Award categories: Best Actor (Nicholson),
Best Actress (Louise Fletcher, who played Nurse Ratched),
Best Director, Best Screenplay (Adapted) and Best Picture.
Filming was on location in Salem, Oregon and surrounding
area, and in Depoe Bay on the north Oregon coast.
The producers shot the film in the Oregon State Hospital in
Salem.
Louise Fletcher (1934 – 2022) & Jack Nicholson (87).
The inauguration of the Suez Canal at Port Said.
The Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red
seas, was inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended by
French Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.
In 1854, Ferdinand de Lesseps, the former French consul to
Cairo, secured an agreement with the Ottoman governor of
Egypt to build a canal 100 miles across the Isthmus of Suez.
An international team of engineers drew up a construction
plan, and in 1856 the Suez Canal Company was formed and
granted the right to operate the canal for 99 years after
completion of the work.
Construction began in April 1859, and at first digging was
done by hand with picks and shovels wielded by forced
laborers. Later, European workers with dredgers and
steam shovels arrived.
Ferdinand de Lesseps, the architect of the
Suez Canal.
A hand-colored postcard showing Ferdinand de Lesseps opening the Suez Canal with the Khedive Ismail and his entourage.
Early photographs of dredging in the Suez Canal from
1868-69. Norbert Schiller Collection.
East German officials opened the Berlin Wall on November 9,
1989, allowing travel from East to West Berlin. The following
day, celebrating Germans began to tear the wall down.
One of the ugliest and most infamous symbols of the Cold War
was soon reduced to rubble that was quickly snatched up by
souvenir hunters.
.jpg)
Scene on the Erie Canal, 1842; wash drawing.
The canal was a major achievement that improved the nation’s transportation infrastructure and provided great economic
benefit for much of the country.
The Erie Canal opened, connecting the Great Lakes with the
Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River. Governor DeWitt Clinton
of New York, the driving force behind the project, led the
opening ceremonies and rode the canal boat Seneca Chief
from Buffalo to New York City.
Work began on the waterway in 1817. Teams of oxen plowed
the ground, but for the most part the work was done by
immigrants, among them Irish diggers who had to rely on
primitive tools. They were paid $10 a month, and barrels of
whisky were placed along the canal route as encouragement.
Erie Canal Opening with Governor Clinton (1769-1828).
