ED DANAHUE

Noblemen in Russia murdered Gregory Rasputin on this day in 1916.

The U.S. Seventh Cavalry massacred over 400 men, women and
children at Wounded Knee Creek, SD. on this day in 1890. This
was the last major conflict between Indians and U.S. troops.

President James Polk (above) signed legislation making Texas
the 28th state of the United States on this day in 1845.

On this day in 1989, dissident playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia by the country’s Federal Assembly. He
was the first non-Communist to hold the position in more than four decades.

The first American Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was organized, in Boston, MA. on this day in 1851.

The hard-line coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev ended on
this day in 1991. The uprising that led to the collapse was led by Russian
federation President Boris Yeltsin.

Boris Yeltsin (left) and Mikhail Gorbachev.

It was on this day in 1940.

Leon Trotsky (Lev Davidovich Bronstein)
(November 7, 1879 – August 21, 1940)

Nat Turner, a former slave, led a violent insurrection in Virginia on
this day in 1831. He was later executed.

Hawaii became the 50th state on this day in 1959. United States
President Eisenhower (seated/center) also issued the order for
the 50 star flag.

William James "Count" Basie (August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984)

Count Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and
composer who introduced several generations of listeners to the Big
Band sound and left an influential catalog.  

                     
                      Kenneth Ray Rogers is 79 years old today.

Kenny Rogers has sold more than 100 million albums over the course of his
career. His 1970s albums The Gambler and Kenny went 5x Platinum and 3x
Platinum, respectively. In 2013, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall
of Fame. He joined his first band,The Scholars, in the mid-1950s, but the band
dissolved after their frontman left to go solo.

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Originally inhabited by Native Americans, The Territory of Oregon was an 
organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from
August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion
of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon.

                        Oregon became the 33rd member of the Union.

ED DANAHUE