Scott Allsop's Blog, page 48

10th February 1962: Captured U-2 spy plane pilot Gary Powers freed in a prisoner exchange

Powers had been sentenced to 10 years’ confinement in the USSR but, amidst concerns that he might reveal any remaining secrets to the Soviet authorities, the U.S. government agreed to exchange Powers and imprisoned student Frederic Pryor in return for Soviet Colonel Rudolf ...

9th February 1950: Joseph McCarthy starts the Second Red Scare with a speech claiming Communists were working in the U.S. Department of State

In his address to the Ohio County Women’s Republican Club, McCarthy claimed to possess a list of 205 State Department employees with Communist affiliations. This assertion marked the start of what became known as McCarthyism or the Second Red ...

8th February 1910: The Boy Scouts of America organization incorporated by William D. Boyce in Washington D.C.

Although the organization’s numbers have fallen in recent years, it still has an estimated 2.2 million ...

7th February 1914: Charlie Chaplin’s iconic ‘Tramp’ character makes his first public appearance in the film Kid Auto Races at Venice

The film was an immediate success, and audiences were quick to recognize the arrival of a new and unique talent. Reviewers at the time identified Chaplin as ‘a born screen ...

5th February 1909: Bakelite, the world’s first synthetic plastic, announced by Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland

The commercial success of Bakelite extended beyond its utility as its distinctive appearance, became a hallmark of the Art Deco era and added another layer to Bakelite’s rapid and widespread ...

3rd February 1972: The deadliest recorded blizzard hit northwestern, central and southern Iran

Approximately 4,000 people perished in the blizzard, where the worst affected areas were buried in up to 8 metres (26 feet) of snow that would have covered a two and half story ...

2nd February 1709: Alexander Selkirk rescued after spending more than four years as a castaway

Marooned alone on Más a Tierra Island in the uninhabited Juan Fernández archipelago, Selkirk survived for more than four years, foraging for food and hunting wild goats, while using the limited tools available to him to construct huts for ...

1st February 1861: Texas declares its secession from the United States after a convention votes overwhelmingly in favour

Elected representatives assembled in Austin on January 28, 1861, and four days later on 1 February the convention voted 166 to 8 in favour of secession. The decision was confirmed through a state-wide referendum on 23 ...

31st January 1865: Thirteenth Amendment passed by the US Congress to formally abolish slavery

It was sent to the states for ratification the next day, a process that was concluded on 6 December after the necessary three-quarters of states approved ...

30th January 1835: Andrew Jackson survives the first assassination attempt of a sitting US President

Would-be assassin Richard Lawrence was found ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ and was committed to an ...