Aside from this having been my parents’ wedding anniversary — without which, as I’m sure you realize, I would not be here to amuse and amaze you with my mental meanderings day after day — a number of even more significant events took place on September 5th. For example, in . . .

1793. The Reign of Terror began against enemies of the French Revolution. Those suspected of being traitors to the cause included nobles, priests and hoarders (according to britannica.com), and a wave of executions followed in Paris for nearly a year.

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1836. Sam Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas. It took Mexico a long time to get over that loss (assuming they ever did).

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1877. Chief Crazy Horse dies. His date of birth is uncertain but is estimated at around 1842, which would make the Sioux warrior just 35 when he was killed in a scuffle with soldiers who were trying to imprison him in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. A sad ending to a brave chieftain.

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1960. Muhammad Ali won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Rome. Then known as Cassius Clay, he was entered in the 175-pound division. He thereafter went on to a professional career that made him a sports legend.

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1972. Palestinian terrorists attacked the Olympic Village in Munich. A time of horror in the history of the Olympics. Hostages were taken, and eleven members of the Israeli team were killed. The Black September group, as they were called, were demanding the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel. The rescue attempt failed; along with the hostages, five of the captors and a West German policeman were also slain.

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1975. Assassination attempt on U.S. President Gerald Ford. The attempt was made by Lynette (“Squeaky”) Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson. She was sentenced to life in prison, but was released in 2009. Now aged 75, she and her boyfriend are said to be living in Marcy, New York, in a house decorated with skulls. I don’t know what to say about that.

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1976. The first episode of The Muppet Show aired. Aww . . . Kermit, Miss Piggy, Cookie Monster, Big Bird . . . Who could ever forget them?

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1997. Mother Teresa dies in Calcutta at age 87. I was on vacation at Cape Cod when the news broke, eclipsed by the funeral the following day of Princess Diana, who had been killed in that horrible car wreck on August 31st. Even the “party city” of the Cape — Provincetown — was sad that week.

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2000. Tuvalu becomes the 189th member of the United Nations. Never heard of it? Also known as the Ellice Islands, it’s a group of nine coral islands in the west-central Pacific, with a population of about 10,000, featuring palm-fringed beaches and World War II sites, beautiful flora and fauna — all threatened by rising sea levels. Will we be writing one day of the sinking of Tuvalu? I hope not.

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2016. Phyllis Schlafly dies at age 92. An American writer and political activist best-known for her opposition to the women’s movement and the Equal Rights Amendment, she was a woman way behind her time.

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And thus ends another day in history. Today, September 5, 2024, two Chinese spies were arrested in New York; charges and sanctions were levied against a number of Russian individuals and entities for trying to interfere with the upcoming U.S. presidential election; wars continued to rage in Ukraine and Gaza; and a 14-year-old boy in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, shot and killed two classmates and two teachers. I can file those away for next year’s column on this date.

On the up-side, the world didn’t end today.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/5/24