November 8, 1946: Viola Desmond, the Rosa Parks of Canada

November 8, 1946, 80 years ago: Canada develops its own Rosa Parks -- 9 years before America had theirs.

Viola Irene Davis was born on July 6, 1914 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her father was a barber, and she wanted to go into the hair care profession, too. But the only beauty school in town wouldn't admit her, because she was black. So she trained where she could: Montreal, Atlantic City, and New York. She married Jack Desmond, and they opened a combination barbershop/beauty salon. She also opened her own beauty school, so no other black woman would have to be denied like she was.

On November 8, 1946, she drove across Nova Scotia to Sydney, to sell her beauty products, but her car broke down in New Glasgow. The good news was, the mechanic she went to was willing to fix a black person's car. The bad news was, it would take a day.

So she went to see a movie. The Roseland Theatre was showing The Dark Mirror, and sold her a ticket to the balcony section, which matched America's treatment of black people in segregated movie theaters. But her eyesight was poor, so she asked for a floor seat. The ticket seller said, "I'm not permitted to sell downstairs tickets to you people." Which, legally, was a lie. She took her ticket for the balcony, and sat in the floor section.

And usher found her, and told her to move. She refused. She offered to pay the additional 10 cents for a floor seat. They responded to this by calling the police, who picked her up, injuring her hip. With that injury, she was in jail for the next 12 hours. She was never informed about her right to legal advice, a lawyer, or bail.

The charge was tax evasion. She wasn't evading anything: She had offered to pay the extra 10 cents. One cent of that was slated for the Province of Nova Scotia, and she was convicted of depriving the government of a single cent. Instead of paying an extra 10 cents, she was fined $26.

Her husband wanted her to let it go, and pay the fine. But her church stood by her, and hired a lawyer. His name was Frederick Bissett, and he made a critical mistake: He opted for a judicial review, rather than appeal the original conviction. Desmond's lawyer tried to appeal the decision on the basis of her being wrongfully accused of tax evasion, not on the basis of racial discrimination. The prosecutors stood by the theater's story, that the issue wasn't race, it was taxes. Which was a lie, because she had offered to pay the money. The fine stood.

To make matters worse, her husband soon left her. She closed her business, went to college in Montreal, moved to New York, and died on February 7, 1965, only 50 years old. She had surely heard the story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, but there is no record of Mrs. Parks and Mrs. Desmond ever having met.

The legend of Viola Desmond grew after her death. In 2010, the Nova Scotia Provincial government granted her a pardon and an apology. They were posthumous, of course: She would have been 94 years old. Beginning in 2018, her face adorned the Canadian $10 bill, replacing that of the country's 1st Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald.

As of November 8, 2022, there has never been a film made about her, even though a prominent black American film actress shares her birth name of Viola Davis.

 

November 7, 1876: Samuel Tilden Is Elected President, But Not Really

November 7, 1876, 150 years ago: Samuel Jones Tilden, former Governor of New York, wins the popular vote and the Electoral Vote in the Presidential election, defeating the Governor of Ohio, Rutherford B. Hayes. Tilden got 51 percent of the popular vote, to Hayes' 48; and 204 Electoral Votes, to Hayes' 165.

What's that? You've never heard of Tilden? That's not surprising, unless you're a history buff, or are from Brooklyn where there's a high school named for him, or Nebraska where there's a town named for him (the hometown of Baseball Hall-of-Famer Richie Ashburn). He didn't get to become President, because the Republicans stole the Electoral Votes of Louisiana (8 of them), South Carolina (7) and Florida (4), plus 1 of the 3 in Oregon.

So the final count, not made official until the Electoral Commission made its ruling on a pure party-line vote of 8-7 on March 2, 1877 -- 2 days before the Inauguration -- was Hayes 185, Tilden 184.

Hayes, nicknamed "Rutherfraud," "His Fraudulency" and "Old 8 to 7," announced he would serve only 1 term, and kept his promise. Tilden was convinced he was robbed, but did not run again in 1880 or 1884, due to ill health, and died in 1886.

But was he robbed? The Democrats, then the nation's conservative party, may have engaged in serious intimidation of newly-enfranchised black voters in Southern States. It's possible they tried every bit as hard to steal those States on Election Day as the Republicans did afterward. We may never know who truly deserved to win. Regardless, there is absolutely no known evidence that either Hayes or Tilden participated in any election fraud on his own behalf.

The book shown above, Fraud of the Century, was published in 2003. Its author, Roy Morris Jr., is the editor of the magazine Civil War Quarterly. He has also written biographies of Union General Philip Sheridan, poet Walt Whitman, and authors Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce and Gertrude Stein; and a dual biography of Abraham Lincoln and his 2-time election opponent Stephen A. Douglas.

November 6, 1986: The Immigration Reform and Control Act

Behind the President, left to right: Representative Peter Rodino,

Senator Alan Simpson, Vice President George H.W. Bush,

Senator Strom Thurmond and Representative Romano Mazzoli

November 6, 1986, 40 years ago: President Ronald Reagan signs the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. It has been the defining document of America's immigration policy ever since.

Its most significant effect was that it allowed immigrants who had entered the U.S. illegally before January 1, 1982 to apply for legal status, provided they paid fines and back taxes. This provision, which Reagan himself referred to as "amnesty," allowed around 3 million immigrants to secure legal status after paying $185 -- about $565 in 2026 money -- demonstrating "good moral character," and learning to speak English.

It superseded the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which superseded the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which replaced the terribly restrictive Immigration Act of 1924.

The 1986 Act was proposed by Senator Alan Simpson, Republican of Wyoming. Its House of Representatives sponsor was Romano Mazzoli of Kentucky, a Democrat and a son of Italian immigrants. So it had bipartisan support. The House passed it on October 14, by a vote of 238-173. The Senate did so on October 17, by a vote of 63-24. So the vote wasn't close.

Reagan signed it into law in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. Among those with him at the time were Simpson, Mazzoli, Vice President George H.W. Bush; and the Chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, respectively: Peter Rodino, Democrat of New Jersey, and Strom Thurmond, Republican of South Carolina. Thurmond had come a long way from a past of bigotry. He should have: He was a few days short of his 84th birthday.

Conservative activists since Reagan, who have demagogued the issue of illegal immigration since the 1990s and especially since the 9/11 attacks in 2001, find it hard to believe that their favorite President of all time could have done such a thing, but he did. Say what you want about him, and I have, but the man did believe that immigrants made America stronger, not weaker.

And every President after him agreed: Both George Bushes, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama -- until Donald Trump, who was so anti-immigrant, he made Calvin Coolidge look like a believer in open borders.

Another big difference between Reagan and Trump: Reagan had a healthy distrust of Russian dictators. Trump has an affinity for them, and it is very unhealthy for America.

November 6, 1956: President Dwight D. Eisenhower Is Re-Elected

November 6, 1956, 70 years ago: President Dwight D. Eisenhower is re-elected. Despite concerns over his health (he'd had a heart attack in September 1955, and had been hospitalized again in June, possibly for another heart attack that the White House didn't want to talk about), the fitness for office of Vice President Richard Nixon, and how "Ike" had handled the recent crises in Hungary and Egypt, he wins 57 percent of the popular vote, and 457 Electoral Votes.

Former Governor Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois fares no better in the rematch than he did in 1952, winning just 42 percent, and 73 Electoral Votes. Stevenson won only 7 States: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri. In the other 41 States, he comes close only in Tennessee.

As it turned out, it was a "personal landslide" for Ike. He was much more popular than his Republican Party, and had no "coattails" in the Congressional elections. The Republicans gained only 2 seats in the House of Representatives, and the Democrats broke even in the Senate, to hold their majorities in each house. Among the new Senators were Democrat Frank Church of Idaho and Republican Jacob Javits of New York.

Comedian Mort Sahl had said, "Eisenhower stands for gradualism. Stevenson stands for moderation. Between these 2 extremes, we the people must choose."

November 5, 1996: President Bill Clinton Is Re-Elected

November 5, 1996, 30 years ago: President Bill Clinton is re-elected, winning 379 Electoral Votes to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole's 159. Clinton wins 49.2 percent of the popular vote, while Dole wins 40.7, and Reform Party candidate Ross Perot wins 8.4 percent but no Electoral Votes.

Clinton went over the necessary 270 Electoral Votes with the States that closed at 9:00 PM, Eastern Time.

After the failure of his health care initiative in 1994, Clinton saw his Democratic Party battered in the midterm elections, with the Republicans taking both houses of Congress. Dole, from Russell, Kansas -- always mentioning his hometown, not just his State -- had first been elected to Congress in 1960, and to the U.S. Senate in 1968. He was nominated for Vice President under Gerald Ford in 1976. He ran for President in 1980, but didn't get far. He became Senate Majority Leader after the election of 1984, but the Democrats regained the Senate in 1986, making him the Minority Leader.

He ran for President again in 1988, and finished 2nd in delegates to Vice President George H.W. Bush, who was elected. In 1992, Clinton beat Bush to become President-elect. The next morning, mere hours after Clinton clinched victory in a 3-man race in which Perot got 19 percent of the popular vote (but no Electoral Votes), Dole pointed out, "57 percent of Americans did not vote for Bill Clinton, and I intend to represent that majority on the floor of the U.S. Senate. If Bill Clinton has a mandate, then so do I."

Clinton was now 1-0 in Presidential elections. Dole was 0-2, 0-3 if you count 1976. Clinton got just under 45 million votes for President. Dole got 2.3 million votes in the 1988 Republican Primaries. Dole himself had just been re-elected to the Senate in 1992, with 244,000 votes. And he then represented a caucus of 43 Senators. He was in no position to claim any majority, especially against a man who had just gotten almost 45 million votes. The 57 percent of American voters who chose someone other than Clinton? As far as I know, not one of them voted for Bob Dole for President, not even as a write-in candidate.

But the '94 election restored Dole to the post of Majority Leader. And Newt Gingrich, a Pennsylvania native who moved to Georgia to teach at a college, and was first elected to Congress in 1978 and used fiery rhetoric to get into the Republican Party's leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1989, became the Speaker of the House.

Dole was considered mean, a reputation he got in his 1976 Vice Presidential debate with Walter Mondale, and deepened in his 1988 Presidential run. But, politically speaking, he was still a center-right candidate, willing to compromise for the greater good of the country. Gingrich was not: He was frequently called a "firebrand" and a "bombthrower."

Like most politicians, especially Republicans, he wanted to balance the federal budget. But his plan severely cut social services -- and also seriously cut taxes, especially on the wealthy. This didn't work when Ronald Reagan was President in the 1980s, and actually created the conditions that led to Clinton's election in 1992. As we have since seen, it didn't work in 2001, and it didn't work in 2017. It would not have worked in 1995.

Every year, the federal budget takes effect on October 1. That is, "Fiscal Year 1996" ran from October 1, 1995 to September 30, 1996. If no deal between Congress and the President is in place by October 1, they can pass a "continuing resolution": For the length of the resolution, the proportions of the previous fiscal year continue.

But Clinton and the Republicans controlling Congress couldn't reach a deal by September 30. So they passed a continuing resolution that ran until November 13. But the Republicans refused to pass a new one by November 14. So, at midnight on November 13, the government shut down.

And the Republicans went before the media and said it was Clinton's fault. Except Clinton also went before the media, and pointed out that he was still willing to make a deal, and the Republicans weren't. Finally, he called Dole and Gingrich into the Oval Office. So often willing to compromise on things, seemingly desperate to get re-elected, but angering many in his own party, Clinton told them, "I don't care if I go down to 5 percent in the polls. If you want that budget signed into law, you're going to have to get somebody else behind this desk."

For once, Clinton held his ground. And polls showed that more people supported his stance than the Republicans' stance. Their approval rating plummeted. Finally, on November 19, they caved. And when the general election campaign got underway, the Democrats aired commercials showing Dole and Gingrich together so many times, it began to look like Gingrich was Dole's running mate.

Having been the Republican nominee for Vice President in 1976, and having run for the Republican nomination for President in 1980 and 1988, Dole had practically been running for President in the 1996 election since the day after the 1992 election ended. Politically-themed comedian Mark Russell, who was 10 years younger than Dole, and specialized in rewriting pre-rock-and-roll songs for political issues of the time, wrote for one of his periodic TV specials on PBS:

This old man, Robert Dole

has the White House as his goal.

For 20 years, there in his eye, a glint.

This old man can't take a hint.

And yet, Russell followed this song by saying, "I'm thinking of voting for Bob Dole. I figure it'll be the last chance to have a President who's older than I am!" He turned out to be right, living to see the Presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, all younger.

Dole officially announced his candidacy on April 10, 1995. Despite losing the New Hampshire Primary to Pat Buchanan, an archconservative journalist who had previously worked for Presidents, Nixon, Ford and Reagan, he won enough Delegates to secure the nomination on March 19, 1996.

He traveled the country on a plane he named, after his position in the Senate, Leader Ship. Then he rolled the dice, and resigned from the Senate on June 11, to show the American people he was focused only on the election: "I have nowhere to go, except the White House, or home." He changed his plane's name to Citizen Ship. (Dole was succeeded as Majority Leader by his Majority Whip, Trent Lott of Mississippi.)

At the Republican Convention, held at the San Diego Convention Center, Dole chose a real running mate: Jack Kemp, former pro quarterback, former Congressman from Buffalo, New York, a 1988 Presidential candidate like Dole, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bush. Kemp had long been the darling of the conservative tax-cut movement, and boosted Dole in the polls.

In his acceptance speech, on August 15, Dole said, "Let me be the bridge to an America that only the unknowing call myth. Let me be the bridge to a time of tranquility, faith, and confidence in action." This was a blunder: In his acceptance speech, at the United Center in Chicago, Clinton said, "We do not need to build a bridge to the past. We need to build a bridge to the future, all the way to the 21st Century!"

After that, Clinton and his running mate, Vice President Al Gore, solidified their lead, and Dole and Kemp never really got close to them. Near the end of the campaign, Dole tried to make a big deal about Clinton's "scandals," but nobody could pin anything on him. And Clinton seemed to be handling his role as Commander-in-Chief well. And, just as in 1992, the issue of "the economy, stupid" helped him: This time, he was in charge of it, and it was doing well.

Dole didn't run a bad campaign, but once Clinton won the battle over the budget, Dole never had a chance.

Comedian Mort Sahl, closing in on half of century of joking about politicians of both parties, said, "There were 4 million people in the American colonies, and we had Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Franklin. Now, we have over 200 million, and the top 2 guys are Clinton and Dole. What can you draw from this? Darwin was wrong!"

What no one yet knew was that the government shutdown, at the same time that it was securing Clinton's win, was also setting the stage for the biggest internal crisis of his Presidency: Among the volunteers working in the White House during the government shutdown, and also among the young staffers welcoming him back to the White House with a hug the day after the election, was a young woman named Monica Lewinsky.

The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics was established at the University of Kansas in 2003, on the occasion of Dole's 80th birthday. It performs some of the same functions as a Presidential Library, but it is not the same thing. Dole died in 2021, at the age of 98.

November 5, 1956: The Swans That Nearly Started World War III

A Soviet MiG-15

November 5, 1956, 70 years ago: With the Suez Crisis and the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution underway, and America electing a President the next day, there is a close call that nearly starts World War III.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) received a number of simultaneous reports, including unidentified aircraft over Turkey, Soviet MiG-15 fighters over Syria, a downed British Canberra medium bomber, and unexpected maneuvers by the Soviet Black Sea Fleet through the Dardanelles (also in Turkey) that appeared to signal a Soviet offensive.

Considering previous Soviet threats to use conventional missiles against Britain and France if they intervened in the Suez Crisis, U.S. forces believed these events could trigger a NATO nuclear strike against the Soviet Union, and went on high alert.

As it turned out, all reports of Soviet action turned out to be erroneous, misinterpreted, or exaggerated. The perceived threat was due to a coincidental combination of harmless events:

* The "unidentified aircraft over Turkey" was a flock of swans.

* The MiGs were a fighter escort for President Shukri al-Quawatli of Syria, returning from a meeting with Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow. A check with the Turkish government proved the flight to have been previously cleared with them.

* The British reported that their bomber had been brought down by mechanical issues.

* And a check of records showed that the Black Sea Fleet's exercises had been previously scheduled.

Had any one of these things, alone, happened, it probably wouldn't have concerned too many people. The fact that they all seemed to be happening at once was nerve-rattling. Over the next few days, things calmed down. The Egyptians won in the Suez, the Soviets won in Hungary, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was re-elected, no new wars -- conventional or otherwise -- got started, and the status quo was restored.

It was the closest call since the Chinese invasion during the Korean War, 6 years earlier. The next close call would be in another 6 years, over missiles in Cuba.

November 5, 1946: Rifleman 1, Backboard 0

November 5, 1946: The Boston Celtics play their 1st home game, at the Boston Garden. Only 4,329 fans attend, and it's delayed for an hour, because a Celtic player damaged a wooden backboard with a dunk during warmups. A new backboard was brought in from the Boston Arena (now Matthews Arena, home court and ice of Northeastern University). The Celtics lose 57-55 to the Chicago Stags.

The Stags, and the original NBA teams of Washington, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit and St. Louis, would quickly fail. The Celtics might have as well, had their owner, Walter Brown, not also owned the Garden, the NHL's Bruins, and the Ice Capades. He was able to keep the team going long enough to hire Red Auerbach as head coach, and the rest is history.

Oh, the player who became the 1st NBA player to break a backboard? He was a 6-foot-5 25-year-old Brooklynite who played at New Jersey's Seton Hall University. He went on to play 1 game for his hometown Dodgers in 1949, coming to bat once as a pinch-hitter, never playing the field for them. He then got traded to the Chicago Cubs, and played 66 games at 1st base for them in the 1951 season.

The Cubs' top farm team at the time was the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. While playing in L.A., this athlete found off-season work as a stuntman, and, like John Wayne, moved from stunts to acting, mostly in Westerns. His name was Chuck Connors, famed for his portrayal of Lucas McCain, the lead character of The Rifleman; and as Jason McCord, the lead in Branded. He died in 1992, at age 71.