JANUARY 2 — 1811 Pickering becomes 1st U.S. Senator to be censored; 1980 Detente between U.S. and U.S.S.R. ends; 1788 Georgia ratifies U.S. Constitution
JANUARY 2
1811 – Pickering becomes the first US senator to be censored.
From Massachusetts, Timothy Pickering served in the American Revolution as a Colonel, and after the war got into politics. However he was somewhat of a thorn in the side of the first four US presidents because of his pro-British alliances. He served under President George Washington, whom Pickering called a much overrated; semi-literate mediocrity. He also served under President John Adams, who requested him to resign due to not only his opposition to Jay’s Treaty, but his alliance with Alexander Hamilton who was egging on a war with France. Adams requested his resignation, and Pickering refused. So Adams fired him.
In 1810 when President James Madison attempted to annex West Florida from the Spanish as being part of the Louisiana Purchase; Pickering somehow came up with a classified document stating clearly that West Florida was not part of the Louisiana Purchase; he was shushed in the Senate. Turned out Pickering was right, it would appear that West Florida was not part of the Louisiana Purchase; problem was the fact that that was classified information and he shouldn’t have been able to get a hold of it. So that’s how Timothy Pickering because the first US senator to get censored on January 2, 1811.
1980—Détente between the US and USSR ends. During the 60s and 70s, the Cold War was just a daily part of life. There was always a threat of nuclear destruction that could happen any minute. However these tensions began thawing a little bit in the 70s after the Vietnam War ended, until the Russians decided to invade Afghanistan. If the Middle East would become dominated by communism, they could control much of the world’s oil supply.
Nyett! So much for the SALTII peace discussions with the Soviets. At this point, President Jimmy carter got a little tougher on the Soviet Union by creating an embargo including grain and high technology and boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics, which was cute but pointless. Carter would lose to Ronald Regan who took a much much tougher stand on communism.
1788 – Georgia becomes the first southern state and the fourth in the US to ratify the U.S. constitution. Georgia was named after King George III and Europeans began settling there in 1733. Blah blah blah, let’s get to the trivia. Thanks to 50states.com, we learn that St. Mary’s is the second oldest city in America. In Gainesville, the chicken capital of the world, it’s illegal to eat chicken with a fork. The popular theme park Six Flags of Georgia represents flags that flew over Georgia, including England, Spain, Liberty, Georgia, the confederate States and United statutes of America. The world’s largest infantry training center in the world is located at Ft. Benning.
1973 — Country singer Tex Ritter died of a heart attack at the age of 67, while trying to bail a member of his band out of jail. Tex’s son John Ritter was the star of the US TV sit-com, Three’s Company.
Also on this day, Soul singer Isaac Hayes topped the UK chart with a tune called “Chocolate Salty Balls”, using the exaggerated deep voice of Chef, his character in the animated TV series South Park.