JULY 13 — Henry Ford fires Iacocca; 2015 Forensic artist Lois Gibson releases 10 Sketches; 1942 Happy Birthday Harrison Ford; 1987 Judge throws out Bette Midler case against Henry Ford; 1972 Rams and Colts switch owners; 1985 Live Aid premieres
JULY 13
1978 – Henry Ford II fires Iacocca.
…And as usual there are three sides to this story. Henry’s side, Lee’s side, and the truth. Lee Iacocca, born in 1924, as vice president of Ford Corp, successfully marketed the design and development of the Ford Mustang, which is how he wound up on the covers of Time and Newsweek at the same time in 1964.
In Douglas Brinkley’s history of Ford called Wheels for the World, as well as history.com, Ford authorized $1.5 million in company funds for an investigation of Iacocca’s business and private life in 1975. Ford was not in great shape and looking to retire and hand the company’s steering wheel to his 28-year old son Edsel. Iacocca started reading the writing on the wall and tried to gain support among the company’s board of directors.
According to Walter Haye’s book, Henry: The Man Who was Henry Ford II, Iacocca attempted to convince board members that Ford was senile and shouldn’t be making anymore decisions about the company. This gave Ford the excuse he needed to fire him As Iacocca later wrote in his bestselling autobiography, Ford called Iacocca into his office on July 13, 1978 and let him go, telling him Sometimes you just don’t like somebody.
Lee Iacocca went on to become President of Chrysler and turned the company from financial ruin into a glowing success after convincing the General government to bail it out. Iacocca retired as CEO of Chrysler in 1992.
2015 – Law and order publishes 10 Sketches by Forensic Artist Lois Gibson.
There are some good ones in here, folks. Lois’s first real love was being an actress. She pursued this by moving from Texas to Hollywood where she starred as a dancer on the Real Don Steal Show. But at age 21, Lois was sexually assaulted in an attack which nearly killed her, and her life would be changed forever . Especially when she saw her attacker get arrested for drug possession. As a result, she moved back to Texas where she earned her Bachelors of Fine Arts with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin and the FBI Academy Forensic Artist Course. She worked as a portrait sketcher for tourists visiting Houston, and after around 3,000 sketches her practice paid off.
She began teaching at the Northwester Center for Public Safety and working at the Houston police department. Is that the guy? Yup. Nice drawing. According to Lois website, her sketches have helped law enforcement identify down 751 bad guys and has helped them solve over 1200 crimes, which by the way is a World Record. Definitely check out her work.
1863 – battle of Tupelo. According to civilwar.org, Maj. Gen. A.J. Smith, commanding a combined force of more than 14,000 men, left LaGrange, Tennessee, on July 5, 1864, and advanced south. Smith’s mission was to insure that Maj. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest and his cavalry did not raid Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s railroad lifeline in Middle Tennessee and, thereby, prevent supplies from reaching him in his campaign against Atlanta.
Laying waste to the countryside as he advanced, Smith reached Pontotoc, Mississippi, on July 11. Forrest was in nearby Okolona with about 6,000 men, but his commander, Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee, told him he could not attack until he was reinforced. Two days later, Smith, fearing an ambush, moved east toward Tupelo. On the previous day, Lee arrived near Pontotoc with 2,000 additional men and, under his command, the entire Confederate force engaged Smith.
Going back to Ford news…
1942 – Happy Birthday Harrison Ford. See what I did there. Han Solo, Indiana Jones, etc. etc .etc
1987 – Federal judge throws out Bette Midler’s $10 mill suit
…against Ford Motor Co. I am not doing this on purpose! Ford used a sound alike voice for their TV commercials The case brought into question if a unique feature, such as a voice, can distinguish someone and thus must be authorized for impersonation.
1972 – LA Rams and Baltimore Colts switch owners Robert Irsay and Carroll Rosenbloom.
1985–The first Live Aid concerts were held
..at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia and at Wembley Stadium in London. Producer Bob Geldof headed the effort by attracting big name artists such as The Who, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Queen, Bryan Adams, Tina Turner, The Cars, Hall And Oates, Phil Collins and Lionel Richie. The performances were shown live via satellite for 18 consecutive hours and helped raise millions of dollars for starving people in Ethiopia.