MARCH 9 — 1847 Siege of Veracruz; INVENTIONS/PATENTS: 1858 Albert Potts patents mailbox, 1822 Charles Graham invents dentures; 1974 Ihroo Onada surrenders to Allied powers 29 years after WWII; 1970 Happy Birthday Barbie Doll; 1995 Jazz trumpeter Don Cherry dies
MARCH 9
1847 – Siege of Veracruz begins.
General Winfield Scott, David Conner and Matthew Perry v Juan Morales. The result: American victory. During the Mexican American war, Zach Taylor had victories in Monterrey and Buena Vista, but President James Polk was concerned about Taylor’s political intentions in regards to Mexico. So Polk appointed General Scott to lead a command of 10,000 amphibious troops to Veracruz, which was considered one of the heaviest fortified strongholds in the Western Hemisphere. Not a single life was lost during the siege, which in of itself was amazing, and easily made their way to Mexico City, where Scott’s men raised the American flag on the Hall of Moctezuma. Upon that, the US and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war and gave Texas as well as territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean to the United States.
INVENTIONS/PATENTS:
1858 – Albert Potts patents the mailbox. Basically all it was, was a letter box attached to a lamppost. Awesome.
1822 – Charles Graham of New York granted first US patent for dentures. Now artificial teeth had been around much longer before this, of course. We all know George Washington had false teeth, and so did Paul Revere who by the way was a dentist as well as a midnight rider. Before mouthwash and floss and dental fillings were commonplace, if a tooth had a cavity there wasn’t much you could do about it. The whole tooth would eventually become rotten and had to be yanked out before it caused othe problems in the body, such as illness or even death. So Graham came up this magnificent invention.
1974 – Hiroo Onoda surrenders to the Allied Powers from a war that had ended 29 years prior. Evidently he refused to believe Japan had surrendered in WWII. Finally his commanding officer made a special trip to the Philipinese to relieve him of duty. Party’s over, dude. Been over.
1959 – Happy Birthday Barbie. The Barbie Doll, created by Ruth Handler in 1959 was modeled after a Ger,man toy named Bild Lilli. She created the doll after noticing that when her daughter Barbara played with dolls, she would often give them adult rolls. Ruth marketed this idea and found a perfect niche. Barbie of course doesn’t come without controversy. If her figure was actual adult size her measurements would be 36-18-38. It’s kind of hard for some women to pull that off in real life without surgery.
Barbie also does not come without pardies, such as Tom Forsythe’s pictures of Food Chain Barbie which shows her in a blender. And let’s not forget the classic Saturday Night Live’s parody called Gangsta Bitch Barbie and Tupac Ken. Nonetheless Barbie related merchandise exceeded the yearly 1 billion dollar by 1993. Since 1959, over 800 million dolls in the Barbie family have been sold internationally and is regarded a true American classic.
1995, African-American jazz trumpeter Don Cherry died of liver failure aged 58. Developed the genre of world fusion music, incorporating influences of Middle Eastern, traditional African, and Indian music into his playing. Is the stepfather to singer’s musicians Neneh Cherry and Eagle-Eye Cherry.