MAY 15 — 1937 Happy Birthday Madelene Albright; 1781 Continentals capture Ft. Granby; 1963 Faith 7 launched from Cape Canaveral; 1754 Seven Years War begins; 1969 Happy Birthday Emmit Smith
MAY 15
1937- Happy birthday Madame Cojones.
Madeleine Albright became the first woman to represent the US in foreign affairs as the secretary of state. She was born in Prague in 1937 and fled as a toddler from Nazi invasion to England. Three of her grandparents died in concentration camps in the Holocaust. They returned home to Prague after WWII but the Soviets already set up a communistic coup so that was no fun.
She immigrated to the US, graduated from Wellesley College in 1959, got an MA and PhD from Columbia University and headed towards DC where she served on the national security council under President Jimmy Carter. After Carter’s term ended she taught at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service until Bill Clinton came into office. She became ambassador to the United Nations, and then was nominated secretary of state in 1996.
She was confirmed by the Senate 99-0 and sworn in on January 23 1997. In May 2012 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama, and she serves as a director on the board of the Council on Foreign Relations. Madeleine Albright is fluent in English, French, Russian, and Czech. According to makers.com, she was titled Madam Cojones by some Cuban airfighters. Something like that.
1781-Continentals capture Fort Granby, South Carolina.
Major Andrew Maxwell commanded a company of 300 loyalists to protect Fort Granby below the Congaree River. The fort was a British post that protected a landing at Friday’s Ferry. The combined forces of SC militia Gen. Thomas Sumter and Continental Lt. Col. Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee laid a siege to the post on May 15.Maj. Andrew Maxwell, who commanded the 263-man Loyalist force defended the fort to no avail. Maxwell agreed to surrender provided he was allowed to take his personal stash that he looted from the fort with him.
1963—Faith 7 launches from Cape Canaveral.
Otherwise known as Mercury-Atlas 9, and piloted by Gordon Cooper, the spacecraft completed 22 earth orbits before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. Cooper’s the first American astronaut to spend more than a day in space.
1754 – The Seven Years War begins.
What does this have to do with America? Because it spilled into the New World and became the French and Indian Wars.The British won the war and as a result a lot of territory from the French and native Americans, which strengthened British control in the 13 colonies and increased British presence from Louisiana through the Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes to Canada, as well as Spanish-Florida. Although it was a victory for Great Britain, it was also expensive. The British began taxing the colonists to pay for the effort, and we all know where that led.
1969 – Happy Birthday Emmitt Smith.
He used to play football for the University of Florida. Oh yeah, he also played for the Dallas Cowboys where he and his team won three super bowls. He’s the only player who’s won that championship, the NFL MVP, the NFL rushing frown, and the Super bowl MVP all in one season, 1993.