Edited by Gerald Boerner
Introductory Comments:
This day witnessed a couple of major international events and several noteworthy events in this country. Internationally, this was the day in 1791 when King Louis XVI met the “Widow Maker”, the guillotine, in the Place de la Révolution and lost his head, literally, during the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. It was also on this day in 1911 that Prince Albert I of Monaco hosted the first Monte Carlo Automobile Rally, not to be confused with the Gran Prix of Monaco. This rally was a competition that was designed to demonstrate the current status of the automobiles available at that time; both events are sponsored by the same organization and continue to this day, although the Rally is not an annual event.
In this country, we saw Jimmy Carter, on his second day in office as President of these United States, pardon, in 1977, those men who were considered “draft dodgers” because they either failed to register for the draft or they fled to Canada to escape military service during the Vietnam War. In 1979, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl over the Dallas Cowboys; it was the Steelers’ third Super Bowl win.
Of much more importance, this was the day that Alger Hiss, the Soviet spy in our Department of State, was convicted of perjury regarding his testimony about his activities to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1950. This was one of the successes of the “commie hunters” in both the House and the Senate during that early period of the Cold War. This is also the day, in 1954, that First Lady Mamie Eisenhower christened the USS Nautilus. The Nautilus was the world’s first nuclear-powered ship. Its nuclear power allowed it to remain submerged for longer periods of time than other diesel-powered submarines. This ability allowed the Nautilus to become the first ship to reach the North Pole UNDERWATER! The harnessing of nuclear power would have continuing ramifications on our society, both in terms of the generation of electricity for our cities and factories, but also to create a threat in the hands of unfriendly third-world counties and terrorist groups. The events of this day has left many lasting imprints upon our American society.
We now will proceed to examine some of the events that are associated with day in history... GLB
These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2012 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved[ 944 Words ]
Quotations Related to Nuclear Power:
[ http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/nuclear_power.html ]
“All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.”
— Ronald Reagan
“As a nuclear power – as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon – the United States has a moral responsibility to act.”
— Barack Obama
“If we are to meet the growing electricity demand in the United States without significantly increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, we must maintain a diverse supply of electricity, and nuclear power must be part of that mix.”
— Judy Biggert
“India, in particular, is looking to develop nuclear power for domestic, commercial use, and we should work with them. This is a good deal for both countries.”
— Bobby Jindal
“All of the information that we were getting up to that time from the NRC people, from our people who knew something about nuclear power, was that the breach of the core was not a likelihood to happen.”
— William Scranton
