VIVA ESPANIA! HAPPY CANADA DAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

First I wanted to say thanks so much to Mommabearcheri for wishing me a Happy Birthday. Her calander enttry for me was so special and I wanted to especially than her for it. Thanks to everyone else who has sent me birthday wishes as well.

I love it that both me and Canada are born on the same day. My great great great great Grandfather was a British loyalist in the Revolutionary War and emigrated to Canada after the War. As Captian of the Detroit militia, he was a key figure in the Battle of Vincennes and was captured. Later, he was pardoned by Thomas Jefferson and used his expertice in Indian languages as a translator.

His grandson emigrated to the US after the war of 1812 and became one of the great riverboat captians during the hayday of the seamboats on the Mississippi. As a citizen of Alton, Illnois, he is likely to have witnessed the killing of Elisah Lovejoy, one of the great abolistionist pamphleteers. He saved the city of St. Louis from being burned to the ground by using his boat to tow a burning boat into the Mississippi in 1850. (Two years earlier, vast sections of St. Louis burned when a similar fire could not be controlled).

So I have a rich history.

The year of my birth, construction of the first Busch Stadium in St. Louis was started. This was subsequently demolished in favor of the new stadium which stands partially on the grounds of the old one.

In 1964, all these events occoured:

In Janurary, President Lyndon Johnson declard a war on poverty. As we still have poverty, I don't think this war was won. Something like Vietnam, but I digress. The Surgeon General reported that smoking was hazardous to your health, the first such pronouncement from the US Federal Government. Later that month, John Glenn, who was the first American to orbit the Earth in Freedom 7 resigned from the space program and announced that he would seek the Senate seat from Ohio. The Poll Tax is abollished when the 24th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified. MEET THE BEATLES! is released in the US which starts the British Invasion in US Music.

In February, The Beatles arrive in the US to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. Later that month, John Glenn slips on a bathroom rug, injuring his inner ear and prompting him to withdraw from the Senate race for Ohio.

In March, Malcom X is suspended from the Nation of Islam and later leaving it vowing to form his own black nationalist party. The first Ford Mustang rolls off the assembly line! (MUSTANG SALLY YEAH)! The precursor to the European Space Agency, the European Space Research Organization is established. The Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake on US soil in recorded history, occours in Alaska, registering 9.2 on the Richter scale and killing 125. Radio Caroline becomes Britian's first pirate radio station comencing broadcasting. A US backed military coup deposes the President of Brazil begining a 21 year period of Military dictatorship in that country.

In April, the first BLIMPIE store is opened. From Russia With Love is released. Gemini I is launched as the first, unmanned test flight of the new spacecraft. In Laos, a military coup deposes the coalition government. The 1964 Worlds Fair opens. Tanzania is founded.

In May, the BASIC computer language is introduced, which will start the home computer revolution. The first small scale demonstrations against the Vietnam War occoured in New York and San Francisco, with others occouring in Boston, Seattle and Madison, Wisconsin. Prime Minster Nehru of India dies.

In June, Senator Barry Goldwater ties up the Republican nomination for president by winning the California primary. Senator Edward Kennedy is injured in a plain crash in which the pilot is killed. Spain beats the Soviet Union in the European Football (Soccer) Championship. Spain would not win again for another 44 years.

In July, President Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In his acceptance speech at eh Republican National Convention, Senator Goldwater declares that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice." The US presense in Vietnam is expanded to 21,000.

In August, the final Warner Brothers Looney Tune cartoon is released and the animation department is shut down by the studio. The Gulf of Tonkin incident occours when the destroyers USS Maddox DD-731 and USS Turner Joy (DD-951) are attacked by North Viernamese gun and torpedo boats. Subsequent air operations destroy the base of operations for the boats. Subsequently the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is passed which marks the formal begining of the Vietman War. Later that month the President of Vietnam is deposed in a coup by General Nugyen Khanh using a constitution written by the US embasay. President Lyndon Johnson is named the canidate of the Democratic Party at the Democratic National Convention. Mary Poppins is realeased becomming Disney's biggest money maker and winning 5 Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Julie Andrews.

In September, Goldfinger was released in the UK. Malta obtains its independence from Britian. The Warren Commission report, detailing the results of the investigation of the assination of President Kennedy is released.

In October, the Berkley Free Speech movement begins. The Shinkansen, the Japanese High-Speed rail train, begins service in that country. Voskhod I, the first three-person spacecraft is launched and returns safely to the Earth. Dr. Martin Luther King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the Youngest recipient ever to receive the award. Nikita Kruschev is deposed as leader of the Soviet Union and replaced by Brezhnev. The St. Louis Cardinals Win the World Series! GO CARDS! The Peoples Republic of China explodes its first Nuclear Device and joins the nuclear nations. President Johnson, on the campaign trail, pledges the creation of the Great Society.

In November, President Johnson wins the US Presidental Election in a landslide over Senator Barry Goldwater. Goldwater carries only 6 states and 38% of the popular vote. Mariner 4, the first successful spaecraft to take pictures of Mars was launched.

In December, Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer is first shown on NBC and becomes a Christmas classic. Dr. Martin Luther King receives the Nobel Peace Prize in a ceremony in Oslo, Norway. Goldfinger is released in the US becomming the most successful James Bond films of all time.

As noted in my impromptu history above, Spain won the European Football Championship over the weekend. They hadn't done that since I was born 44 years ago. So I also say on my birthday, VIVA ESPANIA!