Today in History: All's Fair in War and Social Security!

The hilarious Steve Martin
in the Pink Panther 

Happy Birthday to Steve Martin! Personally, my favorite Steve Martin movies has to be the Cheaper by the Dozen movies and the Pink Panther! Wow! There was so much history today! I hope everyone enjoys this read!

The check worth USD $7.2
that the United States used
to purchase the Alaska territory

Alaska was purchased by the United States from Russia on March 30th, 1867, but not formally a state until January 3rd, 1959. Today in history marks the date when Russian fur traders find the Three Saints Bay in 1784, becoming the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska. European discovery of Alaska had been established many years before in 1741, though the fur traders created the first settlement in the land. Many years later, Russia sold the land of Alaska to the United States after being interested to sell it for years as the land had little value and the financial situation in the country.

As World War I narrowly enters its fourth year, China's inactivity promptly disappears, as the nation declares war on Germany on this day in 1917. Entering the war was not only to place a bidding at the post war bargaining, but also the regain control of the the Shantung Peninsula and revive its power before Japan began to gain any more power.

FDR signing the Social Security Act in 1935

Franklin D. Roosevelt was sandwiched between the two world wars, but also found him to be the president during America's Great Depression. During the Great Depression, on this day in 1935, Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, which guarantees income for those who are unemployed and retired. Part of Roosevelt's "New Deal" programs including the Works Progress Administration and the Civilians Conservations Corps, the Social Security Act expressed FDR's concern for young people and his fellow Americans. Social Security was initially not created to mainly focus on a safety net for retirees and the disabled, but for lowering the high unemployment rates of the Great Depression. Social Security slowly became the modern function used today, and has remained fairly unchanged since its creation in 1935.

General Korechika
Anami was a part of the
War Council. He
refused to hear the
words of surrender by
his emperor

I have reported a couple times in my past post about Japan's surrender in World War II. In the afternoon of August 14th, 1945, a Japanese radio station announced that an Imperial Proclamation would be soon made announcing the country's surrender in the war. Over 1,000 Japanese soldiers angrily stormed the Imperial Palace, trying to find the prerecorded proclamation and prevent it from allies finding out. General Anami, a member of the Japanese War Council, who was still very adamant of surrender, committed suicide later that night never wanting the hear the words of surrender come out of Emperor Hirohito's mouth. Though this was a public surrender in Japan, it was not a formal surrender until September 2nd, 1945. The exact date of the war's end was controversial, as some suggested that it had ended on this day, but other suggest that it ended with Japan's formal surrender.

Vietnam was not the only setting of the Vietnam War, though it was where the majority of the war was fought. Battles were also fought in surrounding countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. Today in 1973, one and a half years before the end of the war, was the end of heavy and intense bombings in Cambodia by the United States.