Today in 1951, Paris celebrated its 2,000th birthday. I don't know if they did so just to p!$$ off Scott or not.
In 1776 the Liberty Bell tolled to summon citizens of Philadelphia to the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. And in 1859 Commodore Matthew Perry sailed four American warships into Tokyo Bay in defiance of Japanese restrictions against foreigners, in a gambit to force the opening of this closed society. It is still a question as to how successful this actually turned out to be. In 1960 Francis Gary Powers was charged with espionage by the Soviet Union. Who knows why they'd think so. And in 1994 Kim Il Sung, the Great Leader of North Korea, died at the age of 82. It is remarkable how that nation has changed in the interim.
