HistorTweet Week in Review - W/E January 2, 2010

[SFX: CHURCHBELL] Greetings, History Lovers! Welcome to This Tweet in History, the Week In Review, podcasting to you on tape delay from our North American Studios.

Here are your top stories for the week ending January 2, 2010:

[SFX: SOUND827]World: DATELINE Panama, January 2, 1955 - Panamanian president assassinated in heroin deal gone bad? : http://bit.ly/5p2Vf2
The Back-Story: [SFX:Panama] General José Antonio Remón Cantera, the man behind the scenes of several coups that ousted Arnulfo Arias from power, was elected president of Panama in October, 1952, and served untilhis assassination in mysterious circumstance 1955. American Martin Lipstein, whom several witnesses placed far away from the racetrack at which Remón was killed (the Hipódromo Juan Franco), was arrested for the crime but released when lawyer Rubén O. Miró confessed, on January 12, 1955. Jose Ramón Guizado, Remón's Vice President and successor, was indicted for the crime after Miró accused him of being the mastermind. When Miró, still felt by many to be the assassin in the case that was never solved, was acquitted, Guizado was also released from jail on December 10, 1957. In a novel twist, recently declassified documents from the Central Intelligence Agency reveal that Remón might have been killed on the orders of Lucky Luciano over a dispute involving a shipment of heroin, which Remón allegedly stole from Luciano's organization. [SFX: Urban Guerrillas; Point Blank; Ray Gun; Not If You Were the Last Junkie On Earth]

[SFX: SOUND827]Sports: DATELINE The Caribbean, December 31, 1972 - Pirate star, Clemente, perishes in crash of plane carrying food, supplies, to quake victims in Nicaragua: http://bit.ly/87Ycon

The Back-Story: [SFX: Centerfield; Only the Good Die Young] Pittsburgh Pirate star, Roberto Clemente, could do it all on the field: run, throw, field, and hit both for average and for power. However, Clemente didn’t comport himself in the stereotypical, prima donna, superstar fashion, but was known for a quiet dignity and a concern for his fellow man. This concern was demonstrated in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that hit Nicaragua in December of 1972. Clemente had oragnized donations of food and relief supplies to Nicaragua, but, concerned by reports that the donations were not reaching those who needed them the most, decided to see the situation firsthand, and chartered a plane to Nicaragua. Shortly after takeoff, the plane crashed into the ocean, killing all aboard. Clemente’s body was never recovered. The Baseball Writers Association voted to waive the five-year wait for inclusion in the Hall of Fame for Clemente, inducting him on August 8, 1973 in the first of many honors that the game bestowed on this on-the-field and off-the-field giant. [SFX: It’s Just Another Day]

[SFX: SOUND827]: In Other News: DATELINE Great Britain, December 31 1695 - Homeowners hit the bricks to avoid window tax: http://bit.ly/yx4oU

The Back-Story: [SFX: Brickhouse; Close The Door; Brick, Brick, Brick, Brick] Under the official name, “the Act of Making Good the Deficiency of the Clipped Money,” the window tax was enacted at the close of 1695. Its goal was to assess taxes in accordance with a taxpayer’s wealth, without imposing a formal income tax. Homeowners were charged 2 shillings per house, plus a tax that varied for the number of windows more than 10. The tax had different effects on rich and poor. Where some houses of the period have bricked-over window spaces, to avoid the tax, some of the richest families had houses built with the as many windows as possible, even going so far as to have windows built in front of structural-support walls. The Window Tax was amended in various ways before it was repealed, in 1851, replaced by House Duty.[SFX: Taxman, Mr. Thief]

[SFX: SOUND827] This week’s birthdays:[SFX: In the Club]

December 27:Chemist Louis Pasteur
December 28: US President Woodrow Wilson
December 29: US President Andrew Johnson
December 30: Monkees Davy Jones and Michael Nesmith
December 31: Artist Henri Matisse
January 1: Author J.D. Salinger
And January 2: Sci Fi Author Isaac Asimov

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