Frank Lloyd Wright ~ June 8, 1867 ~ April 9, 1959

1954 portrait by Al Ravenna, New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer

Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 projects, which resulted in more than 500 completed works.

Wright promoted organic architecture (exemplified by Fallingwater), was a leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture (exemplified by the Robie House and the Westcott House), and developed the concept of the Usonian home (exemplified by the Rosenbaum House). His work includes original and innovative examples of many different building types, including offices, churches, schools, hotels, and museums. Wright also often designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass.

Wright authored 20 books and many articles, and was a popular lecturer in the United State and in Europe. His colorful personal life often made headlines, most notably for the 1914 fire and murders at his Taliesin studio.

Already well-known during his lifetime, Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as "the greatest American architect of all time".

Text:wikipedia.com

Louis XIV Crowned King of France ~ June 7, 1654 ~ my niece Allison Martin's Birthday

Image: bnf.fr/loc/bnf119.jpg

June 7th is also my NAME DAY, shared with another Robert, who doesn’t want anything to do with me now. Well, at least we’ll always have this connection.

In addition, today is my niece Allison’s birthday! She's my sister Julie's daughter. Dennis and I had a marvelous time with her for Carnevale in Venezia in 2003, when she was studying in London.

D-DAY ~ JUNE 6, 1944

Operation Overlord was the code name for the invasion of northwest Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation began with the Normandy Landings on 6 June 1944 (commonly known as D-Day), among the largest amphibious assaults ever conducted. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than 3 million troops had landed by the end of August.

Allied land forces that saw combat in Normandy on D-Day itself came from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Free French and Polish forces also participated in the battle after the assault phase, and there were also contingents from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, the Netherlands, and Norway. Other Allied nations participated in the naval and air forces.

Once the beachheads were secured, a three-week military buildup occurred on the beaches before Operation Cobra, the operation to break out from the Normandy beachhead began. The battle for Normandy continued for more than two months, with campaigns to establish a foothold on France, and concluded with the close of the Falaise pocket, the subsequent liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944, and the German retreat across the Seine which was completed on 30 August 1944.

Map & text: wikipedia.com

Robert F. Kennedy ~ November 20, 1925 ~ June 6, 1968

Photo:wikipedia.com

Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy (November 20, 1925–June 6, 1968), also called RFK, was an American politician. He was United States Attorney General from 1961 to 1964 and a United States Senator from New York from 1965 until his assassination in 1968. He was one of the younger brothers of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and also one of his most trusted advisers, working closely with the president during the Cuban Missile Crisis After his brother's November 1963 assassination, Kennedy continued as Attorney General under President Lyndon B. Johnson for nine months. After breaking with Johnson over the Vietnam War, he resigned in September 1964 and was elected as a Senator from New York that November.

After Eugene McCarthy nearly defeated Johnson in the New Hampshire primary in early 1968, Kennedy announced his own campaign for president, seeking the nomination of the Democratic Party. Kennedy defeated McCarthy in the critical California primary but was shot shortly after midnight of June 5, 1968, dying on June 6. On June 9, President Johnson assigned security staff to all Presidential candidates and declared an official day of national mourning in response to the public grief following Kennedy's death. Text:wikipedia.com

At the end of my freshman year at Yale, I returned home to Harrisburg for just a few days, and then went back to New Haven. I was one of three freshmen invited to join the Yale Glee Club on a six-week tour around Latin America.

I never had been very good at writing Mother and Dad on a regular basis– both at Mercersburg and Yale. But when I got the invitation from Fenno Heath, I wrote a very detailed, engaging letter. Even the penmanship was decent. I probably had written two rough drafts. Although, I did not directly say that I would like to go, it was very clear from my careful letter. I think my expenses were about $600. But that was a lot of money then.

Back in New Haven, we rehearsed for the upcoming tour, gave a concert, and sang at the baccalaureate service in Woolsey Hall – for George W. Bush!

Robert Kennedy had been facing a critical primary in California. He had to win to stay in the running. I supported him and had done some volunteer work in his New Haven campaign office. The morning after the primary, I had breakfast at the Yankee Doodle on Elm Street. Somebody mentioned that RFK had been shot – I thought she meant that he had been shot down – had lost the winner-take-all primary. But soon I learned that he had joined his brother, John, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Yet again!!! The King assassination had been one of the major political events of my freshman year, along with the Tet offensive, McCarthy’s unexpectedly strong showing in New Hampshire, and LBJ’s sudden announcement not to seek another term. Oh how we rejoiced, and thought the war would soon be over. Little did we know that almost half the names on the Vietnam War Memorial— designed by Yalie Maya Lin—would be added after the election of Richard Nixon, who had yet to announce his secret plan to end the war.

JUNE 4, 1989 ~ TIANANMEN

The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 culminating in the Tiananmen Square Massacre (referred to in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident, to avoid confusion with two other Tiananmen Square protests) were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China (PRC) beginning on April 14. Led mainly by students and intellectuals, the protests occurred in a year that saw the collapse of a number of communist governments around the world.

The protests were sparked by the death of pro-market and pro-democracy official, Hu Yaobang, whom protesters wanted to mourn. By the eve of Hu's funeral, it had reached 100,000 people on the Tiananmen square. While the protests lacked a unified cause or leadership, participants were generally against the government's authoritarianism and voiced calls for economic change and democratic reform within the structure of the government. The demonstrations centered on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, but large-scale protests also occurred in cities throughout China, including Shanghai, which stayed peaceful throughout the protests.

The movement lasted seven weeks from Hu's death on 15 April until tanks cleared Tiananmen Square on 4 June. In Beijing, the resulting military response to the protesters by the PRC government left many civilians dead or severely injured. The official Chinese government figure is 241 dead, including soldiers, and 7,000 wounded.But Chinese student associations and the Chinese Red Cross reported 2000 to 3000 deaths.

Following the violence, the government conducted widespread arrests to suppress protesters and their supporters, cracked down on other protests around China, banned the foreign press from the country and strictly controlled coverage of the events in the PRC press. Members of the Party who had publicly sympathized with the protesters were purged, with several high-ranking members placed under house arrest, such as General Secretary Zhao Ziyang. The violent suppression of the Tiananmen Square protest caused widespread international condemnation of the PRC government. text courtesy.wikipedia.com

My brother Sherry (Sheridan Watson Bell, III) was the press spokesman at the American Embassy in Beijing in 1989. He missed the crackdown at Tiananmen, however, because he was back in the States for his 25th Princeton Reunion. In some ways he was glad to have missed it. On the other hand, it was the big story of the decade!

"Tank man" blocks a column of tanks heading east on Beijing's Chang'an Boulevard (Avenue of Eternal Peace) near Tiananmen Square during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. This photo was taken from the sixth floor of the Beijing Hotel, about half a mile away, through a 400mm lens.

This photo was taken on June 5, 1989, by Jeff Widener (The Associated Press).

NAPOLEON IV ~ March 16, 1856 ~ June 1, 1879

Photo:wikipedia.com

Napoléon IV, Prince Imperial, often referred to as Louis Napoléon (Full name: Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph, 16 March 1856 – 1 June 1879), Prince Imperial, Fils de France, was the only child of Emperor Napoleon III of France and his Empress consort Eugénie de Montijo. His early death in Africa sent shock waves throughout Europe, as he was the last dynastic hope for the restoration of the Bonapartes to the throne of France. Wikipedia.com

On my first trip to the UK in 1978, I visited St. George's Chapel in Windsor. It's a splendid late Gothic building with insignia for the Knights of the Garter. I saw the tombs of George V and Queen Mary, and visited the old chapel, which houses an impressive bronze tomb of Mary's first fiance, George's older brother, the Duke of Clarence, who may very well have been the real "Jack the Ripper" (but that's a story for another post.)

When I went into the gift shop, I was startled to see Bonaparte imperial bees, and laurel wreathed 'N's featured on the stained glass. What on earth were these symbols doing in an English Royal Chapel? Well it turned out that this was the memorial side chapel of the Prince Imperial, who had died fighting for the British in Africa. He was the only Bonaparte to die in battle, I believe. He was shot with Zulu arrows. So Victoria honored him with a side chapel in Windsor. How gracious! But then memories fade, and today--or at least thirty-three years ago-- crass commercialism took over and his chapel was the gift shop. You had to look for his marble effigy... completely surrounded by merchandise!

SCOTCH WHISKEY ~ first recorded in 1494

Photo:cdn-viper.demandvideo.com/media

John Cor is the name of the friar who recorded the first known written reference to a batch of Scotch Whiskey on June 1, 1494.

“To Friar John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae VIII bolls of malt.” — Exchequer Rolls 1494–95, Vol x, p. 487

Wikipedia.com