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Armstrong, Louis Satchmo
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971) (also known by the nicknames Satchmo and Pops) was an American jazz musician. Armstrong was a charismatic, innovative performer whose musical skills and bright personality transformed jazz from a rough regional dance music into a popular art form. Probably the most famous jazz musician of the 20th century, he first achieved fame as a trumpeter, but towards the end of his career he was best known as a vocalist and was one of the most influential jazz singers.
Early life
Armstrong was born to a poor family in New Orleans, Louisiana. His youth was spent in poverty in a rough neighborhood of uptown New Orleans. He first learned to play cornet in the band of the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, where he had been sent multiple times for general delinquency, most notably for a long term after (as police records show) firing a pistol into the air at a New Year's Eve celebration. He followed the city's frequent brass band parades and listened to older musicians every chance he got, learning from Bunk Johnson, Buddy Petit, and above all Joe "King" Oliver, who acted as a mentor and almost a father figure to the young Armstrong. Armstrong later played in the brass bands and riverboats of New Orleans, and first started traveling with the well regarded band of Fate Marable which toured on a steamboat up and down the Mississippi River; he described his time with Marable as "going to the University" since it gave him a much wider experience working with written arrangements. When Joe Oliver left town in 1919, Armstrong took Oliver's place in Kid Ory's band, regarded as the top hot jazz band in the city.
Early career
In 1922, Armstrong joined the exodus to Chicago, where he had been invited by Joe "King" Oliver to join his Creole Jazz Band. Oliver's band was the best and most influential hot jazz band in Chicago in the early 1920s, at a time when Chicago was the center of jazz. Armstrong made his first recordings, including taking some solos and breaks, while playing second cornet in Oliver's band in 1923.
Armstrong was happy working with Oliver, but his wife, pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong, urged him to seek more prominent billing. He and Oliver parted amicably in 1924 and Armstrong moved to New York City to play with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, the top African American band of the day. Armstrong switched to the trumpet to blend in better with the other musicians in his section. During this time, he also made many recordings on the side arranged by an old friend from New Orleans, pianist Clarence Williams; these included small jazz band sides (some of the best pairing Armstrong with one of Armstrong's few rivals in fiery technique and ideas, Sidney Bechet) and a series of accompaniments for Blues singers.
He returned to Chicago in 1925 and began recording under his own name with his famous Hot Five and Hot Seven with such hits as "Potato Head Blues", "Muggles" (a reference to marijuana, for which Armstrong had a lifelong fondness), and "West End Blues", the music of which set the standard and the agenda for jazz for many years to come. Armstrong's trumpet introduction to "West End Blues" has never been surpassed, and remains one of the greatest recorded moments of jazz.
Armstrong returned to New York in 1929, then moved to Los Angeles in 1930, then toured Europe. After spending many years on the road, he settled permanently in Queens, New York in 1943. Although subject to the vicissitudes of Tin Pan Alley and the gangster-ridden music business, he continued to develop his playing.
During the subsequent thirty years, Armstrong played more than three hundred gigs a year. Bookings for big bands tapered off during the 1940's due to changes in public tastes: ballrooms closed, and there was competition from television and from other types of music becoming more popular than big band music. It became impossible to support and finance a 16-piece touring band.
The All Stars
Around 1950, Armstrong cut his band down to six pieces, going back to the Dixieland style that made him famous in the first place. This group was called the All Stars, and included at various times Barney Bigard, Jack Teagarden, Trummy Young, Arvell Shaw, Marty Napoleon, Big Sid Catlett, and Barrett Deems. During this period, he made many recordings and appeared in over thirty films. In 1964, Armstrong recorded his biggest-selling record, Hello, Dolly.
Armstrong kept up his busy tour schedule until a few years before his death. While in his later years, he would sometimes play some of his numerous gigs by rote, but other times would enliven the most mundane gig with his vigorous playing, often to the astonishment of his band. He also toured Africa, Europe, and Asia under sponsorship of the US State Department with great success and become known as "Ambassador Satch". While failing health restricted his schedule in his last years, within those limitations he continued playing until the day he died.
Armstrong died of a heart attack in 1971 at age 69, the night after playing a famous show at the Waldorf Astoria's Empire Room. He was interred in the Flushing Cemetery, Flushing, New York.
Personality
The nickname Satchmo or Satch is short for Satchelmouth (describing his embouchure). Early on he was also known as Dippermouth. These are all references to his large mouth. Friends and fellow musicians usually called him Pops, which is also how Armstrong usually addressed his friends and fellow musicians (except for Pops Foster, whom Armstrong always called "George").
Pops Foster
The "Satchmo" nickname and Armstrong's warm Southern personality, combined with his natural love of entertaining and evoking a response from the audience, resulted in a public persona — the grin, the sweat, the handkerchief — that came to seem affected and even something of a racist caricature late in his career. He was also criticized for accepting the title of "King of The Zulus" (in the New Orleans African American community an honored role as head of leading black Carnival Krewe, but bewildering or offensive to outsiders with their traditional costume of grass-skirts and blackface makeup satirizing southern white attitudes) for Mardi Gras 1949.
The seeming racial insensitivity of Armstrong's King of the Zulus performance has sometimes been seen as part of a larger failing on Armstrong's part. Where some saw a gregarious and outgoing personality, others saw someone trying too hard to appeal to white audiences and essentially becoming a minstrel caricature. Some musicians criticized Armstrong for playing in front of segregated audiences, and for not taking a strong enough stand in the civil rights movement suggesting that he was an Uncle Tom. Billie Holiday countered, however, "Of course Pops toms, but he toms from the heart."
Armstrong in fact was a major financial supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists, but mostly preferred to work quietly behind the scenes, not mixing his politics with his work as an entertainer. The few exceptions made it more effective when he did speak out; Armstrong's criticism of President Eisenhower, calling him "two-faced" and "gutless" due to his inaction during the conflict over school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 made national news. As a protest, Armstrong cancelled a planned tour of the Soviet Union on behalf of the State Department saying "The way they're treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell" and that he could not represent his government abroad when it was in conflict with its own people.
He was an extremely generous man who was said to have given away almost as much money as he kept for himself. Armstrong was also greatly concerned with his health and bodily functions. He made frequent use of laxatives as a means of controlling his weight, a practice he advocated both to personal acquaintances and in the diet plans he published under the title Lose Weight the Satchmo Way.
Music
In his early years, Armstrong was best known for his virtuosity with the cornet and trumpet. The greatest trumpet playing of his early years can be heard on his Hot Five and Hot Seven records. The improvisations which he made on these records of New Orleans jazz standards and popular songs of the day, to the present time stack up brilliantly alongside those of any other later jazz performer. The older generation of New Orleans jazz musicians often referred to their improvisations as "variating the melody"; Armstrong's improvisations were daring and sophisticated for the time while often subtle and melodic. He often essentially re-composed pop-tunes he played, making them more interesting. Armstrong's playing is filled with joyous, inspired original melodies, creative leaps, and subtle relaxed or driving rhythms. The genius of these creative passages is matched by Armstrong's playing technique, honed by constant practice, which extended the range, tone and capabilities of the trumpet. In these records, Armstrong almost single-handedly created the role of the jazz soloist, taking what was essentially a collective folk music and turning it into an art form with tremendous possibilities for individual expression.
Armstrong's work in the 1920s shows him playing at the outer limits of his abilities. The Hot 5 records, especially, often have minor flubs and missed notes, which do little to detract from listening enjoyment since the energy of the spontaneous performance comes through. By the mid 1930s Armstrong achieved a smooth assurance, knowing exactly what he could do and carrying out his ideas with perfectionism.
As his music progressed and popularity grew, his singing also became important. Armstrong was not the first to record scat singing, but he was masterful at it and helped popularize it. He had a hit with his playing and scat singing on "Heebie Jeebies", and sang out "I done forgot the words" in the middle of recording "I'm A Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas". Such records were hits and scat singing became a major part of his performances. Long before this, however, Armstrong was playing around with his vocals, shortening and lengthening phrases, interjecting improvisations, using his voice as creatively as his trumpet.
During his long career he played and sang with the most important instrumentalists and vocalists; among the many, singing brakeman Jimmie Rodgers, Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith, and notably with Ella Fitzgerald. His influence upon Bing Crosby is particularly important with regard to the subsequent development of popular music: Crosby admired and copied Armstrong, as is evident on many of his early recordings, notably "Just One More Chance" (1931). The 'New Grove Dictionary Of Jazz' describes Crosby's debt to Armstrong in perfect detail, although it does not acknowledge Armstrong by name: "Crosby...was important in introducing into the mainstream of popular singing an Afro-American concept of song as a lyrical extension of speech...His techniques - easing the weight of the breath on the vocal chords, passing into a head voice at a low register, using forward production to aid distinct enunciation, singing on consonants (a practice of black singers), and making discreet use of appoggiaturas, mordents, and slurs to emphasise the text - were emulated by nearly all later popular singers". Armstrong recorded three albums with Ella Fitzgerald: Ella & Louis, Ella & Louis again, and Porgy and Bess for Verve Records. His recordings Satch Plays Fats, all Fats Waller tunes, and Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy in the 1950s were perhaps the last of his great creative recordings, but even oddities like Disney Songs the Satchmo Way have their musical moments. For the most part, however, his later output was criticized as being overly simplistic or repetitive.
Armstrong had many hit records including "Stardust", "What a Wonderful World", "When the Saints Go Marching In", "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Ain't Misbehavin'", and "Stompin' at the Savoy". "We Have All The Time In The World" featured on the soundtrack of the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and enjoyed renewed popularity in the UK in 1994 when it featured on a Guinness advert. It reached number 3 in the charts on being re-released.
In 1964 Armstrong could not knock the Beatles off the top of the Billboard Top 100 chart with "Hello, Dolly", which gave the 63-year-old performer a U.S. record as the oldest artist to have a #2 song. In 1968, Armstrong scored one last popular hit in England with the highly sentimental pop song "What A Wonderful World", which topped the British charts for a month; however, the single did not chart at all in America. The song gained greater currency in the popular consciousness when it was used in the 1987 movie Good Morning Vietnam, its subsequent rerelease topping many charts around the world.
Armstrong enjoyed many types of music, from the most earthy blues to the syrupy sweet arrangements of Guy Lombardo, to Latin American folksongs, to classical symphonies and opera. Armstrong incorporated influences from all these sources into his performances, sometimes to the bewilderment of fans who wanted Armstrong to stay in convenient narrow categories. Armstrong was inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an early influence. Some of his solos from the 1950s, such as the hard rocking version of "Saint Louis Blues" from the WC Handy album, show that the influence went in both directions.
Legacy
The influence of Armstrong on the development of jazz is virtually immeasurable, but his irrepressible personality both as a performer, and later in his career as a public figure, was so strong that to some it overshadowed his contributions as a musician and singer.
As a virtuoso trumpet player, Armstrong had a unique tone and an extraordinary talent for melodic improvisation. Through his playing, the trumpet emerged as a solo instrument in jazz. He was a masterful accompanist and ensemble player in addition to his extraordinary skills as a soloist. With his innovations, he raised the bar musically for all who came after him.
Armstrong is considered to have essentially invented jazz singing. He had an extremely distinctive gravelly voice, which he deployed with great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing, or wordless vocalizing. Before Armstrong, singers simply sang the song; after him, they were free to put their own stamp on it.
Armstrong appeared in more than a dozen Hollywood films, though few of particular note, usually playing a band leader or musician. He was the first African American to host a nationally broadcast radio show in the 1930s. He also made assorted television appearances, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, including appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Louis Armstrong has a record star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 7601 Hollywood Blvd.
Many of Armstrong's recordings remain popular, and decades after his death a larger number of his recordings, from all years of his career, are in print than at any time in his life. His songs are broadcast and listened to everyday throughout the world, and are honored in various movies, TV series, commercials, and even anime and computer games. For example, the Armstrong song "A Kiss to Build a Dream on" is used as the theme song for the computer game Fallout 2, and the song "What a Wonderful World" is featured in the Vandread anime. His 1923 recordings with Joe Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band continue to be listened to as documents of ensemble style New Orleans jazz. All too often, however, Armstrong recorded with stiff, standard orchestras leaving only his sublime trumpet playing as of interest. "Melancholy Blues," performed by Armstrong and his Hot Seven was included on the Voyager Golden Record sent into outer space to represent one of the greatest achievements of humanity.
Armstrong set up a non-profit foundation for educating disadvantaged children in music, and bequeathed his house and substantial archives of writings, books, recordings, and memorabilia to Queens College, New York, to take effect after his and his wife Lucille's death. The Louis Armstrong archives have been available to music researchers, and his home in Corona, Queens, opened to the public as a museum on 15 October, 2003.
Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, a self-described Armstrong admirer, asserted that a 1952 Louis Armstrong concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris played a significant role in inspiring him to create the fictional creatures called Cronopios that are the subject of a number of Cortázar's short stories. Cortázar onced called Louis Armstrong himself "Grandísimo Cronopio" (Most Enormous Cronopio).
The main airport in New Orleans, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is named for Armstrong.
Samples
- Download sample of Armstrong singing "Ain't Misbehavin'", a song from the 1929 Broadway revue Hot Chocolate (136 Kb, 20 seconds)
- Download sample of "April in Paris" by Ella Fitzgerald with Armstrong
Notes
# Armstrong said he was not sure exactly when he was born, but celebrated his birthday on July 4. He usually gave the year as 1900 when speaking in public (although he used 1901 on his Social Security and other papers filed with the government). Using Roman Catholic Church documents from when his grandmother took him to be baptized, New Orleans music researcher Tad Jones established his birthday was August 4, 1901. With various other collaborative evidence, this date is now accepted by Armstrong scholars. See also age fabrication.
References
- Armstrong, Louis. Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans. ISBN 0306802767
- Armstrong, Louis and Thomas Brothers. Armstrong, in His Own Words: Selected Writings. ISBN 019514046X
- Cogswell, Michael. Armstrong: The Offstage Story. ISBN 1888054816
- Meckna, Michael. Satchmo: The Louis Armstrong Encyclopedia. ISBN 0313301379
External links
- [http://www.soundtrackinfo.com/search.asp?q=Louis+Armstrong&pos=2 Louis Armstrong at the SoundtrackINFO project]
- [http://www.satchmo.com/louisarmstrong/quotes.html Quotes and tributes]
- [http://www.satchography.com Discography]
- [http://www.seeingblack.com/x040901/armstrong.shtml Seeing Black jazz critic] on the Uncle Tom question
- [http://www.satchmo.net/ Satchmo.net, the official website of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives]
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ja:ルイ・アームストロング
August 4August 4 is the 216th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (217th in leap years), with 149 days remaining.
Events
- 1265 - The Battle of Evesham of the Second Barons' War is fought in Worcestershire, with the army of future King Edward I of England defeating the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and killing de Montfort and many of his allies. This is sometimes considered the death of chivalry in England.
- 1578 - Battle of Al Kasr al Kebir - Moroccans defeat Portuguese. King Sebastian of Portugal is defeated and killed in North Africa, leaving his elderly uncle, Cardinal Henry, as his heir. This initiates a succession crisis in Portugal.
- 1693 - Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon's invention of Champagne.
- 1704 - During the War of the Spanish Succession an Anglo-Dutch force seizes the rock of Gibraltar.
- 1735 - Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he published was true.
- 1753 - George Washington, then a young Virginia planter, becomes a Master Mason, the highest basic rank in the secret fraternity of Freemasonry.
- 1789 - The feudal system is abolished in France.
- 1790 - A newly passed tariff act creates the Revenue Cutter Service (the forerunner of the United States Coast Guard).
- 1821 - Atkinson & Alexander publish the Saturday Evening Post for the first time as a weekly newspaper.
- 1824 - Battle of Cos fought between Turks and Greeks.
- 1854 - The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships.
- 1873 - Indian Wars: While protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the United States 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, clash for the first time with the Sioux (near the Tongue River; only one man on each side is killed).
- 1892 - The family of Lizzie Borden is found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home.
- 1902 - Greenwich foot tunnel under the River Thames opens.
- 1914 - World War I: Germany invaded Belgium; in response, the United Kingdom declares war on Germany. The United States proclaims neutrality.
- 1944 - Holocaust: A tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse where they find Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family.
- 1947 - The Supreme Court of Japan is established.
- 1964 - American civil rights movement: Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21.
- Vietnam War: United States destroyers USS Maddox and USS C. Turner Joy are attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Air support from the carrier USS Ticonderoga sinks two, possibly three North Vietnamese gunboats.
- 1969 - Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, US representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail.
- 1975 - The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages included the U.S. consul and the Swedish charge d'affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya.
- 1977 - US President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.
- 1983 - Thomas Sankara becomes president of Upper Volta.
- 1983 - New York Yankee outfielder Dave Winfield accidentally killed a seagull during a baseball game and was charged by police for his "act of cruelty to animals". His manager Billy Martin quipped, "It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man."
- 1984 - The African republic Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.
- 1985 - In one of the most exciting days in sports, Tom Seaver of the Chicago White Sox won his 300th game and Rod Carew of the California Angels picked up his 3000th hit. It marked the only day in which two men reached baseball's three biggest milestones in the same day.
- 1987 - The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to "fairly" present controversial issues.
- 1991 The Greek cruise ship Oceanos sinks off the coast of South Africa.
- 1993 - A federal judge sentences LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 30 months in prison for violating motorist Rodney King's civil rights.
- 1995 - Operation Storm begins in Croatia.
- 1997 - 185,000 Teamsters union United Parcel Service drivers walk off the job.
- 2005 - Prime Minister Paul Martin announces that Michaëlle Jean will be Canada's 27th — and first black — Governor General.
Births
- 1222 - Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, English soldier (d. 1262)
- 1290 - Duke Leopold I of Austria (d. 1326)
- 1521 - Pope Urban VII, (d. 1590)
- 1604 - François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac, French writer (d. 1676)
- 1701 - Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar (d. 1757)
- 1719 - Johann Gottlob Lehmann, German minerologist and geologist (d. 1767)
- 1721 - Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician (d. 1803)
- 1792 - Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (d. 1822)
- 1805 - William Rowan Hamilton, Irish mathematician (d. 1865)
- 1834 - John Venn, British mathematician (d. 1923)
- 1840 - Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German psychiatrist (d. 1902)
- 1859 - Knut Hamsun, Norwegian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1952)
- 1899 - Ezra Taft Benson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1994)
- 1900 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
- 1901 - Louis Armstrong, American musician (d. 1971)
- 1904 - Witold Gombrowicz, Polish novelist and dramatist (d. 1969)
- 1906 - Eugen Schuhmacher, German zoologist (d. 1973)
- 1908 - Kurt Eichhorn, German conductor (d. 1994)
- 1909 - Glenn Cunningham, American politician (d. 2004)
- 1910 - William Schuman, American composer (d. 1992)
- 1912 - Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov, Russian mathematician, physicist, philosopher, and mountaineer (d. 1999)
- 1912 - Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat
- 1913 - Robert Hayden, American poet (d. 1980)
- 1921 - Maurice Richard, Canadian hockey player (d. 2000)
- 1927 - Jess Thomas, American tenor (d. 1993)
- 1929 - Yasser Arafat, Palestine leader (d. 2004)
- 1929 - Kishore Kumar, Indian singer and actor (d. 1987)
- 1936 - Assia Djebar, Algerian writer and filmmaker
- 1937 - David Bedford, English musician
- 1942 - David Lange, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2005)
- 1943 - Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper
- 1944 - Richard Belzer, American actor and comedian
- 1947 - Klaus Schulze, German composer
- 1955 - Billy Bob Thornton, American actor and writer
- 1958 - Mary Decker, American athlete
- 1960 - Dean Malenko, American professional wrestler
- 1960 - José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain
- 1961 - Barack Obama, American politician
- 1962 - Roger Clemens, baseball player
- 1967 - Mike Marsh, American athlete
- 1968 - Marcus Schenkenberg, Swedish model
- 1970 - Michael DeLuise, American actor
- 1971 - Jeff Gordon, American race car driver
- 1972 - Stefan Brogren, Canadian actor
- 1974 - Cristian González, Argentine footballer
- 1977 - Luis Boa Morte, Portuguese footballer
- 1978 - Kurt Busch, American race car driver
- 1992 - Dylan and Cole Sprouse twin actors
Deaths
- 1060 - King Henry I of France (b. 1008)
- 1265 - Killed in the Battle of Evesham:
- Hugh le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer (b. 1223)
- Henry de Montfort (b. 1238)
- Peter de Montfort
- Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester (b. 1208)
- 1306 - King Wenceslaus III of Bohemia (b. 1289)
- 1338 - Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk, son of Edward I of England (b. 1300)
- 1526 - Juan Sebastián Elcano, Spanish explorer (b. 1476)
- 1578 - King Sebastian of Portugal (b. 1554)
- 1578 - Thomas Stucley, English adventurer
- 1598 - William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, English statesman (b. 1520)
- 1612 - Hugh Broughton, English scholar (b. 1549)
- 1639 - Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Mexican dramatist
- 1727 - Victor-Maurice, comte de Broglie, French general (b. 1647)
- 1741 - Andrew Hamilton, American lawyer
- 1784 - Giovanni Battista Martini, Italian musician (b. 1706)
- 1792 - John Burgoyne, British general (b. 1723)
- 1795 - Timothy Ruggles, American-born Tory politician (b. 1711)
- 1875 - Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer (b. 1805)
- 1938 - Pearl White, American actress (b. 1889)
- 1957 - Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, President of Brazil (b. 1869)
- 1976 - Roy Herbert Thomson, Lord Thomson of Fleet, Canadian publisher (b. 1894)
- 1977 - Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian, English physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)
- 1981 - Melvyn Douglas, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1998 - Yuri Artyukhin, cosmonaut (b. 1930)
- 1999 - Victor Mature, American actor (b. 1915)
- 2001 - Lorenzo Music, American actor, writer, and producer (b. 1937)
- 2003 - Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1916)
Holidays and observances
- Roman Catholicism - Saint John Vianney – Patron Saint of Priests
- Burkina Faso - Anniversary of the Revolution
- Cook Islands - Constitution Day (celebrations begin on the last Friday in July and last up to 2 weeks.)
- El Salvador - Transfiguration Bank Holiday
- Ancient Egypt - Jubilation of the Heart of Re
External links
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/4 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050804.html The New York Times: On This Day]
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August 3 - August 5 - July 4 - September 4 -- listing of all days
ko:8월 4일
ja:8月4日
simple:August 4
th:4 สิงหาคม
1901
1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).
Events
January-March
- January 1 - World celebrates what is regarded as the start of the new century. (Zero-ists' argument that new century should be celebrated in 1900 rejected worldwide).
- January 1 - The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia. Edmund Barton becomes first Prime Minister.
- January 1 - Nigeria becomes a British protectorate
- January 7 - Alferd Packer is released from prison after serving 18 years for cannibalism
- January 10 - The first great Texas gusher, oil discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont, Texas
- January 22 - Death of Queen Victoria. Her eldest son, Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales becomes King, reigning as King Edward VII. His son, Prince George, Duke of York becomes Duke of Cornwall.
- February 20 - The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
- February 25 - J.P. Morgan incorporates the United States Steel Corporation.
- March 2 - The U.S. Congress passes the Platt amendment, limiting the autonomy of Cuba as a condition for the withdrawal of American troops.
- March 6 - In Bremen an assassin attempts to kill Wilhelm II of Germany.
- March 17 - A showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation.
April-June
- April 25 - New York State becomes the first to require automobile license plates.
- May 5 - Official end of the Caste War of Yucatàn, although mayan skirmishers will continue sporadic fighting for the next decade.
- May 9 - Australia opens its first parliament in Melbourne.
- May 27 - In New Jersey, the Edison Storage Battery Company is founded.
- June 2 - Katsura Taro becomes Prime Minister of Japan
- June 12 - Cuba becomes US protectorate
July-September
- July 4 - The 1,282 foot (390 meters) covered bridge crossing the St.John River at Hartland, New Brunswick, Canada opens. It is the longest covered bridge in the world.
- July 24 - O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio after serving three years for embezzlement from the First National Bank in Austin, Texas.
- August 21 - The Cadillac Motor Company formed in Detroit, Michigan, USA
- September 2 - Vice President Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.
- September 5 - The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (later renamed Minor League Baseball), is formed in Chicago, Illinois.
- September 6 - American anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoots and fatally wounds US President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley dies there eight days later.
- September 7 - The Boxer Rebellion in China officially ends with the signing of the Peking Protocol.
- September 9 - Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, was prime minister of South Africa from 1958 - 1966 (d. September 6 1966)
- September 14 - With the death of William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt succeeds him as President of the United States.
October-December
President of the United States
- October 2 - Royal Navy's first submarine launched at Barrow
- October 24 – Michigan schoolteacher Annie Taylor goes down Niagara Falls in a barrel and survives
- October 29 - In Amherst, Massachusetts nurse Jane Toppan is arrested for murdering the Davis family of Boston with an overdose of morphine.
- October 29 - Capital punishment: Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of US President William McKinley, is executed by electrocution.
- November 9 - Prince George, Duke of Cornwall becomes Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.
- November 15 - Miller Reese Hutchinson patents Acousticon, a heavy hearing-aid prototype
- November 27 - U.S. Army War College is established.
- December 3 - US President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a 20,000-word speech to the House of Representatives asking Congress curb the power of trusts "within reasonable limits".
- December 10 – Marie Curie receives doctorate. The first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm.
- December 12 - Guglielmo Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic radio signal in Newfoundland, Canada; it is Morse code for the letter "S."
Unknown dates
- In the United Kingdom, Factory Act forbids child labor under 12
- Two typhoid outbreaks in USA
- Winston Churchill enters the House of Commons
- In Germany, Eugen Hollander makes the first known facelift to a Polish noblewoman
- Scotland Yard creates a fingerprint archive
- Cleveland Indians founded
- Europium discovered by Eugène-Antole Demarçay
- First prototype Harley-Davidson created
- Okapi discovered (previously known only to local natives)
- Independent Maya of Eastern Yucatán surrender to Mexico
- American Standard Version Bible first published.
- Intercollegiate Prohibition Association established in Chicago, Illinois.
- Mordecai Ham, American evangelist enters ministry.
Births
January-March
- January 3 - Ngo Dinh Diem, 1st President of South Vietnam (d. 1963)
- January 4 - CLR James, Trinidad-born writer and journalist (d. 1989)
- January 14 - Bebe Daniels, American actress (d. 1971)
- January 16 - Frank Zamboni, American inventor (d. 1988)
- January 26 - Stuart Symington, American politician (d. 1988)
- January 29 - E. P. Taylor, Canadian business tycoon (d. 1989)
- January 30 - Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (d. 1959)
- February 1 - Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960)
- February 2 - Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian violinist (d. 1987)
- February 10 - Stella Adler, American actress (d. 1992)
- February 25 - Zeppo Marx, American comedian (d. 1979)
- February 27 - Horatio Luro, Argentine horse trainer (d. 1991)
- February 28 - Linus Pauling, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Peace (d. 1994)
- March 4 - Charles Goren, American bridge player (d. 1991)
- March 17 - Alfred Newman, American film composer (d. 1970)
- March 21 - Karl Arnold, German politician (d. 1958)
- March 22 - Greta Kempton, American artist (d. 1991)
- March 24 - Ub Iwerks, American cartoonist (d. 1971)
- March 27 - Carl Barks, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
- March 27 - Erich Ollenhauer, German politician (d. 1963)
- March 27 - Eisaku Sato, Prime Minister of Japan, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1975)
- March 27 - Kenneth Slessor, Australian poet (d. 1971)
April-June
- April 1 - Whittaker Chambers, American spy (d. 1961)
- April 29 - Emperor Hirohito of Japan (d. 1989)
- April 30 - Simon Kuznets, Ukrainian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
- May 5 - Blind Willie McTell, American singer (d. 1959)
- May 7 - Gary Cooper, American actor (d. 1961)
- May 17 - Werner Egk, German composer (d. 1983)
- May 18 - Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
- May 20 - Max Euwe, Dutch chess player (d. 1981)
- May 21 - Horace Heidt, American bandleader (d. 1986)
- May 21 - Sam Jaffe, American film producer (d. 2000)
- June 3 - Chang Hsüeh-liang, Chinese military leader (d. 2001)
- June 17 - F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, English World War II hero (d. 1964)
- June 18 - Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (d. 1918)
- June 24 - Harry Partch, American composer (d. 1974)
- June 29 - Nelson Eddy, American singer and actor (d. 1967)
July-September
- July 9 - Dame Barbara Cartland English novelist (d. 2000)
- July 17 - Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet (d. 1938)
- July 20 - Heinie Manush, baseball player (d. 1971)
- July 31 - Jean Dubuffet, French painter (d. 1985)
- August 4 - Louis Armstrong, American jazz musician (d. 1971)
- August 8 - Ernest Lawrence, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- August 10 - Franco Dino Rasetti Italian scientist (d.2001)
- August 18 - Jean Guitton, French writer and philosopher (d. 1999)
- August 20 - Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
- September 9 - James Blades, English percussionist (d. 1999)
- September 12 - Ben Blue, Canadian comedian and actor (d. 1975)
- September 15 - Sir Donald Bailey, British civil engineer (d. 1985)
- September 22 - Charles B. Huggins, Canadian-born cancer researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1997)
- September 23 - Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- September 29 - Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)
- September 29 - Lanza del Vasto, Italian philosopher, poet, and activist (d. 1981)
October-December
- October 2 - Kiki, French singer (d. 1953)
- October 10 - Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (d. 1966)
- November 3 - Léopold III of Belgium (d. 1983)
- November 4 - Yi, Bang-ja, Crown Princess of Korea (d. 1989)
- November 22 - Joaquin Rodrigo, Spanish composer (d. 1999)
- December 5 - Walt Disney, American animator and film producer (d. 1966)
- December 5 - Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
- December 16 - Margaret Mead, American cultural anthropologist (d. 1978)
- December 19 - Rudolf Hell, German inventor (d. 2002)
- December 25- Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (d. 2004)
- December 31 - Karl-August Fagerholm, Prime Minister of Finland (d. 1984)
- Nadezhda Alliluyeva-Stalin, second wife of Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin (d. 1932)
Deaths
- January 11 - Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian composer (b. 1866)
- January 21 - Elisha Gray, American inventor and appliance manufacturer (b. 1835)
- January 22 - Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India (b. 1819)
- January 27 - Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (b. 1813)
- February 11 - King Milan I of Serbia (b. 1854)
- February 22 - George Francis FitzGerald, Irish mathematician (b. 1851)
- March 13 - Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (b. 1833)
- April 3 - Richard D'Oyly Carte, English impresario (b. 1844)
- June 2 - George Leslie Mackay, Canadian missionary (b. 1844)
- July 4 - Johannes Schmidt, German linguist (b. 1843)
- August 5 - Victoria, Empress of Germany (b. 1840)
- August 24 - Clara Maass, American Nurse (d. 1876)
- September 5 - Ignacij Klemenčič, Slovenian physicist (b. 1853)
- September 9 - Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter (b. 1864)
- September 14 - William McKinley, 25th President of the United States (assassinated) (b. 1843)
- October 1 - Abdur Rahman Khan, Amir of Afghanistan
- October 10 - Lorenzo Snow, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1814)
- October 29 - Leon Czolgosz assassin of U.S. President William McKinley (b. 1873)
- November 7 - Li Hongzhang, Chinese general (b. 1823)
- November 30 - Edward John Eyre, English explorer (b. 1815)
- December 1 - George Lohmann, English cricketer (tuberculosis) (b. 1865)
- Physics - Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen
- Chemistry - Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff
- Medicine - Emil Adolf von Behring
- Literature - Sully Prudhomme
- Peace - Jean Henri Dunant, Frédéric Passy
Category:1901
ko:1901년
ms:1901
ja:1901年
simple:1901
th:พ.ศ. 2444
1971
1971 (MCMLXXI) is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar).
Events
January
- January 1 - British Divorce Reform Act comes into force
- January 2 - 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match, Glasgow, Scotland. See Ibrox disaster.
- January 2 - A ban on television cigarette advertisements goes into effect in the United States.
- January 3 - BBC Open University begins in the United Kingdom
- January 7 - Howard Hughes breaks his silence to announce that his supposed biography is a forgery.
- January 8 – Tupamaros kidnap Geoffrey Jackson, British ambassador to Uruguay, in Montevideo; they keep him captive until September
- January 9 – Uruguayan president Jorge Pacheco Areco demands emergency powers for 90 days due to kidnappings and receives them the next day
- January 14 – 70 Brazilian political prisoners released in Santiago. Giovanni Enrico Bucher is released January 16
- January 15 - Aswan Dam officially opened
- January 18 – Strikes in Poland demand resignation of interior minister Kazimierz Switala. He resigns January 23 and is replaced by Franciszek Szlachcic
- January 19 – Representatives of 23 western oil companies begin negotiations with OPEC in Tehran to stabilize oil prices. February 14 they sign a treaty with six Persian Gulf countries
- January 19 - No, No Nanette premieres (46th Street Theatre, New York City)
- January 24 – Guinean government sentences to death 92 Guineans who helped Portuguese troops in the failed landing attempts in November 1970. 72 are sentenced to hard labor for life. 58 of the sentenced are hanged the next day
- January 25 - Charles Manson and three female "family members" are found guilty of the 1969 murder of Sharon Tate and others at Sharon's house
- January 25 - Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda's president
- January 25 - Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state
- January 31 - Apollo program: US spaceflight Apollo 14, commanded by Alan Shepard, lifts off on the third successful lunar landing mission
February
- February 2 - Idi Amin ousts Milton Obote and assumes power in Uganda
- February 4 - In Britain, Rolls Royce goes bankrupt - state takes over
- February 5 - Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.
- February 7 - Tuscany, Italy, wrecked in an earthquake
- February 7 - Men of Switzerland vote for giving voting rights to women in state elections - but not in all canton-specific ones.
- February 7 – Wladyslaw Gomulka is expelled from central council of the Polish communist party
- February 8 - A new stock market index called the Nasdaq debuts
- February 9 - The 6.4 on the Richter Scale Sylmar earthquake hits the San Fernando Valley area of California.
- February 9 - Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to become voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
- February 9 - Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned moon landing
- February 11 - US, UK, USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons.
- February 11-12 – Palestinian and Jordanian fighters clash in Amman
- February 13 - Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.
- February 15 - "Decimalisation Day" - United Kingdom and Ireland both switch to decimal currency. See also decimalisation.
- February 15 – Angry Belgian farmers crash the EEC meeting in Brussels with three live cows with them
- February 16 – In Italy, local parliament elects the city of Catanzaro as the capital of Calabria – residents of Reggio di Calabria riot for five days because of the decision
- February 20 – 50 tornadoes rage in Mississippi – 74 dead
- February 20 - US Emergency Broadcast System sends an erroneous warning - many radio stations just ignore it
- February 21 - The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
- February 26 - Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
- February 27 - Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform abortus provocatus
March
- March 1 - Bomb explodes in men's room in the White House - Weather Underground claims responsibility.
- March 1 - Pakistani President Yahya Khan indefinitely postponed the pending national assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.
- March 1 - Canadian John Robarts ends his term of office as 17th premier of Ontario
- March 5 – Pakistani army occupies the East Pakistan
- March 7 – Strike of British postal workers ends after 47 days
- March 10 - Twenty-sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution lowers voting age to 18.
- March 12 - Hafez al-Assad becomes president of Syria.
- March 16 – Government of Trygve Bratteli in Norway
- March 18 - A landslide at Chungar, Peru crashes into Lake Yanahuani killing 200
- March 23 – Military coup in Argentina – general Alejandro Lanusse takes power
- March 25 – Pakistani army starts massive killing in East Pakistan, which is now Bangladesh, after an open, non-democratic denial by Pakistani president Yahiya Khan, a military ruler, of election results that gave Awami League an overwhelming majority in the parliament.
- March 26 - The Independence Day of Bangladesh.
- March 29 - Filming begins on The Godfather. Shooting starts on Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. The movie, released in 1972, won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay.
- March 29 - William Calley is found guilty of 22 murders in My Lai massacre and sentenced to life in prison. He is later pardoned.
- March 29 - A Los Angeles, California jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers.
April
- April 1 - United Kingdom lifts all restrictions on gold ownership
- April 5 – In Ceylon, group calling himself People’s Liberation Front begins a rebellion against Bandaranaike government
- April 5 – Chile and East Germany form diplomatic relations
- April 5 - Mount Etna erupts
- April 7 – Greece releases 261 political prisoners, 50 of which are sent to internal exile
- April 8 – Right-wing coup attempt exposed in Laos
- April 9 - Charles Manson is sentenced to death but the sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.
- April 12 – Palestinians retreat from Amman to north of Jordan
- April 17 – Bangladesh makes official declaration of independence but Pakistani troops continue the fighting
- April 17 - Libya, Syria and Egypt sign an agreement to form a confederation.
- April 19 – Government of Bangladesh flees to India
- April 19 – Sierra Leone becomes a republic
- April 19 – Unemployment in UK is 3.4%
- April 19 - Soviet Union launches Saljut I.
- April 19 - Followers of Charles Manson, the Manson Family, are sentenced to gas chamber.
- April 20 - Supreme Court of the United States rules unanimously that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation.
- April 20 – Cambodian Prime Minister Lon Nol resigns
- April 21 – Siaka Stevens is elected the first president of Sierra Leone
- April 21 – François Duvalier, president of Haiti, dies—his son Jean-Claude Duvalier follows him as president-for-life
- April 24 – Soyuz 10 docks with Salyut 1
- April 24 – 500,000 people in Washington DC and 125,000 in San Francisco march against the Vietnam War
- April 24 - Tsunami 85 m high rises over Ryukyu Islands in Japan. It throws a 750-ton block of coral 2.5 km inland
- April 25 – Todor Zhivkov re-elected as the leader of the Bulgarian communist party
- April 25 – Franz Jonas re-elected as the new chancellor of Austria
- April 26 – Government of Turkey declares the state of siege in 11 provinces, Ankara included, because of violent demonstrations
- April 29 – Bolivia nationalizes American-owned zinc mine of Matilde
- April 29 - The third anniversary of the Broadway musical Hair was celebrated with a concert at a Central Park bandshell.
May
- May 1 - Amtrak begins operation of intercity rail passenger service in the United States
- May 1 – Ceylonese government promises amnesty for those guerillas who surrender before April 5
- May 2 – in Ceylon left-wing guerillas launch a series of assaults against public buildings
- May 3 – Harris public opinion poll claims that 60% of Americans are against the war in Vietnam
- May 3 – East German leader Walter Ulbricht resigns as a party leader but retains the positions of the head of state
- May 3 - Anti-war militants attempt to disrupt government business in Washington, D.C.; police and military units arrest as many as 12,000, most of whom are later released.
- May 3 - All Things Considered, National Public Radio's flagship news program, broadcasts for the first time.
- May 5 – US dollar floods the European currency markets and threatens especially the Deutsche Mark – Central banks of Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland stop the currency trading
- May 6 – Ceylon government begins a major offensive against the People's Liberation Front
- May 9 – Launch of Mariner 8 fails
- May 12 – Earthquake in Turkey destroys most of the city of Burdur
- May 15 – Israeli ambassador to Turkey, Efraim Elrom, is kidnapped. He is found killed in Istanbul May 25
- May 16 – Coup attempt exposed and foiled in Egypt
- May 19 - Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union
- May 26 – Austria and People's Republic of China form diplomatic relations
- May 26 - Qantas agrees to pay $500,000 to Bomb hoaxer-extortionist Mr Brown (Peter Marcini) (Later Arrested)
- May 27 – Six armed passengers hijack Romanian passenger plane and force it to fly to Vienna
- May 27 - Christie's auctions diamond later known as Deepdene - it is later found to be artificially colored
- May 28 – Portugal resigns from UNESCO
- May 30 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars
- May 31 - The birth of a new country, Bangladesh, is declared by the government in exile from territory formerly part of Pakistan.
June
- June 1 - Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, claiming to represent the majority of U.S. veterans who served in southeast Asia, speak against war protests
- June 6 - Soyuz program: Soyuz 11 launches.
- June 6 - A midair collision between a Hughes Airwest Douglas DC-9 jetliner and a U.S. Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom jet fighter near Duarte, California claims 50 lives.
- June 10 – USA ends trade embargo of China.
- June 13 - Vietnam War: The New York Times begins to publish the Pentagon Papers. [http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/48.htm].
- June 13 - Gijs van Lennep wins the 24 hours of Le Mans together with Helmet Marko.
- June 14 - Norway begins oil production in North Sea.
- June 17 - Representatives of Japan and the United States sign the Okinawa Reversion Agreement, setting out a plan where the U.S. would return control of Okinawa.[http://www.niraikanai.wwma.net/pages/archive/rev71.html]
- June 20 – Britain announces that Soviet space scientist Anatoli Fedosejev has been granted asylum.
- June 21 – Britain begins new negotiations for EEC membership in Luxembourg.
- June 25 – Madagascar accuses USA of being connected to the plot to oust the current government – USA recalls its ambassador.
- June 28 - Assassin Jerome A. Johnson shoots Joe Colombo to the head in a middle of a Italian-American rally. Colombo goes into coma.
- June 30 - After a successful mission aboard Salyut 1, the world's first manned space station, the crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply leaks out through a faulty valve.
July
- July 3 - Doors musician Jim Morrison in found dead in his Paris apartment.
- July 5 - Right to vote: The voting age in the United States is reduced from 21 to 18 (provision of the 26th Amendment formally certified by President Richard Nixon on this day).
- July 9 - United Kingdom increases its troops in Northern Ireland to 11,000.
- July 10-11 – Coup attempt in Morocco - 1400 cadets take over the king's palace for three hours and kill 28 people; 158 rebels die when king's troops storm the palace. Ten high-ranking officers are later executed for involvement.
- July 13 – Ólafur Jóhannesson's government in Icelan | | |
