Born on this day

Friday, November 20, 1925. :   Robert Kennedy, younger brother of assassinated President John F Kennedy, and who would himself be assassinated, is born.

Robert Francis “Bobby” Kennedy was born on 20 November 1925 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was the younger brother of assassinated American President John F Kennedy, and ran JFK’s successful Presidential campaign. As Attorney General of the United States under his brother’s Presidency, Robert Kennedy played a key advisory role, especially through such crises as the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the escalation of military action in Vietnam and the widening spread of the Civil Rights Movement and its retaliatory violence. He began a nationwide campaign against organised crime, mob violence and labour rackets, but was also heavily involved in civil rights, namely the integration of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi, and his support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Soon after President John F Kennedy’s assassination, Robert Kennedy left the Cabinet to run for a seat in the United States Senate representing New York. His campaign was successful, and he represented New York from 1965 until 1968. In March of 1968 he declared his candidacy for US President in the Democrats. He won the Indiana and Nebraska Democratic primaries, and early in June, he scored a major victory in his drive toward the Democratic presidential nomination when he won primaries in South Dakota and in California. Following his victory celebration at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, in the early hours of 5 June 1968, Kennedy was shot in the head at close range as he left the ballroom through a service area to greet supporters working in the hotel’s kitchen.

The assassin was 24-year-old Palestinian immigrant Sirhan B Sirhan, now a resident of Los Angeles. Kennedy never regained consciousness and died in the early morning hours of 6 June 1968, at the age of 42. Sirhan confessed to the shooting, claiming he acted against Kennedy because of his support for Israel in the June 1967 Six-Day War. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1969, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, which he is still serving. To this day he claims he has absolutely no memory of shooting at Kennedy, but his numerous applications for parole have been denied. It is generally believed that Sirhan fired the shots that hit Kennedy. As with his elder brother John’s death, however, many have suggested the official account of Robert Kennedy’s murder is inconsistent or incomplete, and that his death was the result of a conspiracy.

Australian Explorers

Tuesday, November 20, 1860. :   Burke and Wills first reach Cooper Creek.

Robert O’Hara Burke and William Wills led the expedition that was intended to bring fame and prestige to Victoria: being the first to cross Australia from south to north and back again. They set out on Monday, 20 August 1860, leaving from Royal Park, Melbourne, and farewelled by around 15,000 people. The exploration party was very well equipped, and the cost of the expedition almost 5,000 pounds.

Because of the size of the exploration party, it was split at Menindee so that Burke could push ahead to the Gulf of Carpentaria with a smaller party. The smaller group went on ahead to establish the depot which would serve to offer the necessary provisions for when the men returned from the Gulf. On 20 November 1860, Burke and Wills first reached Cooper Creek. From here, they made several shorter trips to the north, but were forced back each time by waterless country and extreme temperatures. It was not until December 16 that Burke decided to push on ahead to the Gulf, regardless of the risks.

Australian History

Saturday, November 20, 1926. :   The 1926 Imperial Conference accords Australia the status of self-governing Dominion, of equal status to Great Britain.

Whilst the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia came into effect on 1 January 1901, this did not mean that Australia had achieved independence from Britain. Under colonial federation approved by the United Kingdom, the six self-governing states of Australia merely allocated some functions to a federal authority. Australia was given the status of a Dominion, remaining a self-governing colony within the British Empire, with the Head of State being the British monarch. The Governor-General and State Governors were appointed by the British government, and answered completely to the British government.

At the Imperial Conference of 1926, it was decreed that all Dominions within the British Empire were “equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.” Australia and other Dominions such as South Africa, New Zealand and Canada could now conduct treaties and agreements with foreign powers, and manage their own military strategies. Ultimately, the British monarch could only act on the advice of the Australian Government, and the Governor-General was no longer appointed by and answerable to the British monarch.

World History

Tuesday, November 20, 1821. :   A whale attacks and sinks the whaling ship ‘Essex’, ultimately resulting in the deaths of 13 crewmen.

The ‘Essex’ was a whaling ship that left Nantucket, Massachusetts, on 12 August 1819, on a voyage to the South Pacific to hunt sperm whales. It was initially fitted out with four smaller whaleboats, but one was lost when hit by the tail fluke of a sperm whale on 16 November 1821. Four days later, on 20 November 1821, the crew of the Essex spotted a pod of whales and the three remaining whaleboats set off in pursuit. Another boat was holed by a whale and returned to the Essex for repairs. During this episode, a larger sperm whale, estimated to have been about 27 metres in length, charged the Essex. The impact knocked some of the crewmen off their feet. The whale charged a second time, putting a hole in the Essex below the water line. The crew of eight which had remained aboard were able to escape in the repaired whaleboat before the Essex capsized.

Some supplies were plundered from the sinking whaling ship. Twenty-one men were then left adrift in three whaleboats. During the long voyage to reach land, three men opted to remain on a small island rather than continue in the boat, and men began to die from dehydration and starvation. Soon, the men found it necessary to resort to cannibalism. By the time they were rescued, only eight men remained out of the original crew. It was this story which inspired author Herman Melville to write “Moby Dick”.

World History

Thursday, November 20, 1947. :   Princess Elizabeth, who became Elizabeth II, is married to Philip Mountbatten.

Princess Elizabeth, who became Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor on 21 April 1926. She was proclaimed queen on 6 February 1952, following the death of her father, George VI. She ascended the throne the following year, on 2 June 1953.

Princess Elizabeth was married in Westminster Abbey on 20 November 1947 to Prince Philip, who came from Greece’s royal family. Prince Philip is Queen Elizabeth’s third cousin, as they share Queen Victoria as a great-great-grandmother. He had renounced his claim to the Greek throne and was known simply as Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten before being created Duke of Edinburgh before their marriage.