William Hayden English (August 27, 1822 – February 7, 1896) was a US
Representative from Indiana and the Democratic nominee for vice
president in 1880. English entered politics at a young age, becoming
part of the conservative wing of the state Democratic Party. He was
elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1851 and served as
its speaker at the age of 29. Elected to Congress in 1852, he served
four terms, leaving office in 1861. English was a War Democrat,
supporting the Union in the Civil War. He was successful in business,
and became one of the wealthiest people in Indiana. He returned to
political life as Winfield Scott Hancock's running mate in 1880, but
they were narrowly defeated by their Republican opponents, James A.
Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. Afterwards, English continued in
business and wrote two books.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hayden_English>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1896:
The United Kingdom and Zanzibar went to war, with Zanzibar
surrendering less than an hour after the conflict broke out.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War>
1927:
Five Canadian women filed a petition to ask the Supreme Court
of Canada, "Does the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the British North
America Act, 1867, include female persons", to which the court
eventually replied that it does not.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Famous_Five_%28Canada%29>
1979:
The Troubles: IRA bombs killed 18 British soldiers in an ambush
near Warrenpoint, and British royal family member Louis Mountbatten and
three others on his boat at Mullaghmore.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrenpoint_ambush>
2009:
The Burmese military junta and ethnic armies began three days
of violent clashes in the Kokang Special Region.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Kokang_incident>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
as ever trod shoe-leather:
(idiomatic, archaic) As ever existed or lived.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/as_ever_trod_shoe-leather>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
At any particular moment in a man's life, he can say that
everything he has done and not done, that has been done and not been
done to him, has brought him to that moment. If he's being installed as
Chieftain or receiving a Nobel Prize, that's a fulfilling notion. But if
he's in a sleeping bag at ten thousand feet in a snowstorm, parked in
the middle of a highway and waiting to freeze to death, the idea can
make him feel calamitously stupid.
--William Least Heat-Moon
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Least_Heat-Moon>