Fakih Usman (1904–68) was an Indonesian Islamic leader and politician with the Masyumi Party. Born to a merchant and his wife in Gresik, Dutch East Indies, Fakih studied with his father and at a series of pesantren until the 1920s. In 1925 he became involved with the modernist Islamic organisation Muhammadiyah, rising quickly until he became the head of the Surabaya branch in 1938. When a group of Islamic organisations formed the Indonesian Islamic Assembly in 1937, Fakih became treasurer. He continued to be involved in politics and Islamic groups during the Japanese occupation and ensuing national revolution. In post-Revolution Indonesia, Fakih twice served as the Minister of Religious Affairs: under the Halim Cabinet in the State of the Republic of Indonesia in 1950, and in the national government during the Wilopo Cabinet from 1952 to 1953. While serving as minister of religious affairs, he oversaw educational and institutional reform. Growing in prominence within the Muhammadiyah, he was chosen as its chairman in late 1968, several days before his death.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fakih_Usman
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1444:
Skanderbeg organised the League of Lezhë, an alliance of Albanian principalities that is regarded as the first unified Albanian state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Lezh%C3%AB
1877:
The U.S. Electoral Commission awarded twenty disputed electoral votes to Rutherford B. Hayes, thus assuring his victory in the 1876 U.S. presidential election. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford_B._Hayes
1939:
Italian Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli was elected as Pope and took the name Pius XII (pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XII
1965:
Vietnam War: The American and South Vietnamese air forces began Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam that eventually became the most intense air/ground battle waged during the Cold War period. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Rolling_Thunder
1978:
Aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 28, Czech Vladimír Remek became the first person not from the Soviet Union or the United States to go into space. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_28
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
party favor: A small gift given to a guest at a party, as a souvenir. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/party_favor
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I define anarchist society as one where there is no legal possibility for coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual. --Murray Rothbard https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Murray_Rothbard