Thomas F. Bayard (1828–1898) was a lawyer, politician, and diplomat
from Wilmington, Delaware. He served three terms as a US Senator from
Delaware and made three unsuccessful bids for the Democratic nomination
for President of the United States. In 1885, President Grover Cleveland
appointed him Secretary of State. Bayard worked with Cleveland to
promote American trade in the Pacific while avoiding the acquisition of
colonies at a time when many Americans clamored for them. He worked to
resolve disputes over fishing and seal-hunting rights in the waters
around the Canada–United States border. After four years in private
life, he returned to the diplomatic arena as Ambassador to the United
Kingdom, where he continued to strive for Anglo-American friendship.
This brought him into conflict with his successor at the State
Department, Richard Olney, when Olney and Cleveland were demanding more
aggressive diplomatic overtures in the Venezuelan crisis of 1895.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_F._Bayard>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1920:
A bomb in a horse wagon exploded (aftermath pictured) in front
of the J. P. Morgan building in New York City, killing 38 people and
injuring several hundred others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_bombing>
1961:
Typhoon Nancy, with possibly the strongest winds ever measured
in a tropical cyclone, made initial landfall in Muroto, Kōchi, Japan,
having decreased in intensity.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Nancy_%281961%29>
1982:
A Lebanese militia under the direct command of Elie Hobeika
carried out a massacre in the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra and
Shatila, killing at least 460 civilians.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre>
1990:
Construction of the Northern Xinjiang railway was completed
between Ürümqi South and Alashankou stations, linking the railway
lines of China and Kazakhstan, and adding a sizable portion to the
Eurasian Land Bridge.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Land_Bridge>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
cummerbund:
(fashion) A broad sash, especially one that is pleated lengthwise and
worn as an article of formal dress, as around a man's waist together
with a tuxedo or dinner jacket.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cummerbund>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The shortest and surest way of arriving at real knowledge is to
unlearn the lessons we have been taught, to mount the first principles,
and take nobody's word about them.
--Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_St_John,_1st_Viscount_Bolingbroke>