Stanley Bruce (1883–1967) was the eighth Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1923 to 1929. He was a barrister and businessman before being wounded in the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I. Elected to parliament in 1918 as a member of the Nationalist Party, he served as treasurer in the government of Billy Hughes before replacing him as prime minister in 1923. Bruce overhauled federal government administration and oversaw its transfer to the new capital, Canberra. His "men, money and markets" scheme was an ambitious attempt to rapidly expand Australia's population and economic potential through massive government investment and closer ties with Great Britain and the rest of the British Empire. But his heavy-handed response to industrial unrest and attempts to overhaul labour laws led to a landslide defeat in 1929. After politics, Bruce became involved with the League of Nations until the outbreak of World War II. After the war, he was a leading advocate of development aid, a founder of the Food and Agriculture Organization, the first chancellor of the Australian National University and the first Australian to sit in the House of Lords (as Viscount Bruce of Melbourne).
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Bruce
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1513:
War of the League of Cambrai: A Venetian army under Bartolomeo d'Alviano was decisively defeated by the Spanish army commanded by Ramón de Cardona and Fernando d'Avalos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_La_Motta_(1513)
1763:
Following Great Britain's acquisition of New France after the end of the Seven Years' War, King George III issued a Royal Proclamation closing most of this land to the residents of the Thirteen Colonies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Proclamation_of_1763
1933:
Five French airline companies merged to form Air France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France
1976:
Hua Guofeng succeeded Mao Zedong as Chairman of the Communist Party of China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Guofeng
1993:
The Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood came to an end after 103 days, as the Mississippi River at St. Louis finally dropped below flood stage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1993
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
croggy: A ride on the handlebars or crossbar of a bicycle. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/croggy
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
The Letheri are masters at corrupting words, their meanings. They call war peace, they call tyranny liberty. On which side of the shadow you stand decides a word's meaning. Words are the weapons used by those who see others with contempt. A contempt which only deepens when they see how those others are deceived and made into fools because they choose to believe. Because in their naivety they thought the meaning of a word was fixed, immune to abuse. --Steven Erikson https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steven_Erikson