The Greenback Party convened in 1880 at the Interstate Exposition Building in Chicago from June 9 to 11 to select presidential and vice presidential nominees and write a party platform for that year's US presidential election. Delegates chose a ticket of James B. Weaver (pictured) of Iowa and Barzillai J. Chambers of Texas. The Greenback Party had drawn support from organized labor and farmers, mostly from the nation's West and South, in response to the economic depression that followed the Panic of 1873. Weaver and Chambers triumphed quickly, winning a majority of the convention delegates' votes on the first ballot. More tumultuous was the fight over the platform, as delegates from disparate factions of the left-wing movement clashed over Chinese immigration, government regulation of working conditions, and especially women's suffrage. The general election was narrowly won by the Republican candidate, James A. Garfield, over the Democrat, Winfield Scott Hancock. The Greenback ticket placed a distant third, netting just over three percent of the popular vote.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1880_Greenback_National_Convention
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
411 BC:
Wealthy Athenians overthrew the democratic government of ancient Athens and replaced it with a short-lived oligarchy known as "The Four Hundred". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_coup_of_411_BC
1772:
In an act of defiance against the Navigation Acts, American patriots led by Abraham Whipple attacked and burned the British schooner Gaspee (pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspee_Affair
1946:
After King Ananda Mahidol was fatally shot, Bhumibol Adulyadej ascended to the throne of Thailand, becoming the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhumibol_Adulyadej
1954:
During the hearings investigating conflicting accusations between the United States Army and Senator Joseph McCarthy, Army lawyer Joseph N. Welch famously asked McCarthy, "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army%E2%80%93McCarthy_hearings
2010:
A boy wearing a bomb committed a suicide attack at a wedding in Arghandab District, Kandahar, Afghanistan, killing at least 40 people and injuring 70 others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadahan_wedding_bombing
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
bah humbug: (humorous) Expressing cynicism, disillusionment or distrustfulness; and specifically a dislike of Christmas and its celebrations and festivities. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bah_humbug
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
It must be fun to be you And play with love as you do To treat each new romance As merely one more dance Or just another book to glance through It must be fun to acquire Whatever heart you desire, And when you're bored with it To tear it in two, It must be fun to be you. --Cole Porter https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cole_Porter