William Goebel was a controversial American politician who served as Governor of Kentucky for a few days in 1900 before being assassinated. Goebel remains the only state governor in the United States to be assassinated while in office. A skilled politician, Goebel was well able to broker deals with fellow lawmakers, and equally able and willing to break them if a better deal came along. His tendency to use the state's political machinery to advance his personal agenda earned him the nicknames "Boss Bill", "the Kenton King", "Kenton Czar", "King William I", and "William the Conqueror". Goebel's abrasive personality made him many political enemies, but his championing of populist causes, like railroad regulation, won him many friends. This conflict of opinions came to a head in the Kentucky gubernatorial election of 1900. Goebel, a Democrat, divided his party with self-serving political tactics at a time when Kentucky Republicans were finally gaining strength, having elected the party's first governor four years previously. These dynamics led to a close contest between Goebel and William S. Taylor. In the politically chaotic climate that resulted, Goebel was assassinated.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1537: The Honourable Artillery Company, currently the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, was formed by Royal Charter from King Henry VIII. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honourable_Artillery_Company)

1609: Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first telescope, a device that became known as a terrestrial or spyglass refracting telescope, to Venetian lawmakers. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei)

1875: Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England to Calais, France in less than 22 hours. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Webb)

1920: Polish forces under Józef Piłsudski successfully forced the Russians to withdraw from Warsaw at the Battle of Warsaw, the decisive battle of the Polish-Soviet War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Warsaw_%281920%29)

1945: About ten days after World War II ended with Japan announcing its surrender, armed supporters of the Communist Party of China killed Baptist missionary John Birch, regarded by a portion of the American right as the first victim of the Cold War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_%28missionary%29)

_____________________ Wiktionary's Word of the day:

pandemonium: Chaos; tumultuous or lawless violence. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pandemonium)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

The humourless as a bunch don't just not know what's funny, they don't know what's serious. They have no common sense, either, and shouldn't be trusted with anything. -- Martin Amis (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Amis)