The political career of John C. Breckinridge included service in the governments of Kentucky, the United States, and the Confederate States of America. Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was inaugurated in 1857 as James Buchanan's vice president, and remains the youngest person to ever hold the office. In 1860 he ran as the presidential candidate of a dissident group of Southern Democrats and won the electoral votes of most of the Southern states, but he finished a distant second among four candidates, losing the election to the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln. Most Southern states seceded, but Kentucky stayed in the Union. Previously elected to a U.S. Senate term that began in 1861, Breckenridge fled the state, joined the Confederate States Army, and was expelled from the Senate. Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed him Secretary of War in February 1865.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_career_of_John_C._Breckinridge

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1780:

Anglo-Spanish War: The Royal Navy gained their first major naval victory over their European enemies in the war when they defeated a Spanish squadron in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_St._Vincent_%281780%29

1905:

Despite being blind in one eye, ice hockey player Frank McGee set the record for most goals in a Stanley Cup game when he scored 14 against the Dawson City Nuggets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_McGee_%28ice_hockey%29

1920:

The League of Nations, the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation with a focus on peace and security, held its first council meeting in Paris. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations

1964:

The musical Hello, Dolly! opened at the St. James Theatre on Broadway, and went on to win ten Tony Awards, a record that stood for 37 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello,_Dolly!_%28musical%29

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

bounden: 1. Made obligatory; binding. 2. (archaic) Bound. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bounden

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The principal instances of mass violence in the world today are those committed by governments within their own legally recognized borders. Can we really say there is no response to this? Is it acceptable that such slaughters be dismissed as civil wars, also known as "age-old ethnic hatreds." (After all, anti-Semitism was an old tradition in Europe; indeed, a good deal older than ancient Balkan hatreds. Would this have justified letting Hitler kill all the Jews on German territory?) Is it true that war never solved anything? (Ask a black American if he or she thinks our Civil War didn't solve anything.) War is not simply a mistake, a failure to communicate. There is radical evil in the world, which is why there are just wars.   --Susan Sontag https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Sontag