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>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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