[Wikipedia] William Goebel

[Faraaz Damji]

   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.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Goebel


_______________________________
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)