Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette
This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.
Find the past “On This Day in History” here.
June 16 is the 167th day of the year (168th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 198 days remaining until the end of the year.
On this day in 1933, The National Industrial Recovery Act is passed.
The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 (Ch. 90, 48 Stat. 195, formerly codified at 15 U.S.C. sec. 703), was an American statute which authorized the President of the United States to regulate industry and permit cartels and monopolies in an attempt to stimulate economic recovery, and established a national public works program. The legislation was enacted in June 1933 during the Great Depression as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal legislative program. Section 7(a) of the bill, which protected collective bargaining rights for unions, proved contentious (especially in the Senate), but both chambers eventually passed the legislation and President Roosevelt signed the bill into law on June 16, 1933. The Act had two main sections (or “titles”). Title I was devoted to industrial recovery, and authorized the promulgation of industrial codes of fair competition, guaranteed trade union rights, permitted the regulation of working standards, and regulated the price of certain refined petroleum products and their transportation. Title II established the Public Works Administration, outlined the projects and funding opportunities it could engage in, and funded the Act.
The Act was implemented by the National Recovery Administration (NRA) and the Public Works Administration (PWA). Very large numbers of regulations were generated under the authority granted to the NRA by the Act, which led to a significant loss of political support for Roosevelt and the New Deal. The NIRA was set to expire in June 1935, but in a major constitutional ruling the U.S. Supreme Court held Title I of the Act unconstitutional on May 27, 1935, in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935). The National Industrial Recovery Act is widely considered a policy failure, both in the 1930s and by historians today. Disputes over the reasons for this failure continue, however. Among the suggested causes are that the Act promoted economically harmful monopolies, that the Act lacked critical support from the business community, and that the Act was poorly administered. The Act encouraged union organizing, which led to significant labor unrest. The Act had no mechanisms for handling these problems, which led Congress to pass the National Labor Relations Act in 1935.
1487 – Battle of Stoke Field, the final engagement of the Wars of the Roses.
1586 – Mary, Queen of Scots, recognizes Philip II of Spain as her heir and successor.
1745 – British troops take Cape Breton Island, which is now part of Nova Scotia, Canada.
1745 – Sir William Pepperell captures the French Fortress Louisbourg in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia during the War of the Austrian Succession.
1746 – War of Austrian Succession: Austria and Sardinia defeat a Franco-Spanish army at the Battle of Piacenza.
1755 – French and Indian War: the French surrender Fort Beauséjour to the British, leading to the expulsion of the Acadians.
1774 – Foundation of Harrodsburg, Kentucky.
1779 – Spain declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the siege of Gibraltar begins.
1795 – First Battle of Groix otherwise known as Cornwallis’ Retreat.
1815 – Battle of Ligny and Battle of Quatre Bras, two days before the Battle of Waterloo.
1836 – The formation of the London Working Men’s Association gives rise to the Chartist Movement.
1846 – The Papal conclave of 1846 concludes. Pope Pius IX is elected Pope beginning the longest reign in the history of the papacy (not counting St. Peter).
1858 – Abraham Lincoln delivers his House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois.
1858 – Battle of Morar takes place during the Indian Mutiny.
1871 – The University Tests Act allows students to enter the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham without religious tests, except for courses in theology.
1883 – The Victoria Hall theatre panic in Sunderland, England kills 183 children.
1891 – John Abbott becomes Canada’s third Prime Minister.
1897 – A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States is signed; the Republic would not be dissolved until a year later.
1903 – The Ford Motor Company is incorporated.
1903 – Roald Amundsen commences the first east-west navigation of the Northwest Passage by leaving Oslo, Norway.
1904 – Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland.
1904 – Irish author James Joyce begins a relationship with Nora Barnacle and subsequently uses the date to set the actions for his novel Ulysses; this date is now traditionally called “Bloomsday”.
1911 – A 772 gram stony meteorite strikes the earth near Kilbourn, Columbia County, Wisconsin damaging a barn.
1915 – Foundation of the British Women’s Institute.
1922 – General election in the Irish Free State: a large majority goes to the pro-Treaty Sinn Féin.
1924 – The Whampoa Military Academy is founded.
1925 – The most famous Young Pioneer camp of the USSR, Artek, is established.
1930 – Sovnarkom establishes decree time in the USSR.
1933 – The National Industrial Recovery Act is passed.
1940 – World War II: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Premier of Vichy France.
1940 – A Communist government is installed in Lithuania.
1958 – Imre Nagy, Pal Maléter and other leaders of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising are executed.
1963 – Soviet Space Program: Vostok 6 Mission – Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space.
1967 – Monterey Pop Festival begins
1972 – Red Army Faction member Ulrike Meinhof is captured by police in Langenhagen.
1972 – The largest single-site hydro-electric power project in Canada is inaugurated at Churchill Falls, Labrador.
1976 – Soweto uprising: a non-violent march by 15,000 students in Soweto, South Africa turns into days of rioting when police open fire on the crowd.
1977 – Oracle Corporation is incorporated in Redwood Shores, California, as Software Development Laboratories (SDL) by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates.
1989 – Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian Prime Minister, is reburied in Budapest.
1997 – The Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; 50 people are killed.
2000 – Israel complies with UN Security Council Resolution 425 after 22 years of it issuance, which calls on Israel to completely withdraw from Lebanon. Israel withdraws from all of Lebanon, except the disputed Sheba Farms.
2010 – Bhutan becomes the first country to institute a total ban on tobacco.
2012 – China successfully launches its Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, carrying three astronauts – including the first female Chinese astronaut, Liu Yang – to the Tiangong-1 orbital module.
2012 – The United States Air Force’s robotic Boeing X-37B spaceplane returns to Earth after a classified 469-day orbital mission.
* Bloomsday (Dublin, James Joyce fans)
* Christian Feast Day:
* Benno
* Lutgardis
* Quiricus and Julietta
* June 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
* International Day of the African Child (Organisation of African Unity)
* Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev (Sikhism)
* Sussex Day (Sussex)
* Youth Day (South Africa)