Well, if you're a member of the First Families in the Sovereign colony of Virginia, you'll be glad to know that it's a big day for you. 'Twas on this date in 1606 that three ships left England enroute to the New World. When they got there, they founded Jamestown. It eventually grew into Virginia, then the 13 colonies, then the United Colonies, and finally, the United States (we'll skip over that ugly little "Confederacy" incident.)
In 1776, speaking of the United Colonies, it's not looking good for them. The army is in bad shape, and Thomas Paine, who had already had success with a little work he called "Common Sense", writes another. This one is called "The American Crisis". In it, he attacks the "summer soldier and the sunshine patriot". It's another success, and the crisis soon passes. For a while.
The very next year, speaking of more crises, the Continental Army takes a big step towards the next one, as Washington leads his bedraggled, hungry and cold troops into their winter quarters. At Valley Forge. It'll be pretty rough for a while, but in the end it'll all work out- Von Steuben isn't far away, and he'll help turn this miserable little band into an honest-to-God army!
Good news for the Allies in 1941: On this date, Hitler makes himself commander in Chief of the German Army, (or Wehrmacht). Why is that good news? Well who would you rather have as the enemy commander- an experienced, trained, competent Field Marshal, or an ex-corporal with serious delusions of grandeur? Not coincidentally, things take an immediate shift to the worst for Germany, and they never really shift back. Sure, they might have lost the War anyway, given what Germany was up against, but we'll never know.
History is made on this date in 1998 (which is kinda the point here). The House of Representatives sends articles of impeachment to the Senate regarding the high crimes and misdemeanors committed by the president regarding Monica Lewinsky (and also Paula Jones). Interesting little fact: Prior to the House vote, representatives from the House Judiciary Committee met with members of the Senate leadership to discuss the whole sordid scandal. No sooner did the meeting start when the Senate Majority Leader leaned back in his chair in a manly pose intended to show his dominance and told Congressman Henry Hyde something to the effect of "Henry, I hope you aren't really gonna make me deal with this shit". Heaven forfend that the Senate actually do their job! Needless to say, despite the actual issues involved (which were not "just about sex") the senate refuses to take the whole thing seriously, and holds a mock trial with no real attempts to discover the ugly truth of influence peddling, witness tampering, and all the other crimes committed by the White House- crimes which were actually more serious than those committed by Nixon.
So on that note, we'll end for this installment.
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