Kennedy's death: This day in history

By C. Edmund Wright

Ted Kennedy passed away yesterday, August 25^th. His venerable Senate colleague Jesse Helms passed away in 2008 -- on July 4th. We all know the significance of this day in history. Interestingly, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both passed away on July 4th 1826. Helm's family indicated that Jesse's passing on Independence Day along with Adams and Jefferson was very appropriate considering his passion for the Constitution and our nation's Founding Principles.

Without comment -- and simply as a matter of historical interest -- I recap some key historical moments and other notable deaths from August 25th:

1940 Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia incorporated into Soviet Union

1829 President Jackson makes an offer to buy Texas, but Mexican government refuses

1914 Belgium: German army begins 6 week plundering of Leuven Belgium

1914 German Zeppelins bomb Antwerp Belgium, 10 die

1914 German troops march into France pushes French army to the Sedan

1916 Department of Interior forms National Park Service

1925 Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters organizes (Harlem New York)

1943 Red Army under General Vatutin recaptures Achtyrka

1943 U.S. forces overrun New Georgia in Solomon Islands during WW II

1942 SS begins transporting Jews of Maastricht, Netherlands

1952 Puerto Rico becomes a U.S. commonwealth

1962 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya U.S.S.R.

1962 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.

1970 Elton John's 1st U.S. appearance, Los Angeles

1967 Beatles go to Wales to study TM with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

1984 Truman Capote, author (In Cold Blood), dies at 59

1991 Don Nute, entertainer, dies of AIDS at 56

1991 Sergei Ajromeiev, soviet general, commits suicide

1956 Alfred C Kinsey, US sexologist (Kinsey Report), dies

1967 George Lincoln Rockwell, head of American Nazi Party, assassinated