BILLIE SOL ESTES FOUND GUILTY
Texas cotton farmer turned millionaire & associate of Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson was convicted today on charges of mail fraud & conspiracy.
Estes, a Democrat who made a fortune in the fertilizer & grain storage business. made contributions to LBJ's political campaigns of the late 1950s & early 1960s.
An FBI investigation led to an April 1962 indictment of 57 counts of fraud.
Estes was accused of swindling $24 million from investors & institutions.
There is a rumor going around Washington that JFK may consider dropping LBJ from the Democratic ticket in 1964 because of his association with Billie Sol Estes.*
*Estes served 6 years of a 15 year sentence but while on parole was sent back to prison for income tax evasion for another 4 years. His 2nd conviction was overturned, however, by the Supreme Court which ruled his constitutional rights had been violated by media coverage of his trial.
Billie Sol Estes
March 28, 1961
INTELLIGENCE REPORT SAYS DIEM IN TROUBLE
President Kennedy received a report today which says that the situation in South Vietnam under the leadership of President Ngo Dinh Diem is "critical".
The reasons for the assessment include the fact that Diem narrowly survived a coup last November & more than half the area around Saigon is under the control of the communist Viet Cong.
The report is also critical of Diem's handling of discontent among the people of South Vietnam.*
*Diem will continue to resist JFK's suggestion that he institute land reform in South Vietnam & in early November 1963 Diem will be an assassination victim in a successful coup led by SVA generals.
Ngo Dinh Diem
March 28, 1969
GENERAL EISENHOWER DEAD
The 34th President of the United States, Dwight David Eisenhower, died today in New York City at the age of 78.
A graduate of West Point, Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Allied Commander in Operation Overlord in World War II & successfully led allied armies in landing at Normandy in France.
After the war, Ike served as president of Columbia University & then was appointed Supreme Commander of NATO troops in 1951.
Eisenhower was elected President of the United States in 1952, was re-elected in 1956 & retired to his home in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania one of the most popular chief executives in our history.
Dwight D. Eisenhower will be buried in Abilene, Kansas.
March 28, 1979
NUCLEAR REACTOR OVERHEATS AT 3 MILE ISLAND
The most serious accident in the history of commercial nuclear power in the United States occurred today at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant in Middletown, Pennsylvania.
A pump that directs steam to the plant's electric turbines ceased to work causing a water circulation break down.*
*Within days radiation leaks were elevated in 4 counties, but by April 9, 1979 the areas were deemed safe.
Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant
March 28, 1958
W.C. HANDY "FATHER OF THE BLUES" IS DEAD
W.C. Handy, credited with giving the 'Blues' its contemporary form, died today in New York City at the age of 85.
Handy, who played piano, coronet & trumpet, took a relatively unknown music style & turned it into a dominant American music form.
Born in Florence, Alabama, Handy moved to Memphis in 1909 where he & his band performed on Beale Street. He published "Memphis Blues" in 1912.
In the 1920s, the Handy Record Company was founded in New York City.
Handy's "St. Louis Blues", written in 1914, was made famous by Bessie Smith in 1925.
March 28, 1834
PRESIDENT JACKSON CENSURED
The United States Senate censured President Andrew Jackson today for his failure to turn over his Cabinet papers regarding the National Bank Veto of 1931.
This marks the 1st time a President has been censured.
When the President refused to turn over the papers, Whig Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky introduced the censure resolution. Since the Whig Party currently has a majority in the Senate, the censure resolution passed.*
*When the Democrats regained control of the Senate in 1837, they had the censure expunged from the record.
