Lech Walesa spent two decades fighting on behalf of Polish workers against the Communist Polish government. His work as head of the Solidarity movement forced the government to hold free elections for select parliamentary seats, the first free elections since before World War II.
Solidarity won a majority of the seats and formed a government without the involvement of Communists, but Walesa turned down an opportunity to serve as premier, allowing his colleague Tadeusz Mazowiecki to lead the government. On December 9, 1990, Walesa defeated Mazowiecki in Poland's first-ever direct presidential election.
In April 2010, the President and several other senior officials of Poland were killed in a plane crash in Russia on their way to a joint ceremony between the two countries to commemorate the massacre of Polish officers by the Soviet army in the Katyn forest in 1940. Our article about the tragedy discussed the Katyn massacre, the amazing story of two Polish war heroes, and what may be next for Poland's government.
This day in 1946, Edvige Antonia Albina Maino was born in Italy. Attending England's Cambridge University, she met, and soon married, Rajiv Gandhi, heir to a multi-generation Indian political legacy. The couple eschewed politics and Indian traditions, but multiple tragedies led to a reluctant Sonia Gandhi becoming one of India’s strongest voices in her role as head of the Indian National Congress, the ruling party in that country.
From SweetSearch2Day:
Wired.com's This Day in Tech covers the introduction in 1993 of a civilian GPS system, and the entire history of GPS. An interesting read for students who don't believe it when their parents say "when I was your age, I had to call ahead for directions, write them down on a piece of paper, and use a map."
Interview of the Day covers a stunning 1999 discussion with Sir Edmund Hillary on the BBC's Hard Talk in which he discusses the triumphs and unspeakable tragedies in his life.
Letters of Note offers an intriguing fan letter written by a 15 year-old fan to Little Orphan Annie creator Harold Gray. The letter's intrigue stems in part from its soon to be famous author - John Updike.
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