OHara / Peluso 1 Michael OHara / Kenneth Peluso Mr.

Dubin English 10H 15 March 2012

Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest. ~Larry Lorenzoni. Every date of the year has its significance, but some are better than others. June 27th is one of those more important dates. Comparing June 27th to a far inferior date, such as March 2nd, can best show this idea. March 2nd simply doesnt have as important events that have either saved, killed, or otherwise impacted the lives of as many people as June 27th. A closer examination of March 2nd will lead to an exquisite comparison. The inferiority of March 2nd will be shown to juxtapose the dominance of June 27th. A closer exploration and breakdown of March 2nd will lead to an accurate understanding as to why this date is much less influential in history. For instance, on March 2,1807, the Congress passed the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves(Teaching American History). Although there was a significant step taken to stop the importation of slaves, it accomplished little socially. In other words, it had very inconsequential effect in the matter of the extrication of slaves. The Act only denied the United States to take part in the slave trade, but the slave trade didnt stop. It continued, and Africans were still captured and sold into slavery. Furthermore, on March 2, 1990, Nelson Mandela was elected president of the African National Congress (Dates In History). Mandela successfully ended apartheid, or a social and political policy of racial segregation enforced by white minority governments in South Africa (African Encyclopedia). Mandelas work is undoubtedly heroic, but his work only accomplished social goals. His effort to end the racial injustices in South Africa did relatively nothing on the topic of saving lives. He didnt end the problems of poverty, inflation, or starvation; he merely gave people the opportunity to rise above these obstacles.

OHara / Peluso 2 On June 27th, 1957, the British Medical Research Council published a report stating that there was, a direct link between smoking and lung cancer, (The People History). This was a profound event that saved many lives as its continuing to do to this very day. Prior to this date, smoking was a regular part of culture of the developed world. For example, the famous movie star of the early 1900s, Groucho Marx, was often shown to have a cigar in his mouth (findagrave.com). After this date a decline in the percentage of men and women that smoked tobacco became apparent (ctsu.ox.ac.uk). This was most likely the result of people becoming aware of the health risks of smoking, found in reports such as the one in question, published on June 27th. This downwards trend is still apparent within the last decade (cdc.gov). In 1997, with a smaller percentage of people smoking compared to just a few decades ago, 125,000 people die annually from lung cancer induced by cigarette smoking (ehd.org). 430,000 people die annually of smoking, in general. One can only imagine how many people used to die from smoking when the percentage of smokers was at an all time high in the early 1950s. In regards to losing lives, March 2nd has almost no effects. The only event that is relatively consequential is the Battle of Dorchester in 1776. Although the battles of Lexington and Concord were the first battles of the American Revolution, they were fought primarily by local militia. At Dorchester, George Washington sent in an organized army in an attempt to take Boston and he succeeded. However, the Americans were able to take Boston without shooting. Obviously, there were no casualties (Revolutionary War Historical Articles). This further supports the insignificance of March 2nd. The Battle of Dorchester had no effect in the category of the loss of lives, so what effect could it possibly have on history? History is truly impacted when an event dramatically affects the population. A battle without a single casualty is unquestionably irrelevant. In contrast, June 27th actually saw the beginnings of many events that claimed a multitude of peoples lives. One such event was the outbreak of the Ebola virus epidemic in Sudan, Africa. In 1976, people witnessed the worlds first recorded Ebola virus epidemic in

OHara / Peluso 3 which 284 cases were reported. About half of the victims died from the disease (The People History). Already, the number of notable deaths as a result of this date is more than March 2nd. There is much more though. For example, in 1844, the founders of the Mormon faith, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, were killed by a mob, and in 1957, more than 500 Americans were killed in Hurricane Audrey (New York Times). Although these are all significant numbers of lives, they pale in comparison to the number of lives lost during the Korean War. On June 27th, 1950, President Truman ordered the Air Force and Navy into the war (nytimes.com). Over 3.5 million people were killed in the war (articles.usa-people-search.com). There are certain events in history whose domains are open to questioning in all categories except the category of relative importance. Importance, in this case is defined by the magnitude of lives affected. On March 2nd, Nixon was involved in the Watergate Scandal, which gave many people a negative viewpoint towards the United States government (Dates in History). Although the Watergate Scandal destroyed a foundation of trust the American people had in its government, this trust was subjective to each individual. The individual decided if the Scandal was enough to create suspicion and doubt in the government, therefore ones skepticism was based on ones own opinion. Henceforth, the emotional impact upon ones life was determined by ones self. The final noteworthy event on this date, March 2nd, was when the Galileo spacecraft collected data about Jupiter in 1990. This may sound revolutionary, but it had more negative consequences than positive. For instance, in order to obtain this information, the spacecraft was directed into Europas surface. The only data they collected by driving billions of dollars into Jupiters moon was the discovery of oxygen in Europas surface (Jupiters Moon). Some may call it revolutionary, but the result had no effect on people on Earth. By just looking at the relative number of generally important events for the date June 27th, one sees how this date is more notable than March 2nd. To further prove this point and make an even greater embarrassment out of March 2nd, one may look at the details of these

OHara / Peluso 4 events on June 27th. One of these events is the Panic of 1893 which lead to the Gold Standard of America. Before this time, America was on a bimetallist system in which silver and gold both set the standard value of the U.S. dollar. The value of silver plummeted which made thousands of people unemployed, especially in Colorado, where silver used to be mined at high rates. This led to the migration of large numbers of unemployed people into Denver, which grew into one of the largest cities in America. The plummet in prices was caused by bankers and businessmen in New England who were afraid that silver would become the sole standard of the dollar (worststockmarketcrashes.com). The government responded by completely removing the silver aspect of the standard, thus making it the Gold Standard, which some argue prolonged the Great Depression, which was a worldwide catastrophe (econbrowser.com). This affected lives around the world, as well as the next even. In 1954, the worlds first nuclear power station was turned on in Obinsk, Russia (mastersoftrivia.com). This not only affected the lives of the people involved in the Cold War, but in general, nuclear power seems to be the most promising sources of energy in the future due to its high output and efficiency and its availability. Its use is growing and is powering a continuously growing number of homes each year. By 2016, nuclear power is expected be worth over $100,000 per megawatt hour (reason.com). The positive aspect is continuously being exploited, but the negative aspects of the waste products and the possibility of meltdowns continue to involve special interest groups and in some cases put peoples lives at risk, such as the Chernobyle disaster in Ukraine, which involved 23 countries in the cleanup and monitoring and everyone who was in the path of the nuclear pollution, (world-nuclear.org) and the 2011 Japanese tsunami-induced meltdown, which, in total, killed over 20,000 Japanese citizens and will continue to affect the local environment and its inhabitants (Forbes). June 27th was also the date of Slovenian independence (thepeoplehistory.com). In 1991, Slovenia officially declared its independence from Yugoslavia, and the Yugoslavs began their short-lived invasion and occupation of Slovenia in which about 100 people died (BBC).

OHara / Peluso 5 Thousands of nationals of other former Yugoslav republics deprived of rights of residence, property ownership, education, health and welfare services, (BBC). The final noteworthy occurrence on this date is the raiding of the Stonewall Inn. On a routine raid in a Mafia-run bar, police were met with attacks by the many homosexuals within the bar. This sparked the gay-rights movement which has been successful in reforms since this event in 1969. At the end of the decade that had witnessed marches on Washington on behalf of civil rights for blacks and protests against the war in Vietnam, gay pride was born. Its time had arrived. Since 1970, the Stonewall uprising has been celebrated with an annual gay pride march down Fifth Avenue and across Christopher Street. Gay rights continues to be a topic issue of concern and debate to this day involving thousands of people, and this movement continuously moves to help those cry for reform. (topics.nytimes.com) The comparison of June 27th to March 2nd revealed the obvious significance of June 27th to history. In terms of lives saved, lives lost, and other ways that the date has touched or influenced lives, June 27th is the more purposeful date. The events of March 2nd are arguably irrelevant to the people, for the most part. On the other hand, the superior hand, the events of June 27th fostered the growth of new eras in humanity such as the nuclear age and the gayrights movement.

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Works Cited articles.usa-people-search.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. <http://articles.usa-peoplesearch.com/content-facts-of-the-korean-war.aspx>. Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves. Teaching American History. Ed. Capital Idea Ventures, Inc. (CiV). Ashland Center at Ashland University, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=179>. Africa Apartheid. Africana Encyclopedia. Perseus Books Group, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://www.africanaencyclopedia.com/apartheid/apartheid.html>. cdc.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2012/11_0144.htm>. Choi, Charles Q. Jupiter Moons Ocean is Rich in Oxygen. MSN. N.p., 27 May 2010. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37384702/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/jupitermoons-ocean-rich-oxygen/>. ctsu.ox.ac.uk. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. <http://www.ctsu.ox.ac.uk/pressreleases/2000-08-02/uk-lungcancer-deaths-halved-by-smoking-cessation-us-deaths-are-following-but-worldwide-tobaccodeaths-increase>. econbrowser.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2005/12/the_gold_standa.html>. ehd.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. <http://www.ehd.org/health_tobacco_11.php>. findagrave.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. <http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi? page=gr&GRid=677>. forbes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/03/13/japan-oneyear-later-the-long-view-on-tech-supply-chains/>.

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mastersoftrivia. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://www.mastersoftrivia.com/blog/2011/06/june-27thin-history-it-happened-today/>. Moran, Donald N. An Angel on His Shoulder. Revolutionary War Historical Article. Ed. Valley Compatriot Newsletter and Liberty Tree. April 1999 ed. Sons of Liberty Chapter Sons of the American Revolution, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. <http://www.revolutionarywararchives.org/washangel.html>. news.bbc.co.uk. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1097340.stm>. nytimes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20070627.html>. reason.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://reason.com/archives/2011/03/25/the-truth-aboutnuclear-power/singlepage>. thepeoplehistory.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/june27th.html>. topics.nytimes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/stonewall_rebellion/index.html> . What happened on March 2. What historical events happened on my birthday? Dates in History, n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2012. <http://www.datesinhistory.com/mar02.php>. world-nuclear.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://www.worldnuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html>. worststockmarketcrashes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://www.worststockmarketcrashes.com/headline/the-silver-crash-of-1893/>.