The Mysteries of History (June 5 Edition)
Constantinople Burns; RFK Murdered; Snowden Leaks
1870 — Constantinople Set Aflame, Thousands Killed
image generated using Google Gemini
A large portion of the Asia Minor city of Constantinople, which was formerly known as Byzantium and would later be renamed Istanbul (Turkey), went up in flames on this date in 1870.
Nine thousand homes were destroyed and 2,000 people died in the fire, which was human-caused, but unintentional: a young girl carrying a piece of coal in a pan toward her family’s kitchen tripped; the coal flew out the window, landing on the roof of a neighbor’s house. As she lived on one of the bustling city’s main streets, and the houses were constructed of wood — and because of strong winds that fanned the flames — the fire quickly spread. A square mile of the city was destroyed, with the exception of stone buildings, such as hospitals and churches.
Questions: What happened to the girl who accidentally caused the fire — did she and her family survive the fire? If so, how? If not, how was it ever determined how the fire started?
1968 — RFK (Robert F. Kennedy) Murdered by Sirhan Sirhan
public domain images from wikimedia commons
At the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on this date in 1968, John F. Kennedy’s younger brother Robert (commonly referred to as RFK) was shot by a Jordanian with the redundant name Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy survived only until the next day.
RFK had just won the California presidential primary in California. Sirhan’s beef with Senator Kennedy was the nominee’s alleged oppression of Palestinians — he felt certain that Kennedy would support Israel over Palestine in their seemingly never-ending conflicts with one another.
Sirhan was initially sentenced with the death penalty, but he is now at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California, 57 years after murdering the person who had the best chance of defeating Richard Nixon in the upcoming presidential election (Nixon defeated Kennedy’s replacement on the Democratic ticket, Hubert Humphrey).
Questions: Have you heard the song Abraham, Martin and John by Dion? Why was it not named Abraham, Martin, John, and Robert?
2013 — Snowden Leaks Classified Intel
public domain images from wikimedia commons
A dozen years ago on this date, NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified government information. The information, which he at first provided anonymously, was printed in the British newspaper The Guardian and then the Washington Post.
The leaked information showed that the United States government was spying on some of its own citizens: Reading their texts and emails, listening to their phone calls, watching their video calls, and so on.
Snowden (born 1983) soon went public as the source of the leaks. The controversy was: Is Snowden a Whistleblower, or a Traitor? The government viewed him as the latter, and so he absquatulated first to Hong Kong and from there to Russia in order not to be extradited back to the U.S., where he could face up to 30 years in prison.
Snowden is now a Russian citizen. He married his longtime girlfriend in Russia in 2017 (she relocated there to be with him); Snowden and his wife have two young sons.
Questions: What were the government’s motives in spying on individuals? Do you think that the ends justify the means at times? Why or why not? Do you think Snowden will leak any secrets about the Russian government’s invasion of its citizens’ privacy? If he did, and was caught, where could he go from there to avoid being incarcerated?
