Good morning, Whitewater.

Mother’s Day in town will be sunny with a high of seventy-one. Sunrise is 5:38 AM and sunset is 8:04 PM, for 14h 26m of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 4.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked if readers thought an Oklahoma town’s residents should try to tame a wolf in the area. Most respondents (81.82%) thought that the wolf should be returned to the wild.

On this day in 1541, De Soto reaches the Mississippi:

Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, one of the first European explorers to ever do so. After building flatboats, de Soto and his 400 ragged troops crossed the great river under the cover of night, in order to avoid the armed Native Americans who patrolled the river daily in war canoes. From there the conquistadors headed into present-day Arkansas, continuing their fruitless two-year-old search for gold and silver in the American wilderness.

Born in the last years of the 15th century, de Soto first came to the New World in 1514. By then, the Spanish had established bases in the Caribbean and on the coasts of the American mainland. A fine horseman and a daring adventurer, de Soto explored Central America and accumulated considerable wealth through the Indian slave trade. In 1532, he joined Francisco Pizarro in the conquest of Peru. Pizarro, de Soto, and 167 other Spaniards succeeding in conquering the Inca empire, and de Soto became a rich man. He returned to Spain in 1536 but soon grew restless and jealous of Pizarro and Hernando Cortes, whose fame as conquistadors overshadowed his own. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V responded by making de Soto governor of Cuba with a right to conquer Florida, and thus the North American mainland.

In late May 1539, de Soto landed on the west coast of Florida with 600 troops, servants, and staff, 200 horses, and a pack of bloodhounds. From there, the army set about subduing the natives, seizing any valuables they stumbled upon, and preparing the region for eventual Spanish colonization. Traveling through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, across the Appalachians, and back to Alabama, de Soto failed to find the gold and silver he desired, but he did seize a valuable collection of pearls at Cofitachequi, in present-day Georgia. Decisive conquest eluded the Spaniards, as what would become the United States lacked the large, centralized civilizations of Mexico and Peru.

On this day in 1891, the ‘father of Social Security’ is born:

On this date Arthur J. Altmeyer, the “father of social security,” was born in DePere. Altmeyer was one of the seminal figures of the Social Security program in America. He was part of the President’s Committee on Economic Security that drafted the original legislative proposal in 1934. He was a member of the three-person Social Security Board created to run the new program, and he was Chairman of the Board or Commissioner for Social Security from 1937-1953. Altmeyer died on October 19, 1972 and is buried in Madison’s Forest Hill Cemetery. [Source: Social Security Adminsitration]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in town will be partly sunny with a high of sixty-six. Sunrise is 5:39 AM and sunset 8:03 PM, for 14 hours 24 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1945, war in Europe ends with Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender.

In London, V-E celebrations swept the city:

1864 – (Civil War) Battle of the Wilderness Ended
he fighting on May 5-7, 1864, produced nearly 30,000 casualties without giving either side a clear victory. The 2nd, 5th, 6th and 7th Wisconsin Infantry regiments fought at the Battle of the Wilderness.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be partly sunny and warm, with a high of eighty-one. Sunrise is 5:40 AM and sunset 8:02 PM, for 14h 21m 42s of daytime. We’ve a new moon, with just .2% of its visible disk illuminated.

It’s Orson Welles’s birthday:

1915 – Actor and Filmmaker Orson Welles Born
On this date George Orson Welles was born in Kenosha. The name George was soon dropped. The family moved to Chicago in 1919, and two years later, Welles’ parents separated. After his mother’s death in 1924, he travelled the world with his father, only to lose him in 1928.

Welles turned down the chance at college in 1931, choosing instead to go on a sketching trip to Ireland. In 1934, Welles made his New York debut, playing Tybalt in Katherine Cornell’s staging of Romeo and Juliet. In the mid 1930s, he established himself as a radio actor on The March of Time and The Shadow, among other shows. He began working with John Houseman and together they formed the Mercury Theatre in 1937. Their program, The Mercury Theatre on Air, became famous for the notorious events surrounding their version of The War of the Worlds in 1938, in which they provoked mass panic among listeners. A renowned actor, writer, producer, and director, Welles is known best for his roles in such films as Citizen Kane (1941),Jane Eyre (1944), MacBeth (1948), Moby Dick (1956), A Man for all Seasons(1966), and Catch 22 (1970).

Welles was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 1971 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 1975. Despite his lack of commercial success, the Directors Guild of America awarded him their highest award, the D.W. Griffith Award, in 1984. Welles was briefly married to Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth from 1943 to 1948, with whom he had one daughter. Orson Welles died on October 9, 1985. [Source: Wisconsin Film Office].

On this day in 1947, Wisconsin experiences an earthquake:

On this date an earthquake centered due south of Milwaukee near the shore of Lake Michigan, caused minor damage but no major injuries. The tremor shook buildings and rattled windows in many communities throughout southeastern Wisconsin. There were reports of broken windows in Kenosha. The shock was felt from Sheboygan to the Wisconsin – Illinois border. [Source: U.S.G.S. Earthquake Hazards Program]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in town will be sunny with a high of sixty-four. Sunrise is 5:41 AM and sunset 8:01 PM, for 14h 19m 21s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 2.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM tonight, and there will be a business meeting of the Fire Department at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1961, Alan Shepard Jr. became the first American in space. Here’s how the New York Times drescribed that event:

Cape Canaveral, Fla. — A slim, cool Navy test pilot was rocketed 115 miles into space today.

Thirty-seven-year-old Comdr. Alan B. Shepard Jr. thus became the first American space explorer.

Commander Shepard landed safely 302 miles out at sea fifteen minutes after the launching. He was quickly lifted aboard a Marine Corps helicopter.

“Boy, what a ride!” he said, as he was flown to the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain four miles away.

Extensive physical examinations were begun immediately.

Tonight doctors reported Commander Shepard in “excellent” condition, suffering no ill effects.

The near-perfect flight represented the United States’ first major step in the race to explore space with manned space craft.

True, it was only a modest leap compared with the once-around-the-earth orbital flight of Maj. Yuri A. Gagarin of the Soviet Union.

The Russian’s speed of more than 17,000 miles an hour was almost four times Commander Shepard’s 4,500. The distance the Russian traveled was almost 100 times as great.

But Commander Shepard maneuvered his craft in space–something the Russians have not claimed for Major Gagarin.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Midweek in town will be cloudy with a high of fifty-five. Sunrise is 5:43 AM and sunset 7:59 PM, for 14h 16m 59s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 8.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Planning Commission, R-2A subcommittee, meets this evening at 6 PM.

On this day in 1927, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded. At the Academy’s website, among so many other offerings, there’s an interesting interview with special effects designer Douglas Trumball, on the Science of Movies. Trumbull talks about creating believable effects through the use of miniatures, his film “Silent Running,” and plans for future filmmaking.

On this day in 1864, Wisconsin soldiers take part in the Wilderness Campaign:

1864 – (Civil War) Wilderness Campaign opens in Virginia
Union forces crossed the Rapidan River in Virginia and prepared to fight at the Wilderness the next day. The resulting series of battles between May 5 and June 12, 1864, is called the Wilderness Campaign, or Grant’s Overland Campaign.

The 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 19th, 36th and 38th Wisconsin Infantry regiments and the 4th Wisconsin Light Artillery participated in this series of bloody battles. The initial Battle of the Wilderness on May 5-7, 1864, produced nearly 30,000 casualties without giving either side a clear victory.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in town will be partly sunny with a high of sixty-eight. Sunrise is 5:44 AM and sunset 7:58 PM for 14h 14m 34s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 16.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s City Market opens for the season today, at the Cravath Lakefront, on this and later Tuesdays (through October) from 3:30 to 7:30 PM. The city’s Urban Forestry Committee on landscape guidelines meets from 4 to 6 PM, Alcohol and Licensing Committee at 6:15 PM, and Common Council at 6:30 PM.

It’s Machiavelli’s birthday:

On this day in 1469, the Italian philosopher and writer Niccolo Machiavelli is born. A lifelong patriot and diehard proponent of a unified Italy, Machiavelli became one of the fathers of modern political theory….

Machiavelli’s political life took a downward turn after 1512, when he fell out of favor with the powerful Medici family. He was accused of conspiracy, imprisoned, tortured and temporarily exiled. It was an attempt to regain a political post and the Medici family’s good favor that Machiavelli penned The Prince, which was to become his most well-known work.

Though released in book form posthumously in 1532, The Prince was first published as a pamphlet in 1513. In it, Machiavelli outlined his vision of an ideal leader: an amoral, calculating tyrant for whom the end justifies the means. The Prince not only failed to win the Medici family’s favor, it also alienated him from the Florentine people. Machiavelli was never truly welcomed back into politics, and when the Florentine Republic was reestablished in 1527, Machiavelli was an object of great suspicion. He died later that year, embittered and shut out from the Florentine society to which he had devoted his life.

Though Machiavelli has long been associated with the practice of diabolical expediency in the realm of politics that was made famous in The Prince, his actual views were not so extreme. In fact, in such longer and more detailed writings asDiscourses on the First Ten Books of Livy (1517) and History of Florence (1525), he shows himself to be a more principled political moralist. Still, even today, the term “Machiavellian” is used to describe an action undertaken for gain without regard for right or wrong.

In Wisconsin history, Golda Meier is born on this date in 1898:

1898 – Golda Meir Born
On this date, Golda Meir (nee Mabovitch) was born in Kiev, Russia. Economic hardship forced her family to emigrate to the United States in 1906, where they settled in Milwaukee. She graduated from the Milwaukee Normal School (now University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and joined the Poalei Zion, the Milwaukee Labor Zionist Party, in 1915.

In 1921, she emigrated to Palestine with her husband, Morris Myerson, where they worked for the establishment of the State of Israel. Meir served as Israel’s Minister of Labor and National Insurance from 1949 through 1956 and as the Foreign Minister until January of 1966. When Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol died suddenly in 1969, Meir assumed the post, becoming the world’s third female Prime Minister. She died in Jerusalem on December 8, 1978. [Source: Picturing Golda Meier]