Martin R Furdek (1919 - 1992)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Martin's lifetime.

In 1919, in the year that Martin R Furdek was born, the "Black Sox Scandal" rocked baseball fans during the World Series. Eight players on the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the World Series, thus allowing the Cincinnati Reds to win, and making money off of the losses. All of the players were found not guilty by a jury but the fallout lasted for decades. The players were banned from baseball even though they were found innocent.

In 1920, by the time he was just 1 year old, speakeasies replaced saloons as the center of social activity. After the 18th Amendment was ratified and selling alcohol became illegal, saloons closed and speakeasies took their place. Speakeasies, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, were "so called because of the practice of speaking quietly about such a place in public, or when inside it, so as not to alert the police or neighbors". There were a lot of them and they were very popular. And where saloons often prohibited women, they were encouraged at speakeasies because of the added profits.

In 1979, when he was 60 years old, on March 28th, a partial nuclear meltdown occurred at the power plant at Three Mile Island Pennsylvania. Radiation leaked into the environment, resulting in a rating of 5 on a scale of 7 ("Accident With Wider Consequences") . It ended up costing $1 billion to clean up the site.

In 1982, he was 63 years old when on September 14th, Princess Grace of Monaco (American actress Grace Kelly), 52, died of injuries when her car plunged off a mountain road. Her 17 year old daughter, Stephanie, was also in the car and suffered serious injuries but recovered. It's believed that the accident was caused when Princess Grace, who was driving, had a mild stroke.

In 1992, in the year of Martin R Furdek's passing, on February 1st, US President George Bush and President Boris Yeltsin of Russia jointly announced an end to the Cold War, proclaiming a new era of "friendship and partnership". At Camp David in Maryland, they reviewed ways to jointly reduce nuclear arms and support reforms in Russia but no agreement was reached at that meeting.