Robert E Howe (1919 - 2011)

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

In 1919, in the year that Robert E Howe was born, in the summer and early autumn, race riots erupted in 26 U.S. cities, resulting in hundreds of deaths and even more people being badly hurt. In most cases, African-Americans were the victims. It was called the "Red Summer". Men who were returning from World War I needed jobs and there was competition for those jobs among the races. Tension was heightened by the use by many companies of blacks as strikebreakers.

In 1965, he was 46 years old when from August 11 to 16, riots broke out in Watts, a Black section of Los Angeles. An allegedly drunk African-American driver was stopped by LA police and, after a fight, police brutality was alleged - and the riots began. 34 people died in the rioting and over $40 million in property damage occurred. The National Guard was called in to help the LA police quell rioting.

In 1976, Robert was 57 years old when on August 4th, a mysterious illness struck an American Legion convention in Philadelphia. Within a week, 25 people had died and 130 people had been hospitalized. It was the first known instance of what came to be called "Legionnaires Disease."

In 1989, Robert was 70 years old when on January 20th, George Herbert Walker Bush became the 41st President of the United States. Previously Ronald Regan's Vice President, he ran against Michael Dukakis and won the popular vote by 53.4% to 45.6%.

In 1992, he was 73 years old when in April, Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia. The newly created Bosnian Serb army then began a campaign against Muslim Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats - killing, raping, torturing, beating and robbing - and resulting in the deaths of over 100,000.