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John Sherman (1823–1900) was an American congressman and senator from Ohio during the second half of the nineteenth century. The brother of General William Tecumseh Sherman, he was the principal author of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. As a Republican senator, he worked on legislation to restore the nation's credit abroad and produce a stable, gold-backed currency at home. Serving as Secretary of the Treasury under President Rutherford B. Hayes, Sherman helped to end wartime inflationary measures and to oversee the law allowing dollars to be redeemed for gold. He returned to the Senate after his term ended, continuing his work on financial legislation, as well as laws on immigration, business competition, and interstate commerce. In 1897, he was appointed Secretary of State by President William McKinley, but due to failing health, retired in 1898 at the start of the Spanish–American War. (This article is part of a featured topic: 1880 United States presidential election.)

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Did you know ...

Strawberry pie

... that strawberry pie (example pictured) is one of the "red foods" traditionally served at Juneteenth celebrations?
... that T. E. Lawrence travelled 1,000 miles (1,600 km) on foot alone during a three-month tour of crusader castles while writing his thesis about the Crusades and European military architecture?
... that although the provincial park surrounding the Kopka River had not been thoroughly investigated, the potential for archaeological sites was considered to be high?
... that despite his distinguished family history, musicologist Yuri Shcherbinin told friends that "what matters most is what you are, not who your ancestors were"?
... that the serial arsonist who started the fatal Nihon Shōgakkō fire confessed to starting at least 25 other California fires in the early 1920s?
... that Wilhelm Werner fled to Brazil to avoid prosecution for the 1917 murders of the crew of the SS Torrington but returned to Germany and became an SS officer on Heinrich Himmler's staff?
... that in 1981, TriGem introduced the first microcomputer built in South Korea?
... that in Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac, Benjamin Britten assigned the tenor of Peter Pears to Abraham and the alto of Kathleen Ferrier to Isaac, with both singing in homophony as the voice of God?

In the news

Preamplifiers at the National Ignition Facility

The US National Ignition Facility (pictured) announces that it has achieved fusion ignition.
A housing block collapses after a suspected gas explosion on the island of Jersey, killing at least nine people.
Four people are charged in connection with the Qatar corruption scandal at the European Parliament.
American basketball player Brittney Griner and Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout are freed via a prisoner exchange.

On this day

December 15

The Battle of Baia

687 – Sergius was elected pope, ending the last disputed period of sede vacante during the Byzantine Papacy.
1025 – Constantine VIII became the sole Byzantine emperor, 63 years after being crowned co-emperor.
1467 – Troops under Stephen III of Moldavia defeated the forces of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary at the Battle of Baia (pictured) in present-day Romania.
1890 – Sitting Bull, a Hunkpapa Lakota leader, was killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation in South Dakota by U.S. Indian agency police.
1981 – The Iraqi Shia Islamist group al-Dawa carried out one of the first modern suicide bombings, targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, resulting in 61 deaths and at least 100 injuries.

David Teniers the Younger (bapt. 1610)
Florence Jepperson Madsen (b. 1886)
Vallabhbhai Patel (d. 1950)

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Today's featured picture

Beulah Ream Allen (January 26, 1897 – March 17, 1989) was an American nurse and physician. During World War II, she volunteered as a civilian surgeon for the United States Army and was stationed in Baguio, where she was responsible for the care of nearly 30 soldiers, while the rest of the Army retreated to the Bataan Peninsula. Taken prisoner in 1941, she was held in three internment camps before being liberated. Returning to the United States, she resumed her practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1960, she moved her practice to Provo, Utah, where she served as the dean of the Brigham Young University College of Nursing until 1964. Allen retired in 1979 and in that year married and relocated to Mesa, Arizona, where she lived until her death in 1989. This photograph shows Allen being awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1946 for her service.

Photograph credit: unknown; restored by Adam Cuerden

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