MORELY SAFER (continued): • In 1970, Safer received the job offer that has taken him to this day. CBS’ newsmagazine 60 Minutes was in its third season when Safer accepted the position. He is now in his 44th season on the program. While covering the news on the program, Safer branched out into writing, and became the author of a best-selling book in 1990, Flashbacks: On Returning to Vietnam. Twenty-five years after he left Vietnam, Safer returned in 1989 to film a report for 60 Minutes and ended up writing of his recollections as a war correspondent, as well as his observations of Vietnam then and now.
PRESIDENTIAL QUOTES: “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this Earth!” ~ Ronald Reagan
MOMENTS IN TIME • On Feb. 11, 1858, Marie-Bernarde Soubirous, a 14-year-old French peasant girl, claims to have seen the Virgin Mary. The apparitions occurred in a grotto of a rock promontory near Lourdes, France. Today millions of people travel to Lourdes every year to visit the grotto, whose waters supposedly have curative powers. • On Feb. 12, 1912, Hsian-T’ung, the last emperor of China, is forced to abdicate. A provisional government was established in his place, ending 267 years of Manchu rule in China and 2,000 years of imperial rule. The former emperor was only 6 years old. • On Feb. 16, 1923 in Thebes, Egypt, English archaeologist Howard Carter enters the sealed burial chamber of the ancient Egyptian ruler King Tutankhamen. The chamber was virtually intact, with its treasures and the perfectly preserved mummy of King Tut untouched after more than 3,000 years. • On Feb. 13, 1945, the most controversial episode in the Allied air war against Germany begins as hundreds of British bombers descend on Dresden, Germany. With
The History Channel
two days, the city was a smoldering ruin. Dresden had been regarded as one the world’s most beautiful cities for its architecture and museums. • On Feb. 15, 1950, Walt Disney’s animated feature “Cinderella” opens in theaters. Disney’s full-length animated feature films began in 1937 with “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Disney had risked $1.5 million of his own money on the venture. • On Feb. 14, 1962, President John F. Kennedy authorizes U.S. military advisers in Vietnam to return fire if fired upon. Kennedy was acknowledging that U.S. forces were involved in the fighting, but he wished to downplay any appearance of increased American involvement in the war. • On Feb. 10, 1996, after three hours, world chess champion Gary Kasparov loses the first game of a six-game match against Deep Blue, an IBM computer capable of evaluating 200 million moves per second. Kasparov was ultimately victorious and bested Deep Blue with three wins and two ties and took home the $400,000 prize. © 2014 King Features Synd., Inc.
Tell ‘Em You Saw Their Ad in Tidbits! Advertisers make Tidbits possible
• Safer’s 1983 investigative report on a wrongly-convicted armed robber sentenced to life in prison highlighted new evidence that led to Lenell Geter’s release from prison. Safer spent six months doing “the work the police didn’t do,” and contradicted their “proof” of Geter’s guilt. Within days of the broadcast, Geter was released. • Safer has expressed his opinion on today’s reality TV programming: “What have reality shows got to do with reality? It is beyond unreality; there is nothing real about it. Reality TV is sleazy, it is manipulative. It is as momentary as anything in popular culture.” • Safer is a 12-time Emmy Award winner, along with a Lifetime Achievement Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and three George Foster Peabody Awards. During Safer’s tenure at 60 Minutes, the broadcast has been in the Top Ten highestrated programs for 22 consecutive seasons. It’s the only program to finish first in three different decades. Nielsen ratings tell us that 16 million people tune into the program every Sunday night.
Tidbits of Grand Forks/ East Grand Forks is Locally Owned and Operated.