50 years ago in Expo history: A Russian diplomat and an Australian ambassador walk into… Spokane

Spokane International Airport was the site of some international diplomacy in connection with Expo ’74.

When the Australian ambassador to the U.S. touched down at the airport, he was greeted by two Soviet Union diplomats who were in Spokane to organize the Soviet pavilion.

“I think relations between the two great powers (the U.S. and USSR) are important to the whole world,” Ambassador Sir James Plimsoll said upon being greeted by the Russians. “Every country in the world has to play its part against the backdrop of the two great powers’ relationship. Detente can be considered a deterrent to nuclear war.”

The Russians had good reason to meet with the ambassador. Plimsoll was scheduled to transition from being Australia’s ambassador to the U.S. to becoming his country’s ambassador to the Soviet Union.

From 100 years ago: Posses continued to search for Owen K. Hudson, believed to be the gunman who killed his brother and two neighbors near Ephrata, Washington. They were scouring the hills and coulees in the region.

Authorities put out a call for information from anyone who might have seen the 47-year-old suspect.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1349: By this date, at least 200 people a day were being buried in London as a result of the Black Death.

1922: James Joyce’s novel “Ulysses” is first published by Sylvia Beach in Paris, with 1,000 copies printed.

1954: President Eisenhower announces the detonation of the world’s first hydrogen bomb.