History Book - Ireland’s Bloody Friday

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Monday, July 18th, 2022. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Up next, the WORLD History Book. Five years ago this week O.J. Simpson appears before a Nevada parole board. Plus, an astronomical near miss.

But first a deadly bombing spree in Northern Ireland. Here’s Paul Butler.

PAUL BUTLER: We begin today with July 21st, 1972.

AUDIO: [SOUND OF BOMB EXPLODING]

50 years ago this week, 22 bombs explode across Northern Ireland and central Belfast. The coordinated bombings take place over a period of roughly 80 minutes.

NEWSCAST CLIP: This was Bloody Friday, the worst ever example of IRA terrorism. 11 people died and 130 were injured, half of them women and children.

The death toll seems to catch the IRA by surprise. They claim they telephoned warnings before each explosion. Leadership asserts that security forces purposely ignored some of their warnings to deliberately cause carnage—hoping it would lead to public outrage. Security forces counter that they simply couldn’t follow up on every warning due to the sheer volume of threats in such a short period of time—adding that some warnings turned out to be hoaxes.

NEWSCAST CLIP: Bombs exploded every minute for 20 minutes in busy shopping areas and a crowded bus terminal…

Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army—or IRA—hide most of the bombs in cars or other vehicles. They park the explosives near infrastructure and business targets.

NEWSCAST CLIP: It had been parked outside a ballroom and office block by two men who carried trays of cakes into a butcher shop and gave a warning…

The IRA is a paramilitary organization fighting for Irish independence and reunification. They hope to usher in a socialist republic and bring an end to British rule through violent action.

Some trace the conflict back more than 400 years when Scottish and English settlers arrived—sparking a handful of religious wars and conflicts. But this violent struggle—known as The Troubles—began in the late 1960s over the status of Northern Ireland. Even though sides are often identified as Catholic or Protestant —it is not strictly a religious war.

One side—primarily Protestants—wants Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom. And the other side—primarily Catholics—wants Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom to join a united Ireland. But the irregular war isn’t over doctrine—but national identity and government policy.

The Bloody Friday attack is in part a response to failed talks between the IRA and the British government.

NEWS CLIP: This action today will fill all of us with abhorrence. It is revolting and obscene.

The bombings turn out to be a major setback for the IRA as public opinion sours. The conflict lasts for another 26 years before a peace deal brings it to an end.

From 1968 to 1998 more than 36-hundred people die in IRA bombings—many of them civilians. Twenty years ago the IRA formally apologized to victims’ families saying:

While it was not our intention to injure or kill non-combatants, the reality is…that was the consequence of our actions…We offer our sincere apologies and condolences to their families.

Next, ten years ago this week.

ABC NEWSCAST: The sun has just put on quite a show. Take a look at these amazing pictures captured by a NASA spacecraft yesterday. It’s a powerful solar flare…

The sun’s electrical activity goes through predictable cycles. Every 11 years or so solar storms increase in their intensity and frequency before returning to a more relative calm.

These events can affect global positioning system accuracy, play havoc with power grids, and damage satellites—causing communication failures. So scientists regularly monitor the sun’s activity.

As 2012 begins, scientists expect a particularly active year. A solar flare in March is the biggest in five years.

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Can you tell us exactly what this solar storm is and what is happening? Is there any danger here?

But on July 23rd, 2012, solar observation satellites record a very large CME—coronal mass ejection. That’s when a cloud of electrically charged particles from the sun's upper atmosphere gets super-heated and launched with a great burst of speed.

NASA VIDEO: Thanks to NASA’s far reaching Heliophysics fleet, we have an excellent picture of the event…

The earth’s magnetosphere protects life on the planet from solar events like this one. But due the size, speed, and quantity of the ejection—if the emission had occurred just nine days earlier, it could have hit the earth straight on. And if it had, it would have likely damaged or destroyed a lot of the space-born technology we rely on day to day.

And finally, July 20, 2017. A Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners meets in a small room.

AP FOOTAGE OF VOTE: TONY CORDA: My vote is to grant your parole, effective when eligible. SUSAN JACKSON: And I concur with Commissioner Corda and grant parole.
ADAM ENDEL: I concur with Commissioner Corda and agree to grant parole.

The convict sitting before the four-member board is former NFL star and actor O. J. Simpson. He is serving a 33-year sentence for a 2008 armed robbery and kidnapping in Las Vegas.

AP FOOTAGE OF VOTE: CONNIE BISBEE: Mr. Simpson, before I cast my vote, I want to let you know that we believe that…we do not look kindly upon parole violations...

In the end, the board unanimously grants O.J. Simpson parole.

SIMPSON: Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Later the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners grants Simpson an early discharge from his parole and he’s a free man.

Simpson reportedly lives quite comfortably in Las Vegas on his NFL and Screen Actor’s Guild pensions. He’s an avid golfer and freely shares political and sports commentary regularly on Twitter.

OJ VIDEO FROM TWITTER ACCOUNT: Hey Twitter-world, it’s me. Your’s truly. Boy are we living in some strange times…I’m just saying. Take care.

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. I’m Paul Butler.

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