FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

DeSoto (sometimes De Soto) was an American automobile marque that was manufactured and marketed by the DeSoto division of Chrysler Corporation from 1928 to the 1961 model year. More than two million passenger cars and trucks bore the DeSoto brand in North American markets during its existence.

Termination factors

Despite being a successful mid-priced line for Chrysler Corporation for most of its life, DeSoto’s failure was attributable to a combination of corporate mistakes and external factors beyond Chrysler’s control. The market segment DeSoto was positioned in was already filled with brands made by rivals Ford and General Motors. Compounding this, in 1961 Chrysler brought out its new entry-level Newport model – an upper-tier DeSoto competitor – at the same time it killed those models off. By 1961 the DeSoto brand had been pushed to the brink.

Recession[edit]

The 1958 recession seriously affected demand for mid-priced automobile makes. DeSoto sales were particularly affected, and sales failed to recover in 1959 and 1960. With falling sales, the 1959 and 1960 models were very similar to the concurrent Chryslers. Moreover, rumors that DeSoto would soon be discontinued did not help sales.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

Do we know when the first tornado hit the United States?No. Tornado records have been kept only since 1916.

Advice of the Day

Everyone can keep house better than her mother until she trieth.

Home Hint of the Day

To get a screw into a tight place, push the screw through the sticky side of a piece of masking tape, then tape the screw to the screwdriver. After the screw is well seated, pull the tape and screwdriver free.

Word of the Day

TidyBeing in proper time; timely; seasonable; favorable; as, tidy weather. Arranged in good order; orderly; appropriate; neat; kept in proper.

Puzzle of the Day

What word in our language has all the vowels in alphabetical order?Facetiously

Born

• Carl Maria von Weber(composer)– 1786
• Asa Gray(botanist)– 1810
• Elizabeth Gilmer(journalist)– 1870
• Clarence Day(author)– 1874
• Walter Seymour Allward(Canadian sculptor)– 1875
• George Wald(chemist)– 1906
• Imogene Coca(actress)– 1908
• Alan Shepard, Jr.(astronaut)– 1923
• Mickey Mouse(cartoon character)– 1928
• Margaret Atwood(author)– 1939
• Linda Evans(actress)– 1942
• Elizabeth Perkins(actress)– 1960
• Owen Wilson(actor)– 1968
• David Ortiz(baseball player)– 1975

Died

• Chester Arthur(21st U.S. president)– 1886
• Marcel Proust(novelist)– 1922
• Niels Bohr(physicist)– 1962
• Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.(patriarch of the Kennedy family)– 1969
• Cab Calloway(bandleader)– 1994
• Norma Connolly(actress)– 1998
• James Coburn(actor)– 2002

Events

• William Tell shot an apple off of his son’s head– 1307
• Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer discovered Antarctica– 1820
• Mark Twain’s, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, was published– 1865
• U.S. railroads adopted four standard time zones– 1883
• Standard Railway Time went into effect for most North American railroads– 1883
• The animated short, Steamboat Willie, was released featuring Mickey Mouse– 1928
• Ben-Hur, the film epic starring Charlton Heston, premiered in N.Y.C.– 1959
• The Chrysler Corporation announced the discontinuation of its DeSoto line of cars, in production since 1928– 1960
• First commercial push-button telephone introduced, in Pennsylvania– 1963
• Bill Watterson’s comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes, made its debut– 1985

Weather

• 72 degrees F in Youngstown, Ohio– 1958
• New York State received 6 to 16 inches of snow– 1959
• Twenty inches of lake effect snow fell east of Cleveland, Ohio– 1989

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