This Day in History
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WWII Songstress Vera Lynn Dies at 103
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NIXON’S RESIGNATION
On August 8, 1974, President Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994), the 37th President of the United States, spoke at 9: 01 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White House. His address to the American people was heard live over radio and television as he announced his resignation as President of the United States. Nixon’s Resignation Speech Good evening. This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shaped the history of this Nation. Each time I have done so to discuss with you some matter that I believe affected the national interest.…
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Elizabeth I Becomes Queen
On November 17, 1558 at the age of 25, Elizabeth I became Queen taking over the throne from her half-sister Mary I, who died after a brief reign of only five years; they share a common father in King Henry VIII of England. Elizabeth’s sister was given the unflattering moniker of “Bloody Mary” because of the protestants executed, or at the very least persecuted and imprisoned, under her Catholic rule. Elizabeth I, in contrast to her sister’s short rule, was Queen for over 44 years. Her start in life was tragic. Her mother Anne Boleyn (the second wife of Henry VIII and as such the Queen of England) was found guilty of high treason on May…
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Royal Wedding
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History Today: The Alamo
Texas was once a Mexican state, when a push for independence from within became strong; a desire to be free from the rule of the Mexican government. Colonel William Travis was seen as a vital leader of this uprising. The Texas revolution began in 1835 and in February of 1836 Travis was appointed as a lieutenant colonel of the San Antonio troops. It was on February 23, that a surprise arrival of the Mexican army under General Santa Ana sent the Texas troops retreating into the old Spanish mission, the Alamo. It was there that they sought refuge from the 5,000 soldiers of the Mexican army. The Alamo defenders were 186 small. Knowing they were seriously outnumbered, Travis…
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Historic 1951 Kansas Flood
History making flood devastates Kansas on July 13, 1951. It was on the unluckiest of days, Friday the 13th, that some call Black Friday, when the flood swept down the Kansas River valley and into the Missouri River basin. 500,000 people were left homeless and 24 people died. The Midwestern United States had not seen such destruction from flooding as great as this, since record taking had begun. Above-average rainfall beginning in June and lasting through July 13th brought well over 25 inches to towns in eastern Kansas. Most affected major towns were Manhattan, Topeka and Lawrence. Also, 10,000 farms were destroyed as well. The crest of the flood exceeded…
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Pacific Ring of Fire a Volatile Place
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The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956
The first volume of The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956, a history and memoir of life in a Soviet Union prison camp, written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, was first published in Paris in the original Russian on Dec 28, 1973. “… authorized for Western publication only after the Soviet secret police seized a copy of the manuscript last August, …” The Soviets arrested Solzhenitsyn on February 12, 1974 taking away his citizenship and deporting him. Solzhenitsyn warned the Russian people, citizens of a severely, censorial, 1973 Russia, in the preface of his book The Gulag Archipelago (a three-volume work), that they must consider the reading of his writings as a “very dangerous” act. Learn more about life in Stalin’s Gulag.
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Jonas Salk’s 100th Birthday
The History of Polio is forever and inextricably linked with Jonas Salk . Salk’s eagerly anticipated achievement of inoculation against the much feared polio virus was made public on April 12, 1955 Not long after the announcement of the success of the Salk Vaccine , Jonas appeared in what would become a well-known television interview with Edward R. Murrow. When Murrow asked why he did not obtain a patent on his medical discovery, Salk famously said in response, “Would you patent the sun?” His response left the impression that it was a morally motivated decline on Salk’s part that resulted in an unpatented invention. But there are other details that point to the possibility of an altogether different reason having less to do with…
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IBM Introduces the System/360
May the computers unite and with that revolutionary concept the IBM System/360 was born. Before the uniting of computers into a network of systems, each was its own creation uniquely customized for each of IBM’s clients. It has been 50 years since the 360 mainframe was introduced in 1964. It boasted the first mainframe computers that IBM customers could optimize from a lower cost model to something upgraded in power. ABC News
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Brooklyn Bridge History: The first crossing of the East River
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Ole Miss Riot
On Oct. 1, 1962 Mississippi University admitted James Meredith; their first black student. This Federally ordered act of integration resulted in a violent mob riot on the campus. Two people were killed and hundreds injured. Mississippi had segregationist laws that Governor Ross Barnett tried to uphold despite President Kennedy’s order to obey the federal law against segregation. The fight to preserve James Meredith’s civil right to attend the University of Mississippi is sometimes referred to as “the last battle of the Civil War”. Learn more about the facts and people involved.
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The Triangle Waist Factory Fire On March 25, 1911 in New York City
List of 146 Who Died Adler, Lizzie, 24 Altman, Anna, 16 Ardito, Annina, 25 Bassino, Rose, 31 Benanti, Vincenza, 22 Berger, Yetta, 18 Bernstein, Essie, 19 Bernstein, Jacob, 38 Bernstein, Morris, 19 Billota, Vincenza, 16 Binowitz, Abraham, 30 Birman, Gussie, 22 Brenman, Rosie, 23 Brenman, Sarah, 17 Brodsky, Ida, 15 Brodsky, Sarah, 21 Brucks, Ada, 18 Brunetti, Laura, 17 Cammarata, Josephine, 17 Caputo, Francesca, 17 Carlisi, Josephine, 31 Caruso, Albina, 20 Ciminello, Annie, 36 Cirrito, Rosina, 18 Cohen, Anna, 25 Colletti, Annie, 30 Cooper, Sarah, 16 Cordiano , Michelina, 25 Dashefsky, Bessie, 25 Del Castillo, Josie, 21 Dockman, Clara, 19 Donick, Kalman, 24 Driansky, Nettie, 21 Eisenberg, Celia, 17 Evans,…
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Historic 1951 Kansas Flood
