November 25 The so-called “storm of the century” hits the eastern part of the United States and kills hundreds and causes millions of dollars in damages. Some areas were blanketed with several feet of snow for several days and travel was impossible for nearly a week in some places. The
November 18 At exactly noon on this day, American and Canadian railroads begin using four continental time zones to end the confusion of dealing with thousands of local times. The bold move was emblematic of the power shared by the railroad companies. – 1883. Thirty-one men die on Lake Michigan
November 11 At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. At 5 a.m., Germany, bereft of manpower and supplies and faced with imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France. The First
November 4 British archaeologist Howard Carter and his workmen discover a step leading to the tomb of King Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. – 1922. A spontaneous national uprising that began 12 days earlier in Hungary is viciously crushed by Soviet tanks and troops on this
October 28 The Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from France to the United States, is dedicated in New York Harbor, N.Y. by U.S. president Grover Cleveland. – 1886. The Cuban Missile crisis comes to a close when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agrees to remove Russian missiles from Cuba
October 21 Approximately 100,000 demonstrators, including radicals, liberals, black nationalists, hippies, professors, women’s groups, and war veterans, rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and march on the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War. – 1967. October 22 In a televised speech of extraordinary gravity, U.S. president John F.
October 14 Prior to a campaign speech in Milwaukee, Wis., Theodore Roosevelt, the presidential candidate for the Progressive Party, is shot at close range. The bullet failed to mortally wound him and Roosevelt went on to deliver his scheduled speech with the bullet still in his body. – 1912. U.S.
October 7 The most devastating fire in United States history is ignited in Wisconsin. Over the course of the next day, 1,200 individuals lose their lives and 2 billion trees were consumed by flames. – 1871. A U.S.-led coalition begins attacks on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan with an intense bombing campaign by
September 30 U.S. president Woodrow Wilson gives a speech in Congress in support of guaranteeing women the right to vote. – 1918. Black farmers meet in Elaine, Ark. to establish the Progressive Farmers and Householders Union to fight for better pay and higher cotton prices. They are shot at by
September 23 Amid much public excitement, American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark return to St. Louis, Mo., from the first recorded overland journey from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast and back. The Lewis and Clark Expedition had set off more than two years earlier to explore the
September 16 In his cell at Yerovda Jail near Bombay, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest of the British government’s decision to separate India’s electoral system by caste. – 1932. U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Selective Service and Training Act, which requires all male citizens
September 9 Though it only had been a part of the United States for less than two years, California becomes the 31st state in the union, without ever even having been a territory. – 1850. A Japanese floatplane drops incendiary bombs on an Oregon state forest, the only air attack
September 2 The Great Fire of London breaks out in the house of King Charles II’s baker on Pudding Lane near London Bridge. When the Great Fire finally was extinguished September 6, more than 80% of London was destroyed. Only 16 persons were known to have died. – 1666. Aftershocks
August 26 With America in the depths of the Great Depression, the Comptroller of the Currency announces a temporary halt on foreclosures of first mortgages. – 1932. The first televised Major League Baseball game is broadcast on station W2XBS, the station that was to become WNBC-TV. Announcer Red Barber called
August 19 The Iranian military, with the support and financial assistance of the United States government, overthrows the government of premier Mohammed Mosaddeq and reinstates the Shah of Iran. Iran remained a solid Cold War ally of the United States until a revolution ended the Shah’s rule in 1979. –
August 12 The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was concluded between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It went into effect in January 1994. – 1992. What was to become a 232-day strike by Major League Baseball players over owners’ demands for team salary caps begins; ultimately 938 games
August 5 U.S. president Abraham Lincoln imposes the first federal income tax by signing the Revenue Act. Strapped for cash with which to pursue the Civil War, Lincoln and Congress agree to impose a three percent tax on annual incomes more than $800.. – 1861. After several unsuccessful attempts, the
July 29 The U.S. Congress passes legislation to establish the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian agency responsible for coordinating America’s activities in space. – 1958. Nearly one billion television viewers in 74 countries watch the marriage of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, to Lady Diana
July 22 Outside Chicago’s Biograph Theatre, notorious criminal John Dillinger, America’s “Public Enemy No. 1,” is killed in a hail of bullets fired by federal agents. In a bank-robbing career that lasted just over one year, Dillinger and his associates robbed 11 banks for more than $300,000, which in today’s
July 15 During a live television and radio broadcast, president Richard Nixon stuns the nation by announcing that he will visit communist China the following year. The statement marked a dramatic turning point in U.S.-China relations, as well as a major shift in American foreign policy. – 1971. July 16
