U.S. and World History

1820 – Congress passed a bill granting Missouri statehood as a slave state under the condition that slavery was to be forever prohibited in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36th parallel, which runs approximately along the southern border of Missouri. In addition, Maine, formerly part of Massachusetts, was admitted as a free state, preserving the balance between Northern and Southern senators.

1845 – Florida became the 27th state.

1845 – Congress reined in President John Tyler’s zealous use of the presidential veto, overriding it with the necessary two-thirds vote. This marked Congress’ first use of the Constitutional provision allowing Congressional veto overrides and represented Congress’ parting gift to Tyler as he left office.
About two weeks earlier, Tyler had vetoed a Congressional bill that would have denied him the power to appropriate federal funds to build revenue-cutter ships without Congress’ approval. With the override, Congress insisted that the executive branch get the legislature’s approval before commissioning any new military craft.

1863 – Congress passed a conscription act that produced the first wartime draft of U.S. citizens in American history. The act called for registration of all males between the ages of 20 and 45, including aliens with the intention of becoming citizens, by April 1. Exemptions from the draft could be bought for $300 or by finding a substitute draftee. This clause led to bloody draft riots in New York City, where protesters were outraged that exemptions were effectively granted only to the wealthiest U.S. citizens.

1873 – Congress enacted the so-called Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any “obscene, lewd, or lascivious” book through the mails. Also unlawful under the law was sending anything “designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion.” The law was named after its chief proponent, Anthony Comstock, who headed the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice.

1887 – Anne Sullivan began teaching six-year-old Helen Keller, who lost her sight and hearing after a severe illness at the age of 19 months. Under Sullivan’s tutelage, including her pioneering “touch teaching” techniques, the previously uncontrollable Keller flourished, eventually graduating from college and becoming an international lecturer and activist. Sullivan, later dubbed “the miracle worker,” remained Keller’s interpreter and constant companion until the older woman’s death in 1936.

1923 – Time magazine debuted. The first issue was 32 pages and featured a charcoal sketch of Joseph Gurney Cannon, the retired Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, on the cover. It was the United States’ first, modern, news magazine. Today, the worldwide news weekly, founded by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden, is printed in several languages and is among the most popular magazines in history with readership of 3.3 million.

1931 – President Herbert Hoover signed into law a bill making The Star-Spangled Banner the national anthem.

1934 – While awaiting trial for the murder of police officer William O’Malley during a bank robbery in East Chicago, Indiana, John Dillinger escaped from the “escape proof” Lake County Jail in Crown Point, forcing his way out of the main cellblock by brandishing a gun. Dillinger later claimed he had fashioned the “weapon” from a block of wood, a razor handle and a coat of black shoe polish.

1949 – Lou Costello (Abbott and Costello comedy team) died of a heart attack at the age of 52.

1952 – In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a New York state law that prohibited communists from teaching in public schools. Coming at the height of the Red Scare in the U.S., the Supreme Court decision was additional evidence that many Americans were concerned about possible subversive communist activity in their country. The New York state statute – called the Feinberg Law – remained in force until another Supreme Court decision in 1967 declared most of its provisions unconstitutional.

1953 – Former heavyweight boxing champion James J. Jeffries died of a heart attack at the age of 77.

1965 – More than 30 U.S. Air Force jets struck targets along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. The Johnson administration came under increasing criticism at home and abroad because of the bombing raids. Congressional opponents of the Johnson administration thought the president was escalating the war without authorization, but the U.S. State Department fired back, announcing that the controversial missions were authorized by the powers granted to President Johnson in the August 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution.

1966 – Actor William Frawley (Miracle On 34th Street, Going My Way, The Babe Ruth Story and best known for his television work, playing Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy and Bub O’Casey on My Three Sons) died of a heart attack at the age of 79.

1966 – Actress Alice Pearce (On The Town, The Belle Of New York, and best known for playing nosy next door neighbor Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched) died of ovarian cancer at the age of 48.

1972 – The Confederate Memorial – the largest bas-relief sculpture in the world – was completed at Stone Mountain, Georgia. The carving depicts three Confederate leaders of the Civil War; President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas Stonewall Jackson (and their favorite horses, “Blackjack”, “Traveller”, and “Little Sorrel”, respectively).
The entire carved surface measures 3 acres, about the size of two and a quarter football fields. The carving of the three men measures 90 by 190 feet, and is recessed 42 feet into the mountain.

1974 – A Turkish Airlines DC10 crashed near Paris, en route to London, killing all 345 people on board. A mechanic in Paris was supposed to do a visual inspection of the rear hatch door. However, the regular mechanic was on vacation on that day and the flight engineer apparently forgot to assume this duty.
As the plane reached an altitude of 11,000 feet just after takeoff from Paris, the rear hatch door blew off over Coulommiers, France. A rapid decompression followed. The last two rows of seats on the plane were sucked out of a hole in the fuselage. The six passengers in those seats were killed immediately when they fell into a turnip field in St. Pathus.
The other 340 people on board had to endure 90 more seconds in the air. The pilots were unable to control the plane because all the critical hydraulic cables had been severed. The plane slammed into the ground at 500 miles per hour, killing everyone on board. The impact was so severe that only 40 bodies were found intact.

1987 – Actor Danny Kaye (White Christmas, The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, The Inspector General, Hans Christian Andersen) died of heart failure at the age of 76.

1991 – In a case that sparked a national outcry, motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured on amateur video.

2002 – Voters in Switzerland approved joining the United Nations, abandoning almost 200 years of formal neutrality.

2005 – U.S. millionaire Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo, non-stop around the globe without refueling; a journey of 25,000 miles completed in 67 hours and 2 minutes.

2012 – Former New York Giants running back (and later head coach) Alex Webster died of lung cancer at the age of 80.

2012 – Comedian Steve Bridges (developed a repertoire of over 200 impersonations, most notably George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton) died due to an “upper airway anaphylaxis”, caused by a severe allergic reaction. He was 48.

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