American History Flashcards
(269 cards)
1
Q
An earthquake estimated at close to 8.0 on the Richter scale struck San Francisco, California, killing an estimated 3,000 people and toppling numerous buildings
A
April 18, 1906
2
Q
British troops marched out of Boston on a mission to confiscate the American arsenal at Concord and to capture Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock, known to be hiding at Lexington.
A
April 18, 1775
3
Q
Paul Revere and William Dawes set out on horseback from outside Boston to warn Adams and Hancock and rouse the Minutemen.
A
April 18, 1775
4
Q
Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco married
A
April 18, 1956
5
Q
Ezra Pound’s Pisan Cantos won an award from the Library of Congress
A
1948
6
Q
Pound and his family moved to Paris, where he fell in love with violinist Olga Rudge, with whom he also had child
A
1920
7
Q
Ezra Pound and his wife moved to Rapallo, Italy. Pound spent the summers with Rudge in Venice until World War II broke out; Rudge then joined Pound and his wife in Rapallo.
A
1925
8
Q
Ezra Pound married Dorothy Shakespeare, whom he met while working as secretary to William Butler Yeats
A
1914
9
Q
Ezra Pound moved to London
A
1908
10
Q
Ezra Pound graduated with a Masters in languages from U. Penn
A
1906
11
Q
A federal court ruled that Ezra Pound should no longer be held at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital for the criminally insane in Washington, D.C. Pound had been held for 13 years, following his arrest in Italy during World War II on charges of treason.
A
April 18, 1958
12
Q
Ernie Pyle first began writing a column for the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain
A
1935
13
Q
Ernie Pyle went overseas as a war correspondent
A
1942
14
Q
Ernie Pyle was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished correspondence
A
1944
15
Q
Battles of Lexington and Concord
A
April 19, 1775
16
Q
The Waco Siege ended and the Branch Davidian compound burned
A
April 19, 1993
17
Q
Slavery abolished in Maryland
A
1864
18
Q
Union troops occupied Baltimore
A
May, 1861
19
Q
President Abraham Lincoln issued a public proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to help put down the Southern “insurrection.”
A
April 15, 1861
20
Q
The Civil War began when Confederate shore batteries opened fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor.
A
April 12, 1861
21
Q
Fort Sumter surrendered to Confederate forces
A
April 13, 1861
22
Q
The first blood of the American Civil War was shed when a secessionist mob in Baltimore attacked Massachusetts troops bound for Washington, D.C. Four soldiers and 12 rioters were killed.
A
April 19, 1861
23
Q
A convicted murderer and serial rapist, already behind bars, came forward to confess he had attacked the Central Park jogger when he was 17 and had acted alone. DNA evidence later confirmed his rape claim.
A
2002
24
Q
The convictions of the five young men originally charged in the Central Park Jogger case were overturned
A
December, 2002
25
Five black and Hispanic teens convicted in two separate trials in the Central Park Jogger case and received prison sentences ranging from five to 15 years.
1990
26
A 28-year-old female investment banker was beaten and sexually assaulted while jogging in New York City’s Central Park.
April 19, 1989
27
Oklahoma City bombing
April 19, 1995
28
First Boston Marathon
1897
29
Former President Thomas Jefferson wrote up a contract for the sale of an indentured servant named John Freeman to newly sworn-in President James Madison.
April 19, 1809
30
Vietnam Veterans Against the War began a five-day demonstration in Washington, D.C.
April 19, 1971
31
A massive anti-war rally of about 200,000 took place on the Mall in Washington, D.C.
April 24, 1971
32
American actress Mae West was sentenced to 10 days in jail, convicted of obscenity and “corrupting the morals of youth” with her portrayal of a prostitute in the Broadway play Sex, which she also wrote
1927
33
Two teenage gunmen kill 13 people in a shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, south of Denver.
April 20, 1999
34
The first New York state constitution was formally adopted by the Convention of Representatives of the State of New York, meeting in the upstate town of Kingston
April 20, 1777
35
The British took Brooklynn Heights
August 27, 1776
36
Lower Manhattan burned
September 21, 1776
37
Edgar Allan Poe’s story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," generally considered the first detective story, first appeared in Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine
1841
38
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education officially banned racial segregation in American schools
1954
39
The Supreme Court ruling in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education declared busing for the purpose of desegregation constitutional
1971
40
Colonel Robert E. Lee resigned from the United States army two days after he was offered command of the Union army and three days after his native state, Virginia, seceded from the Union
April 20, 1861
41
Virginia seceded from the union
April 17, 1861
42
Ending a bitter coal-miners’ strike, Colorado militiamen attacked a tent colony of strikers near Ludlow, CO, killing dozens of men, women and children
April 20, 1914
43
An explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, killed 11 people and triggered the largest offshore oil spill in American history.
April 20, 2010
44
The Supreme Court declared the Ku Klux Act unconstitutional
1882
45
Under the Ku Klux Act, nine South Carolina counties were placed under martial law and thousands were arrested
1871
46
Nathan Bedford Forrest, first grand wizard of the KKK, unsuccessfully tried to disband the group
1869
47
The Ku Klux Klan was founded by a group of Confederate veterans
1865
48
The Third Force Act, popularly known as the Ku Klux Act, authorized President Ulysses S. Grant to declare martial law, impose heavy penalties against terrorist organizations and use military force to suppress the Ku Klux Klan
1871
49
Prince died
2016
50
British troops under the command of General William Tryon attacked the town of Danbury, Connecticut. Facing little, if any, opposition from Patriot forces, the British went on a rampage, setting fire to homes, farmhouses, storehouses and more than 1,500 tents.
April 21, 1777
51
The first theater devoted solely to projected movies, the Electric Theater in Los Angeles, opened
1902
52
Woodville Latham and his sons, Otway and Gray, demonstrated their “Panopticon,” the first movie projector
1895
53
the well-known song by Tony Orlando and Dawn: “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” topped the U.S. pop charts
April 21, 1973
54
In what will be dubbed the “Sip-In,” Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell and John Timmons, on a bar crawl in NYC's West Village, publicly identify themselves as gay and demand to be served anyway, challenging the unofficial but widespread practice of banning gay customers from bars.
April 21, 1966
55
A fire at the Ohio State Penitentiary killed 320 inmates, some of whom burned to death when they are not unlocked from their cells.
April 21, 1930
56
The Ohio Parole Board established to address the overcrowding that had in part contributed to the death toll of the fire at the Ohio State Penitentiary
1931
57
Annie, a popular musical based on the newspaper comic strip Little Orphan Annie, first opened on Broadway.
1977
58
John Adams was sworn in as the first vice president of the United States, nine days before George Washington's presidential inauguration.
April 21, 1789
59
Lieutenant Stephen Decatur lead a contingent to burn the captured U.S. frigate Philadelphia in Tripoli Harbor
February 16, 1804
60
U.S. frigate Philadelphia ran aground near Tripoli harbor and was captured by Tripolitan gun boats.
October, 1803
61
Sustained action began in the First Barbary War when a US expiditionary force attacked Tripoli harbor in present day Libya
June, 1803
62
President Jefferson ordered US naval vessels to the Mediterranean in response to continuing raids on American shipping by the Barbary states.
June, 1801
63
Gettysburg Address
November 19, 1863
64
Mark Twain published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1885
65
Mark Twain published The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
1876
66
Mark Twain died
1910
67
First rescuers reach surviving members of the Donner party in the Sierra Nevada Mountains
February 19, 1847
68
Donner party left Fort Bridger, Wyoming, electing to take the new Hastings Cutoff rather than the usual route to California
July, 1846
69
The Donner party made camp at Lake Truckee in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, 21 kilometers northwest of Lake Tahoe.
October 28, 1846
70
Thomas Edison patented the phonograph, based on embossing a foil wrapped cylinder, the first device to both record and play back sound.
February 19, 1878
71
USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack) battle to a draw off Hampton Roads, VA
March 9, 1862
72
The US joined with Britain to abolish the African slave trade
1807
73
Slaves lead by Cinque took over the Amistad
July 2, 1839
74
USS Washington seized the Amistad off the coast of Long Island and brought it into New London, CT
August 26, 1839
75
CT district court judge Andrew Judson ruled that the Amistad mutineers had been illegally enslaved, would not be extradited to Cuba, and should be given free passage back to Africa (a ruling appealed by President Martin Van Buren
January 13, 1840
76
After a second district court upheld Judson's decision and Van Buren appealed again, the Supreme Court began hearing the Amistad case, with Representative JQA part of the defense team
February 22, 1841
77
The Supreme Court (with one dissent) ruled that the Amistad mutineers had been illegally enslaved and had exercised a natural right to fight for their freedom
March 9, 1841
78
The Amistad mutineers departed on a return voyage to Africa
November, 1841
79
The NY Stock Exchange was formally created
1817
80
Alexander Graham Bell awarded the patent for the telephone
March 7, 1876
81
Alexander Graham Bell first successfully transmitted intelligible speech over the telephone, saying, “Mr. Watson, come here; I want you.”
March 10, 1876
82
Lincoln promoted Major General Ulysses S. Grant to Lieutenant General and command of all Union forces
March 10, 1864
83
Less than a week after the disastrous defeat of Texas rebels at the Alamo, the newly commissioned Texan General Sam Houston begins a series of strategic retreats to buy time to train his ill-prepared army.
March 13, 1836
84
Texan separatists chose Sam Houston to be commander-in-chief of their army
March 6, 1836
85
Texan separatists declared independence from Mexico
March 2, 1836
86
Texan forces under Sam Houston attacked and defeated Mexican forces under Santa Anna near the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River
April 21, 1836
87
Texan separatist forces occupied the Alamo
December, 1835
88
Mexican forces under Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna laid siege to the Alamo
February 23, 1836
89
Mexican forces stormed and took the Alamo
March 6, 1836
90
The Confederate Congress passed a bill providing for the enlistment of slaves as soldiers
March 13, 1865
91
Samuel Chase became the first (and, so far, only) U.S. Supreme Court justice to be impeached.
1804
92
Aaron Burr ran for governor of New York
1804
93
Burr and Hamilton duel at Weehawken
July 11, 1804
94
Alexander Hamilton died
July 12, 1804
95
United States Military Academy (West Point) founded
1802
96
The Scarlet Letter was published
1850
97
Maine became a state
1820
98
Andrew Jackson became the first President to be censured by Congress when he refused to turn over documents concerning his veto of the renewal of the charter of the Bank of the United States
March 28, 1834
99
Andrew Jackson vetoed the renewal of the charter of the Bank of the United States, a veto which was soon overruled by Congress
1831
100
Andrew Jackson was reelected President, defeating Henry Clay
1832
101
Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House
April 9, 1865
102
U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward signed a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska for $7 million.
March 30, 1867
103
The Senate ratified the treaty purchasing Alaska
April 9, 1867
104
Gold discovered in Alaska
1898
105
In territorial Kansas’ first election, some 5,000 so-called “Border Ruffians” invaded the territory from western Missouri and forced the election of a pro-slavery legislature.
March 30, 1855
106
Kansas-Nebraska Act signed into law by President Franklin Pierce
1854
107
Provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
1854: settlers in the newly created territories of Nebraska and Kansas would decide by popular vote whether their territory would be free or allow slavery.
108
Border Ruffians sacked the abolitionist town of Lawrence, KS, and in retaliation a small Free State force under John Brown massacred five pro-slavery Kansans along the Pottawatomie Creek.
May, 1856
109
Following its ratification by the requisite three-fourths of the states, the 15th Amendment, granting African American men the right to vote, was formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution.
March 30, 1870
110
The Republican-dominated Congress passed the First Reconstruction Act, over President Andrew Johnson’s veto
1867
111
Provisions of the First Reconstruction Act
1867: divided the South into five military districts and outlined how new governments based on universal manhood suffrage were to be established.
112
Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi, became the first African American ever to sit in Congress.
1870
113
Thomas Peterson-Mundy of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, became the first African American to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
March 31, 1870
114
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the winners of the first academy awards.
February 18, 1929
115
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences established
1927
116
First academy awards ceremony
May 16, 1929
117
First televised academy awards
1953
118
Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, one of the earliest works of the emerging second wave feminism.
February 19, 1963
119
Under the new Reagan administration State Department report calls leftist rebellion in El Salvador a communist plot.
February 19, 1981
120
Four US missionaries raped and murdered by the Salvadoran military, one example of the brutal violence by the Salvadoran military that led President Carter to cut off aid to El Salvador.
1980
121
First Barbie doll introduced by Mattel at the American Toy Fair
1959
122
Pancho Villa's forces attacked Columbus, New Mexico
March 9, 1916
123
Civil war in Mexico brought General Victoriano Huerta to power
1913
124
Venustiano Carranza, supported by the US (Woodrow Wilson), overthrew Huerta and took power in Mexico
1914
125
Woodrow Wilson withdrew US support from Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zappata's fight against the Carranza regime
1915
126
Pancho Villa's forces kidnapped and killed 18 Americans taken from a Mexican train
January, 1916
127
US forces under General John Pershing began a nearly two year expedition into Mexico in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat Pancho Villa
1916
128
After helping remove Carranza from power, Pancho Villa agreed to retire from politics
1920
129
Pancho Villa assassinated
1923
130
My Lai Massacre
March, 1968
131
First charges brought for My Lai Massacre
March 10, 1970
132
The Tennessee legislature passed a bill that banned the teaching of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in the state's public schools.
March 13, 1925
133
FDR broadcast his first "fireside chat"
March 12, 1933
134
President Harry S. Truman addressed Congress and asked for U.S. assistance for Greece and Turkey to forestall communist domination of the two nations. [Truman doctrine; de facto declaration of the Cold War]
March 12, 1947
135
American lawyer and public official Janet Reno was sworn in as U.S. attorney general, becoming the first woman to hold the office.
1993
136
Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald
November 24, 1963
137
JFK assassinated
November 22, 1963
138
Warren Commission report concluded that neither Oswald nor Ruby were part of a larger conspiracy, either domestic or international, to assassinate President Kennedy.
1964
139
House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in a preliminary report that Kennedy was “probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy” that may have involved multiple shooters and organized crime.
1978
140
In the first courtroom verdict to be televised in the United States, Jack Ruby was found guilty of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald
March 14, 1964
141
President Ronald Reagan ordered over 3,000 U.S. troops to Honduras, claiming that Nicaraguan soldiers had crossed its borders.
March 16, 1988
142
Iran-Contra Affair came to light
late 1987
143
Former national security advisor John Poindexter and former National Security staffer Lt. Col. Oliver North were indicted by the U.S. government for fraud and theft related to Iran-Contra.
March 16, 1988
144
Robert H. Goddard launched the world's first successful liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, MA
1926
145
Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" openned
1972
146
LBJ introduced voting rights legislation
1965
147
Three Mile Island nuclear disaster
March 28, 1979
148
The Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis
1984
149
First cherry trees, a gift from Japan, were planted along the Potomac in Washington, DC
March 27, 1912
150
Number of American lives lost in the Vietnam War
58,000
151
Fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces; last Americans remaining in Vietnam airlifted out.
April 30, 1975
152
Representatives of the United States, North Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and South Vietnam signed a peace agreement in Paris
January, 1973
153
US troop numbers in Vietnam reached a peak of 550,000
Spring, 1969
154
Nixon began US troop withdrawal from Vietnam but intensified bombing
1969
155
LBJ announced he would limit bombing of North Vietnam to areas below the 20th parallel and that he would not seek reelection, citing his responsibility in creating national division over the Vietnam War
March 31, 1968
156
The Tet Offensive began with coordinated attacks by Viet Cong in South Vietnam, followed the next day by attacks by North Vietnamese forces
January 30, 1968
157
Viet Cong guerillas attacked the US embassy in Saigon
January 31, 1968
158
North Vietnamese forces began a massive artillery bombardment of the U.S. Marine garrison at Khe Sanh, located on the principal road from northern South Vietnam into Laos.
January 21, 1968
159
LBJ chose to escalate US involvement in Vietnam, with troop numbers increasing to 300,000 and the US beginning the largest bombing campaign in history
1965
160
President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered limited bombing raids on North Vietnam, and Congress authorized the use of U.S. troops
1964
161
After two decades of indirect military aid, U.S. President John F. Kennedy sent the first large force of U.S. military personnel to support the ineffectual autocratic regime of South Vietnam against the communist North.
1961
162
The last US combat troops left South Vietnam
March 29, 1973
163
President Reagan shot by John Hinckley Jr.
March 30, 1981
164
Chrysler Building built in New York, becoming the world's tallest structure
1930
165
Daylight Saving Time went into effect in the US for the first time
March 31, 1918
166
Kurt Cobain committed suicide
April 5, 1994
167
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg convicted of espionage
1951
168
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed
1953
169
Congress discontinued appropriations for the Civilian Conservation Corps, diverting the money to fund the war effort
1942
170
FDR established the Civilian Conservation Corps
1933
171
Partly in an effort to balance the representation of states among senior officers, five junior officers were promoted by the Continental Congress to major general, ahead of Brigadier General Benedict Arnold.
February 19, 1777
172
Benedict Arnold offered to turn over West Point to the British
1780
173
Benedict Arnold died destitute in London
1801
174
Spanish forces under Galvez began the two-month siege of British Pensacola, FL
March 9, 1781
175
British surrender Pensacola to Spanish forces under Galvez
May 8, 1781
176
PA militia massacred 96 unresisting Native Americans at the Moravian Mission in Gnadenhutten in the Ohio Country
March 8, 1782
177
Alexander Hamilton commissioned captain of a New York artillery company
March 14, 1776
178
Alexander Hamilton commissioned lieutenant colonel and personal aide to Washington in the Continental Army
March, 1777
179
Hamiton resigned from his position as aide to Washington
February, 1781
180
Hamilton became commander of a regiment of New York troops
July, 1781
181
Hamilton elected to the Continental Congress from New York
1782
182
Hamilton became Secretary of the Treasury
September, 1789
183
Hamilton resigned as Secretary of the Treasury
January, 1795
184
American inventor Eli Whitney received a patent for the cotton gin.
1794
185
The British evacuated Boston
March 17, 1776
186
American forces under Major General John Thomas secretly occupy Dorchester heights, bringing twelve cannon from Ticonderoga, and beginning to fortify the position
March 4, 1776
187
The British fleet arrived in Boston, carrying 1,000 soldiers
October 2, 1768
188
Washington appeared at an assembly of officers in Newburgh, NY, and by appeal put an end to the conspiracy
March 15, 1783
189
The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia
September, 1774
190
The four Coercive Acts:
The Boston Port Act, which closed the port of Boston until damages from the Boston Tea Party were paid.
The Massachusetts Government Act, which restricted Massachusetts; democratic town meetings and turned the governor’s council into an appointed body.
The Administration of Justice Act, which made British officials immune to criminal prosecution in Massachusetts.
The Quartering Act, which required colonists to house and quarter British troops on demand, including in their private homes as a last resort.
191
The Coercive Acts passed by Parliament
March 28, 1774
192
Thomas Jefferson was elected to the Second Continental Congress
March 27, 1775
193
The committee appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence submitted its draft to the Second Continental Congress
June 28, 1776
194
Jefferson served as governor of Virginia
1779-1781
195
Jefferson served as the first Secretary of State
1790-1793
196
Jefferson served as vice president under John Adams
1797-1801
197
Jefferson served as President
1801-1809
198
British troops marched on Concord, MA, to destroy the stockpile of armaments there
April 18, 1775
199
Lord North sent orders to General Thomas Gage in Boston to march on Concord, Massachusetts, to destroy the armaments stockpiled in the town, and take Patriot leaders John Hancock and Samuel Adams into custody
January, 1775
200
George III formally endorsed the New England Restraining Act
March 30, 1775
201
Provisions of the New England Restraining Act
The New England Restraining Act required New England colonies to trade exclusively with Great Britain as of July 1, 1775. An additional rule would come into effect on July 20, banning colonists from fishing in the North Atlantic.
202
Washington exercised the first Presidential veto
April 5, 1792 (on a bill concerning apportionment that would have given northern states more seats)
203
American hedge-fund investment manager Bernie Madoff pled guilty to various crimes related to his operation of a Ponzi scheme
2009
204
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a worldwide health alert, one of the first in a decade, regarding an illness it later called severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
2003
205
Pocahontas died in England
March, 1617
206
Pocahontas and John Rolfe married
1614
207
English Captain Samuel Argall took Pocahontas hostage, hoping to use her to negotiate a permanent peace with her father.
1613
208
Baron De La Waar arrived in Jamestown with new supplies and rebuilt the settlement
1610
209
John Rolfe arrived in Jamestown
1610
210
John Rolfe cultivated the first tobacco in Jamestown
1612
211
John Smith was injured from a fire in his gunpowder bag and was forced to return to England
1609
212
John Smith and two colonists captured by Powhatan warriors
December, 1607
213
Around 100 English settlers founded Jamestown
May, 1607
214
Edgar Varèse
(1883–1965) , French-born American composer. His music explored dissonance, unusual orchestration, and (from the 1950s) tape-recording and electronic instruments.
215
Transcontinental Railroad completed
May 10, 1869
216
Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold led Vermont and Mass. militia in a successful attack on Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain, in upstate New York
May 10, 1775
217
The Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia
May 10, 1775
218
Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson died of pneumonia a week after his own troops accidentally fired on him during the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia.
May 10, 1863
219
Jefferson Davis, president of the fallen Confederate government, was captured with his wife and entourage near Irwinville, Georgia, by a detachment of Union General James H. Wilson’s cavalry
May 10, 1865
220
J. Edgar Hoover began his 48-year tenure as director of the FBI
1924
221
The US government gave Chrysler a $1.5 billion loan
1980
222
President Rutherford B. Hayes had the first phone installed in the White House
May 10, 1877
223
American reformer Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to be nominated for president when the Equal Rights Party selected her as its candidate.
1872
224
The Indian Mutiny erupted in Meerut in reaction to the increased pace of Westernization in India and a military crackdown on Indian troops by their British officers.
1857
225
Over a period of two days, high-level winds caught and carried some 350 million tons of silt all the way from the northern Great Plains to the eastern seaboard
May 11, 1934
226
Minnesota became a state
1858
227
Bob Marley died at 36
1981
228
B.F. Goodrich Company of Akron, Ohio, announced it had developed a tubeless tire, a technological innovation that would make automobiles safer and more efficient.
May 11, 1947
229
President Kennedy approved sending 400 Special Forces troops and 100 other U.S. military advisers to South Vietnam; ordered the start of clandestine warfare against North Vietnam to be conducted by South Vietnamese agents under the direction and training of the CIA and U.S. Special Forces troops; and called for South Vietnamese forces to infiltrate Laos to locate and disrupt communist bases and supply lines there.
May 11, 1961
230
Deep Blue defeated Gary Kasparov
1997
231
Glacier National Park was established in the Rocky Mountain wilderness of northwestern Montana.
1910
232
U.S. President James K. Polk asked Congress to declare war on Mexico.
May 11, 1846
233
Charles Lindbergh flew The Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic
1927
234
Lindbergh baby kidnapping
1932
235
U.S. freighter Mayaguez and its 39-man crew was captured by gunboats of the Cambodian navy.
May 12, 1975
236
After a siege of more than a month, Major General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered Charleston, SC, to British Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton
May 12, 1780
237
The Environmental Protection Agency banned the production of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons)
1978
238
Broadcast journalist and TV personality Barbara Walters retired from ABC News and as co-host of the daytime program “The View.”
2014
239
The Soviets shot down a CIA U-2 spy plane and captured the pilot, Gary Francis Powers.
May 1, 1960
240
The Senate acquitted President Andrew Johnson of all charges in his impeachment trial
May 26, 1868
241
The Supreme Court ruling in Sullivan v. New York Times determined that the press’s criticism of public officials—unless a plaintiff could prove that the statements were made maliciously or with reckless disregard for the truth—was protected speech under the First Amendment.
1964
242
The Sedition Act was repealed
1921
243
The prison sentence of Eugene V. Debs for sedition was commuted
1921
244
In Schenck v. United States, upholding the conviction of Charles Schenck under the Espionage Act, Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes maintained that freedom of speech and press could be constrained in certain instances, and that the question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.
1919
245
After and anti-war speech in Canton, OH, Eugene V. Debs was arrested, tried and sentenced to 10 years in prison under the Sedition Act.
1919
246
The Espionage Act made it a crime for any person to convey information intended to interfere with the U.S. armed forces’ prosecution of the war effort or to promote the success of the country’s enemies.
1917
247
The Sedition Act imposed harsh penalties on anyone found guilty of making false statements that interfered with the prosecution of the war; insulting or abusing the U.S. government, the flag, the Constitution or the military; agitating against the production of necessary war materials; or advocating, teaching or defending any of these acts.
1918
248
American rock group the Beach Boys released their masterwork, Pet Sounds, a bittersweet pastiche of songs recalling the pangs of unrequited love and other coming-of-age trials.
1966
249
Top Gun was released in American theatres
1986
250
Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage as it began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.
2004
251
U.S. President Bill Clinton signed Megan's Law, which required that law-enforcement officials notify local schools, day-care centres, and residents of the presence of registered sex offenders in their communities.
1996
252
The first televised sporting event in the United States—a collegiate baseball game between Princeton and Columbia—aired on NBC.
1939
253
The first Kentucky Derby was run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, and the winning horse was Aristides.
1875
254
Geronimo died of pneumonia at Fort Sill, Oklahoma
1909
255
Geronimo and his 38 remaining followers surrendered unconditionally to General Nelson Miles
September 4, 1886
256
Geronimo and many other Apache broke out of the San Carlos, AZ, reservation for the first time
1881
257
Geronimo was forced to move to the San Carlos, Arizona, reservation for the first time
1877
258
Geronimo agreed to return to the San Carlos reservation
1884
259
Geronimo escaped the San Carlos reservation for the second time
1885
260
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, headed by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, begins televised hearings on the escalating Watergate scandal. One week later, Harvard law professor Archibald Cox was sworn in as special Watergate prosecutor.
May 17, 1973
261
five men were arrested for breaking into and illegally wiretapping the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.
June 17, 1972
262
Nixon became the first president in U.S. history to resign
August 9, 1973
263
under pressure from the Supreme Court, Nixon finally released the Watergate tapes.
July 30, 1973
264
Thousands of white citizens in Tulsa, Oklahoma descended on the city’s predominantly Black Greenwood District, burning homes and businesses to the ground and killing hundreds of people.
May 31, 1921
265
Ford Motor Company signed an agreement with the USSR to produce cars in Russia
May 31, 1929
266
The South Fork Dam in Pennsylvania collapsed, causing the Johnstown Flood, killing more than 2,200 people.
May 31, 1889
267
W. Mark Felt’s family ends 30 years of speculation, identifying Felt, the former FBI assistant director, as “Deep Throat,” the secret source who helped expose the Watergate scandal
May 31, 2005
268
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline—which connected the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska with the harbour at Valdez, 800 miles (1,300 km) to the south—was completed.
1977
269
Walt Whitman published Leaves of Grass
1855
