This Week in History
by Dianne Hermann
“The most effective way to destroy people is to
deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
George Orwell
Week of March 26-April 1, 2018
March 26
1790 – Congress passes the Naturalization Act, requiring a 2-year residency.
1910 – The U.S. forbids immigration of criminals, anarchists, paupers, and the sick.
1943 – U.S. army nurse 2nd Lt. Elsie S. Ott is the first woman to receive an Air Medal. Ott was awarded the medal by Brig. Gen. Fred W. Borum for her role in the emergency evacuation of five military personnel from India to the U.S. and her medical information for future rescues.
1953 – Dr. Jonas Salk announces on the radio that the Polio vaccine has been successfully tested. Watch a report with actual footage of Salk administering the vaccine to children:
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The Importance of Prayer: How a Christian Gold Company Stands Out by Defending Americans’ Retirement
1982 – Ground-breaking takes place for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. The Wall was completed in November. The $9 million Memorial was paid for completely by private donations.
1997 – Comet Hale-Bopp makes its closest approach to Earth (1.315 Astronomical Units). It was visible in the Northern Hemisphere for about 16 months. About 40 people who were part of the “Heaven’s Gate” cult in San Diego committed mass suicide as the comet came close to Earth. Watch news footage featuring a former member:
1999 – A Michigan jury finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man during a “physician-assisted suicide.” He was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison. Kevorkian was paroled in 2007 after being diagnosed with Hepatitis C. He died in 2011 at age 83.
2007 – The U.S. Postal Service unveils the design for the “Forever Stamp.” There is no price printed on the stamp so, once purchased, it can be used by customers even if the price of a postage stamp increases.
March 27
1794 – The U.S. Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.
1912 – The first cherry blossom trees are planted in Washington, DC. The trees are a gift from Japan.
1956 – The U.S. seizes U.S. communist newspaper “Daily Worker” for non-payment of taxes. The newspaper was founded in 1924 by the American Communist Party. The last issue is published in January 1958.
1964 – An earthquake, 9.2 on the Richter scale, strikes Alaska, killing 118. It is the strongest earthquake to hit the U.S. In fact, nine of the top ten strongest earthquakes in the U.S. have hit Alaska. Watch amateur film footage of the aftermath:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoJLfsRvE5c
1973 – Marlon Brando refuses to accept the Oscar for best actor in “The Godfather” at the Academy Awards ceremony in protest of the treatment of American Indians. Sacheen Littlefeather gave a speech citing the reasons for Brando declining the Oscar. Listen to Littlefeather’s speech:
1979 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules 8-1 that police can’t randomly stop cars because it violates the 4th Amendment protection from illegal search and seizure.
1998 – The U.S. FDA approves the prescription drug Viagra. It is the first pill for male impotence.
2007 – National Football League owners vote to make the instant replay a permanent officiating tool.
March 28
1774 – Britain passes the Coercive Acts against Massachusetts in response to the Boston Tea Party.
1885 – The U.S. Salvation Army is officially organized. William Booth and his wife Catherine started the Salvation Army in England in 1852.
1917 – The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is founded during World War I.
1921 – President Warren Harding nominates former president William Howard Taft as chief justice of the Supreme Court. Taft is the only former president to also serve on the Supreme Court.
1946 – The U.S. State Department releases the Acheson-Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power. It was written in large part by Robert Oppenheimer, the committee’s chief scientific consultant.
1966 – The inaugural Country & Western Music Awards is held at the Palladium in Hollywood. Merle Haggard and Buck Owens are among the winners. Its name was changed to the Academy of Country Music in the early 70s and the awards were first aired on TV in 1972 (7th Annual). Loretta Lynn and Freddie Hart won as top female and male vocalists. Watch Kenny Rogers award the top album of the year:
1979 – A partial meltdown causes a major nuclear accident at Nuclear Generating Station #2 at Three Mile Island in Middletown, Pennsylvania. There are no deaths and Station #2 is permanently shut down. Station #1 is still operational. Watch an ABS News report:
1990 – Jesse Owens is posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President George H. W. Bush. In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Owens becomes the first American in Olympic Track and Field history to win four gold medals in a single Olympiad. Owens died in 1980 at age 66.
2010 – China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Company signs a deal to buy Ford Motor Company’s Volvo car unit for $1.8 billion.
March 29
1806 – Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first federal highway in the U.S.
1867 – Congress approves the Lincoln Memorial. The Memorial was dedicated in 1922 and Lincoln’s only surviving son, 79-year-old Robert Todd Lincoln, was in attendance.
1951 – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of spying. They were executed in 1953. Watch a 1951 newsreel of the events:
1961 – The 23rd Amendment is ratified, allowing Washington, DC residents to vote in presidential elections.
1971 – 1st Lt. William L. Calley, Jr. is found guilty in the My Lai (Vietnam) massacre and is sentenced to life in prison with hard labor. Calley was transferred to house arrest pending appeal, where he served 3 1/2 years at Fort Benning, Georgia, before being released. He was finally pardoned by President Nixon in 1974. Calley is now 74 years old.
1973 – U.S. troops leave Vietnam, nine years after The Tonkin Resolution. Two U.S. ships were attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin by three Vietnamese Navy ships on August 2, 1964. At President LBJ’s request Congress passed the Resolution authorizing the president “to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty requesting assistance in defense of its freedom.” President Nixon signed the repeal of the resolution in 1971.
1974 – U.S. space probe Mariner 10 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the planet Mercury. It was launched on November 3, 1973.
1979 – The Committee on Assassinations Report issued by House of Representatives states the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was the result of a conspiracy.
1995 – The House of Representatives rejects a constitutional amendment that would have limited terms to 12 years in the House and Senate.
1999 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark for the first time ever (10006.78).
March 30
1842 – Dr. Crawford Long of Jefferson, Georgia, uses ether as an anesthetic during surgery for the first time.
1867 – The U.S. Secretary of State William Seward agrees to buy Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, or 2 cents an acre, in what becomes known as Seward’s Folly. Gold was discovered in the Yukon in 1896. Watch a brief history of Alaska’s acquisition:
1870 – Texas becomes the last confederate state readmitted to the Union after the Civil War.
1932 – Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo cross the Atlantic.
1939 – The comic book “Detective Comics #27” appears on newsstands. This comic book introduced Batman.
1964 – Astronaut John Glenn withdraws from the Ohio senate race because of injuries he suffered in a fall. Glenn finally won his senate seat in 1974 after a third run and served until he retired in 1997. In 1998 John Glenn became the oldest astronaut to go into space. Glenn died in 2016 at the age of 95.
1964 – “Jeopardy” debuts on TV and is hosted by Art Fleming. Merv Griffin created the daytime game show. The nighttime game show debuted in 1984 and is still hosted by Alex Trebek. Watch part an early episode (and notice the dollar amounts of clues):
1981 – President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr. President Reagan recovered while Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Hinckley, now 62 years old, was released in 2016 from of St. Elizabeth’s Mental Hospital in Washington, DC after 35 years.
2012 – The U.S. Mega Millions lottery hits a world record lottery amount of $656 million. There were three winning tickets.
March 31
1870 – Thomas P. Mundy of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, is the first black person to vote in the U.S. Mundy died in 1904 at age 79.
1906 – The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States is founded to set rules in amateur sports. The organization became the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1910.
1918 – Daylight savings time goes into effect for the first time in the U.S.
1930 – The Motion Pictures Production Code (Hays Code) is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion, and violence in film for the next thirty-eight years. The new film rating system went into effect in 1968 using G (general), M (mature), R (restricted), and X (sexually explicit).
1948 – Congress passes the Marshall Aid Act to rehabilitate war-torn Europe.
1949 – RCA releases the first single 45-rpm record. It was “Texarkana Baby” and “Bouquet of Roses” by Eddy Arnold. Listen to “Texarkana Baby”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAtBghYxtdQ
1954 – The U.S. Air Force Academy is established in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
1981 – The first Raspberry Awards are held to honor the worst films of the previous year. The 1980 winner (or loser) was “Can’t Stop the Music.”
2008 – Senator and presidential candidate Obama criticizes President Bush for “Trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not going through Congress at all.” Watch his comments and broken campaign promise:
April 1
1778 – New Orleans businessman Oliver Pollock creates the “$” (dollar) symbol.
1866 – Congress rejects a veto by President Andrew Johnson (D-TN) giving equal rights to all people in the U.S. It was the first major piece of legislation passed over a presidential veto.
1889 – The first dishwashing machine is marketed in Chicago, Illinois. Josephine Cochrane patents her invention in 1886. A wealthy socialite, Cochrane designed the dishwasher because she was tired of her best china being chipped by the hired help. Cochrane’s dishwashing machine company eventually became KitchenAid. Cochrane died in 1913 at age 74.
1891 – The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois. At the age of 29 William Wrigley, Jr. left his home in Philadelphia with $32 and started selling his father’s soap in Chicago. In 1893, after giving away chewing gum as a promotion, he introduced a new gum called “Juicy Fruit.” Wrigley died in 1932 at age 70.
1934 – Bonnie and Clyde kill two police officers near Grapevine, Texas. On May 23rd, law enforcement officers killed Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow near Sailes, Louisiana. Bonnie was 23 and Clyde was 25.
1938 – The Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown, New York. The first inductees were Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner, and Babe Ruth.
1946 – Weight Watchers is formed by overweight housewife Jean Nidetch in her apartment in Queens, New York. Nidetch died in 2015 at age 91. Watch a brief history of Weight Watchers:
1948 – Ralph Alpher (American), Hans Bethe, and George Gamow propose the Big Bang Theory in Physical Review, a publication organized in 1893 at Cornell University.
1954 – The U.S. Air Force Academy is formed in Colorado.
1986 – World oil prices dip below $10 a barrel.
1991 – The U.S. minimum wage goes from $3.80 to $4.25 per hour.
1992 – The battleship USS Missouri (on which Japan surrendered ending World War II) is decommissioned. It is now a memorial museum at Pearl Harbor. The USS Missouri was used in the 2012 movie “Battleship.” The extras in the movie were actual WWII veterans from the USS Missouri.
2004 – Google introduces Gmail. The launch is met with skepticism because of the launch date.
2009 – President Obama bows when meeting King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Watch the greeting:
Photo from Wikipedia.com
