This Week in History: May 7-13, 2018

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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 May 7-13, 2018

May 7

1789 – The first inaugural ball is held after George Washington is sworn in as president in New York City.

1847 – The American Medical Association (AMA) organizes in Philadelphia.

1912 – Columbia University approves plans for awarding the Pulitzer Prize in several categories. The award is established by Joseph Pulitzer as part of his will. The first prize is awarded in 1917.

1915 – The Lusitania ocean liner is sunk by a German submarine on its way from New York to England and about 1,200 lives are lost.

1942 – In the Battle of the Coral Sea, American and Japanese navies attack each other with carrier planes. It was the first time in the history of naval warfare where two enemy fleets fight without seeing each other.

1975 – President Ford declares an end to the “Vietnam Era.”

1977 – Seattle Slew wins the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories. Watch Seattle Slew win the first jewel:

1984 – A $180 million out-of-court settlement is announced in the Agent Orange class-action lawsuit brought by Vietnam veterans who claim they suffered injuries from exposure to the defoliant while serving in the armed forces.

1982 – IBM releases PC-DOS version 1.1.

1992 – A Constitutional amendment barring mid-term congressional raises is ratified. James Madison proposed in 1789 what becomes the 27th Amendment.

1992 – The U.S. Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-49) launches on its maiden voyage. It was built to replace the Challenger, destroyed in a launch accident in January 1986.

1999 – A jury finds “The Jenny Jones Show” and Warner Brothers liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure after the show purposely deceives Jonathan Schmitz into appearing on a secret same-sex crush episode. Schmitz kills Amedure days after the show’s taping. A jury awards Amedure’s family $25 million. Schmitz is sentenced to 25-50 years in prison. Watch the never-aired episode and interviews:

2013 – The Dow Jones industrial average closes over 15,000 for the first time.

May 8

1792 – The U.S. establishes the military draft.

1861 – Richmond, Virginia, is named the capital of the Confederacy. Richmond is about 100 miles south of Washington, DC.

1879 – George Selden files the first patent for a gasoline-driven automobile. The witness for his patent was bank teller, and future camera entrepreneur, George Eastman. In 1903, Selden filed a patent infringement suit against Henry Ford and four other car makers. Although Selden won the case, Ford prevailed on appeal in 1911. Selden then focused on his truck company.

1886 – Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta sells Coca-Cola for the first time. The carbonated soft drink, invented by John Pemberton, actually contained cocaine.

1919 – Edward George Honey first proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of World War I, which later results in the creation of an international Remembrance Day. It is now known as Veterans Day in the U.S.

1945 – President Harry Truman announces victory in Europe and that World War II has ended.

1958 – President Eisenhower orders the National Guard out of Little Rock, Arkansas, as Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock nine, becomes the first black person to graduate from an Arkansas public school.

1973 – A group of about 200 American Indians holding the South Dakota town of Wounded Knee for 71 days surrender after protesting corruption and treaty violations.

1976 – The rollercoaster Revolution opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain as the first roller coaster with a full vertical flip. Take the wild ride:

1987 – Democrat presidential candidate Gary Hart quits the race after the Donna Rice affair.

1994 – The Colorado Silver Bullets, an all-female pro baseball team, play their first game. They play their last game in 1997. Watch a report about the team:

1999 – Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel military college. Mace (R) was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2017.

2014 – Snapchap (mobile messaging app) settles with the FTC on complaints that it deceived consumers about promises that messages would disappear and misrepresented its security measures. A breach allowed hackers to compile a list of 4.6 million Snapchat usernames and passwords.

May 9

1754 – The first political cartoon in America, “Join, or Die,” is printed in Benjamin Franklin’s newspaper.

1913 – The 17th Amendment passes, providing for the election of senators by popular vote.

1926 – Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett make the first flight over the North Pole. They circled the North Pole to verify their location and take photos.

1934 – The first of many “Black Blizzard” storms hits the Midwest. Watch a video explanation of what caused the Dust Bowl:

1936 – The first quiz show, “Professor Quiz,” premieres on the radio.

1939 – The Catholic Church beatifies Kateri Tekakwitha as the first Native American saint. Born in 1656 in New York, Tekakwitha was known as the “Lily of the Mohawks.”

1946 – “NBC’s Hour Glass” premieres as the first hour-long variety show on TV. The show lasted until March of 1947. No videos of the shows exist. Audio recording of the show are archived in the Library of Congress.

1950 – A 5-pound bear cub is rescued during a New Mexico forest fire and named Smokey the Bear. Smokey died in 1976 at the National Zoo in Washington and buried in New Mexico. Watch a video of the history of Smokey:

1996 – In video testimony at a courtroom in Little Rock, Arkansas, President Clinton insists that he had nothing to do with a $300,000 loan in the criminal case against his former Whitewater partners. Fourteen of Clinton’s friends and business associates were convicted or pleaded guilty to various charges related to the Whitewater land scandal.

2005 – The liberal commentary website The Huffington Post is launched by Arianna Huffington.

May 10

1752 – Benjamin Franklin tests the lightning rod. He never filed for a patent on his invention.

1775 – The 2nd Continental Congress names George Washington as supreme commander.

1823 – The first steamboat to navigate the Mississippi River arrives at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.

1869 – The Golden Spike is driven, completing the Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Point, Utah. It marked the meeting of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads.

1877- President Rutherford B. Hayes has the first telephone installed in the White House. The White House phone number is #1.

1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He remained the FBI director until his death in 1972.

1969 – The National and American Football Leagues announce their plans to merge for the 1970-71 season.

2002 – Dr. Pepper announces that it will introduce a new flavor for the first time in 117 years. It is called Red Fusion. Watch the Red Fusion commercial:

2011 – It is announced that Microsoft has closed a deal to purchase the Internet phone service Skype for $8.5 billion.

2013 – Crane operators in New York City hoist the final pieces of the spire atop One World Trade Center (formerly called the Freedom Tower), making it the tallest building in the U.S. and the 4th tallest building in the world. Watch it from ground level:

May 11

1751 – The first hospital in America’s 13 Colonies is founded as the Pennsylvania Hospital.

1816 – The American Bible Society is formed in New York City.

1904 – Andrew Carnegie donates $1.5 million to build the Peace Palace in The Hague, Holland. Construction was completed in 1913. It houses the International Court of Justice. Watch the actual footage of the 1913 opening (no sound):

1927 – Louis B. Mayer forms the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

1928 – General Electric opens the first TV station in Schenectady, New York.

1929 – The first regularly scheduled TV broadcasts shows 3 nights per week.

1965 – Ellis Island is added to the Statue of Liberty National monument.

1973 – Citing government misconduct, charges are dismissed against Daniel Ellsberg for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times. The Pentagon Papers showed that the Johnson administration lied about America’s involvement in Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam War.

1987 – The first “domino” heart-lung transplant takes place in Baltimore. A healthy human heart is taken from one living person (whose lungs were destroyed by cystic fibrosis) and transplanted into another human needing a heart transplant. The donor receives the heart and lungs of a deceased accident victim.

1995 – At the UN in New York City, more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions.

2015 – Picasso’s “The Women of Algiers” sells for $160 million (not $179 million) at Christie’s in New York City. Setting a new record price for a work of art at auction. Watch the final moments of the auction:

May 12

1777 – The first advertisement for ice cream appears in the New York Gazette.

1925 – Walter Hagen wins his second consecutive PGA golf tournament. Hagen also played in the first PGA tournament in 1916. He has the most golf tournament wins behind Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods. Hagen died in 1969 at age 76. Watch a bio of Hagen with actual footage:

1932 – The decomposed body of Charles Lindbergh’s son, kidnapped on March 1st, is found in the woods near the Lindbergh’s New Jersey home. It is believed the baby had been dead since the night of the kidnapping.

1949 – Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit of India is the first foreign woman ambassador to be received in the U.S. She was also the first female president of the UN General Assembly (1953).

1963 – Bob Dylan is invited to perform on the “Ed Sullivan Show.” He rehearses but walks out before the show starts because show executives object to some of his lyrics.

1967 – H. Rap Brown replaces Stokely Carmichael as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and becomes a prominent figure in the Black Panther Party.

1970 – Harry A. Blackmun is confirmed by the Senate as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. He authored the Roe v Wade decision in 1973 and served on the court until 1994. Blackmun died in 1999 at age 90.

1978 – The Commerce Department says hurricane names will no longer be only female names.

2002 – Former President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a visit with Fidel Castro. It was the first time a U.S. head of state, in or out of office, had visited the island since Castro’s 1959 revolution. Watch a series of video clips of the visit:

2003 – Fifty-nine Democrat lawmakers flee the Texas Legislature and go into hiding to prevent a quorum in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the plan.

May 13

1828 – The U.S. passes the Tariff of Abominations, so called by Southerners because of the adverse effects it has on their economy. The Tariff of 1828 was designed to protect northern industries from low priced imported goods.

1865 – The last land engagement of the Civil War is fought at the Battle of Palmito Ranch in south Texas, more than a month after Gen. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Virginia.

1911 – The New York Giants set a major league baseball record when ten runners cross home plate before the first out of the game against St. Louis.

1946 – The U.S. convicts 58 camp guards of the Mauthausen concentration camp to death as part of the Nuremberg trials following World War II.

1950 – Diner’s Club issues its first credit cards. In 1949, businessman Frank McNamara forgot his wallet while dining out at a New York City restaurant. He started the restaurant credit card company with his partner Ralph Schneider.

1960 – The first launch of a Thor-Delta rocket carrying the Echo-1 series satellite fails to reach orbit after the second-stage control system failure. The satellite was destroyed.

1992 – Three astronauts simultaneously walk in space for the first time. Richard Hieb, Pierre Thuot, and Thomas Akers conduct an 8 ½-hour spacewalk outside Space Shuttle Endeavor. Watch an astronaut-narrated video of the flight and spacewalk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5MPkiPoL4g

2003 – The U.S. government unveils the newly designed version of the $20 bill. It is the first bill to be colorized in an effort to stop counterfeiters.

 

Image from nbcsports.com


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