Major Mike | Today in History 11/16 (UNESCO’s World Heritage)

UNESCO world heritage site Easter Island, or Hanga Roa (© Andia/UIG/Getty Images)

(1972) UNESCO’s World Heritage program created

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) creates its World Heritage program to protect cultural, historic, scientific, and natural heritage sites. The program will grow to include more than 1,000 areas around the world.

A World Heritage site is a landmark or area which is selected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as having cultural, historical, scientific or other form of significance, and is legally protected by international treaties. The sites are judged important to the collective interests of humanity.

UNESCO World Heritage sites
wiki/World_Heritage_Site

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(1972) UNESCO’s World Heritage program created.
Also on this day,

1933 | FDR reaches out to the Soviets as United States opens diplomacy with Soviet Union

US President Franklin Roosevelt tells Soviet senior diplomat Maxim Litvinov in a telegram that he hopes the two countries will “forever remain normal and friendly.” This simple note establishes diplomatic relations between the nations. The US had broken off Soviet relations after the 1917 Russian Revolution.

1959 | A stage on Broadway is alive with the ‘Sound of Music’

A governess, the children she teaches, and their father whom she’s come to love are forced to flee the Nazi occupation of Austria in the latest musical by Rogers and Hammerstein that opens on this day. Based on the story of the Von Trapp family, many of the show’s songs will become standards, particularly after the release of a popular 1965 film adaptation.

1966 | Dr. Sam Sheppard acquitted of murder in second trial

A jury acquits Sheppard for the 1954 murder of his pregnant wife. The US Supreme Court had thrown out his earlier conviction for, among other things, the “carnival atmosphere” of that trial. The notoriety of the case will spur TV shows, movies, books, and the career of lawyer F. Lee Bailey.

Today in History ^11/16/17

Russian diplomat Maxim Litvinov, circa 1935 (© Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

(1933) United States opens diplomacy with Soviet Union

US President Franklin Roosevelt tells Soviet senior diplomat Maxim Litvinov in a telegram that he hopes the two countries will "forever remain normal and friendly." This simple note establishes diplomatic relations between the nations. The US had broken off Soviet relations after the 1917 Russian Revolution.

The relations between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991) succeeded the previous relations from 1776 to 1917 and predate today's relations that began in 1992. Full diplomatic relations between the two countries were established late due to mutual hostility. During World War II, the two countries were briefly allies. At the end of the war, the first signs of post-war mistrust and hostility began to appear between the two countries, escalating into the Cold War; a period of tense hostile relations, with periods of détente.