History

Daily historical topics that remind what binds us, what divides us, what has changed us – for both better and worse – with the hope that lessons of the past will inform our future so we won’t repeat our mistakes.

Today in History 09/21 (B-29 Superfortress)

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US Air Force B-29 Superfortress bombers (© Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)(1942) One of history’s largest warplanes takes to the skies
The B-29 Superfortress makes its maiden flight from Seattle’s Boeing Field. Almost 4,000 of the enormous US combat planes will be built, including the two that will drop the world’s first atomic weapons over Japan.
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing, which was flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. It was one of the largest aircraft operational during World War II and featured state-of-the-art technology. Including design and production, at over $3 billion it was the single most expensive weapons project undertaken by the United States in World War II, exceeding the cost of the Manhattan Project by between $1 and 1.7 billion. Innovations introduced included a pressurized cabin, dual-wheeled, tricycle landing gear, and an analog computer-controlled fire-control system directing four remote machine gun turrets that could be operated by a single gunner and a fire-control officer. A manned tail gun installation was semi-remote. The name “Superfortress” continued the pattern Boeing started with its well-known predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress. Designed for the high-altitude strategic bomber role, the B-29 also excelled in low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing missions. One of the B-29’s final roles during World War II was carrying out the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Maximum speed: 356.98 mph
Range: 5,592 miles
Maiden flight: Sep 21, 1942
Length: 99′ 0″
Wingspan: 141 feet
Notable aircrafts: Enola Gay · Bockscar · Big Stink · The Great Artiste · Full House · Jabit III

Boeing-Wichita B-29 Assembly Line - 1944
Boeing assembly line at Wichita, Kansas (1944)
wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress
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(1942) One of history’s largest warplanes takes to the skies.
Also on this day,

1780 | Benedict Arnold plots to betray US Continental Army
General Benedict Arnold is dissatisfied with how his US Continental Army career has progressed and today meets with his ostensible enemy, British Major John André, to handover of his command, West Point, to the redcoats. His plot later exposed, Arnold’s name will become a byword for treason or betrayal.
1937 | ‘The Hobbit’ is published in London
J.R.R. Tolkien’s new novel ‘The Hobbit’ is published in London, and will sell out fast as the Oxford professor’s tale proves a hit with readers and critics alike. Publishers request a sequel, and more than a decade later ‘The Lord of the Rings will be delivered.
1970 | A football tradition starts as ‘Monday Night Football’ debuts on ABC
Don Meredith, Keith Jackson, and Howard Cosell call the action as the Cleveland Browns meet the New York Jets in the debut broadcast of ‘Monday Night Football.’ The ABC network show will garner great ratings and become an institution in prime-time TV sports viewing.

Today in History 09/21/17

Engraving depicting American army officer Benedict Arnold handing papers to British officer John Andre during the American Revolutionary War (© Stock Montage/Getty Images)(1780) Benedict Arnold plots to betray US Continental Army
General Benedict Arnold is dissatisfied with how his US Continental Army career has progressed and today meets with his ostensible enemy, British Major John André, to handover of his command, West Point, to the redcoats. His plot later exposed, Arnold's name will become a byword for treason or betrayal.
Benedict Arnold was a general during the American Revolutionary War, who fought for the American Continental Army, and later defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fortifications at West Point, New York, overlooking the cliffs at the Hudson River, and planned to surrender them to British forces. This plan was exposed in September 1780. He was commissioned into the British Army as a brigadier general.
Born: Jan 14, 1741 · Norwich, CT
Died: Jun 14, 1801 · London, England
Spouse: Peggy Shippen (m. 1779 - 1804) · Margaret Mansfield (m. 1767 - 1775)
Buried: St Mary's Church, Battersea
Children: Lt.-Gen. James Robertson Arnold (Son) · John Sage Arnold (Son) · Capt. William Fitch Arnold (Son) · Sophia Matilda Phipps (Daughter) · Henry Arnold (Son) · Lt. Richard Arnold (Son) · Lt.-Col. George Arnold (Son) · Lt. Edward Shippen Arnold (Son) · Captain Benedict Arnold, VI (Son) · Mary Arnold (Daughter)
Parents: Hannah Arnold (Mother)
Highlights
  • 1776: Arnold was promoted to brigadier general for his role in reaching Quebec, and he maintained an ineffectual siege of the city until he was replaced by Major General David Wooster in April 1776.

  • 1776: General Washington assigned Arnold to the defense of Rhode Island, following the British seizure of Newport in December 1776, where the militia were too poorly equipped to even consider an attack on the British.

  • 1779: Peggy and Arnold married on April 8, 1779.

  • 1780: In July 1780, he was awarded command of West Point.

  • 1780: On August 3, 1780, Arnold obtained command of West Point.

  • 1801: He died after four days of delirium on June 14, 1801, at the age of 60.

wiki/Benedict_Arnold
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Today in History 09/20 (Battle of the Sexes)

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Billie Jean King shakes hands with retired tennis champion Bobby Riggs after defeating him in a 'Battle of the Sexes' match (© Bettmann/Corbis)(1973) No love lost in tennis battle of the sexes
Having bested Margaret Court months earlier, former Wimbledon champ Bobby Riggs, 55, meets women’s tennis superstar Billie Jean King, 29, in what the media dub “the battle of the sexes.” Riggs’ dream of proving male athletic superiority is smashed when King handily wins the match in front of spectators and millions of TV viewers.
In tennis, “Battle of the Sexes” is a term that has been used to describe various exhibition matches played between a man and a woman. Most famously, the term is used for a nationally televised match in 1973, held at the Houston Astrodome, between 55-year-old Bobby Riggs and 29-year-old Billie Jean King, which King won in three sets. The match attracted massive attention and was viewed by an estimated 90 million people around the world; King’s win is considered a milestone in public acceptance of women’s tennis.
First occurred: May 13, 1973

From the
Paraphernalia from the Billie Jean King vs Bobby Riggs match
wiki/Battle_of_the_Sexes_(tennis)
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(1973) No love lost in tennis battle of the sexes.
Also on this day,

1746 | Bonnie Prince Charlie escapes Scotland after failed uprising
As the second Jacobite claimant to Britain’s throne, Charles Edward Stuart has spent a year in Scotland struggling to do what his father, ‘The Old Pretender,’ could not. This ‘Young Pretender’ has no better luck, and breaks for France as the dream of a Catholic British king dies out.
1873 | Panic on Wall Street as bonds and banks fail as a depression looms
Wall Street is in free fall in the wake of US railroad bonds defaulting and the biggest banks in the US failing, and the crisis will close the New York Stock Exchange for 10 days. A major worldwide economic collapse follows and will not let up in some countries for two decades.
1946 | 1st Cannes opens to glamour, commerce, and art converging
Scheduled to hold an inaugural gala in 1939, Cannes had to delay its film festival’s rollout for seven years while WWII raged. Now that the all-clear has sounded, the Cannes Film Festival begins its annual tradition as the film world descends on the French Riviera resort.

Today in History 09/20/17

Illustration of officials closing the doors of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) during the panic of 1873 (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1873) Bonds and banks fail as a depression looms
Wall Street is in free fall in the wake of US railroad bonds defaulting and the biggest banks in the US failing, and the crisis will close the New York Stock Exchange for 10 days. A major worldwide economic collapse follows and will not let up in some countries for two decades.
The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered a depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 until 1879, and even longer in some countries. In Britain, for example, it started two decades of stagnation known as the "Long Depression" that weakened the country's economic leadership. The Panic was known as the "Great Depression" until the events in the early 1930s set a new standard.
Start date: 1873
End date: 1879
Panic of 1873 bank run
A bank run on the Fourth National Bank No. 20 Nassau Street, New York City, from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 4 October 1873

wiki/Panic_of_1873
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Today in History 09/19 (Radio Free America)

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The Rev. Carl McIntire leads a protest (© John G. White/The Denver Post/Getty Images)(1973) Pirate radio station protests the FCC
Controversial minister Rev. Carl McIntire starts a pirate radio station, broadcasting 12 miles off Cape May, NJ, after the FCC had shut down his Pennsylvania station over violations of the fairness doctrine. Twenty-two years later, the day will be dubbed ‘International Talk Like a Pirate Day’ for reasons completely unrelated to McIntire’s broadcast.
Carl Curtis McIntire, Jr., known as Carl McIntire, was a founder and minister in the Bible Presbyterian Church, founder and long-time president of the International Council of Christian Churches and the American Council of Christian Churches, and a popular religious radio broadcaster, who proudly identified himself as a fundamentalist.
Born: May 17, 1906 · Ypsilanti, MI
Died: Apr 19, 2002 · Collingswood, NJ
Nationality: American
Written works: Author of liberty · Servants of apostasy · Twentieth century reformation · Communist China · For Such A Time As This · A Cloud of Witnesses: Or Heroes of the Faith
Education: Park University · Princeton University · Princeton Theological Seminary · Westminster Theological Seminary
Buried: Harleigh Cemetery, Camden
Highlights
  • 1936: In February 1936, during the series of ecclesiastical trials, McIntire launched a weekly newspaper, The Christian Beacon to give greater voice to his message.

  • 1937: McIntire and others left in 1937 to form the Bible Presbyterian Church, which emphasized Fundamentalist distinctives in contrast to continental Reformed positions, supporting political involvement, the Scofield Reference Bible, a premillennialist view of eschatology, and abstinence from the use of tobacco and alcohol.

  • 1941: In 1941, he helped create the American Council of Christian Churches (ACCC) as a conservative alternative to the liberal Federal (later, National) Council of Churches (NCC).

  • 1948: In 1948, he likewise helped to found the International Council of Christian Churches (ICCC) to challenge the World Council of Churches (WCC).

  • 1956: McIntire and west coast supporters of the Bible Presbyterian Church founded Highland College in Pasadena, California, a small Christian liberal arts college, and remained associated with the college until 1956.

  • 1965: In 1965, McIntire effectively purchased radio station, WXUR, Media, Pennsylvania, although it was formally owned by Faith Theological Seminary.

Carl McIntire (1906-2002), fundamentalist Presbyterian radio preacher
Carl McIntire (1906-2002), fundamentalist Presbyterian radio preacher
wiki/Carl_McIntire
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(1973) Pirate radio station protests the FCC.
Also on this day,

1893 | New Zealand is first to give women the vote
Following some 20 years of activism and a 32,000-signature petition, Governor Lord Glasgow gives Royal Assent to a bill granting adult women the right to vote, and New Zealand becomes the first country to achieve the milestone. US women will gain voting rights 27 years later.
1970 | Rock music fans converge for the first time at Glastonbury
The bucolic fields of Somerset, England, begin to rock as the Pilton Festival opens at Worthy Farm. Some 1,500 revelers dig glam-rock band T. Rex at Michael Eavis’ open-air music concert that will later be renowned, and attended by hundreds of thousands, as the Glastonbury Festival.
1988 | Diving mishap doesn’t stop Louganis
US Olympic veteran Greg Louganis is competing in the Seoul Olympics springboard diving preliminaries when he slams his head against the board on a reverse pike, resulting in a concussion and a cut requiring five stitches. The next day’s thrilling final will net Louganis the gold medal.

Today in History 09/19/17

New Zealand women participate in an election for the first time at Wellington North (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1893) New Zealand is first to give women the vote
Following some 20 years of activism and a 32,000-signature petition, Governor Lord Glasgow gives Royal Assent to a bill granting adult women the right to vote, and New Zealand becomes the first country to achieve the milestone. US women will gain voting rights 27 years later.

On 19 September 1893 the governor, Lord Glasgow, signed a new Electoral Act into law. As a result of this landmark legislation, New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

In most other democracies – including Britain and the United States – women did not win the right to the vote until after the First World War. New Zealand’s world leadership in women’s suffrage became a central part of our image as a trail-blazing ‘social laboratory’.

That achievement was the result of years of effort by suffrage campaigners, led by Kate Sheppard. In 1891, 1892 and 1893 they compiled a series of massive petitions calling on Parliament to grant the vote to women. In recent years Sheppard’s contribution to New Zealand’s history has been acknowledged on the $10 note.

Today, the idea that women could not or should not vote is completely foreign to New Zealanders. Following the 2014 election, 31% of our Members of Parliament were female, compared with 9% in 1981. In the early 21st century women have held each of the country’s key constitutional positions: prime minister, governor-general, speaker of the House of Representatives, attorney-general and chief justice.


Suffrage petition, 1893
Suffrage petition, 1893

wiki/Women's_suffrage_in_New_Zealand
wiki/Women's_suffrage
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Today in History 09/18 (The New York Times)

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Front page of the New York Times from April 4, 1865 (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1851) The news world’s ‘Gray Lady’ is born
Whig Party politician Henry Raymond and ex-banker George Jones publish the inaugural issue of ‘The New-York Daily Times.’ It’ll become better known by a shortened name, ‘The New York Times,’ go on to win more than a hundred Pulitzer Prizes, and be deemed the US newspaper of record.
The New York Times is an American newspaper based in New York City with worldwide influence and readership. Founded in 1851, the paper has won 125 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper. The New York Times is ranked 17th in the world by circulation and 2nd in the US.
Headquarter: New York, NY
Owner: The New York Times Company
Subsidiaries: T Brand Studio · Rome Bureau S.r.l. · New York Times Digital · NYT Real Estate Company LLC · Madison Paper Industries · City & Suburban Delivery Systems, Inc. · Northern SC Paper Corp

The first ever New York Times front page
First published issue of New-York Daily Times, on September 18, 1851
wiki/The_New_York_Times
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(1851) The news world’s ‘Gray Lady’ is born.
Also on this day,

1837 | Future jewelry giant Tiffany’s opens shop in Manhattan
Charles Lewis Tiffany uses $1,000 borrowed from his father to open a “stationery and fancy goods emporium” in downtown Manhattan. While the iconic blue box is there at the beginning, a switch less than a decade later from costume jewelry to the precious stuff turns the sales tide at Tiffany’s.
1870 | Geyser gives expedition a spectacular show as Old Faithful is named
A cone geyser that shoots thousands of gallons of boiling water 125 feet into the air is named ‘Old Faithful’ by members of an expedition. The geyser’s astounding show, repeated at regular intervals, will soon make it a star attraction, with some visitors using it to wash laundry, at what will soon be the world’s first national park.
1960 | Cuba’s new leader Fidel Castro pays a visit to the US in New York
Leftist revolutionary Fidel Castro, prime minister of Cuba after his forces ousted Batista’s government the year before, arrives in New York to meet with Americans sympathetic to his cause, and will later speak at the UN. His visit, at the height of Cold War, causes consternation in some and sparks celebration in others.

Today in History 09/18/17

Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro waves to a crowd welcoming him to New York on September 18, 1960 (© AP)(1960) Cuba's new leader pays a visit to the US
Leftist revolutionary Fidel Castro, prime minister of Cuba after his forces ousted Batista's government the year before, arrives in New York to meet with Americans sympathetic to his cause, and will later speak at the UN. His visit, at the height of Cold War, causes consternation in some and sparks celebration in others.

Fidel Castro arrives in New York City as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations. Castro’s visit stirred indignation and admiration from various sectors of American society, and was climaxed by his speech to the United Nations on September 26.

By the time Castro arrived in New York City in September 1960, relations between the United States and Cuba were rapidly deteriorating. Since taking power in January 1959, Castro had infuriated the American government with his policies of nationalizing U.S. companies and investments in Cuba. Some American officials, such as Vice President Richard Nixon, believed that Castro was leaning perilously toward communism. (Castro did not publicly proclaim his adherence to communism until late-1961, when he declared that he was a “Marxist-Leninist”.) In March 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the CIA to begin training Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro’s regime. When the United States suspended the import of Cuban sugar in 1960, Castro’s government turned to the Soviet Union for economic assistance. The Russians were happy to oblige.

In September 1960, Castro led a delegation to New York City to address the United Nations General Assembly. He and his entourage caused an immediate sensation by deciding to stay at the Theresa Hotel in Harlem. While there, Castro met with a number of African-American leaders, including Malcolm X from the Nation of Islam and the poet Langston Hughes. On September 26, Castro delivered a blistering attack on what he termed American “aggression” and “imperialism.” For over four hours, Castro lambasted U.S. policy toward Cuba and other nations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The United States, he declared, had “decreed the destruction” of his revolutionary government.

Castro’s visit and lengthy public denunciation marked the final breaking point in relations between the U.S. and Cuba. In January 1961, the Eisenhower administration severed all diplomatic relations with Cuba. In April 1961, just a short time after taking office, President John F. Kennedy ordered the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the Cuban exile force, armed and trained by the CIA, landed in Cuba. The attack was a fiasco. Castro’s power in Cuba was solidified by his Bay of Pigs victory over the American “imperialists.” Castro remained the undisputed leader of the communist government in Cuba for over four decades; meanwhile, relations between the United States and Cuba remained strained. In late July 2006, an unwell Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power to his younger brother Raul. Fidel Castro officially stepped down in February 2008. In 2015, relations between the U.S. and Cuba were finally normalized, with the opening of embassies and diplomatic missions in both countries and the easing of travel restrictions. Castro died on November 25, 2016, at 90.



wiki/Fidel_Castro
history/castro-arrives-in-new-york
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Today in History 09/17 (United States Constitution)

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The signing of the Constitution of the United States at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 (© GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)(1787) Delegates sign the Constitution in Philadelphia
Following Benjamin Franklin’s speech, delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia sign the Constitution. The day will later be observed as I Am an American Day, which will be renamed to Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.
The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States. The Constitution, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government. Its first three articles embody the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress; the executive, consisting of the President; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. Articles Four, Five and Six embody concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments and of the states in relationship to the federal government. Article Seven establishes the procedure subsequently used by the thirteen States to ratify it. It is regarded as the oldest written and codified national constitution in force of the world.
Constitution of the United States, page 1
Page one of the original copy of the Constitution
wiki/United_States_Constitution
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(1787) Delegates sign the Constitution in Philadelphia.
Also on this day,

1859 | Emperor Norton I begins his 21-year reign over the US
San Franciscan Joshua A. Norton, frustrated by government bureaucracy, declares himself, ‘Norton I, Emperor of the United States.’ His edicts, including the abolition of the US Congress, endear him to many of his fellow residents, who encourage his delusions of grandeur.
1862 | Sun sets on bloodiest battle in American history as Battle of Antietam ends
George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac stems the tide of Robert E. Lee’s Confederate advance into Union territory, but the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland, exacts a terrible toll with 22,000 dead, injured, or missing by the end of the bloodiest day in US military history.
1976 | NASA unveils a new spaceship Enterprise in the California desert
NASA’s new reusable orbital space vehicle, the space shuttle, is rolled out for its first public viewing in front of thousands of invited guests in Palmdale, California. It’s christened the ‘Enterprise’ after a write-in campaign by ‘Star Trek fans, and most of the show’s original cast is on hand for the unveiling.

Today in History 09/17/17

President Lincoln and General McClellan seated inside a tent on the Battlefield of Antietam (Alexander Gardner/Library of Congress)(1862) Sun sets on bloodiest battle in American history
George McClellan's Army of the Potomac stems the tide of Robert E. Lee's Confederate advance into Union territory, but the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland, exacts a terrible toll with 22,000 dead, injured, or missing by the end of the bloodiest day in US military history.
The Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the South, was fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek as part of the Maryland Campaign. It was the first field army–level engagement in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War to take place on Union soil and is the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with a combined tally of 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing.
Date: Sep 17, 1862
Maryland Campaign
Maryland Campaign, actions September 3 to 15, 1862 RED - Confederate, BLUE - Union

wiki/Battle_of_Antietam
Star Trek' cast members (from left) Leonard Nimoy, George Takei and DeForest Kelly in front of the unveiling of the Space Shuttle in Palmdale, California, in 1976 (© AP)(1976) NASA unveils a new spaceship in the California desert
NASA's new reusable orbital space vehicle, the space shuttle, is rolled out for its first public viewing in front of thousands of invited guests in Palmdale, California. It's christened the 'Enterprise' after a write-in campaign by 'Star Trek fans, and most of the show's original cast is on hand for the unveiling.
Space Shuttle Enterprise was the first orbiter of the Space Shuttle system. Rolled out on September 17, 1976, it was built for NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program to perform atmospheric test flights after being launched from a modified Boeing 747. It was constructed without engines or a functional heat shield, and was therefore not capable of spaceflight.
Manufacturer: Rockwell International
Space Shuttle Enterprise in launch configuration
Low angle view of gantry and Space Shuttle Enterprise in launch position on the Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex 6 (commonly known as "SLICK 6"), in California, during the ready-to-launch checks to verify launch procedures.

wiki/Space_Shuttle_Enterprise
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