This Day In History
- 1743 It was the first London performance of Handel’s "Messiah", and King King George II was in the audience. In the middle of the "Hallelujah Chorus, the King rose to his feet in appreciation of the great piece! The entire audience followed suit out of respect for the King. And so began the custom of standing during the singing of the "Hallelujah Chorus".
- 1775 Patrick Henry declared "Give me liberty, or give me death."
- 1794 Josiah G. Pierson patented a rivet machine. Rivet at home with a hand-held gizmo perfect for pocket or purse that lets you rivet buttons, snaps and other do-dads on clothes.
- 1806 Lewis and Clark began their return journey east.
- 1919 Benito Mussolini founded his own party in Italy, the Fasci di Combattimento.
- 1925 An evolution law, enacted on this day in the great State of Tennessee, made it a crime for a teacher in any state-supported public school or college to teach any theory that contradicted the Bible’s account of man’s creation. Within two months, a Dayton, Tennessee high school science teacher, John T. Scopes was indicted, and later convicted, in the famous ‘Monkey Trial’ for teaching his students the theory of evolution; that man descended from a lower order of animals ... or monkeys. Scopes was fined $100. Defense Attorney Clarence Darrow stated that this was “the first case of its kind since we stopped trying people for witchcraft.”
- 1965 America's first two-person space flight began as Gemini 3 blasted off from Cape Kennedy with astronauts Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young aboard
- 1965 Astronaut John Young became the first man to eat a corned beef sandwich in outer space. Young smuggled the sandwich on board in order to supplement the astronauts’ meals of dehydrated foods, including powdered fruit juice (Tang).
- 1973 "Concentration", the longest-running game show in television history, starring Hugh Downs, left the air after 15 years on NBC. A syndicated version without Downs aired shortly thereafter, but did not survive for long.
- 1974 Cher reached the top of the music charts as "Dark Lady" reached the #1 spot for a one-week stay. Other artists who shared the pop music spotlight during that time included: Terry Jacks, John Denver, Blue Swede, Elton John and MFSB.
- 1983 U.S. President Ronald Reagan proposed a space-based missile defense system called the Strategic Defense Initiative
- 1986 Martina Navratilova defeated Hana Mandlikova to win the Virginia Slims Championship. It was the first women’s tournament to go four sets since 1901.
- 2001 Russia's Mir space station ended its 15-year orbit of the Earth, splashing down in the South Pacific.
- 2003 A U.S. Army convoy was ambushed in Iraq with 11 killed and seven captured, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch.
- 1905 Joan Crawford (Lucille Fay LeSueur) (Academy Award-winning actress: Mildred Pierce [1945]; A Woman’s Face, Night Gallery, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, Above Suspicion, Grand Hotel; died May 10, 1977)
- 1912 Wernher von Braun (scientist: developer of WWII German V-2 rocket, head of U.S. Army missile team; technological leader of American space program; died June 16, 1977)
- 1937 Craig Breedlove (rocket car speedster: the first person to travel more than 400mph, more than 500mph and more than 600 mph on land)
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