Post by MacBeth on Apr 16, 2009 5:56:47 GMT -5
In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia.
In 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
In 1917, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia after years of exile.
In 1935, the radio comedy program "Fibber McGee and Molly" premiered on the NBC Blue Network.
In 1943, chemist Albert Hofmann inadvertently experiences the world's first acid trip when a tiny quantity of lysergic acid diethylamide accidently seeps through the skin of his finger. After leaving work early, he went home and settled into "a not unpleasant intoxicated condition." Then he had solid two hours of visual hallucinations: "I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors." It will be another three days before Hofmann gets up the courage to swallow 250 micrograms and ride his bicycle home.
In 1945, In his first speech to Congress, President Harry S. Truman pledged to carry out the war and peace policies of his late predecessor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In 1947, 552 people are killed in Texas City, TX when 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer aboard the S.S. Grandcamp suddenly explodes. The blast generates a 2,000-foot mushroom cloud and is heard 160 miles away, leading some witnesses to believe that they had just been hit by a Russian A-bomb. 3,000 people suffer injuries and perhaps 200 more are unaccounted for. One-third of Texas City is decimated, twenty blocks of the waterfront are obliterated, and windows more than ten miles away are shattered.
Also financier and presidential confidant Bernard M. Baruch said in a speech at the South Carolina statehouse, "Let us not be deceived. We are today in the midst of a cold war."
In 1953, President Eisenhower addresses the nation concerning the relative priorities of "guns" versus "butter."
In 1962, Walter Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edwards as anchorman of "The CBS Evening News."
In 1966, alongside FBI officials, New York district attorney G. Gordon Liddy arrests Timothy Leary for possession of marijuana after raiding his Millbrook estate. The Supreme Court later rules this bust unconstitutional.
In 1972, Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon.
In 1992, the House ethics committee listed 303 current and former lawmakers who had overdrawn their House bank accounts.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton defended NATO airstrikes against Serbian targets during visits to Michigan and Massachusetts, saying U.S. involvement in Kosovo was a moral imperative.
In 2004, videotape broadcast on the Arab TV station Al-Jazeera showed Army Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, abducted during an attack on a fuel truck convoy near Baghdad a week earlier. (Arab television reported June 29th, 2004, that Maupin had been killed; his remains were recovered last year.) President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, meeting in Washington, endorsed giving the United Nations broad control over Iraq's political future.
In 2007, in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, at around 7 AM Virginia Tech senior Cho Seung-Hui shoots dead two students in a neighboring dorm. Two hours later, he chains shut the doors of the engineering building and goes on a forty-minute killing spree, murdering 30 students and teachers and wounding several others before committing suicide. He had spent the interval fedexing a press kit to NBC News
In 2008, the Supreme Court upheld the most widely used method of lethal injection, allowing states to resume executions after a seven-month halt. Pope Benedict XVI was welcomed by President George W. Bush as only the second pope to visit the White House and the first in 29 years.
In 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
In 1917, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia after years of exile.
In 1935, the radio comedy program "Fibber McGee and Molly" premiered on the NBC Blue Network.
In 1943, chemist Albert Hofmann inadvertently experiences the world's first acid trip when a tiny quantity of lysergic acid diethylamide accidently seeps through the skin of his finger. After leaving work early, he went home and settled into "a not unpleasant intoxicated condition." Then he had solid two hours of visual hallucinations: "I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors." It will be another three days before Hofmann gets up the courage to swallow 250 micrograms and ride his bicycle home.
In 1945, In his first speech to Congress, President Harry S. Truman pledged to carry out the war and peace policies of his late predecessor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In 1947, 552 people are killed in Texas City, TX when 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer aboard the S.S. Grandcamp suddenly explodes. The blast generates a 2,000-foot mushroom cloud and is heard 160 miles away, leading some witnesses to believe that they had just been hit by a Russian A-bomb. 3,000 people suffer injuries and perhaps 200 more are unaccounted for. One-third of Texas City is decimated, twenty blocks of the waterfront are obliterated, and windows more than ten miles away are shattered.
Also financier and presidential confidant Bernard M. Baruch said in a speech at the South Carolina statehouse, "Let us not be deceived. We are today in the midst of a cold war."
In 1953, President Eisenhower addresses the nation concerning the relative priorities of "guns" versus "butter."
In 1962, Walter Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edwards as anchorman of "The CBS Evening News."
In 1966, alongside FBI officials, New York district attorney G. Gordon Liddy arrests Timothy Leary for possession of marijuana after raiding his Millbrook estate. The Supreme Court later rules this bust unconstitutional.
In 1972, Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon.
In 1992, the House ethics committee listed 303 current and former lawmakers who had overdrawn their House bank accounts.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton defended NATO airstrikes against Serbian targets during visits to Michigan and Massachusetts, saying U.S. involvement in Kosovo was a moral imperative.
In 2004, videotape broadcast on the Arab TV station Al-Jazeera showed Army Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, abducted during an attack on a fuel truck convoy near Baghdad a week earlier. (Arab television reported June 29th, 2004, that Maupin had been killed; his remains were recovered last year.) President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, meeting in Washington, endorsed giving the United Nations broad control over Iraq's political future.
In 2007, in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, at around 7 AM Virginia Tech senior Cho Seung-Hui shoots dead two students in a neighboring dorm. Two hours later, he chains shut the doors of the engineering building and goes on a forty-minute killing spree, murdering 30 students and teachers and wounding several others before committing suicide. He had spent the interval fedexing a press kit to NBC News
In 2008, the Supreme Court upheld the most widely used method of lethal injection, allowing states to resume executions after a seven-month halt. Pope Benedict XVI was welcomed by President George W. Bush as only the second pope to visit the White House and the first in 29 years.