Post by MacBeth on Feb 26, 2009 6:54:35 GMT -5
In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte slips past guards and escapes from his exile on the island of Elba, returning to France meeting very little resistance. One Hundred Days of rule follow, culminating in his defeat at Waterloo.
In 1848, the Second French Republic was proclaimed.
In 1870, an experimental air-driven subway, the Beach Pneumatic Transit, opened in New York City for public demonstrations. (The tunnel was only a block long, and the line had only one car.)
In 1907, Congress created the Dillingham Commission to examine the impact of immigrants on America. (The panel later recommended curtailing immigration from southern and eastern Europe.)
In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure establishing Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.
In 1929, President Calvin Coolidge signed a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
In 1940, the U.S. Air Defense Command was created.
In 1945, a midnight curfew on US night clubs, bars and other places of entertainment was set to go into effect across the nation.
In 1952, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.
In 1974, US Senate report reveals Ford Motor's involvement in Nazi Germany's war efforts, for which CEO Henry Ford received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle from Adolf Hitler himself. After the war, the car company was paid nearly $1M reparation by the US government to compensate for one of its plants that was bombed within the Reich.
In 1979, a total solar eclipse cast a moving shadow 175 miles wide from Oregon to North Dakota before moving into Canada.
In 1987, the Tower Commission, which probed the Iran-Contra affair, issued its report, which rebuked President Ronald Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.
In 1991, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced on Baghdad Radio that he had ordered his forces to withdraw from Kuwait.
In 1993, a bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.
In 1995, Barings PLC, Britain's oldest investment banking firm, collapsed after a securities dealer lost more than $1.4 billion by gambling on Tokyo stock prices.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton, outlining foreign policy goals for the final two years of his administration, urged continued American engagement in the quest for peace and freedom abroad during a news conference in San Francisco.
In 2001, A UN tribunal convicted Bosnian Croat political leader Dario Kordic and military commander Mario Cerkez of war crimes for ordering the systematic murder and persecution of Muslim civilians during the Bosnian war.
In 2004, two church-sanctioned studies documenting sex abuse by U.S. Roman Catholic clergy said that about 4 percent of clerics had been accused of molesting minors since 1950 and blamed bishops' "moral laxity" in disciplining offenders for letting the problem worsen.
In 2008, a power failure later blamed primarily on human error plunged large parts of Florida into darkness. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visiting Beijing, won a verbal assurance from Chinese officials to use their influence to jump-start the stalled process of dismantling North Korea's nuclear programs. The New York Philharmonic performed a historic concert in North Korea before the communist nation's elite.
In 1848, the Second French Republic was proclaimed.
In 1870, an experimental air-driven subway, the Beach Pneumatic Transit, opened in New York City for public demonstrations. (The tunnel was only a block long, and the line had only one car.)
In 1907, Congress created the Dillingham Commission to examine the impact of immigrants on America. (The panel later recommended curtailing immigration from southern and eastern Europe.)
In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure establishing Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.
In 1929, President Calvin Coolidge signed a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
In 1940, the U.S. Air Defense Command was created.
In 1945, a midnight curfew on US night clubs, bars and other places of entertainment was set to go into effect across the nation.
In 1952, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.
In 1974, US Senate report reveals Ford Motor's involvement in Nazi Germany's war efforts, for which CEO Henry Ford received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle from Adolf Hitler himself. After the war, the car company was paid nearly $1M reparation by the US government to compensate for one of its plants that was bombed within the Reich.
In 1979, a total solar eclipse cast a moving shadow 175 miles wide from Oregon to North Dakota before moving into Canada.
In 1987, the Tower Commission, which probed the Iran-Contra affair, issued its report, which rebuked President Ronald Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.
In 1991, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced on Baghdad Radio that he had ordered his forces to withdraw from Kuwait.
In 1993, a bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.
In 1995, Barings PLC, Britain's oldest investment banking firm, collapsed after a securities dealer lost more than $1.4 billion by gambling on Tokyo stock prices.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton, outlining foreign policy goals for the final two years of his administration, urged continued American engagement in the quest for peace and freedom abroad during a news conference in San Francisco.
In 2001, A UN tribunal convicted Bosnian Croat political leader Dario Kordic and military commander Mario Cerkez of war crimes for ordering the systematic murder and persecution of Muslim civilians during the Bosnian war.
In 2004, two church-sanctioned studies documenting sex abuse by U.S. Roman Catholic clergy said that about 4 percent of clerics had been accused of molesting minors since 1950 and blamed bishops' "moral laxity" in disciplining offenders for letting the problem worsen.
In 2008, a power failure later blamed primarily on human error plunged large parts of Florida into darkness. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visiting Beijing, won a verbal assurance from Chinese officials to use their influence to jump-start the stalled process of dismantling North Korea's nuclear programs. The New York Philharmonic performed a historic concert in North Korea before the communist nation's elite.