On this day in 1980, CNN (Cable News Network), the world’s first 24-hour television news network, makes its debut. The network signed on at 6 p.m. EST from its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, with a lead story about the attempted assassination of civil rights leader Vernon Jordan. CNN went on to change the notion that news could only be reported at fixed times throughout the day. At the time of CNN’s launch, TV news was dominated by three major...
Rabu, 31 Mei 2017
Daily Quiz for June 1, 2017
To relax, Albert Einstein would play this instrument.
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6 Questions | Author James W. Ure
JAMES W. URE, a former staff writer at The Salt Lake Tribune, is the author of Seized by the Sun: The Life and Disappearance of World War II Pilot Gertrude Tompkins, which will be published in July 2017 by Chicago Review Press. He lives in Salt Lake City. 1. What inspired you to write this book? I had …
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Mr. Stewart Goes to War
In the March 2011 issue Jimmy Stewart takes center stage aboard B-24 Liberators in the European Theater.
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Selasa, 30 Mei 2017
May 31, 1859: Big Ben goes into operation in London
The famous tower clock known as Big Ben, located at the top of the 320-foot-high St. Stephen’s Tower, rings out over the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, for the first time on this day in 1859.
After a fire destroyed much of the Palace of Westminster–the headquarters of the British Parliament–in October 1834, a standout feature of the design for the new palace was a large clock atop a tower. The royal astronomer, Sir George Airy, wanted...
Daily Quiz for May 31, 2017
In 1892, the first professional football game was played in this city.
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Showdowns in MiG Alley
Two wild aerial battles in the fall of 1951 demonstrated that the days of propeller-driven bombers were numbered. After the briefing for the 307th Bombardment Group’s October 23, 1951, mission, B-29 navigator 1st Lieutenant Fred Meier jotted in his diary: “Briefed for MiG Alley mission. Namsi Airfield.” An ominous target, Namsi lay scarcely 30 miles …
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FILM RECON: War Machine
SNAPSHOT: Netflix’s War Machine gets some details right about Afghanistan in 2009-2010, but it suffers greatly by portraying its central character as a sort of Frankenstein’s monster. The film follows General Glen McMahon (Brad Pitt), who assumes command of coalition forces in Afghanistan in 2009. By ramping up counterinsurgency efforts, he aims “to win” a conflict that is …
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Founding Father Firepower: Metal Intended for Statues of George Washington Was Used to Arm the Confederacy
hat is the man himself,” the Marquis de Lafayette said as he viewed French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon’s statue of George Washington in 1824. “I can almost realize he is going to move.” The Commonwealth of Virginia had commissioned the statue in 1784 to be featured in the state’s capitol building, then under construction in Richmond. …
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War’s Song
How Barry Sadler’s “The Ballad of the Green Berets” became the No. 1 single of 1966. A little more than 50 years ago, on May 7, 1967, a 26-year-old Green Beret staff sergeant let his term of enlistment expire and took his honorable discharge at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He had served five years, including …
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Senin, 29 Mei 2017
‘Long Sol’: The Pugnacious 6-foot-7 Solomon Meredith Cast a Long Shadow Over the Iron Brigade
resident Abraham Lincoln’s grand review of the Army of the Potomac on April 9, 1863, would be remembered fondly by both awed onlookers and the regiments that paraded before him at Belle Plaine, Va. In many ways, the occasion marked the end of what had been a very troubled winter following the Battle of Fredericksburg—what …
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May 30, 1431: Joan of Arc martyred
At Rouen in English-controlled Normandy, Joan of Arc, the peasant girl who became the savior of France, is burned at the stake for heresy.
Joan was born in 1412, the daughter of a tenant farmer at Domremy, on the borders of the duchies of Bar and Lorraine. In 1415, the Hundred Years War between England and France entered a crucial phase when the young King Henry V of England invaded France and won a series of decisive victories against the forces...
Daily Quiz for May 30, 2017
This candy bar originally had three pieces flavored strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate in one package.
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Minggu, 28 Mei 2017
May 29, 1953: Hillary and Tenzing reach Everest summit
At 11:30 a.m. on May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, become the first explorers to reach the summit of Mount Everest, which at 29,035 feet above sea level is the highest point on earth. The two, part of a British expedition, made their final assault on the summit after spending a fitful night at 27,900 feet. News of their achievement broke around the world on June 2, the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation,...
Daily Quiz for May 29, 2017
For forty years, Sr. Martin Couney had a display of incubators with live premature babies in them at this unusual location.
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Sabtu, 27 Mei 2017
May 28, 1961: Appeal for Amnesty campaign launches
On this day in 1961, the British newspaper The London Observer publishes British lawyer Peter Benenson’s article “The Forgotten Prisoners” on its front page, launching the Appeal for Amnesty 1961–a campaign calling for the release of all people imprisoned in various parts of the world because of the peaceful expression of their beliefs.
Benenson was inspired to write the appeal after reading an article about two Portuguese students who were jailed...
Daily Quiz for May 28, 2017
The Golden Flyer was the car two women used to drive across the country in 1916 to promote this cause.
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An ‘Outstanding American Citzen’
Italian immigrant Giuseppe Bellanca pioneered the cabin monoplane design, leading to a long line of record-breaking aircraft. On May 19, 1912, at Mineola Field, Long Island, gawkers and aviators alike watched with amusement as a diminutive young Italian assembled his parasol flying machine. Before their astonished eyes, he then proceeded to teach himself to fly, …
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GE’s Trailblazing J47
The first american company to develop a jet engine, General Electric went on to produce the best-selling turbojet ever. For a company whose engineers had helped develop the United States’ first jet-powered fighter during World War II, General Electric found itself facing an uncertain future in jet engine manufacturing at war’s end. GE’s engineering …
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Jumat, 26 Mei 2017
May 27, 1941: Bismarck sunk by Royal Navy
On May 27, 1941, the British navy sinks the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic near France. The German death toll was more than 2,000.
On February 14, 1939, the 823-foot Bismarck was launched at Hamburg. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler hoped that the state-of-the-art battleship would herald the rebirth of the German surface battle fleet. However, after the outbreak of war, Britain closely guarded ocean routes from Germany to the Atlantic Ocean,...
Daily Quiz for May 27, 2017
Author Ernest Vincent Wright’s 50,000 word novel Gadsby published in 1959 is noted for this unusual feature.
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Werewolves of Aachen
In late 1944, as the noose cinched around the Third Reich, the Nazis formed assassination squads to target collaborationists and the Allies alike. Joseph Goebbels had spread his lies well. By the autumn of 1944 Germans of all stations and inclinations were convinced their country was about to be overrun by bloodlusting barbarians from both …
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Kamis, 25 Mei 2017
May 26, 1897: Dracula goes on sale in London
The first copies of the classic vampire novel Dracula, by Irish writer Bram Stoker, appear in London bookshops on this day in 1897.
A childhood invalid, Stoker grew up to become a football (soccer) star at Trinity College, Dublin. After graduation, he got a job in civil service at Dublin Castle, where he worked for the next 10 years while writing drama reviews for the Dublin Mail on the side. In this way, Stoker met the well-respected actor Sir Henry...
Daily Quiz for May 26, 2017
On December 3, 1989, Presidents George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev announced the official end of this at a meeting in Malta.
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Review | The International Museum of World War II
International Museum of World War II 8 Mercer Road Natick, Massachusetts 01760 Admission: $25. In an exhibit case in the International Museum of World War II, a book lies open to a photograph of Adolf Hitler addressing troops in Nuremberg’s Luitpold Arena. A huge swastika adorns his speaker’s stand; a bronze eagle, the symbol …
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Andrews’ Raiders
“Jump off and scatter! Every man for himself!” George Wilson, Perry Shadrack, and the 16 other Union men hiding in the locomotive boxcar recognized the voice as that of James Andrews, the civilian spy who commanded the clandestine mission they had volunteered for a few days prior. Each of them knew what jumping meant; trapped behind …
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August 2017 Table of Contents
The August 2017 cover story relates truths about the frontier Army in the American West
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August 2017 Readers’ Letters
Readers share dispatches about Lakota warrior Low Dog, Fort Belknap (Texas), Rip Ford, Rain-in-the-Face, Washington Territory, Coolidge (Mont.), Wounded Knee and reenactors
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Book Review: Black Cowboys in the American West
Editors Bruce Glasrud and Michael Searles present essays relating black Americans' contributions to the West
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Book Review: Kearny’s Dragoons Out West
Will and John Gorenfeld examine the 2nd U.S. Dragoons, the first permanent mounted force on the American frontier
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Book Review: Colt Single-Action Revolvers
Martin Pegler relates the history of single-action Colt, the gun that started a revolution in repeating firearms
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Book Review: Custer’s Lost Scout
John Koster introduces readers to Lakota scout Left Hand, who fought for and against George Armstrong Custer
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Book Review: Twenty-Five Years Among the Indians and Buffalo
William D. Street's great-grandson finally published this memoir of Street's years as an early settler in northwestern Kansas
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Book Review: No Hope for Heaven, No Fear of Hell
James C. Kearney chronicles the bitter 30-year Stafford-Townsend feud of southeast Texas
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Author David Grann
David Grann’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” traces a string of Osage killings in Oklahoma
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Dan Namingha
Dan Namingha puts a contemporary spin on works that pay tribute to his Hopi-Tewa heritage
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Rabu, 24 Mei 2017
May 25, 1977: Star Wars opens
On this day in 1977, Memorial Day weekend opens with an intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas’ blockbuster Star Wars movies hits American theaters.
The incredible success of Star Wars–it received seven Oscars, and earned $461 million in U.S. ticket sales and a gross of close to $800 million worldwide–began with an extensive, coordinated marketing push by Lucas and his studio, 20th Century Fox, months before the movie’s release date....
Daily Quiz for May 25, 2017
As of 2015, twelve original copies of this historical document survive.
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Washington Irving: A Tour on the Prairies
Leaving ‘Sleepy Hollow’ for Indian country, Washington Irving met real Indians, roasted bread on a stick, hunted buffalo and wrote a frontier saga
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Letter From Wild West – August 2017
Peter Cozzens seeks restore balance to the American Indian narrative with his 2016 book "The Earth Is Weeping"
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Selasa, 23 Mei 2017
May 24, 1883: Brooklyn Bridge opens
After 14 years and 27 deaths while being constructed, the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River is opened, connecting the great cities of New York and Brooklyn for the first time in history. Thousands of residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan Island turned out to witness the dedication ceremony, which was presided over by President Chester A. Arthur and New York Governor Grover Cleveland. Designed by the late John A. Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge was...
Daily Quiz for May 24, 2017
Reportedly, prolific voice actor, Mel Blanc, legally changed his name from Blank because of this.
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From The Crossroads: Fog of War or Fiction?
Ambrose Ransom Wright did not complete his after-action report for the Battle of Gettysburg until September 28, 1863—nearly three months after the battle. We do not know why it took the Confederate brigadier so long. After all, his regimental commanders had all filed their reports by July 18. Officers from regimental commanders and battery commanders …
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Senin, 22 Mei 2017
Interview with Matthew Hulbert: Guerrilla Warfare
Matthew Hulbert started with Jesse James and ended up exploring how the Civil War helped win the West. His 2016 The Ghosts of Guerrilla Memory: How Civil War Bushwhackers Became Gunslingers in the American West showcases how guerrilla warfare in Missouri was remembered, mis-remembered, or forgotten. “Most guerrilla conflicts happen out in the woods or …
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May 23, 1934: Police kill famous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde
On this day in 1934, notorious criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are shot to death by Texas and Louisiana state police while driving a stolen car near Sailes, Louisiana.
Bonnie Parker met the charismatic Clyde Barrow in Texas when she was 19 years old and her husband (she married when she was 16) was serving time in jail for murder. Shortly after they met, Barrow was imprisoned for robbery. Parker visited him every day, and smuggled a gun...
Daily Quiz for May 23, 2017
The cross in Mount Royal Park in Montreal was erected in 1643 to commemorate this.
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Minggu, 21 Mei 2017
May 22, 1843: Great Emigration departs for Oregon
A massive wagon train, made up of 1,000 settlers and 1,000 head of cattle, sets off down the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri. Known as the “Great Emigration,” the expedition came two years after the first modest party of settlers made the long, overland journey to Oregon.
After leaving Independence, the giant wagon train followed the Sante Fe Trail for some 40 miles and then turned northwest to the Platte River, which it followed along its...
Daily Quiz for May 22, 2017
Chartered in 1908, the Haskell Free Library and Opera House straddles the border of the United States and Canada where this state and province meet.
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Sabtu, 20 Mei 2017
May 21, 1881: American Red Cross founded
In Washington, D.C., humanitarians Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons found the American National Red Cross, an organization established to provide humanitarian aid to victims of wars and natural disasters in congruence with the International Red Cross.
Barton, born in Massachusetts in 1821, worked with the sick and wounded during the American Civil War and became known as the “Angel of the Battlefield” for her tireless dedication. In 1865, President...
Daily Quiz for May 21, 2017
This Canadian Prime Minister was known as “Old Chief.”
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Jumat, 19 Mei 2017
May 20, 1873: Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive patent for blue jeans
On this day in 1873, San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss and Reno, Nevada, tailor Jacob Davis are given a patent to create work pants reinforced with metal rivets, marking the birth of one of the world’s most famous garments: blue jeans.
Born Loeb Strauss in Buttenheim, Bavaria, in 1829, the young Strauss immigrated to New York with his family in 1847 after the death of his father. By 1850, Loeb had changed his name to Levi and was working in...
Daily Quiz for May 20, 2017
Over 100 unclaimed victims of this disaster are buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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Lindbergh’s Path to Glory
When Charles A. Lindbergh set out on his solo transatlantic flight in May 1927, it signaled the beginning of one of aviation’s most exciting episodes. But the 25-year-old pilot who would be called “the prophet of a new era” had already gained a wealth of experience as a wing-walker, barnstormer and airmail pilot before he …
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Kamis, 18 Mei 2017
May 19, 1935: Lawrence of Arabia dies
T.E. Lawrence, known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia, dies as a retired Royal Air Force mechanic living under an assumed name. The legendary war hero, author, and archaeological scholar succumbed to injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident six days before.
Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in Tremadoc, Wales, in 1888. In 1896, his family moved to Oxford. Lawrence studied architecture and archaeology, for which he made a trip to Ottoman (Turkish)-controlled...
Daily Quiz for May 19, 2017
Incorporated in 1914, the International Grenfell Association with branches in England, United States, and Canada is an outgrowth of the work of Sir Wilfred Grenfell who served the Arctic Circle in this capacity.
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Interview: Author James Morgan on the Battles of Ball’s Bluff and Edwards Ferry
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The Iron Eagle’s Last Flight
After Hans-Ulrich Rudel ended his combat career by purposely crash-landing on an American airfield, the defiant Nazi refused to surrender. Early on May 8, 1945, the most decorated German soldier of World War II, Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel, wing commander of mann,” learned from the German high command that the war had ended. He was told …
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Rabu, 17 Mei 2017
May 18, 1920: Pope John Paul II born
On May 18, 1920, Karol Jozef Wojtyla is born in the Polish town of Wadowice, 35 miles southwest of Krakow.Wojtyla went on to become Pope John Paul II, history’s most well-traveled pope and the first non-Italian to hold the position since the 16th century. After high school, the future pope enrolled at Krakow’s Jagiellonian University, where he studied philosophy and literature and performed in a theater group. During World War II, Nazis occupied...
Daily Quiz for May 18, 2017
The mayor of this city is also considered the president of the Republic of Madawaska.
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How Europe Lost the American West
The major powers of Europe let most of America slip out of their hands—what happened?
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The Hardest Call: What Happens When The President Can’t Govern?
The contentious moments that led to the creation (and expansion) of the 25th Amendment—rules for the presidential line of succession
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Selasa, 16 Mei 2017
May 17, 1954: Brown v. Board of Ed is decided
In a major civil rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down an unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, ruling that racial segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional. The historic decision, which brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, specifically dealt with Linda Brown, a young African American girl who had been denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas,...
Daily Quiz for May 17, 2017
On June 30, 1999, Canadian voters named this person as the country’s greatest national hero.
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5 Questions: Sailors in Sepia
Union and Confederate Seamen and Marines Embraced a Photographic Phenomenon Ronald S. Coddington is the editor and publisher of Military Images magazine. His latest book, Faces of the Civil War Navies: An Album of Union and Confederate Sailors, is the fourth in a continuing series. He is a former contributor to The New York Times …
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The War in Their Words: This Great Struggle
A Confederate Surgeon kept his faith in his cause during the war’s last days r. Francis Marion Robertson was a prominent figure in Charleston, S.C., when the Civil War began. A politically active Whig and friend of Henry Clay, Robertson was an early supporter of secession who would serve the Confederacy along with his five …
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Senin, 15 Mei 2017
May 16, 1929: First Academy Awards ceremony
On this day in 1929, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hands out its first awards, at a dinner party for around 250 people held in the Blossom Room of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California.
The brainchild of Louis B. Mayer, head of the powerful MGM film studio, the Academy was organized in May 1927 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and improvement of the film industry. Its first president and the host...
Daily Quiz for May 16, 2017
This church which later hosted Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s funeral and the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana was rebuilt after the 1966 fire that destroyed most of London.
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Minggu, 14 Mei 2017
May 15, 1937: Madeleine Albright is born
On this day in 1937, Madeleine Albright, America’s first female secretary of state, is born Maria Jana Korbelova in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic).
The daughter of Czech diplomat Josef Korbel, Albright fled to England with her family after the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939. Though Albright long believed they had fled for political reasons, she learned as an adult that her family was Jewish and that three of her grandparents...
Daily Quiz for May 15, 2017
“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!” is from a poem authored by this writer.
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Sabtu, 13 Mei 2017
May 14, 1804: Lewis and Clark depart
One year after the United States doubled its territory with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition leaves St. Louis, Missouri, on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.
Even before the U.S. government concluded purchase negotiations with France, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned his private secretary Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, an army captain, to lead an expedition into what...
Daily Quiz for May 14, 2017
St. Stephen’s Day in Hungary commemorates its founding and is named for this man.
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Jumat, 12 Mei 2017
May 13, 1846: President Polk declares war on Mexico
On May 13, 1846, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly votes in favor of President James K. Polk’s request to declare war on Mexico ina dispute over Texas.
Under the threat of war, theUnited Stateshad refrained from annexing Texas afterthe latterwon independence from Mexico in 1836. But in 1844, President John Tyler restarted negotiations with the Republic of Texas, culminating with a Treaty of Annexation. The treaty was defeated by a wide margin in the...
Daily Quiz for May 13, 2017
The much-heralded final scene in the last episode of the Newhart TV show was this person’s ideas.
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Kamis, 11 Mei 2017
May 12, 1957: Race car driver A.J. Foyt gets first pro victory
On this day in 1957, race car driver A.J. Foyt (1935- ) scores his first professional victory, in a U.S. Automobile Club (USAC) midget car race in Kansas City, Missouri.
A tough-as-nails Texan, Anthony Joseph Foyt, Jr. raced midget cars–smaller vehicles designed to be driven in races of shorter distances–and stock cars before moving up to bigger things in 1958, when he entered his first Indianapolis 500 race. Foyt won his first Indy 500 crown in...
Daily Quiz for May 12, 2017
U.S. Speaker of the House from 1971-1979, this man was inducted into the DeMolay Hall of Fame in 1996.
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‘A Shattered Command’
Outnumbered and outgunned, the Marine pilots of VMF-221 paid a heavy price for their heroic efforts to stem the Japanese onslaught on Midway Atoll At 0555 hours on June 4, 1942, the heart-pounding wail of Midway atoll’s air raid siren sent the pilots of Marine Fighting Squadron 221 (VMF-221) scrambling to their...
The Douglas X-3 Stiletto
Intended as a Mach 2 testbed, the underpowered X-plane looked fast but barely broke the sound barrier Aviation enthusiasts who started out building plastic models in the 1950s likely remember the sleek, shapely designs they just had to find for their collections. Among the most sought-after were the supersonic X-planes, including the X-3, unofficially nicknamed...
Rabu, 10 Mei 2017
May 11, 1934: Dust storm sweeps from Great Plains across Eastern states
On this day in 1934, a massive storm sends millions of tons of topsoil flying from across the parched Great Plains region of the United States as far east as New York, Boston and Atlanta.
At the time the Great Plains were settled in the mid-1800s, the land was covered by prairie grass, which held moisture in the earth and kept most of the soil from blowing away even during dry spells. By the early 20th century, however, farmers had plowed under much...
Daily Quiz for May 11, 2017
This actor’s tombstone includes the words: “That’s All Folks.”
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‘Spooky’ Gunship Operations in the Vietnam War
With their flares and their miniguns and cannon, fixed-wing gunships not only illuminated the battlefield, they dominated it as well.
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American History Review: War of the Worlds-American Experience
War of the Worlds American Experience, PBS, 60 minutes, airs in October (2013) On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles and his heralded Mercury Theater unwittingly unloosed one of the best-known Halloween tricks of all time. Millions of Americans tuned into the Theater’s radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’ famed science-fiction novel—after the initial announcement explaining it …
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American History Review: PBS The African Americans
The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross PBS, airs in October and November (2013) The ubiquitous Henry Louis Gates wrote and hosts this stimulating, panoramic six-part series tracing the five centuries of African-American life in all its varieties and differences. It is a profound, often eye-opening journey. uprooted Africans began the task of re-creating themselves …
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American History Book Review: Lincoln in the World
Lincoln in the World: The Making of a Statesman and the Dawn of American Power by Kevin Peraino; Crown “There can be no new Lincoln stories,” one of the president’s former secretaries wrote in 1900, “the stories are all told.” And yet, as Kevin Peraino writes in this compelling book, “One of the unexpected joys …
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The Pawpaw Paradox
A forgotten American treasure makes a comeback. The small maroon bloom is morbidly elegant, not much bigger than a thimble, with an aroma said to faintly resemble rotting flesh. Just about everyone has heard of the pawpaw— towns named Paw Paw dot the American Midwest—but few today recognize the tree’s strangely delicate blossom, its even …
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