World News & the American Experience: 1937 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. President to be inaugurated on the date of January 20th, per the 20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 1943 – A ban stops U.S. bakers from selling sliced bread. Until the end of World War II, only whole loaves were [...]

World News & the American Experience: 1943 – The Casablanca Conference takes place in Morocco, where the leaders of the Allies put together a strategy that would call for surrender of the Axis powers. 1943 – The world’s largest office building, the Pentagon, is completed. 1948 – Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi begins his final fast. 1979 [...]

World News & the American Experience: 1942 – Pan American World Airways completes the first commercial around-the-world airline flight. 1965 – President Lyndon B. Johnson gives his “Great Society” State of the Union Address. 1968 – The first U.S. heart transplant is performed at Stanford University by Dr. Norman E. Shumway. 1974 – Nixon refuses [...]

World News & the American Experience: 1934 – Alcatraz officially becomes a federal prison. 1938 – The March of Dimes is established by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to fight polio. 1945 – Congress officially recognizes the Pledge of Allegiance. 1946 – President Truman proclaims the end of World War II. 1977 – Ted Bundy escapes [...]

World News & the American Experience: 1968 – The Apollo 8 crew orbits the moon 10 times.  On Christmas Eve, they transmit a message to all mankind calling for “peace on earth.” Movies & TV: 1932 – Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appear in their first movie together, Flying Down To Rio. 1937 – Walt [...]

World News & the American Experience: 1941 – Hitler takes complete command of the German Army. 1941 – The US Office of Censorship is created to control information pertaining to World War II. 1958 – The first radio broadcast from space occurs. It is President Eisenhower’s voice, saying, “To all mankind, America’s wish for Peace [...]

World News & the American Experience: 1941 – Dec 7 – “A date which will live in infamy,” Pearl Harbor Day.  1100 men are lost as America’s Pacific Fleet is attacked.  The catastrophic event leads the US to declare war and enter into World War II. 1962 – The International Typographical Union goes on strike [...]

World News & the American Experience: 1930 – Ruth Nichols beats Charles Lindbergh’s record time for a cross-country flight, completing the trip in 13 hours, 21 minutes. 1955 – Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus. This event starts the Montgomery Bus boycott, and fuels the Civil Rights [...]

World News & the American Experience: 1930 – Ruth Nichols becomes the first woman pilot on a transcontinental flight from New York to California.  It took 7 days. 1942 – A tragic fire at the famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, MA kills nearly 500 people. 1953 – A strike of photoengravers leave New York [...]

World News & the American Experience: 1935 – The China Clipper (flying boat) takes off from Alameda, California, carrying 100,000 pieces of mail on its first trans-Pacific airmail flight. 1963 – President John F. Kennedy is assassinated on November 22 in Dallas, Texas. 1964 – The Verrazano Narrows Bridge opens, connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn.  [...]

World News & the American Experience: 1938 – Crystal Night takes place in Jewish neighborhoods in Germany. Thousands of books are burned, windows are smashed, and people are killed all in the hands of the Nazis. 1954 – Ellis Island closes as a facility for immigration purposes. 1965 – A huge blackout affects the entire [...]

World News & the American Experience: 1948 – Due to a strike at the Chicago Tribune, editors guess at the outcome of the 1948 presidential election.  They printed out papers with the headline reading “Dewey Defeats Truman”. 1960 – Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy (D) defeats Vice President Richard M. Nixon (R) in the presidential [...]

World News & the American Experience: 1929 – Black Monday and Black Tuesday…  The crash of the stock market is one of the factors contributing to the Great Depression. 1962 – The Cuban missile crisis ends.  President Kennedy announces the USSR is dismantling missile bases. 1966 – The National Organization For Women (NOW) is founded. [...]

World News & the American Experience: 1940 – The 40-hour workweek goes into effect due to the Fair Labor Standards of 1938. 1944 – The Navy begins accepting Black women into the WAVES – “Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service”. 1945 – The United Nations charter takes effect, establishing the United Nations. 1962 – President [...]