On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth, completing three orbits in just under five hours. Glenn orbited the earth as part of the Mercury Seven, who were a group of military test pilots selected by NASA in 1959 to become the first astronauts. … Continue reading
On December 28, 1958, at Yankee Stadium in New York City, the 26th annual NFL championship game was played between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants. It was the first NFL playoff game to go into sudden death overtime. With a score of 23-17, the Baltimore Colts led … Continue reading
Gone with the Wind is a film from 1939 based on Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. Set in the 19th-century American South, the film tells the story of Scarlett O’Hara, the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner, from her romantic pursuit of Ashley Wilkes, who … Continue reading
Edward Brooke, former Massachusetts senator during Richard Nixon’s administration, discusses how he became the first republican to openly ask President Nixon to resign on November 4, 1973, shortly after the Watergate Scandal. According to Brooke, Nixon had lost the confidence of the American people, and because of that he should … Continue reading
On October 27, 1964, Ronald Reagan gave a speech in support of Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater that launched Reagan’s political career. The speech became known as “A Time for Choosing.” This video shows a clip from the speech in which Reagan discusses the Democrat’s attitude towards the Soviet Union, … Continue reading
In 1969, beloved children’s television personality Mr. Rogers testified before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications. At the time, President Nixon had proposed funding cuts to the Public Broadcasting Service, which had originally been given a $20 million grant by President Lyndon Johnson. In his testimony, Rogers says: “I … Continue reading
On September 26, 1960, John F. Kennedy–a young senator from Massachusetts at the time–and Vice President Richard Nixon squared off in a hour-long debate–the first-ever televised presidential debate. While Kennedy looked confident, healthy and dapper; Nixon seemed sickly and underweight from a recent hospitalization. Approximately 74 million viewers noticed the … Continue reading
“The whole world is watching!” The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago, Illinois. Both before and during the convention, rallies and marches were held primarily in protest of President Lyndon B. Johnson and his Vietnam War policies. On the fourth day of the convention, demonstrators held the only … Continue reading
On September 23, 1952, Richard Nixon, a California senator at the time, went on air to defend himself against accusations of an established fund–created by his backers–that would reimburse him for his political expenses. He says, “Not one cent of the 18 thousand dollars or any other money of that … Continue reading
Billie Jean King talks about being a female professional tennis player in the early 1970s. She discusses the famous 1973 tennis match called the Battle of the Sexes in in Houston, Texas where she beat her male opponent, Bobby Riggs: “By beating him, people started to change their hearts and … Continue reading
