Today in 1922, Rebecca L Felton (D-GA) was sworn in as the first female Senator in the United States. A well-known suffragist and temperance advocate, like most southern senators of the time she was also an advocate of racial segregation – and an avowed white supremacist. She served for just a day…until Walter George was sworn in the day after (he’d won a special election).
Today in 1973, President Nixon's attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, revealed the existence of an 18.5-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to Watergate.
Today in 1989, President George H. W. Bush Law signed a law banning smoking on most domestic flights.
Today in 1993, the House of Representatives voted against making the District of Columbia the 51st state. The District of Columbia remains the only locale in the country without official representation on a federal level – and yet, they’re taxed as though they are…but still cannot elect a voting member of the United States.
Today in 1995, during a TV interview, Princess Diana admitted she cheated on Prince Charles.
Today in 1997, President Clinton signed a law giving the FDA new powers to speed the approval of drugs to combat a host of killer diseases, including cancer and AIDS.
Today in 2013, Alabama parole board granted posthumous pardons to three members of the Scottsboro boys. The so-calle “Scottsboro Boys” were nine black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women aboard a train near Scottsboro, Alabama, in 1931. The subsequent trials, the two Supreme Court verdicts they produced and the international uproar over their treatment helped fuel the rise of the civil rights movement later in the 20th
(Photo courtesy of Torsten Blackwood/AFP via Getty Images)
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