Today in 1718, the city of New Orleans was founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne De Bienville. Try saying that name five times really fast…
Today in 1914, Congress unanimously passed the first “Mother’s Day” bill. It was the idea of a teacher from West Virginia, who had begun promoting it six years earlier.
Today in 1915, a German torpedo sank the British passenger liner "Lusitania" off the Irish coast. It took only 18 minutes for giant ship to slip beneath the sea and one-thousand, one-hundred, and nineteen of the 1,924 aboard died. The dead included 114 Americans.
Today in 1945, Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France.
Today in 1975, President Gerald Ford officially declared an end to the “Vietnam Era,” a week after the fall of Saigon.
Today in 1998, Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler Corp. for close to $40-billion. It was the largest industrial merger on record.
Today in 1999, a jury ruled that "The Jenny Jones Show" and Warner Bros. were liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure. Another guest on the show killed him. The jury's award was $25-million. Jonathan Schmitz admitted killing a gay admirer after the man revealed his crush on him during taping of the show, was sentenced to a maximum of 50 years in prison. Schmitz had been fighting alcoholism, depression and a thyroid condition when show producers ambushed him. See the segment, HERE. The Michigan Court of Appeals overturned the award in October 2002, a decision that was later upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court. As for the criminal case, Schmitz was found guilty of second-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to 25–50 years in prison, but his conviction was overturned on appeal. Upon retrial, he was found guilty of the same charge once again and his sentence was re-instated.
Today in 2008, President George W. Bush, addressing the Council of the Americas, said Cuba’s post-Fidel Castro leadership had made only “empty gestures at reform” as he rejected calls for easing U.S. restrictions on the communist island.
Today in 2012, Paleoclimatological research claimed dinosaur flatulence may have warmed the earth. In other words, dinosaur farts contributed to global warming allllllll the way back then.
Today in 2017, former President Barack Obama accepted the annual John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award at the JFK presidential library in Boston.