On this date...

Ford and the Quadricycle

In 1776, before departing Philadelphia for New York, Washington writes to Burwell Bassett, his brother-in-law, that Martha has undergone smallpox inoculation and is doing well: Her fever has passed, and only “about a dozen” pustules have appeared on the 13th day. 

In 1776, in a letter to his brother, John Augustine Washington, Washington welcomes Virginia’s move toward independence and dismisses hopes of British peace commissioners as deception. He urges careful constitution-making for the future happiness or misery of millions.

In 1812, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its first war declaration, approving by a vote of 79-49 a declaration of war against Britain.

In 1812, the U.S. Congress officially renamed the vast “Louisiana Territory” to the “Missouri Territory” to prevent confusion with the newly admitted State of Louisiana, which had just become the 18th U.S. state in April.

In 1876, A mere 83 hours after leaving New York City, the Transcontinental Express train arrived in San Francisco.

In 1892, Oil City and Titusville, Pennsylvania, were destroyed by an oil tank explosion; 130 people died.

In 1896, Henry Ford made a successful pre-dawn test run of his horseless carriage, called a quadricycle, through the streets of Detroit.

In 1912, Massachusetts became the first state to adopt a minimum wage law.

In 1913, British suffragette Emily Davison entered the racetrack during the Epsom Derby and moved in front of King George V’s horse, which struck her; she died four days later and became a martyr to the cause of women’s suffrage.

In 1917, American men began registering for the World War I draft.

 In 1919, the US Congress passed the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote.

In 1937, a Humpty Dumpty grocery store in Oklahoma introduced the first shopping carts.

In 1940, 22-year-old Carson McCullers’ first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, was published. The novel, about misfits in a Georgia mill town, is an instant success.

In 1942, the Battle of Midway started.

In 1944, the U.S. Fifth Army began liberating Rome during World War II.

In 1944, General Eisenhower canceled the planned D-Day invasion on June 5th after receiving unfavorable weather reports.

In 1955, the “Mickey Rooney Show” TV comedy aired its last episode on NBC.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union, meeting in Vienna, struck a bargain to support a neutral and independent Laos.

In 1967, Curt Flood’s streak of 568 consecutive errorless chances ended after 227 straight games.

In 1972, Angela Yvonne Davis, a Black communist activist and former philosophy professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, was acquitted on charges of conspiracy, murder, and kidnapping by a jury in San Jose, California.

In 1984, American musician Bruce Springsteen released Born in the U.S.A., which became one of his defining works.

In 1985, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling striking down an Alabama law providing for a daily minute of silence in public schools.

In 1986, Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty in Washington to conspiring to deliver national defense information to Israel. (Sentenced to life in prison, Pollard would be released on parole in November 2015.)

In 1990, Dr. Jack Kevorkian carried out his first publicly assisted suicide, helping Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old Alzheimer’s patient from Portland, Oregon, end her life in Oakland County, Michigan.

In 1992, the USPS announced that 1.2 million people voted to choose the artwork for their Elvis Presley stamp, with 75% preferring a portrait of young Elvis to an older one.

In 1998, a federal judge sentenced Terry Nichols to life in prison without parole for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people.

In 2003, for domestic guru and media mogul Martha Stewart, known for her “good things” tips and tricks, things turned very bad when a federal grand jury served her and her former stockbroker a nine-count indictment, including charges of obstruction of justice, securities fraud, conspiracy, and making false statements.

In 2009, President Barack Obama addressed the Muslims of the world in a speech in Cairo, saying America has a common cause with Islam and will never be at war with the faith.

In 2018, Former US President Bill Clinton and James Patterson published a thriller novel, “The President is Missing.”

In 2018, former U.S. President Bill Clinton said in an interview with NBC that he has not apologized to Monica Lewinsky and does not believe he needs to.

In 2024, US President Joe Biden introduced immediate restrictions on the southern border, limiting illegal migrant crossings to 2,500 a day.