On This Day February 9

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History Highlights
History Highlights

1825 – With no presidential candidate receiving a majority of electoral votes in the election of 1824, the U.S. House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams, who won fewer votes than Andrew Jackson in the popular election, as president of the United States.

1870 – The National Weather Service (NWS) is established under the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

1942 – The largest ocean liner in the world, the S.S. Normandie, burns and capsizes in New York Harbor during its conversion to a World War II troop transport ship. The Normandie had been the pride of the French ocean liner fleet. Built in 1935, she was the largest and fastest and most luxuriously appointed of the new ocean liners.

1965 – The U.S. sends its first combat troops to South Vietnam.

1971 – Apollo 14 returns safely to Earth following the third successful manned moon landing. 

1971 – Pitcher Leroy “Satchel” Paige becomes the first Negro League veteran to be nominated to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He is inducted six months later. Paige was known for his fastball and showmanship during a career that spanned five decades.

1992 – Three months after stunning the world with word that he had contracted the HIV virus and was immediately retiring from the Los Angeles Lakers, basketball great Magic Johnson returns to play in the 42nd NBA All-Star game in Orlando, Florida. After scoring 25 points and dishing out nine assists, Magic receives a standing ovation and is named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

On This Day November 11

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On This Day November 9

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On This Day October 8

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History Highlights
History Highlights

1871 – One of the most disastrous forest fires in history leaves more than 1,200 dead in Wisconsin as flames scorch six counties.

1871 – The Great Chicago Fire breaks out, according to legend, when Catherine O’Leary’s cow kicks over a lantern in her barn on DeKoven Street. The blaze quickly spreads, leveling 3.5 miles, killing 250 people and leaving 100,000 homeless.

1919 – America’s first transcontinental air race begins, featuring 63 planes, piloted by U.S. Army aviators, competing in the round-trip aerial derby between California and New York. As 15 planes departed the Presidio in San Francisco, 48 planes left Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York.

1956 – New York Yankees right-hander Don Larsen pitches the first no-hitter in World Series history. It’s a perfect game: no runs, no hits, no errors and no batter reaches first base.

1970 – Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wins the Nobel Prize for literature. His first publication, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” (1963), was widely read in both Russia and the West. Its harsh criticism of Stalinist repression provided a dramatic insight into the Soviet system.

2001 – The U.S. Office of Homeland Security is founded less than a month after the September 11 terrorist attacks. It is charged with preventing terror attacks, border security, immigration and customs, disaster relief and prevention and related tasks.

2014 –  The first person diagnosed with a case of Ebola in the U.S. dies in a Dallas, Texas hospital. Shortly before his death, the 42-year-old male patient, who lived in Liberia, had traveled to America from West Africa, which was in the throes of the largest outbreak of the often-fatal disease since its 1976 discovery.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1957 – Jerry Lee Lewis records the rock ‘n’ roll classic “Great Balls of Fire” at Sun Studio in Memphis. It climbs to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and becomes one of the best-selling singles in the U.S., with sales of more than five million copies.

1966 – The Association’s “Cherish” enters its third and final week atop the Billboard Hot 100.

1968 – Mama Cass Elliot debuts as a solo act at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. She cancels the two-week gig after only one set of performances.

1977 – Billy Joel’s “The Stranger” hits the album chart. This breakthrough work contains some of Joel’s biggest hits to date, including “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” “Only The Good Die Young” and the Grammy-winning “Just The Way You Are.”

1983 – “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler is in the midst of a four-week ride on top of the singles chart.

1987 – Chuck Berry, considered by many the “father of rock and roll,” is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His film biography, “Hail, Hail Rock & Roll,” also premieres that same night.

1988 – British rock band Def Leppard has its first and only No. 1 single — “Love Bites” — which holds the top spot on the pop chart for a week.

1994 – Boyz II Men are in the midst of a 14-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’ll Make Love to You.”

2011 – “Moves Like Jagger,” by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera, marks its third and final week as a No. 1 single.

2016 – The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey are on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Closer.”

On this Day August 22

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On this Day August 4

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On this Day May 26

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History Highlights
History Highlights

1897 – The first copies of the classic vampire novel “Dracula,” by Irish writer Bram Stoker, appear in London bookshops.

1927 – It’s the end of the road for Ford’s iconic Model T automobile. The 15 millionth and last Model T Ford rolls off a Detroit assembly line with Ford founder Henry Ford in the front passenger seat and his son, Edsel, behind the wheel. The touring car, with hand-stamped VIN 15000000, marked the symbolic end of the groundbreaking automobile’s 19-year production run.

1953 – The first 3-D sci-fi movie premieres in Los Angeles: “It Came from Outer Space,” based on a Ray Bradbury story.

1959 – Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves before losing, 1-0, in the 13th. It’s the first time a pitcher throws more than nine perfect innings in major league history.

1969 – Apollo 10 returns to Earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the forthcoming first manned moon landing. During descent from its lunar orbit, the spacecraft sets a record for the fastest speed attained by a manned vehicle.

1972 – Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. President Richard Nixon, meeting in Moscow, sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) agreements.

1977 – The so-called “human fly,” George Willig, scales the South Tower of New York City’s World Trade Center by attaching himself to a window washing track and walking straight to the top and into the custody of waiting police officers. It takes Willig three and a half hours to make the climb and costs him $1.10 in fines — one penny per floor.