On this day in 1925, Mrs. Nellie Tayloe Ross was sworn in as 
governor of Wyoming She was the first female governor in
the United States.

Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross seated at her desk (right) in the
Governor’s Office, Wyoming State Capitol Building.

U.S. Representative and former singer-songwriter Salvatore Phillip
“Sonny” Bono died on this day in 1998. He hit a tree while skiing at
Heavenly Mountain Resort near South Lake Tahoe, California. The
results of an autopsy showed no drugs or alcohol in his body.

Sonny Bono and Cher

Sonny Bono’s headstone in Desert Memorial Park, Cathedral City, CA.

Louis Braille (January 4, 1809 – January 6, 1852)  

Braille was a French educator and inventor of a system of reading and
writing for use by the blind or visually impaired. His system remains
virtually unchanged to this day, and is known worldwide simply as
braille.

   
TIM MAGUIRE

John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson won the election 
on this day in 1960, defeating incumbent Vice President and  
Republican nominee Richard Nixon, who would later go on
to be the 37th President of the United States. This was the
first election in which all fifty states participated, and the
last in which the District of Columbia did not.

Newley elected President John F. Kennedy meets
with Richard M. Nixon following the election.

On this day in 1966, Ronald Reagan was elected to his first term as Governor of California with 57.65% of the vote. He left office in 1975, declining to run for a third term.

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 2000, America’s Presidential vote faced limbo. There
was no winner named until more than a month later.

A Florida election official tries to figure out a voter’s intentions.

Also on this day in 2000, Hillary Rodham Clinton made history when
she became the first president’s wife to win public office. The state
of New York elected her to the U.S. Senate. (New York).

Hillary Rodham Clinton is sworn in as a United States Senator by
Vice President Al Gore in the Old Senate Chamber, as President
Clinton and daughter Chelsea look on, January 3, 2001.

The middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington
state collapsed during a windstorm on this day in 1940. The third
longest suspension span in the world opened to traffic on July 1,
1940.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge as it looks today.

CARLATA BRADLEY

On this day in 1986, the Ash-Shiraa, pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine,
first broke the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran to secure the release
of seven American hostages. The story turned into the Iran-Contra
affair.

Reagan meets with aides on the Iran-Contra affair.

President Ronald Reagan holds up a copy of the Tower Commission report on the Iran-Contra affair.

One of the 52 United States hostages is displayed to the crowd
outside the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by his captors, a few days
into their ordeal.

On this day in 1992, Carol Moseley-Braun became the first African-American woman U.S. senator.

Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun turned 71 August 16.