On this day in 1968, North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, charging it had intruded into the nation’s territorial waters on a spying mission. The crew was released 11 months later.
The Pueblo’s mission began in early January, 1968, when the crew set off from the U.S. Navy base on Yokosuka, Japan with orders to conduct surveillance on Soviet Navy and North Korean signal and electronic intelligence activity.
The captured crew (above) were beaten and nearly starved in the incident that almost led to another war.
Pueblo on display in North Korea, 2012.
North Koreans raise their fists during a rally in 2010 in front of the U.S. Navy spy ship Pueblo.
On this day in 1977, the TV mini-series "Roots," began airing on ABC. The show was based on the Alex Haley novel. Roots received 37 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings for the finale, which still holds a record as the third-highest-rated episode for any type of television series, and the second-most watched overall series finale in U.S. television history.
LeVar Burton as Kunta Kinte, a warrior of the Mandinka people in Gambia who is captured by slavers and taken to Annapolis, Md.
John William Carson(October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005)
On this day in 1981, Iran released 52 Americans that had been held hostage for 444 days. The hostages were flown to Algeria and then to a U.S. base in Wiesbaden, West Germany. The release occurred minutes after the U.S. presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan. The Iranians waited until the hour President Reagan was sworn in before allowing the plane with the hostages to take off.
President Ronald Reagan being sworn into office on this day1981.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy takes the Oath of Office and becomes the 35th President of the United States on this day in 1961. At age 43, he is the youngest man and the first Roman Catholic ever elected, winning by one of the smallest margins of victory, only 115,000 popular votes. Lyndon B. Johnson, 51, is his Vice President.
President John F. Kennedy During his inaugural speech on Jan. 20, 1961.
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.