The winners from the 1st Academy Awards.

The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1927 and
1928 and took place on May 16, 1929 during a private dinner held at the
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California. AMPAS president
Douglas Fairbanks hosted the show.

Only 270 guests attended the ceremony that took just 15 minutes.

Douglas Fairbanks presents Janet Gaynor with the
first Academy Award for Best Actress, for her work
in Seventh Heaven. 

Emil Jannings with the first ever Academy Award “Oscar”.

William C. Demille, President Of The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts
And Sciences hands an Oscar to Mary Pickford (with Warner Baxter
and Hans Kraly looking on) at the first ceremony in 1929.

Texan Colonel William Travis (below) sends a desperate plea for help for the besieged defenders of the Alamo, ending the message with the famous last
words, “Victory or Death.”

The Alamo today still stands in San Antonio, Texas.

Established in 1718 as Mission San Antonio de Valero, for over 300 years the
former mission now known as the Alamo has been a crossroads of history.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1868, the United States House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson due to his attempt to
dismiss Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The U.S. Senate later acquitted Johnson on May 26, 1868.

Edwin McMasters Stanton
(December 19, 1814 – December 24, 1869)

The impeachment trial against President Andrew Johnson opens
in the Senate Chambers.

George T. Brown, sergeant at arms of the Senate (left), serving the summons on President Andrew Johnson.

House Impeachment Managers.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1945, the 28th Regiment of the Fifth Marine Division of
the U.S. Marines reached the top of Mount Surabachi. A photograph
of these Marines raising the American flag was taken by American
photographer Joe Rosenthal. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his
iconic World War ll photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. it
became one of the best-known photos of the war and was actually
the second flag raised on that day in 1945.

U.S. Marines with the first flag raised on Iwo 
Jima.The smaller flag was replaced with a
larger one (below). These photos were by
Navy photographer Louis Lowery.

Joseph John Rosenthal (October 9, 1911 – August 20, 2006)

On this day in 1959, Lee Petty defeats Johnny Beauchamp in a photo finish at
the just-opened Daytona International Speedway in Florida to win the first-ever Daytona 500. The race was so close that Beauchamp was initially named the
winner by William France, the owner of the track and head of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). However, Petty, who was
driving a hardtop Oldsmobile 88, challenged the results and three days later,
with the assistance of news photographs, he was officially named the champ.

There was speculation that France declared Beauchamp the winner in order to intentionally stir up controversy and generate publicity for his new race track.

Today, the 200-lap, 500-mile Daytona 500 is one of auto racing’s premiere
events and the first race of the NASCAR season. France, a gas station owner
and racing promoter, officially co-founded NASCAR in Daytona Beach in
1948.

Lee Arnold Petty (March 14, 1914 – April 5, 2000)

Johnny Beauchamp
(March 23, 1923 – April 17, 1981)

   
William Henry Getty France (September 26, 1909 – June 7, 1992)

Lee Petty’s 1959 Oldsmobile Super 88 in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.