MIKE GRACIA

In a televised speech of extraordinary gravity, President John F.
Kennedy announces on October 22, 1962 that U.S. spy planes 
discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba. These missile sites—
under construction but nearing completion—housed medium-
range missiles capable of striking a number of major cities in
the United States, including Washington, D.C.

Kennedy announced that he was ordering a naval “quarantine”
of Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from transporting any more
offensive weapons to the island and explained that the United
States would not tolerate the existence of the missile sites
currently in place. The president made it clear that America
would not stop short of military action to end what he called a “clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace.”

The mighty USS Constitution, arguably the most famous warship
in American history — a testament to dauntless courage at sea
in the nation’s infancy — was launched in Boston on this day in
history. 

The mighty warship, 225 years old today, is the world’s oldest commissioned warship and is still afloat in Boston’s Charlestown
Navy Yard. 

This watercolor and gouache painting, attributed to Michele Felice Corné and completed about 1803, is the earliest
known depiction of USS Constitution.

Battery-operated Toy car, Dick Tracy Squad Car No.1, c.1949,
by Marx Toys.

Dick Tracy is a comic strip featuring Dick Tracy (originally
Plainclothes Tracya tough and intelligent police detective
created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday,
October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror, and was distributed
by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate.

FOX NEWS

Donald T. McNeill (December 23, 1907 – May 7, 1996)

Don McNeill was born in Galena, Illinois. He graduated from
Milwaukee’s Marquette University in 1928 and joined local
station WISN. In 1933, he drove to Chicago to audition for
a struggling morning program called The Pepper Pot. Don
re-organized the hour show as The Breakfast Club and
Within a decade, The Breakfast Club had become radio’s
first, and most successful morning program. By 1941,
McNeill and his cast were were receiving over 100,000
letters a year.

For 15 years, the show was broadcast live from Chicago’s
Merchandise Mart over WLS/Chicago and the Blue Network
(later ABC). For its last 20 years, the show was broadcast
on ABC from various Chicago hotels, including the Allerton.

The Breakfast Club ended its remarkable 35-year network
run on December 27, 1968. It was inducted into the Radio
Hall of Fame in 1989.