TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City at
the age of 39 by assassins identified as Black Muslims.

It was on this day in 1972.

President and Mrs. Nixon visit the Great Wall of China.

In Baton Rouge, LA, on this day in 1988, TV evangelist Jimmy
Swaggart confessed to his congregation that he was guilty
of unspecified sin. He announced that he was leaving the
pulpit temporarily. Swaggart had been linked to an admitted
prostitute.        

Jimmy Lee Swaggart will be 82 years old on March 15.

Chicago stockbroker Steve Fossett became the first person to fly
solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon on this day in 1995. He
landed in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada.

James Stephen "Steve" Fossett
(April 22, 1944 – c. September 3, 2007)

Fossett disappeared on September 3, 2007, while flying a light aircraft
(below) over the Great Basin Desert, between Nevada and California.

1980 Bellanca 8KCAB-180 SUPER DECATHLON.

MIKE GRACIA

On this day in 1981, the 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444
days arrived in the United States and were reunited with their
families.

In Los Angeles, California on this day in 1971, cult leader Charles Manson is convicted, along with followers Susan Atkins, Leslie
Van Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkle, of the brutal 1969 murders
of actress Sharon Tate and six others.

Sharon Marie Tate Polanski (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969)

On this day in January 1994, Michael Jackson reached a financial settlement out of court for $23,000,000 to resolve the matter of
child sexual abuse accusations from 1993. In September 1994, 
a criminal investigation was closed.

In the U.S. on this day in 1959, American Airlines had the first
scheduled transcontinental flight of a Boeing 707.

TIM MAGUIRE

During the French Revolution on this day in 1793, King Louis XVI
was executed on the guillotine. He had been condemned for
treason.

Soviet leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died on this day in 1924. Joseph
Stalin began a purge of his rivals for the leadership of the Soviet
Union.

        On this day in 1950.

President Jimmy Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft
evaders on this day on 1977.

The French Concorde SST aircraft began regular commercial service
for Air France and British Airways on this day in 1976.

On this day in 1942, Count Basie and His Orchestra recorded "One O’Clock Jump."

William James "Count" Basie (August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984)

Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc)  (January 6, 1412 – May 30, 1431) 

The capture of “The Maid of Orléans”

Samuel Morse publicly demonstrated the telegraph for the first time
on this day in 1838.

         (John T. McCoy’s watercolor depiction of the round-the-world flight.)

The first commercial around-the-world airline flight took place on
this day in 1942. Pan American Airlines was the company that
made history with the feat.

On this day in 1994, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on 
the right leg by an assailant at Cobo Arena in Detroit, MI. Four
men were later sentenced to prison for the attack, including
Tonya Harding’s ex-husband.

Shown from left: Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan.

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993)

Dizzy Gillespie’s Trumpet.

A McDonnell Douglas DC-8 similar to the aircraft that crashed.

United Airlines Flight 173 was a flight from John F. Kennedy International
Airport in New York City, New York to Portland International Airport in
Portland, Oregon, with a scheduled stop in Denver, Colorado. While the
aircraft was approaching Portland it ran out of fuel and crashed in a
suburban Portland neighborhood near NE 158th Avenue and East
Burnside Street.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the following probable cause: “The failure of the captain (Malburn McBroom) to monitor
properly the aircraft’s fuel state and the crewmember’s advisories regarding
the fuel state. This resulted in fuel exhaustion to all engines. The pilots
inattention resulted from preoccupation with a landing gear malfunction 
and the preparations for a possible landing emergency”.   

The crash site as it looks today.