TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1957, 300 U.S. Army troops stood guard as nine black students were escorted to class at Central High School in Little Rock, AR. The children had been forced to withdraw 2 days earlier because
of unruly white mobs.

Michael Kirk Douglas is 74 today.

Michael Douglas won an Academy Award for
Best Actor for his role in the 1987 film Wall
Street. He reprised his role in the 2010 sequel
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. His other
notable film credits include The Game (1997),
Traffic (2000), Basic Instinct (1992) and Falling
Down (1993).  He is the son of legendary actor
Kirk Douglas.

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1963, a bomb explodes during Sunday morning services in
the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young
girls.

With its large African-American congregation, the 16th Street Baptist Church
served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr.,
who once called Birmingham a “symbol of hardcore resistance to integration.” Alabama’s governor, George Wallace, made preserving racial segregation one
of the central goals of his administration. Birmingham had one of the most
violent and lawless chapters of the Ku Klux Klan.

    2001

On this day in 1950 During the Korean War, U.S. Marines land at Inchon on
the west coast of Korea, 100 miles south of the 38th parallel and just 25 miles
from Seoul. The location had been criticized as too risky, but U.N. Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur (below) insisted on carrying out the landing.

General Douglas MacArthur (center) observes the shelling of
lightly defended Incheon from the U.S. Navy amphibious force
command ship USS Mount McKinley.   

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

It was on this day in 2005.

On this day in 1996, President Bill Clinton signed legislation that
ended guaranteed cash payments to the poor and demanded work
from recipients.

It was on this day in 1989.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

On this day in 1984, President Ronald Reagan was preparing for his weekly radio broadcast when, during testing of the microphone, the President said of the Soviet Union, "My fellow Americans, I am
pleased to tell you that I just signed legislation that would outlaw
Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

In Bloomington, MN, the Mall of America opened on this day in 1992. It
was the largest shopping mall in the United States.

ED DANAHUE

The American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the
moon’s surface on this day in 1964.

The 19 year old from France began making a name for himself in
the American Revolution on this day in 1777.

Thomas Jefferson commissioned this portrait of
Marquis de Lafayette. (Portrait by Joseph Boze).

Sens. Thomas Eagleton (left) and George McGovern celebrate their candidacy for vice president and president, respectively, at the Democratic National Convention in 1972.

Eighteen days after Eagleton was picked to run with McGovern, Eagleton
arrived in Washington to hold a press conference on this day in 1972.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I will not divide the Democratic Party," Eagleton announced. "Therefore, tomorrow morning I will write to the chairman of
the Democratic Party withdrawing my candidacy." His mental health was
the main issue.

The election was held 99 days later. Richard Nixon would defeat George
McGovern in a landslide — the widest margin of victory in the popular
vote in presidential history.

Novelist Joanne Rowling,writing under the pen names J. K. Rowling
and Robert Galbraith, is 53 years young today.

English author J.K. Rowling wrote the bestselling Harry Potter fantasy
books. Her first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s
Stone (1997), was followed by six equally popular installments, all of
which were made into feature films. She began writing as a child,
creating stories about a rabbit family for her younger sister’s
enjoyment.