TIM MAGUIRE
On this day in 1973, Secretariat won the 105th Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths and ran the fastest 1 1/2 miles on dirt at 2:24. The horse
became the first since Citation in 1948 to win America’s coveted
Triple Crown–the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes.
Secretariat Statue located at Belmont Park.
Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991)
TIM MAGUIRE
The Beatles arrived at JFK airport in New York City to begin their
first U.S. tour on this day in 1964. The arrival of the Fab Four from
England was dubbed…“Beatlemania”. A new era of Rock ‘n’ Roll
began.
Troyal Garth Brooks is 57 years old today.
Pop country singer and musician Garth Brooks was named the Best-Selling
Solo Artist of the Century in the United States by the RIAA in 2007. His first
album, an EP, hit #2 on the Country Billboard in 1989. Brooks released six
albums that went diamond by the time he returned from retirement in 2009.
CARLATA BRADLEY
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During World War II on this day in1943, the remainder of Nazi forces
from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered to the Soviets. Stalingrad
has since been renamed Volgograd.
On this day in 1971, Idi Amin assumed power in Uganda after a coup
that ousted President Milton Obote.
Often portrayed as a “monster in disguise”, Idi Amin was the third President of Uganda.
SANDY KOZEL
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.
Pueblo, is still being held by North Korea today, officially remains
a commissioned vessel of the United States Navy. Since early 2013,
the ship has been moored along the Potong River in Pyongyang, and
used there as a museum ship at the Pyongyang Victorious War
Museum.
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)
Television host, comedian, writer, and producer Johnny Carson was
best known as the host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
(1962–1992) on NBC. Carson received six Emmy Awards, the Television
Academy‘s 1980 Governor’s Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was
inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987 awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center
Honor in 1993.
