ROSS SIMPSON

NBC’s "Today" show premiered on this day in 1952.

NBC built a "Today" show studio inside the RCA Exhibition
Hall on West 49th Street and dubbed it "the nerve center of
the planet."

On this day in 1954, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were married
in a civil ceremony at San Francisco City Hall, where they were
mobbed by reporters and fans. Monroe had apparently mentioned
the wedding plans to someone at her film studio and they leaked it
to the press. The couple spent their wedding night at the Clifton
Motel in Paso Robles, California and later honeymooned in Japan
and Korea. The marriage only lasted nine short months.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1964, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry (above) 
released a report that said that smoking cigarettes was a definite
health hazard.

Amelia Earhart Putnam became the first woman to fly solo from
Wheeler Field in Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland Airport in Oakland,
California on this day in 1935.

Amelia in Oakland, triumphant after the Hawaii-to-California flight.

Amelia Mary Earhart, (born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937)

On this day in 1925, Mrs. Nellie Tayloe Ross was sworn in as 
governor of Wyoming She was the first female governor in
the United States.

Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross seated at her desk (right) in the
Governor’s Office, Wyoming State Capitol Building.

U.S. Representative and former singer-songwriter Salvatore Phillip
“Sonny” Bono died on this day in 1998. He hit a tree while skiing at
Heavenly Mountain Resort near South Lake Tahoe, California. The
results of an autopsy showed no drugs or alcohol in his body.

Sonny Bono and Cher

Sonny Bono’s headstone in Desert Memorial Park, Cathedral City, CA.

SANDY KOZEL

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799)

Mount Vernon Estate seen from the Potomac River.

Statue of George Washington, State
Capitol, Richmond, Virginia.

Roger Eugene Maris (September 10, 1934 – December 14, 1985)

Roger Maris was an professional baseball player who played four seasons
in the minor leagues and twelve seasons in the major leagues. He played
right field on four Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, from 1957 through
1968 and set the MLB record for home runs during the 1961 season with
61, breaking Babe Ruth‘s single-season record of 60 home runs in 1927.

Roger Maris was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 1983 and
died at age 51 at M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas.

Roger Maris plaque in Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park.

October 2, 1961 cover of Sports Illustrated magazine
featuring Roger Maris hitting one of his late-season,
record home runs.

Maris organized the annual Roger Maris
Celebrity Golf Tournament to raise money
for cancer research and treatment.  

TIM MAGUIRE

The funeral procession for President John F. Kennedy is pictured 
crossing the bridge to Arlington National Cemetery in  Arlington, VA.

On this day in 1963, the body of President John F. Kennedy was laid
to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. The funeral was attended by
heads of state and representatives from more than 100 countries,
with untold millions more watching on television.

President Kennedy’s widow, Jacqueline, along with brother’s Bob
and Ted Kennedy together lit the “eternal flame”(above) which will
forever burn at the gravesite of JFK.

During the Revolutionary War on this day in 1783, British forces
evacuated New York, their last military position in the U.S. It was
also George Washington’s Triumphal Entry in New York City, as
depicted in the above painting. The events marked the cessation 
of hostilities between Great Britain and its former colonies.