President John F. Kennedy addresses the first group of
Peace Corps volunteers headed for Ghana and Tanzania.

On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued Executive
Order #10924, establishing the Peace Corps as a new agency
within the Department of State. The same day, he sent a message
to Congress asking for permanent funding for the agency, which
would send trained American men and women to foreign nations
to assist in development efforts. The Peace Corps captured the imagination of the U.S. public, and during the week after its
creation thousands of letters poured into Washington from
young Americans hoping to volunteer.

Dr.Jonas Salk administered one of the first polio shots.

On February 23, 1954, a group of children from Arsenal
Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, receive the
first injections of the new polio vaccine developed by Dr.
Jonas Salk (above). Thanks to the vaccine, by the 21st
century polio cases were reduced by 99 percent worldwide.

Though not as devastating as the plague or influenza,
poliomyelitis was a highly contagious disease that emerged
in terrifying outbreaks and seemed impossible to stop.

Attacking the nerve cells and sometimes the central nervous
system, polio caused muscle deterioration, paralysis and even
death. Even as medicine vastly improved in the first half of the
20th century in the Western world, polio still struck, affecting
mostly children but sometimes adults as well.

The most famous victim of a 1921 outbreak in America was
future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then a young
politician. The disease spread quickly, leaving his legs
permanently paralyzed.

From the Sunday, Feb. 18, 1968 issue of the "Daily Northwest Alabamian"– state Rep. Rankin Fite placing the first-ever 911
call from the mayor’s office–that’s Mayor James Whitt behind him.

February 16, 1968 saw the first official "911" call placed in the
United States. Now taken for granted as first course of action
in the event of emergency by nearly all of the nation’s 327
million people, 911 is a relatively recent invention and was
still not standard across the United States for many years
after its adoption by Congress.

As telephones became common in U.S. households, fire
departments around the country recommended establishing
a single, simple number to be dialed in the event of a fire or
other emergency. A similar system had been implemented in
the United Kingdom decades earlier, in 1936, when the code
999 was chosen for emergency telegraph and phone
communications.

Over 145 million Valentine’s Day cards are sold each year, the
second most purchased seasonal card in the U.S. While the
holiday’s exact origin is up for debate, the celebration of love
and friendship we know today first gained popularity in the U.S.
during the mid-19th century.

During this time, Esther Howland of Worcester, MA, is credited
with mass-producing the first American valentines. Romantic
European cards inspired Howland to design and create her first valentines by hand—intricate, layered collages of ribbons, lace,
and paper ornaments. In 1913, Hallmark (then Hall Brothers)
printed their first Valentine’s Day card, making the tradition
more accessible and affordable.

The sentiment and imagery expressed by valentines changed in popularity over time. The Victorian era favored cherubs, hearts,
and flowers paired with romantic poetry. In the 1920s and 30s,
cards featuring die-cut shapes, animals, and children became
prevalent and often included playful messages with puns and
wordplay.

The first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, known retroactively
as Super Bowl I and referred to in contemporaneous reports,
including the game’s radio broadcast, as the Super Bowl, was an American football game played on January 15, 1967, at the Los
Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The
National Football League (NFL) champion Green Bay Packers
defeated the American Football League (AFL) champion Kansas
City Chiefs by the score of 35–10.

CBS broadcaster and former player Frank Gifford.

Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson
fires a pass.

Len Dawson will be 87 in June.  

Wisconsin Gov. Warren Knowles (left) and Green Bay
Packers coach Vince Lombardi celebrate in the locker
room after Green Bay’s 35-14 victory over the Kansas
City Chiefs.

Some of the 10,000 balloons that were released.